Category Archives: Columns

Columns, Forum, Jared Hinderer

Crumbling bridges lead to rethinking of infrastructure

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By Jared Hinderer

Graphic by Chase Palmer

A drive from the knobs to Louisville really never was a big task. Take I64 down to the Sherman Minton, cross over and there you are; right in downtown Louisville. I would be there in 15 to 20 minutes tops, with smooth sailing the whole way. Well, that’s how it used to be at least.

Ever since bridge workers found a crack in the Sherman Minton we have to take a detour of several miles to either the Kennedy or 2nd Street bridge to get to Louisville. During rush hour, this makes 15 minute drive turn into an hour long drive, something that greatly angers people from Indiana that work in Derby City.

But finding this crack brings up a bigger problem to me. Are these bridges inspected often enough? Sure it’s great that they inspect these bridges every two years, but I do not think that is enough. Who is to say that crack didn’t start to form only six months after the last inspection? That means 80 thousand people could have been driving on a structurally unsafe bridge hundreds of feet above the Ohio every day for a year and a half.

Even if bridges were inspected every year, instead of every two, that means we could catch problems earlier before they become a big enough problem to cause a shut down.

Furthermore, America could use situations like this help improve the economy.

If we work to improve our infrastructure, that means more jobs. More jobs means helping fix our major job crisis.

Infrastructure is the backbone of America, and we let that fail, we all might as well plunge into the river with it.

Columns, Forum

Rumors are undeserved

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By Kimberly Humphries

We see them on TV screens, magazine covers, and in the hallways of our school.  Being a teen mom seems to slowly become a more common title.  Everyone has their own opinions on how teen moms raise their child and live their lives, but who are we to judge them and what they do?

We can never really judge a person until we have experienced what they have been through and until we carefully analyze their situation. Having a best friend with a one year old has opened my eyes to all of the criticism teen moms face.

The fact is, three of every four teenagers are sexually active, according to Family First Aid.  That is not to say that the other one-fourth of teenagers are doing something wrong, but it is to say that these girls were not doing anything different than three-fourths of their peers.

Sometimes life does not go as planned, and while there are other routes they could have chosen, they made the mature decision to accept responsibility for their actions and are simply trying to create the best life for themselves and their babies.

These girls are not asking to be praised for being a teen mom, but having rumors spread around school about what kind of mother they are is not exactly what they are looking for either.  I think sometimes we forget how much these girls take on. Finishing high school while rasing a baby is not easy.

There are a lot of false assumptions people make about teen moms.  When they are out with their friends, their child is not sitting in the car by itself, their child is with their father or another responsible adult.  If they make a Facebook for their child, they are not getting a jumpstart on potential Craig’s List buyers, it is a cute way to show off pictures of their pride and joy.  If you think the mom or dad’s parents raise their baby for them, watching them while their children go to school is no different than leaving their child with a babysitter.

When you think about it, we have it pretty easy.  We don’t have a baby constantly crying in our ear and most of us don’t have the entire school analyzing our lives and criticizing everything about us.  These girls knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they knew that in the end, keeping and raising their babies would be worth it.

Columns, Forum

Thompson’s shopping guide

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By Paige Thompson

When walking through any mall one will see the usual Forever 21, Old Navy, Pac Sun and more.  But all of these stores are lacking one thing: uniqueness.

The bad thing about always shopping at these same stores is that there is a greater chance for someone else to have that same great top or the same cute necklace. Sick of never finding anything truly unique? This is when I turn to the eccentric shops on and off-line.

For local shops, I recommend a handful of places:  For those who love a laid-back, cool bohemian environment, spend a day on Bardstown Road.  They have an endless supply of uniqueness to go around.  My personal favorites include Cherry Bomb and Dot Fox, but other great places include Hey Tiger, Discoveries, and Why? Louisville, where you can get witty, Louisville themed t-shirts.  Cherry Bomb carries clothing that is both vintage and new, as well as clothing items from American Apparel. They also carry many handmaid pieces of jewelry, coin purses, headbands, bows, and soaps.  Dot Fox, while similar to Cherry Bomb, is different in it’s own way.  They carry mostly new items from brands that no one has really heard of.  Their prices are fairly high, but if you love adorable outfits it is the place to go.

A little closer to home, I recommend the Dandy Lion.  A little shop in downtown New Albany they offer a large variety of cute vintage clothing, to handmade jewelry and bags as well as prints of various artwork by local artists.

Since our side of the river is lacking in unique, cute shops, I turn to thrift stores.  For this there is Goodwill, where you never know what you will find.  They have everything from that awesome old camera you have been looking everywhere for to that perfectly imperfect ugly sweater that is sure to make you stand out.

For those who don’t feel like going out and dealing with the traffic due to the bridge closure, I recommend the greatest thing ever invented: the Internet.

The Internet is the best place to find unique clothes, accessories, bags, shoes, anything.  Urban Outfitters may not be ideal, but since we do not have one down here, there is a smaller chance that someone around here will have the same thing.

My favorite place to shop online is Etsy.  It is a website with a ton of online stores, full of mainly handmade or vintage clothing and jewelry.  However, they have a bunch of other things too such as furniture, stationery, and even Harry Potter themed items for the Harry Potter aficionado like myself.

Etsy is one of the best places to find jewelry because there are so many different stores and types to choose from.  You can even shop local online shops on the site.  It is also easy to search for anything you might want.  Type “French” into the search bar and you will be faced with pages and pages of French-themed clothing, jewelry, notebooks, and even t-shirts.

So next time you’re out, you’ll be guaranteed not to be wearing the same shirt as anyone else. Have your own unique style courtesy of unique on and off-line shops…and Goodwill.

Columns, Forum, Jacob Baumann

Baumann’s best bands

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By Jacob Baumann

Graphic by Chase Palmer

Before big hair and pop were prevalent, rock and power ballads were all the rage.

While there were many bands throughout the years, these are my favorite from one decade.

3. Rush

When it comes down to pure musicianship and musical compostion, Rush is the first group that comes to mind.

In the 70s, the Canadian group was known for the quirky style and their unforgettable lyrics.

In the beginning, they were heavy metal and they went to hard rock.  A short time was spent using synthesizers, but they soon returned to their rock origins.

With a vocalist like Geddy Lee, it was hard to say that they were like any other group.  Their originality is what makes them exceptional.

2. Aerosmith

Being known for their blues based rock, Aerosmith is sometimes called “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.”

In 1973, Aerosmith released their first album self-titled Aerosmith.  The highest rated single and my favorite is “Dream On.”

From their next album, I liked the songs “Walk this Way” and “Sweet Emotion.”

Lead singer Steven Tyler was known for having cloth around his mic at every concert.

Today he is a judge on American Idold, but Aerosmith lives on.

1. Queen

When it comes to arena rockers, Queen stacks among the elite.

With the voice of Freddie Mercury front and center, the British group was a great success.  Mercury was known for his ability to connect with every member of the crowd.  Watching live concerts from the past, I can feel the connection with the audience that Mercury emitted.

Although some of their songs are  overrated, it is for the right reasons.

Every time they come on the radio, I will be found with it turned up all the way and rockin’ out to it.

Columns, Forum

Columnist criticizes Facebook

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By Meghan Poff

I'm Just Saying

Dear Mark Zuckerburg,

You owe me big time. If you ever want to make it up to me, just send a nice check to my therapist. But I bet she doesn’t like you either. Because of you, every Monday, Thursday and Saturday from 3- 4:30 p.m., she has had to listen to me talk about how much I hate Facebook.

Don’t be too hard on yourself though. You had a really good idea, in your head. You just forgot to take some important variables into account.

  1. People think that others care about what they have to say.
  2. People don’t care about what others have to say.
  3. People think what they have to say is important to others.
  4. People could not care less about what is important to others.

However, it is not too late to save Facebook. Just take my advice, please I am begging you, and your website just might come back from MySpace level.

  1. The Dislike button- The like button only looks really successful because of the fact that there is no dislike button. Because only about 1 out of every 10 times do I actually like a status, and this does not account for the other 9 times that I do not like a status. (*The dislike button can also apply to relationship statuses)
  2. Take away people’s ability to say where they are and who they are with- Because, well, no one cares.
  3. Automatically make wall posts between couples private- As to avoid that awkward moment when you throw up your breakfast after seeing “Yay it’s our two day anniversary! I love you baby!”
  4. Automatic spell-check statuses- Sometimes I get confused when I see, “weekend wuz wy 2 fast dont wanna go 2 skwl tommrw.” Similarly, I almost forget what language I am supposed to be speaking when I see, “mE n D@RReLL b LighTin sHizz ^ in d@ cLUb.”
  5. Tell annoying girls to stop talking about their feelings and go PMS elsewhere- I have had enough of all this, “I’m tired of getting my heart broken by someone that never cared about me.” and “Guys need to know how to treat a lady right. Smh.” I have added up the figures, and by my calculations, there is a reason you are single.

I have re-read all of my key points, and I really do not think any of them are that unrealistic, so if you could make this happen for me, that would be nice. I feel like a lot of people could really benefit from these changes but mostly I feel like if you do this, I might be able to lean off of my anger management medication a bit.

Please and Thank You,

Meghan Poff