Opinion

There has to be a law against police stopping you whenever they feel like it, and their only excuse is, “You fit the description.” Whether I’m traveling in a car, riding a bicycle or just walking down the street, I’ve fit the description on more than one occasion. Somehow I resist the temptation to even get upset about racial profiling. If I said what I wanted to say to whomever decides that I fit the description, then one thing would lead to another, and before you know it, I’d be in cuffs. Or the trigger-happy police, who just can’t wait to carry out their own form of swift justice, would be rolling out a stretcher. Why should I be another statistic? […]

The beginning of fall semester at Forest Park was just as chaotic as other semesters, filled with misunderstanding, disorganization and impatience. Let’s start with the Financial Aid office. Most of the time, students have a simple question: “How do I get financial aid?” The simple answer is, “Fill out your Free Application for Federal Student Aid, then submit it before the deadline.” No problem, right? Then why the interminable waiting? […]

I used to think I was a liberal on most issues, staking out positions before even hearing both sides. After all, conservatives are the guys who don’t want gay people to get married, right? But recently, I’ve changed my mind on a few things. I’ve learned that social ideologies are very different from fiscal ideologies. Being a conservative fiscally doesn’t mean you are a bigot. […]

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. […]