Category Archives: Culture

Converting to the American God: The Transformation of Immigrant Religion to American Religion in Film

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Before examining how a religion brought by immigrants can be ‘Americanized,’ we must first understand what a religion is.  Anthropologist Clifford Geertz has defined religion as a system of symbols that acts to establish powerful, pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations in people by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and presenting those conceptions with an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.  With this definition, religion as a cultural system can be seen as it is traditionally seen, as well as the less common civil religion, in which religion goes beyond spirituality and rituals into more general and secular society.

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Healing from Heartbreak: A Review of Josh Ritter’s The Beast in Its Tracks

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On March 5, 2013, the release date of his newest track album, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter posted a hand-written note on his website, part of which read: “The Beast In Its Tracks began in heartbreak, but (for me) it has come to stand for everything that happened after.”

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Examining the ‘F-Word’

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Shakespeare wrote in Henry IV Part II, Act IV, Scene IV, “’Tis needful that the most immodest word / Be looked upon and learned” (Sheidlower).  Centuries later, this is still true.  The main subject of this essay is not the ‘f-word’, the ‘f-bomb’, ‘f***’, or any other euphemism, but rather the word fuck.  Fuck is one of the most taboo words in the English language.  Furthermore, fuck is arguably “the most important and powerful word in the English language,” according to the comedian Lewis Black (Sheidlower).  In this essay, the nature of taboos will be explored specifically through the word fuck.

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Let’s Be Real Here

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I’m an American student.  America’s Youth loves working hard, but let’s be real here- we only work hard the night before it’s due.  And I know that offends my generation, as we don’t like to admit our problems.  Society today, let’s be real here, isn’t exactly being “real” to itself.  I think it’s time to address hypocrisy one pretense at a time.

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Censorship is BS

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I’m a teenager.  I say a lot of things without thinking; I say a lot of things I shouldn’t.  Realizing this, my mom used to have a “cursing jar,” in which I would have to put a dollar every time I cuss.  As you can imagine, my language was cleaned up in no time.  The scenario got me thinking: what’s wrong with profanity?  What makes some words worse than others?

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Protest against stupidity

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On October 2nd, former UT student Chas Moore and more than 100 other members of the community marched through West Campus.  Their chants echoed through the streets: “No more violence, no more silence” and “Don’t you hate, don’t you fear, people of color are welcome here.”  It’s hard to disagree with that.

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