If you thought we were out of the woods with swine flu when summer began, you’re sadly mistaken. Health officials predict that come the fall, the H1N1 virus will begin to spread once again. Residential colleges are expected to be hit particularly hard, as dorms make the perfect breeding grounds for the spread of illness. (Lots of people with not-so-clean living habits? Hellooooo, disease!) But don’t start freaking out and sterilizing your possessions just yet; colleges are aware of the situation and are taking steps to help keep their students healthy.

To put it crudely: everyone chill the f*ck out. They got this.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control decided to include 19 to 24 year-olds in the first-priority group for the swine flu vaccine, due out in October. This age group has seen many of the worst cases of swine flu, and the college experience of living, studying, and socializing together makes students even more susceptible to the virus. If you thought your roommate was impossible to live with before, wait until he or she gets sick. You’d have to have an immune system of steel not to catch whatever she’s got. Read More »

The hottest thing in fashion right now: the Swine Flu mask.

But while that thing probably prevents you from catching those nasty pork germs flying through the air, I refuse to wear one. Not only do you have to spend the day breathing in your own nasty coffee breath (what, just me?), but those things are U-G-L-Y (they ain’t got no alibi…).

They also happen to ruin my perfectly (and painstakingly) straightened hair and don’t really go with the look I’m trying to pull off. Because my “look” isn’t “nurse.”

But, being that college campuses are being infiltrated by this not-so-deadly disease, I listened to my mom and jumped on the mask bandwagon. (The woman sent me a box of these things with a note that said, “Think of this as a condom for your face and don’t leave home without it! Even to the bar!”) I am not sure how I am expected to knock back a few cold ones with this thing on, but I do know that the mask is a blank canvas and is just asking to be glammed up for every occasion.

So, I bring you: Swine Flu Fashion. Who says you can’t be safe and still look totally ferosh? Read More »

According to every single headline I’ve seen this morning, it seems that there is an outbreak of something called the Swine Flu. I don’t really know what it is (or what pigs have against us…besides the fact that we only like them for their fatty and delicious goodness), but my finger started hurting last night and I can only assume I have caught it.

Schools and businesses are being closed because of this sitch, and people from NY to Chicago are walking around town with SARS masks on.

But while the rest of the world is freaking out, I couldn’t be happier.

Seriously, schools and businesses are closing? Holla back, y’all. This swine flu is the perfect excuse for just about anything this week and I plan to milk it for all it’s worth: Read More »