Opinion

Tuesday Oct. 26, 2011, a group of individuals distributed DVDs entitled “180” on the UC Davis campus. The content of the film was both triggering for many in our communities and also deceitfully hidden. Our response to “180” is multi-faceted and we want to share both our support for the community and share our critique.

I am an Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Student Assistant in the Health Education and Promotion (HEP) department of Student Health and Counseling Services, and I wanted to address some suggestions that were made in the column “Bar crawl a rite of passage for 21st birthdays”, which promoted the idea of going out on a bar crawl on one’s 21st birthday.

Since nice guys finish last, why don’t they upgrade to rascal? It’s only a matter of time before natural selection disposes of them completely. The world of romance would be a perfectly peachy paradise if there were a one-to-one ratio of girls and jerks. That way everyone gets what they want! Here’s why:.

Sex, drugs and alcohol are things that we’ve been told, from a very early age, to steer clear of. If you do them, you’ll die. And like all other bad deeds, they share a common denominator – one that gives birth to all things malevolent: peer pressure.

The dedication of the new Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. national memorial sculpture in Washington D.C. last week drew both reverent praise and ire. Martin Luther King III claims the statue is within his top three of 50 statues he’s seen of his father. If you’re like me and you’re wondering just how one ranks statues of his or her father, he claims it actually looks like his dad. But others are less impressed.

Since mid-October, Davis residents and students have been occupying Central Park to show solidarity with the global Occupy movement that originated on Wall Street. As a result, local activists have added Davis to the list of over 1,500 cities and towns worldwide that have similar demonstrations underway.

Tuesday morning marked the end of a long period of captivity for Israeli Seargent First Class Gilad Shalit. Shalit was taken captive on June 25, 2006 when his batallion was ambushed by a group of Palestinian militants in Kerem Shalom Israel, a few kilometers from Gaza and Egypt. One thousand nine hundred and forty two days after Shalit was taken captive, he finally returned home to Israel where he was warmly embraced by his family, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and the rest of his country. The release of Gilad Shalit came at a very high cost though, as Israel released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

Yes, readers, it’s that time of year again. That spooky night is coming where you can see that girl in your psych class dressed up as a slutty nurse grinding with some guy dressed up in a makeshift bed-sheet toga. That’s some scary stuff. With the big weekend coming up, you might be wondering what or whom you can dress up as. If you’re at a loss for what to be for Halloween, I’ve compiled a list of relevant costume ideas below.

Let’s face it. We came to college to go to class and get a degree. The easiest question to ask a fellow student you’re first meeting is, “So, what’s your major?” Although the ensuing conversation is not usually very entertaining, it can at least lead to the occasional, “Oh, I had that professor, I swear no one ever went to that lecture,” or, “Yeah, no … I don’t really take any science classes…”

It’s amazing the funny things you’ll notice in an airport if you’re open to observation.

Since before the advent of the Air Buddies movies, people have recognized that tiny, fuzzy animals are really cute. So naturally when one of my friends got an adorable puppy, suddenly everyone needed a baby mammal.

A friend e-mailed me last week and complimented my column. Sort of. He said my environmental one bored him. He wanted to hear about three things: the European Union, soccer and waffles.