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Opinion-Columns


OPINION

Breaking through the post-spring break blues

Coming off a week of relaxation, good food and laundry machines that actually work, the return to Oxford can only mean one thing - we have to be responsible again. A few weeks ago, sitting around on a Sunday meant planning how we were going to spend our week of freedom. Now that we're back, Sundays mean cramming homework and dreading the weeks ahead.


OPINION

Can music continue our emotional education?

A few days before we left for break, Miami University's Symphony Orchestra put on "The Two Titans," a powerful concert presenting both Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Mahler's Symphony No. 1, "Titan." As I looked around me in Hall Auditorium during that concert, I saw hundreds concentrating on Beethoven's abrupt harmonic shifts and Mahler's magnificent symphonic form. Not everyone was enraptured -- in fact, I spotted several slumped heads sleeping through the heavenly performance.


OPINION

Happiness: Fickle, but worth striving for

At the beginning of this year, a wise professor told my class that we need to prioritize physical health and mental wellness above all else, and the best way to achieve that is to subscribe to a systematic planner.


OPINION

Large-scale political change starts with small-scale communities

It's no secret that the American people want change. For all the trouble and terror it's caused, our current political climate has sparked a longing for civic, healthy communities and less hostile hometown politics in the average American. Whether they want "the good old days," or a promise of "a new day on the horizon," every heart has its hopes for a better tomorrow. You can see these hopes in a neighbor's wave, a friend's face, a teacher's desperate lesson on civics.


OPINION

Facts first: the key to American democracy

A true democracy can only exist when voters are employing shared facts in their decision making. Democracies are designed for people to decide their representation through elections based on how candidates' positions agree with their own. Through this ingenious system, the government is composed of the intentions of the majority of the people. However, this can only work when people know the candidates' positions. That relies on facts, which are becoming maligned commodities.


OPINION

Miami should re-release grade distributions

There comes a time in one's collegiate life where the realization sets in -- learning is not the most important part of college. While the administration and faculty preach about the analytical and problem-solving skills that come with a liberal education, students come to realize that attaining a higher grade point average is far more advantageous. While the two can coexist, one is far more valuable than the other.


OPINION

America and capitalism: a complicated relationship

Money. We all want it. We want the comfort that it brings. The things that it can buy hardly matter more than when there isn't enough of it to cover their cost. And while money might not buy happiness, but it can certainly buy peace of mind. And even if that peace of mind is as paper thin as the currency traded in for it (and often it is), every now and then, it's all that stands between the "us" that we know, and the "us" that would do anything to get more of it.


OPINION

New year, same struggle

One of the most momentous occasions over winter break is undoubtedly the new year, a holiday when our younger selves struggled to stay up till midnight that now consists of getting drunk with our friends. However, for a holiday celebrated by all, there's nothing really special about it. For the most part, we watch TV, see dumb tweets about how bad the last year was and party.


OPINION

The danger of ambition: Principles, not positions, should motivate politicians

In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar became the dictator of the Roman Republic. Caesar had a singular ambition: to lead the world's greatest empire. He had served in many auxiliary roles, then consul, in his ascension to commander of the Gallic forces. Caesar had married and divorced in search of political advantage, with each subsequent marriage slowly building his power and influence.


OPINION

Vertical farming: A better option

We need to rethink industrialized factory farming and quick. The agricultural revolution boomed back in the 18th Century which allowed the industrial revolution to change the world we lived in. So, this is a good thing with more access to food, food produced on higher levels and a decline in world hunger, right?


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