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Opinions

Finding the perfect roommate is arguably the greatest source of stress for incoming college students. (Photo by Kate Zydor / Opinions Editor)

OPINION: Roommates do not have to equal friends

By Kate Zydor | Feb. 9, 2024

For incoming college students, there is an immense amount of pressure surrounding choosing a roommate who will not only be compatible with their living habits but also become their instant best friend. We've all heard our fair share of horror stories about roommates gone wrong, and we place tremendous focus on ensuring that our experiences will be different. With that being said, not all roommates are going to be best friends and that is okay.

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(Photo by Briana Keenan / News Editor)

OPINION: The transition back from winter break can be a struggle for students at the College

By Briana Keenan | Jan. 31, 2024

While the time off allowed me to see friends from high school, spend time with my family and relax after my first semester, the start of this semester has made me find comfort in a routine. Yet, anxiety about how much I have on my plate still lingers. Being back from break has reminded me that I must continue to take care of my mental health while transitioning back to campus life. 

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Matt Rife’s Netflix special received poor reviews (Photo courtesy of IMDb).

OPINION: Matt Rife isn’t funny

By Maia Venuti | Dec. 11, 2023

On Nov. 15, stand-up comedian Matt Rife released his first special with Netflix, titled “Matt Rife: Natural Selection.” It was met with a 16% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is one of the lowest scores I have ever personally seen for a standup special. 

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The yearly Spotify Wrapped has emboldened a culture of judgment within music (Photo courtesy of Flickr / “Piano” by UnnarYmir / January 27, 2012).

OPINION: Spotify Wrapped encourages musical elitism

By Lake DiStefano | Dec. 6, 2023

This time of year is marked by many traditions–yet none more indicative of our digital age than the annual Spotify wrapped: the yearly showcase of a listener’s top artists on the music streaming platform of the same name. Many look forward to seeing how their listening habits have changed between the previous year and the present–but I feel that what was initially a pure idea has only been twisted into a form of gatekeeping and narcissism. 

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(Photo courtesy of Liam Simonelli / Editorial Cartoonist).

OPINION: Fake viral Thanksgiving Day parade float video highlights importance of media literacy

By Tristan Weisenbach | Nov. 30, 2023

In today’s ever-changing era of technology, social media has grown from what was once simply connecting with friends online to now providing an avenue for seemingly anyone to create anything and share it under any name — whether it’s real or not. While these state-of-the-art developments have garnered many creative and once-unimaginable creations, they have also given an outlet to share information online that is false. 

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The newest “The Hunger Games” film, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” came out on Nov. 17 (Photo courtesy of IMDb).

OPINION: New “Hunger Games” film is better than what critics say

By Grace Ruthe | Nov. 27, 2023

Mixed emotions are certainly an understatement when it comes to Suzanne Collins’ “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” (Songbirds). Both the novel and the new Francis Lawrence film of the same name that hit theaters on Nov. 17. Audiences have had several conflicting opinions when trying to answer the question: Did the story live up to the seemingly untouchable trilogy and set of films that took the 2010s by storm?

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Nicholas Cage (Photo courtesy of IMDb).

OPINION: Nicholas Cage IS a good actor

By Maia Venuti | Nov. 21, 2023

“Moonstruck” shows that Cage has the range to do romantic comedies, and that he gives consistently good performances when the film is well written, as he has been doing for nearly four decades. To jump ahead to the 2010s, as Cage’s career grew, he began to take more and more roles in more and more movies. There were a lot of reasons for this, but the primary one was that Cage was severely in debt throughout the 2000s and 2010s, owing as much as $6 million during the real estate market crash. Because Cage owed so much money, he needed to find ways to make more money to repay his debts, and did so by taking on multiple projects per year.

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The way folks act in movie theaters is changing — for the worse (Photo courtesy of Flickr / “A movie theater in Japan” by Margutta.jp / May 15, 2010).

OPINION: Decorum is disappearing in movie theaters

By Maia Venuti | Nov. 20, 2023

In the past few weeks, two movies came out that are extremely important to two very distinct fanbases. They are “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour”, and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (FNAF). One film is a concert film of the entire three hour Taylor Swift Eras concert, and the other is a film adaptation of an iconic horror game franchise. These two movies and their fan bases are different, but they share a blatant commonality: a complete utter absence of decorum and manners in movie theaters where the films are shown. 

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Many events, which students can attend, are hosted in the Brower Student Center (Photo courtesy of Brooke Zevon / Staff Photographer).

OPINION: Learning something new can be exciting

By Kelly Kim | Nov. 20, 2023

The Department of World Languages and Cultures Department hosted a series of events in October to promote and enjoy the different cultural aspects that it has to offer. In support of my friend who takes Chinese classes, I decided to go to the events because I was also curious about what a calligraphy class would entail.

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TikTok recently added a shop feature to its platform (Photo courtesy of Flickr / “TikTok” by Solen Feyissa / August 2, 2020).

OPINION: TikTok shop is a capitalist ploy and consumerist trap for its users

By Kelly Kim | Nov. 20, 2023

It comes as no surprise that social media plays a huge role in trends dying hard and fast, leaving people to participate in fads that only last until something trendier comes along. Social media has the ability to market and announce anything with ease since influencers have the capacity to reach a large audience. Through social media’s influence, a slow and steady trend seems to be forming as with the rise of capitalism. That is, a rise of consumerism, which has drastically changed the ways in which people shop, allowing justification for unnecessary purchases without a second thought. 

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The College’s Barnes and Noble Bookstore sends too many emails (Photo courtesy of Shane Gillespie / Photo Editor).

OPINION: Bookstore emails border on spam

By Liam Simonelli | Nov. 19, 2023

“Last Chance - 23% off Diploma Frames!” “Give the Gift of Tech!” “Higher Education Skincare is here!” Please! Spare students all of these email advertisements, we have enough emails to sift through. If you keep as close of an eye on your school email inbox as I do, you probably know what I’m talking about. Those repetitive emails from the College’s Barnes and Noble Bookstore that fill our inboxes weekly. They border on spam and scatter the emails that are actually important.

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“Echo” will be released in 2024 (Photo courtesy of IMDb).

OPINION: Disney’s upcoming ‘Echo’ series has the opportunity to solve one of Marvel's biggest problems

By Andrew Martinez | Nov. 18, 2023

It's no surprise that after the thrilling conclusion to the Infinity Saga that was “Avengers Endgame,” Marvel has taken a decline in interest and viewership from fans. However, this is now arguably worse than ever. Phase Four was a mixed bag of success, with projects like “Spider-Man No Way Home” being a success earning nearly $2 billion dollars and “Wakanda Forever” earning $859 million at the box office, but many other projects struggled — specifically the Disney Plus shows. 

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The re-recording of Taylor Swift’s “1989” is far weaker than the original (Photo courtesy of Apple Music).

OPINION: ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ is not good

By Lake DiStefano | Nov. 15, 2023

The last chorus showcases what is arguably the biggest issue with the record – the ad-libs. Ad-libs are extra vocal flourishes typically added to make the sound of a chorus larger. As a record, “1989” uses these to make its songs' choruses have progression, despite the repeating lyrics. On the original songs, their choruses are always larger than the last, with each song's final chorus creating a sense of climax with its copious amounts of ad-libs.

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