Defend your peers, stand together

Last week, I utilized the first half of my final 1,500 words for this paper to issue the first half of my “senior will” for the underclassmen students of this university. In that column, I asked that they defend their rights and make their voices heard, not only to ...

Speak out instead of finding excuses

You’re almost there. You have almost reached the point where you will never again have to read any of my off-beat rants. In two weeks, my tenure with this publication will come to an end just shortly before my tenure at this university as an undergraduate student does the ...

Trayvon case highlights greater issue

Sometimes it’s funny how a single personal experience can explain or represent a much larger phenomenon.
    
Last week, while sitting in one of my history classes, the professor informed us that we would be discussing the Civil Rights Movement over the course of the next few lectures. So I ...

Liberal, not always environmentalist

Once upon a time, in a not so recent edition of this very column, I attacked the Occupy Wall Street movement as being frivolous and for lacking a discernible sense of direction. That particular column — like so many of the columns I have had printed in the pages of this ...

SGA elections entertain as always

I cannot explain it. I could not even begin to try to articulate my convoluted reasoning for it, but I have surprisingly been rather uncharacteristically intrigued by this year’s installment of the three ring circus that is the elections for legislative seats and executive positions in the UT SGA ...

Rush’s remarks still inflammatory

I quite often find it difficult not to quirk my brow in amazement, shake my head in surprise, and give a sardonic chuckle at the nature of American society, particularly when it comes to political discourse.
    
 If you have gone through the arduous task of reading my rants on a ...

Personal experience meets policy

 If you are a somewhat politically opinionated individual like me, you have probably experienced a particularly troublesome phenomenon at least once in the time you have been participating in political discourse. The phenomenon to which I refer is the one where you adamantly stand up for a particular side of ...

Pornography bill hides real intention

I support Internet child pornography.
    
OK, before you flip out, call the cops and start searching sex offender registries for a match to the horrendous picture that appears on a weekly basis next to my left-of-center blatherings, please give me a moment so that I can make an attempt to ...

Administration enjoys irrelevant SGA

I don’t like the SGA.
    
You must have surmised that from reading my tirades from last year around election time. I guess you read about how I find them to be a useless and powerless organization, a waste of university funding, and a blight on the face of American ...

NFL should expand to serve fan base

Thick in the midst of an election year, the thing we keep hearing about the most is the state of the American economy. From President Obama and the Democrats heralding supposedly promising statistics on job creation and a minuscule downswing in unemployment numbers, to presidential contenders in the Republican Party ...

J.C. Penney stands against prejudice

 Friday, this newspaper published a wonderfully written and well-reasoned column by Wiley Robinson. The piece — titled “Better Alternative to Religion Bashing” — did a magnificent job of pointing out many of the pitfalls that exist between the opposing sides of the religious spectrum in America, namely Christians and atheists. He quite ...

No chance for amicable election year

It was the finger point heard round the world. From a highly secured tarmac in Arizona, a feisty, apparently bi-polar Republican governor stuck her highly manicured digit in the face of the most powerful man in the world and, in the process, created a firestorm that overtook American political discussion ...

Curtail Congress’ hypocrisy this spring

Spring semesters at UT have a few constants. Invariably discussions of NCAA Tournament brackets will grow rampant across campus in March, alarmingly insane fundamentalist protesters will make their return whenever the weather once again favors their escapades, and the Big Orange Farce that is the Student Government Association will hold ...

Avoid overextending holiday debt

Everyone’s family has holiday traditions, especially when it comes to Thanksgiving. Whether it is gathering around the table at Granny’s, decorating an evergreen tree almost a month before Christmas, huddling up around a big screen television to watch the Detroit Lions or the Dallas Cowboys play their annual ...

Balancing budget cuts, tuition hikes

   
Think back to your childhood. For most of us, there was at least one time when our parents gave us a choice in a store. Whether it was candy, toys or anything else, the conundrum was always the same: You can have this or you can have that, but you ...

Debate defines one’s ‘personhood’

You know, loyal “Deep End” readers, I try.
    
I try to be accommodating of people with political beliefs that differ from mine, regardless of how loopy I personally find those opinions. I have tolerated and listened to Occupiers, Tea Partiers, Ron Paul supporters and even one Dennis Kucinich supporter back ...

Fans need to cut Dooley some slack

 Sometimes it just plain hurts to be a Tennessee fan.
    
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re probably assuming that I’m about to launch into some 750-word tirade about how our football team is wallowing in mediocrity and/or how the expectations for our men’s basketball ...

Haslam losing grip on Occupiers

It’s the topic of discussion that just will not go away. As much as some Americans might like it to just disappear, the Occupy Wall Street movement simply continues to stand out among most everything that is taking place in the news at this point in time. Now, while ...

Notes on OWS, school reform

Who would have known that one little line, one measly little sentence, could be the proverbial stick to the hornets’ nest that started a swarm of discontent and frustration among a significant proportion of liberals on this campus? Turns out my solitary line of ambivalence towards the Occupy movement in ...

Fawkes still inspires activists

Chances are, most of you are saying that you haven’t. Whether it is because you haven’t delved that far into English history (and honestly, if that’s the case, I can’t blame you) or because you simply just cannot place a face with the name, I’m ...

Williams song pulled unjustly

If you bothered and/or were unfortunate enough to read my ramblings last year, you might remember me coming to the defense of actor/comedian Gilbert Gottfried after insurance provider Aflac fired him over comments and jokes he made on Twitter in the wake of the tsunamis that hit Japan ...

Republicans lack real contender

I seem to be ticking a lot of my die-hard Republican friends, acquaintances, and detractors off, but that’s understandable. I mean, after all, I have always maintained that President Barack Obama will retain his seat in the White House next fall despite a lot of criticism lobbed at him ...

Religion strongly influences voters

It was not all that long ago that I can remember overhearing a conversation between a couple of ardent Christians about their doubts over whether or not President Obama was capable of meeting their standards as to how spiritual an American president should be. Now, most would probably either say ...

Duncan dances around teacher pay

Not too long ago, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proposed a sizable bump in pay for primary and secondary teachers in the United States. He suggested a base starting salary of $60,000 for incoming teachers — part of an effort to get some of the best and the brightest out ...

Critically evaluate 9/11 reflections

If Alan Jackson can do it, it can’t be that hard…
    
“Where were you when the world looked back at when the world stopped turning that September day? Teaching a class full of hungover undergrads or working at some sleazy bar or café?”
    
O.K., so I need to ...

Buyer’s remorse plagues Democrats

In the aftermath of the powerful storms that tore through the South in the spring of this year, I, like many, was left with a vehicle riddled with damage from large hail. My car had dents all over its body, had its windshield cracked in several places to the point ...

US government must prioritize

Have you ever seen the film, “Wag the Dog?”
    
Chances are, if you’re not intrigued by politically charged cinema, you’ve probably skipped this humorous, yet sometimes disturbing movie.
    
The basic premise of the film is that the fictitious president gets caught up in a sex scandal mere days ...

Auto accident example of need for integrity

I recently had the misfortune of falling victim to a hit-and-run driver in the C-8 parking lot on campus. While my car was in no way damaged as bad as some of those who were victimized by uprooted trees, downed limbs or toppled telephone poles after Monday's hellacious storm ...

Age not necessarily indicative of wisdom

Think for a moment, if you will, of all the times you've heard the phrase, "Respect your elders." It's an imperative that exists in the body of many religious texts, including the Bible, and is one of the first ideals many parents try to instill in their children ...

Students falling prey to federal ‘loan sharks’

What exactly are loan sharks supposed to look like? Movies, television and other media usually depict them as being men of small stature with sleaze-ball grins, a wardrobe that should be incinerated for the good of the national sanity and oily, slicked-back hair that is so greasy you could use ...

Pastor creates dangerous political climate

We've all had moments when we are faced with an issue or situation where the solution is obvious but it goes against things that we believe in as individuals, communities and as a nation. These are the moments when the "stuck between a rock and a hard place" idiom ...

Case made for Bray as SGA president

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column that called the legitimacy of the Student Government Association into question. I decried its assertion that it functions as a truly representative voice for the entirety of more than 27,000 students who attend this institution or has any real function ...

Too much focus put on political correctness

Oh the multitude of events that occurred while the lot of us were off partying on some distant beach, taking in the sights at a tourist hotspot, volunteering with reputable causes or working for the entirety of Spring Break 2011. Japan was hit with the perfect trifecta of calamities — an ...

Nostalgia fosters illusion of modern success

Over the course of this academic year, I have had two classes with Bob Hutton, namely History 354, which covers American history from 1877 to 1933, and History 355, which covers American history from 1933 to the present. Each class starts out with a sort of Q-and-A session, and, over ...

Scholastic elections mock true democracy

It is getting closer and closer to spring here at UT. With the impending season of rebirth and booming sales for the manufacturers of allergy medications come a few time-honored traditions. Some examples of these Big Orange customs include nail biting over our basketball team's survival in the SEC ...

Charity should begin on homefront

We've all done it. We've all stayed up way too late at night, surfing through channels of nonsense that the television networks delayed broadcasting until the wee hours of the morning because they didn't think it would pull in a substantial audience. Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim ...

Taxes represent necessary, tough choices

Well, what d'ya know ... it's tax season. W2s are rolling in, people are tossing envelopes labeled "IMPORTANT: TAX INFORMATION" into the corner (because after all, procrastination is an American pastime) and firms like H&R Block are putting on a full-court press of advertising to the anxious public ...

Rally’s intentions noble but misguided

Glance over the thousands of Facebook, Twitter and various other social networking pages of students, faculty and staff at this university, and I would dare say that they all have at least one thing in common: quotes. They are usually quotations from the noteworthy, be it in media, sports, academia ...

Administration heeding student concerns

I have been writing for school publications on and off for the entirety of my academic career. I wrote insignificant articles for student-written newsletters in elementary and middle school (though one could argue this column in itself is of no significance), and I served on my high-school newspaper's staff ...

Manipulation often worst tool in politics

Did you catch the State of the Union address Tuesday night? If you missed it, President Barack Obama highlighted the economy, potential for job creation, and made a mad dash for the center that would have made Bill Clinton blush in 1994. Yep, it was pretty much business as usual ...

King’s actions overshadow possible flaws

I have had an interest in history for as long as I can remember. Reading, watching documentaries and attending lectures have all, at various times, been utilized to fulfill my craving to learn about and try to understand the past. Part of it is just an interest in being able ...

Tragedy appears to spur opportunism

What is it about the human condition that inspires people to take advantage of the pain and suffering of others? Is it simply an offshoot of schadenfreude? Is it greed? Is it a personal lust for fame and glory? Whatever the case may be, recent examples, however nauseating, are numerous ...

UT creates unnecessary classroom issues

Not too long ago, I postulated that some sort of degree in hypocrisy was necessary to be considered a candidate for a position in the administration of this university. Since that time, a similar realization, one that rears its ugly head every semester, has occurred.

If you’re a student ...

Voter ignorance dangerous for democracy

The 2010 midterm elections have come and gone. Just as pundits, experts, academics and laymen predicted, the Republicans won the day. Sure, their victories are not as widespread as some prophesized, such as Sen. Harry Reid retaining office and the Democrats maintaining control of the Senate, but they achieved victories ...

Democrats should focus on getting job done

I've read The Daily Beacon every weekday it has been published in my collegiate career. In that time I had never really agreed with or lent much credence to pieces written by conservative columnists who have been employed by this paper, finding their words and ideas to be objectionable ...

Citizens’ civic duties extend to local voting

As I readied myself for the festivities of the weekend, a thought crossed my mind: "Oh, crap! I still haven't voted!"

Unlike some politically active upperclassman, an undoubtedly sizable proportion of the rest of the student body and most of this university's faculty and staff, I am not ...

Intolerance in Western nations inexcusable

The U.S. is not No. 1 in very many categories these days. Health care coverage, education statistics and incarceration rates are just a few of numerous examples of instances where the United States — formerly chart-toppers in every major area of measurement — has slipped. Thankfully, however, one place we have ...

No place for marriage in modern society

On my way back to Knoxville from my trip home over fall break, I was flipping through the radio stations, trying to find something to fill the entertainment void of the last NFL football game that was being broadcast for the night, when I stumbled across one of the local ...

Defense lawyers wrongly painted as villains

This coming weekend, I, like many, will roll the dice and trudge into a testing center to try my luck at the Law School Admission Test.

Whether or not it will be an effort worth jubilation and multiple sighs of relief or something more along the lines of a trip ...

Prop 8 ruling to make marriage views moot

Ah, sunny California. It’s the land of grizzly bears, Hollywood starlets and …Tom Cruise. It has brought us hundreds of blockbuster movies, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and … Scientology. But despite all of the overt and blaring examples of bombastic media brilliance and unadulterated vanity that this state displays ...

Issue of veterans with PTSD understated

Last week, I addressed my alarm at the apparent apathy the national media and a large number of citizens are showing towards the return of military men and women from combat duty in Iraq. The response I received from veterans, family members of veterans and the families of servicemen and ...

Time for US to thank Iraq veterans

One of the greatest and most important pieces of news to hit American media in years came last week, but sadly, that amazing story just drifted quietly into the background. 

For those of you who might have missed it, the last combat troops are being sent home from their tours ...

History favors Obama, Democrats in 2012

As we kick off our new school year, I extend the usual customary welcome to all new and returning students as well as faculty, staff and others who have an integral part in the inner workings of this university. I have little doubt things will once again get very interesting ...