Lets start this class with a yes or no: have YOU voted yet today?

If you haven’t already, get your lazy butts off your dorm room futons and go for your local representatives and officials! There is a multitude of important issues that will be decided today and every vote counts.

While our fingers and toes might be busy tallying up local votes, the real question burning on everyone’s mind this time of year is just who will take the cake in 2012?

Four years ago, when I was young, naïve and believed that the world wanted to do right be me and countless other college kids, I put my trusty vote in Barack Obama. Then I watched tons of the YouTube videos put together by his team (my personal fave is the “Yes We Can” video, featuring tons of celebrities) and even got teary-eyed as our national declared him President of the United States – if you’re shaking your head at me, whatever, I believe it was a big moment for our country. Read More »

So much has been said about Sarah Palin since the 2008 elections. Few people outside of Alaska knew much about her prior to the VP bid that made her an instant celebrity. Now she’s a media sensation with more than 610,000 Twitter followers.

Palin did one good thing for women (and coincidentally, for herself) by calling attention to sexism during her 2008 campaign. Who could have guessed that Fox news would ever care about double standards, however briefly? But let’s be clear, taking upskirt photos of a female politician is sexist. Questioning her credentials is not.

The problem with Sarah Palin is that though she markets herself as the ideal modern woman, she advocates policies that limit our rights. She is the perfect example of a why a woman candidate is not necessarily a woman’s candidate. Feminism advocates the right for women to be treated as men’s intellectual and professional equals. Based on this criteria, Sarah Palin is a major league anti-feminist. Here are the top 3 reasons why Sarah Palin is bad news for young women. Read More »

With Election Day a mere 2 weeks away, the fight for control of the House or Senate has transformed from a casual brawl into an animated Ultimate Fighting match. Considering even the professionals are unsure what the future of this election holds, the candidates have resorted to duking it out in hopes of resolving this uncertainty themselves. But, instead of throwing on their boxing gloves and heading to the ring, they are taking a route that keeps their hospital bills from skyrocketing: the media.

Political ads around election time are famous for their often-nasty messages, intending to take down the opposition. Interest groups act as a sidekick, informally backing certain candidates by criticizing their opponent. With all the smack-talk, it can be really difficult to decipher fact from fiction.

Amid this chaotic media mess, there are several sources that are not only reliable but also non-partisan. They provide voters with the facts, avoiding the echoes of emotion and party allegiance.

Here are a few must-read sites for any college student planning to vote this election– hopefully, that’s all of you!

Project Vote Smart
Votesmart.org provides candidates’ voting records, their political stance on all issues, and their approval ratings by interest groups. Seriously, there is no better site to inform you about your state’s candidates, leaving out the mess of opinion and sticking to the cold hard facts.

FactCheck.org
This site sifts through the truths and lies of campaign ads. It allows readers to be informed of false advertising and not fall for the tricks of media campaigning. Read More »

How to meaningfully reduce your expenses.

Kanye cancels on Oprah? VIA EMAIL?!

Are you more likely to vote for a woman?

4 signs you are about to get dumped.

Real Housewives of Atlanta premiered last night. And there was already a brawl.

Speaking of brawls, is Teresa Guidice getting her own show?

Renting or buying textbooks – which is better?

Some girls may have high school homecoming corsages dried and preserved in a chest of memories, while others have likely burned any evidence that they took their younger brother two years in a row. However you recall your high school homecomings – get ready for a whole new ball game in college.

In retrospect, the hectic nature of the whole Homecoming Saga in high school was just flat out unnecessary. Between the hairdos (like $40 for a fancy ponytail, what the hell?), the unattractive acrylic talons, choosing a restaurant (Italian makes you gassy but the smell of Chinese really gets into fabrics), and worrying about  what type of guy Sparknotes says you’ll be dragging along, the romanticized idea of homecoming is just a little much.

But you better enjoy the crazies while you can, because once you hit a college campus “homecoming” takes on a new face all together. Here are some of the primary differences:

Price

High School: $60/month unlimited tanning package at the Tiki de Soleil Bronzed Goddess Something Salon (So. Many. Orange. People.), $500 dress that you will probably never take out of the dress bag again keep forever to show the grandchildren, $10 boutonniere, $18 corsage because you want it to match exactly and not have him totally eff it up, $15 for your limo portion, etc…

College: $10 team color face paint, $0 game face, and a little beer money (tailgating galore!). Read More »

Just another reason to hate Keith Olberman and the rude ladies at The View.

We are so happy that Holly Madison isn’t hung up on Hef anymore.

Mod makeup has been popular since the 1960s and is back again.

Apparently, being a lesbian is way worse than being bi.

The Super Bowl is now going to wreck more women’s lives than usual.

Michelle and Barack Obama scoped out their new pad today.

Being green can be dangerous, especially for James Cromwell.

Watches, to wear or not to wear?

Oprah has taken over the world, well almost.

If only this worked to change water into wine too!

Today is Election Day, and your only real responsibility is to vote. Whether you’re affixing a stamp to an absentee ballot or pulling the lever in a voting booth, get out there and make your opinon heard!

But, we in the youngest (and perhaps extremely influential) voting demographic also reserve our right to party! And after all the ballots are cast, tonight is shaping up to be the biggest party night in America. So after you’ve done your civic duty, grab your friends and get ready to watch the returns with these creative suggestions:

The Setting:

Make sure you have the essentials: a television and ample seating room. But why not spruce up the space for the occasion? If you’re lucky to have the day off from classes today (as we do at my school– thank you, Fordham!), take a few minutes to make some posters! Rasterbator is an online application that will make any image you choose into a poster up to 20 meters in size. (The image will be blown up and printed out in pieces on regular 8 1/2 x 11″ sheets of paper, so you just assemble the sheets like a grid.) It’s really quick, extremely simple, and only requires the internet and a printer.

The Games

Take it a step further by printing two posters (one of Obama and one of McCain) and grabbing some construction paper. Cut out 50 squares from construction paper and label them with the names of each state. Have your guests tack each respective state onto the poster of the candidate who wins it, to keep track of election returns. Read More »

They’re trooping off to the polls in the biting November chill, snug in their Uggs and North Faces zipped to the collars. They’re waking up too early and standing around in long lines for something that isn’t free food. They’re American college students, and they are voting.

Smell that? That’s the smell of freedom. Also, American college students don’t shower much.

Are you with them – or are you against them? Political nihilists beware: the jaded, “The-electoral-college-it’s-a-broken-system-f**k-I’m-moving-to-the-Moon” attitude won’t get you anywhere this year, because cynicism is out and passion is in! If it’s such a big stick up your ass, go vote for Bob Barr or something. If he’s not on the ballot, write-in “John from College Candy.” But please, do go and vote.

And what about this evening? You probably don’t have anything important to do while you watch poll results stream in, and “Nation’s First Black President” or “Nation’s First Woman Vice President” are both perfectly acceptable reasons to skip all your classes tomorrow. This means you should drink! Read More »

Did Obama give McCain the finger?

Who needs a man? Go to the movies alone!

Someone got the axe at Grey’s Anatomy.

OMFG. He’s so hot.

The election night drinking game.

What happens if the other dude wins?

So, Joe the Plumber didn’t get with that chick from SNL…

Tips for acing every class.

You’ve done your civic duty – now treat yourself!

Seriously, people, let’s Rock the Vote tomorrow.

Paris Hilton hates how guys use her for sex!

Everyone’s preparing for election day.

Heidi Klum is scary.

Dead people are voting in Ohio!

The funniest Wikipedia page ever.

Are you an informed citizen?

You can be a Guitar Hero…for real!

In case you need a little push to get out and vote.

The election is gonna require some heavy drinking.