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Serving The University of Alabama since 1894.

The Crimson White


Serving The University of Alabama since 1894.

The Crimson White

Serving The University of Alabama since 1894.

The Crimson White

All content by John Davis

Don’t worry, I’ll show myself out

John Davis April 23, 2012

There’s a poster in my room above my desk with a poem by Carl Sandburg written beneath an old army helmet. The helmet is partially buried in the ground, with a flower growing out of a rusted hole. The...

University scrubbed of personality, one small business at a time

John Davis April 16, 2012

I went to a party Saturday night. The alcohol flowed, the dance floor was crowded, and all who attended had a good time. There was a contingency of European international students at the party, one of...

Religion, private schools cannot be shield

John Davis April 9, 2012

I went to a private Christian school from sixth to ninth grade. My parents had originally been looking at it for my brother, but when I got hold of the brochures, everything looked so fancy that I decided...

My job hunt, or This bottle of Jack isn’t going to drink itself

John Davis April 2, 2012

Do I want a drink because I’m looking for a job, or am I looking for a job because I want a drink? The school year is winding down. April presents itself with graduation, the last paper, the final column...

Transportation Services to sell double-park parking passes

John Davis March 30, 2012

In response to apparent demand, Transportation Services will begin selling a new parking pass that allows drivers to double-park, or take up two parking spaces with one vehicle. The permit, which will...

Chancellor Witt wants 30,000 trustees by fall 2013

Chancellor Witt wants 30,000 trustees by fall 2013

John Davis March 30, 2012

At a press conference in Birmingham earlier this week, newly named University of Alabama System Chancellor Robert Witt announced his goal of increasing the size of the board of trustees to 30,000 by the...

Zen and the art of tee ball

John Davis March 26, 2012

I’ve always regarded baseball with a cautious eye. I played one season of tee ball in the wee years of my youth, and 18 wins and a missing thumbnail later I came away with the only athletic championship...

Rick Santorum doesn’t deserve my vote

John Davis March 6, 2012

It often surprises people when I tell them I’m a Republican. Admittedly, this has at least a little to do with my upbringing, but I believe that a president genuinely committed to a smaller federal government...

Relationships becoming redefined, challenging old traditions

John Davis February 27, 2012

Last week, The Crimson White ran an editorial piece that caught my eye. Titled “'Friends with benefits’ relationship possible,” it addressed the possibility – and benefits – of a platonic, physical...

UA administration’s policies towards greeks hypocritical

John Davis February 13, 2012

Recall with me, if you will, a series of articles and editorials published last semester by The Crimson White regarding the perceived racial barrier of the University of Alabama’s greek system. Ultimately,...

Bud Light Platinum an affront to civilization

Bud Light Platinum an affront to civilization

John Davis February 6, 2012

On Thursdays, some Crimson White staffers and I have made a habit of going to Wilhagan’s to play trivia. It’s a pleasant way to spend the evening, and Wilhagan’s has a $2 “Beer of the Week” special...

'The Artist' and the evolution of human expression

‘The Artist’ and the evolution of human expression

John Davis January 30, 2012

Watching a silent movie in 2012 is an odd experience. Watching a silent movie made in 2011 in a movie theater is even odder. But that’s what I found myself doing last Friday, when “The Artist” finally...

Remembering Paterno, and the symbol he became

Remembering Paterno, and the symbol he became

John Davis January 23, 2012

Yesterday, Joe Paterno passed away at the age of 85, and with him, so too does the old guard of college football. This isn’t a column remembering JoePa and his legacy, per se, because I’m too young...

The life cycle of copy editing

John Davis January 17, 2012

The Crimson White is looking for a new copy editor. A paid position is available, but we also have several volunteers. If you are interested in working for us, and consider yourself a grammar nerd and...

Maturity as important as party

John Davis December 5, 2011

Donald Trump is hosting a Republican debate in Iowa in late December. Let that sink in for a moment. In a primary process already resembling something no less absurd than a Lars von Trier film, candidates...

The case for a rematch

John Davis November 29, 2011

With one week to go in the college football regular season, LSU and Alabama sit atop the Bowl Championship Series. For all intents and purposes, there is a significant chance the two teams will play again...

The burden we share is our own

John Davis November 21, 2011

Early Saturday morning, a fight broke out between three black students from Alabama A&M University and members of the Delta Chi fraternity. I, like most of the student body, learned of this incident through...

Diversity of opinions key to public discourse

John Davis November 14, 2011

"Give me the liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties." The above statement is the basis for all that follows, so if you only glanced at it, take a second...

Fix the SGA, don’t kill it

John Davis November 7, 2011

The SGA Senate is made up of 50 senators from nine colleges (graduate and law school included). Unlike the U.S Senate, it is not two per college. Rather, the number of senators from each college is proportional...

Stop hitting people with your cars

John Davis October 23, 2011

Last week, a student was struck by a vehicle while crossing the street from Publix to the shopping center on the other side of the road. The specifics of this particular instance aside, it raises certain...

SGA represents the students, not the administrators

John Davis October 17, 2011

Some weeks I like to think these columns write themselves. What I mean is that occasionally an event occurs or a story is reported on and everyone more or less comes to the same conclusion. Case in point:...

Free the Docs, and why it matters

John Davis October 10, 2011

“Who cares about the Student Government Association, anyway?” Two years ago I could have written that exact letter to the editor and believed every word of it. I could have sat in front of my computer...

SGA requires a strong monarch

John Davis October 6, 2011

It has come to my attention that I have inexplicably not been chosen for the 2011 homecoming court. Since conceding is for chumps, I am going to take the opportunity to abuse my position as senior staff...

Pomp and Circumstance

John Davis October 3, 2011

Choosing a topic each week can become difficult after a month or so, especially when a public figure isn’t doing something profoundly stupid. New SGA President Stephen Swinson made a straightforward...

SGA lacks leadership, transparency

John Davis September 26, 2011

It’s been an interesting week for the Student Government Association. What started out as an innocuous story in The Crimson White has somehow managed to snowball into the resignation of SGA President...

Lessons abroad for problems at home

John Davis September 19, 2011

This past summer I spent some time in Germany with a good friend. We had worked all summer, so we treated ourselves to a last hurrah of sorts before our senior year by staying in hostels in Munich and...

Come on … don’t haze me, bro

John Davis September 12, 2011

On Aug. 18, the University of South Carolina suspended fraternity rush following alcohol violations by six of 18 fraternities on campus. The idea of completely suspending fraternity rush at any southern...

Sometimes numbers do lie

John Davis September 7, 2011

On Tuesday, the student body – and one Crimson White columnist in particular – was addressed by Dr. Judy Bonner, the Executive Vice President and Provost for the University of Alabama. In her letter,...

Page Four: A guide to page four

John Davis August 29, 2011

When I sat down to write my first column of the year I found myself at an impasse. See, I never actually had a “final” column for this past school year due to the tornado. Chronologically, my last...

Google+: The social media endgame

John Davis July 14, 2011

Facebook and I have fallen into a “married with children” type relationship. We’ve been at it for so long and invested so much time into one another that, despite any real flaws, we’re pretty much...

A new age of disco

John Davis June 15, 2011

Recently, a friend and I were driving when a song by Katy Perry came on the radio. Or Ke$ha. Or Rihanna. One of those. Anyway, he made the comment that this music is our generation’s disco. It made...

College of Education collecting Books for Bama

John Davis May 4, 2011

Doctoral students within the College of Education are collecting books for residents affected by last week’s tornado. Dr. Lisa Scherff, associate professors of English education as well as the director...

Alumni groups find ways to help

John Davis May 2, 2011

As relief efforts continue throughout Tuscaloosa, alumni and alumni groups from every corner of the country are helping out in any way they can. Mark Roberts, the Manager of Chapter Development and Special...

Human existence is in the struggle

John Davis April 21, 2011

This past weekend, I found myself in the low country – Savannah, Georgia, to be specific. My brother and I were driving into town, and we stopped at a gas station halfway between Dublin and Savannah...

The idiot’s guide to spring dating

John Davis April 13, 2011

It’s April, and with the fourth month of the year comes warmer temperatures, the end of school and the glowing optimism of a summer full of adventure. Another noticeable trend brought on by the warmer...

Put your shoes back on

John Davis April 7, 2011

Awareness is pointless without some sort of action. Really, it is. Like most of my peers on Tuesday, I saw many (well, several) people walking around campus without shoes on. Ignoring the obvious hygienic...

UA needs to give reasons for forcing Lai Lai off Strip

John Davis March 24, 2011

The headline on March 9 informed us that Lai Lai – the Chinese hole-in-the-wall restaurant that has called The Strip home since 1998 – would be closing, though it might as well have read “University...

Haters everywhere we go

John Davis March 10, 2011

Self-loathing is a fickle mistress. On the one hand, the perpetrator can seem acutely aware of faults. On the other, it’s an excellent method of aligning oneself with the problems and not any foreseeable...

Public education needs collaboration, not just money

John Davis March 3, 2011

Barack Obama called it our “Sputnik Moment” – the point in American history in which education takes center stage in domestic concerns. Yet for all the grand verbiage and detailed outlines, each...

Sunday sales lead to destruction of society

John Davis February 24, 2011

TUSCALOOSA | Aug. 22, 2011 – The fabric of society has been torn. Just six months following the ratification of Sunday alcohol sales in Tuscaloosa, Ala., society as we know it has collapsed around us....

Transmissions harbinger of autopocalypse?

John Davis February 17, 2011

Earlier this month the federal government found that in the majority of cases involving unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, driver error was the root cause. The drivers were literally hitting the...

UA, will you please by my valentine?

John Davis February 10, 2011

Hi Alabama, it’s me, John. We’ve had a few classes together over the years, I’m not sure if you remem- oh, you do? Ah, yes, that was me. No, it was embarrassing, but I still think it needed to be...

Hater’s guide to spring intramural

John Davis February 3, 2011

The time for spring intramural sports is upon us, and while a few sports have already gotten underway, the wide variety of sports offered in the spring can feel a bit overwhelming. I’ve compiled this...

UA freshmen totally unnecessary

John Davis January 27, 2011

Last week two students presented well thought out and well-intended articles regarding mandatory freshmen housing and mandatory freshmen meal plans. Gregory Poole pointed out that the inflation rate of...

Vaughn, Houser: missing the elephants (in the room)

John Davis January 20, 2011

Last week Wesley Vaughn wrote about establishing a unified campus identity – a stance that prompted criticism from graduate student Greg Houser about the concept of discussing a problem without offering...

A New Age of Disco

John Davis January 14, 2011

Recently, a friend and I were driving when a song came on the radio by Katy Perry. Or Ke$ha. Or Rihanna. One of those. Anyway, he made the comment that this music was our generations disco. It made sense,...

Progress, fairness should be part of education

John Davis January 12, 2011

Do you have a 4.0 grade point average? Have you received A’s on every assignment since high school? Are you the president or a member of numerous prestigious clubs and organizations on campus? Do you...

Qatar’s World Cup bid an unexplainable farce

John Davis December 3, 2010

This past Thursday the FIFA selection committee announced that the small Middle Eastern country of Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, beating out the likes of Japan, South Korea, Australia and the...

St. Iron Bowl’s Day speech

John Davis November 21, 2010

What's he that wishes so, that we had a Cam Newton? No, my fair classmate; If we are marked to lose, we are enough To do our school loss; and if to live, The fewer great men, the greater share of honor....

Pity Newton’s followers

John Davis November 17, 2010

Gravity. How does it work? Every massive particle in the universe attracts every other massive particle with a force, which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional...

About last night

John Davis November 11, 2010

Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Where am I going? Class. I’ve got to go to class. It’s Sun- right, it’s Sunday. Um, church? Yes, church – I’ve got to go to church. No, really, I can’t...

Guide to Opinions page fame

John Davis November 3, 2010

It was unavoidable. You’ve been at the University of Alabama for almost three months now and it’s clear that not only is the student newspaper totally inept, but for some reason everyone around you...

A Collective Consciousness

John Davis October 15, 2010

This past Tuesday, I witnessed something extraordinary. No, not the Rangers clinch against the Rays or a dormitory hallway covered in fire extinguisher chemicals (though both certainly happened), but rather...

University shouldn’t hold hands

John Davis September 30, 2010

The column in Wednesday’s edition of The Crimson White entitled “Where is the love Capstone?” is not only an exercise in utopian idealism but a fundamental example of why our generation is so often...

Why I love hate

John Davis September 19, 2010

Note: Thoughts expressed in the columns and letters of the opinions section are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of the CW editorial staff. In case it wasn’t obvious after the...