After Gov. Jay Nixon's speech, I suppose we should all be rejoicing on the streets of Kirksville, dancing through campus and throwing piles of snow in the air sprinkling down like confetti. This is a celebration, right? We were told to expect cuts to higher education funding of 10 percent, 15 percent, possibly even 20 percent.

A few weeks ago I woke up and knew something didn't feel right. No, I wasn't sick. I hadn't grown overnight, and my neck wasn't sore from sleeping on it the wrong way. The impulsive leader within my Aries self had transformed into a pushover Pisces. My identity had been changed forever.

As I was walking by the hospital one afternoon, I stopped to look at downtown Kirksville. Our "skyline" is composed of Traveler's Hotel, the Adair County Courthouse, the Downtown Movie Theater, a water tower and a Baptist church. It's not much. There's no uniformity, no real rhythm.

So, our representative in Jefferson City, Zach Wyatt, thinks people on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families should be subjected to drug testing "to make sure government funds are distributed to people who will not use the money to support a drug habit?" Really? You think farmers receiving subsidies, merchants receiving tax rollbacks, the officers of firms receiving abatements on utilities or other assessments the rest of us have to pay, all these people should have to pee in a bottle too? Would they be comfortable with the logic of "if you're clean, whatcha got to squawk about?" How about you, Zach? Every time you put one hand for that paycheck, you'll be handing over a warm yellow vial with the other? No need to answer — this is just something we do to remind the poor that we control them in the most intimate way, a not-really symbolic invasion of their very bodies as the price of assistance for the desperation originally created by the privatization of the commons. 1 comment

In response to the Jan. 20 column "Kirksville lacks restaurant variety," every decision we make is a trade-off between costs and benefits. Choosing to attend Truman is no exception. Hopefully as prospective students, we analyzed the costs and benefits of attending  a smaller liberal arts school in a rural town. 1 comment

College is the time to throw yourself into the academic battlefield and hope you come out wiser at the other end. You are armed with textbooks and professors to help you along the way, but the driving force of this scholarly mission must lie within you, the student.

It's the first few weeks back at college after Winter Break and classes are just warming up. Apart from reading, the homework schedule isn't looking too bad. In fact you actually find yourself with a surplus of something that Truman students frequently lack — free time.

I found myself the other day watching comedian turned political commentator Bill Maher on his show "Real Time," and I couldn't stop staring, not because of the intellectual content of the show, but because of the same effect caused when one sees "Sarah Palin's Alaska.

Three weeks ago, Jared Loughner was just another face in the crowd, known by a small contingent of friends, family members and teachers. Today, he is a household name in America, associated with the killing of six people and injuring another 13, including a United States Congresswoman, with his Glock 19 pistol outside of a Tucson, Ariz. 1 comment

    College students develop balance and flexibility during their time at a university. They learn to pull all-night study sessions, write long term papers and manage to make it to class on time. Now, they even write their own textbooks.