Anonymous,

The easiest way to talk to someone about politics is to not talk about them at all.

Unfortunately, the 2016 election is still fresh in people’s minds, and politics seems to find it’s way into almost everybody’s conversation right now.

You can respectfully decline to comment if someone asks you about your views by saying something like, “I wish to keep my opinions to myself.”

You could also have a mature conversation about them.

Keep an open mind and educate yourself about both political parties and their philosophies.

The more you know, the better insight you can provide in conversation.

Stand behind what you believe in; you are your own person.

You make your own decisions and only you should have that kind of influence on yourself.

Don’t think a certain way because someone else told you to.

If someone has a different opinion than you, simply state that you respect their opinion, but you just don’t agree with it.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and it is okay to disagree with someone, even your parents.

Aside from politics, you probably disagree with a lot of things your parents believe in, so treat political views the same way.

If the conversation becomes heated, try bringing something else up, particularly something you know you and your parents can agree on, such how funny Joe Biden memes are.

Good Luck!

Alex

Ask Alex questions can be submitted at kscequinox.com

Every college student has heard of the “freshman 15” or experienced it.

Yes it is a real thing.

But think about it, your eating, drinking and exercising habits drastically change as you transition into the college lifestyle.

The most important thing is being comfortable in your own skin. You are the only person who can make that change however.

Remember, you aren’t in high school anymore.

As you get older your body starts changing and your metabolism slows down.

Unfortunately if you are experiencing said freshman 15 you need to start making these lifestyle changes.

Start by exercising at least four times a week.

You don’t necessarily have to hit the gym everyday but even so much as going for a walk downtown can be beneficial.

We are lucky enough to have a gym that has lots of equipment, flexible hours and no cost to students, however if the gym for whatever reason doesn’t appeal to you try workouts in your room.

Youtube for example has so many free workout routines you can do in the comfort of your own home.

The next step is improving your eating habits.

It is very easy and convenient to grab a slice of pizza at the Dining

Commons but there are several other ways you can utilize the D.C.

Get creative and try making your own salad by getting some grilled chicken or tuna from the stir-fry or wrap station.

Also, don’t be afraid to try some vegan options, you’d be surprised how delicious the plates can be while also being a healthier option.

Make sure you only have healthy snacks in your room as well, such as popcorn, fruit, or granola.

Don’t be so hard on yourself, focus on school and make sure you maintain a healthy lifestyle.

If you stress too much your body will be affected even worse.

Good Luck!

Alex

Ask Alex questions can be submitted at kscequinox.com

Jen,

If you have reasons to believe that your roommates are stealing from you, don’t beat around the bush. Confront your roommate immediately.

You don’t necessarily have to accuse them of stealing from you, but mention something along the lines of, “I can’t find my watch, have you seen it?”

Just because you are suspicious doesn’t mean you have the right to go through their stuff, but keep an eye out when you’re around them.

If it becomes more obvious that they are indeed stealing from you, tell someone else, such as your RA.

Always lock your room when you are not there and place valuables in specific places so you’ll notice if they are moved.

Try setting boundaries with your roommates,

There is no problem with sharing your things with them.

Let them know that they can use your stuff as long as they ask, that way they might be less apt to take something of yours behind your back.

Good luck!

Ask Alex questions can be submitted at kscequinox.com

“I think my professor hates me for absolutely no reason.  I’ll do my homework the way the rubric says and I still get points off, but my friends who had the same assignment answers get a better grade than me.  My professor hates me!!! Help!” – Jackie

Jackie,

Every professor is different. In college, you’ll come across professors who you’ll never forget and professors you wish you could forget.

The reality is you’re stuck with him or her so you might as well make the most out of it.

Every professor is required to have office hours dedicated to helping students.

Swing by your professor’s office during that time and ask questions about your assignments and what you did wrong.

Get to know your professor.

Odds are, they don’t hate you; they might just not know you like they know the other students.

Students who have had professors from previous classes naturally have a different relationship with them than you will at first.

Don’t let your professor’s attitude discourage you from putting your best effort into the class.

If you give your professor a reason to dislike you, such as not showing up to class or not turning in assignments, it will be much harder for you.

Keep trying your best, go to class prepared and participate.

Your professor will have no other choice than to like you!

Good Luck!!

Ask Alex questions can be submitted at kscequinox.com

“I’m a freshman at KSC and my boyfriend goes to school at a different university in another state. 

We’ve only been dating for a year and it’s not that I don’t trust him, I just don’t trust other girls. 

How do I talk to him about cheating without him thinking I’m crazy?”

Anonymous,

If you have been dating your boyfriend for a year you guys should be comfortable enough to ask each other questions regarding your own relationship without him making assumptions about your sanity.

Be honest and open and he will reciprocate.

If you hide your true feelings from him odds are he might do the same.

If you are going to directly ask him about other girls, don’t do it over texting.

If he’s cheating on you with girls from his school, which could be possible, it will be a lot easier to tell face-to-face than in a text message.

You don’t want to come across as insecure so don’t start accusing him of something he isn’t doing without proof.

Look through his social media pages.

If he is tagged in a couple of girl’s pictures, simply ask about the girl. “I saw your pictures with Ashley, does she live in your dorm?”

If you can, go visit him at school and introduce yourself to his new friends.

Make it known that he has a girlfriend.

This could steer girls away from him, because he is taken, but could also get them to tell you if something is going on there.

Don’t stress about it too much, after all, he is innocent until proven guilty.

Don’t be suspicious without reasoni

ng, as it could affect your college experience.

Trust your boyfriend, he is allowed to have female friends.

Be open with each other, but don’t mention cheating unless you have reasons to believe you should.

Ask Alex questions can be submitted at kscequinox.com

The Keene State Owls are no strangers to collaborating with the community. The athletic department demonstrates how they work with the community year-round. From working with children to volunteering at the special Olympics, community service shows to be an important aspect in team bonding at KSC.

The men’s soccer team volunteered by cleaning a local farm.

Contributed photos from KSC Field Hockey

KSC junior Tom Bartley said he believes helping out in the community shows that his team cares. “We form a friendship and bond with the people of the community and, in turn, we have that feeling of fellowship by sharing common attitudes,” Bartley said. “If we are involved with the community then the community will be involved back with us, creating a good relationship with the team,” he added.

Last Saturday, the Keene State swim team volunteered at Franklin Elementary School for a field day.

KSC senior and swimmer Graham Lott said the experience was good for the team to bond and become closer. “Everyone seemed happy to be there to help out,” Graham said. “ It shows the community that we are involved and care, but it also feels good to get out there and better the children’s lives.” Lott said whether it be workers, students, kids or residents, we all belong to the Keene community and we all can come together to help better it.

Every year, the women’s soccer team does clinics with the youth programs in the area. In the past, they have participated in a breast cancer awareness walk, raising over $2,000.

Contributed photos from KSC Swim & Dive

The head coach of the women’s soccer team Denise Lyons says her team works with the community a lot, as it is a very important aspect of learning by giving back.

“I think it’s good for the team to give back to the community and involve them as a life learning lesson to give back, as well as an importance for the college experience,” Lyons said.

Working with the community helps her team make good connections to work with different groups within the community.

“Right now, my team is doing a pen pal program with Bellows Falls School where the players e-mail back and forth with the students of that school,” Lyons said.

Contributed photos from KSC Field Hockey

Some of her players even watch the kids play sports and the students come to their games. “It is fun and allows them to be role models,” Lyons added.

KSC senior and field hockey player Sami Smith said her team hosts coaching sessions with Trilogy Field Hockey Camp.

“Every year, we coach them and sometimes we go to the high school or middle school practices to help them out,” Smith said.

Smith added her team also does clinics with more than one hundred girls from kindergarten to high school.

Contributed photos from KSC Swim & Dive

“Programs like these shows us to be good role models for young girls and hopefully it gives them people to look up to,” Smith said.

The men’s basketball coach Ryan Cain said his team is going to participate in Big Brothers Big Sisters to kick off the start to their season.

Cain said a school-based mentoring system with the team can work really well for the players, but more importantly with the elementary school students.

Alex can be contacted at Aenyat@kscequinox.com

The holidays are right around the corner and what better way to celebrate than holiday baking? These candy cane cookies are the perfect dessert to share with friends and family. They bring color to the table and make a wonderful center piece.

Cutting out the hard work of spending hours perfecting a dough from scratch and using store bought sugar cookie mix and adding ingredients to make it taste even better allows more time for creativity and perfection.

With the holiday season also comes the stress of the big day. However, this recipe will leave you stress-free; these cookies are festive, delicious and easy to make. Your guests will think you spent hours in the kitchen!

Ingredients 

1 box of sugar cookie mix

½ stick melted butter

⅓ cup softened cream cheese

1 egg

½ cup flour

Red food coloring

1 ½ teaspoon peppermint extract

First, in a large mixing bowl add the melted butter, softened cream cheese, egg and flour to the sugar cookie mix. With your hands or a spoon, incorporate the ingredients until they form a dough. Divide the dough into two equal parts. To one dough add red food coloring until it turns red. To the other dough add peppermint extract until evenly distributed throughout the dough. If you would rather add texture to your dough, replace the peppermint extract with crushed candy canes.

Next, using your hands on a floured surface, roll each of the two doughs into two separate long snake-like ropes. Twist the red dough to the white dough, pinching the ends of the red doughs rope to the white doughs so they stick. Keep twisting the red dough to the white dough so you have a long twist of white and red dough together. Every six inches cut the dough, again pinching the ends and form the six-inch twisted ropes into the shape of a candy cane. Transfer candy canes to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in an oven preheated at 325 degrees for ten to 12 minutes. Allow time to cool on a rack before eating and displaying. Serve and enjoy! Yields about one dozen cookies.

Recipe courtesy of Sandra Lee.

Alexandra Enayat can be contacted at aenayat@kscequinox.com

Since the spread of H1N1, a flu virus that targeted college-aged adults in 2009, a response plan was created with students and parents for their protection. This plan, otherwise known as an Emergency Support Function (ESF) allows faculty and staff at Keene State College to precisely know how to respond to any possible emergency situation on campus.

The document is protected in order to ensure that the public cannot directly have access to emergency escape procedures. According to the Keene Police Department’s liaison officer Kyle Macie, “A lot of our response is held very close to the chest and we do not release information like that. If people knew how we responded to an incident they might use it against us.”

Leonard Crossman, Assistant Director of Campus Safety, said that although Keene State College (KSC) has 20 full-time officers, the school could always use more officers, especially if they were to start carrying firearms. Crossman added that fortunately KSC’s campus has a compact layout and the college can rely on KPD to provide that option.

Crossman explained, “It is easy to manage our college. Our police force is right down the street. We have that confidence where colleges elsewhere doesn’t have the confidence in law enforcement.”

As a protocol KSC does lockdown drills once a semester with staff to test emergency precautions. However, unlike high school, college students are adults and during emergency situations need to make their own decisions. “Run, hide, fight. If you have the ability to get out–go,” Crossman said.

In cases of emergencies on-campus students and faculty, as well as any others who have subscribed are alerted via text, phone call and email of the incident occurring on campus.

In addition to alerting members of campus, there are a variety of surrounding units closely tied to each other which are alerted during emergencies. These include the Cheshire Medical Center, the Counseling Center, Environmental Health and Safety, Residential Life and more who work together to coordinate response plans.

Director of the Center for Health and Wellness Christine Burke said that it is hard to say exactly what she would do during an emergency. If the circumstance do arise however, Burke said she and her staff would pull that ESF off the shelf and read what their response plan is according to these policies. If the incident doesn’t directly involve Health and Wellness they might be asked to step in or volunteer to help coordinate a plan with other departments.

Burke said the health and wellness center has regular meetings in which they come together as a team and discuss precautions in case of an emergency. During these meetings she said they propose situations as if it were actually happening to practice orchestrating solutions.

In the case of a shooting or gunman on campus Burke said that she wouldn’t necessarily be directly involved nor would her department. She would, however, have to secure the waiting room of the health and wellness center, bring any and all patients to a secured locked area and wait until she was informed it was okay otherwise.

Emergency instructions are also pasted on green paper in classroom walls throughout campus.

Alexandra Enayat can be contacted at aenayat@kscequinox.com

Who doesn’t love a dessert that’s easy, inexpensive and delicious?

Well, you’re in luck because this recipe for Reese’s truffles requires only three ingredients and a microwave. Costing under ten dollars to make, your bank account will love this recipe too! For students living the dorm life these truffles are a perfect snack to make for friends.

An alternative for those with peanut allergies, there’s the option of replacing Reese’s with crushed oreos (two sleeves of a package) for a truffle that’s just as delicious.

Trust me, everyone is going to ask you for this recipe, so, here it is.

Ingredients: 

Alexandra Enayat/ Equinox Staff

20 – 22 Reese’s peanut butter cups

8 oz package of cream cheese

12 oz bag of melting chocolate

yields: 15 – 20 truffles

prep time: 15 minutes

cook time: 2 hours

Directions:

In a medium size ziplock bag, crush the Reese’s peanut butter cups. Transfer the Reese’s to a medium size mixing bowl and combine with softened cream cheese. It is important for the cream cheese to be at room temperature so that it is easy to work with. Using your hands or a spoon, mix the two ingredients until they are completely incorporated.

Next, roll the mixture into balls, about the size of grapes. Place the balls on a plate or cookie sheet and refrigerate for at least an hour. You want the truffles to keep their shape while dipping them in chocolate, so chilling them will prevent melting.

Once they cool, place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about one minute, setting the power at 50 percent. Stir the chocolate and microwave again for one minute.

Once the chocolate melts, dunk the truffles in the chocolate and coat completely.

Discard the excess chocolate and return the truffle to a plate or cookie sheet to cool for about an hour. If desired add some sprinkles or candy decor to the top of your truffles. For the holidays, try using colored melting chocolate, like orange for Halloween!

Serve and enjoy.

Keene State College students are fighting the urges that make up the many temptations of dining hall cravings.

The Zorn Dining Commons (DC) at KSC provides students and others with an all-you-can-eat style cafeteria, including a plethora of food selections. This wide range of food goes from cakes, cookies and ice cream, to pizzas, salads and stir fries. The DC also has vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options.

Sodexo, the sole supplier for the dining commons, makes it their responsibility to provide students with a wide variety of nutritious possibilities. Sodexo wrote in their health section on the KSC dining hall page, “From recipes that include the most nutritious mix of ingredients to offering educational resources for positive lifestyle habits, healthy options are the result of a team dedicated to advancing the well-being of the entire campus community.”

Other eateries on campus include Lloyd’s Marketplace, Hoot ‘n’ Scoot and the Bean & Bagel Express. These restaurants sell sandwiches, wraps, pizza, burgers, salad, fries and more.

These are quick options for students on the go, but unhealthy, greasy and fried choices make up a large portion of their menus.

Meghan Marcucci/ Equinox Staff

First-year student Molly Fabrizio said she finds it hard to make healthy choices while dining on campus, especially at Lloyd’s.

“There are so many good things at Lloyd’s, like their wraps and sandwiches,” Fabrizio said.

When there’s the option to eat a salad or as much pizza as possible, it can be difficult to decide, but several KSC students said they can resist the temptations.

Senior Marta Morris said she always tries to eat healthy at the DC throughout the year.

“There are a lot of possibilities and a lot of great options at the DC compared to other schools. I usually eat salad or yogurt,” Morris said.

Students like senior Katelyn Franco enjoy the many options the DC has to offer.

Franco said our dining hall helps guide her to eating healthy by providing her precise descriptions of the meals being offered each day.

These descriptions let students know which choices are vegetarian, vegan and mindful and what ingredients are in them.

Many first-year students said they are avoiding the “freshman 15” and adjusting to college dining well by eating healthy. First-year student Erica Flanagan said she typically eats salads at the DC in an effort to keep a healthy diet throughout the year. “I’ll eat salad, soup or really anything that looks healthy,” Flanagan said.

Some students, however, find that it isn’t so easy to forebear.

First-year student Ryan Tatara usually eats at the Dining Commons and typically gets pizza and burgers. He said although these are his current eating habits, as the flu season approaches he will make an effort to eat healthier to keep himself well.

Other KSC students, such as  first-year student Alec Masone, also said that the winter weather will change their eating habits. Masone said that once it starts getting cold outside his dining hall visits will become less frequent.

Masone said, “I try to only get salad [at] the DC but sometimes I can’t resist, it really depends on the day.”

Having trouble finding something at the dining hall that is both delicious and healthy? Be daring by mixing it up and creating something yourself.

The Center for Young Women’s Health gives this advice to students on their website, “Be creative. If you don’t like the hot food offered, try to combine foods from different areas of the dining hall. For example, add a grilled chicken breast to a salad or veggies from the salad bar to a sandwich or a wrap.”

Alex Enayat can be contacted at aenayat@kscequinox.com