In a landmark case, a New Jersey couple is suing a young man and his girlfriend whose texting habits caused the older couple to each lose a leg in a motorcycle crash. Although the young man, who was 18 at the time of the collision, was the driver and the girlfriend was not in the vehicle, the older couple says the girlfriend should be held just as responsible because she knew her boyfriend was driving at the time and chose to text him anyway.

In her deposition, the girlfriend said she “may have known” her boyfriend was driving at the time of the collision.

I find this lawsuit a little unsettling. Being a teenager who has grown up on texting my friends instead of calling them — a concept my parents refuse to understand ­— sending a text to someone when I know they’re driving has happened and will continue to happen.

However, let me make clear I am avidly against texting and driving. I think it is unsafe and irresponsible for teens to concentrate on answering a friend’s text message instead of focusing on driving. Yet when I send a text to someone on the road, I do not intend for them to read it or reply until they are off the road.

New Jersey law states texting or talking on a cell phone while driving as illegal, and in this situation, the blame solely should be placed on the young man, not his girlfriend. It was his choice to read and respond to his girlfriend’s text instead of focusing on driving, causing the collision with the older couple riding a motorcycle.

But, seriously, just put down the cell phone when you’re on the road. It’s really not worth it to risk your life and everyone else’s just to send a text.

I was scheduling my summer classes, and after enrolling in basic ISS and history courses, I decided I wanted to take a few more credits. I was looking for something more fun than the average course, and then I saw it: “Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse: Catastrophe & Human Behavior.”

The class is just getting started, but last week, the professor had us all take an introductory quiz to see if we would survive the apocalypse. Let me just say, I’d be dead in days … if not hours.

I’m already realizing I definitely overestimated my survival skills. One of the questions asked was which medicine we would use if we were dealing with certain injuries, and the choices were a bunch of really long words ending with “-ine.” I don’t think I recognized a single one, nor have I ever considered until now what I would do without a pharmacist there to answer my questions.

No iPhone? No running water? No way to cook your food? No Internet?

Welcome to the zombie apocalypse, folks.

I recently got rid of my earbuds for some over-the-ear headphones.
I’ve been using earbuds for years, but not only do headphones sound better, they’re safer as well.
A study from CBS News says that at 80 percent of full volume, the safe daily limit of earbuds is only one and a half hours.
The same study says that someone could listen to over-the-ear headphones for nearly five hours at the same volume.
It also depends on the person and how tough their ears are, but there is no way to tell what type of ears you have.
When I’m walking to class with my headphones on, I find it less distracting with the over-the-ear headphones, and I can keep the volume pretty low.
The bigger headphones might be a little more expensive, but they could save your hearing.

I have four parents, five younger siblings, nine grandparents, 12 aunts and uncles and 20 first cousins. That’s a lot.

I had to make a family tree and double check these numbers with my mom because I can’t keep track of all my family. Anyone who has as large of a family as I do knows exactly what I am talking about and most likely can relate. I live in a unique situation, and the amount of family members I have seems unreal, but at the end of the day I love and appreciate my huge family.

During the holidays, I enjoy being able to attend multiple parties and receive way too many gifts. My family functions are similar to the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” We are always together laughing, joking and eating.

Having such a large family means you can never get away from them, but I value knowing I always have someone there for me.

Like any other set of siblings, my brother and I have seen our differences about anything and everything. We used to constantly fight about which television channel to watch, or who had to wash the dishes. But even after my brother and I fight about something pointless, we are still friends and have the ability to set aside our differences. We have developed a rhythm for doing the dishes, I wash and he dries. We sing, joke around and make a game of it.

My brother and I are four years apart, but we have always been able to hang out without the age difference getting in the way. When we were younger, we would ride our bikes around our neighborhood after school. My brother and I became friends with the other neighborhood kids, but they were not always available to play with us. It was always comforting to know I had my brother there to play with me. You can pick your friends, but at the end of the day family will always be there for each other.

Just like my relationship with my brother, I am also good friends with some of my other family members. I have a cousin who is the same age as me, and I consider him one of my best friends. We tell each other everything, and I consider him more of a best friend than a family member. When we are both home this summer, I will be calling him on Friday nights to hang out before I call my girlfriends. Some of my best friends are also my relatives, which is something I might not have if my family was any smaller.

Having a large family can be fun, but there are some downsides.

Traveling between households is a pain. Both sets of parents want to see me, but I can only be in one place at a time. To make it worse, my parents live on opposite sides of the country. I have been on more airplanes than most people will be on in their lifetimes. I can recite all the warnings and announcements in the airport. Advisories about how not to leave your baggage unattended at any time because it might get stolen, how “Detroit is in the Eastern time zone” and the whole safety demonstration before the airplane takes off are just a few I know by heart.

My five siblings also can be seen as a curse or a blessing in disguise. I have never been too fond of kids because I have always been around them. On the bright side, I have learned how children operate and how to take care of them, which is a skill I can use later in life.

However, having my little siblings look up to me is a very humbling experience. I remember receiving a phone call from my mom around my little sister’s bedtime, and she told me that my little sister had something to tell me. My sister got on the phone, talking a mile a minute about how excited she was because that night was her first night sleeping in a “big girl bed.” She said she had to call me because she chose the bed I used to sleep in to be her new bed because it belonged to her big sister. Those are the times I forget about how loud and annoying kids can be, and I realize how much I love my family and how much they love me.

Growing up in such a large family is crazy and fun at times, and a pain at others, but this is how my life has always been, and I would not have it any other way.

YOLO has been blowing up my Facebook wall, Twitter page, texts and normal conversations. This saying has become the new motto for many, and a trending topic which only seems to be escalading, but how long will it last?

Urban Dictionary defines YOLO as “an acronym for ‘you only live once.’” The saying was made popular by its appearance in Drake’s hit song “The Motto” featuring Lil Wayne. The song appeared on Drake’s album “Take Care,” which was released Nov. 15, 2011. Almost five months later, the phrase has now been blown out of proportions.

The motive behind this saying is to give people the push to try something new and live every day like it’s their last. Life is short, which is always something good to realize because no one wants to miss out on something.

One of the irrational decisions I have seen as a result of YOLO is a multitude of tattoos devoted to the phrase. Celebrity Zac Efron got YOLO tattooed on his hand on New Years Eve, and I have seen other young people on social media sites post a photo of their YOLO tattoo.

Since celebrities support YOLO, shouldn’t I? Drake does say you only live once is the motto. Asking this question shows the sway of social media and average American teenager in me. I feel naturally wired to go with the crowd and embrace the stupidity. But, when I heard about people getting YOLO tattoos, I knew it had gone too far. It’s one thing to live large and look on the bright side, but it’s a whole different idea to act foolish and make decisions with known consequences.

The idea is correct, but the saying itself is stupid.

The concept is one we have seen in modern society before, such as the phrase LTD, or “livin’ the dream.” For readers who have not heard of LTD, it is a phrase commonly used on the west coast.

I first heard about LTD from a friend who had been through some rough patches in his life. He got ‘LTD’ tattooed on his ankle after he was able to flip his life around. For him, it was a reminder of what life was like, and how far he has come to reach his dreams. The attitude and reasons behind his tattoo were true, and he truly believed he was livin’ the dream.

I agree with having this mind-set, one of living every day like it’s your last and finding the good in every moment, but I do not feel YOLO captures this attitude because of how much it is tossed around. The overuse of YOLO is a turnoff to many who don’t want to follow the crowd. The meaning behind the phrase is lost when the only place you see YOLO is in trivial locations, such as Twitter. YOLO is often used in a joking manner, referring to awkward or stupid situations. This is mainly because people use the saying on social media sites, which is not the place to have a deep-hearted conversation about life.

There are two mindsets you can have when you embrace YOLO: a serious one, where you spend your one life with your family or eating an extra piece of pie because it could be your last; or unreasonable one, where you think living every day like it’s your last means making rash decisions which you might regret when you actually live another day.

The overuse and immature attitude towards YOLO leads people to believe it is not a big deal when making irrational decisions. YOLO has suddenly become the perfect excuse to get drunk on a Monday night and streak through the halls of your dorm. It’s no longer living every day like it’s your last, but more about being belligerent and taking everything to the extreme.

I support the attitude behind YOLO, but is just a phase taken too far and bound to end in due time. Until that time, I will be reminded on a daily basis through all my social media accounts and conversations how “you only live once.”

Since I was a little girl, I always thought Easter was all about coloring and finding eggs, eating sweets and a big bunny. I never understood the significance of the hour my family and I would spend at a Catholic church; I just thought it was something we were required to do. I believe there are many Christians who celebrate the holiday for the wrong reasons, and only recently have I begun to truly understand and appreciate the meaning behind the celebration.

When I came to MSU, I wanted to try something new because I thought that is what college is all about. I considered reading books more often or going to the gym on a regular basis, but neither of those options seemed significant enough.

One of my best friends suggested I start going to church every Sunday. I was raised Catholic, but attending church regularly seemed more like a chore than a beneficial addition to my college experience. Even though I had this negative attitude, deep down I knew going to church would be a good idea for me and the perfect opportunity to strengthen my Catholic faith, which I had been putting to the side for some time.

After the first Sunday I attended Mass, I knew I would be a regular at St. John Church and Student Center on 327 M.A.C. Ave.

The room was filled with other college students, just like me, looking for something more in their lives. After attending Mass for a few Sundays in a row, making new friends and seeing some of the same faces, I started to feel “something more” in my life. Going to Mass every Sunday has become a routine, and I always find myself leaving the church with a smile on my face.

Only when I started to appreciate and understand the Catholic faith did I see how Easter is more than finding plastic eggs filled with candy around the house. Easter is a celebration of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead — what this has to do with bunnies and eggs seems far-fetched.

I found some of the traditional items we use on Easter actually are symbols of ideas in the Christian faith. For example, in the Eastern and Orthodox Catholic Churches, Easter eggs are dyed red as a symbol of Christ’s blood on the cross, and the sealed tomb of Christ is represented by the egg’s tough shell. Also, the theory that hares were hermaphroditic and could procreate without losing their virginity caused them to be associated with the Virgin Mary and the birth of Jesus.

Jesus Christ faced a miserable death on the cross Good Friday for the forgiveness of all sins, and he was then buried in a tomb. Easter Sunday is when we remember his resurrection, giving all Christians who believe in Jesus’ eternal life.

These events are worth celebrating, and I hope all Christians remember the deeper meaning behind the Easter holiday.

WWB, or walking while black, is the term being used by those most outraged by the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, but supposed racism is not the only reason the public should be outraged. The application of the Stand Your Ground Law, which the shooter has used to avoid arrest, is one of the most concerning issues in this case.

According to reports, Martin was unarmed when shot by local neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman on Feb. 26 in a gated community in Sanford, Fla.

According to the Martin family attorney, witnesses and 911 reports, Martin had been walking back from a local convenience store when Zimmerman spotted him and began to follow. Zimmerman called 911 to inform the police of a suspicious individual in the area and continued to pursue Martin despite the 911 dispatcher’s advice not to. There was a confrontation and scuffle between the two individuals, and Martin was shot and killed.

Although I, of course, have no idea the exact circumstances leading to the boy’s death, the self-defense case, and the law behind it, is fishy.

The Stand Your Ground Law was developed seven years ago and allows an individual to defend themselves if they are attacked. The statute is different from most other states’ Stand Your Ground laws, because it applies to cases outside an individual’s home. Specifically, when a lawful individual is attacked, within their home or not, they don’t have to try to escape first but immediately can take action. Currently, the Florida statute is being scrutinized by the public, and an article by The New York Times suggests the law has been abused by criminals since being put into place.

Although being allowed by law to defend yourself from an attacker is comforting, this particular law makes for issues such as Martin’s case, where the shooter says it was self-defense and police cannot arrest them at that time. To me, this is similar to watching someone being beaten and assuming the victim deserved it because the aggressor said so. Innocent until proven guilty is a good standard, but if a human life has been taken, the individual responsible should not be released so easily.

Another part of the law that might have devastating effects is the aspect of force by the aggressor. The law states the individual claiming self-defense is not protected if they provoked the force used by the other individual. Although this sounds great, the law also states this does not exempt an aggressor if the other individual’s actions become more deadly than their own.

Although I hope this isn’t the case, it seems to lead to a situation where, if I feel threatened enough, I can hit you, and therefore you have the right to hit me harder, so I’m allowed to hit you harder, and we keep going until someone is dead. It seems that whoever uses the most force to incapacitate the other, if not kill them, “wins.”

This statute makes for a he said, she said scenario where one individual might not be alive to have their say.

The law itself is not bad, but should be adjusted so those who have used deadly force must be taken into custody for the time being until a full assessment of their place within the law can be determined. I don’t know what happened in the case of Trayvon Martin, but let’s hope this case encourages Florida lawmakers to revisit questionable aspects of the Stand Your Ground statute.

The financial woes of the past several years have hit everyone in some way, but the most recent disappointments involve the changes made in the U.S. Postal Service.

The U.S. Postal Service operations in Lansing will begin to see changes this spring to the Union post office and general post offices. The Union post office will close before the end of the semester and remain closed for most of summer. Also, the Lansing area mail processing centers might be consolidated with those of other cities. For students, this means delayed mail delivery services.

These changes, sadly, are not surprising. Post offices and processing centers around the country have been closing, consolidating and changing to deal with financial hardships. However, the local changes will be especially hard-hitting for students like myself.

I enjoy writing letters. It might seem outdated to many, but if you ever have received a heartfelt, handwritten letter, then you know how important the U.S. Postal Service is. Often the short amount of hours in the day leads me to send emails rather than “snail mail,” but I occasionally do send handwritten letters to friends, family and job interviewers. Knowing someone has taken the extra time to reach out to you is an unmatched feeling.

However, sentimental thank you notes and letters from an old friend aren’t the only reason postal service changes are unfortunate. I, like many other out-of-state students, rely on the speediness of the postal service to get things from home. Unlike many MSU students, my parents can’t just swing by and drop off things from home, and I can’t simply pick them up. Birthday presents and holiday cards arrive annually for me through the local postal service.

I’m extremely lucky to have the mother I do, because she loves to send me presents and things I need. From my only good shirt for an interview to items I accidently left at home during break, the U.S. Postal Service is a primary connection to home. Finding a different post office over summer or waiting for a delayed package means I not only will be dealing with a very disappointed mother, but I won’t have access to the things I need.

Many MSU students will be impacted negatively by these upcoming changes. For all those students who believe the impact will be minimal, remember one day you might be far from home, your possessions and your family, and the U.S. Postal Service will be a key service for you to have.

A recent investigation by USA Today showed the Justice Department has sought to detain 136 men they have labeled as “sexually dangerous” past their sentences.

As a woman, my first thought when reading this article was, “good.” Sexual predators need to be kept off the streets.

It is difficult to care for the rights of those accused of horrible crimes such as rape, child pornography and more. However, as a U.S. citizen, I worry when our government oversteps their explicitly defined powers. There needs to be a middle ground between letting these men go free and detaining them in an unconstitutional manner.

According to the USA Today article, these 136 men were imprisoned for various degrees of sexual offense and were determined to be a danger to others if released. Some of the cases involve “hands-on” sexual offenses, while others involve behavior such as graphic phone calls. Allegedly, many prisoners have been held for years past their sentence without being brought before a judge.

Sexual predators are some of the most disgusting and selfish human beings, and forcing women to have sex or molesting a child should earn anyone a life sentence. However, because of our current judicial system, this often is not the case. Although sentences for these crimes vary from state to state, in Michigan a life sentence for a sexual offense such as rape is only used in cases of rape in the first degree. All other cases of rape earn between two to 15 years with or without a fine, or a fine without prison time.

Despite the disgusting acts that can earn a person the title of “sex offender,” we have a judicial system in place for a reason. If the government can put a label on an individual and detain them without a judicial hearing, it won’t be long until the government is using this loophole to detain innocent citizens.

This runs along the same lines of freedom of speech. If U.S. citizens allow the government to limit speech we find offensive, eventually all speech is put in danger of being limited. If U.S. citizens allow the government to use questionable terms to imprison others, everyone is in danger of being imprisoned for a questionable reason.

Unfortunately our prison system is focused more on detainment than rehabilitation. Those deemed “sexually dangerous” should be put in programs focused on rehabilitation, and their cases should again be brought before a court.

There are constitutionally sound ways to detain a citizen, but holding them indefinitely without a mandatory hearing does not bode well for innocent citizens.

The government needs to keep the “sexually dangerous” off the street, but they need to do it in a way that doesn’t threaten the rights of innocent people.

St. Patrick’s Day was a crazy day this past weekend. Of course, St. Patrick’s Day at MSU is always a bit rowdy. There was a lot of drinking, a lot of partying and a lot of cops.

By noon, flocks of Spartans were occupying streets just off Grand River Avenue. Collingwood Drive saw police presence after celebrations turned into a street filled with broken bottles, smashed chairs and more. Every corner had a police car ready to pounce at any sign of illegal activity, and I’m so thankful they were. At the end of the day, the police are one of the reasons St. Patrick’s Day was such a success for so many Spartans.

No MSU student enjoys watching a fellow Spartan get in trouble in the midst of celebrations, but at 8 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day I couldn’t help but feel relieved whenever I saw a car pulled over by police. Knowing that the police were pulling over so many people made me feel safe and protected from potential drunk drivers.

It is easy for drinkers in a daylong party atmosphere to mistake calmness between parties for soberness. Depending on your blood alcohol level, it can take from a few hours to a full day for alcohol to leave your system. If you’ve been drinking whatsoever, the safest choice is to not drive. The extreme organization and quick response of police in the midst of one of the most party-orientated days of the year is a sign of just how efficient the nearby police departments are.

I, along with most of the students at MSU, often find police to be more mean and bothersome than helpful. They seem to be around to catch you when you make the smallest mistake, or even when you don’t. However, many of those same students are thankful for the ability to call the MSU or East Lansing police and get a quick response if needed.

Students should be aware of themselves enough to know when they are drunk or buzzed, and should be able to make the choice not to drive or get in cars with others who have been drinking. When students make a misjudgment about their own coherency or knowingly make the choice to drive drunk, I am thankful police are there to save these individuals from their own choices, before some get hurt.

In my time at MSU there have been a few situations where I felt the need to call police. It is my philosophy if an individual’s state of mind has put themselves or others in danger, they have taken away the right to make decisions for themselves. In the case of a drinking-filled day, this especially applies to those putting others in danger.

The MSU, East Lansing and state police showed just how efficiently they can handle large chaotic events without ruining the day’s celebrations. It’s important to remember police exist because we pay the taxes that fund the department. They’re around for our own safety, and St. Patrick’s Day is another example of what a great choice that is. Police aren’t against celebratory fun, as long as it is done responsibly.