Within five minutes of setting foot in the Whiteaker district, I found myself staring intently at the infamous anarchist symbol spray-painted onto a tree. Within 20 minutes, I was face to face with a bona fide anarchist. Needless to say, if you have ever felt like sticking it to the man, you’re in the right place.

While it wasn’t difficult to find an anarchist, in many ways I got lucky. When I asked New Day Bakery owner Bill Mahoney about the whereabouts of local anarchists, he was at first skeptical as to whether he could help me.

“A lot of the most active members of the anarchist movement in Eugene have gone underground after the 1990s,” Mahoney said. “The FBI cleaned a lot of them out after numerous acts of eco-terrorism.”

Mahoney is referring to a period of time in which the anarcho-primitive movement was in full swing in Eugene. This prolific period was ultimately defined by the 1999 World Trade Organization protests led by the revolutionary thinker John Zerzan, who is also a resident of Eugene. Anarchism was so abundant that Eugene’s then-mayor, Jim Torrey, reportedly called it the “anarchist capital of the United States.”

Mahoney was kind enough to point me in the direction of the woman who painted the gorgeous mural on the side of the New Day Bakery and also happened to be an anarchist.

I found Kari Johnson peacefully sipping tea in the garden of the East Blair Housing co-op.

“People have a conception of anarchy as a state of violence and total chaos. In actuality it is merely a political practice that advocates no authority. Having a hierarchy of power was a relatively new development for the human species. During the primitive era, life was much simpler because the idea of power wasn’t as prevalent and I believe that is our natural state.”

It might be difficult to deconstruct our modern infrastructure to match that of a more primitive era, but anarchism is ultimately a powerful tool to deny power structures.

“It comes down to this: what are you going to do when a select few people are running the country? You can hold a sign or write your congressman or you can do something meaningful and start your own movement,” Johnson said.

And that is exactly what Johnson and some others did during the ’90s. Unfortunately this movement was brought to a halt by law enforcement who considered anarchism “dangerous” activity. One member of the movement, Jeff Lures, was sentenced to 22 years and eight months in prison for burning several cars. He was released after serving nine and half years. This was a more intense form of anarchism then Johnson practices, but clearly the movement as a whole scares authority figures because it legitimately threatens their position of power.

Edward “Ted” Williams, a student at the University of Oregon and a devout anarchist, is in accordance with Johnson’s ideology. He cites anarchism as a major influence on his life and is currently writing a novel advocating anarchy.

“Anarchism is important to me because I believe that the political and economic structures we live in are barbaric, and I believe that a more peaceful and civil alternative is entirely possible.”

Williams expresses the frustrations of people all over the world including myself. Why should we let a select few people at the top of the political and economic pyramid determine aspects of our daily life? The biggest difficulty is getting a significant number of people on board with what many consider a “radical” movement. Johnson thinks that the momentum of the movement has evolved into the realization that a class system just doesn’t work.

“In the past we have denied the class system and always thought of America as the land of opportunity when it really isn’t. I think the occupy movement is evidence of people beginning to have legitimate class consciousness.”

Johnson had me convinced.

I was tempted to drop out of school, join a co-op and pour myself a cup of that delicious anarchist tea.

Whether or not you agree that anarchy is the best methodology to create a more beneficial climate for the human experience, it is comforting to know that there are people conscious enough to challenge arbitrary power structures. It is even more comforting to know that you don’t have to go to Washington, D.C., to make a political impact when there are legitimate movements right here in little ole Eugene.

As the gloom of the winter months sets in, it is increasingly difficult to shed the inevitable negativity that comes with the Eugene rain and cold weather. However, I have found an ever elusive ray of positivity through the energetic enthusiasm of UO’s international students. I am proud to say that my school has an exceptional track record when it comes to cultural support and acceptance.

It only takes several moments in the Fishbowl to realize the truly remarkable nature of our culturally diverse university. People of different ethnicities, cultures and races are constantly seamlessly interacting with one another. This might not come as much of a surprise to many students, but there are a lot of parts in the United States, let alone the world, where this is an impossibility.

In today’s intellectual community there is an ongoing debate between how different cultures should relate to one another. Some argue for complete unification (think melting pot) while others believe in strict cultural preservation. UO performs a precarious balancing act of upholding the cultural customs of international students while providing a unique environment for tolerance and unity.

I drew a great deal of energy from the international students that I interviewed who were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about their experience at the university. Seela Sankei moved to Eugene from Kenya and she could not be more pleased with the time she has spent here.

“At first I was worried about finding friends, but I am a very talkative person and everyone was very welcoming. I love the Eugene community, in many ways it is like a village, everyone seems to know everyone.”

This is part of the reason Eugene offers such a unique and benevolent experience for these students. It is a relatively compact and liberal university with a wide range of opportunities that allows for endless communal engagement. That is not to say that differences are not noticed.

“The way I speak makes me obviously different from many other students, including other international students. Of course I notice differences in other students as well and think this difference is where we find commonality,” Sankei said.

When asked about adapting to the cultural customs of Eugene, native Gambian, Aboubacarr Demba, found that he had no trouble at all and found support through students of the same ethnicity.

“I spent a lot of time in the UK so the transition was not that drastic. I recently found a group of students who are also from Gambia, which surprised me, but it was nice to have common ground with other people.”

Both students noted that they felt no significant pressure to leave behind cultural customs of their native homeland. This is truly an impressive achievement and a testament to the good nature and consciousness of the people of Eugene and the university. However some students felt slightly differently.

Boli Zhang moved to Eugene from Beijing, China to study business. He discussed with me the important choice he made when he moved to the United States.

“You really have two choices. You can stay the same and continue to hang out in a small group of primarily Chinese students or you can adopt the American culture and learn something new. I definitely felt pressure to change, but I am okay with that.”

So maybe there is an inevitable influence of American culture on international students, but I strongly believe that Eugene is showing these students the very best that America has to offer. Filled with generous people, educational integrity and a politically conscious student body, the University of Oregon is truly the cream of the crop.

In a world filled with turmoil over cultural differences, I can’t reiterate enough how we should never take for granted the environment we have built for ourselves.

So next time the Eugene winter rain has you cursing the school, just remember our accomplishments as a diverse community and think of these final words from Sankei:

“In Africa it is always sunny, so I love the rain in Eugene. I can just walk around in it all day with a great big smile on my face.”

If you have ever biked or walked past the edge of campus, you have undoubtedly experienced the inevitable waft of smoke that permeates from smokers on 13th Avenue. This delicious nicotine cloud is now a permanent resident since the University of Oregon’s campus-wide smoking ban went into effect last year. While some have cleverly discovered hidden places on campus to smoke, most have been exiled to the far regions of campus which are also the most common entrances to the university.

The constant traffic around these areas ironically creates an environment that the UO was desperately trying to mitigate with the smoking ban.

As utopian as the idea might seem, I think that the Smoke and Tobacco Free initiative should be lifted to allow students to smoke on campus.

I am not a believer in secondhand smoke.

I should clarify. I am not a believer in secondhand smoke in an outdoor environment where a cigarette’s smoke only occasionally enters the lungs of a non-smoker. To be a legitimate health concern, someone would have to be surrounded by smoke for an extended period of time. That being said, if health is the UO’s greatest concern, then they have failed at preventing secondhand smoke from affecting students. Were the ban lifted, the smokers would be dispersed instead of encompassing a concentrated part of campus.

Before the Smoke and Tobacco Free initiative went into place, the UO employed ashtrays for smokers, which kept the campus relatively butt-free. All of these were taken out and now the university has a littering problem to deal with. When asked about how the smoking affected her hot dog business on 13th Avenue, Sherry, aka “The Hot Dog Lady,” responded by saying, “I don’t think that it affects my business per se, but I think the UO pushed all the smokers off campus without providing means for proper disposal of the butts. The littering really gets to me, especially when they sweep all of the butts off the sidewalk onto the street near my cart.”

Ultimately this proves to be a bigger problem than it ever was when smoking was allowed. At the very least, they should provide students with a legitimate butt disposal mechanism so as not to bother local businesses, such as Sherry’s hot dog cart.

So, how do the smokers feel about the issue?

“I think smoking should be allowed everywhere, but I do think the smoking social scene that has started at the edge of campus is a cool by-product of the no smoking policy,” cigarette aficionado Daniel Almay said.

Almany brings up a good point. Smokers are stigmatized to the point where they have to create their own social scene to avoid judgments from others. Integrating smokers and non-smokers on campus could be a unique way to build tolerance for alternative lifestyle choices.

People will undoubtedly argue that smoking is bad for you and smokers should just quit the nasty habit. But the fact of the matter is, people like to smoke and will continue to smoke despite what people tell them. If someone is paying an educational institution upward of $35,000 a year, they should be allowed to indulge in a stress-relieving activity wherever they are.

While the chances of the UO lifting the smoking ban are extremely low, I think that they should be aware of the continual consequences that the ban has on campus life. At the very least, they should provide a legitimate area for people to go to indulge in a much-needed cigarette after a long and stressful day at school.

Out of all the costumes that were supposed to invoke fear on Halloween, by far the scariest outfit I witnessed was a small boy, not 3 or 4, who was dressed as an iPhone. While I admit that the costume’s accuracy was impeccable and he did look quite adorable, it perfectly exemplified my innate fear of technology’s dangerous influence on our lives and its uncanny ability to undermine our humanity.

I am proud to say that I do not own a smart phone and I plan on holding out for as long as I can before I buy one. It is true that many of the applications are impressive and helpful for our daily routines, but I also think that it is has destroyed the legitimacy of the human connection. There is nothing more bothersome than a dinner table full of people browsing Facebook on their smart phones instead of conversing with one another. When you sit down with a friend for dinner, you have a unique opportunity to explore each other’s interests through a face to face conversation. Unfortunately, this is becoming increasingly rare as people opt to browse the Internet or text with someone who isn’t around.

I additionally fear the ramifications of using the internet as a forum for anonymity. It’s wonderful that our generation has access to copious amounts of information that the Internet provides, but in some ways we have lost the value of respectable human interaction. I can’t count how many people on YouTube, or any Internet forum for that matter, decide that they need to call another human being a “faggot” or “shithead” or “stupid fuck,” because they can mask themselves behind anonymous usernames. Clearly, most people would not interact this way in person, but the opportunity to insult one another without any legitimate repercussions is irresistible to cowards.

At what point do our lives on the Internet become our reality? It used to be that one would have to actually log onto a computer and browse the internet and then eventually close the laptop and walk out into the real world. With the development of smart phones we have the lovely burden of carrying the internet with us everywhere we go.

Perhaps the scariest recent development is the Google Glass which will be released later this year. People will literally never have to look away from the Internet again. I had the opportunity to view one of these recently, and although admittedly it’s nifty, I couldn’t help but feel like I was a cyborg from some corny science fiction movie. I was able to see any webpage through one of my eyes and still comprehend the outside world through my other. What truly disturbed me was that at times I was incapable of determining which was my actual reality; the web page or the world? I think this a moment in which technology is overstepping its bounds.

There is no doubt that there is no way to slow down the development of technology and as students, it has made life considerably easier. Instead of boycotting the development electronics, we should consciously recognize the negative potential that technology has on our human lives. While I do think that we are a long way off from losing the human element of the machine, I forever have a nightmarish vision of our children not only indoctrinated into technology, but literally becoming one with it.

I love women. For nearly 21 years I have been surrounded by the most beautiful, complex and fascinating entities on the planet, and yet every time I interact with another woman I am in complete awe of her presence. I don’t care about women’s ethnicity, sexuality, appearance or even age. To me they are the most interesting aspect of my reality. I love the way women speak with precariously constructed words of insight that often emphasize emotional rhetoric. Most of all, I love how difficult it is for me to comprehend the grace and influx of thoughts that goes into an every decision a woman makes.

What has become increasingly apparent to me is that not everyone has the same appreciation for the beauty of women. Despite the best efforts of feminists, objectification of women continues to persist throughout our community. I am a straight, 21-year-old college male with a raging sex drive and yet it is blatantly obvious to me that University of Oregon has a problem with sexism. If I had a nickel for every time I saw a drunk male student forcibly and desperately grabbing a female at a house party — not to mention every time I hear about a date rape that occurs — I would have enough money to buy said females’ tasers to electrocute said males until they couldn’t stand, let alone remain erect.

Women do not exist for the sole purpose of pleasing men. It is endlessly disappointing that in our modern era, some men still believe that they can screw women just for the sake of screwing without respecting and acknowledging the true value of a female. Clearly there are a lot of good guys out there who respect women accordingly, but I am baffled by the select few chauvinists who can’t admit all that women have to offer besides their sexual organs.

Women’s and Gender Studies professor and historian Elizabeth Reis gives an epistemological account for this phenomenon: “Femininity is a construction based around prescriptions of womanhood that have evolved over time to create certain expectations. On campus, women are often expected to be both sexual and simultaneously pure.”

This social paradox is perfectly expressed by daily interactions of the sexes. If a woman is overtly sexually active, they are considered a “slut,” but if they don’t have sex with an expectant male then they are a “prude.” These expectations undermine the humanity of females everywhere. Transcending these constructions is ultimately challenging, and I find myself slipping into gender expectations from time to time. I think consciously recognizing sexism in yourself is key to mitigating gender norms.

Although admittedly guilty of one-night stands, in many ways I detest the activity. To me there are few things as shallow and objectifying as getting one’s drunken rocks off and then tossing one’s sexual partner to the side like a used napkin. While both genders can be guilty of this, I think it is evident that this disrespect is currently far more prominent among the male population than it is in the female population.

For those men who are only out to get laid, I strongly urge you to spend an evening interacting with women for the sake of enjoying their power and natural artistic prowess without considering sex as the ultimate end goal. While swagger and pick-up lines can be fun and sometimes rewarding, looking a woman in the eye and having a legitimate conversation with them is ultimately far more fulfilling.

Ignoring a woman because they don’t fit the archetype of femininity is a ridiculous way to interact with other human beings. Find the beauty in every single female because I assure you, you will discover it if you spend even the smallest amount of time looking for it. So I raise my nearly empty bottle of wine to every single woman out there because you make life interesting and worth living. Don’t ever let someone make you think otherwise.

“The end is near. Are you saved?”  Most definitely not. I think I might need to smother myself in Yeshua’s blood a few more times to make up for my heathenistic activities.

While walking through the carnival of shouts and chaos that surround competing religious zealots on campus, I begin to wonder what the actual purpose of these campaigns is. I have a hard time believing that they are legitimately attempting to “save” students for the afterlife when they spend more time antagonizing students than they do preaching the love that Jesus Christ was known for.

I should note that there are varying degrees of radicalism and authenticity among these self-proclaimed messengers. Perhaps the most beloved member of this religious circle is Doug. His love for the Ducks, Jesus Christ and people in general is written all over his broad smile and optimistic attitude. When asked why he wants to spread the word of Christ, he quietly responded, “Because God instilled it in my heart to do so.”

I buy it. I only wish the other zealots were as subtle and understanding as Doug is.

What’s truly disappointing is that radical Christian preachers give good people like Doug a bad name. Members of the church, like the infamous Brother Jed, are nothing more than hypocritical attention fiends. Berating people for sexual preferences, religious differences and other “flawed” lifestyle choices — who doesn’t love masturbating? — is pitted in hatred, not love. While I admit my depth of knowledge in religion is limited, at the core, I think most religions preach two basic things: Don’t kill anyone and don’t be a dick. The ultimate irony is that religion spawns both of these sins more than almost anything else.

The most curious thing about these preachers is that they recognize the futility of their message on a college campus and yet they continue to aggressively preach the Bible. When asked about the pointlessness of it all, preacher Scott Smith responded by saying, “I can’t convert anyone. It’s simply a test of my faith and commitment to God.”

The truth comes out. Are they really trying to save others, or are they trying to save themselves? If, in fact, they are trying to save themselves, then I would prefer that they stick to their house of reverence instead of desperately showing others their passion for God.

Self-proclaimed atheist and University of Oregon senior Tara Porchia had her own thoughts on the matter. “I can honestly say that I have a certain amount of respect for the amphitheatre Bible-thumpers. I know what it is like to want to shout about my convictions or about things that have given my life meaning, but I cannot deny they are going about it the wrong way. They can’t change me just like I can’t change them.”

Using fear tactics is the wrong way to change hearts and minds. Monte is a prominent figure on campus known for his sign which references the end of the world and the necessity of accepting Yeshua’s (Jesus’) blood. He is a humble man and does not like confrontation, which I appreciate, but I think trying to scare students into salvation makes his cause illegitimate and ultimately fruitless.

I think that in many ways the students are as much to blame for religious confrontation as the preachers are. If it truly bothers you that they are voicing their opinions, don’t engage them. They only want the attention to make it feel like they are doing something noteworthy. Bringing up the scientific evidence of evolution is not going to impact their beliefs.

While I ignorantly wait for religious disturbances to be resolved, I am going to continue to be a nice guy and hope that when I die God forgives me for my sinful ways and pornography collection.

My fingers, caked with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, were almost as red as my eyes were. The room was filled with hooded strangers and the bong was waiting to be cleared. Family Guy was playing loudly and Stewie was the only one brave enough to share his opinion. The smoky green haze was spinning around my clogged nostrils and I felt heavy with laziness. Bored of cartoons, I reached for the remote, but it was too far away. In the midst of this clouded condition I had a brief but powerful moment of clarity. Perhaps, I thought to myself, there is more to life than a comfortable couch, a nicely rolled spliff and cold AriZona Iced Teas. Maybe, just maybe, I should be doing something that actually matters. Of course, in that particular moment the couch was pretty damn comfortable and I procrastinated my productivity for another time.

Shortly after this revelation, I stopped smoking weed.

Our generation is facing a dangerous pot predicament. I’m not ultra-conservative or anti-drug, but I believe that excessive cannabis use has dangerous sociological concerns. With the possibility of legalization and an increase in medical marijuana use, we need to take a closer look at our relationship with cannabis.

Pot has the ability to destroy passion. I do not believe that marijuana has negative long-term health effects, but it causes something much worse: indifference. I appreciate the Spicoli-stoner attitude as much as the next guy, but when every conversation is reduced to a debate about the best strand of weed, I seriously question the value of stoned-out social interactions.

As I interviewed various weed-aficionados on campus, I noticed an alarming trend. First, the conversations never lasted more than five minutes (most were hurrying off to Cheba Hut) and second, almost every one of them admitted their noticeable lack of interest, but refused to change their habits.

Passion is what drives every human being to fulfillment and happiness. Smoking pot cannot be categorized as a passion. It is true that it may inspire creativity or accent certain interests such as film or music, but let’s be honest, when was the last time someone watched a movie baked out of their mind and actually remembered it?

I am bored of excessive pot smokers. Spare me the love-and-peace bullshit. I want to see people get upset about something. We can’t afford to sit in our apartments contemplating a better society as if we are John Lennon. We are students with the capacity to change the world and challenge our discontent with the status quo. Why should we waste our time with “highdeals” when we could actually act?

I should clarify that I do not think pot should be completely eliminated from society. One of my favorite poets, Allen Ginsberg, famously walked around with a sign that read “Smoking Pot Is Fun.” This is true and I think everyone should try it at least once. However, considering pot is 10 to 15 times stronger than it was in during the ’60s, I genuinely believe our smoking habits are out of hand.

Eugene has proudly earned the title Eugreen, but should we really be proud of our laziness and lack of motivation? I challenge chronic pot smokers to put down the bong, get off your ass and find something that interests you beyond your precious plant and Netflix subscription.