June 2009 will be remembered as the month of breaking news stories; from the civil unrest that followed Iran’s much contested presidential election, to the death of the King of Pop, people were glued to their television screens waiting for the next byte of information. Or, more accurately, they were glued to their computer monitors.

If that busy month of breaking news proved anything, it proved that the power to spread information around the globe is no longer just in the hands of multi-billion dollar conglomerates and cable news networks. Instead, average everyday citizens—people just like you and me—now have a hand in that power, and we have the social networking site Twitter to thank for it.

But, wait…let’s back up for a second: What exactly is Twitter?

The streets of Tehran filled with protesters on June 13 as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was announced the winner of the Iranian presidential election. The world witnessed tens of thousands of protesters fighting against members of local militias in support of Ahmadinejad’s opponent, Mirhossein Mousavi, in the weeks that followed. The death of protester Neda Agha-Soltan in the first round of protests struck a particularly somber tone for observers rooting for Ahmadinejad’s ouster. Iran’s modern political history made these demonstrations seem merely a part of a tragic mosaic instead of a grassroots uprising capable of creating a new government.

The end of World War II marked the end of foreign rule over Iran in earnest. Iran allied with the Soviet Union and pushed against British influence over regional oil fields in the years that followed the war. The Iranian people saw promise from civilian leaders like Muhammad Musaddiq, who tried to substitute pre-war monarchical rule with democracy and civil liberties. Musaddiq’s overthrow by the Iranian army and the CIA on August 19, 1953, ushered in the rule of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavai, until the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Oscillating political momentum between moderates like Muhammad Khatami (1997–2005) and hard-liners like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has marked modern Iran.

Country music is taking on another shape as many new artists shift their careers in this direction. Young stars from American Idol and Dancing with the Stars have changed their tune to country. Julianne Hough is one particular new singer who stands out. She has spent her entire life dancing and now her complete focus is on her music. This seems to be a popular trend as country music expands, offering more variety to the world.

“With Gardasil, you could be one less” hypes the slogan of the popular HPV vaccine, which hails itself as cervical cancer prevention. Little did thousands of girls realize the ironic truthfulness pervading through that statement.