Former Denver Broncos tight end/wide receiver and journalist Nate Jackson came to campus last week to talk to students about his memoir detailing life as an average athlete in an institution he considers iniquitous. Slow Getting Up details the dark underside of the NFL with candor, humor and poise. The campus-wide address was cosponsored by the politics department, the Remsen...

I first learned that children were essentially pooping, crying machines from the American media, courtesy of the movie License to Wed, which even Robin Williams couldn’t save. The overwhelmingly bad film featured creepy twin baby robots that cried nearly nonstop and literally pooped weird blue goo, which understandably did not improve the main protagonist’s opinion of having children. "But all...

As many of you all know, this past week was the 50th anniversary of Malcolm X's assassination. X was a Muslim minister, human rights activist and unspeakably influential figure in the civil rights movement. Even though he was considered very radical during the time of his activism, many of his contentions remain unbroken, his methods still valid and his sermons...

Two videos, from two very different perspectives, caught my attention this week. In the first, 13-year-old Mohammed Tuaiman documents his life in Ma’rib Province, Yemen, in the months after the death of his father and brother, who were killed by a U. S drone strike while herding camels. The strike left Mohammed struggling with the responsibility of caring for his...

Losar tashi delek! Happy Tibetan New Year! My week has been filled with celebrations. After an unforgettable evening celebrating the Hindu festival of Maha Shivaratri at Pashupatinath, the Losar festivities began. Before Losar began we attended a puja at one of the local monasteries. The religious ceremony was taking place in order to remove the obstacles from the previous year...

In the middle of the road, a ratty old couch bursts into flames. The fire leaps into the night sky and sends off a thick column of smoke, lighting up the smashed windows and shards of glass in an orange glow. The couch’s time had come; it was asking to be burned. Someone had put it out in the front...

With $14 salads from Four Cafe and $12 burritos from Chipotle (that extra guac charge is a killer), it is an increasingly difficult task to find a filling meal under $10 in Northeast Los Angeles. Square One Dining challenges this predicament with Square One at the Boathouse: the group's more casual dining option located on the shores—if one can call...

"Disabled children teach many people, change many people, and help people reflect upon themselves, which is why they are the educators of society." – Pastor Jong-Rak Lee, The Drop Box What if they are mentally disabled? Even if it was my kid, I wouldn’t want them to suffer. In that case, wouldn’t it be better to end it before it...

The release and surprise success of Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper has polarized popular opinion in the United States, with celebrities taking sides on social media and an army of patriotic conservatives announcing their renewed desire to ‘kill some ragheads’ over Twitter. However, in the context of a long history of Arab and Muslim representation in American film, neither Bradley Cooper’s...

It is high noon on a Thursday. The sun beats down as heat rises from the black asphalt of Occidental College’s outdoor basketball court. The pangs of basketballs careening off rims and the occasional ‘swish’ permeate the sultry air. This is the Occidental tradition called “Noonball.” Noonball is a pick-up basketball game that takes place inside Rush Gymnasium or the...