It was the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2000: Election Day. I was in seventh grade at the time and the topic dominated conversation at Lawton Chiles Middle School for the past week; we even had a debate in my language arts class (all reflecting the views of our parents). The precinct

The University Student Center and Student Life Center are concrete testaments to what a unified university culture is capable of achieving. At the same time they are also testaments to the challenges students and administrators face in sharing the leadership and stewardship of our universities. Two years ago I imagined this being a time of

Five Man Electrical Band summed up election time best in their 1971 hit, “Signs.” “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign! Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind.” Election time strings mini-billboards along our roadways and in our neighborhoods. Sign wars have been ongoing for centuries, but what is the motive behind displaying signs that advertise our

Yelp and Urbanspoon lend more ears to our unpleasant dining experiences, extending grievances beyond our circle of friends. Somehow, a good rant makes customers feel like they got revenge. “The problem is that today we associate the act of complaining with venting far more than we do with problem solving,” said Guy Winch, Ph.D., and

I come from a land of snow and steel, a place whose culture is condensed to fried poultry by outsiders, and a place where football teams are elevated to symbols of regional virility. I come from Buffalo, N.Y. Being born to a small town near Buffalo in the late 1980s meant one thing—when Hank Williams

This year, the ‘Cities and the Environment’ resource institute shared a study revolving around urban students’ almost nonexistent schooling about local plants and insects. But before students can get educated about their own backyards, their teachers have to. The study sent 13 New York City public-school teachers and five undergrad teaching assistants 50 miles north

I’m currently in Tallahassee, the capital city of the great state of Florida. I’m doing some sightseeing, checking out my future office space (after you walk through security turn to the left at the Five Flags of Florida statue and it’s the office that says “Governor”) and researching for one of my three papers that

It’s hard to pinpoint the moment an acquaintance becomes a friend. Sometimes a shared experience is enough. Other times, tragedy binds us together. That’s how I realized Dillon was one of my best friends. I have no idea what kind of cat he was. The shelter called him a “domestic short hair,” the feline equivalent

A bounce house used to be the bee’s knees of kid birthday bashes, one that inflated young egos and insured attendance of party guests. But in the spirit of one-upping, a business in Madeira Beach offered parents and children of the Bay area a party gimmick that couldn’t be outdone: alligators for backyard swimming pools.

In 1994, a high-school history teacher in Missouri was baffled by the lack of gay and lesbian history found in textbooks. He founded LGBT history month for the month of October, dedicated to observing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. National Coming Out Day is Oct. 11. It started in 1988; a year after the