We’ve all heard the phrase that someone cannot have their cake and eat it too, but what about cupcakes?

When I was 7 years old, I ran into my older brother’s room in fear that I would be struck by lightning from the developing storm outside.

Here’s my question: What happens when the wind changes course? Most of us will agree that life is unpredictable. Gusts of unexpected circumstances may billow through at any point in time. The weather seems calm for a short moment, only to erupt in turbulence the next.

The business world is changing but, for some reason, the business of Baylor is not.

Sports and drama seem to collide no matter the cost, and Wednesday night’s games were no exception.

Books have, in many ways, been one of the major highlights of my life.

It’s hard to remember what the original Facebook looked like. There might have been a small news feed in the right corner of the screen with the most recent status updates from your friends and “poking” was a more common activity than it is today. Now, Facebook has decided to reformat its home page once again, making it less likable in the eyes of many of its users.

With a long to-do list of school assignments and projects, you might be quick to assume how I spent my weekend. Tirelessly checking off these assorted tasks, right?

I don’t know what’s different about the Lariat from my freshmen year, but this year I don’t go a day without picking up a copy of it. I find the stories to be varied and very interesting. Though I’m not a grad student, I also really love the grad-student comics as well as the political cartoons that come with the editorials.

Miami University’s Department of Comparative Religion caused a stir in Ohio last week with their proposal to invite a member of the Westboro Baptist Church to speak. It was, however, the College of Arts and Science that made national headlines when a decision was reached to drop the plans altogether.

Yep, it’s about that time again. That dreaded point in the semester when things start to really pick up. When everything seems to happen at once. When you realize you’ve committed yourself to a few too many extracurricular activities. Papers are due, midterms are around the corner and projects can no longer be procrastinated. Add a social life to all that and you’ve got the recipe for another stressful semester.

Sometimes it appears that America is losing its capacity for respect. Among our own citizens, the lack of it is, at times, simply appalling.

A few weeks ago, I was in my car, stopped at a red light at University Parks and I-35, when this guy on a bicycle sailed past me and went straight through the middle of the intersection while the light was still red.

The recent execution of Troy Davis in Georgia has greatly saddened me. I will not pretend to know every detail of the case, nor will I assume to know better than the Supreme Court whether or not he was guilty.

How many times have you heard the following statement in reference to attending athletic events at Baylor?

There is nothing more awkward than calling out someone’s name in public only for him or her to fail to acknowledge your existence.

Teachers in Tacoma, Wash., have gone on strike over pay, class sizes and the handling of job transfers, causing 28,700 students to be unable to attend school since Sept. 12.

I guess it’s just part of being a senior, but as soon as people find out you’re in that fourth year of school, they inevitably ask, “What are your plans after graduation?”

Juliet is a 5-pound Chihuahua I adopted from the Waco Humane Society last year. She is also the Lariat’s mascot, a guard dog and my best friend.

Some students didn’t feel “Oso Safe” when the university sent out a text message Thursday referring to a “Shots Fired Presentation” and “Live Burn” scheduled to happen that afternoon.

The legal team of a man scheduled to die today made his final appeal on the basis of witnesses changing testimony and the lack of DNA evidence connecting him to the crime he is accused of committing: the killing of an off-duty police officer.

Israel or Palestine? This has been a recurring question on the international docket and is one that has returned to center stage this month.

Palestinian plans to submit an application of membership to the U.N. Security Council at this month’s United Nations General Assembly have resurrected the never really dormant 60-year feud.

Most people I know have made a quick decision about the conflict, a conflict that is so far from any immediate impact in the daily life of a Wacoan.

Honestly, it’s not as cut-and-dry as just Israelis or Palestinians, Jews or Arabs. It never is.

Israeli guerilla forces took land by force that was later annexed into the state of Israel in the late 40s, but all is fair in war, right? If the Palestinians couldn’t defend their land, they should lose it, right?

Let’s flip the coin.

Palestinians were quickly marginalized and taken advantage of by the newly declared state of Israel. We’re supposed to protect the weak, right?

If Palestinians had a state, wouldn’t the radical actions just be wartime acts?

Israeli settlers are just radicalized land grabbers with government backing, right?

As with any small-scale argument, there are valid points to both sides. There are also vile acts committed by both sides. In fact, there are so many factions within both Israel and Palestine that to reduce the conflict to two unified enemies is a grave misrepresentation of reality.

There are so many ways to approach the Israel/Palestinian conflict. So many individual acts that have impacted both communities as a whole. They all should be addressed somehow, and no crime should go unpunished.

I cannot choose a side.

I have met teenage Palestinian boys who hate the Israeli police because they have seen their families dealt with at gunpoint.

I have seen Israeli buses scarred by the fires of bus bombs.

I have no idea the implications of a Palestinian bid of recognition to the United Nations.

Will their appeals to international organizations to hold Israel accountable for alleged crimes carry weight?

Will international recognition of Palestine as a state force peace talks toward a viable solution?

The future has yet to be written.

Whatever the outcome and implications of this month’s vote, there is ground-level hope.

I have also met an Arab teenager who hangs out with Arabs and Jews. His says his family can’t understand why he loves his Israeli friends.

I have met an old Jewish woman in east Jerusalem who teaches Hebrew to Arabs in the Old City and is fearless in her relations with anyone.

There are real people, Israelis and Palestinians, who want to live in peace, and they interact with one another on a daily basis.

Bottom line, there is hope for a peaceable interactive community in the little strip of land called Israel/Palestine.

David McLain is a senior journalism major from The Colony and is a staff writer for the Lariat.

At last Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate, Republican candidate Michelle Bachmann criticized Gov. Rick Perry’s 2007 executive order to require the HPV vaccination for girls. It wasn’t Bachmann’s criticism of “Perrycare” during the CNN tea party debate Sept. 14, but the story behind her argument that raised eyebrows

My life is not founded on shaky ground that changes every second; it is founded upon a rock, the cornerstone Jesus Christ.

All this said, step back, take a long look at that five-year plan you made as a freshman, and laugh.

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

“The mission of Baylor University is to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.”

Jesus may give you only one circumstance in which divorce is acceptable, but it sounds like Pat Robertson wants you to have at least one more.

In a world filled with technology, it seems as though the practice of pen and paper has begun to disappear. Homework is turned in online, notes are taken on laptops, research is done online and quizzes, tests and participation points are taken with clicker devices.

Seventeen percent of American children, or 12.5 million, ages 2 to 19 years are classified as obese. That means that nearly one in three children is classified as obese.