Alyssa Mercante

28 Articles

Megan Fox, shiny cars and the crusade for mindless fodder

By Alyssa Mercante -

I’m easily amused. Perhaps maybe even a simpleton. Put me in a room with an iPod and some speakers and I’ll sing and dance for hours before I get bored. I’m the girl who yells at the television after crucial plot twists or lets out a bro-like “Ohhhhhhhhh” during insane fight sequences in movies. I...

It’s time we ash out the pot debate. Let’s legalize marijuana.

By Alyssa Mercante -

With this column I may burn professional bridges. I may go home for Thanksgiving break and get an NYPD-level drug test from my parents. Professors may look at me differently and my poor Yia-Yia might think that the hoop nose ring and pink hair I sport don’t just mean I wanted to marry Pete Wentz...

If you read this, you might be a cynic

By Alyssa Mercante -

I planned on writing this opinion piece about the Binghamton flood, but as I sat down at my desk I realized a few key things: I have little to no first-hand experience with the actual flood, sans my need to boil water and the flooding I saw by Front Street when I took a stroll....

My Xbox 360, 2007-2011

By Alyssa Mercante -

Nothing will ever properly prepare a video-gamer for the death of a console. Nothing. Not hearing about it happening to other people, or watching reaction videos on Youtube, or reading about the extended warranties that came about as a result of a slew of dead consoles. If your console has never died, you are ignorant...

My inner Fame Monster, revealed

By Alyssa Mercante -

I’ve had a taste of what it’s like to be famous and I must say, I’m addicted. This past Saturday I went to go see Lady Gaga at Nassau Coliseum. I decided (like the attention-seeking, costume-obsessed girl that I am) to go in full-on Gaga Garb. I dressed like Mother Monster, circa the release of...

PODS stations, where humanity reveals its lowest form

By Alyssa Mercante -

If Binghamton University is ever looking to hire a PODS Computer Patrolwoman, I’d like to offer my services. There is a surplus of rude idiots who have some undying love for hogging computers. Be it the clueless girl sitting at the Express Printing Station, sifting through months of spam mail, or the gaggle of imbeciles...

Dealing with customer service, the way my parents taught me

By Alyssa Mercante -

As a young blonde woman, I am almost always the victim of poor in-person customer service, whether it’s from bitchy old women or condescending old men. I spent years getting an attitude from people behind the counter of life, struggling to get a word in edge-wise, dropping pleases and thank-yous like Miley Cyrus drops her...

Rescuing dogs, my sisyphean task

By Alyssa Mercante -

Have you ever seen a dog running without its owner along the streets? Have you ever said, “Someone’s bound to get him,” instead of stopping and trying to help? Well thanks a lot, because I am that someone. Since I’ve been up at Binghamton I have found close to 10 dogs running along the streets...

Hockey puts football to absolute shame

By Alyssa Mercante -

Hockey is greater than football. Yes, I’m going there, and right after Super Bowl Sunday. I don’t care if football is the biggest sport in America and everyone and their grandmother tune in to the Super Bowl every February — I’d much rather be sitting on my couch sporting a New York Rangers jersey and...

The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Car-owner

By Alyssa Mercante -

I no longer drive a piece of shit car, ladies and gentleman, so please don’t park next to me on campus. After four years of driving a 15-year-old Chrysler Cirrus that gave me more problems than Lindsay Lohan gives her probation officer, I spent my entire winter break searching for a sexy new piece of...