Horns Up: You call this winter?

Are you hot, sticky and about to drop dead when walking to class? No, you’re not, because the weather has been great this month. Thanks to some downpours of rain early in the semester, we’ve enjoyed balmy winter weather warmer than some northern European summers. Sure, we wasted all that money that we spent on cute sweaters in those post-holiday sales — but let’s be honest, we were kidding ourselves when we expected winter here to last more than two weeks. So wear that tank top with abandon. Ignore the fact that all of this is likely because of unsustainable global carbon emissions. Dive into Barton Springs pool and regret it later. Walk out the door without an umbrella. Because if it pours, isn’t it better to dance in the rain rather than run inside?

Horns Down: Trump’s immigration order

After just over a week of the Trump presidency, we’ve seen many of the distinct promises made during his campaign that made him different from the rest of his party come to fruition. For those affected by his travel ban, the result of his desire to enact a ban on Muslim immigration into the U.S., this weekend could have represented a “we told you so moment.” But for those who opposed the idea of a Muslim ban, blaming those who were apathetic or saw him and Clinton as equal threats offers no clear path toward improving this situation. Forgiving — without forgetting the pain inflicted by that indifference — seems like the best path forward in this increasingly authoritarian era. 

Horns Up: Oscars Less White

Last year, the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite became a rallying cry for increasing diversity in Hollywood. It would seem that this year, after the Academy Awards revamped their voting procedures and more people of color appeared in films, that mistake has not been repeated. “Moonlight” won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and while the Globes do have some problems with credibility (they did call “The Tourist” a comedy), the film’s status as an Oscars frontrunner should prove that they deserve that award. And the ensemble cast win “Hidden Figures” picked up at the Screen Actors Guild awards also showed that, when given the chance, stories about black men and women can win well-deserved awards. And while Jenna Bush Hager’s awkward “Hidden Fences” fumble stole many of the headlines surrounding black films this year, that those headlines could be stolen to begin with indicates how far we’ve come in little more than a year.