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THE EQUINOX The student voice of Keene State College
Vol. 73, Issue #7
Thursday, October 17, 2019
KSCEQUINOX.COM
KSC faces deficit The college is currently aiming for a deficit of 1.6 million dollars News editor Keene State College is currently aiming for a deficit of 1.6 million dollars. When KSC President Melinda Treadwell took the presidency in the fall of 2017, the deficit was around eleven million dollars. Student enrollment and retention are at the center of trying to get the deficit as low as possible. “We’ve turned, in total over the last three years, 15.2 million dollars in cost containment and our revenue has stabilized and grown by about two percent in total,” Treadwell said. “We had hoped to be balanced last year and we had missed by about 2.7 million; that was last year’s budget.” Vice President for Finance and Administration Susan LaPanne said that a deficit happens when revenues fall short or expenses run higher than expected, thus expenses are higher than revenues will cover. “Our [the college’s] revenues are tuition and fees, our student revenues, room and board; all that stuff needs to come in a way that it covers all of our expenses,” LaPanne said. The college has two different kinds of expenses: fixed and variable. Fixed expenses are necessary regardless of how many students are enrolled, like heat, water, sewer and electric. Variable expenses are dependent on the revenue. “Variable expenses would be for things like academic counselors. How many students you have tells you how many counselors you need,” LaPanne said. “Same thing, to some extent, with faculty. How many majors,
how many courses are you offering, how many faculty slots do you need. Some of those things are variable because they vary with the enrollment, but they don’t vary as quickly as enrollment.” The administration is looking at where to make cuts. According to LaPanne, costs like travel and supplies have already been cut from the budget. More specifically, sending faculty and staff members to events like conferences, which are not considered necessary or contributing to the overall student experience, have also been reduced significantly. Looking forward, more cuts will be made on campus that are not directly related to benefitting the students. “There are people who are not meaningless... but sometimes their activities no longer have meaning,” LaPanne said. “We have to ferret that out and we have to either redirect or by attrition take that person, who has value but is not doing valuable things anymore, and, when someone else leaves, put them in that slot. That takes time. We’ve cut things that we just can’t afford and that don’t contribute to student happiness.” According to Interim Provost Ockle Johnson, another way the college is practicing fiscal discipline is by not replacing faculty and staff members when they leave their positions on their own or retire. Departments are also working on consolidating courses that are similar to each other. “Sometimes a department might say, ‘We’ve been offering a certain course at the upper level. There’s another department that offers a course that’s very similar; it’s not exactly
the same, but the students are going to get a very similar experience that will meet their educational needs.’ That’s the kind of thing departments have done in order to ensure the quality is there but deliver it with fewer faculty,” Johnson said. This issue is not only about balancing the budget but getting the college to a comfortable financial space to have money left for unexpected future expenses. “Think about those unruly expenses that are going to show up that we go ‘oh no, we didn’t predict that’,” LaPanne said. “We still have to be able to have the fortitude to pay those expenses and still balance the budget. So it’s really [one] million and a half plus pick a number.” When it comes to how to conserve this money, LaPanne said that it’s all about maintaining the student experience while still being reasonable. “If it doesn’t touch you, if it doesn’t make your experience here better, it’s on the block. Our mission is the student experience. If we have somebody doing something that doesn’t positively influence or doesn’t serve the people who are serving the students,
it’s got to go,” LaPanne said. “Next year, at this moment in time, we are aiming at a balanced budget, which means that our 2.4 million dollars of last year and the year before was reduced by about one million. We have to reduce it by another million and a half.” Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com.
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ALEX HARVEY
equiNox staff
SAM REINKE / EQUINOX STAFF
volunteering at campaign events until she was offered a job. Getting the job took some persistence and she told everyone she could on the campaign that she wanted a full time job working for Buttigieg, even begging Buttigieg’s husband for work. Willis said that being assertive was important in getting the job because it showed the campaign that she was serious about her support and that she was willing to work hard. John Entler of the Kamala Harris Campaign worked for Governor Tom Wolf’s Campaign in 2018, campaigning for the Governor in rural Pennsylvania. “I was in coal country, the heart of Trump country. I then got sent down to Florida to work on the recount team,” Entler
Top Headlines
Index Section A: News .................1-3 Opinions ...........4-5 A&E ..................6-8 Associated Collegiate Press
Section B: Student Life...1-4 WN....................5 Sports............6-8
A4: Riding with a wild side A8: Church, state and the great Debate B1: Green Bike Accident B8: back in the right lane
RACHEL VITELLO
News editor Keene State College and the city of Keene officially recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Christopher Columbus Day. Keene mayor Kendall Lane read the official statement for this on Monday, October 14, at a discussion about Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The discussion took place in the alumni center on campus. The Equinox will feature a full story in next week’s issue.
BRIEF
Students attend political campaign panel As the presidential primaries approach, campaigns are trying to recruit students to get involved. On Wednesday, October 16, a panel of seven representatives from the Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren campaigns came to Rhodes Hall to talk to students about getting involved in the election process. All of the candidates represented are democrats. Additionally, a representative from former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign planned to attend but was unable. The representatives who were sent held a variety of positions, including field organizers, press secretaries and data analysts. All of the representatives who came had prior experience working with political campaigns, but their political journeys varied. Some candidates, such as Conner Jure of the Booker campaign, applied for jobs with many different campaigns, while others such as Colleen Willis of the Buttigieg campaign, already knew which candidate she wanted to work for. Jure became involved in politics while interning for his congressman in Florida after dropping out of college. This lead to an opportunity to work for the Democratic Party during the midterms, and they managed to flip Jure’s county blue, the largest county that voted for Donald Trump in 2016. “I applied to multiple campaigns because we have so many good candidates, but Booker was one of the first ones that I applied to because he’s been a leader on a lot of issues that have impacted me directly, coming from Florida, particularly gun violence prevention and the Climate Crisis,” Jure said. Colleen Willis works for Buttigieg, commonly known as “Mayor Pete” due to his position as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, as a field organizer. She graduated from Keene State College in 2018 with a degree in political science but she felt disillusioned by the results of the 2016 Presidential Election, until she read Buttigieg’s memoir “Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future.” At the time, Buttigieg only had one field organizer in the Monadnock region. Willis initially joined the campaign by
Keene recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com.
OLIVIA CATTABRIGA / ART DIRECTOR
RACHEL VITELLO
BRIEF
said. He became interested in joining the Harris Campaign when it launched in February of this year. He had already been following Harris and was impressed with her track record as Attorney General of California. Entler said that when he started campaign work, he did not have any connections to the campaign. “I knew one person, but it was another organizer, so I didn’t have a direct connection. I sent a bunch of emails because I knew that I wanted to work in a rural area, because I knew that’s where a lot of the problems came about in 2016,” Entler
Nursing program off probation MATTHEW WHITE
equiNox staff The Keene State nursing program gained its state approval after three years on probation. The program was put on probation by the Board of Nursing shorty after the program was started in 2012 because of insufficient student test scores. The first class of students passed the exam with a 77.79 percent, meaning it was below the average of 48.28 percent. Since there were only nine students, each student’s score weighed a high amount. Director of nursing at KSC Patricia Shinn said the number of students in the program impacted this issue. “The year after, 40 students were in the program when the average exam score came out to be 48.28 percent, almost half of what the average was supposed to be that year. At that point the Board of Nursing put the program on probation,” Shinn said. After the program was put on probation, a curriculum consultant was brought in to see what problems needed to be changed to gain approval from the board. These changes included increased admission requirements, developed progression standards (first two-year pre-med students need to take specific benchmarks) and an overall GPA of 3.4 or higher. For the board to take the Keene State nursing program off probation, they needed to complete two consecutive years at or above the national pass rate, which was 88.29 percent in 2018. Even though the program failed to meet the average last year by .05 percent they managed to show the board that the package was complete by scoring one hundred percent on this year’s
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News / A2
Thursday, October 17, 2019
KSC addresses issues moving forward Administration, faculty, staff and students met for an all-campus meeting at the semester mid-point RACHEL VITELLO
News editor Keene State College is preparing for the future of higher education both in the short-term and long-term and is looking at recent data to inform decisions moving forward. At the allcampus meeting on Monday, October 7, in the Redfern Arts Center, KSC president Melinda Treadwell, Chief Enrollment Management Officer MB Lufkin and Interim Provost Ockle Johnson discussed issues ranging from the college budget to how to attract new students and also answered questions from KSC faculty and staff. Treadwell addressed how even though student enrollment is down for this past incoming class, the increase in student retention has left a positive impact on the school. “To move by five percentage points in first to second-year retention means the students are feeling welcome, feeling like they made the right choice and feeling supported. I think we’re going to see the first to third-year trends follow as well,” Treadwell said. “This increase in retention this year has made a big difference in the total headcount at Keene State because we’ve kept five percent more students than we had two years ago, and that helps stabilize us during enrollment turbulence.” According to Treadwell, an important way to get enrollment rates up and maintain retention is to evolve the curriculum KSC offers to appeal to individuals who may not want the traditional college experience. “We need to consider new pathways and new credentials. Going to college at 18, graduating at 21 or 22 with your fouryear degree is important for a subset of the population. But there are people who want more flexibility, individuals who want to come in and go out and come back,” Treadwell said. Offering micro-credentials and stacking credentials and different opportunities for students to come to KSC and come back again over time to build a degree as they go are some ways KSC may try to appeal to this demographic. “As the traditional undergraduate population declines, these pathways become increasingly important for us to try to diversify the ways we make our education available,” Treadwell said. In line with this, Lufkin discussed the importance of understanding the different roles prospective students take on in their path to KSC, known as the ‘pipeline of students.’ There are prospects, which are students KSC recruits by going to high schools, college fairs and similar events. Inquiries are students who have actively shown interest in KSC. Applicants, accepted and enrolled students are the last three in the pipeline. “The longer-term strategy will be to get systematic about personalized communications for students at each stage in the pipeline, dependent on how they have engaged with us,” Lufkin said. “If they’ve already visited or come to an open house, we should be talking to them differently than if they’re simply an inquiry. We need to spend more time understanding our students and crafting the messages.” Not only is the pipeline significant for communicating with students but also for crafting their experience when they visit campus in person.
“We’ve been reviewing our informational sessions, rechoreographing our tours, realigning and scaffolding the information students receive so they have a different experience if they come for an information session versus if they come for an open house versus if they come for admitted students day. That includes working on clearer signage,” Lufkin said. Working on redesigning the online KSC experience has been another large change in hopes of simplifying the prospective student experience to get more students to apply and enroll at KSC. Over the course of the next three to six months, the KSC website will be getting a redesign. KSC will also begin offering online graduate program courses starting in January 2020. In the short-term, there was a specific effort on the website to drive traffic to the RSVP page for the next open house on Saturday, October 19. According to Lufkin, there are already 50 more people RSVP’d for this year than there were for the open house at this time last year. KSC has also partnered with the Education Advisory Board (EAB) to redesign the KSC application. “We have a new application that’s launching in a few weeks that’s called the Leap Forward application. It is mobile responsive and mobile-friendly. It has three clearly articulated steps so students know exactly where they are in the process and they have a sense of how long it will take them to complete the app,” Lufkin said. Johnson also discussed improvements KSC will be making, but in terms of curriculum KSC is looking to evolve current programs and implement new programs that will be beneficial for students. “For us to reinvent the wheel was naive and unrealistic. We needed to look for models that have been successful elsewhere in order to build our own process,” Johnson said. “We’re going to look for input from the Educational Development Center. That’s what their focus is, looking to the future and providing direction. Then we’ll identify what are the right things for Keene State. We need to make sure we make the right decisions for Keene State that will prepare our students for meaningful lives and the meaningful work they will do.” Treadwell closed the meeting by discussing the economic importance of the future business hub that will be on campus, given the employment opportunities in the optics field. Treadwell also stressed Keene State’s important role in the Monadnock region by being an asset to the area in providing not only jobs and education but also performing arts and culture. Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com.
LIAM FREY / EQUINOX STAFF
NURSING
PANEL
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said. His campaign work during the 2018 midterms provided him with a network that made it easier for him to get a job working on a presidential campaign. “I’m with Bernie in 2020. I’m a campus organizer and I’m also one of the shadow people that emails or texts you,” said Jess Weldon. Before this Weldon worked as a teacher and at a non-profit. Her career working in politics began in 2012 when she applied for a fellowship online to work for Obama’s reelection campaign. Field organizers have to be ready and willing to move across the country at a moment’s notice. “After I got the job I was told I had two days to get to San Antonio to start work,” Weldon said. The Elizabeth Warren campus organizer at KSC Abby Cox said that anyone interested in getting involved with a campaign should go for it. “I had heard that just getting in the door with a campaign is really hard and you have to know somebody, but I didn’t know anybody with this campaign,” Cox said. “If you’re interested and a campaign website is accepting applications, just submit your resume and your cover letter; it could lead to something.” Kristen Morris is the New Hampshire Press Secretary for the Elizabeth Warren Campaign. “My job is working with the press, everything from campus news to WMDR,” Morris said. Morris’ job is not strictly relegated to New Hampshire press; she has to work with other states’ press during events that happen near the border. For example, whenever Warren comes to Keene, Morris also has to work with press from Vermont. Jure, Entler and Willis all agreed that even though their respective candidates are performing relatively poorly in polls compared to Biden, Warren and Sanders, this is not a cause of distress for them or their coworkers. “At this point in the Republican primaries, Rudi Guliani was leading by 10 points. Twenty-eight days before the Iowa Caucus, John Kerry was polling at two or three percent and he wound up winning the nomination,” Jure said. According to them, polling is just one indication of how a candidate is doing. Weldon referred to this as the “polar coaster” and said that they try not to focus on polls. “The polls are constantly changing and it doesn’t affect your work, it only affects your mood. The only poll that matters is the election,” Weldon said.
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Most of the representatives on the panel were field organizers for their respective campaigns. “A field organizer is the face of the campaign in a given area that’s referred to as a ‘turf,’” Jure said. The job of a field organizer involves meeting with people, activists, officials and organizing events. Campaign staffers are generally respectful of other campaigns, and deny any attempts at intra-campaign sabotage. “Everyone on this panel is someone that I personally like and would not mind sharing a meal with,” Weldon said. Campaigns are regularly reorganized during the course of the campaign trail, particularly after primaries conclude or a candidate has received their party’s nomination. Weldon said that when the New Hampshire Primary is over, she and the other staffers working in New Hampshire will have to seek new jobs in other parts of the country. Weldon said that they try to hire from within the campaign to fulfill these jobs, but as a nominee becomes more apparent more jobs open up to other people as well. “If you think a candidate is going to win the nomination and you want a job through November, the best thing is to get in early with the campaign and be ready to move,” Weldon said. “Every time a position is available, per our union contract, that position has to be listed within our organization for 72 hours, so priority is given to people already on the campaign,” Weldon said. The panelists all agreed that while campaign work is rewarding, it is also an exhausting experience. Everyone agreed that all they want to do when a campaign is over is to sleep for a few weeks. John Iacobucci, President of the Keene State College Republicans, was disappointed by the lack of KSC student attendance at the panel. “It’s discouraging considering our political climate. I’m a republican and this was not my party, but I still understand the importance of the public political process and I think it is important to hear everybody out,” Iacobucci said. He added that students living in New Hampshire have a unique opportunity to participate in politics due both to New Hampshire being the first primary state and the more intimate nature of town hall meetings in the Granite State, versus the large scale rallies in arenas that are commonly held in other states. The staffers have all personally met the candidates they work for.
“When I started working, I really hoped that I might get to meet Elizabeth Warren at some point, and now I’ve met her twice,” Cox said. Provost Program Manager Kimberly Schmidl-Gagne organizes civic engagement opportunities on campus, including debate watch parties and campaign rallies for candidates. The panel in Rhodes was intended to be a “buffet” of sorts for students to learn more about the different campaigns and candidates all in one place. “Some of our students want to do internships with campaigns, so I wanted them to meet people who are living that life and understand what the opportunities are,” SchmidlGagne said. “It feels a little bit mysterious about how you work on campaigns, so I wanted to raise that veil a little bit,” Schmidl-Gagne said. Alex Harvey can be contacted at aharvey@kscequinox.com
“If you’re interested and a campaign website is accepting applications, just submit your resume and your cover letter; it could lead to something.” -Abby Cox
exam, which convinced the board of nursing to give the approval to the program. This is the first time the program has gotten approval by the board. Alongside their approval from the board, the Keene State nursing program received its national accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) for ten years in 2018. After the program was approved, it could no longer receive funding from the board. “With the combination of River Valley Community College’s nursing program, the two programs have been sharing the simulation lab on campus. As time goes on and the programs grow, there may be a need to generate funds for another lab,” said Shinn. Since then, the program has added a requirement that all students will have to take 15 days of clinical, medical and surgical classes in every semester of their junior and senior years of college. This gives students more experience in clinical, medical and surgical settings. The nursing program is looking to add RN to BSN back to their program. This means nurses who graduate after two years who want to come back for their bachelor’s degree can complete the same course without taking a different exam. Matt White can be contacted at mwhite@kscequinox.com.
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News / A3
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Behavioral Health Improvement Institute on campus KELLY REGAN
gives kids a sense of empowerment and so I really love working on that program.” “There’s a lot of history here of trying to improve the wellbeing of children here at Keene State,” Tremblay said. Schagen is pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology and hopes to become a therapist or work in psychological testing. “I think if I hadn’t done this, I would have a much harder time with my research papers,” Schagen said. “Some projects are more of a literature review and that really taught me a lot about how to do research.” The BHII hopes to employ a few Keene State students to help with their research and projects. “Our plan is to make available some assistantships for Keene State students. Even though we’re not attached to any academic departments, the work we do is relevant to a few different departments here,” Fauth said. The Institute works on different projects throughout New Hampshire. Currently, BHII is evaluating the fidelity of the System of Care. The System of Care is a system of therapeutic services throughout the state of New Hampshire. The Institute ensures that behavioral health services in New Hampshire are offered as advertised and helps find ways for these services to improve. “At Keene State, one part of their mission is really about behavioral health and engaging with the community, so we help embody that part of the mission,” Fauth said. Kelly Regan can be contacted at kregan@kscequinox.com.
seNior News reporter “Our arrival on campus is not a coincidence and it’s part of a broader vision that President Treadwell has for Keene State to be engaged in the issues of importance to the region,” Principal Investigator George Tremblay said. On July 1, 2019, the Behavioral Health Improvement Institute (BHII) moved from Antioch University to Keene State College. BHII is now housed on the second floor of the Carroll House at Keene State College. The Institute provides consultation type services to clinical, psychological and behavioral health services. The Institute focuses much of their research on child development and children’s behavioral health. “Keene State was very interested in hosting us as part of a broader effort to be connected to the regional community. One of Keene State’s traditional areas of strength is to be interested in child development and a lot of our work is in children’s behavioral health,” Tremblay said. As one of three Principal Investigators for BHII, Tremblay finds projects, secures funding and supports the team in their research. “We help people in the community improve behavioral health, mental health and substance abuse practice and outcomes. Our work is really external and in the community; it’s a community engagement arm of Keene State,” Director of BHII James Fauth said. Fauth is a doctoral-level counseling psychologist and has taught at Antioch for over 15 years. During his last year at Antioch, Fauth moved from teaching to focusing entirely on research and project work. The BHII employs three graduate students from Antioch. Raynalde Schagen is an advanced research assistant with the Institute who reviews other student work and assists with program evaluation. Currently, Schagen and Tremblay are evaluating Youth Leadership Through Development, a program being implemented in schools in northern New Hampshire. “It gets students involved in planning outdoor adventures and conferences and having a lot of leadership responsibilities,” Schagen said. “It
COLLEGE SENATE
RACHEL VITELLO
News editor
OLIVIA CATTABRIGA / ART DIRECTOR
The first-year experience and recognition of Indigenous People’s Day were among the many issues discussed at the most recent College Senate meeting. The 487th meeting of the College Senate convened Wednesday, October 9, at 4 p.m. in the Mountain View Room. Economics Professor Patrick Dolenc called the meeting to order. New Senator Alana Lehouilliler was welcomed to the Senate. She is a KSC sophomore and representative of her class for student government. The Senate approved the minutes of the last meeting. The Senate Executive Committee moved for the resolution of recognizing Idigenous People’s Day on the second Monday of October each year. It was moved and seconded. KSC senior Jedidiah Crook read his request to the committee. Coordinator of Multicultural Student Support & Success & Equity Education Kya Roumimper and KSC President Melinda Treadwell also spoke on the importance of this motion. “As an institution we can pave the way for this,” Treadwell said. “This is really important and it speaks to our values.” The motion was passed unanimously. This resolution will also be taken to city council soon by Crook and Roumimper. Treadwell spoke during the courtesy period regarding the value statement that was sent out to the campus. This was brought about after a meeting on campus last week concerning free speech and hate speech on campus.
“In the coming weeks we will move it to action, presence, visibility and continued action with our students,” Treadwell said. Treadwell also said that on October 25 she will be meeting with the Board of Trustees to discuss specific investments into the college to help KSC achieve goals set for the next three years. She also thanked the Senate for all the work that was done on the NECHE accreditation that is currently being worked on. Associate Dean Tanya Sturtz explained the First-Year Experience (FYE), which would be required first-year curriculum, that is in the process of being implemented on campus. “The proposed First-Year Experience (FYE) is comprised of the purposeful weaving of people, course-based experiences, the CollegeWide Learning Outcomes, and well-designed resources addressing critical first-year topics (academic success, social needs, emotional needs),” states an overview passed around to the Senate. The Senate Executive Committee also proposed a charge to create a Program Elimination Guidelines Task Force. The Academic Policy Committee revised several policies from the Registrar’s Office, including the Credit Transfer policy, Course Retake policy, Grade Appeal policy and Transcript policy. All motions for those changes were seconded and passed. The Academic Standards Committee and the Senate Curriculum Committee went over their notes from their last respective meetings.
STUDENT ASSEMBLY PUJA THAPA
AdmiNistrAtive executive editor
Bookstore services for all University System of New Hampshire schools have just gone out to bid through a request for proposals (RFP) process according to Student Government Advisor Jennifer Ferrell. Ferrell didn’t attend the student assembly, but she sent a message to the assembly. Ferrell said the current agreement of Keene State College with Barnes & Noble is up at the end of the fiscal year in June 2020. She said that she is in the group working through this process and will be updating the student leaders. Student Body President Davis Bernstein informed the assembly about the upcoming Pumpkin Lobotomy event on October 25. He also reminded the assembly of the president dinner on December 2. The Class of 2022 is having a Chipotle fundraiser on October 26, according to the Vice President of Class 2022 Theo Avent. The assembly meets every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Puja Thapa can be contacted at pthapa@kscequinox.com
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OPINIONS
Opinions / A4
Thursday, October 17, 2019
EDITORIAL
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Riding with a wild side Last week Keene State Soccer player Benjamin Musese was riding a Green Bike around campus when suddenly, the front wheel on his bike flew off causing him to fly over his bike handles. Musese was left with his hands and face scraped up by the accident as well as not being able to play while he healed. This situation is concerning to the Equinox because it can affect a lot of people. One major group that it could affect are the many athletes that ride these bikes. If these athletes were to crash and get hurt, then the teams would be seriously impacted as well as the sports watching community. Another group that could be affected are the people who have trouble walking long distances and use the bikes to move around faster. They would be seriously impacted because they would not only have even more difficulty getting around campus, but they would also potentially not be able to use the bike to supplement that due to injuries. A group that may go ignored, but is also quite important to this, is the future Green Bike riders. They may hear about this incident and completely disregard the Green Bikes when it seems to have been a freak accident. This would be a shame because it is a very nice system for Keene State to have, especially for free to all students. While the Equinox believes the Green Bike Program is a great program offered by the college, we also believe there can be more precautions taken to ensure the safety of the students riding them. First, Green Bike should offer helmets to all students who rent bikes from them. Although a helmet won’t protect you during every bike injury, it will reduce the risk of a concussion or other forms of head trauma. The Equinox also thinks students and those renting out the bikes should test ride them up and down Appian Way before they commit to riding one for the whole semester. Most students are not bike experts. If there is an issue, they may not be able to tell. That’s why it would be important for the person renting the bike to also try and ride it beforehand. Green Bikes has said they are concerned people have been tampering with the bikes, which resulted in the accident last week. If the bikes are being tampered with, it’s important for students to lock up their bikes or bring them inside. Lastly, students should remember that these are not new bikes. They are recycled and old bikes that have been fixed up to function for the purpose of riding; treat them with this in mind.
-OLIVIA CATTABRIGA/ ART DIRECTOR
STAFF COMMENTARY
Time flies when you’re having fun CRISTIAN VALENTIN
OpiniOns EditOr With the semester already half over and students speeding toward Halloween and Thanksgiving break, I thought it was a nice time to stop and think about how the semester has been so far. The first semester of my sophomore year has honestly flown by and I don’t really know how to feel about it. The best part has probably just been being able to spend time with the friends I met my freshman year. Being away from them for the majority of the summer has truly made me realize how much they mean to me. Another thing that I’ve really enjoyed about this semester is being able to live with almost all of my friends in the same building. Last semester I would always have to walk to Huntress to hang out with my friends, and there was no path between The Commons and Huntress yet, so it would be a slight annoyance. Moving from The Commons to Pondside 1 has also been a huge upgrade,
THE EQUINOX
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Puja Thapa Administrative Executive Editor Erin McNemar Managing Executive Editor News Editor
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Senior Reporter Claire Boughton Kelly Regan
MISSION: The Equinox exists to promote the free flow of information, to protect the First Amendment, to stimulate high standards in the practice of journalism and to foster excellence among student journalists.
in my opinion. I enjoy the bigger rooms, having my own bathroom and shower and not having to deal with alarms constantly going off doesn’t hurt, either. There have been some downsides, however, such as having to walk farther to go most places, not having air conditioning and having four washers and dryers (one broken) for a building full of people. These are minor inconveniences though, and the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. The worst part may have been the beginning of the semester because I was trying to balance too many things at once. This included attempting to do four classes while trying to be an equinox editor, which I wasn’t able to pull off like I thought I could. I then decided to drop a class and focus my time on three classes and my editor role. My role as editor has definitely been the biggest change from last semester. As somebody who was afraid to even write for the newspaper last year, I really feel like I’ve come a long way from where I was. I also feel like I’ve grown as a writer a lot in my time just as an editor. This is because I am writing at least two stories every week, which means I begin to notice more
of my mistakes (although commas still hate me). I must admit though, I was terrified to be an editor. When I first applied for the position I was pretty confident and ready to go but then, once the interview came around, I realized the true responsibilities of the role. This caused me to stress a bit for a few hours, but then I actually began the role, got to know the staff and now I enjoy doing it. Overall, this has taught me that it’s OK to be scared when doing new things, but we should do them anyway. Cristian Valentin can be contacted at cvalentin@kscequinox.com
EQUINOX NEWSROOM
EDITORIAL POLICY
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The Equinox is a designated public forum. Student editors have full editorial control over the entire content of the paper. All articles and opinion pieces are assigned, written and edited by students without censor by administrators, faculty or staff. The Equinox is published Thursdays during the academic year with dates immediately preceding and following holidays omitted. The advertising deadline is 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication. The Equinox reserves the right to refuse advertising for any reason. Advertising is not accepted until it appears in the paper. Letters to the editor must be written exclusively to The Equinox and are due by noon on the Friday prior to publishing. All letters must include name and phone number for verification. The Equinox reserves the right to edit for style and length, and refuse any letters to the editor. For clarification and additional information on any above policies call 358-2414. The Equinox business office is open MondayFriday from 11 am to 1:30 pm.
Rodger Martin, Journalism faculty (rmartin@kscequinox.com ) Julio Del Sesto, Journalism faculty (jdelsesto@keene.edu)
Equinox Staff: Slesha Tuladhar, William Pruett, Anna Sheppard, Alex Harvey, Matthew White, Simon Clarke, Caroline Ware, Kirsten Somero, Jack Dey, Victoria Miles, Andrew Chase, Tom Benoit, Kathryn Spadafora, Teagan Hudzik, Matthew White, Kiana Wright, Harrison Paletta, Connor Adams, Alan Fortin, Matt Holderman, Katie Jensen, Colin Bent Copyright © 2017: All rights reserved Reproduction of The Equinox in whole or part in any form written, broadcast or electronic without written permission of The Equinox is prohibited. The Equinox is published each Thursday during the academic year by the editorial board of The Equinox, which is elected every spring by the members of the editorial board and acts as joint publisher of the paper. The Equinox serves as the voice of the students of Keene State College and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the faculty, the staff and/or the administration. One copy of The Equinox is available free each week. Anyone removing papers in bulk will be prosecuted on theft charges to the fullest extent of the law. Inserting items into printed copies of The Equinox is considered theft of services and will result in prosecution.
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Thursday, October 17, 2019
STAFF COMMENTARY
Separating art from the artist KATIE JENSEN
Equinox Staff Over the past few years, SoundCloud rap has taken over pop culture and controversial artists such as XXXTenacion and 6ix9ine have taken the media by storm. It seems that much of their publicity stems from the legal challenges they face rather than the music they produce. Moral panic has always surrounded music that comes with each new generation, but the amount of SoundCloud rappers involved in violent crimes is quite staggering. Many of them have been involved or charged with crimes such as sexual assault, robbery, murder and gang violence. Nonetheless, our current generation still flocks toward their music. In 2017, Nielsen SoundScan figures indicated that eight of the 10 most listened to artists in the world were rappers. All this controversy leads rap fans to ask themselves whether artists’ personal lives should be judged separately from their music. That is a complicated question, considering most rap songs draw upon the artists’ personal lives. It is hard to decipher when these artists are being truthful or simply exaggerating for the sake of their stage persona. For example, in the early 2000s Hip-Hop artist Eminem faced backlash for his crude lyrics in songs like “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Kill You,” in which he raps about murdering his wife and mother. Many of his other songs also mentioned domestic violence and murder, but he was never charged or even allegedly believed to be associated with those crimes. In an interview with TMZ in 2004, Eminem stated that his lyrics are simply meant to express how he feels, but he would never act on them. “I do say things that I think will shock people. But I don’t do things to shock people,” he said. However, this new-age rap music has shown that artists are living by the lyrics in their songs. Rapper XXXTenacion alludes to domestic vio-
VS. lence and murder in many of his songs such as “Look at me!” and “Carry On.” According to The Guardian, XXXTenacion was sent to trial for alleged domestic abuse charges (beating his pregnant girlfriend) before he was murdered in 2018. The article also refers to another SoundCloud rapper, 6ix9ine, who is currently facing life in prison for charges relating to gang activity and may have to enter the Witness Protection Program if he is ever released. Vulture magazine also mentioned that the rapper Trippie Redd had two arrests in 2018— first, for fighting another rapper, FDM Grady, and then another for allegedly pistol whipping a woman. Additionally, it was reported that Lil Pump spent a few months in jail for violating his parole and Lil Xan spent time in rehab for opioid addiction in 2018.
Perhaps most shockingly, an 18 year old rapper Tay-K was arrested for armed robbery that left one man dead in July of 2019. According to the New York Times, his song “The Race” was actually written as he was fleeing from the cops. “The video, which has been viewed more than 173 million times on YouTube, featured a babyfaced Tay-K posing with a handgun next to his own wanted poster, and caused a stir online for its unabashed muddying of the line between art and life,” the article states. For artists like Tay-K, it is hard to make the case that music should always be judged separately from the artist. Tay-K capitalized off of his horrendous crime, and it’s likely that many listeners were only interested due to morbid curiosity. The same phenomenon occurred with rapper XXXTenacion. According to Google Trend Data, the rapper’s stardom began to soar in October of 2017 immediately after the assault against his girlfriend. His hit song “Look at me!” was released back in 2015, but reached number two on the Billboard charts in 2017. In all, fans of Hip-Hop or any other genre of music should be free to listen -OLIVIA CATTABRIGA/ ART DIRECTOR to whoever they want. An article by The Guardian offers a better solution to this problem that does not include censoring crude lyrics. “While labels aren’t always champions of pastoral care, when SoundCloud rapper Smokepurpp signed to Interscope, the label had immediately advised him to deal with his drug use,” the article states. Although suggestions such as these may not ensure all signed artists will clean up, it does provide an incentive for those artists to get control over their lives. Katie Jensen may be contacted at kjensen@kscequinox.com
STAFF COMMENTARY
Learning to lead the newest Owls COLIN BENT
Equinox Staff I often think students wonder why orientation leaders would spend so much of their summer breaks on campus, dancing along Appian Way, rain or shine. I think that the time commitment is a large barrier for a lot of students. So why do so many of us do what we do? Why do many of us reapply year after year? The answer to that is different for every single orientation leader. For some of us, it’s the chance to be a part of something that is greater than ourselves. The work that orientation leaders do puts them in a very unique position to shape the new generation of Keene State students. As the first faces that many students will meet on this campus, orientation leaders have the opportunity to really demonstrate what it means to be a Keene State student. Orientation staff provide students with a chance to make a difference, as we get the opportunity to make a positive influence on the students choosing to join our community. For a lot of orientation leaders, the opportunity to help Keene State continue to grow as a community drives our motivation to apply each year. For many orientation leaders, there’s a sense of belonging that comes along with our position. When you join orientation staff, you’re joining a family that has your back throughout your lowest lows and your highest highs. On any given day you have at least 48 other people who you can reach out to for support. While that might sound overwhelming at first, when you make those connections with other members of the staff it’s comforting to know you’ll always have someone to lean on when you need it. The connections you make in this position will last throughout your time here at Keene State College. Perhaps you might not have felt prepared when you came to college for the first time. This could be your opportunity to change that for someone else; you can be that support system for new students. Maybe you’re the opposite and you were completely ready to leave your parents and finally
be on your own. So, you might want to help teach new students to be as with people and provide new students with someone they can depend on confident as you were coming into college. Whatever your story is, you when they need help. If you want to help make a positive impact on this get to support students during their transition into college. Personally, I’ve campus, we hope that you would consider applying to orientation staff. always felt that this community does a really good job at providing a space Colin Bent can be contacted at colin.bent.2013@gmail.com for everyone and as part of the orientation staff you’ll have that opportunity to help students find the space that’s right for them. -CONTRIBUTED BY COLIN BENT/ EQUINOX STAFF All in all, this job is a lot of fun and you get to work with a lot of really amazing people. Of course, it’s going to be a lot of hard work, but what sets orientation apart from another summer job is that you can have fun and make a lot of friends along the way. You get the chance to meet someone new every day in this job, and really get to know them. You get to connect
STAFF COMMENTARY
A safe space in an unexpected place KATHRYN SPADAFORA
Equinox Staff Christian Life at Keene State I’m a Christian. These are three words I have often been afraid to say here at Keene State College. It’s no secret that Keene State is a largely atheist school. Few professors discuss religion or faith in classes, and even fewer discuss it in a positive light. My freshman year, I felt as though I was the only student on campus with faith, and was often laughed or scoffed at when students learned about my religion. My Bible which I carried (and still carry) in my backpack became a source of shame to be hidden. And every Sunday I walked to church alone with a constant longing to find a friend my own age to go with. This was one of numerous reasons I decided to take a leave of absence spring semester my freshman year, and when I came back to campus in the fall I was determined to make a change. I was lucky enough to find a roommate who was also Christian and invited me to church with her. Since then, I have found a plethora of opportunities for Christian life here at Keene State. The first of these is CRU, or the Campus Crusade for Christ—a group of Christian students who gather from 7 to 9 p.m. on Monday evenings.
During this time we play games, enjoy snacks and beverages, catch up on the happenings of the week and take prayer requests for one another before doing a Bible study and discussion. All interested students are welcome to this small family, which not only offers students an opportunity to discuss their faith and learn about the word of Jesus Christ but also connect with a group of like-minded individuals who look after one another and pray for each other’s needs. This is a bond I never expected to make here at Keene State, and now I cherish it greatly. Many members of CRU also participate in Friday morning Bible study at the DC, which also includes members from Sturtevant Chapel and Elm City Church. A men’s study is held at 7 a.m. and a ladies’s study at 8 a.m., over coffee and breakfast. Once done eating, a specific Bible passage will be chosen to read aloud and discussed. Slightly off campus is REACH—a Christian group that meets on Monday evenings and is an alternative to CRU for students who are looking for a larger gathering. Students who wish to participate can be picked up outside Hoot ‘n Scoot at 6:30 p.m. and dropped off back on campus around 8:30 p.m. All of these organizations are wonderful opportunities for Christian students on or near campus, and Keene also offers a variety of churches within walking distance of campus. Some include: Sturtevant Chapel (Nondenom-
inational), The United Church of Christ in Keene (Congregational), Saint Bernard’s (Catholic), Saint James (Episcopal), Elm City Church (Evangelical), Next Level Church (Nondenominational), Saint George (Greek Orthodox), Keene Unitarian Universalist Church (Unitarian Universalist), First Baptist Church of Keene (Baptist), Trinity Lutheran Church (Lutheran), Monadnock Covenant Church (Evangelical), Crossway Church (Nondenominational), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and Hope Chapel (Foursquare/Trinitarian). If you have any questions regarding faith or Christian life here on campus, please feel welcome to contact the following students for further information. Katie Spadafora- Kathryn.Spadafora@ksc.keene.edu Sarah Ruest- Sarah.Ruest@ksc.keene.edu Sam Henry- Samuel.Henry@ksc.keene.edu Melody Crist- Melody.Crist@ksc.keene.edu Kathryn Spadafora can be contacted at kspadafora@kscequinox.com
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Thursday, October 17, 2019
Inked up “[Inktober] allows creative freedom without judgement and it’s a great opportunity for me to grow as not only a person, but also an artist. I’m improving and I’m so much more confident each day I do it.” - Corinn Colford OLIVIA CATTABRIGA / ART DIRECTOR
Artists express themselves through the ink they use JOSEPH GUZMAN
Arts And EntErtAinmEnt Editor When art and drawing are your life, you might jump at another opportunity to practice your craft and express yourself. Inktober is a monthlong activity that encourages artists to draw in ink and post drawings consistently for practice. It takes place every October and happens every year since starting in 2016. “You can do it daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day or just do the 5K and post once a week. Whatever you decide, just be consistent with it. Inktober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better,” the official Inktober website states. The only rules are to “One: Make a drawing in ink (you can do a pencil underdrawing if you want), Two: Post it*, Three: Hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2019, Four: Repeat.” A demographic of people who participate in Inktober shows that many of them are tattoo artists, since their jobs are centered around art and using ink on skin. Tattoo artists like Sarah Partridge and Elizabeth Neronski are a part of that demographic. Partridge is the owner and operator of a tattoo studio named Polychrome Body Arts and Neronski tattoos at Art for Life Tattoos, both located here in Keene. “Tattooing didn't fall into my lap, but 15 years ago when I started the journey I didn't know anything about it,” Partridge said. “I came from Massachusetts, where it was illegal until I believe 2001, so I had no experience being inside a studio or knowing anyone with tattoos. Being tattooed was something I wanted to be. I loved art and it occurred to me that being a
tattoo artist was something I could do to combine the lifestyle I wanted with making art for a living. I received an apprenticeship in the fall of 2003 and I'm still practicing today.” Neronski has a similar passion. “I’ve always loved art. I apprenticed forever ago; I love tattoos and it’s a way to draw everyday. I’ve been tattooing full time for about seven to eight years,” she said. “Initially, I learned of Inktober a few years ago from a Facebook post by an artist I follow,” Partridge mentioned. This led to her attempt to participate in Inktober in 2017 and 2018, but she couldn’t make each day. “It's a very good thing to share art and also it's nice to remind myself I don't always need lots of planning time to draw, just go for it!” said Partridge. Her main goal in terms of Inktober is to post during all 31 days of October. Neronski also participates in Inktober. “I have never finished it though; I draw all day here, and then I go home and draw more, and then I have this other project on top of that,” she said. “So usually I’ll get another week or two in and then I’ll fall behind and get frustrated and then stop doing it.” When talking about what art means to her, Neronski said, “It’s kinda a two part thing. One, it’s a job that puts food on my table and gives me a paycheck. Two, it’s a real ancient medium. People have been tattooing each other for forever. I remember seeing an interview with another tattoo artist; they put it really good and said, ‘it’s a way of putting what's inside you on the outside of you.’ Sometimes people do some really special things and it’s cool to be a part of that,” Neronski explained. In terms of the ups and downs of her job, Partridge is all about her clients. “What makes me most feel fulfilled about my job is the feeling of happiness and satisfaction my clients get when they see their new piece
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when completed. I enjoy making personal connections with all my clients. There's not much but my career that's a detraction, but if I had to mention something it would be hearing about negative experiences my clients have had in the past with other artists. Getting a tattoo should be an affirming, positive experience,” Patridge said. As for common misconceptions about tattoo artists, Patridge finds them irrelevant. “Stereotypes are diminishing, but there are still many people who have strong beliefs that people with tattoos and practitioners are rough people, brash and sometimes dangerous. Tattoos are a beautiful way to wear our hearts on our sleeves and it's an amazing way to have a confident mark of ourselves for everyone to see,” Patridge explained. Corinn Colford is a senior Film Production and Graphic Design double major here at Keene State College and she also participates in Inktober. Though Colford isn’t a tattoo artist she still wanted to participate in the ink drawing challenge. “I heard about Inktober through Tumblr years ago when I was in high school.This is my first year doing it. I’ve always wanted to do it, but I wasn’t too confident with my art and found the challenge overwhelming,” said Colford. She later said, “[Inktober] allows creative freedom without judgement and it’s a great opportunity for me to grow as not only a person, but also an artist. I’m improving and I’m so much more confident each day I do it.” Joseph Guzman can be contacted at jguzman@kscequinox.com
Equinox Music Choices
Lights up - Harry styles Arts and Entertainment Editor Joseph Guzman
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Thursday, October 17, 2019
Performing in harmony
PUJA THAPA / ADMINISTRATIVE EXECUTIVE EDITOR
On Wednesday October, 9, the Kantorei choir, the Beck String girls violin Trio, United Church of Christ in Keene Choir, the Keene High School Choir, the Keene State College Concert Choir and the Keene State
College Chamber Singers performed.
5 choirs and 135 performers from Keene and Germany all perform together in harmony CRISTIAN VALENTIN
opinions editor People often say that music is the universal language; that adage has never been more true this week, as five choirs from Keene and Germany performed together for a collaborative concert. The concert featured 135 performers from the Einbeck-based Kantorei choir, the Beck String Girls Violin Trio, United Church of Christ in Keene Choir, the Keene High School Choir, the Keene State College Concert Choir and the Keene State College Chamber Singers. This concert is a part of the Partner City relationship between Keene and Einbeck, Germany. This relationship dates back over 10 years to the beginning of the 2000s and is not just about music but also education,
business, athletics and many other things. Kantorei conductor Hastedt commented on this partnership saying, “I think it is important that we care about relationships wherever, and I think we can learn from each other and the music is the one place where we can come together. All the races, all the nations, all the countries, man or woman and so on.” This bond also became apparent to audience members. “I’ve realized music connects all people and it was great to see so many people come together,” said audience member Del McCune. They performed works dating back to 1797 written by the likes of Colin Mawby, Ola Gjelo, Franz Schubert and others. The show had individual performances from each of the choirs with a finale that included
everybody. This closing act, “Mass No. 2 in G,D. 167 by Franz Schubert,” and “An Irish Blessing” by James E. Moore Jr. were both favorites by fans and performers alike. “As the last song came on, the theme of the event really became apparent to me and I was happy to perform alongside so many talented people,” said junior Hayden Hatcher. Audience member Monica Piper said she enjoyed the event as a whole and especially liked the finale. “I think it was great. It was very good for the community, and it was a nice exchange between Germany and here. The last part was definitely my favorite,” said Piper. Hastedt said her favorite parts were “singing together with all the other choirs” and “having the experience to visit all the
companies and, of course, meeting Sandy (Sandra) Howard.” According to Music Department chair Sandra Howard, performers ranged from 14 to 80 years old. She believed this to be a very valuable learning opportunity. “I think our Keene State students are always such good ambassadors for the college and I think for them to be making music with people who are younger and older than them... gives them a chance to mentor the high school students and also realize that music is a lifelong skill,” said Howard. Plenty of effort went into putting this concert together. This includes the work of Howard and Holocaust and genocide studies professor Paul Vincent. “I’ve been working with our collective partners in Einbeck and here for two years to set the schedule
so I developed the schedule, coordinated the hosts, wrote grants and also helped to select the music with my colleagues,” said Howard. Hastedt said she was very grateful for this experience. “We are very very thankful for the tireless efforts of all our host families and Sandy Howard and I think it is true that we’ve become friends,” said Hastedt. This concert took place at the United Church of Christ on Wednesday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m. Cristian Valentin can be contacted at cvalentin@kscequinox.com
BRIEF
Celebrating Squirrel Awareness Month PUJA THAPA
AdministrAtive executive editor “High-flying, nut-loving, and quick-thinking” squirrels are part of any Keene State student’s college experience. Putnam Theatre at Redfern Center was filled with adults and children on October 10 at 7 p.m. to celebrate Squirrel Awareness Month. The Harris Center for Conservation Education, the Monadnock Conservancy and the KSC Film Society showed a PBS NATURE documentary called “A Squirrel’s Guide to Success”. The documentary explores different species of squirrels found from frozen arctic tundras to baking deserts and how they succeed. It also shows the journey of a rescued baby squirrel from the National Wildlife Rescue Center of Scotland to the wild. Some of the highlights of the documentary were
slow-motion fight scenes between chipmunks, close up shots of squirrels nibbling nuts, X-ray images of squirrel’s teeth and their legs and shots of squirrels’ aerial abilities. Seven-year old Colin Rohde was one of the spectators. “Their jumping power is really amazing,” he said. Rohde further explained that the squirrels are amazing because of “their cool surviving skills.” According to the documentary, the grip of squirrels and their quick decision-making skills allow them to jump high. A scientist studying squirrels said in the documentary that the ordinary jump of squirrels is equivalent to a human jumping two bus lengths from the starting stand. Harris Center naturalist and mammal enthusiast Susie Spikol was the speaker at the event. She had a ‘squirrelly’ selection from the Harris Center’s natural history collection on a table at the front.
According to Spikol, the squirrels seen at KSC are most likely grey squirrels. “That’s like the real common, grey with a big bushy tail, are probably in a lot of trees around campus; maybe if you went to the edges where there might be evergreen trees, you might see the red squirrels, that’s smaller red, furrier squirrels,” she said. Spikol also said Keene might have flying squirrels which nobody sees that often because they are nocturnal. According to the Science Director of the Harris Center Brett Amy Thelen, the Harris Center will cosponsor another film at the Putnam in either January or February. Puja Thapa can be reached at pthapa@kscequinox.com
STAFF COMMENTARY
Are rock and metal beginning to fade away? Writer Andrew Chase asks this question after observing Rocktoberfest ANDREW CHASE
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When I visited this years Rocktoberfest I noticed that there were very few people attending the event. I was unsure if the low number of attendees was because of the fact that people were busy or if it was because people just don’t enjoy listening to rock songs anymore. In my opinion, rock’s origins can be traced back to when the Beatles put out their first album on March 22, 1963. The Beatles helped put the rock genre into the mainstream market. However, I feel that the band Led Zeppelin’s album “Led Zeppelin IV” was the one to launch rock into what it is today. “Led Zeppelin IV” had one of the most famous rock songs: “Stairway To Heaven.” The origins of metal as a genre can be traced back to the band Black Sabbath’s first album: “Black Sabbath.” I consider the band Black Sabbath’s second album “Paranoid” to be the album that made hard rock a popular sub-genre of rock. On the album “Paranoid,” there are hard rock classics such as the songs “Paranoid,” “Iron Man” and “Fairies Wear Boots .” On that same album, there is a song which I consider to be the first popular metal song, “War Pigs.” I find that there are l amazing rock and metal bands still out there today, but you just have to find them. Yes, the genres of rock and metal are not as popular as they used to be, but as my life-long friend Caleb Foss said to me
when talking about this subject, “A good example of my issue is Greta Van Fleet. Not a bad band by any means, but not innovative in any way. Yet they are one of the newest to really break into the mainstream media. People are clinging so much to the past of rock that I'm worried it might really start to fade away.” The issue of why rock isn’t staying as mainstream anymore is exactly as my friend stated: rock music just isn’t evolving and is sticking to its roots instead. Rock songs are still present in today's culture but they are more or less depicted as a remnant of an older and different time. A few examples of rock songs that are still popular today are “Rock You Like A Hurricane,” “Thunderstruck” and “Welcome To The Jungle.” These are all great songs, but they all have the same basic layout of a rock song. The basic layout includes a cranked-out, distorted guitar, a fast-pace drummer, a non-existent bassist and a high- pitched voiced singer. This basic layout has been used to the point of where the genre is not evolving any further when there is still huge potential for change with newer bands. The main problem is that not many people want to hear a distorted guitar in their song about sex, drugs, and murder. They want to hear about this stuff in rap music but with a ton of bass instead. Andrew Chase can be reached at achase@kscequinox.com
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Thursday, October 17, 2019
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Church, State, and the great debate Play 'Church and State' arrives at the Redfern Arts Center TOM BENOIT
Equinox Staff According to Keith Stevens, the director of “Church and State,” a play the Keene State Theatre and Danced produced and premiered this past weekend, raises the question, “What might it take to get both sides talking about a really serious issue?” “The play deals with a republican senator from North Carolina who is running in a tight reelection race. He lets his guard down and reveals to a blogger who calls into question some of his beliefs in guns and God, and when that gets posted on “The Twitter” it turns everything upside down,” said Stevens. Stevens says “Church and State” “grapples with politics, guns and religion in a way that is very comic and serious, addresses gun violence, and has a lot of interesting things to say. Imagine a scenario where a senator has to come to grips with a tragedy that has happened in his district and shakes him up and makes him rethink a lot of things. The main character is attending a funeral three days before the race, and says a lot of controversial things which gets posted and goes viral,” said Stevens. On deciding which play to produce,,Stevens said, “I knew that I wanted to direct a contemporary play that had some relevance to students involved and students attending. This one struck me as one that was well-written and had a story that needed to be told. I knew students working [on the play] would be able to grow while working on such a serious topic. Students involved had a lot of ways to hone their craft. While I have been teaching as an adjunct professor, this is the first instance where I get to work with students and faculty on a full production and I’ve been very impressed by their dedication and their talent.” Sophomore Christian Frazier, who plays the role of Charlie Whitmore in “Church and State,” was very grateful to be part of the production. “ I’ll remember the experience for the rest of my life. My experience with the show was beautiful. Everyone is working hard, helping each other out. I learned so much about what it takes to play a character that represents so many feelings that the country has toward guns today,” said Frazier. Sophomore Jayne Bernardi, the scenic designer for
“Church and State,” said extensive research went into designing the show. “Obviously the show is set in a green room so I had a lot of influence from the Redfern, since I spend a lot of my time there, but I also had a lot of ideas that were specific to the show. I drafted a lot of different ideas, came up with a color pallet, drafted the floor design and helped build all of it. To start with a simple vision board and see what it’s turned into now is just incredible,” Bernardi said. The show deals with a lot of heavy topics; Stevens says, people should see the show because of its relevant topics. “Just before the semester started two mass shootings happened on the same day. I think the idea that [with] any serious issue, we need to start talking to each other. Whether it’s climate change, equality, wealth distribution, LGBTQ rights; name an issue, we need to talk to each other,” said Stevens. Tom Benoit can be contacted at tbenoit@kscequinox.com
“ I’ll remember the experience for the rest of my life. My experience with the show was beautiful. Everyone is working hard, helping each other out. I learned so much about what it takes to play a character that represents so many feelings that the country has toward guns today,” - Christian Frazier.
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Sophmores Christian Frazier and Veronica Pamphile share a kiss as the two main characters of the Redfern Arts Center's "Church and State" last week Tuesday through Saturday in multiple performances.
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» FISKE WITHOUT HOT WATER » SEE B2
STUDENT LIFE
» WHAT IS FOREST BATHING? » SEE B3
Student Life, B1
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Green Bike accident
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ADVICE COLUMN
Georgie’s School Survival Guide GEORGIE GENTILE
equinox Staff Hello and welcome to the third issue of this advice column! I’m Georgie Gentile and I am a sophomore at Keene State College majoring in film production and English writing, as well as minoring in German. If you have a question that you want me to answer, you can email it to ggentile@kscequinox.com. With October finally here, I am going to tackle some questions related to students who are facing new challenges relating to college.
CONNOR CRAWFORD / STUDENT LIFE EDITOR
Keene State student goes to hospital after Green Bike accident CONNOR CRAWFORD
Student Life editor Keene State student Benjamin Musese, who plays on the men’s soccer team, was riding his Green Bike like normal on Monday, October 7. Out of nowhere, the front wheel of Musese’s Green Bike flew off and caused him to flip over the handlebars, leaving scratches on his face and hands and causing his soccer career to come to a halt. “It happened real quick. I didn’t even realize that I fell down. The wheel just flew off once I hit the curb and I was on the ground already,” Musese said. This was no ordinary accident, as this one left Musese with permanent damage. “I lost some of my front tooth. I looked over at the ground and I saw blood dripping,” Musese described. “I didn’t freak out, I just sat there. I just closed my eyes because I did not want to see this.” Although it took about ten minutes for help to arrive, Musese kept his cool. “I kept trying to get up because the bike and my backpack were on my back, both of which were really heavy. Then someone finally called the ambulance,” Musese continued. Musese was found by the director of the Keene State Dance Department Cyntia Mclaughlin, but she declined to comment about the incident. So, are the Green Bikes that are offered on
campus safe? Marcus McCarroll, head of the Green Bike program, seems to think so. “I go through a safety check before every bike is brought out. ‘ABC quick check’ is what I go through. Air, brakes, chain,” McCarroll said. “If it doesn’t have air, it can’t go anywhere. If the bike doesn’t have brakes, I definitely can’t send it out,” McCarroll continued. First-year Julian Valeri does not think students should worry about the safety of the Green Bikes. “I think this is more of an isolated incident. If this starts happening left and right, it would be more of a problem. You just have to know how to use a bike,” Valeri stated. Valeri also stated that he has had great experiences with Green Bikes. “This is my second Green Bike… so it is safe to say that I like them,” Valeri said. With over 430 Green bikes in McCarroll’s possession, he closely inspects all of his Green Bikes to ensure their safety on campus. “When a bike comes in, I check to see if the brakes work and if the seats are intact. Any little thing can bring down a bike. There are so many things that can go wrong,” McCarroll stated. Musese was confused as to what could have caused the accident. “I wasn’t expecting the front wheel to come off! The bike looked fine and all of a sudden, the wheel flew off,” Musese explained. However, McCarroll had quite the theory when asked what he thought caused the ter-
rible accident. “I think, I’m afraid, my worry and my fear are that somebody on campus is going around loosening wheels, trying to steal them,” McCarroll said. “I have seen multiple bikes come in with loosened wheels. I have talked to campus safety about it; they said that maybe they would put out a notice about it,” McCarroll continued. So far, campus safety has yet to send out a notice informing students to check their bike wheels. “That’s a murderer,” Musese said in response to McCarroll’s theory of someone loosening the bike wheels. “You can kill someone. Once you lose control of the front wheel, you can go right over the handlebars. Good thing I did not hit my head on the ground. Luckily I did not get a concussion,” Musese continued. Musese also had some words to say to whoever is loosening the wheels of the Green Bikes on campus. “I would show them my face. I do not want anyone to look like me, because I am embarrassed,” Musese said. “I have to get a fake tooth now.” Kevin DeAmicis, a student worker in the bike shop, said that they always prioritize safety when it comes to the Green Bikes. “We make sure that [the bikes] are usable and safe. Then we get them out so that people have a quicker way to move around,” DeAmicis said. Unfortunately, the safety of the bikes has not rubbed off on Musese and he vows never
to ride not just a Green Bike but any other bike. “No. Nope! I won’t get on a Green Bike probably forever,” Muses stated. “I will never ride another bike again. I would rather walk or drive.” The accident affected Musese’s sports and academic career as now he is not able to play soccer or excel in class as he once was able too. “I can’t play soccer for a while because every time I open my mouth, the air goes into my mouth and it hurts. I can’t run,” Musese explained about how the accident has affected his soccer career. “I can go to class; my brain is working but not my body,” Musese said. “My mouth can’t speak properly right now.” Safety is the number one concern for McCarroll with the Green Bikes. It is important to always check your bike for loose wheels, faulty breaks or anything out of the ordinary. McCarroll says to always wear a helmet and gloves, as if you fall those are the first things you are going to hit. So, if you are a student and notice that someone is loosening bike wheels, do not hesitate to reach out to campus safety at 603358-2228. You can also bring your bike to McCarroll in the basement of Keddy Hall on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Connor Crawford can be contacted at ccrawford@kscequinox.com
Creating meaningful student connections on campus MEEGHAN SOMERSET
Copy editor For many incoming college students, the social pressures of living on campus can be anxiety-provoking. For the next four years students will be on campus and oftentimes taking classes with the same group of peers who make up their major. This puts an infinite amount of pressure on first-year students to create these connections before they miss out. Not making friends within the first couple of weeks of the semester can make it feel like you have missed out on your chance. However, there are numerous ways to continue creating connections throughout your four years at Keene State. One of the most popular ways students meet like-minded peers is by joining clubs and organizations. Lindsay Gibbons, a junior majoring in theater and dance, said, “I joined clubs to connect with people. Crew and dance have become a huge part of who I am. It’s definitely where I found my people.” With over one hundred clubs and organizations, three sororities, five fraternities and tons of clubs and intramural sports, most students find their niche at some point. This may happen in the first semester of college or it may be junior year, but
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seeking out connections is crucial to find others like you. Besides clubs and organizations, there are a lot of ways that students can meet people as they go through their daily life. Julia Mitchell, a first-year, said, “Sometimes you are lucky enough to make connections in the elevator or in other random places. You just have to let it happen.” Talking to others and allowing them to get to know your personality is an integral part of making connections on campus. Start a conversation with someone walking beside you on Appian Way, ask for help in a particularly challenging class or just hang around the Student Center and make yourself available to others. While making connections will happen in your time at Keene State College, it is important to know that if you haven’t you are not alone. When asked about making meaningful connections with peers on campus, first-year Kiana Joler said, “I haven’t. Besides a couple of people in my hall, I don’t really think I have made many friends.” This is more common than students think. A statistic from the Counseling Center states: “About half of the students aren’t making connections on campus. The problem is that nobody sees these students because they are often the ones withdrawing from events and social activities.” The students
who are yearning to connect with others the most are often those who are the most hesitant to put themselves out there. If you are finding yourself in the population of students who haven’t quite found their group on campus yet, don’t be afraid to engage in activities on campus. Join the Environmental Outing Club and take a hike up Mt. Monadnock, play club soccer or audition for a play. There is a very good chance that there are others just like you on campus, but it takes a little bit of courage to find them. A good way to combat the fear of joining a new activity or attending an event is to bring someone you already know along with you; maybe your roommate or someone in your hall; maybe a student you met in your geography class. Whatever it is, take the campus by storm and make it your own. It is your home and community for the next four years. Meeghan Somerset can be contacted at msomerset@kscequinox.com
Question: My friend is trying to join a sorority/fraternity. What do I do? Answer: Well, you don’t need to do anything, really. Getting involved in Greek Life is their choice, so don’t worry. If you are worried about the rushing process that takes place when people try to join, talk to your friend. They will have a good idea of what will happen during this process and are prepared. I used to be completely against Greek Life because I heard about various incidents which endangered students. However, there are now strong regulations and rules that sororities and fraternities need to follow to remain running. A lot of Greek Life is actually raising money for charities. These groups are able to create a supportive “family” on campus for some students. The best thing you can do is support your friend, but not be afraid to express any concerns you have. The rushing process is long and stressful, so showing that you care will really mean a lot to them. Question: How do I manage my dietary restrictions while on campus? Answer: This is a bit tough. The Dining Commons has a vegetarian and vegan section, but there are usually only four or five options to choose from. For people who have gluten restrictions, there is also a section that has gluten-free options. However, there are only a few options there, as well. The salad bar is an option if you have restrictions, but there may be contamination from other foods. Lloyd’s Marketplace has more reliable vegetarian and vegan options, but has very few gluten-free options. Usually, the chefs make a number of gluten-free sandwiches to buy, but these are quickly bought and not replaced for the rest of the day. My roommate is allergic to gluten and ends up having to buy food at Walmart and the supermarket frequently. If you are facing these problems, I recommend filling out the electronic survey the Dining Commons has as well as using the texting service advertised in the Dining Commons to ask questions and express your concerns. People shouldn’t have to eat lower-quality foods if they have a dietary restriction, especially when their meals are pre-paid for. Question: How do I get a voice on campus? Answer: If you want to tackle issues on campus, an easy way to start is to join clubs or groups that focus on issues you are passionate about. There you’ll be able to voice your opinion to people who understand the topic. If you want, you can join Student Government
» SEE ADVICE B2
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STUDENT LIFE / B2
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Hot water-gate Fiske Hall experienced a hot water outage for over four days TOM BENOIT
before using the water again. The water came back on Tuesday afternoon. “The reason the water took so long was because this happened at the beginning of the weekend. Since this was not an emergency situation, we had to wait until Monday,” said Ryan. Despite the lack of hot water, Ryan was impressed with the residents’ patience. “I was very grateful with how fabulous the residents were. However, I understand why they’d be frustrated with the lack of hot water along with the lack of communication, which could be because of the staff we had over the weekend. But they were really patient,” said Ryan. On the other hand, Residential Assistant Jack Hanrahan said, “In general, residents were pretty upset about it. There was a lot of understandable frustration, especially as the weekend continued. I think residents were upset that there was nothing being done about the hot water.” “When it comes to things like this, RAs typically do know about what is going on. We try our best to get it fixed as soon as we can, but we really don’t have much control once we report the issue. It goes to a different department in these cases. However, we will always update residents when we have that information,” said Hanrahan.
Equinox Staff “The whole ordeal felt like ‘hot-water gate’,” said Yasmina Hinkle, a Fiske hall resident, regarding the lack of hot water in the first-year dorm hall. “Friday night, when I went to shower, someone in the common room told me that we didn’t have hot water since before lunch. I checked just to make sure, and there was still no hot water,” said Hinkle. The outage occurred on Friday, October 4, during the early afternoon. “On Friday, the residents told the RAs that the water had problems. We told Campus Safety, since it was after hours, who got in touch with plumbing. They weren’t able to send anyone until Monday. On Monday I saw it on the log sheet, and then I got in touch with the head of facilities, who got in touch with maintenance,” said Residential Director of Huntress and Fiske Taylor Ryan. “I was pretty annoyed by it; so was my roommate. My roommate just took cold showers, but I have terrible circulation so it was a bigger inconvenience for me. I had to find someplace else to shower,” said Hinkle. Although students in Fiske did not have hot water, they found other ways to take hot showers. “I went off campus to my friend’s apartment once, and to the LLC once,” said Hinkle. During the incident, residents complained both about the lack of hot water and the lack of communication between Residential Life and the residents. “When I went to the HRA Friday night she told me that she took a hot shower that morning, and it was probably a fluke. The next day, I still heard nothing. I emailed the RD, and never got a response. I finally got annoyed and called Campus Safety, who said they had gotten complaints but didn’t
OLIVIA CATTABRIGA / ART DIRECTOR
Tom Benoit can be reached at tbenoit@kscequinox.com
know if the issue would be resolved. Residential Life didn’t even address it until Monday. Three days without working hot water; the least they could have done was
address the issue. When a single toilet is nothing,” said Hinkle. clogged or a dryer is broken, we get an email The source of the leak was a hole in one or at least a Facebook notification. This was of the pipes, and residents were advised to more important than those, and they said leave the water running for a few minutes
Flu season is creeping in How students can protect themselves from getting sick GRACE BROWN
Equinox Staff Flu season is quickly approaching Keene State. Flu season usually lasts from October to March or April. Coordinator of Wellness Education Tiffany Mathews and nurse Deborah Starratt had some advice for students and faculty on how to stay healthy. One of the biggest tips is getting the flu shot. “The flu shot is the most effective way to prevent the flu. Anyone who gets the shot will be protected. The flu can lead to pneumonia or hospitalization, and it can come on so fast. Even if you get the flu, your symptoms won’t be as severe or long-lasting,” said Starratt. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, some flu symptoms include fever, chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, feeling tired all day and occasionally diarrhea or vomiting. According to Mathews, there were four flu shot clinics across campus throughout the year last year. They were held in the student center, gym and occasionally in the res halls. The number of students who received the shot at each of these clinics ranged from 15 to 50. KSC is a part of the New Hampshire Children’s Vaccination Program, which provides free vaccinations for children 18 years old and younger. For students 19 and older the vaccine needs to be purchased. Students can always go to the Wellness Center anytime for a self-scheduled flu shot. There will also be a flu shot clinic on Wednesday, October 16, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the student center in the west dining room. Students can also go to the Urgent Care in Keene to get the shot for free, without needing insurance. “Even after you get the shot, try your best to stay healthy. It can take about 10 days to two weeks for the antibiotics in the shot to start working. So get it sooner rather than later. But obviously cover your mouth when you cough and sneeze. Don’t share anything with friends. Keep your hands away from your eyes and mouth. Clean your laptop and phone. Just basic, easy ways to prevent catching germs that can lead to the flu. And if you do get sick, drink lots of water, and get lots of rest. And get outside for some fresh air if you can,” said Starratt. “Students also need to have good communication with their professors. If you miss class because you’re sick professors can check with the dean’s office about absenteeism, but we usually don’t provide written excuse notes. However, if you are seen in the health center that is verified. But only miss class if you absolutely have to,” said Mathews. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever goes away and to stay away from others as much as possible. They also recommend that everyone six months and older should get the flu shot. Grace Brown can be contacted at gbrown@kscequinox.com.
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ADVICE Cont. from B1
or other student-run organizations. For a national approach, one of the most simple things you can do is register to vote. I tend to forget that I have the powers and responsibilities of an adult, because I am in college and pursuing an education. But if you are for or against something occurring in the government, you have the power to vote for or against it. The 2020 Midterm Elections are happening in a year and the 2020 Presidential Elections are right around the corner. Everyone has the power to make a difference. Question: Can I exercise without going to the gym? Answer: If you are worried about going to the gym and becoming overwhelmed or insecure, the gym on campus is a pretty good place to go. People exercise at different times, so the building is rarely full of students. There are also multiple locations in the building you can go to, such as an indoor track, yoga studio weight room and cardio room. You can even swim during designated free-swim hours. If you don’t want to go to the gym, you can still exercise in other ways. Walk or ride around Keene on the available bike trails, jog around campus or even do some workouts in your dorm. Since the weather is getting pretty chilly, it’s good to think of options when you want to stay inside. I hope you enjoyed my advice. See you next week!
“The flu shot is the most effective way to prevent the flu. Anyone who gets the shot will be protected. The flu can lead to pneumonia or hospitalization, and it can come on so fast. Even if you get the flu, your symptoms won’t be as severe or long-lasting.” - Deborah Starratt
Georgie Gentile can be contacted at ggentile@kscequinox.com
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STUDENT LIFE / B3
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Mt. Monadnock hike on fall break day
PUJA THAPA / ADMINISTRATIVE EXECUTIVE EDITOR
The Mount Monadnock hike took place on Keene State fall break day October 11. The event was sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Student Support and Success as well as the Global Education Office and the Morris-August Honors Program. Thirteen students attended the event as well as three faulty members including Kya Roumimper, Steven Spiegel and Margaret Walsh.
STAFF COMMENTARY
Living in impermanence
Bringing the act of forest bathing to campus ANGELIQUE INCHIERCA
Social Media director You’re sitting on a stump surrounded by dancing trees and listening to nature’s songs. That meditating relief is an international practice that you may have been doing since childhood—and its name is Forest Bathing. Forest Bathing has many names; ecobathing and forest therapy are the most common terms used, defined by natureandforesttherapy.org as “healing and wellness through immersion in forests and other natural environments.” The practice comes from the Japanese practice Shinrin-Yoku, or “Forest Bathing.” Many people aspiring to become a transcendentalist often escape to the woods to be away from society and “be one with nature,” as the saying goes. Taking long nature walks, hikes or camping trips has been my way of calming my thoughts and getting alone time growing up. I was not aware of the research or specific practices until this past year when I was fully immersed in a more woodsy environment in Thailand or even just hiking Mt. Monadnock this past month with some alumni. In a poll sent to a group of Keene State College students, only three students said they knew the benefits of forest bathing while 23 said they did not recognize the term at all. The Guardian’s article Getting Back to Nature states a Japanese doctor believes forest bathing “has the power to counter illnesses including cancer, strokes, gastric ulcers, depression, anxiety and stress.”
This is very important for busy students and adults in the workforce as life can get out of hand at times and cause a lot of negative pressure on our minds and bodies. Students living on or off campus have access to many surrounding walking or biking paths as well as popular hiking trails, like Mt. Monadnock. The campus Greenhouse (located on the top of the Science Center) is also open to students and can make a relaxing seudoforest experience. Unfortunately, a lot of students feel a lack of time to take care of themselves in other aspects such as proper nutrition, exercise, and maintaining a healthy balance between social and academic life. For this, I have a solution! Many people who saw my dorm room my first and second year here have all said one thing, “holy... plants!” I have always had houseplants bordering the walls and corners of my houses growing up and that did not change when I came to KSC. Some students may have bamboo and little windowsill plants from campus events, others may have actual flowers and larger household plants in their dorms. I have a decent mixture and it makes me take a moment to breathe and focus on their needs before getting back to work. Carle Head Resident Assistant Christian Jason said there are no direct policies about plants in dorms. He says houseplants, flowers, herbs and even small berries and vegetables are technically allowed in dorms. “Having those rare cases are bleeding into other concerns people may have that
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a t may involve plants. For instance, if the plant is constantly leaking then that’s more of a problem of water damage and it’s sweeping into the floor. If the plant has long leaves then that may be a health concern or a roommate problem,” he said in a Facebook message. Not everyone has the greenest thumb however and may be nervous to buy something that they feel may die immediately. It’s important to remember that gardening is a skill, and all
skills start somewhere. I suggest starting with succulents or similar plants that need little or medium sunlight and little watering. Whether you decide to start scheduling walks, trips to the greenhouse or bring the garden to your own room or common arearemember the basic decorative rules for all on-campus facilities. Nothing can hang from the ceiling (including plants) can set off the sprinklers or fall and cause injury. My last reminder: be cour-
teous of those around you. Ask your roommates about allergies and if they’re comfortable with larger plants. Happy bathing!
Angelique Inchierca can be contacted at ainchierca@kscequinox.com
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STUDENT LIFE / B4
Thursday, October 17, 2019
1980's Halloween Party
Like to write? Interested in life on campus?
Contact Connor Crawford
Student Life Editor ccrawford@kscequinox.com (603)-554-2781 KSCEQUINOX.COM
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WORLD NEWS
World News/ B5 Thursday, October 17, 2019
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Falling into autumn
Gunman opens fire at church wedding ceremony ASSOCIATED PRESS
New Hampshire's Apple Harvest Day draws huge crowd KAREN DANDURANT unDeFineD
With fall in the air, the weather could not have been better for the 35th annual Apple Harvest Day Saturday and, if the crowds were any indication, residents agreed. The event opened with the annual 5K race, and then Mayor Karen Weston and Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce President Margaret Joyce took the ceremonial first bites of the season's apple crop. The race was great," said state Sen. David Watters, D-Dover. "The route was different this year and ran through a community trail. It was a great way to kick off this event." "What a change this day is compared to the sidewalk sales we remember starting with," Weston said. "This entire event is communitybased and we hope everyone has a great day." Joyce thanked the mayor for allowing the chamber to "take over the downtown" for the 35th year. "I hope everyone enjoys the vendors and the good food," Joyce said. The vendors were a mix of retail, community, health and nonprofit groups from around
the Seacoast. Many booths offered fresh apple products, including Harvey's Bakery. They were the purveyors of all thing's apple, including apple crisp, apple doughnuts, crumb cake, caramel apples, apple crumb muffins, apple crumb pie and apple cider. "This is our second year taking part," said Emmett Soldati, owner of Teatotaller in Somersworth. "Last year, we sold out of doughnuts in a couple of hours." Animals are welcome at the Apple Harvest Festival and so are pet vendors. At K9 Kaos, dogs were taking part in the traditional games of bobbing for apples, with a twist. Canines were enthusiastically bobbing for "weiners." "We always come to this event," said Becky Degnon, day care manager at K9 Kaos. "We wanted to find something fun that the dogs would also like." Many local health care facilities were represented, including Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, Convenient MD, Portsmouth Regional Hospital and various chiropractors, and alternative medicine practitioners. "We are happy to be here to support the chamber," said Lynn Robbins, a spokesperson
for Portsmouth Regional Hospital. "We love coming to this event and feeling like a part of the community." At the Garrison Players booth, visitors could enter for drawing for tickets to upcoming shows, including an escape room experience, where people will try to escape from a theater, said Keren Bernard-Kriesl, who was manning the booth. With an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 visitors, planning for the event is a huge and rarely seen part of making the day a success. One of those loyal planners is Donna Rinaldi, a Dover chamber member. She has been helping coordinate volunteers for the event for all 35 years. "When this began, it was just the downtown merchants putting things on," Rinaldi said. "My husband Phil and I had several businesses over the years, and we were always involved with the chamber. Phil is a native of Dover. I moved here in high school. At different points over the years, each of us has chaired the chamber." Rinaldi has been the sole volunteer coordinator for Apple Harvest Festival for the past 12 years, responsible for all the behind
the scenes details that make the event run smoothly. "We start early in the morning helping the vendors set up," Rinaldi said. "I have about 100 volunteers, some from the ROTC and some from Dover Interact. They check the vendors into their spots and help them unload their cars. The vendors love our volunteers." Joyce said there were about 300 vendors at the event. "I would be remiss if I didn't say thanks to all the people involved in making this event happen," she said. "The chamber and the city are integral parts and work closely together. The city oversees things like parking, police and fire services. We have so many volunteers. We have great sponsors who help us to be able to keep the event free to visitors. "We have people like Morgan Faustino, our community events manager, a person who is absolutely unflappable and keeps us all on track. Even the weather cooperated. It's a perfect day." Online: https://bit.ly/2nt7TDT ___ Information from: Foster's Daily Democrat, http://www.fosters.com
A gunman opened fire at a wedding ceremony inside a New Hampshire church Saturday, shooting two people including the presiding bishop before guests tackled the shooter and pinned him to the ground until police arrived, authorities said. Dale Holloway, 37, has been charged with first degree assault for shooting Stanley Choate, 75, in the chest at the New England Pentecostal church, according to the state's attorney general office. A second person, Claire McMullen, 60, was shot in the arm. A third person, Mark Castiglione, 60, was struck in the head by an object. Choate, the presiding bishop at the wedding, is in serious condition at Tufts Medical Center in Boston while McMullen is in good condition at a local hospital. Castiglione was treated at a hospital and released. Holloway is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Hillsborough County Superior Court. It was unclear if he is represented by an attorney. Pelham's Police Chief Joseph Roark said no fatalities were reported in the church shooting. "This does not seem to be a random event, at least at this point," Roark said during a news conference Saturday afternoon outside the police department. Roark did not offer a motive for the shooting. Police were called to the church shortly after 10 a.m. in Pelham, a town of about 13,000 on the border of Massachusetts. Pelham is nestled between Concord, New Hampshire's capital, and Boston. Roark said the church had just received active shooter training from his department within the last year. He didn't know if people who subdued the shooter were trained the same way but "I think that is a standard that is being taught now to address the threat." A funeral was scheduled to be held at the church after the wedding for 60-year-old Luis Garcia. Garcia had been a minister at the church. He was shot and killed earlier this month and Brandon Castiglione, 24, has been charged in his murder and is jailed. It was unclear if the two shootings were related. Sunday services at the church have been cancelled, according to the attorney general's office. Crisis counselors will be available Sunday at Sherburne Hall community center in Pelham from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Advocating for peace through poetry and paint
Sexual assault survivor's art stresses importance of healing JULIA SCORESE
Foster's Daily Democrat In 2015, artist, poet and songwriter Monica Nagle wrote a book containing her poem, "If You Had Heard My Voice," and found the inspiration for her Mother's Day Freedom Project to vocalize the importance of healing after trauma from sexual violence, assault and mental health based on her own life experiences. Artist Stephen C. Shaw, the retired director of administrative rules for New Hampshire, took Nagle's poem and created a painting for each line accompanied by a commentary, describing why he chose the painting's subject matter to express how violence affects people in communities. Aside from Nagle's work as an artist and poet, she is a sexual assault survivor and now peace advocate on a mission to honor those who help vulnerable populations hurt by domestic violence and trauma through her creative and spiritual forms of healing. Right from Nagle's Whispering Woods Studio in Dover, Shaw's paintings will be on display in The Mother's Day Freedom Project: Voices of a Missing Dream gallery show at the University of New Hampshire's
Dimond Library Monday, Oct. 14, and then at the offices of the university's Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program (SHARPP) for the rest of the week. SHARPP provides free, confidential advocacy and direct services to all survivors and their allies; and by offering awareness and prevention programs to the community through education, outreach and training. During the gallery show, 20% of any sales of Nagle's and Shaw's books, art prints and music will directly benefit SHARPP to help with its mission. Nagle and Shaw will be in the Dimond Library on Monday evening with more original artwork to view and purchase. The incentive for her project, the poem "If You Had Heart My Voice," is Nagle's last endeavor in a three-book series. Each book is a collection of poetry, art, lyrics and prose meant to inspire and heal. The second book is titled "The Tracks," which has a focus on the problem of homelessness. The third book is titled "Mothers and Daughters." "I'm hoping this will inspire other people," said Nagle. "It's a healing project, so it's all about empowerment of women. Although, I don't care if you're a woman or man,
anyone who's going through violence will be impacted by this." Now nearly 40 years after becoming a victim of sexual assault herself, Nagle has set the goal for her project to award a custom-framed, signed copy of "If You Had Heard My Voice" to every one of the police stations, first responder's offices, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters and recovery centers in New Hampshire. She is seeking sponsors to help fund the installations. The cost to sponsor a location is $100. "I want to show my honor and respect to the people that helped me when I went through a traumatic, violent experience: a crime that I was a victim of," said Nagle. "I decided that I wanted to find a way to give back." Her wants to highlight the organizations which have heard the call of the voices of those affected by any kind of violence. She said her story is a healing and validating survivor's poem that speaks to children, victims and perpetrators of violence. "It honors the strength and capacity to heal, moving beyond pain and survival into the freedom of forgiveness, love and compassion." According to Nagle, there are 238 police stations in
New Hampshire. "We're hoping that by getting everyone, we'll get the word out there," she said. "We hope to get more sponsorship and continue the project until we have our target date of Mother's Day 2020." Nagle has also been asked by several community leaders to include courthouses, county attorney offices, child advocacy centers and food pantries. The list keeps expanding. Nagle is planning to publish a Mother's Day Freedom Project book next year. "I feel like God will find you no matter where you are," she said. "True healing is possible. I want to say that I'm not surviving, I'm thriving." Online: https://bit.ly/33slKK7 ___ Information from: Foster's Daily Democrat, http:// www.fosters.com
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Sports / B6
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Lack of attendance
Inside Intramurals MATT HOLDERMAN
Equinox staff
GARGI GURUNG / EQUINOX STAFF
Sports games are seeing less and less attendance, the stands from a field hockey game (pictured above) are partially empty as people are not attending
Athletic games experiencing shortage of fans CLAIRE BOUGHTON
sEnior sports rEportEr With the fall sports season in full swing and several Keene State College teams holding impressive records, why is it that the bleachers at home games are so sparse? Do you remember those scenes from classic sports movies like “Rudy” or “Hoosiers” where the stands were so packed at every game that the bleachers looked like a sea of heads and shoulders?. Why does that not happen here? Yes, Rudy was based on the 1976 Notre Dame football team. But, does that really mean the energy and support needs to be any different? Notre Dame finished out their 1976 football season with a 9-3 record. Keene’s men’s soccer team is currently 8-4. Keene’s volleyball team is currently 16-5. Keene’s men’s basketball team last season was 20-8. While none of these are football at an ivy league school, and comparing them would quite literally be comparing completely different ball games, they are still respectable records. So why don’t Keene sports get bleachers filled with people when they compete in a home contest? The answer is: I don’t know! Keene State students get into ticketed sports like soccer and basketball for free
when they flash their Owl Card, so attending home games doesn’t break the bank. And the majority of games are at reasonable times. On weekdays, games for all teams more often than not are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. or later. On weekends, games are held earlier in the day which means they don’t interfere with students’ afternoons or nightlife. So if home games are free and at convenient times then why isn’t there more representation from the student body in the stands? While there may not be an answer to this question, there is a solution to the problem. Come to home games. With fall weather kicking in, bundle up and come with a group of friends to support your Owls. Concessions are provided at a majority of home games and with the weather getting colder apple cider and hot chocolate are on the menu as well as popcorn. So next time you are walking by the Spaulding Gym and see a home game on the big billboard coming up, tell your friends and go! Claire Boughton can be contacted at cboughton@kscequinox.com
Overcoming injuries
Men’s soccer team hit with injury bug AUSTIN SMITH
sports Editor Injuries are an unfortunate part of sports that all teams experience during the course of a season. For Keene State’s men’s soccer team, injuries have been an issue all season. The Owls have suffered through many injuries and other instances that have kept key players from participating in games. Head Coach Rick Scott said, “We’re struggling right now because we have so many injuries. We had four starters on the bench against Western Connecticut.” Injuries can sidetrack even the best of teams, across all sports. When a starting player gets injured, one of the reserve players are forced into the starting role with all of the other starting players. This can cause issues due to the backup player oftentimes not having the experience that the starting player has. Another issue is the backup player may not have the chemistry on the field with the other starters that the other injured player may have had. The Owls were ranked number six in New England for Division III soccer before their loss to Western Connecticut; The Owls are now no longer ranked in New England, but are ranked number four in the LEC. Senior midfielder Donovan Harris said he feels “disrespected” by the ranking that they now have. Junior midfielder Lewis (LJ) Luster said, “We should be a lot better than we are. A lot of injuries have caused it.” While the loss of ranking makes some of the players feel that they are being disrespected, Scott is not worried about their rank. “For me, I’m not really concerned
about the rankings. I’m really concerned about where we are in the conference. We want to finish at the to of the conference so we can host the [LEC] playoffs,” said Scott. While the team has had starters sitting due to injuries, some have missed games due to another reason: the team has lost players due to card count. In soccer (or Futbol) getting a red card is a form of penalty that results in ejection from the game and the player is not allowed to participate in the next two games. Scott said, “Our goal is to get healthy and keep our heads on the field. I think the card situation has hurt us and they’re realizing it now. You can tell them all day long, but they’re starting to realize it. Hopefully we’ll have more emotional maturity on the field and intelligence out there to keep us from getting any more cards that hurt us.” Although the team has been suffering through injuries, they have been injuries that are not common to the sport. A couple of them have been bone bruises and other types of injuries that do not affect the soft tissue such as muscles, tendons and ligaments. “Those soft tissue type injuries are usually more common to the sport. Usually soft tissue injuries like hamstring, achilles; stuff like that,” said Scott. Even though the injuries have stacked up so far for the Owls this season, Scott said he has the right type of guys. “I got good kids, tough kids, who are doing all the rehabbing. They practice every day doing what they should do on the side with our athletic trainers,” said Scott. The training staff is a vital part of all athletic
teams, but is even more valuable to a team dealing with injuries. The trainers make sure that if and when an athlete gets hurt, they get the right treatment and do the right workouts and exercises to return as quickly and as healthy as possible. Scott said he appreciates what the trainers do for him and his team. “The athletic trainers are unbelievable. They really are. They don’t get enough credit for what they do,” he said. At the moment the team is dealing with injuries, but when they get healthy: look out.
Playoff season has arrived for flag football! The Keene State intramural flag football teams completed regular season play on October 2. Eight of the ten teams qualified for the playoffs and two teams went home upset and empty-handed, looking forward to next season. Of the eight teams that qualified for the playoffs, two remained undefeated going into the postseason. Those teams were the Mud Puppies and the Mukin Barn, both with perfect regular season records of four wins and zero losses. Right behind those two teams was the Electric Factory, with a solid regular season record of 3-1. Then, the final five teams that entered the playoffs all had records of 2-2 or worse. The two teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs were the Mud Dogs and the Dream Team. The Mud Dogs finished the season with no wins, while the Dream Team was able to nab one win before the season was over. In fact, the Dream Team had a second chance to make the playoffs, as they ended the season with the same record as Team Purple (1-3). That meant Team Purple and the Dream Team would have to play each other in a last-chance-qualifier game to see who would move on to the playoffs. That game took place on October 6, and Team Purple prevailed, with a final score of 36-20, leaving the Dream Team on the outside looking in. Tuesday, October 8, marked the start of the first week of playoff action. Four of the eight playoff teams faced off against each other on the turf field at the Owl Athletic Complex. First, it was the undefeated Mukin Barn team squaring off with TDs out for the Boys. The Mukin Barn took care of business, defeating TDs out for the Boys 28-6. TDs out for the Boys were eliminated, while Mukin Barn’s perfect record improved to 5-0. The final game Tuesday night featured the Electric Factory taking on Show us your TD’s in an intriguing battle. As mentioned previously, Electric Factory entered the playoffs with a record of 3-1, while Show us your TD’s were an even 2-2 on the season. In this game, Electric Factory was victorious, beating Show us your TD’s 26-6, meaning Electric Factory would move on to next week, and Show us your TD’s would be eliminated. Then, the other four of the eight playoff teams played Wednesday night, October 9. First up, a pair of 2-2 teams prepared to face each other, as Hoss State ‘20 was pinned up against Baker’s Dozen. However, the Baker’s Dozen weren’t cooking on the field, as Hoss State ‘20 served them a loss, 21-7. That meant that after going through the first half of the season without a single win, Hoss State ‘20 would now be one of the final four teams in the playoffs. Their record improved to 3-2 with their third straight win, after starting the season a dismal 0-2. After the feel-good win for Hoss State ‘20, they had to quickly scurry off the field to make way for the two teams playing in the final matchup of the first week of the playoffs. Those two teams were the top-seeded, undefeated Mud Puppies, and Team Purple, who just made it into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. As expected, the Mud Puppies dominated this one, stomping Team Purple into the turf, 35-6. The Mud Puppies improved to 5-0 on the season, and moved on to the final four. After the first week of playoff games, the final four teams were set. The Mud Puppies, Mukin Barn, Electric Factory and Hoss State ‘20 will compete in week two of the playoffs to see which two teams will move on to the championship game. Mukin Barn will play Electric Factory, while the Mud Puppies will face Hoss State ‘20, with the winners having a shot at the championship, and the losers going home. Stay tuned next week to find out who won those games. Matt Holderman can be contacted at mholderman@kscequinox.com
Austin Smith can be contacted at asmith@kscequinox.com
“I just wasn’t taking care of myself properly in my head. It really caught up to me and I was in a dark spot, and I felt that in order to get myself out of that hole I was in I needed to step back and take a break care of myself,” - Kyle Shadeck
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Players from around the globe
“First you get a condom,” Bangasimbo began. “You blow it up, then you take trash bag, wrap them around the condom, then you take yarn, wrap it around the trash bags… then you have a soccer ball.” - Glaudi Bangasimbo
OLIVIA CATTABRIGA / ART DIRECTOR
Keene State has athletes from all over the world CLAIRE BOUGHTON
Senior SportS reporter Have you ever used a condom as a soccer ball? No? Well, for Clinton Mungeta, that was how he got his start in soccer when he was a child growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Keene State College prides itself on being a place of opportunity, where students can ‘enter to learn and go forth to serve; this motto holds especially true for student-athletes who traveled to New Hampshire from all over the globe. Mungeta, junior forward on the men’s soccer team, is just one of the many student-athletes who attend Keene but are originally from or grew up in places all over the world. Mungeta was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo before moving to Concord, New Hampshire, on June 7, 2012. “My mom wanted us to get a better future,” Mungeta explained when asked about why he and his family moved to New Hampshire. “She went to apply to immigration and then they were the ones who chose [New Hampshire].” Mungeta applied to Keene State because of its proximity to home and the fact that it was inexpensive and offered him scholarships. “I figured… it was the best place for me to come,” said Mungeta. Mungeta has been a valuable player on the men’s soccer team since his first year at Keene. Freshman year saw 16 appearances from him, two of which were in the starting lineup. Sophomore year Mungeta appeared 11 times and picked up his first career goal in a home game against Worcester State. Mungeta explained that he began playing soccer when he was only three in the D.R. of Congo. “I grew up playing soccer… it helped me out through everything, throughout all my life,” said Mungeta. However, soccer in the United States is very different from soccer in the D.R. of Congo according to Mungeta. “Here in America, soccer is not the biggest sport… you got football, basketball, hockey, those are the three main sports in the United States,” Mungeta explained. “Other places… you know you grow up… you get little trash bags… you make a little soccer ball [by wadding them up], and you
go out and play with everyone.” It was at this point that Glaudi Bangasimbo, a manager on the men’s soccer team who also grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, chimed in about his own experiences of making a soccer ball. “First you get a condom,” Bangasimbo began. “You blow it up, then you take trash bag, wrap them around the condom, then you take yarn, wrap it around the trash bags… then you have a soccer ball.” “And here’s the funny thing,” Mungeta continued with a smile on his face. “Say I was the one who made the ball, this means I have all the power… if I’m losing I would grab my ball and I would go home which means the games over.” Mungeta is not the only player on the men’s soccer team from another country, however. Declan Pietro-Coughlin, freshman midfielder on the men’s soccer team, has lived all over the eastern hemisphere before landing in Keene, New Hampshire. Coughlin was originally born in Dublin, Ireland, before moving to Africa and then once again moving to Rome, Italy. After ten years in Rome and attending school at Istituto Luigi Einaudi, Coughlin packed up and moved once again in order to attend Keene State. “Coming to college for Europeans and people outside America is quite a dream,” Coughlin explained. “I don’t think Americans quite know what privilege it is going to college and especially being a student-athlete.” Coughlin has made starting lineups several times during his first season as an Owl and scored his first career goal during the Owls season opener contest against Salem State. Coughlin began playing soccer when he was four years old living in Africa. “[Soccer] is a bit behind in the United States,” said Coughlin when recalling his experience of soccer in both Rome and Africa and comparing it to what he has seen in the United States so far. “The main sport in the world is soccer, and the United States [is] getting there.” Coughlin and Mungeta are not the only players from around the globe on the men’s soccer team. Emmanuel Smith, junior midfielder, is from Guinea, West Africa, while Yusufu Juma, junior midfielder, Enoch Kasa, sophomore defensemen, and Josue Assantha, freshman midfielder, are from the D.R. of Congo much like Mungeta. As well as that, Mario Santos,
sophomore midfielder and forward, is from South Africa. The men’s soccer team isn’t alone when it comes to Keene State sports team having players from around the globe however. Emilyann Ashford, a sophomore middle blocker on the volleyball team, was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and moved to Chile at the age of 14 where she lived until moving to Keene to attend Keene State College. “[The move] from New Mexico to Chile [was because of] my dad’s job,” said Ashford. “He’s a metallurgical engineer and the company he works for moved him down there [for work]… moving from Chile to Keene was actually [because of] the coach.” Bob Weiner has been the head coach for the women’s volleyball team for the past 14 seasons and found Ashford on Next College Student Athlete (NCSA). Weiner decided to shoot Ashford an email and according to Ashford it was “by far the most interesting recruiting email” Ashford had received. Ashford began playing volleyball when she first moved to Chile because there was no women’s basketball and she needed another sport to play. It wasn’t until freshman year gym class when her class was in the volleyball unit that she decided to try out for the volleyball team. Ashford has been a threatening player for the volleyball team with her current numbers sitting at 168 kills and 1.79 kills per set. “In Chile [practices are] a lot more laughing… not that it’s not laughing here… [but] there’s a lot more competitiveness in players here,” Ashford explained when asked about differences in sports in the United States and Chile. “In Chile it’s a lot more, ‘we’re going to go out and we’re going to have fun and if we lose, [if] we win, it doesn’t matter’… and practices are a lot like getting together to get the tea around the town,” Ashford smiled. “[In the United States practicing] is a lot more competitive, a lot more, ‘okay we need to work on blocking, we need to work on coverage’.” Whether it be Chile, Rome, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, sports are global. And with that comes players from all countries with different experiences and stories. Keene State College is lucky enough to call some of those people Owls. Claire Boughton can be contacted at cboughton@kscequinox.com
Meet the captain: Ally McCall CLAIRE BOUGHTON
and Little East Tournament Most Outstanding Player. McCall also made history during her junior year by tying for With the Keene State field hockey third place in the Keene State history team making waves in the Little East books for single season assists. Conference this season, let’s take a look McCall has already had a successat one of the captains! ful senior year with three goals and 14 Ally McCall is making sure her final assists. season as an Owl is one for the books. Next up on the field hockey schedThe senior defensive player from ule, the Owls will take on the Southern Watertown, Massachusetts did not Maine Huskies on the Huskies’ turf, start off as an Owl, however. McCall Saturday, October 19 at 3 p.m. transferred to Keene after a year at the University of Vermont, where she Claire Boughton can be contacted played for the field hockey team. at cboughton@kscequinox.com McCall’s sophomore year as an Owl saw her being named second team AllConference. Starting in all 23 games that season, McCall ended the season with four goals and six assists. Junior year McCall was named NFHCA Second-Team All-Region, Little East Defensive Player of the Year
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Back in the right Lane
Shadeck returns to the pool after last years sabbatical AUSTIN SMITH
myself,” Shadeck said. Leaving the team affects multiple things, especially other members of the team. Senior Mental health is something that all people and captain Zachary Collins said, “It was not have to deal with, and sometimes a break is easy, obviously losing anyone on the team is needed to work on it. not an easy thing to do, although Kyle had Senior swimmer Kyle Shadeck took a his reasons and I fully support why he had to leave of absence last season due to his mental take some time off.” health. “Unfortunately I went through a Another person majorly affected by this lot of bad mental hardships; some of it was decision was the Head Coach of the swim personal stuff, some of it was from athletics, team, Christopher Woolridge. When asked some of it was from academics,” Shadeck said. if he was surprised when Shadeck left WoolMore and more is being learned about mental ridge said, “I don’t think I was surprised, but health and how crucial it is to take care of. “I that’s mainly because you don’t have to do just wasn’t taking care of myself properly in this job for very long to have a lot of different my head. It really caught up to me and I was things happen over the course of a season.” in a dark spot, and I felt that in order to get Now that Shadeck has returned to the myself out of that hole I was in I needed to team, Collins said he is excited to have him step back and take a break and take care of back. “I’m very excited. I’ve been living with SportS Editor
him for a year and a half now, he’s a great teammate, he is a fantastic swimmer, [he has] broken records already,” said Collins. With Shadeck leaving to work on his mental health, the question for him now is did his break help him and his health? Shadeck said that he does feel better now. “Taking that break allowed me to get well, get happy and fall in love with the sport again because for awhile I wasn’t enjoying it anymore; but after having a break and taking some time to reflect I got an appreciation for the sport again,” he explained. Now that Shadeck is back and mentally healthy, it is time to focus on the team and swimming. “He’s come back and he has had such a positive attitude; he’s always been there, he’s always early for practice, stretching out getting ready, he’s always positive during
practice looking at the upside of things,” Collins said. Even Woolridge has noticed the difference in Shadeck this year. “Kyle seems happy, he’s in good spirits. I think he’s happy. I think he wants to have a good final year and go out on a high note,” Woolridge said. Shadeck said he is happy to be back as well. “It seems like everyone is glad to have me back and I’m glad to be back. It’s nice to train alongside with people and just share some laughs and jokes in between practices, so it’s great to be back in a team environment,” Shadeck said. Austin Smith can be contacted at asmith@kscequinox.com
GARGI GURUNG / EQUINOX STAFF
Senior swimmer Kyle Shadeck (pictured above) left at the end of last season due to his mental health, he is back on the team this year and back in the pool, getting ready to swim competitively once again
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