Keep faith in job searching

As the end of the semester approaches, I have many questions for myself. I feel like I am doing everything at the last minute these days. Except, ironically, this column. Completed two full days before it's due? My brain is weird.

Another question that passes through my mind quite ...

Failure happens, learn to deal

I debated whether or not to write this column, mainly because I have never understood the taboo of admitting failure. As a senior I took literary theory and criticism, and it did not go well.

Apparently, my presence was like that of a drunk at a solemn occasion. I spoke ...

Proposed gun reform misses target

Once, when I was younger, I stubbed my toe. My sister laughed and said, "Well, I guess we better amputate at the neck." Sometimes, like my sister, Congress completely fails to assign a relevant solution to one of the nation's problems. Instead, they attempt to solve crises that don ...

Undergraduate students still maturing

I think I am becoming an old man. I find myself wearing boat shoes with white socks, consuming yogurt daily, and even occasionally going to bed before 9 p.m. I am even starting my "second puberty" and have been growing more hair. Not really any new hair, just more ...

Partisan email campaigns fail to effect change

One of the, uh, "perks" of writing for The Daily Beacon is that many people, ranging from the genuinely concerned to the genuinely insane, like to send me emails. These can range from the informative to the insane. There is one mailing list I was put on that sends me ...

Sequestration highlights political failure

As we enter another phase of talks about spending cuts, leaving Republicans to demand that the “tired, poor and hungry” become, well, more of all those things, and Democrats wearing actual ski masks as they ransack the mansions of the rich, we ought to ask ourselves a question with a ...

History holds value beyond academia

One thing that binds all of us who either are or aspire to be professional historians is that all of us are sure that historians are useful, and that removing them (by way of cutting funding) from universities would be a very bad thing.

And even though I think this ...

Republicans resemble hippies

Hippies today (or at least those who have inherited the title) aren't much respected. The reason for this has little to do with the substance of what they believe. It has much more to do with the fact that their worldview doesn't allow for any substance to come ...

Gaps in journalistic skill threaten writing

Some sports fans may remember the debate about whether Mike Trout, the precocious rookie, deserved the MVP award or if it should be given to eventual winner Miguel Cabrera. What made this debate particularly intense was that Trout was the favorite of statheads, while more so-called "traditional" baseball fans could ...

'State of the Union' never worth watching

As a rule, I never watch the State of the Union address.

Why? Well, for one thing, all of the applause is infuriating. I am not sure why this began — as with everything else wrong with the country, I blame Dwight Eisenhower. OK, not everything is his fault, but apparently ...

Better answer to preparing students for careers

As a graduate student in history, I am obviously biased, but the idea at hand in Florida that some majors are worth more than others is, well, wrong, but it sounds right.

You see, the idea is that engineering majors are more utilitarian than, say, a classics major. Being as ...

Human nature bounds new ideas

Sometimes things are hard. I usually enjoy writing these columns. Part of it is something close to arrogance, because I regularly think that I have a unique way of saying things. As the world's population not only grows but gains both the skills and the access to generate and ...

Addressing lines of femininity, chauvinism

Sometimes my mind goes to strange places. When listening to folk music I sometimes wonder if I could ever be the kind of person who writes folk music. It's more than just a question of talent (my musical abilities are best left inside my car) but a question of ...

Fitting response needed for Newtown

I wanted to wait for a while before I organized my thoughts about the tragedy at Newtown.

What caught my attention is not the issue of gun control.  If you can make an argument that a massacre isn’t the best backdrop for a reasonable discussion about the issue, it ...

Many perils in graduate applications

Welcome back! As we begin the new semester, fully rested after a month-or-so vacation, and return to the messy roommate and the dead feeling of waking up early, I am reminded of what this semester was once and will be again for me: the big, long wait.

You see, spring ...