There’s an inherited right we have as Americans that we take for granted and misuse often: Freedom of speech. We like freedom of speech. This country was founded on the principles of freedom while also having a strong central government. But something is changing, and I don’t like it.
Ever since the election of Donald Trump, many college students find...
An ancient proverb from the country of Snoglandia features the grizzly bear as the omnipotent symbol of wisdom. The beautiful, furry creature is probably the most underrated and underappreciated creature in American society. Since the swapping of a grizzly bear with UCR’s current mascot Scotty the Bear as a result of the widely reported “Freaky Friday” wave, the change...
As the “Freaky Friday” phenomenon hit the UC Riverside community over the weekend, it came with it the swapping of our beloved Scotty the Bear mascot with that of a grizzly bear. While the change was initially humorous, ditching the cute, loveable mascot for an actual grizzly bear is absolutely absurd.
In the long-run, this mascot would be unable to...
On Feb. 28, 2017, President Donald J. Trump gave his first speech to the U.S. Congress, one that highlighted his goals for the peace, prosperity and security of all American citizens. Trump renewed many of his campaign promises, such as eradicating Islamic State group and bringing America’s infrastructure to the 21st century. One question seems to be blowing around...
On Feb. 28, 2017, President Donald Trump gave his first address to a joint session of Congress, delineating and consolidating many of his campaign and executive proposals unrolled in the first hundred days of his office. This address to a joint session to Congress was ostensibly an attempt to clarify his program and present a united front for the...
As I was driving home from UCR last Friday, I was unlucky enough to be flipping through the channels on my car radio (most of the stations were on commercial breaks) and happened upon a pair of musical monstrosities. No, it wasn’t Taylor Swift; I would have been able to ignore bad pop music. Instead, it was a pair...
People like to talk badly about covers of popular songs or disqualify them from being considered art because they seem like a glorified version of karaoke. And true, much cover music doesn’t exactly improve on the original and just ends up polluting the radio and other music streaming services (there are way too many versions of “All I Want...
American history and American culture are both completely intertwined with protest and rebellion. To protest something that you see as injustice in order to fix that injustice is among one of the most patriotic actions you can take. However, that doesn’t mean all protests are constructive or useful. If not handled carefully, protests can easily explode into violence, resulting...
Last week’s fiery events at Berkeley ignited a new debate over the drawbacks and downfalls of protesting. Armchair activists, safe behind their keyboards, stick their nose up and declare protests to be a nuisance or claim that these riots have somehow discredited any peaceful opposition to the “alt-right” and the Trump administration. These are the same people who said,...
In 2012, the permanent secretary of the Nobel Committee, Horace Engdahl, made a controversial statement that “American literature is too isolated, too insular,” prompting fears that the Swedish Academy had ruled out American writers for the prize in the foreseeable future. With this statement, and the recent trajectory of Nobel prize winners being authors not very well known in...