Blog Posts by Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

Why aren't more people signing up for classes like these? (Photo: Getty Images)The University of Minnesota will be hosting a symposium this spring that makes the idea of reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" with a roomful of strangers seem tame. Get ready to learn about The Female Orgasm.

"Orgasm aficionados and beginners of all genders are welcome to come learn about everything from multiple orgasms to that mysterious G-spot," course description reads.

Related: Shocking Benefits to Having an Orgasm

"Are you coming?" the online RSVP form asks.

The event is being hosted by the university's Office of Diversity and Equity's Women's Center, and a university representative told Campus Reform that the course isn't rated NC-17.

"This educational workshop is open to the full university community and participation is voluntary," spokeswoman Patricia Mattern said in an email. "As a research institution, we study, publish and educate on a vast range of topics, including human sexuality."

The seminar will cost the university about $3,400, which they chalk up to "research";

For the first time in years, college freshmen are drinking less and worrying about jobs more, a major survey says.The U.S. economy may be on the mend, but that hasn't stopped it from influencing a generation in an unexpected way: For the first time ever, an annual survey of college freshman has found that first-year students are more focused on their job prospects than their party plans.

According to the "2012 Freshman Norms report," conducted by UCLA's Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) each year since 1966, only 33 percent of college freshman reported drinking beer in 2012, down from 35.4 percent in 2011 and far lower than the 73.7 percent who were knocking back drinks in 1982, when many of their own parents were in college.

Related: 1 in 2 New Graduates are Jobless or Underemployed

Alcohol industry experts said that they're happy about the change.

"While we recognize there is more work to be done to eliminate underage drinking, today we have a record number of college freshmen who are making the right choices about drinking," Joe McClain, president of the Beer Institute, said in a

Think of it as Mardi Gras, but for dogs: The 2013 Mystic Krewe of Barkus parade in New Orleans featured plenty of beads and baubles and some crazily costumed canines. The dogs and their human companions took to the street on Sunday for the two-hour-long parade, the proceeds from which are donated to animal welfare groups. This year's theme, "Tails and Tiaras: Here Comes Honey Bow Wow," was a nod to reality TV and the grand spectacle that goes with it. Take a look at this year's best in show. -- By Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

Are you single and still planning your wedding? (Photo: Corbis)Take a look at Pinterest and you'll find plenty of boards dedicated to amazing weddings. The perfect dress. Gorgeous engagement rings. Romantic up-dos. Awe-inspiring do-it-yourself decorations that would put Martha Stewart to shame. But among all of the wedding offerings, certain boards stand out: Ones created by women who are proudly and publicly planning for the big day even though they're still single.

LOOK: Celebrity Wedding Dresses -- What Should They Wear?

They're not pretending otherwise, either. With titles like "How single girls plan their wedding," "Planning my wedding while single," and "Single with BIG wedding plans," the boards are packed with Cinderella dresses, party theme ideas, and pictures of enormous diamond solitaires -- playing up the myth of the perfect wedding while ignoring the reality of real-life marriage.

Related: Couple Has 23 Weddings Around the World

"Finding somebody who wants to be plugged into your life exactly the way it is, and all the choices you've

If we were Derek Benson's kids, we'd never buy lunch at school -- we love his hand-drawn lunch bags way too much to pass one up. The Atlanta-based dad started drawing on his kids' brown paper lunch bags in 2008, and they've become such a hit that his kids' friends and teachers have started collecting them (and he's gathered quite a following online). A video game developer with a background in graphic art, Benson finds inspiration in the TV shows and books he shares with his kids Dana, 12, Dylan, 8, and Liam, 6 -- lots of Japanese animation and other "geeky" stuff, he told Yahoo! Shine. Take a look. -- By Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine.

Those faint lines on her left lens show that Hillary Clinton's glasses aren't just a fashion statement. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) The chunky glasses that Hillary Clinton wore during this week's Benghazi hearings were much more than a fashion statement. A member of her staff confirmed on Friday that the Secretary of State had to switch to specs in the aftermath of the concussion she suffered last month.

"She'll be wearing these glasses instead of her contacts for a period of time because of lingering issues stemming from her concussion," State Department spokesman Philippe Reines told ABC News. "With them on she sees just fine."

Clinton, 65, has been criticized before for wearing glasses and forgoing full makeup, but the former First Lady has said "If others want to worry about it, I let them do the worrying for a change."

"I feel so relieved to be at the stage I'm at in my life right now,"she told CNN in May, after she was taken to task for appearing at a press conference with dark-rimmed glasses on. "Because you know if I want to wear my glasses I'm wearing my glasses. If I want to wear my hair back I'm

Giovanna Plowman (Photo: Twitter)A video posted by West Seneca, N.Y. teen Giovanna Plowman in which she seems to, um, remove and then snack on her own tampon has sparked a wave of disgust, disbelief, and even outrage online. And the desperate-for-attention high school freshman seems intent on making it her claim to fame.

Related: Why Do People Love Honey Boo Boo?

"I just want to say, I'm not pulling any tricks," she says softly in the (very NSFW) video, which seems to have been shot in her bathroom. "This is obviously going to be disgusting."

It is.

She posted the video online last week, and both Facebook and YouTube quickly took it down for violating their terms of service -- but not before it was mirrored elsewhere and thousands of people watched it.

It may be the grossest stunt she's pulled in public, but her Facebook page -- which currently has 198,000 followers -- shows that she's been going for shock value for a while. Her profile photo is of her with one hand on her hip and her boobs pushed up to her neck;

Smoking can shave 11 years off a woman's life -- but quitting before age 35 can get most of them back. (Photo: Getty Images)We already know the toll smoking can take on a our health. Women who smoke are at higher risk for stroke, cataracts, osteoporosis, early menopause, menstrual problems, and several different kinds of cancer. Now, a new study shows that smoking takes about 11 years off of a woman's life -- but if you quit smoking early enough, researchers have found, you could get most of that time back.

Related: 6 Ways Quitting Smoking Will Make You Prettier

According to study co-author Tim McAfee, director of the Office on Smoking at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the United States.

25 Ways to Stop Smoking

"There's the old saw that everyone knows smoking is bad for you," McAfee told the New York Times. "But this paints a much more dramatic picture of the horror of smoking. These are real people that are getting 10 years of life expectancy hacked off - and that's just on average."

The study, published Wednesday in the New