SMCC Beacon November 6, 2018

Beacon The

ISSUE DATE 11.06.2018

Lighting our Community

VOLUME XVI NO. 5

Photos Courtesy of SMCC ESOL and Global Languages Program

SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Hiking the White Mountains With SMCC’s Multicultural Club

TRIP TO THE WHITE MOUNTAINS “Hiking the White Mountains was a really great experience for the international students matter of fact, for some of them it’s the first time, and to climb the mountain was rough...the students did not only conquer the mountain but themselves.” ~ Jean Medard Zulu “It was my first time hiking, and I would definitely do it again. I loved how supportive we were of each other; I also found it great to meet a lot of new people. Well organized and thanks to everyone.” ~Jumana Al-Hanfy

Issue In This

History Repeats Itself

By CELINA SIMMONS

Many Republican leaders are quick to jump to skepticism, most often in regards to economics and climatology — though they are often ready to follow the lead of business experts. But as history has shown, this is not the best route to take.

The last time the Republican Party had extended unified control in the government, or when they controlled the House, the Senate and the White House, was during the years preceding 2007 and 2008. And if you remember those two years, you may recall how they were not glorious. In fact, the Unit-

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Comic Club Wants You!

ed States fell into an economic crisis, known as the Great Recession. This was not the first time our country had fallen into crisis after a G.O.P.-controlled government.

The only three periods of unified Republican government since the beginning of the 20th century coincided with arguably the worst banking crises in U.S. history. That is not to blame the Republican Party entirely for the Panic of 1907, the Great Depression and the Great Recession, but a pattern does seem to be forming, especially with Trump’s business — I mean, political — administration.

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The Beacon Goes West

Economic expansion has been occurring now for over nine years, and experts believe we are due for another recession. As the saying goes, what goes up must come down.

Could the Trump administration be hurtling us towards this next recession faster than we would otherwise?

Although numbers bounce up and down from quarter to quarter, experts have been looking at signs in other areas that may point to a downturn. Interest rates in long-term treasury bonds are going down, and the gap between interest rates in short-term bonds

Page 7 SMCC Silences Their Students

(Continued on Page 5)

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Poetic License

Campus News

A Story Frames Across the Pages The Comic Book Club Wants You

By ADAM J. BARTHOLOMAY

Don’t lie to yourself: You’ve got a story idea floating around in that noggin of yours. Maybe you’d thought about trying to make it into a movie, but then thought, “No, that’s too expensive and complicated, and I don’t really want to go to the trouble of collaborating with the number of people it would require.” Surely, then, your thoughts turned to the written word, only to dismiss it at the realization that you don’t possess the descriptive faculties to properly paint the pictures in your psyche

Beacon The

MANAGING EDITORS

Celina Simmons, Zachary Guiod

with prominently persuasive prose. Also, maybe your alliterative skills are so lacking that you just stuck a word with a silent “P” into that last sentence.

Well, have I got some news for you: Comic Book Club exists, so you can take all those people, places, and the terrible things that happen to them, out of your head and put them onto a printed page.

You know how to draw. You do it on every school paper you’ve ever gotten. The professor’s giving a lecture you should really be taking notes on? Be honest, that’s always been a GREAT time to doodle some anime faces. This is your opportunity to ensure that those low test scores weren’t in vain.

“But Adam,” I imagine you saying in a hypothetical conversation that will probably never happen, “What if none of what you just said applies to me at all and I have

no interest in comics whatsoever?” Then clearly, this article isn’t for you and you don’t need me to tell you that. I don’t know why you’re even bringing this up. What’s wrong with you?

As for the rest of you (if there are no more INTERRUPTIONS), it may be that the biggest roadblock you’ve encountered to manifesting this grand work of fiction you’ve mentally conjured is a lack of confidence in your ability to convey it. I won’t lie: When you start doing this, your work is going to be well below where you’ve likely set your own standards. The desire to keep it all in your head until you feel like your skills match what you envision is always going to be there, but the simple truth is that you won’t reach that point unless you just do the thing.

Get into the practice of doing the thing.

Commit yourself to the thing. Give your-

self deadlines for the thing. The more you do it, the easier it gets. The more familiar you are with what you’re doing, the happier you’ll be with the results you’re seeing.

That’s really what the benefit of Comic Book Club is: It sets a goal directly in front of you. If you can pass that finish line and get your work published in The Beacon’s last issue of the semester, you can start setting higher goals for yourself. You can upload your comic online and keep it going on a schedule. You can divide by zero. You can wear white after Labor Day (though isn’t every day that isn’t Labor Day or before the first Labor Day there ever was technically after Labor Day?). The possibilities are… admittedly more finite than I’m letting on here, but they’re still pretty great.

ART DIRECTOR

Daniele Amandolini COPY EDITORS

PRODUCTION EDITOR

˘Oguzhan Özkan WEBMASTER

Shukri Adan SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Michelle Kapschull SECTION EDITORS

Alex Downing Liam Woodworth-Cook Thomas Eng Zachary Guiod CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Loraine Aceto, Adam J. Bartholomay, Sheri Bell, Alex Downing, Thomas Eng, Jared Erving, Robert Fernandez, Matt Flaherty, Stephen McCabe II, Amanda Jensen, Yu Shi, Celina Simmons, Brian Turner, Liam Woodworth-Cook GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Justin Brady, Anna DesLauriers, Eden Dyer, Michelle Kapschull, Jose Roberto Lemus, Celina Simmons ILLUSTRATIONS

Adam Bartholomay, Eden Dyer, Jose Roberto Lemus CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Liam Woodworth-Cook. We also thank The Business Club and SMCC ESOL Global Studies Program ADVISORS

Chuck Ott & Rachel Guthrie

Contact Us beacon@smccme.edu

issuu.com/smccnews @thebeacon.smcc

Illustration by Adam Bartholomay

Ben Riggleman, Michelle Kapschull

Kindness Korner

By THE KINDNESS MAMA

I was sitting in class the other day when a classmate of mine gave me the best compliment ever. This classmate said my good vibe was rubbing off on her. I like to see things in a positive light. My glass is always half full not half empty. I like to spread happiness, cheer and kindness. If I have anything negative to say, I try my best to keep it to myself. Now I am not saying I don’t get mad — you all know I do from my column a few issues ago. What I am saying is I try! I try to be a positive person. I try and see the best in people. I try to

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find something good in everyone I meet. Now I will admit sometimes it takes a while, but I do find goodness in everyone.

Sometimes if you shine a spotlight on that goodness then the goodness will grow. Kind of like when you water a dry plant, the plant springs back to life. When you shine a spotlight on someone’s goodness and compliment them on it, it helps that goodness grow.

I believe we are all good inside. I believe we all want to spread happiness, cheer and kindness. I also believe we need help. Some of us have bad days, some of us have bad weeks and a few of us might even have bad

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months. What we need is someone to shine their kindness on us. On those days, weeks and even months where all seems bleak, sad and almost hopeless, we need to have each other’s back and share the kindness spotlight.

Sometimes all it takes is a simple smile, a kind word or even a hug. Sometimes all it takes is someone to listen. So SMCC students, staff and faculty, let’s all start taking stock of each other. Let’s see who is need of some kindness, a smile, a hug or even a highfive. Let’s all take our eyes off our phones when we are walking to class, eating a meal or sitting in the campus center. Let’s all make eye contact with one another and share a smile, a kind word or better yet, why not start a conversation?

Try it once, maybe twice. What is the worst that can happen? You might make someone’s day a bit brighter. You might make yourself feel a bit happier. You might make a new friend. We are all in this together! Let’s try and help each one through this thing we call life.

Now it is your turn. Please tell me your random-act-of-kindness sightings. Maybe you witnessed a random act of kindness on campus, or maybe you were the recipient of one. It could be you were the giver and want to share your story. Whatever the kindness is, I want to hear it. Please drop me an email at smcckindness@gmail.com.

I BELIEVE IN THE MAGIC OF KINDNESS!

Business Club in Action

Campus News

Members Cook at the Ronald McDonald House

By YU SHI

On a recent Sunday evening, the SMCC Business Club cooked dinner for the families staying at Portland’s Ronald McDonald House. Volunteer students served up a variety of stir-fried veggies, chicken tenders, rice with bacon and egg, ice cream, and beverages. The Business Club group enjoyed each other’s company as we made the food while sharing music, laughs and the unique camaraderie that comes from helping others.

The supportive environment at Ronald McDonald House Charities, offered through dedicated volunteers, staff and other residents, provides comfort and care to those who supply the love, understanding, nurturing and emotional support essential for their child’s recovery from illness or injury.

The Business Club volunteers at Ronald McDonald House at least once a semester,

and also volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and other organizations. The Business Club meets every Thursday at 12:30

p.m. on the 1st floor of Hague… all are welcomed to join us!

Join us in Jewett Hall’s Auditorium to learn how to advance your career with an internship!

WEX

Sign up here!

Tuesday Nov 13 1pm-2pm Ian Smith, Yu Shi, Raffaella Morabito, Caitlynn Clough, Steve Strand and Alden Jordan.

LANCO

Sign up here!

Thursday Nov 15 9am-10am

Veterans’ Corner

By STEPHEN MCCABE II

Here we are, already halfway through the fall semester of 2018. Midterm grades are in. Are you feeling good about your grades so far? If you’re not, NOW is the time to make your way over to the Tutoring Center and get your hands on a schedule for the tutors availability. If getting tutoring in person is not your style, then log on to the SMCC website and use the online tutoring available through the Library and Learning Commons. Whatever you do, do something to address your needs in the courses you are not doing as well in as desired.

Have you applied for your 2019 FAFSA yet? If you have not, now is the time, so go and get that FREE Money before it is too late!

If you have any problems finding or filling out your FAFSA, you can go to the Campus Center and talk with Patrick, Travis or any of the helpful staff that are there for you. You can also go to the Financial Aid Office locat-

ed within the Campus Center. Just make sure you apply for your 2019 FAFSA right after your read this, before it is too late!

The Veterans Club social at On the Border restaurant was a success! There was good food, great people, and even greater conversations and laughs. If you missed out, don’t worry, there are more opportunities to get

social with the other SMCC Veterans on campus this Nov. 7 at the McKernan Hospitality Center at 7:30 a.m. I know that is early, but it’s worth it for a hot breakfast with fellow veterans who may be able to help you, or at least make your college experience a little better.

Open yourself up to some new opportunities; that’s how new fun things find their way in.

The days are getting shorter and those LOOOONG winter nights are creeping up on us. Why not turn your eyes to the skies and take in the wonders of space?

This astronomy trivia crossword ought to be enough to get you started...

Multicultural Night at SMCC

Sign up here!

CORNELL Thursday Nov 15 1pm-2pm

SMCC’s Stude n t F o o d Pantry

By LIAM WOODWORTH-COOK

On Nov. 15 at SMCC, there will be a multicultural night of sharing. This event will include a talent show, ethnic foods, an open mic and performances from several SMCC students, including traditional dances. This celebration will occur at the campus center from 7 to 10 p.m. The student hosting and putting together the show is Jean Medard Zulu, a student leader and R.A. To sum up the purpose of the night Zulu states: “The main objective of the Multicultural Club is to promote culture but mostly to enhance student interactions and relationships with each other. Furthermore, our distinct goal is to generate a better understanding and cultural awareness for all ages involved.

I deeply believe that this event will definitely translate to better relationships on campus, the classroom, as well as in our community.”

This indeed will be a wonderful night of sharing, learning and celebration; all are welcome.

Open Hours Across 3. First satellite sent into space 7. One of two planets in our solar system with no moons 9. The second bigest planet in our solar system 10. The first person to walk on the moon 11. The sun is mostly made of _____.

12. Discovered Jupiter’s 4 moons in 1609.

14. If placed in water, this “gas giant” planet would theortically (but not really) float.

15. Number of planets in our solar system.

Solutions to last issue’s cryptogram

Down 1. The name of our galaxy 2. The brightest star in Ursa Minor, we call it the “North Star.”

4. The man-made object which has traveled furthest (from Earth) 5. Some times called the “Morning Star” and sometimes called the “evening Star” 6. Closest star to Earth 8. Manned US space program that put 12 men on the Moon 9. Appears when the Sun’s magnetic field is distorted 13. Annual meteor shower that will peak around Nov. 17

Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too.

They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.

Mondays Tuesdays Wednesdays Thursdays Fridays

8am-11am 8am-2pm 8am-11am 8am-2pm closed

Open to any student & family g in need rin b t t Jus den of food

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Other World

Undocumented Where Are Your Papers?

By MATT FLAHERTY

Immigrating to the United States of America is a pursuit of happiness. There are so many reasons why people create their lives again in the States. They could be fleeing a war-torn country or a gang-controlled homeland. They could be looking for work to make a better life for their families, or they might love everything that America stands for and want to be a part of this great country. In fact, they could be, and most often are, all three of these things.

However, immigrating to the United States as an undocumented citizen is not for the faint-hearted.

The most obvious difficulty in moving to the United States is the culture war that immigrants become a part of. The differing opinions on immigration make it very difficult for immigrants to navigate the social climate of the States.

The national rhetoric against immigration changed significantly after September 11, 2001. This is a natural evolution for a country that was the victim of a terrorist attack from a foreign enemy. Since then, there have been two presidencies (Bush and Trump) who were outwardly against many forms of immigration, especially against immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. The other presidency (Obama) did not have the same negative rhetoric against immigration, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported more immigrants under his watch than during any other presidency.

With all the negative rhetoric against immigrants, it makes it very hard for them to

understand their place in society. “Sanctuary cities,” for example, are cities that do not offer undocumented immigrants to the federal government to be deported. But the federal government can issue a warrant for these immigrants’ arrests anyway. Portland, Maine, is known as a sanctuary city, but several undocumented immigrants were deported last year because a state trooper called an immigration agent during a routine traffic stop. If an immigrant is unsafe in a “sanctuary city,” who can they trust to ask for help?

Another issue is the legal system of immigration; this includes ICE, the Border Patrol and the Department of Justice. The problem with these three agencies is that they all have different rules and policies on how to enforce the immigration laws of the country. Even within the Border Patrol, there are several different sectors across the Mexican and Canadian borders. Each one of these sectors has different ways of controlling the traffic from one country to another. The rules are inconsistent.

ICE is a nationwide organization and has many policies, but since undocumented immigrants do not have the same rights as citizens, they are not given due process like citizens who commit crimes. For example, they are not entitled to an attorney and have to represent themselves in court. Many immigrants looking to start a new life in the States are in their early teens and end up representing themselves in federal court.

Immigration laws in this country, and any country, are complicated. How could anyone represent themselves in an immigration court case?

There are many people living in the United States who do not know whether they are documented or not. There are so many different ways to immigrate to the United States, it is easy for a person to become unsure of their current status. Perhaps their visa has run its course, or maybe they are on a tourist visa and they are not allowed to work. This leads to more people being unsure of when to look for help and support.

Undocumented citizens are also the most vulnerable population in the United States.

They are often the victims of human trafficking, wage theft and other crimes, but they are reluctant to reach out for help for fear of being deported.

The recent rhetoric on immigration in the United States is troubling a lot of people right now, and not just immigrants themselves. The food industry, especially, is worried about what the future of immigration is. Every facet of the food industry, from agriculture to food service, depends on undocumented labor and they are worried that it won’t be available anymore.

The fact is, the United States depends on undocumented immigration. These immigrants give a lot more to the United States than they receive in return. Undocumented immigrants pay many different kinds of taxes including income, sales, housing, social security and yet they receive no public benefits in return.

The United States is at a critical point in its immigration debate. Its citizens can buy into the fear tactics about how new immigrants are harmful to the country, or they can decide to embrace these new Americans.

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Blink of an Eye

By AMANDA JENSEN

Imagine being able to capture a photo of your grandmother’s smile, your significant other just in the right light, or your child’s first steps whilst being able to put a phone down. How? you may ask. Sony, Samsung, Apple, and Google have been developing patents for smart contact lenses with builtin cameras. The contacts most likely will not have any beneficial strength for glasses-wearing individuals.

Samsung and Sony have developed patents which are quite similar in design, however camera placement is different. The camera will be set off to the side of the iris and will not impede the user’s vision. The patent, which can be found online, shows that there are two options for location. One is on the outside edge of the eye, and the other is on the inside edge. Depending on which company eventually makes this possible, there will be many benefits to the device.

In the past Google has developed Google Glass, which looks like something out of a

4

Terminator movie. The camera was meant to assist people in a smartphone hands-free format, and was intended for police, military and other emergency officials. Even the public can purchase them. These glasses range from $699.99 to $2,500. Due to the fact “Google Glass” is so expensive, it has prohibited many of these officials from purchasing these glasses, especially in government-paid private sectors.

It has been two years in the making, and most companies like Sony and Samsung have developed a patent. The question is, “Why is it still in its original planning phase?” Scientists and optometrists, as well as project managers, are having trouble due to that the fact that the contact lens does not contain any strength in it. They are worried that customers who wear glasses would be deterred due to the consumer having to still wear glasses over the contacts.

Will the contacts be glass or the soft plastic? Most companies are arguing the basics.

When a simple test was done on rabbits using soft plastic, they showed no discomfort.

The Beacon ◊ November 6, 2018

Every time the rabbit blinked, a picture was taken. To the developers this is something that could pose a problem because the average person blinks 28,000 times a day; it is a complete waste of space when these photos are transmitted to a secondary device such as a phone or a computer. Engineers still need to find a way to develop an “on-command” capability which would avoid the excessive amount of wasted photos and space.

The contact that developers at Sony have created is soft, for added comfort. The camera is on the right side by the outer cornea, and they are attempting to make it activated by voice rather than just blinking. The photo would be immediately transferred to your photo gallery or to your Google Drive.

These contacts could contain external devices, which would have a much greater processing ability and could therefore be used to quickly provide valuable information to the user based on visual data received by the contacts.

The patent lists many other ways to receive data from other devices, including

televisions, gaming systems, and navigation systems. Many devices these days are connected to the Internet, so with their help, the contacts could even display information from or send images to the Net. Is this a capture into the future? Is this going too far? While the technology is showing us that it is ready to move forward into the future, most companies are not sure if they will develop the actual product. While the concept is there, it is still too advanced, and many compare it to flying cars, implying that it will never happen.

The ability to put down the phone or camera and having a camera available to you at the blink of an eye would eliminate frustration in many settings. So let me ask you: Are you ready to capture the future?

Amanda Jensen is a member of the Information Technology Senior Capstone Project course and is planning on a career in Network Security well hoping to work for SpaceX. For more information on Amanda and her work, visit AmandaJenswick.com.

Other World

Traveling Tales The Beacon Goes West

By LIAM WOODWORTH-COOK

After a near 24-hour delay stretching a raining Thursday to a gray disgruntled Friday, I was on aboard a weekend “vacation,” some might say, to Colorado. Surely my partner and I make the rounds of family during the holidays, but taking a weekend off of work? In the start of school? The gears of a fast-paced lobster restaurant in the summer propelled me right into the school year. And this was my chance, to bolt out of the state and go to one of my favorites states. A mid-fall vacation to Colorado; a weekend trip to one of my best friends.

Julien and I grew up in the suburbs of Boston, and fell in love with the woods and poetry. We scaled our town’s elementary schools throughout our restless teenage years. We looked up and marvelled at each other. We were the continuous duo, seeking adventure and words. Julien drove the car and I rode passenger rambling about my travels down south. Julien would pass poets’ names to my ears and recite verse. We got in trouble, and back out of it as buds.

Julien attended the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, a well-known school focused on writing and Buddhism. Being an autodidact through high school, I’ve waited till this past spring to attend college. In the timeline of my hometown friends, most

History Repeats (Continued from Page 1)

and long-term bonds is shrinking. The shrinking of these gaps often occurs right before a new recession hits. Now, the risk of long-term bonds is becoming less and less worth it because of these interest rates.

Interest rates in treasury bonds are not a telltale sign of a looming recession, but what could very well be a legitimate sign is a trade war. Trade conflicts with other countries strain our relationship with them and if we’re not doing civil business with other countries, our economy will inevitably shrink. If countries begin refusing imports from the United States, many jobs will be lost. Although the unemployment rate is at an 18-year low, it could skyrocket if trade relations with other countries collapse.

In summary, a country should not be run as a business. There is more at risk than just money; people’s jobs and lives could be at stake. Not to mention the increasingly terrifying results of climate change, which we see on the news every day. The Democratic Party is at a risk of losing more seats in the Senate and House against the Republican Party. There are Republicans out there who understand how governments should be run, but with the Republicans we have in office today and the potential imbalance in parties in office, a recession may be just around the corner.

Illustration by Eden Dyer

of them graduated this past spring. Julien, whose graduation I was disappointed to miss, now lives with his partner Sara up in Longmont, about 30 minutes from Boulder.

Before coming to Maine in 2016, I was living with Julien in Boulder. I had spent the spring and summer in New Orleans reinventing a house and wondered where to place myself next. Julien called me; per usual, it had been months since we talked on the phone. For most of relationship outside of sharing a hometown, we mailed letters to each other. Many times we’d hand-deliver these letters if we were meeting in person for a brief moment. Our phone calls were spread out, always stretching at least an hour. So when I received the call, Julien was renting a house with classmates and wanted me to share a basement room; I said yes. After nine months in company with serious poetry intellects, dishing washing and cheap beer, I moved to Maine to be with my partner.

Since then, I’ve seen Julien twice. I was living on an isolated farm in Maine while Julien finished school, and we were both faced with the question of what was next.

I moved to Portland to go to school, and he and Sara moved in together. They eventually moved out of the overpriced yuppie haven of Boulder, and went to the mountains. The friend group split up, the loneliness of existentialism settled in. Sometimes the drive to cre-

ate sits in a cobweb of the past. This summer however, Sara offered to fly me out for his birthday weekend. What I expected in store was a fast weekend of deep hugs, solid connection, writing, poetry and booze.

Plus the homework I was dragging across the country with me, and 21 copies of The Beacon for each stop. It all landed. The hurricane down south delaying my flight till the day of Julien’s birth, I made it in time for a night of high-class scotch.

The plane ride itself was humorous.

A gaggle of drunk ladies who had been stranded at the airport were yelling for free drinks — “The captain said free champagne!” Finally getting to Denver, we played phone tag. The Denver airport is several times larger than Portland’s, and the several times I’ve been, I always manage to get turned around. To make matters more enjoyable, my phone couldn’t receive calls, only texts. I spent half an hour running around multiple floors, east and west gates, to finally find Julien who had been feeding my false instructions. We teamed up with Sara in the car and spent the entire ride laughing.

It was a brief trip, as I was leaving Sunday night at midnight. We spent Saturday lounging with french toast and going intown to use the Wi-Fi so I could do homework. Our friend came with his girlfriend and joined us for a relaxing evening of beers. It snowed several inches, to everyone’s surprise. I thought about school, I thought about my partner back home, I thought about the way the mountains are sloped, the hills like razors scooping in awe. I thought about poetry, crafting and all my stories, and what would I be doing after school. And I thought about the several

stacks of newspapers from our hamlet in Maine that were with me out here.

Julien and I spent Sunday having a New Orleans-themed brunch with Sara before she had to go to work. We then walked around the town of Longmont and did homework together in a cafe. It was hungover, gray, cold, dragging and fun. Julien works as an English tutor, and it was our first time that I was the student and he wasn’t. He said he was proud of me, and that he missed school. I then pulled out the newspapers. I had only left a couple in Denver in a hurry. We quickly stashed them among the local papers at the cafe. We then walked stashing more papers outside until snow from an awning fell on us. We laughed and continued strolling. We were caffeinenated, tired, in love with the gray, in love with each other as small beings on a mystifying planet who still play as 24-yearold men; who know how to love and smile to each other, exclaiming the greatness we feel when learning with our partners.

It was quick, full of poison, and utterly rewarding. Bonds like that are forged in a specific beauty. A masculinity that is vulnerable, sometimes right and willing to be wrong. It’s exposed, mischievous, critical and above all engaged to continue eating each other’s words.

Photos by Liam Woodworth-Cook

Vet to Vet Building Connections That Span Generations

By BRIAN TURNER

A thousand thank-yous, whether you are a veteran or not, for taking the time to read this article and learn about a great organization that helps heroes. Let’s take a moment to highlight the organization: Vet to Vet, which connects veteran volunteers with fellow veterans, providing companionship, offering assistance with benefits, supporting independent living, fostering friendships and mentoring amongst veterans.

The Vet to Vet program was conceived of by the Southern Maine Agency on Aging’s (SMAA) volunteer services manager, Carol Rancourt, and developed by VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) member Susan Gold under SMAA’s auspices. Vet to Vet launched its first team of 13 veteran volunteers in May of 2014, matching them to fellow veterans based on branch of service, shared interests, work and volunteer history, and other considerations. In August of 2018 Vet to Vet was set up as a non-profit with Susan Gold as the executive director.

The veteran’s organization also looks to combat social isolation among veterans by linking veterans in need of a friend, as well as connecting veterans with veterans’ support networks that specialize in services and benefits to which vets are entitled while promoting and supporting independent living.

Vet to Vet also fosters beneficial relationships and friendships and provides peer-topeer mentoring among veterans, as its goal is to provide worthwhile and meaningful volunteer opportunities for interested veterans.

Speaking from experience as a former volunteer with the program, I have witnessed firsthand how powerful and professional this organization is. While I was a volunteer with Vet to Vet, I was paired with a World War II Coast Guard and U.S. Navy veteran, Clarence “Mike” Hall. I also had a chance to become friends with Mike’s wife Eleanor.

He was an extraordinary individual who passed away in 2016. Not only was Mike a decorated war hero, he was a champion boxer, he was a star football athlete at Michigan State who was on the first team in college football history to take a flight to an away football game, and he was the ultimate family man.

Mike also suffered from the late stages of Alzheimer’s, and as the disabling disease can be stressful for the caregivers, Vet to Vet provides relief to the spouse or caregiver. Whether it’s getting the veterans out for an afternoon or making space for a spouse who has listened to a story one too many times, Vet to Vet looks to lessen the emotional strain partners may face.

Sometime after Mike, Eleanor and I had become friends via Vet to Vet we were at a veteran’s ceremony where different veteran’s groups were being organized to work togeth-

er. In an effort to honor Mike’s service, we created a cane that displayed Mike’s service record, which was carved into the shaft of the cane. The cane’s handle was adorned with a bald eagle.

The governor’s wife, Ann Lepage, the mayor of Sanford, Tom Cote, and the commander of the South Portland Coast Guard were in attendance, making the ceremony more substantive.

While the ceremony was wonderful in many ways, what made it even more special for me was when I overheard Eleanor tell a story about when she and Mike where in New Zealand on vacation. This story stuck in my brain for a while when I realized I had the same story. I met Mike and Eleanor Hall in Rotorua, New Zealand in October of 2004. You seriously cannot make that up.

Here is where I digress from my relationship with the Halls and inform the reader of how they could help a veteran by helping with Vet to Vet Maine. There are two methods of helping: You can help by volunteering with Vet to Vet Maine or you can choose to support Vet to Vet Maine with a financial donation.

For more information visit their website: vettovetmaine.org or Contact: P.O. Box 1205 Biddeford, Maine 04005 Email: office@vettovetmaine.org

The Beacon ◊ November 6, 2018

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Opinion

National Service and Volunteerism Building a Sense of Community

By ROBERT FERNANDEZ

I’m certain the statistic that 22 veterans a day are being lost to suicide isn’t new to a lot of people. I can recall scrolling through Facebook over the past year or so, seeing titles to videos labeled “22 Pushup Challenge.”

In these videos, people recorded themselves performing 22 pushups for the purpose of promoting awareness for veterans’ suicide.

These videos were liked, shared, and certainly brought awareness to the topic, but how much do we really know about veterans’ suicide? Why is the suicide rate of veterans terribly higher than that of non-veterans? Is there a big-picture message that we’re not seeing?

When a veteran finishes their time overseas or time in their contract, one could as-

From the Desk of the Managing Editors

By ZAQ G. AND CELINA S.

In the wake of the tragic shooting in Pittsburgh, the racially motivated shooting in Kentucky, and the sending of pipe bombs to outspoken Trump critics, we think it’s time to actually talk about what is happening in our country. We are the generation that has become desensitized to mass shootings, hate crimes and outlandish violence. This is not okay.

The people being killed from such unnecessary violence are just that — people. People with mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and perhaps children of their own. The perpetrators of these violent acts think that it is their place to take all of that and more from them.

According to the Washington Post, “Reported hate crimes with racial or ethnic bias jumped the day after President Trump won the 2016 election, from 10 to 27, according to an analysis of FBI hate crime statistics.”

But what is the first step to pull us out of this rabbit hole that our country has dug itself into? It seems we are asking ourselves this question more than ever.

We can go to the polls and vote for candidates who decry hatred and violence, but it still won’t take the hatred out of the hearts of some Americans.

This past Thursday there was a vigil to honor the lives of the 11 victims in Pittsburgh and to come together as a community to stand against hate. With the power we have as students growing up in this corrupt world, in our opinion, this is the best route to take. To stand together as one community, one nation and one world.

We’d like to present one of the poems read at the vigil. Jeremiah Karass is a student here at SMCC and they shared their point of view as a mixed-race, transgender Jew through their artistic talents in poetic form.

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sume that they’re happy to be back home and with their families. This is certainly the case for most. The day they return home is a day that is longed for by a lot of veterans. But as many come to realize, maybe home isn’t home anymore.

When serving in the military, a sense of camaraderie is built due to the values that have been ingrained in us. On my first day of Basic Combat Training, I distinctly remember a drill sergeant informing my platoon, “There will be no discrimination in my platoon, or in my Army. There is no white, black, yellow, brown, red, purple or any other color under the rainbow. The only color I see here is Army Green.

You don’t know who could be entrusted with your life someday, but I guarantee they’ll be wearing green. We’re all brothers and sisters

I am a Jew

By Jeremiah Karass Shalom!

I’m a student at SMCC, an activist and a Jew. I’m a Chinese Jew. I’m a transgender Jew. An American Jew. An angry Jew. A terrified Jew. I’m a Jew and my Jewish family came here to escape genocide. Only a few of us made it.

My great grandmother watched her entire family die before her eyes.

They were lined up in a closet and shot through the door. She escaped genocide.

She found my great grandfather here. He escaped genocide.

I’m a Jew and some of my Jewish family were turned away.

America stopped accepting us.

Some came anyway.

Am I an illegal Jew? I’m a Jew. My grandparents passed away, one last year and one a few months ago.

They watched Charlottesville.

They watched nazis walk the streets.

They died before they were able to experience the trauma of Pittsburgh.

I’m a Jew. I listen to people say “how could this happen,” but if you’re a Jew too, you know that this has always happened.

Anti Semitism did not start and end with the holocaust.

It will not end with Pittsburgh, either.

I’m a Jew. We escaped genocide and we get a tiny table of Chanukah decorations to choose from at Home Goods and Target for the trouble.

I’m a Jew. My friends are Muslim.

They do not get a table of decorations to choose from for their holidays. No one wishes my friends Ramadan Kareem.

I’m a Jew. My cousins are black. They see terrorism against them reflected every day.

In this piece, I am also honoring the victims of the murders in Kentucky.

We mourn the black lives lost to racism as well.

I’m a Jew and I am angry.

Show up for us. Show up for those people who see violence reflected against them every single day.

Show up.

The Beacon ◊ November 6, 2018

now, and we’re going to treat each other that way.” This is the mindset we’ve been bred into since day one, and what ultimately unites us all as one. This unison makes it hard for us to be separated.

Throughout a veteran’s service, strong bonds are made between the people they spend day in and day out with. It’s an inseparable bond, glued by a common passion for serving and being a part of something bigger than yourself. For some service members, coming to the end of their term of service means that they’re not only separated from the people they’ve become close to, but their drive and purpose in life as well.

I recently had the privilege of having guest speaker Amy Marcotte come to my Veterans’ FIG class. Amy is a social worker for the Sanford Vet Center and came to bring awareness to our class in regard to the overall health and well being of veterans.

At one point, she brought up the topic of what the mental health of a veteran returning home might look like. We went on to discuss how a veteran returning home might feel isolated and as if they don’t belong anymore.

Friends they had years ago aren’t around anymore, and the friends and family who are left no longer recognize them or understand the hardships they’ve been through, thus being unable to relate to them anymore. The sense of camaraderie is gone.

But maybe there’s a way we can make veterans feel more at home, one that could also benefit our own lives and the communities we live in as well.

In today’s society, I believe we all struggle with this feeling of isolation. With the rise of technology and social media, communication has become increasingly easier. We can text, call, snapchat, tweet; the list goes on and on.

But having such easy access to this form of technological communication sometimes causes us to forget how important face to face communication is. Communicating with the people around us, in person, allows us to build and strengthen the emotional bonds we have with these people. Face-to-face communication and spending valuable time with the people around you is the foundation for building a sense of fellowship/community within our social circles, towns, cities, and ultimately, country.

How can we contribute to the strengthening of our communities and, ultimately, the relationships between the people within our country? I believe the simplest answer to this question is volunteer. I’m not saying you need to sign the dotted line, raise your right hand, and swear into the United States military, but try to get out and volunteer for something that’ll benefit your community. Whether it be through the community-service club at your school or through a national volunteer service such as AmeriCorps, you’ll not only be benefiting the people you’re serving, but also yourself, through the development of values you’ll learn throughout the experience. I believe that building this common passion for serving community and country is the perfect way to strengthen the relationships within them, and unite us all as one.

By ALEX DOWNING

jovial but soon took a serious turn. They landed on the topic of mental health. Louis explained that there is beauty in allowing yourself to truly feel the full wrath of negative emotions. That distractions are temporary and subtract from the full impact that sadness and anger and hurt are supposed to have on you. That you miss out on some of life’s greatest lessons if you choose to ignore the uncomfortability of negativity.

This sentiment has stuck with me to this day.

The task of having to decide if I was able to separate Louis’s work from the bad things he had done was not easy. It was an ethical dilemma. That is, until Louis C.K. made it easy for me. Shortly after the allegations began circulating, Louis took it upon himself to write a lengthy letter to The New York Times. In this letter, Louis took full responsibility for everything, validated the victim’s claims, expressed sincere remorse, and announced his willing departure from the public eye.

What Louis C.K. did was not okay. He deserved scrutiny and a temporary hiatus from his career. However, Louis C.K. deserves a second chance now. Because owning up to an offense is unfortunately rare in this current social climate. If the public welcomes the return of someone like Louis C.K., a nonviolent offender, it could open the door for other abusers to admit their wrongdoings. It could show them that being guilty is not the end of the road for them.

That there is a chance for redemption.

Receiving validation and an apology from the person who abused you, in cases that don’t warrant legal recourse, is perhaps the closest you can get to being at peace with a traumatic event. Let Louis C.K. be an example of what to do in this situation.

Let Louis CK Come Back

Louis Székely, better known as Louis C.K., is a man of many hats. He has found success as a writer, actor, director and producer throughout his three-decade-long career. It was his standup comedy that really skyrocketed him to meteoric success, though. From 2005 to 2017, the world watched as an unassuming and perpetually nervous man become one of the highest-grossing and most prominent comedians in the industry.

However, last year Louis C.K. was forced to put on a new hat: that of an abuser. In November, 2017, five women came out with allegations of sexual misconduct against the comedian. The alleged incidents all occurred between 1999 and 2005 and even though nobody was physically assaulted, the emotional scars that these traumatic ordeals caused were painful nonetheless.

Immediately, fans jumped to Louis’s defense.

Some were skeptical of these claims altogether, while many others failed to see the severity of the offenses. Louis quickly confirmed them, though, and condemned those attempting to justify his actions.

When I first heard the news of these allegations, I was saddened greatly. Louis C.K. was my favorite comedian. His unabashed approach to storytelling and his quiet wisdom appealed to me in a profound way. I can recall one instance in particular that largely amplified my fondness of him.

I was having an exceptionally difficult go at life, so I decided to sit down and watch an episode of Conan O’Brien’s late-night show to occupy myself. Louis just so happened to be the the guest. Their interview interview started off

Opinion

Why Your Vote Most Definitely Counts

By STEPHEN MCCABE II

In July of 1776, the forces fighting for this great country achieved victory, and the United States of America was born. From that day until this, we have tried to create a land of freedom and liberties, a democracy where every individual citizen has a vote, and they can use that vote to make an impact on who is elected and how much money goes where. In a day and age when news authenticity is in question, differences between race, religion, and gender are at an all time high, and our President is shaming immigrants of all types - illegal or legal- I believe it is crucial that people realize how important their vote is. If we can change the perspective, and create some real momentum behind a voting awareness campaign, about the importance of every single last vote out there, including yours, perhaps maybe we

could start taking the government back to the people.

I do not feel like the public is being accurately represented by the public officials that we have elected to positions in order to act upon our wishes and votes. Instead they have created this perception that it is their government, and we just get to pay their salaries and bonuses while every once in a while they may consider what we have to say if they’re bored.

Mostly however, they do not care what we want to happen, instead they have a list of corporate and private sponsors and donors that they have to do something for now that they are in a position of power.

I am sorry if this is a skeptic’s view of things, but I know that I am not the only one who thinks that this kind of stuff is going on all the time. I do feel that we have some great public officials in Maine, and can be proud of their

C’mon America.

Let’s Be Better.

By ZAQ GUIOD

The first of three migrant caravans from Central America is still 700 miles away from the U.S. border, and won’t arrive for another month. But if you go on Fox News, it’s all you’re going to hear about.

If you look at our president’s Twitter feed, you would think we are facing an invasion from an army that wants to destroy America. This is nothing but fear mongering mixed with xenophobia. The people in the caravans are fleeing violence, and turning them away without hearing their case for asylum is reckless and endangers innocent human lives.

In 1939 a German ocean liner, the St. Louis, came to America with its 937 passengers, most of whom were Jewish. They came seeking asylum and we denied their cries for help and sent them back to their

countries. Over a quarter of the ship’s population was later killed in the Holocaust.

America must learn from history. If we send these asylum-seekers from Central America, who are fleeing record levels of violence, back to their home countries, many of them will die. We should follow both U.S. and international law and listen to the pleas of this group of desperate people.

Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen.

In response to the caravans, the president has ordered 15,000 troops to the border, the first of which arrived on Friday.

They are practicing drills and putting up fencing topped with barbed wire. According to the Washington Post, deploying the military to the border could cost up to $200 million. This is not only a waste of our country’s money, it is another stain on our already horrific human-rights record.

SMCC Is Silencing Their Students Again

By THOMAS ENG

I went to the Seawolves Cafe to get my favorite breakfast, a scrambled egg with ham and cheese on a bagel, but when I placed my order I might as well have been slapped in the face. The girl behind the counter said that they don’t serve scrambled eggs anymore. I couldn’t believe my ears. What kind of tyrants won’t allow a simple scrambled egg!

I tried to keep my cool and asked what any rational person would ask. Why not? I was met with another slap in the face when she said scrambled eggs take up too much space on the griddle. It was 9:30 on a Thursday morning, half of the campus wasn’t even awake yet and the griddle was empty. Surely I could have a scrambled egg.

I brought this up to her and yet again I was slapped in the face. I was told that it wasn’t up to her, and if it was I could have my scrambled egg and eat it too. At this point, I was shaking with rage. Not only could I not have my favorite breakfast, but I couldn’t yell at this cashier either.

Growing up, I was taught that the only way to fight tyranny was through nonviolent protest, so this message goes out to all my fellow scrambled-egg lovers: I will be refusing to purchase any sort of egg from the Seawolves Cafe until I can get a scrambled egg on a bagel, and I implore you all to do the same. Separate we are weak, but together we are stronger than any tyrannical force. Together, we can get our scrambled eggs back. So, all my fluffy-egg-loving friends, take to the streets in protest and take to social media with the hashtag #scramblemyeggs.

There will be opposition. There are friedegg lovers on this very campus that will do everything they can to suppress our voices.

These evil dictators of the breakfast landscape want to shut us up and make us submit to a lesser egg preparation, but together, we are strong. Together, we are righteous.

Together, we will stand strong, and be free to eat whatever egg we choose! Don’t stand for this injustice; make your voice heard. #scramblemyeggs

work and character. That being said, we also elected Governor Paul LePage twice. I will just let that statement stand on its own, and we can hang our heads in shame and embarrassment.

If you are like me, then you try to vote and be serious about it, but it can be exhausting trying to get some accurate and somewhat unbiased information about the candidates and their policies. I find that looking on the League of Women Voters website (http://www. lwvme.org/), I can make an educated summary for each of the candidates, as well as the ballot questions. Once I have a basic outline of each candidate, what they stand for, and their major differences, I keep those notes with me if possible for a few days, and read into any potential winners in my eye that I am leaning towards giving my vote. If I am learning of the candidates last minute however, I simply go through them three or four times while sorting out what

I like and dislike, coming to a conclusion right there in my head, and voting accordingly. This time when I vote, I am going to be the most prepared that I have ever been in any election.

I have broken down the choices many different ways, and gone over the material many times due to making posters and information pages for different SMCC organizations and clubs.

This has allowed me to not only familiarize myself with the material on each candidate, and each ballot question, but also the details that make up each one, and separate each one from the other. However, it does not take this amount of preparation in order to make an educated vote; all you need is 20 minutes to a half hour before you’re going to actually vote, and whether on your mobile device or desktop computer, go over the information given on the website (http://www.lwvme.org/) and “tada” you are educated on all the issues on the ballot.

Why Death Is Not Bad

By CELINA SIMMONS

Every individual experiences life in a different way than the next, but what every person will experience all the same is death. Anthony Breukner and John Fischer, two notable philosophers, explain why and how death can be a bad thing in their article “Why Is Death Bad?” I would like to argue against this claim.

Of course there are the instances where people’s lives are ended unexpectedly or brutally, but in the cases where a person has lived a fulfilling (or even somewhat fulfilling life), death is not necessarily a bad thing. Instead of being indifferent towards it, one should accept death as simply a natural process in our human lives.

For the sake of the argument, we will assume God, or a higher power, does not exist. In saying one does, we assume there is life after death. An eternity in hell filled with torture would be a legitimate reason to claim death as bad. So we assume there is no life after death for the lack of evidence to that claim. But if there is no life after death, then what happens when we pass away? This stage we go through when we die is known as an experiential blank.

An experiential blank is a period of time where you experience nothing at all. You are inexistent for the most part. We go through an experiential blank before we are born and after we die. Yet people say death is bad and prenatal existence is not, even though both are just a blank in your life.

People look forward to their “future experienced goods” and are indifferent to “past experienced goods” as Fischer and Breukner state, and they say that death will take away their “future experienced goods”. After a person dies, they don’t experience anything at all. So the deprivation said future experiences is irrelevant to somebody once they die. This should not phase them because they can’t be aware of what they are missing and never will be.

In Fischer and Breuker’s article, death is compared to a friend betraying you behind your back, but you never finding out.

I don’t agree with this analogy because it assumes that death is betraying you. Each living thing on this earth that has ever been or ever will be is going to die. Death is not a force out to get you - it is simply natural.

The minute you are born, you are destined to die, so the fact of the matter should not be something to run away from.

If you are aware something bad is going to happen to you in the future, you will spend all of your time dreading it until the day it actually happens. Instead of seeing death as a bad thing and dreading its happening, it should accepted as a neutral occurrence we all understand is bound to happen.

In conclusion, death is going to happen whether we want it or not. Instead of being uneasy towards it, we should accept it as just another part of life. It may prevent us from future experiences but if we have no awareness after death, one can be content with this. We are not being betrayed or abused by the happening of death, we are simply taking part in life.

The Beacon ◊ November 6, 2018

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A rts & Features Forage Market Your Breakfast and Lunch Go-To Spot

By JARED ERVING

Are you looking for a good homemade bagel, or maybe coffee and flowers? Forage Market has opened a Portland location on Washington Avenue. It has both tasty food and spots to sit and do homework while grabbing a bite with someone. Originally located in Lewiston, Forage Market has both an intriguing menu and good coffee. Open for breakfast and lunch, there are plenty of chances to try them out.

Focusing on local produce, Forage Market is a good place to try the flavors of local ingredients. From local produce supplied by Mighty Maine Greens in Woodstock to cured salmon from the Brown Trading Company right in Portland, there are plenty of reasons to try Forage Market out.

The staff is friendly and you can see into the kitchen/bakery too. Although it is not like an open kitchen, it is still interesting to see where the cooks and bakers work. The wood floors and light décor make for an interesting visit. The feeling while there is best described as “local Maine” with a touch of still getting up on its feet. Sadly, the Portland location is still new and is only open Wednesday through Sunday until they can grow both their business and their employee base.

Overall it would be fantastic to see the Portland location expand to seven days a week. Not only for the business to grow but for people to be able to experience their food and service more often. I would fully recommend trying them out and bringing a friend along for the food, coffee and relaxed setting found there.

“I was taken by the power that savoring a simple cup of coffee can have to connect people and create community.”

-Howard Schultz

‘Hale County This Morning, This Evening’ A Praise for the Outstanding

By LIAM WOODWORTH-COOK

Brilliance is an unfolding of beauty; a disturbing of expectations. Leave the expectations with your coat at the door. A portrait is supposed to be singular, a snapshot. This is a narrative, an eye to a realm; a focus point in the drop of sweat. Elongate, separate time by removing the watch. To watch is to become the basketball that thunders, to breathe the pounding breaths of sneakers halting in a turn.

This is a journey to Alabama: Hale County.

Through night and day. Birth, death and joy. We are on the road of reimagination.

This is revolution, reworking of media, casting questions we are drawn to the fishing boat. We bob in the waters enthralled; in awe, in silence, in a portrait that places us as occupants of a family. This is a portrait of perception. “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” is a poem. It is a visceral portrayal of truths that are far removed from Maine’s winter depths. Its depth is heat, summer storms and cotton fields. The Black Belt South.

What you witness is life. A depiction removed from the canon of documentary films. There is no option to not be engaged.

The observer is not a pretender. This movie is art, and this art follows the sun around two young men, around a beauty of black-

8

to their lives he was a peer, knowing them for three years before filming. RaMell got 13,000 hours of footage in a five-year timespan, edited to 76 minutes of a time warp to display a work of tremendous height and questioning. This film is a flower blooming in millisecond focus; except it is not a single flower but an entire garden, leaving one in amazement.

State of Affairs Soapbox A Layover of the Wasted Laid Away.

By SUBJECT ACTIVELY LISTENING (LIAM WOODWORTH-COOK)

1

Heat up. Heated up. Hot breath, up. Heat showered vapor, why do you cling to me?

Clung like hot, a box rising in my claustrophobic nature. Tendencies, seeing tender (ly) do we believe we all honestly don’t care? Or is it that we are too far in the bog?

The Baskervilles have done their trick. Expunged smoke, swallowing, half chewed. This is how we walk; in limp, bulging eyes.

Groaning, our motors are flights delayed and undeparted. Our kidney’s hall passes that won’t pass the next gate. Checked and checkered by heightened and tightened secure clutched collars. Listen to them stranglespeak. Listen as they stranglespeak. Stratification not strutting fiction.

We limp like damp puzzle pieces, the projected ball trying to catch up too, catching if only we could hold light. Farther afield, a running boy.

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Illustration by Jose Roberto Lemus

ness, of life, in the throes of being. This film is a creature-awaking conversation. It leaves the unsaid and speaks in silence and in vocal howls. It arcs, it sets, it shakes and unsettles. It beams joy. It beams a toddler’s play. “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” elegantly beams.

RaMell Ross has curated black life in the precious everyday. It follows the small moments that leap. The question the film’s website asks is, “How does one express the reality of individuals whose public image, lives, and humanity originate in exploitation?” Tenderly, exquisitely are my answers. Provokingly. It is a portrayal of southern landscape and life, of the intimate and the dreams. This is not your ordinary documentary, this is a shifting lens. A shift of perception and of film. If you are reading this thinking of the vagueness of a review; it is because this is art to be seen and experienced, for the depth of realness, love and being.

When “Hale County” was playing at the Space Gallery on the 23rd of October, RaMell Ross was there to present his film, stating after the showing, “I’m not a filmmaker.” This is the hook of an artist. RaMell is indeed a photographer, and this is cinema as captured by such. He came to Hale County to teach, and through that met Daniel and Quincy. Bringing the camera

run boy run, running boy ran, bet you, black running boy, better you run, run. i told you not too, i told you to stop, told, stop resisting. you’re resisting, i told you, i told you run stop resisting.

If we can place tears, do so here.

The Beacon ◊ November 6, 2018

3

This is injection, saltine soluble, take dose with second hand rotation. Even the most forgotten and walled are told “act-like-cement, loose-your-eyes”, “act-like-cement, loose-your-eyes”. This is not life. They are grease-rags ready to catch fire. So fired up, so boxed, a heated hot breath; sweatyourback breakthisback.

Heated up, inside.

The inside. Designed for when the factory sold away, vacation to Southeast Asia.

Designed for when the plantation turned to coiled venom wire, a 20th century decorum; a system where we smuggle bodies by branding. Seal it in law and write “Private No Entry”; they kidnap a(ny)way.

I’m sorry, Mars won’t save you. Reliance on the business class is just a wet dream of capital’s innovation. Innovators bring big toys and space cars to the table, card trick flash our age is drowning neon phosphene alarms. Our last call to the dragon’s lording wealth. Saving day’s new deal. #Whoisthenewclass. We say, pardon can you spare one? Spare a coin for our faucets of lead, this is not the mineral water I heard them speak of. This is not the mineral water I heard them speak of.

Heated waters grip close. What is the sound of an infant choking?

4

Remember, number one.

Number one, repeat till remembered. Embedded. They tell us this. They parade this.

Syrup it, sugar coat-cereal this.

Look into the make believe.

Reject until further notice. Reject until no more lead. Reject until bullets are no longer used as a judge’s gavel. Reject until there is not a hungry child.

When do you cry for the children? Where do you take the time, pull it from your arm’s agony and find room to weep? Reject till the babies have bellies healthy and warm. Reject until a citizen erodes to a human, reject until illegal cannot be placed alongside human being. Reject white supremacy. Reject fences. Reject man & wife; a binary.

I no longer want to swallow your coin.

Reject their conquest for your body. Reject the value barcode sealed above our foreheads.

Reject colonial councils in genocide continuum. Reject that lie that we don’t have the means. Realize we have all the means if we saw and swayed. Reject that the children can’t be fed and funded. Reject the story we fell off some exalted hill, now remerging in god’s glory. Reject our founding. Reject our myths. Reject the canon pointed at us all along.

Reject.

Reject and dance, Dance, to be a rejection, union of walking contraindications.

Re-ject, Re-source, re-structure.

Reject resource, restructure.

Repeat.

Play tape without manual.

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Poetic

LICENSE

November marches forward, beckoning us in the dwindling light. Ballots are being cast, tensions are high. The weather becomes brittle. October closed in mourning.

White supremacy lurched shooting out from beneath its hood. Pipe bombs were mailed.

The system continues to imprison and marginalize. Two black people were killed in a grocery store, Maurice Stallards and Vickie Jones. A synagogue was shot up. The eight victims: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal and David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger. SMCC held a vigil for these lives on Thursday, Nov. 1. Several poems were read as well as songs. The room vibrated, long hearts pulling through on a rainy day. One of our students read a piece which has been included in this paper in “From the Editor’s Desk.”

These acts of terror are rising as scores of far-right fascists, Nazis, and white suprem-

A rts & Features acists continually reveal themselves. While the law may have arrested these individual terrorists, there are systematic workings in place that support them. My peers, we have much work to do. Organizing, resisting in solidarity. If you think you’ve done your part only by voting, I urge you to review history.

This is a call for movement. Black lives matter. Jews matter, Muslims matter, trans lives matter, migrants matter, no one is illegal; human rights must be seen to matter. I hope you placed a ballot to make this so; I hope you will be ready to show up in the streets and with friends to make it matter.

As always, The Beacon is accepting writers and artists alike. If you’d like to submit any poetry, prose, or a series of stories, edited or raw, please email me at liammwoodworthcook@smccme.edu Also included in this issue are several poems from Magella Cantara. I’m stating a content warning of rape/assault/trauma.

Please take care of yourself, and smash the patriarchy.

In solidarity, mourning, and strength, May our tears come and bind us further, Liam, section editor.

1

His eyes are black And starved Hands pinning me To my soft pillow Except he was Everything but.

His lips maul Mine I’m sinking deeper Into this mattress I cannot move His grip of iron roots Has me naked as frostbite In my throat starts to Catch fire.

I’m speechless He’s pounding me Like an ax to an oak tree I close my eyes count to 10 and imagine My last love How gentle he was how my waist Was teased with each touch he made

How careful he was to take care of me How we laughed how kissing him was kind of fun Making me want to go back for more unlike this stranger I didn’t even know He devoured me with teeth that never smiled So I picture my last loves smile to pass the time To some how make this okay for My last love was nowhere near this rough and yet no where to be found This stranger is now full His eyes no longer starved So I guess that is that it’s Over now He was in for what he wanted Collecting all the good in me Just so he could survive himself The only thing he forgot to Take was “no”.

2

If I walk alone, I shall travel alone.

At least when I walk, there won’t be Anyone else’s pace to match.

As my steps get more sure of their footing I begin to conquer.

Once the airplane takes off I get to look down on those who did to me.

Now I can laugh underneath my breath about how wrong they were.

As I travel no one will be behind me to shield me from who and who not to be kind too.

Instead of waiting for someone else, I can work hard on my own because success is more attractive.

Alone, I get to look in the mirror and decide what about me Is beautiful.

Hold onto the things no one can take away.

My grandmother used to tell me you do more with sugar than you do with salt.

When I turn 18 I will get a tattoo in honor of her on my shoulder.

It will not only stay there in honor but as a reminder to always be kind because you never know what people go through.

If I walk alone it shouldn’t be out of fear.

I shouldn’t have to slut shame my body for the time and work I put into taking care of myself.

If a man looks at me too closely and acts on it at the airport the problem isn’t with my confidence as a woman.

I shall travel alone to take in every new feeling that a person next to me in line may not feel.

Though I may not be above everyone else, I could be the one to share relatable feelings with the world.

Help them carry their baggage just a little bit easier before the long flight home tonight.

So if I walk alone it’s because I’m okay with everything I hold dearly.

People of the world should do the same even if we’re all just okay.

3 This isn’t him I assure myself.

My breath is getting caught in slow bursts.

Stretching my fingers gently along my waistline, my legs make a plea in my lungs as they tremble.

Slowly I keep pushing myself.

Or should I say that thing girls my age enjoy sucking, further.

Further until my body was ready to be blended into the bedsheets.

Until the rocks underneath began to crumble with an overcast of rain.

Gently I reassured myself that this was not him.

That this was me my own time, my own sense of help.

My fingers, not his Encouraging myself once more, I repeated that this wasn’t him, this isn’t even attached to a body but came out of a box.

It was no use.

My emotions couldn’t keep up, they never have been able to.

My body always wants, what my emotions are traumatized by.

The rain in my crumbling rock body bursted with orgasm and tears.

So I stopped.

Stopped forcing myself into this feeling like always.

I tell myself this isn’t how sex is suppose to feel.

To sit here crying after feeling for pleasure.

I assure myself it’s not him.

Not his fingers, only mine.

This cannot hurt me the way he did.

This is just me, my helper from a box, my now overly relaxed body.

As my eyes become dry and swollen, so do I like the way he left me

Gallery Under The Stairs Updated

By LORAINE ACETO

The Gallery Under the Stairs, located downstairs in Hildreth Media Center on the South Portland Campus (next to the Dining Hall), has made an update! New art pieces are being showcased of students’ fantastic masterpieces. Here we can find art pieces including only three colors — black, red and white — of creative creatures and characters of the student artist’s choice. The sketchy lines in some piec-

es create a sense of movement while the pieces with solid red backgrounds create a focal point. The colors complement each other and the outcome is uniquely creative to see.

These art piece channel very “Attack on Titan” vibes with these (if anyone may get this reference from anime). The Gallery Under the Stairs is also showcasing organic (nature-influenced) pieces that appear to be painted, which are beautiful as well. They feature earthy tones like hues of pinks and plums to paint out a fruit, deep purple, light blue and green. One piece is in black and white, which also makes it a strong piece of what it resembles. So please, come check it out at the Gallery Under the Stairs in the Hildreth Media Center!

The Beacon ◊ November 6, 2018

9

Midcoast

SMCC’s Vibrant Midcoast Campus

In 2011, SMCC opened a second campus at Brunswick Landing in the nearby town of Brunswick, Maine, home of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. The college now has more than 6,000 students who come from across Maine and New England, from other states outside of New England and from other nations. The college offers more than 40 degree and certificate programs in five different academic divisions: Applied Technology, Arts & Sciences, Health Sciences, Public Safety and Business and Information Technology.

The campus has four primary buildings: the L.L.Bean Learning Commons and Health Science Center, Orion Residence Hall, the Maine Advanced Technology and Engineering Center (MATEC), and the Academic Building. The L.L.Bean Learning Commons opened in 2014 and serves as the hub of the campus with tech-infused learning space, a library, advising offices, quiet study rooms, a café, and modern laboratories and classrooms for Nursing and Health Sciences students.

One Campus, Endless Opportunities SMCC’s Midcoast Campus in Brunswick brings all the benefits of a comprehensive college a little closer to home. At the Midcoast Campus you have access to personalized services and a varied selection of in-demand programs and courses.

We have state-of-the-art classrooms and labs to help you on your way to success.

According to Jim Whitten, Dean, Midcoast Campus and Satellite Centers, “The SMCC Midcoast Campus is a spe-

cial place. We are a small and intimate community where students benefit from a supportive and knowledgeable staff and faculty. As the campus dean, I am very proud of the community our students, fac-

opportunities to the Midcoast Region.

The growing number of classes and programs offered here in Brunswick give many affordable and accessible opportunities to students. I love working with

“The Midcoast Campus is a special place... a small and intimate community where students benefit from a supportive and knowledgeable staff and faculty. ulty and staff create every semester. I am consistently amazed by students as they learn and grow, and organically establish campus clubs and activities that make the campus come alive. I’ve had the incredible honor of establishing, nurturing and championing the Midcoast Campus since 2011. As we continue to grow and expand our course offerings, initiate workforce training programs and continue to provide excellent educational opportunities, our students will continue to benefit from our special place.”

Vicki-Rose Porter, Midcoast Campus Coordinator, says that “The Midcoast Campus is a special part of SMCC. We are a small campus that offers a lot of

students starting with the application process, continuing with their New Student Orientation, and every other step along their SMCC journey right up until their preparation for graduation. I provide oneon-one support service to all Midcoast students, assisting with the registration process, financial aid needs, billing needs and academic support services. Students receive all of the services they would find at a larger campus but with a small campus feel.”

Nancy Collins, Student Coordinator, “ love[s] the size of the Midcoast Campus.

We are small enough to have a friendly community feel, but large enough to offer a variety of courses and majors. This campus is the perfect place for students who are undecided, new to college, returning to school after many years, or know exactly what they want and how to get there. No matter what their educational background, all students are welcome here.”

Erik Squire, Advisor/Success Coach, said “When I was an SMCC student, I had all my classes on the South Portland Campus. After coming to work on the Midcoast Campus, I was impressed by the modern facilities and housing, and I quickly realized how much of a tight-knit community it is here — everyone seems to know and look out for everyone! As an advisor and success coach, I enjoy working with students to get them enrolled, helping them figure out the best strategies for succeeding at SMCC,

and assisting them in choosing the right classes for themselves. My main goal is to help students thrive on the Midcoast Campus, and I’m excited to see them add to the rich community that we have here.”

For Tori Penney, Residence Director/ Activities Coordinator, “There are a lot of benefits to living at the Midcoast Campus.

It is a tight-knit community with many opportunities to get involved. There are a variety of clubs and organizations on campus, and you can always start a new one.

We also have many events throughout the year so that our residents can relax, have fun and get to know each other.

Orion Hall offers a very different living-learning experience from the housing provided on the South Portland Campus.

Each unit is apartment style with a kitchenette, full bath and a living area. We also have a student lounge, a recreation lounge, a quiet-study lounge and a fitness center in the building. If you are looking for a more independent living arrangement while still having opportunities to get involved, the Midcoast campus could be a good fit for you.”

A Vibrant College Town & Community SMCC’s Midcoast Campus is located in Brunswick, a vibrant college town with charm and bustle, and a wide assortment of restaurants, shops, pubs, museums, theaters and other attractions. Our campus is housed at Brunswick Landing, an innovative and growing business/educational campus on the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. Brunswick Landing has a high-speed fiber optic network, its own golf course, bike paths and an all-green power system. A fitness center is located nearby and a locally owned café is just a short walk from campus.

A Place for Partnerships, University of Maine at Augusta’s Brunswick Center SMCC’s Midcoast Campus is home to the University of Maine at Augusta’s Brunswick Center. This expands the wide range of opportunities available to our students, giving them access to more courses and the ability to transfer credits with ease. To learn more, visit the UMA Brunswick Center website.

Southern Midcoast CareerCenter – Brunswick, Maine CareerCenters, located in the L.L.Bean Learning Commons, provides a variety of employment and training services at no charge to help individuals with their job search. To learn more, visit the Southern Midcoast Career Center website.

Gaming Club Thursdays at 5:30 L.L. Bean Learning Commons Room 106 Nursing Club The 3rd Monday of every month at 12 pm in the L.L. Bean Learning Commons Rm. 102 Activities Committee and Midcoast Organization Committee Meeting Wednesdays at 7:00 pm in the Orion Student Lounge Midcoast Rainbow League - Mondays at 7 pm in the Orion Art Classroom

10

The Beacon ◊ November 6, 2018

Sports

SeaWolves Open (Continued From Page 12)

turned to SMCC to finish his academics in Communications and New Media, would score the next six-points pushing SMCC’s lead to 20-13.

After Ben Franklin cut the lead to five, first year guard Ian Regan and starting guard Gregory Trinidad would drop consecutive three-pointers padding the Wolves lead more (26-15). The Wolves would never have to look over their shoulder again as they would counter Ben Franklin with offensive momentum and defensive pressure The Wolves would build on their 12-point halftime lead pushing it to 28 points towards the end of regulation eventually walking away with an 81-58 win.

Leading the way for the Wolves would be Atencio Martin who recorded a double-double, 21 points and 10 rebounds. Gregory Trinidad net the net for 17 points and Jacobee Burpee would collect 13 assists in 29 minutes of play.

Team wise, the Wolves would shoot 47 percent from the floor (31 of 66) while draining 12 out of 28 three-pointers (43 percent).

This past Saturday, both Wolves teams would take to the court to take on Navy Prep.

The Lady SeaWolves would survive a hardfought contest outlasting Navy Prep 50-49, as the men would fall 81-59 to a disciplined and athletic Navy squad.

The Lady Wolves would jump out to a 12-8 first quarter lead behind Amanda Brett and Nyakuoth Mach’s six and five points.

Brett would score the first four points of the game for the Wolves, as Mach would add the next five with a pair of foul shots and a three-pointer.

The second quarter saw Navy Prep out score SMCC 17-10 to grab a three-point lead at half. Navy Prep would score eight straight points before the Wolves would get their offensive clinking again. Again, it would be Brett and Mach that supplied the scoring for the Wolves asx they tried to keep pace with Navy Prep.

With just under a minute left Priscila Berdeja would drain a three-pointer tying the game at 22. Navy Prep’s Branyelle Carillo would counter with her own three giving Navy Prep a three point advantage at the half.

SMCC’s Brett and Mach would go to would at the beginning of the third quarter as Brett would start the scoring off for the SeaWolves with a layup pulling SMCC to within one.

Mach would follow with back to back bombs from downtown keeping SMCC in the lead.

Lauryn Fagan and Adrianna White would come off of the bench scoring six opportune points keeping the Wolves in the lead. Berdeja’s bucket with a little over a minute and a half left in the quarter would round out the SeaWolves scoring securing the Wolves a 3832 lead at the quarters end.

After a pair of free throws were sunk

by Navy Prep cutting SMCC’s lead to four,

SMCC SEAWOLVES SCHEDULE

Ramirez, Brett and Mach picked up the scoring for the Lady Wolves as Ramirez, hit on a free throw, Brett with a layup and Mach draining consecutive three-pointers. SMCC’s scoring could not build any type of significant lead as Navy Prep hung with the Wolves eventually tying the score at 47 apiece with three-minutes left in regulation.

The score stayed knotted at 47 a piece for the next minute and a half when Berdeja sunk a three-pointer giving the Wolves their winning points. The Wolves had a chance to ice the game with free throws by Ramirez and Berdeja, however both players were not able to find the bottom of the net.

With time running out Navy Prep hit on a layup and while there was contact on the play the referees did not see cause to blow the whistle giving Navy Prep the opportunity to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Nyakuoth Mach lead the scoring for the Wolves with 17 points and 11 rebounds as Amanda Brett scored 12 and pulled down 11 boards. Priscila Berdeja finished with 11 points as Abagail Ramirez pulled down 12 rebounds.

In the men’s game against Navy Prep Gregory Trinidad, Atencio Martin and Anderson Kavutse lead the scoring for SMCC with 14, 12 and 11 points respectfully.

After spotting Navy Prep the opening points of the game, Gregory Trinidad gave SMCC a slim one-point lead when he drained a three-point shot. The teams would trade baskets over the next few minutes as neither

The Scene From the Soccer Pitch

By THOMAS ENG

WOMEN’S SOCCER UNITY COLLEGE 6:00 PM MEN’S SOCCER UNITY COLLEGE 8:00 PM

THE BEACON WISHES THE LADY SEAWOLVES SOCCER TEAM THE BEST LUCK IN NATIONALS!

team could build any space between them and the opponent.

Three-point shooting and three-point plays would be the name of the game as Trinidad, Martin and Kavutse would hit them keeping SMCC close, or grabbing the lead for the Wolves.

With a little less than eight minutes to play in the half Ian Regan’s three-pointer gave SMCC a seven-point lead (24-17). Navy Prep would outscore the Wolves 17-2 in the final seven minutes of the first half, with the Wolves points coming on an in-bounds alley-op dunk by Ryan Cloutier.

The Wolves would pull within one (3433) on Kavutse free throws, a Burpee threepointer and a Trinidad layup. With eleven minutes left the Wolves would grab a onepoint lead on an Ian Regan three-pointer (4241), which was followed by a Sean Bowering layup (44-41). The next few minutes of play were as exciting as any basketball fan could wish for as Navy Prep and Sean Bowering traded three-point shots.

With the score knotted at 50, Navy Prep went on an 24-11 scoring burst that SMCC could not find a way to counter. Navy would walk out of the Hub Gym with an impressive 81-58 win. The night before SMCC hosted the Navy Prep University of Maine-Augusta games with the Navy squads taking both games. The SeaWolves return to the Hub on the 14th as they host Unity College. The ladies tip of at 6pm and the men at 8pm.

The YSCC semifinals did not go well for either of the SMCC soccer teams. Both left post-season play with heartbreaking defeats.

NHTI beat the men’s team in a worthy fight. The NHTI Lynx came out hot right off the bat with a quick goal not ten minutes after the start of the game. It was a slow thirty minutes after that, as neither goalie give an inch. NHTI was able to squeeze another goal in, giving them a 2-0 lead over the Seawolves.

It wasn’t until thirty seconds before the end of the half until sophomore Yaroslav Philbrook was able to fire a shot into the back of the net, closing the gap (2-1).

The Seawolves started the second half with a bit more mojo, but NHTI snuffed that out quickly with a goal less than a minute into the second half. The two teams fought back and forth until Philbrook was able to score his second goal of the game, again closing the gap (3-2).

Momentum built for the Seawolves with senior Tristan Campbell scoring five minutes after Philbrook. With the game tied at 3-3 with four minutes left on the clock, there was no telling who might take the match.

NHTI was able to send one last stinger to the back of the net right at the end of regulation, giving them a 4-3 victory. This defeat meant an end to the Seawolves’ season with a 6-6-3 record. NHTI will be headed into the finals with a record of 9-4-1.

After beating the University of Maine-Machias, 2-1 in the semi-final, the Lady Wolves were ready for redemption

when they faced off against NHTI who tarnished their perfect record prior to the post-season tournament.

NHTI took the challenge and scored first with a goal at the 37-second mark, showing the Seawolves’ that they meant business.

Both teams fought valiantly, firing off shots whenever they could and getting physical more often than that. Both teams ended the game with four shots on goal, however the play was rough, and the girls were ruthless.

SMCC ended the 90 minutes of play with 10 fouls and NHTI had an astonishing 13.

The girls were brutal on the field, and it’s no wonder why. At the 60 minute mark, NHTI scored their second goal, and it was all over.

SMCC couldn’t manage to squeak one shot past NHTI’s keeper, and the game ended with the Lady Wolves losing 2-0. The loss left the Seawolves’ at a 12-2-0 record, both losses being against NHTI who finished off the season with a 12-1-1 record and their third consecutive title.

While the Lady SeaWolves didn’t get the chance to hoist the YSCC championship trophy over their heads they will be traveling to Virginia Beach to participate in the USCAA Division 2Women’s Soccer Tournament.

When asked for a comment regarding this opportunity, Head Coach Ethan Wells stated, “The women and I are very much looking forward to the challenge of matching up with the best in Division 2. But for me the experience is bigger than soccer. I’m happy our student-athletes are getting they celebration they deserve after all of the hard work they put in this season.”

The Beacon ◊ November 6, 2018

11

SMCC SPORTS

SeaWolves Open 2018-19 Season Strong

By THE BEACON SPORTS STAFF

Returning starting guard, Abagail Ramirez would start the season off where she left last season recording a double-double by scoring 12 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and collecting six assists in Satur-

hit for 18 against the Champlain Lions and 15 against UNB-St. Johns.

As has been tradition at the Can-Am the SMCC women’s squad opens up the tournament followed by the SeaWolf men. The

Despite the forces of nature and a leaking roof which lead to the Hutchinson Gymnasium’s floor buckling, the 2018-19 basketball season opened this past Thursday and Saturday for the SMCC squads. Prior to the home season openers, the SeaWolves squads traveled to Auburn to participated in the annual Can-Am Tournament hosted by Central Maine Community College.

The season officially opened for the SeaWolves squads two Saturdays ago when the Lady SeaWolves took to the floor to play St. Lawrence-Champlain.

The Lady Wolves took the opener 7965. The SeaWolves started slow falling behind the by three at the end of the first quarter (20-23). The Wolves would outscore the St. Lawrence-Champlain Lions by five in the second quarter taking a 42-40 lead into the half.

The Lady Seawolves would take offensive control in the second half outscoring the Lions 44-29 while holding them to 13 points in the final quarter to secure a season opening win 79-65.

Amanda Brett would lead the SeaWolves hitting the nets for 28 points on 13-15 field goal shooting. Brett would Ryan Cloutier finishes off an inbound alley-op pass from Jacobee Burpee against Navy Prep. turn in another stellar scoring performance in Sunday’s game against University day’s action against Champlain. men Wolves would open their season with of New Brunswick-St. John by draining 29 First year starter, Nyakuoth Mach made a lopsided win beating the University of points helping the SeaWolves to win the sec- her presence felt over the weekend as she Prince Edward Island 82-28. The Prince ond game of the young season (76-55).

Edward squad was hurt when five of their

players were not allowed to enter the United States because of improper documentation.

Considering the loop-sidedness of the contest all of the SMCC players were able to see game action.

In Sunday’s action the SeaWolves would see four of their starting five hit double-figures in scoring as the Wolves would bring home a 31-point win against the University New Brunswick-St. John (92-31). Third year veteran, Ryan Cloutier would lead all scorers with 22 points, as Atencio Martin would hit for 19, Anderson Kavutse scored 16 and Jacobee Burpee rounded out the double-figure scoring with 12.

After a successful Can-Am tournament then men opened the home season this past Thursday taking on Ben Franklin Institute of Technology as the Lady SeaWolves traveled to Thomas College for an exhibition game. It would be the first official game played on the new Hub’s new floor.

Ben Franklin would take advantage of SMCC’s sluggish start grabbing a three-point lead with a little over two-minutes of play. For the next ten-minutes Ben Franklin would hold a slim lead until Anderson Kavutse’s layup pushed the Wolves ahead 14-13 with a little less than ten-minutes to play in the half.

Atencio Martin, who played with the SeaWolves a few seasons back and as re(Continued on Page 11)

Finish Your Degree at UMA Photos Courtesy of The Beacon Sports Staff

Your credit is good here.

• UMA welcomes hundreds of transfer students each semester.

• We’ll work with you to develop a specific plan to maximize your college credits.

Choose when and where to finish your degree.

• UMA is statewide with two campuses, eight Centers, and over thirty classroom locations.

• Complete your college degree with online access everywhere.

You’ll pay less.

• UMA offers affordable tuition, great financial aid packages, and scholarships available for adults returning to college.

• With the Pine Tree State Pledge, you may even qualify for zero tuition.

Visit the UMA Brunswick Center on Thursday, November 15th, and learn how you can transfer your SMCC credits and earn your bachelor’s degree.

Orion Hall, 12 Sewall Street, Brunswick, ME 04011

UMA.EDU/FINISH 207.442.7736

Amanda Brett finds room in the lane to finish off an uncontested layup.