The hollow in Hollywood.

  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/25/opinion/the-golden-bachelor-aging.html In a world full of war, crime and corruption it is sometimes a bit refreshing to read an opinion piece about a non life threatening topic. I was very impressed at how much real world relevance was tied into this piece given it was written about a tabloid style reality tv show. When you paint a world full of idealism and unrealistic beauty standards, you have to deal with the repercussions that can have, often we think of this as an issue for younger groups of people, but the golden bachelor is a sign that is all changing. The writer of the piece even says this show is a perfect metaphor for the “Americas denial of aging and death”. There are certain realities that exist when you grow older, including many challenges you need to face both mentally and physically. If the golden bachelor wished to accurately portray a show full of baby boomers, for the sake of accuracy it would make sense to include both the p...

  According to reports from DAWN in 2022, Alcohol and Marijuana still account for two of the three substances that lead to the most emergency room visits. Of those who go to the ED from drug use, over 21% of visits involve the use of more than one substance. The most common reported substances for poly drug use were Alcohol and Marijuana, compromising nearly 50% of all cases when poly drug use involved Alcohol. Studies done into the motivations behind poly drug use indicate social factors can have significant impact on why people choose to take multiple substances at the same time, especially when it comes to the combination of alcohol and marijuana. While many users indicate using these substances in combination to alter or increase the effects of the initial substance used, it is uncommon for people to state they rely on this method of drug use when they are alone. Factors related to conformity are even more influential toward encouraging the concurrent use of alcohol and marijua...

  Are we a bit too harsh on the media ?   Aside from politicians, there are few groups of employed workers in America who are associated with more negativity than journalists. Trust between society and the media is as thin as it has been in recent history, due to this lack of trust and negative perception it can often be lost in the shuffle that many within the field of journalism still fill critical, even potentially helpful societal roles. Not everyone who works within the field is correlated to issues of polarization and bias, the journalists who showed up for the panel today were good reminders on why it’s so difficult to make generalizations in the field of jounralism. It is crucial to remember the field of journalism has several components that are all relevant in order to maintain functioning media in the country. All three speakers today work within the field of journalism, yet they hold three very different positions, making it nearly impossible to make judgements abo...

Despite the many allures, college campuses can be a stressful place, especially around midterm season. Examining the fall semester schedule though, you realize midterms largely coincide with an event that many students look forward to all year long, Halloween! Halloween is one of the few concepts capable of momentarily distracting a large population of students from their stresses, allowing them to relish the moment and enjoy their outlet. Walking into the Hadley village apartment complex lounge in UB last week was like walking into a war zone, there was constant distress and infighting and an overall unpleasant experience. Walking into the very same lounge right after the start of the Hadley village Halloween party, it was clear there was a noticeable difference in the atmosphere.  “Blood” filled the walls, corpses littered the floors, lights flashed as if about to burst, and cackles flooded the room, yet all you could hear was the sound of glee and comfort. Sasha, a UB senior dre...

  The most relevant news story running through the hearts of the American people is still most likely Taylor swift and Travis Kelce related. With the recent actions in Israel though, and the ongoing conflict that will and has already accompanied these actions, the media has shifted part of its focus onto that particular crisis. There are few topics in international politics that are more divisive than those related to Israeli and Palestinian conflicts, not only is there a deep history rooted in war and hate, but religion finds its way into the debate as well.     Ben Goggin is a veteran writer from NBC, he was recently tasked with writing an article on the recent retaliation by Israeli forces after the unforeseen attack of Israeli land. Goggin’s does a fantastic job of telling both sides of the story and sticking to a more objective lens on an issue that people seem to love to pick sides on. He also mentions NBC did not have reporters present in Gaza, so all reports can n...

  Personally, I always love when BBC or British outlets write about American football. Football was and probably still is my favorite sport since I was a kid, but it has always been a very national sport, when I’ve traveled it is very rare people care about the sport outside of the US or maybe Canada. In recent years the BBC has started to publish more stories on the nfl as the nfl has increased their game load in London, meaning not even going across the pond would allow you to escape from the Taylor swift, Travis Kelce bonanza. BBC and this author did a great job of including different perspectives on the story, the celebrity perspective, the effect on the nfl perspective and even the fan girl perspective. They also did a great job tying other notable celebrities into the story to draw readers in and understand jus how captivated America is by the given story. They do a great job of explaining to people that the nfl is very open to this relationship and is welcoming swift to thei...