I’ll be the first to say that the moment I leave a class, ear buds are in and the iPod is turned up to a pretty loud volume. I fully realize that this form of “artistry,” as I’d like to call it, makes me completely inaccessible and hard to approach.

When I’m not fiddling around with my iPod, I’m on the phone or reading a book. (Yes, I read when I walk to class. I don’t bump into things...usually.) I can’t walk down the street without seeing 90 percent of other students with an iPod or cell phone attached to their ear(s). Regardless of my involvement in the problem, it almost disgusts me that our society has become this technologically dependent.

>> Full Story

Growing up, we learn to deal with disenchantment, when our constructs fail us. Back when I had long hair this woman whom I never talked to before approached me and said she’d give me a quarter for a strand of my hair. She could have had it for free if she had just asked me straight up.

So I raked my hair with my hand once and freely gave her some four strands. Prize in hand, she promptly sneered “not!” referring to the promised twenty-five cents, and then deftly ran away. Because of that experience, almost needless to say, I didn’t know what was real anymore.

>> Full Story

Governor Doyle is at it again folks, and this time he is traipsing through our (supposedly) protected and private university financial aid files. Well, not the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee specifically: He has our fellow students in Madison much closer to him to help do his bidding.

As many people know, the governor of our beloved state greatly esteems our UW system, seeing as he can sway the amount of funds, which get allotted to University Budgets. Putting him in this position (the same position all other governors have been in before him) gives him a bit of power, and we all know what happens to people in places of power: They want more of it.

>> Full Story

There are some things in this world that I will never, ever understand. One of them is lederhosen. Another, more important one is sexual assault. I was raised with the notion that if a woman will not sleep with you of her own accord you should just move on. However, there are some people on this campus who apparently did not get this memo, so let me spell it out for you:

>> Full Story

As a student here at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I was under the assumption that, as our school promotes itself with the catchy slogan “Something Great in Mind,” they would actually trust us to utilize our “great minds” to make decisions.

I would especially hope that we would at least be trusted to make decisions that pertain to how our own segregated fees (the money students contribute to enhance their educational experience) would be spent. Unfortunately my hope and trust in that fact has been violated by the current segregated fees debacle.

>> Full Story

I am a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and an active member of the Wisconsin Public Interest Resource Group student chapter here. Through this organization I have learned more than I ever could in a classroom. WISPIRG has not simply described to me notions of civic engagement, grassroots organizing and leadership; it has SHOWN me these things.

I have had the amazing opportunity to experience first hand the fruits of my labor. Not many 21-year-olds can say they have battled global warming, fought powerful corporate interests and helped protect human rights.

>> Full Story