We have a cer­tain pride of our Americanism in this coun­try and some­times we view our­selves not as a sep­a­rate peo­ple, but one entity–several indi­vid­u­als mak­ing up one America.

Yet there are many peo­ple who do not fit into our inborn under­stand­ing of what “American” is. We tend to believe that in order to be an American you have to be born one or per­mit­ted to become one by the gov­ern­ment. It’s an exclu­sive club, and we don’t want to see other peo­ple get­ting in because American is some­thing we trea­sure as a soci­ety. (more…)

Tattooing has been an art form and means of expres­sion through­out his­tory. However, the trend of tat­too­ing has taken on a whole new means of expression.

Colorful arm sleeves and elab­o­rate back art are now replac­ing small tat­toos. Areas once thought as for­bid­den for body ink are now accept­able places for mark­ing. The idea of “it’s alright as long as no one sees it” has become a thought of the past. Facial tat­toos, hand art and stretched ear­lobe plugs are part of a sub­cul­ture influ­enced by self-expression and fash­ion. (more…)

If you’ve ever been in a long dis­tance rela­tion­ship, you know how dif­fi­cult they may be and you may miss you sig­nif­i­cant other more than you’ve ever imagined.

For those who are cur­rently in one, or may have to be apart from their loved one for some time, there is a new prod­uct you may want to hear about. It is called “Pillow Talk.” (more…)

If you’ve ever been in a long dis­tance rela­tion­ship, you know how dif­fi­cult they may be and you may miss you sig­nif­i­cant other more than you’ve ever imagined.

For those who are cur­rently in one, or may have to be apart from their loved one for some time, there is a new prod­uct you may want to hear about. It is called “Pillow Talk.” (more…)

President Obama announced in his State of the Union Address he will pro­pose mea­sures to bring relief to almost eight mil­lion stu­dents who will soon see their stu­dent loan inter­est rates dou­ble on new loans.

I want to thank President Obama for tak­ing the wel­fare of col­lege stu­dents into con­sid­er­a­tion. As has been said, col­lege is freakin’ expen­sive. In some cases, stu­dents give an arm and a leg to pay for school. (more…)

February is African-American his­tory month and Ferris State University stu­dents and staff mem­bers are putting on events to acknowl­edge the achieve­ments of Black Americans through­out his­tory. These include dis­cus­sions on the Black urban rebel­lions of the 1960’s, the story of the Greensboro four and a look into the social impact of Idlewild.

As a cam­pus com­mu­nity made of stu­dents from dif­fer­ent eth­nic back­grounds and beliefs, col­lege should be an oppor­tu­nity to learn racial accep­tance and become edu­cated on the dif­fer­ences of oth­ers. (more…)

It’s 6:45 a.m. and I am awake head­ing to the Rec Center just to find out that it is already packed.

Seriously? It is never packed this early in the morn­ing, why now? Oh, that’s right, peo­ple are back to school after the win­ter break and they felt the need to make a New Year’s res­o­lu­tion. And what is a bet­ter res­o­lu­tion than get­ting in my way at the gym, where I go reg­u­larly (or used to)? (more…)

Double stan­dards are with us wher­ever we go, but do you really notice them in your every­day life?

I never noticed them before I left for col­lege, now it is almost impos­si­able for me ignore them thanks to education.

Look at the enter­tain­ment indus­try, for exam­ple. Girl punches guy: com­edy. Guy punches girl: abuse. Lesbians are hot, but gay cou­ples are gross. If a guy sleeps around, he’s a sex god. If a girl does it, she’s a whore. (more…)

A com­mon phrase spo­ken by Ferris State University stu­dents is “I never have enough time.” For most col­lege stu­dents, after the assign­ment dead­lines and text­book read­ing, any spare time is spent rest­ing up for the next day’s rou­tine of rushing.

Though it appears either our days are get­ting shorter or our respon­si­bil­i­ties are over­whelm­ing, we can­not ignore the amount of time we spend con­sumed in the lives of oth­ers. (more…)