My Life As….A Student Activist

While every college girl shares many of the same college experiences (selling books, sexiled, one shot too many), she also carves her own path and has her own unique adventure. Have you ever wondered what it’s like for other girls? What it’s like to be an engineer? To get married?! To play an NCAA sport? Well wonder no more. Our one-of-a-kind CollegeCandy writers (and readers!) are sharing their unique experiences and opening our eyes to different college worlds.

When you hear the word “environmentalist” or “activist” you probably get a picture of a dreadlocked, smelly tree hugger known for smoking marijuana, refusing to wear shoes and eating vegan.  However, in this day and age, many students across the country would consider themselves environmentalists and are engaged in political and environmental activism at the campus, local, national, and international level.   These students are not always hippies who won’t eat meat or refuse to shower.  In fact, most of them are normal, everyday students who just happen to have a passion for creating social change and empowering people.

I know this because I am one of them.

Climate change, the environment, and sustainability used to be fringe political issues that only the super liberal groups in society cared about.  While some people started organic farming (in both cities and rural areas) and using drying racks instead of electric dryers, the majority of the American population continued to move to the suburbs, buy more cars, and increase their energy consumption.  This created a country with the highest per capita carbon footprint in the world.  In the meantime, scientists, scholars, and politicians were beginning to take notice of global climate change and the Millenial Generation was busy waking up and getting engaged.  And it has forever impacted both the contemporary American university and its students. Read More »


V-Day Gifts Aren’t Just for Lovers Anymore

tp.jpgOk, so your best friend doesn’t have a boyfriend and is in need of some MAJOR hugging and telling her everything will be fine and that the world is not ending just because she’s alone this Valentine’s Day. Why not give her a cute gift along with all those X’s and O’s?

This Valentine’s Day, it’s all about lovin’…

Presents, that is.

For:

The Frugal One – Not only are brownies yummy to eat, they’re cheap and easy to make, too! And if you’ve always saved the crust for last (since, obviously, it’s the best part), now you can make your entire brownie batch edge-y in this super cool pan.

The Sweet One – Nothing says “I Love You” like toilet paper. Really. Nothing.

The Artsy One -  Chances are, her wall is full of paintings but is missing one of these. Fish are so much easier to talk to than guys, anyway.

The Crazy One – Need to get back at an ex? Well, now you can take a stab at him. Violence is definitely the answer in this case. A very cute, useful answer.

The Forever-A-Kid OneGum isn’t just for chewing anymore, people. It provides hours of entertainment to stop you from thinking about guys and relationships. Who needs a man when you can make art? Read More »


An Inconvenient Truth: Palin Doesn’t Believe Global Warming is Our Fault

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As I continue to try and wrap my head around Sarah Palin, the GOP’s newest Vice Presidential pick (“a woman making strides toward the white house, good!”, “a woman who thinks the government has the right to tell her what her reproductive rights are, bad!”), a few wayward comments flying around the internet and media have gotten me really confused.  According to sources, Palin is on record stating that global warming is not man made, and that polar bears aren’t endangered

What?

“A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location.” Palin stated as early as a few weeks ago to a conservative magazine for it’s September issue. “I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.”

As a moderate liberal, I can often support Republicans and Independents, as long as I believe their brain is in the right place. The thing is…denying humans have anything to do with global warming, and working to keep polar bears off the endangered list goes beyond politics and veers into …well…complete and utter wrongness. Read More »