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Despite the fact that junior Matt Burger is legally blind, nothing has stopped him from becoming a veritable dynamo on campus.

Writer’s block. It’s something every writer has grown to hate. It’s writer’s block that gives me 15-minute breaks between every sentence I write in this blog. It’s why I haven’t pursued any personal writing in almost a year.

From appearances, sophomore Celeste Taylor is a stone cold fox. Literally.

Obama has won the presidency, and depending on whether you watch CNN or Fox News, you are either celebrating or crying. On Tuesday at 9 p.m. when I started watching the coverage, it was all still up in the air

I’m in my room, at this very second, watching history being made. Well, quasi-watching history being made. I’m also quasi-practicing my French verbs and quasi-writing these little thoughts of a blog down onto my illuminated computer screen.

When someone yells out an incorrect guess of the costume you're wearing, it’s an insult to all the brainstorming, planning, motivation and monetary investment that goes into one night of putting your soul into another body.

It was a dark, cold night in the northernmost stretch of Appalachia, darker still for anyone without cable television.

Every Halloween store I went to this year had Sarah Palin masks and Amy Winehouse beehive wigs. But why shell out big bucks for a costume when, with a couple of easy-to-obtain objects, you can make one yourself?

Ohio University is recognized for countless honors, rumors and legends. However, it is the sly and fierce Bobcat that comes to the forefront when representing OU. Senior Johnny Barton and junior Mark Buehner are two of the students who wear the suit this year.

There are so many uncertainties we go through during this process we like to call “life.” Some are small: should I take my umbrella? Some are philosophical: if a tree falls… (you get the idea). Some can be hypothetical: what would you do if you just self-combusted in the dining hall?

If you only hear one thing about Barack Obama today, make sure you hear it from the Republicans.

I walked into Casa Nueva on West State Street at 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon. There was a woman sitting at the bar in a navy blue dress, with an orange beaded necklace, gold-rimmed glasses and blond, shoulder-length hair.

Attending the number five party school in America leaves little time for introspection -- that's where psychic Jessica Mitchell comes in.

Maybe I’m not the most athletic person in the world. I go through two-week spurts of running a couple miles a day, lifting weights (I swear they’re almost heavy) and working my core. It’s great, but it only lasts two weeks.

The citizens of the United States have a clear choice to make. On one side there is Cold War-era nationalism, and on the other side there is realism and the intellectual ideals that will keep us from repeating past mistakes.

Black Sheep Inc., a long-standing short-form improv troupe, is now turning to a more flexible form of improv called long-form improv under the artistic direction of Chris Griswold, an Ohio University graduate student.

I have this friend. Now, I won’t name any names, but she lives in Bromley Hall. I’ll just tell you what she did that got me thinking.

Today on Sick Sad World: Why Obama can't relax and enjoy his lead in the polls.

This isn’t the plot of the latest Johnny Depp flick. No, it is something a bit more cuckoo than old Jack Sparrow. The title of this post, "Pirates Party, Shoot Each Other" is the exact title of the link on Fox News' homepage.

On a sunny, post-homecoming Sunday afternoon, when most Athenians are recovering from the night before, people on South Green are savagely beating one another with cardboard swords.

The best feeling in the world is knowing that you are a part of a collective group of similar-minded folks. The Fall Student Organization Fair, which occurred on September 7, was the go-to event for students to search for a home away from home. While some kiss-up to members for recruiting them, many resort to the ultimate diss, the “oh-no-you-didn’t:” the stink eye.

Here’s the thing. We all sat through those little B.S. high school language classes. I don’t care if you took Spanish, French, German or Swahili: if you didn’t care about being worldly your freshman year of high school, you didn’t learn or remember a damn thing. At least I didn’t.

Unless you've got a mom who's allergic to alcohol, you know Mom's weekend is just another campus-wide delegated drinking weekend--perhaps the best one.

Residents walk past her door at all hours, but few stop in to say hello to Nicci Delgado, resident coordinator of Washington Hall. This caring individual really loves to connect with residents and welcomes the chance to meet someone new.

Sitting under the roof of the covered patio just outside the welcoming doors of The Gathering Place, Janet Boring escapes from the rain while casually puffing on a cigarette and chatting with a few ladies as she relaxes in a macramé lawn chair.

Writing an article exposing the horrors of underage drinking in Athens was harder than one might think. Staring at Court Street, I longed to see hordes of 18-year-old zombie drunks.

Even conservative Catholic schoolgirls can feel empowered by their lady parts, and one of those girls just needed a vagina workshop to prove it.

It is an inherent fact that the music scene in Athens is swollen with talent, teeming with life, rife with opportunity and overflowing with a seemingly endless string of shows. Fantastic musicians alone, however, cannot efficiently carry a prospering music scene.

 

 

Washington, D.C., hardcore punk band Minor Threat often receive credit for spawning the straight edge mentality with the release of the song “Straight Edge,” which expressly states, “I’ve got better things to do than sit around and smoke dope.”

I feel really bad for Britney Spears. That stated, we have got to talk about what's been happening with her. Did you hear what our girlfriend has been getting into these past couple weekends? There are so many stories surrounding what went down, it's hard to keep them straight.

 

A college student is taking on the city system by becoming a vital member of its mechanics.

Vietnam, like many non-Western countries, offers a unique history and perspective, said Gerard Sasges, Ohio University’s new history professor, in a lecture given as part of the ongoing International Studies Forum Series.

Walking into a small house nestled between two large businesses on East State Street with a large sign in front that says "Psychic Readings," one would not expect something called normal.

When zombies are mentioned, most people immediately think of the living dead that feast on brains featured in gory B movies. Here at Ohio University, though, students think of brightly colored Nerf guns, bandannas and sock balls.

When thinking about a “pop star,” images are conjured of over–the-top celebrities; however, Yan Mencius is not the typical aspiring singer. This Chinese artist is a multilingual talent with aspirations that can burst the bubble of pop star stereotypes.

Resident director and full-time graduate student Nadja Beglerovic has embarked on a journey that has taken her from war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina to the United States, away from family and friends and to another life.

Whether students’ hometowns are five miles from campus or halfway across the country, they always remember where they grew up, where they spent long nights at friends’ houses and where they acquired all of the skills they need to succeed in this life-altering place called college.

Seemingly unsatisfied by the world around him, Professor Aethelred Eldridge has effectively created his own. Tucked away in Room 427 in Seigfred Hall lies a black-and-white themed refuge full of loose pamphlets, random manila folders and the sprightly old artist himself.

Under the calm foliage of College Green, students gathered in outrage this week to support those who have assisted them for so long. Student support for the union workers who were fired has swelled, leading to discontent, protests and picketing.

The old wooden floorboards in McKee House creak like swaying swings. International graduate student Adam Chen and I hear the footsteps above our heads in his downstairs office, his home away from home while he studies abroad at Ohio University.

It's a typical Friday night on Court Street: heels are clopping, crowds are chattering, sirens are screaming. But amidst all this undue noise and bustle, a man is playing a piano.

As the Pulse presidential candidate for Student Senate, senior Patrick Heery is passionate about putting the emphasis back on students, getting their voices to be heard and bringing substance back to Ohio University educations.

With his involvement in Students for a Democratic Society, Students for a Effective and Accountable Leadership and Students Against McDavis, sophomore Will Klatt is ready to stop protesting the authority and become part of it- by running for Ohio University’s student senate president.

If you don’t seem to be on beat with Pulse and you aren’t into the whole Toga thing, then Shane Tilton may be the man for you.

Chalked sidewalks are billboards; fliers are promotions, and T-shirts are supporters. With student elections come unknown names and parties, so how do students know for whom to vote? The TOGA party thinks they may have an answer.

STAND, the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, has welcomed a new chapter of its national membership here at Ohio University. The group began during winter quarter this year and has already had an effect by its refusal to take injustice sitting down.

This week Ohio University students and members of the Athens community had the chance to experience a wide range of unique films presented by the Athens International Film and Video Festival. Twenty-three feature films and 133 competition films were shown at the Athena, the Athena Grand and Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, from April 27 through May 3.

The Athens Film Festival is sure to showcase some of the area's most unique films created by talented individuals. Ohio University’s own students Charla Barker, Matthew Kraus and Mariana Quiroga direct one such film, "How Ohio Pulled It Off."

"How Ohio Pulled it Off" will be having an encore showing this Thursday night at 7:15 p.m. at the Athena. The filmmakers will be present to answer questions and discuss the film.

The Athens Film Festival this year is showcasing 163 exciting films from artists literally around the world. But who decides on those 163 films - only one-fifth of all films submitted for entry?

“I always knew I was going to write. I think in my family it was rather presumed that you were going to teach,” said Joan Connor, director of creative writing and professor of fiction, who has spent her entire life as a writer and an educator. Like many of the professors of writing here at Ohio University, Connor has won a number of awards for her writing.

With infamous stereotypes about sororities and fraternities, Ohio University’s chapter of Alpha Phi Omega shatters these labels and contributes what they can to the Greek life on campus.

One of Time Magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2006,” “Science on a Sphere” is a pioneer in film technology. A movie titled “Footprints” was created in 2006 for this revolutionary technology, and OU’s own Andre Gribou composed the soundtrack.

From the Baker Front Room to Donkey Coffee, students all across campus gather to enjoy musical shows, performed not only by established traveling groups, but by their own talented classmates, as well.

Every day, a student somewhere on campus sits in front of the television -- not to watch a re-run of “America’s Next Top Model" or another thrilling feat on "Fear Factor," but to watch the news.

Husband, father, faithful Christian, part-time homeless man. Each of these phrases describes Keith Wasserman, an Ohio University alumnus and the founder of the local center for the homeless called Good Works.

Many students would not expect their professors to own an iPod, not to mention have more songs on it than them. Andre Gribou, a professor in the School of Music, has about 12,000.

'Rick Okeefe, Athens' very own “piano man,” greets Court Street walkers and stumblers on most weekend nights with a piano, a friendly smile and a knack for improvisational jazz.

Greek life is mostly known on campuses for the parties and guaranteed fun. However, many students are unaware that there is more going on in the Greek community than the socials on weekends.

We all have people in our life that we cannot imagine being without, whether they are a shoulder to lean on, a friendly face at coffee shop or someone who truly makes us smile. At Ohio University, there are seven people that every student should know before graduation.

Bruce Dalzell is one of Athens' most cherished musicians and hosts. His list of accomplishments range from producing CDs, writing songs, appearing on the famous Mountain Stage Radio Show, writing movie scores and his well-known role as host for Open Mic Nights at The Front Room every Wednesday and Friday.