Anyone who has ever seen a movie or TV show about college knows that on Halloween weekend students go out in full force to party. Whether some students wish to express their creativity through intricate homemade costumes or other feel the need for thousands of other students to see their underwear, dressing up to go out is a must. 


This weekend I saw costumes of all kinds as well as ridiculous amounts of waste and mess. Candy wrappers litter the classrooms from professors or students handing out candy in class, various pieces of costumes are strewn across campus, and the surroundings streets are filled with empty bottles, red cups, and other littler. 

Not only did more students than normal go to parties, they wasted more resources and left them in various places in the neighborhood. The parties spanning Thursday through Monday have left the surrounding area in complete disarray. The carelessness that many college students exude towards waste and littering really frustrates me. It baffles me that students are not bothered by the amount of red cups on the streets around campus. Is it really that difficult to recycle them after you are finished with them, or clean them up the day after the party if you went out or hosted people?

It disappoints me that students waste so many resources year round, not just during Halloween. It makes me wonder why they are so careless — is it because they aren’t paying for the cups, they don’t have to pick them up, they didn’t buy their costume, they don’t pay for the trash, everyone else is doing the same thing, or a mix of these things? Without understanding why students act like this we will never be able to change their behaviors. I guess it’s time for someone to go out on Wednesday and Friday nights and start questioning the students wandering the streets. 


If you do go out, please reuse and recycle your red cups. You can even bring your own reusable cup from home. Encourage your friends and fellow partiers to do the same. 

It seems like there is a large misconception around campus that you have to have long clothes lines to be able to hang out your laundry. It’s disappointing because students have more room to air dry their laundry than they assume. I can fit an entire load of laundry and then some on my clothes rack. You really only need as much floor space as your drying rack takes up. In a pinch I have even placed mine on a desk or on top of my bed (the bed is more of a challenge because you have to balance the weight to keep it from tipping off). However, I am incredibly lucky this year that I have a balcony that fits my drying rack so well.

It is fairly easy to air dry clothes with very little space. Clothes racks come in all shapes and sizes that will fit into even the smallest corners. Hanging clothes on hangers in doorways or off any other surface is another way to increase the amount of clothes you can dry at once.


Hanging my clothes out to dry not only saves energy, but it also makes my clothes last so much longer. Most of my clothes have never been through the dryer, and they look great. All of my athletic fabrics are still holding their shape and stretch, and my jeans are still the same color as when I bought them. Ditching the dryer can save you money, even if you live in the dorms and don’t pay for electiricy. The longer your clothes last the less you have to replace them or repair them. 

This week has been absolutely brutal. Between midterms, group projects, the constant onslaught of interviews and writing for the paper and for class, and trying to find time to sleep, I unfortunately had time for little time for anything else.

But out of this disaster of a week I got a gem — my first byline. What was not only the most fun I had all week, the San Jose Bike Party was also the best research I have ever had to do for school. Check out my story!

San Jose’s Rolling Party

Riders decorated and lit up their bikes, blasted their music on speakers attached to their bikes or on a trailer towed behind them and dressed up as angels and demons in honor of the “Rapture” themed San Jose Bike Party on Friday night.

The San Jose Bike Party is a community bike ride organized and run by volunteers. On the third Friday of every month, people gather to ride their bikes around San Jose in different routes of about 20-30 miles with two stops along the way. The event draws people from all around the Bay Area, including Santa Clara students.

More than 4,000 people, many in costumes, hit the San Jose streets with their bikes in celebration of the ride’s fourth anniversary on Friday night. Their shouts of “Bike Party” and cheering echoed through the neighborhoods along the route.

“I like the energy,” said freshman Karina Soto, a San Jose native who participated in the Bike Party for her eighth time on Friday night. “(The Bike Party) is a lot of fun and everyone is really open and having a good time.”

To continue the story go to The Santa Clara  or pick up the paper on campus.

After the electric car disappeared off the road in 2006, all was silent until recently. “Revenge of the Electric Car” looks into why car companies purposefully destroyed electric cars (as shown in “Who Killed the Electric Car“) only to bring them back in full force in recent years.

I have heard students talk about the local farmers market since I was a freshman, and yet for a variety of reasons I had never gone to one until this weekend. Even though it was small, the market still provided fantastic local foods, and saved me a trip to the store. 


Farmers markets can be incredible resources and assets to a community. They not only provide a place for farmers and local businesses to sell directly to people, but they also foster a sense of community and encourage people to get outside and interact with one another. 

At the farmers market near campus there were not only vendors for fruits and vegetables, but also bread, baked goods, jams, flowers, jewelry, and ready to eat foods. 


I enjoyed being able to interact with the vendors and see the wide variety of foods grown so close to where I live. The beautiful weather certainly helped as well. 


For Santa Clara students and local residents, check out the farmers market in Franklin Square, Santa Clara every Saturday morning. To find a farmers market near you check your local newspaper as well as searching online (most farmers markets are listed online). 

It’s the third Friday of the month and thousands of Bay Area residents are gearing up to make their way to the San Jose Bike Party. Today’s theme is “The Rapture” in honor of the potential end of the world tonight. They have asked everyone to dress up as angels and demons in case the prediction yet again does not come true and Harold Camping needs some help saving face.

If you are an avid cyclist or just want to have a good time with a few thousand other people you should come out tonight and ride with us. For more information check out SJ Bike Party.

It seems as though genetically modified organisms (GMOs) come up, a great deal of speculation and confusion soon follows. I for one have had assumptions of how ubiquitous GMOs are, but it’s completely different to see the startling figures in graphics.

Check back soon for a detailed look into GMOs.

Due to the fact that it is midterms, I did not have a ton of time to make anything for my friend’s birthday. In an attempt to make it as sustainable as possible with very little time or resources I ended up having to make cupcakes in papers as well as from a mix (which I am strongly against). Even though I did have to make them from a mix (and they do not taste as good as if I had made them from scratch), I made sure that they were organic and not full of preservatives or other unnecessary chemicals. 


What I could have done to make them more sustainable:
– Buttered the pan or used reusable silicon baking cups instead of cupcake papers.
– Made them from scratch to remove the plastic bags as well as the unnecessary waste from shipping the mixes. 
– Put them in a reusable container that is easy to cary and that my friend could keep.


Although they were not ideal, these cupcakes were still a way to celebrate his birthday without having to buy store-made cupcakes and waste even more resources and plastic packaging (plus all of the staff in the newsroom enjoyed them). 

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