Commentary
You Don’t Have to Be Bill Gates
To Make a Difference
By Sarah Van Buren (June 30, 2006)
June 16, 2006, 10 a.m.: 6000 people have been infected by HIV since 12 a.m. that same day

Commentary
A Soon-To-Be Junior Reflects
On Her First Year at Mason
By Dana Cazan (June 16, 2006)
2:00 a.m., September 7, 2005: I laid in bed wide awake dreading for my alarm clock to ring that morning.

Commentary
Experience School as Self-Directed,
Self-Motivated, Soon-To-Be Adults
By Alex Holachek (June 14, 2006)
We’re on the cusp of an anticipatory summer break that will, in no uncertain terms, signal the end of an era to the seniors of George Mason, so it’s inevitable that the twelfth graders here are occupied with a little introspection and a lot of reminiscing

Commentary
Health Care Access: It Doesn’t Matter
Where Angelina Has Her Baby
By Sarah Van Buren (June 11, 2006)
For the people reading this who may have been on the moon and missed the news, I take great pleasure in announcing the birth of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, born a healthy baby girl on May 27, courtesy of the best health care money could buy. Mom and daughter are doing fine.

Commentary
Legal Drugs: A Cautionary Tale
By Jeremiah Upton (May 26, 2006)
I have been on drugs since fifth grade. Not the kind of drugs you’re thinking, but prescription pills that are handed out like candy.

Commentary
My Difference and How I
Learned To Be Proud of It
By Scott Lemen (May 19, 2006)
From the moment I was old enough to think for myself, I have known I was different. For many years of my life I could not explain my difference, I felt confused and alone.

Commentary
‘I Still Believe in the
Goodness of Mankind’
By Caitlin Acosta (May 13, 2006)
I know I can be a little overly idealistic, maybe even naïve from time to time. I’ve been aware of this since I was old enough to know what idealistic meant, around the same time that I gained the reputation of “The Hippie That Wants to Save the World,” more commonly known as a Democrat.

Commentary
‘I Have a Voice and I Will Use It’
By Elizabeth Ortiz (May 9, 2006)
“Si Se Puede”, meaning “we can do it,” is a statement that means a lot to me. The protests and rallies about immigration laws that have sprouted up all over the nation have inspired me to speak out.

Editorial
With Vending Machines On,
Snee’s Title Elevated
(May 9, 2006)

Commentary
Kids Are Supposed
To Be Kids . . . Right?
By Jacob Carter (April 29, 2006)
Since the dawn of systematic education, the ultimate goal of any student is to participate in a diversion to keep them mentally sane throughout the duration of a seven-hour school day.

Commentary
Absence Really Does Make
The Heart Grow Fonder
By Maggie Mullins (April 27, 2006)
My best friend has been gone for almost two weeks. I’m counting the days when I get back from Florida and I can finally lay my eyes and arms on the person I share everything good with; from laugh attacks to soda straws, we know each inside and out. I see her everyday, at least once.

Commentary
Quit Whining, Challenge Yourself
By John Hillegass (April 19, 2006)
I have always felt that the majority of human minds are rather frail. Ordinary people just don’t seem to have the drive to put forth their greatest effort into meticulous tasks.

Commentary
Consider Taking an ACC Course;
Get a Head Start on Your Future
By Meghan Mondragon (April 18, 2006)
Are you soon to be a junior or senior? If so then you still have the opportunity to take a class at the Arlington Career Center (ACC). Here you can take advantage of the many classes and programs that can benefit you in the future.

Editorial, Part II
Explain Yourselves, O Shadowy Forces
(April 3, 2006)
Dear Readers,
Okay. You called our bluff.

Editorial
Whether You Do or Not, the
Pledge Stands for Something
(March 31, 2006)
A recent Lasso Online survey of seven GMHS classrooms shows that 60% of students stand for the daily Pledge of Allegiance while the remaining 40% do not. What do these percentages represent?

Editorial
Relent, Oh gods of Vending, Relent
(March 9, 2006)
Dear Readers,
Try not to be too alarmed when we tell you that the quality of Lasso Online--nay, the very existence of this venerable publication--is in peril.

Commentary
Bandwagoners Are Not Human Beings!
By Eamonn Rockwell (March 9, 2006)
I went to a Caps game the other day, (C!A!P!S! CAPS! CAPS! CAPS!), and noticed that almost everyone seemed to be wearing a jersey with the name Ovechkin on it, referring to Alexander Ovechkin.

Commentary
Setting the Record—What There
Is of It—Straight on Belarus
By Alex Holachek (January 18, 2006)
In the tradition of my colleague Greg Curtin’s commentary about Indonesia, I thought I’d write about the misconceptions people have about a country in which I have lived. I decided to set the record straight about Belarus.

Commentary
Watch Out, All You Overrated Artists – Judgement Day Is Here!
By Eamonn Rockwell (January 11, 2005)
I was on the Internet the other day (because when you don’t have cable, video games or friends, life gets soul-crushingly lonely) and I happened to come across a random person’s “feelings-journal,” which are notorious for wasting bandwidth that could be better suited to games or things that only exist when you turn 18.

Commentary
2005: The Year in Which We
Became Aware of the Death Penalty
By Peter Davis (December 15, 2005)
Every year has a defining issue. The years 2001 and 2002 will be remembered for terrorism. The years 2003 and 2004 will be remembered for the War in Iraq and "moral values." But what issue will stand out as the key issue of 2005?

Commentary
Bali and Terror in Indonesia:
The Overlooked Assumption
By Gregg Curtin (December 14, 2005)
When I asked my fellow students to explain what they knew about “Bali,” I received some surprising responses from our supposedly well-informed student body. “Bali…isn’t that near Jamaica?” asked one senior.

Commentary
Led Zeppelin is Everything
By Eamonn Rockwell (December 2, 2005)
In this great country, we hold a few precious things above everything else. Some of these things include American flags, Freedom, and old Ford Mustangs.

Commentary
Hey, Media, Nix the Bias,
Just Report the Sports
By: Daniel Watkins (November 21, 2005)
On October 15, 2005, the University of Southern California (USC) came back and won 34-31 on the last play against Notre Dame. The game was touted by the idiot sports media as quite possibly the best college football game ever.

Commentary
While We’re Talking about Video-Games
By: Eliot John Hagen (November 20, 2005)
(Hagen is a former Mason student and Lasso Online editor, now studying in a high school in Germany where he is desperately trying to establish a school newspaper.)
Video games are fun. They provide a wonderful escape from the life of suburbia.

Commentary
‘ This is the Life of a Teenager
Addicted to Video Games’
By Stephen Finley (November 11, 2005)
“ BOOM, headshot!” yells the teenager after making a kill in his new first-person shooter videogame.

Commentary
Out of Love for a Grandfather
By Dana Cazan (November 10, 2005)
I stepped behind him vigilantly, slowly progressing forward as his frail body made its way through the dated living room where his own son and grandchildren once took their beginning steps.

Commentary
The Other Affirmative Action
By Alex Holachek (November 4, 2005)
As I read Travis Greene’s excellent commentary about his frustration with other people’s assumptions that his race would be the deciding factor in his admission to college, I felt a bit guilty.

Commentary
Race, Controversy and the
Politics of College Admissions
By Travis Greene (November 1, 2005)
The percentage of minority enrollment in colleges has skyrocketed during the last couple of decades.

Commentary
‘ A Constant Heartache Every Day’
By Vanessa Reese (October 31, 2005)
“ Where are your parents from?” Who knew that such a simple question could be so easy for most people to answer, yet stir up a lot of mixed feelings for others?

Editorial
Bienvenue aux Étudiants Français!
Just as we did in this space last month for the students from Trewhela’s School in Santiago, Chile, Lasso Online would like to greet the 22 new members of the extended George Mason community, the students from Lycée Ozenne in Toulouse, France.

Commentary, 'Our School'
Take Back the SCA in Three Steps
By Peter Davis (October 23, 2005)
One four-word phrase that Principal Snee used in the opening day speech to my sophomore class has been resonating in my mind for this last week

Commentary
Hockey is Back, but Did Anyone Miss It?
By: Daniel Watkins and Andrew Puzick (October 13, 2005)
Alexander Ovechkin gathers the puck in the neutral zone, quickly turning his glare up ice, towards the opposing goalie.

Commentary
I Need a New Guitar!
By Eamonn Rockwell (October 6, 2005)
There are few things that can bring massive amounts of joy in this world: World Peace, curing a horrible disease like AIDS or cancer, or traveling back in time so that you can assassinate Hitler.

Editorial
¡Bienvenidos a los Estudiantes Chilenos! 
Lasso Online would like to extend a very warm Mason welcome to the 20 students from Trewhela’s School in Santiago, Chile, who will be spending the next two weeks with us. 

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Lasso Online - October 2001 - June 2005