Columns

Last weekend marked the 142nd annual National Rifle Association Meetings and Exhibitions. It was held in Houston, Texas, and featured such esteemed guests as Glenn Beck, junior U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and former Gov. Sarah Palin.

The past couple years have seen the already heated gun control debate combust. The highly publicized mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., have inspired gun-control advocates to author and attempt to pass the most comprehensive gun-control measures in two decades, an attempt that was defeated by a minority in the U.S. Senate.

Since it’s the last issue of the semester, I wanted to go out with a bang — or at least encourage you to. Luckily, the first-ever International Clitoris Awareness Week, going on now, gives us all the perfect reason.

The Republican Party is known for its war against science; whether the war involves its ignorance on global warming, evolution or same-sex rights. Some conservatives have a difficult time attempting to justify their laughable misconceptions of reality.

Recent news shows that they continue to impress.

As college students, we are always thinking of the next step and how we will make that inevitable switch from our role as students to professionals. Although we often dream of the day that we leave this campus behind us, are any of us ever really ready to be spit out into the job market full of fresh faces just like ours? 

With finals week just around the corner, many students are finalizing summer plans and preparing for fall semester. Others are preparing for their walk across the stage, diploma in hand.

If you are enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, you have probably been lectured by parents, former teachers, friends, relatives or even online trolls that your degree will guarantee you a position at the local fast-food restaurant.

In a few days, the University of Minnesota campus will resemble a post-apocalyptic ghost town, when most of us will rock this casbah — leaving behind the diabolical chaos of finals, the over-caffeinated beverages, meteoric stress levels and a devastating sleep schedule.

We will be liberated from lengthy readings, classes, assignments and even the annoying rants of Minnesota Daily columnists. The end of another school year is a reason to be happy.

This year, due to the high rate of influenza, the University of Minnesota temporarily suspended two policies. The first was that students must attend the first day of class or risk losing their spot in the class, and the second was that a student must provide a doctor’s note if they missed class due to influenza or other illness.

My grandfather is fond of relating his experiences to me. One of his favorite stories is that he was one of the first employees at his company to request a computer. His argument was that everything was moving in the direction of computers, so his company needed to jump on board. My grandfather worked in telemetry and satellite tracking; it made sense, yet his company was still hesitant: Computers were expensive.

Last week, the Sports Illustrated cover story featured NBA player Jason Collins, who revealed he is gay. His words on the front cover sum up the significance of his disclosure: “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation.”

I spend a lot of time thinking about movies. Usually it’s in sort of a passive way, like speaking in references, comparing the events of my life with the plot point tropes of my favorite films, figuring out who my friends would be if they were characters in “Blazing Saddles,” stuff like that. To make the process active, I watch between three and five movies a week, reviewing one every weekend.