As most people know, unless you live under a rock, Katie Couric is leaving CBS. Which begs the question, who watches CBS News anyway is going to take her spot?

Couric’s tenure at CBS has been less than a fairytale. The first woman to host an evening news broadcast, CBS had high hopes for Couric and the ratings she would bring. Only, she didn’t. And now that she’s jumping ship for a daytime talk show, the CBS execs have a great opportunity to bring in someone who actually can.

What they need is someone who can spice up the news room a little bit. Someone who will make people want to watch the news, no matter how depressing it is. Someone new and interesting and exciting who will make us want to turn off ‘Friends’ reruns and catch up on what’s going on in the world.

And I’ve got a few money ideas.

Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

Old Dominion fans, take note! This week our rivalry takes us to the fair state of Virginia, where the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech hope to take home top honors.

Quick Facts

Virginia: University of Virginia or UVA, a public research university in Charlottesville, VA with 13,000 undergraduates.  Mascot is the Cavalier (or Wahoo).
Virginia Tech: The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a public land grant polytech university in  Blacksburg, VA with 24,00 undergraduates. Mascot is the Hokie.

1. Commonwealth Cup / Rivalry Record

Virginia: 3 wins/ 37 wins (5 games tied)
Virginia Tech: 11 wins / 49 wins

Three credits to: No question, Virginia Tech! Good show!

2. Mascot Matchup

Virginia: Officially known as the UVA Cavaliers, for its historical significance, the ladies and gents of Virginia are also known as the Wahoos, for the school’s rallying cry (“wah-hoo-wah!”)
Virginia Tech: The Hokies are also known as the Fighting Gobblers, and are represented by a giant turkey!

Three credits to: Virginia. Amongst these multi-moniker’d rivals, “Wahoo” is just more fun to say.

3. Fun Facts

Virginia: Founded by Thomas Jefferson, UVA is the only university in the United States to be named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Virginia Tech: Was twice named by Princeton Review as #1 in the Best Campus Food category. No mystery meat here!

Three credits to:  A close one…but we’ll go with Virginia Tech. Never underestimate the value of good food on campus!

4. Ass-Kicking Alumni

Virginia: Katie Couric, Tina Fey, Tiki Barber, Ted Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy
Virginia Tech: Michael Vick, Nikki Giovanni (Professor)

Three credits to: Sorry, Virgina Tech, but Michael Vick is really not helping your case. Virginia knocks this one out of the park!

5. Acceptance Rate Agony

Virginia: 36.7%
Virginia Tech: 65.4%

Three credits to:  Absolutely Virginia.

And the diploma goes to: Virginia! Though the Hokies crush the Cavaliers in football, UVA gets a “wah-hoo-wah” in nearly everything else.

I have to take off my flip flops to get on a plane, but they'll let anyone into the White House.

By now everyone has heard about the infamous couple who somehow managed to crash a party at the White House. Michaele and Tareq Salahi gained entry to the White House state dinner last week without being on the list, rubbing shoulders with Joe Biden, Katie Couric and Obama himself. Everyone wants to know who these people are and what they were thinking.

What I want to know is who the hell was the security guy and how can I get him hired in my city?

I think the White House needs to make some cuts, let this guy go and perhaps hire some security guards who have “able to read guestlists” on their resume. (I mean, come on, what’s next – will Bin Laden just saunter into the Oval Office??) Then this guy will be free to work a number of venues, (where he has no way of sacrificing our national security) and help me out big time.

The Liquor Store Near Campus
Now that I’m 21, I no longer sweat buckets buying a bottle of wine, but for all of my poor under-age college friends who still do, this guy would be a big help. He obviously doesn’t want to offend anyone by say, turning them away. We could all march in there anxiety free, pick up a couple cases of beer and confidently claim we’re 25 year old Susan from Canada.

An Overpriced New Years Eve Venue
This year NYE is really stressing me out. All the cool places want to charge me an arm and a leg to party all night long, sending me straight into the new year with a big fat negative in my bank account. But this White House guy can really help me out. If I shmooze him and claim that I did in fact purchase a $300 ticket but absent-mindedly left it home, chances are he will believe me and let me pass. Being able to party at a venue I can’t afford without giving up eating for a month? Priceless.

The Security Desk on Campus
Forget your student ID? No problem! You look like a student here so it must be the truth. Oh, that clanking coming from your backpack is a bunch of glass Coke bottles? No need to double check; he knows how good Coke is from a bottle. How much easier would all of our lives be if the grumpy stickler who grills you every time you pass was replaced by a generous, rule-bending softy? Hey, if he’s good enough for El Presidente, he’s good enough for me.

The Campus Library
It’s hard enough to fit all my books and notes in my bag, but as I head to the library for some last minute studying I have to make room for all my snacks and create a safe pocket to hide my Starbucks latte, then shimmy by the security guard before he hears the potato chips crunching. But if the White House bouncer worked here, he would understand that I need the nourishment, even if outside food and drink are against the rules. Wait, who am I kidding? This guy is so oblivious he wouldn’t even smell the Chipotle wafting from my pocket. He would wish me a good day and send me through, coffee and all. If he’s allowing strangers to mingle with our president, I doubt he’d even notice my orange Cheetoh fingers as I swipe my ID and mosey on by.

Hey, it’s no good in the Whitehouse, but negligence does have benefits. Where else could you guys really use this bouncer’s leniency around campus?

Enter Liz Funk, who knows the ins and outs of being a “Supergirl,” as she calls it: a girl who believes she must achieve perfection in every area of her life. Simultaneously a student, author, blogger and freelance writer, Liz is both living the dream and fulfilling her prophecy that young women today face enormous pressures to be successful. At just nineteen years old, she published her first book while balancing life at Pace University’s Honors College.

In the book, Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls (now available in stores and on Amazon.com) Liz investigates how societal forces impose dangerous pressures on young women to succeed—pressures which can often lead to depression, eating disorders, or other devastating emotional traumas. It is a godsend to any young woman who ever cried upon receiving that “little” envelope from Harvard or clocked hours on the elliptical just to maintain her size 6 frame.

I got the chance to speak with Liz about her book, her passions, and life as a Supergirl. I not only admire her success, but respect her for articulating a problem that affects too many young women. We are proud to feature her in our College Candy series, “The 5 Questions We Ask Everyone,” and wish her luck as she continues her nationwide book tour.

The 5 Questions We Ask Everyone:

1.    What is your favorite college memory/the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
I went to college in New York City, and my first year there, my friends and I got a flier for this rooftop party in a really dangerous neighborhood of Brooklyn that was a fundraiser for urban farming.  We went because there would be cheap alcohol and because it sounded fun, and when we got there, it was literally in a terrifying neighborhood, on this sketchy warehouse rooftop; people were doing drugs out in the open and there was a band with the lead singer wearing a snorkel mask and a red Speedo.  It was something out of a movie!  But we had a ton of fun!  The view was incredible.  I’m all about nice views in New York City.

2.    What are the five things you can’t live without?
My BlackBerry, Red Bull, champagne, Aveda leave-in conditioner, and my Coco Mademoiselle perfume. Plus, my family and friends.

3.    What’s your motto/advice you live by?
“I am open to exploring the wonder of my life.”  A life coach who I interviewed for the book, named Cathy Wasserman, told me that and I say that to myself everyday.

4.    Your favorite song to belt out in the car/for karaoke?
This is embarrassing: “Burning Up,” by the Jonas Brothers.

5.    Ten years from now you will be….
Hopefully still writing books, and maybe having something to do with Hollywood?  I really like screenwriting and I’ve been thinking about L.A. a little bit lately.  Plus, I need to be somewhere with warm weather.  As much as I’ve loved living in New York, when I’m in the warm weather, I am so happy almost all the time.

And now five questions specifically for Liz:

6. You have published your first book before finishing college! Would you say “Supergirls Speak Out” is more of a cathartic memoir or an attempt to discourage young women from trying to accomplish so much, so fast? In other words, how do you reconcile the message of your book with the fact that you are “Supergirl” yourself?

I think that because I’m a Supergirl, I gave an extra bit of insight to the book.  I think that if a writer who was covering this topic wasn’t a Supergirl, she might have trouble trying to wrap her head around the fact that a young woman on a Saturday night who doesn’t have plans is more likely to stay home and finish a paper due eventually or do a pilates DVD, instead of going to the movies and eating a box of chocolates by herself, because being a Supergirl is about always trying to improve yourself.  Because I was on the same page as most of the girls who I interviewed, it makes it easier for the idiosyncrasies of the Supergirl psyche to not get lost in translation.

7. A lot of young women who want to become writers seem to follow a similar formula for success: find a college with a good writing program, become editor of a campus publication, land an internship/job. How did you deviate from this “traditional” path, and did you ever have doubts along the way to success?

To be perfectly honest, I did what I did largely because I was a Supergirl and because I wanted my career to make me matter.  But I also wanted to write about issues in Generation Y because I don’t think that when adult reporters and commentators take on quintessentially Gen-Y things, like sexting and gossiping and posting racy photos on Facebook, that they get the story right, because they’re not really in the trenches and Gen Y is complicated!  There are some sociologists and media commentators lately who have been writing about how Generation Y is narcissistic and over-entitled and it’s so not true, and we need young writers and commentators in the media, speaking out and serving as a check on the media’s power.  Also, I had a feeling when I was younger that I wanted to be a freelance writer, not an editor, and when you freelance, you have to write full-time for awhile before you start to earn a living wage, so I knew that if I wanted to be able to support myself after college, I had to get acclimated with publications early.  We’ll see what happens!

8. What advice do you have for college-aged women who have a lot on their plate and can’t seem to manage it all?

Two things: first and foremost, I would recommend that girls take a look at their schedules and see if that they are making tasks bigger than they actually are.  I met a lot of Supergirls whose only commitments were 15 credits at school and participation in one student group, but they were mind-blowingly busy 50 hours a week, because they made every little task into a giant production because they wanted everything they did to be perfect and because they felt like they were valuable if they were busy all the time.  So I would encourage girls to consider whether they’re making themselves busy, and why being busy is such a big part of their identities and their sense of self-worth. Then, I would encourage girls to block out some time in their schedules, whether it’s Tuesday evenings or Saturday mornings, to be specifically for doing some completely fun and savoring their success–make yourself your favorite cocktail and watch a DVD marathon of your favorite show, or get a pedicure with your student discount, just for fun!  Girls need to cut stress out of their lives and reward themselves for their successes!

9. If you had one book to bring with you to a remote desert island, what would it be and why?

This is such a great question–and a hard one!  I’m debating between bringing a book that’s super long or one that’s super-complicated. It’s a tie between the 7th Harry Potter book or The Great Gatsby.  The 7th Harry Potter book is huge and has a lot of layers, so you could spend a lot of time reading it and thinking about it.  With the Great Gatsby, you could read that book five or six times and still pick up on some new detail or plot layer in the story every time you read it.

10. Name one person, living or dead, with whom you’d like to have lunch. What will you talk about?
I would love to have lunch with Katie Couric.  I have a feeling that she would have such fascinating insight as to women’s roles in society and the corporate elite, as well as world issues.  Plus, Katie Couric has mastered that tricky balance of having the best of feminine qualities (being relatable, funny, and charming) and also being a professional powerhouse.  I think there’s a lot we can learn from her.

But the Katie Couric in me has decided to investigate just how legit this organic makeup is.

First off, let’s make this Organic 101 for a second and define what it means to be organic. Organic products are products that are produced without pesticides or other chemicals. They are also produced in a way that is environmentally friendly, as toxins are not released into the air. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) has now made standards that regulate which foods can be deemed organic. Although usually more expensive, organic foods can be better for you, so the same should be true for organic makeup right? Turns out, not so much.

I decided to check out my best friend, Sephora, to see just what organic products they offer. Sephora is stocked with three “organic” brands: Care by Stella McCartney, Juice Beauty and NVEY Eco. Each brand claims to be pure, luxurious, and certified organic. Looking through their products they look pretty great: Care is big on moisturizing skincare and NVEY has some really pretty eyeshadow kits.

Too bad that upon further research the term organic kinda seems like a hoax…

According to OrganicConsumers.org (yeah it’s a .org so I trust it) it turns out there are no standards for organic beauty products! The Organic Consumers Association is doing its best to alert buyers that “certified” labels are not actually set to a specific government standard unless they actually say “USDA Certified.” Unless these products are certified with that specific label, they often still contain the same chemicals as their non-Organic counterparts. Oftentimes the carcinogenic chemical 1,4-Dioxide is still put in makeup products falsely labeled as organic. These products claim to be certified but they are often certified by lax regulations.

Unfortunately, none of the makeup brands on Sephora are USDA certified and thus are not recommended by the Organic Consumer Association. (Shame on you Stella McCartney!)

Check out a list of more approved beauty products here. Some companies like Organic Essence have a 100% USDA organic line of beauty products (but it is mostly lotions and soaps).

I guess the bottom line is: if you’re gonna buy organic makeup be aware that many make false claims and are often equivalent to regular or natural makeup lines. Stay in the know and save your dough!

Women are making strides, actually not strides, leaps and bounds. It would seem that since women won the right to vote in 1920 there wouldn’t be anything left for us to conquer. I mean, that was almost 90 years ago. By now, women should have done everything and have a presence everywhere.

Women have been the first at a lot of things throughout history. Here are just a few of the big moments:

• 1925 Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first woman governor
• 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic
• 1934 Lettie Pate Whitehead became the first woman to serve as director of a major corporation
• 1960 Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier
• in 1965 Patsy Takemoto Mink was the first Asian-American to be elected to Congress
• 1972 Sally Jean Priesand was the first woman rabbi in the U.S.
• 1981 Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court
• 1985 Wilma Mankiller was the first woman to became the chief of the Cherokee Nation
• 1990 Dr. Antonia Novello becomes the first Hispanic woman and woman to be U.S. Surgeon General
• 1992 Carol Moseley-Braun is the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate….and the list goes on.

However, after almost 90 years since women’s suffrage, is there really that much women haven’t done? Is the glass ceiling still that low? The answer to these questions is, yes. And because the answer is yes, women are still making history and being the first, especially in the past two years.

It was announced today that Ann E. Dunwoody would be the first woman four-star general in the U.S. military. Today, at a ceremony at the Pentagon she will be awarded her fourth star. This is huge! This a huge honor, especially since women weren’t permitted to serve in the military until decades into the twentieth century.

Remember the big story just two years ago that Katie Couric would be the first solo female anchor of a national evening news show, CBS Evening News? I think she is doing great!

Another big event (2007) was when Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives. This is one of the top positions in our political system and we have a woman in control!In 2007, Drew Gilpin Faust became the first woman president of Harvard University in the school’s 371-year history. Wow.

Hillary Clinton has been a lot of firsts, the First Lady, the first First Lady to be elected to the U.S. Senate, and this year the first woman to win a presidential primary. She was so close to running our country it was unbelievable!

Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, was the first woman to run for Vice President on the Republican ticket.

It is hard to fathom that women haven’t done everything, I mean we are all suppose to be equal! I wonder how long it will be until there is nothing left to be the first at?

Watch the Couric/Palin interview here. One word: Oy.

Suri Cruise has no friends.

Parents just don’t understand….

Drew Barrymore eats Ed Westwick’s face.

McCain cancels on Letterman…tsk tsk tsk.

Justin Long can’t seem to hold onto a lady.

Apparently the 90210 girls DO eat!

Britney Spears channels Posh Spice.

Kirk Cameron is making a comeback.

Threesome for LiLo and Sam…and Mickey Mouse.

Looks like Hef’s Viagra ran out… he loses another one.

Is Tina Fey a bad role model for women?

Michael Lohan’s thoughts on Samantha Ronson and her toilet paper preferences.

Perez Hilton writes a song. If you value your sanity, do not click here.

Ice, Ice Baby…for that black eye I just gave you

Katie Couric signs deal with The Goodbye Show

Nobody loves Joanie

Finding off-campus housing

Why is Natalie Portman so awesome?

Paris Hilton is not my ideal BFF

Big Boi goes from billboard to ballet

Dear Jonas Brothers: will you marry me?…Any of you three will do.

How to stay a virgin at college

Does a threesome ruin a relationship?

But to actually be in a beauty pageant? Nooo, but thank you.

The NYTimes reports that these contests are much more superficial than you think, and that’s not saying a whole lot. It turns out that many of these girls are duped into thinking they’re gonna win a ton of money and scholarships of some sort, but they never reap the educational or financial benefits.

Ashley Wood, a pissed-off ex Miss USA who never got the money she actually won, said,

“You are talking about an organization that is promoting itself as the largest scholarship provider for women in the world….When contestants try to collect their funds, they encounter one obstacle after another.”

These problems have something to do with all of the local and state pageants that are scattered around the country being tied under the national pageants, and apparently, local pageant winners hardly ever collect – the states could take these local pageants to court, but they have limited control over them in the first place, and to even do that would cost more than what these girls are actually owed.

One girl was even told after winning a pageant that instead of the scholarship she was promised, she could just take home some gowns!! Are you kidding me?

Like this makes up for a big wad of CASH?

These things are a crock, and even though I’d be pissed as hell if I got all dolled up and walked across a stage 50 times wearing Vaseline on my teeth to score fame, recognition, money, a scholarship, whatever, these girls have it coming.

I mean, come on – they’re not the brightest bulbs to begin with, this we know.

The tragedy?

In America’s theme of rewarding stupid people, that same girl who wants to “help the Iraq” is reportedly now in talks to make $25,000 a day with Trump’s modeling company. Good luck with that, you really deserve it.

In related beauty pageant news, Rachel Smith (you know, the girl who tripped on stage – wanna see it again?) said, in regards to what she wants to do with her Miss USA title at the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network event last week,

“I always wanted to be a reporter — maybe some TV. Who knows? Some serious news — but some modeling, too….I just don’t want to end up like Katie Couric. I want people to take me seriously.”

WOW. Yes, now everyone will be sure to take you seriously. Not ending up like Katie Couric is the least of your worries.

These girls keep getting more and more annoying every time one of them pops up in the news, so it kind of makes me glad that the winners of the smaller, more local pageants aren’t getting paid. Maybe it will discourage them from entering the national contests. That way we can save ourselves from hearing about such naive and disillusioned takes on the world.

I weep for the future.

Politically it is unfavorable, socially unacceptable and statistically unbelievable, but many American heroes wore the scarlet letter. Some people claim that the founding fathers of our nation were nearly all infidels including Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson and even Abraham Lincoln, stating that they had no direct belief in Christianity.

It wasn’t until the late 1950’s that “In God We Trust” became our national motto and was printed on paper currency to counteract “Godless“ communism. So if America wasn’t founded on Judeo Christian beliefs, where did these strong religious undertones come from, and why the hell is there a bible in every seedy motel in America…right beside the vibrating bed?

Next time you are on vacation open up that bible in your hotel and notice where it comes from. All bibles are distributed throughout American hotels by one specific organization. An evangelical society over a hundred years old founded by two traveling salesmen, Gideons International now makes sure 112 bibles per minute are distributed across the country. But it wasn’t until 1908 that numerous copies found their way into hotels, nursing homes and firehouses. Around the same time, “In God We Trust” was implemented on to our paper currency and “one nation under God” was put into the Pledge Of Allegiance. Originally, the piece contained no reference to any deity but when the threat of communism was plaguing America Eisenhower felt the need to instill religious values as a moral compass and symbol of national unity. Thus, blurring the lines of church and state.

Perhaps you have heard the saying: “There are no atheists in a foxhole”, but there are quite a few soldiers who beg to differ. As a result of Katie Couric recently evoking the statement on NBC’s Today, atheist civil rights groups are up in arms and after viewing The FX network’s “reality” docu-series 30 Days: An Atheist Among Christians, I learned a few important facts about America’s most oppressed non-religion:

Statistically, America is 75% Christian and as “one nation under God”, only 5% of our country is considered atheist. Shockingly, their approval and acceptance is lower than all other minorities, actually making the bottom of the list. When asked via survey, it has been discovered that American parents would rather their children marry any minority over someone with no faith in God or a supernatural power. When voting for president, women, homosexuals, and other minority groups had a higher approval rating than a candidate that was a non-believer.

The question is: Why are we so intimidated by non-believers and can we eliminate the great divide?

Atheists are not moral deviants nor does their belief give them an ethical carte blanche to wreak havoc on society. They are simply defined as people who hold no belief in a higher power, people who believe that in death existence is terminated. For some reason, the most scientific way of seeking truth in the world is tossed aside for supernatural mythology. There is nothing wrong with committing to a religion, but you would think something faith based would be more taboo than the rationalization of science.

Many people maintain that politics and religion are personal topics to steer clear of in passing conversation. But an open social dialogue is what keeps people informed and can be an open door to different points of view. Yes, saying “I am an atheist” is a dicey move, you may even get a blank stare from the crowd across the room, but it is important not to compromise your beliefs for acceptance. Angelina Jolie, Julianne Moore, Bjork, Roseanne, Bill Maher, Howard Stern, Lance Armstrong, Kathy Griffin, Ray Romano and Billy Joel have all professed their disbelief in organized religion and proclaimed themselves members of this highly controversial system of thinking.

Woody Allen, a devout atheist once said; “Not only is God dead but try getting a plumber on weekends.”

Amen to that…or woman for that matter.