Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies
Well over a year ago, four friends sat in a Scott Hall dorm room kidding around about possible names for their "fake band"
The hum of cicadas cuts through the late-summer heat as the sun drops lazily below the horizon, marking the end to another blistering day. As the light fades from the sky and students meander back to their houses and dorms, classrooms and laboratories become vacant -- all except for the Center for Performing Arts.
They came in Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins jerseys. They came from Bowling Green, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky and Washington D.C. They came to Goggin at 10 a.m. and trickled out around 4 p.m.
If you've been keeping up with us from the beginning, you know that Lilly and I have been through our fair share of trials and tribulations over the past four months. For 14 weeks, I've used this column to cover topics such as depression, anxiety, alcoholism, fear of adulthood, assuming responsibility and, in our most harrowing ordeal, Lilly running into the woods and remaining missing for five hours. If you'd never actually met us in person, I couldn't fault you for thinking we lead somewhat of a gloomy or cheerless life.
There was still about an hour of light left before the sun set on the weekend, so I grabbed Lilly's leash and led her to the dog park yet again. Now that I've stopped letting her off the leash on our walks, I've been making an effort to visit the park at least once or twice a day since it's the only remaining place she can run freely. I figured that, at this late hour, there would be few other dogs to distract her and we could practice playing fetch, an activity I'm happy to report she is starting to figure out. She's now at the point where she'll chase after the ball when I throw it; the second (and rather important) half of her game still needs some work.
One of the most helpful quick-tips I've run across for dealing with bouts of depression is to imagine yourself with a stuffy nose. You know when your nostrils are all blocked up and you'd give just about anything for the relief of a clear airway, that thing you suddenly realize you always took for granted? Well, when you're feeling hopeless, when it feels like there's no joy to be ascertained from the world, it helps to recall the agony of a stuffy nose -- maybe nothing has meaning and we're all just floating hopelessly through the void, but hey, at least you can breathe in the fresh air, right? It sounds silly, but you'd be amazed how far you can get with some basic appreciation of everyday comforts.
The flyer had been irresistible.
The most disappointing aspect of my spring break backpacking trip was not that it got cut short.
A mom, dad and daughter slide into the backseat of Jake Davis's silver Infiniti, parked in the small circular drive in front of MIA Uptown. Their bag of leftovers fills the sedan with the smell of Italian food.
Even at the height of the #MeToo movement this past winter, it was difficult to talk about ambiguously consensual sex -- the kind that's technically consensual, but doesn't totally feel that way.
It's 10 a.m. on a Saturday and I am bear crawling in a circle around an acting studio with my favorite professor, 12 other students and a certified clown.
After about 20 minutes, I felt my fragile sense of calm begin to dissipate, and the world around me started to spin. I fought back a bout of nausea and fumbled to get my phone from my pocket. Dialing, I put the phone to my ear, still scanning the woods and listening for the jingle of her collar.
My Wednesdays are pretty hectic, so I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day on Saturday night.
If one of my neighbors were to have looked out their bedroom window last Saturday morning around 7:15, here's what they would have seen: Me, dressed in sweatpants, a gray fleece and moccasin slippers, sprinting across my lawn and around the block, an empty leash in hand.
I've always struggled to articulate my feelings about Jim Carrey. While I've enjoyed most of his movies -- "Dumb and Dumber," "The Truman Show," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," etc. -- something about him, as an actor, has always rubbed me the wrong way. The zany, over-the-top antics, the obnoxious lilt in his voice as he bellows yet another "Alllrighty then," his borderline insufferable disregard for human decency or restraint -- call me cynical, but it all seems a bit much.
Maeve Collins isn't the first. Every time she takes a step on campus, she knows her parents, cousins and uncles have taken the exact same walk as her.