Opinion | The Independent News Organization | Fort Lewis College

Throughout my life, I have always introduced myself as a softball player. It has been my identity, the thing I fell back on when, on the first day of class, the teachers ask to tell them and your fellow classmates something about yourself. But come the middle of May, I will no longer be able to call myself a softball player because I am graduating with my degree in journalism and multimedia studies with two minors in psychology and marketing. 

Sometimes puff but mostly rough, it seems these days that everything’s falling apart. Turn on the news, browse the web, or scroll through twitter and you’re sure to come across media that fills your brain with hazardous waste, leaves you feeling disenfranchised and as an apparant antidote offers nothing but vapid platitudes. Some might say it’s a shame, many will ignore it but I say it's a God-damned travesty, or as I will refer to it in this column, a God-damned Travis D. 

In 2020 there were a lot of things that I was afraid of, like testing positive for COVID-19 and losing friends and family. In 2021, both of these things happened.  This is a journal about being exposed, experiencing symptoms, testing positive for COVID-19 and how my view of Fort Lewis College, San Juan Basin Public Health and my community changed.

This year, many Americans have their attention on the presidential election, which sits in the middle of a pandemic, a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the nomination of a Supreme Court justice. With America’s increasing political polarization, those casting their votes for the Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, cannot wrap their heads around why anyone would vote to re-elect the Republican nominee, President Donald J. Trump and Trump supporters can’t see why you wouldn’t. 

Can you remember being put into time-out as a child? My first week here, at Fort Lewis College, took me back to that nostalgic and harrowing feeling. 

As goblins and ghouls flock the streets Halloween night and temperatures drop, students and faculty find themselves cuddled up in their rooms watching t.v. and movies. Here is The Independent’s consolidated list of Halloween flicks to bring the Halloween mood about.

The 31st Annual Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering kicked off October 3, with the 12th Annual Cowboy Theatre— a western variety show with a twist.

Theatre of the Wild, a production company started by Fort Lewis College faculty, students and alumni, successfully combines the passion of adventure in the outdoors with a love of theatre.

What's good--or not--according to Teal Lehto. 

As you polish off your last gulp of a beverage and spot a recycling bin nearby, you may find yourself joyously slam dunking that plastic bottle into it. You think you’re an absolute success, synchronizing hydration and saving the planet in one fell swoop, but sadly you’ve just done something terribly wrong.