INSIDE
CALIFORNIA UNIVERSIT Y Student-Directed One Acts
PAGE 2
Halloweeen Photos
PAGE 6 & 7
Taylor Swift
PAGE 8
Vulcan Soccer
PAGE 11
CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
NOVEMBER 2, 2012
VOL. 33, NO. 9
Natural disasters meet the iGeneration; hilarity ensues
photo by: Jeff Helsel California University of Pennsylvania students reacted to Hurricane Sandy on campus and on the Internet. by Jamie
staff writer
Rider
While the situation on the east coast was serious and many people were placed in imme-
diate danger, our generation handled it one of the most casual ways possible: over the Internet. “IF UR HAVING WEATHER PROBLEMS I FEEL BAD FOR YOU SON I GOT 99MPH
WINDS AND IMA GIVE YOU SOME,” was tweeted from a Hurricane Sandy parody Twitter on Oct. 28. The infamous storm has sent many tweets to its followers
Casey Flores
for the Cal Times
Photo by: Associated Press
Photo by: Associated Press Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
were the obvious and overplayed references to Sandy from SpongeBob all over cyberspace as well. TV reports also saw their fair share of lampooning. Sitting down to watch a reporter knee deep in water while winds threatened to knock him over was comical in a sense. A CBS reporter made a comment offhand during a report, “They don’t call it Ocean City for nothing!” Last but not least, the hurricane brought out multiple people who ran behind news crews trying to gain camera attention. A YouTube video popped up of a shirtless man wearing jogging shorts, tennis shoes and a horse mask running behind a news reporter trying to cover the story; “HurricaneHorse” was the title. Even though Sandy has moved on from us, we can still hold on to her through the various social media platforms she affectionately took over during her visit. In her own words, “HOLO = Hurricanes Only Live Once.”
immigration laws and wasn’t clear on it. When asked by the afterdebate moderator if anyone had made his or her opinion on which candidate he or she would be voting for, James Yarbrough (senior, mathematics) spoke up stating, “I came in undecided, but after watching the debate I believe I will not be voting for Obama due to his self-made statements.” Yarbrough did not specify which statements he took issue with. The “debate after the debate” amongst students on Oct. 22 was a lot more in-depth than the previous post-debate debates. “It seemed to me that Obama had his own ideas and Mitt Romney would say, ‘Yes, I agree with that,’” said Adisa HargettRobinson (freshman, political science). “It seemed like a lot of agreeing. I didn’t see a lot of his own ideas on foreign policy.” She also stated that, “Obama has an obvious advantage in foreign policy being the president.” In response to the issue of Iran and the nuclear threat they pose to the world, Rick Hardwig, (senior, political science) said that, “Romney did a great job at diffusing the question about
if planes were on the way to Iran to bomb it.” He also said, once again in favor of Romney, that he, “had a very good point as a leader where he pointed out that with our economy going down, it shows weakness to other people [abroad].” Garrick Lackey (senior, political science) responded against both candidates’ opinion on how to handle Iran, stating that he was, “disappointed with the sanctions because it was sanctions that allowed Nazi Germany come to power.” The debate raged on with topics ranging from Pakistan to foreign aid. The question about whether the budget should be balanced at this present time was also brought up, and the students from all across the ideological spectrum pretty much reached the consensus that it was time to balance the budget now rather than later. After a few students got into a heated discussion on the nature of the religion of Islam and what it means to be “radical,” Hardwig decided to take the conversation over and end the debate on a positive note by proclaiming, “Drones and aircraft carriers are cool.”
Students take an active role in debates by
President Barack Obama
since it hit the coast on Monday. The account @HurricaaneSandy was filled with sassy comments about the situation like, “I MOVE MAH BODY LIKE A CYCLONEEEEEEE,” and, “ON MY WAY TO NYC DO ANY OF U WANT ME 2 PICK YOU UP TACO BELL? NOT LIKE FOOD I MEAN AN ENTIRE BUILDING.” As far as hurricanes go, this one has by far been the most outspoken and dramatic. Don’t forget about Facebook though. Joining in on the fun, people started posting pictures with amusing captions to the website as the day went on. One popular image was a picture of a table sitting in the middle of a yard with one chair lying on its side and the caption “Never Forget. Sandy 2012” written at the bottom of the photo. There was a weather map showing the progress of the storm but as the face of Olivia Newton-John throughout the movie “Grease.” The best picture, already edited into a fake picture of the storm over the Statue of Liberty, places the giant face of a somber looking cat over New York. There
In Eberly 110, students from all over the political spectrum came out to participate in the Debate Watch group viewing of the last two debates and the discussion that followed. The discussion formats after the debates were very different from one another. For the debate held Oct. 16, which was about domestic and foreign policy, students mostly discussed the race overall with only a bit of discussion about the debate itself. Blair Williams (senior, political science), made clear that the race this year will be very close, admitting, “It’s not clear who’s going to win. I’m really confused as to what’s going on.” One student added, “Romney’s whole thing was that he’s going to fix the economy and [how] Obama hasn’t done it. Are we going to give Obama four years to continue what he’s doing or be unsure about what Romney’s going to do?” Robert Banks (senior, human resources) said about the debate that he felt, “like Obama was real clear on his answers. Mitt Romney didn’t even answer on
F O R N E W S , S CO R E S , A N D V IDEO ON DEMAND, VISIT THE C AL TIMES NEW S SITE ON-LINE - WWW.C ALTIMES.ORG