SMCC Beacon March 7, 2017

Issue Date 3•7•17

BY THE STUDENTS, FOR THE STUDENTS

Volume 13 No. 11

ACE: The Final Frontier

By Jack Gentempo

The weekend of Feb. 18, 2017 is one that will go down in history as a major milestone in space exploration. NASA discovered seven previously unknown, potentially Earthlike planets, and SpaceX successfully launched an unmanned Dragon spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A lesser-known exploration into the world beyond the stars took place this historic weekend, too: SMCC’s Association of Cosmic Explorers (ACE) went on its annual overnight trip to the Boston Museum of Science.

A trip to the nearest star takes roughly 17,900 years, but the Amtrak Downeaster only takes about an hour and 20 minutes to transport ACE from Portland to the Planetarium in Boston.

The Planetarium is one of the most popular exhibits at the Boston Museum of Science. Leaning back in a comfortable chair, staring at a peacefully lit projection of the night sky, it’s not hard to see why.

Surrounded by a peripheral dome of stars and solar systems, throughout the presentation ACE members were treated to a beautifully gigantic display illustrating just how small we are in the universe.

Even the most rudimentary space mission requires immense amounts of planning, and an ACE trip to Boston is no different. Luckily, ACE leader Ivan Del Mar knows just how to planet (space-pun alert!). Hotel arrangements were kept far more spacious than the lodging offered on most NASA space explorations. It was less like floating in a tin can and more like relaxing in a studio apartment, with a fantastic view of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. And with a sufficient food stipend and plenty of free time to explore some of the great restaurants in Harvard Square and Chinatown, there was nothing dehydrated about this journey’s meal plan.

Fun Fact! Did you know that if you vertically piled all the astronaut ice cream available at the Planetarium gift shop in a straight line between Earth and the moon, it would still taste stale?

What’s next for ACE? The sky’s the limit! That is, until spaceships become more affordable. Though such cost may be out of the club’s current budget, ACE is planning a collaborative fundraiser at the Portland Art Walk in May, to raise money for a deserving science organization.

With NASA’s new planet discoveries and amateur astronomers on the hunt for interstellar oddities, it’s entirely possible that ACE could potentially contribute to someday contacting other lifeforms. If we come in contact with extraterrestrial life, it’d be wise not to alienate them, but rather to treat them with the kind of acceptance and community found among the members of ACE throughout their trip to Boston.

If there’s one thing that ACE can show us, it’s that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to explore space.

Above: an artist’s rendering of the TRAPPIST-1 system. Below: members of ACE on their Boston trip. Top row, from left: Nicholas Moll and Ivan Del Mar. Bottom row: Juniper Hathaway, Kaden Clark, Taylor Freeman, Makala Thibodeau, Ness McGonigle, Brian Gooze and Jack Gentempo.

3 Seawolves Win USCAA Division I Awards By the Beacon Sports Staff

From left to right: Jennifer Conrad, John Morgan and Vanese Barnes are honored for their achievements on and off the court. Conrad received Honorable Mention, Morgan was named to the All-Division II first team, and Vanese Barnes was named to the All-Academic team.

Last Tuesday, two days before the USCAA Division I and Division II nationals officially tipped off, members of participating teams gathered for the 2016–17 USCAA basketball All-American and end-of-the-year awards. The ceremony, which was held at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Uniontown, Pa., recognized athletes from the 50-plus member schools of the USCAA. The awards were broken into four different categories: All-Academic Team, Honorable Mention, Second Team and First Team. While the teams may not have fared as well as they would have liked, The Beacon would like to congratulate the three Seawolves who were acknowledged for their efforts on the court and in the classroom.

Vanese Barnes was selected to the All-Academic Team of the USCAA (Continued on page 2)

C ampus N ews What Can Tutoring Do for You?

By Ben Riggleman

Let me start with a story: Dave was a practical young man. He’d known he was going to be a machinist ever since, at the age of eight, he saw “The Machinist,” that film where Christian Bale falls in love with a prostitute.

Dave was now in his second semester of SMCC’s Precision Machining & Manufacturing program, and so far college had been going like a well-oiled bore-head into a block of brass.

That is, until he stepped into Professor Nagle’s Intro to Lit class. Suddenly he was being asked to write a 12-page analysis of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

The only thing Dave hated more than poetry was writing essays about it. An all-American kid of good character and blue-collar values, he had a healthy disdain for the liberal arts, artists, and liberals. But he knew he couldn’t afford to fail this course.

He just had no earthly idea how he’d tackle Prufrock. He’d already spent three hours on the lousy essay, and all he had to show for it was a page of disorganized garbage. In desperation, Dave swallowed his pride and showed up one day at the Writing Center in the SMCC Learning Commons (second-floor Campus Center, South Portland campus).

He was assigned a writing tutor named Yasmin. And he was skeptical at first: she was his age, and English wasn’t even her first language; how could she help him?

But sure enough, thirty minutes later, she had. He emerged from that first session with a solid outline, a spring in his step, and — could it be? — the first smoldering of love in his heart.

Professor Nagle ended up awarding Dave’s Prufrock essay a B-, but what

THE

SMCC’s tutoring services ultimately gave Dave was priceless: in Yasmin, he found both the love of his life (they recently had their second child, Abdul Rashid) and a path to salvation in Allah.

• This story is completely made up; Dave, Yasmin and Professor Nagle are all fictional. But SMCC tutoring services are the real deal.

At the Learning Commons on either campus, you can get help with everything from math homework to research-paper citations. Tutors are a mix of staff volunteers, paid students and professionals, including specialists in English as a second language. Some concentrate on a subject, like algebra, physics or accounting. The folks at the Writing Center do just what you’d expect. (No, I don’t mean fall in love with you.)

Nearly 1,000 SMCC students used tutoring services last semester, according to unpublished Learning Commons data.

They made over 4,740 logged visits.

Maybe the stats don’t surprise you. But you might not know that some departments, like Microbiology and Communications–New Media, have their own tutors posted in different locations on campus; or that SMCC lets you access free tutoring online, 24/7, through Pearson SmarThinking.

Get the details on all that and more by visiting http://smccme.libguides.com/ tutoring/. (This page can also be found under MyLearning on the school portal.)

And if you’re feeling stuck with schoolwork, don’t be shy; drop in at the Commons sometime. It’s worth it — even if your tutor doesn’t wind up being your soul mate.

Executive Staff

Alex Serrano Troy Hudson Oguzhan Ozkan Max Lorber Paul Moosmann Justin Taylor Vanessa Poirier Ben Riggleman

Section Editors Arts & Features Jessica Spoto Sports Gio DiFazio Contributing Writers

Illaria Dana, Gio DiFazio, Jack Gentempo, Max Lorber, Ryan Marshall, Philip Orr, Ben Riggleman, Jessica Spoto, Erik Squire, W. Russell Webster Advisors Chuck Ott & Rachel Guthrie

2 The Beacon ■ March 7 ■ 2017

(Continued from page 1)

Division I squad. When asked to comment on this acknowledgment, assistant women’s basketball coach Patrick Haviland stated, “This is a great accomplishment for her; she embodies what it truly means to be a student athlete. Her success on and off the court defines what a lady Seawolf should be. Her leadership as one of our captains has grown immensely this year. This is only the beginning for a very bright, talented and gifted young lady.”

Lady Seawolf Jennifer Conrad was selected to the Honorable Mention team, joining Barnes as the two Lady Seawolf representatives. Katrina Bergeron, the Seawolves’ Head Basketball coach, summed up Conrad’s selection in these words: “Jen being recognized is more than well deserved. Her stats on the floor speak for themselves, but Jen’s journey to those stats is what is most impressive. She is a mother of two, and to go back to school and try and get back into collegiate basketball shape is a triumph in its own right. To do it and be recognized as one of the best in the country is unbelievable. She led our team all season on the floor, and she currently has a 3.9 GPA. “Not many would have noticed, but for

the conference playoffs and the national tournament, Jen’s jersey was stitched together, as it was previous cut off her in her most recent trip to the emergency room due to an injury from a game. For Jen to go out in our first game and break two records and tie one was the cherry on top to a great last season for her. She will certainly be missed next season, but has left a wonderful legacy for future players to aspire to.”

On the men’s side of the awards, John Morgan was recognized for his effort on the court; he was named to the USCAA Division I First Team. Matt Richards, SMCC head men’s basketball coach, reflected on Morgan’s acknowledgment: “John exemplifies what coming to SMCC and being part of our basketball program truly means. He was an overlooked high school player who had a great amount of determination and used that as motivation to develop himself in becoming one of the best players within our program over the past 14 years. His recognition as an USCAA All-American is a testament to that. I’m so proud of him.”

The Beacon would like to congratulate the above three Seawolves and both squads for the successful seasons they had.

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C ampus N ews

Spring Break What’s Up?

By Jessica Spoto

As spring break rolls around, we all wonder what we are going to do. As students, we need to relax and just take a well-deserved break from school. Let’s take a look into what some students are doing for spring break.

One says he’s spending his time “up state, visiting family and training at my favorite gym up there.” Another says she’s “going to visit the Motorcycle Hall of Fame museum in Ohio.” While some students are going on planned vacations, others are playing it by ear. One student says he isn’t “doing anything productive,” and just going with the flow to see what happens.

Whether you are going somewhere or just staying home to relax, always remember to have fun, stay safe and enjoy yourself !

We Are SMCC

By Breanna Penny “I remember going to my grandma’s house … my grandma always did so much for us. Even when we were going through hardships or whatever it was, she would always make a meal for us and [fortify her] complete love. It [didn’t] matter if she had to skip a meal. Just that sacrifice had just always stuck with me. Knowing that some-

A Life and Culinary Journey

By Captain W. Russell Webster, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)

I came to the culinary arts by a long and circuitous route. The notion of considering a career as a food writer evolved by an even stranger set of circumstances. My life’s travels have included learning some five languages, visiting 11 countries, earning two higher degrees and subsisting on “federal food” for parts of five decades.

As a former career leader in the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency, I suffered through many a gastronomic catastrophe on ships, at airports, in emergency shelters, in stale underground bunkers, and at countless proverbial “rubber-chicken banquets.” I have also been exposed to some of the best culinary experiences, within and outside public service, that any person could imagine.

Late in my military service, I began an ambitious writing career, focusing on maritime history and tragic sea rescues.

In retirement, I developed a need to cook great meals for those I love. Writing about food just seemed natural, since I had consumed so much of it in so many places and in unusual circumstances.

The term “food writer” is less than three decades old, but is complex, and it’s generally acknowledged that there are as many ways to write about and critique food as

there are different food types and writers.

People experience food more than any other pleasure in their lives. Thus, food writers, or “critics,” generally capitalize on their own backgrounds and experiences when writing and evaluating food and culinary establishments. A good food writer understands that they and their opinions represent an introduction to a new restaurant, its staff, and the menu items — and can be like Rotten Tomatoes is for moviegoers.

Often, with scarce resources, restaurant-goers seek the opinions of others through Yelp, Facebook, or Reddit before committing time and energy to a new establishment. Food writers provide a transient glimpse and assessment of a culinary item or eatery, enabling individual judgments to be made.

Is this the right place for a birthday party, wedding reception, a quiet romantic Valentine’s dinner, or a once-a-year, pull-out-all-the-stops celebration of an engagement? The food writer shapes their reader’s initial opinions, good or bad, about new foods and establishments based on their own experiences and observations.

I entered the culinary arena at age 62, after retiring early to take care of a sick spouse. Few things made sense to her as her cognitive illness progressed and robbed her of memory, yet she still could appreciate a good meal on a primal level. Vowing

one loves me a lot more than I would ever love myself. It’s just something I always remember is just, the pureness of love that I would get every single time I’d go there.

“I cannot consider anyone my enemy because that’s … it doesn’t seem right. But, they could be someone who could bring adversary, but I could never see someone as my enemy because they are human just like me. So, I have to be able to respect them no matter what. I don’t have to speak to

to learn a new skill that would enable me to make great meals for the people I love, I chose the SMCC Culinary Arts program.

Chef Leavitt’s skills course opened new doors for me and satisfied my vision quest of cooking a great meal for my sick spouse, but still left me hungry for new experiences that capitalized on my past skill sets.

Food writer and blogger Amanda Hesser provides an important perspective: “Get dirty … while you do mostly low paying food jobs.” Hesser advocates a bottom-up approach for the aspiring food writer to learn the industry in a blue-collar way, implying that restaurants are made up of a system of systems — all important — from dishwashers, bartenders and wait staff to ownership.

Food writing is as diverse as the types of food and establishments that are available to the curious diner. A good food writer capitalizes on their own life experiences and capabilities while expanding their skills regarding food.

The experiences that enabled me to survive federal food for more than four decades in underground bunkers and on storm-tossed seas — plus having developed key observation and human-behavior-recognition techniques at America’s airports — should enable me to evaluate the totality of the dining-room experience, from the wait staff to the menu items and their presentation.

Photo by Breanna Penny

them, I just have to respect them. Doesn’t matter what they say or what they do, I have to respect someone for who they are … I am representing something that’s bigger than myself. Even if it’s representing Christ everywhere I go, or if it’s representing my family name everywhere I go, I just have to be mindful of people’s differences of who they are and forgetting about the things that could get me angry.”

Arts at SMCC

Last semester, SMCC student Destinee Linscott created a large painting inspired by her friend Elizabeth “Liz” Corvese’s interest in narwhals.

Narwhals are a type of Arctic whale remarkable for having a single protruding canine tooth that resembles a unicorn’s horn. Destinee’s painting was started in August and finished in December. She used pastels to draw the narwhal and acrylic paints to complete the water around it.

Destinee Linscott (Left) and Liz Corvese

The Beacon ■ March 7 ■ 2017 3

O pinion & E ditorial A Note from the Advisor

Trump and Islamic Extremism:

If you are reading this column, it means you are holding the 95th consecutive Beacon printed since the paper returned to after a brief hiatus a little more than seven and a half years ago.

The Beacon has seen over 100 student contributors participate in journalism as writers, designers, photographers, illustrators and sales representatives. You are also holding a document that, while ink on paper, is a living, breathing entity that morphs into the desires of the students working on it at any given time.

From the first paper of this current run, our writers and the managing editors of the opinion and editorial pages have been asked to define the voice and vision of the paper. At times, they have been asked to meditate on what their conviction are, as individuals and as contributing members of a college newspaper.

While the role of the editorial staff has changed over the years, one aspect remains consistent: all the writers have been encouraged and supported in speaking from a position of an engaged and active participant, with the opportunity to voice how society, culture, politics, economics, religion, and spirituality are shaped.

This past week, President Trump addressed both houses of Congress. The Beacon used this as an opportunity to dedicate the op-ed pages to responses composed by current and past Beacon writers. The goal of the idea was to not only highlight the range of thought that has blessed these pages, but to engage the writers in a greater discourse regarding the current administration’s policy intents.

Ninety-five Beacons ago the headline on the front page read, “We Are the Change We Seek.” That headline, when

By Garrick Hoffman Beacon Managing Editor, 2014-2015

By Chuck Ott

read as a statement, speaks to the point of being actively involved in the process of molding and shaping not only our society, but ourselves.

However, change should not happen for its own sake. It should be predicated upon responding accordingly to the principal variables that drive one’s self, as well as public policy. To stand on a position without modifying one’s stance while the variables demand a shift is dogma, and to continually change just to change seems chaotic.

While only a handful of former Beacon writers participated in this exercise, there is comfort in knowing that many are doing the work to develop a set of discerning eyes, wonderful analytical minds, and an understanding of what it means to take a position that stands for the betterment of those who are disenfranchised or marginalized.

Every one of you has concerns, concerns that are of utmost importance to you. Concerns such as the environment, scientific inquiry, racial relationships, culture, economics, gender and sexual identity, physical- and mental-health access, education, and spirituality. Are you willing to take a stand?

Admission is the First Step It is unsurprising to see not a single Democrat applauding when President Donald Trump announced in his Feb. 29 address to Congress that he and his administration are “taking strong measures to protect our nation from radical Islamic terrorism.” After hearing Trump utter these words, one could almost hear, “Keep your hate speech off this campus!” from the girl at Hampshire College who came to be pejoratively known as Trigglypuff, arms flailing in the air like Rush’s Neil Peart playing before a Madison Square Garden audience.

But the lack of Democratic support is hardly the point. The point is Trump’s choice of words and their significance, since former President Barack Obama steadfastly refused to use the term “Islamic extremism” when addressing this global problem.

British Muslim Maajid Nawaz, author of “Radical” and a liberal reformist of Islam, coined the term “the Voldemort effect” to allude to Obama’s verbal circumvention. The Voldemort effect describes the proclivity of refusing to name Islamism as the principal ideology behind Islamic extremism.

If the reader is familiar with the Harry Potter series, he or she will know that the wizards and witches in the series abstain from uttering Voldemort’s name as if simply saying it will awaken him from the dead. It’s such a monumental taboo that anyone brave enough — or foolish enough — to say it is subject to reproach.

“The Voldemort effect in this context entails not naming Islamism, nor distinguishing it from the multifaceted religion,” Nawaz says in his book “Islam and the

The Grandiose Verbiage of a Trump Speech

By Alex Serrano

“Then, in 2016, the earth shifted beneath our feet. The rebellion started as a quiet protest, spoken by families of all colors and creeds --- families who just wanted a fair shot for their children, and a fair hearing for their concerns. But then the quiet voices became a loud chorus -- as thousands of citizens now spoke out together, from cities small and large, all across our country.

Finally, the chorus became an earthquake -- and the people turned out by the tens of millions, and they were all united by one very simple, but crucial demand, that

America must put its own citizens first ... because only then, can we truly MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” If, at the beginning, you mistook that quote as an exerpt from an obscure Bolshevik revival rally in Central America, you are not alone. It’s hard to shake the grandiose and mythical lyricism of a Trump speech. Lush with metaphor and ham-fisted metaphor (“...rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation”), Bible quotes and ironic Bible-like language in the key of acceptance (“When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.

The Bible tells us, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.’”), and such a staggering usage of “we,” as to make our copy editor grimace (“We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.”).

The difference in performance between Trump’s unscripted rally speeches and the more refined speeches presented in his Inaugural Address and the recent Address to Congress. Indeed, when he reads off the teleprompter, his voice, usually wheeling and dealing in a high-pitched

Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue,” co-authored by prominent atheist Sam Harris.

Nawaz surmises that avoiding using the term actually backfired.

He writes, “By highlighting the need to ‘tackle the Islamic State’s ideology’ but refusing to name it, President Obama only increased the public’s fear and made it easier for Muslimphobes, who will naturally assume the ideology Obama refers to is ‘Islam,’ to blame all Muslims.”

“Islam is just religion,” he continues.

“Islamism is the ideology that seeks to impose any version of Islam over society.

Islamism is, therefore, theocratic extremism. Jihadism is the use of force to spread Islamism. Jihadist terrorism is the use of force that targets civilians to spread Islamism. The Islamic State is merely one jihadist terrorist group. The problem was never ‘al-Qaeda inspired’ extremism, because extremism itself inspired al-Qaeda, and then inspired the Islamic State. It is extremism that must be named — as Islamism — and opposed.”

He concludes, “We must name the ideology behind the Islamic State so that we can refute it … Merely calling it ‘extremism’ is too relative and vague, and sidesteps the responsibility to counter its scriptural justification.”

Nawaz’s remarks remind us that we can’t solve something by muting ourselves. We can’t avoid truth — no matter how painful it is — by convincing ourselves it doesn’t exist, and we can’t pretend a problem doesn’t exist simply because it’s difficult to confront.

As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, admission is the first step to redemption.

Trump’s utterance consequently puts one foot in front of the other.

frenzy, comes out in a deep and halting vibrato. What does this prove? Nothing.

But it will be interesting to see the two personalities clash. One, an esteemed (or at least, reckless) businessman, eager to settle a deal. The other, a posturing dignitary revelling in newfound power and influence.

But no matter the subject nor the visceral nature of the man’s statements, we must keep in mind that a speech is just a speech.

Time and decisions will reveal the President’s position much better than a team of speechwriters with delusions of grandeur ever could.

I’ll Be Fine if I Never See Paul Ryan’s Face Again

By Illaria Dana Beacon Managing Editor, 2016

If you were confused by Trump’s address to Congress, you’re not alone. The racism, mythmaking, and long periods of clapping conspired to make his address particularly ominous. Perhaps you were wondering, “Why are all these people standing and clapping, even the Democrats?” Or, “Why is Trump calling DACA recipients, asylum seekers, refugees, and permanent residents ‘removable aliens’?”

Perhaps you know something about the history of police in the United States, and especially in Chicago: formed by political patronage to keep fluctuating populations satisfied with, or at least submissive to, low-wages and long hours; and normalized by controlling political rhetoric that pro-

4 The Beacon ■ March 7 ■ 2017

tected property owners. (Political patronage refers to the appointment of an individual — or invention of a whole damn policing body — based on political affiliation as opposed to merit.) This rhetoric has worked so well that when people hear “police,” they think “patriotism.”

Just like police have been normalized, the word “criminal” is code for people of color. Presidents from Reagan to the present (yes, even President Obama) have relied on this codification to speak to white audiences and to support the police.

But no one does it like Trump. It’s no coincidence that Trump talks about “real Americans” and his new registry and

deportation program, VOICE (Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement), in the same breath.

Trump displays families of victims of violence like objects to reassure his white audience that he is not a racist, all the while touting traditional racist ideologies. I sincerely hope they got paid, and paid well.

And what about Trump’s mythmaking? Trump describes his ascendance into office as a “rebellion” that crescendoed into a “loud chorus” that erupted into an “earthquake” and could not be stopped. This “rebellion” insists that “America must put its citizens first.”

It’s true that Trump rode an earthquake of racism into the White House, but when he talks about America’s citizens, don’t doubt yourself. He’s talking about one group of people only.

And now, the clapping. If all other evidence was erased from this godforsaken era of U.S. politics, what would future generations think about Trump’s address?

More bluntly, where is the protest?

It isn’t in the Democratic Party’s representatives and senators wearing white, harkening back to women’s suffrage, which excluded all people of color. It isn’t in Senator Warren’s occasional clapping for a Trump statement that isn’t completely heinous. And no, it isn’t even in Senator Sanders’s scowl — although at least those shots provided visual relief from the wide pans of enthusiastic cronies.

What the clapping shows most is that our great division is between legislators, racists, and everyone else. And our legislators, by and large, fall on the side of racism.

Of violence. Of sexism.

Again.

O pinion & E ditorial

More of the Same, in Prettier Packaging

By Ben Riggleman

The New York Times called President Trump’s speech “a soothing comfort food.”

For those of us who’ve had it with the Trump administration’s circus, it was palatable bread enough.

I’ll admit I was impressed. Trump’s diction was eloquent; he barely strayed from the polished pitch he’d rehearsed.

(Of course, he found it impossible not to sneak in a second “great” before “wall,” and make an unfunny joke about motorcycles.)

He did sound presidential. His message, too, seemed uncharacteristically warm and inclusive.

He began with a respectful nod to Black History Month, and spoke of “the work that still remains to be done” on civil rights. He then denounced the hate crimes that have made the news recently: the racially motivated shooting of two Indian men in Kansas, and the present rash of threats and vandalism targeting Jews. He skillfully waved away the cloud of an-

ti-Semitism accusations that has followed him since the campaign. (Truth be told, as an ethnic Jew with no love for Trump, I’ve always found the concern overblown.)

Other highlights: heartstring-pulling guests in the audience; premature self-congratulation; some guilt-trip appeals to bipartisan cooperation; and a new, almost manic confidence in his grand plan — a faith that “every problem can be solved.”

So what’s new? Nothing, substance-wise.

There was fear-mongering along all the familiar lines. We heard the “radical Islamic terror” motif again — this time with added emphasis, as if to tell the new national security advisor who’s boss. (H.R. McMaster has reportedly called the phrase counterproductive.)

The “Morning in America”-like optimism was a real change in style, though.

And I found it as scary as anything. It’s the grandiose talk of a Supreme Leader looking ahead to a Five-Year Plan; it’s

School Vouchers:

Why Such a Contentious Issue?

By Erik Squire Beacon Section Editor, 2014-2015

No, I didn’t vote for Donald Trump, and like many other college students my age, I also can’t stand the “Cheeto-in-Chief.” That being said, I don’t blindly dislike everything that comes forward from his administration.

To that end, while watching his address to Congress, I was undoubtedly dissatisfied with certain things that he proposed — for instance, his inane call for implementing a merit-based immigration policy — but I had to give him kudos for his desire to implement certain education policies; in particular, a school voucher program.

Betsy Devos, Trump’s secretary of education, catches a lot of flak, some of it perhaps deserved and some of it very uncalled for.

One of biggest objectives that she — as well as President Trump — is pushing for is the aforementioned school voucher system.

In regards to this policy, Forbes published an article by Maureen Sullivan entitled “Betsy DeVos: 9 Things The Nominated Education Secretary Wants You To Know.”

In it, Sullivan quotes DeVos as saying, “The dollars should follow every single child,” and then further explains what she is pushing to reform: “an antiquated gov-

ernment-down system that sends money to school buildings and districts and rejects the notion of choice for all students and parents.” As a future public school educator, I am in total agreement with DeVos on this sentiment.

Many dissidents would argue that public schools produce the same results as private schools when you account for differences in socioeconomic status. They would be correct — but only when it comes to achievement-test scores. As evidence to this fact, a 2007 Time magazine article entitled “Are Private Schools Really Better?” cited a study demonstrating the following: “While controlling for [socioeconomic status] eliminated most public school/ private-school differences in achievement test scores, it did not eliminate differences in the most widely used test of developed abilities, the SAT.” And this is significant, because the SAT measures critical thinking skills — as opposed to achievement tests, which assess students’ ability to memorize and regurgitate.

And personally, I value critical thinking skills as one of the most valuable lifelong abilities that we could possibly impart to our children — skills which private schools (in light of the aforestated evidence) are more adept at inculcating.

Self-Improvement

By Jessica Spoto

Don’t we all wish we could grow up instantly. That in one snap of our fingers, all our insecurities could vanish and we’d be happy.

Hmm, that’s not life, is it? Take a good look at your life — what do you see? Unhappy, hated, defensive, withdrawn? Don’t say “woe is me,” because it’s never “woe is me.” There is only hard work to make progress. You can’t feel sorry for yourself; it’s not something people should do. But, they still

do it. They ruin their own lives with negativity.

Don’t ruin your life with negativity.

Take control of your life. Don’t slip into the never-ending cycle of no progress and self-deprivation. You won’t make progress being lazy. If you want something, you have to work hard to get it. Life doesn’t come to you; you have to come to it. So don’t lose control of your life. Take control by doing hard work and putting the effort in to succeed at your goals.

“Yes We Can” untethered from reality; it’s Trump’s egomania showing through bigly, regardless of how many times he said “we.”

But I guess it must be what the base wants to hear.

Trump’s speech had a morsel for most of us — blacks, Jews, women, infrastructure boosters, anti-interventionists — but we can’t let ourselves eat it up uncritically. The facts haven’t changed: this president has dangerous plans, he’s got Congress under his thumb, and he’s not about to back down or sober up.

Trump sent out a rhetorical plea: “Why not join forces and finally get the job done,” he asked. “True love for our people requires us to find common ground.” What he really means is that his critics should stand down; he’ll paint as un-American anyone who gets in his way. That’s nothing new, either.

Republicans stonewalled Barack Obama for eight years. Now it’s the Left’s turn, and I’m not about to be pacified by sweet nothings.

Lastly, I understand that many individuals are worried about religious schools receiving public funding, as this would seemingly violate the separation between church and state; however, the state would not be directly funding these religious institutions. The same logic works for food stamps; the state gives to those in need without restricting which companies users can purchase from — and nobody accuses the government of supporting the companies that the consumer chooses. Likewise, subsidizing parents’ cost of education for their children is not synonymous with supporting the the institution that they choose for that education.

Furthermore, the government should not presume that they are better equipped than a parent to choose which school is best for their children.

Opinions, Sadness, Input

By Jessica Spoto

Do you ever feel sad? Like there is something inside you and you just cannot get it out? Like you are climbing that mountain, trying and trying, but you never reach the top?

We all feel this way sometimes, some more than others. The heavy weight on our shoulders hinders us from accomplishing what needs to get done.

Our days look like thick gray fog, and we are trying to move through it. Slowly but surely, somehow we get around the day and it ends; then we go to sleep and start the process all over again. We are always numb and hungry for happiness. We never reach the goals we want; we are just lifeless living creatures.

Feeling sad is more than just a feeling. Sad is a way of life, a part

of who we are. If sadness increases in our lives, then our lives will fall apart. More numbness in our life, more hate and depression, as we grow even more sad throughout the days.

It will get better, they say.

Well, we don’t feel that way. Try taking the pain we feel, live in our shoes and feel our emotions, and then we will see if you think it will get better. Don’t assume you know us. Don’t assume we actually care and don’t assume we want your opinion, your help. We don’t ask for your input, so stop giving it.

The Beacon ■ March 7 ■ 2017 5

A rts & F eatures Absolute Zero

By Max Lorber

THE DIRECTOR’S PROFILE

George A. Romero

Most viewers will undoubtedly associate the by-now household name of George A. Romero with his initial run of spectacularly gruesome, though at their very core satirical, tales of the undead: “Night of the Living Dead,” the quintessential “Dawn of the Dead,” and “Day of the Dead” to cap off the truly exceptional trilogy.

However, the Pittsburgh native, born Feb. 4, 1940, more than earned his keep during his earlier years with a stream of underappreciated gems that effectively showcased a gifted auteur firing from every conceivable creative angle.

More than just a writer/director, Romero also edited every one of his films from his acclaimed 1968 debut, “Night of the Living Dead,” to “Creepshow” in 1982, his entertaining collaboration with Stephen King. Moving on from that horror film, which was considered to be way ahead of

FILM REVIEW

‘A Cure For Wellness’

Though it’s been a decade and a half since he remade the quintessential J-horror gem “Ringu” as “The Ring,” Gore Verbinski has never strayed too far from the path of hallucinatory dread in his subsequent career — whether he’s entertaining the misadventures of Captain Jack Sparrow or those of a computer-generated chameleon by the name of Rango.

Yet, for all the macabre flourishes those films do indeed possess, one might desire a return to darker waters for the director, the sort which seem at first to be uncharted and positively delectable. The answer to this is, alas, “A Cure for Wellness,” which is the sort of film that seems to wear its exquisitely dressed grime as if it were a badge of honor.

Following the sudden death of a colleague, we are thrust headfirst into the life and times of Lockhart (Dane DeHaan), an ambitious young executive for one of New York City’s most successful financial firms.

Lockhart is given the task of retrieving the company’s CEO from a mysterious wellness center located somewhere in the Swiss Alps, where the treatment provided to its many patients (most of whom are elderly) simply seems too good to be true.

Shortly after arriving, he’s ready to get out of there, but a fatal car crash on the way back down the mountain adds a couple days, months, or maybe even years to Lockhart’s stay.

Verbinski is no stranger to spectacle; in fact, he revels in it. But the prospect of a

6 The Beacon ■ March 7 ■ 2017

its time, he made the sex comedy “There’s Always Vanilla” in 1971. The following year, he returned to the genre that gave him his distinctive voice with “Season of the Witch,” an utterly fascinating critique

of the patriarchy that mixes hallucinatory terror with talky melodrama.

1973 brought “The Crazies,” and the urban vampire/addiction parable “Martin” followed five years later. The former film is perhaps the purest expression of the director’s abilities on the cutting-room floor to date, and it will likely stay that way; in attempting to communicate a small town’s hysteria in light of an outbreak, Romero challenges himself to turn uncalculated chaos into an unforgettable abstraction — and succeeds with flying colors.

This is reflective of the filmmaker’s early career at large: films that are undeniably rough around the edges but that nonetheless maintain a uniquely manic ambiance to complement their socially conscious themes. Consider it anger, fear, and contempt meticulously articulated for the atomic age. Either way, the results speak for themselves.

Ryan Marshall is a Communications & New Media major focusing on cinematic journalism. You can also see his writing at podcastingthemsoftly.com

major Hollywood player like him honing his craft for something more appropriately brooding and artful is an enticing one.

Bojan Bazelli’s crisp yet sleazy cinematography speaks for itself, delivering the kind of transgressive art-horror aesthetic that is so sorely lacking in mainstream cinema

today. Truth be told, he conjures more than a few genuinely horrifying images.

However, it’s Verbinski’s indulgences that also prove to be his greatest downfall.

In this case, it’s containing his mystery, keeping it as tight as possible. Lockhart is hardly the most immediately sympathetic fellow — which is quite alright, but we’re meant to see the events through not only his subdued vision but occasionally that of a younger patient (Mia Goth), whose own problems are more deep-seated than the film cares to acknowledge. This is a film that is more interested in the thrill of the kill than it is in more profound emotional engagement, but in the absence of the latter it can feel detrimentally one note.

Most disappointing of all is that

Verbinski and company had the chance, and the resources, to make something more genuinely audacious than this, and seem to be constantly touting that they have.

It’s yet another film that feels so very into the notion of allowing differences to define who we are rather than give into certain accepted (but no less toxic) social constructs.

But at nearly two and a half hours, and with all its ham-fisted exposition and lazy gaps in logic, it’s no more distinctive than the average, overblown multimillion-dollar affair: a nasty, decidedly cynical fashion statement masquerading as high-brow psychological horror. It could have surely benefited from a little more humanism to counter its contempt. As much as the desire is there to see more transgressive subject matter explored on a generous budget, this tedium simply isn’t the antidote to that particular drought.

“Cold does not exist, cold does not exist.” I repeated this mantra again and again during the eight hours I stood outside the hotel this past Saturday night, manning my post while attempting to be warm and welcoming to the guests.

Warm. What a joke. It was eight degrees outside; windchill put the temp at zero — I paced up and down the parking ramp muttering curses under my breath as the wind ripped through my jacket like it was made from tissue paper. Whatever warmth I had left was neatly stashed away inside my ribcage to keep my body from ending up like Jack Nicholson in the third act of “The Shining”. Anyone approaching me reveived nothing more than an icy glance.

Scientifically speaking, there actually is no such thing as cold. Heat is a measurable energy, and what we know as “cold” is only a verbal expression of the absence of heat.

On the coldest night of the winter, there are still minimal amounts of heat present — absolute zero, meaning no heat present whatsoever, is the only scientific term for “cold,” and absolute zero does not exist in the natural world. Somehow, this Bill Nye blurb did not help me as I froze to death.

I am a valet for one of these new fourstar hotels in Portland. Rain, sleet, hail, snow, heat, cold, dehydration and heatstroke, frostbite and hypothermia: I am out there in my Captain Crunch uniform trying to hold a smile as I schlep their bags and drive their cars. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s; torrential downpours, seven feet of snow; a parade could be blocking traffic as they go march down the street and I am expected to somehow retrieve a guest’s car. When they pull up, somehow the parade is my fault.

And if it sounds like I am complaining, that’s because I am. But it’s not the hotel or the work that I do. Like my father used to say: “A job is a job. You will enjoy none of them.” Happy words from a happy man.

Look, I know this is a lowly serving position; this is not something I am particularly passionate about or care for.

I don’t mind that, or the small amount of money I make. It’s the guests of the hotel, the people I serve. The wealthy people, the wretched misery and incomprehensible insanity that pours out of them: this is what makes the my job a torturous experience.

Allow me explain why I was outside for all that time: early in my shift it was quite busy; a man pulled up in his car and had to wait a few extra minutes before I was able to open the door for him. He was angered by my “poor” performance in single-digit weather, so he complained to the front desk. A hotel manager then asked me to make sure I got his door for him when he returned. I stood outside the rest of the night waiting for this man to come back to the hotel so that I could get his door in a timely fashion. Because when you have money, the last thing you should have to do is open your own door.

Later in the evening there was the army of Gucci-clad women that went into attack formation and surrounded me, hurling drunken requests for the hotel shuttle at me: “We want to go to blahblahblah. Get the shuttle. It’s cold, we are waiting in the lobby. Get us when it comes.”

(Continued on page 7)

A rts & F eatures

ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTIN TAYLOR

Absolute Zero (Continued from page 6)

Five minutes pass: “Are you getting the shuttle for us or not? Hey! What is your name. This is taking forever. We are going to be late. What kind of service is this?! It’s not like your job is hard or anything.”

Well, that is interesting. My job becomes difficult when I have to whip out my magic Gandalf staff and levitate the shuttle above all the traffic in town, then have it land safely in front of the hotel so that these wonderful people can go enjoy their evening. I’m not so good at that yet.

I briskly told her to be patient. They don’t like hearing that very much. I didn’t care.

It was so cold that night I felt like I was burning. My feet had been injected with Novocaine. The wind would pass through me, carrying any thought I had with it. I couldn’t even complete a sentence. I didn’t make any money, either, because when people are cold, they don’t tip. Nobody says: “Hey, this kid is out here in the tundra, persevering through the elements, trying his best to be helpful to us, why don’t we tip him for his service.” It’s too much for them to spend an extra second out there pulling their wallet out.

But I am learning something here.

Finish school. Get another job that I won’t enjoy. Get out of the weather and into an office. Make a few more dollars. And when this is all said and done, I guess this job made me tougher. Or maybe it just made me more cynical.

Which Smartphone is Best: Windows, Android, or Apple?

By Philip Orr I’ve had my Nokia Lumia 920 for seven years, and it’s getting old. My device runs on the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system; it has 1GB of Ram and a hard drive large enough to accommodate my needs (29GB). Right now, though, it seems a good time to consider the alternatives of a Windows, Android, or Apple operating system (OS for short).

First, let’s consider purchasing an updated Nokia with the Windows 10 OS. The Windows 10 Mobile OS runs primarily on Nokia, but also on some devices from LG Corporation and HP Inc. The selling point for Windows 10 Mobile is that it has attempted to synchronize perfectly with the Windows 10 desktop OS, so all applications that run on a Windows desktop will also run on mobile; this is considered a universal app.

The problem, however, is that mobile-application development isn’t Microsoft’s strength, and because the Windows Mobile OS is such a small percentage of the market, most independent developers focus on Android and Apple. Windows 10 Mobile is therefore less exciting than other products — although as a Windows user, my phone still functions well as a generalist device, even though there are fewer applications and fewer product redeployments.

Apple’s iPhone 7 has been released — and without the standard headphone jack, giving more room in the phone case for battery and other performance-boosting features. The device was released in line with Apple’s two-year development cycle.

The iPhone 7 is designed to be egalitarian from the outside, with only a few jacks and speakers, giving the phone a sleek design.

It comes with the iOS 10 version of the phone operating system; it’s great to have consistent performance and development upgrades to accompany your phone.

If you’re a complete Apple user, utilizing Apple ID and Apple Pay, then it makes complete sense to own an iPhone 7. But personally I would not buy the i7, because of the $800-or-more price tag.

Android isn’t a Mac or a PC — it’s made

by Google, and it runs on Linux. Android 7.1, 7.0 and 6.0 are the currently available operating systems. They run on a huge variety of hardware products, which range in price from $300 to $900 depending on the manufacturer and specifications.

For $285 you can get a Huawei Honor 5X (from Amazon.com); it comes with a Kirin 655, 2.1 GHz CPU and is all around a great phone for the price. On the high end, for $769 there is the Google Pixel XL (Verizon). With 2,560-by-1,440 resolution and a 2.15 GHz CPU, you get a larger screen and a longer battery life. This phone comes with the Android 7.1 “Nougat” OS.

The Nougat OS is a Google creation; it’s available on the Pixel and will be on other phones soon, such as ZTE, LG, Sony, OnePlus, and Moto Z products. Nougat is customizable and intuitive; it has features such as a split screen and a great Gmail app, and in fact, the huge development circle for Android means that there are thousands of apps.

A great new app called Hangouts synchronizes text, voice and video, so any text or call can become a video chat instantaneously.

The greatest feature of many Android phones is that they are completely “unlocked,” so you can just switch your SIM card and you’re good to go: get a new phone with your current provider, and you’re not obligated to upgrade according to any schedule.

When it’s time to retire my Nokia 920 from yesteryear, I will be looking for an unlocked Android with a Nougat OS on the cheaper end of the price range. I can keep my carrier and simply switch my SIM card.

As a final note, I did not research the Samsung Galaxy S7, because the last time I flew on Southwest Airlines, they banned taking the phone onboard because of the potential for a battery fire — you had to mail your phone by ground to your destination!

Philip Orr is enrolled in an IT senior seminar course at SMCC, and plans to go into business IT.

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The Beacon ■ March 7 ■ 2017 7

SMCC S ports

Wolves’ Trip to Nationals Falls Short of Goals Men Drop 2; Ladies Make It to Semifinals, Fall to CMCC

By Beacon Sports Staff

Coach Bergeron, her staff, and the Seawolves have set the new standard for women’s basketball here at SMCC. The ladies earned a bid to the USCAA Division II national championship in Fayette, Pa. While trudging through another weekend-long tourney, Southern Maine managed to secure a win on the national stage, but fell tragically to YSCC rival Central Maine Community College for the third time this season.

First-year coach Katie Bergeron reflected on the past season, stating, “I think getting a bid to the national tournament showed our girls that hard work and dedication pays off. Nationals is a wonderful experience for them and is something not to take for granted, because it can end in a split second.”

While the women compiled one of the best seasons in recent memory, First Team All-American John Morgan and his outfit would cap off a 23–8 season by dropping two in Fayette. Nonetheless, Coach Richards has earned the privilege to relish a spectacular season — one in which the conference tournament title was captured in front of a home audience in the HUB. The men would drop their opener to Penn State–Greater Allegheny 81–51 after falling behind 24–9 midway through the first half. The Wolves would never be able to recover to make a serious run at Alleghany.

According to assistant men’s coach AJ Burton, there is a real difference in USCAA play, “especially when you are going up against four-year schools.” He says, “More teams like that understand the meaning of being poised and having more experience overall compared to a school like us.”

Burton continued, “You are in a long grind going against opponents throughout the season, where everyone knows about each other. In the USCAA you are competing against the best, and a majority of those schools are four-year schools.”

In the women’s opener, the Lady Wolves took it to Penn State–Hazelton in the second half, outscoring their opponent 48–18.

Jennifer Conrad led the team with a gamehigh 37 points, of which 23 were scored in the second half.

The win in the quarterfinals set up a third meeting with the Mustangs in Friday’s semifinal game. After spotting the Mustangs an 11-point lead early in the second quarter, the Wolves worked to get back within striking distance of the well-stocked Mustangs.

With a little less than six minutes left in the first half, the Wolves would outscore the Mustangs, 10–6, to pull within two points of CMCC, 28–26. All of the Seawolves’ points would come from the foul line.

The Wolves would hang within striking distance of the Mustangs throughout the third quarter, trailing by only 3. However, fate would not shine brightly upon the Wolves in the fourth quarter: CMCC outscored them 23–10, earning a trip to the finals.

Asked about the CMCC game and the Lady Seawolves’ success this season, Coach

Bergeron had this to say: “We definitely had some tears in the locker room at the end of the game, but reflecting back at our preseason workouts and the start of our season, reaching the final four was not expected, and what our girls get to leave this season with is the pride of beating the odds through grit and determination every time they stepped on the court!”

Bergeron continued by saying, “What makes me most proud of this team is their ability to have reached the level of success they did while maintaining great team chemistry and class off the floor. We put a heavy emphasis on mental toughness and managing our emotions and I truly believe that is what helped us through the adversity we faced on and off the court this year.

The men would finish off their season against Villa Maria, dropping another disappointing loss in Uniontown, 103–84.

Matt Richards entered this year’s USCAA with an overall record of 7–12. While the two losses lowers his overall record to 7–14, Richards remains upbeat about the USCAA tournament, his players, and their roles as student athletes.

“The opportunity that the student athletes are presented with this past week by participation in the USCAA national tournament not only is a culmination of their hard work but also gives them the ability to judge themselves against the best of small college student athletes throughout the country. The relation to the skills they have learned to be success on the court will be the same set of skills they will use to be successful in their future endeavors whatever career paths they plan to take after SMCC.” Speaking with the coaches after SMCC left the tournament, it became obvious that the season’s positives outweighed the negatives. Coach Bergeron spoke of “beating the odds.” AJ Burton quipped, “I can see a YSCC team winning nationals one day. It will come down to what the team really wants and knows that they can compete and win three games in three days.”

First-year Assistant Athletic Director Ethan Wells said he “was impressed with the USCAA tournament for its professionalism and sense of community within affili-

Counterclockwise from top left: Emily Keene and Alicia Ruth apply defensive pressure to Jenny Schlim in the USCAA quarterfinals.

Olivia Dimick looks to pass in quarterfinal action against Hazelton.

Timmothy Dixon, Dylan Silvestri and assistant coach AJ Burton get pumped to take on Greater Allegheny.

Jennifer Conrad fireas off a 3-pointer against Hazelton.

Keanyon Lambert impedes Justin Stokes’s shot in Friday’s game.

John Morgan looks for offensive spacing against Villa Maria.

ated member schools.”

Asked he would like to bring back anything to SMCC from the experience at Uniontown, Wells mentioned, “The USCAA has developed a relationship with a company called Athlete Network.

Athlete Network offers scholarships. They also recruit student athletes to make online profiles to become more marketable to the work force and major business companies that Athlete Network partners with. I’m planning on getting our student athletes involved with this.”

Regardless of falling short in the YSCC, the basketball squads have much to be proud of this season. While the HUB will be without YSCC basketball until next fall, one gets a sense that the Seawolves will be ready to make their way back to Uniontown next season.