AMP
The Official Student Opinion and Satire Magazine of UTD
Opinion
Print Issues
Stick Up For Stuffies
Some nights are easier to deal with than others. However, on those restless nights when I cannot sleep at all, thinking about every problem in the world, I reach over to grab my stuffed animals. Yes, I am a twenty-one-year-old person and still sleep with stuffed animals. I have my childhood stuffed dog who is […]
Opinion
Print Issues
Finding Trans Representation in Trigun Stampede
Finding Trans Representation in Trigun Stampede Trans representation can be pretty hard to find, even in the modern era. A lot of it has historically been either caricatured or outright bigoted, as seen in movies like “Dressed to Kill” or “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” which treat trans people as both a threat and a punchline. […]
Opinion
Print Issues
The Problem With BookTok
A wave of nostalgia pours over me as I pore over the pages of my copy of the Three Musketeers by renowned French novelist Alexandre Dumas. The copy is ripped in several places, the cover is creased, there are several crinkles and dog-eared pages within, but it holds immense sentimental value to me. On the […]
Opinion
Print Issues
The Mystery Meat of Man-Eating Media
There’s a girl at the bar, and she’s looking at you. You didn’t expect this, didn’t come out looking for action, but she’s looking at you — a predatory, calculated look accented by the long, well-manicured hands that tap a staccato rhythm on the bartop. She smiles when you meet her eyes, so you smile […]
Opinion
Print Issues
An Ode to “The Owl House”
The Disney cartoon “The Owl House” is reaching its end. It’s a sad reality for those of us who have never felt more seen by a piece of queer media. The main character Luz lured the audience in with a premise that is all too tempting to anyone who ever felt isolated, alone, or misplaced. […]
Cover Stories
Opinion
Print Issues
Creator or Computer? The Ethics of AI Art
If there’s a hot button topic that you’ve heard about recently, there’s a decent chance that artificial intelligence, or AI, has been part of the discussion. There are many ways to define artificial intelligence, but in simple terms, it’s broadly considered “a field which combines computer science and robust datasets to enable problem-solving,” according to […]
Cover Stories
Opinion
Print Issues
Divest From Death
UTD profits off of war, destruction, and death. Here’s how. Our university, like all American universities, has an endowment fund which is a pool of money that it collects from donations. These donations are critical to an institution’s ability to make profits, which it needs to be able to invest in academic research, university infrastructure, […]
Opinion
Print Issues
The Community-Driven Baseball Horror Sim That Made Me Trans
(On Friday, June 2nd, The Game Band makers of the beloved game Blaseball, made a post announcing that the horror-fantasy baseball game would be ending due to a lack of financial sustainability. Keep reading to learn more about the great game (and community) we will be losing in the process). “Blaseball” is a community-driven baseball […]
Opinion
Print Issues
The Unifying Power of Hateable People
It’s 11:47 p.m. You have two quizzes, a discussion board, and a paper due at midnight. You should be finishing them like a normal, responsible human being. Instead, you and seven other people sit huddled around a game of Mario Party 8, like geniuses. All is fun and joyous, except for one critical detail: one […]
Opinion
Print Issues
Furries are Friends, Not Foes
For many internet users, hearing the word “furry” can evoke a sense of either curiosity or dread. For those who don’t know, furries are a subculture of people with an interest in anthropomorphic animals. Someone’s anthropomorphic persona, or “fursona,” is an original character and/or representation of that person as an animal. These characters often exhibit […]
Featured
Opinion
Print Issues
Everything is a Gacha Game
Everything you know is a part of this gacha game known as life. Specifically, life is a gacha game. Gacha games are video games that implement a specific game mechanic, enticing players to spend in-game currency to gain random in-game items or benefits. Often, these games use the free-to-play model which means players can play […]
Cover Stories
Opinion
Print Issues
Femininity is not the Enemy
Many consider love a terrifying thing; so why would we decide to create an entire holiday centered around it? It’s because love isn’t what is actually scary. What is scary is losing that love or finding out that love was never really present in the relationship. The vulnerable nature of love is seen as weak […]