How to Be a Person

Most colleges provide a pile of orientation materials, but they're basically useless. Feel free to throw all that away. This guide from the writers and editors of The Strangerhas the information you will actually need that no one else will tell you--for college and for the rest of your existence--including: which majors to avoid, how to not get a STD, everything there is to know about philosophy (in a single paragraph!), what the music you like says about you, how to turn a crush into something more, how to come out (should you happen to be gay), how to binge drink and not die, how do laundry, how to do drugs (and which ones you should never do), good manners, tips on flirting with film nerds, how to write a great sentence, and a state-by-state guide to the U.S. of A. It's all here, along with Dan Savage's very best advice about sex and love. Hi!

Lindy West writes about movies, movie stars, exclamation points, lady stuff, large frightening fish, and more. You may have witnessed her single-handedly putting an end to the Sex and the City movie series. Lindy's work also appears in GQ, New York magazine, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the New York Daily News, Deadspin.com, and other places. Dan Savage writes the sex-and-relationship advice column "Savage Love." He is also the founder of the It Gets Better Project and editorial director of The Stranger. Christopher Frizzelle joined The Stranger as the literary editor in 2003 and became editor in chief in 2007 at the age of 27. He has written about hunting for magic mushrooms in the wild, the effect of 9/11 on his military family, and creepy old buildings, among other topics. He curates literary cabarets in nightclubs and hosts a regular silent-reading party in a hotel lobby. Bethany Jean Clement writes about eating food, knowing cows (and eating them), drinking drinks, and more. Her work has appeared in the Best Food Writing anthologies, Food & Wine,Town & Country, Gourmet.com,Beard House, the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co., and elsewhere. She is the managing editor of The Stranger.