Opinion

The time has come to write my last Editor’s Desk column for The Scene. I wasn’t sure what to write about, except to say that my decision to leave Forest Park and the student newspaper has been bittersweet. In the past two years, I have grown as a person and learned more then I expected, about myself and where I want to go in life. Advisers Teri Maddox and Lane Barnholtz have been two of the key players in all of this. I started working for The Scene during my first semester at the college, and I have enjoyed it a bunch, everything from late nights laying out the paper to trips across Missouri for conferences and office potlucks. It’s been stressful and fun. The staff truly has become a tight little group of friends. […]

A few weeks ago, The Scene received a book with a letter asking for a review. I knew absolutely nothing about it, but I took on the challenge of reading it, which excited me. The book, called “God Loves Ugly & Love Makes Beautiful,” was written by Christa Black, a songwriter and violinist who has toured with the Jonas Brothers, Michael W. Smith and Jennifer Knapp. I assumed it was a self-help book and that it wouldn’t keep my attention. But I was surprised at how well it was written and how much I could actually see myself in Black’s story. […]

What’s your privacy worth? On June 6, what might normally have been a national U.S. debate became a worldwide uproar when the British newspaper The Guardian published a story alleging gross privacy invasion by the United States government. Former government contractor Edward Snowden allegedly provided the paper with Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) documents that showed national communications-service providers, such as Verizon, had been forced to hand over millions of phone records for U.S. customers. Snowden had obtained the documents, he told news sources, while working on national-security projects. […]

As warmer weather came around, so did natural disasters. In the past few weeks, flooding and tornadoes have left many people without homes. I watch the news, and I feel like changing the channel when it’s time for weather reports. Oklahoma has been hit with back-to-back tornadoes, reminding Missourians of the 2011 Joplin tornado and others that have hit our area. The first tornado hit the small town of Moore, Okla. It operated in the same manner as the Joplin tornado, devastating everything in its path. […]

Most people today use some form of social media, whether it’s Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or Tumblr. It’s a great way to keep in contact with friends and family in different parts of the country or world. Social media can be used to distribute information. In the case of an abduction, a tweet could alert the public and insure a child’s safe return. Businesses use Facebook to sell products. College students use it to reach fellow classmates and get assignments. […]

Society is far too lenient on powerful people who make terrible decisions based on dogmatic beliefs. This is especially true when there is tangible evidence that those decisions will be detrimental to the health and well-being of people. Discussions on the theological leanings of Pope Francis were a sad reminder that even if he interprets the Bible liberally, he still is a Catholic who will characterize homosexuality and contraceptives as immoral. Francis will likely follow in the footsteps of former Pope Benedict, who insisted that condoms not be distributed by Catholic humanitarian groups in sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV is rampant. […]

The St. Louis primary election will be held on March 5. Voters will choose from three Democrat mayoral candidates: Lewis Reed, Jimmie Matthews and incumbent Francis Slay. The winner will become mayor because he will face no Republican opposition in the general election. Slay has been mayor since 2001 and is seeking a fourth term. He formerly served 10 years as a St. Louis alderman and six years as president of the Board of Aldermen. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Quincy College and a law degree from St. Louis University. […]

For as long as the media has existed, it has portrayed “inferior” groups, such as women and racial minorities, in a negative light. Newscasts, movies, sitcoms and even cartoons paint their pictures with stereotypes, creating fear and intolerance of anyone who is different. Television programs present an abstract view of society, based on the ideologies of the reporters, commentators, writers and directors. This shapes the feelings of viewers toward individuals and groups, especially viewers who are ignorant of other lifestyles. […]

Have you done something you sucked at today? I thoroughly suggest the endeavor. What’s that? You don’t like doing things unless you’re good at them? You don’t want to look silly? Allow me to explain why you should start acting outside the box: It is through trying new things in life that you become an interesting person. A comedian named Kyle Kinane once made a great point about why people should strive to be weird. If aliens came to Earth and looked down at humanity, what would they see? People mindlessly driving cars, staring at their phones and walking along the road in single file. […]