Share Christmas joy with someone else without breaking the bank, or you could risk being on the naughty list and keep it for yourself!
Buying gifts on a budget can be tough, but it's even tougher to show up without a gift. Leave the gift giving to Santa and reach for one of these stocking stuffers that will leave Santa himself in shock because they're all that good!
If you’re spending a weekend in the Windy City, here are five places that you should visit!
This past weekend, I went to Chicago with my friend to see Taylor Swift’s concert at Soldier Field. While I could talk about that concert for hours and a lot of my time in Chicago was spent trading friendship bracelets, I’m so glad that I was able to explore the city along the way. Chicago has been on my bucket list of places to go for a while and it did not disappoint!
This museum was on the top of my list of things to see in Chicago as I love browsing art museums even more than I love Taylor Swift. The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the largest and oldest art museums in the world, with around 300,000 works of art. The museum scene in Ferris Bueller’sDay Off has always been one of my favorites and I can now confirm that staring at "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” is a must to have the best day in Chicago.
A few weeks after the pandemic hit, the music department of my high school had to cancel our spring trip in Chicago. I’m happy to say that three years later I was finally able to accomplish the thing that I was most excited for: seeing the bean. I’m not sure why I have been so excited to see the cloud gate for three years but this work of art did not disappoint. While visiting, we were able to relax in Millennium Park and listen to the gospel concert near us which was incredible. You can learn more about one of Chicago’s most popular sights and the surrounding park here!
As someone from Cleveland, I was impressed by Chicago’s beautiful waterfront and how beautiful Lake Michigan looked. I especially appreciated the great view while stuck in traffic, trying to get to our Airbnb. The parks along the lake coast boast great running, walking, and biking paths while Navy Pier offers a diverse variety of events and public programs. Be sure to check out their calendar to see if there are any free concerts, lake cruises, firework shows, or art exhibits available while you’re in town!
The Riverwalk has something for everyone and is the perfect spot to visit during the summertime with different restaurants and recreational experiences. The Chicago Riverwalk has six coves along the way, giving you the chance to learn about river ecology, rent a kayak for the afternoon, and the perfect spots to relax. Whether it’s for a date night or a picnic with friends, the Riverwalk has so much to offer!
Although I wasn’t able to go to a market while in Chicago, the city is home to plenty of outdoor and indoor year-round markets with many selling goods from fresh produce to vintage clothing. The Chicago French Market features almost 30 specialty vendors selling a wide variety of foods and meal options. Try something new or stop by for a favorite!
It is true when they say the older you get, the faster life goes. I am realizing that more and more each year. I think it’s crazy to compare summer when I was a young kid verses summer being a young adult. There is more than a few large differences between the two.
When I was younger, summer was a full and free two months of no worries, no obligations and no responsibilities. It was just a time to hang with friends, stay up all night and do whatever we wanted to do. There was no job telling us when we had to clock in, no summer class telling us to finish an assignment and our brain never told us we should go to sleep soon so we can function at work tomorrow. Summer has a different feel, it doesn’t seem as separated from the year as it used to because we still have to complete things as if it was any month. As a young kid, I would have so much time to kill, so much time to waste.
This summer in particular really taught me how adult life is going to be. Barbecues and beach time is limited, it takes so much effort to get a group of friends together because of job schedules, it’s not a simple lets go tomorrow, it takes planning and a few changes to make a free day with the girls happen. There were also multiple parties I missed out on because I had to wake up at 5 a.m. to go scan and bag groceries. If that was when I was 15-16, I would have easily been there and up all night with no worry in the world about how I would feel the next day because I had no obligations to wake up to. Priorities before parties is what is now I guess.
Summer vacation is not ice cream trucks and lemonade stands anymore, its work and maybe some free time to see a friend here and there. On top of work this summer, I had an internship which cut my time even worse than it already was. All I know is summer isn’t the same as a young adult, the vibe is different and it makes me wish I appreciated summer more when I was younger. I feel I took for granted of the time, I didn’t realize it would end eventually.
These last few summers, especially this one made me realize summer will never be the way it was as a kid. Time keeps moving forward and responsibilities need to be met regardless of the month as an adult. Goodbye to another summer, soon hello to a new school year.
Happy Pride month from Odyssey!
Odyssey and our creator community wish you a happy Pride month! Our response writers are back with more important and engaging conversations. Here are the top three response articles of last week:
Here are things to know before celebrating Pride as an ally!
This is a response to Never Hide Your Pride: Here's How You Can Celebrate.
Life after college graduation is not what you will expect it to be.
This is a response to Graduating At Your Own Pace, No Matter What It Is.
Preferably now.
This is a response to To the Girls That Feel Things They Don't Want to Feel.
Congratulations to all the writers! We'll continue to spotlight top response articles every week on our homepage and in our Overheard on Odyssey newsletter. Click here to subscribe!
Want to stay creative over the summer, and get paid? Join Odyssey's summer program! You'll write one article a week on any topic of your choice. Your work will be shared across Odyssey's website, newsletter, and social media platforms. Plus, you'll be compensated by HQ at $10/response for your first 10 articles.
To get started write to glorie@theodysseyonline.com. We're excited to hear from you!
Pride Week, that once-a-year exciting week for any queer. The week where you can break out that rainbow onesie, that witty lesbian t-shirt or the full rainbow flag cape; it is the week where drag queens and drag kings fabulously wander around the streets. Everyone should be excited about Pride week right? Well that can be a rather complicated question, when your Pride week happens on a Jesuit campus.
Going to a Jesuit University is not easy for anyone who is a part of the LGBTQA+ community. Sometimes your day consists of battling stares, questions and public restrooms, so just imagine the reaction of the week of pure Pride and demonstrating the wonderful aspects of gayness. Even though we have worked tirelessly attempting to make Pride week the best show of queer culture, all of us will admit to being worried about the reaction.
On a Jesuit, catholic campus, I always worry about other’s reactions to just my daily appearance. Is my Pride shirt too much? Are my shorts too long? Are my clothes too baggy? Is my hair too short? Does my tie look too masculine? Just like any other member of the LGBTQA+ I am very excited for Pride week, but I will admit I am very nervous for the reactions that will come from it. I fear that after a huge event like a Drag Show, that I will face micro-aggressions or even hateful comments. I fear that I will be marked as an outcast and be ostracized from the student body. If I battle looks and questions everyday, what will I receive once I am seen with a LGBTQA+ spoken word poet? The constant fear runs through my head as every Pride event comes together and the word is spread.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I love Gonzaga and being on this campus. However, Pride is supposed to be a time of happiness and excitement, but my heart races for all of the wrong reasons. Reasons like hateful comments being spewed at guest speakers or performers. I fear being branded that crazy lesbian, who wore a tie to every event. I fear that many of my peers won’t look at me differently. I fear I will lose friends as they see me entering or exiting the events. I fear wearing a Pride shirt, because I already receive so many stares and muttered comments. Shouldn’t this week be filled with Pride and not fear?
Being different seems to be so foreign and hated that if anyone acts or dresses a little bit outside of the norm, they will be branded or ostracized. I have never understood why. Is it necessary to act differently because a girl wants to wear a tie and a boy wants to wear a dress, we all express ourselves in different ways. Isn’t it time for us to be accepting and loving one another, the world is tough enough as it is, lets make it easier by being friends and not enemies. Isn’t time to stop hating someone for who they love and share in the joy and love of loving someone to the point where you fear life without them? I think its time to embrace Pride week, and forget about old-fashioned social norms, because you never know when one norm will be thrown away and a new one will begin to control society.
Suicide isn't a tool for revenge or emotional blackmail
"13 Reasons Why" plunges us headlong into the turbulent world of high school, a realm fraught with emotional upheaval and the seething pressure of adolescent social dynamics. The protagonist, Hannah Baker, is a teenage girl who tragically takes her own life, leaving behind a series of cassette tapes that detail the thirteen reasons—or more accurately, the thirteen people—who she feels contributed to her decision. While the story's premise is intended to shed light on the tormenting effects of bullying, it inadvertently glamorizes a harrowing subject matter—suicide
It took us a while to realise how the worst part of it was how it presented suicide as empowerment. "If you're alive and noone cares, they ignore you and hurt you then suicide will make everyone listen to what you have to say and the people who were mean to you will feel really ashamed and stop being mean."
This is presenting suicide as your best option of dealing with a problematic life. It makes suicide sound worthwhile, even if at a high cost. And we don't think that showing that it hurts to cut yourself deters anyone, it just makes her seem more like a strong, determined woman of power who manages to overcome the pain. The most heart-wrenching aspect of "13 Reasons Why" is its presentation of suicide as a form of revenge or retribution, a deeply misguided message for impressionable young minds grappling with their own emotional turmoil. Hannah's tapes are a manifesto of blame, effectively placing the responsibility of her life's tragic end onto others. This grimly misguided message disregards the complexities of mental health, and it's an intensely perilous narrative to push, particularly to an audience whose understanding of these issues is often still forming.
Songs About Being 17
Grey's Anatomy Quotes
Vine Quotes
4 Leaf Clover
Self Respect
1. Brittany Morgan,National Writer's Society
2. Radhi,SUNY Stony Brook
3. Kristen Haddox, Penn State University
4. Jennifer Kustanovich, SUNY Stony Brook
5. Clare Regelbrugge, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
5 Things I've Learned About Post Grad Life
I don’t feel good about myself, fix me.
