Victory Soup: An Introduction

November 14, 2011
By in Blogs Victory Soup: Adventures in Modern America
Victory Soup: An Introduction

Unfortunately, this is not a cooking blog1. A few summers ago I was working on an activist/political campaign along with a gruff and grey old ex-marine named Phil.  Phil had a rather grim view of the youth of the day. He came from an era when engaged citizenship had a lot to do with soup, apparently. “If we really cared about this country, if we really cared about our troops or our democracy or our future, then where are everyday signs of it?” he’d yell at me. “Why aren’t we growing victory gardens?  Why aren’t we making victory soup?” He explained (angrily) to me that when he was a boy during the Second World War, people would plant Victory Gardens in their yards in order to help deal with produce shortages and allow more supplies to be sent overseas. ...

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From “No Scrubs” to “Shittin on ‘Em”

November 14, 2011
By in (Fresh)ence

What the hell Happened to Female Power in RnB? Remember when we used to be “Independent Women (Destiny’s Child)” and didn’t settle for “scrubs” (TLC)? Remember when women used to espouse notions of strength and self-pride, even in genres like country and pop? To be fair, the overwhelming theme in the music industry (males and females included) is misogynist and subordinates women to disposable objects that are always DTF; however, there have been a hand full of artists and songs past and present that have attempted to challenge these messages.

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Doubting Justice in America: Al-Awlaki, Troy Davis, and Osama Bin

November 14, 2011
By in Politics

What do Americans truly know about the inner-workings of their government? Does American citizenship ensure the affording of due process? Can we as Americans rest easy with the assurance that justice will be served? Recent decisions made by the Obama Administration expose an unparalleled lack of transparency and due process and send three broad messages to the American Public: (1) due process can be selectively afforded to American citizens, (2) the government reserves the right to kill any citizen regardless of a lack of conclusive evidence, and (3) the government is not beholden to share information regarding its decisions to kill its citizens with the American public. The cases at hand include the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and suspected terrorist, in Yemen; Georgia’s use of the death penalty in the case of Troy Davis; and the...

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Ohio State Students Take to the Streets to Protest Economic Injustice

November 14, 2011
By in Community
Ohio State Students Take to the Streets to Protest Economic Injustice

The Front Half of the Student March down High Street. Photo by Chris Bellinger. Nov. 10, 2011. Last Thursday, Nov. 10, the student group “Occupy the Oval” organized and conducted a march across Ohio State’s campus. After passing through the Union and crossing the Oval, the students marched from Neil Avenue to High Street along Lane Avenue. They then poured into the streets and marched down the southbound lane of High Street all the way from Lane to the Chase Bank on 12th Avenue.

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Why Girls Shouldn’t Need a “Gay Best Friend,” part 1

November 14, 2011
By in Intersections

Author’s Note: The posts in this series will be written with the straight female as the intended audience. Obviously these posts will be pretty applicable to everyone in one way or another, but when I say “you,” I’m talking to the straight ladies to whom the “gay best friend” stereotype caters. It’s a stereotype that the mainstream women’s blogs and magazines have begun to perpetuate, despite America’s relatively homophobic culture. It’s a concept that’s made appearances on HerCampus blog posts and in funny Youtube videos. And it’s something I had never even heard of until I came to college last year, despite my relatively non-sheltered life throughout high school. What is it? It’s this stupid idea that a girl needs to have a gay male friend to talk about shopping, TV shows, and relationship drama with.

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What it’s like to be in a protest march

November 14, 2011
By in Blogs Un-education

So, if I were to get a protest superlative it would be, “Most Likely to Get Chant Wrong,” or, “Least Likely to Get Arrested,” you know, I’m that one kid who murmurs until I’m relatively sure that the noise is picking up. And then I kind of get freaked out when I can hear my own voice blaring. Occasionally, my arm gets tired and the sign droops or I realize that I’ve been holding it backwards for ten minutes. No big deal, no one’s watching me. Then I realize that someone smells like pee, but don’t want to be rude, so it takes a few minutes for me to navigate my escape from their side.  Other times I just feel the drums so much that I want to break loose and move to the music and shout the chants...

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Reforming Agricultural Subsidies: A Fifty-year Battle

November 12, 2011
By in Earth Tones Politics

Agricultural subsidies were first created in the 1930s to act as a safety net for farmers experiencing extreme circumstances, such as the sudden occurrence of a natural disaster or sharp drops in crop prices. In the 1930s, one in every four people was a farmer, and most farms were small family farms. Thus, if a natural or economic disaster did occur, then the government would provide insurance to these families, whose lives depended on a good crop yield and stable prices. However, over the past eighty years, agriculture has changed so drastically that many of these subsidies have become antiquated and are only continuing because of the large influence that agricultural interest groups have on politics.

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