Writer's Block

It isn’t uncommon in our modern-day climate to be critical of our own nation and the ideals that served as the engine for it. It, after all, goes with the territory in our postmodern age. But it wasn’t until we, as a people, devoted ourselves to that ethic of skepticism -- the ability to uncouple from some monocratic consciousness -- that we could begin to indict and rectify the sins of unchecked authority. Following the paradigm shifts of the Civil Rights Era, the American people became open to the prospect of questioning the inadequacies of the Establishment and its inability to solve the crimes of racism, refrain from martial jingoism, nor clarify why there continues to be a symbiosis between the two. By the time the population fully reckoned with the Vietnam War, which had uncoincidentally been festering under the surface of the civil rights struggle, the reality finally came to light that colonialism hadn't died. The televised nature of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, in particul

Recently, a plethora of mega-conglomerates and corporations have been undergoing rebrands and redesigns, ostensibly more frequently in the 2010s and '20s than the lifespan of the companies altogether. We saw this with Pepsi and Windows, most notably. Throughout the 2010s, a particular sort of minimalism and modernization overtook the creative corporate consciousness, with nearly every popular logo and brand going through various kinds of sleek, simplified reinvention. Pepsi abandoned the trademark horizontal "S" curve for a more abstract swoop. Windows graduated from its embossed, reflective windows for white-and-cyan slanted quadrants. Countless other corporations followed suit, and some rather appealing logos resulted in spite of the conforming, postmodern rebrand shift.                                  In the 2020s, however, a new shift is taking place. As the rest of corporate America scrambled to keep up with the changing, minimalistic times, a fresh (or a more anton

The alien concept that God could be evil comes from a combination of the problem of evil and a challenge to Christian apologetical logic. Theologians and skeptical secularists would be familiar with the notorious "problem of evil," which articulates the complication that arises out of the belief in a good God and the simultaneous recognition of near-omnipresent evil. How, in other words, could God be all-powerful and all-good if evil still exists? Apologists with responses are swift and numerous. These answers to this proposed "problem of evil" are known as theodicies. And one of the most popular theodicies is one localized around the moral necessity of free will. This particular theodicy goes something like this: God offered humanity paradise in the form of the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, however, was placed within the Garden to give humanity the choice between paradise (and the consequent submission to God absolutely) and autonomy in an

Gen Z is admittedly creative when it comes to slang invention. The far-reaching utility that the internet offers has undeniably served as a primary catalyst for the expansiveness of the etymological bog that so many new-age colloquialisms hail from. The scrapyard of the worst of humanity's anonymous selves, and simultaneously the mega-factory of endless creation, the internet unsurprisingly forms some of the strangest concoctions (and sometimes monstrosities) of man's imagination. These concoctions are often distortions of aspects of the real world. One such distortion is the concept of "saltiness." A neologized term meaning angry and snippy these days, "salty" has had a wide variety of meanings. Critical, impolite, tough, grounded, pertaining to salt -- these are just a few of the wide-ranging definitions of the word. But the term as it has surfaced throughout the internet is one relating to vexed behavior. Irate gamers who lose are salty. Incensed commente

  Coffee - a warm caffeinated beverage. You can have it cold as well; it will do the same job. I usually watch the coffee spin when it's done coming out of the coffee maker with slight pieces of coffee grounds in it. I get the cold creamer from the fridge and pour it into the coffee. The dark brown mixes to make it light. Then the once-hot beverage turns warm due to the chilliness of the creamer. Then comes the sweetener and/or sugar. I watch as I pour the white cane sugar into the warm coffee. I get a spoon to stir to finally mix all the ingredients together. Once everything is one, I pick up the warm light-colored coffee. I take a sip, the flavor of creaminess with the sweetness and a slight hint of dark coffee flavor still lingering make it even more enjoyable. The hint of coffee can still be smelled through the air as I sit down to enjoy the morning.

  Freshman Year Reflection My first year at college did not at all go how I envisioned it would go. I was convinced that I would absolutely hate it and want to go home every opportunity I got, but it has honestly been the opposite of that. All of the nights I spent in the summer working myself up over the fear of the unknowns that would come with this year were quite honestly a waste. The experiences that I’ve made and the friends that came with them have made this year a year I won’t forget.  My first semester was a little less eventful, but believe it or not, my disgust for mayonnaise bonded me close to two of my really good friends here. Scraping mayonnaise off of a sandwich in the dining hall is not the ideal way to make friends, but I’m thankful for it. Becoming friends with them was really good for my development as a person because they made me start getting involved in different campus events with them, which is not something I would have done on my own. In hindsight, I can