Being Blue at PSU

By Rafael Lara Matos The Pennsylvania State University administration failed its students by allowing the "Stand Back and Stand By" event to happen. IN acquiescing to the founder of the Proud Boys, the administration attempted to build social capital with its students by inviting speakers who actively campaign on destroying trust. This is only the latest failure from administration that has alienated the student body from itself and ultimately created a crisis. Community building is one of the goals of inviting speakers, and in creating community it allows the University to better represent students and their interests like governments do. And as "citizens' distrust not of government, but of each other leads to democratic disintegration" (Allen xvi), the same can be expected to happen to the University administration. Speakers such as the Proud Boys rely on division, something the University cannot and should not promote. If it continues to even simply ignore th...

By Deepa Kadidahl We frequently hear the phrase "representation matters. Growing up, I rarely saw other Indians in American media. Every time I would see an Indian person in a TV show or movie, I would either feel a sense of pride at being represented or a sense of embarrassment when they reflected mere stereotypes of Indian people. Successful representations of Indians and other South Asians as seen in the Netflix series Never Have I Ever can be quite enjoyable to watch and have allowed me to reflect on my own experiences growing up as an Indian American girl. In recent years, representation has become a more significant issue in politics and corporate hierarchy. On the day of the Indian holiday Diwali, Rishi Sunak became Britain's first Prime Minister of Indian descent. I might have been inspiring to see a man descended from the colonized subjects of the British Empire become their Prim Minister, if it weren't for the fact that Rishi Sunak will be a terrible leader. Suna...

By JT Thomas Hello all! As I've been saying for the past couple months, we at the Penn State College Democrats are trying to make this blog more fun. So, to that end, I've got something special for our first post in October: a review of the novel Red, White and Royal Blue, by author Casey McQuiston. This book is set in an alternate version of the year 2020, one where a certain baby-man dipped in Tang mix didn’t win the 2016 election, but is replaced by the fictional democrat Ellen Claremont. The story itself is about her son, Alex, and his rivalry/friendship/romantic relationship with Prince Henry across the pond. Yes, you read that right. Screw the enemies to lovers and friends to lovers tropes, this book is full on enemies to fake friends to real friends to friends with benefits to lovers. Filled with interesting geopolitical dynamics, Red, White and Royal Blue is sure to keep fans of US politics and the British crown entertained. It’s also an incredibly powerful love story...

By Liam Sadlier Car dependency is a term that reflects the favoring of cars over other means of transportation, be that public transportation or pedestrian and bike travel. While car dependency is common throughout many parts of the world, in America, cars dominate the culture and way of life of most of its residents. As of 2020, over 90% of U.S. households have access to at least one vehicle (bankrate.com, 2022). This is not always out of desire, as unless one lives in a major city or large town, cars become a necessity for everyday life. Additionally, even in these cities and large towns, the streets are often packed with cars from commuters and visitors. Car dependency leads to a lack of freedom, and the removal of this dependency will mitigate the negative consequences of cars while providing a variety of benefits for Americans. Prior to the introduction of the private automobile, electric streetcars dominated the public transit of many major American cities. These streetcars remai...

By Bianca Walder Bear Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante are located in southern Utah. The monuments were created by Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, respectively, using the Antiquities Act in 2016 and 1996. This act allows for the President to designate an area as a national monument without Congress's approval. It's been used to create parks that have eventually moved up to higher levels of federal protection, such as Acadia National Park, Smoky Mountains National park, and the Grand Canyon. Created in 1906, the Antiquities Act gave then President Theodore Roosevelt the power to protect areas that were in danger of being developed for commercial profits faster than through an act of Congress. While the act allows for the creation of federal lands that are of cultural, historical, or natural significance, it says nothing about reducing their size. However, in 2017, Donald Trump used the Antiquities Act to dramatically reduce the area of Bear Ears Nat...

By JT Thomas Yikes. Just yikes. Between the mass shootings, rising Covid cases, and a Supreme Court that’s gone completely cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs, I think we can all agree that it’s been one hell of a month. While a lot of things are going to absolute shit at the moment, the thing that’s been getting the most attention is, of course, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which toppled Roe v. Wade and ended nearly fifty years of the constitutional right to an abortion along with it. I saw a video recently of a certain Senator getting into an argument with Dr. Khiara Bridges over the use of more gender inclusive terminology in the reproductive rights movement. The crux of the argument was that this Senator believed using inclusive terminology like “birth-giver” to be ridiculous because only women can give birth, despite being told by Dr. Bridges repeatedly that this is not true.  For a sizable chunk of Western history, and the vast majority of specifically American histor...

  By JT Thomas, edited and contributed to by Avery Heverly Hello readers of the PSU College Democrats blog! Welcome to the first post of the 2022-23 season. I hope summer’s been treating you all well. Back by popular demand, I’m JT and I’m going to be serving as one of our two Communications Co-Chairs, at least until spring semester, at which point I’ll be dipping for Greece and living my best life during my semester abroad. As I’m sure you can tell, I’m very excited. Today I’m going to be doing something that I’ve been wanting to do for about a month and a half now: a review of Netflix’s series Heartstopper, written and created by Alice Oseman and directed by Euros Lyn.  I know, I know. This isn’t exactly a hot-button political topic, but a.) we’re trying to make the blog more fun this year and b.) it’s Pride, I’m queer, and I have custody of the blog this month. So there. Let’s dive in, shall we? Heartstopper is a TV series produced by Netflix and See-Saw Films and based on...