  An overview is presented of the results of the STAR experiment from the
analysis of Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} = 130$ GeV acquired during
the first year of RHIC operation. The transverse momentum distribution of
negative hadrons has been studied out to 6 GeV/$c$ in central Au+Au collisions
and elliptic flow measurements out to 4.5 GeV/$c$ in non-central collisions.
This allows us to study hard processes and potentially effects of nuclear
matter on parton propagation. Soft processes, which dominate particle
production below around 2 GeV/$c$, have also been studied through the
identified spectra of kaons, $\bar{p}$, and strange baryons.
