Last year, I drew a comparison between the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 in Germany. Since writing that article, I have found myself noticing other similarities between our modern predicament and the history of Germany in the interwar period.
As a journalist, they teach you to be impartial. They teach you to not show biases and to report the news without showing a political stance. But with the recent events in Tennessee, I have to ask: When did children being murdered become a political issue? When did people being murdered in mass numbers on a near weekly basis become a political issue?
During my year of community college, I was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to take an American Sign Language (ASL) course. I had taken ASL classes in high school before, though my class was taught by a hearing teacher, so it was not as immersive. However, during my year of ASL taught by a deaf professor, I consider it to be the class that has educated me most. I was able to learn about the history of an entire culture and gain perspective for their way of life. While my ASL course was certainly the most enriching one I have taken, I continue to wonder how different would the world be if they knew what I had learned?
We all love to focus on the lives and the goings-on of celebrities. Whether they are athletes, actors or Youtubers, as long as they are a recognized name, we love to see what goes on in their extravagant lives. Recently though, many have voiced concerns over how much we obsess over celebrities. People hyper fixate on Pedro Pascal, Jenna Ortega or whoever the “it” person is for that week.
I’ve long been a fan of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” and its host, John Oliver, since his days on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Recently, Oliver produced a segment on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. TANF is a federal program that is designed to help low-income families make ends meet. The segment covers some of the myriad of problems with the program, most of which stem from mismanagement of funds by state officials.
A few weeks ago, I watched “Wall Street,” directed by Oliver Stone and starring Charlie Sheen, and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” for my fraud accounting class. In light of recent events in the financial industry, I have been thinking more and more about key lessons and takeaways from these movies.
On Feb. 23, Student Government Association (SGA) Vice President of Student Groups Brea Neal announced that the Student Groups Committee would no longer be approving any new student group requests in the current academic year.
As college students, we spend the past four long years of our lives to become experts in a dedicated field in order to pursue our future careers. Not to mention, the previous 13 years of schooling you attend to simply become a functioning member of society. Put that aside and think about the years in preschool learning your colors and shapes and numbers and you may come to the realization that the past 21 years of your 21-year-old life has been spent preparing you for your future career.
Many shows, books, movies and games fall under the science fiction genre, also known as sci-fi. Are we subjected to think that the artificial science portrayed on screen or on pages is what the future will look like? There are a countless number of fiction stories that heavily have science sequences. To name a few film series: “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “The Matrix,” and “Divergent.” There are also video games: “Cyberpunk,” “The Division,” and “Halo.” The list goes on and on.
In honor of the 95th Academy Awards, I decided to check out some of the nominees that I had missed from the year prior. One I was excited to check out was “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” The film garnered an insane amount of critical praise, currently sitting at a 95% critic score and 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. While it didn’t win Best Animated Feature, it still was one of my favorite films of last year.
The 95th Academy Awards brought with it some truly historic wins. Brendan Fraser, Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis took home their very first Oscars. Most movie-goers were thrilled for the latter, except for one. With “Everything Everywhere All At Once” being nominated for 11 awards, many thought that Stephanie Hsu would be the winner for supporting actress, but, alas, it was Curtis, despite her significantly smaller role.
Like many with an interest in history and politics, I’ve often found myself drawn to alternate history and dystopian fiction. There’s some allure to exploring paths that were not tread or adding a fork or two in the road and seeing how things turn out.
Humans’ lives before and after the creation of social media are not comparable because social media, as a modern invention, changed the ways we communicate, incredibly. Societies, politics, social interactions, economies and other aspects of human life changed after social media conquered the world. Specifically, Facebook became a platform for people around the world not only to communicate but also to share their daily thoughts and points of view on almost anything.
Last month, my friends and I traveled to New York City to see the sights and sounds of the city. I could not help but notice the undeniable reliance upon capturing each and every moment. In Central Park, we witnessed a couple take a self-timer photo, and immediately after it was taken, the woman’s smile dropped as she dashed towards her iPhone to analyze the photos, while her partner stood back, remaining in his position, awaiting her approval. A group of women rejoice on the sidewalk as they unanimously decide their third recording of a TikTok dance is post-worthy.
I recently took three hours out of my busy schedule to check out the re-release of “Titanic” in theaters. Ignore the fact I saw it by myself the day before Valentine’s Day — it is one of my favorite movies, so I put the loneliness aside. Even if you have never seen the film, chances are you are familiar with the iconic scene of Kate Winslet being drawn like “one of those French girls.” It has a surprising amount of nudity for a PG-13 film.
On Thursday, Shippensburg students took advantage of the sunny skies and warm temperatures by dodging classes, hanging up their hammocks and taking in an early summer feeling. However, a 70-degree day in the middle of February is — and should be — concerning to many.
On Feb. 7, President Joe Biden delivered his second State of the Union (SOTU) address to a joint session of Congress. The SOTU is a long-standing tradition that is built around Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution requiring the President to “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” President Biden delivered remarks regarding the U.S military position, economy, the fentanyl epidemic, border security, drug prices, racial equality, infrastructure, climate change and the raising of the debt ceiling.
February is here, and if you were to pick two important events during this 28-day period, chances are you are thinking of Valentine’s Day and Black History Month. However, for Shippensburg there’s another event filling up the days on the calendar — Be Kind Month. Meant to encourage students from across campus to treat each other with kindness, many feel that this fake holiday is greatly distracting from the real ones, in particular Black History Month.
Throughout my years at Shippensburg University, I have served on a variety of university committees and positions that have given me the opportunity to understand “university politics” to a degree few students have. Over the years, I have served on the planning and budget council, new student orientation committee, commencement committee and SUSSI board of directors, among others.
