With graduation right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about what you’re going to wear. For those that are creative and want to personalize their graduation garb, decorating your cap is the perfect way to go. So without further ado, here are some ideas to help you stand out in the sea of green.

1. Use a quote or saying

The quote could be anything. It could be a quote from your favorite book or your favorite movie, like “May the odds be ever in our favor” or “Mischief Managed.” Or it could be just your favorite quote like “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. If you take this approach, make sure that you plan out the spacing on your cap, and don’t choose a quote that is too long. Also, pre-cut letters are great for those that don’t have the best handwriting. They are easy to use and will save time.

2. Show off your school pride

If you want your hat to be duck-themed, you could do a variety of cute crafts. You could use a popular University of Oregon saying like “Call me a Duck.” You could decorate your cap by gluing rubber duck to it. If you do this, make sure you use a hot glue gun, so that the ducks are sure to stay in place. You could also draw icons like the fighting duck or the “O.” There are so many options for making your cap duck-themed, but no matter what, don’t forget to use green and yellow.

3. Show off your future career

Depending on your career, there are many cool ideas for decorating your cap. For future teachers, you can decorate your cap with images of apples, the alphabet, pencils and other school-related items. You can make images using paint and homemade stencils. You can cut images from printer paper, place it against your cap, and fill in the stencil. You could also use felt paper, or draw directly onto the cap. No matter what you do, draw out your design on paper before you try it on the cap.

4. Stand out

Decorating your cap is supposed to make you look original in a crowd where everyone is dressed the same. The best way to shine is by literally shining, meaning glitter and rhinestones. Rhinestones are perfect for making whatever pattern you want. Love Pokémon? Make a sequined pokeball. Crazy about reading? Make a glitterized stack of books. Use a hot glue gun to glue the rhinestones to the hat, and don’t forget to let it dry.

5. Make a pattern

Patterns could be made by using rhinestones, of course, but if you’re looking for fun prints, like cheetah print, rhinestones would be the messy way to go. Instead, head over to your local craft store and buy scrapbook paper. Scrapbook paper is a 12-inch square that is pretty much the perfect size for graduation caps. The paper comes in fun prints that can be abstract doodles or animal print. It’s quick and easy but you’re guaranteed to look fabulous.

6. Be sentimental

Graduation can be a sentimental time so why not embrace it. A cute way to commemorate your last four years is to use pictures. You can take a blank scrapbook page and glue pictures to it in a creative fashion. You can display pictures of your friends, family, pet, whatever you want. This is an easy way to show off your life at school. Another way you can be sentimental is by making a collage of various things you have kept over your college years, like movie or concert tickets.

If you’re not crafty, buty you still want your cap to be decorated, you can purchase cap toppers online at websites such as https://www.tasseltoppers.com/ or http://www.zazzle.com/custom/graduation+cap+toppers

Graduation is one of the most important events in your life. Decorating caps is a fun way to commemorate the day and to show off your creativity. So have fun and get decorating!

I have a morning routine that, like many other people, involves going on Facebook. Not to look at status updates. Not to look at what is going on in the world. But to look at food videos.

These food videos are posted on a page called Tasty, which is produced by Buzzfeed. They show the viewer how to make a recipe in about a minute. It simplifies everything, making it easy to follow for even the least culinary viewer. The shortened format helps keep the viewer engaged. It’s also much easier for some viewers to watch a video as opposed to reading a recipe. The food they make looks amazing, and they make everything from buttery steak to strawberry lemonade bars (which I just made last weekend, and they were divine.)

Facebook isn’t the only social media site that exhibits food obsession. Many people post pictures of their food on Instagram and Twitter. Plus, food blogs have increased in popularity and quantity.

Due to social media’s obsession with food, I was not surprised to see an event on the University of Oregon’s campus with the title: Food Photography Workshop.

Earlier this month, the UO Social Media Club hosted an interactive event that was designed to help food bloggers and social media enthusiasts learn to take pictures of their food. The club partnered with Spoon University, which is a popular website produced by college students about food, and Dari Mart to put on the event.

To draw people into the workshop, Dari Mart revealed that they would be using three of the best pictures taken at the event for their marketing, so it was beneficial for students who want to get their photographs out in the world.

“It’s a big opportunity for someone who wants to work with social media because they can be like, ‘Hey, I went to an event, I participated, and a company is using my picture for their marketing,” said UO Social Media Club president Kevin Loder.

For the event, a table was set up on the Lillis lawn displaying huge sandwiches, bags of chips, deviled eggs and other food items. After a brief introduction where representatives from Oregon Spoon University gave tips for food photography, which ranged from using natural light as opposed to florescent light (which tends to make food unappetizing) to eliminating background clutter, students attending the event started taking pictures of the food. They were allowed to adjust the food however they wanted.

At first, I thought the event was going to be a little ridiculous. After all, anyone can take pictures of food. But then, I realized that the event was geared towards those who are interested in food blogging, and it is important for food bloggers to take creative, interesting pictures in order to make sure they get viewers.

I personally love food blogs. I have food many wonderful recipes on blogs produced by normal people who just want to share their food with their readers.

“I think food photography is super important,” said Spoon University representative Mariah Swift. “Food really brings people together.”

It’s true. Food bonds people together. When you want to hang out with friends, you go eat. Taking pictures of the food via social media you eat allows people to engage with you. My roommate, for example, likes posting the food she makes on her snapchat story. Often, her friends will text her, asking for her recipes.

Since social media is here to stay, it is important to learn how to use it. Social media is perfect for engaging with friends, connecting with others around the world that share your interests and promoting yourself. If you want to promote your culinary prowess, taking appealing pictures of food is super important. So the next time you whip something up in the kitchen, display your food and snap away.

I’ve never been a fan of tattoos. I have nothing against other people getting them—you do you—but, they’ve never been for me. Part of it is because my mother would kill me, and I have a major fear of needles. Although, most of it is because I can’t think of anything that I would ever have permanently displayed on my body.

Over the past couple of decades, tattoos have increased in popularity. 14 percent of all Americans have at least one tattoo. However, that percentage increases in adults ages 18-25 to 36 percent. Most of these Americans get tattoos for sentimental reasons, something I wholeheartedly support.

Earlier this year, my roommate, who is strongly against tattoos, introduced me to a show called Ink Master. It is a competition show where each week competitors are eliminated based on how well they can tattoo a specific style, from black and white to portraits. At the end of the episode, the judges review each tattoo and critique it, which is my favorite part of the show.

I enjoy that part of the show for a couple of reasons. One is because the judges are brutal and it’s a refreshing, much-needed change from the sugar-coating most judges do on most other competition shows. Another reason is because the finished tattoos always amaze me, I appreciate the artwork that goes into them.

Because tattoos are so artistically complex, there is a question of whether tattoos should be considered artwork or not. Judging from what I have seen on Ink Master, these tattoo artists are extremely artistic. In order to become a tattoo artist, someone must first be an artist.

Ryan Bollinger is a tattoo artist at High Priestess near the University of Oregon campus. He’s been there for around four years, but he’s been tattooing for 11. He is covered in tattoos, including his favorite: one on his wrist that is a monkey eating a piece of pizza. Bollinger started seriously drawing when he was 14 or 15. His favorite tattoo to draw is anything cartoonish, including pin-up girls. This style is what he calls “Illustrative Realism,” but it is also known as new school.

“Sometimes I draw for fun, and people end up getting those tattoos,” said Bollinger.

He tattoos in a room that seems to be the attic of High Priestess. It is covered with drawings depicting anything from a dog with antlers, that he drew specifically for a client who wanted a tattoo of her own dog, to brightly colored portraits of women. Plastered on one of the walls are posters of various comics, including Deadpool.

Today, Bollinger is tattooing a woman who wants a tattoo of an elephant with bubbles coming out of the trunk. Underneath the tattoo is her daughter’s name. Previously, she had gotten her dog’s paw prints tattooed by Bollinger on her ribs. They did this by dipping her dog’s paws in ink and then placing it on paper. Bollinger then sketched out the paw prints on the paper he uses for the outline.

His other clients get a variety of tattoos, something that makes Bollinger enjoy his job.

“That’s what I like about tattooing. That everyone is so different with their interests and their passions,” said Bollinger.

Bollinger’s drawings are intricate, nothing that someone with little artistic experience can replicate, so clearly tattoos should be regarded as a form of art.

In fact, tattoos have recently entered the world of art, though as a new form that isn’t generally accepted yet. In November of last year, Guersney’s auction house held an auction of images created by tattoo artists that sold from $50 to $50,000. Still, even though these tattoos are regarded as art in the auction house, the world of fine art ostracizes tattoo artists.

“I think a lot of the general public considers us artists, but I don’t think the fine art world knows what to do with us,” said Takahiro Kitamura, a famous Japanese American artist in an article by The Atlantic.

As tattoos grow more and more popular and less stigmatized in the workplace, I hope they will become accepted as a form of art. What I saw in Bollinger’s tattoo studio, he is a real artist, except his artwork is permanently drawn on human skin.

Women’s sports have never been as popular as men’s. It’s a sad fact that will may always be true. From high school to the professional level, women’s sports are often considered inferior to their male counterpart. So, it’s no surprise that media coverage of women’s sports is lacking both in quantity and in quality.

According to a study which examined the coverage of women’s sports for the past 25 years, in 2014, ESPN’s Sports Center dedicated just 2 percent of its airtime to women’s sports. This is up from in 2009, when Sports Center dedicated only 1.4 percent of airtime on female athletes.

“This is a persisting trend. It’s just somewhat disappointing given the tremendous growth and participation in women’s sports over the last 25 years in particular. That excitement is not being captured by the media,” said the study’s co-author Cheryl Cooky in a ThinkProgress article from 2015.

This isn’t exactly news. Even the media coverage for the Olympics favors male athletes, though the gap is not as extreme. Since 1994, Andy Billings, the director of University of Alabama’s sports communication program, has examined the media coverage for the Olympics.

For the Sochi Olympics, he found that NBC dedicated “47.6 percent its time covering men and 37.6 percent of its time covering women, with the remainder going to pair sports, like ice dancing.”

The amount of coverage female athletes receive is increasing, especially on the Olympic level. This may be because American viewers want to watch Americans win gold medals, regardless of the gender of the athlete. Yet, the issue isn’t just how much coverage female athletes receive, it’s the type of coverage.

In an article from the Colombia Journalism Review, assistant professor of communication at the University of Delaware James Angelini said, “In many cases, they’re still being compared to male athletes in the same sports.”

Angelini noticed during the snowboarding event during the 2014 Sochi Olympics, that the commentators would compare the female snowboarders to the males. The commentators would say that the women’s version of snowboarding was about five years behind what the men are able to accomplish. This is insulting to the athletes because their talent is being overlooked by this comparison.

The bigger issue with the way female athletes are portrayed in the media is the sexualization they often endure. During the 2012 London Summer Olympics, Gabby Douglas made history by being the first black woman to win the Olympic gold medal as an individual in gymnastics. Yet, viewers were more concerned about her hair.

In addition, London Mayor Boris Johnson wrote in an editorial about the popularity of women’s beach volleyball and how it could be attributed to the “semi-naked women” who were “glistening like wet otters.” This statement is not only gross (wet otters? Really?), but it reduces the women athletes to only their looks. By saying this, the mayor is implying that these women only get the attention they deserve because they are good looking.

While these women should be allowed to wear bikinis and feel good about it, after all it’s their bodies and they should be proud of them, the Olympic coverage shouldn’t focus on the bikini and how the athlete looks in it, but rather, how the athlete is performing.

This sexist coverage can make athletes, especially at the college level, self-conscious about their bodies. Female college athletes are already more prone to eating disorders than non-athletes. In a study comparing female athletes from East Coast Division 1 universities and non-athletes, it was found that 16.5 percent of athletes were “at risk” for disordered eating habits compared to only 10 percent of non-athletes.

Part of this issue could be the societal pressure to be thin. The thin ideal means that thin women are the ideal women, which can make female athletes that are in sports that require bulkier physiques feel inadequate. The media coverage that focuses on the athlete’s body is giving the message to younger female athletes that their main asset is their body, not their athleticism.

The media doesn’t reduce men to sexual objects. They don’t make articles titled “20 of the Hottest College Volleyball Players” for male athletes. So why do they do it to women?

The sun shines through the bright cobalt sky. Flowers are springing up on the overgrown grass as bees buzz around collecting pollen. For the first time in months, the weather in Eugene is not dark, dreary and rainy. Everyone is outside playing beer pong, partying and soaking up the sun. Music and loud voices blare from all directions.

But for introverts like me, spring is the worst time of year.

Every day on my way home from class last week, I would walk passed tons of students having way more fun than I was. As much as I would like to attend the outdoor parties people threw last weekend, my desire to cuddle up in my blankets and watch Netflix was too strong.

For introverts, parties are often filled with awkward encounters and the anxious desire to run away from everyone. Yet not attending these parties can make us feel lame or left out.

The party culture that is so prevalent on college campuses makes being an introvert difficult. The forced social interactions and the loud crowds can be overwhelming and draining. Because of that, to me, parties and the small talk that goes with them, aren’t that fun.

Yet there is a pressure in college to be social and to party. These outgoing, extroverted people make introverts feel ostracized at times because they see being an introvert as a bad thing.

An article titled, “The Stigma of Introversion And Why It’s Wrong” says that, “Extroversion is seen as the ideal, and just as it is often said we live in a ‘man’s world,’ it can similarly be said that we live in an extrovert’s world.”

The world, and especially college campuses, are biased towards those that identify as extroverts. Susan Cain, author of the book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts,” said in an interview that, “Our schools, workplaces and religious institutions are designed for extroverts. Introverts are to extroverts what American women were to men in the 1950s — second-class citizens with gigantic amounts of untapped talent.”

There is a stigma, possibly created by this extroversion bias, that introverted means anti-social and awkward. In a Psychology Today article, author Nancy Ancowitz says that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) considered including introversion as a symptom of mental disorders in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2010. The definition they used included, “Withdrawal from other people, ranging from intimate relationships to the world at large; restricted effective experience and expression; limited hedonic capacity.”

If the APA decided to use introversion as a determining factor for mental illnesses, it would have been saying that being an introvert, even though much of the population is considered introverted, is such a negative thing that there may be something wrong with people who identify as such. This could send a demeaning message to introverts and show them that being introverted makes them appear to others as being mentally ill.

What I define as an introvert is someone who enjoys and gets their energy from being alone. It is someone that enjoys being with close friends, but not attending loud parties. Introverts are not necessarily shy though, which could be the cause of the stigmatization. To me, this definition is not a bad thing. Being introverted never seemed like a bad quality of mine until I came to college.

Student orientations, mixers and dorm culture emphasize being social, and therefore, extroverted. So for us introverts, the desire to be alone or with friends that we feel close to can be seen as us being anti-social.

The negative connotation behind the word “introvert” is created by extroverts because they get their energy from crowds and activities that require socialization, like parties. So for someone to dislike the party culture, this is strange to them.

As introverts, we can’t eliminate the stigma that goes along with our necessity for some satisfying down time. All we need to do is remember that being an introvert doesn’t make us weird or a failure.

We also need to remember that much of the population is full of introverts. We are not alone, we just aren’t announcing our presence. After all, we are much too shy for that, aren’t we?

This week, my sister decided to move back in with our parents after living away from our childhood home for three years. The timespan was long enough for my mom to redo her room into what she calls “the peacock room.” She kept my sister’s bed, threw out her other worn-down furniture, and decorated everything with peacocks.

At least she didn’t turn it into a home gym.

After my sister graduated college, she started working while she waited to hear back from the graduate programs she had applied for. She didn’t get in, and when she broke up with her long-term boyfriend, whom she lived with, she decided she didn’t have enough money to live on her own.

Needless to say, she wasn’t thrilled to move back in with our parents after living away from them for several years. She was used to being independent. This is a huge setback that happens to college graduates all across the country.

According to a study by the Pew Research Center in 2012, a record number of 36 percent of college graduates were living at home. This is an increase from the 32 percent that were living at home during the 2008 recession. This statistic is obviously from four years ago, therefore the number may have slightly changed.

What is interesting is that in 2012, the economy was improving from the recession in 2008. If the economy was improving, why were more students moving back home in 2012 than in 2007 when the economy was worse?

The main reason college graduates are moving back home is the cost of living and the increase of student debts, not the economy or the unemployment rate. Everything is too damn expensive, and college graduates are so far in debt that they have issues paying for everything.

In 2015, CNBC created a list of the top 10 best cities for college graduates. In order to make it, the writer considered statistics such as the millennial population, unemployment rate, median rent cost and nightlife of various cities. The problem with the list is that four of the cities mentioned are also included on CBS News’ list of top 10 most expensive U.S. cities: San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C and Boston.

Even though these cities are popular with college graduates, the cost of rent is too high for graduates to live comfortably. Even though the unemployment rate may be down, it doesn’t make it easier for a college graduate to pay expensive rent with the new job they may have obtained.

In a Slate article, Jordan Weissmann said, “When it comes to 20- and 30-somethings living with Mom and Dad, it’s possible we’re looking at something close to a new normal.”

This may be due in part to the fact that college loans are becoming increasingly high. Here at the University of Oregon, the tuition for in-state students is around $10,900 per year. For out of state students, it is about $34,000. That is not including the cost of living.

In a study conducted by two Federal Reserve Board economists, Lisa Dettling and Joanne Hsu, it was found that, “The rise of student debt and delinquencies could potentially explain about 30 percent of the increased frequency with which 20-somethings moved back in with their parents.”

So while the economy has been blamed for the reason college graduates are being forced to move back home, this may not be the real cause.

For graduates, such as my sister, it is not their fault that they must move back home after graduation. It can be hard to work enough to both pay off loans and pay for expensive rent. College graduates should stop blaming themselves for not making enough money to live. And parents of these college graduates should stop guilt-tripping them.

Just because our parents were able to move out of the house at 18, doesn’t mean we can. We are living in a different world, full of loans and expensive rent. There’s nothing we can do about it, so let’s just accept that we may have to move back to our childhood bedroom.

In high school, I was the “slut” of my friend group. This may be because I was sexually active a year before any of my other friends were. It may be because I spoke openly about my sexual experiences. So, they joked that I was “slutty” and whenever they did anything that could be perceived as “slutty” in any way, they would tell me about it because “well, it’s not like I could judge them.”

I took the entire thing as a joke. Nothing that I should be insulted by. To me, being a “slut” was just who I was in their eyes. I was good friends with a boy a couple of years younger than me that I would confide in about my sexual escapades. I trusted him enough that I would tell him about these things that I didn’t tell my other friends. He responded by calling me and I quote, “the town bicycle,” which is probably the most inaccurately insulting thing I have ever been labeled as. I responded to this by dating him for almost 2 years.

By the end of high school, I hadn’t slept with a high number of people, but I was ashamed of it because of this boy’s and my friend’s responses to it. I was called derogatory names so many times that I started to believe them. I started calling myself a “slut.” That was my label. What’s worse is that I used to think it was okay.

I used to also think it was okay to call celebrities sluts as well. One of these celebrities was Amber Rose, who was a stripper at fifteen in order to help provide for her family. I used to judge her for this fact and clothing that she wore, and thought that she was trashy. Now, I realize that slut shaming anyone, even celebrities, is wrong. Maybe I thought it was okay because it is what was done to me. I now look up to Amber Rose. She has become a huge advocate against slut shaming and a progressive feminist who wants women to embrace their sexuality. She is a strong woman that should be looked up to, not shamed for embracing her feminine sexuality.

On October 3 in Los Angeles, Rose spoke to a crowd at her SlutWalk about the slut shaming she endured from her old lovers, Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa. The SlutWalk was an event that she created that gave people, particularly women, a safe environment to rally against slut shaming and the harm it can cause. The purpose of the event was to combat the idea that when women dress a certain way, they are inviting men to take advantage of them sexually. During her speech, she broke down and addressed the comments that the two rappers made about her.

Back in February, Kanye West said on a radio show, “It’s very hard for a woman to want to be with someone that’s with Amber Rose… I had to take 30 showers before I got with Kim.” Rose’s ex-husband, Wiz Khalifa, added to the slut shaming by reportedly singing about her in the Juicy J song “For Everybody.”

During the Amber Rose SlutWalk, Rose addressed the hurtful, sexist comments made by her exes. She said, “I decided to have this SlutWalk for women that have been through shit. And even though I’m up here crying, I want to be the strong person you guys can look up to.” At the end of the speech, she forgave West and Khalifa.

There is a difference between men and women in regards to the way we are perceived in sexual contexts. Men are celebrated for having multiple sexual partners, women are ostracized. It is unfair that if a woman has multiple sexual partners she is seen as unclean, hence West’s shower comment. It is also unfair that the words “slut” and “whore” are derogatory comments that are against women. There are no derogatory terms for a male that has a lot of sexual partners. This is a huge reason why slut shaming is such a prominent issue. Women are looked down upon for embracing their sexuality, and this is what Amber Rose’s SlutWalk is attempting to combat. Strong sexual women, such as Amber Rose, should not be shamed and neither should I.

On Oct. 1, recreational smokers wearing beanies and socks depicting pot leafs swarmed marijuana dispensaries all over the state of Oregon. Stoners rejoiced, and lines trailed out the door and onto the sidewalk as people who previously weren’t able to legally purchase marijuana became new patrons at the dispensaries. In Eugene, Oregon, the number of pot smokers continually grows as more University of Oregon students turn 21.

Recreational marijuana legalization is a good thing for society. The drug itself is not dangerous, and by legalizing it, the government can make money instead of illegal dealers. Taking away the illegality of it was a good idea because if people are going to use it anyway, why should it be illegal? Legalization can only benefit society, but there are dangers of marijuana. Marijuana can impair someone’s motor skills, as well as their ability to focus and multitask. Because of this, driving high is dangerous. Even though it is not as dangerous as driving drunk, police officers still need to monitor the streets and pull someone over if they suspect the driver is operating under the influence.

Since legalization is relatively new to the United States, there are no clear rules on how much marijuana someone could have in their system before they can safely and legally get behind the wheel of a vehicle. In addition, there are no on-the-spot methods for testing how much THC is in someone’s system, such as a Breathalyzer, which is the common method of testing for blood alcohol content. Testing for driving under the influence of marijuana appears to be a subjective process since it is sometimes difficult to tell when people are high without them flat-out admitting it.

Because it is so subjective, there needs to be a better way to test when someone is under the influence. Urine tests can only be administered by a police officer in the station, but it is not a practical method to use on he side of the road. Eventually, there needs to be a device, like a breathalyzer, something that is able to determine how much THC is in someone’s system. Then, the government needs to decided how much THC is a safe amount.

While there is a set amount of alcohol drivers could have in their system (nothing above .08% BAC or blood alcohol content), there is no set amount of THC a driver could have in their system to safely drive under the influence. This is a problem for police officers because having that set BAC limit makes it much easier to determine if a driver is too drunk to drive safely. There is no easy way to tell if a driver is too high to drive.

So far, testing for marijuana is being treated like testing for alcohol and other drugs. When a police officer pulls over someone who they think may be high, the officer will perform a field test, identical to the one they give drunk drivers. This is not the best idea, but it will do for now.

Officers should revise this field test. Alcohol impairs more motor skills than marijuana does. Marijuana usage has very little obvious symptoms. Because of this, there should be a specialized test that focuses on the possible symptoms of marijuana usage. While the field tests are fine for now, in the future there needs to be a standardized test for officers to tell if someone is driving high.

Right now, police officers are using a subjective test that is supposed to be for alcohol usage. These officers must be careful that they do not falsely accuse someone. They also must be careful that they do not let someone who is driving under the influence get away with it because they could not determine if they were high based on their visual symptoms.

In order for legalization of recreational marijuana to be a good thing for society, the rules regarding its usage while driving need to be reformed. There needs to be a set limit of THC someone is able to have in their system before being able to drive legally and safely. There needs to be a more specialized field tests.

After classes, you sit at home bored, trying to find something to do. You look at your calendar and realize with a shock that you haven’t exercised in more than a week. You sigh and lace up your tennis shoes. You suppose that you should probably go get a work out. You walk over and stare at the huge imposing structure that is bound to be filled with students ridiculously more in shape than you are. It is the University of Oregon Student Recreation Center, and here are some thoughts that may pop up in students’ minds when they walk through its doors.

1. “ Wow this place is nice. Look! They have giant TVs!”

Walking through the front doors, you are dumped in the huge open front lobby. Perked on the wall are multiple giant TVs showing the sporting events of the evening. You pause. “Would I get away with sitting and watching TV for a workout?” you wonder to yourself. Hey, you’re at the Rec Center. You made the walk over. You could totally sit around watching TV. They wouldn’t have these here if they didn’t want you to use them.

2. “How the hell does this even work?”

You are at one of the many confusing weight lifting machines. You stand there casually trying to appear like you totally know what you are doing. In your head, you are frantically scanning the instructions. You don’t even know what body part supposedly gets a work out from this particular machine. Sighing and not wanting to look like a fool, you walk away to a different machine and start the process over again.

3. “How is this person not even breaking a sweat, yet I’m here panting like a dog?”

Now, you decide to run on a treadmill. The person next to you has perfect posture even in a full sprint. They’ve been running for a half an hour and they are breathing like they are walking. You, however, have been running for all of five minutes. You feel like you are going to die and desperately want to take a break. How fast is this person even going? You glance over. Faster than you are, naturally. You bump up the speed. You find yourself competing with your neighbor without them even knowing it, and you still aren’t winning.

4. “How much longer should I stay?”

You’ve only been at the gym for 20 minutes, but it feels like 20 hours. So far, you have run, or rather jogged, on the treadmill and contemplated lifting weights. You didn’t actually lift weights, but hey, at least you thought about it. “How much longer should I stay?” you think to yourself. “Can’t I just go home and lie in bed?” You decide to stick it out and stay just a little bit longer.

5. “Oh look at that! I should definitely do that the next time I go to the gym.”

You wander around aimlessly, looking at all the different equipment and classes the Rec Center has to offer. You pick out different things to do the next time you work up the motivation to go workout. Not this time, but next time you will totally use all those machines. You plan the perfect work out in your head.

6. “Well, I’m bored.”

You feel as though your time spent at the gym, mostly walking around and thinking about exercising, has given you enough of a workout. You find yourself glancing continuously at the clock, waiting for the appropriate time to leave. Eventually, you walk out the front door, and start your way home to your nice comfortable bed and your warm home. You are proud of yourself for even going to the gym, maybe next time you’ll manage to get a full work out in.

Dear Netflix,

You know that you’re the best invention since sliced bread. Getting an account with you was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You’ve provided me with many hours of enjoyable binge-watching. I know that in actuality you can’t really have every TV show ever known to man and admittedly, you do have a great selection of TV shows. But not having “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is practically a crime. I, and every other Avatar fan, demand you to put this wonderful show on your site for all to adore and binge.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” is an animated show that was previously on Nickelodeon. It is about a world that is filled with martial arts and people that can control, also known as bending, the elements: water, fire, earth and air. 100 years previous to the show’s beginning, the people of the fire nation took over, becoming all too powerful and forcing a war between other nations. The series’ main character is an airbender named Aang, who is also the Avatar, the only person capable of using all four elements. It is revealed that Aang was trapped in an iceberg during the beginning of the war, making everyone think that the Avatar had died. When he breaks out of the giant iceberg, he discovers that the world he once knew had erupted in war. His old nation of air nomads had been attacked by the fire nation and it is assumed that everyone from Aang’s old life is dead. In order to defeat the fire nation, Aang, with the help of his friends, must master each element and defeat the fire lord.

Even though I never watched the show when it first premiered (it ended when I was in the eighth grade so I figured I was much too old to be watching cartoons), I discovered it over the past summer and fell in love with it instantly. I realized that Avatar isn’t just a children’s show. It is a show that even during its run on Nickelodeon appealed to a much larger audience. This is because it is a humorous show with amazingly developed characters and a very intriguing plot. Even though it is funny and filled with humor that appeals to children, it centers around more serious themes, like war, death and loneliness. Each episode has a wonderful story that reveals more and more about each character and their pasts. I binge-watched the entire show obsessively over a month.

I’m not going to lie, Netflix, I had to stream the show illegally thanks to the fact that it is not on your site. And why isn’t it? You have other popular TV cartoons, like Scooby Doo and Pokémon. Why shouldn’t you include a cartoon that doesn’t just appeal to children? It appeals to young adults as well. Here are my top three reasons that you should include Avatar on your website.

1. The character Toph is probably the best character ever. She’s funny, powerful, sarcastic, one of the best earthbenders of her time and she’s also been blind since birth. Toph doesn’t let her disability stand in her way, despite her overbearing parents. Instead, she kicks ass, and even discovered metal bending. Plus there is a running joke about her blindness and it is so funny. Toph is just perfection.

2. The plot is intriguing and every episode is done perfectly. A world where people can manipulate elements is in a war that has lasted for 100 years? What’s not intriguing about that? Every episode was interesting and kept me watching to see what would happen next. I loved watching all the fight scenes throughout the series. This show has such a great story that I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t watch it.

3. Like I mentioned, it is a children’s cartoon so obviously it is humorous. What makes this show special is how it deals with more serious themes. There are episodes where the characters joke around the entire time and just have light-hearted fun. But then there are other episodes with a more serious tone that made me cry. Sometimes, this show hit me right in the feels.

So, Netflix, why don’t you just add “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, aka the greatest cartoon ever made, so we can all be happy and relish in its perfection.