Issues Category

As we gear up for this holiday season, it is important to remember that embodying the holiday spirit means more than just buying some fancy gifts for your loved ones. In 2017, a year which has seen a disproportionate number of global tragedies, it is perhaps more important than ever to try to help those who are less fortunate. While many charitable efforts this year have focused on areas devastated by hurricanes, like Puerto Rico and Houston, today we’re bringing your attention to a pervasive, ubiquitous issue in India. ApproximatelyRead More

I would like to share something that happened to me on Facebook earlier this week, and no, it had nothing to do with cat videos or a political yelling match. Monday afternoon I came across this piece in Gizmodo. For the “too long, didn’t read” crowd, it is a case study in Facebook’s community standards. User Erin La Ninfa, who runs the blog “Just Another White Hoe,” created and posted the above image to Facebook to find that she and the friends who shared it were flagged and the imageRead More

I recently went to Six Flags Magic Mountain with my brother-in-law on a whim. Upon walking through security by the entrance plaza, I saw a scene all-too-familiar within high capacity events: long bathroom lines. Typically, the line for the men’s room is nothing to fret about. The line moves relatively quickly and one can get their business done without too much of a hassle. Popular culture has indicated to us that women use the restroom for much more than simple paperwork, if you catch my drift. For women, the restroomRead More

Thank you for honoring your oath to protect and serve, and continuing to put on the uniform that sadly has made you a target. Thank you for walking the thin line between life and death to keep our streets, towns, and cities safe. Thank you for doing right by even those who have done you wrong. Thank you for risking your lives to protect ours, and for suffering inconveniences to defend civil liberties. More importantly, thank you for risking your lives for those who misjudge you and villainize you. ThankRead More

I understand that sometimes, people really don’t know that much about feminism and are genuinely curious about it, so henceforth they try and ask questions which is 100% okay. But other times, people are just downright ignorant or dismissive about the subject and refuse to hear anything more about the topic. Some people simply don’t realize the feminism is essentially about the political, socioeconomic, and gendered equality of the sexes. What they might be getting feminism confused with is misandry (the belief that women are superior to men) which isRead More

In the past year, the entertainment industry has suffered the loss of renowned comedians and thespians (you know who they are). In response, general depression awareness levels were heightened on a national level. The societal fear of losing another entertainment icon (if you’re a millennial like I am, you miss the hell out of Peter Banning) has rattled the most durable of psyches, prompting those who suffer, primarily those inhabiting the vicious world of entertainment, to open up about their illness. Comedian Wayne Brady is the latest to go candid.Read More

On December 9th, 1988, 27-year-old Scott Johnson, a gay American mathematician, was found dead and naked on the rocks near Blue Fish Point in Sydney, Australia. No unusual conditions were noted. It was reported a suicide. A judge corroborated this theory. Scott’s older brother, Steve Johnson, thought differently. After hiring a private investigator, it became clear to Mr. Johnson that suicide was most likely not the case. Instead, it was discovered that Blue Fish Point was, in fact, what was known in Sydney as a ‘gay beat’, which is toRead More

When it comes to questioning gender roles and the social constructs created by society, I have always felt that it creates some rift and controversy between people. Many individuals have their own opinions on race, gender, and popular culture, although I feel that the majority of people prefer to lace their viewpoints with what society deems as “right” or “normal”. I believe that everything, especially gender and race, is a very fluid and wide spectrum of ideals and options. I’m part of a program called Gender Studies, which can isRead More

I’ve had three Bloody Mary’s and seventeen olives and I’m in that crater of a conversation that revolves around significant others and their brunch orders. I wish I cared what your boring boyfriend chose to eat for breakfast to accommodate his Paleo diet and stomach sensitivity to dairy, but I don’t. I would rather gag myself with the bright green straw in charge of my Bloody Mary consumption and re-eat the marbled pieces of olive after I’ve thrown them up than continue the conversation.  After this instance I realized thatRead More

I have always felt really strongly that I know who I am. I’ve never cared what people thought of me; I wore what I wanted, I did what I wanted, I wasn’t afraid of letting my opinion be known, and I have always done what I felt was best for me. I was a bright high school student who has always fostered a love of books, and I still read voraciously. I used to draw, I painted, I constantly rearranged and redecorated my college dorm rooms and apartments into whatRead More

When you grow up with a father who is an alcoholic, either recovering, recovered, or who currently has a problem, you learn a lot of things. In my case, my parents divorced when I was very young, and so many of these things I did not learn until later. I have always struggled because of this. When your father is an alcoholic, you learn that it’s weird that you come from a broken home. There is a special bond between a father and his daughter, and you learn quickly thatRead More

I recently read an article on Thought Catalog entitled “25 men discuss the difference between the girl they want to date and the girl they want to hook up with.” Now. I mean this as no discredit to the author, because she simply posed the question on the website Reddit and recorded twenty-five of the responses. To her credit, it is an interesting concept in essence. The subject alone has the potential to become a really provocative peek into the so called “toxic hook up culture” and get an interesting conversation started.Read More

I’ve seen a lot of articles recently regarding ‘rape culture,’ and while many of them are poignant, thought provoking pieces that really contribute to the cause of stopping said rape culture, there are several articles out there that take the term to the extreme, making women out to be victimized. In my opinion, this further propagates rape culture by taking arguments and pushing them to extremes. So I made a handy list, which in my opinion, outlines some of the topics that help call out and end rape culture, andRead More

If you use the internet, this should matter to you. Last Sunday, former Daily Show correspondent John Oliver leapt into a 13-minute tirade on his new HBO show Last Week Tonight, introducing millions of viewers to the very important, yet often misunderstood concept of net neutrality.  The video has since gone viral and – thanks both to Oliver’s pleas and the Reddit community – tens of thousands of internet commenters took to the FCC’s website and crashed the system with their complaints.  See the video for yourself here: It seemsRead More

By now we’ve seen the headlines.  We’ve scrambled to make sense of a horrific act of violence that brought a quiet college town to its knees.  We’ve cursed, we’ve mourned and in the case of us Gauchos, we’ve stood together – wounded but unified – in the wake of unspeakable tragedy. Last Friday, a gunman drove through the UCSB beachside town of Isla Vista slaughtering six and wounding thirteen more before turning the gun on himself.  Hours before the event, he uploaded a video explaining the reasons for his attack. Read More