On Saturday, Oct. 29, 154 people died in Seoul, South Korea, as a result of a stampede that occurred the weekend of Halloween. On that tragic Saturday night, roughly 100,000 people gathered to participate in Halloween festivities that had been on hiatus in past years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the crowd gathered, people began to push or resist the movement of the crowd, resulting in layers of people falling onto the ground and consequently being crushed or suffocated by the sheer quantity of bodies.

The recent and highly publicized firing of world-renowned New York University (NYU) chemistry professor Maitland Jones has caused a great deal of controversy in the scientific and educational communities. After 82 of the 350 students in Jones’ organic chemistry course petitioned for changes to be made to the class curriculum, Jones was fired by NYU. Jones was globally recognized for his contribution to the field of chemistry, especially as a professor. According to CNN, Jones was a tenured professor at Princeton and wrote an incredibly well-known chemistry textbook. Jones began teaching at NYU after he retired and has been teaching organic chemistry as it is his area of specialty. 

There are several breaks between fall and spring, each with varying time lengths. While each provides different aspects to appreciate, Thanksgiving break is the best of them. While not the longest, and not necessarily occurring during the best weather, it nevertheless provides plenty worth enjoying. 

I am never sure how to feel about social media, but let’s start with what platforms I will be discussing today: Snapchat and Instagram. I personally feel most of us were either in the phase of lying about our age to get a Facebook or got it simply to join college Facebook groups, so it doesn’t have the biggest impact on our generation.

At this point in our academic careers, we have all experienced the joys of group work. As a person who despises said group work, anytime a professor announces a project in which we must work with our peers, I find myself dreading the weeks to come. Although I am a group work hater, I recognize that there is an importance to working with our peers toward a common goal. The following are some of the biggest reasons that group work is not only important in college, but in the grand scheme of things.

There are certain portions of the 24-hour day that are undoubtedly better than others. While it can range hour by hour, when thought about collectively the early afternoon is definitely the least pleasurable. Where the morning provides a fresh start to the day, and the night hours are filled with winding down time for the day, the afternoon is consistently filled with exhaustion. 

As a community composed of a majority of undergraduate students who mostly range in ages 18-22, many of us on this campus experience our first instances of voting at Geneseo; however, this does not mean that most students’ first election that they can vote in is a presidential general election. 

November is National Prematurity Awareness Month. This month is dedicated to raising awareness and educating people about babies that are born prematurely. 

I hate MacBooks.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Apple products, and would much rather have an Apple computer that could connect to the Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad that I already own, as I truly envy everyone that can text in classes through their laptops! However, there are too many deterrents that make texting inconspicuously the only good thing about MacBooks. My main reasons for this opinion are as follows: the high price point of a MacBook and that Apple has yet to create one that meets my needs and wants.  

It’s the most stressful time of the year—well, maybe not the most stressful time of the year, but it is definitely up there. Registration has the chaotic energy of a Black Friday sale without the satisfaction of walking away with a deal. There is a lot of preparation that goes into deciding which classes you need and which years and/or semesters to take them. Then there is waking up at 7:00 in the morning to be ready at exactly 7:30 a.m. to get the classes that you want first. 

We have survived maneaters, zombies, and three of the four Horsemen; however, today we will address the most dangerous and most chaotic brother—War. This might be another sadistic brother to avoid. He absolutely loves creating chaos and making you doubt yourself, others, and all previous beliefs about fighting. Here are some tips on how to confront him.

Folks, it’s no secret that the dining halls do not exactly impress; whether it is the lack of healthy or gluten-free options, cross-contamination, or the fact that they close at 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, we all have our qualms. However, Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS) realizes that students aren’t happy and are trying to mend the relationship between students and the dining halls. 

This month, as a fun and festive treat for students, Mary’s is serving Apple Cider Donut Smoothies every Friday of the month of Oct. as their smoothie of the month.

You don’t have to travel far to find beautiful sights in and around SUNY Geneseo, as the campus itself comes with plenty of scenic views of its own. From the nationally recognized Letchworth State Park to the gorgeous Stony Brook State Park, there is plenty to do in the immediate area as far as outdoor recreation goes. These locations are doubtlessly and definitely worth a visit, but there are also plenty more sites worth discovering, including Indian Fort Preserve. 

For a man who died over 45 years ago, Elvis Presley has found a way to remain relevant in popular culture time and time again. Referring to the 1950s, it seems there is nothing more synonymous with this time period than the name Elvis Presley. With the biopic Elvis being released on HBO Max, there is now even more exposure for people that did not get a chance to make it to the theater during its initial release. It is with the talents of Austin Butler, the actor portraying Elvis, that much of the film’s success can be accounted for.  

Here we are again—one of the four horsemen has come to Earth and their only goal is to eradicate humanity in their own special way. These rules are for Pestilence—and, I mean, we got through COVID, so this might not be too unfamiliar.

Going apple picking is a fun fall activity that I assume everyone feels obligated to do as soon as it turns chilly. While I have fallen guilty to this fall event, this year included, I do feel that there are many parts of it that are not as thrilling as everyone’s Instagram photos show. 

Oct. 10 marked what most people know as Columbus Day, a day to celebrate Columbus’s “discovery” of the Americas. More recent efforts to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day encourage us to question if this side of Euro-Western history, which has been portrayed as a great discovery, and whether or not it can really be considered as such. Furthermore, is Columbus truly a man worth celebrating? Efforts to change the holiday are not to erase history—as some argue—but to recognize whose side we are predominantly listening to, broaden our perspectives, and question if this side is as admirable as we have situated it.