Column

Art should invite response, both positive and negative I’m not an avid reader of young adult literature anymore, but reading YA was a rite of passage for my friends and me, especially the YA books of Sarah Dessen. By the time we left high school, we read just about every book that Dessen had written […]

Who qualifies as a hall of famer is becoming increasingly complex in a rapidly changing NFL The NFL Hall of Fame is a tricky business. At its core, it’s a museum full of creepy busts and preserved memorabilia. But the players whose faces those busts resemble, and who get the golden jackets, are a representation […]

And how should we define it? One of my environmental policy professors concluded a recent lecture about environmental justice (EJ) by asking the class whether or not we think achieving EJ is actually possible. One student eagerly raised their hand as if they had some very strong opinions about this and said, “I have some […]

Telling the stories of women means telling stories about a variety of women In anticipation of season three of “The Crown,” which was released on Nov. 17, there was one thought circling in my head: I was finally going to be watching a show in which the lead is a middle-aged woman.  “The Crown” isn’t […]

Jay-Z is no sell-out This August, Jay-Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, entered into a multi-year deal with the NFL to “enhance the NFL’s live game experiences and to amplify the league’s social justice platforms.” It’s a step in the right direction for a league that has struggled with racial inequality and player freedom for the […]

A case study in the confounding contradictions of corporate environmental stewardship A few weeks ago, in one of my environmental policy classes, we had a guest speaker from the Pacific Institute, an Oakland-based environmental NGO that works primarily on water issues. She spoke mainly about the importance of the Pacific Institute’s role in facilitating corporate […]

YA novels are unique and important for the way they allow readers to connect to stories  For better or worse, I credit the development of my formative teenage years to young adult literature. Over time, I have slowly moved away from YA, but I still think there’s a lot of value in these books, even […]

Revenue from the fantasy football industry has propelled the league to change the way we consume its product Fantasy football makes every NFL game worth watching, which is exactly why the league has invested millions of dollars in getting you to play it. As a massive generator of revenue, it has driven the growth of […]

It’s funny because more Americans will get sick and die as a result. Get it? President Donald Trump spends his time distracting America by screaming and whining about what an innocent, perfect-call-making, stable genius he is (as any stable genius would). All the while, the environmental deregulation crusaders planted throughout his administration have been busy […]

A no-nonsense and uncreative poem might just be the most creative thing you’ll hear about today I never found myself captivated by poetry until my friend introduced me to Kenneth Goldsmith. The more I looked into Goldsmith and his work, the more fascinated I was with not only his poetry but his conception of it. […]

The NFL’s ongoing issues with racial inequality are a stark reflection of our society The racial divide in the NFL is wider than ever. Given that only three of the 32 teams in the league have a minority head coach, it should come as no surprise that the NFL just earned its lowest score for […]

When “sincerely” just isn’t sincere enough Undoubtedly, the most valuable bit of knowledge you’ll ever learn at college is mastering the art of proper email etiquette. Appropriate salutations, acknowledging your professor’s Ph.D. title and a formal tone are all important things to consider when drafting your message. But you already knew that.  The greatest challenge […]