This week the Johnsonville Press turns one year old, thanks to our writers, editors, and of course, you, the reader. You may not always be there for us, be we certainly love you anyway. Why else would we continue to produce interesting content, week after week, for little thanks and no compensation?

As Of Yet Untitled

Let me be clear: I am not an Obama supporter. I did not vote for the man, and frankly, I disagree with the majority of his policy initiatives. That said, to my mind, no President has made a more real and concerted effort to cut through the muck of political rhetoric (read: lies) and work in a bipartisan manner with the opposing party.

This Christmas, for the first time ever, I decided to wrap my gifts in wrapping paper. In the past, I’ve avoided this practice, in favor of the “gift bag and tissue paper” approach. The latter is simple and easy, the former, time consuming and difficult. And yet, for whatever reason, this year I chose to snip, fold and tape up my gifts—with surprising precision for a noob, I might add. Even more surprising, at least for me, was how enlightening the whole experience of wrapping gifts proved to be.

Edward Wheeler, a longtime New Brunswick resident, has been homeless for the past five months. He attended last Tuesday’s Peanut Butter and Jelly Drive at Scott Hall, hosted by Operation Robin Hood. Mr. Wheeler, a father of seven, came out to help with brown bag distribution, and to get a meal of his own. He had this to say….

Last Tuesday, Charlie Kratovil and other Operation Robin Hood activists gathered to make brown bag lunches (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a piece of fruit) for the homeless. Attendees marked the event as a success. We spoke to Charlie K., to follow up on the current activities of ORH and the response garnered from the University…

By now, Charlie Kratovil is a well-known figure in the New Brunswick community. His most recent attempts to bring grassroots change and “good” to New Brunswick have been gathering a lot of support, but some criticism as well. Johnsonville Press Editor in Chief Alex Giannattasio and Editor Grace Hong sat down for a conversation with Mr. Kratovil to get the inside scoop on what he’s been up to since the end of the Wards Campaign.
What follows is the full transcription of that hour and a half conversation. Do not ask …

This year’s Black Friday has come and gone, heralding in the last month of the year. According to ShopperTrak, a corporation that follows consumer habits at more than 50,ooo US retailers, Black Friday shoppers this year rose to 195 million consumers, up from 172 million last year. On the other hand…

Last night, I had the good fortune to attend a pre-Thanksgiving potluck feast in New Brunswick. Among certain collegiate social niches, it has become tradition (perhaps it seems only natural) to host a pre-thanksgiving meal for the crew before shipping off to be with family for the actual holiday. If you’ve never tried it before, you should—it’s a great opportunity to critique each other’s cooking, get drunk and break into spontaneous sing-a-longs.

Four major elections are breaking as we speak: Virginia’s Gubernatorial, New Jersey’s Gubernatorial, New York’s Mayoral, and the New Brunswick Wards Question.
Here is what we know so far:
In Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell was swept into office as expected by pollsters. We don’t live there, and so don’t care all that much. But just know that this constitutes a big, if expected, victory for the party that lost the state in 2008. While Obama did stump for Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds, voters in VA said that Obama was not a factor …

Happy last week of October. Hope you like rain.
There’s a lot going on this week, not the least being the introduction of our new web layout.