Today: Migrant escapades in hordes to Western Europe as blowback and karmic payback from Middle Eastern and African nations for having their pot churned by Western militaries bombing and fractionating existing factions even further, all in the name of counter-terrorism. Tomorrow?
Sometimes, what seems harmless is not. Humanity is fueling not only what subdues hopeful possibilities, but also what relentlessly generates adversities.
Female toplessness, an Aug. 25 Daily Lobo letter says, will lead to more objectification. This thesis is fatally flawed: It ignores the social construction of gender and the implications of that. It is the tautological argument that women’s bodies need to be covered in order to garner respect (social norms say women’s bodies should be covered to be respected; women should cover their bodies for greater respect because thus sayeth social norms). It is time – no, it is far past time – to deconstruct and interrogate the arbitrary social constructions that permit men to do something while women are not given the same privilege. The first flaw in the argument made in that letter is the glaring dichotomy set up between “woman” and “man.” The argument goes like this: men and women are different, because of – you know – anatomy and biochemistry and genes and things. Thus, men are different from women.
In response to the recent letter to the editor in the Daly Lobo, Chartwells would like readers to know that it is important to Chartwells that every associate is paid on time.
Editor, Why it is so difficult for the Chartwell’s management team on campus to pay an $11.00 an hour employee his check within a reasonable time frame? Generally, individuals who accept wages this low don't have thousands of dollars in the bank to pay the bills until the multinational corporation in charge of the payroll feels like issuing a paycheck.
The Associated Students of the University of New Mexico has recently adopted the hashtag #YOURstudentgovernment. Yet though our social media campaigns have changed, some things remain the same. In the past four years that I’ve been involved in Student Government, the groups seeking our help and attending our meetings and events have remained the same. The truth of the matter is that ASUNM is here for the entire undergraduate body, which is roughly 20,000 students, but we’ve been missing the mark.
Most of us have had that moment when something bad has happened and we thought,‘That could have been me.’ ‘I almost went to that theater last night.’ ‘I was in that store 30 minutes earlier.’ ‘It could have been me; it could have been my family.’ For journalists, we have had at least 70 opportunities to that think this year.
August 26 is the 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. The League of Women Voters of New Mexico honors the amazing women who fought with unrelenting tenacity to achieve the most powerful extension of citizenship rights in our nation’s history.
While I respect the goal to obtain equal rights among men and women, I was disappointed after I read yesterday's story, "Activists Go Without for Topless Equality." While their intentions may be to de-sexualize the female body, the results are furthering our objectification as women.
Well, as freshmen, most students are coming from high school backgrounds of sports or involvement that aren’t plausible in a college setting. Students who were never involved now want college to be more than just going to class, but UNM is HUGE, so how can anyone know where to start? There are more than 300 chartered student organizations, Residence Life and Student Housing , 25 sororities and fraternities combined, Athletics and, of course, student government. Where do you begin?
On Friday, there was another student alert of a female being groped on UNM main campus. That makes five groping reports in a month (according to KOB Channel 4 news). As people on campus are being targeted by predators, the UNM policy office states: “No person may use or possess a weapon on any part of campus.” Also, any weapons found could lead to materials being impounded by law enforcement and disciplinary or criminal action. (The only persons exempt are campus police and “inoperable” weapons by ROTC).
We live in a society that is more connected, and yet at the same time more disconnected, than ever before. Social media has transformed the way we communicate, and has made creating social connections that previously would have been improbable as easy as clicking a button. At the same time, repeated studies show that the number of close friends the average American says she/he can talk to in a time of need has dropped sharply over the last half-century. Other evidence points to the same trend: the number of people who would describe themselves as lonely, who live alone and who don’t interact outside of work/school situations have all increased steadily over the last 50 or so years.
I’ve been reading your letters pages and am happy to find something better than what appears in the local dumb rag (the Journal). Trump reminds me of Rupert Pupkin, the comic wannabe in Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy” who kidnaps a talk show host (Jerry Lewis) to get ten minutes on the program. I kind of like Trump’s unfiltered rant -- it’s audacious, but what he proposes is usually ugly, in line with the Republican agenda.
Every time I hear or read about Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, I can’t help but contemplate the similarities between the man himself and this animated character. He feeds off distraction, misdirection and controversy. His racism and sexism is forgiven or even cheered because it is “honest.”
American politics is quite silly – absurd, even. This irreverent perspective goes beyond a critique of the veneration that cartoon characters like Donald Trump receive from much of the conservative body politic: It is a viewpoint that strikes at a very deep, very real problem that appears to be embedded in the American political fabric. The problem, you see, is the American voter’s dutiful allegiance to a willful culture of ignorance. American culture, broadly speaking, is not well-known for scientific literacy. After all, we are rather good at turning out high school students who simply do not measure up in STEM areas compared to students from many other “developed” or “First-World” nations.
Editor, I strongly agree with Ms. Woods’ assessment of Donald Trump and his comments. He is one of the few politicians speaking what they think and meaning it. I may not agree with everything Mr. Trump has to say, but the fact that he is speaking honestly to the silent majority of people in this great country of ours is more admirable than I have the words to verbalize about.
ntolerance is courageous? I grieved to read Rev. Mary Woods’ letter “Donald Trump shows courage in illegal immigrant comments.” As director of the NM Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice, I dread ministers promoting intolerant messages so disconnected from Christianity. The heart of Rev. Woods’ message — that recent events have ignited discussion around racism bringing us to a crossroads — holds truth. Our country has skirted race for too long, and the imperative to address it is now. For someone experienced with racism to justify supposed “protective racism” is counterintuitive.
Who honestly cares about ASUNM? What do they even do (aside from wearing bright colors and harassing people twice a year asking them to vote)? We know that student government can seem irrelevant, and the work we do sometimes doesn’t quite reach the student body in the way we hope it to. But we wouldn’t stand out there in heels, getting sunburns and creepily approaching strangers, if we didn’t believe in something bigger.
It was with a great deal of disgust that I read Rev. Mary E. Woods’ letter entitled “Donald Trump shows courage in illegal immigrant comments.” Trump’s focus and forte center on only political non-correctness. Just because he can yell and scream like a brat, a certain segment of the population thinks that’s cool.
Recent events in America have ignited some serious discussions around racism and placed our country at the crossroads of social and political divide. As a Christian, providentially called and ecclesiastically ordained minister and board-certified chaplain, I am impelled to pen my sentiments during this trying time in the history of these United States of America. From my vantage point as an African-American of Cherokee and Blackfoot Indian descent, raised in the Jim Crow city of Birmingham, Alabama, I have always viewed racism as overt and covert; that there could be no reasonable rationale for this social stigma. Yet the remarks attributed to Donald Trump regarding Mexican immigrants led me to entertain the idea of “protective” racism, which can fall into either category cited above. In stating that “Mexico sends its rapists, drug dealers, et. al., to the United States,” I contend that he was speaking out of the realization and concern that steps need to be taken to rein in runaway immigration practices by our neighbors to the south, who somehow feel that they have an entitlement to the services and benefits that we citizens have struggled for years to enjoy.
Solutions by The State News
