Newspaper Columns

Indiana Daily Student columnist photo When I was an undergrad I initially wanted to be a professional journalist. My first day at the University of Wyoming I got a job with the UW student newspaper, the Branding Iron. It was a great time with a lot of interesting experiences.

At some point I stopped wanting to be a journalist.

However I never really stopped writing. I started writing columns for the Branding Iron, and once I was at Indiana University, I started writing columns for the Indiana Daily Student, the university’s student newspaper.

I also wrote two columns for Student Discourse, which was a website that effectively syndicated student opinion columns from across the United States. The site no longer exists.

Branding Iron

Dates indicated for these columns are approximate.

  • The fence must go – The Dean of UW’s College of Business had a fence built to prevent people from walking through his parking lot.
  • Libraries Share and Share Alike – A flood at Colorado State University damaged its library; UW shared.
  • Grading UW’s athletic staff – UW had a new athletic director and new coaches. I review the current progress.  The end of the column is eliminated; essentially youthful stupidity.
  • A Collection of UW Problems – Ruminations on how to improve the quality of life at UW.
  • Time to take a stand on nudity – The Laramie City Council wanted to pass an ordinance banning nudity-the ordinance was so vaguely written that it could make life miserable for plumbers and the art department. It looked like they were going to try and pass the ordinance while the students were out of town.
  • New radio deal good for UW – The UW athletics department shifted how radio broadcasts were organized and networked.
  • First come, first serve at ASUW trough – The student government found a pot of money-$2 million-and then decided to spend the money as fast as possible.

Indiana Daily Student

Student Discourse

  • A Naderite for Bush – This is a rewritten version of an IDS column, written after the 2000 election. In this I hope that Bush wins because I think Bush will be a one-termer. 9/11 intervened and I was horrifically wrong.
  • Get that camera out of my face! – There are too many CCTVs and law enforcement uses the images it gathers all too easily. I review the case where an individual in Bloomington is prosecuted because of weak evidence.