The New Paltz Oracle, Volume 82, Issue 5

NEW PALTZ ORACLE THE

Volume 82, Issue V

oracle.newpaltz.edu

Thursday, October 21, 2010

PRIMING

THE PIPES Village of New Paltz plans for updates to local sewage system; $540,000 grant recieved SEE STORY ON PAGE 3

PHOTO BY JULIE MANSMANN

INSIDE THE NEW PALTZ ORACLE

• SA Prodcutions Seats Filled at Senate...........Pg 4 • County Officials Work to Curb Smoking.......Pg 8 • Locals Discuss California Plastic Bag Law....Pg 9

Print quota to return to campus computer labs, library this semester STORY ON PAGE 6

Julie Mansmann Editor-in-Chief

Pierce Lydon Managing Editor _________________

Justin McCarthy News Editor

Zan Strumfeld Features Editor

University Police Blotter

Disclaimer: This is only a partial listing. For all incidents, please visit the University Police Department.

Incident: Forgery Date: 10/15/10 Location: HAB 304 F/S mistakenly used an account number from her scholarship check on her personal account online. The case has been declare closed by the University Police Department.

Maxim Alter

About The New Paltz Oracle

Andrew Wyrich

The New Paltz Oracle is the official student newspaper of SUNY New Paltz.

Our circulation is 3,000. The New Paltz Oracle is sponsored by the Student Association and partially funded by the student activity fee.

The New Paltz Oracle is located in the Student Union room 417.

Deadline for all submissions is 5 p.m. on Fridays in The New Paltz Oracle office and by e-mail at oracle@newpaltz.edu.

All advertisements must be turned in by 5 p.m. on Fridays, unless otherwise specified by the business manager. Community announcements are published gratuitously, but are subject to restriction due to space limitations.

There is no guarantee of publication. Contents of this paper cannot be reproduced without the written permission of the editor-in-chief.

The New Paltz Oracle is published weekly throughout the Fall and Spring semesters on Thursday.

It is available in all residence halls and academic buildings, in the New Paltz community and online at oracle.newpaltz.edu. For more information, call 845-257-3030. The fax line is 845-257-3031.

The New Paltz Oracle holds assignment meetings every Sunday at 7 p.m. in Student Union room 418. Articles, photographs and illustrations are assigned to the pool of staff and contributors.

Arts & Entertainment Editor Web Chief

Sports Editor Social Media Chief _________________

Laura Luengas Photography Editor

Derek Zimmermann Cartoonist

_________________

Sunya Bhutta Ryan Patrick Hanrahan Samantha Huertas Pete Thompson Pamela Vivanco Copy Editors _________________

Elizabeth Damiano Business Manager _________________

Patrick Martz Kathryn Smith Distribution Managers Felice Bernabo, Andrew Carden, Emily Canty, Kaitlyn Day, Sarah Fine, Elexis Goldberg, Alec Horowitz, Sarah Hurd, Emily Kurland, Chelsea LaDue, Becky Longley, Jessica Mingoia, Danielle Quitoni, Michelle Ravit, Regina Rivers, Shawn Rubenfeld, Jordan Siwek, Alex Silverberg, Emily Sussell, Cat Tacopina, Ashley Thompson, Chris Thurston, Nekaiya Trotman, Jennifer Von Willer, Harris Wichard, Kelly Young, Annie Yu

Staff

Incident: Drugs Date: 10/14/10 Location: BOH RD reported that while conducting a health and safety inspection a glass pipe with residue of burnt marijuana was discovered in one of the rooms.

Volume 82 Issue V

Incident: Menacing Date: 10/13/10 Location: DYH M/S arrested for menacing with a waeapon.

SUNY New Paltz University Police Department Emergencies: 845-257-2222

Five Day Forecast Friday, Oct. 22

Index News................................................ 3-9 Community Calendar...........................10 Editorial.............................................. 11 Columns............................................. 12 Maxim Alter......................... 12 Op-Eds.......................................... 12-14 The Gunk.................................. 1B -12B The Deep End.................................. 12B Sports.............................................15-20

Mostly Sunny High: 51 Low: 37 Saturday, Oct. 23

Partly Cloudy High: 60 Low: 47 Sunday, Oct. 24

Few Showers High: 62 Low: 52 Monday, Oct. 25

Showers High: 65 Low: 54 Tuesday, Oct. 26

CORRECTIONS:

The film and video studies minor was not originated solely by Communication and Media Department, but as a partnership across disciplines. One of voice for the minor being put together was Peter Brown, Distinguished Professor of Foreign Languages.

Showers High: 63 Low: 54

The New Paltz Oracle

NEWS

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New Paltz Prepares

Pipe Plans The Village of New Paltz sewage system is decades old and was made with cast-iron, said Village of New Paltz Mayor Terry Dungan.

By Justin McCarthy

News Editor | Jmccarthy46@newpaltz.edu

Having been endowed with a $540,000 grant from New York State, the Village of New Paltz is preparing to embark on a project that will include replacing the “double-barrel sewer liner” and reconfiguration of an intersection of sewage flows.

According to Bleu Terwilliger, superintendent of public works for the Village of New Paltz, plans for the project are in the very early stages.

“We have to do some investigative work, and then our engineer has to come up with the design work, and it’s got to be approved by the [Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)],” Terwilliger said. “And then we can go ahead and move forward with the project.”

Village of New Paltz Mayor Terry Dungan said the double-barrel sewer liner was installed in the 1950s. It was made with cast-iron, which he said is brittle and was eight inches in diameter. While this installment worked in the past, increased development and 60 years of aging have prompted the village to address the fact that wider liners are necessary to accommodate a greater capacity.

The village intends to reconfigure an intersection of sewage flows from lines coming down Main Street, Water Street

and Huguenot Street.

“The sewage flow from Main Street actually goes against the sewer flow from Water Street,” said Dungan. “But instead of Main Street and Water Street merging together and going into the Huguenot Street line, it creates a backup.”

The sewage issues the town has were first discovered in 2002 by the Hudson Riverkeeper, Dungan said. “[The Hudson Riverkeeper] became aware that the Village of New Paltz was experiencing sewer overflows during heavy rain incidents, which means that raw sewage . . . would flow down the street, and into the storm water system into the river,” said Dungan.

Because of this, the DEC issued a “consent order” to put pressure on the village to fix the problems, he said. The village has to report to the DEC annually to show what has been done in a given year to avert this from happening.

The consent order, however, worked in the village’s favor, according to the mayor.

“It’s beneficial to us . . . because when we go to apply for grant money, the fact that we are under a consent order is . . . a qualification that makes us more eligible for money to support the work,” he said.

The DEC has instructed the Village of New Paltz to look after “I&I,” or inflow and infiltration, which Dungan ex-

Thursday, October 21, 2010

PHOTO BY JULIE MANSMANN

plained as a way of measuring “the extent to which rain water is getting into your sanitary sewer.”

One method the village plans to use to assess the sewer line is to run a camera through it.

“Then you go to the DVD and see what kind of condition things are in,” Dungan said. “We’re looking at connections, we’re looking for cracks. If you have a crack in the line, you’ll see water leaking into the sewer line.”

Terwilliger said that sewage issues such as these are not out of the ordinary for a municipality.

“Due to the age and the time frame when it was put in, our system is very undersized and we haven’t kept up with development or replacement for future expansion, which has obviously happened over the years,” he said. “I mean, it was just the technology they used back then. There have been upgrades in technology since this was first installed.”

According to Dungan, the grant money from the state will “deal with the primary portions of our sanitary sewer collection system.” He said the village has applied for additional grants that will help fund more projects within the collection system.

“We obviously have to apply for more grant money and so forth,” said Terwilliger. “Five-hundred thousand dollars doesn’t get you very far.”

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NEWS

The New Paltz Oracle

News Briefs National Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione has died in a suburban Dallas hospital after a long battle with cancer.

He was 79.

A statement issued by the Guccione family says he died Wednesday at Plano Specialty Hospital in Plano.

The Brooklyn, N.Y.-born Guccione introduced Penthouse to the American public in 1969, at the height of the feminist movement and the sexual revolution. ***** All signs point to huge Republican victories in two weeks, with the GOP now leading Democrats on virtually every measure in an Associated Press-GfK poll of people likely to vote in the first major elections of Barack Obama’s presidency.

In the final survey before Election Day, likely voters say the GOP would do a better job than Democrats on handling the economy, creating jobs and running the government.

Most also think the country’s headed in the wrong direction. More than half disapprove of Obama’s job performance. And even more don’t like the Democratic-controlled Congress. ***** Rihanna is now under Jay-Z’s umbrella.

The Grammy-winning pop singer has parted ways with manager Marc Jordan and is now being managed by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Management.

International Briefs on Page 5

PHOTO BY LAURA LUENGAS

With the exception of one absent nominee, the student senate confirmed nine nominees to the SA Productions committee.

Nine Confirmed to SA Productions

By Pamela Vivanco

Copy Editor | Pvivanco57@newpaltz.edu

The 50th student senate confirmed nine students to the Student Association (SA) Productions committee and two students to the Academic Senate.

The legislative body confirmed Cindy Ip, Emma Nichols, Kevin Kleeman, Brad Gorfein, Natalie Felsenfeld, Liz Rubel, Thomas Garger, Jackie Northacker and Danielle Gray to the SA Productions committee.

Although the students were already elected by the Council of Organizations within the last three meetings, they had to be confirmed by the senate.

While all candidates had their own preferences on what acts they wanted to book for SUNY New Paltz students, they all agreed that in order to come to a decision, they must reach out to the student body.

“I think we need to come up with a new idea to get more people’s opinions,” Northacker said.

She suggested setting up a table outside where students could suggest ideas of the kinds of acts they would like to see on

campus.

During discussion, the legislative body agreed that the candidates had diverse tastes and would work well together. They voted to elect all nine candidates.

Sens. Ayanna Thomas and Erica Peña were confirmed to the Academic Senate.

Thomas and Peña both attended an Academic Senate meeting before they ran for the position.

Thomas said she decided to run for the position because during the meeting, topics she is passionate about working on were discussed, such as Student Evaluation Forms.

Mike Malloy, director of environmental health and safety, announced that SUNY New Paltz has completed a humane plan to remove all geese from campus grounds in order to protect the geese and avoid ecological burden. But aside from Canadian migrating geese, the campus has geese that do not migrate, also known as “domestic geese,” Malloy said.

“Our campus is not really a good place for them because they’re not cared for here,” Malloy said.

According to Malloy, SUNY New Paltz and Wildlife Watch of New Paltz are work-

Thursday, October 21, 2010

ing together to get these domestic geese adopted before the arrival of a goose-friendly border collie who is trained to herd geese away.

After elections, the senate discussed their thoughts on the current university drug policy and ultimately agreed it should be reformed.

According to Sen. Marc Pottack, who initiated the discussion, SUNY New Paltz has the “worst drug policy” out of all the universities in the SUNY system. While other SUNY schools have a drug policy that requires three strikes before expulsion, SUNY New Paltz students face expulsion after two strikes in regards to marijuana.

Director of Student Activities and Union Services Mike Patterson said that the school’s drug policy reform could take a few years because it might have to go through the state legislature. Sen. Pottak, a few other senators and Paterson will meet with Vice President of Student Affairs Ray Schwarz to discuss the process of a school drug policy reform.

The next student senate meeting will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 26 in Student Union 418.

The New Paltz Oracle

NEWS

Committee Hopes to Harvest Change

By Zan Strumfeld

Features Editor | Sstrumfeld34@newpaltz.edu

The new Sustainability Committee began this semester with the focus of promoting environmental sustainability on the SUNY New Paltz campus.

The committee stems from the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), which is “deeply concerned about the unprecedented scale and speed of global warming,” according to its commitment text. In response, it believes colleges and universities need to exercise leadership in order to minimize the effects of global warming by educating students.

The committee provides a list of guidelines and steps that must be followed to complete this task, such as “[helping] incorporate environmental issues into the college’s curriculum, research profile and educational outreach,” according to the sustainability committee final resolution.

Brian Obach, chair of both the department of sociology and the Sustainability Committee, said the idea for the committee was proposed over five years ago to former president Steven Poskanzer, but Poskanzer was not interested in creating the committee at the time. From there, some faculty, staff and others decided to create their own Environmental Task Force, which Obach had chaired up until the Sustainability Committee was created.

“I encouraged President Poskanzer to create a formal committee for years, but he would not act on it,” said Obach. “However, in 2008 he signed the President’s Climate Commitment, [which had] a requirement to create a formal committee.”

Obach said Poskanzer encouraged the faculty to create the committee themselves instead of actually appointing one, and make it part of faculty governance.

“I was against this at the start because, as a faculty committee, key administrative people could technically not be fully involved, and I saw administrative involvement as essential for the group’s effectiveness,” said Obach.

Since then, the committee has made extra provisions in order to allow administrators and students to be involved, although some administrators cannot vote due to their positions.

“I am still not sure that this is the most effective structure,” said Obach. “No other college that I am aware of has situated their sustainability committee as a sub-committee within faculty governance. It’s a strange arrangement, but I’m hoping that we can be effective anyway.”

Now that the committee is formed, it must begin to fulfill its requirements. In order to be accepted as an ACUPCC university, New Paltz must take an inventory of carbon emissions, develop long term goals for sustainability and take immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

With the approval to begin the committee, the

guidelines read that 17 members must be elected to fill specific positions that can serve up to two consecutive two-year terms. This is comprised of faculty, staff, students and administrators of SUNY New Paltz Student Association (SA) Executive Vice President Eve Stern was in charge of nominating the seats for the two SA representatives. Stern nominated Recycling Club Coordinator Lauren Brois and student Sen. Maxwell Lasky. The senate confirmed both nominees. Both students said they are passionate about making a difference with sustainability on campus, community and their lives.

“Two [meetings] ago I appointed Max Lasky and Lauren Brois because they are both people who are really involved,” said Stern.

Stern is not a part of the committee, but thinks it’s beneficial for the campus.

“When people think of sustainability, it’s not just a matter of recycling or even composting,” said Stern. “It goes to the extent of education courses and how facilities run buildings on campus. If you’re in a room with sunlight, you don’t need to additionally have lights on. I think people aren’t aware of all the different ways that sustainability is related to things.”

Lauren Brois already serves as the recycling coordinator and the president of Recycling Club.

She was a part of RecycleMania, the Earth Day Carnival and Reuse to Reduce. This semester, the club is working on a composting program and holding a “Sustainable Crafts Fair” on Nov. 30.

“SUNY New Paltz makes a large effort to make its slogan of ‘New Paltz Goes Green’ true,” said Brois. “I think a small handful of very active and environmentally minded individuals have made a huge impact on the school.”

However, Brois has high hopes for the future.

“Now is an especially exciting time with the fairly recent SUNY laws that all future buildings have to be LEED certified and the possibility of New Paltz receiving a new environmentally-minded president,” said Brois.

Lasky was also nominated by Stern due to his ongoing commitment and interest in sustainability.

Like Brois, Lasky’s job is to give input on issues and be a voice as representative for the student body as a whole.

Lasky is not involved with any other environmental groups on campus due to a busy schedule, but he has worked with sustainability in the past.

“This past summer, I volunteered 700 hours living and working outdoors in Wyoming for the Wyoming Conservation Corps (an AmeriCorps program) learning firsthand about sustainability and conservation,” said Lasky.

Lasky also volunteered for the Bureau of Land Management, the US forest service, State Parks and the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“I also try to limit my carbon footprint by eating local foods and riding my bike around the village as opposed to driving places,” said Lasky.

“I am also pretty big on composting.”

However, Lasky is concerned about the amount of material waste SUNY New Paltz produces.

“There are major strides that still need to be made in order to make campus carbon neutral,” said Lasky. “In the long term, I know that a lot of the infrastructure on campus could be repaired in order to reduce our carbon emissions. However, I am only beginning to take a look into these things.”

Director of Facility Operations and Management Brian Pine is the current advisor for the committee.

“I feel the college has been making great strides for sustainability and the recent committee being assembled will help to build awareness, create a greater number of classes in this discipline and through its work build a capacity for sustainability on the campus that feeds itself,” said Pine.

The committee has only had two meetings so far, but they are currently in the works of planning out their future agenda.

“We want to first address issues that can be changed with minor adjustments,” said Brois.

At the most recent Sustainability Committee meeting on Oct. 7, Meghan Coder spoke about the grant for solar/science study, which could potentially integrate sustainability into the academic curriculum.

Another proposal in mind is “Save money, Save Jobs,” which would show that environmental good could help by saving money that can be spent on keeping more jobs.

“With the budget crisis SUNY is currently facing, it really makes a lot of sense to stop wasting our resources,” said Lasky.

Currently, the committee is working on submitting a Committee Action Plan to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), as well as energy and waste reduction. The committee needs to create a comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emission on campus. Also, they want to have programs that take two to five year periods to institute small cost-effective changes.

The committee is also looking for ideas and suggestions from anyone, and is in the process of either sending an all-student e-mail survey or a Faculty-Staff e-mail.

“As compared to most schools across the nation, New Paltz ranks pretty high in the environmentally friendly category,” said Brois. “Last spring, we were named ‘an environmentally responsible college’ by the Princeton review, but there is a ton more that our campus can do.”

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Pg 5

World Briefs International French protesters blockaded Marseille’s airport, truckers tied up highways and Lady Gaga canceled concerts in Paris ahead of a tense Senate vote Thursday on raising the retirement age.

A quarter of the nation’s gas stations were out of fuel despite President Nicolas Sarkozy’s orders to force open fuel depots barricaded by striking workers. ***** The chief U.N. envoy to Iraq escaped unharmed from a bombing that hit his convoy Tuesday after a meeting with the nation’s top Shiite cleric about how to unsnarl Iraq’s stalemated government. The U.N. said a member of the Iraqi security forces was killed and several others were injured in the attack.

Officials have long worried that the political impasse that has gripped Iraq for more than seven months may lead to violence, and the attack on U.N. Special Representative Ad Melkert underscored those fears. ***** World stocks fell Monday as investors took profits amid a steadier U.S. dollar and despite a strong earnings report from Internet search giant Google that helped push Japanese tech shares higher.

Oil prices fell below $81 a barrel as a monthlong rally lost momentum amid the dollar’s moderate rise from recent lows. European bourses fell in early trading, and Dow futures were down 0.7 percent to 10,947.

Compiled from the AP Newswire

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NEWS

The New Paltz Oracle

Print Quota Returning This Semester

After a large jump in paper use, SUNY New Paltz decided to reinstate a limit on pages students can print per semester.

By Pierce Lydon

Managing Editor | Lydon47@newpaltz.edu

A familiar prompt will be gracing the screens of computers in campus computer labs this semester as SUNY New Paltz looks to reinstate the print quota.

A 33 percent jump in paper usage occurred last semester after the print quota was suspended while SUNY New Paltz took time to track down problems with the printers.

“The print quota is being reinstated in an attempt to control costs and waste,” said Jon Lewit, assistant vice president of technology. “The cost of supporting printing has increased over the years, and with the removal of the quota system, usage has dramatically increased.”

To combat the rise in usage, the quota will be reintroduced.

Before the suspension, students had a print quota of 400 pages with additional pages available if they asked.

“After [students] ran through [the initial print quota of 400 pages], they could request an additional 100 pages. From there, the increments continued to decrease,” said Lewit. “This was our

attempt at implementing a ‘think before you print’ attitude toward using up paper and toner.”

A new system is scheduled to take its place that will give students an initial print quota and additional pages at a price.

But, Lewit said although quotas will be reintroduced, it is likely that a system to charge for additional pages over the initial quota will not be available this semester.

“I print a lot so I don’t like it,” said fifth-year chemistry major Michael Wengen. “But I understand why they would do it. I’m sure that a lot of paper is getting wasted because people print stuff and just leave it there.”

SUNY New Paltz has made efforts to fix the initial operating system problems that led to suspension of the print quota in the first place, but the repairs have taken some time as the original quota programs were not compatible.

“To address the original problem, we upgraded some of the underlying operating system software that runs the academic servers. Following that, the then current version of the print quota software failed to work,” said Lewit. “It has taken an extended period of time to re-institute a working version of the software, largely

Thursday, October 21, 2010

PHOTO BY LAURA LUENGAS

because we have had to upgrade all of the printer related background infrastructure, and there have been delays in the vendor making an updated version of the quota software available.”

The move to reinstate the quota seems to not only to be one with immediate monetary repercussions for the administration but environmentally minded students also see a green side to the issue.

“I have seen a lot of abandoned printed pages littering the computer labs and in the library,” said Mary O’Leary, a fifth-year visual arts major. “I think it’s a good thing. It will make people think twice before printing.”

The new print quota standard does not have a definite date for implementation but students can expect it to come into effect this semester.

“We are hoping to have the new system in place the end of October or the beginning of November. We really need to re-institute a quota system as printer utilization has been through the roof this semester…,” said Lewit. “Only a relatively small percentage of the population uses up their quota and we need to both control use and recoup some of the expenses we incur when people print a large number of pages beyond their quota.”

The New Paltz Oracle

NEWS

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Attendance Discussed at Council of Organizations

By Pete Thompson

Copy Editor | Pthompson51@newpaltz.edu

The fourth Council of Organizations meeting was held on Monday, Oct. 18.

Council Chair Shayna Bentley opened with an announcement regarding attendance, informing the members that each representative must receive his or her organization’s plaque at the beginning of each meeting. These are to be found in the respective houses’ folders, and is an alternative to signing in.

Once all were made aware of the new system, clubs were given a chance to voice any announcements in a houseby-house manner. Among these were a brief announcement about the observance of Black Solidarity Day on Nov. 1, and Alpha Psi Ecdysia’s first burlesque show of the semester; this is a Halloween-themed show called “Invasion of the Booby Snatchers” will be held on Friday, Oct. 22 in McKenna Theater.

Student Sen. Samantha Kossin delivered updates on the last two senate meetings. These included the passing of legislation on the fire department going district – saying the board of trustees should give New Paltz residents the right to vote on the issue, along with the filling of all CAS Board seats.

It was then time for announcements and updates from the Student Association (SA) E-Board, although they did not

occur in the typical order.

“Recently there has been a few issues regarding programming,” said Vice President of Programming Anthony Lino, who was the first to address the council.

He continued to speak of frequent problems with paperwork he has received, specifically the failure of line item organizations to appropriately check themselves off as so on the top of the requisition forms or attach competitive pricing for any requests. He also said there was a problem with the “chicken scratch” he was receiving.

“Take your time to fill this out so if there are any problems I can contact you and let you know what’s wrong,” he said.

Lino also spoke about reimbursement forms, and the importance of handing them in on time so that payments do not need to be made out of pocket.

Next was Vice President of Academic Affairs and Governance Caitlin Ryan, who discussed the first Constitution and Rules Committee meeting. It was set was to take place that night, and upcoming elections.

“Elections for SA will be coming up soon, so if you’re interested in senate, now is the time to start thinking about it,” she said.

Bentley followed Ryan in addressing the council, in-

The only Thing more

impressive Than our sTaTs are our graduates.

At Quinnipiac University, our students are our main focus. It’s why we offer 23 graduate degrees in fields ranging from business to health sciences. It’s also why Quinnipiac was ranked a top 10 northern regional university offering a full range of masters-level programs by U.S. News & World Report and second in the northern region in U.S. News’ Up-and-Coming Schools category.

To find out how Quinnipiac can help you succeed in your career, call 1-800-462-1944, e-mail graduate@quinnipiac.edu or visit www.quinnipiac.edu/gradstudies.

1-800-462-1944 | Hamden & North Haven, Connecticut

Thursday, October 21, 2010

forming that a few clubs and organizations have yet to fill out charters, and that fliers and pamphlets are being accepted from any club that wants to be noticed during this weekend’s open house.

Senate Chair Terrell Coakley took the stand next, telling the group to get involved through attending senate meetings.

Vice President of Finance Youssouf Kouyo followed with last week’s budget update, and Executive Vice President Eve Stern briefly addressed the council about the University Police Committee.

SA President Jennifer Sanchez gave the final E-Board report. She said she needed help with was the Pakistan Relief Effort, and that she needs volunteers to table for it from Nov. 1-12.

“If any of your clubs are interested, I’d love for as many people as possible to help tabling,” she said. “I’m sure the homeless people in Pakistan would really appreciate it.”

The meeting concluded with elections for the SA Productions committee. Of six nominees, Jackie Northacker, Thomas Garger, Liz Rubel and Danielle Gray were elected. It was required that the nominees run before the senate meeting on Tuesday night.

The next Council of Organizations meeting will be held on Monday, Nov. 8 in Student Union 62/63.

Education

Arts & Sciences

Elementary Secondary Educational Leadership Teacher Leadership (online)

Molecular & Cell Biology

Communications Interactive Communications (on campus and online) Journalism Public Relations

Health Sciences Biomedical Sciences Cardiovascular Perfusion Nursing Occupational Therapy (post-professional) (online) Pathologists’ Assistant Physician Assistant Radiologist Assistant

Business Information Technology (online) MBA (on campus and online) MBA-CFA® Track (Chartered Financial Analyst) MBA/HCM (Health Care Management) MBA-SCM (Supply Chain Management) MBA/JD (Joint degree in business and law) Organizational Leadership (online)

Law

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NEWS

The New Paltz Oracle

Ulster County Targets Tobacco Ads

By Sunya Bhutta

Copy Editor | Sunya.bhutta94@newpaltz.edu

Ulster County Executive Michael Hein announced last month at Lenape Elementary School in New Paltz that the county Health Department is partnering with the Tobacco Free Action Coalition (TFAC). This strategic partnership is meant to discourage the marketing and promotion of tobacco product in places where young adults and children can see them.

Hein asked local leaders to adopt regulations restricting visible promotions of tobacco products and to restrict smoking on public properties and recreation areas.

“Smoking in our public recreation areas not only poses a serious health hazard, it also sends a message to our children that smoking is acceptable,” said Hein. “It is my goal to make Ulster County the healthiest county in New York State. Discouraging tobacco use by our children will lead to healthier lifestyles as adults.”

PHOTO BY LAURA LUENGAS

Thirteen percent of Ulster County adolescents use tobacco.

Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, Ulster County’s public health director and head of the Department of Health, fully supports the county executive’s initiative. At the county executive’s presentation, with TFAC in New Paltz, he noted that tobacco companies spend over $12.8 billion a year on marketing and promoting their products. That is more than the fast food, alcohol and soda and beverage industries combined.

Statistics provided by the Health Education Unit of the Ulster County Department of Health (UCDH) indicate that 80 percent of current adult smokers started smoking in youth. The current rate of tobacco use among adolescents in Ulster County is approximately 13 percent. Smoking rates vary from year to year, and with different age groups and grades. Although rates of teen smokers have decreased it still presents a serious health risk.

According to the New York State Department of Health, smoking kills 25,500 people per year in New York State. Another 2,500 are killed by secondhand smoke. Every year 570,000 New Yorkers are afflicted with serious diseases caused by smoking. It is projected that 389,000 New York State youths aged zero to 17 will die from smoking.

Hasbrouck said the removal of smoking advertisement in electronic media has made a difference in smoking rates among youth. A study showed that exposure to cigarette advertising causes non-smoking adolescents to begin smoking.

The U.S. Federal Court of Appeals concluded that massive media exposure influences young people to become smokers and that the tobacco industry created highly sophisticated marketing programs specifically for this.

Additionally, Hasbrouck said young people are highly vulnerable to the type of advertising employed by the tobacco industry; advertising which targets the psychological needs of adolescents, such as popularity, peer acceptance and positive self-image.

The UCDH suggested schools institute good and consistent education and awareness programs by setting and enforcing rules on a consistent basis. Also, they recommended communities send a consistent message that smoking and other unhealthy behaviors are not acceptable by providing the regulations, education programs and activities that discourage smoking and other substance abuses.

PHOTO BY LAURA LUENGAS

The proposed tower would be located on the residential Twin Ponds Lane.

Cell Tower Gets Bad Reception

By Pete Thompson

Copy Editor | Pthompson51@newpaltz.edu

Shawangunk may receive a new addition in the near future, but opinions are varying since it will come in the form of a 120-foot Verizon cell phone tower.

The tower would be a standard issue with all wires contained inside and neither a flag nor light atop, but this is not the main point of opposition; if approved, it is to be located on the residential Twin Ponds Lane, consequentially obstructing views from scenic outlooks at Minnewaska State Park, which is only four miles away.

“This was not our preferred structure at all,” said attorney Scott P. Olson, representing Verizon Wireless

Thursday, October 21, 2010

at a town board meeting last month, “It’s a significant compromise to our system and our network but we heard concerns from the public and the board.”

The degree of visibility has been argued since the tower would be blocked by surrounding trees, but it would be apparent from areas such as the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge and a number of other scenic areas within close proximity.

At this point in time, the decision remains within the hands of the town of Shawangunk planning board.

“There may be a vote on the third [of November],” said Shawangunk Planning Board Chair Kris Pederson.

Until the vote is held amongst the board, no future actions are certain.

The New Paltz Oracle

NEWS

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Plastic Bag Issue Blows Across Country

By Pamela Vivanco

Copy Editor | Pvivanco57@newpaltz.edu

California’s rejection of the Plastic Bag Ban Law has led to increased discussion across the country, including New Paltz, about the environmental effects of plastic bags.

Bill AB1998, which was intended to encourage shoppers to use their own reusable tote bags, would have made California the first in the nation to ban single-use plastic bags in grocery stores and pharmacies starting in 2012, and in liquor stores and convenience stores in 2013 according to ABC News.

Recycling Club President and Recycling Coordinator Lauren Brois said she is disappointed that the Plastic Bag Ban Law did not pass in California.

“The law has been passed in a few places in the United States--San Francisco, places in North Carolina and Washington, DC. But if the entire state accepted the law, it would have been

a fantastic example for the rest of the country,” Brois said. “[New York City] was tossing the idea around but the idea was dismissed for economic reasons.”

According to The New York Times, plastic bags are made from non-renewable resourcesoil, natural gas- and are not bio-degradable. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that only 5.2 percent of plastic bags were recycled in the United States in 2005.

“Plastic bags [are] made of oil. The stuff that we spent the whole summer watching destroy the Gulf Coast,” said Brois. “Do we need to cause all these terrible events--oil spills, global climate change, pollution and the like-by digging up fossil fuels that have been in the ground for millions of years just so we can simply carry a few items from the store to the car [or] home?”

Third-year sociology major Artie Williams said she tries to make it a point to take reusable bags to the supermarket most of the

time. And when Williams uses plastic bags, she saves them and reuses them as garbage bags.

Although Williams likes to use reusable bags she has experienced plastic bag taxes in certain stores and does not like it.

“It’s a burden, it’s a hassle…it’s inconvenient,” she said. “It’s extra money that I’m spending on top of the budget that I already have for my own groceries.”

Unlike Williams, Brois said that although taxing plastic bags seems strict, it can make the most difference in the amount of plastic bags consumed, “although not exactly in creating an environmental awareness,” she said.

New Paltz’s Health and Nutrition encourages their customers to bring their own bag or box when shopping at the store said Night Store Manager Carolann Kania. The store also provides boxes instead and charges 15 cents for bio-degradable plastic bags.

“Most of the time people take a box and won’t ask for a bag,” said Kania. “We’ve been

Thursday, October 21, 2010

doing this for a couple of years now and most of our customers know the situation.”

People complain sometimes but most of the time it’s because they’ve never been to the store before said Kania.

Stop & Shop in New Paltz deducts five cents from their customers’ purchase for each reusable bag used.

Brois said that although taxing plastic bags or reimbursing customers for using reusable bags is a great idea that would benefit the environment, the over-consumption of plastic bags is only part of a bigger issue.

“I would like to see the plastic bags as a first step, we can change what we are carrying our products home in and then maybe it can encourage people to question what they are exactly bringing home,” Brois said. “For example, are you carrying high fructose corn syrup, lettuce that has traveled 3,000 miles across the country and grown with fertilizers and pesticides?”

The10 New Paltz Oracle Pg

The New Paltz Oracle

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS ‘Wakeville Stories’ by Larry Carr October 22-24 7 p.m.

Parker Theater In late August 1945 at the end of WWII, five residents of Wakeville (a small town on the Ohio/West Virginia border) converge at the Wakeville Community Cemetery. Carr, a professor of English and dramatic writing at SUNY New Paltz, explores how ordinary people confront their own enemies–whether they are at war overseas or damaged in their own personal war zone. The play, a workin-progress, will receive a staged reading as part of a new-play reading series. $5.

The Annual Michael R. Kelly Chili Cook-Off October 23 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Pine Hill Community Center Celebrate National Chili Month and see live music. Admission is free, prices for chili TBA. ‘The Lyric Oboe’ October 26 8 p.m.

Parker Theater Dr. Joël Evans, Dr. Ruthanne Schempf and members of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Quartet will present an evening of romantic and virtuosic works for oboe by 19th- and early 20th- century masters.

‘The Perfect Storm: Environmental Crisis Plus Endless Wars and Global Poverty’ October 27 7 p.m.

Coykendall Science Auditorium Global warming will disfigure our world unless decisive emergency measures are taken now. The United States and other industrialized countries must substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among

other tasks, within a couple of decades. The longer it takes, the more devastating the destruction. Earth’s entire ecological system is in crisis. But nearly all the countries with the power to prevent disaster are not acting swiftly, or not acting at all. Water and food supplies are endangered. Glaciers are melting, as are the Arctic and Antarctic ice packs. Temperatures are rising. Coastal areas are in danger. Coinciding this unfolding tragedy are the long wars being conducted by our own country, and Pentagon plans for more wars in the future. America is spending a trillion dollars a year on the military and national security - funds needed to end increasing global poverty. By 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban or rural slums. A billion people suffer chronic hunger now, and 15 million children starve to death each year (one every six seconds). Taken together, this amounts to a perfect storm of impending global devastation. Learn about this crisis from experts and activists on Oct. 27. Learn about what we can do as concerned people to stop this madness - for ourselves and future generations. There’s still time, but we must act now to help save our environment and life on Mother Earth.

‘How to Grow Local Organizations’ November 1 8 p.m.

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall Larry Wittner, long-time peace and social justice advocate, will be coming to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on Nov. 1 to give a free talk about growing local membership in grassroots, activist organizations. Dr. Wittner earned a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and has since played a leadership role in the United University Professions (affiliate of the AFL/CIO). He has sponsored numerous union resolutions endorsing the Campaign for a New Foreign Policy,

condemning the Iraq War, and calling upon the AFL-CIO to demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops from that conflict. All Mid Hudson activists and organizations are welcome to attend. Sponsored by: Dutchess Peace ‘Hudson Valley Artists 2010: Contemporary Art and Praxis’ Through November 14 Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art The exhibition presents the work of over twenty artists and artist collectives living and working in the Hudson River Valley who demonstrate how creative practice can operate in service of theory to effect changes in the real world.

‘The Illustrious Mr. X’ Museum Collection as Character Study Through December 12 Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art The exhibition gathers thematic groups of objects, each of which serve to bear the weight of representing a facet of a fictional life. The thematic groupings include family, relationships, food, music, travel, dreams, and more.

‘Binary Visions: 19th Century Woven Coverlets’ from the collection of Historic Huguenot Street Through December 12 Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art This exhibition, selected from the extensive textile collects at Historic Huguenot Street, will feature thirty coverlets woven from cotton and wool on water-powered looms in small factories across the mid-Hudson Valley during the first half of the 19th-century.

The coverlets present a striking range of representational and geometric imagery and are installed emphasizing visual correlations over historical or geographical connections, allowing visitors to view, compare, and contrast dozens of coverlets at once.

To submit an announcement, write down the name of the club/event, date, time and location. Then e-mail it to oracle@newpaltz.edu. All submissions are due by Sunday at 5 p.m. Submissions are printed at the discretion of the editor-in-chief.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

OASIS OASIS is a student-staffed counseling and crisis intervention center and telephone hotline. OASIS volunteers are trained and supervised by the Psychological Counseling Center to respond to anonymous telephone calls and walk-in requests for support, information and referral. Peer crisis intervention is provided in college-related areas such as academic stress, loneliness, sexual orientation, suicide, drug and alcohol-related problems, relationship and family conflicts.

OASIS, located in the Deyo Hall basement, room G13C, is open from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. while classes are in session, and the extension is x4945.

HAVEN HAVEN of OASIS is the studentstaffed hotline and walk-in center, supervised by the Psychological Counseling Center. HAVEN volunteers provide support, information and referral for students who have been the target of rape, attempted rape or any unwanted sexual experience.

HAVEN is located in the Deyo Hall basement, room G13c and is open from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. while classes are in session, and the extension is x4930.

Call or stop in when classes are in session. The 24-hour HAVEN beeper is 845-455-6093.

Campus Escort Call x3338 for an escort from anywhere on campus to anywhere on campus. 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night.

Not a taxi service — for safety, not for the lazy!

Safe Rider Need a ride home from the bars? We provide FREE rides home or back to campus please give me a call at 845834-2213.

Facilities Management Having facilities related issues?

Please call x3301.

2B | Features

The New Paltz Oracle CLUB PROFILE

HOT OFF THE FRYING ZAN

Getting in the Swing of Things

By Zan Strumfeld

NEW CLUB OPENS THEIR JUMPIN’ AND JIVIN’ ARMS TO ANYONE

Features Editor

Sstrumfeld34@newpaltz.edu Surprisingly enough, I cooked a lot this week. But, I chose the best and most delicious meal yet. A friend and I invented our own stir fry, with veggies and shrimp. So here’s:

Crazy Crazy Stir Fry Medley How many people are you making this for?

This is for four (and leftovers).

You’ll need: 1 bag of frozen shrimp, peeled and tailless preferred 1 bag of egg noodles 1 bag of frozen cauliflower and broccoli 1 can of water chestnuts 1 case of portabella mushrooms 1 bottle of Asian peanut sauce 1 bag of snap peas 1 red onion Garlic (Amount depends on your liking) Salt, pepper, spices Olive oil

PHOTOS BY KELSEY REY

Alright! First things first, get that water boiling for the pasta.

Begin chopping up all of your veggies and garlic into small pieces. Grab a collander and put the shrimp, cauliflower and broccoli under cold water for five minutes. Grab a large skillet and pour the olive oil in with the garlic and onions. After everything’s all hot and steamy, throw in the mushrooms, cauliflower and broccoli. Keep stirring until they begin to cook. Begin to add in the water chestnuts, snap peas and the shrimp. Continue to sautee. During this time, the water should be boiling, so throw in the egg noodles. Continue to stir everything together. Once the noodles are cooked, pour them into the skillet and mix everything together. Grab the bottle of peanut sauce and pour the entire thing (do it) on top of everything, and again continue to mix around. And you’re done!

By Liana Messina Contributing Writer | Lmessina43@newpaltz.edu

Fall semester has reached its midpoint and students are beginning to get into the swing of things. Third-year students Alvin Arnold and Jill Exman are the founders of the Swing Dance Club, new to campus this semester. They hope to build a solid network of others who share their passion of swing dancing.

The popularity of swing dance originated in the 20s, known for its upbeat style of jazz music. Arnold and Exman have a strong love for dance, and they aren’t the only ones.

The feeling it gives them fueled their motivation for creating a club where they are able to socialize with other admirers of the lively dance.

“We wanted to have a place here on campus where we could share the dance with fellow students and hopefully begin a dance community of our own,” said secondary-education and mathematics major Arnold.

Arnold and Exman are embracing new members with open arms, literally. Potential members can expect to learn the art and style of swing dancing, as well as the opportunity to meet others who share this love, not only on campus, but all around the area.

“Our goal is to teach, share and enjoy swing dancing,” environmental and organismal biology major Exman said.

Each meeting begins with a 45-mintue lesson, as Arnold and Exman illustrate the dance moves, and concludes with social dancing in a more laid back atmosphere.

Arnold hopes the club will continue to grow and expand as

PHOTO COURTESY OF WESLYING.ORG

Swing dancing originated in the 1920’s. a dancing community, even past graduation. Members are brainstorming innovative ideas and events, as the club is quickly gaining interested members.

They would like to do collaborative performances with other dancers, including those from the Marist and Vassar communities. An annual swing dancethemed event is also in the works to develop bonds with

Thursday, October 21, 2010

swing dancers in the Hudson Valley.

All are welcome to attend the weekly meetings, every Friday from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Elting Dance Studio. No experience is necessary, only expectations of becoming an amazing dancer.

“The whole dance is about exuberance in being alive,” Arnold said.

Features | 3B

The New Paltz Oracle CAMPUS FEATURES

Students Continue to Make a Difference NEW PALTZ PREPARES FOR ITS 6TH YEAR OF MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY THIS WEEKEND

By Andrea DeMarco

Contributing Writer | Andrea.demarco11@newpaltz.edu

Make a Difference Day only comes once a year, but each one delivers a message that making a difference world-wide starts at home. The two day event, sponsored by USA Weekend, is taking place on Oct. 22 and 24. This marks SUNY New Paltz’s sixth year participating in the national program.

Mike Patterson, director of student activities and union services and co-chair for Make a Difference Day, has run the event for the past three years.

“We are really focusing on servicing the Ulster County community,” said Patterson.

The event begins on Friday, Oct. 22 with collections for the Ulster County-wide program Donations for Dignity, which is in its 12th year. The drive is collecting personal care items such as deodorant, laundry detergent, razors, shampoo, soap, etc.

The collection will be held in Student Union 100 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Shifts for volunteers will be held in one-hour intervals. The items collected on Friday will then be delivered on Sunday by volunteers to a yet to be determined service agency in Ulster County. Additionally, volunteers will collect more personal care items and cleaning products from the regional community at Stop & Shop and Shop Rite to go towards Family of New Paltz.

The hands-on service component will take place on Sunday, Oct. 24. Students will depart to their assigned sites at 10 a.m. and return to campus at 2 p.m., with transportation provided.

Alison Ficurilli is a fourth-year adolescent education and English major and a student representative for Make a Difference Day and has been involved all of her years at New Paltz.

“It’s great to know that all over the country other people are

doing community service and giving back what they can,” said Ficurilli. “I really like doing community service that you can see making a difference and having a positive impact on the community at large.”

“

New Paltz is our ‘home away from home,’ and what better way to say ‘thanks’ and show our appreciation than by volunteering some time to local organizations”

—LESLIE GREEN

She will serve as a site leader on Sunday and will be setting up a T-Shirt Grab Sale on Friday in Student Union 100 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. All used and new shirts will be sold for $1.

Sue O’Driscoll, the previous director of Student Activities and Union Services, brought the program to SUNY New Paltz in 2005 to keep the national tradition alive, and start a new tradition on campus.

In past years, New Paltz has run other collections and programs for Make a Difference Day including toy drives, programs aimed at senior citizens and other various groups.

The collection and hands-on elements allow students the flexibility to serve as little or as much as they want.

“It has always been a two-tier approach where people can give things or they can give their personal time,” Patterson said.

Leslie Green, a fourth-year English major and the student activities manager representative for Make a Difference Day, was a participant in 2007 and 2008. She volunteered at a local nursing home and helped box food donations, respectively.

“Giving back to the community is something that we all can do! It can be as simple as donating food items to a soup kitchen, tutoring a child in need, spending time visiting residents at a nursing home or fundraising for a cause,” said Green.

Numbers for participation have been down in the past three years, Patterson said, because of the conflict they’ve had with Open House weekend. Since being moved to a different date, registration has surpassed last year. They are using this change as an opportunity to focus on Friday’s collection and Sunday’s service day.

Patterson and his team have taken to all media platforms possible to round up volunteers and are also working with campus Greek life, the Student Association, the Emerging Leaders program and recruits from the Volunteer Fair to get people involved.

“There are so many ways to volunteer and Make a Difference Day allows the SUNY New Paltz community to show appreciation to the town and Ulster County for several hours in just one day,” she said. “New Paltz is our ‘home away from home,’ and what better way to say ‘thanks’ and show our appreciation than by volunteering some time to local organizations.”

The coordinators behind Make a Difference Day want the act of doing service to become infectious among students.

“Our hope is that it’s a launch pad for lifelong giving back and that through our service day, our students will have a first experience with community service in a way that’s a positive and easy one,” Patterson said.

Networking Fair Opens Doors of Opportunity CAREER-SEEKING STUDENTS SEARCH FOR INTERNSHIPS AND JOBS

By David Manis

Contributing Writer | Dmanis20@newpaltz.edu

The Career Resource Center presented the fall 2010 Networking Fair for Jobs and Internships in the Student Union on Tuesday, Oct. 5. Students were given the chance to obtain applications, contact information and job descriptions of internships and full-time jobs from participating companies.

Several companies and organizations attended the fair including Verizon Wireless, United States Marines Corps, Ulster County Savings Bank, Sedore Hudson Valley CPAs, Vector and YAI Networks.

The fair was organized by Christine Daly and Beth King of the Career Resource Center. Daly, who is the senior career counselor for business and technology, said she was excited about the successful turnout of the event.

“We invited about 500 companies and over 40 are here today. Not only is the company turnout very good but so is

the student turnout,” Daly said.

King, who is the internship coordinator, said she was also excited about the event’s success.

“The company turnout was great, but we always wish more companies could come,” she said. “What students should realize is that every company has several opportunities for a variety of majors. Students shouldn’t rule out a company based on its name.”

Several of the employers in attendance gave rave reviews for the fair. CJ Rioux, a CPA and SUNY New Paltz Alumnus who represented Sedore Hudson Valley CPAs, said the career fair was a success.

“We’ve collected a lot of resumes so far,” said Rioux.

“We hire a lot of New Paltz alumni and hope to continue that trend. I also really love what they did to the SUB. I think it’s great.”

City Manager Morgan Willis of Sherwin-Williams, a Paint Stores Group, also enjoyed the fair.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

“It’s a great turnout. It’s been very busy. We are excited to be working with the school,” said Willis.

Store manager Ozzie Osborn, also of Sherman-Williams, agreed.

“It is very well organized and there are a lot of good quality companies here. We are already looking forward to next year,” Osborn said.

Students had a different view of the fair’s success.

“The fair was good for me because I was able to talk with a few employers that were looking for students interested in the accounting industry,” said third-year accounting major Rosemary Salcedo. “But there weren’t as many employers as I hoped. I wish there were more, but I’m sure other companies had their reasons for not attending.”

The Career Resource Center will be sponsoring another career fair on April 5, 2011. Copies of the fair booklet are available in the Career Resource Center in Humanities 105.

4B | FEATURES

The New Paltz Oracle

ACADEMIA FEATURE

Academics Around the World SUNY STUDENTS BROADEN THEIR HORIZONS BY STUDYING ABROAD

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR.COM

By Daniel Pimentel

Contributing Writer | N00536411@newpaltz.edu

A two-week intensive on British Theatre or art in London, England over winter break, a Japanese studies program in Nagasaki, Japan or a volunteer program at a literacy school in Kolkata, India.

Choosing a study abroad program can be difficult, but actually doing it can be an unforgettable experience. It can also be a great opportunity for students to study internationally and experience a new culture.

Micole Baclija, a fourth-year history major, took advantage of the opportunity to study abroad last semester at Vesalius College in Brussels, Belgium.

“I wanted to travel to broaden my horizons,” said Baclija, “to open my mind and see what other people thought about America.”

Overseas study by U.S. students is up 8.5 percent and has increased four-fold over the past 20 years, according to Open Doors 2009, a report published by the Institute of International Education.

The Center for International Programs at SUNY New Paltz offers over 40 study abroad programs in countries such

as England, France, Australia, Spain, Ecuador, Italy, Argentina and many others.

Kathryn Blessing, a fourth-year visual arts and journalism major, who studied at the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia, said she benefited from the information sessions and the help of advisors at the Center for International Programs.

“They did everything in their power to get you ready to go out there,” said Blessing. “[But] When you’re immersed in a culture, you have to adjust.”

Students can choose to study overseas during the fall or spring semester, over the winter intersession, in the summer or an entire academic year.

Carlton Rounds, assistant director of study abroad for the center for international programs at SUNY New Paltz, said his goal was to teach students how to study internationally.

“Today study abroad is seen as the central tenet of an undergraduate education,” said Rounds.

He said students need to focus on “person to person diplomacy” to get more out of their study abroad experience rather than on cultural stereotypes.

“Stereotypes don’t translate across cultures,” said

Rounds. “Experience translates across cultures.”

Ericka Vales, a third-year communication and media major, who studied at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, said her experience abroad helped her become student ambassador for Austrade, the Australian Trade Commission, in SUNY New Paltz.

But she experienced challenges in the beginning of her semester abroad.

She said Australian professors were “very hands-off.”

They didn’t make announcements about assignments, and students were responsible to keep up with the syllabus on when assignments were due.

She also said it was the student’s responsibility to ask professors about assignments.

“I wasn’t used to it, but, personally, I preferred it,” said Vales. “I got over the initial feeling of discomfort.”

Most students agreed that they matured and learned to be independent from their experience abroad.

“I don’t take the little things for granted, don’t expect everything to work out,” said Baclija, “you have to work for everything you want.”

How do you apply for a study abroad program?

Go to the studying abroad website at studioabroad.newpaltz.edu.

Students must first go to the program brochure page and complete an online application by clicking on the ‘Apply Now’ button at the top right-hand side. They will create their own personal study abroad webpage and application page. Once they complete an application, they will receive an e-mail confirming their application and giving them further information.

Note! SUNY New Paltz students sign in with their current my.newpaltz.edu username and password.

Non-New Paltz students will create a unique password and ID when applying for a program and signing in.

All information derived from studioabroad.newpaltz.edu.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

FEATURES | 5B

The New Paltz Oracle CULTURE FEATURE

The Story of ‘Social Network’ MODERN TREND TACKLES MOVIES AND MILLIONS

FAMILIAR FACES ...with Annie Yu

Roseann “Rosi” Pesavento

Night cashier at Hasbrouck Dining Hall

PHOTO COURTESY OF POPCRUNCH.COM “The Social Network” sheds a new light on the dark history of the creation of Facebook.

By Michelle Eisenstadt

Contributing Writer | N01936070@newpaltz.edu

With the release of the new movie “The Social Network,” viewers got a glimpse of how the well-known website came to be and the kind of culture that defines our generation.

In today’s society, spending time on social networking websites has become a way of life.

People spend countless hours blogging, chatting or just exploring websites on a daily basis.

The most visited social networking sites are Myspace, Facebook and Twitter. Myspace, launched in August 2003, now has over 66 million members.

Facebook, launched in February 2004, now has over 500 million users. Twitter, launched in July 2006, now has over 190 million users.

Facebook has many uses, including social networking and games. Joan Schuman, adjunct faculty member and public relations agent, uses Facebook to promote her clients’ products.

“There are ways to increase awareness of organizations and products used to keep customers happy by creating dialogues, and catch any problems while they are still small,” said Schuman.

However, there is a downside to Facebook. According to an article on NYTimes.com, Facebook users collectively spend 10 million minutes everyday on Facebook.

Likewise, Facebook can also be used as a tool of procrastination.

“I use Facebook a billion times a day. It is addicting and distracting,” said Allison Dorian, second-year public relations major.

With “The Social Network,” Facebook is currently gaining a lot of press. “The Social Network,” gives audiences the image of Facebook from its launch through the first year of the website. The movie ranked number one, until last week, since it opened on Oct. 1, and has already grossed $62.4 million in box office sales.

The movie sheds a new light on Facebook, revealing the dark history of how Facebook came to be. It shows the trials and tribulations of how the website of 500 million friends was built on broken friendships.

Many people do not know who is behind the multi-billion dollar website.

“It was interesting seeing

Mark Zuckerberg as the man behind Facebook,” said Dorian.

The movie also gives viewers a sense of what it really took to make Facebook run.

“I never really thought of the business side of it and how many people it takes to run the site,” said Danielle Huslinger, secondyear early childhood education major.

The movie also revealed just how much a site as frequently used as Facebook is worth.

“I went on it and kept thinking this little site is worth $25 billion? It’s nuts,” said Huslinger.

With its release, the movie has raised a lot of controversy.

According to ABC News, the movie was based on the book “Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook:: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal” by Ben Mezrich. Like the book, the movie has been questioned on whether it is fact or fiction.

Heather Watts, a second-year early childhood education major, also saw the movie recently.

“I never realized how controversial it was to make Facebook..

I guess I never realized that the website is a business and that it takes work and a lot of people to run it,” said Watts.

Annie Yu: So, how did you end up at SUNY New Paltz?

Rosi Pesavento: I lived in Highland (graduated high school in 2006) and I got referred to Hasbrouck by a family member and now I live in New Paltz.

AY: What is the most interesting thing about your job?

RP: I made a lot more new friends. I get hit on a lot. People leave me comments on the board, but I don’t respond to them, Darold does. I hear the end of a lot of drunk stories on Fridays and Saturdays.

AY: What do you find the most annoying about working at Hasbrouck?

RP: When people forget their card or ignore me. Some people will just hand me their card and expect me to swipe it, while pretending like I’m not really here.

AY: Which is your favorite day to work?

RP: I like to work on Thursdays because of topping Thursday, and I hate working on Tuesdays because I don’t like tacos and I hear “Oh, it’s Taco Tuesday” about 4,000 times a day.

AY: What do you like to do when you’re not working?

RP: I like to spend time on the internet, read and walk around and take pictures.

AY: What is your favorite thing about New Paltz, the school and town?

RP: The people. The atmosphere. And just the scenery.

AY: Anything else you want to add?

RP: Hmm, I watch people fall up and down the stairs and text all the time. Also, the staff members here are really funny.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

6B | Features

The New Paltz Oracle

TREND FEATURE

Fall Fashion Breezes Through New Paltz

SOME TRENDY TIPS TO HELP STAY STYLISH DURING THE CHANGING SEASON

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BIANCA MENDEZ From left to right, students Dana “Dandy” Dobryznski, Ashley Almario, Samantha Walsh and Eric Sowalskie strut their New Paltz fall fashion around campus.

By Bianca Mendez “I often see tye-dye T-shirts paired with jeggings,” she From what Bailey saw, she found that the textures Contributing Writer | Bmendez57@newpaltz.edu said. used in fashion include lace, fur and floral. She also spotStudents also love accessorizing to turn outfits into Fall is here, and everyone in SUNY New Paltz is ted knee-highs and tights in different bold patterns, highdifferent styles. Second-year art major Nick Flohr said he breaking out their new outfits. With its diverse student waist skirts and booties in style. loves adding scarves to his outfits. population, one can see a variety of styles while walking New Paltz students are not far from the minds of BaiAlthough New Paltz has many fashion-forward stuthrough campus. ley and of top fashion designers. dents, some, like second-year radio/TV production major “I frequently see very vintage styles,” said secondSamantha Walsh, second-year history and English Eric Sowalskie keep their outfits simple. year undeclared student Ashley Almario. “The fashion major, takes close notice of the fashion forward trends. Her “I usually wear jeans and a T-shirt like I always do, sense on campus is unique and very different from back favorite trends include lace, florals and leggings. but if its cooler I’ll put on a hoodie or a jacket,” said Sohome. I see a lot of girls portraying the Urban Outfitters “I love leggings, and usually I pair it off with a long walskie. style.” shirt,” said Walsh.

Even female students agree that plain jeans and a shirt Almario has a point, considering that New Paltz is Students can be seen walking around campus, wearing will suffice. only two hours away from New York City, one of the fash- skirts and dresses paired with leather boots. Oversized tops paired with leggings or shorts, and sheep-skin or leather “I like to wear jeans, band tees and flip flops are a ion capitals of the world. must,” said second-year computer science major Dana boots are also often big among students.

New York City is home to Fashion Week and the Fash“Dandy” Dobrzynski. “I always wear casual, comfy piecAlmario said her favorite fashion trends are skinny ion’s Night Out street fair. Through these events, designers es.” jeans, leggings and high-waisted skirts. are able to showcase their work to the public. Fashion Week Anyone looking for inspiration about fashion can “I love clothes that show off your body and are flatter2010 showed a variety of looks for this season. Women’s walk through campus. Students will always be channeling ing,” she said. magazine Harper’s Bazzar featured the fall trends from their personal style for seasons to come.

Walsh also notices that students will follow the trends Fashion Week on their website. Editor-in-Chief Glenda while adding a New Paltz twist.

Bailey gave fashion lovers a sense of what is in style.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | 7B

The New Paltz Oracle MUSIC FEATURE

Record Responsibly TWO SUNY NEW PALTZ STUDENTS KEEP THE LOCAL MUSIC SCENE ALIVE

A&E Editor | Malter42@newpaltz.edu

It was a hot summer day when second-year English education major Dean Engle and fourth-year psychology major Nolan Conaway sat together lamenting at Village Pizza in New Paltz. Distraught over the lack of organization among the town’s musicians, Engle said he and Conaway wanted a catalog of local artists and an establishment where bands could associate in order to be heard by a greater audience within the community. That’s when the idea hit them.

“We realized we should quit whining and just start [a label] ourselves,” said Engle. “Over the next few days we talked to artists, bought some blank tapes and set up a website.”

Together, with approximately $100, the two students formed Responsible Records and haven’t looked back since.

With a current total of six releases, which are available free to download from responsiblerecs.com, the label has rapidly started to expand.

Rhino Records, a New Paltz based vinyl and CD shop, has allowed the label to set up a permanent display of cassettes, as well as organize free shows in front of the store every couple of weeks.

“People are generally supportive,” Conaway said. “We actually had to make a bunch of extra copies of one of our old releases, Compsponsible, because so many people were interested in hearing it.”

Engle said, despite a small percentage of the town’s population actually being aware of the local music scene, he and Conaway have received a flood of positive feedback.

From their first five releases alone, the students sold more than Dean Engle

Four of six albums offered by Responsible Records.

80 tapes and have had several hundred downloads from their website.

In order to accomplish the free download service, Engle and Conaway simply set up a free account on mediafire.com, where each release is hosted and linked on the label’s official website.

Although sales have been primarily in digital format, Engle and Conaway have continued to offer cassettes of all six releases for $2 each, forgoing a disc option.

“Cassettes are a uniquely physical format,” Engle said. “CDs are just pancake-shaped USB drives at this point, so if someone wants to buy an album, we want them to have something they’ll listen to on a device besides a computer. The albums are all free to download, so CDs would be sort of redundant.”

According to Engle and Conaway, running a label representing 15 artists and bands has not been without

Thursday, October 21, 2010

challenges.

Conaway said managing the label while balancing a busy college schedule has kept both him and Engle incredibly busy, consuming most of their free time – at least 10 hours a week or more. “[Engle] and I usually have to make an afternoon of producing a new release,” Conaway said. “We make about 10 to 15 copies of each tape, and when you factor in the time it takes to duplicate the tapes, create the inserts, print and cut them out and assemble them, each individual tape is going to take upwards of a half hour to make.”

Artists interested in being associated with Responsible Records must be based in the Hudson Valley. In order to maintain a diverse range of artists, Engle said no band or musician is required to play any particular genre or style – as long as they’re not jam bands.

Engle said artists attached to Responsible Records are essentially donating their music, but by being a part of a label that offers free content, they may garner fans that might have never discovered them originally.

In tune with the goal of expanding the tastes of listeners, both Conaway and Engle said they have strived to keep those interested in local music united. Last year, SUNY New Paltz graduate Theresa Hauser founded Kitty City, a place where bands still come together to perform for their peers and fans. After her departure, students like Engle and Conaway have made it their duty to keep New Paltz’s music scene growing.

“We’re just continuing a tradition that was already established,” Engle said.

“Our mission is to catalog the musical output of our small town and to make hearing these incredible artists’ music as easy as possible.”

Nolan Conaway ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF DEAN ENGLE

By Maxim Alter

8B | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A

The New Paltz Oracle

RTS FEATURE

NERDS REJOICE AT NEW YORK COMIC CON FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION BRINGS FANS AND ICONS TOGETHER

BOTTOM LEFT AND MIDDLE PHOTOS BY MAXIM ALTER ALL OTHER PHOTOS COURTESY OF FLICKR.COM

By Maxim Alter

A&E Editor | Malter42@newpaltz.edu

Thousands of alien creatures, monsters, warlocks, gargoyles, gremlins, super heroes and super villains gathered together for a single weekend to escape the confines of society and to celebrate the one thing that brings them all together: being a nerd.

New York Comic Con (NYCC), an annual convention dedicated to comic books, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies and television, kicked off Oct. 8 in New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, opening its doors to a flood of fandom.

Celebrating its fifth year, the event was not only the largest it

has ever been in terms of size, but in attendance as well — filled by over 100,000 adoring fans ready to “get their geek on.”

“For those of us who worked on [NYCC] five years ago, it’s kind of hard to believe how big it’s gotten, how many of you come and how impressive the event is today,” said NYCC founding member Greg Topalian in a keynote speech. “Without support, this never would have happened.”

With tickets sold out during its second day, the convention was host to more than 300 panels featuring advanced screenings and never-before-seen tidbits of the newest offerings in the entertainment industry.

When perusing the center’s main floor, attendees were greet-

Thursday, October 21, 2010

ed by thousands of comics ripe for picking and exclusive tastes of the newest video game releases like “Dead Space 2” and Microsoft’s “Kinect.”

Sticking with the event’s theme, artists and writers from around the globe gathered to promote their work, meet fans and share their passion for comics.

“There’s really nothing better than a large group of people, face to face, that are actually coming together and meeting,” said comic book visiting artist Stuart Moore. “People are really drawn to that, especially people with common interests like comics.

Also, they get to meet the artists, writers and filmmakers they love. It’s just a great gathering point in an important social nexus.”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | 9B

The New Paltz Oracle

Select Artists

Scott Wegener, Comic Book Artist and Brian Clevinger, Writer

As creators of “Atomic Robo,” a series depicting the adventures of a super-powerful, time-traveling robot, Wegener and Clevinger have a unique method of collaboration.

“Some of our characters, like the ghost of Edison, have actually been accidents,” said Wegener.

“I had been drawing random undead historical figures and

Stuart Moore, Writer

As one of the founding editors of Vertigo, an imprint of DC Comics, Moore has spent his career adapting and gathering inspiration from writers he greatly respects.

“For fiction in general, I’m a huge fan of Philip K. Dick and Robert Anton Wilson,” Moore said. “Both writers have informed my new graphic novel, ‘Shadrach Stone.’”

Now, as a popular author of many mainstream com-

of

Comic Con

[Clevinger] ended up writing an entire story around it.”

“Atomic Robo” went through many different forms, but after putting their heads together, Wegener and Clevinger created an award-winning mish-mash of all the things they loved as kids.

Clevinger said any writers who want to break into the industry and bring their characters to life should be open to collaboration.

“Once you see it all come together, it’s just so fun and cool,” Clevinger said. -MA

ics, Moore has written story arcs for characters such as Iron Man, Spider-Man and Wolverine.

Moore said, although the economy has hit a rough patch, there is still a lot of hope for comic book fans.

“There’s this gloom and doom talk about the industry and I don’t undersand it,” he said.

“Sales of regular comic books have been steady and we’re only beginning to tap the digital market. There’s going to be a lot of activity for years to come.” -MA

Ron Garney, Comic Book Artist

have to go through criticism in order to grow.”

Garney said he has been influenced by countless artists throughout his career, but two of his favorites are Alex Toth and John Buscema.

Garney said aspiring artists should send samples to the specific companies that represent the characters they enjoy illustrating.

“Target an editor and keep at it,” he said. “The important thing is not to quit.” -MA

Chris Giarrusso, Comic Book Artist

After creating “Mini Marvels,” a collection of stories following Marvel superheroes as children, Giarruso’s work began appearing as back up strips and features in many Marvel comics.

With the advent of Web comics, Giarrusso said aspiring artists and writers can easily benefit from flaunting their work over the Internet.

“Get a website to show everyone your material,” he said. “It’s a lot cheaper and easier than printing books.” -MA

Known for his work on issues of “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Silver Surfer,” “Hulk” and “Captain America,” Garney has gained a following from both his artwork and writing.

Garney said he attributes his success to his ability in taking criticism.

“You can’t close yourself off or be egotistical on any level,” he said. “Don’t take things personally. You

During his youth, Giarrusso became enamored with the comic strips inside of his family’s daily newspaper.

As an adult, he introduced the comic industry to age-friendly creations like “Mini Marvels” and “G-Man,” hoping to inspire young readers.

“It feels great to have stuff appreciated, recognized and getting into the hands of new readers like kids or people that wouldn’t normally read comics,” said Giarrusso.

Gareth Edwards, Filmmaker

By Andrew Wyrich

Sports Editor | Andrew.wyrich63@newpaltz.edu

‘Monsters’ Director Gareth Edwards.

“Monsters,” a film directed by Edwards, isn’t your run-of-the-mill monster movie.

At a panel, in front of about 150 people, Edwards described his first foray into filmmaking while directing what he called “the world’s most realistic monster movie.”

With a limited release in the United States on Oct. 29, “Monsters” is the story of a journalist and an American tourist’s struggle through Mexico six years after Earth has suffered an alien invasion.

Edwards called the movie a “road movie,” which was first pitched as “The Blair Witch Project” combined with “War of the Worlds.” However, Edwards said he couldn’t actually pin down what the film’s journey was really about.

“If you can sum up a movie in a sentence, what’s the point of making it?”

Edwards said.

The only two casting decisions made before filming were the parts for the

“Monsters.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MAGNET RELEASING

two main characters of the film. The others, according to Edwards, were people the crew met minutes before filming.

Filmed for slightly over $15,000, “Monsters” was shot in an “opportunistic” manner and Edwards himself filmed most of the scenes. The crew mimicked in real life what was written into the characters’ fictional journey.

Edwards said anything along the way they thought to be interesting was incorporated into the final cut – which led to many important scenes.

“With our film, we did not have a bullseye,” Edwards said. “We shot something first and then added a bullseye afterward.”

Thursday, October 21, 2010

10B | Arts & Entertainment

The New Paltz Oracle

ARTIST PROFILE

A Strong Passion for Performance, Poetry

NEW PALTZ STUDENT GRACE MCDERMOTT SHEDS LIGHT ON MODERN ART FORM

By Kasara Brandman

Contributing Writer | N01711545@newpaltz.edu

“A poetry slam is somewhere between a baseball game and a crazy party,” said slam poet Grace McDermott, a third-year Public Relations major. “You never know how the audience is going to act.”

Even though she first heard about the spoken-word art form at Temple University, her first college, McDermott didn’t try slam poetry until she transferred to SUNY New Paltz in Fall 2009. Ever since then, slam poetry has provided her with the ability to express herself outside of music.

Slam, which was revitalized in the early ‘90s, is an oral tradition where original works of poetry are read aloud and performed in a dramatic fashion.

Only a few months after first attempting slam poetry, McDermott qualified as an alternate for the SUNY New Paltz Slam Team.

This meant she would have the chance to compete at the College Union’s Poetry Slam Invitational, the national competition for slam poetry. In order to earn an official spot

understand autism,” said McDermott. “The poem gave me a chance to think about the person rather than the disease.”

McDermott said it can be difficult to write a slam, and there have been several poems that she wants to write but can’t without more experience.

For her, slam poetry is a way to talk about issues that are generally off limits in society.

“When you start talking about someGrace McDermott performs slam poetry. PHOTO COURTESY GRACE MCDERMOTT thing you can’t really talk about, you start to The judges rate the performances of the poets accept it and it becomes part of your life and on the team, her performance was key. everyone knows it,” said McDermott.

In February 2010, McDermott per- on a scale of one to 10. The rest of the audiAfter spending much of her time as a formed with the wildcard draft team at the ence is encouraged to react however they feel student practicing her craft, McDermott said Wade-Lewis Poetry Slam Invitational, host- whether it’s booing or cheering or anything she ultimately hopes her poems will help ed at SUNY New Paltz. Slam Team Coach, in between. people relate to each other.

McDermott said she draws inspiration Brian Omni Dillon said “she absolutely blew McDermott said she strongly encourages from people or instances where she’s seen everyone away.” everyone to try slam poetry at some point in “She was very obviously raw and young something either really awesome or really their lives as a form of expression. and had a good bit to learn,” said Dillon. “But terrible. Her favorite poem that she has writ“The best part is it doesn’t have to rhyme the tools were there for her from jump street.” ten is called “Brian’s Song” and is about her or make sense to anyone but yourself,” said In a poetry slam there is a three minute cousin who has autism.

McDermott, “It’s just a great way to get an “That poem in particular was really time limit for all poems, and the judges are emotional catharsis.” five randomly chosen audience members. important to me because it’s hard for me to

ART FEATURE

Celebration of the Arts Commemorates Creativity FOURTH ANNUAL COMMUNITY FESTIVAL SUPPORTS LOCAL ARTISTS

By Sunya Bhutta

Copy Editor | Sunya.bhutta94@newpaltz.edu

The fourth annual Celebration of the Arts (COTA) took place on Saturday, Oct. 9 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz. The warm weather and sunny afternoon brought droves of art and culture enthusiasts, students, community members and tourists to the event.

COTA strives to support local artists in the Hudson Valley including fine artists, performers, photographers, craft-makers, musicians, dancers and writers. It originated in 2007 when Noelle Kimbell, at 15 years old, had a dream to bring artists of all disciplines together to encourage networking experiences and to celebrate the significance of art and culture in the community. Kimbell presented her idea to the Arts Community, a non-profit performing arts organization based in New Paltz. Logistics Coordinator Peggy Paparone was greatly impressed by her presentation; thusly COTA began with its first year at Hasbrouck Park.

Since its creation four years ago, COTA

has provided art education to the community by exposing the diversity of artistic expression. It has also created relationships and opportunities between artists.

There were around two hundred participants at this year’s event.

Fine Art and Event Coordinator Melanie Cronin received positive feedback from artists and attendees. She said she believes COTA fosters a creative and relaxed atmosphere for some of the “finest talents in the region.”

“Art and culture are instrumental in archiving history and connecting people in the present day,” said Cronin. “I strongly believe

“

in creating a platform where artists of all disciplines and skill levels feel comfortable in expressing themselves.”

Several cultures were represented throughout the day. There were musical performances by the Mid-Hudson Mexican Folkloric Dance Group and the Indian classical dancers, Natyaniketan.

The Shoe String Band played Appalachian fiddle tunes, Carter Family songs and covers of classics by old country legends like Charlie Poole and Hank Williams.

Many artists had booths where their works

Art and culture are instrumental in archiving history and connecting people in the present day”

— Melanie Cronin

Thursday, October 21, 2010

were being sold. Items on sale included ceramic pieces, stone engravings, paintings, sculptures and hand-knitted accessories and clothing.

Julie Gundersen, second-year art major, thought COTA was a great way to bring together people who enjoy art. She said her favorite part was the fine arts tent which displayed works with a variety of subject matters. Cartoons, portraits, psychedelic, expressionist and realism were just a few styles that stuck out to Gundersen.

“I’m a fine arts major myself so I really enjoyed getting a glance at someone else’s works and ideas who are local to the area,” she said.

“By the end of the day I had so many business cards of different artists to draw inspiration from or to just revisit and admire again in the future. I really enjoyed this experience and hope to see another celebration of the arts again soon.”

Planning for next year’s event has already begun. The 5th Annual COTA is slated for the Saturday during Columbus Day weekend in 2011.

Arts & Entertainment | 11B

The New Paltz Oracle TELEVISION REVIEW

‘Mad Men,’ Mad Good

FINALE DELIVERS SATISFYING CONCLUSION TO A STELLAR SEASON

By Pierce Lydon

Managing Editor | Lydon47@newpaltz.edu

PHOTO COURTESY OF MIMG.UGO.COM

The “Mad Men” season finale was everything that a season finale should be. It tied up loose ends, enticed us with possible storylines for next season and most importantly, left us feeling like we didn’t waste an hour every Sunday for 12 weeks.

This season we finally saw Don Draper as an actual human being.

Granted, a fair share of hardship had come his way during season three but in season four we finally see him having to deal with it and frankly, he sucks at it.

What seemed like casual drinking has almost devolved into full blown alcoholism and Don Draper has begun losing his charm as a result.

Coupled with the loss of the only person who truly knew him and her parting gift, his actions with Megan are not at all surprising. And despite his descent, the storylines of other characters have been

fully realized.

Peggy, in particular, finds herself as an almost unwilling disciple of the mess that is Don. The struggle between seeing what could be her future, in business as well as her personal life, and her drive to always make opportunities for herself and pave her own way seem to be at odds, and the stakes have never been higher. Amidst the congratulations that Don gets in the finale, she and Cosgrove land a pretty hefty account for a failing firm and yet it goes relatively unnoticed.

Ultimately, this leads to an excellent scene between Joan and Peggy which while at first just seems like a release of pent up frustration, it actually serves to cement a gender alliance between the two of them that had been shaky throughout the series. Given the revelation of Joan’s actual actions in regards to her indiscretions with Roger, this could be a major plot point moving forward.

And what should we think about the pairing of Cosgrove and Peggy? The head honcho at Topaz seemed to think they were a couple and despite Cosgrove’s firm affirmation that he will not use personal connections for business gain, he isn’t quick to correct the man.

Was that just for the account? Is Cos-

Department of Theatre Arts Presents Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’

grove a lot more like Pete than he’s willing to admit?

But a question has been looming in my mind since day one with this show, if a plot evolves that heavily involves Don’s children, will they be able to deliver in a dramatic role? “Dexter” fans have seen the absolute train wreck that is Astor and Cody, two children of similar age to Don’s kids. Would the same fate befall these ankle-biters? Thankfully, no. Sally has been phenomenal all season and has really started to grow as her story has been further explored. Even the incredibly creepy Glen is great in his own way.

This season we’ve watched turmoil in a new marriage between two divorcees paralleled with the rise and devastating decline of a new business, the psychological examination of a man on the ropes in all areas of his life, what it means to come of age in a broken home and how a young family struggles to stay together when they just aren’t getting any breaks. I’ve listed all that and I’m still not mentioning over a dozen storylines. This has been an absolutely incredible season.

Now what’s it going to take to get them to produce 22 episodes a season?

From Oct. 7 to 27, members of the SUNY New Paltz Department of Theatre Arts presented William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night, Or What You Will.” The comedy centers around twins mistaken for one another, with the female lead Viola (Rachel Ritacco) posing as young man serving Duke Orsino (Matthew Martino).

Although the play follows the love Viola feels for Orsino, the improbable way Olivia (Ally Farzetta) attempts to swoon Viola’s male guise and pranks played by Sir Toby Belch (Patrick Kiernan), Maria (Julia Register), Sir Andrew (Brendan Quinn) and Feste (Ian Whitt), Director Frank Trezza said “Twelfth Night” has a “very dark backdrop.” Grief felt by characters who lost their family members adds texture to the play, according to the director. He also said music and love are powerful forces in the work. For more information about the department’s producPHOTO COURTESY OF JACK WADE tions, visit newpaltz.edu/theatre.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

12B | The Deep End

The New Paltz Oracle

This Week in the Deep End:

Nicole Pagano Year: Second Major: Graphic Design Minor: Photography “I’m interested in art because the ability to create something has been the one constant in my life for as long as I can remember and I would hate to see it go.”

I’m a sophomore and my

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NICOLCAPTION BY LAURA LUENGAS

Thursday, April 22, 2010

The New Paltz Oracle

OPINION

Pg 11

Take Sustainability Out of the Bag

CARTOON BY DEREK ZIMMERMANN

Over the past few years, phrases such as “going green” or “environmentally friendly” have been carelessly thrown around by the government, corporations and individuals. We make promises all the time to help protect the environment, but the majority of the time those promises are hollow and ignored. We believe the time has come for all of us to actually step up and make a difference instead of just lying around complaining about the issue. Let’s start with getting rid of plastic bags.

If you don’t know by now, plastics are extremely slow to decompose and thus cause a great burden not only on the environment, but on waste removal attempts. Plastic bags can be hazardous to various organisms who accidentally consume them or are entangled or smothered by them, ending in a painful death. Due to their light weight and the ease with which they can become airborne, plastic bags are a nightmare for sanitation departments. The bags need to be constantly collected again and again as they fly away from landfills. Due to the extended rate of biodegradation—up to 1,000 years—the bags take up so

much space that they cause the landfills to grow larger and larger without end. This, along with fact that rogue bags tend to end up in difficult to reach locations like trees, causes endless amounts of trouble. Most terrifying is that a continent of floating plastic bags is steadily growing within the Pacific Ocean.

Last month, a law banning the use of plastic bags in California was put to vote and was intended to push the state at the vanguard of a global movement to be environmentally conscious.

Sadly, the bill was not passed because some believed that during these trying economic times, such bans would hamper any economic growth.

This is frustrating news as the damage that plastic bags wreak is ever growing, but luckily supporters of the law have not lost hope, instead such setbacks are being taken in stride and California will most likely have to contemplate the issue again in the near future.

Although the bill failed to pass in California, we believe even in death it should serve as a wakeup call for other states. The best way to see proposed laws like the one in California popping

up in our own state is for us to begin taking the issue seriously. First of all, we should stop using plastic bags. How many times have you or anyone you know gotten a soda or mozzarella sticks from the Hawk Street Station and still found the need to put it in a plastic bag? Stop doing this, it’s not only wasteful but just plain lazy. If you plan on getting loads of food, either reuse a bag from a previous purchase, or better yet, purchase one of those inexpensive reusable bags they carry at the majority of large grocery store chains or just use a backpack. Making this small but extremely beneficial change in routine will only serve to help you and the environment.

Some stores even pay you a small amount to use the reusable bags, such as Stop and Shop, which takes five cents off your purchase for every reusable bag you bring. It may not sound like much, but the money adds up over time and the good it allows you to do for the environment is priceless in itself. It’s also much better than the fees some lawmakers have proposed and passed to wean consumers off using plastic bags.

In the end, all that can be said is that plastic

bag use needs to stop. Alternatives such as the reusable bags offered in most major grocery stores, not paper or some other ephemeral replacement should be implemented by consumers. We should talk to our representatives about achieving these goals. Tell them you care, especially now during elections when they really want your vote. Also, don’t just stop at plastic bags, there are a million other things that you can do to help the environment. We can start using Nalgene water bottles instead of plastic ones, or ride a bike instead of driving to reduce air pollution. Not using plastic bags should be the first of many steps to help the planet. So go out there and make a difference, because if you try, change might just be in the bag.

Editorials represent the views of the majority of the editorial board. Columns, op-eds and letters, excluding editorials, are solely those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the views of The New Paltz Oracle, its staff members, the campus and university or the Town or Village of New Paltz.

Letters to the editor can be submitted to oracle@newpaltz.edu or via mail to Student Union 417 by 5 p.m on Sundays.

We ask that letters are no more than 250 words for spacial limitation issues.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Pg 12

OPINION

The New Paltz Oracle

Columns

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Journalism Maxim Alter

A&E Editor Malter42@newpaltz.edu As I waited anxiously in the Career Resource Center my sophomore year, I pondered my future. I had already spent a year of my college life feeling academically empty inside and I was scared.

When the advisor entered the room, she handed me a packet decorated with happy students, sitting on comfy couches, and smiling because they all were feeling secure in their futures – or at least they were paid to look like they were.

Within the packet laid hidden a trea-

sure trove of majors and minors, and questions geared toward helping me discover what would satiate my empty collegiate soul. As I scanned the pages, nothing jumped out at me. But then it hit me: why not just pick randomly? What could possibly go wrong? I had already dabbled in the biology major, and even considered becoming a highly respected mathematician – neither of which was suited for me in the slightest.

So I closed my eyes and I put my finger down. I mean, look. I get it. You’re all probably cringing right now and judging me. But just hear me out. I’ve never been happy in school. I made myself a secret promise one day that I would never become a teacher – that would mean the moment I finally escaped, they would drag me right back in. No way. Also, just to make things clear, if I landed on something I really didn’t want, like double rainbow studies, I wasn’t against closing my eyes and trying again. Notice how I made up a major as to not offend anyone.

I’m such a gentleman.

Anyway, that’s when it happened. I landed on this single word, drenched in unfamiliar territory. The tip of my finger just slightly caressed the “J” in journalism. So, that was that, and I went on my merry way with new hope.

Lets fast forward a bit. Today, I’m a senior. As I’m writing this, I have five articles to complete that are due tomorrow. I’m stressed to the point where my body has been taking a serious toll. If you look closely, past the bruised wrists that have a distinct keyboard imprint and beyond the hunchback forming from excessive sitting and leaning, you can see a smile on my face. No, that smile isn’t gas. That smile is my love for journalism.

That smile is my love for The New Paltz Oracle.

For the first time in my life, I am surrounded by a group of people that I completely respect and admire. I have never been among so many talented and hardworking individuals. And for some

reason, they accept me, they laugh with me and as a group, we put together the best damn newspaper this school has ever seen.

I’m doing something that’s meaningful, important and relevant, and making friends that will last me a lifetime. How many people can say that? Sure, that was a pretty stupid thing I did leaving my future to fate, but it was the best decision I ever made. And if I could start over – do it all again – I would only change one thing: I would have chosen this sooner.

Maxim is a fourth-year journalism major.

This is his first semester as Arts & Entertainment Editor of The New Paltz Oracle and he hopes to make it the best section of the paper – even trumping the news section in relevancy. He loves movies, music, television, video games, books and eating large sandwiches. One of his least favorite hobbies, however, is describing himself in a paragraph.

Op-Eds

A Few Words About Adversity

Knowing someone who has a serious medical illness makes others think of their own mortality. We all, especially when we are young, to not think of tomorrow’s demise. We gallantly stride through today with the plans and worries of tomorrow. We worry about exams, papers, what our peers think of us and if the guy of our dreams even knows if we are alive. However, some of the people who walk among us are living in a different world. They may sit next to us in class, walk among us on campus and even be the person whose jokes we laugh at in class. Some people are dealing with a completely different reality.

We think our friends and the peo-

ple we meet along the way are genuine in their words, but it’s not until they so subtly ignore us that we realize we are in this alone. Knowing someone who is seriously ill can be a dual dichotomy for one’s moral values. While most people honestly mean what they say, they do not say what they mean. They tell you they are there to help, that your bad days are something they can handle, but all of a sudden, as quick as they made those statements, poof…..they are gone! You make plans with them; they never get back to you. They try to reaffirm you that they are not bothered by what you are going through…and poof…they are nowhere to be found.

It’s extremely hard for the sick person to admit they need help, especially if that person has been forging through life all on their own and has been able to be self-sufficient since an early age. I, we, can’t manifest the words to you, because not only are we weak in immunity at this juncture, we are afraid of being turned down, we can not exhaust our perceived alliances, fore if we do, then we know we are truly alone, and that is worse then being ignored.

You may not know me by name. I may be in your classes. I may even be your student. I may have a pale complexion, hair that is shorter on one side due to the uneven loss the meds may cause. I

Thursday, October 21, 2010

may come across as sleepy, lethargic and sometimes grumpy. But just know, if your time should come, you can approach me; I will not turn a blind shoulder to your plight, as I have walked the corridor of uncertain, lonely fear!

Anonymous EDITOR’S NOTE: Although it is normally not the policy of The New Paltz Oracle to print anonymous pieces, this person came to us and gave us permission to print their feelings only under the promise of confidentiality. We felt it was important that these words be shared.

The New Paltz Oracle

OPINION

Pg 13

Op-Eds Supporting Sexual and Gender Diversity on College Campuses: Why Speaking Out Is Important New Paltz is fortunate to be a diverse community—a campus where diversity along the lines of class, race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability and religion is understood as the mark of a vibrant, democratic institution of higher learning. Celebration of and respect for diversity are among our core values and in our interactions with colleagues and students, we honor and act upon these values.

As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) faculty and staff, the campus climate regarding sexual orientation has personal significance for us. And here again, we value our institution’s progressive stance on sexual and gender identities which don’t fit neatly into our society’s dominant cultural categories. The college, for example, includes “sexual orientation” in its official non-discrimination policy; it provides health insurance and other benefits for domestic partners; and it has gender neutral bathrooms for transgender members of our community. These policies and practices have contributed, in our view, to a campus environment where explicit homophobia is rare and, when it appears, not tolerated.

These laudable aspects of the college notwithstanding, we recently find ourselves deeply concerned. The backdrop for our concern is the national discussion about recent suicides by young gay-identified students in the United States. Less than two weeks ago, Rutgers undergraduate Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge after public humiliation linked to his homosexuality. This horrific episode--the fourth nationally publicized gay teen suicide in September-serves as a tragic reminder that some

LGBTQ youth, even on progressive college campuses, continue to feel shame and despair around their sexuality due to a climate of intolerance. This is shocking and painful for us, and we ache for Tyler’s family and friends. Even as this tragedy is grieved, violent attacks against young gay males have been reported, including in the metropolitan New York area.

We cannot help but observe that this tragedy has taken place during a national moment in which a mean-spirited rhetoric of intolerance has been on the rise. Here in our own state, this rhetoric has found a popular voice. Last week, for example, the prepared comments of New York state gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, included the statements “I don’t want [children] brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option - it isn’t,” and that there is “nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual.” Much as we would like to dismiss Paladino (who later backtracked on his comments) as a fringe voice, he remains a viable candidate, and similarly homophobic candidates have appeared around the country. (Perhaps most notoriously, Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell recently proposed on ABC News that homosexuality is “an identity disorder”—despite the fact that the American Psychiatric Association and American Psychological Association have considered homosexuality to be a normal variation of human sexuality for nearly four decades). That ignorant, hateful comments like these have gained momentum in 2010 suggests to us that LGBTQ young people, paradoxically, inhabit a world of both growing respect and growing hostility towards sexual diversity.

While we take some comfort in the hope that a suicide like Tyler Clementi’s could never happen at New Paltz, we are troubled by the silence over this tragedy here on our own campus. Our concern reflects our firm conviction--proven all too clearly at Rutgers -that gay-positive policy alone doesn’t ensure a campus in which gay people feel affirmed and safe.

In such times as these, the voices of the students, staff, faculty, administration and broader community need to sound loud a clear message of support, respect and dialogue. Silence is not an option when hate speech, bullying and discrimination are aimed at vulnerable members of our larger community.

We are heartened by the wellspring of vigils, petitions and grassroots activism that have emerged nationally around the recent suicides. As shining examples of some new and longstanding initiatives and resources, check out the “It Gets Better” project (www.youtube.com/user/ itgetsbetterproject), The Trevor Project/ Suicide Prevention Resources (www. thetrevorproject.org), Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (www.glsen. org) and Campus Pride (www.campuspride.org).

We begin here to break the silence with a message to any student or member of the SUNY/New Paltz community who is experiencing the fear, loneliness or discrimination that sometimes comes with being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender or questioning--any sexual identity that falls outside mainstream heterosexuality. You are indeed in a caring community and there are many gay and straight people here who support you unequivocally.

Karl Bryant

Women’s Studies and Sociology Departments

David Cavallaro Art Department Mary Beth Collier Academic Advising Giordana Grossi Psychology Department Morgan Gwenwald Sojourner Truth Library Benjamin Junge Department of Anthropology Amy Kesselman, Women’s Studies Program Steve Kitsakos Department of Theatre Arts Rachel Mattson Department of Secondary Education Emily Puthoff Art Department/Sculpture Program Peri Rainbow Women’s Studies Program Carlton Rounds Center for International Programs Purnima Schachter International Studies Jason Wrench Department of Communication & Media Nicholas Wright English Department

Columns, op-eds and letters, excluding editorials, are solely the views of the writers and do not necessarily represent the views of The New Paltz Oracle, its staff members, the campus and university or the Town or Village of New Paltz.

Letters to the editor and op-eds can be submitted to oracle@newpaltz.edu or via mail to Student Union 417 by 5 p.m on Sundays.

We ask that letters are no more than 250 words for spacial limitations.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

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OPINION

The New Paltz Oracle

Op-Eds The Importance of Midterm Elections There are two weeks to the midterm elections. It reminds one of midterm tests in a semester. There is a good reason: the midterm point shows strengths and weaknesses and gives direction.

Therefore, they are important and most students used to take the semester midterms seriously.

The midterm elections are equally vital for the future, and even more so because they give power to the winners to set the direction the country might be forced to go. They have vast effects on everyone in this country.

Yet, the buzz has been that the young people—those who can vote and those who soon will be able—consider these elections a time to say “aha” and/ or sit it out. That is very unfortunate for the individual student and for the country. The pre-midterm election time ought to be one for vibrant discussion and thoughtful action. It is likely that this midterm election will affect present students more than many in the past have, and it is disturbing to think that

this generation of students is less prepared.

Any student at college now will have his/her future plans profoundly affected. No, no student should be at college just for the purpose of, “well, I study because I want a good job.” But that is an important part of going to college, as all the present statistics show more clearly than even previous ones did. Any good student advisor will always impress on the student that these four years of study are your opportunity to learn as much as you possibly can, to ‘grow up’ and ask what you would realistically want for your future life. That life will be greatly influenced by the world outside what you are preparing for. It is not the time to be unconcerned or spacey.

This is exactly why these midterm elections are vital for all in this country.

For reasons that deserve careful scrutiny, midterms are said to be less important than the four-year presidential elections. This misconception is used

by some to manipulate the voters. The media have neither challenged nor discussed this mindlessly advanced notion.

During midterm elections many issues, from small, local, to large and largest can be differentiated and brought into focus, as they need and deserve to be. In presidential elections the focus shifts—often a loss in urgent details for the whole country. So, to students this should be a time of lots of thinking and working on what will be part of your future. And then there are the immediate issues of financing your college studies without starting out with huge debts, being given health coverage, to age 25 or even 26. Just recently, positive change for students has come from President Obama. Work to preserve it.

Pre-midterms time should be a vibrant learning time of questioning of how to run a country, never mind a large and demographically divergent country such as the U.S. It is grievous to hear of any young person who thinks of ‘sitting out’ the

midterm elections. It is much, much worse if this is going on at college and university campuses, which ought to be the very centers of intelligent thoughtful political action. There is so much to be done to raise the level of discourse to something befitting the seriousness of being insightful for the good of the country, which will be the result of what the young of today put in today for their and their country’s future.

Thank you, Johanna Sayre

Columns, op-eds and letters, excluding editorials, are solely the views of the writers and do not necessarily represent the views of The New Paltz Oracle, its staff members, the campus and university or the Town or Village of New Paltz.

Are you a cartoonist?

Do you need somewhere to submit your work?

You’re in luck!

The New Paltz Oracle accepts any and all cartoon submissions!

Please note that by submitting work, you are giving The New Paltz Oracle permission to print it. Cartoons are printed whenever there are pages allotted in the Opinion section. To submit, send a large .JPG file to oracle@newpaltz.edu Thursday, October 21, 2010

SPORTS

The New Paltz Oracle

Pg 15

SPORTS

THE NEW PALTZ ORACLE

en ’s T om

Sports Editor | Andrew.wyrich63@newpaltz.edu

When Paige Munroe was diagnosed with stage two bulky Hodgkin’s lymphoma five years ago, the question was not whether she would go on to win a championship in college, but whether or not she would live.

Her first steps back on an Ann Harbor, Mich. tennis court when she was 14 years old was both exciting and taxing. Only months after enduring radiation treatments and chemotherapy while wearing a hat to cover her still growing hair, Munroe stepped back onto the court to begin the long road to recovery so she could play the game she loved. After only an hour, she began to feel the physical stress the game requires. Exhaustion set in.

Despite all of this, the court was where she wanted to be.

“It was nice to go out, be around the team and pick up a racket again,” Munroe said, “I was like ‘Yes, I get to be out here.’”

In spite of the road to recovery, Munroe battled through her illness and her opponents on the court to help the New Paltz Women’s Tennis team win the SUNYAC Championship two weeks ago.

Munroe’s path to becoming a top recruit and SUNYAC champion for the Hawks began when she was eight years old playing at a local club near her home.

As an eigth grader excelling at most sports, Munroe was expected to jump from her middle school tennis team to the varsity team when she started high school. However, her path was altered when she learned of her diagnosis.

Munroe was admitted to the hospital on Valentine’s Day. The next day - her father’s birthdaythe family was told that she had stage two bulky Hodgkin’s lymphoma and that her doctors were going to start treatment the next day.

“The moment they told me I had cancer, I started crying,” Munroe said. “Not because of the sickness, but more because I was going to lose my hair. I was thinking about me standing out being bald, and that hit me hard.”

Upon receiving the news of her diagnosis, Paige’s father Tom Munroe said he was in a state of fear.

“It was like getting kicked in the stomach at first,” he said. “The thought of having my little girl being so sick and having to go through such an ordeal saddened me deeply.”

Over the next five months, Munroe would undergo chemotherapy and radiation, as well as other treatments in an effort to cure her cancer.

“We were trying to convince ourselves it wasn’t cancer. We were like ‘it can’t be that’ and ‘it has to be something else,’” Munroe said. “But once they told me what the procedure and protocol was going to be, I was like ‘ok lets go.’”

According to Munroe, when she was first di-

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First-year tennis player Paige Munroe battled through Hodgkin’s lymphoma and her opponents on the court to help the Hawks win the SUNYAC championship.

By Andrew Wyrich

ge HE en s1 S ni 8 U s an N Y d 19 AC

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SET TO INSPIRE

agnosed her doctors performed a biopsy on her lymph nodes which came back positive and she began “short-term” treatment.

As part of this treatment, Munroe had a permanent I.V. that had a tube that ran through her arm and directly to her heart. This made it impossible for her to move her arm past a certain point, making even simple tasks such as eating with her right hand difficult.

During her treatment, Munroe wrote a letter to her family that was inspired by her experience and what she learned from it. In her letter, she asked her family to challenge themselves to talk to the people they haven’t in a while.

“I said … reach out and say ‘I love you’ to someone if you haven’t told them yesterday, because you never know what day could be your last day…it sounds Halmark but it’s true,” Munroe said.

Munroe underwent chemotherapy for four months in twenty one day cycles. During these cycles, she would undergo treatment for eight hours on Monday, four hours on Tuesday and two hours on Wednesday. This was followed by a weeklong break and finally another day of two hour treatments. After this, she would have another two week break.

Munroe also underwent radiation treatment for three weeks, where she would be placed under “a giant X-ray machine” for 15 minutes every day.

“It was hard because I loved being active in

Thursday, October 21, 2010

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN SAVARD

general,” Munroe said.

Despite her longing to come back to the sport she loves, Munroe stayed positive and one night in particular stood out in her head.

“I remember one night I was lying in bed thinking about my treatment. I was thinking ‘I am receiving this drug that is going into my body and is killing this tumor inside of me,’” Munroe said. “I remember thinking my mind is strong enough to control this.”

Munroe said she mentally visualized the tumor being destroyed and her being healthy again.

This visualization is something she brought back to the tennis court when she played.

“I think going through the treatment definitely prepared me mentally in a sense to go and compete and have a challenge presented before me and overcome it,” Munroe said. “Many times, I just get into a place where I am totally zoned into what I need to do, which I used sometimes during treatment.”

Paige’s father said that she has always been crystal clear on her future and coming back from cancer. He said she never gave thought to the idea that she would ever be limited by her experience.

“She never missed a beat in her walk…her vision of her future and what she saw as possibilities never wavered at all,” her father said.

Munroe came back to play tennis for her high school, despite the fact that her body was not

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

Pg 16

SPORTS

The New Paltz Oracle

Women’s Soccer Kicks Into Gear

By Ryan Patrick Hanrahan

Copy Editor | Rhanrahan13@newpaltz.edu

The Women’s Soccer team has recently experienced a dramatic series of wins, culminating in a four-game winning streak proving that the lady Hawks are not out of the playoff race.

After starting the season with a mixed batch of wins and losses, the Hawks began stepping up their quality of play according to Head Coach Colleen Bruley. Bruley said the team faced some of the toughest competition early in the season, but once the worst was over, the girls took action and pressed on victoriously.

“All of those games gave us time to learn and figure things out positionally. This all helped us get that first conference win at Fredonia and our confidence just continued to grow from there,” said Bruley.

Second-year goal keeper Stephanie Vega is one player who Bruley described as an athlete who has not only been living up to her team’s expectations, but who has also lifted the team to greatness.

Another such player is second-year forward Shelby Kondelka. Kondelka is the leading scorer for the team, and has been described as a creative player who makes things happen for the Hawks.

other games, such as that against SUNY Brock“[Kondelka] has made our offense more dangerous than it has been in a few years,” said port helped reinforce the teams high morale, allowing them to push on with confidence.

Bruley.

“That game set the bar for us and it is our Second-year forward Katie Oliver has also goal to play with that level of intensity and played her part in the teams success and her skill for the rest of the year,” Benett said. comrade on the field. Co-Captain Brittany Third-year Co-Captain Shannon Cobb Benett commended her determination and agreed, stating that the persistence.

Brockport game allowed Due to the mixed outthe team to realize their comes of earlier games, potential. future success seemed to “The team knows “The team knows how be a fleeting hope for the how big this coming big this coming weekend Hawks, but following a weekend is and they is and they are looking tough battle at Buffalo forward to getting it State, the team held a are looking forward done. Once we get there huge team meeting. The to getting it done” it is a whole new season meeting would mark and anything can hapa turning point for the — Colleen Bruley pen,” Bruley said.

Hawks, something they had been waiting for all Even if they don’t succeed, the Hawks still season. plan to remain steadfast competitors, with each “They knew that things had to turn around season becoming a valuable learning experiand they came through at the Fredonia game,” ence that has only strengthened their bonds.

Bruley said. “Getting that win gave us the “I know I will walk away from my final confidence to go on the run of only having one loss in the past six games. It has really given us season on [the team] never forgetting the experiences I have had with these girls who a lot to believe in.” have become my best friends… To be able to Following their victory against Fredonia,

play with these girls really has been an honor and I want to do the best I can lead them through the rest of the season hopefully to that conference championship,” Cobb said.

Burley too feels that the team has only became greater during the season.

“We have learned that this can’t be done by individuals - it must be together as a team eryone has a role to play and if we remember that, and play as a team - we can accomplish our goals.”

WITH ANDREW WYRICH

Sports Editor Andrew.wyrich63@newpaltz.edu

The Mets search for their next general manager (GM) is now entering its third week, and no one has been named as a replacement for Omar Minaya.

The interviewing process has seen the likes of Josh Byrnes, Dana Brown, Allard

an out-clause in his contract at the end of this season, and some believe that he may be attracted to the prospect of running his favorite childhood team.

Proponents of this theory argue that if Alderson is the favorite for the position, as everyone believes, then why hasn’t he been hired yet? They believe that the Mets are biding their time until the Rangers season is over, whenever that may be.

While Daniels, who is the youngest GM in baseball at 33 years old, would be an intriguing choice because he is the architect of the current Rangers roster and has brought them from being an after thought to quite possibly the American League champion - but he also is not the commanding force that many believe the Mets need.

While Daniels young career is full of impressive trades, Alderson’s comes with a multitude of different baseball related accolades.

While A’s GM Billy Beane gets most

Thursday, October 21, 2010

done ev-

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN SAVARD

Daniels or Alderson?

Baird, Rick Hahn, Logan White and Sandy Alderson come to New York to express how they would fix the Metropoltians.

After the first round of intervirews, many people in baseball believe that Alderson will prevail as the GM of the Mets for 2011 and beyond. It is even rumored that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has even endorsed Alderson to take the helm of baseball operations in Queens.

However, despite what everyone has been saying, the Mets have remained quiet. Some believe dragging out their search for a general manager is actually a calculated decision by the higher-ups of the Mets organization in an attempt to lure current Rangers GM Jon Daniels into the mix.

Daniels, a native of Bayside, Queens and childhood Mets fan, is currently watching the team he constructed win against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. Daniels has

to

of the credit for the “Moneyball” style of building a team, Alderson, who ran the A’s until 1997 when he stepped aside for Beane, was one of the first GM’s to have people study quantitative analysis to make the most of his teams resources.

This type of progressive thinking is something the Mets need. The last few years have been littered with signings like Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo that have drained the Mets of their resources. Alderson seems like he wouldn’t let that happen.

I happen to agree that Daniels, while intriguing, may not be the kind of personality the Mets need right now. Alderson is known for his aggressiveness and forceful personality, and could provide the Mets front office with a jolt of energy and instant respectability around the league.

Sandy Alderson should be the clear choice to be in charge of baseball operations for the Mets for the foreseeable future, and could bring the Mets back from the brink.

SPORTS

The New Paltz Oracle

Pg 17

Former Athletes Enshrined

By Andrew Wyrich

Sports Editor | Andrew.wyrich63@newpaltz.edu

Three individuals and one team were announced to the New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame Friday, Oct.15 for their contributions to their teams in years past.

The inductees this year included Gina Marotta, Claudine Gruver, Ron Domanski and the 1981-82 Men’s Swimming team, all of whom were inducted to the hall in Student Union 100.

According to the New Paltz Director of Athletics Stuart Robinson, a committee considers potential Hall of Fame candidates in the summer to discuss the nominations they received for consideration. The committee then discusses the merits of each person or team nominated and decides who should be inducted.

Robinson said nominees were chosen based on their accomplishments and overall impact to their respective programs during the time they competed.

By Tom Casey

Domanski was the first of the inductees to be introduced.

Domanski played alongside former Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak in high school, and provided New Paltz with a dominant center for years.

Domanski finished his athletic career as only one of only thirteen New Paltz athletes to have reached 1,000 points or more over the course of a year.

“When they phoned me, I was shocked,” Domanski said. “It’s a great honor, it’s been a number of years since I retired, and this is a great punctuation to my playing career.”

Gruver was announced next and was introduced by 1997 New Paltz Hall of Fame inductee Art Stockin. Gruver, who arrived in New Paltz for the 1998-1999 seasons, was the first female

swimmer in school history to gain All-American recognition at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. She took second in the 200 backstroke and 100 backstroke at the competition, and also set a SUNYAC-record setting time in the 200 backstroke that still stands today.

“I was very excited to be recognized,” said Gruver. “It re-

Gina Marotta, Ron Domanski and Claudine Gruver were three of those inducted into the New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday.

PHOTOS BY LAURA LUENGAS

minds you about your accomplishments in the past, and it’s nice to be recognized by my former school.”

Marotta, the third inductee of the night, was a softball player who played second base during her college career. Marotta ranks first in runs scored, home runs and triples in New Paltz history and ranks second all time in batting average, hits, doubles, RBIs and slugging percentage.

Marotta said that she was “shocked” when she was told of her induction, and said it was an honor to be chosen.

The final induction of the night was the 1981-82 Men’s Swimming team. Nine players from the team qualified for the 1982 Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, and the team as a whole posted a 10-2 record.

The New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame can be viewed on the second floor of the Wellness and Recreation Center.

Catching Up With The Giants and Jets

Contributing Writer | N01335020@newpaltz.edu The last time we saw the New York Jets, they were only a win away from making it to their first Super Bowl since Broadway Joe’s guarantee over 40 years ago.

The Jets have revived themselves as viable Super Bowl contenders, and are currently sitting atop the AFC East under the guidance of returning Head Coach Rex Ryan, fresh off his acclaimed performance on HBO’s training camp series “Hardknocks.” The team has relied on its returning stars like second year quaterback Mark Sanchez who, plagued with interceptions last season, hasn’t given up a turnover in his first five starts. The team has seen great performances from its new additions, most notably that of LaDainian Tomlinson, who is having a renaissance season and returning much to his old form.

With their defense and offense firing on all cylinders the team has sprung to an impressive 4-1 start, which has electrified their fan base in a way that hasn’t been seen for years.

“Their team really has no holes; they have so many superstars on their roster I feel like they are going to be very tough to beat,” said fourth-year, long-time Jets fan Ryan Laino. “I’d say they are one of the top three teams in the NFL.”

But for all the excitement they have created, the Jets have had their share of controversy early in the season. Braylon Edwards was arrested for a DWI after blowing a 0.16 when pulled over. And Darrelle Revis held out for all of training camp and the pre-season, which could have devastated the team’s defensive strength. While

PHOTO COURTESY OF LATEACTION.COM The Giants and the Jets have had two different kinds of seasons after six weeks.

these incidents have created headlines, their tremendous start has made it easier to forget about them.

“I’m happy the way the season has gone despite their hiccups, but if they start losing this will come back to bite them” said Laino.

While Jets fans have already begun to make plans for Super Bowl XLV, the Giants have not experienced the same amount of excitement. While the team is 3-2 over their last five games and in first place in the NFC East, their fans haven’t been as enthusiastic about their season.

“A lot of people have already seemed to count them out, even before the season had started,” said fourth-year Giants fan Daniel Caruso.

After a disappointing 8-8 finish last year, the Giants had a mildly successful start to their season. Eli Manning has been streaky at QB, posting over a thousand passing yards, but also throwing eight interceptions. They rebounded from two early losses to the Colts and Titans, by beating the Texans and Bears very impressively, which has restored some faith to the fan base, but has done little to take back the sports page from the Jets.

“I still feel extremely optimistic and excited about the season,” said Caruso. “People are now focused on the Jets, but I feel the Giants are going to surprise both New York and the NFL.”

Check Out Players of the Week and The Wellness and Recreation Calender Online at

oracle.newpaltz.edu Thursday, October 21, 2010

TENNIS TEAM SPORTS

Pg 18

The New Paltz Oracle

Tennis Team Takes SUNYACs By Storm

ByAndrew Wyrich

Sports Editor | Andrew.wyrich63@newpaltz.edu

Women’s Tennis Head Coach Robert Bruley didn’t know what he was getting himself into earlier this season.

The orange-haired and purple-fingernailed head coach’s appearance was part of a deal his team had him locked into after their capture of the SUNYAC championship two weeks ago.

“In the beginning of the year, the team said if we won the SUNYAC’s they would bleach my hair and put pink tips on it,” Bruley said. “At the time I didn’t think anything of it and I didn’t think of it all season, but on the ride home after the tournament one of the girls was like ‘hey remember you promised!’”

Bruley celebrated the team’s successful showing at the tournament by serenading the team with an “offkey” rendition of “We Are The Champions” by Queen.

The camaraderie and sense of closeness

is something that the team cited as a huge reason for their success. Second-year player Montana Wilson called the team “a family.”

Second-year player Kayla DiPaulo agreed, saying that the team’s respect for one another was important.

“Our team is very close. We see each other off the court more than we do on, all get along and have great team chemistry,” DiPaulo said.

When the season started, Bruley said that there was a sense of calm over the team, because instead of being the no.1 seed like in years past, SUNY Geneseo was the top ranked program in their division.

“I think it relaxed our team a bit,” Bruley said. “In years past we had a target on our back and everyone wanted to beat us. We were always playing under pressure and had to be on top of our game at all times.”

The team used this relaxed feeling to roll through their schedule, and finished with a 7-2 record as well a spot in the SUNYAC tournament. Throughout the season, Bruley instilled the theme of “them vs. us” to motivate the team and give the team strength during tough stretches.

The team, Bruley said, is the strongest team from top to bottom that he has ever had. Bruley believed that no one underperformed, and every player on the team “took it to the next level.”

“I think this is a Division I program in a Division III

environment,” Bruley said.

At the tournament, the team went through matches against many fellow SUNYAC programs, including an early set that Bruley described as a “must win” situation. Wilson was playing a match and was injured during the game, making the two matches on either side of her important to the Hawks success.

“You could cut the atmosphere with a knife,” Bruley said.

After coming from behind in both matches, the team soon knew that they would be the winner of the tournament.

“The girls knew before I did,” Bruley said. “I was so happy for them, they pulled off this unbelievable feat.”

Fourth-year player Lindsey Garyn said when the team won, they were so excited that they began to jump up and down and didn’t believe that they won at first.

“We checked the points and we won…it was one of the best feelings we’ve all had in our lives,” Garyn said. “I know everyone of us will remember it forever.”

DiPaulo said that the moment they won was “the best feeling in the world” because she knew how badly the entire team wanted to win.

Looking back on the team’s run at the tournament, Bruley could only smile. The championship represented an entire body of work the team put into their season, and the belief in their ability, Bruley said.

“It was one of those incredible experiences where everything comes together so sweetly,” Bruley said.

Bruley Wins Coach Of The Year ByAndrew Wyrich

Sports Editor | Andrew.wyrich63@newpaltz.edu

In addition to his team winning the SUNYAC championship two weeks ago, Women’s Tennis Head Coach Robert Bruley was awarded the SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time.

“I am very proud,” Bruley said.

“They all mean different things, but because this year was a totally new team we put together, it was pretty unique to win both the coach of the year and the championship.”

Bruley, who has been coaching the team for thirteen years, also won the award in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

Fourth-year tennis player Lindsey Garyn said that Bruley deserved the award because

of the time and effort he puts into the program.

“He’s always on call and always there when we need him,” Garyn said. “He’s kind to everyone and looks out for everyone.”

Second-year player Kayla DiPaulo said Bruley deserved the award because “he would do anything for his team.”

According to Garyn, the SUNYAC chooses the coach of the year by looking at the point difference a team has from years past. This year, the Hawks had the greatest points difference. “[The point difference] means we improved and he had to be a great coach to make such a difference, I feel like the reason he got it is because he deserved it over any other coach,” Garyn said.

One of the hardest things about coaching, according to Bruley, is keeping a calm complexion as he paces up and down the court while the girls play.

“I have to be careful to show no negative emotion.

The girls look to me for inspiration,” Bruley said.

Garyn said Bruley knew each girl individually, which helped with his style of coaching.

“He knows all of us girls very well and we’re

Thursday, October 21, 2010

all different. He knows that some of us need to be ‘yelled’ at while others need to just be encouraged and others want to be left. If we ever need anything on the court he comes running over.”

Bruley believed that arguments and yelling are healthy “sometimes” and that once the arguments are over, the team grows from that and can continue to get better because of it.

DiPaulo agreed with Garyn and believed that Bruley is dedicated to his players and has been determined throughout the entire season.

“He works us hard, on the court and in the gym, but is the nicest guy you will ever meet… which makes him different than a lot of other coaches,” DiPaulo said.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRIAN SAVARD

TAKES TOURNEY SPORTS

The New Paltz Oracle

Pg 19

Stephanie Schara: Queen of the Court

By Cat Tacopina

Staff Writer | Ctacopina97@newpaltz.edu

Coaches and teammates agree that New Paltz Women’s Tennis member Stephanie Schara went above and beyond her role as captain this season.

“It was never in doubt that Steph would be a captain,” said Women’s Tennis Coach Robert Bruley. “She has great leadership skills both off and on the court, something that is essential when bringing in freshmen and playing on such a high profile team.”

With Schara as team captain this year, the team had a record of 7-2 and a commanding record of 3-0 in SUNYAC play. Schara’s own records were also strong.

This season, Schara and her doubles partner fourthyear Lindsey Garyn, went undefeated with a 9-0 in doubles play while Schara had a record of 5-3 in singles.

Schara has been named to the first and second All SUNYAC Women’s Tennis team in years past and was just recently awarded the prestigious Peter J. Cahill Award for the MVP of Women’s Tennis among the SUNYAC schools. Even with a resume filled with awards, Schara was not certain if she was going to play this season.

“I actually didn’t know if I was going to play,” Schara said when asked what her feelings were when she was awarded the captaincy by Bruley.

Schara said that time management problems coupled with work and school problems led her to this decision.

According to Schara, she even sent a five-page letter to each of her teammates highlighting the reasons why she was going to stop playing.

“I was set on not playing-until I got all of their responses. I had no idea how much the girls looked up to me, and how much they wanted me to play, and how much of a relationship I had with each of them,” Schara said. “I had to play…it would have been the biggest regret of my life if I hadn’t played and stepped up as a captain this year.”

Schara’s decision to play and dedication to the game were likely factors in her receiving the MVP award after the SUNYAC playoffs.

“I was so surprised and genuinely honored to represent him and his award…[Coach Bruley] showed me and I was so excited, and proud, and crying. I really tried to be the ultimate leader and player this year, it was really awesome to know that the coaches had seen how hard I worked,” Schara said.

Sharyce Willand, a first-year player on the team said that Schara “definitely” deserved the award.

“She is a strong leader, very inspirational and just an all-around wonderful person. She played a big role

in our journey to win SUNYACs,” Willand said.

With the team winning SUNYACs this year, the tennis team has immediately earned a berth in the 2011 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship, and Schara hopes to prepare them by bonding beforehand.

As part of this bonding, Schara said she hopes to host dinners where the team can “hang out and relax.”

“The teams that play at NCAA are all great and there’s no such thing as an easy win,” Schara said.

“Depending on the draw, I really think we have a chance at getting through a round or two. Hopefully the team will be a constant threat at NCAAs in the future.”

Schara said that Bruley works hard to bring the best players he can, and that over time he is going to build a stronger program.

As for this season, Schara looks back on it fondly.

“All I wanted from them was to put their hearts and souls into this season. They knew that they worked as hard as possible and tried their best, as cheesy as it may sound, that was all that mattered to Rob and me,” Schara said.

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Freshman’s Journey Ends with SUNYAC Title Continued from Page 15

used to the amount of stress that the sport put on it. But she never lost focus and continued to work towards regaining the stamina to play tennis. She said that when she came back to the court, it it was enjoyable because she had been inactive for months.

When Munroe finished her high school career it was littered with multiple awards, including three consecutive state championships in Michigan. She was recruited by Women’s Tennis Head Coach Robert Bruley over the offseason.

Bruley said Munroe’s recruitment to the Hawk’s tennis program was unique. Because she was eleven hours away, her entire recruitment was done over phone and via e-mail, and he only knew her for eight weeks before the start of practice.

But Munroe’s first impression did not disappoint.

“I remember thinking ‘we’ve got a good one here,’” Bruley said. “You could see the whole team being impressed with her level of play.”

Over the season, Munroe posted a 9-2 singles record and a 9-3 doubles record and the Women’s Tennis team continued to win matches, eventually culminating in the

SUNYAC championship.

“Wining again, I was like wow - I really am blessed. I have so many good things coming my way. And for us to win as a team, it was even more thrilling,” Munroe said.

“The team is really close, and it’s been helpful for me being a freshman and having that support system right off the bat.”

After seeing Munroe compete at a college level for a semester, he believes that Munroe will be a future leader of the program.

“Paige is an amazing individual, and that reflects how she plays tennis,” Bruley said. “Every practice she wants to learn and improve.”

Her father agreed with Bruley’s assessment of Paige’s drive and determination.

“Her element of steady calm is what I have come to chuckle at the most,” he said. “She can handle anything.”

Moving forward, Munroe said she believes her experience was a good thing for her.

“It was a big part of my life but I didn’t want it to define me,” Munroe said. “It taught me a lot. I grew a lot from it and I wouldn’t...value life the way I do now if I hadn’t

gotten it. I am thankful for it for sure.”

She advises any student athletes that are in her position to keep positive, and engross themselves into the game that they are missing and keep an optimistic attitude.

“If you are around people who enjoy what you do, you will still be able to feel like you are enjoying the experience also. Be positive, because if you are down it doesn’t help you get anywhere, it will only make you sicker really.”

Thursday, October 21, 2010

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN SAVARD