By Austin Price, Staff Writer
I think it’s safe to say that all of us have experienced the awkward moment when you open your door in December to be met with over-enthusiastic, community college glee club members ready to serenade you with Christmas carols in freezing temperatures. Quite frankly, I think this tradition is outdated and uncomfortable but let us look at the why’s behind these unsolicited, amateur performances happening on your front lawn.
Read MoreBy Austin Price, Staff Writer
Our next winter legend is centered on the controversial and highly debated use of mistletoe. In America, mistletoe is a plant that is hung from the ceiling, used to encourage passersby of the plant to kiss one another beneath it. Initially, mistletoe came from older ceremonies of the Solstice season. Mistletoe, holly, and ivy, for instance, were gathered in their magical potency by moonlight on Winter Solstice Eve, then used throughout the year in Celtic, Baltic, and Germanic rites. Scientifically, mistletoe is a semi-parasitic plant that produces small white berries and grows almost exclusively in trees. It finds its home like many seeds do – through bird droppings. As the seed begins to grow, the plant attaches itself to the “host” tree in order to steal water and the essential nutrients that it needs to survive.
Read MoreBy Austin Price, Staff Writer
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, indeed it is the holiday season, filled with cheap decorations, artificial hot chocolate, toxic deicing fluid, and claustrophobic Christmas mass. Despite all the stress and chaos, Christmas is and always has been my favorite holiday. And so, I take you on an exploration of Winter Wonders and Christmas Customs to get you through the most stressful and expensive time of year. With ancient traditions and mystical legends, Christmas spirits and eerie stories, the holiday season is a time to enjoy some fairytales and omens while also keeping that cheery, Christmas spirit.
Read MoreBy Austin Price, Staff Writer
Many of us have siblings. Many of us love our siblings despite wanting to strangle them at times. Many of us ask our parents why they had more than one kid. Many of us see our siblings as our built-in best friends who have our back no matter what, but also will be murdered if they take one step into our room. For years we have asked ourselves why our relationships with our siblings are the way they are. We wonder why we have conflicted emotions towards the people we have grown up with. Taking a deep dive into the influence of nature vs. nurture, and the psychology of each family member in terms of their place in the group and their contribution to the rest, studies show that the order in which you are born may determine your feelings towards your siblings. This means that your place in the family could make or break the family’s dynamic.
I remember the first time I took flight and I didn’t expect the wind to push against me as hard as it did on that September morning.
I was told by others before me that the wind was supposed to guide me in the direction that they had called the “American Dream”
We have flown over 265 miles and this was just in one day. We have more than two months left before we make it to this so-called dreamland where we are welcomed with love and compassion.
But this journey is not easy in the slightest way possible because the sun has gotten to the point where its burning parts of our wings making it harder to fly and some have fallen into the river and never made it out of its currents then others gave out after the heat had gotten to them and never made it past the desert.
Yet for the ones that made it we noticed that we weren’t the only ones flying in this foreign land known as the American Dream there were other butterflies flying as if they knew our struggle.
Their wings resemble that of our own but then I realized that they were moths and the words they were telling had become bittersweet.
Those words at first were welcome to your new home we can’t wait to see the dream you achieve then turned bittersweet to the point that it was nothing but “ Go back to your country” “This is America you speak English” “you don’t belong here” “you are the reason we have criminals in this country”
After so long those words become nothing but white noise behind the sound of the wings against the cages they had placed us in
I never would have thought I would see myself separated from the kaleidoscope of those who I had known as home
Then not to mention those born on this dreamland never knowing the beauty of their parents’ homeland because they can never return without the permission of the moths
Yet we as legacies for a better life found a way to fight for not only ourselves but those who have had their wings cut and make them heard from beyond the white noise
Because if the “American Dream” is who they say they are, why is it that they continue to look at us as if we don’t exist in their melting pot of diversity and the dream of a better life.
By Austin Price, Staff Writer
As a young driver, I can safely say that this past year has been a scarier driving experience than any other year of my life. Currently, it seems as if everyone on the road is aggressive, tired, distracted, or risky, and according to recent studies, they are. While bumper to bumper traffic may not be unusual for downtown Denver, it certainly is unprecedented for side streets and back roads. However, with constant construction and lane closures, driving has become more and more of a stressful battle to get to your desired destination without damaging yourself, your surroundings, your car, or the other drivers around you.
Many drivers are left asking themselves why driving, a standard and normalized part of society, has become such a taboo and dangerous situation. Is it stress over finances and the economy? Fear for the future of the environment? Or hesitation in human interaction as a lasting side effect from the COVID-19 pandemic? Better yet, is it a wicked combination of all three? Experts suggest that humans have become more volatile and shorter tempered, and this attitude has impacted their driving.
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