Opinion

April 16, 2012

Leverage Your Degree, Learn to Network

By Sarah Puckette, A.J. Rawls

As a UCSB student, you are going to graduate with a degree from an esteemed research university and will be able to get any job you want … or so you think. Many of us have all the qualifications needed for a job, but a...

April 16, 2012

The Distinction Between Genuine Kindness and Excellent Acting

By Kevin Ferguson

What is it about someone telling you to be nice that makes you want to punch them in the face? We’ve all been there — making fun of someone for something they did, hating a girl because she’s prettier than you. It ...

April 15, 2012

Throw It Back to the Good Ol’ Days at Santa Ynez Mountains’ Natural Playground

By Harrison Gibson

March Madness, the Masters and Deltopia have all come and gone. Coachella is coming up, but it will pass too. With fleeting forms of entertainment coming and going, it’s assuring to know that we have access to one sour...

April 12, 2012

What Do You Think About the Annual Customary Celebration of Easter?

By Opinion Editor

As if singing songs, holding hands, and swallowing millennia-year-old dogma in the name of Christ’s gift of salvation every Sunday weren’t enough, Easter — the made-up day of Jesus’s cloud-mounting giddy-up to he...

April 12, 2012

Putting Our Inner Hipster Aside, Coming to Terms With Bieber Fever

By Dash Nye

Have you ever woken up one morning and realized you’re the hipster? My friends talk about how they hate the self-involved hypocrisy of these types of folks. But every day I feel like more and more of us are formulating...

April 11, 2012

Don’t Base Your Desires on the Gender Binary: Go For What Gets You Off

By Opinion Editor

Nation. People. Literate UCSB students. I come before you today to offer a study that will revolutionize science. Its elegance, infallibility, and pure genius will force the Nobel committee to establish an entirely new f...

April 10, 2012

The Unconstitutionality of Obamacare and the President’s Inappropriate Response

By Jeffrey Robin

When the Founding Fathers established this great nation, they did so in the name of one principal concept: individual liberty guaranteed by a divine creator. Our Constitution, the “Supreme Law” of our land, guarantee...

April 10, 2012

“Health Care Is a Human Right That Should Be Kept Affordable and Accessible”

By Geoffrey Bell

It’s finally upon us: the court case of the decade. Not since Bush v. Gore (2000) has a Supreme Court case garnered such widespread coverage and clout before a decision has even been passed — although it seems that o...

April 10, 2012

Banishing the No- Prefix Once and For All: Alternatives to Next Year’s Floatopia

By George Publius

Another year has gone by, and once again Floatopia was successfully banned. That’s three years now, which in my opinion is pretty damn depressing. As a third-year student, I got here just in time for it to be banned, w...

April 10, 2012

Lessons on Skepticism, Learned From a Life of Magic

By Kevin Ferguson

Growing up, I believed a lot of ridiculous things. For example, I convinced myself that the force was real for a while after watching “Star Wars” — the movie, obviously, was exaggerated, but there were people out t...

April 9, 2012

“If You Can’t Bribe a Politician, You Can Now Just Buy One”

By Riley Schenck

Money is flooding into political elections at an unprecedented rate, giving an enormous amount of influence to wealthy interests in our country. For decades special interest groups have spent millions trying to influence...

April 9, 2012

There’s No Denying Invisible Children’s Success in Spreading the Word on Kony

By Corie Anderson

As everyone has heard by now, the viral marketing campaign KONY 2012, made by the nonprofit company Invisible Children, has recently come under intense scrutiny in the media. Most coverage of the massively successful 30-...

April 6, 2012

“I’m just a normal guy. So don’t be scared.”

By David Washington

Hey man, why you looking so nervous?   I know you’re not used to seeing guys with skin like mine anywhere other than on ESPN or in the news for some crime. But don’t be scared, homie; I’m not here to hurt you....

April 6, 2012

I Got Arrested; George Zimmerman Did Not Get Arrested

By Matt Renner

On the night of Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, George Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Miraculously, Zimmerman has not been arrested or charged with any crimes. Our readers wish they could be so...

April 5, 2012

Should All Nonbelievers Unite Under the Common Banner of ‘Atheism’?

By Connor Oakes, Brian Gallagher

How many atheist politicians can you name? Naming Scandinavians is cheating; stick to the U.S. of A., please. Tough, isn’t it? Pete Stark, congressman for California’s 13th district, is the only openly atheist member...

April 5, 2012

Combating UCSB’s Voter Suppression

By Presley Mellor

It’s a pretty familiar refrain among college students: “It doesn’t matter if I vote or not. Our votes don’t make a difference; nobody cares if I vote.” The thing is, guys, you’re wrong about all of it. Yes, y...