Wedding bells sounding too early

by Alex Everett, co-feature editor

Lately, I have been overhearing a lot of discussion about marriage from friends and classmates.

But they have not been talking about the distant future, when they get out of school with their degrees, settle with a job, and are financially ready for a commitment such as marriage. They are talking about now.

College experience becoming constricted

by Courtney Ortega, editorial assistant

After reading two of the opinion pieces in the last issue of the Plainsman Press, one over the newly-instated six-course drops policy and another over the rising cost of college tuition, it came to me that in today’s day and age we are no longer encouraging young America to succeed.

Freedom of press hiding in shadows of big business

by Jon Seaborn, editor-in-chief

Freedom of the press and freedom of speech may be two of the most important rights we have as Americans.

Being a journalist, perhaps they are more important to me than others. But there are people who don’t want to hear what you or I have to say.

Big brother's choice not for me

by Brant Thurmond, editorial assistant

Lately, I have been overhearing a lot of discussion about marriage from friends and classmates.

But they have not been talking about the distant future, when they get out of school with their degrees, settle with a job, and are financially ready for a commitment such as marriage. They are talking about now.

Parents' ignorance causes high rate of unnecessary child deaths

by Justin Lopez, editorial assistant

Let me start off by saying that I am really angry with people right now.

I was kickin' it at momma Lisa's house recently when a voice on TV caught my ear. I turned, and as I watched the most profound thing in the whole world, I became sick to my stomach.

Persevere through your disabilities

by Ali Flores, staff writer

I was 10 years old when it happened.

I was losing my hearing, and I couldn’t understand why. After seeing the doctor, I was diagnosed with a 78-percent hearing loss in my right ear and an 84-percent loss in my left ear. That meant that I needed hearing aids, bad. Suffering from hearing loss can be so difficult to deal with sometimes, especially when there is not much help available. 

Animal cruelty should be put to rest

by Hilary McNamara, entertainment editor

Recently I was driving down the road on my way to the college when I saw a little spotted dog on the side, as if God knew dogs were my weakness.

So what did I do? I pulled over, opened my door and the dog just jumped in. Well, then I was posed with another dilemma. I had to go to class and unfortunately it was not Bring-Your-Dog-To-School-Day.

Return to Ramadan

by Christopher Byram, co-opinion editor

By the time you read this, the Islamic month of Ramadan will have come to a close. With Ramadan’s end comes the end to my own personal celebration of this holy month of the Islamic calendar. I began Ramadan hoping to gain something spiritual, intellectual and emotional from the experience, and I’m not sure how well I fared. It’s been an experience of mixed results, but despite all of the things I did wrong, and all of the stupid things other people have done to me during this month, I think I came out with a more positive attitude in the end.

Video game ratings should be enforced, not ignored

by Kendra Halsell, staff writer

Video games supposedly have ratings on them to indicate what age range should be allowed to play the game, but those ratings are rarely followed.

The video game ratings include: E, for everyone (formerly K-A, which meant kids to adults could play); EC, for early childhood, which is meant for anyone who is 3 years old or older; T, for teens, meant for anyone from the age of 13 and older; M, for mature, which is meant for anyone who is 17 or older; AO, for adults only (but according to the web site www.howstuffworks.com, there has not been a game made with this rating); and RP, for rating pending.

States take stand against big business exploiting cheap labor laws

by Robert Stone, staff writer

Lately, I have been overhearing a lot of discussion about marriage from friends and classmates.

But they have not been talking about the distant future, when they get out of school with their degrees, settle with a job, and are financially ready for a commitment such as marriage. They are talking about now.

College expectations overwhelming for some

by Sawyer Thomas, staff writer

Sometimes when I’m at home at night trying to focus on doing homework for four different classes, I wonder if the teachers secretly meet up to assign homework and quizzes on the same day.  

I recently had two tests on this one Tuesday, in speech and college algebra.  Granted, I didn’t study for either of them, and I did very poorly, making a not-so-great grade in college algebra.  But I did well on my speech test, an 87.