We’ve all been in that awkward position. All of sudden, your friends are relying on you to not only throw a last-minute holiday party but to entertain them as well.
Luckily, throwing said last-minute party is not as daunting as it seems. You only need a few key elements: atmosphere, food, drinks and games. Best of all, these things can fit into a box.
On Saturday, Nov. 5, campus security arrested two men after they were found sexually assaulting a woman on Southwest 10th Avenue and Market Street on the PSU campus.
The perpetrators, Leslie Lee Thornton Jr. and Timothy Nathaniel Hogue, were arrested in the early hours of the morning and subsequently charged with sexual assault. Thornton was charged with rape, sodomy and sex abuse, and Hogue was charged with rape in the first degree.
But at their court date, both Hogue and Thornton were dismissed of all charges. Why? Because the alleged victim failed to show up and testify before a grand jury.
Like little green bees, Oxfam representatives congregate on the Portland State campus and swarm around students, asking for donations to support aid for a South African famine. Of the many clipboard-wielding charitable organizations begging for your money, Oxfam is perhaps the most noticeable.
Oxfam consists of 15 different organizations working in 98 countries “with partners and allies around the world to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice,” according to oxfam.org Oxfam stresses that respect for human rights is the key to lifting poverty.
While ending poverty seems to be Oxfam’s ultimate goal, the organization also aids in climate change, agriculture, gender justice, education, health, trade (not the free kind, mind you) and establishing natural and sustainable resources.
Everyone’s favorite time of year is fast approaching. Yes, bring out the decorations, festive food, good company and…finals?
With finals coming up, many students are receiving their midterm exams and papers back and realizing that their organizational skills are not up to par with what is expected of them. Luckily, Portland State offers many workshops and campus resources to help those that are organizationally challenged.
The year 2012 is bringing with it many different things: a presidential election, the release of The Hobbit movies, the 2012 Olympics and, according to the Mayan calendar, the end of the world. However, as exciting as all of those are, the new year could also be bringing in many changes in terms of politics and benefits.
As soon as the new year begins, Congress will decide whether or not to renew unemployment benefits. According to the Oregon Employment Department, these possible cuts could cause the number of jobless Oregonians to grow exponentially.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives recently introduced a bill that would extend federally funded unemployment benefits for another year. While Congress has not voted against passing an extension on unemployment benefits, this particular bill comes with a $45 billion price tag attached.
In our current economic state, more government spending is generally something to avoid unless those expenditures are going to help create jobs and stimulate the economy.
That’s exactly what Senator Ron Wyden wants to do. The Oregon democrat wants to set up a new patent office in Portland, a proposal that’s been met with much support.
Through this patent office, Wyden hopes to create an estimated 200 to 500 jobs, which would result in a lower unemployment rate for Portland as well as the rest of the state.
Contrary to popular belief, Portland isn’t just a little hipster city filled to the brim with gluten-free bakeries, food carts and artsy boutiques.
Just across I-205 lies a whole new world: East Portland. Separated from the rest of the city by the Willamette River, East Portland houses at least a quarter of Portland’s population.
It is also regarded as the poorest part of the city.
Ah, late autumn. This time of year is filled with enjoyable things: delicious food, fun holidays and all the television series premiering and striving to be the “next big thing.”
And in case you’re wondering what that next big thing is, it’s pretty simple. Move over, vampires—witches and fairy tales are in.
Riding the waves of the CW television network’s Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries comes The Secret Circle. The plot centers on six teenage witches with Britt Robertson’s Cassie Blake as the main protagonist.
Standing outside in the cold is how everyone wants to spend a weeknight, right? Okay, maybe not.
But that’s exactly what students living in the Broadway Housing Building dorms got to do on Oct. 18.
Due to a small, grease-related fire on the sixth floor, all students living in the Broadway housing building were evacuated around seven in the evening and were told to remain outside until fire crews had checked the entire building.
Although it’s sometimes hard to distinguish between the Republican debates going on right now and a sketch from Saturday Night Live, the debates serve as a reminder of what’s coming in the next year. With the 2012 election season rapidly approaching, students should be registering to vote, bulking up their repertoire of political knowledge and looking for a candidate with whom they can identify.
With the onset of the extensive media coverage of the upcoming election and the Republican debates, Portland State students should remember that voting is a privilege—and not one common to everybody.
I do it, you do it, everyone does it, and on a daily basis. No, we’re not talking about drugs or masturbation.
We’re talking about procrastination.
Procrastination is the act of replacing high priority tasks with low priority actions, thus putting off the more important things until later. According to a study done in 2007 by psychologist Piers Steel of the University of Calgary, 80 to 95 percent of college students procrastinate, particularly on homework. While some psychologists have cited this behavior as a coping mechanism for anxiety, others argue that procrastination is simply another form of impulsiveness.