The Optimist
You are here: Home / Opinion

Keeping faithful, even in darkness

by

For many, the college years are when reality really hits. Serious illnesses become more real, friends get divorced, families fall apart, houses get robbed, buses crash, money gets tight and good people miss out on opportunities they deserve because of circumstances that are out of their control. More and more students will experience people they ... [Read More…]

Pros and cons of “pre-Christmas”

by

I have a confession to make. I've already put up my Christmas tree. Here's my reasoning behind it: According to tradition, the holiday season starts on Thanksgiving (or after Santa makes his appearance at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade). Once I return from Thanksgiving break I will only have three weeks left in my apartment before ... [Read More…]

Charging for online news is essential

by

The Abilene Reporter News has been planning for quite some time to implement an online subscription service for its news coverage. If this plan is realized, the Reporter News would be following a trend of many other newspapers around the country in converting to an online format instead of a daily delivered print product. With this change, ... [Read More…]

Jets proving to be all talk while franchise crashes

by

The New York Jets need to shut their pie holes. The Jets (3-6) are terrible. This is an understood truth. They've scored one touchdown in their past two games, and that was in garbage time during their 30-9 loss to the Miami Dolphins. They've proved they're all talk and no walk. Before the Oct. 28 Miami-New York matchup, the Jets returned to ... [Read More…]

Thanksgiving: a time of free food

by

If there is one thing I'm thankful for, it's free food. Here in Abilene, I run a tight ship financially. Bi-monthly visits to United fill my pantry with the basics: bread, milk, eggs, Ramen and Ben & Jerry's "Americone Dream". I ration food like a Depression-era family and have slowly begun to embrace leftovers. It's not the most glorious (or ... [Read More…]

Second term brings need for compromise

by

The votes have been counted (except for Florida). The balloons fell from the ceiling. The gracious speeches were given. America chose President Barack Obama for four more years. And now we can all breathe a sigh of relief. You either got what you wanted, or you can at least appreciate the end of the political commercials, tweets and ... [Read More…]

Online ads a new must for politics

by

Whenever a presidential election year comes around, I can't help but think back and wonder where I was at the last election. I was a bright-eyed college freshman. I was still working at Chuck E. Cheese's, but quickly realizing that I needed to find a job more suited to my chosen field. I was still using MySpace, admittedly less and less as more of ... [Read More…]

A film studio far, far away

by

As you may or may not know, the Star Wars brand was recently sold to Disney for a measly four billion dollars. Along with this came the announcement that there would be a new Star Wars film, Episode VII, coming in only two years. Now, some people we're wary, even angry, with Disney taking over their favorite brand. I, however, am not one of those ... [Read More…]

You are here: Home / Opinion