Opinion – Page 14

Five great albums snubbed at the Grammys

28Feb

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Five great albums snubbed at the Grammys

By KYLE KERSEY February’s no fun. Football season is over. Arizona has yet to reach peak surfing weather. There isn’t much new music. Oh, and the Grammys happened. That’s bad, too. 1. Pusha T – “Daytona” (Hip-hop) Boomers will deride it as everything that’s wrong with hip-hop culture. I’ll praise it as a pugnacious poem to sinning that’s no different than the excess of ’80s hair metal except it’s actually good. Pusha’s latest record isn’t going to blow anyone away with an ambitious concept or deep themes. It’s as straightforward as it gets. “Hello,” he says. “My name is Pusha T. I deal drugs and hate Drake. Here’s some songs about me dealing drugs and hating Drake.” Simple, yet effective. Kanye provides some of his grittiest production to date to back the pugnacious Pusha T. It’...

The Designated Hitter is dumb and stupid and I hate it

28Feb

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Athletic Voice, Opinion

The Designated Hitter is dumb and stupid and I hate it

By KYLE KERSEY For the uninitiated, here’s scripture: “The designated hitter rule allows teams to use another player to bat in place of the pitcher. Because the pitcher is still part of the team’s nine defensive players, the designated hitter -- or “DH” -- does not take the field on defense.” This is the official MLB glossary definition. The DH is a rule exclusive to the American League, adopted in 1973, a time of national confusion due to the unpopularity of the Vietnam War and a burgeoning oil crisis. Baseball is a fundamentally ridiculous game, a game filled with unbalanced rules - sometimes unwritten rules - that are treated as the word of god by fundamentalists. Like many religions, it’s the fundamentalists who care the most, those who scoff at the idea of pitch clocks and mound v...

Clouded judgment: raising the vaping age

28Feb

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Opinion

Clouded judgment: raising the vaping age

By COSTA B. PAPPAS With the Food and Drug Agencies crackdown on Juus to lower the amount of underage vapers in late 2018, many were shocked to find that their beloved mango-, fruit- and crembrulet-flavored pods were no longer sold in stores. The motive behind this decision was to eliminate young audiences from being attracted to these flavors. “Our intent was never to have youth use Juul products,” Juul CEO Kevin Burns said, taking responsibility for the underage crowd getting hooked on vaping. “But intent is not enough, the numbers are what matters, and the numbers tell us underage use of e-cigarette products is a problem.” But the change doesn’t stop there. With California, Maine, New York and Hawaii among the states that have raised the minimum age to purchasing vape products to 2...

28Feb

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Opinion

Letter from the Editor

By AMARIS ENCINAS Starting this semester, I was not sure I was going to have the ability to be the editor of the Aztec Press. But after much thought and consideration, I threw myself into it. This is mostly due to the support of my amazing friends, including Josh, Erik, Andrea and the support that I have found here in this newsroom by my fellow Co-editor Joseph Giddens, my adviser Valerie Vinyard and the Aztec Press’ business manager, Joshua Manis. These people stand tall behind my efforts, and I am eternally grateful for everything they have done for me. To most people, becoming editor of their college newspaper isn’t a big deal, but it is to me. I have never done anything like this before, so I thought it was only appropriate to make my first letter to the editor a list of grati...

5 great albums you probably missed from 2018

14Feb

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Arts & Entertainment, Opinion

5 great albums you probably missed from 2018

By KYLE KERSEY Car Seat Headrest – “Twin Fantasy” Will Toledo’s reimagined masterwork on romantic teenage angst is stunning in its sheer scope. To think that Toledo crafted this hour-long indie-rock behemoth at only 19 is absurd, let alone that he had this vision all along – simply without the tools to make it a reality. Seven years after its original run, Toledo, now 25, has finally done it properly. At times overwhelmingly dense – as is the case of 10-minute-long tracks like “Beach Life-In-Death” and “High to Death” – and at times short and sweet – as is the case of “Stop Smoking (We Love You)” – Twin Fantasy is exciting and then it’s funny and then it’s breathtaking and then it’s heartbreaking – sometimes all at the same time – and then it’s over. Just like a failed relationship. A...

14Feb

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Opinion

The geek sport of kings

The weekend of Jan. 26 was memorable. The WWE presented one of its premier pay-per-view events, The Royal Rumble, live from Phoenix’s Chase Field. On Jan. 26, my friend Jake Gerhard and I woke up early to get ready for WWE Axxess, a session of meet and greets with WWE superstars, and chances to see live matches and tapings for TV shows. Shaking hands and conversing with these stars that I’ve watched on television for many years was a breathtaking experience. I also got to witness one of my favorite wrestlers perform. WALTER, a 6-foot-4-inch, 300-pound Austrian with chops so loud they envy the noise of a gunshot. It was special because WALTER wrestling in the United States is a rare sight. Later that night I attended my first NXT TakeOver show. NXT is the WWE’s developmental brand, and ...

14Feb

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Opinion

The lost art of sports card collecting

By KYLE McDANIEL Sports card collecting is a shrinking market, as fewer kids have an interest in them. Matt Mortenson, owner of OverTime Sports, a sports collectible shop on Speedway Boulevard weighed in. “The biggest factor I think is kids have phones, iPads and so many other avenues besides cards, so it’s not as cool as it was when I was a kid,” he said. With the increased awareness about how some sports will leave you with health issues later on in life, parents are enrolling their children in other activities. Over the last seven years, children ages 6 to 12 that didn’t participated in team sports was about 44 percent, according to the Aspen Institute, an educational blog. That doesn’t mean they don’t watch it, but when you play the sport, you get more connected to it. When...

14Feb

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Opinion

Out of the closet, not on TV

By ERIK MEDINA I believe that representation allows us to move toward equality, and it is what I feel most minority groups desire. The year 2018 was great for representation for many minority groups. “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Black Panther” broke boundaries. Both films have most, if not all, actors of minority descent. “CRA” was the first major theatrical release to have an all-Asian cast since “The Joy Luck Club,” which was released in 1993. “Black Panther” also showed hiring minorities doesn’t jeopardize a film’s success. The film predominately was cast with black actors and had a variety of people of color working behind the scenes such as director Ryan Coogler. Aside from ethnicity, we also saw more female-led films such as “Oceans Eight” and “A Simple Favor.” Both films portray...

14Feb

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Opinion

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR- Once more

By JOE GIDDENS Welcome to a New Year and a new semester. The start of a New Year is often viewed as a blank slate of endless possibility, the chance for rebirth and self improvement with New Year’s resolutions. Or you could decide to forego all of that and double down on your previous choices. Prior to November’s midterms, Arizona Republicans occupied all statewide elected offices, held both chambers of the Legislature and a majority of the congressional seats. The blue wave hit, eroding away much of these holdings. Republican Sen. Jeff Flake was replaced at the polls by a Democrat for the first time in 30 years. A similar trend occurred throughout the midterms in Arizona, a state that Trump won in 2016 by 4 points. Faced with the trend of an increasingly purple state, two opti...

From hater to participator: My life in cycles

6Dec

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

Opinion

From hater to participator: My life in cycles

By ANGEL CANEZ Odds are, I was like many of the people reading this, and I hated those bike riders so fucking much. My anger boiled over at bicyclists taking what seemed like half the road up in their dumb spandex bodysuits. Ignoring the laws because they’re not technically a “motor vehicle.” I bet these feelings are more than reassured after the El Tour de Tucson came and went Nov. 17. Tucson's always bringing in those out-of-town flatlander, bike fools for El Tour de Tucson. Then I got a bike, and just like the first time I had onions, I turned my head slightly to the left, did a double-take and realized, “Hey this isn’t that bad -- it’s actually pretty good.” I’ve become a bike patriot in the last year, I haven’t descended into full-on Spandex bodysuit and honestly I don’t care ...