Opinion

This college story is one of a forty-seven year old first generation college student. I try to convince myself that my college experience is just like everyone else’s. It is not. I tell myself I am just like any normal student; only I am decades older than my peers. When I was working as a […]

It’s 11:41 PM the night before this piece is due and I’m sitting at my desk, staring at my fan as it gently waves my hair in its breeze. The TV is whispering quietly to me in the background, “Hi I’m Julianne Hough and if you’re anything like me, your skin is not always clear.” […]

Screech! The sound of the airplane landing rings in my ear as I lay here on my side not knowing what to write. Ever since returning from my study abroad semester in the wonderful city of Seoul, my sleeping schedule has flipped knowing only of that time zone. I cannot blame the city. It has […]

Week one of my junior year at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee was moving at a record slow pace. I constantly checked my phone, making sure I wasn’t late, as I hurried to the basement of Merrill for my first class of the day. The majority of my long days this semester would be spent […]

Frigid water splashes up at my face as my legs and arms desperately thrash around in an expansive ocean. My head bobs above the surface and I take a massive gasp of air for only a second before I’m submerged again, and the tossing in the waves continues – Above and below Above and below […]

Students in Feature and Magazine Writing were asked to write about their own lives. They had the freedom to take this essay in many different directions as long as it explored something personal about the lives of modern college students as seen through their own eyes. The following are some samples of what the class […]

Sitting with 11 girls sipping mojitos at Capitol Square, I felt alone. Why? Because everyone was content smiling at their crotches. And what could be so fascinating? Their fucking smartphones. I was born in the wrong generation. I don’t have a Twitter, I learned about the Dark Net from a documentary, and I’m still not […]

Don’t do it.  It may sound tempting and comforting to dorm with someone who you’ve known for ages during your freshman year of college.  It serves as a kind of security blanket in a whole new world of strangers.  How could it possibly be a bad idea? I promise you it is. I have known […]

What’s weighing me down the most is my weight—and not in an obvious way. All my life I have been fat. I know it’s taboo to use that word because people are afraid to use it, but it’s true. I am fat, and I don’t see it as a bad thing. I mean, there are […]

Small town Wisconsin: think dirt roads, cows, 2,000 people and a 45-minute drive to the closest McDonalds. If you’re from a city like Milwaukee, there is a chance you have never met someone from a town like this because they never leave. I understand that it’s a huge change to live in a city with […]

What do Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs and I have in common? Dyslexia, which causes difficulty with reading, writing and spelling. What do Channing Tatum, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams and I have in common? ADHD, which causes difficulty maintaining mental attention and becoming easily distracted. These disabilities made school difficult growing up. I was […]

Dear____, First off, I would just like to point out that before you came into my life four years ago, I had nothing to worry about except myself. When we met, I had no idea you would turn my life upside down for the worst. Even though it was not all bad times, it was […]