EDITORIAL: A message for the graduating class of 2013

So graduates, this is it. After many long years fighting through primary and secondary education, you have arrived. For many of you, your formal education ends today.

Congratulations, you are no longer our future.

COLUMN: There are a lot of people to recognize behind one graduate

A science teacher I had in seventh grade once told me that as I get older, the school years will seemingly go by faster than the previous one. Those words have resonated with me every May since then, but none more so than this year.

My senior year was the most enjoyable and without a doubt the fastest academic year of my life.

I intended on writing this column as a way of expressing how much I love this university and the jobs Iʼve had at this newspaper over the last four years, but first I want to thank the people who helped get me this far.

EDITORIAL: Don’t forget that the details matter in Jason Collins’ coming out story

Sometimes people are heterosexual. Sometimes they’re not. As a society, Americans are coming around on accepting that, whether current laws truly reflect that or not.

When a male athlete who is supposed to be the image of masculinity comes out, though, people tend to be a little less understanding.

This week, Sports Illustrated ran a piece by NBA veteran big man Jason Collins stating that he is gay. In doing so, he became the first active male athlete in major American sports to come out.

COLUMN: Graduation: A time to reflect on graduates’ dubious futures in low-pay jobs

It’s that time of the year again. Students all around campus are either in the midst of their finals or just about to enter into one of the most stressful weeks of the semester. There are few times when anxiety and stress levels are higher at a university. For graduating college students, surviving four or more years of these excruciating finals weeks and their accompanying semesters, will not guarantee a comfortable income. In fact, a college degree doesn’t even guarantee a career based employment position anymore.

COLUMN: Mixed martial arts and its culture distasteful to casual observer

Saturday night, a friend and I sat in the bar area at Old Chicago enjoying pizza, beer and conversation when it began. Bit by bit, the Tapout and Ed Hardy catalogs walked in the door for a pay-per-view MMA fi ght. Thatʼs when we knew it was time to leave. For decades, kids looking to find their place in society gravitated toward martial arts classes in hopes of finding a niche.

Many found a passion for their fighting style of choice, gaining discipline and perspective from their efforts, along with hand-to-hand combat skills and an understanding of when to use them.

In recent years, though, the image of martial arts enthusiasts has drastically changed. It went from outcasts searching for an identity to spiked hair, tribal tattoos on white dudes and flashy, too-tight shirts, often paired with bedazzled jeans.

EDITORIAL: If it needs to be said, The Mirror will say it —that’s a promise

During a 1965 performance the great musician Tom Lehrer once said, “I feel that if a person canʼt communicate, the very least he can do is to shut up.”

Itʼs a philosophy that I feel many people would do well to follow, particularly in this day and age of instantaneous communication, when anyone can amass a large audience online given the right circumstances.

Why do I bring this up right now as I write this editorial?

COLUMN: The end of a horrific week should remind us to flood blood banks, not Twitter

Many news sources have already mentioned the recent events that have left us all in disbelief. Bombings, murders, gunfire, innocent civilians and police officers being injured or killed — this kind of news week leaves me at a loss for words. From Boston to Texas, and even on the slopes of Colorado’s White River National Forest where five snowboarders were killed in an avalanche, this nation is in mourning.

I am no one to judge the coping mechanisms of others, and I often find it hard to wrap my head around days like these, but in the aftermath of this tribulation, I will be objective, as that is what I do.

EDITORIAL: The importance of U.S. choosing our battles after Boston Marathon attack

You’re on a battlefield. The unfamiliar gun’s metal body is cold in your hand. Your legs ache from exhaustion, muscular tension and anticipation.

You have weighed the cost of your life against the cost of a life of subjection to tyranny, and your presence at the battle communicates how much liberty means to you more than Patrick Henry’s speech ever could.

As a British officer orders you to put down your arms and surrender, you begin to doubt whether liberty is really worth more than each miraculous breath and heartbeat of every moment. Then, from some place you cannot tell, a shot is fired. In a moment of chaos amidst groups of frightened, determined men armed with guns and swords, a shot is fired that will echo around the world. It began a war that resulted in America’s independence.

In Boston last Monday, runners and crowds of thousands heard a blast that resulted in bloodshed, but it reverberated much louder than a single gunshot. It was a detonated explosive device, one of two bombs that resulted in the deaths of three individuals, including an 8-year-old boy named Martin Richard.

COLUMN: Christian privilege merits wider discussion of other faiths on campus

Few University of Northern Colorado students can say they’ve gone unnoticed by Christians wandering the University Center preaching the story of Jesus or never had a New Testament shoved into their hands as they walked to class. But Christianity is the major meaning and purpose in life to a lot of people. So does UNC have a problem with manifestations of Christian privilege? Like most issues of morality and religion, Christian privilege is not as black and white as either religious or secular students might believe.

First off, Christian privilege is the assumption by Christians that everyone they meet either is or should be Christian. It’s a complex issue and one not widely understood, even by those who have stake in it. Christianity has shaped the culture of America, so the Christian viewpoint is often considered where the views of religions in the minority might not be. Recent debates on marriage equality and availability of birth control have focused heavily on the conservative Christian perspective, for example. Being Christian in America is a promise that your viewpoint will be heard.