When we think about greek life at Binghamton University, a number of things come to mind: namely, off-campus house parties and kegs. “Dance Your Heart Out,” an on-campus dance party meant to unite fraternities, sororities and all other students is something new. The event, which is being organized by the newly-formed Greek Life Committee, is to feature student groups such as BU’s Dance Team, Masti and International Flag Dancers (see Page 2). All profits will be donated to the Boys & Girls Club of Binghamton and Haiti relief. Though separate campus and community groups have organized fundraisers to raise money…

There’s just something about the brutal arctic air and gray overcast of mid-winter that wreaks havoc in “coupledom.” Breakups, fights, etc., all seem to emerge during the winter recess, resulting in many heartbroken singles moping around campus like sad little Charlie Browns. Being single this year, I relished in the fact that I’d be free from the relationship drama … or so I thought. This winter break I found myself in the driver’s seat of my Jeep Liberty, taking my passenger on a long, slow ride, jam-packed with pointless bickering, crying and exaggerated hand motions. The ride ended with an…

We’re going to start this semester off with a pop quiz. How unhealthy would you think the average college student is? How much of his or her liver do you think has clocked out because of a little too much drink? How many brain cells have called it quits because of a bit too much ganja weed? How trashed are their lungs from puffing away on cancer sticks? How little exercise do they get on a daily basis? Are they eating well? I don’t know the answers. Why is that? I don’t have my finger on the pulse of the…

Rather than being back in the USSR, I’m back in the Bing. And I’m trying to figure out how lucky I really am. I seem to have gone from one extreme to another; from a hip, cosmopolitan city to an old, industrial blue-collar working town. I’ve tried to see the good in both, though it is rather hard to sort out. Once my internship in Washington, D.C., finished I had to fill out a survey, and one of the symptoms of spending the semester away from Binghamton was reverse culture shock, a condition that sounds much more ominous and obscure…

As I get older, I realize there are more and more opportunities I wish I had been exposed to, skills I don’t have that I wish I did. Why haven’t I received such opportunities while at school? I know it can be argued that students are offered curriculums that include gym, music or art classes. However, more often than not, these classes are only given attention once a week. They are also given to classes filled with around 30 students, making it impossible to be taught at one’s own speed or skill level. An even more upsetting part of this…

The tea party movement has received wall-to-wall coverage since the election of Scott Brown for Senator of Massachusetts almost two weeks ago. However, this was not the first time I had heard of this ever-growing grassroots political movement. It was sweeping America, and yet I barely understood it at all. The movement began in response to the stimulus package and shifted to include other governmental policies members were unhappy with. “Tea party protests” began to spring up all over the country in the last few months. It evolved into a movement of “No,” a loosely-organized national organization of disgruntled radical…