The fact the war is the word we use for almost everything - on terrorism, drugs, even poverty - has certainly helped to desensitize us to its invocation; If we wage wars on everything how bad can they be?" - Gleen Greenwald

Wars are not pleasant Mr. Greenwald, we the United States of America always try to be part of everybody's scandal. Why can't the United States just mind their own business at times not to get into politics but this is insane? Every time we try to prove our point it doesn't turn out very good, we lose lives and we hope not to lose anymore. We pray for them every time we lose our soldiers, citizens, or even our family member for their soul to rest in peace. Life would be so much better when we know that our home town tries not to engage in any war. If it's a dispute in the United Nation you can war verbally all you want, but not when it comes to weapons please stay away. When I hear the terrible news miles away in Israel, how they lose legs, arms, soldiers, or the city employees I always feel frightened and pick up the phone no matter where I am, I make sure to call my family and see if they are okay and if their state is rehabilitating. Wars have got to go!!

- Nicholas Kakuriev 

Masters Tournament

Marcus Garvey once said “When all else fails to mobilize the people, conditions will.” This is a true statement. People will fail to come together as a people until a certain condition exists. I am trying to think of a good example as I am sitting here writing, but I am failing to come up with something. Since the class just had a semi-heated discussion about Tiger Woods and LeBron James, the professor has me thinking about the Masters tournament that completed this last weekend. It was a great event and a great week. Watching the video really made me want to be there and I am definitely going back next year for a tournament round. The golf course is truly amazing. I love how the grass grows into the water and how it seems like every blade of grass is perfectly cut. I still remember standing in between holes eleven and twelve when I first got on the hallowed grounds and standing there for a half hour staring at the rolling fairways, ungulated putting greens, the Hogan bridge and ironically, not watching a single player hit a single shot while we were standing there. It was a special moment and a special day. I still remember making friends with an executive at IBM and him bringing us Johnnie Walker blue and cut in half crab legs and eating and drinking them on the left side of ten fairway. I also thought it was cool how they mowed the fairways. Most courses have one person in one mower, but at Augusta National they have twelve mowers going at the same time so they do one pass and cut the entire fairway. They also have a hanging tennis ball that is steady as can be to allow the driver to see how steadily they are driving.

~ Blake Famularo

"Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit[ing] does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits."- Richard Nixon

We always try to equate our failures with our victories, but why? Why does society emphasize the role of failure? In high school we learned the price of failure though grades and other ventures, and that impact on our scholarly paths. But then they told us that it's okay to fail, it's okay to do wrong and learn from our mistakes. But why not cut out the middle man? What's the point of learning about failure when we are driving towards the success of our efforts? Maybe I'm questioning too much but I don't see the practicality behind justifying and gratifying failures. Not that failure isn't helpful- learning from mistakes is a key part of growing up, I think. But when we look back we'd like to think, in an almost weirdly economic sense, why not just ask questions and try to avoid painful mistakes, instead of charging headfirst into them? I ask because that's what I did, and this might not be everyone's case, but it might still ring true somewhere.

- AliAkbar M. Hassonjee

"Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits" -Richard Nixon

I disagree with this quote. I think Nixon just didn't know when to quit. He was too stubborn to admit that he was finished even though the whole nation knew. He was too hungry for power that he became incapable of letting it go. A man's decision to keep pushing, even after he has lost, is all for nothing. He no longer moves in any productive way. I think it just enhances the magnitude of his fall. Nixon is making it seem like he's some Rocky figure in which the only loss is if he gives up, but he's not Rocky. Nixon's defeat began when he decided to commit criminal acts. He just didn't know it yet. He hides behind words that may be effective for those with good intentions.

~Laila Esa 

William Mixter

“There is no motivation higher than being a good writer.”

While Tom Wolfe may believe that there is no motivation higher than being a good writer, I do not. I had a personal interview yesterday with a friend for his psychology class, and he asked me one of the best questions I have heard in a while: “If you could chose 20 billion dollars and die at the age of thirty (but go absolutely nuts, do whatever you want) would you do it or would you instead live your life as it is now?” I thought about it for a while, and apparently I was one of the only few who responded with, “Yes, I’d take it.” My friend said most people don’t take it because they would live their lives never being able to make sustaining relationships; the thought of dying would always hang over there head; they would not be able to see their kids grow up. All of these points are valid, and all of these points I thought about before making my decision. However, 20 billion dollars cannot only change your life, but completely alter your family’s future, your kids future, their kid’s futures, and can be used to beneficial change the environment you are in. One of my biggest goals in life is to be able to give a portion of what my parents gave me back to them. 20 billion dollars is probably more than they were expecting, but imagine what that money could do for my brothers, their children, my cousins, research, charity, etc.? I asked my mom this question and she said 20 billion dollars is not worth losing a child, if you had children youd understand William. I fully agree with her because I do not understand, so if this offer ever became a reality then id have to make sure I would not have children. 

"There is no motivation higher than being a good writer"- Tom Wolfe

Being a good writer, in my opinion, is the ultimate path to making yourself heard in this world. If you can write well, you can challenge, you can think, you can put down ideas on the cemented, tangible, real canvass of paper that eyes upon eyes will read and actually think about. People talk about things more than in any other form of communication, but the written word endures longer on paper than does the spoken word which vanishes into the cold depths of memory. So much of our life revolves around writing- papers, college essays, job applications, speeches; the list goes on. We have been taught to present ourselves and who we become through the ink of a pen. Our journey through life sometimes can be started by just a couple of words, scrawled into the digital medium. Writing has a firm foundation in my own way of thought, and I think it leads to so much more. You just have to harness it.

- AliAkbar M. Hassonjee