Beacon The
ISSUE DATE 11.20.2018
VOLUME XVI NO. 6
Lighting our Community
SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
May We Walk With Flames A Vigil of Remembrance By LIAM WOODWORTH-COOK
“As a Pittsburgh native, I’m gonna leave my hat on,” said English Department chair Kevin Sweeney, beginning the ceremony. Roughly 3040 people were huddled in or just outside of the Ortiz Atrium on a rainy Thursday. We were there for mourning and solidarity. As October closed, a white anti-Semite killed 11 people in the Tree of Life synagogue. Two Black people were slain outside a grocery store in Kentucky. Racist, anti-Semitic hate crimes: violence that made the news. Not all of it does. Our ceremony lasted just over an hour. Power and grief radiated in the room. The school’s choir stood in front of one set of windows. A table with white cloth and 11 candles held the center of the room. Speakers and listeners lined the walls leading out to a solemn crowd in the Noisy Lounge. The mid-morning rain had just ceased. Outside the Ortiz Artium, the Art Club had inspirational quotes printed. Pads of ink next to the pages, people slowly pressed their thumbs and fingers into the black ink and marked the pages of quotes they were drawn to. After Professor Sweeney gave an opening statement about Pittsburgh, and the longstanding Jewish community in the neighborhood of
the Tree of Life, I read the poem “Hatred” by The candles were lit one by one, ceremoniWislawa Szymborska. Szymborska, a Polously, after victims’ names were read by severish Nobel Prize-winning poet, describes al people scattered against the walls. The the ever living presence of flames were to burn on and on, hatred; how it grows, boils, symbolizing the power and and festers. Following this, light of those lost. In a year’s the school choir (led by Profestime, the candles will be relit sor Pitre) sang a Hebrew song, in an act of remembrance. The a harmony shaking our advising office’s Jodie Lane tender sinew in vibraread a poem. Breaktion of loss. ing through the A guest speakheavy-hearted er, Ann Wrobel, silence came a poet and hisa playing of tory teacher in the Tibetan Falmouth, came bowl by Chuck Ott. and read several The metal bowl sung poems. Professor reverence over the canSweeney opened the dles’ flames. floor to anyone moved to We closed in prayer, our PresIllustration by Eden Dyerident, Joe Cassidy, making a brief speak, read or share. Jeremiah, a transgender Jewish student, came and speech for unity as a community college, and read; their piece was published on our previ- to take care of ourselves. We are indeed at a ous issue. Another Jewish song was led by a time and place for self care. We are in a time student, Fae, accompanied with guitar, the lyr- and place to give the Earth care. ics being passed out to the circle. This was the Healing is not a single moment. Healing is moment when the room became a chorus and a continuum, a complex and intricate breath. my eyes, heavy with water, began to shed. We are in need of collaboration. Of listening. This healing comes as awareness, acknowl-
edgement and action. We are past the time of moderation; anti-Semitism and racism have a long history in our country that still erupts in a myriad of ways. We must address the systematic oppression and erasure of marginalized people, and step forward; with letters, with books, with ballots, with our feet in the streets, with ears listening. And for those of us with shields of privilege like myself, we must use this to elevate and examine our own role in these systems. Whether that be white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, colonialism or the gender binary. We all must make it known that change is coming. These threats are very real. Hate crimes have continued to rise; police continue to shoot innocent people; the system continues to entrench the poor, tear the middle class, imprison and disenfranchise. Daily amounts of violence are inflicted to people of color, LGBTQ+ folx, indigenous peoples, women and the environment. The time is now. It has always been now. We cannot only look to leaders- it is on us. Learn, listen and fight. The vigil was a coming together, where minds melted in sorrow and in unity. We share one planet, and one alone. We must march on, and be loud; for we are powerful, and with solidarity in community, we display such power.
Featured Student: Catherine Scanlon By CELINA SIMMONS
Within her 25-year gap between schooling, Catherine found herself falling in love with art. She had been drawing nearly her whole life and had come across a career as a rubber stamp designer and a children’s book
Artworks by Catherine Scanlon
Art finds its way into our lives in unique ways. Catherine Scanlon is a second-year Communications and New Media student
here at SMCC. She has a degree in graphic design from her first round of college, and now she finds herself back in school to expand her graphic design abilities.
Issue In This
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Phi Theta What?
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Photography Students’ Work
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illustrator. “I found that I want to do more of my own stuff for just myself, things that make me happy,” she shared when talking about her more recent passions with art. Catherine combines what is known as found poetry with her own watercolor art. Found poetry is when words or phrases are taken from multiple pieces of poetry and rearranged to create a brand-new poem. She had fallen upon this passion after a stressful summer, searching for a new way to decompress. “It took my mind off my stresses and allowed me to just think about something completely different,” she recalls. Her favorite poetry is usually that of the renowned poet Robert Frost. She will fill a jar with lines from poems that stood out to her and go through the jar until a theme jumps out at her. Her passion in art takes over from there. At the moment, the pieces she makes with her found poetry is something that she likes to keep to herself. One day, she imagines having, if not hundreds, at least one found poetry book published that she can keep in her home and flip through on a rainy day. “There is something about it that I just really love — giving a new life to somebody else’s work,” she shared. She truly does bring a new life to the poetry with her intricate watercolor designs. Catherine plans to use her pieces as a part of her senior-year capstone project and to further her passion as the years go on.
Thanks Grieving
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Bowling Challenge