Comedian tickles funny bones

AMANDA FINNEGAN

ASST MANAGING EDITOR

AJF724@CABRINI EDU

Comedian Robert Kelly had Cabrini students laughingthe night away with his funny business act. Kelly, who denies his Massachusetts roots because he thinks it doesn’t sound tough enough, currently resides in New York City. He has toured with of-themoment comedian Dane Cook, been featured on Car son Daly’s show and can be regularly seen on Comedy Cen tral’s Blend.

Kelly had students rolling in the aisles on Feb. 2 for an entire hour. “I’m excited to be here in the woods. This is the only campus where you get mugged and attacked by a bear in the same night,” Kelly said. And with that comment, Kelly set a hysterical mood for the rest of his act.

Senior educational studies major and Campus and Activities and Programming Board President Mark Tripolitsiotis said that the Board found Kelly at a convention and knew they had to book him right away “I thought that he was really funny He wasn’t too vulgar, and he had the whole crowd laughing the whole time. People came up to me and told me after that they almost had to leave because they were laughing so hard,” Tripolitsio- jokes ranged from poking fun at the immigrant mural in Grace Hall to giving couples in the audience hard time and a lesson on relationships. When Kelly started joking about how rude toll booth collectors can be, the audience learned that one of ested in the campaign for human rights. It wasn’t until she took a class with Dr. Margaret McGuinness, professor in the religious studies department, that she found her true calling. She was inspired by a movie called “Roses in December,” about four catholic women who were raped and murdered in El Salvador. She also began working with the Maryknoll missionaries and doing outreach with the homeless population of Philadelphia. During this time, the Iran-Contra affair was going on as well. All of these events combined to inspire her to take on the issues of social justice.

Motivated by the murdered church women from El Salvador and a strong faith conviction, she wanted to go to Latin America to live and work with the poor. “I strongly feel that these people are our brothers and sisters who are suffering. I feel I am able to do this work because of the tremendous support I received through my faith,” Panetta said.

The first place she went was Guatemala, and she said that the five months she spent there “shaped the rest of my life.” She has called attention to the lives of the people suffering in Afghanistan from U.S. attacks, the toxic aerial fumigation of land in Colombia and the pesticides that are poisoning the farmers of Nicaragua.

Panetta feels that the pictures she takes create a focus of her work. She is able to use them in presentations and exhibits to raise awareness all over the United States. She has been able to generate worldwide global exposure of certain issues that are not being covered in the news.

Panetta has also founded the School of the Americas WatchNortheast Office and is the coordinator of the Jean Donovan Community Peace Center that provides retreats and speakers for the surrounding community as well as an outreach program for survivors of torture. Information about Linda Panetta and her photographs can be found at www.opticalrealities.org.

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Cabrini’s own CAPBoard members works in a booth on the Pennsylvania Turnpike during the summers. Kelly also told anecdotes from when he performed for U.S. troops in Iraq. “I was getting off the helicopter in Iraq and this Marine sergeant ran up to me and told me to be careful. And I said ‘Yea, I know bullets and stuff.’ But he said ‘No, when we got here the animals from the zoo were let go and we still can’t find the lions.’ I thought now I have to look out for bullets and lions!” Kelly said.

Sophomore marketing major Amanda Anderson said that seeing Kelly perform was something different and fun to do on a Thursday night. “He was hilarious. I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt after the show,” Anderson said. Looks like in this case, a little pain didn’t hurt anyone.

For more information on Kelly’s tour and performances, visit robertkellylive.com or visit his profile on MySpace.com for clips of his show.

Loquitur welcomes your comments on this story. Please send your comments to Loquitur@yahoogroups.com . The editors will review your points each week and make corrections if warranted.