Volume 108 Issue 2

AWA R D-W INNING CENTR A LR ECOR DER .COM Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Central Connecticut State University

Volume 108 No. 02

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I thought our defense played hard, they were wickedly fatigued, it was hot out there but I thought they responded and made some huge plays, some key plays.”

- CCSU Head Coach Jeff McInerney

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Football Story Begins on Page 12 Freshman Tyrell Holmes celebrates his first career interception in the second half against Southern Connecticut. Holmes earned the Northeast Conference football rookie of the week for his performance.

Men’s Basketball Captain Arrested bRittany buRke the Recorder

It has been reported that recently named captain of the men’s Central Connecticut State University basketball team, Ken Horton, has been arrested.

In a story posted by The Hartford Courant, it was reported that the arrest for breach of peace on Friday was the result of an alleged altercation that took place on Thursday.

Horton, 22, was the only CCSU athlete involved in the altercation, as confirmed by the CCSU Sports Information Director Tom Pincince.

Pincince was able to confirm this, but little else. “We are aware of the situation, and are currently in the fact finding process. When all of the facts are gathered we will handle the matter appropriately,” said Pincince in a statement on

behalf of the CCSU athletics department.

The senior was named captain of the 2011-12 men’s basketball team by head coach Howie Dickenman in July after a standout junior season.

The 6-foot-6 forward led the team in free-throws with 159 and threes with 59. He posted multiple career-highs, ending the 2010-11 season with 606 points, 275 rebounds, 44 steals and 60 rebounds. He is the current Northeast Conference player of the year and was regarded as one of the most valuable players in the nation by SI.com writer Luke Winn.

With the basketball season beginning on Nov. 11 in the Connecticut 6 Classic, it is still unclear what actions will be taken.

The CCSU athletics department has no further comment at this time according to Pincince.

Horton at the Blue Devils’ home opener this past weekend, the day following his arrest.

kenny baRto | the RecoRdeR

FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT: www.centralrecorder.com

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NEWS

THE RECORDER Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Recorder

Student Center 1615 Stanley Street New Britain, CT 06050 T 860.832.3744 editor@centralrecorder.com centralrecorder.com twitter.com/therecorder

Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Proch nproch@centralrecorder.com Managing Editor Matt Clyburn mclyburn@centralrecorder. com Art Director Ashley E. Lang News Editors Sara M. Berry, Assistant Kassondra Granata, Assistant Justin Muszynski, Assistant news@centralrecorder.com Entertainment Editor Danny Contreras entertainment@ centralrecorder.com Upgrade Editor Kat Boushee Sports Editor Brittany Burke sportsed@centralrecorder. com Photo Editor Kenny Barto kbarto@centralrecorder.com Copy Editor Maxine Eichen Staff Writers Nick Rosa Jonathan Stankiewicz Derek Turner

About

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

The Recorder articles, photographs and graphics are property of The Recorder and may not be reproduced or published without the written permission from the Editorin-Chief. T he pur pose of The Recorder is to approach and def ine issues of importance to the students of Central Connecticut State Universit y.

Staff meetings for The Recorder are held on Mondays at 8 p.m. in the Blue and W hite Room in the student center and on Thursday at 2 p.m. in the Recorder off ice.

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Student Center Welcomes Hydration Stations jonathan Stankiewicz The Recorder

At the end of last semester, the Student Center had two hydration stations installed to encourage the use of reusable water bottles on campus.

The stations, one by Devil’s Den entrance and the other directly across from the bookstore, aim to cut down on bottled water. On the side of each unit there is a number readout of how many plastic bottles that have been saved.

The water is both chilled and filtered, said Student Center Director Otis Mamed. The device is hands-free and won’t run for more than 30 seconds on each fill.

Mamed said the idea for the hydration stations stemmed from over a year ago when the sustainability committee on campus had a focus on water. In addition, a couple of students saw bottle filling stations at a conference and called it to Mamed’s attention. He started looking around the internet.

He took the idea, researched a little, and brought it to the Student Union Board of Governors. They loved the idea.

“Nothing is simple,” said Mamed. “The codes for the number of drinking fountains you have in a building are based on the number of people (traffic) so that there is a minimum requirement.”

At first, Mamed was looking to just install filling stations as stand alone units, but with the code, he had to find a unit that had both a water filling station and a regular water fountain with it.

Having to find a company that made a filling station with a regular water fountain that could fit into the old water fountain location with the same dimensions wasn’t easy, Mamed said.

“We installed one in the end of May and the other in the beginning of June,” Mamed said. “And already people are going nuts; everybody loves it.”

Faculty and students from other buildings on campus want the new stations in their buildings, said Mamed.

“We figured out how to fund it out of the Student Center budget and we actually have a certified worker to install the station,” Mamed said.

If other buildings are looking to try to get the new stations, Mamed is not the person to go to because it’s not up to him.

According to Mamed, the cost of the device was a little under $1,000 each and, with labor and some plumbing parts, they cost about $2,400 total to install.

Already, the stations have saved about 5000 bottles from being used and potentially thrown into the environment.

Kenny Barto | the recorder

The hydration stations, located in the Student Center, helps to encourage resuasable water bottle usage.

Student Center Will Begin Free Netbook Rentals This Week jonathan stankiewicz The Recorder

Starting this week, a joint venture between IT and the Student Center will allow students to rent out netbooks, or thin clients, for free.

The trial run begins with 10 thin clients, a “display only” computer or device it displays programs and applications that run on network servers rather than on the computer. Essentially, it’s a netbook without the luxuries of the programs that usually accompany a PC or Mac. Users do not have the same flexibility as they do with their own PC and have to login to the Citrix servers that IT provides for CCSU. “These netbooks have Windows embedded on them and they have a filter installed so that students aren’t able to write anything on the machine,” said ResNet Systems Specialist Tom Klecha. “It looks like Windows on a PDA, a locked down version of Windows with basically no programs.”

All students have to do is login as they normally would to the Citrix server and follow the instructions to get started, Klecha said. “All of our software is on there, just in a much safer way to approach this.”

Students will not be able to store anything anywhere on the thin client as soon as they restart the machine everything is erased, said Klecha.

To save something students can save to their personal M: drive on the server or to their own flash drive.

“We are going to rent them out for as long as the battery lasts,” Mamed said. The computers will be given out fully charged and have the ability to last a good eight hours on one charge. Students will have to return it once the battery dies, if not sooner.

“Battery life on them is thin client back to the Student computer at his home and on campus and didn’t have any phenomenal,” said Klecha. “They Center.

“The way we’ve set it up is problems. are ultra-portable and students can “We’ll see how it goes,” Mamed bring this thing home with them at if you don’t return it then it will home and use the Citrix service as be a $500 bill on your student said. “If we’ve done it right it will account,” Mamed said. be useful, if we haven’t done it if on campus.”

Kullgren sees a lot of students right then we will go back to the “Initially we were thinking full blown laptops,” said Student using the computer kiosks around drawing board and see what we the Student Center and if they need to adjust.”

Center Director Otis Mamed.

Klecha has high hopes for the IT and Mamed reconsidered need to do more intensive work on full blown laptops because of and want to sit down the new new service. rental program will make things “I don’t see why we wouldn’t the cost and maintenance. be able to rent a high number of “We hope students like it,” said easier.

Mamed has used the new them,” said Klecha.

Director of User Support Services & Campus One Card Amy Kullgren who helped Mamed make the new service possible.

The way the rental works is through barcodes that Sara m. berry older than the traditional college student, will be on the The Recorder with 18 percent of students over the age of bottom of each 30. unit. The barcode CCSU is the largest of the four CCSU offers over 100 undergraduate on the unit will universities that comprise the Connecticut majors and graduate degrees in 41 academic be scanned and State University System. Founded in 1849 fields. Programs range from the liberal the barcode on as New Britain Normal School, dedicated to arts and sciences to nursing, business, the student’s teacher training, it is also the state’s oldest engineering, and, of course, education.

CCSU ID card public university. Over the past 160 years, The newly named Carol A. Ammon will be scanned CCSU has grown extensively. In 1933 it School of Arts and Sciences is the largest as well. Students became Connecticut Teachers College, and school in the University, with 42 percent will get a form was renamed Central Connecticut State of students enrolled in Arts and Science that has them College in 1959. In 1983, after continued majors. As of Fall 2020, CCSU employed agree to bring growth and development, it became Central 440 full-time faculty, 80 percent of whom the unit back and Connecticut State University in 1983. held PhDs. There are also another 526 partthat they take full The campus currently sits on time faculty. responsibility for approximately 165 acres.

Twenty percent of the University’s the unit. When In the Spring of 2011, there were students live on campus in one of nine the battery dies almost 12,000 students at CCSU, over residence halls. they bring the 9,500 undergraduates and 2,300 graduates.

Between August 2009 and May 2010, unit back and the Almost 80 percent of undergraduates attend CCSU awarded almost 2,500 degrees. This barcode will be CCSU full-time, and are about evenly split number has been increasing steadily from scanned again and between male and female, with a steadily 2,252 in 2004-2005. students will get a increasing percentage of minority students.

There are over 65,000 living CCSU form saying that Twenty one percent of students are from a alumni, 85 percent of whom have stayed in they returned the minority background, 7 percent are African Connecticut. unit.

American, 6 percent Latino, and 3 percent CCSU has a growing study abroad Students just Asian. program which includes partnerships with have to make sure Fifty five percent of CCSU students are 70 universities in almost 40 countries. they bring the

CCSU: Where We Came From and Where We’re Going

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 7, 2011 / NEWS

Tropical Storm Put a Damper on Orientation Events kassondra granata The Recorder

With the threat of then-hurricane Irene fast approaching, CCSU officials decided to cancel orientation weekend for incoming freshman.

Students had the opportunity to move in two days before the storm, and were given the choice to return home until the storm ended or stay on campus and brace Irene.

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Ramon Hernandez said he was very disappointed with the event cancellations, but assured that the freshmen will still be informed about issues on campus.

“It’s going to be a little tougher for us,” Hernandez said. “We will have to reach out a lot more.”

In partnership with with student orientation leaders on campus, Hernandez has been e-mailing freshman students and their parents about upcoming events that have been planned. The e-mail list is also intended to provide a line of communication to answer any questions asked by students and their family members.

Orientation leaders have emailed freshman students on a list provided to them

by WHOM. “As a group, the whole orientation team was disappointed,” says Kat DaCorte, an orientation leader and junior. “As ‘OLs,’ we worked so hard to prepare for it and were looking forward to welcoming the freshman with everything that was originally planned for them.”

“It was a huge bummer.”

Hernandez hopes to include First Year Experience teachers in the process, hoping

that professors teaching the classes will incorporate content into their classes.

“We’re going to work very hard in getting students to come to our activities,” says Hernandez. “Events and activities are postponed, not cancelled.”

The Orientation Team is still planning on presenting their show ,“Sex Signals,” on Tuesday, September 13 at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in Torpe Theatre.

Incoming freshmen said that getting acclimated to the new school year was difficult.

“It really was a bad start to the year,” CCSU Freshman Megan Anderson said. “It was hard to meet [other] freshman and make friends.”

Brian Northrop believed that not having an orientation didn’t make a difference.

“I think it’s better that it didn’t happen,” said Northrop. “In large groups, it can be hard to be social, whereas by yourself and on your own time, it’s easier to make friends one on one and grow accustomed to the campus.”

Hernandez hopes to make a few changes next year when it comes to how orientation is run. Hoping to upgrade the communication with freshman and the orientation leaders, Hernandez plans on organizing a group on Facebook where orientation leaders can converse with their group members. He hopes that this will help leaders reach out to students earlier in the summer.

“This was the first time for all of us. I’ve never been through a storm, I was nervous.”

Hernandez said.

“This class will always remember that their freshman year began with an earthquake earlier in the summer and then a hurricane the weekend on arrival.”

Professors’ Union President Reflects on Meaning of Labor Day matthew clyburn The Recorder

On Labor Day, most professors and students stayed home to celebrate a three day weekend with family and friends. For Jason Jones, president of the CSU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the day was a time to reflect on the origin of the holiday.

“The official holiday was created after Grover Cleveland put down the...Pullman Strike, it was essentially a face-saving gesture,” Jones said in an interview Monday.

“Labor Day is also an opportunity for people to reflect on the many ways that working conditions have improved since then. There’s no question that labor has won significant advances, but it has been a long time since there’s been a great deal popular support for some of the initiatives we’d like to see.”

Jones, who is also Vice President of the national AAUP Collective Bargaining Conference, believes Labor Day provides an opportunity for conversations about the impact of labor unions on modern life.

Jones sees the ongoing financial crisis as evidence that political leaders in Washington have little concern for average families. He believes that another benefit of the AAUP is having an organization that can provide political pressure needed to change these circumstances.

“Historically, labor unions have been one of the main ways in which of the voice of regular people could be heard in Congress,” Jones said. “Where labor unions have been strong, inequality in the country has been lessened by a very large amount.”

Jones contends that if private sector unions still existed the way they did in the 1960s, income inequality would be up to a third less than it is today. From his perspective, income inequality can be directly connected to recessions and

depressions.

In other words, he said, “labor matters.”

Leaders of the CSU-AAUP will hold meetings with representatives of all CSU campuses in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition to the new higher education model in the state.

“We have the new Board of Regents and an interim president of the board,” Jones said.

“One of the things we want to do is make sure that we build a new working relationship with those people so they know what CCSU is like, and particularly the value of a CCSU education. We want them to understand the variety of offerings that we have at Central and why preserving access to a traditional college experience is so important for our students.”

Jones said the CSU-AAUP also has an interest in developing their members for long-term success and fostering a new way of engage students. The union helps create new opportunities for communicating with students that may not have existed in the past, such as text messaging, social networking and online learning platforms.

“Faculty and students share a real interest,” Jones said. “They both want plentiful classes, especially classes that will help students graduate on time, they want classes by professors on campus and experts in their field.”

Jones believes that students and faculty have a common interest around money, too.

The AAUP is expected to analyze the CSU system’s finances soon, following the passage of significant higher education reforms in the state legislature last year.

“I think people will be pretty surprised,” Jones said. “Students are paying more and more, but that money does not appear to be going to the faculty [that] teach their classes.”

“In this way, the work of the CSU-AAUP union and the interests of the students fit right together.”

CCSU Emeritus Professor, Accomplished Writer Dies at 67

Photo Courtesy of CCSU

Ronald Fernandez sara m. berry The Recorder

CCSU emeritus Professor Ronald Fernandez died last week at the age of 67, following a battle with esophageal cancer.

Fernandez, a sociology professor, started teaching at CCSU in the early 1980s. He grew up in New York City and earned his PhD at the University of Connecticut before he began teaching at what was then Central Connecticut State College.

In 1987, he established the Center for Caribbean and Latin American Studies at CCSU. According to the Paul Vitello of the New York Times, Fernandez began his writing career in 1987 with a book entitled Los Macheteros: The Wells Fargo Robbery and the Violent Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence, following the 1983 Wells

Fargo robbery that took place in West Hartford.

After researching the seven million dollar robbery, Fernandez learned that the robbers were part of Los Macheteros, a militant group supporting Puerto Rican independence.

He would go on to write five more books, including a history test, about Puerto Rico.

Serafin Mendez-Mendez, a professor of communications at CCSU, memorialized Fernandez in the Hartford Courant Saturday.

“At CCSU, his home institution for more than 40 years, he was a vocal force for the oppressed and disenfranchised,” MendezMendez wrote. “He was a role model for faculty and students alike.”

In an article on the University website, Fernandez’ contemporary work is summarized in several quotes from the man himself as he reflected on the possibilities of challenging racial dichotomies.

“There are millions of walking questions marks,” Fernandez said, “Americans who can never fit into the racial boxes that officially divide us into whites, blacks, and others.”

“Instead of focusing on assimilation on squeezing the rest of the world into our arbitrary categories - let’s use the ‘others’ of American life to start a conceptual revolution.

Let’s rethink the basic categories of American self-identification.”

The Center for Caribbean and Latin American Studies promotes the understanding and appreciation of the historical, social, and cultural life of Latin American and Caribbean societies, and of Latinos in the U.S. through education, community events, study abroad, international exchange, community outreach, and research. The center is located on the main floor of the Elihu Burritt Library.

Briefs SUBOG to Host 9/11 Memorial Event on Campus On Monday, September 12, CCSU will hold a memorial event to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001.

The University’s event will take place at the peace pole outside the Student Center at 11:00 a.m. Flags, lapel pins, and stickers will be available at the Student Center information desk for those who would like

them. The event is being organized by the Student Union Board of Governors.

On Sunday, September 11, at the New Britain Museum of American Art, artist Graydon Parrish will discuss his painting “The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy,” a work about 9/11. For more information on the CCSU event, contact Ois Mamed, Director, Student Center.

ESPN

ESPN will be visiting Central Connecticut State University on September 14from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

Six representatives from the sports entertainmentcompany will be on campus, along with Joe Franco, the manager of ESPN UniversityRelations.

The event will take place at Torp Theatre in Davidson Hall and will includefive meetings of approximately 30 minutes each. Lunch will be from 1:15 p.m. to2:15 p.m. at the Constitution Room in Memorial Hall.

The day will conclude with an informational session from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00p.m.This event is part of an attempt to reach out to the community and increasepost-graduation employment at CCSU. ESPN is a worldwide leader in sports that’sowned by Disney and leads in multimedia sports with the broadcast collection ofmultimedia sports assets with over 50 business entities.

To Reach Out To Students With Day On Campus

OPINION

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THE RECORDER Wednesday, September 7, 2011

EDITORIAL

Locked Doors Are Getting In The Way Of Engagement The campus ghost-town effect that sets in at approximately 6:00 p.m. each Thursday has boggled the minds of CCSU administrators for years. Attempts to make the campus appear more ‘cool’ have been futile as students have consistently chosen off-campus as their weekend residence. The recent Labor Day weekend proves this observation undoubtedly: students have no desire to stay on campus.

Despite seemingly staged queries from University officials, solving this problem does not appear to be a priority. For example, take a student who wishes to hang out in Breakers on Saturday night. After getting out of work at 9:00 p.m., the student skips down the hill towards the student center. But to his surprise, the student center is tightly locked and any attempts to play billiards will be met

with door alarms and subsequent arrest.

Swamped with work for her political science class, another student tries to get into the library the Friday before Labor Day around 5:00 p.m. This student will find the campus center of academic research closed to students until Tuesday.

Memorial Hall’s weekend and holiday hours are equally egregious, as are the student center’s. Students looking to meet with friends or catch up on their studies this weekend were often greeted with locked doors and disappointment.

Fast forward in time to the weeks of midterm and final exams. Students know that campus resources will be available at virtually any hour, and use them accordingly. This system of supply and demand does not fit in an academic institution. The reality is that

EDITOR’S COLUMN

The Column That Almost Was

students do homework and study at all hours throughout the entire year, not just during midterm and final exams.

We believe this particular practice reinforces a culture of procrastination, one where emphasis is only placed on the final ‘report card’ results rather than a rigorous educational process. Further, we believe this practice upholds a toxic cycle in which student involvement on campus is perpetually threatened by the lack of access to campus facilities.

In light of our current fiscal crisis, we understand that public spending on academic institutions is not a top priority, but we also do not see fiscal responsibility and an open campus policy as rival schools of thought.

Quite the contrary, we believe that a leaner organization can create an opportunity for

What Happened To Making Your Own News Judgement? kat boushee The Recorder

nicholas proch The Recorder

Let’s take a walk through what it’s like to write my column. I woke up this morning feeling like I was hit by a truck transporting cheap Irish whiskey. Realizing I had an obligation to come in and work on Labor day, while the rest of the world is at barbeques and bat mitzvahs, I started racking my brain for ideas. This column was quickly looking like a dud.

The staff started to file into the office and we started our usual layout. News. Upgrade.

Sports. They were all moving along smoothly, but I knew there were two gaping holes. The first was a solid editorial idea, the second was about 450-500 words below my best Kilroy impersonation (for those of you who don’t have any clue what I’m talking about, that’s ok, I usually don’t either).

What were this week’s issues? We have mounting debt and an economic crisis (but let’s be honest, back-to-back weeks of that will probably make half of you skip past this section), there is still aftermath related to the hurricane (that didn’t happen, but there are still people in this state who don’t have power?) or I could write about September 11.

It’s the ten year anniversary, how could I not write about that? It’s timely and seems important to a lot of people. But what was I, the person who always has a pointed opinion about everything, going to say about September 11th?

After much toiling in my head wrestling this idea, here is how my first paragraph started: As you may have heard, this coming Sunday will mark ten years since our country was grabbed by the throat and thrown into a wall. We were attacked, upset and, worst of all, we were embarrassed.

As you can see I had no idea where I was heading. I knew one thing after writing this, I was inevitably going to be a complete ass, but I didn’t want to be; completely. The next line was this: We obsess over landmarks.

There are buildings that are so dilapidated and unimpressive, but yet the masses flock to them.

My argument was becoming embarrassing and in poor taste. I was going to make the connection that there is an obsession with

devastating events that have symbolic buildings associated with them or a place that we can call ‘home’ to that tragic event.

It was quickly turning into something I didn’t want it to be. There was a glaring problem: I was being insensitive to the families and friends of victims because I had nothing substantive to write about it. I was taking the easy way out for the sake of filling space. It was easier to put charged words down and to be sensational than it was to be informed and balanced in this situation.

My column is one that I want to stand out, but I don’t want it to be for the wrong reasons. At first, I thought I was being soft, but in actuality I was being smart and I’m learning. I’m rarely going to admit that I would have been wrong with using my words, but in this case the right decision was leaving these words out.

With all this being said, I know that I was heading down the wrong path, but on this upcoming Sunday, my thoughts and prayers will go out to the victims, their families, friends and everyone who was involved, as should yours.

Follow The Recorder on Twitter @therecorder for breaking news multimedia and live tweeting @RecorderSports for live tweeting AND BLOG CONTENT

University officials to ensure students have access to the facilities that can empower them to succeed at CCSU. True success at a liberal arts university is not judged by development in the classroom alone. Involvement in activities, campus organizations and thoughtful socialization all play a role. An expansion of campus access for students will stimulate this development and begin to solve the mystery of the aforementioned ‘ghost-town’ phenomenon.

An initial investment must be made to improve the campus culture at CCSU. Once that investment is made, we believe that students, faculty and administrators will begin to see life again at this university. The selling point for such an initiative is simple and persuasive, and it is this: the road to a more open campus begins with open doors.

In an age where “news” is a broad term, attentions spans are short and the media churns out stories faster than they can be digested by the public, it can be hard to know when you are interpreting current events for yourself and when you’re merely absorbing someone else’s point of view.

Parody has become an important part of the fabric of our news media in the United States. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have gained such a following that politicians willingly go on their shows to be embarrassed, simply because they know there is a faction of people who get their news solely from parody news shows.

I enjoy watching both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, but more and more I find myself agreeing with Vladimir Nabokov’s statement that, “Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.”

Meaning, that by trivializing the news and current events, we are creating a world in which other news publications must sensationalize the news and manipulate headlines and quotes to gain a readership.

I started out my CCSU career thinking I’d go into education, and I taught for many years at a children’s theatre. Perhaps it is

because of that background in education that I find myself asking: is this a teachable moment?

I am a strong believer in reading the news before watching it on television. It is easier, in my opinion, for one to personally analyze each word when you can read it at your leisure as opposed to hearing it spoken at you.

What I am saying is that maybe the time has come in our society where we need to learn to read the news on our own and turn to the television merely to see another viewpoint or to get a fresh spin on what we’ve just read.

Critical reading and analysis seem to be lost arts. By only getting the news from the television, I fear that we are further consigning these abilities to history.

I’m clearly not blaming Stewart, Colbert, or even television in general for this lack of attention span on the part of the American public, and I know that this storm has been brewing for quite some time. I’m simply wondering if we are relying on the crutch of pre-packaged thoughts in the place of doing actual critical thinking.

So please take your news, however you happen to come across it, and analyze it with your own brain before consulting someone else’s.

SPEAK YOUR MIND! Write for our opinion section!

Contact: editor@centralrecorder.com

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 7, 2011 / OPINION

From the Blog: 21st Century Kid

The Supermelt Skills Crisis To read more entries, visit 21stcenturykid.wordpress.com

matthew clyburn The Recorder

I’ve spent enough time dining at fine establishments to understand some basic ideas. You should never order ground beef at a diner after 7:00 p.m. Some restaurants serve great food, and others serve terrible food; simply being in business is not an indicator of quality. These are just two examples of things I’ve picked up, but there are others.

The easiest idea to observe, and seemingly hardest to understand, is one that many forget: there are good servers, and there are bad servers.

Time for a confession: I love Friendly’s!

The food is greasy and unhealthy, but consistent and delicious. In order to enjoy the wonderful food served at Friendly’s, I’ve had to accept and embrace the fundamental truth that the service at my beloved eatery is just plain awful. I’m not talking 25 percent of the time, or

even 50 percent of the time. I’m saying that the service at Friendly’s is abysmal somewhere between 92 and 96 percent of the time.

When you love someone, you need to love their faults as much as their strengths. Friendly’s and I have been Facebook-official since 2003, thus it is unconditional and unending love.

We’ve spent so much time together that I developed a grand theory in that 4-to-8 percent window. It was a rainy Tuesday night and apparently a sparkling occasion to be provided spectacular service. This had never happened before, so I wondered to myself, “Grilled cheese or allamerican cheeseburger?” Then I wondered to myself, “where did this great service come from, and why had I never received it before?”

And there, in the glowing red of my ketchup, I found my answer: Friendly’s has a skills crisis!

Let’s say our server’s name was Chet. Chet is fresh out of high school, looking for a new job, and finds a part-time gig at the local

Friendly’s. He’s not doing it for the tips, or for the flexible hours.

He does it because he likes to connect with people over amazing (okay, average) food. Chet starts pulling in tons of money because his customers are tremendously satisfied with the service provided, and Friendly’s is elated that happy customers walk out and tell their friends about the restaurant.

Friendly’s wants to reward Chet, so they promote him to management so he can teach others the Gospel of Hospitality.

Chet has a tough decision to make: take the better pay and benefits, or find a better job somewhere else with his serving experience. He takes the management job.

Within six months of his promotion, the kitchen staff, servers, hosts, and other managers hate Chet. He’s mismanaged the schedule, he’s snapping at customers, and he’s started showing up late for work. Eventually he throws a Fribble in someone’s face and goes to jail for Assault and

Battery. The end.

Sad, huh? Chet was doing so well. The new position that Friendly’s offered him required a completely different skill set than the one that originally turned him into a rising star. Unable to fulfill the requirements of his new position, he failed.

I use this exceedingly long example to explain why Barack Obama is a lackluster president.

I’m not taking a partisan stance on this and certainly not diving into policy particulars, so don’t make a fool of yourself by stumbling over your labels.

All I’m saying is this: Barack Obama The Presidential Candidate was a real winner. His “customers” (voters) were tremendously satisfied with the product they were provided, and the “company” (Democratic Party) was elated that happy customers walked away endorsing that product. In 2008, Obama had a ‘perfect storm’ skill set that made him a ‘perfect’ presidential candidate. Even detractors couldn’t argue with his

charisma, oratory skills, and ability to sell himself.

Having exceeded the expectations of this job, he was elected to serve as President of the United States. This promotion required skills that he hadn’t proven yet, but the “company” was hopeful. Nearly three years later, poll after poll shows that Americans disapprove of his performance on the job.

As we launch into another election season, voters would do well to remember the skills crisis that Obama (and Friendly’s) faces today. No one person will have all the skills necessary to be a great candidate and a great president, so we need to put candidate selection in perspective. The more we think about voting as a hiring process, and political offices as jobs that require very specific skill sets, the more responsible our decisions will be.

We will certainly debate over what those skills ought to be, but we should never debate over how delicious Friendly’s food is.

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Why Dating College Athletes is a Bad Idea yasmin elgohary

Special To The Recorder

For as long as there have been college sports, there has always been a bad rap that followed athletes. Ask anyone you know about dating an athlete, and his or her first response will most likely be a no.

Like many other college students, my perception of what college life was like as an athlete’s girlfriend came from movies, such as Love & Basketball and Coach Carter. In these movies the girls are throwing themselves at players. In real life, it’s like that, but not to that degree.

It is hard to date college athletes because there is a certain standard that has been established. Athletes have a very hectic schedule, and at times they can be too busy for a girlfriend.

But, if their egos alone are not a deal breaker, the women that follow them around are.

I cannot speak on behalf of every athlete at CCSU because everyone is different, but speaking from my own personal experience, athletes generally look for the easy girls. In other words, they favor quantity over quality.

The sad truth, is some athletes would rather enjoy the company of numerous girls rather than one really great girl. So, it’s nothing

new on a college campus for a male athlete to be “dating” multiple girls at the same time.

I think the biggest issue when it comes to dating any athlete is that some athletes think they’re ‘privileged,’ and that other people’s feelings don’t matter.

Therefore, they assume that they’re better than what they really are and take advantage of other people. But the truth is, no one can take advantage of you, you allow him or her to. So ladies, if you want to be treated like a human being rather than an object, then act like it.

There are some females out there who see an athlete who is popular, attractive and well dressed. They go after him, like a lion after a gazelle. Seriously, some of these girls don’t even care what you do, as along as you’re an athlete. They don’t care how many points you score on the court or the field, they’ll just hop right on it.

Many CCSU athletes are often idolized for their on-field accomplishments, as well as their off-field responsibility of being role models for the community.

But what’s often forgotten is that they’re only adolescents, some of them are not even eighteen, yet.

They’re playing the same game off the field as their fellow classmates— just with different rules.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 7, 2011 / UPGRADE

REVIEWS

Apollo 18: Familiar, Yet Satisfying Matthew Clyburn The Recorder

As the newest entry into the “found footage” niche of the scary movie market, Apollo 18 starts off feeling pretty familiar.

After the United States decides to scrap the Apollo program due to budgetary constraints, the crew of the previously-cancelled Apollo 18 mission is called upon to complete their mission in secrecy on classified orders from the defense department. With Earth far behind them, astronauts Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen), John Grey (Ryan Robbins) and Ben Anderson (Warren Christie) are delighted just to be apart of an opportunity they previously believed to be out of reach.

Walker and Anderson separate from the orbiting return spacecraft, piloted by Grey, and begin descent to the lunar surface. Once they arrive, they place U.S. missile detectors in various locations and tuck in for a quiet nap on board their ship. Quiet, that is, until they begin hearing strange noises that Houston attributes to ‘interference,’ and discover a moon rock sample on the floor that had been secured and stowed away earlier that day.

The astronauts find footprints near their landing site and follow them to a strange discovery that will begin to unravel the mystery of their true mission on the lunar surface.

In short, Apollo 18 is a science fictionoriented horror film of space exploration gone wrong. It contains hints of Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity as it provides an astonishingly realistic first-person perspective of these events in vivid detail. The final product truly looks like recovered footage from the 1970’s, thus allowing the average

Cobra Starship Night Shades

Decaydance/ Fuled By Ramen August 29

Danny Contreras The Recorder

Generic bands come and go every year, but Cobra Starship’s Night Shades takes generic to a whole new level. This is the band at their most uncreative. Copy and paste is the name of the game in the song and lyrics are extremely uninventive. The vocals are not solid, many featured artist feel lazy and uninterested. But, the biggest insult is the fact that the album includes three bonus tracks that are just three remixed tracks, and though they’re remixed, they still manage to suck more.

Cobra Starship is considered a leader in the synth pop revolution; putting an album like this out there is painful for the genre. It feels incomplete and lethargic. The songs are supposed to be quick, with a beating tempo. They, however, do not accomplish either goal. They take too long to finish, and feel sluggish. The melodic leads fail

audience member to ‘buy-in.’

The three actors in this film all do a spectacular job. They are relative unknowns in the States, so their roles in this film can be believed as they each play the authenticeveryman-who-happens-to-be-an-astronaut.

I thought the jumpy moments of the film would be fake-outs early on, which brought me great concern. Within the first half hour or so, one of the lead actors pretends to be sleeping and startles the actor holding a camera; it startles the audience a bit, too, but it’s always disappointing to be scared by something that’s not scary at all. However, this early observation turned out not to be true. In the form of most great horror flicks, they used this technique once and early so that they could open up to the real frightening moments later on. Coming off watching Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a movie filled with disappointing fakeouts, I enjoyed the scarce employment of the technique here.

The rest of the film delivered some great moments of strange happenings, suspense and gross-outs. All throughout we’re asking questions that lead us to the next stage of the film; keeping the pace moving well through the relatively short 86 minutes feature.

That said, Apollo 18 is not without its faults. The attempt to place the story into a believable reality is somewhat overstretched early. The filmmakers try to explain the reasoning behind each and every camera used on the mission, which makes the point feel belabored and counterproductive. The film certainly doesn’t say much about society and won’t be up for any Oscar nominations at the top of next year, and that’s okay; sometimes we just want a believable trounce into the unknown as we head back to school to truly become catchy; almost failing at providing any melody at all. The songs feel all the same, too. Just when once finishes, it feels like it still is going on once the next one begin. The lyrics are, at best, worthy of a fifth grader’s attention. Relying on mainly repetitive choruses than actual poetry; it is almost insulting to the listener, as it makes one feel like an idiot.

“You Belong to Me” sounds like a line ripped out of a killer’s handbook; but the only thing being ripped here is your intelligence. The song is very slow, and fails to pick up anywhere else. The mellow tune, while relaxing, leaves one asking for a faster beat. It’s deceives you, though, because it masquerades as a good song, but a couple of listens and you will figure out how crappy it truly is. What’s worse is the fact that this song will most definitely be played over and over by MTV, shows on ABCFamily and the CW. The following song, “You Make Me Feel” featuring Sabi, is an ear drum destroyer.

Mainly because Sabi’s vocals are earpiercingly annoying. The dance club synths don’t really help the song either. If you think: “this song is so 2009” you’d be right because the song was made for 2009 when Korean pop first made its way to America. It remains the worse song in the album.

Though Night Shades is littered with crap, there is a gem in here titled “Middle Finger featuring Mac Miller.” The song has very catchy choruses and lines but remains danceable. It doesn’t deceive you with a fake tempo and beat, nor does it distract you from anything. It has a good vibe, and definitely a confrontational attitude. This is probably Cobra Starship’s way of saying, “yes, this album sucks but you still bought it.”

Do not buy this album. Throwing your money at Cobra Starship’s lack of effort will turn them into the Black Eyed Peas. That’s what we did to them, let’s not do it again.

This is not worth the money that it costs and you will feel cheated after listening to it.

Photo I myspace/cobrastarship

around Labor Day weekend, and Apollo 18 accomplishes that and more.

Any discussion about this film must acknowledge the outright panning by otherwise respectable movie critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, Apollo 18 currently holds an aggregate of 21 percent positive reviews.

Part of this can be contributed to the fact that distributors wouldn’t allow showings of the movie to critics ahead of release date to uphold the film’s viral marketing strategy.

This has kept the total number of reviews very

low, almost to the point where the 21 percent rating is decidedly unscientific.

I would disagree with most of the critics’ observations and encourage the college crowd to check this one out; it’s everything you’d expect from this kind of movie and some things you wouldn’t expect lurking in each lunar shadow. If you allow yourself to enjoy the premise and have a good time, you definitely will. Sometimes, that’s all we want as we depart reality from the comfort of our seat at the local movie theater.

Photo I Facebook/lilwayne

Lil Wayne

Tha Carter IV

Cash Money August 29

nick rosa

The Recorder

With Lil Wayne’s critically acclaimed Carter III going platinum in the first week and winning a Grammy for Rap Album of the Year, Tha Carter IV had very high expectations. With hits like “A Milli” and “Got Money” that stood the album apart from many others in 2008, Wayne manages to do the same in 2011.

Tha Carter IV has been heavily anticipated ever since the music lab experiment of rockalbum Rebirth flopped its way onto shelves.

Also, while incarcerated in Rikers Island his release of I am Not a Human Being, which was a hit or miss with most Wayne fans, gave Tha Carter IV that much more hype.

After two push backs and plenty of singles such as “She Will ft. Drake,” “How to Love,” and his first single since being released back in November, “6 Foot, 7 Foot,” Wayne has finally come back with another hit album.

Make no mistake Tha Carter IV is not a bad album but fans familiar with his previous work will be disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the production is quite amazing with groundbreaking beats, smooth rifts and heart pounding anticipation for when the beat drops. The one thing missing is the lyrical beast who we loved in his previous Carters and mix tapes like No Ceilings, The Drought 3 and 4 where he established himself as the rapper eater…the best rapper alive!

Weezy’s wordplay has taken a turn toward simplicity and lack of imagination we are all used to hearing in his songs. One line from a single on C4 called “Abortion” goes, “I just built a house on I don’t give a f**k Avenue,” which really seems to be the truth.

Wayne is known for shooting off similes and creative metaphors instead of a developing narrative. C4 has plenty of these things in his album but the creative environment just

wasn’t there. Wayne seems not to reflect on his hectic three years since Tha Carter III or his stint in prison, which completely caught a massive fan base off guard.

None the less, Wayne gets rap heavy weights Drake, Rick Ross, Jadakiss, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Tech Nine, and Andre 3000 on the album with him which all bring their own unique styles to the album it really gives the flow an A+ across the board.

Also, smooth styling’s from Bruno Mars in “Mirror,” John Legend in “So Special,” and T-Pain (No extreme auto-tune, thank god) in “How to Hate,” really stand out in their smooth hooks.

The album may suffer due to the high expectations but there are plenty of high lights throughout.

“Megaman” is an unassisted chorus-less track that gives off power to the beginning of an album like “A Milli” did in C3. With “6 foot 7 foot” right after “Megaman,” Wayne does make a strong statement. Scroll down the track list you’ll hear “Nightmares of the Bottom” which gives perspective and depth to the album where he says, “Don’t call me sir, call me survivor.” Next is “She Will ft. Drake,” where the beat is nothing but excellent and Drake’s hook is, well, we all know Drake can hold his own these days.

Further down the track list you’ll hear “President Carter,” which is a must-hear with its delicate, smooth, creepy beat, which samples former President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration. The final song before the “Outro” is called “Its good ft. Jadakiss and Drake,” another winner. It’s a strong posse that C4 needed, with Drizzy really riled up for his brother Wayne and Jada starting the track off in the right direction. Forget the Jay-Z diss that Wayne comes back with, his verse stands out more than some of his others on other tracks.

On the deluxe version there are seven, yes, seven extra songs. This makes twentyone full new Wayne songs which every Lil Wayne fan wanted so badly. Even after dropping his “Sorry 4 the Wait,” Mix tape back in early July, fans were left craving more. This first sales week has already set records, breaking “Watch the Throne” by Ye and HOV’s record, by selling over 300,000 digital copies within the first three days!

Take it any way you want but that says something about Wayne’s stature still, even after three years since C3.

This album has what Wayne fans have been waiting for, sparking up a blunt before the majority of his songs, keeping his persona, bumpin’ beats that shake the car, and that recognizable voice going in on his tracks. Is Tha Carter IV Lil Wayne’s best work yet? No chance. Is it worth repeated listens? No doubt about it.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 7, 2011 / UPGRADE

Believable Characters Support Tale of Espionage in The Debt Sara M. Berry The Recorder

Starring Helen Miren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds, The Debt brings international espionage to a whole new level when three retired Israeli intelligence officers relive their past.

For years agents Rachel (Miren), Stephan (Tom Wilkinson,) and David (Ciaran Hinds,) are venerated by the Israeli Intelligence Agency and the public as the capturers of the infamous Nazi War criminal Dr. Dieter Vogel ( Jesper Christensen).

The reality of the story begins to change thirty-years later when Rachel and David’s experiences, as told by their journalist daughter’s recently published book, are contested by information from a Ukrainian journalist. The film, told primarily through flashbacks, does a great job of exposing the reality of facts when new information arises.

The Debt, adapted from the 2007 Israeli film “Ha-Hov”, tells a rather simple but engrossing story about what goes on behind closed doors. Escaping the Nuremberg Trials, Vogel is hiding in the divided city of Berlin in 1966 and practices gynecology under an alias. A young Rachel ( Jessica Chastain), is disguised as a patient; toying with Vogel’s emotion and luring him out of hiding. Almost too predictably, however, Rachel falls in love with Vogel, compromising the mission and her life in the process. A race to save both brings out

the characters of David and Stefan.

The majority of the story takes place in the mid-60s, with some parts taking place in the late 90s. Principal photography took place in Germany, Ukraine, England and Israel. The film combines a variety of languages including English, German, Hebrew and Russian, along with some Eastern European dialects.

The Debt is more-or-less authentic. The relative anonymity of the actors perhaps being the reason the characters remained real. The cast included award winners Sam Worthington (Saturn Best Actor Award for his role in 2009’s Avatar,) and Helen Miren (winner of an Oscar and BAFTA for her performance as Queen Elizabeth in 2006’s The Queen).

It is important to note the directing skills of Academy Award winner John Madden (Shakespeare In Love) who is known for producing simplistic engrossing films. He brings out the best of actors and actresses.

This can be noted as Shakespeare In Love’s Gwyneth Paltro won the Best Actress Award for her performance in the aforementioned film.

The Debt is a very timely film that forces the viewers to ask themselves questions of extreme relativity such as: what kinds of things are governments capable of ? What have we been outright lied about? Are there people out there who are really, truly evil?

Are they really ‘people’? Do they deserve the same rights as the average person? Where is the line between justice and revenge? Where

Millennium Netflix It: Trilogy danny contreras The Recorder

Scandinavian directors have a niche for producing movies based on books. We saw it in 2008 with the adaption of Let the Right One In, a book about a vampire that goes back to the tragic lives of the creatures.

In 2009 came a director by the name of Niels Arden Oplev from Denmark and adapted the first book in the acclaimed Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a book centered around a journalist by the name of Mikael Blomkvist and a computerhacker genius Lisbeth Salander. The second and third movies were directed by Daniel Alfredson and are both centered around the same characters.

The movies bring the book to life along with the central theme: the abuse of women by men. Lisbeth Salander is a tragic character who lost everything following the severe beating of her mother almost twenty years prior to the beginning of the story. She attacked her stepfather, who beat her mother, and she was placed in a mental hospital, where her molestation took place by the head-doctor. Following her release, Salander lived in foster homes by order of the court, and all the money she makes is monitored by her caregiver.

Mikael Blomkvist is an investigative journalist who lost a libel suit against a powerful Swedish man. He gets sentenced to three months in prison early in the film.

He also works for Lisbeth as a spy; she, a computer-hacker, delivers him reports on important but corrupted people from Sweden. He formed ‘Millennium’, a magazine whose goal is to discover secrets of corrupted people and roots are deeply ingrained in the muckraking form of investigative journalism.

The story begins with Mikael leaving jail and getting hired by Henrik Vanger to resolve the mystery behind his niece’s disappearance in 1966 during a Scandinavian holiday. He believes that his niece was kidnapped and murdered by

someone from the Vanger family. Lisbeth then helps Mikael anonymously by providing him information about the case and later joins him in the investigation.

Meanwhile Lisbeth herself is in a precarious situation when her caregiver suffers a stroke and she is placed under the care of a corrupt lawyer by the name of Nils Burjman. Burjman is a sick bastard who makes Lisbeth commit sexual acts on him for her own money; eventually he rapes Lisbeth. However, she records it and blackmails him and takes control of her finances.

Following the climax of the first film, it is revealed that the person who kidnapped Vanger’s niece is connected to a crime ring in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia and sets the story for the two other movies.

Lisbeth and Mikael then get involved in a massive case of men who have abused women, corrupted the politics of northern Europe all of whom are controlled by Lisbeth’s stepfather. A chase ensues then between the evil organization to keep Mikael silent and prevent him from publishing anything in ‘Millennium’, while trying to keep Lisbeth silent; although she can die.

The films brings to light important discrepancies between the society in which we live in. human trafficking, drug use, crime lords, and domestic abuse. It can be argued that the movies stray off, especially in the latter two, and much of the blame is placed in the second director.

Yet, the themes are so central that they are almost impossible to not notice.

The trilogy takes a tough stance against the major themes, especially domestic abuse, and gives us a special kind protagonist: an anti-hero who is a lesbian woman; a marginalized type of character rarely ever seen. It is overall an amazing franchise. The language is Swedish, though dubbed versions can be found, but the native language is what makes it that much more gripping. Amazing films, to summarize in a cliché.

Photo I Facebook/seethedebt

does taking the life of another move from justice to murder?

The film is so relatable throughout that it should appeal to the American public as we

struggle to cope with government secrecy and transparency. In addition to the fastpaced-thriller feel The Debt employs, the film is definitely a must watch.

Bookmark It! Klosterman Shows He Is King Of Observation

nicholas proch The Recorder

If you believe that you’re the only one who hates the fact that people battle for parking spots at the mall before they proceed to walk for miles inside, you’re mistaken. There’s someone who has thought of that already and is working to make sure that everyone knows about it.

We all like to think that we can observe our surroundings and make informed comments on them. If all of us could write and comment on our social surroundings, we might model ourselves after someone like Chuck Klosterman.

Klosterman critiques, criticizes and praises different aspects of society from chapter to chapter in all of this books and essays. Working in and out of the newsroom, he has a unique perspective on society.

With most of his focus on the entertainment industry, his pointed comments and satirical nature make for a fun read.

Before you know it you’ve spent hours reading his work.

His finest collection of essays is Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto.

This ‘low culture’ collection will split your sides as you find yourself laughing out loud.

Then you’ll look around and realize you’re alone in your room cracking up at three o’clock in the morning.

The most comparable author to Klosterman has to be Hunter S. Thompson. Both tend to fall in the same category of social observers, but unlike Thompson,

Chuck Klosterman Klosterman’s essays are a little easier to read and tend to be humorous, not depressing and rude.

If you’re aspirations are to be a columnist, musician, basketball player, paleontologist or santa claus at the mall during the holiday season, then you should read this book. If you tend to be someone who will just live their life with a blind eye to everything that is going on around them, then don’t read this book, it will open your eyes too much, and you’ll have to see a psychiatrist.

8

kat boushee The Recorder

Stress comes from a number of places and can cause numerous issues, including migraines, irritability and can even lead to heart problems. A big way to cut down on stress is to cut down on clutter in your life.

Most students have three main areas of clutter in their lives: in the car, school bag and room. By using these simple tips and keeping up with clutter, you can cut your stress levels dramatically and save yourself from some of the long-term ill affects stress can have on your life.

A student’s school bag is often a multipurpose object. It must transition from class to class and function as a book bag, storage area for office supplies and papers and even as a purse or wallet.

Keeping your bag organized will save you time and cut down on stress in two main ways: For one, it will take you less time to find those important papers so you have less time to stress that you lost them, and equally as important, looking at a messy bag immediately causes one to experience stress, whereas a neat bag does not.

If you carry a tote bag, consider purchasing a liner with pockets to go inside, because after all, the fewer things that you have simply floating around, the better. If that is not an option for you, use small bags inside of your tote.

Have a designated bag for writing implements such as pens, pencil and highlighters, and make sure you keep it well stocked. If you like to use sticky notes or Wite-out, keep that in a handy bag as well.

If you carry a backpack you hopefully have pockets inside to help arrange your belongings, but additional small bags can still be helpful. Folders are exceptional tools to aid you in your attack on clutter. If you have a folder for each class to place your syllabi and any papers for that class into, you always have a go-to place to look for your important documents.

Clean out your bag at least once a day.

This is very important. You are always going

to need to discard certain things, or move them to your desk or home filing area. Don’t let that be an end of the week or – heaven forbid – end of the semester job.

Keeping your car organized is fairly simple, and quite a bit like organizing a bigger bag. Think about what you feel you absolutely need in your car: an ice scraper/ shovel, an umbrella, etc. Once you have figured out the objects that you refuse to remove from your vehicle, build your space around that.

You may wish to have an “emergency bag,” with headache medicine and bandaids, or a bag for trash. Those should be convenient yet still stored somewhere, like a center console or glove compartment.

The biggest stressor, as far as clutter goes, is generally one’s room. By tackling it in stages, one can clean, de-clutter and organize without having a breakdown. Mentally divide your room into 4 or 5 sections using imaginary straight lines drawn length-wise across.

Start with the first section and clean and organize it. Take any object that you feel does not belong in that section and simply place it in section two. By not leaving your section to run around putting each newly found object where you feel it belongs, you save time and don’t get distracted in other areas.

Once section one has been dusted, vacuumed, organized and all items that do not belong there are in the next section, move on. Do the same thing for section two.

By the time you reach your last section your room should be looking pretty fabulous and you should be feeling at least slightly relieved and rejuvenated.

The most important advice that can be given to you is to use what works and discard the rest. Don’t force organizational methods on yourself, because that will backfire and cause more stress. Instead, take the things that seem helpful to you and tailor them to meet your needs.

20 Under 20: Brunch at a Bar Edition Continuing from last semester, this weekly segment features ideas of fun things to do that are $20 or less and under 20 miles from CCSU. kat Boushee The Recorder

As college students, we know that there are some days that waking up for breakfast is simply impossible. In those cases there is always the shining light, that glorious beacon in the dark: yes folks, I’m talking about brunch.

Brunch should never let you down. There are many awful places to go to get a delicious breakfast (I’m looking at you, sleazy diners and IHOP) but very few decent places where you can have your breakfast and a cocktail too and not feel judged or shamed.

We are lucky because in our area we have three brunch choices that will leave you smiling every time. First, there is The Half Door. Located at 270 Sisson Avenue in Hartford, The Half Door boasts a brunch that is fife with possibility.

Highlights from brunch at The Half Door include oatmeal, French toast bites, and, for those on a budget or suffering from an attack of nostalgia, a box of Lucky Charms for $2.99.

They also feature the “The Big Arse Breakfast,” which rings in at $9.99 and includes three eggs any style, three sausage links and three strips of bacon (no having to make tough decisions between the two), home fries and toast.

Tisane, located a mere stone’s throw away at 537 Farmington Avenue, is owned by the same group as The Half Door, but serves a

brunch with the Euro-Asian flair for which they are known.

A favorite at Tisane’s brunch is the “Newly Departed,” a dish that puts bacon, peanut butter and banana jam between generously sliced bread. They toast it with a “peanut crunch” on the outside and drizzle it with orange blossom honey and bacon brittle. It is served with home fries and is $7.29.

Other delicious items on their brunch menu include: a yogurt parfait, the B.L.T. salad, and Cinnamon Daze, a cinnamon bun bread pudding that is cooked like French toast and served with apple praline and topped with whipped cream.

The last of our featured brunch hot spots is the Corner Pug. Here, brunch is done a little differently. For $12.95 you can choose Eggs Benedict, Pancakes with your choice of breakfast meat, cinnamon French toast, a breakfast burrito, or a three-egg omelets.

Included in this price is your choice of beverage.

The drink options are mainly alcoholic in nature: a Bloody Mary, Mimosa, Screwdriver or, for the under 21 crowd, a large juice. For $14.95 you can get steak and eggs with your cocktail (or large juice) instead of one of the previous choices.

The Half Door is open for brunch every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, Tisane is brunch ready from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Sunday, and The Corner Pug serves their brunch every Sunday from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Email editor@centralrecorder.com

Your Bag, Your Car, Your Room, Your Life

Come turn heads.

De-clutter:

Not Seeing what you want to see?

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 7, 2011 / UPGRADE

9

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 7, 2011 / SPORTS SPORTS BEGINS ON BACK PAGE

New Additions to Aid Women’s Soccer danny contreras The Recorder

Coming off an impressive 2010 season which saw the lady Blue Devils reach a semifinal berth at the 2010 Women’s Soccer Northeast Conference Championship Finals, the team will look to redeem themselves and make it to the top once again.

Last season ended in disappointment as they were defeated by eventual finalists Long Island University.

Seeded fourth in the preseason conference poll, the Blue Devils added nine new players to its roster. From Danbury, Conn., comes goalkeeper Corey Medrano.

The shot-stopper stands at 5-foot-6, and has travelled all over the world in search of a championship. Her passion earned her All-State and All-New England goalkeeping honors and will sure be scratching the heels of CCSU’s top goalkeeper Nikola Deiter.

Another defender added was Alexandria DeCaro from Wethersfield, Conn. DeCaro played four years at Wethersfield High and earned All-New Britain Herald, AllConference selections, along with the Walter Kutuz Memorial Award.

The midfield was strengthened with the additions of Cailynn Harding and Danica Foglio. The freshmen hale from Cheshire and Shelton, Conn., respectively. Harding captained her team in her senior year and earned MVP, All-State and All-Housatonic selections in a season which included the Housatonic Championship (her third and

first as captain). Foglio also captained her team during senior year and won the LLState Championships while also being selected as an All-State, All-SCC player.

Rosie McGuire, Julie Lavoie and Lauren Varholak were the additions to the team’s offense this year. McGuire, a native from Dublin, Ireland, is an international player for the Ireland National Women’s Football Team, and has represented Ireland at the under-15, under-17, and under-19 levels.

She is expected to succeed last year’s leading scorer, Beth Lloyd, in her position. Lavoie is a player of the year from Watertown, Conn., and has been selected as an All-State, AllNew England and All-ECC twice. Varholak is a three time MVP from Pomperaug High School and has won All-Area, All-State honors.

Returning from last season’s squad are goalkeeper Deiter, defenders Jewel Robinson and Annie Freer, midfielder Allison Kelley, and forward Kerriann Welch. Deiter started all her games as freshman and had six shootouts.

Robinson returns after last year standout season. The full back was a constant thorn in offensive sides, while providing rock-solid coverage at the back. Freer, a more natural center back, provided cover for Deiter in a season that allowed only twenty five goals.

Kelley, last year’s midfield maestro, returns after providing a 2010 team high six assists, and scoring three goals in the process. Welch, a winger, scored three goals and complete four assists as her freshman season ended

with 20 performances.

The most obvious change to the squad is the departure of Lloyd, last year’s leading goal scorer. Her speed and agility, along with her short stature, terrorized the opposing backlines.

Coach D’Arcy is expected to employ a 4-3-3 trident attack with heavy emphasis on possession. Last year, the team won matches after tiring out the opposing team, with the ball attracting to their feet like a magnet.

Robinson is the player to watch this year after an explosive 2010 season. Her ability to read the game and make plays seemingly out of nowhere will be the deciding factor against top teams like Long Island, St. Francis and Monmouth. McGuire should be closely followed as well. Her international experience will be put to test at one of the best women’s soccer systems in the world and her performance will be closely watched.

Coach D’Arcy and his team employ some of the best football in this league, which combines elegant passing with powerful shooting. The players are always allowed to roam, creating more chances and bigger spaces. However, sometimes the team gets caught up too much in the offside traps.

Timing runs perfectly will be key to the team’s performance.

The CCSU women’s soccer team is expected to win another play-off berth, and very possibly, the NEC Championship.

The team is currently 1-1-1 and won’t find play on Arute Field until Sept. 16 against Albany at 5 p.m.

kenny barto | the recorder

CCSU goalkeeper Nikola Deiter will be an instrumental part of the womens soccer team.

2011 Women’s Soccer Schedule August 26, 2011 September 2, 2011 September 4, 2011 September 9, 2011 September 11, 2011 September 16, 2011 September 18, 2011 September 25, 2011 September 30, 2011 October 2, 2011 October 7, 2011 October 9, 2011 October 14, 2011 October 16, 2011 October 21, 2011 October 23, 2011 October 28, 2011 HOME GAMES IN BOLD * Conference Game

@ Army vs. Providence vs. Marist vs. Holy Cross vs. Syracuse Albany (N.Y.) Siena @ Sacred Heart* @ Bryant* @ Fairleigh Dickinson* St. Francis (Pa.)* Robert Morris* Wagner* Long Island* @ Mount St. Mary’s @ Monmouth* Quinnipiac*

@ Arute Field @ Willowbrook Park

@ Willowbrook Park @ Willowbrook Park @ Willowbrook Park @ Willowbrook Park

Tie, 0-0 Final - 2OT W, 2-1 Final L, 2-1, Final 5:00 p.m.

12:00 p.m.

5:00 p.m.

3:00 p.m.

1:00 p.m.

3:30 p.m.

1:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m.

11:00 p.m.

3:00 p.m.

1:00 p.m.

4:00 p.m.

12:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m.

10

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 7, 2011 / SPORTS

COLUMN

Professionalism Is Key bRittany buRke the Recorder

Chances are when you hear about the University of Kentucky, you immediately think of the Wild Cats. As the fall semester began, though, it was the athletics section of the school’s independent newspaper making headlines, rather than writing them.

Aaron Smith, the basketball reporter from The Kernel student newspaper, had his access to an elite press conference revoked by the university Sports Information Director, DeWayne Peevy.

Peevy chose to rescind his invitation to The Kernel after he discovered Smith contacted two players via cell phone to confirm whether or not they were newly added basketball walk-ons.

The athletes opted not to comment, but that didn’t matter. Smith chose not to go through Peevy and the athletics department, and as a result he was given limited access to the team. Since the story broke the journalistic community has been in an uproar saying Smith’s First Amendment rights had been violated.

I deal with things like this on a daily basis as editor of this section, but I can’t help but side with the SID in this situation.

Yes, I am a member of the same community which happens to be offended by this, but I don’t feel bad for Smith.

As a fellow college sports reporter I know two things: one, it’s vital to build a good working relationship with your school SID; I’ve seen what happens when you don’t. Two, a major part of building this relationship is following the rules, most important being don’t contact the athletes or coaches before going to the SID. I know in the world of technology when everybody has a Twitter, Facebook and smart phone, the athletes become increasingly easier to get a hold of, but that doesn’t mean all protocol should be abandoned. I protest the idea of reaching out to someone professionally through Facebook, and I would certainly never contact an athlete via cell phone. This is especially true for a new athlete.

The SIDs don’t enforce this rule to make the life of the journalist increasingly difficult, they do it so the athlete doesn’t get bombarded. If this rule didn’t exist, journalists would be able to track them down on campus for an interview, which isn’t fair to the athlete.

It’s been reported that Smith’s ability to attend a press conference has been taken away, but according to Peevy the session was for a select group and the information the school was releasing wasn’t supposed to be announced until October. The student paper had never been invited to this before, and the reason they were was because Peevy trusted Smith. Once that trust was broken, the invitation was rescinded.

I understand that Smith was just being a journalist and trying to get the story, but I would never have contacted Ken Horton after the arrest story broke, or Coach Mac after the sad news got out about Rich Royster.

It’s been said that Smith is a student just like the athletes, but that argument doesn’t do justice to what a member of the student paper is responsible for. As a reporter, your responsibilities are much greater than the responsibilities of an average student.

I think this is a prime example of what to expect once a student graduates.

College is meant to prepare its students for the real world; sometimes you have to play by the rules and sometimes you don’t.

That being said, working relationships are not the time when you don’t.

Men’s Soccer Looks To Improve From Last Season danny contReRaS the Recorder

After a disappointing 2010 season that saw the men’s soccer team finishing last in the NEC league with a 1-6-3 record, gaining 6 out of 30 points, this season the Blue Devils will look to rebound to its glory days of 2007.

Recruits The Blue Devils are almost completely a new team with 21 of the new players being fresh recruits. Returning from last season is goalkeeper Anthony Occhialini, defenders Aaron Durr, Ognen Stamenkovik, and injured Jose-Pablo Gamboa, midfielders Jesse Menzies, Ben Walsh, Shawn Buchanan and Sal DiTommaso and forward Eduardo Ortiz.

Last year’s graduating class saw pair of defenders Blaine Veldhuis and Joseph Laryea, midfielders Peris Oware , Connor Smith and team captain and 2007 NEC Championship winner Robert Cavener leave the team to either professional soccer teams or their graduate lives. Not returning to the squad this year are defensive midfielder Jared Spieker, goalkeeper Ian Mangione and forward Terrel Whitting.

The new recruits come from a wide variety of high schools and colleges from Northeaster n United States and internationally from England. Recruited from Monroe College in New York is pair of defenders Mamoudou and Alpha Dioubate, the former being described as “an absolute leader and winner. Couple that with his humbleness and spirit, and you get the full package,” by Coach Green.

From London, Liverpool and Birmingham, England come Reece Wilson, Stephen Walmsley and Thomas Obasi.

Wilson, a forward on his former team, stands at 6-foot-1. Wilson played in a different American conference before playing for William Carey University and scoring 12 goals and 3 assists in his debut season.

New England is heavily represented this season as 11 out of the 21 new recruits come from Connecticut and other New England states. Coming from Weaver High School in Hartford is striker Eddy Bogle, while Naugatuck pair Tiago Martins and Manny Nobre form a partnership in the midfield.

From New Britain comes Adrian Baclawski, a defender, and from Maine comes another defender Chris Wild.

Fixtures This season’s matches will have eleven league games and seven non-league games.

Three of these eighteen games will be local derbies against Yale University, University of Hartford and Quinnipiac University.

So far, two games have been played of the season with the Blue Devils taking on the University of Vermont and Yale University.

Both games ended in a 2-0 defeat against CCSU. The Northeast Conference will be heavily contested this year as Monmouth will look to retain the championship and last year’s

runner up Saint Francis (PA) will surely be looking to avenge its final loss.

The Blue Devils have a tendency to struggle when playing on the road, and so the NEC matches that will make the team prove its worth will be Montmouth, Bryant University and last year’s semi-finalist Sacred Heart.

Home matches will include games against Robert Morris, last year’s finalist St. Francis (PA) and Quinnipiac. CCSU will receive NEC newcomers, St. Francis (NY) at home on their last game on Nov. 4. All home games will be played at Willowbrook Park near New Britain High School.

Expectations CCSU struggled last year because of its lack of a winger. Coach Green employed a traditional 4-1-2-1-2 diamond formation in order to create chances for the team. The strategy, while not completely flawed, failed to win a lot of games for CCSU. The team overpowered the midfield and controlled the ball giving them over 60 percent of possession in almost every game.

The lack of a natural winger, however, led to lack of chance creations for CCSU. Strikers couldn’t attack efficiently, and poachers rarely ever saw the ball as the defenses were very strong.

The hopes are that the team has at least

a full-back and a winger that can overpower the back of other teams. Agility, quickness, and vision is what players will need to develop if the wish to make it to the playoffs.

The captain is also expected to maintain composure in high pressure matches against St. Francis (PA) and Monmouth as they’re the strongest team in the league.

The back has faltered recently and in order to win games, the defenders need to understand each other. Playing a line too high can result in disaster as teams, like Bryant always have quick strikers who can beat the offside-trap and lead to many 1-on-1 situations which can hurt the team.

Possession football will be the key in CCSU’s success this year because Green understands the formations. Green is not expected to employ a 4-3-3 like the women’s soccer team, but rather a very counter-attack minded 4-2-3-1 to give his players the chance to create chances seemingly out of nothing.

Additionally, fitness will always be the most important factor, as defense minded teams rarely ever attack and force games to go to over-time.

The team has a great chance to make it to the play-offs, but they need to plug the discrepancies in the back before the league games begin next month.

kenny baRto | the RecoRdeR

Jesse Menzies returns for his junior season as one of the captains for the Blue Devils.

Club Sports Board Proposed bRittany buRke the Recorder

At the end of last semester there had been talks amongst the Student Government Association of ways to separate and ultimately improve the way club sports are handled.

While still categorized as “clubs,” team sports require different things than other organizations overseen by the SA/LD and SGA. Club sports need money to compete, pay membership fees to various leagues and pay for things like referees, coaches, facility fees and uniforms.

SGA Vice President Liz Braun had met with the club team presidents briefly toward the end of last term to get a feel of what they felt needed to get done to make their lives and the process they go through easier. Speaking with the clubs allowed the members working on this goal to outline specifically what they felt was best for both the SGA and the clubs.

Little progress was made over the summer, but now that school is back in session Braun has been able to pick things up right where she left off.

The biggest possibility of what can happen with club sports is they eventually get broken away from other clubs all together and form a club sports board. Braun has looked in to the way Media Board at CCSU is run and the way

Southern Connecticut handles club sports, since they did something similar.

“We want to research Southern because I think Southern did the exact same thing,” said Braun who is also working with Senator Chris Kyle. “They did a club sports board and we also want to research what happens with media board, like how they split away and what they did in order to do it and we kind of want to take that same path because that worked so well. Our next step after all of that is talking to the sports club presidents or captains.”

So far the idea of a club sports board is just talk, but Braun has already met with Scott Hazan to discuss the idea as well as Liz Urcinas in ReCentral who advises all club sports and sees just how strenuous the ordeal is.

The club sports board would be set up much like Media Board would. There would be representatives from each sport to speak on the team’s behalf, as well as a few students not affiliated with any club, and Hazan and Urcinas.

“What we’re looking to do is get a meeting with all the club sports presidents to kind of let them know what we’re thinking for the board,” said Urcinas. “Maybe there’d be five people on the board from club sports to represent the clubs, then there’s two anonymous people who have no affiliations with the clubs whatsoever and then Scott Hazan and I would be on the

board as well.”

A separate governing board would also allow the club athletes to create their own by laws and give them a chance to know the other teams and see what they also go through.

“One thing we talked about was certainly creating a constitution,” said Urcinas.

“Obviously once we have a board we’d be able to put together different by-laws and the board would meet with any problems [the teams] have, kind of put together different rules as far as what is a club sport and what are the guidelines for being a club sport.

Maybe you have to be in a league or maybe you have to participate a certain number of competitions or do a certain number of community involvements.”

According to Urcinas, this board is just as important to build camaraderie amongst the teams as it is to help them.

For now this proposal is nothing but a suggestion, but it’s already come a long way.

“It’s definitely already taken huge steps forward,” said Braun. “The fact that I have somebody else to work with, the fact that other people are interested, is already a huge step for the senate because sometimes people talk about something and they never go further than talking about it at a senate meeting.

So it’s cool that we’re actually meeting with people, it’s definitely a huge step.”

11

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 7, 2011 / SPORTS

One. Two. Three-Peat? nick rosa

The Recorder

Coming off another Northeast Conference Championship last fall, the men’s cross-country team looks to keep its stride moving forward in working for its third championship in a row dating back to 2009.

“The first two championships are in the past, so we got to do it again, they got to win it this year. It’s a standalone event,” two-time NEC coach of the year, Coach Eric Blake, coming into his second full season as head coach of the program said.

Also, going forward, Blake said that improving in Regionals is very important to the team. “We would like to improve off our finish last year, which was sixteenth, that’s very important for the guys. For us to advance as a program we have to be finishing better than sixteenth at the Regional for the men,” he added.

The Blue Devils have a lot of returners this fall such as senior Sam Alexander, senior Jeremy Schmid, junior Craig Hunt, junior John Krell, senior Anthony Gonsalves, senior Mike Waterbury, and sophomore Andrew Hill.

Despite losing Rob Weston to eligibility and Ry Sanderson to graduation, who was NEC Champion last season, there is no shortage of talent that Blake can turn to. Alexander finished second behind Sanderson, while Hunt finished third in last year’s NEC championship.

Blake is already preparing his team for the championship season starting in late October with a solid performance at the first home

meet this season at Stanley Park.

Three home meets before NEC’s and an early season away meet at Monmouth, will help the Blue Devils get familiar with the course for conferences in late October.

The team started off on the right foot at the first home Blue Devil Invitational meet this past weekend.

Coming in second with 46 points, the team was in front of fourth place University of New Haven with 102 points and third place Holy Cross at 64 points. Southern Connecticut State University won the meet with 21 points.

With Alexander, Schmid, and Hunt out of this week’s first race, the team showed strong performances from Krell who won the meet in a time of 26:32. Gonsalves took sixth with a time of 27:17, and Hill finished eighth in a time of 27:20.

Senior Ben Lazarus, freshman Patrick Hubbell, and senior Mike Waterbury also competed in the race. Lazarus finished in a time of 27:49, Hubbell finished with a 28:26, and Waterbury finished with a time of 28:38.

“Everyone who ran, ran well for themselves,” Alexander said. “We’re looking to do well in the end of October going into November, and the Monmouth meet will be preview of where conferences will be held. It’ll be good to get there and show that we plan on being a force again,” he added.

“The season’s long, very long,” Blake said. “Everyone we rested are juniors and seniors and they know when to be ready and that’s the end of October beginning of November,” he added.

Blake was pleased with his runners with the first home meet and only plans on looking forward to championship season ultimately

eying the third NEC title in a row for the program.

The Blue Devils will be away at Monmouth in two weeks on

Sept. 17 and will be home again the following weekend on Sept. 24 for the Ted Owen Invitational at Stanley Quarter Park.

Follow Recorder Sports on Twitter @RecorderSports for breaking Game day news

Blue Devils Win Home Opener Against State Rivals

By the Numbers: CCSU vs SCSU First Downs:

CCSU - 16 SCSU - 18

Net Yds:

CCSU - 271 SCSU - 284

Net Passing Yds: CCSU - 143 SCSU - 223 Comp/Att:

CCSU 14-21 SCSU 22-39

Int’s:

CCSU - 2 SCSU - 2

Net Rushing Yds: CCSU - 128 SCSU - 61 Rushing Att:

CCSU - 40 SCSU - 36

Total Return Yds: CCSU - 119 SCSU - 93

kenny barto I THE RECORDER

Matt Tyrell celebrates his kick return off of a SCSU onside kick in the fourth quarter (left) and catches a touchdown pass in the first half (right).

DEVILS I Cont. from 12 the play was brought back but I just kept running and saw that it was a touchdown and I took it,” said Tyrell.

The 35-yard return put an end to the game, but the Blue Devils sat back in second half and allowed SCSU to take advantage and almost the lead.

Despite being outplayed in the second, the CCSU prevailed in the first half. Jespersen found Baker late in the first period for seven points, before being taken out in the second for an injury sustained during a 6-yard rush attempt, which he was known for last season.

With Jespersen out, White took to the field finding Baker in his first pass attempt, putting CCSU

up 14. A defensive touchdown made by Gene Johnson and another completion from White to Tyrell gave the Blue Devils its comfortable lead heading in to half time.

“I saw [ Jespersen] coming off and I was just like it’s my time now I guess,” said White.

The Blue Devils out ran the Owls, but had 109-yards in

penalties and two interceptions, while also causing to picks of its own. CCSU left the game winners of the in-state matchup, but next week will be a true test of what the team is made of.

CCSU leaves Arute for a twoweek road stint beginning at James Madison University in Virginia before beginning conference play at Wagner.

Penalties:

CCSU - 11 SCSU - 7

Penalty Yds:

CCSU - 109 SCSU - 66

Fumbles:

CCSU - 0 SCSU - 2

Time of Poss:

CCSU - 31:54 SCSU - 28:06

Key Players: Jake White - 5/9, 74 Yards, 2 TD, 2 INT Matt Tyrell - 3 Receptions, 42 yards, 1 TD, Kick Return Deven Baker - 6 Receptions, 62 yards, 2 TD Charles Williams - 1.5 Sacks for -12 yards.

12

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 7, 2011 / SPORTS

Owls Don’t Go Down Easily

CCSU captains Gunnar Jespersen, Gene Johnson, Dominic Giampietro, and Brian Fowler line up before the coin toss prior to Saturday’s game against Southern Connecticut.

Brittany Burke The Recorder

Saturday’s home football opener for the Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils told multiple stories as CCSU prevailed over the Southern Connecticut State University Owls, 35-21.

The kick off game for the 2011-12 season, dedicated to the belated Rich Royster and Brittany Mariani, told the story of the Division I Northeast Conference co-champion team looking to outplay a lesser Division II team.

The game also shed the light on a young CCSU quarterback, Jake White who was given a chance to showcase his talent due to starter, Gunnar Jespersen being taken out due to an undisclosed injury.

While CCSU was looking for a win, the SCSU Owls played to upset the better team and end the second-longest home winning streak in the country. Most importantly, the game on Sept. 3 told the tale of two halves.

The first two periods were dominated by the Blue Devils and by half time the home team was on top 28-0, but once play resumed it was the Owls that took over. CCSU was held to a dismal one first down while SCSU managed a 21 point comeback.

“We have a lot of young people on this team so the second half is always going to be harder than the first especially when we’re up and everyone gets laxed and it’s hard to come out and play a whole other half,” said Matthew Tyrell. “I mean our coaches stay on top of us and say the second half is 0-0 so they want

us to pretend it’s 0-0 come out and play hard again, but since we have a new team a lot of young people and first game of the season but we’ll get the hang of it.”

With the time clock running under three minutes and SCSU in possession of the ball, Owl quarterback Kevin Lynch found tight end Jerome Cunningham in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown completion. The Owls were then forced to decide whether or not to go for the two-point conversion, which the team did and made.

“They’re a good football team. I knew that going in,” said head coach Jeff McInerney. “I watched them on tape … had 16 returning seniors, the quarterback could play in this league. I thought the two receivers could play in this league. I thought the two tight ends

kenny barto I THE RECORDER

could play in this league. They’re well coached, they play hard, they’re a good football team and I knew that going in that they were not to be slight eyed and nothing shocked me out there.”

One touchdown separated CCSU from SCSU, but an onside kick recovered by Tyrell put the Blue Devils ahead by 14 with 2:25 left in the game. Tyrell, a junior wide receiver, finished second in the day in receiving behind Deven Baker. Tyrell had one touchdown and 42-yards, just shy of Baker’s 62-yards for two touchdowns.

“I was supposed to be up blocking but the ball went by and I saw the opportunity to make a play but a defender slapped the ball in bound so I took it…actually I thought DEVILS | cont. on 11

Volleyball Poised for a Winning Season Derek Turner The Recorder

Preseason polls don’t mean much to women’s volleyball head coach Linda Sagnelli, because every team starts the season with one goal in mind, make the top four of the Northeast Conference and qualify for the tournament.

The Blue Devils come into the 2011 season with a fairly veteran team, which includes seven returning players and five new girls, two of which are junior college transfers from Santa Barbara City College in California, Allyson Porter and Jennifer Waddill.

Key players returning from last year’s 11-18 team, 8-8 in NEC play are captains Danielle Gasser and Second team All-NEC athlete Sara DeLacy.

Of the returning core, Emily Cochran, the 2009 NEC Rookie of the Year is described by coach Sagnelli as the anchor of the team.

“She is our leading passer, plus she is the starting outside hitter for us,” said Sagnelli.

“She has come into preseason for us ready to go, physically strong; our strength coach has done a magnificent job with the team.”

The team started preparing for the 2011 season back in January and have really committed themselves to being in the best possible shape they can be said Sagnelli.

“It shows on the court, we’re stronger, we’re faster, we’re jumping higher; all those things that give you the little extra edge,” said Sagnelli on the team’s commitment.

Junior Jamie Rademacher is described by coach Sagnelli as a totally different player from last year.

kenny barto I THE RECORDER

The volleyball team has their first home games on Friday and Saturday at Detrick Gymnasium

“She worked hard to be physically stronger and there’s an explosiveness to her, she’s very dynamic with the ball,” said Sagnelli.

Aug. 12 began the longest preseason the Blue Devils have had and the team has taken advantage. The work extends beyond the time they spend practicing in the gym. The strength coach works with the team in the weight room and together they spend time in the pool doing team-building exercises to get ready for tournament play.

By the end of the month when conference play begins Sagnelli would like to have an established offense and know how risky the team is capable of being.

Porter and Brittany Schumacher are two new comers that Sagnelli hopes will anchor the defense along with Amalia Ashley.

“They have become our three person defensive core that we can rely on during a game and that’s developing and their roles are developing,” said Sagnelli.

The Blue Devils hope to be above .500 by the time conference play begins at the end of the month, but playing these tougher, bigger schools can only prepare the women for what they have to look forward to in the NEC. The Blue Devils have been on the road since the start of the season, losing four of the last six match ups. The team won’t open home play until CCSU hosts the Blue Devil Invitational this upcoming weekend with matches against St. Peter’s on Friday at 4:30 p.m., Bucknell on Saturday at 1 p.m. followed by Stony Brook at 3:30 p.m.