If not for Dr. Richard Pineda, I probably would’ve dropped out of college. It could have been that the subject matter was interesting to me. It could have been that I had just endured enough bad classes that the good ones were finally coming to me.

  “I was the editor of the school newspaper and in drama club and choir, so I was not a popular girl in the traditional sense, but I think I was known for being relatively scathing.” – Tina Fey. My idol is Tina Fey, not because I’m funny and I look up to her for being an actress or a comedian, but because when I first saw “30 Rock,” I wanted to be like her.

  I have never been very public about this, neither on social media nor in person, but as I stand at the cliff of my undergraduate-college career, one person that I have modeled myself after and wish to thank above everyone else is no longer with me today.

  As I exit UTEP and The Prospector, I enter the deep and dark woods of the future that is yet to come. No matter what lies ahead or the mistakes I have made in the past, I know that, God willing, I am ready to tackle each and every challenge. As William Ernest Henley said in his poem “Invictus:” “Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade.

    After reigning at the top spot for four weeks, Lionsgate Entertainment’s “The Hunger Games” was finally knocked down to third place at the box office with a total current gross nearing $500 million. While extremely successful, I am glad that such an immature handling of what has been critically hailed as a mature material is finally dying down.

In honor of Earth Week, I would like to dedicate this column to a little known issue called electronic waste, or e-waste. E-waste is basically what it sounds like, broken computers, phones, keyboards, anything electronic that ends up in landfills in the United States and other areas of the world, particularly in the impoverished areas of Africa, India and China.

I have worked at The Prospector for the last four years, and one thing I have noticed is that there has always been some sort of controversy surrounding the Student Government Association’s elections. And without fail, this year once again there was drama.

A common sight for regular gym rats is the newbie lifter. Usually it is someone who’s made a New Year’s resolution or wants to get sexy for swimsuit season. This newbie most of time shows up at the gym for two or three weeks before giving up due to a lack of progress.

First and foremost, I would like to apologize to the student body for my complete disregard for the University Parking Rules and Regulations. I want to extend my apologies to the Parking and Transportation Office and the UTEP SGA. They have a difficult time dealing with student issues and I am sure my actions will hinder all of their hard work and effort.

This guy wants to close the campus to vehicular traffic–and now we can see why. Around 1 p.m. March 26, Pablo Padilla, Student Government Association president and senior microbiology major, decided it would be a good idea to park his jeep on top of the northeast sidewalk at the end of the parking lot at Union Building East when he could not find a parking space.

On March 5, Invisible Children Inc. debuted Kony 2012 on the Internet, a 30-minute video that went viral immediately. Millions posted and shared the video on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, ranging from friends to celebrities and personalities such as Oprah, Rihanna and Justin Bieber.

Store shelves are no longer lined with beer from just the three big brewers. Coors, Michelob and Anheuser-Busch once dominated the beer market until a recent trend had consumers calling for more variety. Micro-brewed beers, or craft beers, were not necessarily born, but reared its head from the depths of people’s basement, where they were mainly made for individual consumption.

Spring break is so 1990s. Instead of jumping into a pair of swim shorts and thrashing out into the open waters of scandalously dressed woman, it's about time we hit the town and books instead. The once party-filled time off has slowly mutated into something that no longer revolves around the party.

Recently, Harvey Weinstein of the Weinstein Company, a film studio responsible for movies such as "Inglourious Basterds," "The Fighter," Michael Moore's documentaries, and this year's Oscar best picture winner "The Artist," threatened to leave the Motion Picture Association of America.

On Feb. 7 The Prospector published a letter to the editor titled "Why so much support for Ron Paul at UTEP?" In all honesty, when I read the title of the letter prior to publication, the first thought that entered my mind was "finally." As an aspiring journalist, I have been trying to practice objectivity and I believe I'm able to stay objective because I can't see how certain issues affect me personally.

  On Feb. 16, the Neon Desert Music Festival announced their first set of bands (So there are still more to come) who will be performing during the festival that takes place in Downtown, El Paso on May 26. The list ranges from local bands such as Sound On Sound and Johnny Costello, to the big acts like Moby, Sparta and Ghostland Observatory.

The Good & Bad Show with Alejandro Alba and Eileen Lozano brings topics to table and discusses the bad and good in them. Tune in every Tuesday and Thursday for new episodes of The Prospector's new podcast.

Big truth: size doesn't matter the way many think it does. Growing up, there seemed to be this utter need for men to have an adequate size male sex organ, which means really nothing for a girl. Walking into a football locker room and hearing jokes like "he ain't hung like a horse" or "it's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean," didn't faze me, not because size was important, but because sex wasn't a big issue.

Este tan polémico tema ha sido motivo para largas horas de plática entre amigos y parejas, pero aún nadie ha llegado a una conclusión y por lo visto no estamos cerca. El hecho de que exista una amistad entre personas del sexo opuesto es casi  un mito.

Dear Cupid, I'm afraid that the 14th day in February is an insignificant holiday due to the fact that many people don't even know who St. Valentine is. A holiday, after all, should be a day when you celebrate a special someone, or a special event. But for people in the 21st century, a holiday means gifts and more gifts.

Throughout high school, there was never a day that class was not interrupted by loud tractors or saws. For the sake of "progress," construction was everywhere. When I graduated, I understood that UTEP had a lot of construction underway, but since it was a much larger campus I figured I would not have to deal with loud disruptions in class.

February marks Black History Month, which also means another month where we focus on one race for a short amount of time instead of celebrating it at all times. If you don't understand what I am saying, just look a couple of states over to see how they have filtered one culture out of their education system.

Dear Prospector Editorial Staff, Thank you for offering me this opportunity to respond to your question: "What does UTEP stand for?"  I can confidently assure you that UTEP stands for the same mission and values that we have articulated clearly and unequivocally for the past quarter-century:  to create enriched educational opportunities for talented young people, and play a leading role in improving the quality of life of all residents, in this Paso del Norte region.