Staying Above the Algorithm: How Skidmore Students Consume the News

When a major event occurs, whether it be an international conflict or an urgent national crisis, it is reported immediately across the United States. If you are a college student who has access to a smartphone or a computer, you know almost immediately. You may receive a notification on your phone, or the person next to you did and repeated the headline. , whatever way you receive the news, it’s clear that college students can access the news faster and more efficiently than ever.

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Activists Protest for Women’s Rights in Iran

On Friday, September 16, the morality police in Iran arrested and killed 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for incorrectly wearing her head scarf. Amini’s death was met with outrage and the first protests occurred outside Kasra Hospital, where Amini had been hospitalized and died. Thousands of people attended her funeral on September 17, and many women took off their headscarves in a show of their opposition to the mandatory hijab law.

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Tides Turning In Ukraine-Russia Conflict as Ukraine Counteroffensive Continues

In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the tide appears to be turning in favor of Ukrainian military forces, as their counteroffensive continues to regain lost territory in the northeast. Russian forces are on the run in parts of Ukraine that they had seized early in the conflict. Most recently, Russian troops have retreated from the Balakliya and Izyum area in the Kharkiv region and lost nearly all of the northern region of Kharkiv.

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Queen Elizabeth: What Her Death Means for the U.K. and the World

Queen Elizabeth’s uncontested reign of seventy years and two hundred and fourteen days came to an end when the ninety-six-year old monarch died on September 8th at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Queen Elizabeth II held a long and complicated reign, being loved and hated in equal measure. When she passed, her life was celebrated, ridiculed, criticized and analyzed. Tears of joy and tears of sadness have been shed.

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The Futility of Words

Grief is a curious thing.

You disappear inside an ocean of get well soons

And what can I do for you?

But what do you say when you can’t see the body

When elbow bumps replace hugs

And hand sanitizer is more common than flowers.

What do you say

when you say good-bye through video chat?

Those pixels can’t capture the stench of dried sweat

And the rhythmic hum of the ventilator,

A drumbeat in a sterile room.

You are left to ponder your existence on a screen.

What do you say

To unimaginable loss

Shrouded in the indignities of politics.

With 32,972 dead

What do you say?

I love you could suffice

But the cotton of the mask traps the words

And leaves you unmoored,

Drifting,

Alone.

Office of the President Announces Athletics Facilities Project Paused

In an email sent on Feb. 18, President Philip Glotzbach announced that the start of construction on the new Athletics Facilities Project has been paused. The campus-wide message outlines concerns from community members about environmental and financial sustainability, as well as the future of the campus’ Greenberg Child Care Center, as responsible for the update.

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