From “No-reward holidays: Should we care?” by the Editorial Board

If a holiday doesn’t mean we get a day off school or work, or that people are going to give us presents or candy or an excuse to drink and party [hardy], most of us don’t even care anymore.
Observation of religious holidays that don’t include traditional gift-giving tends to fall by the wayside for most of us once we’re out of the aura of parental influence. And those are the days we’ve had pounded into our heads as holy days since our skulls were still soft. If we’re forgetting those days, do national holidays we’ve never associated with anything even stand a chance?
Monday was Presidents Day. Some people probably knew that. Some people probably cared. Most of us in the newsroom were more worried about upcoming midterms and didn’t realize the day was a national holiday.

The Daily Barometer
Oregon State University

From “Injecting lies” by Michelle Chan

Some fear the illness and others fear the needle…
One survey in the Los Angeles County area concluded that nearly half of the parents of children under the age of 18 with autism spectrum disorders discontinued healthy vaccination practices due to the belief that such procedures led to developmental disorders, according to the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Parents who fail to provide their children with vaccinations also fail to provide protection against seriously debilitating or life-threatening diseases that may lead to infant mortality or permanent disability.
Although their actions may originate from genuine concern for the developmental safety of their children, parents put their children at risk for some dangerous consequences.

The Daily Evergreen
Washington State University

From “Veterans’ PTSD deserves more attention than unjust U.S. wars” by Rose Jones

U.S. victims of violence are suffering from PTSD in historic proportions. This forges a conundrum that will only stop when the wars stop. It is time to let foreign countries fight their own battles and make special interests warlords who have exploited our military for profit fend for themselves.
…
While our country’s leaders are pouring trillions into unnecessary wars, weapons and congressional special interest projects, we are ripe with internal violence from veterans who are suffering from a dangerous epidemic of PTSD. We need to begin healing our country’s physically and mentally wounded.

The Daily Utah Chronicle
University of Utah