by Elizabeth Chirico
It seemed that this year fall came right on cue. Exactly on the 1st of September, I woke up to hear not the sound of my window unit air conditioner humming and whirring away, struggling to defray the humidity that assaults my apartment and has its way with my hair daily during the summer, but to hear the actual outside noises of the morning.

Rating: 4.0/5

After doing a photo shoot for a clothing company, I boarded a train home from New York City. Exhausted from the 9 hours of bright lights and excessive lip-gloss, I was just settling down to the celebratory cheese Danish I'd been saving when I got a phone call. It was the company I'd just shot with, asking for a quote to run with my photos. The clothing company's ads were specifically hoping to target young teens, and they told me they wanted a statement that conveyed how their clothing drew attention to my curves. I almost dropped the phone.

Rating: 5.0/5

When I first arrived at the University of Virginia, there were a few things my school told me that weren't quite true. The dining hall's cornbread tastes just like grandma's. [False.] Our football team is the greatest. [False] Your dormitory isn't air conditioned but don't worry ... it'll get cooler by September. [Extremely false.] But there was one statement that was particularly off-base: "At the University, we encourage independent thought, and welcome all forms of diverse opinion."

Rating: 4.7/5