Smoking is bad for you. If any generation knows that, our generation does. We’re the ant-smoking campaign generation. We’re the ones who saw the pictures of the lungs before and after someone spent their lives smoking. We’re the kids who were told not to cave to peer pressure.

The dreaded job interview. No matter your resume and talents if you mess this up you won’t get that job. In today’s tough economy you need every possible edge. It can be a simple equation: You want to be liked—not hated. Here are ten simple things to do that will dramatically increase your chances: from wearing the right expression, to knowing what not to say, to never ever breaking a sweat.

The House in Arizona passed a bill to ban abortions performed on the basis of race or sex. This means women would have to justify the reason they want to have an abortion. This is especially problematic because a selective body could try and target a women’s race as the reason she wants an abortion rather than the fact that maybe she can’t afford to support a child at that stage in her life.

After being shot into the real world, I picked up a dirty habit. While being thrown into something I was totally unprepared for (ehem, hey real world! It’s a pleasure!) it became nearly impossible to find any satisfaction in my life. I was so overwhelmed with emotions and goals, I became an angry, judgmental girl. And who saw the brunt of all that negativity? Me.

I’ve lived in Texas for most of my life, but one thing I will never understand is the gun-happy culture that is so prevalent here. My own sister got a gun as an anniversary present from her uncle-in-law. And now our state government wants to take this love of guns one step further and allow students and professors to carry concealed handguns on public university campuses.

Ask any student what the best part about school is, and you’ll most likely get the same answer – summer vacation. The carefree days of summer make all of the homework and pop quizzes bearable and give students something to look forward to during April showers.

As college students and young women, we should be aware of what’s going on around us. Sometimes sitting around doesn’t seem good enough, but people often say “I’d get involved, but I don’t know how.” Consider this your friendly college guide to activism so you can get involved:

We all know the drill: as soon as the weather turns cold, we start planning the ULTIMATE Spring Break getaway with our gal pals. Every year, you vow to actually make it happen this year. You research all-inclusive resorts on your laptop in class, share cheap airline websites, and maybe even start working on your post-Christmas-cookie holiday bod.

Right before I sat down to write this I opened a letter (yes because apparently people still send those) informing me that come April I will be able to pick up my cap and gown. I looked at the letter, rolled my eyes, and thought April? Really? Why are they sending me this now when I don’t need to pick it up until April? But still I opened up my Google Calendar and went to plug in the date. But oh wait…what’s that?

Inspired by the recent and effective Egyptian protests, more and more Middle Eastern countries are being consumed by rallies. Bahrain, Libya and Yemen were most prominent in the news this week, though protests are happening in numerous countries including Jordan, Tunisia, Iran, just to name a few. In many of these countries, the governments are responding to the peaceful protesters with extreme violence.