Opinions - The Eastern Echo

Who wins in education: students or the banks?

By John G. Fike · Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013

Everybody talks about the need for higher education, especially how it’s supposed to bring graduates higher paying jobs. But is this just a come-on designed to redistribute wealth from the middle class to the banks?

Taxes, taxes, Texas

By James Tatum · Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013

Gov. Rick Perry, Republican of the Lone Star State, has started to run ads outside of Texas to lure away businesses from their home states.

Virtual actuality

By Tommy Barker · Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013

Gamers have evolved over the years from a bunch of individuals holed up at the arcade to a phenomenon of worldly proportions.

Leave Miley alone; slut shaming never acceptable

By Jess J. Salisbury · Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013

I have a confession. This is just between you and me, okay? I’m secretly obsessed with “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus.

Civilized society under siege

By John G. Fike · Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013

Does the U.S. pursue a moral purpose in the world any longer, or are we just another schoolyard bully?

Fiscally irresponsible behavior

By James Tatum · Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013

Even before this fiscal crisis, the Republican Party’s fiscal conservatism had lost all coherence.

Conquering depression

By Jordan E. Meek · Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013

Some people assume depression is for attention-seekers, but contrary to what these people believe, those suffering from depression are not purposely hurting themselves for attention. They are living with an illness.

Gov. Rick Snyder stabs the heart of labor

By James Tatum · Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013

My previous column on Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan, a Republican, was adulatory.

Government or Circus?

By Anthony Alaniz · Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013

We’ve been bamboozled! Swindled! Hoodwinked! Hornswoggled! What we’ve lost is a governing body that works for the people. Instead, we got a cut-rate “West Side Story” on our hands.

Learning a new language can open doors to you

By Leaha Dotson · Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013

Language is an aspect of daily life. Learning foreign languages provides a unique experience, opening up many avenues in life.

We are similar despite differing opinions

By Anthony Alaniz · Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013

Listening to media highlights the little things that make us different. Our politics, religious affiliations, or lack thereof, wealth, values, and ideologies are all played out to make us feel unalike.

Eating disorders can be anyone’s problem

By Andrea Lorfel · Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013

Eating disorders do not discriminate. They don’t take age, race, weight, IQ or anything else into account before taking over someone’s life.

The pros of co-op housing

By Jim Jones · Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013

Just down Washtenaw Road, near the University of Michigan campus, there are 550 students who own their own homes. These are the members of the Inter-Cooperative Council at U of M. Their story is compelling, and it raises a simple question: is it time to start co-ops in Ypsilanti?

PETA promotes fat-shaming

By Lizzy Cianfarani · Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013

More often than not, the tendency of animal rights activists is to sell their meat-free ideology by appealing to others’ self-annihilating “thin is in” vanity.

Freedom of religion and LGBT rights go head-to-head

By Anthony Alaniz · Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013

There is a battle raging in the American discourse – a generous term at that. America prides itself on the freedoms it protects for its citizens, yet what happens when two freedoms are vehemently at odds with one another?

Echo editor disinclined to vote for Snyder

By James Tatum · Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013

“It’s a nerdy job, but somebody has to do it,” Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said in the first ad of his obvious, yet unannounced reelection bid. I voted for Snyder in 2010, but I am less inclined to do so when the Republican will be up for reelection in 2014. The ad has provoked the desire to reappraise Snyder’s record.

To pay or not to pay

By Joe Israel · Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013

To pay or not to pay? That is the question.

‘Rape culture’ needs to stop

By Anthony Alaniz · Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013

There is a dark underbelly to American culture that rarely, if ever, receives fair coverage in the media today. It is passed off as slut shaming, victim blaming, no big deal or pretty much anything other than what it really is: rape.

WiFi routers are a plus

By Christoper Drouillard · Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013

When I first started college, it was hard for me to connect to the wireless Internet. I would have to open my door as if I were inviting the wireless into my room just so my computer could actually find and connect to it. Eventually I was brought a router from home and I never had trouble with connecting to the wireless again – until now.

Men don’t have to be ‘tough’

By Jumanah Saadeh · Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013

“Man, you’re whipped.” “Who’s wearing the pants?” “Man up.” These are the sorts of negative phrases that, if not directly said to impressionable young men, are passed on to them through media as cultural expectations of what it means to be a man.