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Letters to the Editor Opinion

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor,

We, the members of the Bucknell on the Susquehanna (BotS) program, would like to address some inadequacies in the article run about our program on Sept. 17. While the piece explained the basic itinerary and description of our “domestic study-abroad” course, it neglected to reflect any of the views of students who are actually participating and unfairly represented the ultimate goal of this experiential learning opportunity.

Rather than defining it as a form of study abroad, it may be more accurate to call the program a semester-long series of field trips and exercises.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn [about our area] hands-on, outside of the classroom,” Joanna Freeman ’12 said. Most mornings at about 9 a.m., the “BotSMobile” waits outside O’Leary to take us off to a wide variety of sites around the watershed of the Susquehanna River. So far already we have spent a week in the Chesapeake Bay area, toured quarries and a coal mine, observed the impacts of logging and mining on the watershed today and many more experiences.

The program is designed to create an altogether unique experience of total immersion in the complex and diverse geographical feature that is the Susquehanna River watershed.

“After going abroad and comparing BotS to that experience, BotS is not a substitute for a study abroad,” Rebecca Coldwell ’11 said.

Returning from a study abroad in South Africa last semester, Coldwell described this fall’s program as “a completely different experience … a chance to learn about the land you spend four years on, how we affect it and learn to appreciate it.”

The BotS program also extends beyond local day trips.

“Every day is an adventure! We aren’t just focusing on the Susquehanna, but the entire watershed from Cooperstown, NY to Oyster, Va.,” Morgan Davis ’12 said. “We then travel to the west coast and compare both watersheds on a geologic, ecologic and political level. Awesome!”

On behalf of the Bucknell on the Susquehanna Program,

David Manthos ’11

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Opinion

Mixed messages at Fall Fest

By Jessica Rafalko

Writer

At Saturday’s Fall Fest, a woman approached me after Na Palm’s opening performance to ask what paper I wrote for. Looking official, press tag and all, I held up my consummate notepad and told her I was writing for the school paper. She then told me with obvious distaste that it was a waste of money for the University to bring in performers like Na Palm: guys who asked the crowd if they liked to party, if they liked to smoke. The woman then pointed to the students surging toward the stage and said, “And they’re just stupid enough to buy into it.”

I shook my head, as if to say, “I know what you mean.”

But my indignation was mostly for show. It’s true that Na Palm, G. Curtis and Sam Adams incorporate that unholy trinity of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll into their acts, but the content of their acts shouldn’t bar them from performing on our campus—especially when their music in many ways offers an accurate portrayal of certain aspects of college life.

I think the outraged woman was responding less to the content of the music and more to the students’ reaction to it. By accepting Na Palm’s suggestion that all they do is party–drink, smoke, get laid—with enthusiasm of the hoot-and-holler variety, students confirmed all those awful but knowing suspicions society has about life on a college campus.

College students are seen as self-indulgent, irresponsible and reckless. This university, like most with rural campuses, has a reputation as a party school. Beer pong may or may not have originated here. We have an active Greek life, which makes the “Animal House” comparisons unavoidable. When I first visited this campus as a high school senior, it reminded me of the colleges you see on TV and in movies. We ooze that distinctly collegiate blend of quality academia and killer parties.

So what right do people have to be offended when musicians point out the obvious? We’re not naïve enough to think these things don’t happen on campus. There is alcohol; there is pot; there is, of course, sex. Sam Adams and company weren’t wrong in assuming we like to party—really, they were just stating the obvious.

It’s hard to determine where the problem lies. Are students at fault for partying? Is the University at fault for inviting certain performers to campus? Or is society at fault for simultaneously condoning and denying what goes on in college?

Before I left for school, my parents told me, “Look, we know you’re going to drink. It’s college.” Still, if I called them one night and said, “Hey, guess what? You were right about that drinking thing,” chances are they would respond with heavy sighs and veiled disappointment. Society employs a reverse psychology; it’s as if acknowledging the partying that goes on in college will render it a non-threat.

“Don’t party,” they tell us, but at the same time they say, “Partying is a part of college.”

If you want to believe Sam Adams’s music is a threat to society’s sensibilities, that’s your prerogative. But then how can you justify perpetuating an equally damaging mixed message?

Categories
Opinion

Hypocrisy inherent in ‘Stop the Hate’ Rally

By Eric Soble

Opinions Editor

The “Unity Jam: Stop the Hate Rally” held this Monday publicly made a stand against hatred and intolerance in the wider Lewisburg community. This event is increasingly necessary, given the numerous hate crimes against immigrants in rural Pennsylvania.

There are several points that could be made concerning the overall message of this rally. What does it mean to “stop the hate”? Is this a good way to show community and solidarity? How do we reconcile our love of free speech with our commitment to providing a safe atmosphere for all?

For me, the main problem with the “Stop the Hate” rally is that it contradicts its very title by hating those deemed hateful. This obvious paradox is one that is difficult to get past, because transcending the cycle of hate would mean tolerating intolerance.

One way to solve this problem is by separating action from belief and speech. I think we all can agree criminal actions against persons of any color or shape deserve punishment and chastisement.

However, belief and speech are fundamentally different from action. No matter how absurd or offensive speech or a belief may be, they are peaceful expressions, so long as they do not threaten or imply force. We must remember freedom of speech becomes meaningless if it only applies to speech considered “acceptable” to a wide margin of society. This is not a matter of agreeing with such speech, but rather allowing it so the same censorship cannot be applied to any other group.

This freedom presents a difficult problem for those of us who wish to be part of an accepting, tolerant community: we cannot criminalize ideas, yet we wish to discourage hateful expressions of bigotry and prejudice. The solution to this does not come from “stopping hate,” but by encouraging a more open dialogue. If these hateful people were allowed to speak publicly about their beliefs, their positions would automatically be discredited. Everyone should have the right to make him or herself look like an idiot.

“Stop the Hate” starts us in the right direction but fails to make several critical distinctions concerning how to go about this process. It is not enough to proclaim our opposition to hate; we must understand hate as a sentiment to be exposed, not silenced. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis has said, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” We cannot solve hate by automatically dismissing it. Like any other learned ideology, hate must be intellectually challenged and discussed.

Categories
Arts & Life

Fall Fest 2010

By Jessica Rafalko

Writer

Rap artist Sam Adams says he doesn’t get stage fright—which is fortunate, considering the crowd of students that flocked to Sojka Lawn see his performance at Fall Fest on Saturday, Sept. 25. “It’s the best part of the day, to actually do your show,” Adams said.

The final performer of the day, Adams took the stage at 6:00 p.m., after a brief performance by G. Curtis. Adams encouraged the crowd to move even closer to the stage and to “make some noise.” Not one to disappoint an eager audience, Adams delivered a performance that begged two encores from the crowd. They chanted “Sammy,” urging him back onstage.

Fall Fest is organized each year through Activities and Campus Events (ACE) and the University’s Campus Activities and Programs (CAP) Center.“The CAP office is the car, but ACE is the wheels,” said Dorsey Spencer, assistant director of CAP.

ACE was responsible for choosing this year’s musical act and setting up the day of the event.

This year’s theme was “Bucknell Goes Green.” There were lines of garbage and recycling cans on the lawn. One group was for biodegradable trash, the other for compostable food.

ACE members also manned a number of stations at the event. Some sat at a table handing out free water bottles. Others watched over the tie-dye T-shirt and customized Frisbee stations. There were inflatable jousting pits, obstacle courses and a dunk tank.

Some student organizations, including the environmental club and the Bucknell Professional Network (BPN) also had stands. Justin Brodie-Kommit ’12, head of the BPN, sees Fall Fest as the perfect opportunity for a number of campus organizations to connect with students.

“We’re just trying to let the community know that we’re here on campus,” he said.

Fall Fest encouraged networking and socializing with its open and friendly atmosphere. Students played catch and Frisbee on Sojka lawn. Some people brought children and pets. As student musicians performed, people sat on the grass to listen.

Brian Brundage ’11 played a solo set before joining the Body Electric (Nick Horner ’11, Seth Chizeck ’11, and Alex Apfel ’12) for their set.

After a barbecue-style dinner prepared by the Bostwick staff, DJ Doug Bogan ’13 took the stage. He invited Darren Harris ’13 to rap for the audience. A number of students crowded around the front of the stage, growing more enthusiastic as Adams’ performance drew closer.

The first non-student act, Na Palm, offered a personalized, energetic performance, further riling the crowd. At one point, they described Fall Fest as “a mini … Woodstock.” This seemed a fair comparison in terms of the atmosphere of the event—though the musical offerings at Fall Fest may have differed a bit from performers like Jimi Hendrix. The enthusiasm of the crowd powered the event and crescendoed during Adams’s high-spirited and engaging closing performance.

Categories
Arts & Life Books Review

‘Cloud Atlas’: Novella of both art and entertainment

By Catherine McClelland

Senior Writer

There has always been literature and pulp: Tolstoy vs. James Patterson, Dante vs. Danielle Steele and perhaps Oprah’s book club balanced precariously somewhere in the middle. Each side of the great literary divide takes a certain pride in disparaging the other. Shakespeare is dismissed as stuffy. The bestseller shelves are slammed for trashiness.

Neither academia nor the pulp authors seem interested in bridging the divide, and in the age of mega-publishing it seems neither are the booksellers. David Mitchell’s 2004 novel “Cloud Atlas” aims to change that.

In the tradition of Shakespeare, “Cloud Atlas” aims to be entertainment as well as art. Mitchell plays in all sorts of genres—the novel’s six stories span a southern-seas drama, a scenic ars poetica,a conspiracy thriller, an absurdist adventure, a sci-fi dystopia and a post-apocalyptic story.

Rather than being boxed in by the conventions he uses, Mitchell always introduces a twist to break the genres’clichés. During an interview with the Paris Review he explained how he experiments with writing genre fiction as literary art: “When something is two-dimensional, here’s how to fix it: Identify an improbable opposite and mix it plausibly [into the story].”

What results is fiction that feels both familiar and strange. Every time the reader anticipates the plot, a surprise is around the corner. The characters are full of individual quirks but also come together into a coherent portrait of humankind. Mitchell’s strongest talent is his flair for writing memorable voices, slipping into a different vocabulary in every novella so that each protagonist stays in the reader’s head days after putting the book down. Every page is a testament to the author’s artistic bravado—and not only that, it’s clever, exciting and genuinely funny.

The novel’s most surprising element is its unorthodox structure. Each of the six novellas is split in half to form a frame around the following story. Mitchell chooses to structure the story like a set of Russian nesting dolls. Each novella is cut off in the middle of the action and the next one begins immediately. After the sixth, unbroken novella, the novel returns to finish the fifth novella, then the fourth, so that the whole novel is structured symmetrically.

To balance this structure, the six stories are interconnected. The musician protagonist of the second novella reads the seafarer’s diary of the first novella. The musician’s letters are then read by the journalist Luisa Rey in the mystery-thriller novella, which becomes a manuscript submitted in the fourth novella to publisher Timothy Cavendish, whose autobiography is turned into a film that the prisoner of the fifth novella requests to watch after her interrogation, with the interrogation’s footage found by the members of the final novella.

Each of the six stories deals with a different constellation of themes, but the novel’s common thread is power and suffering. The novel is full of seemingly disconnected characters—gunslingers, pirates, scientists, assassins, homosexuals, slaves and musicians—who unite to tell us about ourselves, how humankind never changes from generation to generation and how the world can be startlingly beautiful even in its saddest moments.

Rating: 5/5

Categories
Arts & Life Music Review

Nine Inch Nails’ star releases track

By William Bonfiglio

Writer

The words “grating,” “harsh” and “upsetting” are not frequently associated with successful music.  But beginning in the late eighties, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails substituted these characteristics for melody and rhythm to create an entirely novel genre of music dubbed “industrial.”

In 2007, Reznor announced he was disbanding his live group, Nine Inch Nails (NIN).  Many wondered whether he would retire from the corporate music scene altogether.  His subtle messages to fans did nothing to abate these concerns. On more than one occasion in 2010, the only graphic portrayed on the NIN website was a question mark.

Reznor never truly left the music profession.  He was involved with projects like film soundtracks and reissues for previously successful albums. He was also working with his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, formerly of the band West Indian Girl, and the composer Atticus Ross on a fresh project.  On June 1, the group made their project available to the public. The release was an EP titled “How To Destroy Angels,” credited to a group of the same name. Though not innovative or influential, the project does show he will remain in the musical scene for a while.

The style of music of the project is not a significant departure from past styles. Many familiar with the work of NIN have compared it to a 1999 double album release titled “The Fragile,” noted for its gloomy ambience. Maandig’s vocals in “How to Destroy Angels” are similar to vocals on “The Fragile” due to the thick and distorted sound of the voice, and the haunting, whispery narration.  What some listeners have identified as a mind-numbing monotone can actually be read as the voice of an exhausted victim, who perhaps knows her efforts are futile, pathetically inquiring in “The Drowning,” and “Please, anyone, I don’t think I can save myself. I’m drowning here.”

Knowing the key to success lies in exposure, Reznor and his group have provided a link to download the EP for free on the band’s website, howtodestroyangels.com.

Through his new release, and the news that Reznor will compose the music featured in the highly anticipated film, “The Social Network,” which chronicles the creation of Facebook, Reznor has shown he has not given up on the world as an audience.

Categories
News

Local food movement hits campus

By Chris Main

Contributing Writer

The local food movement sweeping the nation has energized consumers and producers. The University community is no exception, with many students and faculty taking an active role in bringing local products to students’ plates.

According to DailyFinance, the shift towards locally produced food helps small farms stay afloat during a hurting economy. Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in where their food comes from and how it is produced. Local producers are often eager to discuss their products with interested consumers.

The University’s involvement in the local food movement spans both student life and education.

The University’s food service, managed by Parkhurst Dining Services, offers a variety of products from local businesses. As part of Parkhurst’s FarmSource program, at least 25 percent of their produce is purchased from local growers.  Parkhurst also holds a bi-annual dinner showcasing local producers and their products.

“Our embrace of buying local allows us to meet our guests needs with generally less processed products. We think it just makes good sense,” a Parkhurst representative said.

To increase student awareness, labels with the name and location of the producer are displayed near each local item. Examples of this include bagels from Georgie’s Bagels in Berwick, Pa., apples from Dries Orchards in Sunbury, Pa., pork products from Hatfield Quality Meats in Hatfield, Pa. and dairy products from Schneider Valley Farms Dairy in Williamsport, Pa.

“It is really interesting to see that the food that is going onto our plates is coming from the farms and fields around Bucknell,” Alex Thompson ’13 said.

Not all students have taken notice of the efforts of Parkhurst to buy local produce.

“I never really noticed the signs before—I guess I do not care too much about where my food comes from,” Tyler Chadwick ’13 said.

Faculty and students raise awareness of local producers both inside and outside of the classroom. Nancy White and Janet Knoedler, both professors of economics, teach a class devoted to the mindful consumption of consumer goods, including food.

White and Knoedler both belong to a local organization dedicated to community supported agriculture (CSA). A CSA delivers a box of local, farm-fresh food to a consumer’s doorstep each week during the growing season, making it extremely simple for consumers to purchase local products.

Students in White and Knoedler’s classes spend time talking to local growers and studying the effects of food production. The final project requires students to compile a list of local producers. Students are also asked to raise awareness of local producers in the University community.

“While not everyone may care about eating local food, it is at least nice to know that is available,” Kevin Shute ’13 said.

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Arts & Life Columns Cooking Corner

Cooking Corner: Mustard-Glazed Chicken

By Emily Fry

Staff Writer

Mustard-Glazed Chicken

Even though this is a Martha Stewart recipe, I’ve tweaked it a little to adapt it to a college student’s resources, so it’s still really simple.  Everything this recipe calls for is available at Wal-mart or Weis.  Your friends will be impressed by your culinary expertise and it tastes delicious!

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for seasoning chicken

Sea salt and pepper

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2 1/2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

3/4 cup coarse bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme

3/4 cup low-sodium chicken stock

1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.  Rub chicken breasts with olive oil and lightly season with salt and pepper.

2. Combine 2 Tbsp. of butter with mustard; reserve 2 tsp. of mixture for the sauce.  Melt the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter and mix with thyme and bread crumbs.

3. In a large skillet, heat the 2 Tbsp. of oil over medium high heat.  Sear the chicken about 5 minutes.

4. Remove from heat. Transfer chicken to 9×13 baking dish.  Set aside the skillet to make the sauce later.  Smear each side of the chicken with the mustard mixture and sprinkle each side with the bread crumbs.

5. Roast in oven until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

6. Transfer chicken to a plate.  Add the stock and cream to the skillet and cook over medium heat and stir until creamy and reduced, about 3 minutes.  Remove from heat, and stir in the reserved mustard mixture.  Strain through a fine sieve and serve with the chicken.

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Cookbook

Categories
Arts & Life

‘Savage/Love’ performance this weekend

By Christina Oddo

Contributing Writer

A friend’s turbulent relationship inspired theatre major Ali Keller ’12 to direct “Savage/Love,” a set of 19 monologues written by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin.

Over the summer, Keller spoke to a friend at home who was involved in a two-year relationship. Her friend complained about his girlfriend, their frequent fights and mishaps. Keller asked her friendf why he was still in that relationship, and he answered that he was just too scared to start dating again. The last thing he said was “and I love her.” This conversation struck Keller as strange and complex and motivated her to direct “Savage/Love.”

Shepard’s monologues highlight moments in relationships that are similar to what Keller noted in her friend’s, one that “went on too long.” The difficulties associated with this type of relationship are relatable to anyone at any age, “especially college students,” Keller said. College students are at the age where relationships are just “complicated.” The people in a relationship have to know what the other wants: whether to have a long or short-term relationship, or whether to stay together after college.

Emily Hooper ’14 and Jeff Simkins ’13, both actors in the play, discussed the uniqueness of the script, originally written as a one-man show.

“There is so much you can do with it,” Hooper said. “There is so much to work with.”

Keller made the artistic decision to depict a relationship by creating a dialogue of monologues, maintaining the same order of monologues originally created by Shepard with some slight variation. This project is the “most unique thing I have ever done,” Hooper said.

Both cast members and the director commented on how the script itself is so ambiguous that every word and phrase can be said either angrily or lovingly, depending on the “initiative” of the actor.

The script is also unique in that the interactions between the two characters are unsettling, as the reactions that take place are not typical. It is about “what’s going on underneath the words,” Simkins said.

In this way, “the words can apply to anyone,” Hooper said.

Keller gave the two cast members an assignment to find what works best for them: go on a “caf” date. This helped shape the relationship the two would portray on stage, the details that would mold their words, their actions and reactions. Nineteen monologues can be quite overwhelming, and given the open-endedness of the script, the actors needed to dig deeper into their characters.

“There is nothing provided,” Simkins said. It was up to the actors to develop the characters and their emotions.

“The rhythm and the beat are challenging,” Simkins said. He is excited to see “how people will react to the abstract movement” of the play, and the “fun symbolism.”

The suspense developed throughout the play is notable. Keller uses silence in a way that is noisy. The silence and lack of communication are unsettling, and the repeated notion of time and “ticking” highlights one of the central themes of the play: the cyclical behavior of relationships. What if you took out parts of this cycle, like “the break up” or “the set of compromises” that follow “the break up?” Simply put, you get “Savage/Love.”

“Savage/Love” plays Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre in Tustin Studios. Tickets are available at the box office in the Weis Center for only $4.

Take it from one who has already got a sneak peak of “Savage/Love”: it is an enticing and engaging performance that you will never forget.

Categories
Arts & Life Movies Review

Affleck impresses viewers in ‘The Town’

By Sara Dobosh

Arts & Life Editor

“The Town” has the typical boy-meets-girl, boy-falls-in-love-with-girl plot–except unlike most films, the boy meets the girl by robbing the bank where she works and taking her hostage.

The movie takes place in Charlestown, Mass., a blue-collar town with a high crime rate. Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) and his three childhood friends make a living byrobbing banks. Dressed in costume, they rob the bank’s armored trucks as the banks open in the morning. When an unplanned challenge emerges, the group takes bank manager Claire (Rebecca Hall) hostage. To prevent Claire from telling the FBI all she remembers about the men, MacRay dates Claire so he can slyly retrieve information about the case’s progress.

Claire is ignorant of MacRay‘s alibi, so she shares with him the trauma she experienced during the incident.

“The Town” is more than the average action-packed film. The criminal story is solely the outside layer while romance, growing up and past family relations compose the depth of the film. Affleck and Hall have believable chemistry throughout, and it is truly heartbreaking when the FBI informs Claire of MacRay’s true identity.

MacRay struggles to understand why his mother abandoned him when he was six years old and vies to avoid following in his father’s footsteps with a life in prison.

MacRay aims to desert his criminal life by finally leaving Charlestown. He tries to terminate his criminal activities, but is constantly pulled back into the web of criminals. MacRay and Claire plan to leave Charlestown and begin a new life together, yet the plan is averted when she discovers MacRay’s true identity and when MacRay and his group are forced to perform one more robbery. Their last robbery is the riskiest: the team must rob the Boston Red Sox’ Fenway Park.

“The Town” was quite enjoyable, with action-packed car chases, romance between Claire and MacRay that I found myself rooting for and, most importantly, Affleck’s incredible and realistic performance.