Tianna Bradford | Staff Writer

For as long as we can remember, people have viewed the stars as a form of navigation.

The sky and stars are the basis for astrology, which is the correlation between the study of celestial planets and human occurrences on earth.

The movement of the sun and planets cycles every year and runs on a cycle of 12 zodiacs.

The belief behind astrology is that behavior, environment and personality are impacted by the alignment of the planets and star constellations, expressed by the cyclical zodiac patterns.

The signs of the zodiacs occur in this order over a year time span: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

Each zodiac has its own compatibility, personality traits, ambitions and goals based off of the astronomical alignment. So what do zodiac signs really mean to us?

When we are born, it is during a specific time, on a specific date, in a specific time zone/area.

On this day or night, due to the natural cycling of the planets, the placement of the stars determines the blueprint of our being, in terms of traits, personality and the sense of a predestined layout for how our life may appear on a day-to-day system.

There is more depth beyond the scope of astrology based off the zodiacs.

There are rising sun and moon signs that tell a deeper story of a person based off the time they were born. This makes each person more different.

Most people believe that these aspects make them the people they are today and how whether or not their relationships with their significant other matches and will last.

Most people feel as though astrology is just a conversational topic and doesn’t actually mean anything. Others base their whole lives on their zodiac and their daily horoscopes.

I asked Kierra Nelson, a sophomore architecture major from Arlington, Virginia, her view of astrology and does she let it impact her relationship with others.

“I strongly believe in astrology,” Nelson said. “I took the time to study it for my own personal gain that I believe your sign affects who you are as a person and your own vibe towards others.”

“I definitely am one of those people who take this into my own relationships with my significant others. I feel as though compatibility is important. I don’t not date someone because they’re an Aries or a Libra.

“However, I do take that into consideration as I am trying to get to know them better. I doesn’t change my view of them. It just makes me more curious and interested on learning more about them.”

I asked another student, Pride Harper, a sophomore pre-pharmacy major from Newport News, Virginia, her views on astrology and compatibility between relationships.

“I love astrology, however I don’t let my love for it determine how I go about things throughout my life,” Harper said.

“I thinks it’s exciting and unique, and I enjoy learning about my sign and others.

“I don’t take it as seriously as others I’ve met. Some love it and some hate it because they feel it’s a general analyzation of people based off their birthday, which is understandable, but to each its own.”

So do you take astrology seriously? Does it impact your life when it comes to dating?

Or is it just a myth people use to make dating a little more difficult and even a little more interesting and intense?

Tianna Bradford | Staff Writer

As debates and proposed changes to school safety continue, the ideal “safe place” of a school has now turned into a prison-like atmosphere.

Since the Florida Parkland shooting in February, the concern has been on “How can we as a country make schools safer?”

Over the past few weeks, President Trump and other government officials have began discussing how to move forward with solutions on how to ensure safer teaching and learning environments.

Lawmakers have agreed that students and faculty shouldn’t be in continuous fear of dying at the cost innocently learning. However, what some politicians are proposing doesn’t seem to help eliminate that terror.

The newly introduced policy that has now become a widespread debate is the notion allowing faculty to carry weapons on their person or within the building to combat potential threats.

The argument is no longer focused on gun control, but pinpointing the distribution of more weapons to fight off the “bad guys.”

President Trump has openly sided with laws permitting faculty to carry weapons on school grounds.

“These people are cowards,” Trump said during a televised CNN interview.

“They’re not going to walk into a school if 20 percent of the teachers have guns — it may be 10 percent or may be 40 percent. And what I’d recommend doing is the people that do carry, we give them a bonus. We give them a little bit of a bonus,” he said.

“They’ll frankly feel more comfortable having the gun anyway. But you give them a little bit of a bonus.”

There are numerous questions that students are asking themselves as this debate deepens: Does my professor really care for my safety? What if he pulls the weapon on me if I’m acting up in class? How much will this affect our student-teacher relationships?

I asked some HU students their thoughts on this life-altering situation.

ShaDarria Dawn, a sophomore biology pre-med major from Dallas, Texas, told how she would feel if HU faculty were allowed to carry weapons around campus for our protection,

“I come a state where gun laws aren’t very strict at all; however, Texas has never felt an utter need to put guns within our schools,” she said.

“Humans are irrational. What if a teacher has a mental breakdown and ends up killing himself with the weapon given to him or kills his class? “

Elijah Banks, a sophomore journalism major from Queens, New York, said that he would not only feel uncomfortable but that he’d feel less safe having teachers “protecting” him.

“I couldn’t imagine being comfortable with my professor walking into class with a gun on his holster,” Banks said.

“I find it beyond me that we have come to this point in America. I would want a weapon for my own protection, especially as a black male. I am constantly looked toward as an aggressor – even by my own people. The last thing myself or any other black student in this country [wants] is for one of us to be killed in class ’cause a teacher ‘felt’ like the student was being too aggressive towards them and the professor has to defend themselves.

Our society has come to the option of allowing our educators to carry weapons in a safe zone for students. With this new policy being implemented, we could end up making schools a factory for mass shooting killers and other acts of violence.

“We are the country with the highest rate of mass shootings. Trump and Congress need to come up with another way … tightening up gun laws, making more of these weapons of mass destruction harder to obtain off black market or even gun shows,” Banks said.