Almost all college students have experienced that feeling in the late hours of the night when they have a craving or the munchies for comfort food.  However, I have one close friend who takes it to another level.  Around 2 o’clock every Friday or Saturday night my friend starts the attempt to recruit the rest of us to order late night food from Roma’s Little Italy on York Road.

Read more: Can I Take Your Order?

By: Vicky Valet

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that as the years go by, the most wonderful time of the year gets far less holly jolly than it once was when I was a kid. Now, this could be because I have since realized that Santa Claus does not exist (sorry if I just ruined that for anyone), or it could be due to the fact that my Christmas Eve celebration generally consists of me working and then reheating leftovers by myself. However, I don’t think that the big-guy-in-the-red or my microwave feast are to blame. I think my real problem with Christmas is that it eats up every last cent in my bank account.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love buying people gifts. From picking out the perfect present to seeing the look on that person’s face when they tear apart the wrapping paper, everything about it is pretty fantastic – the only problem is that my enthusiasm tends to send me a tad overboard, and sailing straight into a deep, dark, sea of debt. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who experiences this holiday-induced financial disaster each December, so this year, I decided to research a few helpful tricks to keep your friends happy without leaving your wallet sad.

1. Get out of the mall and into the kitchen: Instead of buying a bunch of gifts for everyone you know, find a tasty holiday recipe and bake it in bulk. Not only will you have saved money, but also you might be saving them time by preparing their holiday desert for them. Plus, who doesn’t like having a happy tummy?

2. Hold on to that wrapping paper and step away from the trash can: Although the cost of wrapping paper might not seem like a lot, it adds up; so, why not recycle it? As long as you don’t tear it to shreds, gift-wrap and bows can always be used again.

3. You can’t buy memories, but you can share them: Make someone a scrapbook filled with pictures and souvenirs from all your favorite times together. It’s personal, timeless, and thoughtful – what more could someone want in a gift?

4. The Internet – it’s more than just Facebook and Google: Subscribe to websites, such as Groupon or WagJag, which send their users daily emails offering massive discounts of 50-90% off of popular items, like tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, horseback riding lessons and gear, or a stay in a deluxe room at the Mount Vernon Hotel. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

With all of these useful tips out there, there is no reason that you have to be a Scrooge to save money this holiday season. So, get saving and have a green Christmas.

By: Shayne Harris 

The hours before 11 AM on the weekend shouldn’t even bother to exist for college students. I mean really, most of us don’t  even know what  the meal commonly referred to on weekdays as breakfast, even looks like on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. Oversleeping is also a thing of the week and is often eliminated from the weekenders jargon, but this past Sunday morning, it made quite the comeback in my life.

Read more: Stop, Drop,Then What?

By Ashley Twaddell-Staff

A recent article I read posed some serious food for thought. Why is it that we blog? Who blogs and where is this new media force going? The article Why We Blog written By Bonnie A. Nardi, Diane J. Schiano, Michelle Gumbrecht, and Luke Swartz, studied 23 people from New York or California that were primarily white and middle to upper class. They began their study by looking for Standford-hosted blogs and who was writing them. What they discovered was the variety of reasons, ways and amount of content the bloggers had posted. Some wrote about serious topics such as AIDS, heart disease and science and health care policy, while another posted personal revelations about her romantic attachments. A point made about blogs was that most bloggers are acutely aware of who their readers are and will typically blog in order to suit both their own needs as well as those of their readers. The more hits they get the more they'll be likely to continue writing or posting the same content.

There are five main motivations for why people blog: documenting one's life, providing commentary and opinions, expressing deeply felt emotions, articulating ideas through writing and forming and maintaining community forums. This doesn't include all bloggers, but it does cover a very large majority of the people who do because the topics are so broad. In essence though, blogs are used as a form of commentary in one way shape or form. We share thoughts, fact, opinions and media content through them, just like through many other social media forms. With this being said, blogs can be used as a great form of creating and supporting a community of people with a shared common interest, or they can be used for personal reasons such as a diary that you can post to privately.

"Part of the allure of blogs is the easy way they move between the personal and the profound." They can begin with a simple story and then they can transform into a bigger social statement or message because they can be accessed and viewed so easily that that message can spread. Everyone in a sense can become a critic or commentator.

So while you have a minute, check out some of the blogs that students and student groups post these days. What do they say about Loyola student's interests? Do you have your own blog? Why do you create it and where do you see it going?