vol104issue26.16

OPINION

Talking is not Treason - Page 4

Spring Happenings

Entertainment

Farewell Flight Interview

- Page 15

- Page 11

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

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

Geography & Tourism Club, IRC and CAN Sponsor Earth Day

Volume 104 No. 26

Melissa Traynor Managing/News Editor As students enjoyed the 75-degree weather and plenty of sunshine, the plans by CCSU clubs and organizations culminated in the form of several Earth Day celebrations around campus last Tuesday.

In large part, the Geography and Tourism Club, the Inter Residence Council and Central Activities Network sponsored the day’s events, with activities for students such as the barbeque outside of Memorial Hall and distributing trees and wildflower seeds to community members.

“This is my first year as vice president, so planning this was all new to me,” said Elizabeth Radl of the Geography and Tourism Club.

She explained that together, all three groups planned the day’s events and pitched in to help promote but separated into each group’s activities during the day, as well as that IRC and CAN were responsible for the barbeque.

The G&T club sponsored speakers who came to campus to discuss the importance of the day and environmental concerns that should be pushed to the forefront of society’s “to-do list.” The Blue and White Room hosted a graduate student from Southern Connecticut State University and Joel Gordes from Environmental Solutions in West Hartford.

Colin Bennet, who is part of the Connecticut Youth Activist Network at SCSU, spoke about environmental racism and classicism and the socioeconomic problems posed to local government.

Radl explained it in an example: the government placed the sewage compost plant in Hartford there intentionally because the people of Hartford were in no place to speak up and against it.

Likewise, Bennet argued, if a town such as Greenwich was the proposed site, it would have had the money to protest and even make sug-

See Earth Day Page 2

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Professor Barry Leeds, who personally knew Norman Mailer, talks about the recently deceased author.

Mailer Remembered Amanda Ciccatelli Assistant News Editor

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Students lounge behind the Student Center where they got to enjoy perfect weather on Earth Day.

Estrom Re-elected as SGA President Justin Kloczko Editor-in-Chief

Alexander Estrom will get to be SGA President for a second consecutive year, as he defeated Zachary McGuirk in last week’s elections. The final tally was 240 to 180 votes.

Surprisingly, Brian Regan, who won the slot for SGA Vice President garned 269 votes, more than his running-mate.

Estrom says he will use his reelection as a mandate to see through promises that were never fulfilled, but to also build on experiences from the past year.

“I have a level of comfort with the position [now]. Not that I wasn’t comfortable last year, but I was still learning a lot of things coming into a second term,” he said.

One of the things he has been trying to refine is his approach to

making sure certain initiatives get done around campus.

“I also know now when it is time to be diplomatic and when it’s time to

Blue Devils Caught in Hawks’ Claws

See Estrom Re-elected Page 2

See Blue Devils Page 8

Conrad Akier / The Recorder

A panel of three writers closely tied to American icon Norman Mailer visited CCSU on Thursday to share memories and wisdom gained through their relationships with the literary hero.

The panel included Mailer’s friend, Professor Barry Leeds, his biographer, J. Michael Lennon, and his son, John Buffalo Mailer.

Leeds was a longtime friend of Mailer’s who is vice president of the Norman Mailer Society. He is currently a CSU Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English. Throughout his career, he wrote about the life of the American writer. “The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer” and “The Enduring Vision of Norman Mailer” are two of his well-known books.

As Mailer’s archivist, editor, biographer and current president of the Norman Mailer Society, Lennon has also written books about Mailer.

Some of his writings include “Norman Mailer: Works and Days,” “Conversations with Norman Mailer” and “The Spooky Art: Some Thoughts on Writing.” Lennon’s writing has been published in many newspapers, magazines and journals, including The New Yorker, Paris Review and Journal of Modern Literature. He recently co-authored a book with Mailer in October 2007 called “On God: An Uncommon Conversation.”

According to Lennon, Mailer published 40 major books and dabbled in many styles of writing, from poetry to journalism, but avoided writing his own autobiography.

Lennon recalled Mailer’s journey as a young man through college and into his later adulthood. In the 1940s, Mailer attended Harvard, where he took year-long writing courses for his entire four-year enrollment because he loved to write.

As the 1950s rolled around, Mailer fell into a depression.

“This was the toughest decade for Mailer as a writer,” Lennon said.

But through his depression, Mailer continued to write. He lived in Hollywood, where he decided to write a novel about the movie business. Opportunities opened for Mailer, and he began speaking out about political events.

“People called him an unpredictable, rambunctious left conservative,” Lennon said.

No matter his success, Mailer still felt inadequate. Lennon ex-

See Mailer Remembered Page 3

News

2 THE RECORDER Wednesday, April 30, 2008

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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 Editorin-Chief.

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Estrom Re-elected Continued from page 1

be a little pushier and say, ‘This needs to get done.’”

Some of the initiatives that have been on the back burner include matters of campus security, something Estrom has made a pledge to improve upon. These include matters of Locknetics needed to be installed in residence halls.

He said he would also like to see the Ice Hockey Club made into a fullfledged team endorsed by the athletic department.

A combined 420 people came out to vote last Tuesday and Wednesday for SGA president, numbers that have been on a precipitous decline in past years, with 603 coming out to cast ballots for president in 2006 and 512 in 2007.

Elections Chair Sarah Horrax said SGA promoted the go-out-andvote effort by handing out 100 tickets to the Central Activities Network spring concert. Others within SGA had been campaigning heavily, giving out “Rock the Vote” t-shirts and plastering walls around campus urging people to cast ballots.

One solution the SGA feels needs to be implemented but has not been successful is online elections, which might be the glue that brings together commuter and resident students to vote.

“One thing I was hoping to see this year and it just really didn’t come to happening was online elections because statistically online elections are just much more successful,” said Estrom.

Moving elections online has been been tried in the past, but not with out its glitches. The SGA has been looking into different companies and will hopefully be able to incorporate it permanently next year.

Other election winners were Ken Barone, who beat out Peter Krol for the position of Board of Trustees Student Representative.

Positions for Commuter, Resident and At Large senators won seats unopposed.

Earth Day

Continued from page 1 gestions as to where the compost could be relocated. Radl reported that Bennet said Hartford is one of those places where people don’t have the chance to protest.

“He said that best way to prevent things like this is education and to just spread the word,” Radl said.

Gordes focused on how climate change and global warming need to be taken seriously, as well as that they should be regarded as national security issues. Radl said that he mentioned that they are not something that can wait and need immediate attention.

Overall the day’s events were regarded as a whole success. The vice president of the G&T club reported that 100 trees were given away in the first hour and more than 400 seed packets were distributed to people around campus.

The events that each organization planned that were specific to themselves included a “blackout party,” where residents were encouraged to turn off electric appliances for a few hours and monitor how much energy was saved. Many wildflower seeds were spread around campus by CAN, while the G&T club sponsored a performance by local band Tenet.

“This was our last big hurrah of the year,” Radl said, adding that Dr. Richard Benfield from the geography department helped coordinate many things for the club.

“It went really well and we think it’s a success,” she said. “I hope we can give away more stuff next year.”

University Officials Examine On-Campus Ketchup Waste, Possible Solutions Ann Luu Texas Tech (The Daily Toreado) (U-WIRE) – Burgers, chicken strips, chicken wings, fries, corn dogs, hash browns, hot dogs, onion rings, pizza rolls, sausages and scrambled eggs - the list of food that ketchup is eaten with goes on forever. With such a large list, the amount of ketchup consumed in a given time must be astounding.

However, how much ketchup that is not eaten is the more important issue. In every dining facility, ketchup is readily available for everyone’s use and enjoyment.

Nevertheless, everyone most likely has been either a witness to the crime of ketchup wasting or the criminal.

“With the portion-control ketchup packets used in the Student Union, Sam’s Places and the Market, it is almost inevitable to waste,” said Samuel Bennett, director of Hospitality Services.

After tearing into the packets and squeezing out the tomato sauce, there always seems to be a little sauce left hanging in the corner. In a school of approximately 28,000 students, most are probably ketchup users.

How much wasted ketchup possibly could be accumulated?

“When you look at the various condiments, ketchup use is the biggest,” said Kirk Rodriguez, associate director of retail sales for the Department of Hospitality Services.

Between Aug. 15, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2007, Rodriguez said approximately $13,000 was spent on ketchup. For the Student Union, Sam’s Places and Market, 818 cases were ordered, with 1,000 packets per case.

“The biggest user is the SUB,” Rodriguez said. “They went through about two to three cases a day. The Market used about one to one-and-ahalf a day, and for Sam’s Places, about three a day. The Sam’s in Chitwood/ Weymouth alone goes through about one a day.”

With merely a measuring cup and a plastic knife as a scraper, an unscientific research was conducted to see how much ketchup was wasted during the high-traffic lunch hour between noon and 1 p.m. at the

Student Union Building during a Monday and a Tuesday.

By collecting empty ketchup packets from various lunch eaters, cutting them open and scraping them into a measuring cup, it took 286 leftover ketchup packets to get approximately one-sixth of a cup.

With its bustling lines and crowded tables, the popularity of the Student Union Building for lunch is visible. To quickly grab a table before someone else, most students grab handfuls of ketchup packets and run.

“Once students take ketchup, the ketchup is still sound to use,” Rodriguez said about the unopened packets left on the table, “but most people think, ‘Ugh, it’s been handled by someone else.’”

Bennett said he also sees this as a waste.

“It is excessive in the number of packets they take,” Bennett said. “It’s easy to waste when students grab 25 packets.”

The two directors of Hospitality Services compared ketchup uses to fast-food restaurants. They said from their experiences, they only will get one ketchup packet per order of fries or two packets for a burger and fries.

To cut down costs and waste, Bennett said the department has considered resorting to bulk ketchup, where students pump out the amount they need.

Michelle Rogers, manager of Wendy’s at 19th Street and University Avenue, said bulk is easier to use.

According to the Actual Inventory Usage documents of Wendy’s, between April 14, 2007, and April 20, 2007, it only cost the fast food chain $38.12 to use 10.5 gallons of ketchup.

Bennett said he is open to the change of method for providing ketchup.

“There is a little doubt that we will try out bulk ketchup in a couple of locations in the fall,” he said. “We fully intend to see the impact it makes on consumption.”

Bennett said the portion-control packets do have their advantages.

“They do have their place,” Bennett said. “They’re easy for picnics and caterings, for example.

They’re easy to transport.”

On the other hand, he said, bulk ketchup also has disadvantages.

“There’s going to be waste at the end of the day, always,” Bennett said, “because you have to wash the bulk containers and there will be leftover ketchup.”

Rodriguez said he agrees there will be leftover ketchup.

“It’s not out of line to have wasted ketchup. It’s just the way it is,” he said. “We expect some numbers will change and some numbers won’t.

Whenever we run the numbers of our cost, we’re always surprised at the expense.”

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3

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / NEWS

Reflexite Reflects Success Amanda Ciccatelli Assistant News Editor Tim Pedrotty, the Managing Director of the Reflexite Corporation in Asia, visited CCSU to discuss his experience doing business in East Asia as a Reflexite employee, something that began its growth right here in New Britain.

The speech was part of CCSU’s East Asian Studies Spring Lecture in Vance Academic Hall on Wednesday.

Pedrotty explained that he was immediately hired after graduating from college at the Reflexite Corporation—a technology-driven company that manufactures products with thin reflective films, such as overhead lenses, camera lenses, visibility reflective material for vehicles and reflective sheeting for highway signs.

“Our Business is the management of light,” he said.

Pedrotty demonstrated the use of his company’s products by shining a flashlight onto a Reflexite jacket. He showed students that the reflective material on the bright orange jackets nighttime workers wear is essential to safety.

Two brothers founded the Reflexite Corporation in New Britain in 1972. The company started out small and grew rapidly.

“When I joined, it was making less than $1 million,” Pedrotty said, adding that today’s sales are at $100 million per year with the help of 500 employees worldwide in 17 international countries. “We now manufacture in six to seven locations around the world.”

He also gave a brief timeline of how Reflexite has prospered over the years. After selling locally in 1972, the company started selling to other U.S. markets by 1976. Reflexite began to export in 1977, and about 10 years later, Reflexite attempted setting up an overseas entity with Canada, but failed. According to Pedrotty, the company decided to buy-out the Canadian distribution.

This failure sparked the interest in collaborating with Asia, and specifically China, in 1987, when Pedrotty went on a trade mission to China. Upon his return, Reflexite made the decision in 1992 to combine forces with Japan.

“We set up our first Asian member company,” he said.

After his experience working with the Japanese company, Pedrotty said he had much to learn. He feels that in a cross-cultural situation, a businessperson has to understand the culture of the other business people they are communicating with.

Pedrotty said Reflexite knew they had to be careful with their products’ trademark usage because counterfeits have stolen the Reflexite logo many times. Because of possible counterfeit problems, Reflexite put logos into their films so the company’s name is completely copyrighted.

Pedrotty recalled a time during the company’s co-production in Japan when Reflexite representatives had to explain to the Japanese partners about the company’s logo being in every single piece of reflective material. The Japanese partners were angry because they felt Reflexite was being demanding.

“Culturally, the Japanese bristle at the thought that you demand it,” said Pedrotty. “All we had to do was ask politely and let them come to us.”

Looking back on his career as a Reflexite employee, Pedrotty has seen exactly what has made Reflexite a successful corporation.

“Doing international business the same as domestic business is very effective,” he said.

Another necessity in leading a business to prosper is doing your homework and getting to know your consumers, the product and the business.

Pedrotty also pointed out that Reflexite never hesitated to ask for help from government, any industry contacts or professionals.

He stressed the importance of focus to succeed in a business like Reflexite. Above all, having traveled to Japan and back several times, Pedrotty confidently recommended that students make the trip there.

“A mere 30 years ago I was sitting out there as a student like you are,” he said to his student audience. He was pleased to share with the students that Reflexite donated $40,000 in scholarship money to CCSU.

Mailer Remembered Continued from page 1

John Mailer (left) and biographer J. Michael Lennon. plained that Mailer thought that his ambitions seemed beyond his talents.

Lennon said that Mailer had a significant impact on the American 1960s. Young people in society admired his ambition and charisma.

His famous novel “American Dream” expressed Mailer’s strong negative feelings towards the Vietnam war and the riots in Chicago. Still, he captured positive changes in America, including when a man set foot on the moon.

“His books for the ’60s period became a pillar for journalism,” Lennon said.

By the 1970s, Mailer became bored, so he found himself a new wife and wrote his longest piece of literary criticism. In 1980, Mailer wrote a book about the past events of the decades that he had lived through, called “Pieces and Pontifications.” He also wrote and sold over one million copies of his novel “Tough Guys Don’t Dance.”

Around this time, Mailer wrote the longest novel of his time, which consisted of 1,310 pages, named “Harlot’s Ghost.” While writing this novel, Mailer learned that “we are all divided by the moralist in ourselves and the novelist,” according to Lennon.

“The ’90s must be considered Norman’s biographical decade,” said Lennon, as Mailer published two biographies in those ten years.

Upon recalling his final decade, the 2000s, Lennon explained that Mailer wrote best-selling books in each of the six decades of his entire life. Mailer devoted much time looking back over his life and even reflected on the Iraq war.

He wrote a book entitled “Why Are We at War?” because he was deeply disturbed by the United State’s decision to enter Iraq.

Mailer’s son, John Buffalo Mailer, Director of Development for Tar Films, is attending college and has completed and published his first

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

novella, called “Hello Herman, in The Reading Room, vol. 1.”

The younger Mailer briefly shared his respect and appreciation for his father’s generation.

“Soon the World War II generation will be gone,” he said. He explained that the world will be losing the greatest generation, full of people who understood what they were experiencing and learned so much from what they went through during the WWII era.

As a longtime friend of Norman Mailer, Leeds shared heartfelt anecdotes from his experiences with his good friend.

“Mailer left his indelible mark on world literature in his 60-year career,” said Leeds.

Leeds wrote his doctoral dissertation on Mailer in 1967 and wanted desperately to meet the literature icon. “I finished the last paragraph of the dissertation and went to ProvinceTown to look for Norman Mailer,” he explained. “He probably thought I was crazy.”

After searching and asking people, Leeds finally reached the location of Mailer and spoke his first words to the man: “I don’t want to give you a bag of shit. I want to shake your hand.”

Since that day, Leeds explained that Mailer had always been a great friend with extreme loyalty and honesty.

Leeds began to teach a college course titled “Norman Mailer: 50 Years of Achievement.”

He invited Mailer to come visit the class, and it pleased him to spend time with Leeds and his students.

“It has been a dynamic adventure of constant revelation,” said Leeds about his 40-year career of admiring and writing about the great Norman Mailer. “I found myself, but I am still in the process of finding Mailer.”

4 THE RECORDER Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Editorial

Editorial/Opinion

It has recently come to the attention of The Recorder and the CCSU Media Board that Off-Center magazine has made a request for school funds so that they can stage a release party for their issue. If you’re asking yourself what Off-Center magazine is, you’re probably not alone. Much of campus is probably unfamiliar with it because the relatively new organization has yet to produce an issue at all.

Since forming last year, Off-Center has claimed to be setting up their organization while working on a magazine to distribute around campus. They received an original supplement from the Media Board to assist them in their efforts. The debut issue was originally scheduled to appear during the Fall 2007 semester, but never materialized.

And now they have requested assistance in putting on a party, which would be similar to the once per semester celebration put on by the Helix. Since Off-Center is only working on a supplemen-

tary budget and can’t request official funding from the Media Board until 2009, we find the request for money to have a party a premature. The members of Off-Center seem to think that they have achieved something that warrants celebration, and perhaps, to them, it does. As we at The Recorder realize each week, it is sometimes difficult to galvanize students and get them to commit to getting a final product out. However, we always manage to do that.

The Media Board would be off their rockers to grant valuable funds to Off-Center for something as frivolous as a party. The Board exists to help students with their media-related activities, not to party, and there are plenty of worthier causes that could use extra funds. It must be shown that they are a viable organization that can consistently publish an issue before concessions of this kind can be made. Approving their proposed party would amount

to not only a misuse of funds, but outright favoritism by the board.

The Recorder wishes Off-Center the best of luck with their issues for this and future semesters. Another journalistic voice for students on campus is welcome. However, the current track record of the magazine indicates a lack of commitment towards achieving a polished final product, and therefore the Media Board should not commit money for a party to celebrate their overdue issue. No one is saying those involved with Off-Center shouldn’t be happy, but they can party on their own dime.

Letters to the Editor Dear Recorder, I’m writing about Amanda Ciccatelli’s article in the Wednesday, April 9, 2008 issue of the Recorder, entitled “Seniors Awarded for Thorough Research”--and not about the slightly ungrammatical title.

It is deeply frustrating that the article completely omits two of the four URCAD senior prize winners, Rob Clark & Ryan Hewey. It’s *especially* disturbing since the article details the other two winners’ projects at some length, but can’t even bother to mention the titles of the others.

Such imbalance falsely suggests that Jen Stowe & Lauren Eddy’s projects were superior or more newsworthy than the other two. (To be clear, all four projects were exemplary in their various ways. That’s why we have the 4 categories.) And why Ryan and Rob should be ignored, while the library prize winners were actually interviewed [!!!], is absolutely incomprehensible.

I understand that the reporter may have had to leave before the final two presentations, but surely she could have gleaned Rob & Ryan’s titles from the URCAD program, and she could have asked them a question or two about their research—as she did with the library prize winners.

It is unfair that two of our winners should be slighted in this way.

More generally, the article also occluded the event’s poster session and oral presentation sessions, in which another 45 students or so presented their work.

Finally, I just want to observe that the reporter made no attempt to contact the organizer of the event, who could perhaps have clarified some of these issues, and introduced her to Rob & Ryan. It’s not like I was hard to find that day, or unavailable on e-mail or twitter before, during, or after the day itself.

Thanks very much for your attention.

Best, JBJ Jason B. Jones Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) Dear Editor Your report (Recorder, April 23) on the Israeli Consul General’s talk at CCSU on April 15 states that Mr. Shariv claimed that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is “a religious one”.

He went on to add, “They (i.e the Palestinians) don’t want to negotiate...” and that in 2005, when Israel withdrew its settlements from Gaza, it “transitioned into a better place.”

On all three assertions, the Consul was wrong. The conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is about land. The state of Israel was a Western (British/American primarily) infliction on a land that was already peopled by Palestinians.

In 1948, the U.N, controlled by the West, awarded a greater, and more habitable, proportion of the land to a smaller proportion of the people (primarily Jewish immigrants from Europe who were encouraged to settle in Palestine, forcibly displacing thousands of indigenous Palestinians).

Since 1967, Israel has occupied the West Bank and taken control of all the choice parcels and scarce water resources. Over half-a-million Jewish settlers are ensconced in comfort on conquered territory. Israel withdrew from Gaza a few years ago but maintains a deathly stranglehold on this impoverished strip, denying it fuel, medicines and food paid for by outside agencies, and severely curtailing any outflow of produce. The people of Gaza are totally dependent on U.N

handouts. Over three-quarters of them are unemployed. Air and sea passage is totally closed to the territory and under Israeli surveillance. Its fishermen are unable to put out to sea. Worst of all, Israeli tanks and aircraft - supplied with American taxpayer money - invade Gaza at will, usually at night, and bomb the Palestinian refugee camps, claiming to attack “militants” of Hamas (that forms the democratically elected government in Gaza). Most of the deaths and injuries are of impoverished Palestinian civilians, many women and children. Of course the “immaculate” enterprise of Israel, heirs to the Holocaust, can never be accused of killing innocent Palestinians deliberately! When they die or are maimed, they just happen to come in the way.

It is not mere coincidence that this is the same sort of “collateral” damage that the U.S perpetrates daily on innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon has sought Israel’s advice on how to conduct urban warfare in Iraq.

What Israel is doing to the besieged people of Gaza has been described by the chief U.N relief official responsible for it as a “genocide”. But while the West is rightly outraged by the appalling suffering of the people of Darfur, there are few concerns expressed at the much longer suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of Israel, from death and injury to starvation and daily humiliation. For this one can credit the powerful Israel lobby that has a stranglehold on the U.S government and media. Congressional careers and presidential campaigns can be ruined by a simple expression of sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians or even mild criticism of wanton Israeli state terror. The media dare not portray Palestinians in a positive light for fear of being accused of “imbalance” or worse, “anti-Semitism.”

Palestinians have wanted to live in freedom, and with dignity, for over half-a-century. It is an utter canard to blame them for the lack of progress in peace-talks. Even after the recent Annapolis conference, there is not a whit of evidence that Israel wants to negotiate honestly with the Palestinian people. It has increased its settlement activity on the West Bank and attacks various Palestinian towns and villages in pursuit of “militants” regularly, killing people and destroying homes. Palestinians are unable to move freely on their own land because of innumerable Israeli checkpoints that subjects them to intrusive inspections and delays. Over 15,000 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli jails. Several human rights groups have accused Israel of torturing them. Israel refuses to abide by U.N Security Council resolutions or the Geneva Conventions governing people under occupation. Israel has over 200 nuclear bombs and refuses to abide by international protocols or inspections. It attacks, and threatens to attack, its neighbors regularly. It is a rogue state without parallel (other than the U.S itself). Any other country that behaved like Israel does towards the Palestinians would not only face the world’s opprobrium but be subjected to economic sanctions and trade boycotts like apartheid South Africa before it was brought down.

That this is not the state of affairs is primarily due its guardian angel and benefactor, the United States. Americans of conscience should oppose the blind support for Israel from Congress and the White House. Their money, $ 3 billion annually, is being used to maintain an oppressive apartheid occupation. The time for change is now.

Sincerely yours, Sadu Nanjundiah Professor, Physics Dept., CCSU

blogs.trb.com

Talking is Not Treason Dan Ivers Opinion Editor Former President Jimmy Carter has recently catapulted himself out of the college lecture circuit and back into the national news through his meeting with Syrian President Bashir Assad and leaders of the Palestinian terror group, Hamas.

While the ongoing coverage of the story has now been reduced to slight outrage over his hug-and-kiss greeting to them and a bunch of he-said, she-said banter with Condoleezza Rice over whether or not he was told not to go, the actual visit raised a lot of eyebrows. How much clout a guy who was president over 30 years ago has with Middle East leaders is unclear; but in any case, Carter was aiming to initiate dialogue with the groups about a goal of peace in the region.

Never mind that “peace in the Middle East” has become nothing more than a corny phrase people sometimes say in place of goodbye—all Carter was going there to do was talk, and he has been criticized harshly for it.

“I find it hard to understand what is going to be gained by having discussions with Hamas about peace when Hamas is, in fact, the impediment to peace,” said Rice, according to AP reports. The Bush administration refuses to meet with Hamas, presumably because they feel it would give the group some feeling of legitimacy.

Well, a lot of good that’s doing. Hamas doesn’t give two matzo balls if they get the cold shoulder from the United States, and I don’t think they’re blasting rockets into Israel almost

daily just to get our attention. For that matter, anyone with access to rockets and other killing machines seems rather legitimate to me. I guess we think just not talking to terrorists will shame them into just giving up. Newsflash: they don’t want to talk to us; they want to kill us (and Israelis). And there are only two ways to try to stop people who want to kill you or your friends: kill them, or talk them out of it.

When someone armed and dangerous flies off the handle here in America, taking hostages or making general threats, how are they dealt with? Words. People are hired specifically to deal with them and hopefully diffuse the situation, and they usually do. Generally, if they don’t work, more forceful measures are taken.

Needless to say, ignoring them doesn’t do a hell of a lot. The power of diplomacy, as Barack Obama has said repeatedly during his campaign, is being neglected by the current administration in favor of intimidation and bullying tactics.

As much as Middle East peace talks are most often equivalent to banging your head against a wall, what harm do they do? President Carter did nothing more than have a couple of conversations, and if they don’t move anyone towards a miraculous peace agreement, what has been lost? Hamas may be a terrorist organization, but their influence in the region is undeniable, and they cannot simply be treated like a spoiled child in time-out. Carter hasn’t done anything but try to pursue a different avenue toward Middle East, other than the current futile policy, and he shouldn’t be made to look like he just committed treason for it.

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

5

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / OPINION

Just Who is Fighting the War?

Sean Kinne

Brian Morache Staff Writer During World War II, a very young Audie L. Murphy attempted to get into both the Navy and the Marines but was turned down because of both his age and that he never finished grade school. When told to try the Army, Murphy went on to become our nation’s most decorated soldier.

With recruitment numbers down throughout the services, it seems the Army is again cutting corners when it comes to recruiting. The Reuters News Agency recently reported that the Army and Marine Corps have increased the number of waivers granted to felons by over 88 percent. Some of these waivers were granted to people convicted of crimes ranging from assault and burglary to sex acts. These people would

normally be excluded from military service, and, when considering how much an impact the actions and conduct of individual soldiers can have upon the war in Iraq, one would think that these would be the last people you would want serving in the armed forces.

Beyond granting felony waivers, the Army has also lowered its educational requirements.

The Air Force requires a minimum score of 60 on the Armed Services Entrance Exam, while the Army has allowed recruits to join with a score of less than 20. ABC News reported that Marine Corps recruiters were recently disciplined for having stand-ins take the exam for recruits who they believed couldn’t pass the test.

These measures, combined with the large bonuses that are offered to retain current enlistees, paint a larger picture of a military that is

Recent History Repeats Itself Marissa Blaszko Staff Writer Back in 2005, when a fresh wave of Gitmo criticism began sprouting up, the Bush administration did something fairly expected and almost completely devoid of controversy: they pulled a couple of military officials out of retirement, put them on a plane and flew them down to act as military analysts on the human rights situation. Since then, these former highranking officials have appeared throughout all different parts of journalism and news, reporting on everything from Gitmo to the war in Iraq.

Last week, however, an examination by the New York Times discovered that most of the analysts flown to Cuba on Cheney’s private plane have, in one shape or form, ties to military contractors vested in the war that they are expected to report on—acting as a combined representation for over 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members, or consultants. Because of this, it would be easy for the administration to assume that the former officials would be promoting both Washington’s as well as the contractors’ interests, through their own. And it’s through this biased reporting that most Americans receive their news—reporting that will ultimately help shape the outcome of the war.

The ventriloquists over in Washington have secured these analysts’ space in the mainstream media through press conferences and private meetings; many are still providing military intelligence for FOX, CNN and MSNBC. According to the Times, the networks admitted their limited intelligence over their experts’ ties to the Department of Defense, but justify this by saying that they don’t hold their analysts to the same ethical principals as they do their regular correspondents.

The entire episode is reminiscent of an incident back in 2005, when Washington was

caught paying several major Iraqi news organizations to publish stories about the positive aspects of the war. The government was apparently hoping that by feeding the stories to the Middle Eastern press they would make their way into American news, something they couldn’t legally do directly. In both instances, the Pentagon seems to be getting around the laws that allow Americans to run a state-free media and that, in theory, would protect independent news sources from corporate politics.

Washington’s war on journalism is essentially a war against its own people. The media prides itself on being “fair and balanced,” which is something it actually seems to believe and even more earnestly wants the people to believe. Although most Americans know that anything attached to the words ‘Murdoch Corp.’ can’t remain completely independent of business or politics, the mass media is still the largest proprietor of not only information but opinions.

It’s easy to believe that so-called third party analysts are speaking from experience and not self-interest, just like it’s easy to believe that the surge is working or that we’re in Iraq to promote democracy. It’s comforting to think that the government is still run by the people, and it’s not hard to imagine that the election this November will bring about a change. It’s the idea of thinking for themselves that most voters haven’t seemed to master yet.

When everyone from Rupert Murdoch and Anderson Cooper to President Bush and his military analysts has their own agenda, it’s ultimately up to the people to hunt and gather information for themselves. Without independent thinking, people are not only allowing a growing conservative bias to nibble away at the news but are also inviting anyone who can pay to have their message broadcasted to do just so.

desperate for troops and having difficulty keeping the ones they do have. The Navy and Army have even launched advertising campaigns to ease parent’s minds about their children joining the service. How long our armed services can maintain such commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan while also remaining an all-volunteer service is in question.

One of the many problems of this war is that it is fought by only a few, while the rest of us take an attitude of “as long as it’s not my child.”

This is one reason that is used to explain why interest in the war has waned recently. The war is being fought by many brave young men and women, many of whom come from disadvantaged homes and lower or middle class neighborhoods. The irony is that these are the very same people that the Bush administration cares

the least about, yet they are the first to volunteer.

The idea of a draft scares the daylights out of most Americans and the Armed Forces as well. Even politicians consider the idea taboo.

Yet if all Americans had to bear the brunt of this war together, rather than just a few members of society, then maybe it would come to a quick end. As long as the parents of the affluent and privileged in society can say, “it’s not my child,” there will be little incentive to bring the war to an end. As for the next war, perhaps if the children of those who find it so easy to speak of war had to be the first to fight, maybe the politicians would think twice before rattling the war sabers.

Members Only UConn Spring Weekend Dan Ivers Opinion Editor As spring continues to develop, the chirping of birds and blooming of buds surround us, and the welcome end of a semester approaches.

Of course, an impending summer wouldn’t be fully celebrated on Connecticut colleges without the annual vomit-fest that is the University of Connecticut’s Spring Weekend Festival, where seemingly every carouser between the ages of 18 and 23 has visited at least once.

This year, however, only UConn students were be able to take part in the debauchery.

Apparently enough complaints had been filed and arrests made for the university to finally begin to crack down.

For the most part the decision is being praised, and frankly, it’s surprising it took this long. Spring Weekend has been out of control for quite a while, and this is a necessary step for UConn. However, as the measure has been addressed, the root of the problem is being misplaced.

A Hartford Courant editorial reflected on the change, saying that Spring Weekend used to be “a wholesome event. Students built floats to raise money for charity. There was a parade.” It goes on to admit that students drank back then, but it was “behind drawn shades and out of sight of campus authorities.”

You can almost hear the rocking chair creaking as you read. Yes, once again the current generation of college students is being cast as a bunch of brats or Neanderthals who just can’t wait for the first opportunity to rape and pillage across an otherwise-respectable institution of higher learning. I’ll admit they’re right about Spring Weekend— taking part in it is probably the best way to catch an STD, outside of cleaning Paris Hilton’s toilet seats. But the fact is that UConn has neglected its responsibility over the event and even, to a certain degree, nurtured its party-school reputation.

UConn is synonymous with two things nationwide: basketball and partying. I can remember hearing that it was on the list of top party schools throughout my youth, and that’s exactly what kids expect when they enroll there. Likewise, the people who visit on Spring Weekend have expectations of the greatest party they have ever attended. Many of the visitors may be non-students who want to escape their mundane schools or lives, by comparison, for one weekend of excitement.

The university has said that most of the Spring Weekend trouble comes from outsiders, and that’s also not surprising. As a former UConn student and partier myself, I found the couple of Spring Weekends I attended to be bogged down with intense paranoia and crowds of annoying, overzealous drunken idiots. (Well, not that I was never a drunken idiot, but it was behind drawn shades and out of sight of campus authorities.) The only possible benefit to a regular UConn student might be an increase in sexual prospects in case they’ve already exhausted the possibilities on a campus of 20,000. Chaos and debauchery are exactly what’s advertised: Spring Weekend t-shirts with pictures of overturned cars are donned all over campus, along with numerous other “lets get fucked-up” kind of braggadocio.

The reality is that every college, including CCSU, has a spring event for students, and it doesn’t involve anything like what goes on at UConn. There’s no stopping students from getting drunk or having sex, but UConn should be held responsible for allowing this kind of environment to become expected. The school benefits from its party reputation with increased enrollment and other factors, and at the very least they have been guilty of tacit complicity. If Spring Weekend is an aberration now compared to what it used to be, it’s not all the students’ fault. Kudos to UConn for finally acting on a situation that needed to be addressed, but the university is just as guilty as anyone.

Sports

6 THE RECORDER Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Montemurro Posts Fifth Win of the Season to Lead Blue Devils in Doubleheader Split at the Mount Game 1 Blue Devils St. Mary’s

Game 2 0 1

ccsubluedevils.com Freshman Liz Montemurro registered her fifth win this season to lead the Blue Devils in a doubleheader split against Mount St. Mary’s. The Mount took game one 1-0, while Central Connecticut captured its 13th win of the season, the fifth in Northeast Conference play, 4-0 in the second meeting. Montemurro went the distance for the Blue Devils, pitching seven innings of shut out ball, allowing seven hits and fanning three batters.

The Mount posted the only run of the game in the first meeting. Mount St. Mary’s sophomore Allie Vadas knocked in classmate Lisa Curreri, who reached on a Blue Devil error, giving the home team the lead 1-0.

Junior Rachel Brenneman went six strong innings for CCSU, striking out five batters on the day.

In game two, the bats were quiet on both teams until the Blue Devils

Blue Devils St. Mary’s

4 0

posted three runs in the top of the sixth inning. Sophomore Jaclyn Logan drove in the first Blue Devil run of the day, knocking in senior Melissa Pelletier, who reached on a single to lead off the inning. Logan scored later in the inning off a Mount error, pushing the lead to 2-0.

Sophomore Tiffany Erickson singled to right to knock in senior Melissa Caron, notching the score 3-0.

CCSU added an insurance run in the when junior Jenna Earley was sacrificed in by Logan in the top of the seventh, giving the Blue Devils a 4-0 lead.

On the day Pelletier posted three hits and a run scored, while Logan added a hit, a run and two runs batted in to lead the Blue Devils at the plate.

Next up the Blue Devils will travel to Hartford on May 1 for a nonconference doubleheader. Game one will begin at 3 p.m.

Upcoming Softball Games Date

Opponent

Location

Time

Thu, May 01

Hartford (DH)

at West Hartford, CT

3:00 p.m.

Fri, May 03

Farleigh Dickinson (DH)*

West Hartford, CT (St. Joseph College)

1:00 p.m.

Upcoming Baseball Games Photos by Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Senior thirdbaseman Jessica Caron (top right, bottom right) and shortstop Melissa Pelletier (above) at a previous Blue Devils game versus Georgetown. Pelletier leads the team with 35 hits on the season while posting a .350 batting average. Despite that, the Blue Devils are struggling with a 13-24 overall record on the season.

Date

Opponent

Location

Time

Wed, Apr. 30

UConn

at Storrs, CT

3:00 p.m.

Fri, May 02

Sacred Heart *

at Trumbull, CT

7:00 p.m.

Sat, May 03

Sacred Heart (DH) *

at Bridgeport, CT

10:00 a.m.

Sun, May 04

Sacred Heart *

at Bridgeport, CT

7:00 p.m.

Tue, May 06

Hartford

at West Hartford, CT

3:00 p.m.

Fri, May 09

Wagner *

New Britain, CT (Beehive Field)

7:00 p.m.

Sat, May 10

Wagner (DH) *

New Britain, CT (Beehive Field)

1:00 p.m.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / SPORTS

7

Leaving the Past in the Past: Getting Over Whalers Denial Kyle Dorau Staff Writer

Everyone knows that guy—the guy who gets dumped by a girl and repeatedly claims he’s over her and he’s moved on. Yet the mere fact he won’t shut up about her is proof that’s not the case. He Facebook stalks her and asks friends who know her what she’s up to but still says he’d never get back with her.

Only this girl is a hockey team, and her name is… excuse me, was, the Hartford Whalers. Walking

around campus, usually once a day I’ll see a Whalers hoody or t-shirt. I understand the retro or kitsch aspect of such wardrobe choices, but for some there is a much more depressing statement being made: they are the jilted lover of a hockey team long gone.

Emphasis on long, as it has been over a decade since Peter Karmanos yanked the rug out from under the team’s fans, moving the franchise to Carolina.

That’s sports. First and foremost, it is a business and so many people fail to understand that fact.

While sports talk radio and ESPN would love for you to believe otherwise, it’s nothing more than a bunch of franchises trying to extend their name out so they can sell a few more hats and jerseys.

Obviously, success on the field makes selling one’s team to the public

Blue Devil of the Week Matt Gianini

What do you miss most about home?

“There is nothing really significant I miss about home.

Maybe the beach?”

Pump up song: “There’s no particular songs, but I like heavy rock before I go out.”

Biggest superstition:

Favorites TV Show: Family Guy Movie: Superbad, Super Troopers Baseball Movie: For Love of the Game Car: Ferrari Food: Steak and Cheese Baseball Player: Ken Griffey Jr. Role Model: Cole Hamels Local Bar: “I go to the Pour House a lot.”

Close Race Crowns NFL Draft King Peter Collin Sports Editor The in-house battle for football draft supremacy is over and the winner is clear. Staff writer Nick Viccione out picked NFLroughdraft.com expert Mike Luchene, 6.5 to 4.5, in a draft day stunner.

Though it is always hard to predict the future, the NFL Draft is especially difficult. Teams love to deal on draft day and after the initial few picks teams jump around, trading up and trading down in an attempt to maximize the value of the picks.

It was clear after the first three picks who was in control of the draft board on day one. Nick was a perfect 3-3 to start the draft, giving him an early lead he would not relinquish.

Matt leads the Blue Devil pitching staff with five wins on the season while posting a 4.80 ERA with 25 strike outs. He has a career record of 19-15 and a career total of 186 strike outs.

Name: Matt Gianini Age: 22 Year: Senior Major: Communications Minor: Journalism Hometown: West Haven, Connecticut

much easier; but at the end of the day your fandom is completely boiled down to the contents of your wallet and a pie chart in a team’s marketing office.

With all that said, here’s the point I’m trying to make: the Hartford Whalers are gone and never coming back. Get over it. There are over 25 groups with some permutation of “Bring Back the Whalers” on Facebook, but it’s just not going to happen—unless someone reading this happens to have 300 million dollars to build a new arena.

There are so many other cities that are more likely to get an NHL team: Seattle, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Houston, Las Vegas, as well as Kansas City, which has a brand new state-ofthe-art arena awaiting a franchise.

Hartford is a small market sandwiched between the two largest in the Northeast. Having ESPN in

“In between innings I’m always on the bench and my glove is always to the right of me and I put my hat on top of my glove.”

Hidden talent: “I’ve been playing the guitar for four years. It’s something I want to pursue. I’m good at Madden too.”

If I had a million dollars: “Honestly I would probably just take of my family and make sure they have their brand new home and whatever they want. When it comes down to me; probably get that sports car and maybe a brand guitar.”

Photo by John Kidd

the backyard doesn’t do any good since it treats the NHL like the inbred cousin to the other major sports.

Full disclosure: I’m an employee of the Hartford Wolf Pack. Yes, formerly managed by Madison Square Garden, which is owned by Cablevision, an evil corporation hellbent on stealing your beloved hockey team and making sure you never get one back. I’m also a Boston Bruins fan, the longtime enemies of the Whalers, while they still existed.

The truth is I’d love for the Hartford Whalers to come back. I really would, because I’m a hockey fan at heart. I’d be overjoyed to have the opportunity to see the Bruins play so close to home; having Alexander Ovechkin come to town would be a thrilling event to watch.

The difference between me and so many others is that I understand that

“I’m surprised I got as many picks right as I did. I didn’t think about it too much,” said Viccione. “I kinda put it together pretty quickly from just some knowledge I had of the college game and what the pro teams needed.”

Viccione was definitely shocked that he managed to get Matt Ryan’s draft position correct at number three to the Atlanta Falcons. It was a tough call for both as Luchene had Ryan falling deeper in the draft to another team desperate for a quarterback in the Baltimore Ravens.

Luchene took a little longer to get started and after getting first overall pick Jake Long correct, he would have to wait until pick nine, where Cincinnati grabbed linebacker Keith Rivers, to mark another one in the correct column.

“I thought my draft was fine. It got messed up because I didn’t think there was any way the Falcons were going to draft Ryan third,” said Mike.

But by then Viccione had built a 4-1 lead. It was an insurmountable lead to overcome even though

no matter what I want, it’s never going to happen.

The reality is that the economics aren’t there, and neither is the fan base. We live in a state where the closest thing we have to professional sports is a WNBA team. The arena in the state capital is aging, and to top it all off, the minor league hockey team can’t even draw 5,000 fans a night. Is this supposed to show the NHL we’re ready for a franchise?

Nobody’s taking away your memories, Whaler fans. You can still dream of Mike Liut kick-saves and Ron Francis lighting the lamp, but nothing close to that is ever going to happen in Hartford again. So please, let’s mercifully put this “Bring Back the Whalers” talk to bed for good. If it makes you feel better, go home and put on your Sean Burke jersey and cry yourself to sleep to Brass Bonanza.

Maybe then you can finally accept it.

Viccione wavered, going 0-15 until he nailed pick 22 by the Dallas Cowboys who selected running back Felix Jones.

Jones scored some points for Luchene as well, garnering him half a point. He had Jones going to the Cowboys, but at pick number 28 not number 22.

Viccione managed half a point when the Falcons took offensive tackle Sam Baker at number 21, exactly where he had Baker going.

Unfortunately, he had him going to the Redskins not Atlanta.

Like the first pick of the draft, the two experts agreed on the last pick. Safety Kenny Phillips from the University of Miami went to the New York Giants with the 31st overall pick.

It was tough draft to predict.

The nature of any draft is unpredictability, but both Viccione and Luchene tested their skills and didn’t do too bad. Congratulations to Nick Vicionne who wins this year and can now call himself the King of the Draft.

8

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / SPORTS

Blue Devils Caught in Hawks’ Claws Kyle Dorau Staff Writer CCSU Baseball took a step backwards in the march towards the Northeast Conference Tournament on Saturday, as they dropped both ends of a twin bill to the first place Monmouth Hawks (29-9, 14-2).

Central (16-18, 10-6) fell 2-0 in a pitcher’s duel in the first contest, and lost a 9-8 slugfest in the second.

On Sunday, John Tesseyman willed the Blue Devils to a 2-1 victory, pitching nine innings of one-run ball. Kyle Zarotney drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Pat Epps drove in the winning run on a sixth inning single to left field. CCSU was able to salvage a game of the series, and put an end to Monmouth’s 11-game win streak The Blue Devils never led either game of the double header, finding themselves trailing before they even got a chance to hit.

In game one, Andy Meyers of Monmouth reached on a bloop single off CCSU starter Ken Kerski. Meyers came around to score on a Paul Bottigliero double to deep right-center field, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Monmouth extended their cushion to 2-0 on a sacrifice fly by Bottigliero in the third inning. Kerski

Game 1 Blue Devils Monmouth

Game 2 0 2

settled down after that, allowing just two base runners the rest of the game.

As well as Kerski pitched, Ryan Buch of Monmouth was able to match him pitch for pitch. Buch came out firing on all cylinders, striking out six of the first eight batters he faced. The Hawks starter did not surrender a hit until the fourth inning.

Central threatened with two outs in the fourth and seventh innings, but was unable to push a run across. With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the seventh, Monmouth went to their closer Justin Esposito. He managed to get junior catcher Sean Parker to ground out to second base to preserve the win and earn his eighth save of the season.

Kerski, despite pitching a complete game and only giving up two runs, was saddled with the loss, his fifth of the season. Buch improved to 6-1 on the year for the Hawks.

Sophomore Anthony Scialdone and junior Casey Walko each got on base twice in the loss.

It didn’t get any easier for Central in game two of the doubleheader, as Matt Gianini got rocked in the early innings. The southpaw surrendered four straight two-out hits in the first inning, allowing Monmouth to jump out to a 2-0 lead.

It only got worse in the second frame, as a four-run outburst for the Hawks was capped by a Bottigliero home run that disappeared into the trees over the left field wall. The tworun jack put Central behind 6-0.

CCSU finally put some offense on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. With runners on the corners and one out, sophomore Tommy

Blue Devils Monmouth

8 9

Meade laced an RBI single to drive in senior Jak Kidd to make it 6-1.

The Blue Devils tacked on another run in the third, as Anthony Scialdone hit a two out single, followed by a Kidd RBI double to make it 6-2.

The sixth inning was explosive for both teams offensively. With runners on the corners and one out, Shawn Teters of the Hawks belted a two-run triple. He was brought home on an RBI groundout by Meyers to extend Monmouth’s lead to 9-2.

Central answered back emphatically, as the first four batters in the bottom of the sixth reached base.

Central struck for six runs on six hits in the inning, most notably Meade’s RBI double.

With the game tied 9-8, it was back to work for Esposito. He got the last out in the sixth and then pitched a scoreless seventh to hold down the Blue Devils. It was his second save of the day and his ninth of the season.

The losses for Central dropped them into a tie for second with Wagner in the Northeast Conference standings. Meanwhile, Monmouth solidified their death grip on first place. The Hawks are up five games over the second place teams, with just 12 conference games remaining as.

Central faces the University of Connecticut in non-conference action on Wednesday, followed by a four-game series this weekend against intrastate rivals Sacred Heart. The Blue Devils will take on the Pioneers at 7:00 p.m. at Trumbull High School on Friday, before finishing the series with a doubleheader starting at 10:00 in Bridgeport on Saturday and finishing up on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Photos by Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Top: Sean Allaire getting ready to make the defensive play at third. He went two-for-four in game two against Monmouth.

Top Right: John Tesseyman walking off field with his teammates. He has been named Northeast Conference Pitcher of the Week.

Above: Pitcher Logan Grimes warming up the left fielder.

Below Left: Casey Walko in the on-deck circle as his teammates look on. He went on to drive in two runs.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / ENTERTAINMENT

PHOTOS BY EDWARD GAUG

9

10 THE RECORDER Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Entertainment

French electronica band M83’s latest album, Saturdays=Youth, dropped internationally April 15th, making it the fifth album since the band’s creation in 1997. According to a blurb on the band’s MySpace, Anthony Gonzalez (who is the one-man band known as M83) has tried to keep the idea of “youth” a consistent theme throughout the band’s music. “I loved being a teenager. That’s when I discovered music and started to take drugs and party with my friends,” he said Gonzalez’s latest album, along with the rest of his work, sounds like an indie spin on ‘80s electronica. Filled with docile piano chords and slow synth solos, the minimalist ambient music pays more attention to creating a mood than captivating their audience’s attention, for better or worse. Each song has a distinct feel, but the album as a whole sounds both as colourful and sleepy as landscapes at dawn—something that, apparently, influences the band’s sound.

To M83’s credit, their music is original and their sound is well crafted—and certainly nothing that could be played on any major radio station. Unfortunately, this is partially due to the fact that the whimsical sound that the band seemed to be going for ended up sounding more ‘easily forgotten’ than ‘easy listening.’ It’s the sort of music that would fit on a movie soundtrack brilliantly, but is hard to imagine being listened to by anyone other than a few select hipsters. Although there’s something very much to be said about the band’s artistic integrity, Saturdays=Youth is probably an album less worth purchasing than it is downloading.

Marissa Blaszko / Staff Writer

M83 Saturdays=Youth

Not many types of music can really be personified. It sounds like an odd description, but Langhorne Slim and his band the War Eagles’ debut album captures a human personality and sounds like a person reaching out with simple words. To be more specific, it’s a society’s rebel kind of person who relates his sorrows, experiences and findings about life, or maybe the stereotypical vagrant who’s passing through with his stories and song.

Like his music that has successfully transcended a grounded and basic level, Sean Scolnick, or the man who renamed himself after his hometown of Langhorne, Pennsylvnia, drifts into the extra-ordinary.

Folk guitar and upbeat percussion cover up obvious emotion and replace it with intrigue, although some does diffuse throughout “Diamonds and Gold.” My guess is, this will be by far the most widely appealing track in this collection, and it’s probably the reason why the album with this name as its title has surfaced on the Internet. It could attract some warranted criticism because it largely resembles The Rolling Stones’ “Beggar’s Banquet” in chords (in the verses, at least) and sentiment.

It might be unfair to assume that Slim and the band Deer Tick are similar, but comparisons can’t help but be made when the careful picking is so obvious on Langhorne Slim’s tracks such as “Restless” or “Tipping Point.” Some of John McCauley and his guys’ sound pops up in the instruments on these two. The latter is a lively

Langhorne Slim Langhorne Slim

Electric President Sleep Well

The first thing I read about Electric President is that they sounded similar to The Postal Service and cLOUDDEAD, two bands I have been listening to pretty consistently over the past three years or so. While these two bands don’t share a whole lot in common, Electric President takes what is great about both acts and uses to make one of the most listenable albums in a long time.

Just for some background knowledge, Electric President consist solely of Ben Cooper and Alex Kane, two ex-members of Helicopter Project who decided they were going to make their own music; what came out was an outstanding mix of digital blips and solid songwrit-

ing. Sometimes, these don’t always come together. Drumbeats throughout the album are solid, though nothing out of the ordinary or spectacular, but they seem right at place with Cooper’s mellow, nasal-y voice.

The thing that remains on high through the entire album is the vocals. Cooper shows an amazing range in Sleep Well, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this album replaces Give Up as my fall-back album when I can’t decide what to listen to. Both albums manage to give a calming feeling that can relax me at any time. It also doesn’t hurt if the album has a song entitled “Lullaby” and works exactly as that.

The one thing that remains interesting to me about Cooper and Electric President as a whole is that anything Cooper records is done

in a tool shed that resides in his backyard and then is remastered in a studio afterwards.

Knowing this, it is easy to understand why certain vocals sound the way they do—not lo-fi, but echoed and organic. Also, it really shows what a minimal budget can produce when it comes to music.

The band’s first three albums were written and released in the span of six months and are now on the harder side to find outside of their Web site. With this release, Electric President will have staying power on the electronic-indie scene and might even leave them as a staple band to mention in conversation. I suggest getting into them now, before they blow up.

Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor

song that traces acoustic into electric at the very end and resembles the chugging of wheels spinning on a railroad track.

To provide something more lively and exciting, Slim refers to “Spinning Compass,” a track complemented by violin and a rumbling boom for drums underneath something that sounds like sleigh bells and an airy guitar.

More often than not, I’m prone to ditching the discs that come my way after I’m done with them, but it’s probable that this album will hang out on my iTunes for a while. With summer approaching, Langhorne Slim is perfect for sweating through the heat with a lower-middle class feel for fun.

Melissa Traynor / News/Managing Editor

where the album was recorded, Konk doesn’t possess the same drive and intensity as its predecessor.

It’s not just the absence of bassist Max Rafferty, who quit the band in January or the substitution with Dan Logan of Cat the Dog. Rather, it’s the lack of originality in the arrangement and care in the lyrics that leaves the listener under-whelmed.

To be fair, Konk is reasonably tight with no shortage of readymade anthems and each song is melodic enough to be catchy, but the group has replaced their previous youthful quirkiness with a series of manic mood and genre swings that struggle to flow together.

Although the adage is “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” Konk would have benefited more by showing some signs of progression rather than the band simply regurgitating what worked on the first album. “Stormy Weather” is strikingly similar to “You Don’t Love Me,” while “Always Where I Need To Be” imitates the intro on “See The World” and “Gap” the catchy riffs of “Naïve.”

All this being said, however, there are a few gems to be found on Konk, such as the final track, “Tick Of Time,” a harmonious acoustical ballad which in spite of itself still maintains the pace of the rest of the album. Also, “Mr. Maker,” with its beefy guitar riffs and determined pop vibe serves to remind you of the playfulness that make The Kooks so fun to listen to.

Still, that upbeat push, that “I’m so glad I bought this album” thrill smartly frontloaded on this CD falls apart by the time you get to “One Last Time” where Luke Pritchard resorts to spelling out the alphabet and Konk’s lyrical weakness becomes painfully obvious. Not to mention the annoying “Do do dos” on the lead single “Always Where I Need To Be.” Although catchy enough to be infectious after a few listens, ultimately, Konk feels like an album that doesn’t try hard enough, one that plays it too safe for its own good. The next goaround will hopefully bring something more reckless to the table.

Aril Grain / Staff Writer

some bands, this is gold; for My Morning Jacket, it missed the mark.

Songs like the opening, title track “Evil Urges” and “I’m Amazed” will remain as big hits because they will be familiar to previous listeners and hey, they are both damn good songs. “I’m Amazed” is the type of song that will be best experienced outdoors at a summer festival as the sun is going down. It has a ‘70s Southern rock vibe to it, without having too many over-the-top guitar solos.

For those who aren’t familiar with MMJ, Evil Urges can make a great first impression, but to get the full idea on what My Morning Jacket has to offer, I recommend checking out some of their previous albums like It Sill Moves and Z. Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor

It’s fairly impressive when bands can pump out tracks longer than the average three minutes and it’s more than fairly impressive when it is done consistently and in good quality. There are times during Arm’s Way when it seems like Islands just might pull it off, especially when they are running through a bouncing clavinet-ish guitar from Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” or lead a song with a particularly lovely orchestral arrangement. However, I can’t say that they really do.

While the song is already mentioned, “To a Bond” is the track that begins with violins and is followed by a stately snare drum roll and some more orchestra in the background. Clocking in at 7:47, the song and its first ticking seconds on an iPod seem to have passed by years ago.

The song has a dipping and building quality, like a movie almost, and most of the album is characterized by these rapid changes and blending of contrasting song parts. However, it’s as if the switches came too late and by the time the previous section actually transitions, the new just looks like another waiting line till the next.

There is one track that is especially outstanding proof of this weird mixing. “J’aime Vous Voire Quitter” is a hot mess that begins as a mediocre, spinning song with saucy choruses, but then gives way to an unanticipated tropical beat that feels perfect for “Weekend at Bernie’s.”

The latter is something I’d want to break off and use at a party. The same can’t really be said about anything else on the album, unfortunately.

Arm’s Way would have seemed somewhat acceptable as an album if not for the ridiculously long and winding “Vertigo.” I couldn’t help but skip around with the time toggle on the mp3 player, though something about it sounds legitimately disjointed and annoying enough to be experimental.

It’s a very intelligent bunch of songs and there are really not many other ways to describe it. The sounds are familiar, yet Islands pushes their way into new territory and the listener would have to be a willing participant to “get it.”

It’s difficult to recommend this album to anyone, really because it’s kind of like manic depression: clips here and there are good, actually great, but the lows in between are too frequent and slow.

Melissa Traynor / News/Managing Editor After listening to the The Kooks full-length follow up to Konk The Kooks’ 2006 debut Inside In/Inside Out, I’m left with the impression that something integral is missing this time around.

Released on April 14 and named after the former Kinks singer Ray Davies’ Konk Studios

Islands Arm’s Way

My Morning Jacket Evil Urges

While My Morning Jacket never really interests me more than listening to an occasional song, I always understood their importance in the realm of folk-based indie-rock. Jim James remains as one of indie-rock’s few name-worthy vocalists that cross into mainstream music along with the likes of Jeff Tweedy and Conor Oberst.

My Morning Jacket as a band have usually stayed true to their Kentucky roots and basically made a really awesome version of country music that had aspects of jam-band and psych-rock as well. They had a slew of songs that could have been considered nearly bluegrass and others that could have been played beside the likes of Grateful Dead and Phish. On Evil Urges, they moved away from their mainstay and have included touches of pop.

I found that the pop songs seem alienated and out of place considering what I have heard previously for James and company. “Two Halves” on Evil Urges plays to this thought exactly. In a line of three or four folk songs, MMJ sneak in a pop ballad that feels a little bit forced.

It’s evident that My Morning Jacket can still pump out their unique blend, but decided they needed to record a pop song to change it up. For

After the hardcore band Wives disbanded back in December of 2005, members Randy Randall and Dean Spunt went off and created the now Sup Pop-signed No Age. When a member of a hardcore band creates a new project, it usually ends to be another hardcore project, simply because they know it will attract the fans of their previous act. Randy and Dean did something different; they started an experimental project that outdoes their previous band.

No Age keeps Nouns as simple as possible.

There is no sense of over-production to be found on this album— everything sounds like a first take and it works well for them. If the music is cleaned up in the studio, it loses any authentic feel and experimental sounds. The duo keeps all the instrumentals basic with drums and guitars with the occasional piano line or pulled sample, all of which adds to the aura of Nouns.

Tracks like “Things I Did When I Was Dead” and “Here Should Be Home” show the drastic range on display throughout the album.

The first track plays on the idea I was talking about earlier with noisy guitars and simple production values and the second comes off more like a dirty punk song with small guitar chords and crass vocals, making it feel like something straight from the ‘80s punk movement. While this song stands out from the others, it doesn’t come off as being bad.

“Sleeper Hold” ends up being my favorite track on Nouns, based purely on the garage band guitar and chaotic cymbal pieces that blast off at the beginning of the song. Also, the instruments stay layered over the vocals, distortion included, which gives it a live sound even though it was done in a recording booth. This is how I’m used to listening to music with vocals washed out by loud instruments.

While some might pick up Nouns based on prior music acts, most people will pick it up due to word of mouth. You wont hear too much about No Age outside of the college rock media circle and underground music magazines, but it’s easy to say this album will be a success and their live shows should be just as good.

Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor

No Age Nouns

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / ENTERTAINMENT

11

Taking Off with Farewell Flight Edward Gaug Entertainment Editor

When I first heard Farewell Flight’s music, I knew I would have to talk with them before they made their stop in Hamden on April 26. The band’s drummer, Marc Prokopchak, was nice enough to sit down and let me know about the inner workings of how Farewell Flight manages to make and release music despite their lack of a record label, as well as how they manage to tour as often as possible.

Edward Gaug: Next week you’ll be starting nearly two months of touring, starting off in your home state of Pennsylvania, then traveling north through Connecticut, then hitting the Midwest down to Oklahoma and traveling back up to Pennsylvania to end it.

How do you personally get ready to spend all this time traveling and living in a van with three other people?

Marc Prokopchak: Well, the first part is actually booking the tour. That’s my biggest worry; everything else comes second after that.

Booking those dates and getting everything set management-wise as far as the shows and getting all the details, like load-in time and when doors are. Getting that all together is the first step—after that, we all kind of live meagerly because we don’t make much money and any money we do make goes right back into the band.

We all pack a duffle bag and we get some groceries, usually stuff that won’t go bad if we keep it in the van, and we go on from there.

EG: With booking a tour, you try to have all your dates planned out; but have you ever come across problems and had to jump on a show or play a house show? Because I seem to hear about that happening more frequently.

MP: We have played all types of shows—we’ve had really good shows and really bad shows. If we get a cancellation and we can fill that date, within a week or two with something like a house show or jump on a show, that’s golden.

We’ve done that a few times. We’ve also had a few things go wrong with cancellations due to younger kids running [shows] and not knowing what they’re really doing. When we go on tour, I’ll send them a follow-up message making sure everything is cool with the show, making sure it hasn’t been cancelled because the venue got shut down by the police or something. We’ve definitely run into that; but if that’s the case and we can’t get on something somewhere else, we’ll end up taking the night off and try to make the best of it, hanging out or sleeping in the van.

EG: Farewell Flight has this particular tour going through the month of May; do you guys have any plans from summer, whether it is playing festivals or another tour?

MP: We pretty much have the whole summer mapped out; as festivals, not so much this year.

We played a bunch last year, but that’s because we had some label affiliation and they kind of pulled the strings on all that type of stuff. This summer we are completely independent again, so even the festivals we played last year, it was nearly impossible to get back into unless you have a label backing you or someone else going to bat for you. Basically, we’re just going to tour on our own this summer. After the April-May

run is over, we’ll be home for like three weeks and then we’ll head out for about three weeks in June, and that stint’s about three-quarters of the way booked. They haven’t been posted yet, but they are in the confirmation stages. Then we’ll be home for another week or two and then back out on the road from mid-July to early August, for what hopefully will be a CD release run. We’re trying to hit up venues that we have played a lot in the recent years and that we can have our album ready. It’s been recorded since last year and people have been wanting it, and we’re finally getting it released by doing it ourselves this summer. Those are the summer plans, but from there on out it will be what we do always: be on the road as much as possible and come home and work a little bit and then head out again.

EG: The new album you just mentioned is the Sound.Color.Motion. album, correct?

MP: Yeah, that’s the one.

EG: I know you have had a few songs from the album up on your MySpace, and I was trying to see if it had been released. So now we know you’ll be doing that yourself. Was there a problem with your previous label [Gotee Records], or did you want to go out and do it yourself?

MP: We had recorded it with them, we liked the label, we liked the people, but then the label did a 180 and there are a lot of changes there now. A lot of the people we were close with have been let go or have moved on. Some people voluntarily left and others were let go, and the direction they were going wasn’t the way we wanted our album released in. Not to get into a whole lot of details, we have nothing but good things to say about Gotee, and they are great people and we love them a lot; but they decided to go and pay more attention to the Christian sector, it’s their bread and butter and [they] know how to work it. They knew how to advertise and promote that and we weren’t really on that, it’s not quite our pace. We kind of came to a mutual decision last fall to go our separate ways. That’s why the album never got released, but we left on such good terms that they let us take the album with us, which if anyone knows a lot about the music industry, they know that never happens.

Usually, the label keeps the record and the band has to buy it back or they will retain it until you sign with another label and then get a cut of that. They were awesome people and they really care about their artists more so than the bottom line, so they wanted us to take it and self-release it; and maybe later if we sign with another label, we’ll re-release it then, but we’ll do it ourselves this summer.

EG: Talking about the music that is on that album, at least the songs that you have loaded to your MySpace, a couple of the songs have a real solid mix of piano and guitar, while other songs include catchy choruses and drum beats that are more familiar on a pop album. Is that a reflection of the members in the band and their different influences, or are you trying to make something a little bit different?

MP: Luke, the lead singer, writes most of the material; we help him with the arrangements, but when he gets a song it kind of downloads

Edward Gaug / The Recorder

right to him all in form—he tends to hear everything at once. I guess what we’re trying to do is not write an album that’s all the same song.

Some albums nowadays after the sixth song you just take it out, and we wanted something that had an original feel for all of the songs. It’s definitely an eclectic album; a lot of people have a hard time labeling it—we usually don’t, we think of it as indie pop-rock and let it be as that.

It’s definitely more Luke, that’s how he writes.

One song never sounds the same as the next.

The next album will be really interesting because we already have 35 or 40 new songs that we haven’t even started working on yet. He has them all saved, whether it is on his phone’s voicemail or his inbox. He’ll get a song idea and it just downloads right to him; it’s his gift, I guess. From day one, since I heard his stuff, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

EG: I was browsing around the band’s MySpace and I found that you all have pretty detailed biographies on there. Robbe’s [the band’s bassist], has to be my favorite, just because I still watch Global Guts any time it’s on. With a sense of humor like that, do you feel like it’s easier to relate and be personable with your fans?

MP: Yeah, it definitely does. Everyone brings something to the table and Robbe did pretty much everything out on MySpace; and he’s a smart guy, he’s an English major and wrote for a newspaper before he got fired for being in the band and always being on tour. I think we all have a sense of humor, and it’s mostly about ourselves. Mostly because we have played some of the worst shows you’ve ever seen, but some really good ones, too. I think we’ve been doing it much longer than other bands doing it on their own. I think it has brought us to the point that we just laugh about things. Our last tour had the most vehicle problems we’ve ever had.

At one point we were broken down on the side of the road when our bus almost caught fire, and we’re all just standing there laughing because we almost died. The bus went up in flames and it’s pouring down rain in Indianapolis, and we didn’t know what we were going to do. That’s touring life in a nutshell. We’re not real young guys; we’re all mid 20’s and we know what is going on. Our sense of humor definitely helps us keep sane out on the road. If there is one thing we will joke about, it’s us. I don’t think anyone would ever say we’re a stuck-up or snobby band.

Unforgettable Sarah Marshall Samantha Sullivan Copy Editor The Seth Rogan-style movies are continuing to make themselves known in the comedy industry, even though Rogan wasn’t even in the funniest comedy of the year so far, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Some of the actors from previous Roganesque films (Superbad, Knocked Up) are carrying on their newborn comedic legacies in the film, which was released April 18.

Jason Segel (the creepy friend in Knocked Up) takes the lead role as Peter Bretter, a sensitive musician who’s dating Sarah Marshall (Veronica Mars, Heroes), who is an actress in a hit TV crime drama—the same TV show which Peter just so happens to compose the soundtrack. Peter’s

heart is broken when Sarah breaks up with him suddenly, leaving him lonely and pants-less (you’ve seen the commercials, and you’ll see a whole lot more in the film…more than you pay for). His step-brother, played by Bill Hader (Superbad, Knocked Up), convinces him to go on a vacation, so Peter decides to go to a resort in Hawaii that Sarah always talked about.

Once there, Pete meets a newlywed couple where the husband iis scared of sex, a stoner surfing instructor played by Paul Rudd (The 40-YearOld Virgin, Knocked Up), two larger-than-life hotel employees and an interesting woman at the front desk named Rachel, played by Mila Kunis (that’s right, “Jackie” from “That 70s Show”). Oh, and guess who else is there? Peter’s ex of three

weeks, Sarah, with her new, rock star boyfriend, Aldous Snow, played by Russell Brand. Peter has to find the strength to become dependent on himself rather than on a relationship, to stand up to Sarah Marshall and maybe to develop a healthy crush on Rachel.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a unique spin on the Knocked Up-style movie that we’re used to, bringing in a chick-flick angle, only through the eyes of a very emotional man. It’s definitely worth the $16 it costs for two people with student IDs at the Bowtie Cinema in Hartford ($20 with IDs at Loews in Plainville).

Don’t wait for this one to come out on DVD—check it out now so you know what everyone will be talking about for the next month or two. forgettingsarahmarshall.com

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Lifestyles

THE RECORDER Wednesday, April 30, 2008

How to Write a Formidable Résumé Karyn Danforth Lifestyles Editor

Dorm Dishes 101 Orange Julius Samantha Sullivan Copy Editor My mom introduced me to the Orange Julius when I was younger, and though I wasn’t crazy about it, the drink grew on me. Now, one of my favorite stops at the Buckland Hills Mall is the Dairy Queen/Orange Julius stand.

When I got this recipe in my class in high school, I was so excited to be able to make this treat at home rather than spending $4 on a small cup at the mall.

Keep in mind, blenders are allowed in the residence halls as long as they are only used in the kitchens—that means don’t go making this in your room.

3/4 c frozen orange juice (this usually comes in a 6 oz cylindrical container in the frozen foods section at any supermarket) 1 c water 1 c milk 1/4 c white granulated sugar 10 ice cubes a dash of vanilla (this will help bring out the flavor and, with the other ingredients, help make a blend between a smoothie and a milkshake. Just don’t put so much vanilla that the mixture turns brown—that’s too much!)

This recipe is so simple: blend all ingredients at high speed for about two minutes and enjoy—serves 4-5.

At this very moment, you may be questioning the next step in life; that could mean attempting to find the career that best suits you for a lifetime or something that will be shortterm. Either way, it is in your best interest to be prepared with a résumé that is well defined, objective, and precise. While this can be often time consuming, stressful, and unorganized, here are some steps that will hopefully make your résumé writing experience a positive and uplifting one.

The Main Objective: This is the bread and butter of your actual document, in a way; it is relatable to the thesis of a paper. The objective outlines and introduces the rest of your résumé, discussing your career objectives along with the job that you are seeking. It sets the tone and is the first thing that assistant manager to your preferred business will be sitting and pining over. Pay a lot of attention to what you say, and how you say it. A question to ask while writing the main idea could be: what is your goal in relation to the job you’re looking at? Keep in mind, though; an objective is not always necessarily a good idea. If it is vague, it can give the company the impression that you are unfocused and scattered, or that you rehashed the same exact thing to other companies as well. If you’re confident about yours, than by all means, go for it.

Outlining Your Résumé: Having a solid structure in your paper is a very important aspect. It is vital that you do not have any random twists or turns, or random run on sentences. It doesn’t have to be ridiculously in-depth, but very basic, bare elements. At its simplest, it should contain facts like your complete contact information, education details, work experience, activities and references.

Eight Résumé Writing Tips: Here are some things to consider while you’re sitting at your computer stuck in a proverbial funk.

Technical skills come first. Talk about all of the training and knowledge you’ve acquired from previous jobs, or academically. Before your résumé is in the hands of the employer, it will be perused electronically for keywords that the specific business is looking for, so be sure to be precise and use relevant keywords, such as industry or job jargon, and mention all the operating systems in which you are proficient in.

Document your qualifications in a list according to their relevance to their position. While you may have wonderful communication skills, that would probably not be too relevant in a cubical computer environment.

Be factual with your experience. If you helped your company save money or debugged some nasty codes from an entire network of computers, let them know. This is where you can really let them know how you

would benefit and help them; you are no average Joe. Use action words. Instead of saying “I was a call rep,” say something to the extent of “Provided product fulfillment services to an average of 30 customers a day.” Lengthen and embellish a little, but don’t stray too far from the truth.

Give yourself credit. This is where you see the résumé as a marketing tool; toot your own horn and tell them what you think you could really bring forth to the company.

Pretend you’re a door-to-door salesman: sell yourself. Just don’t get too crazy about it.

Keep it as short as possible, and be completely clear and precise.

Length doesn’t necessarily negate a sure-fire “in,” so don’t worry about it, especially if you aren’t the best with words.

Don’t give non-pertinent information, like your sexual preference or your political status. These are things the reader does not need to know about; you wouldn’t want them judging you over such trivial components.

Check your grammar! No one is a perfect writer, and even though you might be sick and tired of it after you write that last sentence, you need to proofread. Seriously, what if you spelled your own name wrong?

If you have any more résumé suggestions for your Central colleagues before the semester is over, please send your ideas in to The Recorder email at ccsurecorder@ gmail.com.

Off-Campus Living is the Cheaper Alternative Heather Vendetta Staff Writer Living in a dormitory at Central can be expensive. The cost to live in a residence hall at Central for one semester is $2,510. If you want to live in a dorm, you also have to purchase a meal plan and the least expensive one is $1,799. In total, the least amount of money you would pay to live on campus for one semester would be $4,309.

However, this cost would go up if you wanted to live in James Hall, have a different meal plan, or use the school’s health insurance, according to the CCSU Web site.

Each semester is roughly four months long, making the total cost of living on campus for a year about $8,618. However, you can only live in your dorm for 8 months out of the year, excluding June, July, August and December. You also have to exclude extended breaks like Thanksgiving or spring break because you cannot stay in your room during these times.

Living in an apartment offcampus can be cheaper. Many apartments are very close to Central: Campus View, Princeton and Essex are all within walking distance and cost less than it does to live on-campus. While Pebblebrook is not within walking distance, it is only a little over a mile away and more affordable as well.

Most apartments offer one or two bedrooms, but here the cost of a two-bedroom apartment will be used for argument’s sake.

Campus View has two bedrooms, one larger than the other, and is set up to house three people. The total cost is $1,025 a month. If you split this cost between three people that is $375 a month per person.

Princeton has two bedrooms and houses two people. The total price a month is $800, but split that among two people and it is $400 a month per person.

Essex has two large bedrooms.

While it used to allow four people to live in each apartment, due to new fire codes only three people can live in one apartment now. The total rent

Edward Gaug / The Recorder

per month is $1,195. Split that three ways and per person it is less than $400 a month.

For a two-bedroom apartment at Pebblebrook, the total rent is $845 a month. If you split that two ways, per person it would cost $425 a month, according to what current Pebblebrook residents have reported for payment. Also, all costs are subject to be different year-to-year, or different depending on which floor the apartment is located.

Living in an apartment also means paying bills, and where you live will determine exactly what you pay. Heat and hot water are included in some places, but not all. A few places use gas, while others use electricity. If you chose to get cable and internet, that is at least $100 a month.

Assuming you will get cable and Internet, as well pay all the other required bills, the average cost for utilities per month is about $200.

This figured may be higher in winter months but also may be lower in other months. When split between two people, you can pay about $100 per

month in utilities, according to current residents.

Residents can live in an apartment all year long. Most places have one-year lease agreements they sign that state that they will live there for 12 months and, unlike dorms, they do not have to stress over where they will stay for holidays and breaks.

Totaling all costs, 12 months of rent and 12 months of utilities, it comes out to be significantly cheaper.

For the entire year you would pay about $5,700 to live at Campus View, $6,200 to live in Princeton or Essex and $6,700 to live at Pebblebrook, per person. This is compared to the $8,618 it cost to live on campus for eight months of the year.

You do the math. It is indeed cheaper to live in any one of these four apartments off-campus than it is to live in a dormitory, and there are even other off-campus housing choices available. Some options are more expensive, but these are four to look into that are all very close to campus and less expensive. Living in an apartment can certainly save money.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / LIFESTYLES

Karyn Danforth Lifestyles Editor Spring fever is alive and thriving; the trees are in bloom, and you contemplate skipping classes everyday the sun shines brighter. This is the time of the year when your friends influence you to stop stressing out, to drop everything and pass a ball on the court or to sit in the middle of the quad and sunbathe. By no means should you consider giving up on your academics, but in your free time, consider all of the outlets and possibilities that this weather hands to you on a silver platter.

Tag Sales: It’s always a fun time when you get to be noisy and sort through a stranger’s hand me downs, but there are always cheap, hidden gems to be unearthed. These are good to consider when you need cheap items to furnish an apartment.

Gardening: So you may not have a backyard to plant any flowers, but if you do, grab some gardening gloves and get down and dirty; it will relieve stress, and become an aesthetically pleasing part of your home. If you live in a dorm, buy a plant and put it in your window and watch it bloom into something beautiful.

Camping: Referred to colloquially as “roughing it,” get away from the world of technology for a weekend and find a nearby park or reserve and pitch a tent. Take some friends, bring the hot dogs and mosquito repellant and have sing-a-longs around the fire.

Cookouts/BBQs/Picnics: All roughly fall into the same category. Be sure to adorn the grill master with a “kiss the cook” apron, and burp profusely to compliment him/her on the shiskabobs. Don’t let Yogi or Boo Boo steal your pic-i-nic basket.

Rollerblading/Bike Riding: However you decide to move those limbs of yours, don’t be a daredevil; stay on the sidewalk and don’t run anyone over/ let yourself be run over, unless you’re destined to be in the future X Games.

Mix it up and try to do a marathon to test your limits. It’s time to burn off that winter flab, anyhow.

Spring Cleaning: Hate or despise it, you secretly love it. There is no better feeling than getting rid of piles of clutter. It also allows you the chance to rearrange the place; give it a little feng-shui. Rid yourself of a bunch of old clothes or gadgets that could be useful to others. Donate them to homeless shelters or to a local Salvation Army.

Make Your Own Team: Is there a certain sport your friends all like, or do you work someplace where you are friendly with all your co-workers and would like to take on an extracurricular activity? Form teams, whether it be baseball or basketball, and have your own tournaments, even coordinate a prize at the end. If it turns into an annual fling, make the prize something worth fighting over, like a giant glass beer boot.

Birdwatching: Now you can hear those little ones yapping at the earliest hours in the morning, and they are all running around trying to pounce on earthworms. Purchase a feeder (or make you own, you were probably taught how in elementary school: pinecones, peanut butter and seeds), grab a pair of binoculars and either have your laptop, or a bird book handy. It might sound silly, but this would probably impress someone. I’m not sure whom, but someone.

Find Your Inner Photographer: Whip out your camera and take pictures of something other than your drunken nights and kissy faces. Go to a scenic spot and take pictures of the trees budding, the birds who got stuck to the peanut butter, or the lights going down in the city…and the sun shining on the bay.

Hang Out With Yourself: Go anywhere outside and just have a quiet moment to yourself caught up in the nature around you; spend some peaceful time alone. Read a book, write in a journal, draw a picture. Get caught up in yourself and your surroundings; fresh air will always do you some good.

Organize/Participate in Campus Events: It’s easy to go out and find anyone hanging out at any time of the day now on campus. If someone is playing ball, go join, even if you don’t know them. Chances are, the more the merrier, and you could meet some people that just didn’t get out during the winter.

15

Searching for a Summer Job? Karyn Danforth Lifestyles Editor Praise the wonderful summer solstice for finally creeping up on us.

It is time for relaxation, sunburns and late night car rides with the windows down. However, after a week of being home, your parents will be tired of your uselessness; after all, they firmly believe you should be contributing to society! Working for “the man” is no fun, but here are some ideas to get those gears in your head turning— and the wallet in your pocket growing.

Local Merchants: Your best choice of the local establishments would probably be a family-run farm, and what will you be dealing with most in the summer? Strawberries, of course, so sit in the fields and stuff your face full.

Small Businesses: Most towns have a majority of small offices that need an extra helping hand, and chances are if you live in that town, mom and dad will already have connections with the owners or office managers.

Corporate Offices: These usually have established summer jobs and internships, but they are also often the most competitive, so be sure to get a list of other hopefuls and... I’ll leave that to your discretion.

Stores at the Mall: Got a favorite store? Pick up an application and give it a shot. If you succeed, you’ll still never see a paycheck, because

those store discounts are going to nab you and not let go.

Hotels and Resorts: If you want to get out of Connecticut, look up a resort on the eastern/western coastline and high-tail it to somewhere nice. What’s better than having some fun on the beach in your downtime?

Tourist Attractions: While you probably wouldn’t want to help procure the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota, you might want to check out an amusement park, like Six Flags or Lake Compounce.

Golf and Tennis Clubs: Be a caddy to a big wig, and be sure to give them the wrong clubs. As for tennis, watch out when the tennis ball machine goes ballistic.

Grocery Stores: Time goes by very slowly in supermarkets—it’s statistically proven. Spend your time building an epic mountain out of cans of creamed corn, or create catastrophic messes just so you can yell over the intercom: “Clean up in Aisle 6.”

Fast Food and Restaurants: Lets face it, food service is the absolute worst; it really tests and tries your patience with the nincompoops of this world. Honestly, don’t take any crap when some cranky-pants decides to yell at you till they’re red in the face over the pickles that weren’t supposed to be on his 99-cent burger.

Parks and Recreation Departments: Yes, this screams children! Help those little tots round a

few bases so their parents can be proud, and then shove them into a competitive life of athletics. Don’t forget the juice boxes and Little Debbies, because to the little ones, they’re comparative to the millions of dollars that the Major League athletes receive in return for their brilliant performances.

Local Government Summer Job Programs: Who would want to miss the chance of working at the Capitol building in Hartford and catching a peek of the exuberant Governor Jodi Rell? Help her battle the naysayers of the Three Strikes law.

Summer Camp: If you had a nice counselor back when you were a kid, mix it up when you become one, and be the terrifyingly mean one.

Play favorites. Make little Susie sit in a corner during craft time. Just kidding—be nice... but don’t let them overtake you; lay down the law.

Working for yourself: Go sit on the side of a street and play your poorly-written songs on the guitar for some loose change. Talk your little sibling into working a lemonade stand, and swindle him/her out of every last cent. If you’re really crafty, create some superb artwork, make tshirts or jewelry; just don’t resort to sleeping with New York governors.

The Interwebs: Puns aside, some sites to check out for jobs: Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com.

More Resources? Visit a local temp agency. There are many throughout the Hartford area.

16

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / LIFESTYLES

Marissa Blaszko Staff Writer A collection of mostly local artists spent the majority of last Saturday participating in the CCSU Mural Slam—not only the first for the school, but for the world. From nine to five, the event was open for anyone with a paintbrush or a can of spray paint to come and make their 4 foot by 18 foot mark on the top of the garage.

Professor Mike Alewitz stood in front of the group of people that had, within eight hours, successfully tagged and painted most of Welte garage’s top level. The graffiti artists, mural painters, scenic artists and other “moderately attractive people making art” were being presented with the day’s awards.

Although a large portion of the painters were local street artists, some students like Helen Rebecchi had the option of doing the piece for a painting class; Rebecchi opted to do a sociopolitical commentary on the upcoming presidential election.

“We feel like change will be elected,” said Rebecchi holding the belief that change will come not through the electorate, but through the action of the people. “[My painting contains] a fallen dove with a fallen olive branch and a robot commanding a group of mindless drones with the industry burning in the background.”

Christian Ayala, an art education student, spoke to The Recorder as he was working on a wall near Rebecchi’s.

“I did the painting mainly because I wanted to share my style of art with the community,” said Ayala, whose piece incorporated mural painting and Chinese-styled tattoos. “It is a very large purple Asian dragon—oriental style—with clouds, flames on the on the side, a golden mane, painting a scroll.”

With his sarcastic remarks aside, Alewitz was not only impressed with the body of work being done at the slam, but optimistic about the growth of the genre of exhibition.

“I didn’t know what to expect—[but] I was hoping this would happen. Everything just went so well; if you’ve ever been involved in doing shows and galleries there’s always whining and carrying on, but from the moment people arrived they just went to the wall, focused on their work, and just worked,” said Alewitz.

“The slam was excellent—it was a great addition to the community, [and] got a lot of people out,” said Rebecchi after the event. “It was important because art at Central is greatly under-looked and under-funded, and it brought a lot of attention to the great art we have and the great artists we have.”

Rebecchi then mentioned that on top of the Mural Slam, the art department has also been involved in the acquisition of studio space for its students, several gallery openings, New York City trips and a Baltimore-DC museum tour through the Art Club.

By the end of the day, the group of artists stood victorious as they were presented with a multitude of coveted trophies, including “Most Ineffective Use of a Small Brush,” “Best Rendering of a Moustache-Dog, or Something,” “Best Use of Intergalactic Fetus,” “Most AntiClimatic Painting” and “Worst Rendering of Benjamin Franklin.”

“The breadth of work was just remarkable—it was very inspiring. All those graffiti kids that came were so taken by the fact that there are people that appreciate what they did and wanted to see their art—that you forget that people are doing this illegally,” Alewitz said. “Here they could come and work on a good wall and be welcome. It was just great.”

Alewitz finished up presenting the last couple of trophies; the paint-covered Mural Slam veterans stood spread across the roof of the garage, the air thick with tired satisfaction.

With each painter now holding a golden toilet seat, stuffed penguin, baseball bat, brick, or some other awkward prize, the first annual CCSU Mural Slam drew to a close just as the sun began to set on the artists’ work.

Helen Rebecchi accepts her “Most ineffective use of a paintbrush” award from Professor Mike Alewitz.

Photos by Stephanie Bergeron and Marissa Blaszko