Author: Laura Crowley

By Ally Kebba

Contributing Writer

It’s a conundrum all college students will eventually face: where to find good food after 3:00 a.m. Whether you’ve been spending your Saturday night in the library preparing for a daunting midterm or relaxing at a bar on Market Street with your closest friends, you may find your stomach asking for a little extra fuel during the wee hours of the night. Though you may not have expected it, there are several places you can go when you get that inevitable craving for a “fourth meal” that a granola bar from your dorm room simply cannot satisfy.

First is the University’s own Seventh Street Café, open 24 hours a day, which offers a wide array of sandwiches, wraps, salads, fruit, desserts and, of course, delicious one-of-a-kind beverages. Armed with cozy couches, plush loveseats and group-friendly booth seating, who could resist stopping inside for some music and a hot drink? It becomes very calm, but students are consistently “running in and out to grab something to eat on the way to the dorms,” said a staff member manning the café during the late shift on Saturday night. While enjoying my own white hot chocolate, I witnessed a small but cheerful group engaged in games and conversation, as well as a few dedicated academics reading or working on assignments. Seventh Street Café is certainly a safe haven for a hungry student in search of a peaceful and warm atmosphere to escape the brisk early-morning air.

If you seek a more exciting, frenzied environment in which to enjoy your late-night snack, nowhere beats the Market Street Deli. They are open until roughly 3:30 am or “whenever [they] stop getting bombarded by the late-night bar crowd,” a busy cashier said. This sandwich shop offers the best in delicious, hunger-defeating food. Since its debut in January 2008, this hectic, loud and fun restaurant has maintained a loyal crowd. A frequently requested late-night delicacy is the cheesesteak with runny eggs. The staff at the Market Street Deli laughingly relate their experience to “a nuclear bomb going off” and describe the patrons as “bubbly people coming from the bars.” It’s easy to picture a vivacious group quickly filling up the red chairs, ogling the countertop fish tank and various University memorabilia as they scarf down one of the late-night specialties.

If you feel like making your way down Route 15, a few other fast food options await you. When asked where they like to eat at 3:00 a.m., many students said Sheetz. With a wide selection of cold and hot sandwiches, salads and packaged snacks, you won’t find a wider selection of midnight munchies. As exhaustion sets in, students become more and more amazed by the never-ending possibilities offered by the computerized, touch-screen menu. If you’re looking for something to quench your thirst, they also offer specialty coffee drinks, fruit smoothies and many soft drink favorites. This satiating, student-loved nourishment is only a couple of miles away. If you find yourself looking for a tried and true late-night snack, you can’t go wrong with Sheetz.

This weekend, when you start to feel your night come to a close and hear your stomach start to growl, don’t reach for that all-too-familiar bag of Orville Redenbacher’s. Instead, take a walk and see if you discover that you are like the many other students who love a good meal after a long night.

Maggie Schneiderman

By Christina Oddo

Writer

Two student-directed performances, “Lessons” and “Really Trying Here,” will premiere this weekend.

“Lessons” is directed and performed by only two actors, Edward Pailet ’11 and Stephanie Walters ’11, both of whom are arts merit scholars. The two proposed “Lessons” last semester as a challenging culmination of their acting career at the University. They chose a variety of scenes, spanning from drama to comedy, that all focus on the central theme of love.  Pailet and Walters arranged this piece in just two and a half weeks.

Pailet and Walters never leave the stage during the performance; in fact, they change their clothing right onstage. This simple presentation allows the audience to purely focus on the acting. After the Saturday night show, Pailet and Walters are hosting a “talk back,” in which the audience can stay and ask questions.

This project has been a “hands-on experience for us,” Walters said. “We have a great appreciation for what the department has done for us.” By collaborating with faculty and attending production meetings, “we are not [merely] actors anymore,” Walters said.

“Really Trying Here” features Meg Visokey ’13, Julian Fleming ’14, Pat Shane ’12, Diego Chiri ’11, Michael Kurban ’12 and director Sam Nelsen ’11. Nelsen gathered five talented actors interested in improvisation for this project. The performance parallels a workshop held last semester in which “long form” improvisation was introduced. In a “long form” skit, the act begins with just one word that ultimately shapes and creates the rest of the play.

According to Nelsen, “Really Trying Here” “ … focuses in on the idea that life is really hard, and that it is often difficult to fit in, or to feel normal in life.” Following every showing of “Really Trying Here,” there will be a 30-minute “long form” set where the actors improvise.

Pailet, Walters and Nelsen appreciate all of the support they have received. “It is an honor to be able to put on our own show,” Pailet said.

The faculty played a big part in the two upcoming productions. “They put faith in us,” the three directors said. Not only did the faculty support them, but they pushed the three to make their own decisions.

“Lessons” will take place Feb. 11-12 at 8 p.m. and February 13 at 2 p.m. “Really Trying Here” will be performed Feb. 12 at 2 p.m., and Feb. 13-14 at 8 p.m. All performances will be held in Tustin Studio Theatre.

By Sonali Basak

“And how may I help you, miss?”

Caroline Hartman stands at the window of the post office in the new Student Center, greeting people with a smile.

July will mark Hartman’s 42nd year working at the University.

She first came to the University to work during her senior year of high school for a two-week program. After she graduated, she came back to work part-time, becoming a full-time worker two months later. She worked first for Publications, Print and Mail, but moved to the Post Office in 1977.

“Back then we used typewriters; there were no computers. We used to type up papers for the students,” Hartman said.

Technology has vastly changed the direction of Publications, Print and Mail, with copy stations all around the school now instead of only in Marts Hall.

“I used to have to remember the names of many, many individuals on campus because that’s how we knew how to sort the mail, and this is where they came for their printing. I’ve seen how the campus has changed throughout the years. I’ve seen Bucknell grow,” Hartman said.

Hartman worked in Marts Hall until this year, when the new post office was built into the Elaine Langone Center Student Space.

“It was hard to move at first. All my family–I call it my family up at Marts–is still at Marts Hall. But it’s lively down here,” Hartman said. Her office looks out to a student space that is filled with students and activity at all working hours. “But I’m a people person. I like working with the students. They make you young.”

Students say they feel inspired by Hartman’s presence in the mail room.

“It’s been much more joyful with her around here,” Evan Kasowitz ’11 said as he and two other seniors working in the mail room joked around with Hartman as a peer. “She tells great stories and shares pictures with us.”

Hartman lives in Cowan with her sister, in the same home she was born in. She tells people she started working when she was three years old. “They say I look so young,” Hartman said, “it’s the only thing that makes sense!”

Hartman said, “When I was young I was taught to stick to a job, and that’s what I’m doing. I enjoy my work. It’s not the same day after day.”  The variety that is in her job comes from dealing with different people each day.

When asked upon her favorite memory working at the University, she said that there were too many to point out just one.

“You take each day as it comes, and there are always new, good memories coming,” Hartman said.