I think almost every reader will agree with me when they say they hated reading Facebook after the election results. Gloating, name-calling, and absurd statements about “moving to Canada” seemed to take over everyone’s mind for a few days.

There has been a lot of grumbling as of late.

Grumbling from a lot of people about Baylor football. From fans and commentators, from students and alumni even, nobody seems too pleased with the performance of our football team.

And why should they be?

The Breast Milk Baby has hit U.S. shelves.

One of the newest innovations in the baby-doll world, the Breast Milk Baby was released Friday by the Spanish toy company Berjuan Toys.

The doll cries and burps like any other doll, but there’s one feature that sets it apart.

I have noticed several stories in the Lariat lately about people with autism.

While I am thrilled that you are raising awareness for this disorder, I think it’s important that you find out how to talk about it in a sensitive way.

The title of one story in today’s issue, for example, began with the phrase “autistic families.” This is not at all the correct way to talk about autism and can be considered offensive.

Families are not autistic…one individual in the family is (or several may be).

Thank goodness that’s over.

The presidential campaign of 2012 did not in fact last long enough to be measured in geologic time, but poll-scarred and ad-weary voters can, perhaps, be forgiven for feeling as if it did.

Barack Obama and his supporters will be, understandably, jubilant that his lease on that Pennsylvania Avenue mansion has been extended for four more years. But Tuesday night’s vote is also noteworthy for a reason only tangentially related to the fortunes of the incumbent president.

If someone doesn’t like a particular circumstance, he is told, “It is what it is,” and that’s the end of it.

In sports, “it is what it is” describes the numbers on the scoreboard after the game. You win or you lose and afterward. It is what it is.

In the world of journalism, that black and white statement begins to gray beyond wins and losses.