AMP
The Official Student Opinion and Satire Magazine of UTD
Cover Stories
Opinion
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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
“Blaseball” is a community-driven baseball horror simulation video game that made me trans — sort of. A more accurate description of my interactions with said game would be that “Blaseball” played a pivotal, but not exclusive, role in me realizing I was and am a transgender woman. I am not even remotely the first nor […]
Opinion
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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 […]
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
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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 […]
Opinion
Print Issues
You Don’t Need Love
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, romance is on everyone’s mind. I bet you’re busy buying chocolates and getting a reservation for the perfect date spot to surprise your loving partner. And if you, unfortunately, don’t have anyone to wine and dine yet, you’re frantically searching for the perfect person to be your valentine this year […]
Opinion
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From Native to Na’vi: Cinematic Culture Controversy
Just as the long year of 2022 was winding down to an end, renowned director James Cameron’s newest film “Avatar: The Way of Water” released to stunning commercial success, smashing annual and historical records to quickly become one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. Although it was released a whopping 13 years after the […]
Opinion
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A Scientific Ranking of Pokémon Movies
For years, YouTube video essayists have worked tirelessly to definitively find the best Pokémon movie. With Ash Ketchum’s journey as a forever 10-year-old protagonist finally coming to an end, I took it upon myself to figure out the true answer, once and for all. Historically, this field of study has been fraught with bias, rooted […]
Cover Stories
Opinion
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Abolish Gifted Kids
In first grade, I was admitted into my school’s ‘Gifted and Talented’ program. Once a week, I got to spend the entire school day in a special class with less than a dozen other kids, learning from a passionate and highly-qualified teacher. The curriculum was designed to encourage critical thinking, build problem solving skills, and […]
Opinion
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Mental Health is Not a Checklist
Mental health counseling has become a checklist method in order to meet high demand, and this quantity over quality approach has stirred some unfortunate developments. A ‘checklist method’ is a systematic approach through automatic responses in contrast to overwhelming demand. Mental health counseling has been forced to adapt to this new system in order to […]
Opinion
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Accessibility in Video Games
As video games become more mainstream, game developers have added a variety of accessibility options for disabled players. Some common improvements are closed captions and visual cues for deaf players, alternate color options for colorblind players, or more comfortable controllers for players with motor disabilities like arthritis. These advancements are wonderful for disabled players, and […]