When you were a baby, with nothing but instincts to survive, you cried to be fed and ate until you were full and your parents couldn’t make you eat a drop more. This summer, instead of starving yourself for a summer bod or even to make weight for whatever sport you play, try something new. Don’t ignore the baby inside, crying for food or squirming away when they’re full: try intuitive eating.

The intuitive eating movement was started in 1995 when Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole wrote “Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works.” Though it sounds like every other diet book, their first principle is to reject the diet mentality because they know that diets and fads do not work. Because of this rejection, intuitive eating is often perceived incorrectly as binging on junk food whenever you are hungry. After eating at Grand dining hall throughout freshman year, you know that you crave fruits and vegetables just as much as any junk food, or at least I do. 

As previously stated, the first principle is “Reject the Diet Mentality.” You aren’t failing when you gain weight and you should be mad that our society promotes “skinny” as healthy. Diets often don’t last and having that lingering hope that there might be a way to magically lose 15 pounds in 15 days or to burn fat fast is not going to help you create healthy eating habits.

Their second principle is to “Honor Your Hunger.” When you feel hungry, you should eat. I know it might sound cheesy but your body gets you from place to place, it runs and jumps, it fights a deadly pandemic, etc. You need carbs and fats and protein to do those things. When your body sends a signal to your brain, you should honor that and go feed your body what it wants. It knows what you need to keep moving. Listen to it! If you put off eating until you are starving, you are more likely to just eat whatever is in sight instead of the food your body needs. Food is fuel and you need to treat it as such. You wouldn’t drive with your car on empty for mile after mile; when the light turns on, you should go to the nearest gas station. When you answer that first biological signal of hunger, your body will begin to trust you and food again. 

The third principle is you have to “Make Peace with Food.”  You need to let yourself eat. If you deprive yourself, that can build into craving and binging. Would you ever tell a toddler not to eat something that they are hungry for (unless it is a non-food item of course). If a toddler is screaming for the blueberries sitting in the fridge, would you tell them no and that they need to stick to a diet? If so, maybe call CPS.  If you keep telling yourself not to eat, when you do eat you will experience guilt that will make the process of intuitive eating harder. 

Next, their fourth principle is to “Challenge the Food Police.” Before going to protest with your ACAB signs at the ready, protest the thoughts in your head telling you that eating cake makes you a bad person. Food has no moral value in case you were unaware. Food might make you weigh more but it doesn’t make your soul heavier. 

Fifth, “Discover the Satisfaction Factor” in food. Food is good; it is meant to taste good and make you happy. It is a basic part of human existence for the food we eat to be good. You don’t have to eat a 100 calorie snack pack if you don’t enjoy it. Don’t eat at the Wild Mushroom in Grand if you don’t like the tofu stir fry or squash whatever. 

Their sixth principle is to “Feel Your Fullness.” This is difficult when you were raised in a household where you had to clear your plate before you could leave the table. It is as easy as check halfway through the meal and ask yourself how full you are. Don’t worry about waste, I’m certain you can find a teenager nearby who is never full. Listen to your body. It might be difficult after a lifetime of ignoring it. You can’t make a baby eat more than it wants and new parents are taught to never force them to eat. This is hard, I know. It is a process.

A misconception about intuitive eating is that it’s just stress eating all the time. Honestly, it can be. Food provides comfort and you are entitled to that comfort. Therefore, the seventh principle is “Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness.” You can stress eat but it is encouraged to find the root of the problem and resolve it rather than making brownies at three a.m. Also, you have to be kind to yourself and cut yourself a little slack. Today’s society really focuses on size but we have to respect our bodies. You don’t have to love them and think they’re beautiful, but everyone should “Respect Your Body,” the eighth principle. I know you might be striving for a summer body, but here is the hack for that: 1) have a body 2) it is summer. Genetics and medical conditions along with mental health issues can cause weight changes and we all need to work to put body neutrality in an important position.  

I know most people in competitive sports don’t get to choose when they work out, but when you are on your own attempt the ninth principle: “Movement-Feel the Difference.” Focus on how you feel after completing a workout rather than what your body will look like. Don’t work out to lose weight; get active to feel better. This leads to the tenth principle of “Honor Your Health – Gentle Nutrition.” In essence, this means that one snack doesn’t make you unhealthy; ten snacks don’t ruin you, it is how you consistently eat. One meal doesn’t stop your progress and it should be more about mental health than any number on a scale. 

It’s always a challenge to start something new, especially something that rejects so much about what we are taught. Not everyone can trust their bodies to tell them when they are hungry and full yet, but we can all work towards the goal of eating intuitively this summer instead of just being the hottest on the beach. If you are interested in learning more, read the book or the blog and start working on the principles.

Chess is an intellectual and strategic game that millions of people across the globe play. Almost everyone knows what chess is and sort of how to play it, but do you know who the world chess champion is? Do you know who reached No. 1 in world rankings at 19, who became the world chess champion at 23 and who has held that place for the past eight years? Norway’s own Magnus Carlsen is an underrated genius who deserves more recognition.

Since he was a child, Carlsen behaved like a genius. By the time he was two, he was completing complicated puzzles, and by four he had all 356 Norwegian municipalities memorized. Though childhood success does not necessarily lead to genius, in this case, it did. No one expected him to be the next Einstein or Mozart, but Magnus is the Hawking of chess. 

In today’s world, most major chess players use computer algorithms to determine ways to beat their opponents. But Carlsen is better than those computers. He rules the board through intuition. Today’s top chess players memorize games. They use computers to analyze an opponent’s moves, but Carlsen’s strategy remains an enigma. His brain is beyond what those computers can predict, and he avoids using his own computer as much as possible. Other competitors dislike him for his inconsistent plays which let him compete beyond what can be mapped or pre-programmed. Carlsen’s style of play resulted in a 125 win streak, the longest confirmed unbeaten streak at an elite level.

Beyond his many statistical records, Carlsen is also inspiring other young people to take up the game of chess. When he won the world chess championship, Norway virtually sold out of chess sets. Though the news wasn’t covered much in the United States, his impact on the youth of the chess community is astonishing. He has encouraged children to take up a strategic game that can help them enjoy learning and grow as people.

He is also hilarious. When he was a mere 29-year-old, he began playing online chess under aliases such as “DrDrunkenstein,” “DannytheDonkey” and “DamnSaltyThatSport.” Carlsen would live-stream these online games, revealing the inner workings of his brain and also living up to the name of “DrDrunkenstein.” Eventually, after a streak of lower scores (which ripped my heart out of my chest), he announced that he has stopped drinking and will take competitive chess more seriously. Where most people take winning for seven years straight as a serious accomplishment, his downplaying of the incredible feat makes him even more enchanting. With his carefree and joking attitude, Carlsen is better able to connect with the younger generation. 

Chess is not a mainstream interest (and even I didn’t know a thing about chess until I watched Carlsen’s documentary, which has an 81 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, so check it out), but the game has recently surged in popularity, especially with the recent arrival of “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix. I’ve learned how gratifying chess is and have a deeper understanding as to why this game has lasted over fourteen centuries. 

As you can see by my strong emotional attachment to this man, I was devastated when I went to watch the well-known chess YouTuber Antonio Radić also known as “agadmator” announced that Carlsen has decided to retire from chess on March 31, 2021. I was shocked and burst into tears. That was until I went to click on the attached article that would supposedly tell me more about this retirement. The most popular chess YouTube channel in the world rick-rolled us for an early April Fools Day prank. 

I, for one, will forever be a Magnus stan and I can assure you that I will be inconsolable if he ever truly retires or loses his title. Magnus Carlsen is a genius and deserves so much more recognition. Long may he reign.

I hate men. The COVID-19 pandemic has further proven that this is a deserved statement because of how the divide in domestic tasks has grown even though both partners are home more frequently and have more flexibility with their schedules. 

In a Gallup study conducted from June to August of 2019, prior to the pandemic, the surveyors found that women still do almost double the amount of domestic work their male counterparts do in the United States. Worldwide, women are doing around three times as much domestic work as men according to the UN Women’s Progress of the World’s Women 2019-2020 review. While this divide is deplorable, the unpaid labor gap between men and women has shrunk since 1996. Knowing that this gap had begun to close gave me a somewhat positive outlook for the future. Now, with the arrival of COVID-19,  the progress towards equality that had been gained is now lost. 

UN Women’s Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia explained in an op-ed how the last 25 years of work to mitigate gender inequality will be lost. One factor in this troubling trend is the reduction in size of the female-dominated industries of hospitality and care work, increasing female poverty drastically—13 percent of women and girls across the globe are in extreme poverty. Additionally, since many women are stuck at home because of the pandemic, abusers have more opportunities to lash out at their partners. This kind of behavior continues as women’s shelters struggle to remain open to new families because of the pandemic 

Activists working to close the gender inequality gap also focus on removing the stark inconsistencies of unpaid domestic labor that are exacerbated by the increase in household work, since children need help with remote schooling, frequent sanitation, grocery shopping, etc. In a BBC article published in November 2020, many anecdotal experiences were shared that showed how heavy a toll the pandemic has taken on females’ mental health. Teni Wada is a brand consultant and part-time nursery worker who said in an interview with BBC: “I reached my limit almost every day, my daughter would be crying and then I’d be crying.” She is not alone in feeling completely overwhelmed by the need to raise her children while also working from home. Mothers also often then turn to their female children to help around the house, perpetuating gender stereotypes simply because girls have been trained from birth on how to get the tasks done. When parents are stressed, they don’t have the patience to teach their male children how to do these tasks as well.

Though women are more stressed than ever, according to a Qualtrics study, 57 percent of men have said their work from home experience has been  positive compared to only 29 percent of women. Additionally, 67 percent of men claim to have been more productive during this time compared to only 41 percent of women. Is it because women spend twice the amount of time on household tasks? Is it because in over half of U.S. households the mother is the primary caregiver for children while less than a third of households report that it is an even effort between spouses? According to a study by the Maven Clinic, there are 2.35 million extra cases of female burnout simply because of the unequal demands of women both at home and at work. Women have to work harder to be taken seriously in the workplace and to get the same promotions men do. Mothers are also criticized for using the same parenting tactics that fathers do.

I think the book “I Hate Men” by Pauline Harmange and translated by Natasha Lehrer sums this sentiment up  best: “We have to stop praising men for such pathetically trivial things as leaving work early to pick up their kid from school. Do not forget that in exactly the same situation a woman is blamed and criticised, whatever her choice.”

Women are taken for granted time and time again for their unpaid labor in child care and domestic tasks, both of which set them behind in the workplace. That same workplace then shoves women down and promotes men over women, making men the breadwinner of many American relationships. If that man becomes abusive within that relationship, the woman is unable to leave since she is wholly financially dependent on her abuser. Mothers pass these behaviors onto their daughters who, according to a study by the University of Michigan, spend two more hours per week on chores when boys are 15 percent more likely to be paid for doing these same chores. This horrible cycle of female poverty is amplified amid a pandemic while more women lose their jobs or take time off work to care for their children.

This situation promotes male supremacy, which should not be tolerated. A UN Women’s study titled “Whose time to care? Unpaid care and domestic work during COVID-19,” indicates how other countries handled this problem. There were financial remedies such as monthly child payments in Argentina, cash benefits for parents in Canada, Spain and the Republic of Korea, and increased paid leave for parents in Costa Rica, Germany and Italy. Along with additional family leaves and ensuring childcare services will remain open are just a few of the ways that this gender disparity can be reversed for the remainder of quarantine. America can do better for its women.

I know there are so many people, myself included, that grew up idolizing higher education, particularly the undergraduate experience. Both of my parents were privileged enough to pursue college degrees. Because of the memories and experiences they have shared with me, I looked forward to college my entire life. Of course, this has been a complex year to start the venture. From the political upheaval that followed the election to the emotional chaos that occurred due to the pandemic, this year does not represent how college has been for decades, and it’s certainly not what I was raised to look forward to.

I hope most first-year students have still made friends and attended some classes normally, but the normal ways that students are supposed to develop relationships and study skills in college have changed. How will this class of freshmen teach the college experience to those who follow? I have not attended any sporting events, parties or even casual events with strangers. I have found a bubble of people who I know will be safe and have not left it. Once people are widely vaccinated and it is safe to attend these such events, most of the people who experienced college as it’s meant to be will be gone and I fear college life may not recover. Even the way we take tests has drastically changed. Thus far, I have only had one test that wasn’t an open note exam, and I know for a large portion of students closed note exams can still mean open note if you’re in your dorm. How will we know how to manage the rigorous college curriculum once we’ve lost the formative freshman experience?

If it helps anyone picture what college stories I was told and the college experience I was prepared for, my dad’s name is Brad. He wears khaki shorts and he was a member of the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity at Iowa State University. I was fully prepared for getting black-out drunk every night of the week and for all the crazy shenanigans that accompany that type of lifestyle. I had my chitchat skills prepared and ready to go so that I could make friends at parties and large get-togethers. That obviously didn’t happen. Instead, we play board games in our dorm entirely sober. College is not just about learning and paying exorbitant amounts of money for textbooks you will not use. It is a place where you are appropriately socialized for the first time. Thousands of students will miss out on having the same conversation with hundreds of people: what year are you, what’s your major, where do you live, etc. Missing that tedious and annoying social learning phase may stunt this class. With any luck, there will be enough time post-vaccination to make up for the lost time. Regrettably, that may not happen.

Currently, there is fear that even this year will end with us being sent home. The dream of sustainable in-person learning would be crushed, along with any hope of finishing off the school year in a “normal” way. Though the experiences we have had at college thus far have allowed us new students to get a general vibe of SLU, we cannot see what SLU is truly like while abiding by public health guidelines. The student body behaves differently when there isn’t a giant world catastrophe influencing them. During the height of the Black Lives Matter movement this year, I could see that there was a large portion of SLU students that were active and cared a considerable amount. There is also a portion that were complacent and did nothing to advocate for those being killed. Finally, there’s the portion that opposes the movement in its entirety and whose members wear blue lives matter masks regularly. Personally, I am only really good friends with people who have the same basic core values as me. I do not risk seeing anyone I do not trust, so it has been hard to see people outside of my little bubble. This practice may stunt how we see our peers and how we view the world as well. Though we can infer a vibe, that is not worth how much we are paying for this collegiate experience. Not being immersed in a diverse culture and forming echo chambers will make it hard to learn what college is supposed to be like once we can start getting together with people who disagree with us. 

In conclusion, the current juniors and seniors need to leave something behind so that us youngsters know what the freak to do when things reopen. I know that there are some people already out there partying, but I don’t necessarily trust them to be the best teachers. Upperclassmen ought to just pick a freshman and teach them how to college so they can pass it on. I’m not sure how that will work, but I’m so scared of what the future of college holds after a year or more of being shut down. A little hope would help a lot.

I like drugs as much as the next person, and now in Oregon, residents are able to possess small amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, LSD or oxycodone and only face consequences comparable to that of receiving a parking ticket. 

With 58.5 percent of the vote, Measure 110, also known as the Drug Decriminalization and Addiction Treatment Initiative, passed in Oregon on Nov. 3. 

When the law goes into effect, someone found in possession of the substances in amounts that are lower than what was specified in the measure (e.g. 1 gram of heroin, 2 grams of cocaine, 2 grams of methamphetamine, 1 gram of MDMA, 40 units of LSD, etc.) will receive, at worst, a $100 fine, which will be waived upon the completion of a health assessment with an addiction treatment professional. This treatment is funded by the tax revenue of Oregon’s legalized cannabis industry. 

The Drug Policy Alliance gives numerous reasons as to why the removal of the penalties for drug possession are beneficial, such as saving money by reducing prison and jail costs and population size, freeing up law enforcement resources, prioritizing health and safety over punishment, reducing the stigma associated with drug use and removing barriers to harm reduction practices.

Outside of those benefits, this measure keeps people from having a criminal record which helps rehabilitated addicts find employment and housing in the future. Ultimately, not having a criminal record following you for the rest of your life gives users more initiative to seek rehabilitation. 

Also, in the midst of a time when being anti-racist is at the forefront of many people’s thoughts, removing a part of the racist drug to prison pipeline is beneficial. Because of law enforcement’s focus on urban areas, lower-income communities and communities of color, people of color are disproportionately arrested for drug possession. 

Those who oppose this measure argue that there will be a surge in overdoses and that there will be more access to harmful drugs. That was not the case when they decriminalized drugs in other countries like Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland, so it is unlikely that will be the case here. When drug users have more access to rehabilitation services and the stigma surrounding drug use is removed, more people seek help and successfully recover from addiction. 

Since 12 percent of Oregon residents have used illicit drugs in the past month when the national average is at 9 percent, it was important for them to make a change. Other states should follow suit to get people the help they need rather than unduly punish them.

.

What do Sweden, Denmark and Norway have in common with the United States? Not universal healthcare. Not strict gun control. Not free higher education. Ikea. 

When I see that blue and yellow building, the feeling I experience does more for my mental health than my blue mood stabilizer and yellow SSRI ever will. Ikea is such an amazing place and there is nowhere else I would like to spend my time. It has everything a college student could need at affordable prices, the Swedish cuisine is delicious and the potential for people-watching is limitless.

On the day of move-in, I was able to easily head to Ikea to get the $14.99 lärbro, a couple fraktas, a $3.99 ullakaktus, a $4.99 justina and a $19.00 laiva to turn my dorm into a home. Other items people can acquire include silverware, duvets, pillows and pretty much anything else you might need from this place of wonder. Walking around the winding path of the store, you’ll pass all the essentials, helpfully reminding you of anything that you may have forgotten that you needed. Ikea is a fifteen minute walk (or a four minute drive) away from campus, which makes it easily accessible to even the busiest student. Since Ikea makes you build the furniture yourself, furniture prices are also significantly lower, which helps solve the constant college conundrum that is one’s bank account. 

Ikea also provides extensive entertainment in the form of people-watching. You can see a new couple pick out their first piece of furniture together, a married couple on the verge of divorce because they can’t decide on a couch and small children gleefully getting an easel to pursue their artistic dreams. To watch a furniture snob sit on every single chair in the store to find the one while you recline on a balkarp with a new friend solidifies that relationship forever. To say that there are better or more interesting places to go than Ikea is a lie. 

As your day at Ikea comes to a close, you realize how much energy that shopping and people-watching took out of you. For those desperate for a high quality, reasonably-priced meal, the Ikea restaurant is the place to be. Though the restaurant is currently closed because of the pandemic, anyone can buy the ingredients needed to make the entrees the restaurants usually serve so you can make a delicious meal at home. The mashed potatoes, or allemansrätten, slap, no questions asked. The meatballs, or huvudroll, are spectacular in my father’s objective opinion. For vegetarians like me, they also have vegetarian meatballs that are surprisingly well seasoned. Who needs Eggo toaster waffles when you could have Ikea våfflor? They have a large variety of cookies and biscuits that are perfect for snacking. Another go-to snack are Ikea’s chips. Lay’s potato chips cost 61 cents an ounce while Ikea’s potato chips are only 49 cents. 

In my review of Ikea’s food, the dryck lingon organic lingonberry drink deserves a paragraph of its own.  It is so good. It is my favorite drink in the world. While I struggle to put into words just how amazing this beverage is, leave it to the Ikea website to leave prospective consumers salivating: “Lingonberries grow in the forests of Sweden as an important source of vitamin C for moose, bears, wolves – and humans. Picked from August to October, the fresh taste of lingonberries makes them excellent for juice and jam – or for beverages.” How picturesque is that? Lingonberry juice can only be found at Ikea or Whole Foods, and since Ikea doesn’t have a new scandal every year, the correct choice between the two stores is obvious. 

While I expected Ikea to struggle with the concept of sustainability because of how they encourage the consumption of products that will typically wear out after a few years, Ikea cares for the environment more than I initially anticipated. They have signed the Uzbek Cotton Pledge and the Better Cotton Initiative to stop their use of cotton made by forced labor and to subsequently source their cotton in a better, more ethical manner. They also only add chemicals to their products if absolutely necessary. Additionally, the company also has almost one million solar panels installed to power their stores, as well as other buildings. 

All in all, Ikea is amazing, it makes me happy and I recommend that you try to find happiness there too.

When I first arrived at the 2020 Iowa Caucus, I was left waiting in line because there were so many people updating their political party affiliation from Libertarian or Green Party to Democrat. These people recognized that, in elections where so many people’s basic rights were on the line, now is not the time to make a political statement against the two-party system. Now is the time to vote for a viable candidate who will condemn hate crimes rather than support them.

When a citizen makes the decision to vote for a third-party candidate, they are indirectly helping President Trump win a second term. Biden is obviously the only candidate able to unseat Trump come November and when you don’t support him, you are allowing Trump to remain in office. When you vote this November, you will be either supporting Trump or actively trying to put a stop to his tyranny. The 2016 election was a close electoral race; only 107,000 people in three states ultimately decided the outcome of the entire election. That also happens to be about how many people died of COVID-19 in the U.S. by May 28, 2020, when Trump was quoted saying “It’s fading away. It’s going to fade away.” This election is close once again and it’s one where both candidates are viewed poorly by a large portion of voters (48 percent according to Pew Research). People may be tempted to vote for a third party candidate because of it. Five million people voted third party in the 2016 election, and if they had voted differently, the past four years would’ve been astronomically better for BIPOC, members of the LGBTQ+ community and literally everyone except white supremacists. 

Third-party candidates are often to blame for splitting the vote and allowing the other party to win. I’m sure you heard Kanye West endorse Trump and then run for president himself. He is hoping to draw votes from the Democratic Party to support Trump. Don’t vote for Kanye and don’t vote for any of the other third-party candidates, no matter how much you hate Biden. Here’s why.

If you vote third party, you are helping a man who is responsible for 220,000 COVID-19 deaths, 20 million unemployed Americans unable to support their families and the number of violent hate crimes in the United States reaching new highs. 

According to The Atlantic, if Trump were to win a second term, “U.S. alliances would likely crumble, the global economy would close and democracy and human rights would be in rapid retreat.”

Americans were able to play off the 2016 election as a fluke of the electoral college, but if we are unable to get Trump out of office this year, other countries will no longer let us slide by. Trump has been breaking alliances left and right and America might be separated from its allies in a way that will take years to fix. The people of other countries look down on Americans because of Trump. This is our chance to change that, so use your vote to get him out of office.

Trump winning a second term would change everything. He has already tried to suppress the vote in order to win and he has brought in the military to dispel peaceful protestors. These are not just the behaviors of simply a racist president, these are the behaviors of a wannabe dictator. He entirely disrespects democratic norms. Though any third-party candidate would make a better president than him, they have no chance of winning. You must use your vote wisely. 

Being able to use your vote to make a statement is such a privileged perspective to have. Looking at the next four years and not seeing your life at stake must be so serene. Knowing that if a natural disaster hits (and it will) you have enough funds to make it through without any support from the government must be so tranquil. Knowing that your race does not make your life exponentially harder and that police officers will not kill you or your family on any given day must make you feel safe. Knowing that you won’t have anyone else making decisions for your body must help you sleep peacefully at night. Knowing that your family will not be forced to leave this country because the president is a xenophobe to everyone but his wife must be reassuring. Being able to vote third-party when your neighbors, friends and family’s rights and livelihoods are on the line requires a level of entitlement and alienation from the population that you must recognize and acknowledge before filling in your ballot. 

In the future, when more states have a voting system similar to Maine’s rank-choice voting in which third-party candidates have a chance of winning in a two-party system, you can vote third-party as much as you like. For now, third-party votes help Trump stay in office and allow more people to die. 

Every single vote matters and to waste yours on someone who won’t win is selfish. You may not like Biden and voting third-party is your right, but one of  the two parties will win on November 3 and there is only one option that isn’t Trump. At the end of the day, you have to decide what matters more: a meaningless display of privilege, or getting rid of Trump.

The satisfaction of stepping out of the shower, drying off with a warm towel fresh from the dryer, stepping into cozy pajamas, getting wrapped up in clean bedsheets and knowing that all your laundry is done is my favorite feeling in the world. As a residential college student, the washers and dryers located in the community laundry room are what make this feeling possible. Yet, I have noticed that, as people’s lives are becoming more hectic throughout the school year, they have forgotten how to take care of the space that I cherish so much.

Upon walking into the Spring Hall laundry room, your vision will immediately be bombarded with clumps of lint, dryer sheets, displaced machines, piles of hair, spilled detergent and an atrocious amount of lost articles of clothing. This sight is painful for someone who cares as much about this space as I do. In the hope of an improvement to the conditions of the laundry room, I have drafted a list of laundry room grievances. If my grievances are not addressed, I daresay someone might just go around adding red socks to white loads. 

It is not a difficult task to pick up a dropped dryer sheet. Your hands might be full with your clean laundry, but that is why you have a laundry basket. Thankfully, the five-second rule doesn’t apply to dryer sheets, so you can safely pick them up and throw them away after safely depositing your fresh linens in your laundry basket. 

Another seemingly obvious notion has to do with the beloved lint. We all read the signs to remove your lint from the dryer so that it doesn’t start a fire, but the signs don’t direct you to then drop it on the floor. Don’t feel obligated to make a sweater out of the lint, just carry it the additional two feet to the trash can. Lint does not have cooties; though it may seem gross, it’s just a collection of fabric fibers. 

There is also the tried and true complaint about taking your clothes out of the washer or dryer when the time is up. Just set a timer on your phone; or if you don’t have a phone you can simply look at a clock and then look at it again later. You could also say “Mississippi” 1,800 times, because if you find it too difficult to stick to a timer, you might need to practice the basics, such as counting, again. 

I also have noticed a surplus of loose socks hanging around in various washers and dryers and have even taken some home with me accidentally. It is easy to lose a sock in the vast metallic abyss of a dryer but if you give the machine just one more look when you take out your clothes you’ll catch all the things you missed. Run your hand under the lint tray; that is where I find the missing items most often. These are a few extra steps, but it will save you a sock and, let’s be honest, socks are pretty special. If the person that used the machine before you did not know how to do this and you end up with an extra item, do not drop it on the floor. That is not helpful. At least put it on the table where every lost item goes to die. 

Tidying up after yourself doesn’t just benefit me, it also helps our custodial staff. Leaving a place better than you found it is an idea that extends beyond boy and girl scouts. If you pick up your dryer sheets and lint, then the custodians will have more time to clean the many other surfaces that need disinfecting during these COVID times. They take out your trash, mop your floors, vacuum your carpets, clean your windows, disinfect the things you touch and so much more, the least you can do is pick up after yourself.

I know that not everyone cares if the community spaces you use are trashed, but laundry room cleanliness affects everyone in the building. Please clean up after yourself in the laundry room.