Katie Ballinger | Contributing Author The Jilson House, pictured above, houses a museum and the Windham Historical Society. The city of Willimantic is broke, or “poor,” as mayor Tom DeVivo put it during a community discussion hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University’s Community Organizing students. On Monday, April 20th, we invited local stakeholders including town manager Rob Zarnetske as well as Billy Sayers and Josh Holman, members of the town council, to hear us o

Megan Hayes | Opinion Editor People studying at a table. / Photo by 'EyeFound', licensed by Envato.com . In the age of AI and Google at our fingertips, it is extremely easy to feel like you know everything in college... or at least, you can figure it out. This age, between 17 and 22 for many students, is a time of rapid self-discovery and it is commonplace to feel a sense of pride, thinking that you've "figured everything out". Often, many of us think we know what we're doi

Megan Hayes | Opinion Editor Smart phone social media usage. / Photo by 'Rawpixel', licensed by Envato.com . I've recently went off of social media, and I'm noticing a handful of changes. I'm not going to lie, I've been influenced by YouTubers going "analog", and it has solidified the maladaptive daydream in my head that going off of social media will fix all of my problems. I feel like many people in our generation have a love-hate relationship with social media, and I th

Jenna Lawrence | Managing Editor “Watching an Event on Television at Home” by MyLove4Art, Licensed by Envato As more reality TV shows are aired, specifically dating ones on Netflix, the more exploitation is created. And I mean exploitation in literally any sense you can think of. I recently started putting these kinds of shows on as background noise while I do other tasks, and when I’m not looking for something too serious to watch. The most recent ones I watched were Temptat

Jenna Lawrence | Managing Editor “Large Crowd Enjoying Music and Festival Activities” by monkeybusiness, Licensed by Envato Coachella 2026 has had a couple of interesting moments, to say the least, and it all leads back to cancel culture. Sabrina Carpenter’s performance should have gone as usual, but when she reacted to an audience member’s celebratory Arabic chant, she faced online backlash. She called it yodeling and “weird,” further saying she didn’t like it. Immediately

Megan Hayes | Opinion Editor Hockey players starting a game. / Envato.com "Pressmaster" A new TV series is on the forefront and it is absolutely sweeping young people, especially young women, off of their feet. Heated Rivalry, originally written by Rachel Reid in 2019 as another book to the Game Changers series, was recently adapted into a series starring Connor Storrie as “Ilya Rozanov” and Hudson Williams as “Shane Hollander” in November of 2025. The plot follows a slow

Julianna Concepcion | Opinion Editor Medical records, medical charts, paper charts in a stack / photo by 'rohaneh', licensed by Envato.com The emotional reactions we are seeing by the most recent release of the Epstein files is jarring. The fact that people across the world are seeing them be released in real time, naming celebrities, politicians, and other powerful elites, and there seems to be nothing happening as a result. It feels almost as if we have all reached a state

Julianna Concepcion | Opinion Editor Upload an image / photo by 'sergign', licensed by Envato.com In the four years I have been pursuing my education, I have finally realized something: I don’t take enough risks. Don’t get it twisted, I think I am a good student. I complete all my assignments, strive to do my best on projects, and work well with others. However, I was filling out a scholarship application (which I hardly ever do, as I am always confident that I will never

Mikayla Leskey | Arts and Entertainment Editor Girl wearing superhero costume and mask for Halloween doing flying pose. / Photo by 'DC_Studio', licensed by Envato.com . You know what I’ve always wanted to see? A TV series or short film or whatever about our everyday heroes in a superhero universe. Y’know our firefighters or teachers or nurses working together to save the civilians or clean up the city whilst Superman or Captain America are in the background defeating whatev

Julianna Concepcion | Opinion Writer work from home / Photo by 'Wdnld', licensed by Envato.com Being a senior kind of sucks. Time has sped past me, and while I’m happy to have had such amazing experiences in my first three years, my fourth year's been kind of sucky. Grad school applications, twenty-page writing samples, directed research—it's making my upcoming graduation feel too real. I’ve worked hard enough to deserve the degree, yes, but what of the friends I’ve made,

Julianna Concepcion | Opinion Writer Im winning / Photo by ' YuriArcursPeopleimages', licensed by Envato I remember when kid-friendly technology looked like Nintendo DSs, Wii’s, LeapFrog’s, and the games on my mom’s phone. At twenty-one years old, I believe I grew up in a time when tech for kids was normalized, yet still kid- and family-friendly. We once valued the idea of technological literacy in a changing world when it came to education for children, but now it has go

Mackenzie Sheldon | Contributing Author Office Workers Holding File Binders and Netbooks / Photo by 'GroundPicture', licensed by Envato.com Photographs of President Donald Trump and Jefferey Epstein have resurfaced, dating back to the 90s and early 2000s, and demands for the U.S. Government to release the Epstein files have now gone international. We want answers. On November 12th, over 20,000 emails were released to the public by lawmakers, proving an undeniable friendship

Megan Hayes | Editor-in-Chief Picture credit to Envato.com . Feminism is a touchy subject for many and often sparks many debates... often when speaking to different generations. You'd think that our generation would be better, however, this is unfortunately not the case! Sometimes, it is hard to stomach these topics as these days we are so politically and socially divided. On this topic, though, before we start, I'd like to delve into two important points: intersectionality

Julianna Concepcion | Opinion Writer As we enter the fifth week of the U.S. government shutdown, Americans have been given the devastating news that people will not be receiving their SNAP benefits if the shutdown continues into November. While the USDA has funds allocated for emergencies like these, the government has determined that they will not be using these funds for Americans who make use of their food stamps—instead, the shutdown will continue. SNAP benefits are

Julianna Concepcion | Opinion Editor In 2025, I’ve noticed that sitcoms aren’t as prevalent as they used to be. People love them, and even go as far as to binge ones that ended 10+ years ago, but we aren’t seeing newer ones get as popular. It’s possibly due to the fact that directors don’t make sitcoms anymore because people are constantly attempting to create the “new best” TV shows and series, without thinking about how less might just be more. Sitcoms tend to have very l

Kyle Tabor | Contributing Author For Part 2 of this series, I spoke to Dr. Youngblood, Professor and Associate Chair of the English Department, to talk generative AI – and some philosophy, too. Dr. Youngblood’s discipline is Digital Media, specifically video games, and the roles of gender and sexuality within them. His passion really started, I learned, with a Sega Genesis at 6 years old. Our conversation was far-ranging, and the rapport we’ve built up in previous classes

Julianna Concepcion | Staff Writer Just this week, we learned that Puerto Rican music artist Bad Bunny, who performs under the stage name “Bad Bunny,” will be performing at the Super Bowl in February 2026. Bad Bunny posted the announcement on his Instagram, where he is seen sitting atop a goalpost in a pava , a traditional Puerto Rican hat made of straw gathered from palm leaves. He is known not just for his music, but for his pride in Puerto Rican culture and his activism

Julianna Concepcion | Staff Writer On August 28th of this year, Paramore singer Hayley Williams released her newest solo album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party . The album features various songs about love, struggle, and her past, but one track that has been stirring up conversation on social media called “True Believer” shifts away from the other songs, directly calling out hate and hypocrisy. Motifs of Southern Christianity, Greed, and Racism “True Believer” seems to

Mikayla Leskey | Arts & Entertainment In case you didn’t know, TV Show host Jimmy Kimmel was recently suspended from ABC, his...

Julianna Concepcion | Staff Editor “No, I’m Not a Human” is a dystopian horror game, recently released on September 15 th and was in...