At the End of the Day
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeApril 29, 2010
A Final Column of Reflections from a Graduating Senior Sure enough, this column snuck up on me just as graduation sneaks up on every senior you’ve ever talked to. It’s my last one, as this is the last paper before my intended graduation date. What can I say I’ll take with me? Like any JMU student, a working knowledge of Ashby Crossing, memories of campus construction and some minor liver damage — but not as much as most, as I spent the last year mostly staying in. Having a funny, engaging... Read more »
‘The Recent Unpleasantness’
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeApril 12, 2010
Gov. McDonnell is Running a Charm Offensive on Social Conservatives, to the Chagrin of Everyone People in the South used to refer to the Civil War as “the recent unpleasantness.” The euphemism strikes you with its warped perspective and refusal to greet the present. A more common name is the “war of Northern Aggression.” No, really. There will always be xenophobes who long for the days of old; even if they were born too late to ever really lay claim to them. But when these people gain... Read more »
Not the High Seas, but Rather the Depths
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeMarch 29, 2010
The Issue of Piracy Can’t Be Answered by Itself Piracy. It seems like an extravagant name for something so innocuous as downloading a file without permission, and the corresponding penalties for copyright infringement are downright draconian. Of course for those in the business of creating those files, the fact that their work can be freely acquired can be disconcerting at best. Millions of artists, producers and software developers rely on revenue from their work to make a living. The... Read more »
Why Would He Do It?
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeFebruary 25, 2010
Excluding Gays and Lesbians from Nondiscrimination Order is Uncalled For Virginia’s new governor has excised protection for gay and lesbian state workers from executive policy, just like he promised he would during the campaign. Bob McDonnell has come a long way since his days at Regent University, when in his infamous thesis he said all those nasty things that were dug up during the campaign — women are detrimental to the family, and the government must intervene in response to homosexual... Read more »
An Admirable Admiral
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeFebruary 12, 2010
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Goes Against Morality and Practicality The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is an abomination. The policy was the fruit of President Clinton’s 1993 attempt to end the ban on gays in the military. He failed and ended up signing a compromise that did next to nothing. Since then Gen. John Shalikashvili, who served as Clinton’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has penned two op-eds (one in 2007 for the New York Times and another last June for The Washington... Read more »
The Hazy Argument Against Legalization
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeFebruary 4, 2010
After billions of dollars and millions of incarcerations, marijuana is still the most popular recreational drug, regarded largely with the tacit approval of youthful mischief. In stark contrast to our culture’s nonchalance about weed, anti-drug advocates supporting the current prohibition on cannabis growth, sale and distribution portray the substance as harmful and dangerous. Yet they find more effective arguments in the consequences of its illicit nature than anything else. Arguments against... Read more »
New York, Torture, Hearts & Minds
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeJanuary 21, 2010
In what is likely to be its last season, Fox’s “24” finds itself at its spiritual place of birth. The drama has relocated to New York City after six seasons in Los Angeles and one in Washington, D.C. We won’t ever get another day in Jack Bauer’s amber-tinted Los Angeles, because the last act will play out in cooler, high contrast blues and grays of the city that never sleeps. It makes perfect sense — it’s Jack Bauer in the land of 9/11. When “24” premiered in November 2001, the... Read more »
A Pleasing Presidential Address
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeDecember 3, 2009
Turns Out All That Dithering Paid Off After All There’s something off about the president’s relationship with the country, and it’s been that way for awhile. I hadn’t been able to put my finger on exactly what it is, but others have. Dozens of pundits and columnists have harped on his speaking style, his persona — he’s too cold, too cerebral. For the most part, they’re right, but in Tuesday’s presidential address, announcing the president’s plan for Afghanistan, his style proved... Read more »
With Progress Comes Indecency
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeNovember 12, 2009
The subject of vulgarity, of indecency, has captured me lately. Being a college student in a bubble of like-minded (more or less) 18 to 22-year-olds tends to make one forget about the world. One need only post up at the Port Republic/Devon Lane intersection or listen to conversations on the Quad see the near-complete freedom — of behavior, of expression — we take full advantage of. As a senior, however, thoughts of the workday world and acceptable adult behavior start to grow in the back of... Read more »
Dying for the Latest Technology
By Whitten Maher, The BreezeNovember 5, 2009
She’s telling me to get off the cell phone, my mother. This is out of the ordinary, as it would be for most people, because these conversations are usually 10 minutes at the least. It’s not that she’s telling me to hang up, however, that is disquieting — it’s why. It’s gonna give me cancer, she says. What used to be half a joke is no longer one at all. The link between cell phones and cancer is dubious. Nevertheless, that dubious connection has been around for quite some time. It reared... Read more »
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September 2th, 2010 Issue in Print
