vol105Issue26

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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Volume 105 No. 26

Entrepreneur Imparts Life Lessons to Students MATT kiERNAN The Recorder

43folders.com creator Merlin Mann came to campus to help students figure out what they need to focus on to be successful in their personal and professional lives.

“I think we have to find the problems that we’re comfortable with solving rather than the problems that aren’t there,” said Mann. Mann said that teachers can help students get on the right track, but they can’t help students figure out what they want to do in life. It’s up to the students to figure that out.

“I remember feeling a pressure to do certain things a certain kind of way,” said Mann on his time spent growing up.

He went on to say that there are a lot of opportunities out there for people to do interesting things with their life.

Mann told a story of how a college friend of his had known he wanted to be a lawyer since a very young age and one day became a lawyer and ended up hating it. He said that what you want to do and be today may change over time and that it’s normal for it to happen.

He went on to say that college is just the beginning of the rest of your life and that as you go on life will become increasingly more weird and exciting.

“I don’t think you’re really going to learn anything until you’ve gotten your butt kicked,” said Mann.

The workshop aimed at helping students find jobs was lead by digital humanities student Alex Jarvis. Jarvis said that instead of focusing on making video games. He wanted to concentrate on how video games make people feel and that he’s fine with the possibility of changing his mind down the road of what he wants to do with his life.

Mann recalled being in junior high school and his class spinning a vocational wheel for finding what jobs there are and what they do. He hopes that instead of people focusing on the one thing they’re good at, they’ll think about things that freak them out and ask themselves why it freaks them out.

“Anything that has high value in your life will come from an aweSee Entrepreneur Page 3

Anderson’s Edge

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

STORY BY MELiSSA TRAyNOR and ChARLES DESROChERS / ThE RECORDER

Anderson Cooper is proud of the fact that he has learned to out-hustle colleagues and overwork himself to get ahead.

Despite his outward modesty and shyness in regards to giving his full-fledged opinion on issues other than himself, the “Anderson Cooper º360” host exuded a confidence in what he does and how he does it.

He fully acknowledges the idea that perseverance and dedication, and especially his commitment to working weekends and holidays, have made him the anchor and reporter he is today.

At first rescheduling his Vance Lecture Series appearance due to work and original scheduling conflicts, Cooper spent the day on campus last Friday and concluded it with airing “º360” live from Willard Hall’s TV studio.

Between touring the campus, first in a meeting with President Jack Miller, then on to a more intimate question and answer session with students, a dinner and a lecture, Cooper allowed glimpses of the dedicated journalist who is otherwise recognized as one of America’s media darlings.

During the informal Q&A in Founders Hall, he answered mostly typical questions. In the same way

that Dan Rather spoke candidly about his beginnings in radio during his Vance lecture in 2007, Cooper’s answers ranged from retelling his experiences in the field to his work habits.

His career sprouted from a general interest in war and a fascination with being on the other side of the lines - the generally unsafe side of the lines.

Since he was young, he was interested in learning about the military and happened to read about war correspondence in Vietnam in college (Yale University).

While he reflected on his college years as political science major, a term he joked often about and admitted that he still hasn’t completely figured out, he credited his college

education with learning exactly what he didn’t want to do.

“I didn’t want to stay in school any longer. Going to graduate school because I didn’t know what I wanted to do – as a fall back – didn’t appeal to me at the time,” he said.

His path or whatever prescribed plan was still working itself out.

“At the time I felt like I was flailing around in the dark,” Cooper said. He explained that not only does he see that despite whatever his initial reservation of confusion was, he understands that his path up until this point is very clear.

“What I think I learned in college is that you should make choices based on what your gut tells you and

“When you’re on the front lines, when you’re in a conflict zone, it’s like the air hums. You feel alive.”

what your interest is now,” he said.

“And if you do that, you’ll be doing something that you’re passionate about… and you’ll be successful at it.”

Hosting his “º360” on weeknights, Cooper’s Monday-thoughFriday week belong to CNN, but he spends his weekends “60 Minutes” for CBS. He explained that he doesn’t really take weekends or holidays.

Advising that passion is the key to success, Cooper was able to draw from his own experiences working double shifts, into weekends and through lunch breaks.

“And that’s the only way to succeed,” he said, “by out-hustling and out-working everyone else around you.”

Looking back on his work with the news agency Channel One, Cooper said he took that determination with him when he decided to push his way into covering war with a See Anderson Cooper Page 2

Mezvsinky Says Goodbye After 42 Years with CCSU MATT kiERNAN The Recorder

Marking the end of a 42-year run at CCSU, Dr. Norton Mezvinsky delivered a farewell lecture and heartfelt goodbye last Monday.

An audience of fellow scholars and professors, students and friends surrounded the history professor as he told of his beginning at the university and some of his proudest achievements during his work at CCSU. Mezvinsky, who will leave to direct the Institute for Middle East Studies at Georgetown News Text Book Sales Tax Pg. 3

University, looked back on his tenure and pupils happily.

“I like the students or at least most of them that I’ve had the privilege of teaching,” remarked during his speech.

Mezvinsky is an accomplished author and scholar who has focused his career on on the teachings and studies of the subjects of Judaism, American history and the Middle East. These, he said, are the most rewarding of subjects for himself and the topics he found to be interesting even from a young age.

The lecture was opened with an introduction by associate professor of history Dr.

Matthew Warshauer who credited Mezvinsky with his own interest in history.

“If it wasn’t for Norton Mezvinsky, I probably wouldn’t have taken the path that lead me here today,” said Warshauer who attended CCSU for his bachelor’s degree and so happened to take a history class with Mezvinsky during his undergraduate studies.

At the goodbye ceremony Mezvinsky was awarded with the honor of being given his own eponymous scholarship, which will be offered to students studying abroad or working in Washington D.C.

Mezvinsky discussed his first teaching opportunities at CCSU. When Mezvinsky joined the faculty at CCSU in 1967, he was living in New York City and was quite happy with his living situations there.

He planned to spend his time teaching within the city at the City College of New York, but was later introduced to the CCSU campus.

After being brought to CCSU and offered a job in teaching by university President Herbert Welte, Mezvinsky gave CCSU a chance.

Although he originally planned to live in New York City, commute to CCSU and later land a job See Mezvinsky Page 3

Opinion Swine Flu is ‘Pandemic’ of Hype Pg. 5

Upgrade Taste and Class Without the Wine Snobbery Pg. 6

Sports Blue Devils Soccer Defeats United Pg. 12

News

2 THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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Editor-in-Chief Melissa Traynor Managing Editor Peter Collin Art Director Geoffrey Lewis Associate Layout Editor Crystal Maher Photo Editor Edward Gaug Copy Editor Colette Gallacher News Editors Matt Kiernan Tonya Malinowski Entertainment Editor Jason Cunningham Asst. Entertainment Michael Walsh Nick Viccione Sports Editor Kyle Dorau Asst. Sports Christopher Boulay Opinion Editor Shauna Simeone Asst. Lifestyles Charles Desrochers

About

The Recorder is a studentproduced publication of Central Connecticut State University and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of CCSU’s administrators, faculty or students. The Recorder articles, photographs and graphics are property of The Recorder and may not be reproduced or published without the written permission from the Editor-in-Chief. The purpose of The Recorder is to approach and define issues of importance to the students of Central Connecticut State University.

Anderson Cooper’s Edge

Continued from page 1

forged press pass and limited protection.

Somalia is where he learned how to be a reporter, he said, and then spent the next two and a half years jumping from one war to another, including the Rwanda genocide in 1994 – an event he frequently remarked upon throughout the day.

Starting off as a reporter for the Channel One, Cooper said that his days covering wars beginning in Burma were spent traveling through war zones and looking for the opportunity to just happen upon a story where he could find one. He didn’t speak as though stories were too hard to find.

Cooper told stories of his early travels in Somalia, to which he credited a sharpened sense of self-protection and caution. Though, in between his quirky tales of “growing up reporter”, Cooper hinted at the massive tragedy and destruction that he has spent much of his career covering.

During his stay in Somalia, he hired a roaming band of gunmen for protection, for lack of other options.

This story garnered a good amount of laughs from the small audience in Founders.

“They were my protectors, but I was actually more scared of them than anyone else,” he said.

“One day we were at a burial ground where about a hundred people were dying of famine every day in this town, so they were just mass burying people.”

“We were at this burial ground waiting for some bodies to come and I suddenly realized, ‘why don’t these guys just shoot me and dump my body in a pit and walk away and take whatever I have?’” he continued.

“So I kept coming up with all of these stories about all my journalist friends who were going to be coming on the next couple of flights,” he said.

Since then, he said, he’s enjoyed much more sophisticated and heavier protection as major media companies have hired private protection and afforded the expense of armored vehicles.

While it’s not so today, Cooper said he was able to wander around the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia looking for stories. He faced the occasional mortar shell or shooters, but was never specifically targeted as a journalist before.

“You never know how you’re going to react when someone takes out a gun and starts shooting, or when you’re in the midst of a mob and there’s a chaotic situation,” Cooper said, and added that luckily he was often able to operate well under pressure.

Treasurer of the Robert Vance Foundation Edward Young commented on Cooper’s audacity. “[I’m amazed by] the fact that he’s gone behind the lines and done some pretty hands-on stuff on the battlefield,” he said. “It really amazes me when reporters put their own personal safety at risk for their minor duties.”

Cooper said that when he returns home to the States, his stay often feels boring and inactive. It makes regular life appear very dull upon return.

“When you’re on the front lines, when you’re in a conflict zone, it’s like the air hums,” he said.

“You feel alive.”

He said that war zones, where he is frequently exposed to scenes of literal life and death, can not help but mark a different world and mentality than that at home.

Conversation often drifted towards the line between sensationalistic reporting and how journalism can accurately reflect the emotion involved in the moment. Cooper is often asked about his methods for keeping that emotion secure.

“I tend to focus on people, real people in circumstances that are out of their control,” he said. “For me the

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

objective is to allow those people’s emotions to just come out and that you do that by just getting out of the way and not injecting yourself in.”

Cooper often emphasized the importance of objective and not volunteering any opinions, which is what at least some of Friday’s night audience showed up for.

“The impression I have of him is that he is generally objective, wellinformed and alert,” said Ray Andrews a CCSU alumnus who was invited to attend the Vance Lecture dinner.

Cooper does, however, believe in the importance of being personally impacted by the stories he covers. Or else it would make him more susceptible to the common plight of unaffected journalists in keeping themselves completely detached from their subjects.

“And it’s a hard thing because when you’re out there the more you see of human suffering, the more you see of war and tragedies associated with it, the harder it is to allow yourself to be affected by it,” Cooper explained.

He stressed that while he is certainly affected by the scenes of horror he has witnessed, he acknowledges it as normal.

“You end up miserable a lot of times or sad or whatever based on what you’re seeing depending on where you are and that’s okay,” he said. “You’re supposed to be sad at least some of the time.”

“And that’s the only way to succeed – by out-hustling and outworking everyone else around you.”

Throughout the day, Cooper couldn’t help but reflect on his experiences as a reporter during civil war or ethnic cleansing, rape, famine, disease and the general hostilities and dangers associated with war. A cause he made a special point of, at least several times on Friday, was the conflict in Zaire, or what is known as the Congo.

He often reminded the audience that the conflicts are escalating to the point where they cannot be ignored. Cooper expressed without overwhelming sorrow the individual tales of rape in the region, where villains take pleasure in publicly humiliating and disfiguring women as young as 3 and beyond 85 years old.

It is one particular area he is interested in covering because he believes that even though the viewer demand for it is low, news agencies have a responsibility to tell these people’s stories.

Known for his experiences in reporting on Hurricane Katrina, Cooper also took time to acknowledge the great amounts of hope and desolation he saw in New Orleans.

“I’ve seen a lot of bodies out of the streets, but to see them in the United States was something very different,” he said.

On the flipside, he easily turned the depressed state of the flooded city into a reason to believe that hope exists.

“In the wake of the tsunami we saw complete strangers literally reaching out and saving other strangers,” Cooper said. “In the streets on New Orleans we saw tremendous acts and in the three and a half years since the storm we see tens of thousands of college students going down to New Orleans and volunteering their time instead of taking spring break somewhere fun.”

While Cooper’s “emo journalism” has been criticized, it is a great command of his emotions and sensibility that attracted more than a few of Friday’s audience members to his lecture and his CNN program.

Bryce McKinzie ’12 praised him for his level-headedness despite his chaotic surroundings and his ability to draw in otherwise uninterested viewers.

“They might be watching because of Anderson cooper but they’re actually listening to what he says,” McKinzie said.

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MET WITH OPPOSITION

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

Members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church (left) spent this past Wednesday morning protesting against the state of Connecticut’s stance on gay marriage in front of New Britain High School. Over 40 students (one of which at right) from the high school came out before class to voice their opinions against the church’s anti-gay postition.

3

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 6, 2009 / NEWS

Mezvinsky Says Goodbye to 42-year History with CCSU

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

Professor Norton Mezvinsky delivered his “Final Lecture” last week to a packed-in crowd at Torp Theater in Davidson Hall.

Continued from page 1 teaching elsewhere, Mezvinsky was so thrilled with his job at CCSU that he decided to stay.

He said he knew that he didn’t have to worry about being academically stifled and had developed friendships with colleagues.

In recent years, Mezvinsky’s proudest achievement has been the formation of the Middle East lecture series that brings scholars the subject to CCSU to discuss the problems and issues with events occurring in the Middle East.

He hopes to continue the series for years to come and if asked is willing to help bring friends and scholars to campus to speak.

During his speech, Mezvinsky also looked to his past to recall events that occurred on campus and what was most memorable to him.

He remembered and spoke of his first year at Central where there was a debate on Vietnam and if R.O.T.C. should be supported on campus, which Mezvinsky spoke openly against.

He wishes CCSU to not become state-man controlled for Connecticut and wishes the university to have shared government within.

“We need to emphasize the value of having scholars on the faculty and scholarship,” said Mezvinsky.

He also suggested that the CSU system add faculty members to the Board of Trustees.

For people in positions of government power, he described a leader as being someone with integrity and being an educator. He said that humility is lacking in many of today’s current political leaders.

CCSU Speaks Out On Textbook Sales Tax Shauna Simeone The Recorder

Connecticut legislators are considering repealing a law that exempts student textbooks from being charged with the 6 percent sales tax.

The newly added tax will affect nearly every college student across the state.

Jack O’Leary, manager at the CCSU bookstore, feels that repealing this law could create problems.

“CCSU was instrumental in removing the tax on textbooks in the first place,” he said.

He believes that lawmakers are forgetting the original reasons for creating the law, which were to support the education system and help to make college a little more affordable for students.

O’Leary’s advice for the campus community is to “be proactive and write to your legislator” regarding the issue.

Students, too, are concerned about the new law. Tim Waldron ’10, said is considering other options aside from buying books.

“Textbooks are expensive enough as it is. I might consider not even buying them next semester,” he said.

This type of attitude is worrisome to some faculty such as physics

and earth science professor Dr. Steven B. Newman.

“Not having the text can adversely affect their grade, especially if they are not particularly good notetakers, or miss some classes,” he said.

With the repeal of the exemption law, faculty and students will both have to make an effort to keep the cost down for students. Many students hope that teachers will use old editions of the texts to keep down costs.

Chemistry professor Dr. Thomas Burkholder said that the science departments have some of the most expensive books on campus.

“Keep in mind that in some areas of chemistry the market for texts is small, which drives up the cost,” Burkholder said.

He also commented on the fact that science is a constantly growing field with new information coming in all the time.

“In some areas such as biochemistry, the material is still being actively updated so the textbooks have to be updated more frequently,” he said.

Newman concurred with this statement, and said he typically does not use old editions of the text because of the fact that they are being constantly updated.

Due to difficulties of using old versions of textbooks, students are required to buy expensive versions of the new books.

“Students have a hard time affording their books already,” he said and added that the extra cost of the “sales tax just makes it that much more difficult.

The college community seems uneasy about the sales tax being added on to textbooks.

“Textbooks are already overpriced and this new law is basically taxing education,” O’Leary said.

Entrepreneur Imparts Life Lessons to Students Continued from page 1 some decision and a cool person,” said Mann.

The term networking is one that Mann shuns, but thinks the idea of making connections with other people to progress in life is one of the most important things students can do to succeed in getting a job.

In another part of the workshops, Mann talked about controlling the amount of e-mails a person

receives in their inbox and how to maintain it. Keeping your inbox closer to having zero e-mails will make your life much easier instead of having to worry about sifting through emails like it’s a second job.

Mann described attention management as when a person spends their time on things that are important.

Much of a person’s day in the workforce can be wasted on going

through e-mails that are unnecessary.

“E-mail is a medium for moving something from one place to another,” said Mann.

He went on to say that it’s not a place to hang out and that it needs to be emptied like a normal mailbox.

Mann thinks that if a person has the time to check their e-mail, they have the time to make a decision on what they want to do with it.

Controversial Activist Speaks at Central Tonya Malinowski The Recorder

Student demonstrators gathered outside of Davidson Hall Monday afternoon to protest political activist and philosopher Lyndon LaRouche.

Mostly members of the Youth for Socialist Action protestors were armed with comic book-style fliers depicting LaRouche as “a small-time Hitler”.

LaRouche spoke as part of the CCSU Middle East lecture series.

This particular event, unlike the rest of the series, was funded personally

by CCSU professor Norton Mezvinsky.

“I know some sharply negative attacks are being targeted at LaRouche here on campus,” Mezvinsky said. “The material being handed out is, at best, problematic factually, and some of it just downright false.”

LaRouche has run in eight presidential campaigns since 1976, has written extensively on political and economic topics, and directs a political action committee.

“I talked to some of [the protestors] and they have no idea what his real ideals are,” LaRouche Political Action Committee member Alex Allen said. “If you are going to come protest something, there should be some substance behind it.”

The YSA refused to comment.

Despite being part of a series of speakers on the Middle East,

LaRouche’s lecture focused mostly on his criticism of America’s political inadequacy and inevitable failure.

He mostly discussed Obama’s need for “adult supervision”.

“I am greatly worried about this president. I think he’s cuckoo at this point,” LaRouche said. “He cannot think for himself. He’s a puppet, and the only way he won’t fail is if the cabinet can keep him in captivity.”

LaRouche said the United States has been rapidly deteriorating since the Roosevelt administration and claims the cure is something similar to Hitler’s economic stimulus after coming to power in 1923 and “saving the country from depression”.

LaRouche faced a hostile crowd during the Q and A session after his lecture. Many in the crowd were unhappy with his characterization of Obama as a puppet. LaRouche answered questions by reiterating his beliefs about the American economic system being doomed.

While touching on the subject of the Middle East conflict, LaRouche said the problem is rooted in the fact that there is nothing there worth fighting over.

“I’m angered at my own people, like fools, who kill each other over things not even worth fighting for,” LaRouche said.

“We have to promote the welfare of the other nation as much, if not more, than our own.”

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

Activist and philosopher LaRouche was the target of a small demonstration outside Torp Theater on Monday.

4 THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Editorial

Editorial/Opinion

A bill that is currently passing through the Connecticut state legislature could decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. This would make Connecticut the fourteenth state to pass such a bill.

The bill would only apply to people over the age of 18, with younger people being charged under current laws. As the laws are now, marijuana possession in small amounts is considered a misdemeanor with the possibility of jail time or a fine of up to $1,000.

The new bill would change the penalty from possessing half an ounce or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction, which would eliminate the possibility of jail time. Also, the maximum fine would be lowered to $250.

Decriminalization of marijuana possession would be a step in the right direction for legislators. From an economic standpoint, decriminalization would save money for the state.

According to the General Assembly’s Office of Fiscal Analysis, there were 9,928 marijuana arrests in Connecticut in 2007. Estimates also say that 3,300 arrests were for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

The legislature has predicted that the new measure would save the state $11 million in legal fees, and also generate approximately $325,000 in revenue from fines. The economic benefits of this change would be undeniable and the state might as well make money off of it.

In reality, decriminalization of marijuana is a reasonable balance between lowering the much too harsh penalties of marijuana possession while still not fully condoning its use.

In fact, it is justifiable to completely legalize marijuana. It has proven time and again to be less dangerous than alcohol, a legal substance, and the medicinal purposes are vast and helpful to people who are suffering.

Additionally, legalizing marijuana would give the state additional income if they placed a

sales tax on the substance. The state would then have the ability to regulate the tax amount on marijuana, and also regulate what is put into marijuana. This would make it safer for users since illegal sellers could put nearly anything that they want into the marijuana that they sell.

In the most recent statistics, there were seven drug violations on the CCSU campus in 2007. Across the state, colleges have showed similar statistics with the University of Hartford having 9 arrests in 2006. The University of Connecticut, which is a much larger school, had 85 drug violations in 2007.

These statistics are extremely low. Drug use is not a huge problem on college campuses, so police should be spending their time, energy and money on enforcing and fixing more important and pressing issues such as violent crimes like rape and assault.

The fact that cigarettes and alcohol are legal makes it almost hypocritical to make marijuana illegal. The health concerns regarding

marijuana are less severe than with cigarettes and alcohol.

The state would save a huge amount of money if they stopped arresting people for marijuana possession and they would be able to focus their energy on the real criminal issues facing our society today.

Got something to say?

Write us a 200-300-word signed letter to the editor at ccsurecorder@gmail.com

What NOT to Ask

Consider these rules the next time a person of importance visits the campus.

Shauna Simeone The Recorder

Recently, CCSU was lucky enough to be graced by the presence of one of CNN’s lead anchors, Anderson Cooper, here on campus. He emphasized that he wanted his speech to be more of a dialogue, so he left plenty of time for questions from the audience. For the people who were chosen to ask questions, this was probably the only time in their lives that they would have a chance to speak directly with him.

Surprisingly, many of the questions asked by audience members were ridiculous or irrelevant. I have compiled a list of things that people should not do when they get to ask a famous person one special question.

No long political diatribes One particular audience member at the Anderson Cooper event decided to give a mini-

speech on the fact that Henry Kissinger was a war criminal. The actual question he asked was lost in the midst of it all, and it ended up being a wasted stretch of speech. In 99 percent of the cases, any one-minute speech that you make to these speakers is not going to change their minds, so stop trying.

No long-winded praises It is understandable that you are excited to meet these people, and going on about how great they are may flatter their ego, but other people in the audience would like to hear some kind of thoughtful answer from them.

Therefore you need to start asking a thoughtful question at least somewhere in the mix.

No irrelevant questions Prominent speakers may be experts in certain fields, but this does not make them qualified to give advice in every area of life. For

Transfer Plans May be Unnecessary Charles Desrochers The Recorder

The Connecticut State University System announced on April 22 that it would put forth plans to ease the transition into higher education.

The plan, according to the Hartford Courant, will focus on students who wish to transfer from community colleges and vocational schools by allowing them to be registered at their respective school and any of the four state university simultaneously.

“There has never been a difficulty to transfer from vocational schools or community colleges,” said Dr. Cathryn Addy, President of Tunxis Community College.

The agreement looks like it has the best of intentions but according to Dr. Addy, a seamless transition to the state universities has always been a main concern.

“The plan shows a lack of information on what’s being done here,” said Dr. Addy. “I’m not in favor of the alignment.”

According to Dr. Addy the plans intends to put the community colleges and the vocational schools under the same umbrella in reference to the state universities. She finds this concept to be disrespectful to the community

colleges since it does not put them in the level of higher learning that they think they deserve.

Set aside the fact that transferring from vocational and community colleges is an easier process than transferring from anywhere else, Dr. Addy’s complaint brings up a good question.

This puts forth the question about where community colleges belong in standing. Should they be lumped in with the vocational schools or are they to be treated more like a university?

Most students from Manchester Community College and Tunxis Community College transfer to any of the four state schools.

The credits are the same and in some cases the professors are the same.

General education courses at Tunxis in the summer are significantly more affordable than at CCSU. If a student could always take these courses while attending CCSU, then what would have stopped them from doing so prior to the plans announcement?

The more Dr. Addy spoke of it, the less it seemed like this plan was needed. When asked why she thought the plan was proposed she responded by saying there were individual and political reasons, but would not elaborate further.

This plan may mean that outside sources will be affecting how these schools are run.

They’re trying to fix an unbroken system.

example, Cooper heard a sad story about a woman who has been unemployed for a while and wanted some advice. Cooper responded with something along the lines of, “I don’t know what to tell you. Keep working hard”.

Again, what made you think that Cooper would have some brilliant advice on how to help you find a job? Try and keep your questions relevant to the speaker’s expertise, so they can possibly give a legitimate answer.

No “gotcha” questions Occasionally you will come across an audience member who has uncovered an obscure and unknown fact that contradicts something that the speaker has said. They proceed to tell the fact and then say something like “how do you explain that?!”. Honestly, give these speakers a break. They have to answer on the spot in front of a large group of people. They probably don’t feel like getting into a heated debate to prove you wrong or argue with you. You can

guarantee that these types of questions always bring along an awkward moment for everyone.

No abnormally long questions There is one in every audience; that one person who loves to hear themselves talk. In these cases, the questions never seem to turn out as well as expected. Either, the point of the question was lost somewhere along the way, or the whole 45-second prelude to the question was completely irrelevant and a waste of time for everyone listening. Please, save some time for other people. Just get to the point and everyone will be happy.

Hopefully, the next time the CCSU community and hundreds of fascinated local residents face the opportunity to speak to someone of stature, be it the President of the United States or one of your personal idols, you keep in mind these points of advice. Asking a good question can really help add to a memorable moment.

5

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 6, 2009 / OPINION

Swine Flu is ‘Pandemic’ of Hype Shauna Simeone The Recorder

Yet again the mainstream media has hyped up a situation in the name of fear.

Everyone remembers the bird flu, anthrax, and wait, shouldn’t Florida be under water by now?

These are more examples of potential global disasters that turned out to be nothing more than than a quick scare.

The swine flu, or 2009 H1N1, is the newest example of a so-called potential “pandemic” that was over-hyped.

In the past week since the outbreak of the swine flu in the United States, the Center for Disease Control has reported 106 cases and 1 death. This means that only .6 percent of people who were diagnosed with the swine flu have died. This is hardly the killing machine that the media has made it out to be. And according to the Associated Press’ medical reports, “only nine people are known to have ended up in the hospital” with the swine flu.

In fact the swine flu hardly has the spreading power that was expected. AP reports, “In New York City, which has the most confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S. with 49, swine flu has not spread far beyond cases linked to one Catholic school. In Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, very few relatives of flu victims seem to have caught it”.

Although the swine flu has yet to become disastrous, the media has been reporting endlessly about it over the past week.

The run-of-the-mill doomsday scenarios come out, and the fear spreads quickly among citizens. Almost everyone has heard of the swine flu, but far fewer people would be able to tell you that Arlen Specter has become a Democrat. Fear sells, and the media in turn play up situations that cause alarm.

This is a grossly irresponsible decision by the media to hype up a situation like this because there are adverse consequences to the panic that they instill. Our economy is already

struggling, and fear over the swine flu is like kicking a dead horse.

For example, pork sales have gone down, and people are afraid to fly on planes thanks to some not-so-reassuring comments from Vice President Joe Biden. Also, a number of schools have been shut down across the country because of the flu, including those in Middlefield, Wethersfield and a few other towns in Connecticut.

Some people believe that it is better to be safe then sorry when coming to a situation like the swine flu. It is true that we are uncertain about the future of the flu. There is a possibility that the flu might morph into a more virulent strain, but this is the case with all types of viruses.

We need to focus on keeping the swine flu in perspective. The regular seasonal flu kills thousands of people every year, but schools aren’t closed down and people aren’t wearing masks over their faces.

CCSU has taken a very appropriate response to the situation. A memo was sent out to students on April 27, which reassured students that so far no one in the CCSU community has been infected. Some reasonable precautions were listed in the memo and around campus such as “wash your hands often” and “cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you sneeze”.

These are practical recommendations because these steps can be expanded and prescribed to anyone who wants to keep germs away. It was also beneficial that CCSU listed a resource that someone could call if they had been infected. The memo was informative, but not alarming.

Hopefully students will understand that although it is important to be cautious of catching the swine flu, as well as any flu in general, it is not reason to hinder your daily activities or cause significant fear. It appears some media outlets will never learn from past over-hyped incidents and will continue to try and scare the human population as much as possible.

Notes from the white board

THIS SHIT WAS BANANAS.

Charles Desrochers | The Recorder

Illustration by Geoffrey Lewis | The Recorder

Specter’s Defection Will Help GOP Win Young Voters Michael Warren UWIRE

(UWIRE) - The reaction from conservative pundits to Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter’s decision last week to become a Democrat would lead some to believe that this was the final nail in the Republican Party’s coffin.

The implication is that the GOP’s stock with voters will sink further as it becomes more ideological. For Republicans to succeed in the future, people like David Frum at NewMajority. com tell us that the party must stop mistreating its moderate members. They say this sort of purging of the impure turns off moderate voters, that desirable cohort Bush split in 2000 and 2004 and Obama won handily last November.

What is worse is the youth vote went decidedly for Obama in 2008, a fact that naturally horrifies Republicans. Supposed voices for young Republicans like Meghan McCain continue to sound the alarm that the GOP is losing ground with the youth of America because the party is not inclusive enough.

Here’s how the narrative usually goes: Young voters find this sort of ideological rigidity especially distasteful. The GOP now has to play catch up on the middle-of-the-road rhetoric that delivered the next generation of voters for Obama and the Democrats. Specter’s switch reinforces the idea that the Republican Party is not a big tent but an exclusive club for only the true believers.

But there are problems with this argument on its assumptions alone. Establishment Republicans have been propping up the reliably liberal Specter for years, and there was little support for his 2010 primary challenger Pat Toomey among the major fundraising committees.

As for ideology, the Democratic Party is arguably just as beholden to its own activist wing. The MoveOn.org crowd brings in the money for the party and it howls at conservative Blue Dogs for their unorthodox views on social or economic issues.

Is it indeed true that young voters are not voting for Republicans because of this percep-

tion that the party is too ideological? Perhaps, but more importantly, will they continue to feel this way in future elections? The youth of America may be on an Obama high at the moment, but the euphoria may already be slipping away as the reality of the president’s spending policy sinks in.

Part of Obama’s youth appeal was the idea that his candidacy represented a shift from the destructiveness of our parents’ generation. A politically independent friend of mine tells me that our generation sees the current problems with the economy, the environment and social issues as being unfairly foisted upon us by the people who screwed it all up in the first place.

Obama was supposed to deliver us from this political evil to the promised land of change.

This is precisely why the Democrats’ lock on the current generation of voters is hardly a guarantee. It will not be long before many college students who voted for Obama begin to see the price of change on their paychecks. The Congressional Budget Office predicted in their March 2009 report budget deficits over three times as large as those over the last several years, and the total deficit over the next 10 years is predicted to be $10 trillion. Young adults paying bills, college loans and mortgages will not stand for much more government spending expansion if that means higher taxes.

This is when the Republican Party can step in. Without the burden of having to apologize for big spenders like Specter, a more ideologically “pure” GOP can develop conservative policy ideas to present as alternatives to what will certainly be a more expansive and more expensive federal government. Young adults will need a party with strong leadership and strong ideas. The Republican Party must expect both of these qualities out of their elected officials.

Republicans can and should be proactive on shaping the future of the party partly on the ideas of responsible spending and limited government. If Obama and the Democrats continue to submit budgets with outrageous deficits, the GOP can expect the winds of the political fallout to shift in their direction.

6 THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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Class and Taste Without the Snobbery Charles Desrochers / The Recorder

Wallingford, Conn.’s Gouveia Vineyards prides itself on what sets it apart from the others: using only New England grapes and offering a truly unique and certainly casual wine tasting experience.

But the vineyards bear no grapes just yet. The vines, sitting atop 15 acres of cultivated land, are budding and the rolling hills surrounding them are lush with green, but Gouveia expects to harvest the grapes sometime in late summer.

Despite the overcast weather on Saturday, patrons kept arriving at the stone building that houses Gouveia’s winery. Their attire ran the gamut from shirt and tie to an old Walter Payton football jersey.

“We get so many age groups,” said Theresa Black, a bartender at Gouveia, as a group of college students were unpacking their bags of Doritos chips.

“I’d say that when it comes to wine tasting, it is as individualistic as art is,” said Black.

Black and the other employees are stationed at the bar, waiting to escort customers through the list of wines that they have to offer.

Gouveia’s employees aren’t bossy, they don’t impose and they don’t pester. They simply wait at the bar for the customers to come to them.

This kind of service sets the tone for an experience that feels natural and homely. The winery and lounge area are situated to offer a view of the vineyards to make for a scenic experience. After staring out

Charles Desrochers | The Recorder

Charles Desrochers | The Recorder

onto the landscape for several minutes, it’s beyond easy to forget this is a business establishment.

Gouveia offers seven red and white wines as well as two house blends. The vineyards’ chardonnays, rosé, cabernet and five other wines range between $15 and $22 per bottle.

If a guest prefers something other than wine, they also offer nonalcoholic beverages like soda, coffee and tea. They do have a restriction, however, against outside beverages.

Gouveia does not sell food so they have adopted a policy that allows customers to bring whatever food they want. There is no minimum requirement for how many

drinks a person has to buy to enjoy the room.

If someone wanted to drink a $4 glass of Seyval Blanc alongside a Subway meatball grinder they can sit and enjoy their meal for as long as they wish.

“Sometimes we get parents who set up picnic blankets outside and watch their children run around,” said Black. Guests are also allowed to roam the vineyard as they please.

She says that they try and keep parties down to 10 guests but if they grow larger, rarely is the rule ever enforced. Gouveia Vineyards also permits a tour of their wine cellar, should a larger party of guests request one.

What Joe and Lucy Gouveia have done is create a wine tasting experience that is so approachable it is amazing to think that neither their standards nor their quality have been lowered. It’s high-class presentation with low-class dress code.

The vineyard is an inexpensive way to spend the afternoon. The options of food are limitless since guests eat what they choose to bring, and the wine is as good as any restaurant, but Gouveia’s local status makes it stand out.

With the semester coming to a close many of us will need some rest and relaxation in the coming weeks, Gouveia vineyards is as good as anything else.

Waiting for Lefty Delivers at CCSU Jason Cunningham The Recorder

Shouting fills the theater. As the audience enters they’re encouraged to “sign in”; to the left, sheets of paper and pens sit near the entrance.

Chairs fill the room, circling the low stage. Actors run around, full costume, addressing you as if you were a character in the play you’re about to watch.

The cast of Waiting for Lefty successfully executes the illusion; instead of being an audience member, you’re now an angry cab driver of the 1930s, seriously considering the possibility of a strike. The room quiets, waiting for Lefty Costello, their committee president, to arrive. Everyone in the theatre is now a cast member.

The CCSU theatre department certainly does Clifford Odets justice with their production of Waiting for Lefty, generating a believable atmosphere and an overall successful representation of the stress caused by the economic struggles of the play’s time period.

The April 28 opening performance, free to the public, was not without its subtle flaws, but those flaws were often overshadowed and forgotten due to the mostly excellent performances delivered by the young and talented cast.

RJ Negron, who displayed some of the strongest acting of the evening, played the part of Joe, quite possibly the most dominating character in the play. He pulled off a classic New York accent without making it cheesy or overbearing, and managed to create an extremely realistic romantic energy between himself and Edna, played by actress Annie Capobianco ‘11.

Michael Adolph Dichello ‘10 also gave one of the highlighting per-

formances of the evening, portraying the character of Harry Fatt so well, that he was actually an intimidating presence. Alongside him was Ben McLaughlin ‘09 as the Gunman, who completely embodied the violent force and questionable intelligence of the character, acting as an allegory to the period’s law enforcers.

The performance was marked by an invested director. Josh Perlstein, an associate professor of theatre at CCSU, showed us through Waiting for Lefty that CCSU has a very worthwhile Theatre Department.

The vignette where Fayette and Miller argue the morality of producing poisonous gases for biological warfare was moving and powerful, capturing Miller’s symbolic step towards communism, as well as symbolically regaining his deceased brother by the scene’s end.

Perlstein’s ability to navigate his actors towards these waters encourages the idea that even at a college with a little known theatre department, the stage can be used to sufficiently display heavy themes and major commentaries about society.

The present day’s weak economy and financial crunch made this tale of the working class hit closer to home than other plays the department could’ve chosen. You don’t need to be an underprivileged cab driver of the 1930s to relate to the episodes of human injustice depicted in this play, you don’t need to be a communist to appreciate it.

Fortunately, due to a great cast, director, and fantastic costume design thanks to Lani Johnson, this production of Waiting for Lefty proves that the often times overlooked CCSU Theatre Department is one of the university’s true hidden gems.

CCSU’s theatre department’s rendition of Waiting for Lefty focuses on the cab driver strikes of the 1930s.

7

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 6, 2009 / UPGRADE

A Landmark for Turkey, Three Monkeys Is a Stunning Work of Art

Michael Walsh The Recorder

I often think that the absolute best films, aesthetics aside, are ones that are able to challenge its viewers morally. Three Monkeys, a crime drama out of Turkey, is one of the latest champions at being able to make a lot out of a rather simple but serious predicament.

Photo: Zeitgeist Films

Three Monkeys is the much talked about film that won director Nuri Bilge Ceylan a very well deserved best director award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

After wealthy businessman Servet (Ercan Kesal), who is entering a political race, strikes and kills a pedestrian on a dark night, he calls his driver Eyüp (Yavuz Bingol) and asks him to take the blame for him. Eyüp’s

agreeing to help Servet out of his trouble is only the beginning of the problems his family is set to deal with.

Ceylan’s film opens as morose and dark as the rest of the film’s theme continues to be. At the center of Three Monkeys is a noir-based melodramatic story of a family’s inability to cope with internal struggles. The true exploding point of the film’s moralchallenging story is when Ismail (Rifat Sungar), Eyüp’s son, finds that his mother Hacer (Hatice Aslan) is potentially having an affair with Servet, the man who Eyüp is so graciously taking the fall for.

The film carries an extremely somber mood all the way throughout the film not only due to the serious nature of the family’s problems, but also because of the extremely dark palette of colors Ceylan chose to use when filming. The image of Servet’s disappearing car in the film’s intro is only the beginning of striking and stunning imagery used by Ceylan over and over again. With his unique and creative eye for visuals, Ceylan turns this film into a dreary painting of motion. It all speaks volumes to the levels of hell these characters are freefalling through.

To be applauded over and over again is Ceylan’s absolutely poetic

style of unfolding everything through the camera lens. This is one of the most brilliantly photographed films I’ve seen in the past few years. There are many long takes, intimate closeups to expose character grief and creative ways of portraying character quarrels, such as the camera being distant from the two characters that are actively in conflict. Ceylan, who also co-wrote the film, can be seen as a true visionary of the art that cinema can sometimes be. With cinematography to be remembered, this is quite possibly the most artistic a noir-bred story has ever been portrayed.

The small but stellar cast is additional help to perfecting Ceylan’s vision. Kesal, Bingol, Aslan and Sungar give the four key performances that give the film the emotional push so necessary to the subject nature. As the film progresses and conflict and confrontation heat up, the performances of Bingol and Aslan as the married couple are two to keep a particular eye on. They are the extreme focus of the second half of the film and for good reason. This film is purely plot and character driven. The actual actions that bring bad fortune to the characters are offscreen, leaving this film at the hands of its strong performances, deep character development and coherent narrative.

I will agree with anyone who criticizes the film for moving slow.

What I won’t do is agree with that being a suitable criticism. I’ve found that life moves at a slow pace. It isn’t simply a rapid progression of events and ever-changing emotions and feelings. I absolutely loved the way the narrative seemed to drag. For me it only increased the tension the characters faced. When you learn, in brilliant visual style, that the family is not only dealing with its current problems, but is also haunted by demons from the past, it all hits so much harder.

I also must note that what only adds to the unique nature of this film is that I found it to be more about the way this family plays to all of its problems in a deaf, dumb and blind way.

The film is not so much about the multitude of problems the family is dealing with, but rather the problem they have as acting like a coherent and communicative family.

Tension increasing narrative with sparse dialogue and glimpses of action from time to time might be seen as slow to some, but patience and a willingness to want to be challenged by Ceylan’s questions of morality result in Three Monkeys ending as a brooding masterpiece of the mise-en-scene pent up with undeniable character rage.

Disney Says, ‘This is your world, and you ruined it.’

Charles Desrochers The Recorder

Before anyone goes to see Disney’s Earth just know that you have seen it before.

I don’t mean this in a “seen one nature film, seen them all,” kind of a way. I mean that Disney’s Earth is literally footage from BBC’s epic series “Planet Earth” with James Earle Jones’ voice over.

The main body of the movie focuses on what was the migration section of “Planet Earth”. Other more popular scenes are the birds of paradise and the flying sharks from South Africa.

But in their original form these scenes were amongst a grander piece of work that provided flow to the context and information. Disney’s Earth money shots are put in because they look cool.

A perfect example of this is when the South African Great White Sharks are shown. They are given as an example of the predators that face a hump back whale and her cub on

their journey from Alaska to Antarctica.

Look at a map. Is South Africa on the way from Alaska to Antarctica?

To be fair I didn’t like Disney’s Earth as soon as I figured out what it really was. I’m sure the idea of seeing “Planet Earth” on digital projections and James Earle Jones instead of Sigourney Weaver sounds like a dream comes true, but I felt deceived.

The only production they added was to the soundtrack. Some scores were the same while others were newer. I’m not counting one or two stupid songs that played while the drunkish monkeys were foraging water. Honestly I can’t tell the difference between one grandiose orchestra and the other.

I would like to comment on the composition of this film but I can’t because I’m too bitter.

“Planet Earth” took five years to make with some cameramen spending months on location for shots like musk ox fighting. Two

Photo: BBC Worldwide

thousand days of shooting and Disney just swoops in with a bench saw and bastardizes the whole thing.

Then Disney has Darth Vader/ Mufasa guilt the audience for drink-

ing bottled water by talking about Polar Bears dying. This is seems like the pot calling the kettle black when you consider that Disney’s resorts gave out 244,814 metric tons (CO2

eq) of water. That’s almost as much as the country of Turkey.

That may be why they put out this movie. They reduced, reused and recycled BBC’s “Planet Earth”.

Wolverine Pulls Off Comic Book Edge, Ferocity

Photo: Twentieth Centruy-Fox

Sean Fenwick The Recorder

After X-Men 3 few people had any hopes for there being another X-Men movie. Likewise, many viewed Fox as the devil for destroying what the previous two films set up. X-Men

Origins: Wolverine tells us who Logan was before his memory was taken from him.

The recent trend in comic-book movies is realism. The Dark Knight showed everyone how realistic the super hero world can be, X-Men Origins: Wolverine does not. This

movie is over the top from beginning to end, there is seldom a moment when you stop and ponder if that could really happen. Sitting through this movie is like reading a comic book, there are explosions every few seconds and tough guys jumping out of helicopters.

Fox spared no expense in putting as many mutants they could in Wolverine. Hugh Jackman returns to the roll as Wolverine – no big surprise there. The real surprise was Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth/Victor Creed.

Schreiber exploded with feral rage every second he was on the screen. The character of Sabretooth was always an animal and this film decided to go a different route. We see an intelligent killing machine that as vicious as he is smart.

Another actor who shined in his role was Danny Huston as William Stryker. The X2 Stryker was an old man with a vendetta for all mutants.

Huston shows us a completely sane

human being who slowly loses his mind and becomes the typical mad scientist bent on destruction.

Ryan Reynolds shines as the merc with the mouth Wade Wilson/ Deadpool.

As for the rest of the cast everyone is a spot on embodiment of all their mutant characters.

Directed by Gavin Hood (famous for his award winning Tsoti) X-Men Origins’ plot moves along pretty fast but doesn’t feel rushed in anyway. Besides a few moneymaker shots that we all saw in the trailers and TV spots (Wolverine rising from the tank looking extremely pissed) this isn’t exactly a break through for Hood.

The action in X-Men Origins is over the top. Mutant powers are used in full force and look great. The fights between Wolverine and Sabretooth are nothing short of epic and relentless. It may sound like I think this movie is perfect but that’s not the case.

One of the biggest problems in this movie was the bad computergenerated imagery. That’s right, a big budget action movie with a star studded cast and Hugh Jackman has bad CGI. For some reason the simplest scenes had the worst effects. There is a scene where Logan is getting used to his new claws and it is obvious that the claws aren’t there. It astounds me that the first X-Men movie, that was made almost a decade ago, had better computer effects then this one.

As a huge X-Men fan my only concern was that this movie was better than X3, and it is. Perhaps not the best comic book movie ever made, but the best movie that looks and feels like a comic book.

8

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 6, 2009 / UPGRADE

Gomorra Paints a Daunting, Realistic Picture of Modern Italian Crime

Michael Walsh The Recorder

When the writer of the book a film is based on needs a permanent police escort because the details he exposed were worthy of death threats, you know the film has a chance to be good. This is exactly what happened to Italian writer and journalist Roberto Saviano after the publishing of his bestselling book Gomorra.

Gomorra paints the stark reality of organized Italian crime in the modern era. The film tells five separate stories of different people all touched by crime in some way, shape or form. There’s a timid middleman, a 13-year-old caught up in a world of

Photo courtesy of: Fandango

crime, a graduate who can’t live with the dirty life of crime, a tailor who takes a night job working for the Chinese competition and two young Tony Montana wannabe gangsters whose cocky attitude puts them in a bad spot.

I suppose I’ll get the negatives out of the way. Because the film features a plethora of characters across five unique and different stories, not everything is as tightly wrapped in the narrative as one would probably want it to be. A lot is left unexplained and up to the viewer’s surmise. Those who haven’t read the book or are unfamiliar with the organized crime of the Italians (which, face it, is probably all of us) might find themselves

wondering what the motivation behind certain characters is for certain actions of theirs. Understanding the lives these people live is quite the thinking process, and director and co-writer of the film Matteo Garrone doesn’t exactly do too much to help outsiders understand. At 135 minutes, I wouldn’t have been opposed to expanding the length of this one.

Now, with that out of the way, let the good points flow. And there are lots of them. Gomorra is choreographed to such perfection that it’s almost scary. Garrone follows with a style that feels much like a documentary all the way through the film.

This releases off a feeling of legitimacy and realism to the project that

would be hard to best. It would be hard to argue that another method would have worked better for Garrone than this one did.

It seems odd to mention how well a film is scripted and choreographed before other things such as the acting or cinematography, but in many ways my doing should only give strength to how good this film exactly is.

The cast of Gomorra does indeed have something to do with the strengths of this film. While Garrone might be the mind behind how realistically the film plays out and how perfectly everything just happens to work out, the film wouldn’t be without its tremendous actors. I particu-

larly was impressed by the performances of Nicola Manta as Toto, the 13-year-old delivery boy taken in by a gang and Salvatore Cantulup as Pasquale, the tailor for celebrities. This is not to slight any one of the other worthy performances, but there was something special about the way these two actors, young and old, let the emotion of their respective characters exude their shells.

Garrone ties his perfect choreographing and great cast together in to one tremendous film with his super visionary effort. There are quite a few moments where simply the camerawork pulled off by Garrone and his team makes you stop and think about how impressive and creative the technique was. Garrone is also able to exact some of the poverty stricken urban land and bring it right to the forefront of the audience, adding to the film’s all too believable feel.

When a film overcomes a problem such as an unwound and loose narrative like Gomorra did, you have to give complete respects to everyone involved. There are certain aspects of films that keep them from becoming absolutely incoherent to the viewer.

Luckily for Garrone, the lack of having one simple narrative and the challenge of trying to keep the viewer updated on five different narrative stories didn’t prove to be too much trouble for him and everyone else involved. The Godfather this ain’t.

Gomorra manages to detail an uncompromising portrait of the modern organized crime in certain parts of Italy.

Foreign Languages Celebration to Take Place Thursday Ashley Foy

Special to The Recorder

The Celebration of Modern Languages will take place in Founder’s Hall on Thursday, May 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m.

The Caribbean Center, Diversity Office and modern language department have put this event together to present the great opportunities CCSU has to offer in foreign languages.

Breakfast and music with Centro Cultural Imbabura (music of

Ecuador) will begin the day’s events, in addition to opening words from Dr. Lillian Uribe, chair of the modern languages department.

The next sessions will then focus on Spanish, beginning with a short presentation spotlighting the course abroad to Barcelona. From 9:45-9:50 a.m., an introductory Spanish class will present a poem from a children’s book, followed by original poems by students from the SPAN 375 class.

Switching gears to French, the FR 126 class will briefly present

Francophone Regions, followed by the SPAN 226 class, who will switch into role-plaing shortly after.

After the first round of presentations, music by Centro Cultural Imbabura will be played, accompanying the guests’ option to visit tables and projects presented by the students until 11 a.m.

The short period will be followed by entertainment provided by an intermediate Italian class.

From 11:05 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. guests will hear information on a course abroad in China, a Spanish

class that will perform interviews on stage, a newspaper presentation and more presentations before lunch.

Lunch and music with Centero Cultural Imbabura will allow guests a 25-minute break. During lunch, guests may roam the poster displays of student presentations and French students will take the stage for a 5-minute French Caribbean Dance.

The Spanish 304 class will then peform a 10-minute acting presentation, followed by the final presentation, a video project by the Ger 126 class to stretch beyond 1 p.m.

Music by Centro Cultural Imbabura will follow while guests may visit individual group tables and extended presentations.

Class Project Awards will be distributed for modern languages 200, Spanish 126/128, Spanish 191/291 and German 226/336, beginning at 2 p.m.

Individual student awards will be rewarded following the project awards.

9

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 6, 2009 / UPGRADE

Hurt Goodbye to the Machine Amusement April 7, 2009 Finding quality hard or alternative rock bands in America these days is quite challenging.

It’s a brooding and heavy style of music that has gone wayward with the revolution of the music television channels and corporate radio stations. More image, less quality seems to be the motto.

Because of this, decent bands have the opportunity to look brilliant in my eyes. And that’s just what the band Hurt did when I saw them play a live show while I was awaiting a headline act.

Lead singer J. Loren puts an awful lot of emotion, anguish and energy into his act and it’s absolutely gripping.

CALENDAR

With Goodbye to the Machine, Hurt has now released five studio albums. And here’s the thing. By no stretch is this album bad. The problem for me is that it doesn’t quite resonate to me like their 2006 release Vol. 1 did. After seeing Hurt live and hearing Vol. 1, I was hooked and had their record spinning constantly. I trouble myself in trying to find the right word for what their latest album doesn’t have that their previous efforts had, but it’s one of those unspeakable sort of things that doesn’t allow for the music to leave your memory. The new album lacks that strong hook.

What Goodbye to the Machine doesn’t lack is effort and emotion. The energy is sincere and the talent is prevalent. Hurt has always centered their songs around the construction of their emotions, and the newest album is no different. t’s absolutely refreshing to hear some meaningful and honest words these days. The group absolutely knows how to construct a

song and with J. Loren’s unique addition of violin (he uses it during live shows as well) the band has something that sets them apart from the pool of lookalike bands.

Not every album from a band can be golden, and I understand this. The group is still fairly young in its development and with the talent, energy, drive and ability these men have, the band can go a long ways in establishing itself as a premiere group of the heavy/alternative rock genre.

Until then, I’ll keep giving this album a try. It’s worth a listen or two, that’s for sure. If it doesn’t work out in the end, I’ll just keep replaying their past brilliance and wait around until their next album.

Michael Walsh / The Recorder

5.6 - 5.13.09

CCSU EVENTS

5.10 Wale @ Pearl Street Nightclub Northampton, Mass. $10 / 8:30 p.m.

5.6-7 Rock-a-Thon and Fish Toss Fundraiser by Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority @ Student Center Circle 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

5.6 Telling Her Story: Emily Chasse @ Women’s Center Lounge Student Center 12 p.m.

Telling Her Story provides an opportunity for CCSU female students, staff, faculty and administrators to meet once a month to share their personal and professional successes. Each month, a female member of the campus community is selected to speak about her work, her life and her challenges in an informal setting among fellow female students, faculty, staff and administrators.

5.6 First Annual Brian O’Connell Lecture @ Philnbrick/Camp Room Student Center 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

This lecture is part of the activities for the International Year of Astronomy and the first of an annual series of lectures in memory of Prof. Brian O’Connell of the CCSU Computer Science and Philosophy Departments.

5.7 Carolyne Wright Poetry Reading @ Vance 105 Vance Academic Center 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

5.8 Latin Film Festival @ Torp Theater Davidson Hall 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Mercy Mercedes w/ Holiday Parade Audio New Year @ The Space $12 / 7 p.m.

5.6 King Khan and The Shrines @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn. $12 5.8 Franz Ferdinand w/ Born Ruffians @ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel Providence, R.I. $25 / 8 p.m.

5.8 PWRFL Power w/ Cap Lori @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn. $6 5.8 John Prine w/ Jason Wilber @ Shubert Theater New Haven, Conn. $40 - 50 / 8 p.m.

5.8 Chris Barron (of the Spin Doctors)

5.9 Central Gaming Club Presents: “Gaming Palooza” @ Alumni Hall Student Center 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.

5.10 Quantum of Solace @ Torp Theater Davidson Hall 9 p.m.

5.11 Sinfonietta Concert @ Welte Auditorium 7:30 p.m.

5.12 Mobiloxyschlock Improv Performance @ Welte Auditorium 7:30 p.m.

MUSIC 5.6

5.13 Very Truly Yours w/ Death to New England @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn.

9 p.m.

ART/ CRAFT Through 5.7 Senior Capstone Projects on Display @ Chen Gallery Maloney Hall 1-4 p.m.

5.7 Art After Hours @ Wadsworth Atheneum Hartford, Conn. $5 / 5 p.m.

Live Music from 5 to 8 p.m.: Voted “Best Latin Band” by Hartford Advocate readers, Catalina and guests will perform the soothing and syncopated rhythms of Brazil including choro, bossa nova, and samba. A dance instructor will be on hand to show you the moves.

Gallery Talk at 6 p.m.: With Susan L. Talbott, Director of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, in Director’s Choice: Abstract Expressionism to Color Field Painting. Film at 8 p.m.: Slumdog Millionaire presents an impoverished Indian teen becomes a contestant on a game show in hopes of finding the love of his life, who is an ardent fan of the show.

5.9 Outdoor Flea Market @ The Space Hamden, Conn.

9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

FILM Through 5.7 Gigantic @ Real Art Ways Hartford, Conn. $6.50 / 7 p.m. @ The Space Hamden, Conn. $12 / 7 p.m.

5.9 Fisherspooner @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn. $25 / 9 p.m.

5.9 The Tartans @ Artspace Underground New Haven, Conn. $5 / 8 p.m.

5.6 – 12 Gran Torino @ Cinestudio Hartford, Conn. $7 / 7:30 p.m.

“...darkly funny... a disarming tale that’s one of the better independent films in recent memory...with a wonderful cast who inhabit their distinctive roles with hand-in-glove precision.”

Gary Goldstein, LA Times Brian Weathersby (Paul Dano) is a salesman at a high-end Swedish mattress company. Brian is smitten when Harriet Lolly (Zooey Deschanel) falls asleep on one of the beds in his store. With John Goodman as Harriet’s art-collecting, loudmouth father. Soundtrack features music

by Animal Collective.

At age 78, Clint Eastwood stars and directs in a new film that takes his Dirty Harry “make my day,” avenging angry white guy image, and transforms it into something entirely different.

As Walt Kowalski, Eastwood is still angry: embittered by his wife’s death, his spoiled kids, the implosion of the car industry, and the influx of immigrants into his crumbling Detroit neighborhood. If that’s not bad enough, the next door teenage Hmong boy (Bee Vang) is pressured by gang members into trying to steal Kowalski’s last symbol of American dominance: his vintage Gran Torino. But, as in the best of Eastwoodís movies, life is unpredictable, and the crack in Kowalski’s rigid worldview is, in the words of Leonard Cohen’s Anthem, “how the light gets in.”

5.10 – 12 Amaracord @ Cinestudio Hartford, Conn. $7 / 7:30 p.m.

Cinestudio presents a newly restored print of Federico Fellini’s masterpiece of coming of age and remembrance, Amarcord. The magical, surreal, bawdy and emotion-suffused images of life in the director’s hometown of Rimini on the Adriatic coast is a perfect introduction for Fellini neophytes, and a bello tresoro for his many fans. Amarcord is set in the 1930s, where a keenly observant boy soaks up everything around him, from the sexual repressions of the Catholic Church and the scary emergence of fascism, to the outrageously lascivious Volpina and the town’s melancholy, would-be movie star, Gradisca. But it is the mysterious visual images - an ocean liner disappearing into fog, a peacock spreading its wings in the snow - that linger well after the curtain comes down.

“Captures Fellini at the peak of his cinematic powers in an eye-popping restoration!” - Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com 5.8 – 11, 5.13, 14 Home @ Real Art Ways Hartford, Conn. $6.50 / 7 p.m.

10

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 6, 2009 / SPORTS

SPORTS STARTS ON BACKPAGE

Whalen, Sanderson Lead Men’s Track at NEC Championships www.ccsubluedevils.com

Senior Matthew Whalen and junior Ry Sanderson placed second in their respective events for Central Connecticut as the Blue Devils placed fifth at the Northeast Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

It was the best finish for CCSU since the team took fifth back in 2001. Whalen put forth his silver medal performance in the 1,500 meters, crossing the line in 4:03.82. Sanderson, after finishing second in the 10,000 on Saturday, took second in the 5,000 meter run on Sunday, recording a time of 15:04.54.

Freshmen Jeremy Schmid and Sam Alexander also scored points for the Blue Devils in the 1,500 and 5,000. Schmid placed fifth in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:05.40, while Alexander was seventh in the 5,000 meter run, crossing the line in 15:26.45.

Senior Sean Smith and freshman Matt Berube were the only other Blue Devils to place individually on Sunday. Smith recorded a sixth place finish in the 400 meters, crossing the line in 49.60 seconds. Berube was fifth in the triple jump, recording a distance of 14.04 meters.

Both CCSU relay teams in competition today scored points in the meet. The 4x100 team of Tom Hylan, Smith, Brian Lowe and Tristan Roberts placed sixth in a time of 43.40 seconds. Shawn Buchanan, Dionis White, Smith and Hylan comprised the Central Connecticut 4x400 meter relay team that took

seventh. They recorded a time of 3:24.13 in the event.

Sophomore Robert Weston and freshman Anthony Gonsalves just missed placing in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. They finished ninth and tenth, recording times of 10:04.00 and 10:11.98, respectively.

During day one of competition Sanderson and Alexander took second and fourth in the 10,000 meter run. The former finished in 31:36.20, while the latter recorded a time of 32:02.94. Berube and Nick Trifone also scored points for CCSU on Saturday. Berube placed third in both the long and high jump events and Trifone edged him out for second in the high jump. Trifone recorded a height of 1.92 meters, while Berube jumped 1.89 meters in the high and 6.93 meters in the long. The Blue Devil 4x800 meter relay team took fourth place during day one of competition.

Central Connecticut finished with 71.50 total points, while Monmouth won the meet with 232 points. St. Francis (PA) was the runner-up with 127 points and defending champion Sacred Heart took the bronze, recording 99 team points.

(Right) Senior Matthew Whalen placed second in the 1,500-meter event on Sunday.

Photo courtesy of: CCSUBlueDevils.com

Underclassmen Pace Women’s Track at NEC Championship ccsubluedevils.com

Four underclassmen scored points for CCSU during final day of competition at the Northeast Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The Blue Devils finished in eighth out of the 11 teams competing at Monmouth University. Freshmen Amanda Kelley, Christie Leverette and Amanda Asaro, as well as sophomore Katherine Bossardet scored 26 out of Central Connecticut’s 30 points on Sunday.

Kelley took fourth in the shot put and hammer throw on Sunday, recording distances of 12.02 and 45.03 meters, respectively. Leverette and Asaro also scored points during final competition today.

Leverette put forth a silver medal performance in the high jump with a mark of 1.64 meters, while Asaro placed sixth in the 800 meter run, crossing the line in 2:21.95.

Bossardet was the final Blue Devil to score individual points during the final day of the meet. She came in fourth in the 3,000 me-

ter steeple chase, breaking her own school record with a time of 11:19.68.

Both of the CCSU relay teams competing on Sunday placed. The 4x400 team of Kendra Smith, Kathleen Lima, Katrina Ainsworth and Kate McGuire took sixth place with a time of 4:05.76. A insworth, Ashley Stocking, Samantha Binette and Meghann Cocca made up the Blue Devil 4x100 meter relay team that placed eighth, crossing the line in 51.03 seconds.

During day one of competition, Kelley placed seventh in both the javelin and discus events. She recorded distances of 33.53 and 36.44 meters, respectively.

Senior Megan Jaswell also scored for CCSU on Saturday, taking sixth place in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 38:45.08.

Central Connecticut finished with 42 total points, while Monmouth won the team championship with 160.66 points. Defending champion Sacred Heart was this year’s runnerup with 132 points and Long Island took the bronze with 118.50 team points.

THE RECORDER’S WEEKEND SPORTS WATCH

For the sports fans out there, we present to you some events of interest that you may want to check out.

THURSDAY: New Britain Rock Cats vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats @ New Britain Stadium New Britain, Conn.

10:35 a.m.

Hope you saved some of your skip days because the Rock Cats are in town for the final day of a seven game home stand. It’s a cheap ticket and a fun experience so catch some springtime baseball just down the road from campus. Trust us, that final paper can wait a few hours…

CCSU Baseball vs. Mount St. Mary’s @ Beehive Field New Britain, Conn.

7 p.m.

Blue Devil baseball kicks off its final home stand of the season as they taken on Mount St. Mary’s in a battle for NEC supremacy. Central comes into the four game set in a three-way tie for first Wagner and Sacred Heart. The Mount is on the outside looking in when it comes to a playoff spot but are well within striking distance to sneak in to the fourth and final slot.

FRIDAY: CCSU Women’s Track New England Outdoor Championships @ UMass Amherst, Mass.

10 a.m.

CCSU Baseball vs. Mount St. Mary’s (DH) @ Beehive Field New Britain, Conn.

12 p.m.

Photo courtesy of: CCSUBlueDevils.com

CCSU Men’s Track New England Outdoor Championships @ UMass Amherst, Mass.

10 a.m.

SATURDAY: CCSU Baseball vs. Mount St. Mary’s @ Beehive Field New Britain, Conn.

1 p.m.

Central wraps up their home season with a final game against Mount St. Mary’s.

Depending on the outcome of the first three games, this series finale could have a big impact on the NEC playoff picture.

The Blue Devils will be playing to try and lock up a postseason berth and a chance to play at New Britain Stadium

Did we miss any events?

If so, please contact us with events information at ccsurecorder.sports@gmail.com or direct message us @RecorderSports on Twitter.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 6, 2009 / SPORTS

Blue Devils Baseball Squeak

By Series Against FDU

11

Hawerchuk Wins 2009 Northeast Conference Men’s Golf Championships, Blue Devils Finish Second Continued from page 12

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

Top: Second baseman Mitch Wells charges and makes the play to first on a slow groundball.

Bottom: Junior infielder Anthony Scialdone extends his hitting streak to 23 versus UConn.

Regionals. Central Connecticut posted a threeday 909 (306-293-310) total.

In addition to Hawerchuk’s effort, the Blue Devils received top-20 performances from senior Tim Buczak and freshman Tucker Dooley. Both totaled 230 to tie for 18th.

Buczak, who entered Sunday with a 79 and 73 posted, shot 78. Dooley, meanwhile, closed with a 79 after shooting 76-75 to open the weekend. Sophomores Sam Pelletier and Tom Ursa completed the CCSU field. Pelletier tied for 36th with a three-day 239. He shot 83-7878. Ursa posted 86-76-81=243 to tie for 47th.

Sacred Heart collected its second straight championship. The Pioneers cracked the 300mark every day, shooting 295-297-291=883, to win by 26 strokes.

Long Island, Robert Morris and St. Francis (PA) rounded out the top-five. LIU shot 292-303-315 to finish one stroke behind Central Connecticut. The Blackbirds topped Robert Morris (306-304-305) by five shots and SFPA (299-309-308) by six.

Fairleigh Dickinson posted 313-300305=918 to place sixth. Monmouth (302-304-

314) and Mount St. Mary’s (305-307-308) tied for seventh at 920. Quinnipiac, Wagner and St. Francis (NY) completed the team standings. Quinnipiac shot 323-312-310=945, while Wagner posted 337-341-323=1,001. St. Francis (NY) had rounds of 341-344-347 for a 1,032 total.

Hawerchuk, who entered the final round tied with Long Island senior Greg Nicolson, held off Bryant junior Jason Thresher to win the title. Thresher led Bryant, which participated in the tournament despite not being officially eligible due to a five-year reclassification period from Division II to Division I, with a two under 70 after shooting 72 in each of the first two rounds.

Nicolson shot a Sunday 78 to finish in a four-way tie for third.

CCSU has finished in the top-five in every Northeast Conference Men’s Golf Championship. The Blue Devils won in 1997, 2002, 2003 and 2005.

Central Connecticut’s team season is now complete. Hawerchuk will compete as an individual in NCAA

Continued from page 12 The game was played at Palmer Field in Middletown, Conn., the only home game the Blue Devils have played this season outside the confines of Beehive Stadium. CCSU has struggled at home, going just 5-7 this season.

Central was able to split a twinbill with FDU the following day as they made their return to the Beehive. They rode the complete game pitching performance of Ken Kerski to take the first contest 6-2, and dropped the nightcap by a score of 5-2 in eight innings.

Taylor Kosakowski took the loss in the second game, giving up a three-run eighth that proved to be the difference.

The Blue Devils stuck with the senior right-hander for the entire game largely because of the extended relief pitching that was needed the day before.

“Some guys just have to stay out there and pitch,” said Hickey.

With the close of the weekend series, Central stands at 22-15 overall. With a 12-7 record in the Northeast Conference, CCSU is currently in a three-way tie for first place with Wagner and Sacred Heart.

The top four teams make the NEC Tournament, which will be hosted at New Britain Stadium from May 21-24.

The Blue Devils will host Mount St. Mary’s in a pivotal series this weekend. The final home games for Central this season will begin with a nine-inning contest at 7 p.m. on Thursday, a doubleheader at noon on Friday, and a nine-inning game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

All four games will be held at Beehive Stadium in New Britain.

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

Photo courtesy of: CCSUBlueDevils.com

Dorau The [Sports] Explorer Playoffs Bring Out the Best in Sports Spontaneity is a wonderful thing when it comes to sports and being a fan. Hitting the road to see your favorite team only enhances an unplanned experience. Add postseason to the equation, and it’s a recipe for magic.

I woke up on Sunday and was cruisKyle Dorau ing around online Sports Editor only to see that playoff tickets for the Boston Bruins (of which I am a diehard fan) against the Carolina Hurricanes had fallen dramatically on StubHub. Calling a good friend, we decided to call an audible on our respective Sundays, purchase a pair of tickets, and ship up to Boston.

The electricity in the arena was palpable.

There was just a different feel to it. Despite the fact the Bruins lost 3-0 at the hands of a hot Cam Ward, I had a blast. The result didn’t mat-

ter. Just being surrounded by many fans who understood our passion for the team was enough to make it such a memorable experience.

There really is nothing like postseason play. It doesn’t matter what sport it is. Whether it’s professional, college, high school, or even in recreational leagues, a playoff game always feels different than the rest of the slate.

We’ve even had our own playoff magic right here in our backyard. The atmosphere for the 2007 Northeast Conference Championship in Detrick Gymnasium was something you could feel. I know I’ve hammered on this point before, but storming the court as part of a sea of blue shirts was a thrill that cannot be easily replicated.

Playoffs help create legends and define legacies. Look at David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox. Struggling mightily this year, would any Sox fan be so eager to see him hit if it were not for his heroics in the 2004 season? Probably not. Look at Bill Buckner, also of the Red Sox. His error in 1986 was a rallying cry for Yankee fans everywhere for the better part of 20 years.

The pressure we put on athletes is magnified tenfold come the postseason.

We’re in a time right now where hockey and basketball playoffs are heating up.

Magnificent players who are known by singular monikers or nicknames are fighting hard to advance their teams. Kobe. King James. Sid the Kid. Ovie. The winter stars have taken precedence here in the spring.

As writers and broadcasters, we love to assign the term “playoff atmosphere” to regular season games in hopes to give a contest more meaning than it actually has or somehow make it a more dramatic situation.

For CCSU Baseball, there is no need for it to be a more dramatic situation. They are in a tie for first place in a jam-packed Northeast Conference, but have no breathing room to speak of. Mount St. Mary’s, who sits on the outside looking in of the playoff picture, is just a game and a half out of first place. They come to New Britain this weekend to face the Blue Devils in a huge conference showdown.

Obviously it’s a very different feel between baseball and basketball, but it would be

great to see some of that 2007 NEC Basketball Championship kind of support for the baseball team this weekend, even on a smaller scale.

Grab some friends, head down to Beehive Stadium, and support the Blue Devils in what will no doubt be the biggest series of the year.

There are four games. No excuses. What better way to kick off a Thursday night out than a 7 p.m. game under the lights? That doesn’t work for you? Friday at noon there’s a doubleheader. Two seven-inning games. Catch one, the other, or both. Saturday at 1 p.m., the two teams collide in the series finale, which could dictate the momentum of the rest of the regular season.

If the Blue Devils can make it to New Britain Stadium for the NEC Tournament, that would be an even greater opportunity for fans to show support for Blue Devil athletics. Be spontaneous, take the 10 minute drive, and head to the Beehive this weekend. For all intents and purposes, it is playoff time. I encourage you to go experience the action and help the Blue Devils overcome the Mount en route to an NEC title.

Sports 5.6

12

THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 6 , 2009

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

Junior infielder Anthony Scialdone upped his hitting streak up to 27 games as the Blue Devils split their weekend series with the Fairleigh Dickenson Knights at Beehive Stadium in New Britain.

Blue Devils Baseball Squeak By Series Against FDU Kyle Dorau Peter Collin The Recorder

Central Connecticut Baseball headed into last weekend in first place, facing a Fairleigh Dickinson University team that was tied for last in the Northeast Conference.

The Knights offense stunned the Blue Devils, ignoring their conference-low .272 batting average as a team.

FDU was able to take two of the first three games and grab a quick four to nothing lead early in Sunday’s series finale.

Showing some grit that was absent earlier in the weekend, CCSU responded with seven runs in the first two innings, taking a lead that they would not relinquish. With a 14-8 victory, the Blue Devils were able to salvage a split of the four-game set.

“We got out of some spots. We did not play well, but some of that is credit to [FDU],” said CCSU head coach Charlie Hickey. “They have some pretty darn good players.”

One of the weekend highlights was CCSU shortstop Anthony Scialdone extending his hitting streak to 27 games over the course of the series.

He also managed to hit a solo home run in both Central victories. His first two blasts of the season both came off Knights reliever Ben Green.

“I wasn’t expecting to see a fastball, but he gave me a pitch that I could lift,” explained Scialdone. “I wasn’t trying to do anything with it, just trying to hit the ball hard somewhere.”

Scialdone’s home run on Sunday helped back Derek Roberts, who struggled mightily in his first inning of work. He allowed each of the first four batters he faced to reach base, and all of them would eventually score.

Down four to nothing, he received offensive support in the bottom of the first as Central started the inning with four straight singles.

After putting up three runs in the first, the Blue Devils tacked on four more in the second frame as they pounded out ten hits in the first two innings.

Blue Devils Roll Past Nine-man Hartford United Christopher Boulay The Recorder

CCSU men’s soccer finished off their Spring Season on a high note with a 4-0 victory over Hartford United, giving the Blue Devils a 4-1-1 record for the Spring.

CCSU was only able to take a 1-0 lead into halftime when Robert Cavener’s free kick was nudged by Hadji Diop and easily went past the United Goalkeeper for the lead.

Coach Shaun Green was pleased with the effort by his team, especially throughout the entire Spring Season. “[Winning 4-0] was a good way to end the season,” said Green. “We fell to their level during the first half, mirroring their style. But we have had a great season playing with our style.”

After halftime, the scoring floodgates opened, as Cavener passed across the face of goal and connected with Christopher Brown for a 2-0 lead.

“The goal was alright. It was a lot of work for [Cavener]. I just had to finish,” Brown said.

Cavener finally netted one of his own after tapping the ball right under the keeper for the third goal of the match.

Colin Nicholas added a spectacular strike that rounded out the scoring late in the second half.

“We have done well and only lost one game. The victory over [Western Massachusetts] was the highlight,” Brown said.

“Hopefully we will take this form and use it as a stepping stone.”

Hartford United, a member of the Connecticut Soccer League that consists of mostly Jamaican players, in the fifth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, moved the ball well throughout the match, but as the score line got wider, the team was visibly more frustrated.

United received four cards, including two men sent off in the match.

“It was nice to play a team with a Jamaican style. The season has concluded great,” Green said.

Goalkeeper Chris Jones played the first half, while Paul Armstrong stood in net for the second half.

“We were not caught offside all game,” Green said. “Cavener played well, [Nicholas] had a great goal, Jones played well [in net] and [Aaron] Durr and [Jared] Spieker impressed as well.”

The match was suspended shortly before the 90 th minute by the referee’s decision. Ryan Covey was hit with a hard slide tackle and was on the ground for an extended period of time.

One of Hartford United’s red cards were handed out for the offense.

The Blue Devils begin season play against Vermont on Sept. 4 at the University of New Hampshire. Their home opener is against Holy Cross on Sept. 12.

“My team came to play today and I know they’re going to be fighting just as hard as I was,” Roberts said. “I knew if I just kept my composure, kept pitching, kept getting ahead, that the results were just going to take care of themselves.”

Roberts’ confidence in his offense was echoed by his coach.

“We were able to weather the storm in the first couple of innings until we got a chance,” said Hickey. “We were able to come right back offensively which was huge. If they had put up a couple of zeros on us, it would have been harder.”

The Blue Devils had moments of trepidation in Sunday’s game, largely during the appearance of reliever Chris Chagnon.

Twice in two innings he loaded the bases with less than two outs. The second time, Hickey went to lefty Jason Foster to shut down the FDU rally. He was able to get the final two outs of the inning while allowing just one runner to cross the plate. Foster

pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his first career save.

Chagnon’s ineffectiveness on Sunday was a mirror image of Friday’s contest for the Blue Devils.

Central went to its bullpen in the fourth inning after starter Dan Markoya struggled, giving up nine hits in three innings of work.

The relievers were not much help either, as four pitchers combined to surrender eight runs in six innings.

Part of the problem was Knights center fielder Brian Dillon. He had a monstrous performance at the plate on Friday, going 6-6 with three singles, two triples, and a two-run home run to deep right field. He scored three runs and drove in four.

Not to be outdone, Richie Tri of Central put on an offensive show as well. He went 4-4 with three doubles and a triple, scoring three times and driving in three.

See Blue Devils Baseball Page 11

Hawerchuk Wins 2009 Northeast Conference Men’s Golf Championships, Blue Devils Finish Second ccsubluedevils.com

Central Connecticut sophomore Eric Hawerchuk finished off his wire-to-wire victory at the Northeast Conference Championships, shooting a final round 75 to win by two strokes at the par 72 ChampionsGate Golf Club’s International Course.

The Orangeville, Ontario native shot 6869 to share the top spot following first and second round play.

Hawerchuk, who joins Bobby Myles as the only Blue Devils to earn medalist honors at the NEC Championships, led CCSU to a second place finish in the team standings. He also earned an automatic bid to the NCAA See Hawerchuk Wins Page 11

Photo courtesy of: CCSUBlueDevils.com