Fighting compassion fatigue in Haiti and New Orleans
By Qina Liu
First there are the news reports, projecting the dilapidated houses, the masses of human suffering and recent wreckage. Then, there are the floods of information on benefit concerts, charities and what the average person can do to help. After a week, a month or a year, [...]

By S.M.K.
You’re driving slowly through your residential neighborhood listening to “TiK ToK” by Ke$ha. The windows are down, and you have decided this is the best car ride ever. No, it isn’t Ke$ha or the good weather—it’s the fact that you’re getting road head.  Yes, road head. 
It was a Tuesday afternoon, and my then-boyfriend picked [...]

Image by Amanda Riggio

 
By Keith Hadad
It isn’t often that you find a place that has a healthy combination of both the formal and the casual, but WildFire is a rare exception. The lounge and restaurant may be new, but I’m sure many would agree that they will soon become thriving Ithaca favorites. 
Once you walk into [...]

Reflections on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 
By Elise Springuel
I stood on a rooftop, in the middle of Hebron, in a daze. The Middle Eastern sun above me was hot and harsh like always; the city below was surprisingly quiet. A few feet away, my friend was subtly shooting pictures of the Israeli Defense Force soldier milling around [...]

The debate over gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale heats up

By Jacquie Simone
As drilling companies are waiting to push water and chemicals into the ground through hydrofracking, activists are pushing back. Recently, community members have been speaking out against natural gas drilling in Tompkins County, fearing it will negatively affect the environment and possibly [...]

“Three is a charm, two is not the same,” Britney Spears croons on her latest pop hit, “3,” “I don’t see the harm, so are you game?”
Threesomes have seen a recent surge of attention in the mainstream, between Spears’ melodic ode to them and a highly publicized hook-up among characters of The CW’s Gossip Girl.
However, [...]

By Gena Mangiaratti
The Japanese restaurant Samurai is immediately impressive upon walking in. It looks small from the outside, but once inside it extends far back. At the end of the long corridor-like dining area, Christmas lights surround the threshold of a dark-looking room, which I found out was a Karaoke bar with songs available in [...]

Why the FDA’s “gay blood” ban is an obstacle to the LGBT rights movement
By Adam Polaski
Sitting in a waiting area where four other students were poring over bound-and-laminated pamphlets, I read through the eligibility requirements for donating blood to the American Red Cross. Admittedly, I was only half-reading the paperwork; I had donated before, in [...]

New Roots Charter School Opens in Ithaca
By Emily Miles
Scrawled in marker and crayon on faded beige paper, a commitment is boldly proclaimed on the walls of the New Roots School in downtown Ithaca: “Respect yourself, respect others, respect the environment.” Students and faculty members of the newest public education institution in the Ithaca City School [...]

By Keith Hadad
Quality and freshness are taken for granted way too often. Chef/owner/giver of everything to the life of his business (and Ithaca College theater graduate ‘07), Sebastian Villa, strives for the excellence of fresh ingredients. So much so that he personally visits the local farms and growers that supply him to observe how the [...]