Wednesday, May 13, 2009
www.therecorderonline.net
Volume 105 No. 27
Making Student New Class Scheduling Voices Heard Blocks on the Table New Senator McKeown
Looks Forward to 2009-10 AShLEy FOy
McKeown doesn’t shy away when asked about budget cuts and club funding and wishes to bring Beyond the tough talk and the about more activity for clubs. valiant, yet vague proposals in his He stands for utilizing the budcampaign video, the new SGA sena- get to fund clubs equally and tor Brian McKeown ‘10 is ready to get transparently. down to business. “Right now I believe there is While some of the problems are unfair funding. The way they do it annual, such as parking, budget cuts now is that a lot of clubs do get fundand threats to regular club funding ing and a lot do not get funding,” he present new difficulties and said. “… Something I suggested at a McKeown will focus on these issues meeting was that the finance comto face the 2009-2010 Senate. mittee should write up a report on The exuberant history and po- why they fund certain clubs and not litical science double-major was en- others.” couraged to get involved with the McKeown also spoke about SGA after observing passive student how it is necessary for the SGA to behavior. help the clubs with their fundraising, “Students have rights. They and not let them rely on small-time don’t speak out, though they have events such as bake sales. Instead he opinions,” McKeown said. “I talk out advocates for a fundraising for the students. I fight for the stu- committee. dents. There needs to be more of an McKeown also spoke about the outcry from free shutthe tle service students.” at CCSU, He is which is fully devotvital to ed to maksome stuing his work dents help the though it SGA beis not very come a betpopular. Brian McKeown used YouTube ter working McKeown to help win his Senate seat. system and said that to he said it’s the most exciting part of keep it running, it costs around his new position. $45,000 per year to drive students McKeown said he looks for- from the campus to downtown New ward to creating a “campus unity” Britain and Westfarms Mall. He is in and awareness of the fact that the favor of expanding the service and SGA exists to voice the students’ ensuring that it stays available to opinions and concerns. Other than students. that, he is also excited to bring stuHis goals also include expanddent senators closer together and for ing and improving the parking situahis work as co-chair of the promo- tion at CCSU, a perennial problem. tions committee. McKeown said that a few ideas have An issue McKeown presses was been discussed, one of which is to althe lack of school pride on campus. low students to park in certain areas For the students who wear CCSU ap- depending on when or where they parel and branding on campus, have classes. they’re rivaled by the near equal After acknowledging the diffiamount of CCSU students who wear culties associated with this idea, he gear from other universities. said he is trying to figure out ways to “We have an issue where we make it work. McKeown also menneed to be more proud of going to tioned the possibility of asking a state CCSU,” he said. “We need more rec- legislator to give CCSU money to ognition of campus unity.” help the parking situation, as has The new senator also calls for a been done in the past for other greater presence by the SGA and get- schools. ting the name out there for students. Ultimately, the new senator ar“One of the main issues [at gued that students should receive the hand] is the recognition of the SGA education they need. on campus. There should be more in“If they’re paying the school teraction with students,” he said. system, they should get the education “The nice thing about the SGA is that they deserve and are paying for and they can go to the administration not what administrators want,” he without any backlashes or getting said. “It is becoming more like a comfired. Students can work through the pany than an education system.” SGA.” Special to The Recorder
Dr. Joseph Paige presented the plan to the Faculty Senate on Monday. STORy By MATT KiERNAN
The Faculty Senate met on Monday to discuss plans for a hybrid block schedule that would ease existing scheduling conflicts. “The main thrust is to use classroom space efficiently,” said professor and chairman of the English department Dr. Gilbert Gigliotti. Freeing time slots that would normally have overlapped each other would now make hundreds of classrooms have availability for use, something that has become a major problem when the university needs to schedule times for rooms. In the new time block schedule class times will be altered to separate certain class times and with spaces in between so students will have time to walk to their next class. One of the worries that faculty have is that students won’t have time to walk to their next class because of the decrease in time from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. “Our aim was to have this ready for spring 2010 but apparently that’s not the case,” said Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Joseph Paige. Having the new time schedule ready by spring of next year is a possibility but more than likely not going to happen until the fall semester of 2010. With the time given between classes narrowed to ten minutes students could have a problem finding time for outside classroom ac-
PHOTOS By EDwARD GAuG / ThE RECORDER
Plans could be implemented as early as Fall 2010
Registrar Susan Petrosino was part of the development team for new schedule plans.
tivities. The time spent talking with friends or asking questions to their professor will be limited since students will have to concentrate on spending their time walking to their next class. Safety and inconvenience is another issue because the new schedule would move some classes from ending at 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. causing some students to get out later. Darkness and the lack of people on campus at such late hours can be dangerous for students walking to their cars. “We have gotten numerous complaints from teachers education and students who work,” said Paige in regards to the current schedule. For many students in the School of Education who have three-hour classes two times per week at night, it can cause problemsas they try to schedule themselves to get their general education classes. “This is something that I asked them to do and what I think they’ve done is extraordinary,” said Provost Carl Lovitt. The proposal to create a new schedule was received mostly by positive reviews from faculty at the senate meeting and some of the faculty thanked Dr. Paige and Susan Petrosino of Registrar for their work on creating the schedule. Another problem that could arise from the new time block is See New Class Page 2
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2 THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Recorder
Student Center 1615 Stanley Street New Britain, CT 06050 T 860.832.3744 F 860.832.3747 ccsurecorder@gmail.com therecorderonline.net twitter.com/therecorder
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.
Possibility of New Scheduling Blocks on the Table
Continued from page 1
that many of the classes start and end at odd times such as five after the hour instead of on the hour. Students may have a harder time memorizing their schedules and may have to carry them around longer to remember where and when they have class, although as college students it shouldn’t be as much of a problem. What faculty would like to see before the schedule is put into effect is overall feedback from the student population on how they’d feel using the new format. Although the faculty will play a major role in how the schedule is to be made, students’ feelings on the subject are going to be considered when putting the plans into place. Although the senate didn’t vote to enforce the new time schedule, the meeting gave many faculty members a chance to see the proposed schedule for the first time. The plans for the time blocks was scheduled to be voted on Monday but due to the lack of faculty having had time to view them the vote couldn’t take place. Currently the new time schedule is the fifth version of the schedule with past forms having been designed without much success. Past versions have included Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday classes but were deemed to be unsuccessful and the newest version looks to be the most reasonable. The possibility of Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday classes are also being looked at to see if they would work for students.
Edward Gaug | The Recorder
Faculty Senate President Candice Barrington works through the agenda in the last Senate meeting of the semester.
SAY WHAT
With a recent proposal to alter the scheduling blocks facing the Faculty Senate, we asked a few students what improvements they’d like to see in scheduling courses. Answers ranged from having classes all of the time to cover all periods of the day to creating more flexibility in specific areas.
Meetings for The Recorder are held on Mondays at 12:30 p.m. in The Recorder office.
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“It’d be nice to have classes scheduled similarly for Monday, Wednesday as we have for Tuesday, Thursday. I might be able to take a couple of courses if that were the case. I don’t particularly care for evening classes myself, but they fill an important need in the community so I think it’s probably wise that they’re doing that.” Frank Scalia
“I’m taking nine classes this semester as it is, so scheduling is always a problem. Other than that, I don’t really see a huge problem with the scheduling and kind of like it the way it is. I wouldn’t choose a Friday class if they did that.” Jennifer Gallo, Fall ‘09
“It’s always good to have a choice. I think they should have class all the time…. Spend more money on stuff that counts.” Danielle Berera ‘11
“Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes are really easy for me, especially like 8 a.m., 9 a.m. I like that kind of stuff, but I can see that advantage of them switching to nighttime classes for the people that live farther away and have jobs.”… “I don’t really see any need to change. I like the way classes are right now.” Jay McCormick ‘10
3
THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 13, 2009 / NEWS
Gunman Apprehended in Murder of Justin-Jinich ‘10 ALiSON CiES
The wesleyan Argus wesleyan university
(UWIRE) - On Thursday night, Stephen Morgan, the alleged gunman in Wednesday’s fatal shooting of Johanna Justin-Jinich ’10, turned himself in to authorities. According to The Hartford Courant, at about 9 p.m. Morgan walked into the Cumberland Farms store in Meriden and bought a smoothie. He then told Sonia
Rodriquez, the store clerk, to hand him the phone because he needed to call the police. After talking on the phone, Morgan walked outside of the store and was grabbed by police officers. “We have received confirmation from the Middletown Police Department that Stephen Morgan, the suspect in the recent shooting at the Red and Black Café, has been apprehended,” wrote President Michael Roth in an allcampus e-mail sent at 10:47 p.m. on Thursday. Morgan was later turned over to Middletown Police and held with bail set at $10
million. He is to be charged with first-degree murder. Morgan will be arraigned today in the Middlesex Superior Court, located on Court Street. “The Wesleyan community is grateful for the work of the law enforcement agencies involved in this process,” Roth wrote. “We are all breathing a little easier with this news.” Beginning Friday morning, the University has resumed its normal operations; all facilities and residential houses have been reopened.
Photo courtesy of: The Middletown Police
Stephen Morgan was aprehended last Thursday.
Brown U. Class of 2013 ‘Meets’ Online LAuREN FEDOR
New York is not the only city where students have coordinated impromptu get-togethers months before settling into freshman year. Henderson organized an outing in (UWIRE) - Each year, hundreds of prospective Philadelphia, and the class Facebook page is students look forward to A Day on College Hill. teeming with suggestions for meet-ups in the They see it as an opportunity to visit classes, at- Bay Area, South Florida, Chicago and Los tend special programs and performances and Angeles. But many prospective freshmen simply meet their future classmates for the first time. But as Facebook reaches near-universality visit the site to learn more about other firstand the idea of social-networking becomes years. “It’s interesting to see the other types of practically cliche, most members of the Class of 2013 have already “met” many of their class- people who will hopefully be my classmates,” wrote Marley Pierce, a student at East High mates online. Though the Admission Office set up an School in Denver who will not be making the official Web site for incoming first-years to trip to ADOCH. Kshitij Lauria, an international student communicate, they prefer instead to “meet” on the “Brown University Class of 2013” Facebook from New Delhi also won’t be attending ADOCH, but admitted to checking the page, which has almost 1,000 members. Adam Henderson, a senior at Germantown Facebook page “every half hour or so … during Academy in Fort Washington, Pa., wrote in an waking hours.” “Excitement about Brown just oozes out e-mail to The Herald that though he looked at the official Web site, he found the information of the discussions, and it’s infectious as hell,” he and discussions on the Facebook page “a lot wrote in an e-mail. “September can’t come fast enough.” more helpful and interesting.” One of the most popular discussions on Travis Bogosian, a senior at Friends Seminary in New York City, said Facebook the page - with nearly 300 responses - is a thread makes it easier for him to get his questions entitled “Ask a Brown Student!”, which is full of questions to be answered by current Brown about next year answered. “I’ve been clueless up until this point, and students. Some popular discussions are seemingly any help I can get is welcome,” he wrote in an random, with titles like “What Song Are You e-mail. “I tried to figure out how to set up an e- Listening to Right Now?” and “Your Life as a mail account on the (Brown) site before going Single Quote - from Someone Else.” There are to the class Facebook page and asking for help threads where students have posted their opinfrom someone I met there,” he wrote. “It’s funny ions on veganism, quiz bowl, baking, opera, Judaism and everything in between. how that works.” But in the end, though Facebook provides But besides having his questions answered, Bogosian has also gotten in touch with a fun way for future students to get to know one another, most prospective first-years agree that future classmates who live nearby. “I’ve ‘met’ a bunch online,” he wrote, add- the best way to meet their potential classmates Central Conn 2009 9:34 AM Page 1 is still in person. ing that he has sinceSummer met some ad of his online 3/20/09 “I think that I’ll only truly get to know fu“friends” in person - Bogosian recently attended a get-together with other New York-area ture classmates when I meet them face-to-face,” Henderson wrote. members of the Class of 2013. Brown Daily herald Brown university
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4 THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Editorial
Editorial/Opinion
Recently, there has been constant discussion over what is in store for the future of journalism. Many critics of the profession proclaim that print media will be dead in the near future. We refuse to believe that this is the case. If newspapers make a few key changes to their models, they have the potential to be successful in the future. There is no doubt that the Internet has been an appealing news source for people in recent years. The Internet is successful due to the fact that it is interactive, visually appealing, and contains a neverending amount of information. Consumers are looking for an immediate response to the information that they are looking for. Therefore, we believe that it is essential for local papers to stay local
in their coverage. People will not pick up a local paper for national news stories when there are plenty of online and national papers that would provide regular exposure to those issues. On the other hand, there are very few outlets that would cover the local stories that are important to an individual community. Local papers are still an important source for citizens looking for information about their communities, and consequently, local papers should focus on staying local in order to appeal to their audience. Wire stories should be basically eliminated from these small papers since consumers are not using small papers as their source for national issues. This would free up more space for local issues that are important and
Letters to the Editor An Open Letter to the Community from CCSU Profs4Progress Profs4Progress commends the members of PRIDE, Youth for Socialist Action (YSA), Hillel, Native American Club, Progressive Student Alliance (PSA), Latin American Student Organization (LASO), and others for organizing a leafleting action at the recent lecture by Lyndon LaRouche. LaRouche is a far-right cult leader widely condemned for his venomous verbal, and dangerous physical, assaults on progressive groups and individuals. He was sponsored and invited to our campus by CSU Professor Norton Mezvinsky. When students learned of this gathering, they quickly organized a response that respected the right of anyone to speak on campus, but exposed the fascist ideology of the LaRouche group. We disassociate ourselves completely with the homophobic, misogynist, racist and anti-Semitic views of Lyndon LaRouche. We stand in solidarity with our students in the fight against bigotry – and in the struggle for civil and human rights. Briann Greenfield CCSU Profs4Progress
In the article entitled Controversial Activist Speaks at Central, The Recorder failed to do the most elementary fact checking or research on the event. First, the Recorder misidentified students flyering as “mostly members of the Youth for Socialist Action” and “protesters.” However, the students were from a wide-range of groups on campus: the Progressive Student Alliance, Hillel, Pride, Wambli Takota, and YSA—none of whom were quoted in the article, despite a conversation that I had with the News Editor.
relevant to individual communities. On this note, local newspapers need to make it a priority to get connected with their communities. This means sending staffers out to a plethora of events, and really getting involved with local happenings. The annual national conference South by South West in Autstin, Texas as a means of business and community interaction is directly linked to the success of the Austin Chronicle. The weekly paper provides a solid example of how newspapers can integrate themselves directly into the communities they cover by hyperlocal reporting and manage to make substantial profits. The Austin Chronicle, as of March, hasn’t had to lay off any employees and doesn’t have any plans to do so. We also believe that in order for daily papers to keep their full staff, it
may be beneficial for dailies to lessen the frequency of publication to every other day (and take advantage of the Internet). The extra time allotted for assignments would drastically improve the quality of reporting. Additionally, if the papers are printed less, publication costs will go down. This would aid newspapers in being able to afford more staff writers or avoid letting them go. People love the visually appealing aspect of the Web and newspapers should strive to include more dynamic layouts and add in more pictures and color so that readers will feel connected to the stories that they are reading about. While it would raise a credibility issue, we believe that providing more visually attractive looks will draw new readers. Magazines are not facing the same level of difficulty as newspapers are in attracting readers. This may be due to the fact that
Public Colleges Prepare their Students for Future Employment
Next, we were not “protesting”—as advocates of free speech, we did not dispute LaRouche’s right to speak on campus. Instead, we distributed literature documenting his racist views and history of violent attacks on gays and others. These inaccuracies are minor compared to the major problem with this article. Clearly the reporter did no independent research on LaRouche. If she had, she might have discovered that Senator Patrick Moynihan soberly characterized LaRouche as a neo-Nazi. She might have found a 1984 NY court ruling asserting that that LaRouche could fairly be called an anti-Semite. She might have spoken to some of the victims of “Operation Mop Up,” the LaRouche paramilitary operation that broke up socialist meetings with baseball bats. Most irresponsible was the utter failure to provide an informed analysis of the meaning of the LaRouche talk. We have heard a great deal lately about the “professionalism” and “ethics” of The Recorder. Coverage of the LaRouche event reveals that both are only code words for a failure to engage on a sophisticated level with the major issues and events that animate our campus. An uninformed reporter prettified a dangerous fascist, who is famous for decrying women, African Americans, the Jewish people, and the GLBT community as subhuman. Professional? Ethical? Time for a reality check.
The Connecticut Department of Higher Education released the report “Higher Education: Building Connecticut’s Workforce” that presented data regarding 2007 public college graduates who were employed in Connecticut. The results are promising and our public colleges should be commended on their success in preparing students for employment after graduation. Out of the 17,928 public school graduates in 2007, 12,478 or 70 percent of them were employed in Connecticut nine months after graduation. The Connecticut State Universities had the highest percent employment for the state of Connecticut, reaching 78 percent. Community colleges had 77 percent employment and the University of Connecticut had 60 percent. The lower percentage of state employment for the latter’s graduates may be due to the fact that more UConn graduates choose to work out-of-state. Regardless, this is a
Marissa Blaszko Treasurer of Youth for Socialist Action
73.6%
ShAuNA SiMEONE The Recorder
great accomplishment for the CSU system. It is clear that their preparation for the real world is paying off due to the fact that such a high number of graduates are employed within nine months of graduation. Another heartening statistic is the fact that women had a higher rate of employment at 72 percent compared with men who had a rate of 66 percent. In our society’s quest to even the playing field for men and women in the workplace, this demonstrates that women seem to be making some ground and getting plenty of opportunities in the workplace. The data presented on wages for college graduates were also very respectable. Graduates from the CSU system earned an average salary of $39,676 per year. This number is slightly lower than UConn graduates who had an average salary of around $44,000. The mean annual income for all occupations in the state of Connecticut was $49,530 in 2008, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. This means that employed graduates of CSU colleges are making just under the average salary of the entire Connecticut workforce in their first year of work.
Assuming that over the years they will receive pay raises, they are well on their way to making an above-average salary. -It is also significant to realize that employment and salaries varied slightly due to areas of expertise. Health professions, in which there is always a great demand, had the highest rate of employment. The highest average wages went to those graduates who were employed in utilities. Their average salary was $82,000. Although the economy is slow right now, CCSU students should take the results of this study as a glimmer of hope. Clearly, there is a demand for employees with a college degree, and there are also financial benefits for those employees with a higher educational background. CCSU students should make the most of their opportunities at college. If they succeed in receiving a degree, they will have plenty of opportunities to succeed after graduation.
Credit: State of Connecticut Department of Higher Education, Employment by Program of Study (2006-07)
Employment by Program of Study
78.9%
78.7%
ED: It has come to our attention that the YSA did not want to comment during coverage of the event, and therefore has reduced what would have been more balanced coverage. We encourage anyone who would like to have their side heard to speak to our reporters during such an event, controversial or not.
Got something to say? Write us a 200-300-word signed letter to the editor at ccsurecorder@gmail.com
magazines are extremely colorful, and include many issues that are relevant to the readers personally. Newspapers can adapt some of these interesting features, and still be considered a legitimate source for news. Changing visual aspects of a paper can aid in attracting readers without compromising the level of journalism involved. All of these changes will help to attract readers of all ages to print media. The journalism profession as a whole is not a dying field. In fact, CCSU recently added journalism as a major, and there has been plenty of interest in the field. There are thousands of college students across the nation interested in journalism to keep the print field alive. We just have to be the forerunners in improving and enhancing the qualities that already exist in print newspaper.
63.8%
Business Management
Educational Services
Liberal Arts & Sciences
Program of Study
Health Professions & Related Science
5
THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 13, 2009 / OPINION
In Need of a Solution to CCSU as a Suitcase College Kim Scroggins
Special to The Recorder
On a campus of over 11,000 students, it seems that as the years progress, more of the student body is choosing to commute or leave campus after class. In turn, Central’s night and weekend life have begun to suffer. Even though there are nine residence halls located on campus, Central has become more of a “suitcase” college where more students are choosing to commute from home. Over the past few semesters the Student Center has become increasingly more active as students now use it as a place to kill time before their next class. Students come and go in waves leaving the Student Center either jam-packed or completely empty depending on the time of day. With the increase in commuters, parking has become more of a struggle as well. In the Student Center parking lot, cars are seen “vulturing” or circling for spots. With some lots being assigned to faculty or on campus residents only, choices of where to park are slim. Spots are even harder to find during the afternoon, when the garages are just as full. With Welte being the most popular garage, it’s hard to find a spot at all after 12 noon. It’s even harder if you’re hoping to find a spot on one of the first two levels. Lately, it’s even been hard finding spots on the roof.
With the fall in the economy recently, it’s understandable if more people are choosing to commute to help save money. However, there may also be other factors that cause students to commute such as being kicked out of housing or switching student status from full to part time. The number of students who still live on campus has started to become noticeably smaller, and has caused more rooms to be used as singles than there were just last year. Even some of those who live on campus drive home on the weekends because of how quiet it is. I remember back to my freshman year, before I had a weekend job back home, Central funded a group called the Weekenders that would provide those still on campus with activities and things to do. Lately, there hasn’t been as much activity as there used to be. With efforts made by the Devil’s Den to bring people out so they have something to do, Thursdays are slightly more productive than other days of the week. However, nightlife on campus has been reduced to however many people on campus feel like going out. Because of the school’s location, commuting proves to be a more convenient way of getting to and from classes. But with the number of commuters rising, the school should consider making the layout a little more commuter friendly. Edward Gaug | The Recorder
No one can be found walking around campus after 9 p.m. on most nights once classes let out.
Closing Remarks: Generation Enough? Chris Demorro
Special to The Recorder
I like to think of college as more of a learning experience about self than any particular subject, and seeing as the class of 2009 is about to graduate, I feel like reflecting. Have you asked yourself lately, who am I? It’s a tough question to answer honestly, and it applies on more than just a personal level. What kind of generation will we be remembered as? Tough times tend to make for a stronger, stouter generation than the
eras of plenty and too much, but in an odd way, we are now a product of both. Looking back for a moment, we see that life has a somewhat steep learning curve. The better we get at making ourselves comfortable, the bigger the consequences seem to be (as though the threat of nuclear annihilation wasn’t enough to make humanity to step back and analyze ourselves). We live in a world where a comfortable minority ignores a suffering majority, even as commercials of crying hungry children desperate for
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some spare change and clean water are splashed all over Comedy Central during the “South Park” commercial break. But then again, we always think to ourselves, I don’t want to see this; I want to laugh. I am aware of how tough I have become – tough because sometimes the situation demands it, and mostly because a college degree is depreciating in value. I have hope, despite all of the problems we are inheriting (and our potential to make them worse for the next generation). But we can change all of that, with a Twitter, a Facebook invite, or
an old school AIM message. If we can have flash mob pillow fights in the middle of a mall then I’m sure we can pull together something a little more productive, like cleaning up a local park one day, just for the hell of it. It’s not as though the job market looks sturdy right now; Instead of sitting around lamenting the consequences of our circumstance, we should be out trying new things, making differences, following our dreams. Cubicles be damned! We have an advantage no other generation has ever had. We can interact with people on the other side of
Earth instantly. That means we can talk it out like never before. We can be individuals without being haters. We can organize and plan and share ideas with like-minded people by doing a casual Google search. Maybe we can see “the other side” a little clearer. Maybe we can make this sometimes sweet and sometimes cruel existence a little better for everyone. Maybe it’s worth a shot.
6 THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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Mr. CCSU Competition Gets Heated Charles Desrochers The Recorder
The “Mr. CCSU” night started with a line stretching from Alumni Hall to outside the Student Center. Some of the students were there for the free food while others were in attendance for the raffle. The majority of the students though wanted to see who would be crowned this year’s Mr. CCSU. Tyreese Stephenson came out on top after three rounds as well as screenings of bio videos submitted by each Mr. CCSU hopeful. The award entitles the winner to almost nothing, but the contest stretched into the late evening, early morning hours. Representatives from the IRC say that’s exactly what they wanted. According to Andrew Froning, newly elected SGA President, the goal of the event is to offer an alternative to drinking and for Devil’s Den and the IRC to give the student body entertainment during a time when most students have the most work to be done. The contest started with a dance number the contestants had practiced for two weeks, joined by Ryan Sheehan who was a last minute replacement for an eighth competitor. Dancing to a medley of Beyonce and country music, Nickolas Reverendo, Gregory Rappa, Zach Perras-Duenas, Sheehan, Kevin Becroft, Ray Saunders, Evan Robbins
and Stephenson lightened the mood with their sassy finger wagging. The first of the rounds was the infamous swimsuit competition. This had Stevenson in a modest snorkel and life vest ensemble, but he was slightly outdone by Ray Saunders, who impressed the ladies in the crowd with his physique. One by one they came out in the next round to show off their “talents.” Rappa’s talent was pretending to be a rapping Mets fan, PerrasDuenas did a commendable job of trying his best to keep the audience engaged despite choosing to play an acoustic instrumental. Robbins jestingly put on his “player” persona by using pick-up lines that require a low level of sobriety. Stephenson gave a strong rendition of John Legend’s “Ordinary People” and serenaded the crowd as an accomplice handed out flowers to the judges. Saunders’ act upstaged them all. Walking onto the stage with a woman, Saunders was dressed in suspenders, glasses and slacks. It was an inevitability that some of those clothes were coming off, and when they did, every woman in the audience declared, “Wooo.” Whether or not simulated sex is a talent, it certainly received a positive reaction from the all-female judging panel. Jessica Allan, president of the hall council from Barrows Hall and one of the judges, said before the contest started that she was looking for-
The Mr. CCSU night involved a rigorous talent segment of the competition.
ward to the bathing suits and “some really good talent.” While Saunders sang to his costar Allen was just right of the stage fanning herself. With the talent and swimsuit competition of the contest over with, the men were called on stage for the last time to display their formal attire and answer questions from the audience. All were dressed to impress, but Perras-Duenas left the biggest impression of this round. From head to toe he was a spitting image of The
Dark Knight’s Joker, which won him the “Most Creative Formal Wear” award. Before he answered his question of “What is your dream date?” he couldn’t keep himself from having fun with the night’s MC, Steve Schumacher, with his delivery of the “Why so serious?” monologue from the Batman film. The judges went to deliberate and count votes while Meg Dwyer, coordinator for the night, handed out roses as thanks to the people that made the night possible.
Charles Desrochers | The Recorder
She thanked the 275 who had attended that night then when the votes were tallied they handed awards to each participant. Reverendo won for “Best Bio,” Rappa won for “Best Rap,” “Best Car” was given to the selfproclaimed ladies man Evan Robbins and “Best Body” was given to Ray Saunders. At the end of the night Stevenson was crowned Mr. CCSU for his style and swagger. Wearing a fuzzy crown and holding a bedazzled scepter, he said he was going to celebrate by doing homework.
Five Guys Burgers and Fries: Something New, Yet Old Fashioned Matthew D’Annolfo Special to The Recorder
Edward Gaug | The Recorder
Don’t be ashamed to admit that the best restaurant you’ve been to in years, wraps the food in tinfoil, serves it in a brown paper bag and allows you to stand up and eat circus peanuts while waiting for your order. This of course is Five Guys Burgers and Fries, a good old-fashioned burger joint that packs in the quantity, and never skips on the quality. When you walk into any Five Guys Burgers and Fries location you won’t be impressed by the décor, but then again, if you’ve come to Five Guys for the ambiance, you’re in the wrong place. While you probably won’t be impressed by the industrial sized sacks of potatoes stacked in the corners, or the red and white tiled walls, your senses will be aroused by the time you reach the counter to order. The smell of fresh sizzling burger patties and French-fries will fill you with the excitement you felt be-
fore eating the perfect burger as a kid. Although the official Five Guys Web site reports an astounding 250,000 possible ways to order a burger at the restaurant, the process is always easy, moderately priced and catered to the customer. There are two kinds of burgers; little and regular. The $3.39 “single” burger is one succulent, fresh beef patty on a warm toasted bun while the $5.89 “regular” burger is two juicy slabs of beef. After ordering the burger size, customers can choose up to sixteen different, free toppings. After completing your made to order burger, you have your choice of two different sizes of fries; regular ($2.69) and large ($3.89). The fries may be on the pricey side, but you most definitely get your money’s worth. As a point of reference, a regular sized fry is usually enough to split between you and a friend. After your burger is crafted into a work of art, it is wrapped tightly in tinfoil, locking in the plethora of flavors you are about to experience. The
burger and fries are then placed into a large brown paper bag, to which an additional cup of fries is showered directly into (a Five Guy’s signature). When the process is complete, a burger chef will shout your order number out like burger joint of the past. By the time you walk from the counter to your table, and open your brown paper bag of deliciousness, you will be ready to experience something new, yet nostalgic. The first bite into your flavor packed hamburger will remove you from a world swamped with paperthin fast food burgers and over priced trendy restaurants. Instead it returns you to a time when you were excited to get a hamburger, because it was delicious, juicy and just the way you liked it. Five Guys Burgers and Fries is located at 278 Scott Swamp Rd., Farmington, Conn. Five Guys are open everyday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Leisure Time: Asian Pop-Culture Club Basks in Informality Charles Desrochers The Recorder
The meeting started with 12 minutes of watching political-themed music videos on YouTube. No real agenda was announced and attendance was not taken. There were no trips planned in the near future except for the some members planning to see Star Trek on opening night. In other words, it was business as usual for the Asian Pop-Culture Club. The members brought food, drinks and instead of discussing the Korean Horror movies they watched Japanese cartoons. “We still watch a lot of anime. We used to not [watch it] because the
Japanese American club did, but they don’t anymore,” said Mike MacDonald ‘09, Asian Pop-Culture Club president. The members provide much of the material. This particular Tuesday night the club was finishing up a DVD someone had brought from home the meeting prior. Other than watching films and conversing, the APC Club occasionally attempts to organize events. That last was a costumed dinner that ultimately fell through. The budget is usually not a problem until they find that they need more money for an event. They’ve found that Student Activities/Leadership Development won’t sign off on more money be-
cause the club hasn’t spent what they’ve already been given. “We have a budget that we haven’t managed to spend any of it this semester,” MacDonald said. “It’s kind of funny that you have to spend money to get money.” This frustration is somewhat comical considering the Asian PopCulture Club is sometimes confused with the Japanese American club. “They are more historical and we are pop culture.” MacDonald explained, “The people in SA/LD know that because they almost took our budget away last year because they thought we were the same club.” But on the whole the SGA, SALD, and CCSU is fair to them. They silently sit in their meeting room as the warm neon glow of the
screen bathes their faces. It’s not an exiting experience, but it’s an escape. These students join each other in what would normally be reserved for the solidarity of their dorms or homes. “It’s a pretty casual, friendly environment. We’re always looking for members. We’re not going to go out of our way to evangelize,” said MacDonald. Reed Hansen ‘10 is a member of the Asian Pop-Culture Club and a commuter at CCSU and attends meetings with his roommate Colin Cogle ‘09. “I actually started coming up to club before I was a student. I was referred by another member of the club last year,” Hansen said. “I was in the process of transferring and a friend
said ‘you should come check this out.’” Hansen only takes morning and afternoon classes so he and his roommate stay on campus until the meeting is over. “Our ultimate goal is to expand people’s cultural horizons and have fun while doing so,” MacDonald explained. The Asian Pop-Culture Club may not be for everyone, but for a certain niche it is perfect. It is quite possibly the lowest maintenance club on campus, which happens to be some of its appeal. “You can stop by,” MacDonald said, “but we’re not going to be terribly offended if you don’t.”
7
THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 13, 2009 / UPGRADE
The Recorder’s Guide to Upcoming Releases
Rancid Let the Dominoes Fall So apparently Tim Armstrong and Lars Fredrickson aren’t dead yet and Rancid is still making music. Holy shit?!? Who let this happen? Rancid was the band to get me into punk music in high school and I’m glad I did. They don’t need to be doing it for kids now though. To those kids, go pick up And Out Come the Wolves, to punk fans, keep listening to And Out Come the Wolves. For fans of: NoFX, Bad Religion, the elderly with mohawks
SUMMER 2009
Taking Back Sunday New Again
Kid Sister Dream Date
Iron & Wine Norfolk
Wilco Wilco (The Album)
It’s hard to avoid bringing up TBS when you’re in the midst of a serious discussion about your high school musical tastes. The band has evolved somewhat, but their glory days - so far, at least - have been the time immediately after their 2002 release Tell All Your Friends. They’ve indicated that fans can look forward to bass solos, songs that twist into R&B jams and heavier, relentless tracks that are sound like being punched in the face. Not a bad combination?
Kid Sister is actually an older sister the older sister of Josh Young of DJ pair Flosstradamus. Kid Sister is a rapper and singer out of Chicago with undeniable influences by her younger brother’s sound and old school rap. She got started with “Pro Nails” thanks to signing with Downtown Records, some help by Kanye himself and got to work on this album a little over a year and a half ago.
For some reason when I think about live albums, I can only think of my lame friends and their Dave Matthews Band bootlegs that they pirated from some message board. I wish I had a better memory of a live album, but I just don’t. Bands I like have just not adopted the live album.
I think Wilco is one of those bands like My Morning Jacket that you just kind of respect due to their name. While Jeff tweedy is an amazing songwriter, vocalist and guitarist, he still doesn’t impress me enough to stand out in my head of great musicians. Wilco suffers from having a popular sound in a popular genre and doing it well before it was popular. They were the Fleet Foxes of 2000.
For fans of: Brand New, Saves the Day, reminiscing
For fans of: Flosstradamus, Kanye West, manicures and vibrant, neoncolored nail polish
For fans of: Jose Gonzales, Sufjan Stevens, sweet beards
For fans of: My Morning Jacket, Pete Yorn, pot
Grizzly Bear Veckatimest
Deer Tick Born on Flag Day
Passion Pit Manners
Dinosaur Jr. Farm
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen is a bonafide prince of indie-rock. Whether it is a home recording or a full-fledged side project (Department of Eagles), whatever he touches turns to gold. The band is able to pull together lackadaisical and airy melodies, crossing genres and constantly twisting in new influences. Their sound is capable of conveying extreme, soaring emotion and a steady musical grounding at the same time. As Grizzly Bear prepare to drop their third full-length album, we’re expecting the best - maybe even an album of the year for 2009. Look forward to a review of the album at www.therecorderonline.net after this week’s issue.
This band is the one exception to country, or alt-country/ Americana, that can really pull it off by dawdling on the line. Deer Tick’s freshman release War Elephant was full of nostalgia (even if you weren’t alive during the time you’re thinking of), pleasant chords and careful guitar picking with backwoods charm. The fourpiece band has certainly grown in popularity and have something slightly different and better to offer your average indie-rock group; they’re a throwback, but still manage to be original. Maybe they’ll include on Born on Flag Day one of their renditions of “La Bamba” or Santo and Johnny’s “Sleepwalk” that they perform so well live.
Passion Pit have come a long way. What they started through their sixtrack Chunk of Change EP grew and morphed into something a lot larger, and the band became well educated in the indie-rock pop equation for success. Lots of quirk and romance (their first EP was meant to be a mixtape for lead singer Michael Angelakos’ girlfriend) and electronics make the best ingredients for a spur-of-the-moment dance party. If Passion Pit continues to pull this off, Manners looks promising.
Amherst, Massachusetts’s rockers Dinosaur Jr. have this epic guitar sound that could never be recreated, nor should it. Only J. Masics can rock three feet of gray hair and custommade Nike Dunks while wailing on an axe with enough distortion to basically start the era of noise-rock we know today. When Farm drops this summer, get ready for an hour of vocals that are completely outdone by squealing guitar solos unlike anything from today’s oversaturated indie-rock scene.
So it looks like emo’s Superman has finally left Bright Eyes to die a death it should have after Digital Ash to start an Americana folk band that sounds even more like Bob Dylan… like he needed to sound anymore like Dylan before. While Oberst’s distinct vocals haven’t changed, his backing music is now slightly country-tinged. While most people easily dismiss Bright Eyes as a high school fad, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band is a new fad I am willing to pick up.
For fans of: Boy Crisis, MGMT, random keyboard sound effects and happiness, drunk dancing
For fans of: Pixies, Sonic Youth, an old dude playing a mean guitar
For fans of: Ben Kweller, The Good Life, emo music growing up
For fans of: Department of Eagles, Here We Go Magic, Beach House, The Wizard of Oz
For fans of: Langhorne Slim, The Felice Brothers, picnics and red and white checkered cloth
proach, their first album a heavy mash of soul, electronic and sex metal; their own brand of spaz rock, is now smoothed down and refined into a truly unique style that only Beep Beep themselves can adequately accomplish. In a sense, they’re one of the few bands unbound by that nasty word in the indie-rock world: genre. Without being confined by the clichés plaguing the independent music scene, cheap knockoffs of Conor Oberst, trashy punk-basement rock and sleepy bands like Grizzly Bear, Beep Beep gives listeners a musical experi-
ence that’ll leave them wanting to listen to Enchanted Islands over and over again. The album’s opening track “I See You!” sounds as if it should be played out of an old Gipsy wagon housing an evil mystic. It creeps up your spine, easing you into the second track, “Mermaid Struggle”, with an erie feeling in your gut. The album carries you, pulling you up and down on a fantastic adventure. Co-frontmen Eric Bemberger and Chris Hughes sound great together on this album. Bemberger’s smooth voice with Hughes’ angelic
and occasionally frightening falsetto make the album as great as it is. It’s a serious shame Hughes left the band. I couldn’t imagine Beep Beep’s live performances being as good without him. Nonetheless, Enchanted Islands is a confounding collection of songs waiting to be explored, easily one of 2009’s strongest new releases thus far.
clouds are swift and the rain just won’t lift. It’s an untouchable piece of Americana that can be placed in any time, any place. The album itself is named after a chapter in a posthumously released incomplete Mark Twain novel, The Mysterious Stranger, which is a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of organized religion and the so-called “morality” that binds religion. The Felice Brothers display that pessimism throughout Yonder Is The
Clock, with songs about dying in Penn Station, being thrown into the sea wrapped in chicken wire, and dreaming about being buried in ice. Just about every track can be traced to modern times in America, especially the standout “Boy From Lawrence County,” which questions the morals of Robert Ford as he sets out to betray his friend Jesse James. The songs are drenched with accordian, honky tonk piano, fiddle, organ and the whisky- and cigarettetorn voice of Ian Felice, and capture
so well the essence of that unattainable slice of Americana that we can only dream of now. Yonder Is The Clock is so refreshing in the days of digital music, as it’s an album that could have been recorded in 1967 in rural upstate New York. There’s an archaic feeling to the songs, which strangely make them more relevant and purely listenable than anything else released this year.
Beep Beep Enchanted Islands Saddle Creek March 24, 2009 Beep Beep offered the intense, gripping and mostly satisfying Business Casual in 2004, diversifying Saddle Creek’s roaster with their intelligent, occasionally pornographic lyrics, and frantic experimental garage rock compositions. In 2009’s Enchanted Islands we see their new face: soft, open eyed and still just as mentally deranged. The noticeable change in their ap-
The Felice Brothers Yonder Is The Clock Team Love Records April 7, 2009 The New York-based Felice Brothers have truly evoked that “old, weird America” with their newest release, Yonder Is The Clock: that place Bob Dylan and The Band took us with The Basement Tapes, where you can get your meals for free or for a song, where the wheel’s on fire and about to explode, and where the
Outer South
Jason Cunningham The Recorder
Sam Perduta
Special to The Recorder
8
THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 13, 2009 / UPGRADE
Revamped Star Trek Reaches New Frontier
Photo courtesy of: Paramount Pictures
Michael Walsh The Recorder
Very few television or film series in history of the two mediums are as delicate to touch as the Star Trek series is. The fanbase is enormous and serious, a mass of dedicated people that might not be the easiest to please, especially when the project created by J.J. Abrams, the man behind the television show Lost, is a pre-summer blockbuster that is very mainstream friendly. Not to mention that the new vision is a flashy prequel that serves as an eventual reboot to the legendary series. This is why Abrams is very fortunate that he knows what he’s doing. We’ve seen big budget reboots before, perhaps even far too often. And even though those reboots include insanely popular and well-respected material such as the Batman canon, whether any of it has been as sacred as the Star Trek series is up for serious debate. This effort from Abrams is no cheap attempt at becoming the next
Michael Bay. Star Trek is pure visionary work that should keep Abrams’ head on his shoulders and safe from the rabid fanboys and girls of the series. That is the problem here though, my view as an outsider of the series (this film counts as the first Star Trek-related item I have viewed in full) might not be entirely compliant with that of a diehard fan. Abrams’ Star Trek gives a chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and the rest of the crew aboard the USS Enterprise as they battle Nero, a member of the Romulan species from the future, who threatens the destruction of planets. Abrams and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman created a story that seems to stay true to the ideologies of the original Gene Roddenberry-created series while morphing it all into a more modern and fast-paced action film. As much credit is due to Orci and Kurtzman as is due to Abrams. The script at hand doesn’t forget its brain as most “blockbuster” films might tend to do. What’s left is a rath-
er intelligent variance of the space opera and science fiction action genres. The film appropriately moves at the speed of light, but doesn’t move too fast that it bypasses the necessary light philosophical ponderous moments that help develop the characters the way Orci and Kurtzman are able to. The development of the characters comes as a key element of the story’s progression. For example, James T. Kirk, who is wonderfully played by Chris Pine, is first presented as the young, cocky womanizer he is, which is all prior to Kirk becoming more serious about the issues at hand. While none of this development is emotionally challenging or deep, it still makes the film work that much more. Instead of it simply being a war set in space, the events are given more relevance with the exceptionally handled characters being worth a damn. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t have experience with these characters prior to viewing this film. For me, that means I can’t give a full admission to whether these characters
stayed exactly true to the Roddenberry characters. But with Abrams being a casual fan and Orci and co-producer Damon Lindelof being self-proclaimed “Trekkies”, I would put money on the fact that they stay faithful to the series and representational of the characters fans fell in love with years ago. Abrams and his team assembled a near-perfect group of actors and actresses to fill the tight shirts and pointed ears of the past’s cast. The cast includes the likes of Zachary Quinto (Spock), Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy), Zoe Saldana (Uhura) and John Cho (Sulu). All were more than decent in what was surprisingly a well-acted film. Eric Bana plays chief villain Nero, a downright evil and vicious character, and Bana plays it as such with the perfect sneer. Special mention awarded to personal favorite Simon Pegg, who stayed as funny as you would expect him to be in his role as Scotty, a character that adds comic relief when stress level rises
amongst the rest of the crew battling Nero. Commentary on this revamped film would not be complete without talking about the lavish visuals and sheer size of the film. Abrams’ film is a science fiction epic worthy of high honor for its large-scale explosive battles, stunning sets and bright, colorful photography. The film actually gleams to the eye so much some have mentioned Abrams overuse of lens flare simply from watching the trailer. It was something I noticed but wasn’t bothered by at the slightest. I actually found it to be more of a unique visual style than anything else. It’s no secret that there has been a lack of real quality science fiction films set in space as of late. While the variants of the science fiction genre have been out there, not much compares to the wonder of a good space voyage beyond frontiers man does not know of. Abrams production of Star Trek is just that. The film ends as an incredibly enjoyable and well-told story of awe-inspiring action.
Girl Talk’s Gregg Gills Discusses Music and Live Show
Photo courtesy of: Pitch Perfect PR
Sean Ryon
The Lafayette | Lafayette College
Prior to interviewing electronica musician Girl Talk, Arts and Entertainment editor Eric Wilson and I called Girl Talk’s manager to ensure some last minute details. While speaking with him, we were presented with an odd request. Girl Talk and his roadies asked for two 30-packs of Bud Light in a can. On Wednesday April 29, the LAF hosted their annual Spring Concert Series. The lineup included hip-hop group Code Red, hip-hop violin duo Black Violin, and experi-
mental electronic music artist Girl Talk. Girl Talk, also known as Gregg Gillis, is a Pittsburgh native who rose to fame with his off-kilter electronic music. Using almost solely samples of songs from artists ranging from UGK to Sinead O’Conner, Gillis is known for his highly kinetic live shows, which are performed entirely with a laptop. He has released four full length LPs, most recent 2008’s Feed the Animals. Yet Gillis is no stranger to the music scene. Since his days of studying biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University, Gillis
has been making and performing music with his computer. “I got a laptop to go to college, but that was really for academic purposes,” said Gillis. “I had seen a lot of musicians play on computers, and a lot of my favorite experimental producers were doing stuff with live computer-based performance. When I got a computer, it seemed very much like I had gotten a guitar or something, so right from there I knew I was going to do a project with it and just play out with it.” Yet Gillis is not the first individual to dabble with computer instrumentation. Gillis spent much of
his later youth attending performances of similar electronica artists who pioneered the laptop as a musical instrument. Yet unlike his own idols, Gillis has managed to expand the genre to a considerably wider fan base. “It’s a funny thing where this whole project has gone, because a lot of the people I looked up to, when I got involved in this, were people playing a lot smaller shows,” Gillis noted. “To me, the ultimate goal back in the day was to be able to travel city to city and play [for] 20 or 30 different people, and in the past few years, it’s gotten way beyond that and it’s a lot larger shows.” Many naysayers disregard Gillis for his use of a computer to construct his music, arguing that because the laptop isn’t a “real” instrument. Yet Gillis sees the computer in a completely different light. “I think you [can] make music on it, so it’s an instrument,” Gillis said. “For me, a lot of my favorite musicians growing up were people who did music on a computer, and the world I come from, it was never really involved in a more traditional DJ rule…There’s a way to perform music live, cueing up samples, cutting it up, filtering, things like that. So in my world, it wasn’t even a theory, like ‘Is [the computer] an instrument or not?’ it was like, it clearly is because I’m going to see a lot of my favorite performers perform with it.” Gillis later added: “I think with any music, you could say, ‘Anyone can study guitar for 20 years and be-
come a great guitar player. Anyone can rap into a microphone, anyone can play the drums.’ It’s kind of like that argument seems silly to me, but you definitely hear it. I think it’s exciting when you’re making records that stir up conversation like that.” Another concern people have about Gillis’ music is that his live show is not really a show in the slightest. Far from being just a keyboard jockey paying a CD for an audience, Gillis broke down his live set and how demanding the process of sampling truly is for an artist like him. “I use a program called Audio Mulch, and when you open it up, it’s kind of a blank program. From there, it’s not complicated. It’s just kind of like you build up your own applications and how you want to organize it. It’s the sort of thing where the performance for me, what’s actually happening, there’s hundreds of loops running consistently, and every time you hear a change, it’s actually me clicking the mouse and actually dropping that sample. ... I kind of keep count in my head and mix and match those on the fly.” Later, he added, “If you had seen me every night on this tour, I might go through similar source material night to night to night, because it takes me a long time to build this stuff up, but when actual samples drop would be different in a subtle way. Maybe a hi-hat would come in here a kick drum would come in here, so it’s very much in real time.”
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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 13, 2009 / UPGRADE
CALENDAR From 5.13.09
MUSIC
5.13 Very Truly Yours w/ Death to New England @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn. 9 p.m.
5.18 Papercuts @ The Space Hamden, Conn. FREE / 12 p.m.
5.28 Cake @ The Webster Hartford, Conn. 7 p.m.
5.21 These Green Eyes w/ The Smyrk @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn. $5
6.5 Kevin Devine @ The Webster Hartford, Conn. $10 / 7 p.m.
5.22 Sidewalk Dave + 4 more bands @ The Space Hamden, Conn. $10 / 7 p.m.
6.19 Ted Leo + Pharmacists @ Toad’s Place New Haven, Conn. $15 / 9 p.m.
5.23 The Flaming Tsunamis + 5 more bands @ Wallingford Hungarian Club $10 donation / 5 p.m. 5.15 Wye Oak w/ Pomegranates @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn. $8
5.27 Toby Goodshank @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn. $3
5.15 Joel McHale @ Mohegan Sun Uncasville, Conn. $30 / 8 p.m.
5.23 Coldplay @ Comcast Theatre Hartford, Conn. $35 / 7:30 p.m.
5.16 Bonnie “Prince” Billy @ Iron Horse Northampton, Mass. $23 / 10 p.m.
FILM / THEATRE
Louis XIV. At the same time, he tries to “educate” many of his fellow teachers and administrators, who project their low expectations onto their students. A lively, visceral, and often hopeful look at a changing Europe that won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film. 5.14, 17 Eat, Drink, Man, Woman @ Wadsworth Atheneum Hartford, Conn.
5.13 007 Quantum of Solace Torp Theater Davidson Hall 9 p.m. 5.14, 15 Streets on Fire @ Black Box Theater Maloney Hall FREE / 7:30 p.m.
This film tells the story of a semi-retired and widowed Chinese master chef Chu (Sihung Lung) and his family living in modern day Taipei, Taiwan. At the start of the film, he lives with his three attractive daughters, all of whom are unattached. The three daughters represent three archetypes of woman: the oldest one an old maid school teacher with a broken heart, the middle one the career woman who is afraid of commitment, the youngest one the school girl who is curious about love. As the film progresses, each daughter encounters new men. When these new relationships blossom, the stereotypes are broken and the living situation within the family changes. Thursday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, May 17 at 2 p.m.
Students come together for a two-night performance where they will act out scenes between the characters they have created to illustrate the inter-connectedness of urban life. After every scene, a rap performance will summarize the scene’s importance and events. 5.13 - 16 The Class @ Cinestudio Hartford, Conn. $7 / 7:30 p.m. François Bégaudeau, a teacher who wrote a fascinating book about his experiences in a diverse, working class junior high school in Paris, now stars in a film based on one year of his life in the classroom. Bégaudet is daily challenged by his attempts to reach his volatile students of African, Asian and Arab descent, many of whom who feel marginalized in French society - and less-than-inspired by learning about
6.5,6 Dave Matthews Band @ Comcast Theatre Hartford, Conn. $40.50
Turner Prize-winning visual artist Steve McQueen, who is black and British, has chosen for his first film’s subject the horrific summer of 1981, when 10 Nationalist Irish prisoners in Northern Ireland - the most famous being Bobby Sands - starved themselves to death to protest their loss of political prisoner status. McQueen does not flinch as the men use their own bodies as instruments of resistance against the unyielding British state, refusing to wear prison uniforms, bathe, or, ultimately, eat. Hunger has one 22 minute set piece as dramatic as anything seen on screen this year: an impassioned conversation between Sands (Michael Fassbender) and a priest (Liam Cunningham) on the pain and morality of sacrifice. “A tour de force of writing, acting and riveting moral complexity. McQueen has taken the raw materials of filmmaking and committed an act of great art.” - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post. 5.15 - 28 Fados @ Real Art Ways Hartford, Conn. $6.50 / 7 p.m.
You really can’t resist the musical stylings of Mr. Matthews, a man who has proven over the last 16 years that he can keep touring and performing while intoxicated. But then again, maybe that’s the appeal. Relive high school with one, possibly two drunken nights at the old Meadows grounds again. Party on the lawn, while stumbling through mud puddles, score free drinks from older gentlemen prowling the grass and avoid all 1,392 cops cruising the area.
“Elegantly constructed. The question: can an individual leader take a nation to, or keep it from, war? The conclusion: individual temperament matters, and John F. Kennedy’s example proves it.” - J. Hoberman, The Village Voice Virtual JFK investigates one of the most debated “what if ” scenarios in the history of U.S. foreign policy: What would President John F. Kennedy have done in Vietnam if he had not been assassinated in 1963, and had he been reelected in 1964? From the director’s statements: “Virtual JFK is a relevant film that addresses these questions by looking at the way President Kennedy dealt with six deep foreign policy crises (Cuba to Vietnam) without going to war. Combining footage from numerous Kennedy press conferences, in-depth interviews and a close reading of the documentary record, the film argues that critical decisions about the use of restraint and coercive diplomacy often require greater acts of courage than the use of force, and that character matters greatly in Presidential leadership.”
Carlos Saura’s tribute to fado, a musical genre that has been traced back as far as 1820s Portugal. Saura deploys mirrors, back projections, lighting effects and lush colors to frame each song, ranging from a campfire ringed by sinuous dancers to a balletic cat fight between two jealous women to a thrilling desgarrada (musical duel) in a fado café. The result is a ravishing fusion of cinema, song, dance and instrumental numbers. Sordid Lives @ Hole in the Wall Theater New Britain, Conn. $20 donation
5.17 - 120 Hunger @ Cinestudio Hartford, Conn. $7 / 7:30 p.m.
5.18 Virtual JFK: Vietnam if Kennedy had Lived @ Real Art Ways Hartford, Conn. 1 p.m.
Winters, Texas is a town with big hair and small minds. Extra-marital affairs stay hidden and gay men stay in the closet or the mental hospital. Neighbors gossip, siblings bicker, and death is a time for coming together – or coming out. Welcome to Sordid Lives, Del Shores’ black comedy about white trash, running May 22nd through June 20th at Hole in the Wall Theater in New Britain. May 22, 23, 29, 30, 31; June 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20; Fridays and Saturdays 8 p.m.; Sunday matinees 2 p.m.
10
THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 13, 2009 / SPORTS
SPORTS STARTS ON BACKPAGE
Dorau The [Sports] Explorer Smith Scores For CCSU End of One Season Moves Us On to the Next
Kyle Dorau The Recorder
The end of a season is always a funny thing in sports. It captures your attention and won’t let go for months, then suddenly the season ends and that enthusiasm is rerouted into other avenues, not to be heard from again until next year. Take it from me - the same thing happens in college. This whole semester has not felt different at all. It has been full of the same stresses and issues that every one before it contained. It has yet to dawn on me that I’m actually going to graduate this semester. I leave behind all the sports I enjoyed watching at Central. I had the best seat in the house at center court in Detrick Gym for basketball. Yet there was always a part of me that wanted to be up in the stands, heckling the opposition and cheering on the Blue Devils. Having the opportunity to cover CCSU football for the first time this year, I saw the passion for the game that head coach Jeff McInerney has. It noticeably impacts his players on and off the field, making Central one of the best I-AA programs in the entire Northeast. Central ice hockey is far more than a club. While they are not under the watch of the Athletic Department, these guys are still student-athletes in every sense of the word. Covering
games from the penalty box while scorekeeping and PA Announcing was a highlight of each winter weekend. This position took me places in the middle of nowhere such as Burrillville, R.I. for Friday night hockey against Bryant all the way up to NCAA Tournament Soccer and men’s basketball at Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, on the campus of Boston College. There’s something inherently special about those experiences. Each road trip is unique. As I look directly above my computer typing this in my room, I see the dozens of media credentials I’ve acquired over the course of my time working in sports. Each one tells a story, and that’s what I’ve attempted to do here with this weekly column. Being at The Recorder itself is an inherently unique experience. Sadly, the paper’s reputation often precedes the individual who writes for it. So many people have come and gone, just as I’m going right now. The staff is almost completely different from when the offending content was published, and it will be even more different come fall. If I can make one point clear upon my departure, this is YOUR student paper. Any student is welcome to write for it. You control the content a lot more than you think. Don’t like it? Come to a meeting and volunteer to write what is important to you as a CCSU student. While some may continue to have a negative view of The Recorder, I pose that it has been nothing but a positive experience for me. Putting aside my meeting and extracurricular activity attendance, I’ve made a lot of friends in that office. I know the rest of the staff will give me hell for that, but I’ll just threaten to kick them in the head like I always do.
Watching Assistant Sports Editor Chris Boulay become the only Recorder staff member to strike out in slow pitch softball intramurals on Sunday, I saw the smiles on the faces of our team, including him. While the Pabst Blue RBIs didn’t win a game, we all had fun, even while we got our brains beat in. There hasn’t been such positive attitude in that office for a long time. Continuing my unintelligible, rambling goodbye note, I have to thank the Sports Information Department, for their coordination of all the events on and off campus in which they helped me. They allowed me to become the voice of CCSU baseball, resulting in broadcasting the NEC Tournament in 2007, and hopefully again in 2009, pending the results of this weekend. This isn’t the most sports-centric column ever. In fact, journalistically, this is probably the most insignificant drivel I’ve ever written. But it comes from the heart, which is all that matters as I reflect on a delightfully mediocre six-year college career. I’m happy to bleed blue. I’m happy to be able to do a pretty spoton impression of Howie Dickenman’s voice. But most of all, I’m happy my time as a reporter is over and I can go back to being a fan again. I’m proud to be a Blue Devil. The semester and sports both see seasons winding down at this juncture, and it’s a shame to see them go. But in the end, the same thing always happens. We move on. Just like a fireworks display, it is months of explosions and color and amazement, and after a big finish, it’s over in a matter of seconds. It fizzles away.
at New Englands
CCSUBlueDevils.com
Sean Smith placed in both the 200 and 400 meters to score the only points for Central Connecticut at the New England Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The senior took fifth place in the 400, crossing the line in 48.24 seconds, and placed seventh in the 200 with a time of 22.27 seconds. Smith picked up six points to lead the Blue Devils to 29th out of 41 scoring teams at UMass this weekend. Four other CCSU individuals were in competition on Saturday in Amherst, MA. Freshmen Matt Berube and Nick Trifone participated
in the triple and high jump events, respectively. Berube took 12th in the triple, recording a distance of 13.46 meters, while Trifone tied for ninth in the high jump with a height of 1.90 meters. Sophomore Robert Weston finished the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 9:48.64 to place 18th and senior Matthew Whalen was 22nd in the 800 meter run, finishing in 1:56.54. Both Central Connecticut relays in competition on Saturday performed well. The 4x100 meter relay team finished just out of the scoring, placing ninth with a time of 42.84 seconds. A time of 7:54.77 placed the Blue Devil 4x800 relay team 13th.
Go Blue Devils. Photo Courtesy of CCSUBlueDevils.com
Leverette Leads Heptathlon at New Englands CCSUBlueDevils.com
Freshman Christie Leverette scored 4,617 to win the heptathlon at the New England Outdoor Track and Field Championships at UMass. The two-sport athlete placed second in the long jump and javelin, while placing ninth in the 800 meter portion of the seven event competition. On Friday she recorded two firsts, a second and a fifth place finish to lead Central Connecticut to 21st out of 36 scoring teams in Amherst, Mass. Leverette recorded a distance of 33.95 meters to place second in the javelin on Saturday and tied for sec-
ond in the long jump with a distance of 5.09 meters. Also a member of the CCSU women’s basketball team, Leverette was ninth in the 800-meter portion of the event, recording a time of 2:34.28. Freshman Amanda Kelley and sophomore Katherine Bossardet also competed for the Blue Devils on Saturday. Kelley placed 18th in the shot put and 17th in the discus. In the shot, she recorded a distance of 11.28 meters and in the discus threw to a mark of 35.52 meters. Bossardet finished the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 11:33.30 to place 16th.
Photo Courtesy of CCSUBlueDevils.com
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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 13, 2009 / SPORTS
Central Drops 3 out of 4 at Home Against the Mount Continued from page 12 The Blue Devils tied it up in the bottom of the eighth on a Mitch Wells single and a Sean Allaire RBI groundout. They had a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth. With the bases loaded and two out, senior catcher Sean Parker flew out to center field. The Mount would take a lead on a Shane Eyler two-run home run in the top of the tenth, and Central had no answer, falling 11-9. A bright spot for the Blue Devils this weekend was the effort of senior lefthander Derek Roberts. The New Britain native pitched eight innings, giving up just three runs on Saturday. Roberts improved to 6-1 on the season, and remains unbeaten in Northeast Conference play. Roberts got plenty of run support, as the Blue Devils finally got a complete team effort. The offense backed Roberts’ quality start with a 15-run effort, including an eight-run fifth inning. That frame saw the Blue Devils have a stretch of four straight base hits before an out was even recorded. With two outs, Central strung to-
gether five more hits in a row, including three doubles. The Blue Devils called on Sean Parker to pitch the ninth. He managed a perfect inning, inducing a popup, groundout, and a strikeout. Central now has to do what they’ve done all season, which is win on the road. They travel to Monmouth this weekend, who are currently in a tie for first in the Northeast Conference. Despite five teams fighting for four spots, the standings are still so tight that heading into the final weekend of the season, no team has qualified for the NEC Tournament. Central will play a single nineinning game Friday at 3 p.m., a seveninning doubleheader Saturday at 12 noon, and a nine-inning contest to close out the regular season Sunday at 1 p.m. Regardless of whether or not the Blue Devils make the NEC Tournament, it will be hosted at New Britain Stadium, home of the New Britain Rock Cats.
Right: Sean Allaire runs down a Mountaineer baserunner for an out. Bottom: Pitcher Derek Roberts fields a bunt and throws to first base.
Edward Gaug | The Recorder
Edward Gaug | The Recorder
A Statistical Analysis of Kevin Youkilis’ Goatee By Kyle Dorau / The Recorder
Yankee Pitcher’s Souls
Hair
Pine Tar 3%
6%
Leftover Food
6%
Chin
20%
65%
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www.therecorderonline.net
Sports 5.13
THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 13 , 2009
Hit-Streak Scial-DONE
Devils Face Elimination at Monmouth This Weekend By Kyle Dorau / The Recorder
If the Blue Devils Baseball team does not qualify for the Northeast Conference tournament, they know exactly what weekend to look at as a missed opportunity. Mount St. Mary’s came up to Central and took three out of four from CCSU this past weekend at Beehive Stadium in New Britain. Thursday night, the teams played a nailbiter that was halted due to fog with the Blue Devils up 7-6 in the eighth inning. Friday, the Mountaineers swept a twinbill from Central, winning each game by just a single run, 9-8 and 4-3.
Saturday, the teams finished the halted game, as Central could not hold the late one-run lead and were outscored 5-2 the rest of the way. In the scheduled game that afternoon, Derek Roberts carried the team to its lone victory of the weekend, backed by an eight-run fifth inning. For the Blue Devils, one bad weekend made them drop from a tie for first in the NEC all the way to fifth place, on the outside looking in at postseason play. On Friday, junior shortstop Anthony Scialdone’s hitting streak was snapped at 28 games. He went
0-3 against Mount starter Costa Kapothanasis in game one of the doubleheader, and was on deck when Casey Walko struck out looking to end the ballgame. Senior outfielder Jay Schillaci lost his sixteen-game hitting streak in the second game, as he went 0-4 in a 9-8 CCSU loss. The Blue Devils’ missed opportunities were punctuated by the second game of the doubleheader on Friday. The Mount’s closer Mike Matta was pitching for the second time that day, after earning the save in the first game. All Central had to
do to win was just score one run in the bottom of the seventh. Junior outfielder Richie Tri led off the inning with a single. Junior first baseman Tommy Meade hit a ball right back to Matta, who airmailed the throw into center field, allowing the runners to move to second and third with nobody out. The Mountaineers opted to intentionally walk Sean Parker, loading the bases. Mitch Wells, Sean Allaire, and Casey Walko of the Blue Devils all grounded out, and Central missed a golden opportunity to grab a game from Mount St. Mary’s.
The halted game could be looked at as another lost chance to pick up a game in the standings. Upon the resumption of the game Saturday, the Mount struck for three runs in the top half of the eighth, as freshman Jason Foster struggled, giving up a run in facing four batters. Head Coach Charlie Hickey went to Ken Kerski in relief, who had pitched seven innings in a losing effort the day before. Kerski gave up a two-run double to Mountaineer Kyle Kane right off the bat, driving in a pair of runners charged to Foster. See Central Page 11
Edward Gaug | The Recorder
Freshman infielder Mitch Wells collects one of his four hits in a 4 for 4 performance against the Mount on Saturday afternoon. Wells was the only Blue Devil with four hits in the game.
Five and Out: Collin It a Career Peter Collin The Recorder
My time here at CCSU is coming to an end. It does for everyone eventually whether someone finishes in a rare three years or six years, a standard. It has been a long road to this point, a point that at some instances felt like it would never come fast enough and now feels like it is passing me like a freight train. My first three years at CCSU felt like torture. I’ll admit that I was the typical Central student who did little to nothing on campus and looked at the school as if it was a burden on me, sucking money and time that I felt had better uses. It wasn’t until I found The Recorder that I began to change my view about this university. The paper became an outlet for my personal ambitions to become a sports journalist. Where else would I be allowed to follow our men’s soccer team through the triumphs of a run to a conference title and three rounds of NCAA tournament magic? Who else would send me to cover football games at our own Arute Field and then halfway across the country to Western Michigan?
Here is where I was able learn the trade I am pursuing to the fullest extent and grow as a writer. Not only that but I had more fun than I ever expected to have at CCSU. You forge a lot of friendships in the crucible of layout nights and after hours as it all winds down. It is hard to imagine what I’ll do without the newspaper now. It comes to the point where any downtime is usually spent working on stories or looking up ideas for the next issue. Living week to week based on the paper has caused some of the most stressful times and also the most enjoyable and exciting of my college career. Leaving wont be easy but at times we have to decide to grow and move out of the shells we’ve become accustomed to. With the journalism world searching for a new identity it is difficult to say where I might be in five years. But I know that wherever I end up I will be using the lessons I have learned here to succeed. I was lucky enough to discover a path and an outlet for my ambition while at CCSU and I guess that’s all I was looking for all along. This school helped me find out who I wanted to be and that makes every cent I spent worthwhile.
Kim Voted Second Team All-Northeast Conference CCSUBlueDevils.com
Central Connecticut senior women’s golfer Deborah Kim collected her second career AllNortheast Conference selection, as announced by the league office this afternoon. Kim, who tied for 10th at the NEC Women’s Golf Championships this season, was a second team honoree. She shot 80, 81 and a season-low 77 over the three-day conference tournament on the Hershey Links in Hershey, PA. Kim appeared in all nine CCSU events in 2008-09. She posted an 82.5 stroke average over 18 rounds. The Shelburne, Ontario native had two top-10 finishes, not including a medalist effort at her careerending dual match versus St. Francis (N.Y.). In past seasons, the top-10 finishers at the league championship earned all-conference status. Coaches voted for NEC Golfer of the Year, NEC Rookie of the Year and the All-NEC teams this season.
Photo Courtesy of CCSUBlueDevils.com
Kim, who transferred from Chicago State following her freshman season, was an all-conference honoree as a sophomore. She finished seventh at the 2007 Northeast Conference Women’s Golf Championships.
Long Island senior Natalie Desjardins was tabbed the NEC Golfer of the Year. Sacred Heart freshman Carly Bergin earned NEC Rookie of the Year honors.