Also in Columns

• Clinton should abandon efforts for presidency

  Updated Mon 8:55pm

  I have something to say.

  What I have to say has been said before, by many people — most of whom are far more qualified than I am on the subject.

  The thing is that it obviously hasn’t sunk in.

• Candidates share similar politics

  Updated Sun 8:47pm

  News flash: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are not different.

  When this stupid primary started, I seem to recall that being the general consensus. Disturbingly, a few months of verbal excrement from the candidates has severely polarized many Democratic voters.

• Take advantage of diverse campus

  Updated 04/24/2008 6:55pm

  After living on campus for nine months, besides the people I work with, I can count on one hand the number of friends I have who aren’t black.

• Goals vary for pope, Dalai Lama

  Updated 04/23/2008 7:05pm

  For the past two weeks, the attention of American media has been largely focused on religion, spirituality and philosophy as the country hosted two of the world’s most revered spiritual leaders: the pope and the Dalai Lama. I think their experiences here illustrate how great of a distance exists between their worlds.

• Lots of lessons learned at MSU

  Updated 04/22/2008 7:24pm

  This is the time of year most seniors would choose to eulogize their college experience with a teary farewell. But I somehow doubt the impact of sappy senior goodbyes — especially when they all tend to say the same things.

• Youth use web as source of action

  Updated 04/21/2008 7:35pm

  Every time I hear a sentence that starts with “Kids these days � “ a negative assumption about Generation Y is sure to follow. Some parents, professors and peers think society has taken a dive into immorality rather than into progress within the past 20 years.

• New state energy plan is sketchy

  Updated 04/20/2008 7:21pm

  The big news out of Lansing last week was that a bipartisan, comprehensive and long-term energy plan was passed by the Michigan House of Representatives. Those are some adjectives that we don’t see coming out of Lansing too often. Should we, as citizens, merely accept this as a good policy on the basis of its boldness and bipartisan support?

• Take back your right to vote

  Updated 04/17/2008 7:13pm

  Given the events of the past two weeks, it’s time we take a break from the infringements on the supposed “right to party” and focus instead on a disturbing trend affecting a more fundamental right: voting.

• Virginia Tech shootings site of 'second home'

  Updated 04/16/2008 7:23pm

  Wednesday was the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

  After all was said and done, 33 people lost their lives in what ended up being the deadliest school shooting in American history.

• Controlling caffeine habit good for health

  Updated 04/15/2008 7:18pm

  It was a tensely silent moment. There I was, sitting in an Olin Health Center examining room a couple of months ago answering the doctor’s perfunctory questions regarding my general health. One question, however, said it all.

• Personal needs trump genocide in U.S. minds

  Updated 04/14/2008 11:43pm

  I’ve lost my iPod and my cell phone before. It wasn’t pretty. But worse, I think, was losing both of my hands.

• Victims, community need to speak up

  Updated 04/13/2008 7:11pm

  People wonder why I didn’t scream or try to get away. He grabbed me from behind and fondled my breasts, my crotch and my butt. Panic set in. I was in shock, paralyzed in the place where I stood. I didn’t even know what was happening. Ten other men stood around, watching, doing nothing to help me. One of them called out to him, “Hey, do you know this girl? What are you doing?”

• Olympics doesn't outshine Issues

  Updated 04/10/2008 7:31pm

  As of late, the Olympic torch has looked more like a celebrity being chased by paparazzi or a controversial politician on the run than a historic symbol of a global athletic competition. In Paris, Olympic officials extinguished the flame and put it on a bus to avoid the crowds before they canceled a leg of its tour of Paris. Before the torch arrived in San Francisco, daring protesters climbed the Golden Gate Bridge to unfurl a giant banner that read “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet.”

• Life tough with no cell phone

  Updated 04/09/2008 7:22pm

  They say you never know what you’ve got until it’s gone. For the past week, that statement especially has rung true for me.

• Grads flee Mitten for better jobs

  Updated 04/08/2008 7:10pm

  One of the many joys college graduates are facing — or will face in the coming weeks and months, depending on the amount of procrastination — is the inevitable job hunt.

• Lawful reaction to riot necessary

  Updated 04/07/2008 6:51pm

  I got back to my apartment around 11 p.m. Saturday night, only to find about 4,000 of my closest friends partying in the streets surrounding my home: Cedar Village.

• Net neutrality nixes Web freedom

  Updated 04/06/2008 10:10pm

  Telecommunications giant Comcast Corp. got itself into trouble at a Feb. 25 Federal Communications Commission hearing. It became apparent the corporation had hired people off of the street to fill seats in the hearing, ostensibly to “hold places in line” for its employees.

• Science, religion don't always mix

  Updated 04/03/2008 7:15pm

  Dr. Kenneth Miller is a biologist I admire for his work promoting evolution and debunking creationism. However, he also encourages public acceptance of evolution by arguing, unconvincingly, that it’s compatible with religious belief.