Everyone on campus is aware of the Puget Sound bubble: the mentality that makes it so easy to spend four year here and not get involved in anything not directly related to campus. The best way to break from our insular mindset would be to establish a community service requirement for freshmen. Perspectives provides a sampling of Tacoma during orientation, but does not provide a structure for continuous involvement in the Tacoma area. One function of such a structure would be to show students that community service is not difficult...

Citizens of Tacoma are reacting outspokenly to the teachers’ city-wide strike that has prevented the school year from starting. Those aggressively opposing the strike should be listening to what the teachers have to say, because they are not just on strike for themselves. The TEA, or Tacoma Education Association, is demanding that the school board allow teachers more involvement in issues regarding teacher transfers and reassignments, class size limits and how the state cuts in funding for teacher pay will be distributed. Teachers are being dismissed by the media and...

When people think of the word “raw,” one of the first things that comes to mind is probably bloody meat. Yet that is not the image of a raw foods diet. A raw foodie strives to eat only that which the human body is biologically designed to digest—organic and uncooked fruits, nuts and vegetables. Raw foods are defined as foods that contain their natural enzymes. Enzymes aid in the digestion and absorption of food. Because enzymes begin to degrade at a minimum of 106 degrees Fahrenheit, raw foodies avoid cooked...

One of the most commonly recurring phrases while touring colleges is “security.” For schools to be competitive, they need to sell campus security to the parents, so they believe that their “babies” are safe out in the big world. Security, however, is neither as stringent as is advertised, nor does it have to be. While Security Services is concerned with the safety of students, a big part of it involves the parking lots and helping people who have been locked out, not preventing bad things from happening to students. Even...

You know that character with schizophrenia who is convinced that the government is watching him and is used in nearly every hospital or alien related movie ever made? Today, he might not be entirely crazy to believe that his every move is being tracked. Although there are several situations in which devices that can track a person’s location can be good, and even save lives, it is necessary for the government to set up boundaries that limit the violations of personal privacy. After 9/11, the government implemented the Federal Communications...

Egypt removed an egocentric dictator from thirty years of reign, and yet here in the US we cannot get a single politician to choose education over his Republican beliefs. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s responses have been nothing but dismissive of the protesters’ wants. As he represents the voice of the people, this is unacceptable. The Wisconsin protests revolve around Governor Walker’s push to cut benefits for state workers, which includes teachers. His cuts would essentially eliminate the effectiveness of unions. The only power that would remain is effectively described in...

The question in everyone’s mind recently has been “where the hell am I going to live next year?” A few students offered a little guidance on the matter. The three major options are living on campus in a dorm, on campus in a house, or braving the not-so-dangerous waters to live off campus. The most classic college living experience-meaning the one most often portrayed in movies- is the dorm room. Chancy for the first year (there’s no saying who you might be living with!) by the time the second year...