As a senior contemplating life after graduation, I have found myself wondering whether or not my generation is fulfilling its potential. Despite all the hype that our generation will be peacekeepers, saviors of ecological destruction and re-builders of economic prosperity, I cannot help but feel that we have been too overloaded with problems to discover solutions to these problems. Though technology supplies us with a myriad of tools, it actually presents a neverending stream of consumer products that impede on our judgment and our ability to think on our feet, leading to what older generations tend to label as the `dumb’ or `inarticulate’ factor. Now, I believe our generation is no less intelligent than the last. However, the increased dependency on technology has only sharpened our temptation to waste valuable time that our brains need in order to function at their fullest capability.

At the beginning of the year Bank of America smugly petitioned college students on campus to sign up for new bank accounts; bank accounts that would inevitably throw them into the dangerous realm of debt. Forty dollars overdraft fees for small debit purchases, sometimes only of the amount of three dollars for a coffee, were responsible for offsetting a series of overdrafts that could amount to unimaginable money owed to the bank.

For those fed up with the substandard Peter Pan bus service that monopolizes transportation between the Pioneer Valley and Boston, MA, there is a new charter rideshare service that provides faster and more affordable passenger transportation between Amherst/Northampton and Cambridge/Boston. For just $19.95, those who have long suffered the grueling, lengthy and expensive Peter Pan [...]

It’s Tuesday night at People’s Pint in Greenfield, MA, and throughout the small space resonates with the soulful sound of Ryan Hommel’s voice over the PA system. Tonight he is with his bandmates, drummer Sturgis Cunningham and bassist Alex Chakour. Sitting and watching Hommel is a fantastic experience. Hommel’s voice is as jarring as it [...]

After Vegas Night this year, there were a number of students transported to a local hospital. Each year there are students who are arrested for their behavior during a party, something that usually occurs because of heavy drinking. The manner in which these things have been dealt with makes it is easy for students to see these instances in a negative light.

Attending a small college located in South Hadley, MA can be quite the financial challenge, especially without family to guide a student’s spending habits. The challenge results from a search for solitude within a more populated setting or finding a way to overcome the mounting restlessness and boredom that comes from being in the same location all the time.

September just flew by along with National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, and although the first month of college is usually considered very important to college upperclassmen, it can be perceived quite differently by freshmen, due to their increased freedom, limited experience and newly acquired ability to make decisions without the direct input of others.