Browsing: Points of View

I recently had the pleasure of seeing “Born Yesterday,” an intellectual comedy directed by Jessi Hampton at the Baylor Department of Theatre Arts.

The play was written by Garson Kanin and first performed in 1946. Set in Washington, D.C., it follows the story of Billie Dawn, mistress of the rough junkyard tycoon Harry Brock. She is taken advantage of by Brock’s bribery and corruption, completely unaware of the consequences of his actions.

The play documents Billie’s education in the realms of politics and history as she learns to understand Brock’s unethical actions while discovering the beauty of a democratic system. Becoming politically informed allows her to stand up against the injustice in politics.

After reading the Feb. 19 article “Professors unite against concealed carry,” about how opposed the faculty at Baylor is to concealed carry, I felt a rebuttal was called for, and some misconceptions need to be corrected.

After all, isn’t proper academic rigor focused on objectively evaluating facts, not making decisions based on mere emotion?

First, a simple correction: The bill introduced by Sen. Birdwell was Sen. Bill 182, not 128. That’s an understandable typo, but it did make it more difficult to get the facts of what is being proposed.

During Gangnam Style’s rise in U.S. pop culture, my Korean professor spent time in class going through the lyrics to help us understand the cultural references in the song. When I shared with others the meaning of Gangnam Style, it seemed as if most didn’t particularly care. And in the months after we learned about the true meaning of Gangnam Style, the popularity of the video pretty much faded away. The trend quickly became ancient history, and people began catching onto the next big thing — the Harlem Shake.

On Feb. 18, the Lariat wrote an editorial advocating a standardized grading scale.

In general, the article argued that Baylor should not allow professors to require a percentage higher than 90 in order to receive an A.

The basis for the argument comes primarily from a feeling of unfairness. According to the article, a professor “should be able to lower the threshold to earn an A,” but raising it “is deceiving and can really affect students who work hard.”

I’m pleased that the topic of language study appeared on the opinions page of the Lariat on Feb. 7, and that the editorial there, “Five-day language classes hurt, not help,” advocated the study of another language for all Baylor students.

What concerned me was the misunderstanding about the value of a five-day-per-week meeting schedule for first-year language classes. In support of this assertion, the editorial stated that students would learn more if they had class fewer days per week. Is this true?

Christopher Dorner.

How deeply you live in the Baylor Bubble determines whether or not you recognize this name, or feel anything associated with it.

For those who don’t know, the name belongs to a particularly troubled former Los Angeles Police Department officer. With a frightening arsenal of weapons and military experience, he recently pledged to wage a war on the officers of the LAPD, on-duty or off.

The prospect of going to Pigskin Revue is not the be-all and end-all.

Sororities, fraternities and organizations across campus have worked tirelessly since the start of the semester to put together their perfect Sing acts, complete with sharp jazz hands and spot-on group vocals.

The Facebook page titled “Today’s Music Sucks,” with a profile picture of a radio being smashed by a sledgehammer, has 927 likes. There are certainly more than 927 people in the world today who hear pop artist Justin Bieber sing, “I was like; baby, baby, baby, oh!” and want to find a deep cave to hide in with their iPod chargers and collections of the “right” kind of music.

If we just cut all of the crap out, we might be able to save ourselves.

It was only a few days ago that I found out one of the most interesting things about Texas. Did you know Texas still has a mutual combat law? In essence, dueling is still legal according to sections 22.01 and 22.06 in the Texas penal code.

The law states that any two individuals who feel the need to fight can agree to mutual combat through a signed for or even just verbal or implied communication and have at it (fists only, however). As long as no “serious” bodily injury occurs and both participants know what degree of risk they are hazarding, mutual combat is a defense for a criminal or civil suit that may be leveled against you.

As someone who rides their bicycle on campus, I apologize to motorists and pedestrians.

On my way to campus, I bolt through six blocks of traffic, speed through three stop signs and hardly glance left or right the entire time. I’m already late for class because I overestimated my biking ability, so I’ll be going pretty fast. If I have to get across Fountain Mall, I part the migration of students on the two narrow sidewalks like Moses parting the Red Sea.

Recently, while chatting with an old friend and enjoying a cream cheese bagel at a student-filled, bustling Panera Bread, school,…

In his recent column (appearing in the Lariat on Feb. 8), columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. uses the word “logic or…

You know what’s worse than being single on Valentine’s Day?

Being in a long-distance relationship on Valentine’s Day, because even though you’ve theoretically found someone to spend your Valentine’s Day with, your person is not physically there.

Being single on Valentine’s Day can suck.

Especially when you have just gotten out of the first-semester relationship or you’ve realized over break that long-distance relationships doesn’t always work out.

As I begin to prepare myself for the emotional strain of once again not having a date on the day, I’ve decided on some things that could cheer me up.

Before I begin, I feel like I need to list some credentials. I am an Eagle Scout, and yes, “am”…

In previous State of the Union addresses, American presidents have used the word “freedom” 695 times. Freedom has been an important principle of our nation ever since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Tonight is President Obama’s first State of the Union of his second term. The date chosen is not arbitrary; in fact, it coincides with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.

I made fun of them: bacon enchiladas.

They were the most over-the-top-food I had ever seen on a Mexican restaurant menu. And that’s saying something. I eat a lot of Mexican food.

I had a checklist of things I thought I wanted from my love relationships. They were qualities like neatness, intelligence…

You remember that serious conversation we were going to have about guns? Here’s how serious it has turned out to…

As a current Community Leader on campus, the editorial “It’s time to rethink CL requirements”, which ran in the Lariat on Jan. 31, immediately caught my eye.

While I do agree that a non-Christian CL could potentially be able to perform on-call duties and administrative functions as well a Christian CL would, it seems as if the author of the editorial completely missed the true mission behind why one becomes a CL.

Last week, my rhetoric professor asked our class to define the typical Baylor student. Most students responded with answers that included words like “rich,” “white” and “Baptist.”

While I believe most could agree to these definitions of the typical Baylor student, I kept thinking that I, a regular freshman girl, didn’t even fit that stereotype made out of three simple words.

Every February, people from all across the country gather in their living rooms to watch the Super Bowl, the emblem of American sports.

The Super Bowl is a meeting between the top teams of both the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference, but as far as entertainment values go, it isn’t all about the game.

Slow down there, partner!

To say these words to a NASCAR racer would seem a tad inappropriate, but to say these same words to drivers in the parking garages would be too tame.

In a controversial Newsweek editorial in 2009, Jon Meacham predicted the “End of Christian America.” Citing a 10 percentage point drop in the number of self-identified Christians, Meacham applied the term “post-Christian” to an American society in which Christianity is continuing to lose influence.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for East Village to open up in the fall.

Although I’m not going to be living there, I think East Village great for science students who live on campus because it will allow them to stay in relatively nice on-campus housing that’s close to the BSB, were they will be spending most of their time.

I’m going to be honest with you: I’m not a morning person.

Whenever I wake up before 10 a.m. or so, I’m groggy, incoherent and generally unhappy to be awake. This semester, the need to fulfill my degree requirements has forced me to enroll in an 8 a.m. class every day of the week. It’s a language class, too, which means I have to be on my toes — I’m not naturally gifted where language is concerned and need to study hard, participate and pay attention in order to do well.

Texans are proud of their state, and they should be. People are proud to live in this state because Texas has immense history and astounding tradition.

I grew up in Texas, and I love things like BBQ, fried foods and every other sort of southern charm. I said words like “y’all” and “fixin to,” and embraced everything about the South. I love pick-up trucks and sodas, especially Dr Pepper.

Since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, people across the country have been shaken. Federal and state governments have tried to find an answer through gun laws and legislation.

When five people were accidentally shot at gun shows last week, proponents of gun control legislation clamored to push the story as another reason to support their policies. However, when we take such generalizations at face value, we do the facts an injustice.

A former administrator and three students from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill recently filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, claiming the university has been mishandling sexual assault cases. This lawsuit represents a common problem on college campuses: administrators failing to punish those who commit sexual assault.