The first time I saw one with my own eyes, I had no idea what I was looking at. It is a one-foot tall stainless steel cone with a dial and three buttons (red, yellow, green) and what appears to be a Jiffy Pop bag attached to the top. Volcano is printed in cursive between the mystery dial and the row of stoplight-colored buttons. It seems like some kind of home appliance you might see in a 1950’s vision of what life in the twenty-first century might look like. The future is now, I thought.

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As summer continued, politics in America began to focus on health care reforms proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. Both sides have passionate views on the subject which was apparent at town halls. Read the full story

Everyone can feel it coming. It’s thick in the air. We brush it off. We say things like: “They’ve been saying that for a hundred years.” But those lines are starting to lose meaning. What if the end is coming? It seems like we all feel it. At least we’ve heard about it from someone, or read on it. Read the full story

What is our city but a collection of buildings and open spaces? The Dudley tower. The Landmark. The Great Dane. The Red Eye. The 400 block. We know these places around the city. The coffee shops and diners, the movie rental stores and the markets. The hotels and the movie theaters. There are places to visit, but there is no real organized communication. Nothing is discussed. We don’t really know our neighbors. Read the full story

Fall is setting in. Are we ready for it? The last ice age 9 month winter was a horror that I will tell my grandchildren about with tears in my eyes, and they say the upcoming winter will be even colder. I’m beyond grief or stress, I’m just mad. I don’t want winter to come. If I had a horse I’d ride it out of town. Read the full story

Here we are, in the current state of the world, politics, war, scum, grease, candy, and the post fallout landscape beyond the well documented death of the American dream. This is our empty cache, our depleted paradise. What was the American dream? ..A steady job, survival, a fortune, greed, power, an empire? I couldn’t say for sure. I’ve read about it, that’s all. Stories told by free spirits, junkies, perverts, dope fiends, and aging hippies. Read the full story

I want you to agree…that this journey of our individual lives is something incredible and beautiful. I want you to agree that it’s something worth cherishing and remembering. For the best part: it’s worth living in form, in this moment and in the now. Read the full story

April 15th 2009, not only marked the day taxes were due, but also marked the first Tea Party, alleged grassroots protests for lower taxes, smaller government and the inclusion of God in our government. Besides playing off of a significant moment in our Nation’s history, these events also claim to be nonpartisan (which after seeing a picture of President Obama as Adolf Hitler, is hard to believe). Statisticians at fivethirtyeight.com, estimated that over 300,000 people in 346 cities turned out for the first round of Tea Parties. Read the full story

As the first semester of this college term comes to a close nationwide, exams and final projects consume each and every college student. Completing assignments and studies means late nights, and for some, an extra large pot of coffee. Our state of ultra competitive schooling and placement into the shrinking American job market brings an overwhelming sense for students to try and find an edge. More and more students are finding that edge pharmaceutically, in pill form.

Adderall, an amphetamine medication containing many of the same ingredients as crystal meth, is used for the treatment of ADD and ADHD. It is by far the drug of choice here at UWMC and other schools nationwide. This is no new fad. The drugs cheap price and easy attainability allow any and all the possibility to try it. However, the rising amounts of deaths, strokes, and dependency attributed to Adderall have turned the wonder- drug into a full blown student epidemic.

The Forum met with three students, two male and one female, who wished to stay anonymous. Their names have been changed in this article. These are their accounts on the use of Adderall within our student population.

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