Sydney Holman

Hillary Clinton is clearly the *ahem* "HBIC." Mrs. Clinton refused to play the "poor wife of a man who cheated on me with his intern" role. Instead, she handled the scandal with class and is now quite literally ruling the world. As Secretary of State under President Obama’s administration, she has imposed sanctions on Iran, condoned actions of heinous leaders in foreign countries and forged peace treaties. 

Recently, we’ve seen the former Senator in a new laid back light that shows the extent of her humor. 

A couple of weeks ago, we witnessed the "Texts from Hillary" joke spiral into an Internet sensation, giving America a fresh perspective on the political leader. 

Last week, we saw photos of the diplomat drinking with her female aides in Colombia after a grueling day of meetings for the Summit of Americas. 

I think it’s therapeutic to let loose from profession where the peace of the world lies in your hands, but others didn’t find humor in the situation. Like my grandmother, an uptight Southern conservative, some believed it was “unprofessional and too far.” 

Why should a strong woman of integrity receive backlash for participating in the same acts men do? If Newt Gingrich can reach a decent level of success in the nasty Republican race despite being a serial cheater with low morale, Secretary Clinton should be able to become best friends with Jose Cuervo for a night. 

The true meaning of Easter is celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and how he shed his blood to pay for the mountains of debt we couldn’t bear to repay. However, the city of Chicago had other plans. 

This past weekend, 19 people were shot and 4 were killed, including a 13-year-old boy, in various parts of Chicago--even hitting West Town and Rogers Park. The Chicago murder rate has increased by 35 percent, with over 100 homicides since the start of the year. It seems like as soon as the sun shines, bullets cover the Windy City.

The majority of shootings have been random acts of violence on street corners or gang-related. Sadly, children are bearing the worst. A few weeks ago six-year-old Aaliyah Shell was shot on her front porch in the Little Village neighborhood, meaning no one is safe from the raging fire and consequences of true brutalities from others. 

Chicago Police Suppt. Garry McCarthy is miserable failing at his job to target high crime areas such as Englewood, Roseland, Austin and Marquette Park. Though he claims the team is strategizing efforts to prevent Chicago from having yet another hot, bloody summer. 

The issue that startles me is that no one is protesting against this street violence. It’s almost as if the dangerous atmosphere is the norm and we have become too familiar with tragedy.

In the midst of this... comical GOP election, it's been revealed that candidate Rick Santorum picked the nation's single mothers as a target of his flighty accusations. 

In 1994 when he was running for Senate, he brought the single-motherhood issue to light claiming, "What we have is moms raising children in single-parent households simply breeding more criminals."

What Santorum and the slew of other narrow-minded people who agree with him fail to understand is not every woman simply becomes a single mother as a result of promiscuity, but by choice.

There are the heart-breaking stereotypical women who birth multiple children with various irresponsible men and fail to think about their children's future. However, what about those women who leave abusive relationships? Whose marriages fall apart as a result of constant infidelity or chronic drug use that tears the true fabric of families? What about those who married because they had no other choice?

Family circumstances are not always black and white, and vary among each individual and situation.

For instance, my mother left my father, who was battling a multitude of addictions, when I was five and she was pregnant with my younger brother. In all honesty, she knew if she stayed, we would have had nothing.

But then, conservatives might say, "Why did she marry him in first place?"