UConn will be a beautiful campus when they finally finish building it. Thank god finals are over I can’t think of anything tougher than...oh wait now I need to find a job. Do I really need to leave UConn or can I just stay here forever? My final wish as a UConn student is to make it into the InstantDaily just one more time.

Well, this is it: another school year finished. For you graduating seniors, this next step marks your first entry into the so-called real world. In the words of comedian Dave Barry when speaking at the University of Miami graduation: “The real world is nothing like this university. For example, in the real world you can find parking.”

For many graduating seniors, there are many questions on your mind: can you find a job, where will you leave and can you deal with living with your parents again? Still, there are possibly bigger questions out there that you may have been confronting over the years, like what you want to do with your life. For some, picking a major might have been easy, while others struggled with making such an impactful decision. When making life decisions we have to wonder: is what I’m going to do make a difference anyway?
 

I have never been one for team sports. My stint on the obligatory middle school soccer team hardly lasted a season. Growing up without the camaraderie and interdependence of a team, I have always worked as a bit of a solo act. 

An ornithologist friend of mine recently spent several months driving and hiking through the forests of Maine and New Hampshire in pursuit of a particular species, Euphagus carolinus – the Rusty Blackbird. In the letter that she wrote from a remote outpost in central Maine, she described the diminutive creature: its appearance, nesting patterns and place within the forest ecosystem.

The idea that feminism is an anti-male movement has been so firmly impressed on the minds of society by a conservative mainstream that it seems almost a ridiculous notion to suggest that the men can support the movement at all. However, I argue that men do have an important role to play in the struggle and may even have the most to gain from the spread of feminist discourse as it can inform them of the need for feminist action.

When Muslims or other Arab speakers say “Asalam Alaikum” to greet each other, it is Arabic for “peace be upon you.” The root word “Salam” means “peace” and “safety.” So why is it that when a Muslim woman is wearing a “hijab,” or when a Muslim man is growing a beard, the stigma is the complete opposite of peace? The stigma is “extreme.

My body was not ready for that much beer and German food over the last 4 days... I need some Activia. So now that I have been institutionalized by education for 16 years...Hello real world! Although I’m always a fan of yo mama jokes, I don’t think you’re entitled to make them if you sat the bench for the entire game.

Thanks for everything, UConn. I’ve arrived. After writing this column for two-and-a-half years it’s time to say goodbye as I prepare to leave my position at The Daily Campus, graduate and go off into the great unknown. I’ve been thinking for a while about what I should say to all of my loyal readers who have stuck with me once a week and read as I wrote about the things I love, the things I hate and everything in between.

When Jason Collins came out as the first openly gay active player in the NBA and on a major American sports team, .he was met with an outpouring of support from teammates, coaches, politicians and many other Americans. To a certain extent, it is somewhat strange that Collins was the first major professional athlete to announce that he is gay, given that for weeks the media was circulating rumors of NFL players coming out.

Is there any more snow left on campus? When I finally get a degree from this place, Step 1 will be to create a highly successful puppy picture Twitter account. Step 3 will be profit. I shall use my degree to figure out Step 2. Hey. You’re pretty. Just had my last pasta bar meal.

The past few conversations I’ve had with my female friends have traveled more or less along the same lines: “I was having sex with this guy and like, halfway through he just pulled the condom off!” This was bizarre to me; what exactly is the point of putting on a condom at all if you’re only going to whip it off towards the end, when it’s actually needed (although the pre-cum can contain sperm as well)? Why even bother going throughout the whole charade of acquiescing to put on the condom and go through the process of having sex? What possible thrill can be achieved by increasing the chance of pregnancy or STDs?

As my time at The Daily Campus officially ends in two days, I’ve used last week’s and this week’s Gamer Pieces to remember the best times I’ve had in college with games. I’ll hop right back into the back-half of my college days now.

What ever happened to the Springfield Indians? Ow, my cuticles hurt. Why did I get Yankee Candle hand sanitizer, though? Remember when the women won the national championship? Yeah, I don’t know which of the eight times I’m thinking of either. West Virginia would’ve just scored again if they weren’t TRAITORS.

Crystal clear MRI’s are generated at lightning speed to determine whether our loved ones are afflicted with breast cancer or not. The transistors in our computers symphonically perform billions of calculations per second, which allow us to explore the web for knowledge or cute cat videos. 

Now that my college career is ending, my friends are reflecting back on times when the world seemed like it was at our fingertips. I attended a banquet for the Asian American Cultural Center (AsACC) and its graduating seniors (I was invited for my involvement with China Care). During the procession of graduates they displayed little profiles for the seniors. The profile listed majors, hobbies and senior quotes, among other things. One category was called “What I wished I did with my time at UConn.” By far the most common answer was “Study Abroad.” 

How I long for the days when coloring was considered a homework assignment. Damn Michael Jordan is still the man at 50, as much as it pains be to say it. Seriously though, if I could go back to middle school for like A DAY I would crush it. If I here Tim Tebow’s name one more time over the course of the next two weeks I can’t be held accountable for my actions.

As I prepare to graduate next week, I can’t help but reminisce about my time at UConn. Most transitions are bittersweet, but I’d say that graduating is 95 percent sweet and 5 percent bitter. That’s not because I hated UConn – quite the opposite, in fact.

This year marked the 65th anniversary of Israel’s Independence. Although this is a relatively short period of time compared to many of the nations around the world, Israel’s constant fight for its freedom and security has lasted much longer than most nations are accustomed to.

The Fox News contributor Suzanne Venker, whose articles on the news station’s website have only generated controversy since her November article, “The War on Men,” has strongly argued that feminists have caused the decline of marriage rates. Venker is not the first, and probably won’t be the last, person who will take a look at the women of this world and ask, “Why did you get a job?” However, I want to focus on what feminism really has to say about marriage, and why Venker’s supposed “War on Men” is nothing more than drivel.

As time goes by, the exams, the classes and the schoolwork largely slip from memory. What will I actually remember about junior year? I remember the Student Union cutting power to the television where dozens of students had crowded around at exactly midnight on Election Day.