Volume 88, Issue 10

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Volume 88, Issue X

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DEPARTMENT DILEMMA PHOTO COURTESY OF NEWPALTZ.EDU

President’s Office Addresses Student Concerns About Black Studies Department STORY ON PAGE 3

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S ISSUE OF THE NEW PALTZ ORACLE

•Keystone Pipeline Deal Denied By President Obama ............Pg 4 •Suspect Arrested In Recent Sexual Assault Case ..................Pg 5

•New Paltz Property Values On The Rise .........................Pg 6 •Student Senate Discusses Black Studies Department .....Pg 7

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Administration Addresses Concerns Over Future Of Black Studies oracle.newpaltz.edu

PHOTO BY DAVID KAHORASSANI

By Melanie Zerah

News Editor | Zerahm1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

The Black Studies department is lacking in staff due to the leave of several professors as of late. Two retired, one moved away and one switched departments, according to President Donald Christian. The close proximity of these professors leaving caused suspicion from the student body and alumni. Fears that the Black Studies department was not receiving the attention it needed from the administration to keep it functioning and solid began circulating across the community.

After an overwhelming amount of misunderstandings in regards to the future of the Black Studies department, Christian received a petition asking for a commitment to ensure that students “have access to a strong and supportive academic program in Black Studies as well as more faculty and students of

color.” In response to this, Christian sent out an email to the student body from the Office of the President.

“I am in strong solidarity with the broad goals of the student petition, even though students may not agree with the path we are following to achieve those goals,” Christian said in the email. “Along with listening to our students’ concerns, part of the purpose of our meeting was to help students understand steps that the college has been taking to help the Black Studies Department re-build, and the reasoning behind those steps based on years of academic hiring experience and expertise.”

Christian additionally outlined the key points of the matter that students and faculty should be aware of. This included reassurance that vacant faculty positions by retirement or resignation will be filled. Searches are underway for tenure-line positions, as well

as visiting faculty positions which are individuals who are hired for a specific term — these professors are not on the tenure track. Christian also reiterated in the email that the faculty, not administrators or students, have primary responsibility for defining the curriculum.

According to Christian, the college’s affirmative action policies require that a full-blown search is conducted with the aid of a search committee. There is clearly laid-out criteria for the position and the vacancy of the position is advertised to ensure a diverse pool of applicants.

“President Christian, Interim Provost Deen and I have iterated in several venues and formats our commitment to Black Studies,” Laura Barrett, dean of liberal arts and sciences said.

“Department Chair Major Coleman, faculty and chairs from other department, and I have spent an ex-

Thursday, December 3, 2015

traordinary amount of time and effort to rebuild the department.”

According to Barrett, the department has recently hired a visiting assistant professor who will officially join the department in January. Barrett said that the process of filling a tenuretrack line for next fall has been initiated.

The amount of notice given varies in regards to a professor leaving his or her position, however, contractually, employees are required to give 30 days notice according to Barrett.

“There are numerous factors involved in replacing departing faculty. It’s not at all unusual for faculty to be replaced by full-time temporary faculty while a search is conducted,” Barrett said. “In this case, extenuating factors included responding to a program review and the impossibility of replacing most of the faculty lines at the same time.”

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NEWS BRIEFS WORLD

2 DECADES LATER, NEW YORKER JAILED IN PERU GOES HOME In the five years since she was paroled, Lori Berenson has lived in a limbo of sorts, trying to raise a young son in a society that largely refuses to forgive her for aiding Peru’s No. 2 leftist rebel group in the 1990s. Now a 46-year-old single mother, the woman who arrived in Peru two decades ago bent on revolutionary change has finally gone home to her native New York.

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Obama Administration Rejects Keystone Pipeline

US-BACKED ALLIANCE FACES CHALLENGES AS A FORCE IN SYRIA Drawing on thousands of combatants from Syria’s mix of religious and ethnic groups, a U.S.-backed alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces has emerged as the most effective fighting force against the Islamic State group. But the dominant role of Kurdish fighters in the alliance is a concern for majority Sunni Arab factions and their regional backers, raising questions about the group’s future role in a broader political context in Syria.

ISLAMIC STATE RELEASES VIDEO CLAIMING TO KILL RUSSIAN SPY The Islamic State group on Wednesday released a video in which a Russianspeaking man confesses to spying for Russia’s security service and then is shown apparently being beheaded by another Russian-speaking man.

The authenticity of the video or the claims in it could not immediately be confirmed and there was no comment from Russia’s Foreign Ministry or its FSB security service.

AUSTRALIA SAYS NEW ANALYSIS BACKS SEARCH AREA FOR FLIGHT 370 Australian authorities said Thursday that new analysis confirms they’ve likely been searching in the right place for a missing Malaysian airliner.

Searchers have been combing a 120,000-squarekilometer (46,000-square-mile) part of the Indian Ocean since last year but have yet to turn up any trace of Flight 370. A wing flap was found in July on the other side of the Indian Ocean, washed up on remote Reunion Island. The new analysis by an agency of the Defence Department confirmed “the highest probability” the final resting place for the plane is within the current search area, the government said in a statement.

Compiled from the AP Newswire

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA.ORG

By Jack O’Brien

Copy Editor | Obrienj2@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

On Nov. 6, President Obama announced that he denied TransCanada’s proposal for the Keystone XL pipeline.

The controversial, highly-speculated project, which would have extended from Alberta, Canada to Texas, was shut-out by the President after years of intense debate.

Reacting to TransCanada’s request to have their application review delayed by the State Department, Obama eliminated any doubt as to where he stood on one of the more lingering questions to his presidential legacy. Just a week before his decision, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced her opposition to the plan, following suit with other more liberal Democrats like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Under pressure from the environmental lobby, who claimed that the

project would impede on land in the upper midwest and cause higher levels of carbon emissions into the atmosphere, Obama scuttled the project. The driving fear of several environmental scientists and activists alike was the potential impact of crashes, leaks or other structural challenges, especially considering its close proximity to the Ogallala Aquifer.

Obama’s decision to strike down the proposal came ahead of the U.N.-led climate change talks underway in Paris, where the U.S. is expected to persuade China, India and Russia to tackle the issue of climate change more seriously than they previously have.

The American Petroleum Institute, (API), a leading proponent of the project, issued a press release on the day of the decision criticizing the Obama administration.

“It’s ironic that the administration would strike a deal to allow Iranian

Thursday, December 3, 2015

crude onto the global market while refusing to give our closest ally, Canada, access to U.S. refineries,” Jack Gerard, API President and CEO, said. “This decision will cost thousands of jobs and is an assault to American workers. It’s politics at its worst.”

Republicans were also quick to criticize the decision as a mistake that will set back America’s energy independence and would have offered an economic boost to those in need of jobs. All of the 15 GOP presidential candidates lambasted Obama for catering to the green environmental activists instead of doing what would be most beneficial for the economy. Several have said that if elected, they will renew the process with TransCanada in 2017, not only for the project’s sake but also to shore up the relationship with recently-elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is in favor of the project.

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Sexual Assailant Arrested Fire On N. Chestnut Street

By Kintura Williams

Copy Editor | N02684069@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

A joint investigation of two sexual assaults led by the University Police Department (UPD) and the Town of New Paltz Police Department (NPPD) finally came to a close on Sunday Nov. 22 with the arrest of Brian Sanchez, 18, of the Bronx.

Following the two sexual assault reports after Halloween weekend, both police departments notified the campus and community of the attacks and their locations. One, on the northern side of campus, and the other on lower Main Street, were detailed along with a victim description of the perpetrator.

“The departments worked very well together,” UPD Deputy Police Chief Mary Ritayik said. “It was just making sure every “t” was crossed and every “i” was dotted.”

Sanchez surrendered easily when apprehended at his home in the Bronx, and was then transported to the UPD Station. After being interviewed regarding the incidents, he was arrested.

According to University Chief of Police David Dugatkin, Sanchez was charged by the UPD for the on camSanchez pus attack with one count of first-degree sexual abuse, a felony. He was also additionally charged by the Town of NPPD for the attack in town with rape in the first-degree, criminal sexual act in the firstdegree and unlawful imprisonment.

Although preventing such incidents is priority, these incidents can also educate the community of the reality of such situations.

“This can happen, New Paltz is not just a bubble. These are things that happen to people that live and work here too, and we must be aware of our personal safety,” Ritayik said.

Sanchez was remanded to the Ulster County jail where he is being held on $50,000 bail. Both police departments continue to work diligently on developing the case since the arrest.

Staff Writer | Tantilln1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Contract negotiations between New Paltz United Teachers (NPUT) and the New Paltz Central School Board of Education (BOE) have reached an impasse.

Officers from NPUT “have not come to a place where members feel comfortable ratifying the proposed contract,” said NPUT President and second grade teacher at Duzine Elementary School Arielle Chiger.

This is the second school year New Paltz teachers have worked without a contract.

The contract negotiations come at a time of financial difficulty for the New Paltz Central School Dis-

trict. An article published on April 16. in The Little Rebellion reported a reduction in state aid to school districts across New York. This was done in order to “fill the state’s $10 billion budget deficit.” Called the Gap Elimination Adjustment, New Paltz Central School District lost $1.4 million in funding cuts during the 2014-2015 school year.

During the public comment of the Nov. 4 New Paltz BOE meeting, four members of NPUT asked the BOE and superintendent Maria Rice for a “fair and reasonable” contract, The New Paltz Times reports.

Members of NPUT emphasized the roles and responsibilities they perform outside of their con-

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NATIONAL BREAKING NEWS SPECIAL TRAGEDY STRIKES CALIFORNIA

CALIFORNIA ATTACK IS LATEST IN DEADLY US MASS SHOOTINGS

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR

By Melanie Zerah

News Editor | Zerahm1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

The New Paltz Fire Department responded to an attic and roof fire at 21 North Chestnut Street on Nov. 28 at 9:55 p.m.

According to Cory Wirthmann, second assistant chief of New Paltz Fire Department, no one was hurt in this incident although there were three people displaced due to the hazards created from the fire making the building unsafe to occupy.

“The official cause of the fire given by the Ulster county cause and origin team was deemed accidental from sparks created by improperly installed wiring in the attic,”

Wirthmann said.

Heavy smoke was reported by firefighters in the building’s third floor stairwell and a small fire in the attic. According to The Poughkeepsie Journal, agencies that assisted with the fire include Modena Fire Department, Highland Fire Department, New Paltz Rescue Squad, New Paltz Police Department, New York State Police, the Ulster County Sheriffs Office, New Paltz Village Building Department and the Ulster County Fire Cause and Origin Team.

The fire was extinguished and responders left the scene by 12 a.m.

New Paltz Teachers And BOE At Standstill

By Nick Tantillo

5

tractual duties. “In spite of being well into our second year without a contract we continue to provide extraordinary instruction and support to our students in a way that shows how much we believe in the power of dedication to our school community and in our professional responsibility to our students,” Chiger said.

New Paltz teachers participate in events such as the Duzine Music and Art Show, ELL Family Night, Scarecrow Festival planning and the Earth Day Festival.

Negotiations of this nature are generally confidential. According to Chiger, NPUT made their request of the BOE during public comment in

order make the process transparent and in the “public eye.” New Paltz taxpayers are responsible for teachers’ salaries, and are connected to the contract by this responsibility.

Chiger calls the two years teachers worked without a contract “unacceptable,” and added, “working without a contract makes us vulnerable.” The contract includes salaries, benefits, workdays teaching requirements and “entitles [teachers] to due process.”

To resolve the impasse, outside mediators will be brought into the negotiation during a mediation session. NPUT will enter a fact-finding process during which members will establish non-negotiable items.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

As many as three gunmen opened fire at a social services center in San Bernardino, California, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than a dozen, authorities said. The attackers escaped, but police said one male and one female suspect were later killed in a shootout with officers. Police detained a third person, but it was unclear if that person was connected to the mass shooting.

14 DEAD, MORE THAN A DOZEN WOUNDED IN CALIFORNIA SHOOTING

At least two heavily armed attackers opened fire on a banquet at a social services center for the disabled Wednesday, killing 14 people and seriously wounding more than a dozen others in a precision assault that looked “as if they were on a mission,” authorities said. Hours later, police hunting for the killers riddled a black SUV with gunfire in a shootout two miles from the late-morning carnage, and a man and woman with assault rifles, handguns and “assault-style clothing” were killed, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said. A third person who was spotted running near the gunbattle was detained, but Burguan said it was unclear if that person had anything to do with the crime.

THE LATEST: SUSPECTS WHO DIED EACH HAD LONG GUN, HANDGUN

Meredith Davis, a spokeswoman with ATF, told KCAL9-TV the two suspects who died in a shootout with police after the mass killing in California were each armed with a long gun and a handgun. They were wearing tactical-style clothing that was “loaded with magazines for a gunfight,” she said Wednesday.

Davis said the suspects also threw a thick-gauge copper pipe out of the SUV, but no explosives were found inside. The fake pipe bomb was equipped with a piece of material made to look like a wick.

Authorities are tracing the serial numbers on the guns and authorities will be dispatched to those addresses.

Law enforcement officers are calling for people to come to the front door of a home in Redlands, California, where tips led authorities investigating the deadly shooting at a social services center.

Compiled from the AP Newswire

NEWS

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New Paltz Properties Increasing In Price

PHOTO COURTESY OF MAX REID

By Jack O’Brien

Copy Editor | Obrienj2@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

For years now, with the exception of the lean years during the Great Recession, average home prices in New Paltz have been on a steady incline.

According to the real estate website Trulia.com, the average home sale prices in New Paltz have risen from approximately $100,000 in 2000 to nearly $280,000 in 2015.

Realtor.com put the average home price in New Paltz at $277,000. This figure is slightly lower than the average home price in New York, which is $279,000 and markedly higher than the average home price nationwide, which is $202,000.

Sally Sprogis, an agent at Coldwell Banker, said New Paltz is an expensive place that appeals to specific people. These buyers tend to live in New York City and are in the market for a second home in the country.

“In the village of New Paltz, people pay extra for both municipal water and sewage costs” Sprogis said. “Prices are high, but it’s easier to sell in New Paltz because the natural scenery around the community draws buyers in.”

The Benjamin Center, formerly known as CRREO, offered an example of how much more expensive it is to live in the village of New Paltz as

compared to the town.

“If you lived in the Village of New Paltz in a house worth $260,000 (the value of the median sale in Ulster County in 2006), and have no exemptions, you paid $1,497.60 more in taxes that year than a person with a house worth the same amount in the Town of New Paltz, and also in the New Paltz School district.”

According to the real estate website Zillow.com, New Paltz’s peak median home value was in August of 2006, at $312,000. New Paltz still has significantly higher median home values as compared to other neighboring communities, with the only exception being Gardiner.

While the market has recovered from its median home value trough of $231,000 in November of 2012, there hasn’t been a full rebound yet.

Sprogis said the market has been middling for some time now.

Sprogis, who has worked in New Paltz since 2000, said she is skeptical about a significant uptick in the market for 2016, citing signs that interest rates might increase. While it will be an election year, typically a time when people are more eager to buy due to uncertainty, Sprogis said it may not have the same impact next year.

In her years as an agent, Sprogis has learned how cyclical the mar-

ket is through both good times and bad.

According to Trulia.com, the average number of sales per year in New Paltz has only risen slightly during her time as an agent, from about 20 in 2000 to just above 30 in 2015.

Hollis Dukler, a 23-year veteran of the New Paltz real estate market, said that the tax exempt status of the college and the Mohonk Preserve causes property taxes to be higher than they would be elsewhere.

“New Paltz has always been expensive in comparison to other communities but that’s because it has very high school taxes,” Dukler said. “They’re an even larger cost to homeowners than property taxes. People want their kids to go to a good school so they’re willing to spend more. Therefore, residential homeowners end up having to pay more in taxes than people in other communities.”

Both Dukler and Sprogis acknowledged that the college, with its ability to bring money, culture and people to the area, does keep the market insulated. This has allowed the New Paltz real estate market to remain in a threshold that avoids major busts, but also has a ceiling on major booms.

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Your Student Senate Brief

By Sarah Eames

Contributing Writer | Eamess1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

The 60th Student Senate met on Wednesday to pass a resolution expressing support for the Black Studies department.

The resolution echoes the demands outlined in a petition circulated by members of the Black Studies Student Organization (BSSO) earlier this semester. The undersigned of the petition requested the commitment of President Donald Christian in addressing the students’ desire for a “strong and supportive academic program in Black Studies.” The petition garnered over 1,000 student signatures in just under two months.

In September of this year, President Christian issued a statement of support for the department during what he described as “a time of significant departmental transition.” Christian’s statement, delivered in a campus-wide email, attributed the transition to last year’s review of the Black Studies curriculum, a process which is required by every department within the university.

According to the email, the results of the de-

partmental review prompted a series of recommendations for improvements within the department, the primary goal of which remains to “enhance programs to best serve students and to engage them with contemporary interdisciplinary approaches to Black/ Africana studies.”

Christian also acknowledged the retirement and departure of several faculty members from the department. In meetings with members of both the BSSO and the Student Association (SA) executive board, campus administrators have made clear their intent to define the parameters of these areas of study before hiring specialized faculty to fill these vacancies.

The resolution, authored by new senator Lauren Fitzsimmons, addresses the loss of four full-time, tenured faculty lines over the past several months.

According to members of the BSSO, who consulted with members of the Constitutional Rules Committee (CRC) in writing the legislation, campus administrators have committed to hiring one full-time,

tenured faculty member and two visiting members.

The resolution calls not only for the restoration of the four full-time, tenured positions, but also for two of those lines to be filled by the Fall 2016 semester and the other two to be filled by Fall 2017.

In sponsoring this legislation, the Senate is also pressuring administrators to allow for student participation on the search committees formed to fill the vacancies.

Fourth-year senator Maria Iskaros reiterated that current procedure for hiring new faculty does not allow for students to sit on the search committees for any department. She suggested that the Senate look into reforming the process some time in the future.

Senators also expressed their concern at the intent of the campus administration to move the Black Studies department office space from its current location in the Faculty Office Building, just east of the Coykendall Science Building, to designated office space in the Old Main Building. While the

petition describes the Black Studies department as a center of “vibrant intellectual life on campus,” the resolution elaborates on the fact that the department office space offers meeting space for the Scholar’s Mentorship Program (SMP) and other student organizations, citing the lack of an otherwise established multicultural center on campus.

In the final clause of the resolution, which will be presented to President Christian and members of his cabinet at their next meeting with the SA executive board, the Senate declared that the resolution will also be distributed to Laura Barrett, dean of liberal arts and sciences, Dr. Major Coleman, the chair of the Black Studies department, and Janice Anderson, the presiding officer of Faculty Governance meetings.

Following the discussion, Iskaros raised her hand, motioning to “cosponsor the Black Studies revolution ” before correcting herself, “resolution.”

With a laugh and a unanimous vote, the resolution was cosponsored by the Senate.

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•Ulster County Considers Extending Rail Trail .........................Pg 4 •Congress Votes On Planned Parenthood Funding ........Pg 6 •CRREO Renamed The Benjamin Center...................................Pg 5 •Student Senate Discusses Sustainability ........................Pg 7

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a passion for fashion Story on page 2B

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PHOTO BY THIERNO BALDÉ

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FEATURES

Sophisticated Style STUDENT CREATES HIP FASHION BRAND

By Karl Evers-Hillstrom

Features Editor | N02541514@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Born in Guinea, West Africa, Thierno Baldé moved to New York City in 2008 to attend high school.

Just a few years later, the fourthyear digital media management major is founder, CEO and creative director of Comme Baldé, his very own fashion company.

Baldé found his passion for fashion design while working retail in SoHo and started designing clothes shortly after. He exhibited his first works at an Envied Fashions show on campus and officially launched Comme Baldé in 2013.

All of the clothes at Comme Baldé are hand-made and put together by a tailor in New York City. Baldé touts his design as clothing for his generation.

“It’s designed for millennials, for people looking for something that is simple yet sophisticated,” Baldé said.

In the fashion world, Baldé is currently just a little fish in a very large pond. But he doesn’t expect that to be the case for very long.

Although his company is still in its infancy, Baldé plans to expand his brand at a rapid rate. Baldé said he wants to grow his brand to the point where it is competing with some of his biggest fashion influences, Alexander Wang and Balmain, two highend, high profile brands that are well known in the industry.

“I’m not afraid of competing, I love the competition,” Baldé said.

“I wanna be that guy who people are afraid of, the person who people

PHOTOS BY THIERNO BALDÉ

in the industry say, ‘That’s a guy who’s on the come up, watch out for him.’”

Baldé believes that if all goes well, he can compete with distinguished fashion brands within five years.

“I know it seems very close to now,” Baldé said. “But when I look at how far I’ve come on my own in the past few years, it doesn’t seem impossible.”

Baldé credits many of his classes at SUNY New Paltz for helping him launch and expand his company. He wrote his initial business plan, which included his mission statement, vision, marketing strategy and budget in his media convergence class. In his media research

class, he learned about how to appeal to the younger generation of shoppers and in his advertising and marketing classes he learned how he could actually reach this audience.

“Every class I take is somehow applicable to my brand,” he said.

“I’ve learned so much about how to market to an audience, how to make my brand stand out.”

Baldé wanted to make sure everything about his brand was appealing, even down to its name: Comme Baldé. Comme is a French preposition that translates in English to ‘like.’

“Whatever I create is something I would wear,” Baldé said.

“So ‘Comme Baldé’ means ‘Like Baldé.’”

The company has kept Baldé very busy, as he runs nearly all of the operation himself.

“It’s hard, there’s so much stuff

that goes into the business,” Baldé said. “It’s not just about making the clothes, you have to plan photoshoots, plan social media, blog about your brand.”

Baldé borrows his favorite expression from Nike: Just Do It. He feels that everyone should do something they are passionate about rather than wait and lose their opportunity.

“If you give up on your dream, what are you going to do, sit around and think about it?” Baldé said.

“You don’t know how it will work out, but you have to go for it.”

Comme Baldé currently offers a few items on its online store, consisting of cotton and denim shirts, but Baldé said more items will be available in February or March when he launches his Spring collection.

Clothes and additional information are available at commebalde.com.

You probably wouldn’t have known that Baldé took this photo in the Ridgeview Hall elevator, with New Paltz students posing as models.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

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College Dining On A Dime MOXIE CUP MUNCHIES MADNESS

By Sage Higgins Staff Writer | Higginss1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu Do you have a sweet tooth but a not so sweet budget? Moxie Cup, located at 184 Main St. in New Paltz, is the place for you. With many of their delicious desserts starting at $3, it’s a “sweet” deal your wallet can also feel good about. Josie Eriole, the owner of Moxie Cup gave me the inside scoop on all things cupcakes.

“Moxie Cup came to be when I was having foot surgery and it took me out of commission from singing professionally,” Eriole said. “I wanted to do something different and looked at my other passions. Baking was definitely one of them! And there was nowhere at that time to get a really great gourmet cupcake. So I opened Moxie!”

But Moxie doesn’t just do cupcakes, they offer many other delicious pastries and coffee products.

“All our products are made from scratch, something that most places cannot say,” Eriole said. “We make killer savory scones. The spinach feta is my favorite. We also have a full espresso bar, which of course features a lot of house made syrups and sauces.

We do not use any artificial flavors in anything in the shop.”

The aspect of community is very important to Moxie Cup. They participate in many New Paltz community events including the Halloween Parade where they had 1,000 cupcakes to give away to the community.

“We love being a part of the New Paltz community,” Eriole said. “I’m very generous with campus events and there are a couple of charities in town that we regularly donate to, such as Family of New Paltz.”

And with the holidays coming up, I was curious to see what Moxie was

mixing up.

“We just started a new drink!” Eriole said. “It’s a white chocolate cranberry mocha. As well as a local eggnog latte (made with Ronnybrook eggnog) We also have a peppermint mocha cupcake and a gingerbread cupcake which is one of my favorites.”

Moxie Cup, is such a nice, cozy place to hang out. With bright pink walls and inspirational pillows on the bench seats, it looks like a pictureworthy scene right from a interior designer’s Instagram account. But then I was presented with the most beautiful sight; a pastry case filled with cupcakes.

“Probably our most popular cupcake is the Salt Away My Sugar,” Eriole said. “It’s a chocolate cake with a housemade caramel filling and French sea salt on top.”

I had to try the crowd favorite.

This is the cupcake I always indulge in when I go to Moxie. The housemade caramel filling is rich and smooth with the chocolate cake being moist and sweet. The salt is a perfect savory hint to a decadent cupcake.

But I also decided to try something new, the “Annie,” which is a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and cake crumbles. It was just as delicious as the first cupcake. Rich, decadent, delicious.

And with the 10 percent discount to anyone with a student ID, your wallet and your stomach will be smiling.

Moxie Cup can be found on facebook.com/moxiecup, Instagram, Twitter @moxiecup and on their website, moxiecup.com. Moxie Cup is open Sunday-Thursday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Honoring The Hawks NEW PALTZ ALUMNI SPORT SCHOOL COLORS

By Amanda Copkov Copy Editor | Copkova1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu People from all across the world showed off their New Paltz pride during the second annual Global Orange and Blue Day. On Friday, Nov. 20, students past and present as well as parents, faculty and staff sported the New Paltz Hawks colors of orange and blue in honor of this international day, celebrated on and off campus.

Alumni Relations Officer Steven Posada said that this event was created to celebrate the pride within the SUNY New Paltz community and everyone affiliated with the college.

This year, a main event of Global Orange and Blue Day was the pre-theater reception for the Mainstage production of “Julius Caesar.”

There were also organized “meetups” in Atlanta, Buffalo, as well as the Syracuse area, where those associated with New Paltz could celebrate Global Orange and Blue Day together.

But this day is primarily a social media event, Posada said. People not only in New Paltz,

but either living, working or studying abroad in other places such as China, Japan, Spain, France and other countries have posted their prideful pictures on social media such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

“We made this event as something that would bring everyone together. We used the word ‘global’ because we wanted to be inclusive to everyone despite where you are,” he said. “This event is as simple as taking a quick picture with your colors and sharing your favorite New Paltz memory.”

Emily Sarra, a fourth-year communications disorders major, student ambassador and admissions assistant, participated in Global Orange and Blue Day by sporting an orange cardigan and a blue shirt. She said that her boss in the admissions department got her involved in this event last year when it was first piloted.

“I have a lot of school spirit,” Sarra said.

“That’s why I decided to wear orange and blue to match my best friend so we could put a picture on social media and try to get other people to do it.”

Sarra also feels that this event is important to

the New Paltz campus as well as the SUNY New Paltz community at large. “[Participating in] Global Orange and Blue Day shows that you are passionate about where you go to school and that you care about showing the school colors and the spirit for the place where you are living and learning every day,” she said.

Samantha Skillman, marketing assistant for the Center for International Programs (CIP) at SUNY New Paltz, said that this day is promoted on social media by using hashtags such as #npsocial, #NPGOAB, #npalumni and #newpaltzabroad.

Skillman believes that Global Orange and Blue Day shows that New Paltz values its students, faculty and all those affiliated with the school.

It is also a day where those associated with New Paltz can show their pride for it being a top SUNY school and for it being a highly recognized public institution with a high national ranking.

According to the U.S. News and World Report, SUNY New Paltz ranks at No. 4 for public regional universities in the North for 2016.

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“This day is a reflection of the environment we’ve made here for students, faculty and staff,” Skillman said. “It’s important to come together and realize we’re not only a place that offers education, but that we are a holistic institution that nurtures both academic and personal progress.”

Skillman herself was an abroad student from Sydney, Australia in 2009. She loved SUNY New Paltz so much that she decided to come back and create a life for herself 9,000 miles away from home.

“I’m proud to say that I am a New Paltz alum and that I work here,” she said. “I never thought I’d live here, and I am very thankful for New Paltz.”

According to Posada, New Paltz has 64,000 alumni alone. This does not include those who have either worked at or for the college, current students or parents of students.

“We have a really immense network,” he said. “The goal is to promote and provide a day of pride and show the capacity that the New Paltz community has.”

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Orange Is The New Paltz ACTOR FROM NETFLIX SERIES VISITS CAMPUS

By Amanda Copkov Copy Editor | Copkova1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Having made her great escape from Litchfield Penitentiary, Miss Rosa of “Orange Is the New Black” made a pitstop at SUNY New Paltz.

Actress Barbara Rosenblat, referred to as “the Meryl Streep of audiobooks,” plays the role of Miss Rosa in the critically acclaimed, top-rated Netflix series and came to the College as part of the One Book/One New Paltz (OB/ONP) program. The goals of this program are to foster community, encourage reading and support literacy by making one read accessible to everyone in the community, according to OB/ONP Committee Chair and Webmaster Charlene Martoni.

“The goal is to get people thinking so that they can go forth and make a difference in the world,” she said.

Martoni said she pushed for “Orange Is the New Black” by Piper Kerman to be read among those in the program because of all of the prevalent themes within the book, such as the issues of transgender people and sexual violence in prisons.

“These are issues college students can really make a difference about if they learn about them,” she said.

Martoni said she felt that this novel would be an important read in the community as more of these types of injustices are coming to light in the media.

“It’s important for people to realize that these communities, these institutions, have their own [injus-

tices] going on inside of them,” she said. “The only way that they can be fixed, really, is if people outside of them are aware of them. Because the people inside of these institutions do have rights, but their rights aren’t easy to protect, so they need help from other people.”

During Rosenblat’s Nov. 21 presentation, she held a Q+A session and read an excerpt from “Out of Orange” by Cleary Wolters, the ex-lover of Piper Kerman, whose pseudonym in the “Orange Is the New Black” book is Nora, and who is portrayed in the Netflix series as Alex Vause, played by actress Laura Prepon.

Rosenblat, the narrator for the audiobook version of “Out of Orange” read from “Prologue: Karma,” where Wolters expresses her initial reaction to reading Kerman’s “Orange Is the New Black.”

The author wrote of her first experience watching “Orange Is the New Black” — unbeknownst to her. At first, she admitted, she thought the opening scene of the first episode was a shampoo commercial, nearly ready to turn off the television with her finger on the power button. There was a “soft, tinkling piano” playing in the background and an attractive blonde woman taking a bath, drinking a glass of red wine.

Then all of a sudden — a “loud-sounding alarm interrupted the piano and the haunting sound of a heavy, metal door slamming shut” gave her chills. The camera zooms out of the happy, showering blonde woman to reveal that she is now in prison. In the next scene, the

same woman is dressed in an orange jumpsuit and says, “My name is Piper Chapman.”

“And I dropped the remote,” Wolters wrote. She heard “lesbian lover” and “drug smuggling” and instantly caught on to what she was watching — an onscreen adaption of the experience of her ex-lover.

Rosenblat said she was thrilled at the prospect of being in a show that took place in a women’s prison and had initially auditioned for the role as Russian character Red. She was told she wouldn’t be cast as Red but was instead offered the role as Miss Rosa, a fictional character only found in the “Orange Is the New Black” Netflix series. To her agent she said, “Great, who is she?”

“A prisoner.”

“Oh, what’s she done?”

“We don’t know.”

“Where’s she from?”

“No idea.”

“Okay …”

“And by the way, she’s got cancer. Will you shave your head?” Rosenblat was asked.

Rosenblat said she initially walked away from the role, but decided otherwise days later when the producers of “Orange Is the New Black” employed three-time Emmy award-winning special effects makeup artist Josh Turi, known for his special effects makeup in movies such as “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (2014), “Men

in Black 3” (2012) and “Ted 2” (2015). She kept her hair and endured a three-hour-long makeup process during each day of filming.

She said that the challenge of being cast as Miss Rosa was finding out who the character was, as she did not have much help.

“As an actor, you have to bring your A-game and you try to build something from whole cloth,” she said.

“You have to invest what you get with blood, plasma, guts, a soul, an attitude and you have to make a choice and hopefully the director sees that and says, ‘Yeah, we can work with her.’ They like that.”

Rosenblat said she learned a lot about the life of women in prison as she played the role of one.

“The thing to understand is that they are people,” Rosenblat said. “They are mothers. They are sisters.

They are daughters. And they have lives.”

Martoni said that the OB/ONP program is a great opportunity for people in the New Paltz community to learn more and empower themselves.

“This program and the books we choose get people inspired,” she said. “We have a very diverse age range, from the elderly to those in high school, and I think that the benefit of being empowered affects them all.”

OB/ONP chooses a book each February. Book suggestions for the upcoming year can be emailed to onebook@newpaltz.edu.

New Perspectives On Psychology EVOLUTION MAY PLAY MAJOR ROLE IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR

By Monique Trachina Copy Editor | Tranchim1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu Lecture Center 102 was almost filled as evolutionary psychology students and graduates gave in-depth presentations covering a wide variety of human behavior and how they may stem from an evolutionary foundation.

Some unlikely topics were explored, including beauty pageant competitions and their relationship to winning a potential mate. Thus, evolutionary psychology may explain how our animal instincts are at work underneath our intellectual or polished activities while we strive to outcompete others for survival and further our lineage.

For example, as shown in biological psychologist Mandy Guitar’s work, we tend to perceive high risk situations with a “threat or opportunity” lens. Given her computer program to test whether humans base events with success or failure, Guitar was able to prove how in some instances we tend to associate means of obtaining food with success or failure

in situations that are and aren’t in our control.

Laura Johnsen, a psychology and theater arts major alum who graduated in 2012, gathered and tested data that reveals the relationships between local, national and international beauty pageants and how women compete for males by various means. According to Johnsen, she “wanted to see how competitive tactics in mating schedules might work in beauty pageants.”

Though these competitions are professional and means for entertainment, women do take part in ousting each other in beauty, talent, intellect and physical health for prizes.

A portion of her predictions were supported, as white was found the most popular color amongst the formal dress contest, possibly noting a favor for women who appear pure and virginal.

Humans may also attract mates through producing music. According to Morgan Gleason, a psychology graduate alumna of 2014, people who have high emotional intelligence and aptitude will produce better music and

therefore attract mates better. Her results did not always align with her predictions, but she did find that having certain emotional recognition and awareness would better predict musical aptitude: this could provide instances for attracting a mates.

Nicole Arnold, a fourth-year psychology major similarly said she found the last presentation on interdisciplinary studies most useful.

“It basically said it’s applying yourself in different fields, to ground you more and expand research topics,” she said.

The last presentation summed up the lecture event by compiling all avenues of research within a larger context: Dr. Benjamin Crosier applied his knowledge of evolutionary psychology with related fields.

“Evolution is a unifying meta-theoretical framework that is inherently interdisciplinary,” he said. “This includes sex, love and parenting.”

Glenn Geher, professor and chair of psychology at SUNY New Paltz, said that this type of event can benefit faculty too.

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“For faculty, helping our students obtain the skills needed to succeed is our primary business,” he said. “And providing a forum for alumni to present and connect with current students is integral to the goals of any faculty member. This event has the capacity to help faculty see ways that they can help connect alumni and students as well as ways to create high-impact educational events connected with their classes.”

Geher said this event is great for students to see alumni success after graduation as well as their research that contributes to evolutionary psychology. “Several of the alumni who spoke now have ‘real jobs’ and were able to help students see how their education now can help them secure and succeed in jobs in their futures,” he said. “For instance, Ben Crosier, who was one of our speakers, is now a postdoctoral researcher in the field of behavioral health at Dartmouth College. He spoke with our students about how his education in statistics and research methods really set him up to acquire and succeed in such a role.”

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

All Shook Up! THE MIAMI THEATER PLAYERS ROCK THE HOUSE

By Sam Manzella

Copy Editor | Manzells1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Unrequited love, small-town blues and Elvis’ greatest hits. What do these three things have in common?

I’ll give you a hint: they’re all key components of the Miami Theater Players’ production of “All Shook Up,” which rocked n’ rolled two weeks ago on stage at the New Paltz Central High School.

The show tells the story of Natalie (Emily Sarra), a lonely young mechanic from the countryside, who falls hopelessly in love with playboy and general roustabout Chad (Kevin Burns). Unbeknownst to Natalie, her best friend, Dennis (Jason Schissel), harbors an intense love for her. The love story doesn’t end there. Chad falls for the beautiful and mysterious Sandra (Casey Richards), leaving Natalie heartbroken. Along the way, the audience learns of a complicated crush between Natalie’s father, Jim (Jacob Berkowitz), and his close friend, Sylvia (Stephanie Golub). There’s forbidden love, a covert gender swap and the looming threat of Mayor Matilda (Kate O’Hehir), whose harsh laws forbid dancing and singing.

All the while, the characters twist and jive to classic Elvis hits, including “One Night With You,” “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” to name a few. A pit orchestra and impressive choreography truly brought the Players’ production to the next level.

Director Laura Amoruso, a fourthyear secondary education major, was proud of her club’s final performance.

Preparation for “All Shook Up” consisted of hours of casting, nine weeks of rehearsals and many long days and nights of set design and costuming, she said. As director, Amoruso took on the expected roles for her position, in-

cluding scene blocking, staging and small bits of choreographing. However, the Players are an entirely student-run organization, which meant work on and off the clock for many members. Amoruso and the club’s other E-board members went above and beyond their designated duties to make their vision into a reality.

Amoruso praised the performers from “All Shook Up.” Many were first-years or transfer students, which brought new faces and talent to the Players’ repertoire.

The Players faced one major hurdle: with Parker Theatre under renovation, Amoruso and the club’s president, fourth-year communications disorders major Emily Sarra, were unable to secure an on-campus location for the three-day run of “All Shook Up.” Luckily, the faculty at New Paltz Central High School happily accommodated the club’s needs and set aside a theater space in the school’s Otto Grassel Auditorium.

Sarra even worked with faculty at the high school to set up round-trip transportation between the auditorium and the Transit Hub at SUNY New Paltz.

Directing isn’t a role suited for everyone, Amoruso said, but it’s one she wouldn’t trade for the world.

Her work with the Players forced her to develop strong time management skills — something essential to working while studying full-time, she said. Even so, the directors, costumers, musical conductors and producers of college-level productions don’t receive the same recognition and praise as the actors, who are quite literally the faces of the show.

“It’s really hard but completely rewarding to be in charge of something self-sufficient,” she said, sporting a proud grin. “It’s a delicious feeling.”

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PHOTOS BY DAVID KHORASSANI

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oracle.newpaltz.edu COME JAM WITH SAM!

By Sam Manzella Manzells1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Hello?

It’s me.

I was beginning to wonder if Adele would ever release another studio album into the stratosphere.

For a second there, it seemed like the singer / songwriter was finished with the music industry after the colossal success of her second album, “21.”

Tracks like “Rolling In The Deep” and “Someone Like You” skyrocketed Adele, a then 21-year-old Brit nursing a broken heart, into international stardom. “21” topped the charts as the world’s best-selling musical release in 2011 and 2012, according to the artist’s Wikipedia page.

After the birth of her first child, though, Adele took a musical hiatus to focus on her family. It was only this past November that the artist unveiled her third album. “25,” named after the singer’s age when she wrote

Arts & Entertainment

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Adele Surfaces Again the album, was eagerly anticipated by Adele fanatics across the world. Music critics and fans alike wondered if the artist could possibly release an album as critically and financially successful as “21.” Of course, this is up for debate, but the singer’s record 3.38 million sales during her third album’s first week on the market certainly bode well for her prospects.

Adele released “Hello,” the first single off of “25,” on Oct. 23. Her success was instantaneous: the single’s music video, released one day prior, garnered a record 27.7 million views on YouTube during its first 24 hours alone. Everyone from the cast of “Saturday Night Live” to my own mother has mimicked the music video, imitating those unforgettable opening words and Adele’s dramatic vocal projections. The song is a tourde-force of emotion, carrying the

listener through a slew of dramatic and all-too-familiar sentiments: love, loss, regret, failure. The music video captures this roller coaster ride well, with the singer flashing back from old memories to present-day strolls in the woods. It’s a cinematic masterpiece in its own right. Think blurry light bokehs, swooping camera angles and heavy-handed cheekbone contouring.

I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t an Adele enthusiast when “21” hit it big. “Rolling In The Deep” and “Someone Like You” were powerful songs, sure, but radio stations overplayed these tracks to the point of exhaustion. It’s not Adele’s fault, of course. She’s got an incredible set of pipes. But I could go another lifetime without hearing the chorus of “Someone Like You” on Z100 (or covering my ears as my family screeches along to Adele’s high notes, either.)

There’s just something about “Hello” that is so appealing and comforting, though. I can’t quite describe it — the song hits me harder than any of Adele’s older singles. “Hello” has all of the raw, real sentimentality of the singer’s previous discography, but it has a wiser, more mature element to it, too. The rest of the album follows this same trend, demonstrating the singer’s evolution as an artist and as a person.

Perhaps Adele herself said it best: when asked about her thoughts on “25,” the artist called it her “make-up record,” a perfect counterpart to her break-up record “21.” “‘25’ is about getting to know who I’ve become without realizing,” she wrote in an open letter to her Twitter followers. “And I’m sorry it took so long but, you know, life happened.”

Dino Disappointment NEW PIXAR FILM FAILS TO IMPRESS

By Jake Berkowitz

Contributing Writer | flamingblok11@yahoo.com

Disney•Pixar insists that you call this movie “The Good Dinosaur.”

However, my snark tells me that a more appropriate title would have been The Pedestrian Dinosaur.

The newest offering from the beloved animation studio that gave us the “Toy Story” series, and most recently “Inside Out,” features a figuratively yellow and literally green dinosaur named Arlo (Raymond Ochoa), and his pet human, Spot (Jack Bright). The pair, separated from their families, go on an all too familiar adventure to find their way home.

The film, helmed by rookie director Peter Sohn and penned by sophomore Meg LeFauve, feels like a lesser

Pixar attemept, on the level of “Brave” or the “Cars” films. The uneven tone and poor pacing, coupled with the less than taut script, give the film a mediocre quality, especially considering the greatness we’ve come to expect from Disney•Pixar.

It isn’t a mortal sin to be predictable and not every film needs to revolutionize the industry. That being said, “The Good Dinosaur” can’t escape from out of the shadows cast by its better, more innovative older siblings, like “The Lion King.” From “Dumbo” in particular, the film borrows a lot, including the themes of family, belonging, finding one’s self, a smaller, braver sidekick aiding a young pariah of an animal and a strong mother-son bond. The film even has its own pink elephants-esque

sequence in which Arlo and Spot eat fermented peaches. It is hilariously out of place, albeit exceedingly brief.

I don’t mean to say that the film is offensively bad; it simply isn’t particularly remarkable. It attacks its subject matter from a juvenile perspective, without offering many laughs or interesting details for anyone older than 13.

The voice performances aren’t especially strong, and the characters aren’t memorably cute. Arlo and Spot are no competition for the likes of Mike and Sully from “Monster’s Inc.” The film seems to exist as a glorified tech demo. One that Disney•Pixar didn’t feel like tinkering with anymore, but decided to wedge a story into and bill as a feature length movie for very little children. The scenery is abso-

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lutely breathtaking and majestic, and special attention seems to have been given to the water effects, which are inarguably the best ever seen in an animated film. The photorealistic landscapes are in stark contrast with the oddly cartoony and largely undetailed characters, further strengthening my idea that the movie itself was merely an afterthought. If you took Arlo and Spot out of the film, nearly any frame could be hung in the MoMA without much backlash or argument.

Feel free to watch the flick on ABC Family in a couple of months, if you really like Pixar films. If you’re just looking for a cute, short, animated story, try to find a theater that’s still playing “The Peanuts Movie” instead.

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Arts & Entertainment

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Et Tu, Britney?

GENDER-SWAPPED SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY WOWS

By Jess Napp

Copy Editor | Nappj1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Beware the Ides of March because on March 15, the Queen Bee of an-all girls boarding school will be executed by her closest companions.

In guest director Lauren Bone Noble’s production of “Julius Caesar,” the adjunct lecturer of theatre arts transported hundreds of viewers into an unusual retelling of an age­old Shakespearean classic.

Bone Noble’s production ran for eight shows, and on Nov. 22 the cast captivated their last crowd.

The gender swapped version of this tragedy pushed all of the boundaries expected of a play originally crafted in 1599.

According to Bone Noble, she created this one­-of-­a­-kind concept based on the movie “Mean Girls,” the “Harry Potter” series, the timeless novel “Lord of the Flies” and even a Rolling Stone article.

“I was interested in doing anall female version but that seemed rather vague,” she said. “The idea to set the play in a boarding school for girls popped into my mind one day and wouldn’t go away.”

Bone Noble said that several months of work went into constructing the elaborate set adorned with ivy running along the outside of a faux brick building.

Everything from the ornate stage constructions to the garb adorned by the preppy Roman schoolgirls was calculated to a T. The performance seamlessly incorporated the old elements of this time­-honored standard, but with an individualistic spin at every twist and turn of this fast paced action packed thriller.

The avant­-garde spectacle transformed the work into a modern day case of petty mean girls violently turning on one another in the name

PHOTOS BY DAVID KHORASSANI

of homecoming queen royalty. Julius Caesar has been re­ -imagined as a popular girl and the “face” of Rome Preparatory Academy.

“I think that seeing how catty

and vicious girls can be heightened the circumstances in the show,” fourth year theatre major Harley Putzer said. “Instead of seeing a bunch of old guys dressed in togas,

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the audience got to see a show that is much more relatable to society today.”

According to Putzer, who played a plebian in the show, the cast worked with fight choreographer John Hayden. She said that working alongside Hayden helped her to become more comfortable working with her fellow actors in combat scenes.

“I left every rehearsal that we worked on the fight choreography more and more excited for the show to open,” she said.

Assistant professors in the theatre department played the two soothsayers. Instead of dressing as old hags cloaked in black they were janitors listening to MP3 players. In order to separate the different acts, the words futuristically appeared across a ledge onstage in neon blue letters while ominous music played throughout the lofty Globe Theatre.

At the start of the performance, one of the actresses stood on stage speaking in Shakespearean tongues. The cloaked maiden gave the typical instructions to the congregation of playgoers, but the audience roared with laughter at the outdated way she worded her advisements.

“Shakespeare is incredibly difficult material,” Bone Noble said.

“I wanted to create a piece of theatre that would be more approachable not only to the student actors but to the audience as well. By modernizing the setting and lowering the age, I hope I accomplished that goal.”

Fourth-year double major in theatre and communications Spencer Cohen attended one of the performances, and he found this new take on an old favorite to be incredibly compelling.

“I really enjoyed the spectacle of this show; it was very unique,” Cohen said.

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The Deep End

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The New Paltz Oracle

THIS WEEK IN

THE DEEP END T

Major: Photography

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P

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Year: Fourth

Inspriation: Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Larry Sultan, Garry Winogrand, Daido Mariyama “It is tough to say what exactly motivates me to take photographs. I am constantly plagued with “vague fever,” a frequent feeling that compels me to articulate my experience and figure it out through a camera. In a sense, I am photographing people and objects in order to see what they look like in photographs. Black and white is my favorite expression for shooting, as it allows more control of the photograph’s tones. My heroes in photography include Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Larry Sultan, Garry Winogrand and Daido Mariyama.”

Photos courtesy of Terry Phan| Captioning by David Khorassani

The New Paltz Oracle

Finals

With finals week quickly approaching, almost all students find themselves under tremendous levels of stress. While some stress is unavoidable, like that 10-page research paper or three hour final exam, a lot of this stress is self-inflicted. Procrastination, the leading culprit to college student stress, can be alleviated with proper time management.

The easiest way to manage a workload is to make a to-do list. Most professionals actively use to-do lists and for good reason. It’s an effective organizer, allows for efficient use of time and will help you in the long term.

We at The New Paltz Oracle urge everyone to take a moment and take a deep breath. Take a few minutes to close your eyes and breathe, go outside for some fresh air or just give your brain a rest for a second.

Don’t treat these tests as anything

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and

more stressful than the tests you took earlier in the semester. The self-inflicted stress that is most to blame for the undoing of otherwise successful college students can be attributed to overthinking. This isn’t a suggestion to stop thinking about the work you have to do, but rather to address it as business as usual.

Don’t forget to relax once in a while, and more importantly, don’t forget to sleep. Research shows that getting at least seven hours of sleep a day boosts thinking ability, athletic performance and relieves stress. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) finds that lack of sleep among adults can result in loss of concentration and lack of remembrance. That being said, be sure to get your suggested amount of sleep each night — about seven to eight hours for adults and nine to 10 hours for teens. The CDC also sug-

Chill

gests avoiding nicotine, alcohol, caffeine or excessive food consumption before going to bed. Another way to make sure you are getting enough sleep is by going to bed at the same time each night and waking up around the same time each morning.

Have a huge test coming up? You should start studying sooner rather than later. Studies show that for the majority of students, cramming for tests is generally ineffective and completely inferior to spaced-out studying periods. The problem with cramming is that the human mind can only hold so much information at once. When students do all of their studying in one sitting they often will only recognize an item they need to know for a test rather than be able to recall it. This can be fixed via repetition. Devoting a small amount of time every day to study will allow the brain to actively

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CARTOON BY STEFANIE DIERS

understand and store information for that scary test and keep it for later in life.

And remember, after these next two weeks during which we’ll all find ourselves pulling out our hair while eating endless cartons of ice cream late at night, it’s done. The semester is over and you can go home knowing you did your best. No matter the results, whether it’s an A+ or skating by with a C-, the lovely break will follow.

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.

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JACK O’BRIEN Copy Editor

Obrienj1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.”

Throughout grade-school, I knew kids whose parents forced them to go to church school and quickly grew to resent it. As I got older and more people fell out of love with faith, I grew more enamored with the idea of it.

I find faith fascinating because ultimately I hope that people believe something, or not, that makes them feel comfortable each day. My faith is not defined by others. Pope Francis is the sole exception. His attempts at outreach and messages centering on acceptance make him such a crucial voice that I treasure. His work is inspirational every day and he is on pace to be one of the most dynamic forces the Church has seen in

To the Editor: A recent Sierra Club article listed 163 of the greenest campuses in the U.S. Unfortunately, SUNY New Paltz did not make the cut.

On Oct. 5, The Kingston Daily Freeman interviewed SUNY New Paltz President Donald Christian. He dwelt at length on the need for tuition increases and more State funding, but his answer to a question about energy was inadequate. He referred to the college Sustainability Website that boasts several “feel good” token initiatives like eating more kale and turning the lights off for an hour in June, that do little to address the college’s $2 million annual dirty energy budget supported by tax and tuition payers.

SUNY New Paltz has a history of foot dragging on clean energy and efficiency. In the 1970’s, students demanded alternatives to dorm life and with the cooperation of a progressive College president, Dr. John Neumaier, students built the Environmental Site behind the maintenance building. Included was an organic garden, a wind generator and eight student built houses that were mostly solar heated, all at no cost to the college. The Experimental Studies Department (Innovative Studies) with some 40 courses

OPINION

COLUMN

The New Paltz Oracle

Homespun Homily several generations.

Now I do have conflicts with Catholicism on numerous levels of policy and doctrine.

However, I don’t let the culture wars define my faith. I revere Catholic tradition as someone who feels a connection to a higher power but still feels as though they are watching from outside the bubble. My sense of faith will never be as strong or visible as others I know, but it’s there. It’s there during the Christmas season, when more people are concerned with what Jesus would think of Starbucks’ red cups or why a public school doesn’t have a nativity scene on display.

My issues with organized religion revolve around the blatant hypocrisy I see in some of the people that claim to live in the faith. I know as many “bad Catholics” as I do “good Catholics.”

These are people who lie, steal, cheat and are lousy tenants of the faith. And yet so long as they are on their knees in the pew once a week, once a month or even once a year and toss back a few Hail Marys while they’re at it, it’s as if they’ve never sinned at all. I take issue with that.

I come from two family histories marked by the presence of Catholicism. My father’s side is Irish Catholic, while my mother’s side is French-Canadian Catholic. That presence holds different value depending on who you ask.

Some relatives are more faithful than others, some more expressive of their dedication than others. It varies.

Dangling from my rearview window you’ll find a crucifix and a small emblem of St. Anne.

Her role in Catholicism is obviously important,

OP-ED

including several on renewable energy, was founded. In 1979, The Grant Writing and Advanced Solar Design classes won a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a beautiful oak post and beam, earth sheltered, solar heated, four bedroom student residence by the tripping fields (they hate when you call it that).

The influx of over $100,000 in federal money attracted the attention of SUNY Central. The SUNY Board of Trustees was headed by Chase Manhattan Bank with direct corporate interlocks to Big Oil. A haughty new President with delusions of royal grandeur, Dr. Alice Chandler was sent to the college and one of her first official acts was to close the Environmental Site. Despite student, faculty, and community outrage, in June 1981, the college Environmental Site, with seven of the original student built solar tempered houses was bulldozed. (The eighth burnt on a rainy November night in 1985). The Innovative Studies Department was abolished. In 2006, the Department of Energy funded earth sheltered solar dorm, which had been blocked from its intended (or any) use by SUNY bureaucrats, and allowed to deteriorate, was also bulldozed.

This of course was before Dr. Christian’s

tenure, but at the time, not only was Chase Manhattan Bank (i.e. big oil) heading the SUNY Board of Trustees, but Central Hudson was on the New Paltz College Council. President Christian is currently a paid board member of Central Hudson, which makes its money primarily from fossil and nuclear derived energy and whose profits are directly proportional to energy waste, slick PR not withstanding.

New buildings pay only token attention to energy efficient design. A recently built million dollar glass atrium on the NORTH side of the Student Union Building is an energy hog.

Meanwhile buildings are being built in “Passiv Haus “ style in Germany, Vermont, and even here in Ulster County, that produce more energy than they use. The slightly higher cost of intelligent energy design is far more than offset by energy savings over the life of the building.

All new State buildings, especially SUNY buildings, should be built for zero energy use.

Whether you believe your own eyes, and the 97 percent of climate scientists who say fossil fuel combustion is destabilizing our climate, or the few in the pockets of Exxon and the Koch bothers who say the climate is cooling, it is esti-

Thursday, December 3, 2015

mother of the Virgin Mary, but she also serves as the principal patron of Quebec, which gives her added importance given my French heritage on mother’s side.

Roman Catholicism is something personal to me, it is a vacuum experience. In an era of declining identifiable religion, I find it an interesting institution to examine for good or bad.

And during the holiday season, it is the most important reminder to be a good person and respect everyone in your life.

Merry Christmas and God bless.

Jack O’Brien is a third-year journalism major and political science minor. He is a fan of deli sandwiches, riding tractors and otters.

mated that fossil fuel pollution kills 4000 people a year in New York alone. If the climate is cooling, all the more reason to harness all the efficient design and solar energy we can A.S.A.P. We have the technology to make the transition to 100 percent renewable energy in a few decades, and with savings that according to thesolutionsproject.org would amount to $33 billion a year for NY state.

One worthy group that is working to bring SUNY New Paltz into the 21st century is the Environmental Task Force, with student faculty and community members. Contact them at etf@ newpaltz.edu.

While our communities make strides towards a sustainable future, legalized corruption and conflict of interest at all levels of the SUNY bureaucracy allow a good old boy “business as usual” approach to energy consumption to persist decade after decade. It’s time to recycle this business model!

Ed Haffmans (SUNY New Paltz 1981) 425 County Route 2 Accord, N.Y. 12404 (845) 687-0587

The New Paltz Oracle

SPORTS

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SPORTS The New Paltz Oracle

PHOTO Turkey Trot participants Bridget Dannemann and Rob Couch embrace after getting engaged at the finish line.

By Anthony Mitthauer-Orza

Copy Editor | Mitthaua1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

The Family of New Paltz held their 12th annual Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5K race on Thursday, Nov. 26, where many residents gathered to run the open roads of New Paltz only to reward themselves with mass quantities of food later on.

After paying the registration fee, ranging from $15 to $25, over 700 people gathered at the four-way intersection on Water Street and Plains Road, with the proceeds going to “Family,” a crisis intervention center located in the heart of New Paltz since 1975.

Family provides a myriad of needed services, including a 24-hour hotline, counseling, support groups, shelters and a food pantry. The food pantry served more than 1,000 families last year.

Town Councilman Dan Torres attended the event, which he thought was unique due to the turnout. He also saw a reunion of friends from the past.

“It’s always a great event because

we live in a small community,” Torres said. “It’s exciting to see the town come out right before Thanksgiving.

For me, it’s always interesting because a lot of people I went to high school with moved out of the area and I generally see a lot of them at the event.”

The winners of the timed New Paltz five-kilometer run were Alfredo Mazzuca, who won for the second time with an impressive finish of 00:16:16 for the male division, and Leigh Gerson, who finished with a time of 00:18:08 for the female division.

Mazzuca, who ran for the 20 to 24 age group, felt that the event was a symbol of the strength and cohesiveness of New Paltz rather than a competition.

“The event is a great opportunity to meet up with local friends and make new connections,” Mazzuca said. “It’s also a good time to shave off the calories for the impending Thanksgiving meal.”

Mazzuca said that it was great win-

FINISH

ning the event and he hopes to “spark interest in the running community” as each year passes by.

Kevin Borden, a member of the Board of Directors for the Huguenot Street Cooperative Nursery School, also participated in this year’s run for the 40 to 44 age group.

Borden said that working with the helpful community groups really motivated him to do more than just run in this year’s Turkey Trot.

“The event means a lot to me on a personal level,” Borden said. “I have been blessed over the years to work with a number of community groups that work in low and moderate income communities. So, ensuring that we all come together to support excellent organizations like Family of New Paltz is extremely important to me.”

Borden plans to run this event for many years to come, in hopes to one day run with his two sons, Cormac, 3, and Finn, 5.

The run also featured a heartwarming finish for the community to

Thursday, December 3, 2015

PHOTO BY DANIELLE CROCE

remember, one that sent many home to their friends and families with a story to share at the dinner table.

When runner Bridget Dannemann was approaching the finish line, she saw a series of signs from her boyfriend Rob Couch and some of his family members. One family member was holding a sign that said “Will You,” while another held one that said “Marry,” only to be welcomed to Couch holding the sign that said “Me?” The crowd blew up in applause after hearing Dannemann say “yes.”

“It was definitely a new one,” Torres said. “It happened right in front of me, and seeing the man [Couch] holding the sign that said ‘Me?’ as she [Dannemann] crossed the finish line was a heartwarming experience.”

With the Family of New Paltz receiving the donations from the committed, hard-working citizens of New Paltz and Dannemann and Couch happily engaged, it can be assured that everyone had a Thanksgiving to remember.

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Sports

The New Paltz Oracle

New Paralympic Sport Gains Traction

By Amanda Copkov

Copy Editor | Copkova1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

There could be a new Paralympic sport on the horizon: blind ice hockey.

This co-ed parasport originated in Canada in 1972 by the first-ever blind team named the Toronto Ice Owls. The Montreal Hiboux were the second blind ice hockey team, formed in 1978 and are still playing to this day.

Closer to home, the New York Nightshade blind ice hockey team was established in 2013.

This team was formed in collaboration with Courage USA, a nonprofit blind ice hockey organization whose goal was to “provide blind and visually impaired communities across the country with the opportunity to learn and play the sport of blind ice hockey,” according to the organization’s website.

Recently, Courage USA has been blanketed by USA Hockey in an effort to further create awareness of this rising parasport and the New York Nightshade has officially been recognized as a USA Hockey association.

Courage Canada, the “mother” organization to Courage USA, was founded in 2008 by Mark Demontis, who at the time was only 18 years old. A year earlier, Demontis was diagnosed with an eye condition that slowly began to deteriorate his vision, which influenced him to first create the organization.

Courage USA co-founder and New York Nightshade player Kevin Shanley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at SUNY New Paltz, began to lose his vision at age 6. His other co-founder and co-player Christine Osika, began to lose her vision as a teen and interned with Courage Canada after college. The duo were appointed president and vice president, respectively.

A common factor between Demontis, Shanley and Osika has been their determination to continue playing hockey, a passion they had all enjoyed growing up and continue to enjoy today despite playing with impaired vision.

“The players prove that even if you have a visual impairment you can still play the game,” Demontis said. “It’s still the great game we all love.”

Demontis said that blind ice hockey is similar to traditional hockey aside from a few major modifications, such as having visually impaired players and playing with a slow, loud noise-making puck.

Some other minor rule modifications include the fact that blind ice hockey players must begin faceoffs with the puck on the ice and can only touch it on the referee’s whistle, making the game a competition of reaction time and not favoring the player with better vision. In addition, goals may only be scored in the bottom three feet of the net because the puck does not make noise in the air, which could

pose a disadvantage to the goalie if goals are made in the top of the net; among other rules.

Those who are sighted can also play blind ice hockey, but they are prohibited from making any goals or playing in tournaments.

On Oct. 24 and 25, the New York Nightshade hosted the Montreal Hiboux at the second annual Blind Ice Hockey Summit at the Newburgh Ice Time Sports Complex.

Demontis said that the goal of this event was to set another opportunity for people who are blind and partially sighted to come together, try the sport of blind ice hockey and evolve the sport to have more people play nationwide and internationally.

Craig Fitzpatrick traveled all the way from Washington, D.C. to play in this event: his first-ever blind ice hockey game.

He said that he has only played hockey for a year and that he has used it to help his vision, mobility and confidence.

“To be around people in a locker room after a game is probably my favorite part,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s harder to get around when you start losing some of your vision and social interactions get more difficult, but team sports are a great way to help with confidence.”

Fitzpatrick was surprised by the amount of players with visual impairments at the Summit and enjoyed being around people with whom he could relate.

“I’m the only blind guy I know who plays hockey in D.C. and here, I’m around 15 to 20 other people similarly situated to where I am in a small town in New York,” Fitzpatrick said. “It just makes me think about how many possibilities there must be in the rest of the country for [blind ice hockey] to really take off.”

Demontis feels that at this year’s Summit, there has been more energy, support, passion, as well as a more focused direction toward where the sport is going. A larger sense of camaraderie and siblinghood has developed over the past year within the blind ice hockey community, he added.

“The people here use hockey as a catalyst to better their own lives, meet new people, make new friends and do something new,” Demontis said. “I look forward to the fact that together we are breaking down barriers and motivating each other. And at the end of the day, the number one thing that everyone has in common here is vision, but most importantly, their love for hockey.”

Future blind ice hockey events will include the Canadian National Blind Hockey Championship from March 11-13 in Toronto (Americans are welcomed and encouraged) as well as the USA Hockey Disabled Hockey Festival in Detroit, Michigan from April 7-10.

The New York Nightshade pose for a team picture.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

PHOTO BY AMANDA COPKOV

The New Paltz Oracle

Sports

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Women’s Basketball Presses On

By Melissa Kramer

Sports Editor | Kramerm2@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

After starting the season with a 3-0 record, the Women’s basketball team has lost two out of their last three games.

The Hawks fell in a nonconference game versus Hartwick College 63-54 on Monday, Nov. 23.

The Hawks were able to erase a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter that brought them within one of Hartwick (52-51). However, several late game fouls against New Paltz resulted in free-throw conversions to secure the win for Hartwick.

As a team, the Hawks put up 22 points off Hartwick’s 25 turnovers, while committing 18 turnovers of their own.

Second-year guard Sydney Pinn led the Hawks with a career-high 15 points and six assists. She also grabbed five rebounds in the losing effort. Hawks third-year co-Captain Courtney Irby contributed 10 points, nine rebounds (a team-high) and blocked three shots.

The following day, the Hawks took a 6657 nonconference win against Mount Saint Mary College.

Hawks Head Coach Jamie Seward said the Hawks responded well, despite the Mountaineers solid play.

“We had a couple of players out,” he

said. “It was nice to see them respond favorably to the adverse circumstances and pull out a win.”

Turnovers were key to the Hawks win and point total, as they transformed the Knights’ 22 into the same amount of points.

Individually, Hawks fourth-year guard Colleen Ames led the team with 17 points, shooting 40 percent from the three-point arc. Hawks second-year guard and forward Laura Stuart followed putting 14 points on the board. Irby recorded a double-double, scoring 10 points and tallying a team-high 13 rebounds.

After a week between games, the Hawks dropped a 71-48 nonconference loss against No. 5 New York University (NYU) on Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Seward said the Hawks got to see a team of their caliber up-close and it will hopefully be a good learning experience for the team to be able to see what their opponent does and in the consistency in which they capitalize on it to succeed.

“Why they are a top-five team is very apparent,” he said. “If we want to get to that level, then we have to do those things and we have to do them consistently which is what they did.”

Irby said the best preparation starts at the Hawks practices, which since the beginning

of the season started have been very intense and competitive.

“We look to increase the intensity so we make sure that we are where we need to be,” she said.

With a 4-2 overall record, the Hawks will begin State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play and continue their fivegame homestand as they host SUNY Plattsburgh on Friday, Dec. 4 at 5:30 p.m. The next day, the Hawks will play another conference opponent in SUNY Potsdam at 2 p.m. They will continue their homestand with a nonconference matchup against Vassar College on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 6 p.m.

Last season, the Hawks split a pair of games against Plattsburgh and took both matchups against Potsdam. Overall, they put up a conference record of 13-5 and eventually advanced to the 2015 SUNYAC Tournament in the semifinals before PHOTO BY HOLLY LIPKA way against NYU and we can go on another losing to SUNY Cortland.

Seward said the team played really well run,” he said. “We know it is going to be a at home last season, losing only one game. challenging slate in front of us starting right They hope to continue that trend this season away with Plattsburgh, who is very good. by next taking on an undefeated 4-0 Cardi- It doesn’t get any easier playing against a strong team as they are. We know that it is nals team.

“Hopefully we got that one out of the going to be quite a challenge on Friday.”

wins.”

On Friday, Nov. 20 New Paltz lost in overtime to The College of Mount Saint Vincent by a score of 88-86. The game went into overtime after the Dolphins missed a free throw attempt with one second remaining in regulation, keeping the game tied at 78-78.

The Dolphins quickly took a six-point lead over the Hawks in overtime, but New Paltz managed to cut the deficit to two points with nine seconds remaining. But Dolphins second-year guard Jose Maestre scored two consecutive free throws to put the game away.

Fourth-year co-Captain Keegan Donovan led the Hawks with 18 points, while third-year forward Andrew Seniuk was right behind him with 17 points and nine rebounds. Third-year forward Brandon Guest scored 13 points and tallied 10 rebounds to earn his first double-double of the season for the Hawks. Hawks fourthyear co-Captain R.J. Rosa posted 12 points and contributed two blocks while third-year guard

Eric Regenbogen scored 11 points.

The following day, the Hawks lost to Salem State University in the consolation round of the Williams Invitational by a score of 8584.

The Hawks were down as many as 19 points in the first half and entered the second half trailing the Vikings by a score of 49-36.

The Hawks came all the way back to tie the game at 57-57 thanks to a layup by Guest at the 13:13 mark. New Paltz then rattled off five straight points to briefly take a 62-57 lead. But the Vikings went on a 28-22 run to close out the game and claim a very close 85-84 victory.

“We didn’t come out of the gates ready to go,” Head Coach Mike Rejniak said. “We’re a very good second half team, but we have to learn how to start our games ready to rock and roll.”

Then on Tuesday, Nov. 24 the Hawks lost to Middlebury College by a score of 80-63.

Rosa led the team with 22 points. Perlman

Men’s Basketball Looks To Rebound

By Michael Rosen

Copy Editor | Rosenm2@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Since defeating Vassar 70-68 on Friday, Nov. 13 to open up their season, the Men’s basketball team has lost four-straight nonconference games to drop their record to 1-4.

After losing to Mount Saint Mary College 70-63 on Tuesday, Nov. 17 the Hawks traveled to Williamstown, Massachusetts to compete in the Williams Invitational. The Hawks lost both of their matches by close scores.

“We competed hard, although we still made a lot of mistakes,” fourth-year co-Captain Alex Perlman said. “As sloppy as we play, we always put ourselves in a position to win the game. This was the case with Mount Saint Mary College, The College of Mount Saint Vincent and Salem State University. Unfortunately we came up short with all three, but as we improve together as the season progresses, those nail biting losses will eventually turn into

Thursday, December 3, 2015

was second on the team with 14 points and held down the defense with four blocks. Regenbogen tallied 12 points, while Seniuk grabbed 10 rebounds in the loss.

To succeed in the future, the team is looking to improve upon their possession game.

“I think it’s no secret our rebounding needs work,” Perlman said. “We’re a smaller team compared to most so we need to counter that with higher intensity crashing the glass and fundamental box-outs. Limiting our own turnovers will be important as well if we want to execute an efficient offense.”

The Hawks next continue their four-game homestand at the Hawk Center and begin State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play on Friday, Dec. 4 against SUNY Plattsburgh at 7:30 p.m. The team will then face SUNY Potsdam the following day at 4 p.m. The Hawks went 1-1 against Plattsburgh last season and won both of their matches against Potsdam.

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Sports

The New Paltz Oracle

Frisbee Player Undergoes Emergency Surgery

By Jonathan Perry

Contributing Writer | Perryj1@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Kaleb Smith, a player for the New Paltz Ultimate Frisbee team, was rushed to the hospital Saturday, Nov. 7 after suffering a head injury during a game in Princeton, New Jersey.

It was 11:30 a.m. when the New Paltz Ultimate Frisbee team, The Gunx, was on the verge of victory in the second tournament game of the Fall Brawl series. A Callahan play, when a player catches the other teams’ thrown disc in their own end zone, was a maneuver Smith was desperate to make.

While about to make the play, Smith encountered his marked opponent on the enemy team who tried to fake him out. Smith said the player spun without looking and collided his head against Smith’s temple.

“I didn’t see it coming,” Smith said. “But once I was hit, the pain brought me to the ground.”

Smith didn’t go to the hospital immediately, only suffering from periodic headaches. He said he didn’t realize something was wrong until an air horn rang out during the game that caused his eardrum excruciating pain.

Walter Roosa, the captain of the Men’s Ultimate Frisbee team, said he saw Smith on a side hill writhing in pain. After being checked out by tournament medics, Roosa took Smith to a hospital as a precaution after asking him if he wanted to go.

Being the closest big medical trauma center, the Saint Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, Pennsylvania was Roosa’s best bet to help Smith. Roosa said Smith’s abnormal pain scared him the most, and how all Smith could talk about was wanting the pain to stop.

“I remember him describing the pain as if someone was stabbing his eardrum full of needles, trying to rip it out,” Roosa said.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Roosa said Smith was taken into multiple rooms for CT scans and tests to check for concussions or other abnormalities. After he didn’t come back

from one of his tests, Roosa learned that Smith had gone into emergency surgery.

“The doctors found that an artery had burst between the lining of his brain and skull, causing the blood to put pressure on his brain,” Roosa said. “The doctors had to open his skull to repair the artery.”

After the surgery, 57 staples were used to close the incision. After 10 minutes of being off sedation, his body was responding well. The doctor recommended to family and friends that he rest but insisted that he was alright. Smith must take two to three months off to recover from his injury.

Smith said he will be completing his schoolwork over the winter due to his injuries preventing him from returning the rest of the fall semester.

He said he won’t play frisbee again this year, and is not sure about next year. He currently has trouble seeing in one eye and difficulty texting and typing.

Stacy Smith, Kaleb’s mother, said her son is eating and responding well.

He still suffers from frequent headaches but is regaining his strength more and more with each passing day. She said that as of Nov. 16, he has had the staples removed. He has since followed up with neurological and physical rehabilitation appointments.

“He is still having double vision issues with a lot of pressure and pain on the left side of his head,” Stacy Smith said. “He will have to do outpatient therapy at home with us.”

Smith’s friends, family and some of his Frisbee teammates visited him at the hospital. He said they were supportive and were very eager to see him. After returning to his home and going through some therapy, Smith has been cleared to perform some light exercises on his own. He is one step closer to returning his life to normal.

“Now I am taking it day by day and just working on getting better so I can return to my regular life,” Smith said.

Gunx player Kaleb Smith looks for a pass.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

PHOTO BY JILL ANZALONE

SPORTS

The New Paltz Oracle

Blueshirts Rhartman@hawkmail.newpaltz.edu

Welcome back to Blueshirts Blueline Rangers fans! Well it seems that the Rangers impressive start to the season has cooled down. Since they began the season going 11-2-2, they have now gone 5-4-1 in their past 10 games and have looked fairly mediocre during that stretch. But fear not, they can turn things around and the solutions aren’t as hard as they may seem.

First of all, Rangers Head Coach Alain Vigneault had to make Dan Boyle the permanent seventh defenseman on the team. Of course with defenseman Kevin Klein injured for at least the next two to three weeks, Boyle will get playing time but when Klein is healthy, Boyle should not see the ice unless there is an injury. Yes, Boyle has experience and yes, he won’t like the fact that during what is possibly his last season, he will be sitting but Vigneault must do what is right for the team.

Dylan McIlrath brings the factors of toughness and size to the ice and he gives the Rangers an element to their game that Boyle cannot simply bring at this stage in his career. Keith Yandle now provides the team with the offensive defenseman that they were seeking for so long and unfortunately for Boyle, that makes him the odd man out. McIlrath can take people out with thunderous hits and his size makes him someone who is not easy to avoid on the ice.

He has improved defensively by leaps and bounds and has done some great things this season when he has been called upon.

With the injury to Klein, McIlrath will now get the chance to start every game and should continue to when Klein gets back. He has been too good this season when given a chance to shine and he needs to play more and give the Rangers the added bite they need on the back end. It seemed at times that McIlrath would never pan out for the team after being selected with the tenth pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft but he is now blossoming. Below are my projected ideas for the Rangers defense pairs going forward. Included are both line-

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15

Rangers Battle Through Injuries and I believe he would do great things there with Stepan injured. Once Stepan comes back, Miller can move down a line again but for now he would make a great addition to the top-six. With Stepan injured, Emerson Etem also has something to prove to Vigneault that he belongs in the lineup. I would slot him into the third line with Oscar Lindberg and Viktor Stalberg. Below are the projected line combinations for the next few weeks as well as the line combinations for when Stepan comes back.

Healthy Stepan Forward Lineup: Kreider - Stepan - Nash Zuccarello - Brassard - Hayes Stalberg - Lindberg - Miller Moore - Stoll - Fast Injured Stepan Forward Lineup:

Rangers Captain Ryan McDonagh gets focused.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR USER JUSTIN YAMADA

ups with Klein injured and with Klein healthy.

Injured Klein defense pairs: McDonagh - Yandle Staal - McIlrath Girardi - Boyle Healthy Klein defense pairs: McDonagh - Yandle Staal - McIlrath Girardi - Klein The goals have seemingly not been coming as easy for the Rangers the past 10 games as well. There is a simple solution to that but once again, an injury will derail things for a bit. Derek Stepan had his ribs broken from a late hit

by Bruins forward Matt Beleskey this week and will be out from four to six weeks. The lines of the team have been shaken up and when Stepan comes back they should be shaken up even further.

Here’s some of my ideas.

First, put Chris Kreider and Rick Nash on a line together. They are the two biggest and most powerful wingers the Rangers possess and the two of them on the same line will cause nightmares for opponents. Sure, this has been done in the past but this year, especially with both Nash and Kreider not doing as well as they could be, putting the two of them back together could help them both benefit. As for the center of that line I believe that Stepan (when healthy) should be given that chance. As of now though, I believe Kevin Hayes should get a chance to play with the big guys.

That line would be huge and Hayes’ faceoff percentage would increase. If his faceoff play improves even further, there is no reason why a line with all that size should not do well.

Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello should absolutely stay together. The two of them compliment each other too well. As for who should go on that line with them? Look no further than J.T. Miller. He has proven in the past that he can play a top-six role when called up

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Kreider - Hayes - Nash Zuccarello - Brassard - Miller Stalberg - Lindberg - Etem Moore - Stoll - Fast While the Rangers still have a cushion in the Metropolitan Division they need to act quick and get back to their winning ways because the Capitals are beginning to put it all together, the Penguins are starting to wake up and the Islanders are going to heat up sooner or later.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think the Rangers are going to win the division and have home ice for at least a few rounds in the playoffs but at this moment they need to get back to looking like that team that won the President’s Trophy last season. It’s still early but losses at this point in the season can come back to hurt them at the end. Playoff position always has to be at the back of their minds.

These are just a few of my ideas to help get the Rangers get back on track.

The season is getting intense Rangers fans, buckle up! And as always: Let’s Go Rangers!

SPORTS

WHAT’S INSIDE

Blind Hockey Comes To Newburgh PAGE 12

Women’s Basketball Drops Two Of Last Three PAGE 13

DINNER DASH

MAIN PHOTO BY HILLARY WILSON UPPER PHOTO BY AMANDA COPKOV LOWER PHOTO BY HOLLY LIPKA

THE NEW PALTZ ORACLE

FAMILY OF NEW PALTZ HOSTS ANNUAL EVENT : PAGE 11