BY JUSTIN DAVID TATE, LIFE & ARTS EDITOR My dad was a strong presence in every room he entered. With a booming laugh and tall stature, he was a gentle giant, bear-hugging everyone at least three feet off the ground with each introduction. Billy Ray Tate was a Baylor Bears defensive end in the early...

By Trenton Blackshear “Oh my God, I just can’t stand looking at that centerpiece being crooked. This is totally going to set off my OCD.” “Don’t worry, I just lose my cool sometimes. I’m probably just a bit bipolar.” I’m quite sure that most of us have either heard or said some variation...

BY BILLY DENNIS, OPINION COLUMNIST The biology classroom remains the last great hope against the powerful forces of religious indoctrination. Our children’s education is being threatened by a small yet dedicated group of troglodytes in Austin trying to sneak creationism into biology textbooks. Creationism...

By Keturah Jones, Reporter The concept of piggy-back rides never made much sense to me. It seemed lazy for a person to jump on my back and rely on my strength and hard work to carry them where they wanted to go. Why couldn’t they stand on their own two feet and walk like everyone else? There...

By Kristen Dixon, Reporter There is so much more to bullying than just the words and actions used against another person. Bullying can affect someone’s entire perspective. This is exactly what happened to someone very close to me. In 2009, I was in high school. I had friends and goals. So did Hunter Layland....

By Caitlin Piper, Opinion Editor It seems that we can hardly go a day without hearing someone mention a social media website, whether it’s the half-audible remark of a passing stranger or an in-depth debate on the effects of technology in our psychology class. It’s clear that our society has a love-hate...

By Ana Nunez Dining out at least once a week is inevitable for most college students. We tend to eat out when we are bombarded by tasks that leave us with no time to cook a proper meal, when we don’t know how to cook or simply when we get a craving for a specialty item we could never make on our own. However,...

By Floyd Clifton I was under the impression that we the people run our government, and our needs, wants and ideals come first. However, I have noticed that big businesses have more of a say in our day-to-day lives than we do. If you take a moment to look at the political atmosphere, it is apparent...

By Lawanda Mckelvy Back in February, I attended one of the Black History Month events the college hosted. There were several African-American students congregating right outside the library, but they had no interest in taking five steps to come in and attending the event. Many African-American youth...

The Math Spot was founded eight years ago because math and developmental math students demanded more tutoring time. Students expressed the need to visit with their instructor, but they could not meet during their office hours. Students also pointed out that the LAC (Learning Assistance Center) was always...

BY CAITLIN PIPER Whether it was a disapproving stare at my plate of nachos or a PETA sticker slapped inside one of my school notebooks, my vegan sister was always sure to voice her opinion on my diet in the most passive-aggressive way possible. wwI wasn’t the only one experiencing this. While she was never...

By Danyelle Roquemore Our campus is an eco-friendly place, or at least it tries to be. Even though the administration promotes a greener campus, a large portion of the college community isn’t making any effort to help out. When I lived with my mom, we always recycled. She made my sister and me wash...

By Keturah Jones It’s almost 11:15 p.m. and I’m finally arriving home from a long day. My feet hurt and my back aches from rehearsing dance moves for the college’s production of “Hairspray,” in which I play the role of Motormouth Maybelle. I have math homework due at midnight on mymathlab....

By Claudia Guerra One evening as I was cleaning up the aftermath of dinner with my 1-year-old, I asked my husband to get her bath ready. I was expecting him to get the bath started, go into the bedroom and turn on the TV without actually helping me bathe her. To my surprise, he picked her up and carried...

By Anjulie Van Sickle As I watch and listen to the young lady holding her Bible, screaming at the top of her lungs about fire, brimstone and hell, I am rather ashamed. I’m ashamed because I, too, profess the same faith as she does. But unlike her, I am not as hot-tempered. As she preached, more...

By Taylor Wallace I love Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” It was my coming-of-age novel, realistically portraying parallels to my high school years. The book was written for a mature audience. However, a film adaptation of the novel was released last October with a PG-13...

By Ginny Morris I recently watched a segment on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” where an interviewer asked people on the street, “What do you think of President Obama’s decision to pardon the sequester and send it to Portugal?” The question purposely made no sense, but some people who apparently didn’t...

By Kametra Nickerson- Loud Many people can identify with different verses from the Bible, regardless of whether or not they are religious. In the book of Proverbs there is a verse that says, “Death and Life are in the power of the tongue.” This verse reminds me of the many trials I have faced...

By Claudia Guerra When my daughter was born, I wasn’t prepared for all the changes that followed. You have to be able to take a lot when you’re a new mom, and that includes knowing what advice to accept from others. Since day one, my mother has been a constant nagger about what I should and shouldn’t...

By Enrique Morales I am a music addict. I love my addiction for the pleasure it brings, yet I hate it for how much of my time it consumes. Because of this constant listening, I can recall any song after enough exposure to it. I can play all the songs I want in my mind, without an iPod, cellphone...

By Danyelle Roquemore The role of a woman is often defined in black and white terms: She is either a timid, subservient, anti-feminist housewife or a bra-burning, man-hating radical feminist. With these two extremes, it’s hard to be comfortable and confident as a woman, because it is difficult...

By David Karczewski Due to recent tragedies such as the Sandy Hook school shooting and Jared Loughner’s assassination attempt on Arizona Sen. Gabrielle Gifford, our government is attempting to implement new restrictions on the purchase of guns. These new laws include universal background checks...

By Daniel Davidson We’ve all heard of the civil rights movement. Most of us have had to write papers about someone or something within the movement such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, the various boycotts and marches or the Freedom Rides. All too often we look at these...