For a long time I did my best to avoid conversations about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Partisan politics, as they presented themselves to a Northeastern child of privilege, told me where to stand on the environment, on gay rights, on abortion and on everything else uncontroversial within my liberal household. When it came to the Israel-Palestine conflict, however, the best I could hope to hear from my parents or from my teachers was, “It’s complicated.”

Two weeks ago, as Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc up the East Coast, I wrote a column entitled, “Freak Storms and Fossil Fuels,” in which I attempted to connect the dots between extreme weather events, global climate change and human factors such as “the single-minded profit-seeking of the fossil-fuel industry.” It was the last of these characterizations which readers have most passionately disputed. One reader wrote:

Tom Moore '13 urges us to take action and confront the human forces that have caused and continue to cause climate change.

Sometimes, exhaustion takes its toll.

On how to enact change toward a safer campus in a lasting and effective way.

One week ago today was the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. This year, the anniversary was not only a day of mourning, but also a day of renewed violence.

By dehumanizing any person that commits an abhorrent act, we ignore the underlying cultural and societal problems. 

Incoming freshmen, welcome to Ithaca. I wish I could use this space to give a few friendly pieces of advice regarding the perils and delights of the journey before you. Time is brief, however, and right now, you need to hear a few facts on the war currently being fought across America, and Ithaca’s place in that war.

What academia and it's reaction, anti-academia, fail to teach us.

Tom Moore '13 explains why hypocrisy is often unavoidable and, just as often, ok and even necessary.