“Thirteen Reasons Why” is not a feel-good series. The Netflix original, which was released on March 31 and has almost instantaneously developed a cult following, will not leave you feeling happy or content, and that is part of what makes it so important.The series is based on Jay Asher’s 2007 novel of the same name and follows main character Clay Jensen, played by Dylan Minnette, as he listens to the tape-recorded suicide note of 17-year-old Hannah Baker, played by Katherine Langford. The show is broken up into 13 episodes that follow the events of Hannah’s 13 tapes, each of which…
Author: Karyn Simpson
When people ask me what I’m majoring in, I tend to pause a heartbeat, a breath, before replying. I never know quite what the response will be when I explain that I want to be a journalist, and I can’t help but feel that in opening that door, I must prepare my defenses.Not all the responses I receive are negative. Friends who know me well smile and nod like it was inevitable — my immense love for writing has defined me since grade school — and professors assure me that journalists, at the very least, tend to lead very interesting…
As a senior, freshman year seems like forever ago. A lifetime of coffee cups, late nights and marathon study sessions stands between 18-year-old me and 22-year-old me, and I almost don’t recognize the girl who walked onto this campus four years ago with too many boxes and not enough confidence. It’s funny how memory is a burning book, the pages, chapters dissolving into ash even as you flip past them. Looking back, I can barely recall many of the details of these past four years. Of course, I remember the big things – the headlines, the semester I completely forgot…
“We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first. America first.” President Donald J. Trump spoke these words at his inauguration Friday, his voice not only echoing across the National Mall, but also transmitting via television and radio to spectators across the globe. It was a powerful sentence, certainly carrying with it a sense of pride, of future triumphs and sky-high anticipation,…
We live in a society that places an incredibly high value on personal ability. We are taught from a young age to be independent, to control the controllables, to format our lives so that we only truly rely on ourselves. Especially as college students, working anxiously to prepare ourselves for life post-graduation, we strive to become survivors, men and women who can succeed of their own volition because placing your fate in someone else’s hands is a risk.This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Independence gives us the ability to test our own limits, to learn how capable we truly are.…
To those who were selling and buying #CAB shirts at last Saturday’s football game against TCU. To those who believe Art Briles should have never been fired. To those who mourn our football team’s recent descent and claim the allegations surrounding Briles’ coaching, his athletic program and his release are unjust. To those who believe we should bring Briles back: What are you doing? More precisely, what are you thinking? Have you taken a moment to think past your anger with Baylor’s response to the Pepper Hamilton investigation and your frustration with our football team’s statistics to examine how your…
I’ve never been one to take the easy way out. Give me the black diamond slopes, the late-night shifts that bleed into early morning alarms and the questions with no simple answers. I thrive on challenges, high expectations and the pursuit of goals, and I’ve shaped my mind around a Latin word I stumbled across in high school and haven’t forgotten since: meliora — ever better. Like the adage that reads, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars,” I shoot for perfection in hopes of landing somewhere between the thresholds of “good” and “great.”…
I am a fan of the classics, but I’m not talking about movies. If it isn’t a cult classic produced relatively recently, or if it doesn’t feature Daniel Radcliffe, it’s unlikely I have seen it or am even relatively familiar with it. No, when I say classic, I’m talking about books. As a self-proclaimed bibliophile, I am rarely found without a book in my hands. When I was younger. I carried around worn, ripped paperbacks of whatever fiction series I was currently obsessed with or pristine, ornate hardcovers of the latest “Harry Potter” or “Eragon” novels. Now, as I am…
By Karyn Simpson, | Copy Desk Chief In the wake of the external investigation conducted by Pepper Hamilton LLP over Baylor University’s conduct regarding alleged sexual violence, the university created two task forces: the Sexual Assault Task Force and the Spiritual Life and Character Formation Task Force. The task forces were formed to help implement 105 recommendations made by Pepper Hamilton and to aid in continuing to create a safe, Christian community at Baylor. They are comprised of faculty, staff and students from various departments across the university. Sexual Assault Task Force The Sexual Assault Task Force, headed by Reagan…
George Orwell, in his book “1984,” wrote, “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” Language is spectacular. As a writer, I have long adored analyzing semantics, playing with words, placing them in various contexts and watching their meanings change. The idea that adding or subtracting a single word from a phrase could change the meaning of the whole sentence fascinates me. It was not until recently, however, that I realized the true extent of the effects that words, or the lack thereof, could have on people and their mental health. Even at a young age, I understood the…
I hate Politics. Before the politically overactive and civically empowered take up arms against me, let me explain: I have little issue with what the Merriam-Webster defines as “activities that relate to influencing the actions and policies of a government or getting and keeping power in a government.” My distaste lies with Politics, not politics. While, alphabetically, the two words are identical, in meaning they bear an important difference. The latter is a seemingly integral part of our modern governmental system. The former is spoken about in whispers through grimaced lips and gritted teeth. In the equestrian industry, capital-P Politics…
T.S. Eliot writes, “For I have known them all already, known them all: Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” As a student-athlete and full-time student working a part-time job in the evenings, the truth in Eliot’s words is startling — it seems as though my life is truly measured in coffee spoons (or, in my case, mugs of tea.) Like many college students, I caffeinate my way through the day and much of the night, wrapping my fingers around steaming mugs as I furiously type one more paper, frantically skim one…