Author Archives: Jason O'Bryan

These days, whenever you hear someone talking about the “price of freedom,” it is almost always expressed in a body count. My government tells me I have to accept a certain number of American casualties and Iraqi collateral damage (read: dead civilians). “This is wartime,” they seem to say, “and this is the price of […]

I will not rest until UCLA is the best in the country. It’s four days late for basketball, as we lost the national championship game, and my messages to the NCAA demanding a “do-over” have, as of this writing, remained unanswered. But at least we can fall back on academics … or so I thought. […]

The idea was simple enough: I wanted to leave school for a while. During my first two years at UCLA, I was unable to shake the nagging idea, like an itch on my brain, that there was more to be gained from this institution. I have come to understand that in the years before ours, […]

A hideously obese man in a $2,000 suit sits in his cavernous office, nested among the intricate Romanesque arches on the upper levels of Royce Hall. He hears the meow of a kitten somewhere nearby and calls for his assistant. “Have it killed!” he screams, and he laughs maniacally. He looks at his desk and […]

There is nothing simple about Los Angeles, and the feelings we have about it are no exception. But even if you hate it ““ it is currently trendy to hate L.A. ““ there is something to be said for its complexity and the traits that ultimately make it the perfect town in which to be […]

The United States seems to be constantly finding new and inventive ways to get around the concept of freedom. With illegal wiretaps, the administration is using the “fascism-is-effective” campaign. In Guantanamo Bay, the White House is plainly saying it doesn’t care, and in the military the Department of Defense’s strategy to get around the law […]

One of the most vivid memories of my study-abroad experience in New Zealand was the first week when my friends and I were shopping to furnish our rented house. We were looking for some kind of megastore but instead found Warehouse, which is as close as it gets. Having come fresh from Los Angeles, I […]