I remember learning about the Duomo, the dome of the Florence Cathedral, in art history Professor Eric Frank’s “Art of the Early Italian Renaissance” (ARTH 374) class in the Fall 2012 Semester. Frank and I were meeting about my final paper for the class and he asked me if I had ever seen the Duomo in person. I regretfully admitted...

Walk into The Tiger Cooler and attempt to eat a wasteless meal. The task is nearly impossible. The modern Cooler building was constructed in 1997 with efficiency and planned obsolescence etched into the master plan. The building and operations have remained virtually the same ever since, but student consumption consciousness and dietary habits have evolved. Environmental awareness is at the...

Although Los Angeles is known worldwide as the home of Hollywood, the film industry rarely encroaches on the daily lives of locals. Yet most students at Occidental College have seen more film crews than an average, native Angeleno. While tweets announcing Ben Affleck's presence on campus rile up and excite much of the student body, the increasing presence of film...

Numerous heated conversations have transpired about the social scene at Occidental since the moratorium on school dances last fall, yet virtually none delve into the complex relationship students have with alcohol. Although both sides of the debate have raised pointed questions and concerns about the implications of Occidental's policy regarding alcohol use, the extent to which students use and abuse...

California is currently experiencing the third straight year of below-average rainfall, causing the state to enter into a severe state of drought. The lack of rainfall decimates harvests and infringes on the ability of local authorities to reliably provide basic amenities such as drinking water. Simultaneously happening on the other side of the world, following months of severe storms that...

The media capitalize on scandal. Philip Seymour Hoffman's recent drug overdose was still feeding stories ten days after his death. Comedian Sid Caesar passed away another ten days later, and again the media had the opportunity to report on drugs: Caesar was an addict in his thirties. But for stars such as Caesar, Shirley Temple Black and Pete Seeger (two...

During the 2011-2012 academic year, the Faculty Learning Committee (FLC) held workshops to discuss how professors could integrate iPads into their teaching methods. Professor of biology Roberta Pollock and professor of kinesiology Marcella Raney advocated for iPad usage and currently experiments with them as a part of their curricula. The integration of iPads in these classes is a step in...

A dance studio should be a safe place for jumping to extraordinary heights and learning to land quadruple turns. The protective gear for a dancer is a sprung floor, which helps prevent injuries from harsh landings. The Occidental dance studio does not meet these requirements due to the lack of necessary spring and grip to allow for safe landings and...

Students at Occidental College share certain common experiences as a product of attending the same school. One of those is move-in day. The college works hard with Residential Education and Housing Services (ResEd), O-Team and other student volunteers to see that the move-in process at the beginning of the academic year runs smoothly. But then ResEd fails to pay the...

One of the advantages of living in a small neighborhood like Eagle Rock is how close together everything and everyone is. But one of the aspects of this area that does not prompt people to think “small community” is the traffic that constantly reminds us that we live in Los Angeles. For a long time, traffic in Eagle Rock has...