by Elin Johnson One thought that resonates with me is,“life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.” This is often quoted by English teachers coercing groaning freshman into public speaking, or precedes the enigmatic string of numbers stowed away inside of stale fortune cookies. For me it has always been a mantra. One to convince myself that whatever half-baked idea I was pursuing in order to impress a cousin was worthwhile, and would, in the best-case-scenario, result in the loss of dignity instead of limbs. Growing up, I was described by most of my early elementary school teachers as “free spirited” and a “joy to have in class.” That…

by Sarah Edwards I was the innocent age of seven, and my life was still a simple one, but I was headed towards a traumatizing night that would leave its mark on me forever. It started with dinner. I had a T.V. stand right in front of the couch, waiting for food to be set upon it. I was fixated on the screen displaying colorful shows before my sisters and me when the soup came – it was ramen. I was fond of it then, and somehow I still am today. My mother held it out to me, warning me that it was hot, but I was a foolish child.…

by Keegan Sudkamp-Tostevin What is free speech? Our understanding of this concept seems to be relatively clear. Most Westerners would define it as the idea that speech alone cannot constitute violations in law, so long as there isn’t an illegal call to action or credible threat behind it. We might disagree on the mild semantics, such as the extent of a legal call to action, but there is a fairly substantive definition behind it which the majority of people seem to rally behind. But what is this new idea of hate speech – this bastardized product of the era of the millennials, the era of political correctness, and the personalization…

by Thomas O’Harra When this season started, back in November, I was so excited to race. There’s something in the air in the early season, everyone pumped up and excited. I got so nervous before the races back then, I could barely eat breakfast on race morning. And sure, I still got really nervous before my sprint race in Kazakhstan, and my sprint race in Switzerland, and some of the races at Junior Nationals, but the further into the season that I got, the more comfortable I felt before each event, and about racing in general. That isn’t to say, however, that I was less excited about racing. I love…

by Ashana Armstrong I had observed the Double-crested Cormorant in Washington years ago, but had no clue what all those black birds were that just stood, perched on the piers in Puget Sound. Now I know what these creatures are and the history that they have with humans. These really are fascinating birds that need to be watched more often. Before I get into my observations, I would like to thank Professor Scott Swann, Matt Drennan and Rich McDonald for helping me along the way this term in regards to birding. The main two sites I ended up watching the Double-crested Cormorant was on the shoreline in Bar Harbor and…

by Evan Nasse A Cinephile is defined as, “A devoted moviegoer, especially one knowledgeable about the art of cinema.” It is this definition that has been falling slowly by the wayside as Hollywood adopts a business model of finding profitable, “entertainment,” and moviegoers becoming apathetic about what they view.  The problem goes deeper than that if you look at cinema over the last ten years, compared to what you would find in cinema from fifty years ago. Several publications discuss the decline in film quality as a whole. Some writers on the subject are calling it, “The Death of Cinema,” who believe cinema should be given up, that there will…

by Crystal Dalison After my island cruiser of a car finally succumbed to its lifetime of abuse, I had to hitchhike to work every day. Because I lived out in the jungle, down a sparsely populated dirt road, my morning commute usually involved a lot of walking. Crazy as it may sound, I didn’t mind it too much. Don’t let anyone tell you that hitchhiking on the island is easy, because it isn’t, but it can be a lot of fun – especially if you happen upon a consistent ride like I did. Even though she was always alone when she picked me up, I always sat in the back…

by Garrett Okonek Psychology has been similar to medicine for a long time. Both have traditionally looked for illnesses in patients, then have used specific treatments formulated for those ailments. In medicine, the focus is on sicknesses of the body, which are tangible and are usually caused by a specific thing, such as a virus or an injury. However, psychologists deal with sicknesses of the mind. Mental illness is sometimes caused by specific things, like chemical imbalances of the brain or head injuries, but more often results from a variety of causes, like a traumatic childhood or a recent death in the family. Diagnoses can still be made, but someone…

by Will Day It seemed like just another crossing between Bahamian Cays. Sure, the rip current was moving faster than they’d encountered before, but they’d compensated by giving the racing water a wide berth. Five novice kayakers began to cross, eager to test their newfound abilities on what would be their first crossing without instructor guidance. Fifty yards offshore, their plan disintegrated. The bow of a cruise ship–reminiscent in size of an apartment building–punched through the gap between islands and charged, like a bull out of hell, toward the five students in their feeble plastic boats… [divider] Alaska Pacific University is unique in the world of undergraduate education, offering a…

by Fischer Gangemi Introduction When I was eleven years old my parents took me on a family river trip not far from home on the South Fork of the Flathead River.   I had been on many river trips and have been on many more since, but something about this trip was special for me.  I think it was the isolation. The only ways to access the headwaters of the South fork is to either hike or ride a horse somewhere between fifteen and thirty miles depending on the trailhead and the tributary you want to start on.  Starting at Young’s Creek, it’s over a forty mile float through wild and…