vol104issue17

OPINION

Good Riddance to Romney - Page 4

SPORTS

CCSU’s Obsession with Television

Blue Devils Neuter Terriers - Page 7

- Page 15

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/

Austin Journalism Professor Lectures on Media Malpractice

Volume 104 No. 17

Options to Venture Outside CCSU Offered Locally

Melissa Traynor News Editor

Conrad Akier / The Recorder

Dr. Robert Jensen, a former journalist, spoke about the media’s coverage of Iraq and the presidential race.

Following two sessions during which he guided a workshop and discussed pornography and the role of women in the media, a journalism professor from the University of Texas outlined the freedoms and limitations of American news media Thursday in Alumni Hall.

Dr. Robert Jensen, who teaches in Austin, Texas, made examples out of current events, such as the war in Iraq and the United States’ dealings with Iran, to show a difference between the types of coverage and the biases that the media hold.

Jensen based much of his lecture on U.S. foreign policy, especially that which centered on Iraq, and said that there is a drastic change in the way the country and the media perceived the war.

“When it began, the [coverage] used to be celebratory and the government wanted the media to become embedded into their project… But when people started to realize when the project became untenable, it also became increasingly harder to maintain these fantasies about the war,” he said.

The media’s early praise of the U.S. goal to spread democracy transformed into open criticism and they began to report the failures. Despite this, Jensen said that the American news media are ultimately not free from government influence and are therefore restricted in the way that

See Professor Lectures Page 3

Devils Spay Terriers

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Sophomore Kanita Boone scored nine points against St. Francis on Saturday.

See Devils Spay Terriers Page 8

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Melissa Traynor News Editor

When leaving a study abroad fair, such as one that recently took place at CCSU, it’s possible to leave with more brochures, CDs, pamphlets or even entire books than your arms can carry. These resources provide a great amount of detail, but they also leave students exhausted.

Primary concerns regarding a study abroad trip include pricing, courses offered and location, and the providers’ tabling at Friday’s fair encouraged investigation of those aspects.

There are virtually no limitations on the courses and topics to be studied abroad, but it’s possible to begin with basic interests when pursuing general education credits or

coursework that will either complement or be integrated with the majors at the university.

At CCSU, the George R. Muirhead Center for International Education currently offers over 25 programs in countries such as Korea, Spain, China, Cyprus and Sweden.

While there is a process available to transfer in credits acquired with the study abroad providers, trips organized by the university have credits that directly translate to courses offered at CCSU. While investigating all of the available countries, there are many situations in which the program dictates the location; but if study abroad is appealing purely for the opportunity to travel, it’s possible to earn general education or language credits.

See Study Abroad Page 3

Two Meetings Down, Many Projects to Go Melissa Traynor News Editor In its second meeting of the spring semester, the faculty senate voted to enter an agreement to make information regarding CCSU more transparent to the public and also discussed plans for the rest of the semester as defined by the University Planning and Budget Committee.

In response to the strategic goals, the UPBC has written up a report to address topics spanning from fiscal planning for 2009 to building renovations and new projects.

The update to the faculty senate included work by an ad-hoc committee by the UPBC to research CCSU involvement and activity in the state and the Connecticut State University System.

The faculty senate also discussed goals in terms of the future for recreation and athletics and how the UPBC can link budget expenditures to measurable goals. Because of last summer’s overwhelming concerns regarding the new fields and the continued disapproval in the fall, Monday’s meeting hosted conversation over the functions of a new field.

The report investigates relations between RECentral and athletics and the attempts to serve as many students as possible.

“The athletic board will soon make a presentation to the senate in the near future,” said President Tim Craine.

The UPBC is also looking into renovations on the Elihu Burritt Library, and Chief Administrative Officer Richard Bachoo has been meeting with the committee; it was

See Faculty Senate Page 3

Red Cross Begins, Optimistic About Blood Drive Aril Grain Staff Writer Recruitment has begun for the three-day blood drive hosted at CCSU, and with two weeks left, the Red Cross staff is hopeful for a large donor turnout.

“Central always runs great blood drives, and we are looking to recruit as many donors as possible to make it an even better drive,” said Matt White, a Donor Recruitment and Outreach Associate at the Red Cross Farmington office. “We’re also in need of student recruiters to help make appointments.”

To provide added incentives for students to donate, the Red Cross is currently running a promotion for any college that meets their projected goal; one presenting donor will receive a $50 iTunes gift card. Since CCSU is running a three-day drive, up to three gift cards can be awarded.

Also, any student who is willing to donate blood will become eligible to win tickets to University of Connecticut basketball games.

The goals for CCSU’s drive are 105 units of blood on Tuesday and Thursday and 110 units on Wednesday.

See Red Cross Page 3

News

2 THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 13, 2008

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Student Center 1615 Stanley Street New Britain CT 06050 T 860.832.3744 F 860.832.3747 ccsurecorder@gmail.com

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/

Staff Editor-in-Chief Justin Kloczko Business Manager Christopher Boulay Art Director Jamie Paakkonen Associate Layout Editor Stephen Meszaros Copy Editor Samantha Sullivan Photo Editor Stephanie Bergeron Lifestyles Editor Karyn Danforth Sports Editor Peter Collin Entertainment Editor Edward Gaug Opinion Editor Dan Ivers News Editor Melissa Traynor Web Editor John Vignali Illustrator Sean Kinne Comics Mike Golschneider

Staff Writers Marissa Blaszko Amanda Ciccatelli Kyle Dorau Aril Grain Matthew Jurkiewicz Brian Morache Vickie Wall Jody Wiles Ryan Yeomans Peter Decoteau Rob Messer

About The Recorder is a studentproduced publication of Central Connecticut State University and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of CCSU’s administrators, faculty, or students.

The Recorder articles, photographs, and graphics are property of the Recorder and may not be reproduced or published without the written permission from the Editor-in-Chief.

T he pur pose of the Recorder is to approach and def ine issues of impor tance to the st udents of Centra l Connecticut State Universit y.

Top Universities Cancel Loans, Increase Aid Michael Gsovski Daily Northwestern (Northwestern U.) (U-WIRE) -- The estimated cost of attending Northwestern University for the 2007-08 academic year is $49,379. Sonya Roberts’ family is paying all of it.

“It would be nice to understand where all that money goes to,” the Communication freshman said. “I feel that even if you’re very rich it’s still hard to afford.”

With college enrollment at record highs, financial aid has become a national issue.

In December, a bill was introduced in Congress that would mandate institutions spend a set amount of their endowments on aid.

As a result, new developments are underway that may change how much students pay for their education. While Northwestern has taken note of these changes, no similar ones will occur here soon, NU Associate Provost Michael Mills said.

Last month, Duke University capped loans for undergraduates and eliminated tuition costs families earning less than $60,000.

Two days later, Harvard University made headlines by going a

step further -- eliminating loans entirely. Families making less than $180,000 a year will also pay a maximum of 10 percent of their family’s income in tuition.

These new policies raised the annual amount the college spends on aid from $98 million to $120 million.

In response to Harvard’s new policy, several high profile schools, such as the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College and Tufts University all canceled their loan programs and replaced them with varying levels of needbased aid. Yale officials announced

Monday that the school would significantly increase the amount of its endowment that it spends on financial aid.

The NU administration has taken notice of the aid increases, Mills said.

“Everyone watches what Harvard does,” Mills said. “There are some very preliminary discussions about increasing financial aid, what we should do and who we should target.”

NU has already had two classes of students that have received loanfree financial aid offers, Mills said, although last year only 24 students received these offers.

“The numbers are still small but it’s a nice progress,” Mills said. “It could be expanded in the future.”

Mills said, given NU’s smaller current financial aid budget of $70 million, any increase in the NU program would not be as generous as Harvard’s.

He also said he had concerns about the long-term effects of expanding aid to those not generally considered in “need.”

“I can’t believe we’d want to go after $180,000 (family income) students,” Mills said. “There’s some concern that, given all the advantages the affluent already enjoy in terms of K-12, this in the long run will end up squeezing out lower-income students.”

Dr. Richard Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, said concerns about financial aid fairness are valid, but are outweighed by the need to reduce tuition.

“It’s a yuppie subsidy,” the NU alumnus said. “But hell, the whole system is a yuppie subsidy.”

He also said if NU followed Yale’s example and dipped into its $6 billion endowment, it could increase its aid by more $22 million dollars, the same amount of money that Harvard spent on increasing aid.

“They probably could do it without giving the store away, endangering future students or having (NU President Henry) Bienen lose sleep at night,” Vedder said. “If Northwestern spent 1 percent of its endowment, my guess is it would translate into a $50 million increase in spending.”

Roberts, whose family’s income is less than $180,000 a year, said, while she did not understand the reasons behind the tuition prices at NU remaining steady despite recent events, she feels NU shouldn’t devalue itself.

“I certainly feel it would be great if they could pay more aid,” said Roberts. “On the other hand, the college has to make money and people need to value their education enough to pay for it.”

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / NEWS

Faculty Senate

Professor Lectures

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

they approach certain events. He said there are still many situations in which the media turn a blind eye to certain aspects of the war.

For example, the U.S. government’s belief is that anyone coming into Iraq during American occupation of the land is a “meddler,” yet Jensen said that the very presence of U.S. troops is hypocritical. The acceptance of the former by the news media reveal provides evidence for Jensen that these new outlets are not assuming critical stance.

Jensen said that the mainstream media have yet to identify the United States as a violator of international law, a set of standards that was broken when the borders of Iraq were breached by American troops. He explained that to do so would be considered “anti-American.”

While speaking about news coverage of the presidential primaries, Jensen applied similar criticisms in that candidates are allowed to market themselves in any fashion, whether the statements they are making are true or false.

“It’s all about style and buzz words now,” Jensen said of the successful attempts to pass on political propaganda via journalistic avenues.

Jensen said that he chose to break down and analyze Sen. Barack

Obama’s campaign and the policies he stands for because this candidate is a person who appeals to him. The audience was able to provide a list of talking points in the Obama campaign as well.

After Jensen gave his opposition to Obama’s policies, such as energy efficiency in the form of ethanol, installing universal healthcare and multilateralism, he took up the most concern with the candidate’s push for hope as a campaign strategy.

“He’s fundamentally wrong about hope. Hope has to be based on some assessment of reality,” Jensen said in response to Obama’s concession speech after the New Hampshire primary in which he asserted that there can be nothing false about hope.

In regards to the other democratic candidate, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Dr. Heather Munro Prescott of the history department asked whether the media is at fault for facilitating the attempts to discredit her.

In reference to his earlier session in which women’s studies were discussed, Jensen did assign some blame to the media for the attacks on Clinton.

“The media has been complicit with the woman-hating towards Hillary,” he said.

Study Abroad

Continued from page 1 If life on a boat seems attractive, the Semester at Sea program hosted by the University of Virginia, which dubs itself “a classroom with no boundaries,” gathers up around 730 students and heads out on the open sea.

In 110 days, the Fall 2008 semester is planning on visiting 15 cities in four continents mainly located near the equator. For the 66-day summer trip, the ship travels the distance between the Bahamas, up to northern Europe and then around the boot of Italy to Greece and Turkey.

Vince Schaff, a representative for Semester at Sea, said that fall and spring voyages stay consistent, but the summer trips vary in locations.

“We try to visit emerging countries, you know; ones that provide a culturally different experience,” Schaff said.

Study Australia, a study abroad provider that takes U.S. students down under, expanded its program to include New Zealand, offering options between urban Brisbane or Sydney or more rural and laid-back Perth on the West coast.

Many programs offer scholarship money if they are a separate entity from a student’s home college, or the university they are attending may extend existing financial aid to cover some of the costs.

For example, Study Australia semesters cost around $10,000 but scholarships are up for grabs that average $1,000.

The Semester at Sea program, which costs approximately $21,450 for an all-inclusive full semester and $7,900 during the summer, also offers scholarships.

Red Cross

Continued from page 1 “We don’t have too many people signed up right now, but it’s still just the first week,” said Anastasia Bonner of Phi Sigma Sigma, one of the sororities responsible for recruitment in the Student Center. “Last semester some people skipped their appointments, but we had a lot of walk-ins.”

The 40 gallons of blood the Red Cross is expecting to collect this month is a slight increase from the CCSU drives in the past; in November the goal was 100 units a day and could help up to 960 patients at over 30 Connecticut hospitals.

According to Red Cross data, one out of every ten patients admitted to a hospital will need blood, which is an average of one person every two seconds in the United States.

On average, 38 percent of the U.S.

3

population is able to give blood, but only five percent of those eligible actually donate. Less than 30 percent of those who give blood will ever do it again.

The drive will run Tuesday Feb. 26 and Wednesday Feb. 27 from 12:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m., and Thursday Feb. 28 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Alumni Hall. Recruiters can take six appointments every 15 minutes and the entire process, including a mini physical and refreshments, takes about an hour. The donation itself takes only six to eight minutes.

Those eligible to donate are 17 years of age or older, weigh at least 110 pounds and have not given blood in the last eight weeks. Donors should also bring a photo ID.

also mentioned that there is a specific lab in the library that houses sensitive rock materials and may be costly to remove. The one anthropology rock lab is responsible for the delays in renovations.

“There needs to be a senior management decision made as to what will happen… and to where that particular lab is going to go,” said Dr. David Blitz, who has served on the UPBC for three years.

The faculty senate also passed a motion to accept parts one and two of the Voluntary System of Accountability on Monday, which will allow the university to display information about CCSU in a format identical to other institutions that subscribe to it.

According to the VSA Web site, this format communicates information on the undergraduate student

experience through a common web reporting template, the College Portrait.

Provost Carl Lovitt provided an explanation of parts one and two in order to clear up any confusion on the motion.

He said that part one is a display of the information collected by a national database and the VSA asks that CCSU present it in the specified format. The second part is more detailed in that the display will include other selected information from a survey of student engagement that the university is currently enrolled in.

“The whole idea is to make this thing public. There will be information available to us and the rest of the world—prospective students, parents, legislatures—so that everyone can get an idea of what we have to offer,” Lovitt said.

With the adoption of the VSA format, information will be posted on the university Web site, including statistics about demographics of the CCSU population, details on undergraduate paths of study and majors, as well as housing and campus safety.

In addition to the new format of information, the university also has four years to decide whether it will subscribe to subsequent parts of the VSA. Currently, if there is any type of information requested by the VSA that the university does not wish to disclose publicly, the university may opt out of the agreement.

The motion was passed with the amendment that stated the VSA agreement was brought back to the senate to be discussed before the adoption of part three.

Ph.D. Uses Cartoons on Facebook, Cell Phones to Teach About AIDS Mike Ding The Stanford Daily (Stanford) (U-WIRE) -- According to World Health Organization data, the virus killed an estimated 2.1 million people this year. Yet, despite its lethality, educational programs about diagnosis, transmission, and prevention remain limited in many areas of the world. When it comes to HIV/ AIDS, ignorance is deadly.

Piya Sorcar, a Ph.D. student in the Stanford University school of education, seeks to remedy this ignorance with an AIDS/HIV curriculum designed to transcend cultural barriers. The curriculum features cartoon animations that discuss the issue of HIV/AIDS transmission, infection, and prevention with virtually no mention of topics with a sexual nature.

Sorcar’s background has played a large role in motivating her research and development.

“I was born in Colorado but my family roots are in West Bengal,” said Sorcar. “As I am now studying technology and education at Stanford, I am passionate about establishing India as a model for educational innovation.”

According to Sorcar, the ignorance surrounding HIV/AIDS in her native country was cultural aversion toward explicitly discussing sexual topics.

“Diseases such as HIV/AIDS that are transmitted sexually present significant challenges because social stigma often precludes open discussion, especially in Asian countries,” said Sorcar. “In fact, although India has one of the largest populations of HIV/AIDS sufferers, several states have banned sex education, and with it HIV/AIDS education.”

After receiving funding from Time Warner, Sorcar collaborated with a myriad of Stanford departments as well as the South Korean Medical Research Information Center.

“What we often forget is that HIV is a virus, and we study viruses in biology classes all the time,” she said. “Hence, by bringing the subject back to the basics - focusing on biological aspects of the virus - we can discuss it more openly and clearly.”

Sorcar specifically decided to use non-threatening, non-sexual cartoon characters in her educational animations to reduce any viewer discomfort with openly sexual subjects.

“When I originally ran the study in India, I gauged the comfort of students in learning HIV/AIDS material with various illustrations,” she said. “People were most comfortable with simple cartoon-like graphics and actually, the simple graphics seem to get the points across just fine.

It was important that individuals learn about this subject while feeling comfortable.”

Whenever it seemed sexuality could not be avoided, Sorcar watered down openly sexual topics as much as possible yet still maintained the meaning behind her message.

“For instance, when we discuss various bodily fluids, we show a simple outline of the human body and used animated boxes to show where particular fluids come from,” she said. “In order to connect particular fluids to human actions and behaviors, we built on some ideas from old Bollywood films. For instance when we are talking about saliva and kissing, an animated couple comes very close together and then the camera pans up a tree and we see two birds kiss instead.”

Because sexual education in schools has been limited, much HIV/ AIDS education in India has been relegated to billboard advertisements and 30-second TV spots.

Sorcar said that these two methods of education limited HIV/AIDS education to only certain demographics.

“For example, television ads are only delivered to homes with television sets and electricity, which tend to be the higher socioeconomic class-

es,” she said. “Billboard HIV/AIDS messages are usually expressed in written text, which limits impact to the 62.5% of the population that is literate.”

Sorcar has tried to extend the reach of her animated educational program through various platforms.

“We hope to build versions which will span across many platforms,” she said. “Currently, we have versions of the AIDS animation online and available on CD-ROMS, for areas with limited Internet connectivity. Our next step is to build versions for mobile phones, which can be disseminated using a push or pull strategy. We are exploring whether governments and mobile service providers would be interested in partnering with us in order to either make this content freely available to download or better yet, to have it be preinstalled on new cell phones or PDAs.” Sorcar also aims to introduce her curriculum through the Web 2.0.

“We definitely want to create a Facebook app, perhaps more than one, and also expand to other social networks and online distribution channels,” she said. “In our first largescale pilot test on 423 young adults in India, we found students were rapidly seeking and educating others about HIV/AIDS prevention through their peer networks, with nearly 90% of them sharing information they learned from the tutorial with someone else.”

As for other uses for her AIDS/ HIV education curriculum, Sorcar said that she would expand the educational program so that it could be used for other diseases as well.

“After developing HIV/AIDS education modules for multiple countries, we want to use our research findings to develop prevention education on other diseases like malaria, tuberculosis etc.,” she said. “We are focused on how to best communicate public health messages while maximizing comfort and learning.”

4 THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Editorial

Opinion/Editorial

Last week, Dr. Robert Jensen of the University of TexasAustin was brought to CCSU by the communication department to give three lectures. One of those lectures was entitled “Power, Privilege and the Press.” The lecture was advertised as relevant in regards to certain issues that have arisen on campus, with some of those particular to The Recorder. In fact, signs posted around campus read that the event was a “Workshop with Communication and Journalism students and invited staff of The Recorder.”

Much of Jensen’s work is centered on feminist issues and critiquing sexuality and violence toward women, and he has also published many works on racism and racial inequality in the United States. His areas of interest would seem to fall directly in line with some of the recent dissention directed at The Recorder. In fact, Jensen’s views would make him an ideal candidate to take up the task of critiquing the paper’s past use of the First Amendment.

However, Jensen’s lecture barely broached the subject of past Recorder controversies. As someone who was billed to talk

about issues of free speech related to this newspaper, Jensen admitted that he didn’t “know enough about the situation.” A discussion that began by addressing the need for the press to critique people in power quickly transformed into a lamentation on the evils of pornography and plugs for Jensen’s latest book on the subject.

Furthermore, the reality is that no member of The Recorder was notified until approximately one week prior to Jensen’s visit. Professor Bill Yousman of the communication department, who helped organize the event, presumed to make public the staff ’s expected appearance without consultation.

The subject of the “power and privilege of the press” would ordinarily pertain to students learning journalism; however, no member of the journalism department was consulted in the planning of the lecture, either.

The Recorder would be happy to address anyone wishing to discuss the role of the press or anything more specific to campus, and any discussion designed to educate students about gender and race relations is encouraged. However, if the staff ’s

Letters to the Editor It is unacceptable for Ryan Yeomans to have entitled his article “Parents Need to Stop Putting Teens into Suicide Machines”. To refer to the car George McLean was driving when he was in his fatal accident as a “suicide machine” provided by his parents is an unexcusable abuse of words in a situation where his parents are already hurting enough. Yes, the crash was accidental and yes, he was driving a car that was fast and had potential for danger, but to label as a “suicide machine” is disgustingly irresponsible. To determine this accident as an assisted suicide is an unacceptable assumption and for this, the assuming, presumptuous Mr. Yeomans owes George McLean’s mourning family an apology.

Gina Marie Rayson Your February 6th article by Marissa Mancini about Wal Mart was so stupid it was funny. The last place anyone should commit a crime is a bank or Wal Mart. Why? Because everything that happens is recorded at both places. Do banks get robed? Yes. Most criminals are not smart to start with. That’s why they rob a bank and commit crimes at Wal Mart. You want to close all the banks too? Large crowds go to Wal Mart everyday. Human animals that take advantage of weak people “hunt” at Wal Mart.

People rob banks because that’s where the money is. I hope the people that read The Recorder are smarter than Ms. Mancini.

Tom Price Hello, I just wanted to point out a couple of errors, and give my two cents.

1) “The name Atmosphere is synonymous with white people.”

- Chuckles were had at the fact that Edward Gaug feels that Atmosphere is synonymous with “white people.” Atmosphere fans are as varied as the artists and styles of Hip Hop. 2) “Ant, the lead lyricist is white…he raps about white things, to the extent that some people consider him “Emo-Rap” a) The lead lyricist is SLUG (AKA Sean Daley); ANT (AKA Anthony Davis) is the amazing producer, beat maker. b) SLUG is actually: 1/2 white, 1/4 black and 1/4 Native American. c) What are “white things”? If Slug rapped about crayons, would that make crayons- “white” things?

-EMO-RAP, give me a break!!!! Mr. Gaug asserts that to be an Emo (emotional) rapper, one has to be white and create music which talks about “white things” (whatever those are.)

Thereby, incidentally suggesting- that all artist who aren’t white, have the inability to convey Emotion in their lyrical content... which is just, preposterous! Perhaps, I have been suffering from some misguided delusion that everyone; not just people of the white community, deal with unrequited love, family, growing pains, etc., that these issues are in fact universal.

3)”Domestic Dog,”… Ant is rapping about “scoring at the grocery store”

-It is SLUG who is rapping on this track !!!!

4) “The greatest thing about Strictly Leakage has nothing to do with tunes that are on the album, but the fact everyone can download this for free“ - The greatest thing is always the music!

Hopefully, the review of Atmosphere’s next album: “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold”- he gets the members of the band right this time. The Album drops in April.

Selena Zuniga OCP Customer Service OCP Group Inc. Dear Editor: It is irresponsible to link a recent Connecticut homicide to a retail company (“To Wal-Mart, or Not to Wal-Mart?” 2/6/08).

Unfortunately, the reporter did not contact Wal-Mart for a response. If so, she would have realized that the safety and security of all our customers and associates is a top priority for Wal-Mart. Nothing is more important than providing a safe and pleasurable shopping and working environment for both our customers and associates.

Each week more than 130 million customers across the country shop at our 4,000 stores.

They know they will find the lowest prices, quality merchandise and unmatched convenience in a safe, comfortable shopping environment. Unfortunately, criminal activity occurs in every community, and it is something every retailer - and every company - must face and work with local authorities to alleviate.

That’s why on a store by store basis we carefully consider the number and the quality of our security and crime prevention measures while working closely with law enforcement agencies in every community we serve. These aggressive, proactive safety measures work.

They’ve helped us prevent and interrupt crimes, and they’ve helped our associates and managers become more vigilant and aware of potential criminal activity in our stores.

In response to the reporter’s misguided statements regarding wages and health benefits, we thought your readers would like to know that our average wage for regular, full-time hourly associates in Connecticut is $11.92 per hour, well above the state’s minimum wage, and associates are also eligible for performancebased bonuses. Last month, we announced that our improved benefits have helped more WalMart associates get health insurance this year.

The number of associates with health insurance is up almost 3% and now stands at nearly 93%.

This is excellent progress and had the reporter bothered to contact us directly we would have been happy to tell our story.

Kelly Hobbs Wal-Mart Senior Manager of Public Affairs

Got Something to Say? Write a 200-300 word letter to the editor and send it to ccsurecorder@gmail.com.

presence is requested to take part in such a discussion, the situation should be handled differently. Unfortunately, the handling of this lecture left The Recorder in a difficult position: either show up unprepared for what may be posed to us, or skip out and take the risk of being viewed as dodging the situation altogether.

This newspaper tried to treat a new semester and a new year as a clean slate. If people on campus still wish to address issues involving the paper, they have every right to do just that.

An academic environment should nurture open and civil discussion concerning all areas of study, and such an environment allows people like Dr. Jensen every right to espouse his beliefs.

However, The Recorder’s belief that if the paper is to be the subject of said discussions, the staff should be afforded proper notice to make appropriate arguments. The planning and organization of this lecture was suspicious and unprofessional, and thus the staff were unable to attend.

Academic Squabbles or Personal Slander?

Brian Morache Staff Writer

It is a given that a professor will read a student’s paper before grading it. Yet the actions of Dr. Siamack Shojai towards Dr. Trita Parsi, a recent guest lecturer at CCSU, raise serious questions about both the way the administration and faculty treat guests of the university and the issue of academic bias.

Dr. Parsi gave a lecture on the relations between Iran, Israel and the United States.

Afterwards, Dr. Shojai - rather than asking a question - accused Dr. Parsi of being a propagandist for the Iranian government and urged students to reject the doctor’s arguments. Now, one might have excused this as mere bickering between academics if it were not for the fact that Dr. Shojai admitted that he hadn’t even read Dr. Parsi’s book on the subject. Criticizing another academic is one thing, but it should be expected that if you are going to do that, then you should at least be familiar with the other person’s work. To do otherwise would provide a poor example to students and raises the issue of how a professor would grade a student’s paper.

What made this issue more complicated were the statements of Dr. Shojai on a radio program that aired the next day. On that program, Dr. Shojai not only criticized Dr. Parsi’s lecture, but also made rather prejudicial comments regarding the tone of Dr. Parsi’s skin and

the lineage of his parents. That Dr. Shojai was speaking as a representative of CCSU makes this more than an issue of one academic trashing another. As the Dean of the School of Business, Dr. Shojai drags all of CCSU through the mud.

Given that Dr. Shojai is in a very powerful, high level position at this university, his obvious prejudices raise not only academic but legal issues for the university. Aside from Dr. Parsi’s consideration of a lawsuit against the school, questions can now be raised regarding the decisions that Dr. Shojai has made as Dean.

Are they based upon sound reason or his own bias? Can we expect a man who would so openly express such prejudice towards another academic to be unbiased in his approach toward students at CCSU? Can we also expect a man who would misrepresent his relationship and comments with another professor to defend his own biased opinion to be one who could honestly be expected to fulfill the responsibilities of his office in a proper fashion?

All of us expect our professors to put some of their own bias or opinions into their teaching. While in some subjects this is less prominent, in others - especially history and political sciences - these biases can be quite prevalent. It is up to every student to recognize this for what it is and to professors to use such opinions to encourage discussion rather than to slander others.

Good Riddance to Romney Dan Ivers Opinion Editor With the withdrawal of Mitt Romney from the presidential race on Thursday, it’s hard to believe the group we’re left with. There’s the woman and the black guy, the evangelical minister and the Republican that everyone seems to at least respect, except Republicans. If America was looking for change, it is now assured of it.

Romney was the representative of the Republican establishment, and the one who appeared most poised to give us more of what we’ve endured for the past eight years. Sure, he was the Mormon candidate, but more than that he was the C.E.O. candidate. Before politics he was a businessman, and over and over again he told people he’d take that business know-how and apply it to the country. He’d turn it right around and make it a success again, like he did for all his business ventures.

Despite Romney’s adoption of the current campaign buzz word “change” to sell his campaign, most of his supposed strengths were based on fiscal issues. He promised to stop the reckless spending by Republicans. He promised to turn the economy around with more traditional conservative economics.

Romney, much like our current commander-in-chief, was born into a wealthy political family. He is a multi-millionaire, having earned a fortune working in the private sector.

However, he could not claim to have any understanding of what a middle or lower-class family’s economic problems are. The last thing those people need right now is another president out of touch with their needs.

Over the last eight years we have seen an isolated bureaucracy run the country as if they

were everyone’s bosses. They would descend into the boardroom for a meeting and any opinions of the folks beneath them would disappear.

“Business is business” ethics ruled, as they seemed to cast aside any previous standards to accomplish what they wanted.

The problem is the country is not a business. During his campaign, Romney was quoted as saying, “If you think about the government of the United States, it is an enterprise. It has leaders, employees…,” etc. Now I don’t think I’m alone in being a little scared by a comment like this. Business is cold by nature and sometimes by necessity, but people are tired of that kind of brutality in politics.

Well, it appears that most of America doesn’t want to elect their boss. We are left with a group of decidedly more compassionate candidates, and this bodes well for the future. John McCain appears to have secured the Republican nomination, and while some of his comments regarding the war in Iraq and a possible conflict in Iran are troublesome, he has shown some concern for many Americans who have been ignored as of late. He voted against an amendment banning same-sex marriages, defying the kind of intolerance extolled by more conventional Republicans like Romney.

Romney’s withdrawal from the race is already a victory of sorts. With him drops the kind of cutthroat, businessman approach to politics that have alienated so much of our country. Most of his support consisted of wealthy Americans, as well as fellow Mormons.

While we do not know who will end up in the White House, we can be assured that the old guard has gone down, and we will welcome someone who will view Americans as people, not part of the bottom line.

5

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / OPINION

Dispelling the Myth Samantha Sullivan Copy Editor I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true: Girls poop. Guess what? We pass gas, too. And no matter how many myths you hear that may lead you to believe otherwise, we do not fart rainbows, nor do we shit kittens.

Albeit from me to disgust the masses of men who have chosen to believe otherwise, or to discredit any women who have claimed to be immune to the process of excretion, but I believe it is my duty as a straightshooter to make the truth known.

Why should women be ashamed of their feces?

Our boyfriends and brothers taunt us with toots of the raucous and pungent variety; yet as females we are obliged to sit back, giggle or turn away, and accept the often gag-worthy gas as it streams from

their asses. Submissive as we are and have always been, we aren’t allowed to pull down our own ripped jeans and fart with a lighter behind us, hoping to catch the flame.

The isolation can be seen not only in maledominant groups, but even in women’s bathrooms.

There is an unwritten law that is understood by every woman: when we have to do the “Number 2,” we sulk our way to the back of the restroom or to the stalls that are farthest away from the sinks. We can only hope that the bathroom will be empty while we are defecating, but there certainly is no guarantee that another girl won’t decide they need to pee or check their make-up at the same exact time. In fact, it always seems to turn out that way, doesn’t it?

So we get to the bathroom and we search every stall to make sure no one is around. Sometimes we even turn a faucet on, hoping that the rushing water will mask the splish-splash of toilet water. How embarrassing—my body is doing exactly what it is supposed to do! Sure, it’s natural, but I’m ashamed.

Well, no longer. My name is Samantha Sullivan, and I am here to say that I’m okay with poop! After all, who can honestly say they don’t feel great after a nice dump?

Not I.

Illustration: Samantha Sullivan

Captured Child Soldier Victim of Tradition, Not Choice

Dan Ivers Opinion Editor Omar Ahmed Khadr is now 21 years old. He has been detained in the United States prison camp at Guantanamo Bay since he was 15, meaning that when he was captured after a battle in Afghanistan he qualified as a child soldier. And yet, the only special treatment he has received since then is actually being charged with a crime, unlike the vast majority of detainees.

Khadr is charged with killing an American medic with a grenade during a shoot-out at an Al-Qaeda compound in 2002. He was shot three times by U.S. soldiers and was the only non-American survivor. He has yet to stand trial but appeared before a military commission as recently as February 4.

The controversies at Guantanamo have caused considerable outcry from Americans and the rest of the world, as the treatment of the prisoners has seemingly undermined basic tenets of the U.S. justice system. It has been reported that Khadr was not treated any differently than other prisoners, even when still

Illustration: Sean Kinne

considered a minor. His American lawyer told reporters that he was used as a human mop to clean up urine and feces from the prison floor, as well as chained in painful stress positions until defecating on himself.

The United States has repeatedly announced its opposition to the use of child soldiers. In December 2002, we ratified the “Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Children,” which establishes 18 as the minimum age for any compulsory recruitment or participation in an armed conflict, and requires governments to assist in the demobilization and rehabilitation of former child soldiers. This was particularly in response to widespread cases throughout Africa and South America. U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao has been quoted as saying that the use of children in an

armed conflict is “one of the worst forms of child labor,” and that “President George W. Bush believes…that children have human dignity and must be protected from exploitation.”

It is well known how impressionable children and adolescents can be. Omar Ahmed Khadr was raised to be a terrorist. His father was well acquainted with Osama bin Laden and one of Al-Qaeda’s biggest financiers and was killed in 2003 on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

One of Omar’s brothers was also involved with Al-Qaeda and is now paralyzed from the waist down after being shot. Omar Khadr did not become a terrorist by choice. He is a victim of extremist parents, and because of them he has spent nearly a quarter of his life in a cell.

Khadr may never come out of his childhood indoctrination into terrorism, and he may very well be a danger to the world if ever released. He is described by military officials as a “trained Al-Qaeda operative…certainly capable of exacting revenge.” However, the hypocrisy shown by the military regarding his treatment is inexcusable. No matter the nature of his crime or how hardened he is, he was still a child soldier and deserved to be treated as such. The sad truth is that it will never be known what effect any attempts at rehabilitation might have yielded.

The situation poses difficult decisions for our military to make, but once again they have not practiced what they preach. Somehow, the urgency of this war supersedes all previous conventions and agreements. Many officials often refer to the fact that our troops are overseas fighting for our standards and our way of life. To my knowledge, that doesn’t include jailing children for indefinite periods in subhuman conditions for crimes many would argue they did not actively or fully choose to commit.

Stimulus Package Reveals Ideological Differences Brian Morache Staff Writer There has been much talk about the economic stimulus package that is going through the legislative process right now. Whether it will really help the economy may be debatable, but the ideological differences that the debate over this package has generated is much more evident.

Senate Republicans had initially kept the bill from coming to the floor because of what they referred to as “wasteful additions” that Democrats wanted added to it. And what were these “wasteful additions” that Republicans objected to? From the additions to the bill, one has to wonder why Republicans would object to providing aid to families struggling to pay for heating oil, extending unemployment benefits, providing stimulus checks to seniors surviving on social security alone and small business tax credits. But then again, it has been difficult to understand the logic of the Republican Party.

One clue to the ideological objection can be found in the area of unemployment benefits. Democrats recognize that many people are not unemployed by choice. Republicans, on the other hand, take the view of the White House: that those who receive unemployment benefits will choose to remain unemployed until their benefits run out. Thus, they have to be “forced” back to work.

Republicans have claimed that such benefits simply cost too much and that there is no money to pay for them. It seems that the only time Republicans find any sense of fiscal responsibility is when it comes to social programs that aid the poor and middle class. When it comes to the war in Iraq, subsidies to corporations and tax breaks to people who don’t need them, the Republican Party is ready to spend like a drunken sailor.

In the words of Dick Cheney, “deficits don’t matter.”

The party of “fiscal responsibility” shouldn’t be pushing to make tax cuts for wealthy people permanent when we are facing record deficits because of those tax cuts, as well as a war that many Republicans are content to continue for another hundred years. If they were the party of fiscal responsibility, Republicans would be cutting a military budget that funds any and every weapons system, including an anti-ballistic missile defense that doesn’t work, to pay for this stimulus package.

Ronald Reagan made popular the terms “Tax and Spend” and “Big Government” Democrats. This was meant to imply that Democrats loved to spend money and raise taxes to fuel a huge government bureaucracy.

A look at the government over the last 28 years has shown that it is Republicans rather than Democrats who have spent the money and created huge bureaucracies, generating unimaginable debt in the process.

Call them “Borrow and Spend” Republicans.

The differences between parties might not seem very great, but they are present. When listening to both Democratic and Republican candidates, it becomes clear just who is in touch with the concerns of the American public. For Democrats, the economy is in serious trouble and the war in Iraq was a mistake that is costing us our future. For Republicans, the economy might need a little tweaking here and there and the war was definitely the right move no matter the cost. Which ideology you subscribe to determines if you consider providing home heating oil subsidies or unemployment benefits “wasteful additions” to funding a war.

Sports

6 THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Blue Devils Hunt Down Foxes

Reexamining A National Pastime Peter Collin Sports Editor

Kyle Dorau Staff Writer Junior forward Mike DiClemente pulled a hat trick to help power the CCSU Blue Devils (17-6-3) past the Marist College Red Foxes (14-8-2) by a score of 6-3 on Friday, clinching a berth in the 2008 ACHA National Tournament in Fort Meyers, Florida.

This victory also allows CCSU to bypass the regional tournament, saving the program a weekend trip to New Hampshire.

CCSU set the tone early, getting on the board just over a minute into the game. Freshman defenseman Ryan Beaulieu took a wrist shot from the point, which was tipped in by junior forward Matt Williams to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead.

Mike DiClemente got Central’s top line on the board with a goal on a beautiful centering feed from his brother, Rob DiClemente. Kevin McConnell also assisted on the goal, which put CCSU up 2-0.

Central’s top line had another scoring opportunity on their very next shift, as Mike DiClemente received a long lob pass just past the red line and rode in on a breakaway.

DiClemente tried to stuff it through Red Foxes goalie Justin Frei’s fivehole but was denied.

The Blue Devils emerged from the locker room for the second frame with a 2-0 lead, but it quickly became apparent that Marist had more fight in them than they let on in the first period.

Less than three minutes into the second period, Kyle Lukas got Marist on the board with a slap shot from the point right off the face-off.

“Carmine let in a soft goal early, and he knew that,” said CCSU Head Coach Jim Mallia. “But he made the big saves when we needed them, and that’s what he’s done all year.”

Marist controlled the tempo in the second period and just plain out-

worked the Blue Devils for the better part of twenty minutes. The only quality opportunity Central generated was a two-on-one break, in which junior forward Craig Prema rang a shot off the post.

The third period looked initially to be a continuation of the rough second period, until Mike DiClemente’s blistering slap shot from the top of the left face-off circle trickled past Frei.

DiClemente’s second of the night gave Central a 3-1 lead.

Some unbelievable puck handling by Joseph Dabkowski helped him penetrate the offensive zone, literally taking the stick out of a Marist defenseman’s hands. He sent a centering pass across the slot to Rob Diclemente, who gave CCSU a threegoal cushion.

Mike DiClemente completed

Marist Blue Devils

3 6

his three-goal night with puck handling equal to that displayed on Dabkowski’s goal just three minutes earlier. He dangled through the Red Foxes’ defense and slipped it past Frei to make it 5-1, in favor of the Blue Devils.

“They took it to us last time,” said Mike DiClemente. “In our home barn, we got the momentum; we got our fans; it just makes us play our best.”

With visions of Florida dancing in their heads, Central might have lost their focus for a moment or two.

Top: Blue Devils and Red Foxes fight for the puck.

Right: Central Goalie Craig Height defends the goal down ice.

Photos by Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Supereast Standings Place Team

GP

W

L

T

Points

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

10 9 8 6 5 5 5 2

2 3 5 6 7 8 8 11

2 2 1 2 2 1 1 1

22 20 17 14 12 11 11 5

Siena College Central Connecticut Marist College Penn State University Univ. New Hamp.

New York University Montclair State Holy Cross

Upcoming Games Date

Opponent

Feb 15

Alumni Game

Feb 15

Location

Newington, CT St. Joseph’s University Newington, CT

Time 7:50 p.m.

9:00 p.m.

Playing against a team ranked as highly as Marist, that proved costly.

With AJ Maulucci in the box for four minutes for slashing, unsportsmanlike conduct and a ten-minute misconduct, the Red Foxes took advantage. They quickly stunned CCSU with two goals in a span of 44 seconds to make things interesting and cut the deficit to two.

Marist opted to pull their goalie with a minute-and-a-half left in the third period while down two goals.

Sophomore forward Dabkowski was able to slip the puck into the open cage and the Blue Devils earned their place amongst the best collegiate teams in the nation at the National Tournament in Fort Myers, Fl. from March 12-16.

As Dabkowski sealed Central’s victory over Marist on Friday by sending the puck into an empty net, it managed to feel just a little warmer in the frigid Newington Skating Center.

Earning a trip to Florida to play in the National Tournament tends to do that.

“We’re going to Florida,” said Mike DiClemente with a relieved smile.

“Punch our tickets, we’re going.”

“Big-time players show in bigtime games, and that’s what happened tonight. Our big-time players showed,” said Mallia.

The big-time players showed again the next night as CCSU took on Holy Cross, beating the Crusaders 5-2.

Mike DiClemente played the role of setup man, getting three assists while Dabkowski picked up his fifth goal in his last three games.

Central ends their regular season with the Alumni game at 7:50 on Friday, February 15. That game will be immediately followed by CCSU playing host to St. Joseph’s in a postseason tune-up at 9 p.m. at the Newington Skating Center.

It is a familiar time of year for most baseball fans. The winter is beginning to break in the north; the weather is warming up in the south; and the Southwest fans are hearing the well-known calls for all pitchers and catchers to report; a sign that baseball is officially underway.

But beyond what baseball would like the average fan to focus on is the soap opera between congress, baseball and a few lowly trainers who hold the keys to the past for a game steeped in tradition.

The Roger Clemens vs. Brian McNamee fight that has devolved into a scornful accusation-laced tirade by both sides is now taking center stage before the legislative branch of our United States Government.

This cannot be what Commissioner Bud Selig had in mind when Senator George Mitchell released his highly-anticipated 409-page report on December 13, detailed baseball’s decadent use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs during the appropriately named Steroid Era during the late 80s, 90s and early 21st century.

Beyond the initial embarrassment of the Mitchell Report, baseball must now parade itself before congress to answer demeaning questions concerning which needle went into who’s posterior and what bottle contained what new age wonder drug.

Selig played the tune for congress when, in the winter of 2005, he along with several big name players, were confronted on Capitol Hill.

Their answers were cryptic and debasing for a fan base to believe.

The Commissioner initiated this investigation with the intention to open eyes and save the integrity of America’s past time, thus turning the page on this dark day in the game’s history—one that is only surpassed by the Black Sox Scandal of 1919.

But all he has really done is drawn out an issue that is now the center piece of his legacy as Commissioner of Baseball. People will forget about his Wild Card system; the record-setting profit margins; the World Baseball Classic; revenue sharing and all of his beneficial accomplishments. His term will be forever associated with steroids and the current parade of players before congress.

Clemens faces the same history-altering consequences as Selig.

Each of his 354-career victories will be scrutinized, along with all of his many accolades. Even if he is able to positively denounce the claims of McNamee, Clemens will not soon recover his title as the greatest pitcher of his generation.

Worse yet, he may still find it harder to accept that he may never reach the divinity of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Baseball may be more popular than ever nowadays. Never before has attendance or profit levels reached such astronomical heights. But slowly, the essence of the game is dissipating.

The mystic of Babe Ruthian legends of the first quarter of the 20 th century along with the golden age of 1950s baseball has now been replaced by Pete Rose betting scandals, the Cocaine Era and the Steroid Era. Wounds don’t heal when they are constantly poked and prodded, and baseball will never hold the innocence it once captured from the heart of a nation. The only thing that can humiliate baseball any further is if congress asks McNamee to demonstrate his injection procedures on Clemens.

7

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / SPORTS

Blue Devils Neuter Terriers Central Beats St. Francis For Third Straight Win Rob Messer Staff Writer

their outside shooting. Hitting 44.4 percent (12 for 27), the Terriers kept the game close in the early going. St. Francis senior guard Jamaal Womack The Central Connecticut men’s (15 points, four assists) hit three basketball team won convincingly three-pointers in the first half. again Saturday in New Britain. Less With 44 seconds left in the half, than 48 hours after defeating their St. Francis guard Ricky Cadell hit a conference rival, Quinnipiac, the Blue jump shot to even the score at 29. As Devils (12-12, 8-5) came out strong the clock was running out in the first and beat the St. Francis (NY) Terriers half, Blackwood, mobbed in red jer(5-19, 2-11) 76-61 for their third seys, hit a fade-away three-pointer to straight win. beat the buzzer and send the Blue Head Coach Howie Dickenman’s Devils into the locker room with the game plan was to emphasize Central’s momentum. inside offense to be able to top the “He’s probably the only guy in Terrier’s athletic squad. His “rebound the gym that is going to hit that shot,” and run” and “emphasized inside ofsaid Dickenman. fense” strategies resulted in five of his It didn’t take long for Blackwood Blue Devils scoring in double figures. and the Blue Devils to use that moSenior Tristan Blackwood got mentum after halftime. Central startthe crowd’s attention as he scored the ed the second half game’s first basket going 17 for 21 from from outside the St. Francis (NY) 61 the floor. Within the arc. The threeBlue Devils 76 first three minutes of pointer would be the second half, the first of what Blackwood assisted reigning NEC would be five for the game, extending Rookie of the Week Ken Horton three his career three-pointer mark to 312. times, leaving the Terrier defense St. Francis then felt the wrath of searching for answers.

Central’s inside presence as the Blue After more fundamentallyDevils got out to an early lead. Junior sound basketball, followed by some Marcus Palmer (12 points, 13 re“Sportscenter worthy” baskets from bounds) had eight boards in the first junior Marcus Palmer and sophomore half, contributing to his third straight Joe Seymore, Central got up 42-32 double-double. and never looked back.

“I provide that spark off the Central, who has now outscored bench coach is looking for; I don’t their opponents 150-97 in the second want to let him down,” commented half over the last three games, showed Palmer on his role. why “rebounding and running” wins The Terriers found themselves basketball games. Seymore (13 points, back in the game thanks to some of

four rebounds), who had 0 points in the first half, was a huge factor in the second.

“Second Half Joe,” dubbed such by his coach and teammates, sparked the crowd, hitting back-to-back threepointers, assisted by Blackwood within a 45-second span. He extended Central’s lead 59-45 with 10:24 left.

“Once we get the ball inside and they’re able to finish, it opens up the game and makes [Seymore and Blackwood’s] job a lot easier,” said Seymore.

The ally-hoop dunk from Shemik Thompson (12 points, five assists) to fellow freshman Aaron Hall (eight points, four rebounds) that followed a Terrier turnover ended any chances of a comeback and brought Detrick Gymnasium to their feet.

“These guys give us more depth, and they are getting better every day,” Dickenman said of Palmer, Thompson, Hall and Powell St. Francis couldn’t overcome the 63.3 (19 for 30) shooting percentage that the Blue Devils put up in the second half. The Blue Devils finished the

Upcoming Games Date

Opponent

Location

Time

Media

Feb 14

Robert Morris *

New Britain, CT

7:00 p.m.

COX / ESPN Radio 1410

Feb 16

Long Island *

at Brooklyn, NY

4:00 p.m.

ESPN Radio 1410

Feb 21

Fairleigh Dickinson *

at Teaneck, NJ

7:00 p.m.

ESPN Radio 1410

Feb 28

Quinnipiac *

New Britain, CT

7:00 p.m.

COX / ESPN Radio 1410

Mar 02

Sacred Heart *

at Fairfield, CT

4:00 p.m.

ESPNU / ESPN Radio 1410

* Conference Games

game shooting 56.9 percent, with 20 assists and 35 rebounds.

“We can’t let down,” exclaimed Coach Dickenman. “Every game is a must game, and we’re going to play it like a tournament-type game.”

The Blue Devils play their next game Thursday, February 14 at 7:00 p.m. against the Robert Morris Colonials at Detrick Gymnasium. They will then travel to Brooklyn to face the Long Island University Blackbirds on February 16 at 2:00 p.m.

Above: Marcus Palmer goes up for a lay-up.

Left: Blackwood passes it off to Shemik Tompson.

Below: Shemik Thompson, guard, dribbles down court.

Photos by Stephanie Bergeron The Recorder

8

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / SPORTS

Devils Spay Terriers

Wade Scores Season High In 62-48 Win

Rob Messer Staff Writer The Central Connecticut women’s basketball team had a lot to smile about Saturday evening as they defeated the St. Francis (NY) Terriers 62-48 in Detrick Gymnasium. Central (4-19, 3-9), who hadn’t had a game in six days, came out strong against the Terriers (8-16, 5-8).

Sophomore P.J. Wade matched her season-high with 16 points to help lead the charge. Wade shot 6-for-12 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from behind the arc. As a team, Central connected on 11-of-23 from the threepoint range. Fellow sophomores Emily Rose and Kanita Boone added nine points each.

St. Francis (NY) 48 Blue Devils 62 The Terriers got out to a fresh lead going up 5-0 quickly. Freshman Kerrianne Dugan (nine points, seven assists) swooshed a jumper and ignited a 5-0 central run. After Rose hit a triple, Wade followed with a made jumper, steal and a three-pointer, putting the Blue Devils up 13-8 with 13:24 to go in the first half.

With the help of the six-foot-eight St. Francis center Katja Bavendam (six points, 12 rebounds) and her four first-

half offensive boards, the Terriers went on a 10-0 run to match their largest lead going up 18-13.

Freshman Justina Udenze jumpstarted a CCSU 12-0 run with an “and one” lay up, finishing the game with seven points and 12 rebounds. With 2:55 left, Udenze pulled down her third offensive board of the possession and kicked it out to Jhanay Harris (eight points, three rebounds), who assisted Boone on a three-pointer to put the Blue Devils up 23-18.

CCSU held St. Francis without a field goal for nearly six minutes and closed out the half on a 14-4 run for a 27-22 score. The Blue Devil defense held Bavendam to zero points (0-for-7) in the first half, despite her scoring 30 on them earlier this season.

After the teams exchanged three-pointers to open the second half, the Terriers pulled within three points of the Blue Devils. Free throws from Dugan and Udenze, along with a triple from Harris, put CCSU up 38-31. After one of the team’s 10 steals, Kanita Boone hit a three-pointer to give Central their first doubledigit lead of the game with 14:35 left.

With the help of Udenze’s fivesecond half offensive rebounds, the team’s made free throws (5-for-8) and triples from Wade, Boone and Rose, the lead grew to 16.

After turning the ball over, freshman Alexzandria Dowdy hustled to steal the ball back and put in the quick lay-up to extend the CCSU lead by 18.

The 57-39 score with 7:30 left in the game was the Blue Devils’ largest lead of the season.

The Terriers’ 28.6 shooting percentage (4-for-14) in the second half would not keep them in the game, nor would it keep them from losing by double digits. Udenze’s seven-second half points and Dugan’s seven-second half rebounds were enough support to Wade’s big day to secure the 14-point Central win.

CCSU ended the game with 14 assists and 10 steals. They matched a season-low with 10 turnovers and also made Bavendam a non-factor, holding her to only six points and 12 rebounds.

The Blue Devils fell in their Monday night match-up against the Quinnipiac Bobcats, 72-66. Freshman Kerrianne Dugan scored 21 points to lead the Blue Devils, while sophomore P.J. Wade added 18 points and five rebounds to the cause.

Central managed to narrow the gap to two points with just 18 seconds left in the game, but the Bobcats hit four consecutive free throws to put the game away.

CCSU will be on the road in their next game to face Long Island on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 2:00 p.m.

Upcoming Games Date

Opponent

Location

Time

Feb 16

Long Island *

at Brooklyn, NY

2:00 p.m.

Feb 18

Roger Morris *

New Britain, CT

7:00 p.m.

Feb 25

Fairleigh Dickinson *

at Teaneck, NJ

7:00 p.m.

Mar 1

Sacred Heart *

at Fairfield, CT

2:00 p.m.

Mar 3

Quinnipiac*

New Britain, CT

7:00 p.m.

* Conference Games

Top: Kanita Boone (40) passes it off down court. Kanita was one of two Blue Devils players to rack up nine points.

Above: Center Justina Udenze brings the ball past a St. Franics defender late in the game.

Left: Players from both teams scamble for control of the ball.

Photos by Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

My Week with

Hannah Montana - Page 11

ALSO INSIDE: Music Reviews - Page 10 Folly Calls it Quits - Page 12

10 THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Entertainment

And the prize for most ironic album name ever goes to Black Mountain. In The Future couldn’t be any further away from what Black Mountain sounds like. Black Mountain is a 70s psych-rock band that took acid and woke up 35 years later to continue to kill it with no knowledge or care for what is “cool” today.

With heavy guitar riffs that make you think of Lynyrd Skynard or early Black Sabbath, Black Mountain rocks so hard that comparisons to bands today are useless because there is no way anyone out there can hold a flame to how much BM completely rocks, in every sense of the word.

Even when you might think this band is just a gimmick, they throw out the 17-minute, “Holy shit, how are they still going?” track “Bright Lights,” which makes you want to put on a giant pair of headphones and lie in bed (think of the final scene in Dazed and Confused).

The vocals start off light with subdued instrumentals, but it just sets you up for the building power that explodes into your ears at the 4:04 mark and continues to thrash for the remaining 12 minutes.

While some might find Black Mountain corny or out of touch, these guys make music that would have been amazing 30 years ago and is even more amazing today. If you like your guitars super-heavy and your drums on the fast side, do yourself a favor and grab anything you can by Black Mountain.

Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor

Black Mountain In The Future

This might sound pretty sad, but I spend a lot of time online reading music blogs like the one I co-run in order to get a larger grasp on what is going on in the world of new music. Dirty on Purpose’s Like Bees is the fruit of my latest search.

I knew nothing about DOP besides the fact they are from Brooklyn, and, believe it or not, this gives them a leg up in any argument because no one produces great music like New York City’s lowest borough. Despite that locale advantage, Dirty on Purpose makes some of the best low-key indie-rock around and have been ignored for a few years now. I think that they might be on the top bands of 2008 if they can follow this five-song EP with a full-length record because they have the pure talent to bring them to the top of the indie ladder.

The third track on the album, “Back to Sleep,” is by-far the closest thing to a single DOP have going for them on Like Bees. The instruments flow effortlessly and the vocals have the calming ability that could put you down for a four-minute nap, no problem. This album might be the perfect remedy for any dreary afternoon coming up in the semester where all you want to do is stay in bed with your warmest blanket.

Dirty on Purpose need to stay on track with their music prowess and there will be no question that they are the next big thing in the indie-rock scene.

Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor

Dirty on Purpose Like Bees EP

Another week, another metal album, and I think I am quite all right with that. This week, Genghis Tron leaked and I have always been curious about what these guys are all about, so I finally gave them a listen. It’s the best move I could have made.

Board Up the House blends an amazing mixture of brutal metal with amazingly technical electronic pieces that capture the sounds of keys and drums without having a full set, or even a drummer in the band. To contrast the heavier parts, Genghis adds in small sections of static filled drumbeats that feel like something out of a Boards of Canada album. While these parts exist, they don’t last so long that the listener feels alienated. I think the ultimate reason why GT draws me in is their use of electronic instruments instead of the traditional guitar, bass and

Genghis Tron Board Up The House

drums. Two sets of synthesizers are very rare for a band like this, and I think they pull it off perfectly.

While traditional metal listeners will write this album off as garbage—I’m looking at you people on LambGoat—the more casual or less hardcore listener will be able to draw from a few different aspects that will make them enjoy it. If you haven’t made an attempt to listen to these guys yet, go find Board Up the House and listen with an open mind.

Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor

HorrorPops Kiss Kiss Kill Kill

The hellcat is out of the bag.

HorrorPops’ latest album, Kiss Kiss Kill Kill, hit stores Feb. 5 with the same fury that anyone would expect from the band. The Internet has been buzzing over the album’s leak in January, but to Hellcat Record’s relief, few saw the album until its official release date.

For anyone unfamiliar with the band, HorrorPops’ stage performance is something between burlesque and a freak show. Frontwoman Patricia Day plays a upright bass like a demented pop star and husband Kim Nekroman (of the Nekromantix) plays his guitar with the same vigor that you would expect from someone who was, say, clinically insane?

Accompanied by Henrik Niedermeier on drums and a pair of go-go dancers, the band has quickly become a staple of the Psychobilly scene, although they have refused to accept the label.

Think Gwen Stefani in a B-grade horror movie or the Bride of Frankenstein in a doo-wop band.

HorrorPops’ first released single, “Heading For The Disco,” is the same pop-filled psychoshit that their fans have grown accustomed to, with a spin; one of the catchier tracks, “Refugee,” is enough to make anyone wish they were a go-go. The CD also offers a continuation of the instrumental track “The Horror of Party Beach,” which was featured on their first CD. The new song, “Horrorbeach Part 2,” is horrorsurf that keeps with the CD’s full-throttle feel.

The factor that pushed the HorrorPops so far in just ten years may be that they have something to offer to the underground punk scene— a female vocalist. In a genre that usually favors men, it’s a rare sight to find a girl in the pit. Most seem content with their status as either a pin-up or coat rack. Throughout her career Patricia Day has proved that although there’s still a cap on where girls—even sub-culture girls—belong, nothing is impossible. Since emigrating from Copenhagen, Denmark to Los Angeles, Day has been a juggernaut in a pencil skirt and heels. Not letting her marriage to the infamous Nekroman define either herself or her career, she has shown everyone that she can not only play with the big boys but also look gorgeous doing it.

To hear the single “Heading For The Disco,” purchase the album or for upcoming tour information, visit HorrorPops at their MySpace and turn up your speakers Marissa Blaszko / Staff Writer

Louis XIV Slick Dogs and Ponies

The only other CD that I ever put in my car that caused my radio to read “Err” was when my sister tried to play the Rascal Flatts. I saw the three electric green letters and thought for sure the music gods were warning me not to listen to Louis XIV. My car works with the mind of a transformer - it knows what I like and everything else is an “Err.” I got to work and quickly realized my car had done me wrong.

Listening to Slick Dogs and Ponies, courtesy of a computer from the Mesozoic Era, I was taken aback, wondering what was happening to my groins.

They sound dirty and primal—all that is right in the world of garage/indie rock. If the Kings of Leon, White Stripes and Modest Mouse had a threesome, the product would be that of Louis XIV. Jason Hill has one of those voices that make me want to make sweet love to his mouth.

It is vulnerable, shaky and awkward at times, yet confident and sexy. His vocals are undeniably perfect for their overall sound, which I can

only describe as the perfect soundtrack for having sweaty, unbelievable make-up sex.

They have provocative, sexually-oriented lyrics that make you feel like you need a cold shower and a cigarette, or just a really stiff drink. They have been banned from playing in Alabama because of certain lyrics, which makes me wonder about Alabama.

From the first track to the last, through both fast and slower paced songs, they grab you by the balls and refuse to let you go until they are through intoxicating you with their grungy, seductive sound.

Stephanie Bergeron / Photo Editor Listening to brodown music makes me revisit a forgotten time period of my life where my friends and I used to pack my Dodge Neon and scour the New England states for hardcore shows. While it seemed intriguing to watch a bunch of dudes massacre each other in the midst of a sweaty, cramped American Legion, I always found myself wondering what this so-called music scene was really about.

Knowing me presently, one would have never guessed that I have witnessed such bands as Converge and 100 Demons completely tear up venues, both ending with an arrest or two.

After realizing that it was a little too much to handle, I was drawn towards a slightly more punk genre of hardcore, delivered by bands such as With Honor, Comeback Kid and The Distance. Growing into a complete softy and opting for indie/folk jams, I took an indefinite break from screaming wails and angry guitar riffs.

Paint It Black reminds most of a Rolling Stones song, but is a gritty modern day hardcore band that tells it like it is. Their latest album, New Lexicon, is chock full of bass-heavy jams that, when played live, would have felt as it had back then, leaving venues with reverberating eardrums.

The main theme of all hardcore: poetic rants about problems. This can be heard on most tracks, whether vocalist Dan Yemin (Lifetime/Kid Dynamite guitarist) is querying the listener, “What will it take to fucking wake you up?” in “White Kids Dying of Hunger,” or “This is a sermon for the vermin / A song to draw blood / A finger in the dam trying to hold back the flood,” in the rhythmic rap-like ballad, “We Will Not.” There are moments in every track where the tempo slows down and things get less heavy, allowing Yemin to sing instead of scream, and the roar of the guitars to turn into whimpering puppies. This is why I classify New Lexicon to be similar of The Distance’s If You Lived Here You’d Be Home Already, but this is merely from the little I know. With that said—and trust me, my hardcore music advice should only be taken with a grain of salt—give this album a spin if you’re into the like.

Karyn Danforth / Lifestyles Editor Little inThe New Frontiers formation is Mending available online about Dallas, Texas-based band The New Frontiers. The only reason I could imagine this would be is that they are so much like every other less-than-talented indie band that they can’t even think up something new to describe themselves.

Mending lacks everything an album needs to be good. It lacks depth, contrast and an original sound to make it standout in an over-packed genre. The only thing that TNF has going for them is the fact that they are a part of the Militia Group, a pretty popular independent label that houses a full stable of great bands. Beyond sharing a record label, The New Frontiers leave all other comparisons to good bands behind.

Nathan Pettijohn’s vocals are almost emotionless and are starved of anything exciting. If he could rise above the melancholy, depressing sound into something genuine then he might be able to salvage this monstrosity of a record. If the vocals were to change, this band would grow from being lackluster to an overall decent band because they would finally have musical talent,

Paint It Black New Lexicon

which, right now, is just hidden by a thick layer of boringness.

While I might have liked this nonsense when I was younger, it does absolutely nothing for me now. The New Frontiers have managed to rehash a tired sound and do nothing new, except be terrible at a whole new level. My suggestion is to hang up your scarves, cut your hair and go back to painting or poetry, or whatever it was you used to do before you failed at music.

Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor

Kelley Stoltz Circular Sounds

There are certain bands and artists who rarely get airplay on television but are renowned for their unique and appealing styles of music. Some can be seen on Fuse or MTV-U, but you would never see them on teeny-bopper MTV or classic VH1. Kelley Stoltz is one of those many artists who appreciate the music more than they feel the need to be on TV. Circular Sounds’ style is a mix between newer Bright Eyes, The Shins, Iron and Wine and Kaiser Chiefs, if that makes sense. It’s a mellow, all-around feel-good CD that features the perfect combination of light drums, swanky guitar riffs that sometimes remind me of “Hotel California,” and, of course, some harmonica.

One of my favorite songs on the album is “To Speak to the Girl.” It’s a groovy song with clever lyrics: “But all the King’s horsemen and all the King’s men / Can’t get you the nerve to go up to her again… You know, I know it, you think you’ll blow it / It’s hard to speak to the girl.” The guitar in this song is so simple, not overdone like it often is in newer music.

Another great tune is “Put My Troubles to Sleep.” This is the kind of song that I would listen to while swinging in a hammock on the beach beneath two shady trees or just while swinging on my tree swing back home. The rhythm guitar sounds a lot like traditional Hawaiian music, and the lead reminds me of “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaac (whom I would marry in a heartbeat, by the way).

Kelley Stoltz has found the right combination of lead and rhythm guitar, drums, piano and harmonica to get him far in the music industry. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to his head like it has so many others.

Samantha Sullivan / Copy Editor

Beck Odelay: Deluxe Edition

When I listen to Beck, it’s pretty natural for me to settle into the songs I really dig and discard the few I’m not immediately attracted to.

On this re-release, filled with a lot of my favorite old Beck and a bunch of songs that slipped through the cracks over the last 12 years, it’s hard for me to find anything I don’t like.

The original album was released in 1996 with singles “Where It’s At” and “Devil’s Haircut;” however, these were superseded by his more commercial songs, “Lost Cause” and “Tropicalia.”

This two-disk album contains the classic 13 tracks on Odelay but has an additional disc of remixes, alternate versions and miscellaneous ballads that—like all Beck—hop genres and styles.

The original “Jack-Ass,” which is a kind of hazy slow tune already, is remade and stripped down to acoustic guitar and supplemented by orchestra to become the new track, “Strange Invitation.”

Beck also finds it appropriate to take the song and again mutate it into yet another version, but instead this time for a Mariachiflavored “Burro.” Twelve years of Spanish and I finally use it to recognize the identical lyrics in the three songs.

The album would also be remiss if it overlooked the pop/acoustic sounds Beck is famous for, such as those employed in the song “Electric Music and the Summer People.” The upbeat feel of the song is reminiscent of his earlier “Girl” or “Mixed Bizness.”

If you’re a Beck fan looking to expand your collection, or a fan of music in general, the chances are pretty high that you’ll find something within these 33 tracks of variety.

Melissa Traynor / News Editor

11

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / ENTERTAINMENT

My Week with

Hannah Montana Matthew Jurkiewicz Staff Writer D-Day: Friday, February 1, 2008, 5:00 a.m. The forces of the Hannah Montana nation stormed the sidewalks of the AMC Plainville 20 Theatre. There were no casualties in the encounter, but the invasion caused a week of intense physical, emotional and spiritual upheavals within the staff of the cinema.

Words cannot describe the ferocity of the crowds, nor the fear and trepidation in the hearts the theatre employees. It is a week that shall live on in infamy in the legends and lore of the movie theatre industry. All future generations shall hear of the mystical “Hannah Week” for years to come, and they shall stand in awe of the true power of the masses of screaming banshee-children. But before you can understand the theatre experience, you must understand the powers of one Hannah Montana.

Though talented, entertaining and adorable, Hannah Montana is a delightful addiction—she is fast and powerful. From out of nowhere she swoops onto the scene and grabs hold of a child. With catchy pop lyrics about impressing boys and “girls’ nights out,” Hannah is irresistible to the American girl. That child then becomes infatuated and dependant upon her Hannah fix. She needs two, three, even four doses of Hannah Montana just to get her through the day. After a while, the infatuation only grows and the child needs more. At this point they move on—straight to the Hannah Montana CDs. Now the child can get her Hannah fix anytime and anywhere there’s a set of speakers or headphones.

But eventually, even that isn’t enough. It just doesn’t cut it. The child simply needs more powerful juice, and that can only come with a live performance. This is where the Hannah Montana concert enters the child’s life. They hear stories about how intense, invigorating and indescribable the concerts really are. Kids from all over the block are talking about it. The kids need the fix, and Disney is ready to provide it. The only problem is the product can’t keep up with the demand. Parents are willing to pay two or three thousand dollars for tickets, but there just aren’t enough tickets to go around. So the brilliant dealers, I mean developers over at Disney, come up with an idea to get the concert fix to everyone. They condense it, mass produce it, and sell it to the masses in full color, Digital 3-D. Voilà; the $15 fix is born.

From the first announcement of its future arrival, the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert in Disney Digital 3-D has been an iceberg looming on the horizon of every movie theatre in the nation. The history of the concert and those mystifying $2,000 tickets left little to the imagination when it came to anticipating the excitement and downright hysteria caused by the mere mention of Hannah Montana. The character has grown beyond mere human capacities; it has swelled into a Demigod for the ‘tweenage female.

The first showing of the film was at 8:15 a.m. on a fateful Friday morning. The sun was out, and the air was chill. The Hannah Montana masses were poised and ready to take advantage of the lovely weather in order to gain the advantage in the great Hannah Spectacular of 2008.

Tickets for the show went on sale December 1, 2007—fathers and mothers were lining up on that day, two months before the first frame of the show hit the big screen, to buy their tickets.

The afternoon and evening showings sold out weeks in advance; the 8:15 a.m. showing was sold out as well.

The first Hannah extremists arrived at 5:00 a.m. on February 1, but the AMC forces were nowhere to be seen. There was a good reason for this: 5:00 a.m. is too damn early to be waking up to go to work. Who the hell do you think we are—paperboys? The first theatre employees showed up at 7:00 a.m.

The cattle, I mean guests, were corralled into long weaving lines around the walls of the lobby while the theatre staff prepared itself for the rush of Hannah fans to the theatre; that moment when the ropes are let down and the public is allowed to make that 15-yard trip from the lobby to the theatre door—also known as Katrina II. But just like FEMA, we were as competent for the event as a mule with a spinning wheel—God only knows how we got it, and hell if we know how to use it. At 7:30, the levy broke and the week of devastation began.

Girls in head-to-toe pink with blonde wigs; soccer moms with soccer sized fists; teen-

age girls bobbing above the sea of ten year-olds; and berserk fathers inspired by the words of their Hannah-addicted daughters charged to Theatre 13 for the inaugural showing. They pushed and shoved, mauled and manhandled their way to the front of the herd in order to get first choice of seats in the theatre. Small boys were sacrificed and used as plows by fathers, held out in front while small girls were held-up on daddy’s shoulders to stay above the fray. The bulls were set loose, and the only option was to let them run themselves out. The rush was fast, and within 30 seconds, all 267 Hannah addicts were out of the lobby and battling for dominance within the auditorium. Every seat was sold, and every seat was used.

But “cattle” is not just a given metaphor; the Hannah masses earned the title. On the Sunday of the first weekend I monitored the herd as it passed the ticket booth to enter the theatre. One delightfully slow mother stopped mid-traffic to ask me, while indicating to her two small girls, “Where do we go?” With a completely straight face, I was forced to reply, “Where do you go? You follow the day-glow pink mob to the one theatre that’s blaring pop music! That’s where you go.”

After the rush into the theatre came the Hannah riptide: also known as the Popcorn Run. Every coat, jacket, hat and scarf was left in the theatre to save a seat, and every child and parent returned to the lobby to purchase their snacks. The AMC forces knew what was happening—they were selling the implements of their own destruction. Kid’s Packs of popcorn and soda were being distributed to the masses by the hundreds, along with candy and funnel cakes galore. The kids carried the items back to the theatre to be eaten, but the staff knew where the food would find its eventual resting place— the floor. Every kernel, every bag, every cup and every spill would eventually have to be swept, picked and mopped up. Thousands of dollars were being exchanged, but it was a bittersweet profit.

Once the film was rolling, the eye of the storm stood over the theatre. The herd was safely placed within their pen, and the wranglers were taking stock of the situation. Twohundred sixty-seven little girls were in a closely contained area with thousands upon thousands of kernels of popcorn—let the countdown to clean up begin. The movie played in its entirety in just under 90 minutes. During the showing, the Hannah fans for the 10:30 a.m. showing be-

gan arriving and filing into the lines. By 8:30 a.m., the entirety of the 10:30 audience had arrived. The first show ended 45 minutes before the second was scheduled to begin. Once the theatre was cleared of the masses, we had 15 minutes to clean and sweep the entire theatre before allowing the next audience to enter.

The mess within the walls of Theatre 13 was indescribable. Soda was up and down every aisle, candy was stuck to every seat, and kernels were ground into every surface imaginable.

Over the next week the AMC forces were able to streamline their cleaning process in order to clean a sold-out Hannah theatre in less than 14 minutes; but on that very first morning, our capacity to clean the storm-wrecked auditorium was truly on par with that of FEMA. Trash bag upon trash bag was filled to the breaking point with wasted food and cardboard.

The kids seemed to be playing a game with the cleaning staff called “Hide the Kid’s Packs.”

Under seats, within seats, behind the screen, behind the wall—we found trays, cups and kernels everywhere. The parents even got in on the game—at one point in the week of shows I found a dirty diaper shoved under a seat. That first day of cleaning is one which no AMC member will ever forget; it took seven people over a half-hour to clean one auditorium, and it goes down as the day we all earned our bones. But the people who created that mess in the theatre are one of a kind, and so are the ones who drove them there.

Hannah parents are insane, psychotic and ridiculous... but at the same time, they realize they are all three of those things. They realize that the entire Hannah Montana experience defies reason and logic, so they simply let themselves go with the Hannah flow. It makes their children happy. A chuckle, a smile and a liquor order came from many of the parents. Had the theatre been allowed to sell alcohol, it would have made a killing. I heard the “Where’s the box of wine?” joke at least once every hour worked over the week. We all know the entire scene is ridiculous, so why not have some fun with it? But I can’t blame the adults for wanting to be a little numb while in the theatre. As one stagehand showed in the movie states, listening to those little girls scream is like “standing behind a jet engine as it warms up.” An hour anda-half of it would be worse on your ears than any heavy metal concert could attempt.

Over that first weekend, AMC Plainville 20 had 21 consecutive sold-out showings of the

Disney concert experience. During that period, the forces of AMC waded through an ocean of pink and blonde. The building was overrun with the ever-Hannah faithful. It wasn’t an invasion; it was colonization. Everyday, from 8:00 a.m. to 11:15 p.m., the Disney t-shirts and glitter were inescapable. The crowds thinned slightly during the weekday afternoons, but every evening the Hannah faithful returned to stake their claim at Plainville 20. The smell of raspberry lip-gloss and tangerine shampoo permeated through the lobby, along with delightful hints of dirty diaper and unwashed child.

God only knows if Theatre 13 will ever smell normal again.

Controlling the Hannah crowd is a task worthy of ten men. With so many children and people on their feet in one place, the only reasonable expectation is to make sure no one gets trampled or injured while inside the walls of the auditorium. Over the course of Hannah Spectacular 2008, I was forced to tell an assortment of people an extremely odd assortment of rules. On Sunday, I had to tell a small girl that she couldn’t go on stage by walking into the screen. On Monday evening, a father had to be informed that his precious daughter was not allowed to crowd surf. On Wednesday, a pair of 17 and 20-year-old girls had to be reminded that, try as they might, they couldn’t actually touch the Jonas Brothers. They also had to be told that standing on the chairs and screaming like banshees is not only a safety violation, but it also ruins the experience for others around them. One adventurous child believed the fire exit to the left of the screen was a way to see more of the stage.

But in the broad sense of things, the Hannah faithful were only letting the atmosphere get the best of them. The majority of the audience was between the ages of 6 and 12—all ages that are highly emotional and persuadable.

When they latch onto something, they latch on with force. The only thing more volatile than a Hannah fan at a show is a Hannah fan that cannot get into the show.

On Saturday evening, one parent and child were disappointed to find out their tickets were for the Sunday showing rather than Saturday; that is, though, after they waited in line for an hour to get a seat. After a string of expletives that was longer than this article can allow because of word count, the child and mother left the theatre in a fit of rage that can only be called Tropical Storm Hannah. It wasn’t quite on par with Katrina II, but it left a couple broken fences and a large trail of popcorn in its wake across the lobby.

My final day in the Hannah Spectacular 2008, February 7, was one which truly put a button on the whole experience. The week had seen me dealing with obsessed parents and children, cleaning up messes way beyond the scope of reality and answering ridiculous questions from ridiculous people. But the final day in the week-long event made sure that this was a movie experience that would live on vividly in my mind forever. I finally took the time to watch the entire movie in full, from beginning to end.

It was the last showing of the day, and I knew it was going to be something special.

Sitting one row behind me was an energetic five-year-old girl. Once the house lights went down, she never went back in her seat. She sang every word of every song in the entire movie. She applauded every time the on-screen audience did, and responded to every single question asked by the 3-D singer. This was probably one of the most vividly enjoyable experiences of her life to this date, and it was something beautiful. Two rows to the front of me I saw another child, this one a young boy, dancing and singing along joyously.

After the movie ended, I left the theatre with that picture of beautiful innocence in my head. As I was walking down the hall, I heard a pair of parents make a comment that put the whole thing into perspective: “Did your son like it?”

“Of course. Every boy here secretly does.

Hannah Montana: jump-starting puberty in the lives of millions of young boys across the nation.”

Thank God for Hannah parents. *Note: Following the unimaginable success of the original 1-week release of the 3-D concert, Disney decided to extend the showings to a full second week.

12

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / ENTERTAINMENT

HBO’s ‘The Wire’: Uniquely American Social Commentary A Foolish and Peter Decoteau Staff Writer As HBO’s groundbreaking show “The Wire” starts to wrap up its fifth and final season, the impact and importance of its timely social commentary, hyper-realistic moral ambiguity and complex narrative structure is beginning to come into focus. The show—following the internal struggles within and tug-of-wars between basically every major facet of American urban life, including but not limited to police, drug dealing, addiction, politics, education, media and everything and everyone caught in the middle—is an exemplary meditation on how each of these vast and intricate staples of society affects the other, and how our nation’s obsession with bureaucracy means that there are no solved problems and no definite resolutions.

The very first scene of the very first episode sets the tone for the entire series. The scene features a cop, “McNulty,” (one of the best characters of any show you’ll see) and a random kid from the city streets as the two watch the process of a post-murder crime scene and converse amiably about the victim. Sitting side by side, they are both literally and metaphorically on the same level, thus presenting one of the major themes of the series—that of the indelible similarities between cop and crook, and the sometimes impossible task of figuring out which is which.

Indeed, many of the “good guys” display behavior that could and should be considered far more villainous than those of the dealers that they condemn, while many of the dealers and thieves are shown through a more sympathetic lens. If the show does not completely forgive the actions of the young victims of urban decay that populate the streets (nor should it), it goes a long way in presenting the trap in which they’ve been born, and the inevitable allure of illegal enterprise that may represent the only chance for them to get paid. Likewise, characters on the other side of the law constantly find themselves being put in situations in which they must wrestle with their

own definitions of morality as a result of the often selfish decisions and greedy actions carried out by those above them in the hierarchy.

In this way, the show is an exploration of the corruption and hazy ethical standards inherent in every component of America, legal or not, and how every one of these components—even such disparate entities as politics, the school system and drug dealing—involves at its core the same set of characters and the same dismissal of morality. Unfortunately, as the show refuses to cling to overwrought clichés and instead attempts to adhere to reality, this means that most of the “good guys” on both sides of the law eventually lose; the “villains” get what they want; and the youths in the city remain trapped in a futile struggle against dying communities and a world that doesn’t care.

In a refreshingly unique formula for a TV program, each season of “The Wire” revolves around one single investigation. This structure means that, while the show may be a bit difficult to jump into right away, the build-ups are much more intense, the characters and their actions much more meaningful, and the pay-offs, despite forgoing the idea of concrete resolutions, much more satisfying. It also gives each season a distinct look and feel, as well as provides the writers with the opportunity to investigate specific features of society throughout an entire season and, within the tapestry of the show as a whole, come to its own conclusions about the roles of these features and the common misuse of their influence.

In keeping with this fashion, the show’s fifth and final season explores the role that the media plays in American cities, introducing the idea that many vital decisions made— those that will affect countless amounts of people—are based solely on how the media will interpret them and who stands to benefit or lose from these interpretations. The season also begins to wrap up the show’s hypotheses on the objectionable bureaucratic system that bogs down any progress that might be made in these communities, as well as continues to

Disappointing Effort Matthew Jurkiewicz Staff Writer

survey the moral vacuum that this system both indirectly encourages and fervently attacks.

HBO’s “The Wire” is a show that rewards patience and attention and just may be the most important TV program of this generation.

While some may maintain that TV shows can’t be artful, complex or socially conscious enough to incite change, “The Wire” has an investigation into the many wheels that run America and the rampant corruption that threatens to tear them apart reaches territory not often found in mainstream popular culture, ultimately imploring viewers to rethink

their assumptions about defining any one person or institution as “good” or “evil.” It is a show that calls to attention the necessity for reform within America’s justice system while displaying a surprising mixture of compassion and responsibility for those trapped and trampled on both sides of the law. Perhaps most importantly, it is a show that begs for a change in our nation’s priorities, as well as a change in how the very institutions on which this country was founded are run.

New Jersey Ska-Core Band Calls it Quits Edward Gaug Entertainment Editor In a note left on their MySpace, the New Jersey-based quintet Folly announced that they will no longer be touring or recording as a band.

Citing a few different reasons for the disbandment, the main reasoning was that they were growing tired of the music industry, explaining that it was a mutual decision to go their separate ways.

While they were never huge or signed to a major label, Folly was one the best live shows anyone could ever go to. Lead singer Jon Tummillo was fearless on stage, whether it included flying into the crowd or having the crowd surround him, most of the time as near as only a few inches. This is rarer in music than one would hope to think, and it is understandable and upsetting at the same time. The way Folly conducted a live show, it was undeniable that they were here for the music and the fans, nothing else.

In the decade that Folly was a band, they were able to release six records, including two full-lengths that remain in constant rotation in my iTunes, as well as many others that found their flawless mix of third wave ska and hardcore to be both enjoyable and unique at the same time.

Along with their steady recording, the band toured as much as they could, making stops in Connecticut numerous times a year, usually in smaller venues such as the Wallingford American Legion. They were the epitome of a local show.

Luckily for the fans that haven’t had the chance to see them or want to

myspace.com/follycore

see them for the last time, the band has announced that they will be playing a small grouping of “final shows” that will most likely reach to only the Tri-State area (Yes, that means us here in CT will be treated to a final show). On top of the final shows, Folly will be digitally releasing a small sampling of new tracks that are all named for towns that the band

broke down in while on tours. The band describes the tracks to be: “Written in bitter contempt and yet grateful resolution in leaving something we love so much. It’s somewhat of a metaphorical ‘concept album’ that speaks for the culmination of the holistic Folly experience, from start to finish—old and new. It’s our requiem; the eulogy of our death.

Consider this, perhaps, as the sequel

to the band and the prequel to the rest of our lives.”

Though it saddens to me to know that I won’t be able to spend anymore Saturday nights jam-packed into an American Legion, screaming the words to “Repeat, I Repeat, Repeat” inches from Jon’s face, I will always be able to remember the countless shows where I did have that opportunity.

Hollywood producers must really think the American viewing audience is stupid. They have to. That is the only way that the recent Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson movie, Fool’s Gold, could have ever received the green light from the studio executives. The movie is nothing more than an attempt to sucker in vulnerable women and steal their ticket money.

Ben, McConaughey’s brainless character, is a treasure hunter in the Caribbean. That’s it. He spends his entire life either searching for treasure or searching for the means to fund his search for treasure. This obsession eventually drives away his graduate student wife, Tess, played

by Hudson. The movie then jumps a few years into the future to reach the present, where the former graduate student pursuing her Ph.D. is now inexplicably a waitress on a yacht owned by millionaire Nigel, played

by Donald Sutherland, and his ditzy daughter Gemma. Ben, who is being divorced by Tess at the moment, then slyly boards the yacht and convinces the millionaires to fund a treasure hunt, which, of course, Tess gets pulled into.

There are two major storylines at work within the movie: The one where Ben and Tess fall out of and then back into love—we will call that the romantic comedy line. Then there is the one about the couple and the millionaires hunting for a mysterious lost treasure—we will call that the action/adventure line. The director’s vision was most logically for those two lines to fuse, and to create a hybrid love-action-comedy.

The problem is that neither storyline is all that dense or well-crafted.

The romantic comedy line is based completely on Hudson’s many cracks about Ben’s prowess in the bedroom.

With only this to string the jokes and scenes together, McConaughey and Hudson fall flat on their faces when it comes to chemistry. There is none of the connection and interplay that was seen when the two actors handled similar roles in the 2003 movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Back then, the actors had okay, if not decent jokes to work with, and a movie that wasn’t trying to be more than it really is.

The action/adventure storyline was an obvious attempt by the studio to cash-in on the National Treasure popularity. The movie features long, drawn-out explanations of the mysteries of the vast treasure the characters are all seeking, along with lengthy-cut scenes of gold and sunken ships. The problem stems from the fact that unlike National Treasure, the exposition in Fool’s Gold feels more like a high school lecture than a major motion picture. National Treasure explained its secrets through action and intensity; Fool’s Gold explains its secrets like it would the industrial revolution. It’s just not that interesting to begin with, and the babblings of McConaughey add nothing to it.

Donald Sutherland really stooped to play this role. He looks like he puts in much less than the full effort on screen, and the script was far from on par with his acting abilities. His character is one-dimensional, and he spends more time listening to McConaughey ramble on about Spanish ships than actually acting.

A bright Caribbean background and a topless Matthew McConaughey could not make up for the lack of interesting story within Fool’s Gold. It’s nothing but a rather predictable love story with too much dialogue, and not enough spark. Bikinis and pectorals in the glistening sun do not make up for the lack of laughs or excitement.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 13, 2008

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Lifestyles

THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 13, 2008

From Vermont, With Love Small Town Gone Wrong, Part II Chris Demorro Staff Writer

Photos by Samantha Sullivan & Kyle Reutenauer

Many of Adam’s friends couldn’t even afford basic cable or beer money, but that didn’t prevent them from “wildin’ out,” a phrase popular with them during their dropout years. Nearly all of them came from one-parent households, or families on the crumbling brink of divorce and staying together only for a modicum of financial security.

A native son of the Live Free or Die state, Adam knew neither his father nor household stability as his mother bounced from state to state until reaching Ellington. He dropped out of Ellington High School, which endured a decade of constant renovation and improvement to the school facilities to accommodate the town’s booming population. He moved into his uncle’s house at age 17, wearing his party boots out nearly every night of the week and hammering through the hangover as he learned various trade skills from the family business.

On his 18th birthday, Adam’s uncle took him out turkey hunting, and upon returning home he saw his aunt talking to an unfamiliar man.

After he had taken a shower and moved out to the living room, the stranger held out his hand and introduced himself as Adam’s absentee father.

“So I decked him right there and put him on his ass,” Adam tells me while sitting on my couch. I’ve often wondered who would write his obituary should his luck finally run out. But today he is all smiles, just like the day he dumped his bike, as he recalls the rest of his solitary paternal experience. “He stood up and told me he knew this was going to go one of two ways. I said ‘Yup,’ and he walked out the door. Last time I ever saw him.” *Source: Town of Ellington Newsletter, September, 2004, “Coming to Terms with Growth.”

A Fowl Celebration

Samantha Sullivan Copy Editor Rushing through the woods, whizzing through trees and bushes, we come to the CC – a little white shack that has been worn and dismantled over the years since it was used. What it was used for, I can only imagine; the beaten walls house a cluster of memories for someone, but not for me.

We stop for a break to catch our breath, survey the trails and choose our path wisely. My boyfriend revs the engine of his family’s ’91 Arctic Cat Panther two-seater snowmobile and gives me the sign to hold on tight before he speeds away. His father, Rich, leads the lot of us, followed by a family friend named Anthony; Kyle and I; his uncle, Bob; a friend named Art; and Kyle’s grandfather, Russ, caught up in the rear.

Cold air streamed into my helmet, clearing the condensation as my breath fogged up the visor. The snow is so white that I have to wear sunglasses, not unlike any other day because my eyes are too sensitive to light; but with the combination of the sunglasses and full helmet, my head throbs behind the tops of my ears.

Nonetheless, I concentrate on the trail ahead and the possibilities it will bring.

A few rough spots where snow has melted lead to mud stains and bumpy jolts in the back end of the machine, where I, of course, sit my back end. It will be no surprise if I walk like a cowboy for the rest of the weekend, but I’ll live through it. The thrill of seeing this beautiful Vermont landscape surpasses any gripes I may have with the terrain.

I struggle to maintain my grasp around Kyle’s waist as we speed

Flaps of dead skin hang from Adam’s hands, blood oozing from scores of small wounds across his tanned and toned body, forged in the unforgiving heat of his current construction job. His crew cut blond hair is matted with sweat, and his blue eyes, deep as the Mariana Trench, still dance with adrenaline as we roll the shattered bike behind the house.

Aside from the scrapes and scratches, however, Adam is relatively unscathed, taking the pain in stride.

The back right pocket of his jeans hangs to his pants by two seams, and his leather wallet has a sizable hole that he shows me with pride.

Miraculously, the well-crafted wallet seemed to have taken a brunt of the skidding, a portion of it still smoldering as he slipped the piece into his other pocket.

His bike fared far worse. The aesthetically-pleasing red plastics that had once graced the bikes nimble body were now melted and shredded, looking as though someone had tried to strip the bike’s paint with a belt sander. The shifter had sheared off as a result of the crash, and the bike was jammed into third gear. I could not help but ask how this was possible, since Adam had been going at almost 50 mph at the time of his crash.

“I was trying to do a power wheelie,” he later explained. “I brought the revs up high and then [cut] the gas. Once the bike dipped down, I goosed the gas and tried to bring the bike up on the rebound.” It obviously had not worked too well this time, though two days after the accident Adam and his cousin had the bike up and running again.

Power wheelies are more commonly employed on bigger bikes, like the GSX-R 1000, which as one might imagine has 1000 cc’s of displace-

ment to Adam’s 600. These one-liter bikes, as they are commonly called, need only be revved up to about 6000 rpm to achieve a power wheelie. For Adam, it was necessary to nearly tap out his rev limiter to bring the less powerful bike up on its rear wheel.

There is a 75-horsepower deficit between Adam’s bike and a GSX-R 1000 of the same year.

Despite his near-death experience, Adam could hardly be more chipper. He was cracking jokes and parading around the yard, flashing his wounds to anyone that would give him a moment’s attention. He lived for days like this, surviving a neardeath experience and spending the same day bragging and feeling selfimportant, wearing the wounds with the same pride as a child might show off his hip new L.A. Lights footwear.

It was his way of coping with societal rejection from the town that should have belonged to him.

Ellington, a backwoods-nowhere with nothing but a name on the map, had once been proposed as a nuclear toxic waste dump in the earlier 90s.

As of 2003, Ellington was the 6th fastest-growing town in Connecticut, growing by eight percent in just three years since 2000*. With this influx of suburbanites came prosperity and developments such as Big Y and McDonald’s. Houses grew from fields that once drove the town’s economy, now empowered by yuppie consumerism, and the pickups and poverty that had once been the social norm were now the exception. The simple country lifestyle became too complicated and convoluted to keep up with, and many never bothered trying to fit in with their wealthier peers.

With the town turned against him, Adam and many of his likewise poverty-stricken cohorts had only each other to turn to. They couldn’t afford the flashy cars or preppy outfits that invading wealthy students wore, staying hip with the latest trends made popular by television.

John Felps Staff Writer

through the trails, but my bulky coat and snow suit provide no ease in that respect. I look so small in Kyle’s old winter clothes - like a turtle peering out of its shell. It’s so funny to see, but I’m warm and that’s what is really important.

There is no perfect way to describe the amazing arrangement of total calm and absolute excitement as it washes over me on the mountain, but in my head I feel peaceful and light. Headed back toward the Reutenauer’s Vermont house, I quietly sing to myself “The World Is Not Enough” by Garbage because I feel like I’m in a Bond movie.

“Shaken, not stirred.”

To begin with, let’s get one thing out of the way. The St. Valentine’s Day we celebrate has nothing to do with St. Valentine. In fact, none of the several St. Valentines have anything to do with love.

Historians know practically nothing about most of them, except that the feast honoring the martyring of three of them is on February 14th. To reiterate, February 14th is a day celebrating the torture and murder of three guys back in the days of the Roman Empire.

How romantic.

How then, you ask, did this wonderful, sickeningly materialistic consumerist tradition come about? Well, it was started, totally by accident, by an English poet named Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote the poem “Parliament of Foules” (in modern spelling that would be Parliament of Fowls).

“For this was on seynt volantynys (St. Valentine’s) Day / Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make (in modern spelling, When bird comes there to choose his mate).”

Now, if you were reading that closely, you might notice something a bit strange. Birds in England mating in mid-February? Humans may like to use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to get some, but birds are a different story. Where the average temperature is 39 degrees Fahrenheit in February,

I don’t think you’ll find many birds mating. Chaucer’s poem was honoring the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia, which was on May 2nd. It is the feast day of St. Valentine of Genoa, and he was not making any kind of connection between romance and the day; he was just talking about the birds. So, in essence, our whole holiday is based off

some idiot confusing the St. Valentine Chaucer was talking about with the Roman one.

Now, I may be a cynic, but I’m not totally heartless. I can understand the desire for a holiday about love.

Despite its misguided beginnings, Valentine’s Day had somewhat noble intentions. However, around the 19 th century, handwritten notes gave way

to mass-produced greeting cards.

Here’s where my sympathy for the holiday ends. While I personally feel that being obligated to do something for your significant other somewhat kills the romance, at least the handwritten notes showed some effort. In the twisted capitalistic-crazed version of the holiday we have now, it’s no longer about what you feel; it’s about what you spend. I truly want to see a hallmark card that says “I love you enough to spend 50 cents at a grocery store for this card.”

Let’s face it, Valentine’s Day is a misguided farce that is kept alive in countries all over the world with the sole purpose of boosting sales in those industries that otherwise would lack a holiday, or just want another one. For example, what better way to boost the sales of jewelry than launch a marketing campaign to convince every gullible weak-minded worker drone that the only way to really prove he loves his wife is to take out a second mortgage on his house to pay for a necklace that she’ll probably wear a few times a year?

Or, for another example, the flower industry—how else, but for a holiday, are you going to get mass numbers of people to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a plant that looks good for a few days, withers up, then gets thrown out? Actually, on second thought, I kind of like that idea. If there’s a better symbol for love, I haven’t seen it.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / LIFESTYLES

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CCSU’s Television Obsession CCSU Professor Profile: Dr. Yanan Ju Marissa Blaszko Staff Writer

As a student at CCSU, I’ve learned a couple of things in college so far. I’ve learned about the political spectrum, about Louis IV-VIII of France, and something about independent sentence structures that I can’t quite remember. But more importantly than art history or nounverb agreement, I’ve learned that most learning takes place outside of the classroom.

The student center is a great place to learn. In that overturned-oildrum of a building, students are constantly bombarded with new, loud images, courtesy of the half-a-dozen plasma TVs that are scattered throughout the building.

Yesterday, I learned that there are actually people in this world that are willing to appear on a Jerry Springer episode entitled “Tattooed Freaks!!!!!” The week before, I learned that the show’s slogan is “An hour of your life that you can’t get back,” while at the same time learning that very painful lesson.

Thanks to TBS, every afternoon anyone in the Devil’s Den gets to re-learn not only how hokey Will Smith was during the 90s, but also how completely odd that entire decade was. I have yet to learn anything from Seinfeld, but after successfully ignoring Everybody Loves Raymond for the entire time it was on air, I learned why it was pulled from Fox in the first place.

I learned that I would never hit four digits on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, nor could I ever survive Survivor. But what I’ve also learned is that the same students who stay up all night panicking about their chemistry final, for some unexplainable reason, find nothing wrong with sitting in front of a TV for an hour to watch some cable TV game show about crossword puzzles.

Televisions are being wrenched into auto shops, grocery stores and even banks; our generation has become so used to them that silence has become unnerving. None of us are above it, and it takes pointing-out to notice.

Amanda Ciccatelli Staff Writer

Toward the beginning of last semester, an unnamed student hit the side of a TV in frustration that it wasn’t being turned on. When questioned by a nearby friend, he responded: “I pay good money to watch this TV.” Unfortunately, the ENG 110 professors have long since abandoned teaching irony.

We are being constantly pacified with The Price Is Right reruns.

Every semester our tuition rises, but the art department lacks studio space and Willard Hall slowly crumbles.

But for some reason, it would seem as if the majority of students have failed to notice the problems they’re faced with on campus.

So who’s at fault for our short attention spans and complete apathy—the media? MTV? The corporate networks in general? Or should we point the finger at whoever decided to install a TV every thirty feet throughout CCSU? It doesn’t matter who we blame, because the guilt is ours; because we refuse to question what is broadcast to us, the consequences are ours.

And because we pay good money to watch those TVs.

Modest, kind-hearted and wise are three words that I would choose to describe Dr. Ju of the Communication Department.

Although he himself said, “I am one of the least-known professors on campus,” Dr. Ju is a man of many accomplishments and has made an impression on me in the past three weeks of the semester.

Dr. Ju’s well-rounded education opened up a vast range of opportunities that have molded him into the intelligent, worldly man he is today.

His love for writing led him to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature. After finishing college in his home town of Shanghai, China, Dr. Ju moved to the states in 1982 to complete a Master’s Degree in International Journalism at SUNY Albany, where he served as the Director of International Journalism.

Years later he returned to China, where he attended Fudan University School of Journalism, an equivalent to Harvard or Yale in the U.S. At Fudan, Dr. Ju completed his Ph.D. in Political Science.

In 1988, Dr. Ju took a position at CCSU and soon felt like Connecticut was his other home. He also taught at University of Connecticut and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which had the best Communication program in the nation. Still, Dr. Ju resigned from Chapel Hill to return to the place he loved most: CCSU. “Life can be transplantable. You can grow well in new soil,” said Dr. Ju about his home in the U.S. He said, “I am living a richer, more exciting life.”

He loves both the U.S. and China equally because he views the U.S. as his adopted mother, while China is his biological mother.

Aside from his impressive educational résumé, Dr. Ju said, “I have traveled around the Earth about 50 times.” He is quite the explorer and has seen a lot of the world in his life.

He spent two-and-a-half years living in Africa helping the local people with farming while making barely enough income for himself.

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

In Africa, he threw himself into a new culture and a foreign village with no electricity, but this sparked his most passionate writing. Each night Dr. Ju recorded his observations and experiences with beauty and poverty by the light of an oil lamp. Even without any money to spend, he felt that he was “the happiest man on earth.” Dr. Ju left Africa having written two journals of writing in Chinese, French and English.

The unfortunate ending to Dr. Ju’s heroic story was a harsh reality that he had to face. For security reasons, all of his writing had to be destroyed. The night before leaving Africa, he had to burn his journals and never see them again.

Since Africa, he has written several published books, including a book on relationship management and another best seller on the field of Public Relations that sold over one million copies in China and became state-designated for college students there.

When in Dr. Ju’s company, one would feel the conversation is easy and the atmosphere is very calm while being aware of a powerful intellectual presence. His writing, traveling and teaching experiences have made him a very wise man, able to share his philosophies about life with others.

He has written a 420-page novel titled “Land of Bailan,” as well as authored and co-authored many books and articles in English and Chinese on subjects such as cultural studies, art, communication and relationships. Dr. Ju is especially proud of his translation of Dao De Jing, a scripture for Taoism. The book includes philosophy and wisdom of how human beings can be one with nature, heaven and earth, otherwise known as Yin and Yang.

Dr. Ju stays connected with his heritage and still revisits China each year to see his son, who lives in Shanghai. He thinks he will eventually go back to Shanghai but said, “I want to build a bridge between the two cultures.”

He offered advice for students who will emerge from CCSU in search of careers. “My best advice to college students is to look at the whole world as a job market, not just here,” he explained.

Dr. Ju will continue to live a fulfilling life with the most admirable modesty. “I don’t want to be in the spotlight. My job is to teach,” he said.

“The happiest thing is to work with young minds because you feel enjoyment from sharing knowledge, and they challenge you in return.”

Sake It to Me Christina Janeiro Staff Writer Fuji Sushi, open since 1988, is a friendly, enjoyable small place located on New Britain Avenue for Japanese food lovers. As the first sushi restaurant in West Hartford, its old charm will captivate the most timid of customers. When you walk in the door, you are welcomed with a comfortable and personable hostess who greets you.

After being seated, one quick glance over the menu presents a variety of foods from sushi to tempura.

For sushi dishes, the prices range from about $4 for a single roll to $50 for a couple’s boat. In regards to cooked items, prices go from $12 for a small dinner plate to $25 for larger items. It opens at 11 a.m. and has lunch specials until 3 p.m., except for Sunday.

The food presentation is very nice, as well as the employees there, from the amazing hostess to the skilled sushi chef. As I was eating one of their salmon rolls, it brought on a

taste of freshness and true salmon delight. The California roll was perfectly made to accent the avocado and crab meat. The rainbow roll’s presentation itself was amazing, let alone the wonderful taste and texture of the fish.

The music also presents a nice, low background tone to really set the mood for a great dining experience.

It’s frequented by multiple regulars, including myself, and is always a good choice for college students looking for reasonably priced delicious sushi and other Japanese favorites. They are very accommodating, whether you have a request for a booth or have a party of 20. They make the experience seem like you’re the only table in the room.

It’s only five minutes from the Westfarms Mall and ten minutes from CCSU. The movie theater is right nearby and you can make it a night by catching dinner and movie.

Make the next choice for your date this weekend to be Fuji Sushi, located in West Hartford on 1144 New Britain Avenue.

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 / LIFESTYLES

Exercise Your Inner Dude at Bowl-O-Rama Karyn Danforth Lifestyles Editor

Dan Dykas bowls.

Photos by Conrad Akier / The Recorder

Rip (left) Owner of Bowl-O-Rama and his son Fred (right).

Late at night when the city of Newington sleeps, there lies a place alive and thriving with the thunderous sound of a collision so recognizable, yet so rarely seen or practiced by the youth of today.

When thinking of an exciting late night out with friends, ever consider a few rounds of some bowl-on-pin action?

Bowl-O-Rama, located on the northern end of the Berlin Turnpike, is a 24-hour family owned and operated establishment committed to “an inexpensive way of having fun,” says owner Rip Callahan.

The alley, opened in 1959, is a way of life to the three generations of Callahans who have kept it afloat throughout the turnpike’s constant fluctuation. “We’ve seen [the turnpike] at its peak, its decline, and now current upswing,” said Rip, who has been a bowling aficionado since the age of 16.

Despite the turnpike’s ins and outs, Bowl-O-Rama has always had a constant influx of customers. Great for family get-togethers, celebrations and birthdays, the alley is surely a cost-effective, yet elating way of having some friendly, fun competition.

“It gets very busy on the weekends,” Rip admitted.

It is a rarity to find any place open much later than 10 p.m. on most nights, especially weekdays. Having begun its 24-hour, seven-day-weeks ritual in 1960, Bowl-O-Rama caters to night owls and insomniacs alike.

This works especially well for college students, who are always on the lookout for some excitement after their long, class-filled days.

There are plenty of perks to selecting a night out bowling compared to some ritualistic club or party. With a bar open till 2 a.m. on weekends, a legal bowler may sit back and sip a cold beer as they watch their partnerin-crime bowl a goose egg. What can a college ID get you? A free pair of bowling shoes. Being a mere five miles away from campus, it’s friendly on your gas tank. Need any more convincing?

Rip’s son, Fred Callahan, wants to organize leagues for colleges within a 15-mile radius for a bit of a “Best Campus Wins”-kind of competition.

“It would be very flexible,” said Fred, in terms of working around class schedules. “I think it would be awesome to attempt.”

Bowl-O-Rama also offers normal leagues, which take part in winter and summer sessions. “There has been a decline in league bowling,” Rip said. “Luckily, we still have around 1,600 to 2,000 members.”

With that said, there’s no stopping you from bringing out your inner Dude (think The Big Lebowski) and creating your own team, or just taking a night out to enhance your chances of attaining a turkey (three strikes in a row). Just remember, bumper bowling will not impress your date.