Browsing: Opinion

Understanding the men and women who defined our world leads us to wonder how they came to be. However, whatever language or dialect you do speak, there is one thing that reigns as the ultimate superpower. It is the word, Yes.

A lot has happened since we left campus last spring: America turned 250 years old, Europeans discovered Buc-ee’s during the FIFA World Cup and the largest known outbreak of Cyclospora ever was recorded in the U.S., leading to over 15,000 confirmed cases from May 1 to Aug. 17.

Most coffee shops charge customers when they change drink orders to be made with alternative milk. Changing one ingredient makes a beverage go from a standard drink to a high expense. Though $1 is not much of a difference, the cost adds up for someone who regularly buys beverages from a local business. The beverage market has normalized adding alternative milk to the menu, but the pricing scale needs to change.

The beginning of a new semester always feels the same. Regardless of whether you’re a freshman experiencing your first time away from home, or a senior having your first last day of school, everyone is filled with excitement and anticipation. However, under all the smiles, there’s another feeling that quietly affects many students: belonging.

Social media, being the ever-changing medium, has fundamentally altered our lives and perceptions. The algorithm is always evolving and, in turn, evolving us: our identities and labels.

The biggest movie in 2026 has been “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” from Marvel Studios, which has made just over $1.2 billion since being released July 31. It’s a blueprint for success in the film industry.

Many people don’t know what GLP-1 therapies were truly designed for and how the trend surrounding them has affected those who need them most. Pharmaceutical marketing has turned a legitimate medical treatment into a lifestyle product, leaving those who rely on these drugs without access.

A lack of reading in our country reflects more than the low literacy rates, but also the lack of understanding that drives the ever-growing economic, political and educational divides and high tensions that seem inescapable.

Welcome back to campus, Bears. We are so glad you are here. Whether today is your first day at Baylor or you’ve done this a few times, we hope your first day of classes goes well. The Baylor Lariat’s editorial board is made up of a group of Lariat editors who meet each week to discuss the issues, events and conversations shaping the Baylor community and beyond. Our goal is to write on issues and events we believe are relevant to our readers.

It makes sense that internships feel uncomfortable. It’s because they are our first experiences building out our professional identities. We spend eight to 12 disorienting weeks trying on different hats, figuring out and deciding what we’ll want to be known for in the office. Do you want to be the outgoing leader? The quiet worker who excels in certain tasks? The Swiss Army knife? There are endless professional personas to choose from, and you’ve probably only considered this concept in the past three months. So it’s perfectly okay to feel a bit out of body for the summer. But don’t let it discourage or embarrass you.

Within the past couple of years, there has been a shift in the amount of young people attending church. Social media is packed with more teens and young adults making content about Jesus and going to church. Christian music from young artists is even making its way into pop radio. But amongst this surge, it is important for churchgoers to know, going to church alone is an important task, one that a lot of young people especially should participate in.

Baylor’s fiscal issues are affecting far more than the dollar amount you see in BearWeb. It is fundamentally changing our university and what makes Baylor, Baylor. It’s hitting departments, retirement and, on a personal level, The Lariat’s newsroom.

Flirting involves overthinking a like on an Instagram story. It’s noticing who views your story first and what that might mean. It’s going through someone’s TikTok reposts, trying to understand how they think, or if there’s something they’re trying to say about you without actually saying it.

After well over 100 articles with my byline written and hundreds more read and published after crossing my desk, my time with The Lariat has officially come to a close.

Baylor has been a blessing for me these past four years, but it’s time to say goodbye.

It’s funny how the smallest things can make an impression on us. And across nine semesters at The Lariat, there have been plenty. I’ll miss late-night Andy’s runs, traveling to cover the biggest Baylor sporting events, shooting hoops in the newsroom and even waking up before 6 a.m. to rush over to campus to deliver papers. Above all else, I’ll miss the people in the newsroom whose voices constantly make me smile.

From Baylor athletics to Fountain Mall swims, tune in for a guide to graduating seniors on do’s and don’ts for the last stretch of time at Baylor, from a senior.

Senioritis is hard. It’s not because of a choice to suddenly become “lazy,” but because, for the first time, I can see what’s beyond the finish line, and I feel ready to move on with my life.

The next time you want to complain about Waco, remember that there is a lot of beauty here. You’re not living in a desert or driving three hours to reach the nearest airport. There are plenty of hidden gems to discover in Waco — you just have to discover and appreciate them.

By regulating attire, the SLC may also unintentionally limit the amount of physical activity students can comfortably engage in. Gym clothing should match the intensity of the workout. Allowing the body to regulate temperature more effectively during long sessions can improve performance. Permitting tank tops would help achieve that.

What is unsettling about almost is that it feels alive. It sits between reality and fantasy, both possible and lost at once. We replay it in our minds not as something over but as something suspended and frozen, waiting for us to admit we let it slip.

Just blocks from campus, Wacoans live without a place to stay, asking for money on the corner of every popular grease pit location. All the while, one of the state’s largest universities hasn’t done much to drive change.

If I were still carrying a TPUSA title, what happened on April 22 would have been enough for me to walk away. You don’t fight for free speech by banning student journalists. You don’t build a movement by turning away supporters who drove hours to be there. And you don’t honor Charlie Kirk’s legacy mocking fellow students in a half-empty room.

If the majority of your principles as a voter align more closely with one side or the other, failing to vote with that party is not only throwing away one of our most important rights as Americans, but it is also helping the people you disagree with win.

As we near the end of the year and move out of or into a new place, I wanted to share a reminder that we don’t need to buy everything new. It’s okay to not have all the latest and greatest things. Keeping up with the Joneses is all fun and games until it runs you into the ground.

For some students, figuring it out later could mean taking an interesting class or switching their majors a few times. For others, it means risking financial aid, wasting time or choosing between passion and stability. These are not the same situation.

Nothing feels normal anymore. There is an underlying sexualization of everything, even though it is completely unnecessary. That’s the problem — people should be able to scroll through social media without suggestive content being forced on them.

Excuses like “this person did this” or “I should’ve been different because …” do not make the world better. Everyone wants to sit atop a pedestal, but wants to be placed there rather than working to earn it.

Before finals start, a good number of classes assign group projects that most students like me don’t enjoy. I can’t wait to be done with group projects. If I could remove one thing from my coursework, it would be this.

Devote yourselves to fellowship, commit to your community that’s right in front of you and be open to welcome others in. You have the power to create community. Besides, you may never know how much someone else needs a friend until you decide to be one.