Alicia Puglionesi is a College junior from Haverton, Pa. Her e-mail address is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Despite some political pundits dismissing Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign as "dead," he came out swinging last night before a packed audience of Penn students. McCain's "Straight Talk Express" pulled into Annenberg's Zellerbach Theater for a town-hall forum with a crowd of nearly 1,000.

Family, food, Black Friday and traffic jams are just some of the things commonly affiliated with Thanksgiving. Beyond that, though, the upcoming holiday has a long history dating back to the first American settlers. Attendees of "Thanksgiving 101," a lecture held at the Graduate Student Center yesterday, learned about the historical origins of Thanksgiving and the facts and fictions behind the holiday.

It's not every day that an Ivy League president operates a trackhoe. But Penn President Amy Gutmann used one yesterday before an audience of local business and political leaders, including Mayor-elect Michael Nutter and city Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, to officially began construction on the recently acquired postal lands.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Man, they really had us going. Undefeated Yale was the toast of the Ivy League. As junior tailback Mike McLeod made his assault on the record books and the Bulldogs kept winning, their stock kept rising. By the eve of Saturday's Ivy title game, Yale had risen to No.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - The Penn women's soccer team came into its first-round NCAA College Cup match against James Madison expecting to have its hands full with the Dukes' speed and athleticism. In the game's opening minutes, it looked as if the Quakers would have no chance to stop the speed of James Madison's attacking players, let alone slow them down.

The Supreme Court has the constitutional right to declare the "supreme law of the land," so the appointment of justices is a crucial aspect of the American judicial system. However, according to Princeton provost Christopher Eisgruber, the current system is subpar and in dire need of reform.

Over the next few months, students will be able to thank the Undergraduate Assembly for replenishing dining supplies on campus and providing them with free copies of The New York Times. Major topics from Sunday night's meeting include: n College Republicans Chairman and Wharton senior Michael Shiely spoke about the lack of political awareness on campus during Open Forum.

Universities are cathedrals of higher learning. While the congregants at St. Agatha's may be united through their faith in God, students here are united by their faith in Almighty Education. We place sacrifices on the altar (about 40,000 of them a year), beseech our prophetic professors for their wisdom and lay prostrate every Saturday night before the holy Trinity of Smokes, Blarney and Copa - Gloria in excelsis vino! Like congregations of faith, students devote a considerable amount of time and energy to serving others.

At Parkway Center City High School in Philadelphia last year, two shy students reluctantly enrolled in a pilot after-school debate program. After disappointing performances at a spring tournament at Drexel University, the two students went to the Philadelphia Debate Institute's week-long summer program.

Kory Gedin is nothing if not an opportunist. Gedin graduated from Penn last year as a two-time All-Ivy player after starting three seasons at linebacker for the Quakers. But only on Saturday did he end his final year of college eligibility as a part-time player for Wagner College in New York City.

When universities make things unnecessarily complicated, students pay the price. And complication is exactly what defines Penn's system for student payment. We can use Dining Dollars to eat at some on-campus dining locations, but not at others. Meanwhile, there's Penn Cash, which can pay for laundry machines, printers, on-campus dining and textbooks.

Six years ago, Harvey Friedman received a call that would alter his entire medical career. The Merck and Gates foundations had partnered with the government of Botswana to make HIV medications available, and they needed his help to distribute and train people to administer anti-retroviral drugs.

College sophomore Jenna Schwartz is usually well-stocked with Red Bull when she enters the library during midterms. But she's not always trying to stay up all night writing a paper - the energy drinks are for her peers. Promoting the drink is her job as a paid campus representative for Red Bull.

The prosecution argues that it was a fatal attraction. The defense calls this an empty argument. For three trials over the past two years, three different juries have slinked away from taking a unanimous stance. When it comes to Irina Malinovskaya, the Wharton undergrad charged with murdering her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend Irina Zlotnikov, the American justice system deems her not guilty by default - a result of three hung juries.

As Brian Grandieri was whisked away from the post-game press conference on Saturday, one thing was clear: This team is in serious trouble right now. The Quakers' 80-65 loss to Howard- yes, the same Howard that lost its first two games by a combined 109 points - prompted Grandieri to call out the rest of the team, questioning their effort level, desire and tenacity.

Penn men squashed by Red, Mustangs The men's squash team opened its season this Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y. with a doubleheader against Cornell and Western Ontario. The Quakers didn't get off to the start they hoped for, losing 5-4 to the Big Red and 7-2 to Western Ontario.