Opinions

As we enter the middle of the semester, that wonderful time filled with ample amounts of homework and exams all crammed around a weeklong reprieve that does little to rejuvenate us and more to make us long for summer, the Caf starts to wear on me. The food cycle starts to repeat itself for a third time, and I begin to ask myself just how many buffalo chicken salads I’m going to be able to handle. To be fair, this isn’t Sodexo’s fault; it’s simply the nature of a campus cafeteria.

Weed, ganja, mary jane, joints, you know what we’re talking about. It’s what all the college students are doing on the weekends...or is it?

Welcome to LUTHEROLOGY. This article series is dedicated to taking comprehensive data from surveys of Luther students in order to find social patterns at Luther and to determine how Luther students compare to the rest of America (doing a little sociology, you might say).

During this familiar morning walk, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I might be the only woman for blocks with my head uncovered. As my iPod pumps tunes into my headphones, a veiled Muslim woman on the opposite side of the road walks the same direction as me. She is pushing one child in a stroller.

A liberal arts college is a medium uniquely suited for cause involvement: really confused young adults who need some form of activity in which to employ their passions. And recently I’ve seen an upsurge in the level of student involvement in causes.

During the climax of the ‘08 presidential campaign—arguably the most hopeful and idealistic election in recent memory—I very abruptly stopped feeling idealistic and hopeful about the future of the old U.S. of A. Youthful idealism sustained the Obama campaign.

Sometimes people make us angry. They say hurtful comments. They abandon care for our emotions and embrace the selfish nature of their own. No one can deny that. It’s one of the universal truths of our human existence that sometimes other people are mean.

A year after the passage of the American Recovery and Re-Investment Act, a.k.a. the stimulus bill, Republicans are still railing against the Obama Administration for what they call “wasteful spending” within the bill.

The recent creation and Luther endorsement of LEFSE, the so-called Sustainability House, is indicative of larger, more harmful environmental paradigms that permeate today’s culture. It is beyond question that many environmental challenges and instabilities are looming in the immediate future that must soon be addressed.

Recently I very suddenly gave up being a vegetarian. And in lieu of the recent visit of Michael Pollan to our campus, I was feeling somewhat guilty about my food consumption and decided to open the floodgates and begin to once again consider the ethical implications of my food consumption.

With a sense of renewed vitality and increased optimism, Student Senate is excited to push forward with a variety of initiatives and changes this semester.

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been over two months since my last “Fresh Perspective” column. Time flies when you’re having fun at Luther College.

You see us every day. Those of us who stand out at all seem moderately normal, if a bit eccentric. You sit beside us in class and notice our Batman notebooks.

Hello, reader. As a sophomore philosophy major with a minor in English, I like to think about ideas and the interaction between humans and ideas. In this column, I noodle the role self-interest plays in my actions. This is a muddled, complicated issue – one I intend to explore.