By Margaret Johnson Perhaps for our generation, the mass-murder school shooting at Columbine High School is the first to stick with us. I can distinctly remember watching the news before going off to school myself, watching the police officers give statements about the shooters, and seeing the victims’ family and friends devastated. The Columbine shooting…
Education’s crucial role in my identity
By Margaret Johnson Statistically, I will earn 22 percent less than my male coworker. Statistically, I am at the greatest risk of becoming sexually assaulted or a victim of domestic violence. Statistically, I am 70 percent more likely to develop heart disease and 80 percent more likely to suffer a stroke. I am a 21-year-old…
McQueen’s “Savage Beauty:” Fashion as Art
By Margaret Johnson From mid-March to early August, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is housing “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” a tribute to the range of works by the late McQueen, who tragically passed in 2010. The exhibition is the largest and most comprehensive retrospective exhibit to display McQueen’s works in Europe yet, and…
Traveling to four cities in 10 days while abroad
By Margaret Johnson While studying in London, I had the opportunity to travel during our midterm break. I was more than ready to get out of London and take a break from classes. However, the experience of traveling for 10 days was exhausting in ways I had not foreseen and led to an unexpected revelation.…
Learning to love London is a work in progress
By Margaret Johnson I think I’m supposed to tell you that these past three weeks have been the best of my life—that London is the most amazing place on Earth and that this experience is everything I imagined it to be. Well, I won’t tell you that. What I will tell you, though, is that…
Finding your place after athletics
By Margaret Johnson I don’t know exactly when it was that I became an “athlete,” but somewhere between fourth grade community programs and college varsity athletics, I evolved into one. That was my label, my identifier. Throughout my academic career I had always been involved in a variety of things, but athletics was a primary…
Foster children suffer under for-profit foster care
By Margaret Johnson Children are the most under-represented among all groups. As minors they are not given the same resources or legitimacy as other groups, and their concerns are often regarded as naïve or unfounded. Combine that with the further disadvantage of not having parents to act on behalf of your well-being, and you have…
White savior complex and volunteerism
By Margaret Johnson If someone has been to Africa on a mission trip servicing an under-developed area, it’s almost guaranteed that he or she has posted a picture on social media with a smiling, nearly emaciated African child, or shared their immersion in the culture by donning traditional garment, eating local food, engaging in community…
Hillary’s candidacy and a young girl’s dream
By Margaret Johnson I can distinctly remember a conversation I had in the second grade with a friend of mine while reading “The Boxcar Children” and eating graham crackers. I recall her saying that she wanted to be the first female president. In retrospect, I realize it probably wasn’t very polite to shoot down her…
The pernicious propaganda of “American Sniper”
By Margaret Johnson Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper,” the film that has grossed over $150 million in the box office and has already been nominated for “Best Picture” at the Academy Awards, has undoubtedly been receiving a great deal of attention from the media and audiences. The film attempts to depict the life of Chris Kyle,…
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