The Happy Trail

By Nayla Lee ...I don’t trust online vendors! Pictures of people who buy their prom dresses online only to receive an ill-fitting, badly crafted garment in the mail have made me apprehensive about making impor tant purchases online. Reading online reviews can be a good way to check if the site is legit, and asking a friend who has purchased the same product online can be even better. BUTT PLUG REVIEWS, VIA AMAZON.COM It’s also important to understand the dimensions of the toy — sometimes the numbers get confusing, but...

According to Campuspride.org, 201 college and university campuses in the United States currently offer gender-inclusive housing. As of 2016, this short list will need to be updated to include the University of Puget Sound. After much planning and careful thought, UPS Residence Life, acknowledging the growing gender diversity on our campus, has decided to add a Transgender and Non-Binary Housing Option for the 2016-2017 school year. While students may have had doubts about changes Residence Life has made in the past, - namely the decision to extend the live-on requirement...

  With the recent exhibit Art AIDS America at the Tacoma Art Museum and the current exhibit Surviving and Thriving: AIDS, Politics, and Culture in Collins Memorial Library, students may be wondering: why AIDS? Why now? The response to that question should be: why not? At no point since its first documented appearance has AIDS disappeared. The current consensus in the medical community is that HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) first passed from chimpanzees to humans when infected blood came into contact with bush hunters in Central Africa; from then, the...

February is Black History Month; a time to celebrate and recognize African American history and achievements when a lot of the time those achievements and moments in history go unnoticed and/or uncelebrated. It is important to recognize all of the things black people are voicing and fighting for, especially when they are so often silenced. There are plenty of people who can be celebrated, plenty of people who have accomplished a lot doing a huge array of things. There are scientists, politicians, activists, singers, etc. There are times when many...

  When condoms became more mainstream as an effective method to prevent both unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, one of the main pushbacks against using them was that they were awkward. People of all genders cited reasons such as not wanting to stop sexual activity in order to put on a condom. After all, it makes sense. Applying a condom involves walking across the room (assuming one is there), going back and putting it on, and then proceeding with one’s activities. It’s awkward and requires both parties to begin...

The representation of women of color is on the rise in media and pop culture today, yet they still face hypersexualization when being depicted in television and film. This hypersexualization continues to enforce racial stereotypes and has a longer lasting effect on women and young girls overall, regardless of race. It’s not uncommon to hear about women being objectified in the media, but it’s especially apparent when looking at the portrayal of women of color over the past few years; representation of women of color has definitely increased, especially when...

For many college students both at Puget Sound and across the nation, an idealized romantic partner is very likely to be the same age as the student in question. There are many reasons for this; such a partner will be more likely to be going through similar struggles, will better understand the student’s cultural references and will be more inclined to spend time in similar social circles, among many other reasons. The prospect of a romantic relationship with a non-student therefore becomes unappealing, and this is compounded if there is...

Wetlands (2013), originally premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2013 and then went on to the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. If you’ve heard of the film, it’s either because you recognize the Charlotte Roche novel on which it is based, Feuchtgebiete, or you are like me and have heard of it because of its extremely bawdy, incredibly explicit and potentially nausea-inducing content. Columnist Rebecca Schuman of Slate magazine described the film as Germany’s “Fifty Shades of Gross.” The film, directed by David Wnendt, follows the story of Helen...