Jason Collins: Trendsetter or fluke?

So if you have a pulse, I’m sure you have heard the recent news about Jason Collins, the center for the Washington Wizards, has publicly announced that he is gay. For those of you who are comfortably living under a rock, this is a huge deal. As the first active player from a major American team sport, Collins will be a trailblazer for future athletes to more openly express their lifestyles, or will he? I personally have a lot of respect for the man, who is risking his career and his reputation with a single statement, to boldly embrace the lifestyle he has chosen. My main interest on this story is what will happen next? While the actual answer is to be determined there could be major positive or negative repercussions that stem from this. Fan and teammate feedback are going to be huge factors as it relates to seeing if other players will follow suit and come out of the closet.  It is my sincere hope that the courage of Collins will give any other professional sports players the courage to follow in his footsteps. If you have ever played a sport, whether it was in high school or college, I’m sure that you have some reaction to this major development in the professional sports world. If you want to post what you think just comment below and hopefully we can get a meaningful discussion out of this new development to the big picture of gay rights in the United States.

What is Greek Life?

Let me start out by saying that I am writing this as a part of Greek life, so my views may be biased. I know some of you who may not be in a fraternity or sorority shiver at the sound of those words and assume that everyone who is in one automatically has the tag of a “douchebag” but I want to make a case for those people who are a part of that community that don’t fit the mold a lot of people put on us. The people who are in fraternities or sororities aren’t too much different than those not in one. We work, we study, and yes, we like to party. So why is there a lot of beef between those who are and those who are not in Greek life? I think it comes from a lack of understanding about what our institutions stand for and the tradition that they are rooted in. Whether its brotherhood or sisterhood; joining a fraternity or sorority allows an individual to form their own community in a campus of 40,000 students. A big reason I hear that people disapprove of these organizations is because “you guys are just buying your friends.” I understand that’s what it may look like from an outside perspective, but in reality it could not be further from the truth. The bonds that I have made with my fraternity brothers are unlike anything I’ve experienced in any of my friendships throughout my life. Oh, in case you were wondering I am not some anti-social hermit who “needed friends” so I joined a frat. I have a perfectly fine social life outside of my fraternity and at first I just  joined so that I could experience something different, but as time went on I realized that I was joining something much more significant than I originally imagined. It’s hard to explain, but all I can say is that if you have a problem with people who in Greek life, talk to them and get to know them better, everyone that I know that has joined a fraternity or sorority on campus has loved their experiences and I’m sure would love to talk to you about it. You never know, maybe you will become convinced to join the “dark side” and you might like it.

Mifflin: What the Hell Is Going On?

The hot topic lately around Madison seems to be how the city, university, and basically everyone who is opposed to fun are doing all that they can to make the Mifflin Street block party disappear. They claim that it is only on this one day that everyone gets drunk, belligerent, and do stupid things (because that doesn’t happen every other weekend in Madison). I think that this has been handled poorly by the city and the university. The city is dispersing over 300 police officers in downtown Madison alone on Mifflin weekend, not including the university police officers that will be around patrolling Revelry. Speaking of Revelry, aka the music festival the school has haphazardly put together with some local talent and, wait for it….HOODIE ALLEN!! (If that previous sentence was anticlimactic for you that was exactly how I felt when I first heard this lineup.) I’m not saying that this festival will be bad, but if you really want to shift the focus of attention from the legendary Mifflin Street Block Party to this all new music festival you have to bring out some bigger acts than they have. My main complaint with how these various authoritative bodies have handled the cancellation of Mifflin is that they are only reaching out to a portion of their intended audience. Let’s be real, how many of you have a handful of friends or at least know a bunch of people who don’t go here that are more ready than we are to come and get wasted at this fine campus come May 4th? The university and the city of Madison think that if they convince the students here to not celebrate Mifflin, then nobody will come, but think about the thousands of people who don’t go here, could give a shit about Madison’s rules and regulations, and will still party on regardless. Whatever the outcome, I am curious to see what will happen this upcoming May 4th to see if droves of drunken college students will continue doing what we have been doing best for all these years: getting drunk.