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His grip around my throat tightened. The wedge in his elbow was jammed beneath my jaw, cutting off airflow and I struggled to keep from tapping out. I tucked my chin as close to my chest as I could. Seeing as my entire head was only marginally bigger than his bicep, this wasn’t too hard.

In a writhing, sweaty, tangle of limbs, we continued on as such until the whistle blew.

We detached and smiled as we shook hands before turning to look at our grappling instructor. 

If you haven't heard of the Ultimate Fighting Challenge (UFC) or Carleton's Mixed Martial Arts classes, chances are you're at least aware of the buzz surrounding the now hugely popular sport that is MMA.

But is it a sport, or is it something deeper?

“It helps you to learn more about yourself, you're going to learn you're breaking points in MMA. It's tough, it's hard, and it's not for everybody," said Craig Brown, from Fit MMA Ottawa fresh from a fight.

I have heard it many times that everything is political. Everything from what toothpaste you choose to use when brushing your teeth in the morning, to what conversations you have with friends late at night, can be decidedly political. If this is the case — and I’m inclined to believe it is — trying to understand precisely where my ideologies fit within a political context has been the source of much confusion, doubt and even guilt.

Carleton students are finally learning the “F word.”

But confronted with the word “feminist,” some students appear to have certain engrained misconceptions.

When Carleton women and literature professor, Esther Post, asks her first-year students who they think feminists are she says she gets responses such as, “head-shaved, male-bashing, bra-burning lesbians.” But she says these are misguided stereotypes.