Santa,

Before you throw this out because it’s not scrawled with a “mac and cheese”-colored Crayola crayon like the other letters, hear me out. It’s been a while. OK, you’re right, perhaps too long. The last thing I formally wrote to you for was probably a Tamagotchi digital pet.

“Straddling the fine line between good student and drug addict.”

Another day, another audition … a familiar mantra since I moved to Hollywood a few years back.

The cold fall breeze filters through the windows, its effects slightly blunted by the heat of the L.A. sun.

I look out from the window of my apartment overlooking the cityscape as the sun streams down at each side of me, highlighting the scripts, mail and clothes lying on the floor below.

Last week, the student senate voted against tuition increases to support our university while, in the same meeting, voting to support an increase in student fees to support the Counseling Center.

This is the very definition of “knee jerk.”

The Counseling Center undoubtedly gives great services to the students who use it. But the University of Nevada, Reno, all of its students included, is under siege by a deflated budget.

I remember desperately waiting for snow this time last year.

It was December, and although there was some snow in the mountains, we were relegated to skiing or snowboarding down a single groomer or two at a couple of Tahoe-area resorts.

I want a little sticker on my porno that tells me no porn stars were harmed, treated unethically, forced to perform acts against their will or drugged during the production of said media (kind of like the stamp for free-range chicken eggs at the store).

Saint Nicholas regretfully announced over the weekend that due to the weakening global economy, the operations at the North Pole have been run into the ground.

Toy production was at a virtual standstill as production lines lay vacant, elf workers sparsely dotted the factory floor and only six reindeer meandered silently outside.

Because I was born in Japan and have celebrated Christmas there for 20 years, I can say that most Japanese people don’t know what Christmas is all about.

Although I have never experienced an American Christmas, I have gathered from movies that it’s a really big event for Americans following Thanksgiving. Families and friends gather around Christmas trees and exchange presents. And then, of course, there are the big dinners.

Dear President-elect Barack Obama,

The new year and the dawn of your administration is coming upon us. The excitement that has grown from liberals my age since election night has been a sight to behold.

“Who said women’s sports weren’t exciting?”

It’s easy to think the conclusion to all of last year’s tragedies has arrived.

Mohamed Kamaludeen was sentenced to life without parole for last year’s murder of University of Nevada, Reno professor Judy Calder. Samisoni Taukitoku was given the same sentence for the 2007 Halloween party shooting that left three people dead.

Where was decency, compassion or even a little bit of consideration when this man fell to the floor?

Or did anyone even notice?

Union workers are now blaming Wal-Mart, saying this tragedy could have been prevented and more precautions could have been taken.

This first week of December, you can do something small with the potential to change the world.

Today, in Darfur, Sudan, women live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. They risk violent attacks and even rape as they venture into dangerous areas to collect firewood.

Today, in Bungoma, Kenya, orphaned boys survive in the streets. Homeless and alone, they try in vain to forget the pain of their pasts and the threat of starvation.

With the U.S. Treasury and Congress dealing with who is going to get a piece of the $700 billion marked for handouts from the bailout, along with the continued uncertainty that is surrounding the severity of the recession we are heading toward, the markets continue to show that they really do not have any idea what to make of the situation.

OK, so I spend a lot of column space harping on the media these days. Call it the self-righteous spouting of a First Amendment student, but I cannot understand or excuse the way in which news outlets seem to editorialize, linger on the insignificant and destroy their own integrity.

I’ve heard the usual reasons — the bottom line, the need for sensationalism to compete, etc. — but can someone please explain to me why I was watching a scrawny, elderly man spit into his plastic jug between slurred replies on the local news last week?

• Big break for 'model' student
• Students question provost on budget cuts
• 25 percent tuition increase unlikely
• Audio Slideshow: First-generation student graduates
• Denison’s suspected killer arrested
• ‘Daisies’ gets a premature burial
• Dec. 3, 2008 - Provost Marc Johnson answers student questions
• First-generation students face extra barriers in college
• Williams gives Pack post presence
• 'Bolt' saves the holiday

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• Big break for 'model' student
• Students question provost on budget cuts
• 25 percent tuition increase unlikely
• Audio Slideshow: First-generation student graduates
• Denison’s suspected killer arrested
• ‘Daisies’ gets a premature burial
• Dec. 3, 2008 - Provost Marc Johnson answers student questions
• First-generation students face extra barriers in college
• Williams gives Pack post presence
• 'Bolt' saves the holiday

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