The complicated world of porn

I am not much of a porn fan. I guess I haven’t really given myself the chance. Playboy seems to be about all that I can handle, and anything beyond that, for me, is like watching a surgery, except a lot less sterile and with a lot more naughty nurses. I can’t really place a finger on why I get squirmy in my seat at the close-up shots.

Roommate driving you nuts? Don't let it crack you

So, how are you and your roommate doing? Yeah, that’s what I thought, “just fine.”

Ah the dorms, such a treasured time.

Of course you are constantly afraid to actually express your true feelings, for fear of backlash. And for fear of hurting her feelings, you keep things to yourself.

Thou shalt not picket

I would like to speak about a phenomenon I have witnessed several times during this quarter. I am talking about when walkways around campus sprout hundreds if not thousands of picket signs all with the same message.

Apparently, due to the most recent bout of signs, the pope wants me to carpool to church.

Democratic success hinges on immigration reform

The Republican Party suffered a convincing defeat in this year’s midterm election. Losing control of both the House and the Senate will likely leave these institutions in the untested hands of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

During the past two years, these leaders worked together to implement a strictly enforced form of party unity.

Hoping for a more better future for English

Just this summer, I wrote an opinion piece calling attention to society’s rampant abuse of the English language. The article examined some typical grammatical errors and then looked at how they could be corrected. Obviously, nobody heeded the article. To be fair, it was summer.

Uncharted waters: emotional intimacy

Look around campus on any given day (except during midterms or finals) and you will have visual confirmation that love does indeed exist at Cal Poly.

There’s a couple I see every other morning walking hand-in-hand on their way to class. Another couple frequents The Avenue, and the young man sits rapt by his beloved’s effusive expression.

U.S. travel ban violates First Amendment rights

I enjoy traveling. I think it’s important, as citizens of this planet, to see the way people live at other longitudes so that we can better understand the way we live. How can we expect to make informed decisions about foreign policy if we’ve never left our own United States comfort zone? Travel is also a right, guaranteed to all free people throughout the world.

Bush stuck between Iraq and a hard place

One would think that coming off an election year we would be very well-informed about our government’s plan to deal with the Iraq puzzle. Sadly, after being force-fed abundant campaign slogans and talking points from both political extremes, Americans are left thinking in terms of only two heavily-flawed strategies for dealing with Iraq: “Cut and Run” and “Stay the Course.

New House won't change much

I couldn’t help but overhear the following on election night: “Yes, we won! It’s about time.”

I find myself confused. About time for what? I presume change, but what change will we see over two years? Certainly the media’s grandstanding will dominate the headlines for the next few weeks, but once their ratings drop and they again begin to report on the “news,” what REAL change can we expect?

Will the fighting in Iraq suddenly come to an end? Will the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites realize that the Democrats are now in control and set aside their differences? Are the troops on their way home? Are the millions of illegal Mexican immigrants making a mass exodus back across our open and unguarded southern border? Have the “working poor” found better jobs and moved up the social ladder to join the rest of society? Do we suddenly have a comprehensive and complete national health-care plan?

In so many words, no.

Our consumption costs

We Americans consume far more than our fair share of the world’s resources. According to the AAA Atlas of Population and Environment, the world’s top energy consumers are the U.S. and China. We are way ahead at 25.32 percent of the world’s consumption while China is at 9.

How to Survive: Procrastination and the Time Crunch

By the time this column is published, I should be curled up in a tight ball whimpering like I just got kicked in the balls. Why? Because between a quiz, midterm, 2 papers, a long interview for one of the papers, writing this column, a report on a court case and a “stalking assignment,” I barely even had the time to breathe this week.