Break Out of the Amherst Bubble

The temptation for students to stay on or near Amherst’s picturesque campus can be great, especially for first-years who are not yet accustomed to the school and surrounding town. However, the areas surrounding Amherst include many fun destinations that are prime spots for students to explore. Next time you have a free weekend, try going to these places. Puffer’s Pond A scenic hangout for students looking to relax and enjoy nature away from campus, Puffer’s Pond offers a picturesque, bucolic se

A Writing Challenge Worth 50 Pictures

Thirty days of frantic writing, increasingly convoluted plotlines and endless cups of coffee as December looms ever closer. Thirty days of alternating between excitement at having reached a landmark (10,000 words! 20,000 words!) and bang-your-head frustration caused by writers’ block: every participant’s nightmare. This is the experience of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an annual writing program that demands its participants to write 50,000 words between Nov. 1st and Nov. 30th in ret

Taking Pride In A “Fearless” Amherst

Why do we want our photographs taken? In this world where time inevitably passes, it is impossible to keep anything but a vague memory of the things that are not happening to us in the moment. We don’t even remember the exact taste of the last meal we had, or how we felt five minutes ago. When exactly were you happy in the past month? Hanging out with friends on some couch of some common room of some floor, a walk under clear skies, seeing that beautiful tree with its leaves half-turned that was

An Introduction to the Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD

Have you ever seen an opera before? For me — and, I’m sure, a good portion of our student body — the answer would be no. The time and money required to go see an opera are quite considerable, not to mention that opera is not an art form that many young people have been routinely exposed to. This season of The Met: Live in HD, however, the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live transmissions of world-renowned operas to movie theaters around the world, will change my answer from no to y