Chelsea Spata

In life, you come to know that there are certain things about yourself that will

change, and others that will stay the same. For instance, I’m not a slut. I never have been, and I never will be—and it’s not because I don’t try. It’s just not in the cards for me, and I’m okay with that. When I was sixteen, however, I was positive I wanted to be an astronomer. I even took two astronomy classes my first year at U.Va in an attempt to rekindle the desire. But alas, somewhere during Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe, numbers started to happen.Read more...

Have you ever wondered about the morality of assisted suicide, or whether

or not human euthanasia would ever be legalized worldwide? Leave it to the Dutch to find out. Last week, the Netherlands launched mobile euthanasia squads that will, as the name suggests, be making house calls to euthanize patients in their own homes. Six units (comprised of one doctor and one nurse) have been enlisted to get the estimated 1,000 death jobs done.Read more...

I’ll be the first to admit that we here at the Dec make our fair share of jokes

about The Cavalier Daily, the most widely read on-grounds publication at U.Va. Over the years we’ve created a feud of sorts that, though reinforced in virtually every issue of the Dec, is unreciprocated by the publication across the hall. For the most part, we do it for the jokes; I don’t think any of us has ever been personally affronted by any Cav Daily staffers, nor do we actually hold any severely critical opinions about the newspaper itself. We joke because we can, and because we’re expected to.Read more...

Facebook is a beautiful thing. Facebook stalking is an even more beautiful

thing. Tonight it allowed me to go back and revisit many of the boys who held my heart in their hands for hours and days at a time. My pre-college life was rife with romantic drama and intrigue, so I present to you the most detailed descriptions I can cram into 1200 words of the boys who taught me life’s most important lesson: love is a battlefield. Make sure you wear your best skort.

Jake NiedereggerRead more...

A few weeks ago, I was watching TV and came across a commercial depicting

the cultivation process of lettuce. Inexplicably engaged, I stuck around for the rest of the ad, only to discover that the lettuce—so fresh, so green, so perfectly misted—ended up at McDonalds. As a loyal customer of the Golden Arches, I had to investigate; this was a far cry from the feel-good “I’m lovin’ it” ads of the past. It turns out that this is all part of McDonalds’ “Meet the Farmers” initiative, pioneered in order to restore faith in their ability to integrate fresh produce into their food.Read more...

4 AM:Read more...

Like many college students, my only goal this summer was to find a job and keep it long enough to make a semester’s worth of rent payments. As a liberal arts major, I figured I’d get a jump start on my inevitable employment waiting tables. I was hired at a local restaurant where I joined a staff of hot young blondes, charismatic gay men, and convicted felons as members of the food industry. Quickly I realized that the interaction between server and customer is loosely based on the concept of blackmail.Read more...

This is one of the rare occasions when I open my laptop on a plane. With a
lack of free Wi-Fi, my typical in-flight entertainment consists of sleeping or trying to locate the nearest British passenger (in case my iPod dies and I need something pleasant and continuous to listen to). But last flight I tried something I’ve never ventured to before.

I opened Sky Mall magazine.Read more...