Words by: Julie Grajales
Image by: Jessica Chan
With 2010 now upon us, I’ve never more desperately hoped for a new year to usher in a “new me”. I’m dreading my 26th birthday this month because I’m not exactly on my way to becoming the successful and self-fulfilled 26-year-old I always envisioned I’d be. Far from it, [...]
Features
New and Old in the New Year
Uneasy Lies the Head That Occupies a Mid-Office Job During a Recession
Words by: Scott Fraser
Image by: Hugo Arias
I’ve suspected this might have been coming for a few months. Redundancies, lay-offs and contracts left to expire. We all know that no job lasts forever. Job security is as elusive as a unicorn that poops candy. What I don’t like (and what I hated as a child) is [...]
What To Do With Unwanted Christmas Presents
Words by: Mark Hunter
Image by: Janice Tsui
We’ve all had them, perhaps even received more this year, but just what do you do after you’ve said your false ‘thank you’ and smiled your lying smile at the idiotic gift buyer standing delightedly in front of you? Well, here’s a few tips.
• Knitted jumper:
A hideous home-made knitted [...]
It’s a Wonderful Film, Not a Christmas Flick
Words by: Ryan Johnston
Image by: imdb
Every year around this time there are a handful of films that air relentlessly from now until December 25. Most of them are classics like A Christmas Carol and White Christmas. A few hilarious ones with the likes of A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation (my fave). However, there is [...]
An Atheist Christmas
Words by: Mark Hunter
Image by: Jessica Chan
I can’t remember exactly when I decided there wasn’t a God, but it may just as well have been on Christmas day as any other. My grandmother’s Christmas cards aside, I don’t remember Jesus ever making an appearance at our table, either in the form of an acutely misshapen [...]
I live in a Van Down by Duke University
How do I afford grad school without going into debt?
A ‘94 Econoline, bulk food and creative civil disobedience
Discovered in the ‘Pinched’ section of Salon.com.
Words by Ken Ilgunas
Photos by Ken Ilgunas
I was lying on the floor of my van where the middle pilot chairs used to be, trying to hide from view. This is it, I [...]
Manners for the 21st Century Scoundrel
Words by: Adam Weinmann
Image by: Crystal Bretschger Johansson
Rude people are everywhere. My uncle, who lives in Switzerland, told me this true story, observed by a friend of his at the grocery store check-out. At the front of the line was an older, gentle-looking man. Behind him was a mother and her young child, and behind [...]
Bolivia: Land of Multiple Personalities and Dirt-Eating Fish
Words by: Jamie Phillips
Image by:Ahron de Leeuw
Bolivia, it is said, is a country of extremes. And, so far, whoever coined that phrase has proved it to be accurate. In less than 24 hours I traveled from the frigid, nearly oxygen-less altiplano into the depths of the humid, delirious jungle. And each new place that I [...]
The Randomness of Strangers
Words by: Jerry Brens
Image by: Ed Bierman
Usually I would never go rummaging through the trunk of a stranger’s car, but desperation can make a person do all kinds of things. I suppose he wasn’t a complete stranger though, Patty and I did have breakfast with him earlier that morning, but under the circumstances we failed [...]
Friendships Never Die. Actually they DO. But Memories Don’t. Unless You’re Senile.
Words by: Adele Connolly
Image by: Donald Pyper
One of the greatest fixtures of mine and my sister’s childhood was a lanky browned-haired girl whose mission in life seemed to be to never outgrow childhood and to make surreptitious fart jokes as long as she lived. Let’s call her Toots. Calling her Jane would make more sense [...]
