Writing an article about education in a college newspaper might seem redundant. However, I still feel as though the U.S. education system could greatly benefit by altering the structure and means by which it teaches, particularly during the elementary and secondary education years.

Welcome readers to the final installment of two girls one Column (for the fall 2009 semester, that is). We admire the fact that you are taking time out of your busy ‘'hell week'' in order to read or column. Or perhaps you've been on the floor of the Diz Liz for the past week and have finally picked yourself up and realized it isn't "Alcohol Poisoning Thursday" anymore. Or, most likely, you're just being lazy and haven't started. If that's the case, put this down, get a cup of Kobrick's, whose coffee, including their alleged decaf, contains more caffeine than a gallon of Red Bull mixed with two shots of crack cocaine, and make yourself a nest in Hammer. To everyone else, we'd like to offer a recap to the disturbingly short, but still deadly, fall semester.

Now I'm pretty liberal, like smoking weed while playing electric guitar with Satan liberal. I'm also an Atheist. I don't believe in a God, life after death or any of the other trappings of supernatural thinking. But I do believe in holidays.

There's a bottomless pit that communication students are graduating into right now. The Internet has changed a lot and like every new form of media, it's reorganizing the way things are done and the way people communicate and work. Part of that reorganization is the so-called extinction of the journalist.

I love white men. But if I want to get married to one, I can't go to Louisiana. Last week, Tangipahoa Parish Judge Keith Bardwell, a white male who claims to not be a racist, refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple. But he is not a racist.

I don't mean to antagonize or berate but intend to constructively criticize, and I hope this letter is taken that way. I do not personally know any of you editors, but I do know how stressful the work can be to publish a student newspaper.

America's obsession with fad diets and fast nutritional fixes has contributed to our adoption of, and at times, blind adherence to ridiculous marketing schemes.

Late Wednesday night, Nov. 11, while putting this week's issue of The Chronicle together, the staff realized that the University had done nothing to commemorate Veteran's Day.

Imagine wearing a Halloween mask that covers you entire head, including your nose and mouth. There are no slits for eyes, only a section of mesh in the fabric that provides you with a limited field of vision. Your neck, upper body and arms are covered. If the mask slips or starts to fall, you must adjust it from the inside.

On Wednesday, Newsday.com instituted a "pay for content" policy. I can't necessarily disagree with their doing this, but it isn't really the best thing for them to do, either. Newsday and I have a long, storied history. In 8th grade, I had a Viewpoints column published and they paid me a whopping $50. That was the most money I'd ever seen. And Newsday was good in my book.

Enough is enough! Hofstra students deserve a reliable and convenient shuttle service from the Mineola train station when returning from the city late on weekends. In the past two weeks alone, both of my experiences with the service have been disasters. After sitting in a shuttle parked in the train station lot for 30 minutes, earlier this month, I realized that our driver had fallen asleep at the steering wheel while her passengers waited patiently to return back to school.

Last week, a sheet detailing some of the "risks" related to the swine flu vaccine was passed around in a class of mine. The sheet discouraged people from getting the vaccine by explaining that it contained harmful chemicals. At the bottom was a claim so ridiculous it was actually funny; elites in control of the pharmaceuticals plan to use the vaccine to kill off certain segments of the population and enslave those who remain. Although, the idea would make for an interesting novel and movie if anyone wants to take advantage of that.

As evidenced through our numerous interactions with the University student body, there exists a serious level of mistrust between students and administration. The Progressive Student Union is deeply concerned with this mistrust, and in an effort to improve relations between students and administration, is proposing that the University make the budget public information that is readily viewable.

You make me sick. Not in the sense of having an absolute disgust for you, but because you're hacking up a lung beside me in class. Let's do a little role reversal. How would you feel if I were sitting next to you with the croup, handling an object being passed around class, and then hand it over to you, expecting you to grab it and collect all of my germs? You would be utterly disgusted, unless you enjoy being sick. In which case, this article wouldn't pertain to you.

Dear Mia,
My boyfriend and I have been together for about a year. At first, everything was going great until his ex-girlfriend moved back into town. It started with a text message from her while we were on a date. He looked at his phone, read the message and then began texting back.

Dear Mia,

Over the past few years I have found someone who I believe is destined to be my other half. There hasn't been a moment where I have questioned our relationship until now. The more time I spend around him, the more he seems distant and different. I know people change, but I fear that he is doing so to impress others for the wrong reasons. I care for him deeply and would like to speak to him about it but I do not know where to begin. What should I do?

Yours truly,
Hope*

We, the Resident Safety Supervisors, write to you on behalf of all Resident Safety student employees because we serve as a liaison between the Resident Safety Representatives (RSRs) and the student body. We are excited about this academic year because we had the opportunity to acquire a diverse and hard-working staff that shares an enthusiasm about student safety that is unprecedented. The safety of our residence halls is upheld by a partnership between RSRs and students. If the connection between the two parties is not solid, safety is jeopardized.

Internships are a vital part of the learning process for any student attending the University. They are even more vital to students in the School of Communication. These opportunities give students the chance to gain valuable hands-on experience while gaining real industry contacts. Without internships, it is nearly impossible for communication students to acquire a job or gain vital contacts that could lead to possible job opportunities.

The perilous situations faced by regions around the world in their grasp for security appear as if they will only intensify, particularly with recent announcements in the nuclear arena. Recently, scientists in India have begun attempts to persuade their government to test nuclear weapons; if they succeed, it will be the first time the country will have conducted tests in over a decade. This development, following relatively close behind North Korea's nuclear experiments and Iran's uranium enrichment, marks an uncertain point in which instability and escalating regional conflicts will make the next few months and years perilous.

Greetings, our lovely readers. We have been dragging ourselves around campus in a half-Red Bull, half-espresso induced coma. Yes, it is only Tuesday as we write this. Don't judge. After an assault of dirty looks in the cubby area for speaking above... not speaking... we decided this week to reflect on a favorite discussion of ours: our classmates. In between being told how and where to use a comma (no, we didn't learn that in 5th grade) and being assigned to read a chapter we don't plan on reading until the week before the midterm, we critique our fellow Hofstra students. Yes, we're judging you; all of you. But don't pretend you're not doing the same!  The following are a few of the most intolerable examples.