OPINION
Hockey brought me home
By MEG LEACH | Apr. 28, 2013Liev Schreiber concluded the first season of HBO's 24/7 Penguins/Capitals with a quote that brought me to tears.
Opinions
OPINION
"What up, Carlos?"
By MARKUS MCCAINE | Apr. 28, 2013You're praying to the porcelain gods and getting cozy on the bathroom floor all morning. Your headache is pounding through the front of your skull and your stomach is twisting and turning as you go for a roller coaster ride on your couch.
OPINION
What is a goodbye?
By AARON MANSFIELD | Apr. 28, 2013There is one sentence I have seen begin articles more than any other in my two years as an editor: "It's that time of year
OPINION
Can a presidential library earn a 'W?'
Apr. 28, 2013Presidential libraries present an interesting opportunity for former presidents. They are able to construct their own shrines and facilitate a way for their presidencies and legacies to be reconsidered. On Thursday, George W.
OPINION
Siguen luchando
By ELVA AGUILAR | Apr. 28, 2013Finally. After years of what college students deem "the struggle," it is finally all over. My undergraduate years haven't been easy, but in retrospect, the ability to become as self-sufficient as I am today is a blessing. I've learned what real hunger is.
OPINION
Letter to the Editor
Apr. 28, 2013It's that time of the year again. Everyone is scrambling to finish their work, write their papers or to do their exams.
OPINION
"""A heightened sensitivity for the promises of life"""
Apr. 28, 2013We all remember our early summers: the interval of time when youth and glory coalesced, the scale of horizons appeared infinite and days were filled with verve for both momentary diversions and distant prospects - when transience seemed everlasting and idyllic fantasies were child's play. At the beginning of The Great Gatsby, protagonist Nick Carraway asserts, "I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." As we near the release of the sixth film adaptation of the classic American novel, we are reminded yet again that we are still not finished with this story.
OPINION
And then I found $5
By Rebecca Bratek | Apr. 28, 2013It was early March, the first day of spring break, and we sat in my car in a nice New Jersey suburb, waiting for the last bus to New York City.
OPINION
Realizing UB 2020' draft still not enough
By Rebecca Bratek | Apr. 25, 2013On April 12, Provost Charles Zukoski released the second draft of his 'Realizing UB 2020' plan. In theory, this draft, when finalized, will bring monumental changes to how this institution operates, grants degrees and prepares students for life outside the campus; it aims to bring "excellence" to all faculty, staff and students over the next five to 10 years. But, in its current form, the draft still reads as a plan for the plan, with little concrete or tangible evidence of how exactly the university plans to meet its ambitious goals of revitalizing UB and the surrounding Buffalo community. The newest draft includes four institutional goals, which basically stress that UB wants to be bigger and better and wants to be bigger and better than universities all over the world.
OPINION
Moving forward across the border
Apr. 25, 2013Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee began conducting hearings over the near-850-page bill drafted by a bipartisan group of eight senators designed to overhaul the immigration system. The most important element of the bill that we want to see the Senate embrace is a systematic approach of providing immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
OPINION
Realizing UB 2020' draft still not enough
By Rebecca Bratek | Apr. 25, 2013On April 12, Provost Charles Zukoski released the second draft of his 'Realizing UB 2020' plan. In theory, this draft, when finalized, will bring monumental changes to how this institution operates, grants degrees and prepares students for life outside the campus; it aims to bring "excellence" to all faculty, staff and students over the next five to 10 years. But, in its current form, the draft still reads as a plan for the plan, with little concrete or tangible evidence of how exactly the university plans to meet its ambitious goals of revitalizing UB and the surrounding Buffalo community. The newest draft includes four institutional goals, which basically stress that UB wants to be bigger and better and wants to be bigger and better than universities all over the world.
OPINION
All the small things
Apr. 23, 2013In a recent poll conducted by The Spectrum, 82 percent of 700 students expressed they didn't feel President Satish Tripathi's presence on campus. The problem that polls often have is they don't include definitional variations that can affect one's understanding of the issues presented. The meaning of 'presence' in the poll we refer to above demonstrates that very problem.
OPINION
Can Weiner be a winner?
Apr. 23, 2013Following a sexting scandal, Anthony Weiner was forced to resign from the House of Representatives in disgrace.
OPINION
Graduation procrastination
Apr. 23, 2013I almost had a panic attack at the university bookstore on Monday. I bought my cap and gown, and when I realized how much meaning and pressure the biodegradable blue gown, cap and hood held, my breathing became erratic. The thought of graduation has been pushed back into the depths of my mind for the past eight months - not because I don't care nor because I'm in denial, but because of the constant pressure I've received from my family and friends as the day gets closer. I am the first in my family to graduate from college.
OPINION
Letter to the Editor
Apr. 21, 2013The abortion debate in the United States is unique for its vitriol and polarity. One side is a bunch of misogynist, anti-women bigots, the other a bunch of child murdering libertines. While there is no agreement on which side is right, perhaps we can all agree that the most vocal and politically active proponents of each side--which also coincides neatly with their political affiliation--are, generally speaking, wildly hypocritical. Was the pro-life camp so deaf during the Iraq War that they did not hear any reports about the thousands of innocent and defenseless children that were killed with our money and guns? Is the pro-choice camp so blind that they have not seen any reports about the Pakistani women that are denied their right to live, let alone to choose, by our money and drones? Is it not remarkable that pro-lifers are more concerned about a non sentient, group of cells than they are about children who have actually made the journey through the birth canal? Is it not remarkable that pro-choicers are more concerned about waxing philosophical about the right to choose than they are about confronting a certain leader who regularly denies it to Pakistani and Afghan women? Perhaps we need less pissing contests and more introspection.
OPINION
Things to do before the end of your freshman year
By ALYSSA MCCLURE | Apr. 21, 2013As my freshman year of college comes to a close, I've compiled some things I wish I hadn't waited until months into my second semester to do, in the hopes that you can learn from my mistakes.
OPINION
To carry the fire and light the spark
Apr. 21, 2013Adjunct media study professor Laura Curry's arrest on April 15 has inspired a mobilization on campus to petition for a dismissal of the charge of disorderly conduct. Amidst a tumultuous period on campus, as an anti-abortion exhibit displayed graphic images of aborted fetuses that were offensive to a large portion of the community, much inquiry has been generated as to whether or the University Police Department was justified in issuing the arrest. Just as UB Students for Life was acting within its First Amendment rights to display those images and protest abortion procedures happening legally in the United States, Curry had the right to express her beliefs, too.
OPINION
A time for unity
Apr. 21, 2013As people followed television coverage of the search for the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing, the fear of homegrown terrorism plummeted back into the forefront of American public consciousness. The suspects have been identified as brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev - Russian immigrants who arrived to the United States in 2002.
OPINION
"I can't change, even if I tried'"
Apr. 18, 2013On Wednesday, a federal appeals court in San Francisco listened to arguments about whether the California law banning "gay conversion therapy" for minors is a violation of the First Amendment. The law was adopted a year ago and is an effort to regulate a form of talk therapy.
OPINION
Letter to the Editor
By AMANDA JANTZI | Apr. 18, 2013What should have been a beautiful Monday was marred by many things - tracking down friends in Boston, watching news coverage and having my morning framed by an offensive form of free speech.
