As a student of international studies, there’s one piece of career advice I always get: “You should learn Mandarin; China is where the future is.” Like migratory birds flying north in spring, and the tides following the moon, advice to go to China is as persistent as it is seemingly natural. To many career-anxious college…
Blogs, Quinlan vs the World
Devastated Philippines in need of support
There’s probably no story in the world right now that demands greater attention than that of the Philippines. Hurricanes are usually something of an annoyance to regular South Floridians. I remember back in the bad years of 2004 to 2006, a Category 1 wasn’t worth preparing for. Students build up a state of apathy (beyond…
Blogs, Quinlan vs the World
For Obama Spying Legacy, Clock is Ticking
President Obama has another three years on the job before retiring forever to defending his record being an elder statesman. But, given the dismally unproductive legislature he’s dealing with, it doesn’t look like he’s going to spend his final term enacting sweeping changes. Broad consensuses on issues like immigration might achieve some reform, but even…
Blogs, Quinlan vs the World
UM’s sexiness beats out that of academic competitors
One of my personal favorite topics is how our university stands relative to its peers. These are dynamic times in which to be a Hurricane, and it’s important to stand back and reflect on our progress every now and again. But who exactly do I mean when I refer to “peers?” Our Faculty Senate maintains…
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Malala Yousafzai still amazes without Nobel Prize
I had intended to write a column about the positive effect of Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani blogger-turned-education activist who is recovering from a gunshot to the head and charming hearts all over the world. Truly, Yousafzai is one of the more inspiring people I have heard of alive on this planet, and it is through…
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Why The Government Broke
The story of the congressional crisis is rooted back years, and to understand it, we must know why. FIRST: Partisanship rose since the “Southern Strategy”. Where democrats included southern conservatives and republicans northern moderates, creating space for bipartisan crossover, the two parties now are almost ideologically sound. Republicans are more so than democrats; consider democrats from Arkansas and…
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Florida republicans love to hate Obamacare
Florida is, by any measure, a weird place. Our twitter persona is a series of increasingly unbelievable crime headlines. Our sports teams celebrate a season of losing by losing their final game by less points than against previous opponents. One of the arguably weirdest things about Florida, though, is obviously its politics. Consider August, when…
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What Do You Mean, The Government Shut Down?
You may have heard that our federal government has shut down. It’s a weird topic, because it raises questions, like “OMFG ARE U SERIOUS”, and “CAN U JUST NOT EVEN??”, which isn’t usually the tone that we give to the most successful constitutional republic in history. What’s actually going on? For the government to operate,…