Two Day Magazine

By: Richard Ernsberger

There is always something very special about voting.  It is the opportunity to select between two, three, or even more potential visions for the future. Each vision has merit, but is weighed by the community at large. And if the vision for the future does not work out, you can always elect someone else next time. And, how could you ever forget the first time you voted? It’s a proud moment for everyone.

However,  it isn’t as simple to vote as it should be this year.  Recently, in Pennsylvania, a voter identification law was signed into existence that will require all individuals voting at the polls to carry photographic identification before they are allowed to vote.

By: Anya Alvarez

“Progress always involves risks.  You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.”  ~Frederick B. Wilcox

I’m sitting in a coffee shop right right now, looking at everyone around me. This is probably the last time I will sit in Espresso a Mano, a coffee shop I came to love while living in Pittsburgh.

I started to think about the difference between letting go and saying goodbye. To let go means to transition and move on from one stage of life to another. To say goodbye means to part, with the possibility to be reunited again. I began to reflect on the familiar faces I saw every morning while getting my coffee, or the sound of the cars passing by on the busy road that all made up a part of my daily life here in Pittsburgh.

Do boys and girls really learn differently or are these just societal constraints that we have put on them to behave in a certain way? Lisa Davis and I discuss whether or not single-sex education is better for the future generations of this country.

By: Anya Alvarez

I look at my tattoo and I have to laugh. Four years ago, on the side of my right stomach I decided to get a paraphrase of the last stanza in Robert Frost’s poem "A Road Not Taken".

It goes like this: “Two roads divergded in a wood, and I took the less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”

Divergded? I didn’t realize that a spelling mistake had been inked into my body until after I got the tattoo. I wasn’t angry when I realized the mistake. I just had to laugh about it. What could I do about it now? I couldn’t get an eraser and fix it. The only thing I hoped for was that people wouldn’t even see the mistake and just compliment the beauty of the meaning of the poem.

Anyone who has a vagina or knows someone that does, well, you may want to read this...

We all know Republican Vice Presidential hopeful, Paul Ryan, is a tough-talkin’ conservative. But, did you also know he is a lady-killer? That’s right, he has some awesome pick-up lines for the ladies of this country. Let’s see if they would work on you...

Language is a powerful tool. Possibly the most powerful tool that we as humans have learned to wield over the years. Words can inspire, words can demoralize, and words can shape the course of our humanity. And depending on the context...words can take on different meanings, like chameleons changing color right before your eyes.

Take the word “bitch” for example. According to the dictionary, the definition of bitch is as follows: (Be prepared...it has a lot of different uses!)

In other shocking news, the sky is blue.

Many amazing records have been broken this year at the Olympics, including world-renowned swimmer, Michael Phelps’ astonishing 20 medal achievement, the most ever awarded to any Olympian in the history of the sport. But, the record that seems to be receiving the most attention is the fact that more condoms than ever, 150,000 to be exact, have been given away (free!) at the Olympics this year in London.