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American Eye
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Digital Killed the Analog (Music) Star: The Death of the Mixtape
No one makes mixtapes anymore. It's heartbreaking. As a teenager I was the mixtape queen. I had
high_fidelity_coverrather exotic musical tastes for my small town and I delighted in putting together the more obscure selections of my cache for friends, friends of friends, acquaintances -- anyone who would ask, really.
Help! My Doctor is a Conservative.
My doctor, as it turns out, is a Republican. And not just any Republican. He is, it appears, one of the GOP's go-to guys in their war against the Affordable Care Act. He has testified before Congress, written several op-eds for prominent conservative publications and blogs, and is a frequent guest on right-wing radio. This guy is no lightweight. I felt a sinking feeling in my gut, and the more I read, the worse that feeling became.
How a Broken Ankle Nearly Broke My Mind
I hadn't written in over two months. The ideas came but the words would not follow. They just hung in my mind, disjointed fragments that I could not string together. Like the shoes you sometimes see hanging from electrical wires, you know how they got there but retrieving them is impossible.
My Diet vs. My Mother: The Art of Camouflage
The end of the holiday season brings the inevitable New Year's resolutions, most of which involve a commitment to living healthier -- exercising, cutting out junk food, watching our fat intake or carb intake or something else that is invariably detrimental to our health and keeps us from looking good when we're naked. I made this same resolution four years ago and I'm proud to say I have kept it.
‘Duck Dynasty’: Being a Reality Star is Not a Right
Phil Robertson, patriarch of the wildly popular clan, was recently suspended by the show's network A&E for controversial statements he made regarding homosexuals and African-Americans. Fans of the show have reacted strongly to the suspension, threatening boycotts, calling the network to protest, and signing petitions to have Robertson reinstated.
What I Learned at College This Fall: Imperfection is Not a Flaw
;I am not a math person and never have been. Numbers just never managed to blaze a trail through the vast cornfield maze that is my brain. No matter how many times I go over the formulas I always seem to hit dead ends. My goal is always obscured by stalks too high to see over, no matter how high I jump.
The American Tea Party: Rebellious Teens who Never Grew Up
These kids typically hated school and resisted learning. They ridiculed the "brains" and the "nerds" in class for being too smart and too studious. They lauded the "troublemakers" and the "loudmouths", even if their antics ended up making more work for everyone else. They were suspicious of anyone that differed too much from themselves, and woe to anyone who messed with their stuff.
“Now I only think about Los Angeles when the sound kicks out”
"Now I only think about Los Angeles when the sound kicks out" The National
— Pink Rabbits
It’s Time for a New Sexual Revolution
I recently had to track my online activity for a 48-hour period as part of a college assignment. I went into it with a certain amount of trepidation but I also with a piqued sense of curiosity -- not about my own internet habits, but those of my classmates. Will they cop to their salacious habits? You know they're watching it or reading it, will they admit to it?
Gender Identity is No Laughing Matter
"I don't like going out in the middle of the night, or any time of the day, for a manicure and pedicure . . . I have a more peculiar fetish. I like a good Scotch and a cigar. That's my fetish but we'll just compare the two."
Dear Jersey Shore: MTV and I Owe You an Apology
Thanks to MTV and a myriad of magazines and pop culture sources, I imagined the Shore as a culture-free zone, filled with loud, narcissistic orange glowsticks masquerading as people, whose lives revolved around the club, the gym, the tanning bed, and how to score by midnight. What I found instead was a beautiful, quiet community filled with the friendliest people you would ever want to meet.
Anthony Weiner’s Lemons Could Be Hillary Clinton’s Lemonade
Many political bloggers and pundits are even going so far as to speculate how much harm the Weiner scandal will do to a potential Clinton 2016 presidential run, but it may not be the problem many think it is. On the contrary, this scandal could give Hillary Clinton the opportunity to take the stand she could not 20 years ago.
Rolling Stone’s Tsarnaev Cover Depicts Realization, Not Glamourization
Rolling Stone magazine's decision to put Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the 1 August 2013 cover has been met with resounding backlash and online outrage. Several US retailers have refused to sell the issue; political figures including Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick have denounced the cover; and conservative blogger Michelle Malkin is just one of many celebrities who have proposed a complete boycott of the magazine. Social media especially has taken up this torch as only social media can (nothing rounds up the bandwagoneers quite like the combination of hot-button controversy and publicity). Rolling Stone in its defense issued a statement Wednesday, citing the choice as part of a "long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day."
Edward Snowden’s Message is Being Buried in Mud
Honestly, do some people actually think this is plausible? "I'm tired of sun and beautiful beaches, I hate my job and I want to break up with my girlfriend, but I hate uncomfortable conversations -- I know! I'll become a whistleblower and go on the run! I'd rather be hunted by the government than my ex." It would be funny if it weren't so deadly serious.
To Sleep, Perchance to Dream . . . What Dreams May Come?
I'm writing this at 3am, having awakened from yet another dream of falling. This has become a recurring theme in my dreams lately. No matter how pleasantly the dreams begin, they always end up with me on the edge of some sort of precipice or trying to balance myself on a surface of impossible angle, or both at once.
