In fall of 2007 I started as a news reporter here at the Torch.

It was, to say the least, a job posi­tion very unchar­ac­ter­is­tic of my per­sonal incli­na­tion toward being gen­er­ally intro­verted in my dis­po­si­tion. It was, how­ever, a job that fueled my inter­est in writ­ing. (more…)

Does St. Patrick’s Day have his­tor­i­cal “drink­ing roots” or is the prac­tice of imbib­ing some mod­ern skew of the orig­i­nal celebration?

Irish and non-Irish alike are out in their finest, green­est attire today in cel­e­bra­tion of St. Patrick’s Day. Besides wear­ing green and eat­ing corned beef and cab­bage, the other activ­ity many peo­ple asso­ciate with the hol­i­day is drink­ing. (more…)

After the Canadian women’s hockey team won Olympic gold on Feb. 25 they did what came nat­u­rally, they celebrated.

Smokin’ sto­gies, sip­pin’ bub­bly and hors­ing around on the Zamboni machine in vic­tory cel­e­bra­tion had major con­se­quences though. (more…)

Last week I over­heard a young stu­dent com­plain­ing about her “crappy cam­pus job” and it took all the reserve I could muster to keep my mouth shut.

Jane Doe should be thank­ful to be in her posi­tion, that of an employed col­lege stu­dent, con­sid­er­ing the cur­rent econ­omy is in sham­bles. (more…)

10. It requires a clear calendar.

Laundry is such a process that it com­monly requires a whole day at home going to and from one machine to the other to the closet and back again. (more…)

Jumping on the national band­wagon to pro­mote healthy eat­ing, the fast food restau­rant Taco Bell is pro­mot­ing a new “Drive-Thru Diet.”

The menu, which fea­tures seven items with less than nine grams of fat, is being backed by the franchise’s new spokes­woman Christine Dougherty, who lost 54 pounds by fol­low­ing the plan. (more…)

Editor’s Note: The fol­low­ing arti­cle dis­cusses only my opin­ion toward smok­ing leg­is­la­tion and does not reflect my opin­ion on the choice to smoke or my stance on the effects that second-hand smoke has on pub­lic health.

The quickly approach­ing smok­ing ban has evoked a mix­ing pot of emo­tions from Michiganders. I have found my own opin­ions to be com­plex and occa­sion­ally con­flict­ing, but they have led me to a con­clu­sion on my stance: I am not in favor of state-wide smok­ing ban leg­is­la­tion. (more…)

Recently, my boyfriend and I took arguably the biggest step a 20-something can take in a rela­tion­ship; we moved in together.

This dive into deeper waters of com­mit­ment must assuredly be viewed as a test of any rela­tion­ship though, be the cou­ple in their 20’s or in their 50’s.

Without the ben­e­fit of per­spec­tive that 100-plus miles allows, small things now have the poten­tial to become causes of con­flict. Ideally though, they present oppor­tu­ni­ties for per­sonal growth. Who does the dishes, who shov­els the walk­way and who takes a shower at what time are all things that could result in the butting of heads. (more…)

Oprah Winfrey is on the move; are you prepared?

Editors note: Due to the mag­ni­tude of Oprah Winfrey’s grasp on seem­ingly every facet of the media as well as her influ­ence in the per­sonal lives of mil­lions of peo­ple, she will be referred to as “The Oprah” through­out this arti­cle. A title, rather than just her name, bet­ter con­veys her omi­nous pres­ence.
On Nov. 19, rumors that Oprah Winfrey was step­ping down as talk show host were con­firmed by her pro­duc­tion com­pany, Harpo.

The Oprah, who has played the role of TV show host in some form or another for over 25 years is call­ing it quits in 2011.

Besides ABC freak­ing out about the announce­ment and already scour­ing the enter­tain­ment com­mu­nity for a suit­able filler for her time slot, I can imag­ine that middle-aged women every­where are in a tizzy. (more…)

The last few weeks of the semes­ter can be a real beast

After a much needed scholas­tic inter­lude, it is easy to fall prey to a mean case of the “I don’t wanna’s.”

Being around fam­ily and friends, as well as hav­ing the lux­ury to spend your time how­ever you like, can eas­ily lure even the most seri­ous stu­dent away from the books.

Although a break from classes is wel­come for the most part, hav­ing the main fall break this late in the semes­ter is detri­men­tal to stu­dents as it can lure us into a false feel­ing of completion.

This is a major con­cern, espe­cially since expec­ta­tions for stu­dents seem to sky­rocket dras­ti­cally in the last thirty or so days of the semes­ter. (more…)