Despite Northwest working to create a “normal” college experience, I knew that my freshman year was going to be anything but normal. Everything was uncertain, and I didn’t even know if campus would be open to students much less whether or not we would have in-person classes. Read more

Maryville's mask mandate needs to be extended. That very sentence will send some people into a long, poorly worded tirade about how masks are an infringement of rights — they aren’t — and how there’s no evidence they work — there is.  Read more

There’s this novel piece of advice repeated over and over in reporting and media classes at Northwest, and it was sent my way via email again one morning last week from a professor at the University: "If you never piss anyone off, you're probably not doing your job." Read more

Most of the country watched in horror as Trump supporters protesting the results of the presidential election turned into a riot. A violent mob composed of white supremacists and neo-nazis forced entry into the Capitol Jan. 6. Bombs were found and safely disarmed, and five people are now dea… Read more

The fall semester of 2020 was perhaps the most difficult semester since WWII for colleges to plan for. No one was entirely sure if in-person classes were feasible, much less whether we could endure a whole semester of them. Northwest’s leadership ended up guiding the University to a mostly-s… Read more

Active members in a local Facebook group have weaponized the water issue as a dog whistle for conservatives fed up with the city’s mask mandate, using the energized platform to launch their own campaigns for City Council.  Read more

The extreme political actors have had a grand time in 2020, as was evident in the bitter partisanship that populated every thread of the fabric of the U.S. political landscape during the election cycle. Now, those who wish to name-call, spread misinformation and be offended to be offended ha… Read more

It’s been a long and difficult year, but finally, we’ve reached the final month of this hellish trip around the sun. December is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, so maybe there’s hope that the final holiday spirit hurrah will place some light in our lives. Read more

We’ve already had a heck of a year with everything that’s been going on in our world lately. A virus no one could have predicted, save for President-elect Joe Biden, brought this country to its knees on its own. The entire country of Australia spent much of the first half of 2020 ablaze. Bas… Read more

The map is red for a different reason in Missouri. Yes, while conservatism still dominates the political landscape of rural Missouri, there is another reason red is engulfing the state: COVID-19. Read more

“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” Read more

Nov. 11, 2020, marks 101 years since the end of World War I. You should have learned about this special day in school. Originally known as Armistice Day, Veterans Day is a moment of commemoration for veterans of all wars. Some made it home. Others paid the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our co… Read more

Election Day has come and gone, and COVID-19 is still here. Northwest is nearing the end of its first semester, and cases on campus are spiking again. Missouri and Maryville are seeing drastic rises in COVID-19.  Read more

On the morning of Nov. 3, I noticed something I didn’t quite expect on my social media. Read more

In the shadow of a global pandemic and perhaps the most contentious election any of us have and probably ever will see, one piece of normalcy returned to Maryville to round out the spooky season. The annual Downtown Trick-or-Treat marked its silver anniversary in an unconventional manner Oct… Read more

The Maryville City Council did its job. The council passed a mask mandate and later re-upped the ordinance through Nov. 24 to keep COVID-19 cases low. Elected officials did what was necessary to ensure the safety of those they lead. However, now that cases are spiking in Maryville and mask w… Read more

The phrase “new normal” thankfully died out a few months ago as it became less important to emphasize the “new” part of our lives in 2020. However, I would like to bring the phrase back and apply it to voting. Mail-in voting and early voting have been at the forefront of this election. It ha… Read more

Even for those of us who know that COVID-19 won’t disappear after the election, Nov. 3 seems like the day we have all been striving towards for a while now. We are looking for a sense of relief, a collective sigh taken by society as the election will finally come to a close. Gone will be the… Read more

The editorial board of this newspaper does not often make endorsements. We do not endorse national, state or even local candidates with any regularity. However, given the importance of the Nodaway County Sheriff’s race and this paper’s extensive coverage of that race, with features of both c… Read more

Whether we want to admit it or not, each and every single one of us has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. If you haven't caught COVID-19, your physical health may be following its normal path considering you don't exercise and have a poor diet. Your mental health, however, has most lik… Read more

On Sept. 18, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. Ginsburg was a champion of women’s rights and a lawyer for many cases regarding sex/gender-based discrimination. She was one of four women to serve on the Supreme Court in U.S. history. Ginsburg upheld the rights of many people, in… Read more

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, masks have become a necessity in public buildings and other common areas, unless social distancing can be safely and adequately maintained. Like them or hate them, we are all still required to wear them.  Read more

Amendment 3, which is on the ballot in the November 2020 election, is a representation of the worst of politics. It’s a thinly veiled attempt to trick voters into making Missouri’s redistricting system more partisan under the guise of “cleaning up” campaign finance in the Show-Me State. It n… Read more

Since last December, we’ve all been without Northwest football. I think that after some of the things the Bearcats accomplished last season, fans were excited to see the program take another step forward in 2020. Read more

Why is it so hard to express your feelings? Why is it such a bad thing to feel life’s ups and downs? Is it because the world finds emotion opposite of productivity? Or does society just lack the capacity for compassion? Read more

While many are worrying about having to wear a mask and whether or not the vaccine for the coronavirus will be ready in time and safe, another virus is about to begin rearing its ugly head. We are about to enter flu season while still being in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which mea… Read more

I have learned a lot in my public education career from government and history classes. I can recite the three branches of the U.S. government with ease as well as their responsibilities. I know the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I even remember many arbitrary and inconsequential… Read more

After making the decision earlier this semester to suspend fall sports until at least Jan. 1, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its commitment to the health of student athletes, the MIAA announced Oct. 1 tentative plans to go ahead with a winter sports season.  Read more

What cultivates your identity? Is it the color of your skin? Is it the movies you watch? Or, is it the type of people you hang around? According to the standards I’ve grown up with, it’s a mixture of all of the above and none of the mentioned. Read more

The year 2020 is the year from hell. Rarely has normal life been upended on such a massive scale. The economy is in free-fall, a pandemic is raging and a new natural disaster upends the lives of millions of Americans seemingly daily. Read more

I know I’ve been preaching mask wearing and social distancing for weeks now, in order to protect those around you. I hope that the well-being of those around you is constantly on your mind. However, in all this constant worrying about others, don’t forget to focus on yourself. Don’t neglect … Read more

Racial injustice, natural disasters worsened by climate change, growing income inequality and a pandemic. That’s a highlight of the terrible things happening in the U.S. in 2020, a comprehensive list would be seemingly endless. Read more

Growing up in California, we didn’t really have to worry about thunderstorms, tornadoes and the typical Midwest weather. We had to worry about wildfires. Read more

The opinion section of this newspaper is, in its purest sense, an open forum for the community that the paper serves. More so than any other section of the paper, the opinion section belongs to the readers, and except for the unsigned staff editorial, should stay objective — or at least fair… Read more

There has been some relatively encouraging news in recent days when it comes to COVID-19 on a local level. This time last week, the 7-day rolling average of daily positive cases in Nodaway County had dropped by more than half — from 29.43 at the tail end of August to just under 11.71. Now, t… Read more

Nodaway County as a whole has been far from an example of how to handle COVID-19. Actually, it’s been the exact opposite, with the county firmly labeled by the New York Times coronavirus database as a hot spot. The desire to pursue a sense of normalcy has led to this, and now the Nodaway Cou… Read more

After reading the opinion pieces printed in the Northwest Missourian during the last two weeks, I am responding in my role as the leader of the University’s Diversity and Inclusion office. Through the course of events in our country this summer, more people have been able to identify with th… Read more

It started with a simple sore throat. I normally would have paid little to no attention to this symptom any other year, at any other time, but it’s 2020, so I assumed the worst. And I was right. The next morning I woke up with muscle aches, fever and chills. I spent the better part of that d… Read more

Black students being called the N-word as they walk through campus, numerous social media posts from former and current Bearcats documenting racism on campus, our very own columnist stating he doesn’t always feel safe in Maryville because of his skin color and a letter to the editor that is … Read more

It might be just me, but there’s something about this world we’re living in that has me completely unmotivated. Even for my classes that have met entirely in person, I can’t seem to gather the courage to a) walk to class and be an active participant or b) do any of the work I’m assigned. Read more

Dear Northwest Missourian, Read more

And so it begins, the blame game. COVID-19 cases have surged since Northwest resumed in-person classes — shocking — and as a result, students, faculty, administration and community members are beginning to point fingers. Everyone in their own way is accountable for what is happening. No one … Read more

If someone asked me to sum up the first three days of classes in one word, my answer would be blunt, yet simple: hellish. Read more

There’s an issue with my skin. It evokes fear in some and disgust in others. I don’t have blades coming out of my skin, and it doesn’t release a pungent odor. However, as I stroll across my second home for the semester, I attract strange glances. It must be the way my chocolate brown skin gl… Read more

In-person classes are only as feasible as the habits of those attending them. From alternating attendance to all in-person to all-virtual options, class delivery methods - and, therefore, instructional value - can change at a moment's notice.  Read more

Northwest has been put in a difficult position, trying to resume in-person classes during a pandemic. However, not requiring students to submit a negative COVID-19 test prior to returning to in-person classes is asking for an outbreak on campus. Read more

There’s been a lot of tension in the world recently with the Black Lives Matter movement storming back to the forefront of the media. For now, it seems like our pandemic has taken a backseat to the current outrage. The uproar was sparked by the video of a Minneapolis police officer unlawfull… Read more

The All-Resurrection Festival is a mythological music festival headlined by artists that have passed on from this world. I know, I know the obvious answer for a headliner is Jesus, but we are going to forego that answer for the sake of this exercise. Read more