In last week’s midterm election, Athens County voted in favor of Issue 7 to ban hydraulic fracturing in the city limit of Athens. It passed with the highest percentage of all the nine issues that were voted on in the election with 78 percent.
If you have been watching the NFL throughout the past decade, you can tell that the refs have become a little more trigger-happy with their flags. These yellow flags are supposed to represent Commissioner Roger Goodell’s concern for the players’ safety.The term “hitting a defenseless receiver” has become all too common in the NFL in recent years. I understand they don’t want the defensive players destroying a guy because he is vulnerable, but how are you supposed to play the game nowadays if you can’t hit someone hard? The sole reason why these guys get paid so much is because what they do is dangerous. Fines have been too frequent lately. Each fine is based on how much the player gets paid, and the penalty is priced accordingly. But if player safety is such a concerning factor for the Goodell, why add another game (Thursday) to the weekly schedule?The NFL is where modern day gladiators go to battle as entertainment for us. It’s comprised of some of the biggest, fastest, most athletic men in the entire world, and they line up against one another and hit each other in the head for a couple of hours. There is a reason the NFL only has 16 games while Major League Baseball has 162 — the human body simply can’t take beatings the way these NFL guys do on a consistent basis.I love the idea of a primetime game; it gives America a chance to zone in on one game and gather around to enjoy America’s favorite sport. But we already had that with Monday Night Football. Altering the schedule to have a game on Thursday night is just a ploy to put some more money in the NFL’s pocket.If a team plays on the previous Sunday, then the players would only have three days of practice and rest before they have to go out onto the field and put themselves at risk again. But I guess it’s okay, right? Because Goodell is allowing more flags to be thrown.Sure, it’s their job and they get paid like kings, but I think it’s wrong to give these guys another game to go out there and destroy their bodies just a little bit more. However, this goes with the issue about penalties and fines. If you’re going to fine someone for endangering another player, but you add another game onto the weekly schedule, that screams hypocrite to me. Goodell is all over the place, and it seems like he is losing a grip on things. He already did a horrible job dealing with the Ray Rice incident earlier this year, and he was the one who instilled this new Thursday Night Football gimmick that only allowed DirecTV users to watch the game.The NFL needs to end Thursday Night Football and go back to the normal schedule. He is letting his greed get in the way of really keeping these players safe.Adam Wondrely is a senior studying creative writing and journalism. Email him aw922910@ohio.edu
I was seated at my favorite Japanese steakhouse restaurant, Shogun. The chef was performing intricate maneuvers, twirling knives and catapulting shrimp at individual plates. It was amazing, but when I looked around the table, patrons with illuminated faces were staring down at their gadgets. These people are missing the spectacle. Half the enjoyment of a Japanese steakhouse is the visual presentation of the food.
In October, a Filipino woman was discovered dead in a motel bathroom, her head hanging over the toilet. Time Magazine reported that a U.S. Marine is suspected of murdering her by strangulation and pushing her face into the toilet water. Her name was Jennifer Laude, and she had been seen with the Marine checking into the motel before her body was found. According to the article, condoms were found in the trash in the room.
Things in my life have been a little crazy as of late and I’ve been seeking out comfort and encouragement in the form of Google search results.As I sat in the glow of my computer monitor on yet another late-night homework session, I typed in something to the effect of “college encouragement” and pushed my assigned readings off to the side as the results of my search poured in. One caught my eye: “40 Things Every College Girl Needs to Be Reminded Once in a While” from Thought Catalog. Due to the nature of the website, I clicked the link more out of curiosity than anything else, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.I wanted to share a couple of my favorite “reminders” from the list in the hopes that they might help others struggling as we enter the last month of fall semester:
Some of the most conducive environments for learning are festivals, parades and artistic performances. There is a community of shared interests that bring multitudinous and diverse crowds together for common purposes, such as experience and appreciation of the arts. Each individual could benefit from new connections and friendships, learn new things about different cultures, which expands his or her intellectual and cultural awareness, and most importantly, experience the music and dance demonstrated in that shared space. There are annual music and dance festivals all over the North America, but I’ve decided to focus in on Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, the Caribbean Carnival and the Puerto Rican Day Parade.
“Have you ever gone to an art museum and seen the art students sitting there with their easels and oils, copying the great masters? The point isn’t to turn them into plagiarists, or to make them expert forgers,” MacDonald said. “The point is to get the feeling into their hands and arms of how to make the brush strokes that create a particular illusion on canvas. Writing is no less a physical skill than painting. The words are your paints, the sentences your brush strokes.”
That, sadly, is no laughing matter.
Just because the weather doesn’t call for sunbathing doesn’t mean you should resort to using tanning beds.
Ohio has the potential to run the tables and go undefeated this year in MAC play.
Northern Ohio colleges and OU are offering many new 'modest' scholarships aimed at keeping students enrolled.
It’s important that student voters are well-informed about all issues and candidates on the ballot.
Taylor Swift's artist profile on the music-streaming service, Spotify, is blank except for a single song from a movie soundtrack. Why?
The White House Coalition to End Sexual Assault and the “It’s On Us” campaign's new goal include emphasizing that it’s everyone’s responsibility to take action towards assault prevention and that victim blaming is never an acceptable response to sexual violence.
Could anyone picture that same cigarette-addicted, longhaired chump going long for the game-winning touchdown?
To all the women reading this: Your opinions are valid. You do not have to apologize for expressing yourself, no matter if it’s through kindness or anger.
I am unashamedly in love with Grace Helbig. Can you say girl crush?
Street harassment is a toxic practice that unfortunately plagues our society and has the potential to escalate to more serious and criminal matters. Not everyone is guilty of it, but every woman experiences it in some way or another in her lifetime. Something as innocent as walking down the street has become a cause for anxiety and fear.
Winter is almost upon us. Though there are a select few individuals who genuinely look forward to the change in season, the sane majority (myself included) are not particularly fond of winter’s presence, which will surely include many dark and frigid days. It’s not that I’m a total winter hater — I enjoy a snowy day filled with snowballs and sledding just as much as the next guy, especially if it involves school closure — but a couple weeks of winter would satisfy my craving. Okay, enough of my winter venting.The point is, winter can take a toll on us both physically and psychologically, and many people don’t realize the consequences that stress has on our ability to fight infection. For example, running, walking and biking enthusiasts who are accustomed to adhering to a favorite outdoor workout routine are forced to take their exercises inside to stationary equipment because of the cold temperature and piercing wind. Though perhaps less enjoyable, some will be diligent in continuing to exercise while others lose interest. But in either case, winter is associated with change in habitual routines. Though winter may lead to some positive changes as well (such as going to sleep at a more reasonable hour), winter’s negative effects on health and well-being are often overlooked and underappreciated.From my clinical experience as a medical student, two things are apparent during the winter months: more people experience flu-like symptoms and more people feel dejected and gloomy. An obvious association is that illness breeds unhappiness, and, after all, no one enjoys being sick. Though it will be important for me as a doctor to treat those who are sick, won’t it be more beneficial to prevent illness in the first place? So this begs the question, why are we more inclined to get sick during the winter? The answer is certainly multidimensional, but an overlooked reason has to do with winter blues. Winter-related depression and stress can be detrimental to immune function, thus heightening susceptibility to infection.In an effort to counteract winter doldrums, my recommendation is to develop a personal plan to maximize conditions for health. By first reflecting on how winter affects your daily routines and your overall psyche, you can then develop new goals and customs. Physical exercise is a proven depression buster with mood-enhancing endorphin benefits. For example, I enjoy running outside and use it as a time to get away and let my mind take a break, whereas I think running on a treadmill is extremely boring. Therefore, one of my goals this winter is to incorporate swimming into my weekly routine. And instead of running on the treadmill, I will mix up swimming with some interval training on the track in the new Walter Fieldhouse (which, by the way, is awesome if you haven’t been there yet). Including an exercise regimen is one of many things you could do to reduce stress and help prevent illness. Other important ways to positively affect your immune system and psyche on a daily basis include getting an annual flu shot, enjoying at least 15 minutes of outdoor sunlight, consuming essential vitamins and nutrients such as vitamin C and D and getting adequate sleep. For those Game of Thrones enthusiasts, “winter is coming,” my friends. Finding ways to improve mental and physical well-being as well as proactively taking steps to enhance your immune system will serve you well.Mark Gottschlich is a second-year medical student at the Ohio University Heritage College of Medicine. Email him at gg617012@ohio.edu.
Dad’s Weekend is less than a week away, and with it come multiple opportunities to get involved with sustainability on campus.
Solutions by The State News