During recent years, Americans have become much more aware of their health. Health food stores are booming, weight loss tips are a top trend on Google and even infamous fast food chains are aiming to offer nutritious options. I applaud anyone who puts in the effort to eat healthy and exercise more, as it can often be an inconvenient and difficult task.

For the past couple of years, I’ve strived to eat healthy, exercise when I can and drink plenty of water. Though this lifestyle is difficult to maintain as a busy college student, dealing with the stereotypes glued to this lifestyle can be even more challenging.

Often when I go out to eat, I’ll order a glass of water with lemon, and an entree that best fits my needs. It could be salmon with veggies. Sometimes a specialty salad. Or a grilled chicken sandwich — wheat bread, hold the cheese, please! My friends will roll their eyes, my sister will laugh as I explain my complicated order to the waitress, and my boyfriend will encourage me to get what I “really want.” But this is what I want. Sure, my colorful salad probably isn’t as delicious as the gourmet cheeseburger and french fries would be, but that’s okay with me.

The choices that we make about our food should only involve us. If I want to avoid carbohydrates and dairy because they make me feel sluggish and sleepy, I should be able to do so without being made fun of. Don’t stereotype me as being “that girl who orders a salad and water” or “that girl who won’t eat in front of guys.” I want to be able to eat whatever I want, without justification. I love to eat nourishing food that will give me energy and put me in a better mood.

I’m not acting better than anyone, and I surely don’t care what foods anyone orders, healthy or not.

The same goes for losing weight. I began this healthier lifestyle with the intent to shed some pounds and to feel better. People should realize that it’s not a compliment when you tell me that I am fine the way that I am, and I don’t need to lose weight. While it’s intended as a friendly gesture, it’s not your business. I am not losing weight for you, so I don’t need your opinion. I am aiming to lose weight in a healthy way, for me. We all have our own images of our body, and we should be able to create whatever lifestyle best suits us. Of course continuously counting my daily macros, caloric intake and water supply can be extremely stressful. Not worrying about what I eat and how often I exercise would be much easier, but it’s not what I want. It takes hard work to maintain a healthy lifestyle especially as a college student, but it is the lifestyle that I enjoy.

Society needs to eliminate this double standard of healthy living. People are often looked down upon if all they consume is sugary drinks and fatty foods, but they’re also looked down upon if they form healthy lifestyles for themselves. People can’t win. So some simple advice to consider: stop caring about what society thinks about your health habits. Stop criticizing what the people around you are doing. If I want to be the girl that only eats salad, let me. If I want to lay in bed all day and only consume potato chips, let me. Be a vegetarian, be a couch potato, be a gym rat, eat like a caveman; be whatever makes you feel good.

There’s this everlasting phrase that our family members use as comments on all of our Facebook photos, or say to us on every holiday break— “Enjoy college while you can. It’s all over after that!”

This phrase carries a lot of pressure with it. Pressure to make sure that college students live it up, party all night and make everlasting friends, like in the movies. Although, that isn’t always the reality of college.

That is to say — I hope that my college years are not the best years of my life.

My typical day in college consists of running around attempting to tackle my expanding to-do list. Avoiding clocks is a great way to not remind myself that I simply do not have enough hours in one day to finish my tasks, scarf some food down between classes, maybe socialize for a few minutes — all while aiming to get at least enough sleep to ensure I will wake up for my alarm clock the next morning. Are these types of days supposed to be the best days of my life?

Maybe this phrase is referring to the fleeting two-day weekend that college students posses? Yes, our weekends are only two days because let’s be honest, Sundays are solely meant for catching up on the homework we didn’t have time to finish during the week prior. For most of us, Friday and Saturday nights are fun. It’s the only time of the week that we can hang out with our friends without having to worry about the time, or the amount of homework, projects and studying that is waiting for us. Even so, these weekends can’t be “the best weekends of our lives.”

I’m not saying that college isn’t enjoyable, because it is. College is meant to be a place in our lives where we attempt to find ourselves. It’s about trying new things, meeting new people and testing our limits. It’s meant to prepare us for the world that lies ahead, while trying to figure out some muddled plan for what we will do next. College is fun compared to the previous 17 years of our lives that we were accustomed to, but think of our limitations. Most of us are too broke to travel. Or we don’t have enough time since we spend our summers working and saving money to support ourselves in the school year. For at least half of our college years we aren’t old enough to go out to the bars with our friends, and we still have to spend money on those annoying and seemingly useless astronomy and art history classes.

Still, we should have a great time in college. So go out with your friends, pull all-nighters, keep ordering cheap pizza and do whatever makes you happy — just don’t peak because you feel that you have to. It’s too early in our lives for us to reach our peak. By the time we graduate college, we will still be in our early 20s, only about a quarter of our lives having gone by. We still have so much to do.

I’m not sure what many adults are talking about when they say that it’s all downhill after college. We spend our time in college studying to achieve the jobs and lives that we want. Once I graduate, I want to pay bills and taxes. I want to live in my first tiny rundown apartment. I want to go on 50 interviews while looking for a job that ensures I didn’t waste four years in college pursuing the wrong degree. I don’t want an easy life, I want to struggle. College isn’t our best years because we get to avoid the hardships of real life; we go to college to prepare ourselves for the hardships of life, and we will be ready.

On my high school graduation day, two years ago, I was lucky enough to give a speech to my classmates. My last piece of advice to those 200 students was to always pay attention and vote. I recall hearing laughter and snickering throughout the audience while making my way back to my seat, as this was a rather typical statement of mine. However, this wasn’t intended as a light hearted punch-line to fluidly end my speech. I sincerely meant this, and hoped it would resonate in the minds of my classmates. Our generation has been poisoned with a pessimistic view concerning the importance of our vote. We have to change that view, because our vote is our voice in this extraordinary world.

According the US Census Report, less than 20 percent of eligible 18 to 29-year-olds cast ballots in the 2014 election year, meaning that about 80 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds did not vote. Think about this. Think about how many college students’ voices were unheard during last year’s election. No matter what side of the political spectrum you settle with, our generation is more likely to be eco-friendly, burdened by a lack of jobs and saddled with college debt. These issues many of us care so deeply about, were only represented by 20 percent of our entire generation. We are citizens of this country, and we must express the interests and worries held by our age group. In order for a democratic system to be successful, people need to be engaged. Our country thrives when people pay attention and participate.

This Tuesday, Nov. 3, is election day. If you are not registered to vote, I would urge you to take advantage of Maine’s same day voter registration and get to the polls. There are three different questions on the ballot for Maine people to vote on. Question one is whether or not to approve the Maine Clean Elections Initiative. Voting ‘yes’ would increase penalties for violating campaign finance rules, increase funding for Maine Clean Elections, and adjust political ad rules. Voting ‘no’ would keep the current laws unchanged. Question two is whether or not to issue a $15 million bond for housing construction projects for low-income seniors. Question three is whether or not to issue a $85 million bond for transportation projects. Voting ‘yes’ on these questions would increase these bonds, while voting ‘no’ would leave the current funding unchanged.

There is no excuse for not voting. We are all able to take a little bit of time out of our busy week to pay attention and educate ourselves with what is going on around us. Older generations persistently accuse our generation as being self-absorbed, pampered and lazy. Let’s prove them wrong by getting out there and fulfilling our civic duties. People who say that our votes don’t matter, must be unclear with how our system truly works. Even if some of the policies or people that we vote for don’t win, it is still a mean of communication between our generation and the rest of the country. They will know what is important to us as we begin to take action in this country. It is our turn. The only way our voices will not be heard is if we don’t go out and vote for what we believe in.

Governor Paul LePage has been known as a politician who ‘tells it how it is.’ He’s based his campaigns on throwing political correctness out of the window and catering to the voters who agree that our country has gone too soft. But being less politically correct does not give you the right to be sexist. At a town hall meeting on Wednesday, LePage was asked a question about a citizen initiative to increase clean elections by limiting public financing in the state of Maine. LePage’s response was, “That’s like giving my wife my checkbook. I’m telling you, it’s giving your wife your checkbook.”

Though the audience replied with supporting laughter, this statement did not settle well with women in Maine. Eliza Townsend, executive director of the Maine Women’s Lobby, responded to the comment, “The governor’s attitude toward women, toward relationships and toward relationships and toward money are so dated and bizarre.” Multiple people and groups around Maine have even called for an apology by the governor.

It’s interesting that the governor mentioned his wife when referring to irresponsible spending, since according to a recent WGME article, “The governor’s press secretary, Adrienne Bennett, pointed out that the governor’s wife, first lady Ann LePage, controls his checkbook, drawing a laughing acknowledgment from the governor.”

So if the governor’s allusion to his wife’s financial irresponsibility wasn’t even true, why did he say it? Why did the audience laugh?

LePage implied that women are not good with money. Apparently, we are back in the 1950’s, a time when people knew that women can’t possibly be trusted with finances. Our feeble minds must be unable to comprehend what we are doing as we spend hundreds of dollars on dresses, doilies and tablecloths. What’s the big deal, doesn’t money grow on trees?

These comments were not funny, or accurate, they were extremely sexist. Believe it or not, women do have the capability to handle money, just like men. Are there women who are rather reckless with their money? Sure, just as some men are.

Governor LePage, along with every other human being, needs to realize that he cannot lump together an entire population of people and make these types of generalizations and presumptions. I am a college student who works countless hours at a pizza stand during the summer in order to save up for my college tuition, rent and other expenses throughout the year. It is not easy to save nine months worth of money within one summer, and I was greatly offended by the governor’s recent statement. Just because I am a female does not mean that I do not know how to handle my finances.

So I’m sorry, Governor, but maybe our country hasn’t become too politically correct, maybe people are just realizing how offensive certain words and phrases can be. So next time, instead of saying that our country has become too sensitive, try to realize why people are taking offense to your statement. When women make up half of the state that you are governing, I would suggest you stop saying sexist comments.

The Republican Party has gained a fair amount of attention as result of its 2016 presidential candidates. The party’s two debates and rather large pool of candidates have made it the source of media attention for weeks. After airing their first debate last week, however, the Democratic Party has stolen the spotlight.

After comparing the three debates, the majority opinion from numerous media sites suggests that the Democratic debate was more composed and issue-oriented than both of the Republican debates. Some viewers, like Donald Trump, even described the Democrat debate as boring — and it’s true, the Democrats seemed to debate in an entirely different tone than the Republicans. But was the ultimate favorability of the Democrat debate caused by the difference in party values? Was it because there were less candidates, making it less chaotic? Or was it due to the more sensible questions that the Democratic candidates were asked?

The previously aired Republican debates were entertaining and watched by many, but they were also rather sporadic and infused with drama among the candidates. Candidates continuously and competitively called out other members in an attempt to boost their own political agenda. Though this could be a successful tactic for candidates in order to distinguish themselves amongst one another, the pinpointing was excessive, and spurred on by leading questions. Many of the questions asked of the candidates specifically mentioned the actions of another candidate, forcing the contender to answer with an opinion of their challenger.

For instance, during the recent Republican debate, candidate Carly Fiorina was asked, “You’ve dismissed him [Donald Trump] as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump’s finger on the nuclear codes?”

Donald Trump was asked a similar question by the moderator, “Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you’re not a serious candidate.”

Though this style of questioning may be helpful in showing viewers where candidates disagree, it composed an excessively large number of accusatory questions, and resulted in a contest of mudslinging that made it difficult to focus on the issues the candidates were discussing.

Dissimilarly, there were hardly any offensive remarks amongst the Democratic candidates in their first debate. Even when the candidates shared their opinions about one another, they did it breezily, often ending it with an affable handshake. Curiously, there seemed to be an evident difference in the questions that the Democrats were asked. Many of the questions posed were regarding the candidates themselves, or how they would do things differently than President Barack Obama. There were few questions that encouraged mudslinging, but even those few that did scarcely seemed to derail the candidates from their proposals. Even when the moderator relentlessly brought up Hillary Clinton’s email scandal — a perfect opportunity for her top competitor to pounce — Bernie Sanders simply urged that we stop talking about scandals and focus on the real issues.

While I do think that the type of questions asked fostered a significant role in the success of these debates, I don’t think they fully compensated for the differences among the two. Questions aside, the Democrats really did seem to be more issue-oriented and less interested in attacking each other. It was as if all candidates believed that their opponents would do a great job, therefore, all of their ideas should be heard.

This seems to represent a type of unification within the Democratic party, which could really work towards the party’s advantage. The Republicans, on the other hand, appear to be battling through a civil war within their own party. These candidates were much more divided in the debate — making it difficult for them to see eye-to-eye as they were consistently trying to tear each other down.

However, we are only in the beginning of this presidential race, and both parties could undergo major changes. The questions asked played a key role in the presidential debates, but they do not specifically determine the success of a debate or an individual candidate. As the Democratic candidates showed, members do not have to partake in the mudslinging, even if they are encouraged to do so.

The bittersweet autumn weather is steadily taking over the UMaine campus. Soon, our entire student lives will be occupied by heavier homework loads, warmer clothes, vibrant trees, pumpkin-infused everything and the highly-anticipated start of football season.

Football is more than just a sport to a vast population of college students. The game spreads unified flames of pride all over campus, creating sources of conversation and a pleasant buzz whenever our team wins. Football is an intense and aggressive contest that students love to bond over. Bonding in the form of going to the stadium together to watch our Black Bears storm the turf, gathering around a cramped living room every Sunday to root for our favorite national teams or competitively quarreling over fantasy football leagues.

However, who is actually doing the bonding? Football has continually been known as a man’s sport. The game is rough. Wild. Dirty. Masculine. Surely such a sport would fit right in with the other boy’s club activities, wouldn’t it? Yet, how do women fit into the mania that will soon be encompassing our campus?

Well, it’s a good thing that some people in our university have already been pondering the same question. An opportunity was presented in our school late this week. To prepare for the upcoming football season, a class was offered to students to learn more about the game of football. Though, the class wasn’t for all students — it was directly aimed at women in the university. The class was titled, “Football 101 for Women.”

As I scrolled by the post on our campus-wide announcements section, I immediately wondered why could this not just be a “Football 101” class? Why did it have to be just for women? Then I remembered all of our societally accepted stereotypes. Of course women don’t know anything about football! Women have better things to do than to sit down with the boys and watch a silly football game — like painting their nails, baking some cookies and making sure the boys always have snacks and cold drinks. Right?

Wrong. The problem lies with the fact that this class was directly created to teach women about football, because the common stereotype is that women are not educated about it in the first place. But that is all it is, a stereotype. So let me enlighten you — many women do in fact watch football. They do understand the game, and they do enjoy it! In case anyone needs some evidence to believe me, the NFL reported last year that women make up nearly 50 percent of the NFL’s 150 million fans.

So we should stop the stereotyping. We should stop putting genders in certain boxes that predetermine what they like and dislike. Some women watch football, some women don’t. Just like some men watch football, and some men don’t. Stop telling men that just because they are men, they need to live and breathe football. Stop telling women that just because they are women, they need to attend classes to acquire knowledge of football. Though the class was nice in theory, it’s offensive and insulting. It should have just been a “Football 101” class for anyone who needed to brush up their comprehension of the game.