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-Andrew Sveda | Monday, October 11, 2021
When it comes to vaccine mandates, many conservatives are borrowing a pro-choice mantra: “My body, my choice.” On one hand, this is a smart tactic. It points out a logical inconsistency in the pro-choice, pro-COVID-19 vaccine mandate camp. If what I do with my body is my choice, how can you force someone to take
Andrew Sveda | Monday, September 27, 2021
No one can deny that we are in a time of great social change in America. Just a cursory look at U.S. politics and culture over the past ten to fifteen years makes this abundantly clear. Indeed, what we have seen over this period of time — and particularly over the past five years or
Andrew Sveda | Monday, September 13, 2021
People always seem surprised about the excitement on my face whenever “The Lord of the Rings” films are mentioned. Maybe it’s because I’m not the kind of person they have in mind when they imagine the standard “Lord of the Rings” fan. But I need not be to fall in love with this film trilogy.
Andrew Sveda | Monday, August 30, 2021
“Why do atheists debate in the first place?” I found myself wondering one otherwise unmemorable day. The question stopped me in my tracks. I was utterly stupefied that, despite my countless hours of listening to debates on God’s existence on YouTube, I never seriously asked myself this question until now. If you had asked me
Andrew Sveda | Monday, May 3, 2021
Does God exist? “Why should we bother?” you might be wondering. “It’s all so complicated, so abstract. I’ve got bigger problems to think about. And some smart people disagree!” Hopefully the reader can see that this is no real argument at all but a hollow list of assumptions and assertions. Undoubtedly, you do have pressing
Andrew Sveda | Monday, April 19, 2021
Have you ever watched a movie that was pretty bad but for some reason is stuck in your memory? One of those movies for me is “The Net,” starring Sandra Bullock. The plot is all over the place and the acting is nothing to call home about, but there is one aspect of the movie
Andrew Sveda | Monday, March 22, 2021
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that in a time of such unprecedented access to information, there is so little wisdom? Despite our resistance to this idea, we all know it to be true. There’s so much noise, so much talk for the sake of talk. We often find ourselves evoking mantras and slogans without really thinking
Andrew Sveda | Monday, March 8, 2021
In my previous column, I asked, “What is the main thing, the purpose of college that takes precedence over all other factors and shapes what a meaningful college experience looks like?” I examined three common answers — credential earning, job training and “learning things” — and discovered that each college model suffered from some serious
Andrew Sveda | Monday, February 22, 2021
Should college tuition be free? For the past five years or so, Senator Bernie Sanders has been particularly vocal on this subject, going as far as to call free college a “human right.” But with the inauguration of Joe Biden, who supported a very generous free college program during his presidential campaign, what was once
Andrew Sveda | Monday, February 8, 2021
When it comes to breaks, and especially long breaks like the one we just had, there’s always a strange progression in my attitude toward them. And I suspect I’m not the only one. The whole cycle has about four phases. The first phase starts about a month into school, when the monotony of homework and