This week I’m dialing it back a little bit.  Instead of offering analysis of something that bothers me, I’d like to take a moment to discuss something I’m really pleased about.  That is, in honor of the Oscars, I’d like to use this article as a celebration of the group of truly rad female role models my generation has to look up to. I’ll start with the most predictable celebrity—nay, the most necessary—I could choose.  Ladies and gentleman, I give you Jennifer Lawrence.  It took me longer to jump on...

This semester, I’m enrolled in two gender studies courses.  As a result, gender issues permeate every space of my mind, more so than ever before.  I am in a constant state of thinking about gender.  Needless to say, this week when I read an article in the New York Times about a new “men’s television channel,” I was again bombarded by my own thoughts of gender. I will say that I was ashamed of myself at first – reading the title and first few sentences, which boasted the initiative of...

Earlier this week I read an article on USA Today about Ann Romney and Michelle Obama. A mere two weeks from the election, the article did not focus on their charity work, their undying support of the husbands, or their personal victories as women prominent in today’s political limelight. Instead, the article addressed the outfits they wore to the final presidential debate. I found this … irritating. Once I moved past the initial shock of seeing the headline “Ann Romney wears de la Renta for debate” emblazoned on USA Today’s...

­­­­­­­This week I’m bringing my opinion a little closer to home – well, to our home away from home. At UPS, for those of us who live on campus, aches, pains and sniffles mean a trip to CHWS. I’ll start this on a positive note. There are plenty of absolutely wonderful things about CHWS – proximity to campus housing, an excellent counseling program, and who could forget the ever-appreciated free condoms? Yet I find myself incredibly disappointed at something I’ve heard. A close friend of mine, who has asked to...

New York Times columnist David Brooks has recently branded Mitt Romney as the “least popular candidate in history.” Recent musings that Romney has no chance of winning a ‘popularity contest’ against Barack Obama have called into question some of Romney’s more questionable acts. As voting day draws nearer, I, as a first-time voter in the U.S., am left pondering what value Romney does have in the race.  I have yet to find any. Standing out in my brain, in the laundry list of public faux pas Romney has committed wholeheartedly,...

As the latter half of Lent slowly progresses, and my willpower to avoid eating chips for the duration of the Catholic observance has me jonesing like an addict, I have been thinking a lot about religion. I was raised in a very open household. While I studied the catechism for my first communion, my mother encouraged me to study up on a number of other religions in case I found one I preferred. In the end, I received my first communion, but only after terrifying my priest with questions about...