Russia’s recent parliament elections in 2011 are significant in that they can be seen as a precursor of the outcome of the upcoming presidential elections. In addition, they revealed the general political atmosphere prevailing in the country.

On July 24, the rescue attempts were prevailing over the dust and blood of the train crash in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China. I was packing my luggage for the next day’s bullet train ride from Shanghai to Beijing. Unable to take my eyes off of the train ticket in my hand, I stood there. Besides the harm, all I could think was that I had to consign my existence to the high-speed train. To whoever built it, whoever approved it for use, whoever inspected it and whoever controlled it. To whoever created the system, I cannot
tell you how I felt, but I can tell you: I did not trust the system.

Jobs may turn out to be the defining issue of 2012 as the election comes down to who America thinks has the best plan to get us back to work. What Washington
seems to be ignoring is the “right to work.” The Right to Work Act has been gaining momentum around the nation because of what it is designed to do. The Right to Work Act makes it illegal for labor unions and employers to make agreements that would require membership or the payment of dues to become a requirement of employment. To me this does not look like something people should be angry with, and its popularity is shown with the addition of Indiana as the 23rd Right-to-Work state.

My attention has been drawn once again to the issue of bullying legislation. I recently saw the headline “Tennessee Bill Would Give Anti-Bullying Laws a ‘Religious and Political Beliefs’ Loophole” floating in my newsfeed. My emotions climbed a rollercoaster hill of epic proportions as I read the article.

Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee. As anyone can attest, see me before my cup of joe and I can only utter something that closely resembles “hello,” let alone hold a decent cheerful conversation. That being said, I also seek out the delicious beverage throughout the day,at lunch, in the afternoon and occasionally after dinner. I have had countless people inform me the amount of coffee I consume on a daily basis is a bad habit.

It’s 1 am on a Friday night in New York City. I am staying with my friend at Barnard College and she won’t stop talking about DateMySchool.com, the website she is currently interning for. She goes on about how more than 25% of New York University and Columbia students are using it and how she met her current boyfriend through the website.

Since its beginning in the early 2000s, the Holyoke Confessional has been one of the most debated elements within the MHC community. Some people love it, others hate it—some don’t care at all. I fall into the latter group.

On Nov. 30, Emmy Bouvier, Maxine Getz, Diane Kim, Jennifer Walsh and I, Carol Still, were invited to participate in the monthly White House Campus Engagement conference call. While we had heard about the experiences of Kiki Boyles, Susanna Labowitz and So Jin Lee, who had participated in an earlier call, we had few expectations as to what the call would entail. Ronnie Cho, a White House staffer who has been with Obama since his Senate 2004 campaign, moderated the call.

I was recently perusing Professor Christopher Benfey’s latest blog post on The New York Review of Books website, when I noticed the Classifieds section lingering on the top bar. Who knew that The New York Review of Books had a Classified Section? A London flat here, a Paris apartment there, and then this advertisement for a special service called “Sacred Space?”

From my perspective, Dr. Laura Greenfield’s departure was an abrupt and devastating shock. Though I believe that I understand the nature of the decision, I am still aware that much has been withheld from the faculty of the College and staff at the Speaking, Arguing and Writing Program. I am cognizant of the fact that this silence is intended to protect both Dr. Greenfield’s professional reputation and College administration.