RECURSION vol. 1

RECURSION VOL. 1

Essays from College Writing at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst

FALL 2014

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The Writing Program University of Massachusetts-Amherst 130 Hicks Way, Rm 305A Amherst, MA 01003 www.umass.edu/writingprogram/

RECURSION VOL. 1

FALL 2014

recursion, n.

“The action or an act of returning.”

– Oxford English Dictionary

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The goal of College Writing is to help students become more skilled and confident in their academic writing skills. The four units we’ve covered this semester – Interacting with Texts, Adding to the Conversation, Inquiring into Self, and Experimental Writing – have each approached academic writing from a different angle, bringing new sets of choices for student writers. Writing appears in many different ways and is performed differently by everyone, but maybe a common thread throughout all good writing is that it attempts to present and work through complicated ideas. Writing is a tool to map out difficult thoughts.

And good writing rarely happens overnight. More often, it’s the product of hard work, careful reflection, and constant revision. If the essays presented in this issue are strong, it’s in no small part due to the fact that each underwent an extensive process of drafting and peer-review. One word we used this semester to think about this drafting process was recursion – the act of returning. Writing, like any other skill, is largely the product of careful and determined practice.

Recursion is a procedure that can repeat itself indefinitely. Thus, no piece of writing is ever completely finished. Many writers spend their whole lives revising one book, one story, one paragraph, one line.

Writing is a recursive process, one that demands us always to take a second look, to examine ourselves critically, and to strive for better work.

I’m very pleased to present an outstanding collection of student essays in this issue. I look forward to seeing more work from these writers in the future. Thank you all for a great semester!

Delia Pless Teaching Associate, College Writing

TABLE OF CONTENTS

“In(side)terstellar” Mrinal Asthana “All Over Again” Bren Backhaus “’Are you going to the game Friday?’”

Olivia Dodge “Umass Basketball Takes on Sienna” Adam Jackson “Mockingjay Pt. 1” Alyssa Muise “UMass Basketball” Jack Nguyen “The Thanksgiving Game” Kimphuong Nguyen “Modern Romance” Karina Oganezova

“Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?”

Michael Patrick “Jeremy Denk, Solo Pianist” Kimsot Ren “Big Hero 6” Kassandra Rodriguez-Graham “Anything That Can Happen, Will Happen” Thomas Vu “The UMass Community” Alexander Wolfe

In(side)terstellar Mrinal Asthana

It was about 3 am on a cold saturday morning. At first, I thought I was dreaming. But to what would be my annoyance at first, my father was shaking me awake. I thought, “What could possibly be going on in this world that would require him to wake me up at this time of the day.” He simply said, “Come out.” I walk on out, to see my mother out there crying. Now, I was awake. When you see your mother cry, it wakes you up as crisply as frozen water to the face. My mind immediately started processing the possibilities, while automatically going straight to my mother to comfort her. Before I could figure it out, my father briefly says, “Your grandmother passed away a few hours ago.”

Oh that moment hit me hard.

I knew exactly what Murph, the daughter of the lead character Cooper, was going through. Her father was about to embark on a journey whose odds of returning were very low. People have gone on suicide missions that have had better odds. As I watched the movie, I could relate to how Murph felt.

Her father was leaving her and she could hear about his death at any time. The panic she felt, the anger she had for her father for putting her through that. I could feel all of it. The ultimate desire to not lose someone, to know that they’ll still leave but ignore that because it hurts too much acknowledge that fact. An inevitable doom reaching its destination that is as unstoppable as an apple falling off a tree to reach the ground. This movie represents states a lot about what it means to be human. Danger is very real, but fear isn’t. Fear is an option. The fear one feels for a loved one going on a suicide mission is optional. But the fear isn’t real, it’s just a construct of our mind. I related it to how we think we are our minds. Often enough, our minds control us, rather than the other way around. It was an astounding revelation I went through as I was watching a movie, that I am not my mind. My mind is a tool I have to navigate through life. When used effectively, it will help in all aspects of life. But most times, my mind traps me in its own wild monkey behaviors. Just like fear. It is a tool to tell us when there is danger, so we can react to it. But a lot of the times it is fear who grips us, rather than the other way around. Many aspects of human behavior work in similar ways, and have been presented

in this movie on a platter of gems.

Space movies have historically done fabulously well. Movies like Avatar, Gravity, and Star Trek have wreaked havoc in the box office. Together, they have a cumulative gross profit of over 2.7 trillion dollars. Other Christopher Nolan movies, like Inception, and the Dark Knight, have been very popular among the public as well. He not only produces those movies, but also directs most of them, and has been exquisitely praised by most all movie critics. Space movies are so popular because of the silence that envelops the audience as they watch the movie. It builds a kind of anticipation that cannot be replicated in most other movie genres. When everything around the actors is trying to kill them, their body is everything their environment is designed to kill, it is hard to not hold your breathe as an audience. Nothing gets more high stakes then that.

Space movies encapture their audiences so completely because a lot of it has to do with imagination. Very few people have had the privilege to go to space and experience it first hand, and therefore we use our imagination for all of the parts that are not shown in the movie. So pair our imagination with the stimulating visuals of the movie, and it makes for a thriller experience. Additionally, when more variables are put into the equation, the situation of the protagonists seems as dire as it possibly can, is when the audience gets even more into it. The audience is really rooting for some positive sign, something to inspire hope in them. Nolan makes it so that the audience feels like they have some sort of personal investment in the protagonist. He makes the protagonist so relatable to all age groups. To some people, Cooper, played by Matthrew McConaughey (one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 most influential people in the world), could be like a father, to others like a son, and yet to others like a husband. By the end of the first hour, the protagonist is someone you know so well that you want them to do well, and then go have a cold beverage with them after to talk about their adventure.

Adding the fact that the survival of all of mankind is on the shoulders of Cooper, and it adds to the relatability factor of the movie. He didn’t really want to bear this weight on his shoulders in the first place. But when he learns that his children’s lives are in danger, he has no choice. And if anyone else was in his shoes, they would do the same thing. Whether you have kids or not, you can somewhat comprehend the limits that parents are willing to push to preserve and help their offspring thrive. Additionally, there was a robot named TARS which added some comic relief at times, and also said one of the most inspirational quotes of the movie. He poignantly stated, “for humans to get somewhere ahead, they always have to leave something behind.” The truth of that statement was resounding. Opportunity Cost. To win at something, you have to lose something else.

In the end, the storyline of this movie is very old. There is a protagonist who is charged with saving the world, and that’s exactly what he does. In it’s most elemental form, this movie is a testament to how unoriginal human beings are in our storylines. But the way Christopher Nolan portrays Cooper, the cinematography and side effects, and the brilliant acting of Matthew McConaughey make the movie a thought provoking masterpiece.

Works Cited "Gravity (2013) - Box Office Mojo." Gravity (2013) - Box Office Mojo. ImDB. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.

"List of Highest-grossing Films." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.

All Over Again Bren Backhaus

School systems never knew how to deal with my dyslexia or me, especially in elementary school. After all dyslexia is like a thumbprint and different for everyone that has it, thus even among dyslexics, we find it is hard to relate to everything. However, how would colleges treat me? When I wrote my common application, I wrote about my struggles with my learning disability. This essay was sent to eight colleges and I got into all but one of them, however out all of those responses saying I got in, the University of Massachusetts was the only one who sent information about their disability services with their acceptance letter. This shows they did not only read my essay, but also give me some sort of response to it. I have not seen the disability services for any other college, but for their response to my essay, it defiantly gives the impression UMass was proud of the services they had and was willing to help me.

The best way to understand what dyslexia is, is either having it or hearing all the examples. When I tell people I am dyslexic they usually only think about spelling. However, it affects many other aspects of my life beyond school. I cannot pull out the right words from my head; some of my friends and I were standing in a rectangle, I told them were standing in a triangle. I cannot tell you if someone is sarcastic to save my life. I cannot read people’s faces or body language that well. It has indirectly affected my social skills, I am afraid to talk sometimes in fear of saying the wrong thing. It effects my memory; I have a horrible sort term memory. It makes me more creative.

The problem came up with these services when they said my tests and records were outdated and I needed to renew them. Thus, I had the first of five to six meetings I will have this semester November 14. This first meeting also included an interview and if we had extra time some testing. This meeting was off to a rather awkward start when I was filling out forms in their waiting room alone. I got to the consent for where I would allow them to talk to my mother. How do I spell Jacqueline? Jaquiline? Jacquilin? No, that’s not right. I called my mother at work and had her spell it out for me.

After filling out the form the interview began, I was telling my advisor stories I never really told anyone. How embarrassed I was when I told her I learned the order of the months in my sophomore year of high school or after eighteen years I still did not know my father’s, brother’s, or sister’s birthdays. Talking about things like my anxieties and respond to questions about family life that just did not seem that relevant.

It was when she took out the test that I was rather surprised. It was very familiar, too familiar. I remember telling her I did not remember about the tests much when she asked me a few moments ago, however everything was coming back to me. The blocks, the book of different activities and figures I needed for tasks, and the advisor’s book of lines she needed to say robotically.

The first part of the testing began. I was given blocks and a book with a different pattern on each page I needed to make. Easy enough turn this block this way and this one that done. Then the black line around the entire figure disappeared. What is this? They turned the entire figure on its side? Where did the black line go? Oh, this one is wrong, how did they make this shape? After that I she gave me an oral test, I needed to say the numbers exactly as she said. Simple, she said 42. Wait, was it 948672 or 972682? Then I needed to recite the numbers backwards.

972‌ 85‌13? Can normal people really do this in their head? This was way too familiar. I took this parts test before, I cannot remember if the words and figures I have to make are the same, but it was nearly the same tests I took when I was younger.

The second meeting for testing happened November 19, and this time things were a little bit more unfamiliar. Connect the numbers in order, connect the letters in order, connected the numbers and letters together in order but alternating. Written test about reading comprehension and more. I cannot recall if I took this part of the testing.

This part of the testing was defiantly harder. About half way through some of the audio and oral test she gave me, I just could not figure out what I was supposed to say or what word he was saying. It was annoying and frustrating, it all sounded like gibberish. She told me it was fine and the individual tests are supposed to get harder closer to the end, but it still annoyed me.

How can the same test I took when I was younger in really middle school even younger possibly. How can a test I took over five years ago be able to measure me in the same way? Since it is so similar possibly the exact test I took, I should have gotten test smart. On top of that since I am older I should also have a somewhat better memory and defiantly a larger vocabulary. Since my intelligence changed how does this same test factor in this major difference? Since there are so many things different about me since the first time I took the test. How effective and reliable was this test? Plus, there has been no changes, different strategies, or better ways to find my disability. Since I have not retaken my testing anywhere else, I am not completely sure if these tests are just not updated by the college or if the test just have not improved because of lack of new research.

Not to mention since I took this test the first time and they found my disability and what I had trouble with I had help since elementary school to help counter these problems. So naturally I should so good with these problems. I originally thought I would be embarrassed from being bad at these tests, however I think I was doing them like the average person. I believe the most helpful part of this first part was the interview because it really got the past problems and how they affect me today, and told my instructor what to look for.

In conclusion, having to retake the test for my accommodations showed me how little progress was really made in the field. It made me wonder how reliable the test is and how efficient the system is in college. The chance of a test being reliable for both a twelve year old and a nineteen year old is a big chance. After all the brain or responses of a twelve year old (and younger than that) is very different from a freshman at college. One of the best ways to understand the problem is to see it first hand, when I am not thinking out it, since I am more relaxed.

I know what these tests are for now, I focus more so I might not make as many mistakes as I usually do.

“Are you going to the game Friday?”

Olivia Dodge

A funny thing happens when a crowd forms and everyone collects the same sort of mentality. People lose their identity and with that, they become almost invincible. It’s impossible to pick a person out in a crowd, and that’s taken advantage of all the time, especially by college students. People drink alcohol freely, and chant things they wouldn’t say when by themselves. Sometimes it’s a crowd that attracts people to an event because crowds are what help dictate the atmosphere. They can be dangerous, they can be fun, and they can be unifying.

The moment we stepped into the Mullin’s Center, the atmosphere changed. It went from cold and frigid to, well still cold because of the ice rink, but also loud and inviting. The contrast of the gleaming white ice against the dark auditorium seats almost pulled you in, towards the game and towards the players, but so many of the closer seats were already filled. My group, my own little small crowd, made its way up the aisles and through the rows; constantly having to apologize to the people we bumped into. Some were more focused on the game, some seemed too out of it to care, and some were lost in their own group’s conversations.

“This is the drunkest I’ve ever seen him.”

Ross was the first to see him, shouting out his name to get his attention. We all just wanted to wave and say hi, but as soon as Cam laid his usually innocent brown eyes on us, he was climbing over the seats to reach us. It looked like he struggled a lot to make it over a couple seats and it made sense as to why when he was walking, no, stumbling towards us. Cam was very, very drunk. In loose terms, he was hammered. He grew more and more excited as he recognized each of us, throwing his arms around us and yelling our names.

Honestly, it was pretty funny, but Cam made me nervous. There were several cops nearby who glanced at him in his drunken state, but then went on about their business. That’s when I realized we hadn’t had to get pat down when entering the Mullin’s Center, so the amount of alcohol and drunk college kids in the center at that time was probably way too many.

Even at the tailgates hundreds of kids my age would walk around with beers in their hands, or sticking up out of a coozie, and the cops mostly ignored them. It’s hard to arrest that many people for underage drinking and public intoxication that I think they mostly just focus on basic crowd control to keep students from rioting. Since so many of us don’t get caught (or don’t get approached for) drinking, we feel like it’s okay and safe. Maybe the cops just didn’t feel as if Cam was a large threat to the rest of the audience. Maybe they had greater issues to deal with than some drunken freshmen.

“You suck, you suck!”

With every team, every sport, every college, there’s a signature cheer. UMass Amherst has its own fight song and rally chants, and some of them aren’t so great (like honestly some of them are pretty bad and don’t flow well). It was scarily easy to gather the crowd for any sort of chant, whether it be yelling slurs and profanity at the other team or bellowing out our rally song. With every penalty and goal that the other team made, students would stand up in their seats and chant “You suck, you suck!” unanimously.

The crowd had to be reminded, several times, that there were children among us and that we should probably show more good sportsmanship. Nobody really cared about the kids though, everyone just loved yelling and being a part of something loud and overwhelming.

During half-time, the notorious YMCA came on over the loudspeakers and nearly everyone joined in on the song, throwing their arms up into the air in the shape of various letters. It reminded me of Fenway Park, when Sweet Caroline comes on and basically every Red Sox fan, sober and drunk, sings along with Neil Diamond. Why is it so easy to get a crowd of people to chant something? Do people just not want to feel left out, and feel obligated to join in? Or maybe that’s the best part of being in a crowd, everyone becomes the same person, and in that moment you’re almost connected. Loud, boisterous crowds are exciting to a part of, especially when they’re not reckless.

“Wait, what’s happening?”

I kept an eye on several girls in front of me throughout the game, watching them as they watched the game. But the thing is: they didn’t watch the game. Whenever the crowd wasn’t involving them in some sort of chant, they were sitting with their feet up on the seats in front of them, scrolling through apps on their phones or just chatting amongst themselves. The three girls were all decked out in maroon

At one point one of the girls looked up from her phone and asked one of her other friends, who was actually watching the game, what was going on. Several moments later the Minutemen scored a goal and the two other girls jumped up from their seats and joined in on the chants with the rest of the crowd, only staying standing for a couple minutes after cheers had died down. It’s funny how the atmosphere draws people to games more than the sport itself, but without the crowd and without people like them, the cheers wouldn’t be as loud and the spirits wouldn’t be as high.

“Human beings in a mob.”

I’ve always been fascinated by crowds and the power they hold. They’re what’s changed the world, started revolutions, caused destruction and created beauty. People fall into a shared mentality so easily when among others and it’s not always easy to snap out of it. Crowds can be unremarkable; they can be the reason for high spirits at a sports game, they can even be the reason people come out to that sports game at all. Yet people often believe they can get away with anything when they’re in a crowd, and they start acting in a way they never would if it was just themselves. There are scenes from cities around the world of fires eating away at police vehicles and cars flipped upside down after certain losses and wins among sports teams.

Recently, there have been images of hundreds of people proudly holding their hands up in the air in support of Mike Brown. Crowds create change but sometimes they leave a wake of destruction in their path.

Umass Basketball Takes on Sienna Adam Jackson

In my opinion the support of your fans is the most important thing, it gives you something to play for other than just the win. You are playing to hear the roar of the crowd, the giant gasp when the other team looks like they are going to score, and then the sigh of relief when they do not. The game just becomes so much more rewarding when you have a sea of people counting on you to put on a show. It has been seen in many cases over the years where a team becomes astounding because of their dedicated and supportive fan base.

95 – 87 Umass 0:00 End of the Game Not one person in that fan section left before the game was completely over, the players put on a good game and the fans wanted to show their appreciation so they stayed until the end.

The building was filled with excitement, it looked like the Minutemen were back, after making the tournament for the first time in a while last year everyone wants to see it happen again. Last year was pretty upsetting with the first round loss, but the team wants back at it, but more importantly the fans are thirsty for another appearance.

15 Minutes Before Tip Off I was just arriving at the Mullins center, me and my group of friends were looking for some good seats in the student section, it was not as full as I had expected it to be. There was probably a lot of people on their way though since we were a little early. We wanted to make sure that we got at least somewhat decent seats, which we did. We are all freshman so it is our first Umass basketball game, we did not really know what to expect.

The Announcing of the Players Obviously it had gotten a little louder since the Minutemen had entered the court and a lot more people had shown up. The visitors were announced first and I figured there would be the typical turning around of all the Umass students while they are being announced to show that they don’t care, but there was a little more than just that. There was two or three students stand-

ing in the front dressed up as referees and they were attempting to lead the whole fan section. They turned around right away and whipped out there newspaper. They also made sure that everyone else was turned around, staring down anyone who was not. Now just imagine after every player on the other team is announced hearing about four hundred or so students yelling “SUCKS!”, of course I had to join in, and looking down the isle of my friends I saw them all smirking as they joined in too. Of course though once the Umass players started to be announced we turned right around and got loud.

0 – 2 Sienna 19:18 First Half After Umass missed their first shot Sienna went down the court and Rob Poole pulled up for a jumper and sunk it. It sort of quieted the crowd, we were not as fired up since it looked like we were not going to get off to a good start. Then when Umass went down the court again and missed another shot it started to get real quiet. Until Cady came up big and stuffed one of Sienna’s players with a huge block causing the Mullins Center to basically erupt. It almost seemed like to most of the students that this game was all they cared about, and it was like they had everything they have invested in it.

14 – 9 Umass 15:42 First Half It was starting to get pretty loud since the Minutemen were starting to heat up, but then Trey Davis marched down the court and popped up for a three right over his defender and he got nothing but net. You could say it got pretty loud again. It was starting to look like it was going to be a good game, and that is why everyone was there, to support their team but to also see a good game.

16 – 11 Umass 14:57 First Half Tyler Bergantino slams the basketball into the net with a thrilling dunk that sends the crowd into another eruption of excitement after the first dunk of the game.

41 – 36 Sienna End of the First Half The first half was a pretty decent start for the Minutemen, obviously it would have been better if they were winning but overall it was pretty good. The fans were all still in it, nobody was worried about the game, everyone knew we had what it took to win. We had some nice plays but we made mistakes and were not able to capitalize in easy situations. It was obvious that the Minutemen’s sixth player was still going strong, when I say sixth player I am talking about the fans.

The loud and obnoxious Umass fans are never afraid to make some noise.

41 – 40 Sienna 19:04 Second Half With the Minutemen putting pressure on Sienna right at the start of the half they were able to get 4 quick points and force Sienna to call a timeout to try and slow things down. It was not just the Minutemen that were heating up that the coach wanted to slow down, it was also the roaring of the crowd. It is hard to play when you can not hear anything, and the fans do a pretty good job of that by screaming “BOOOOOO” with all their might.

69 – 64 Umass 7:39 Second Half Clark Donte has the ball, he sees Cady is posting up his man right outside the paint, he throws a some what slow pass to him. The second the ball touches his fingers he spins off his man goes under the hoop and then launches up and smashes the ball into the net behind him. While this was happening the building got real quiet like right before a tsunami hits, then as he dunked it the tsunami hit with a roar of ecstatic college kids. Cady was called for a technical foul on the play for hanging on the rim, right away in unison this initiated the “BULLS***” chant. We wanted to let those referees know what we thought of that terrible call.

The Fans There have always been those teams that have fans who would die for them, the fans of the Seattle Seahawks are an amazing example. Last year the Seahawks were able to win the Super Bowl, just a few years before they were terrible, but last year they had one big contributor, their unbelievably loud fans that arguably won them a few games. The fans were known as the twelfth player on the field, and they rode that saying all the way to the Super Bowl. Another big example was the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in 2013, they went from being one of the worst teams in baseball the year before to winning it all. I think it is because in 2013 there was a very tragic event at the beginning of the season in Boston, the Boston Marathon bombing. This brought together the team and all of the fans and gave them something to fight for, it was almost like everyone found comfort in watching the Red Sox, and David Ortiz and the Red Sox were not going to let them down. That team was full of a bunch of goofballs and not so good players, but they all played with so much heart that led them all the way.

The fan base is what kept them going and that just proves that the support the fans give a team can be the most important thing for the team. These fans do not have to know everything about the game either, they just need to feel the teams pain when they miss a basket or the absolute thrill when they score an amazing touchdown, they just need to care, it is as simple as that.

Mockingjay Pt. 1 Alyssa Muise

Monday 7:30 p.m.

In the Hunger Games, “mockingjay� refers to a symbol of rebellion and hope for the districts of Panem. After reading the book however, the word mockingjay just makes me wince. The Hunger Games series had so much potential to end dramatically, and I think all readers would agree that they expected to be attached to the final book, just like they were to the first two. Unfortunately, this was not the case at all. Throughout the series, Katniss Everdeen portrayed a character who was brave, strong, and relentless. The very moment Katniss and Peeta brought the Nightlock (poisonous berries) to their lips at the end of the first book, Katniss instantly became a symbol of rebellion for the districts.

The Capitol, under President Snow, was full of ignorant, overindulged people who were blind to the injustice surrounding them. The districts however, were not blind. All they needed was a symbol like Katniss to ignite the flame of a rebellion. She gave them hope, without meaning to. All she was trying to do was save her own life, and make it back to her sister Prim.

The second book, Catching Fire, stuck to the enthralling, captivating story line, which included Katniss and Peeta being thrown back into the arena, fighting for their lives a second time. At the end of Catching Fire, Katniss ends up being abducted to District 13, which was thought to have been wiped out by the previous rebellion put down by the Capitol. This is where the disaster, the third book Mockingjay picks up. Reading the first chapter, I thought the slow, eventless plot was just to stress how depressed Katniss was. In fact, Collins had her main character be drugged in a state of minimal consciousness for the better first half of the book. I expected the mind-numbing story line to pick up at any moment, but that moment didn’t come until almost seventeen chapters later. At last, the action arrives, but even then, the writing feels rushed. The series ending is another disappointment all in its own.

With that said, I am very confused as to how film makers are turning such a dull, almost eventless book into two full movies. Unfortunately my expectations for Mockingjay are quite low but somehow I am still interested to see how director, Francis Lawrence, compensates for this.

It is no secret that readers were disappointed by this final book, so I'm hoping Lawrence and crew handle the plot differently.

Thursday 8:10 p.m.

The movie begins and I am immediately excited, and lean forward in my uncomfortable theatre seat, eager to soak in the film. As the movie starts, my anxiousness and low expectations disappear. Even though the woman next to me thinks that it’s acceptable to tap her empty diet coke bottle against her chair for the duration of Mockingjay Part One, I still thoroughly enjoy it. When Katniss spontaneously begins singing “The Hanging Tree” while visiting her home District 12, chills run down my spine. The hair on the back of my neck stands up and I’m essentially shocked. In the book, Collins didn’t truly emphasize the meaning of the song. It just felt like a long repetitive page that I skimmed and didn’t think about again for the rest of the book. After hearing Katniss sing the song however, I couldn’t get it out of my head.

About fifteen minutes later, the screen was filled by Panem citizens rebelling against the Capitol.

Katniss inspired these oppressed individuals, with families to think about and protect, to risk their lives for the greater good. The ironically named “peacekeepers” fired a mirage of bullets into the crowds of rebels, who were storming the bridges. The rebels suffered many casualties, but succeeded in destroying the great dam, whose water powered the Capitol. Because of the power outage, District 13 was able to rescue hostages that President Snow was keeping locked away.

Friday 10:00 a.m.

The movie did a better job of illustrating the mockingjay as a symbol of hope and rebellion than the book.

Lawrence overcame the odds stacked against him. No one expected him to be able to turn a book that was rejected by readers into a captivating story. Not much of the plot was even altered, but the way the scenes jumped back and forth from District 13 and The Capitol was intriguing. The film cut out the lengthy chapters from the book that dwelled on minor points, without extracting any of the meaning behind it. I usually support book series hand down over their movie adaptations, but in this case Lawrence wins.

Reflecting back on the audience that surrounded me at the movie premiere, I estimate that almost the entire crowd was young students from the five-college area, and about one third to a half of them were simply dragged along by their girlfriends. A few rows before me I can see the dim light of a man’s iPhone, and he’s sunken so far down in his chair that he can’t possibly even see the whole screen. Two of my own friends that I brought along to the premiere had seen the first two movies, but hadn’t read the

books. They walked away feeling like it was an interesting movie, but thought that the climax was over right after it began. What this shows about modern America, is that fans read the books, but almost anyone will go see the movie. If Mockingjay Part. One weren’t part of a series, it wouldn’t have been able to stand alone as a blockbuster hit. Although Lawrence did a phenomenal job, the plot he had to work with just lacked an overall power of attraction. If anything, this third Hunger Games installment acted as a fluid transition between Catching Fire’s epic Quarter Quell and Mockinjay Part. Two’s dramatic civil war.

This brings up much larger conversations regarding book series being turned into movies. The Hunger Games is following the footprints of other success stories such as the Harry Potter series and Twilight saga, both of which split the final book into two movies. It is purely for ticket sales and profit that film makers choose to do this, but so far, audiences always reject the split-finale. The final books of Harry Potter and Twilight however were not even slightly rejected by readers in the vast way that Mockingjay has, so this presents a much more difficult task for Lawrence. Before watching the movie, I thought that where the book didn't exactly portray a happy ending, fans would also walk away with a sense of loss.

Although the final movie isn’t out yet, after watching part one, I have full faith in Lawrence, his crew, and the actors to do the series finale justice, just like they did here.

UMass Basketball Jack Nguyen

November 14, 2014 was the date of the UMass Basketball Season Opener Game. I’ve been to high school basketball games, but my high school was not known for our athletics programs.

This game was my first basketball game of this caliber that I’ve ever attended and it was a night to remember. I purposely went to game early with my friends in order to get good seats, but there were so many people there already; we still got fairly decent seats though. We were in the middle of the student section and I remember everyone wearing UMass apparel. The atmosphere before and during the game was amazing especially because we won. I remember leaving the stadium and there were a bunch students just chanting,“UMass! UMass!” It’s great knowing that I am a part of such a great, friendly community. We all came together to have a great time and watch UMass beat Sienna. I still had a great time watching such a young and skilled team, even though I wish I attended college last year when Chaz Williams was on the team. I don’t think I could have had a better time for my first basketball game and I am looking forward to attending more games to see what this team is made of.

I remember a while back I read an article about whether NCAA athletes should be paid or not. While I was watching the game I realized how good college basketball players actually were and in the back of mind I kept thinking about student-athletes getting paid. The NCAA publicly provides information on how much they rack in and in the 2011-2012 season their revenue was $871.6 million. They also go on to state, “About 96 percent is distributed directly to the Division I membership or to support championships or programs that benefit student-athletes” (NCAA).

This brings up the question of if schools are receiving the money how come the athletes never get to see any of it. If the teams are good enough they should be paid. And by “good enough” I think that the team should have to meet a certain requirement to be paid (i.e. make it to tournaments).

On the NCAA’s website, they include a section for frequently asked questions. One question asked was if the money made by the NCAA and the money made by colleges are different.

The NCAA stated, “Yes. The most recent estimate from the NCAA research staff is that college athletics programs annually generate about $6.1 billion from ticket sales, radio and television receipts, alumni contributions, guarantees, royalties and NCAA distributions” (NCAA). If colleges are racking in that much money, students should definitely be seeing some of that money because without the student athletes they wouldn’t be making that money. Even though UMass Amherst probably doesn’t make anywhere near $6.1 billion, I expect that UMass Amherst makes a large amount of money through sports, specifically through basketball since they are a Division I team and made it to the tournament last year. Last month an article on Mass Live was written about how much Coach Kellogg, the head coach for the basketball team, makes. Daniel Malone, the author of this article, wrote that UMass has extended Kellogg’s contract to five more years. He also states, “With the extension, Kellogg is set to earn a guaranteed $994,500 per year. The total – which can increase significantly should Kellogg trigger a number of salary clauses built into the contract – makes Kellogg the highest-paid state employee in Massachusetts, surpassing UMass medical school chancellor Michael F. Collins, who made $816,602 last year” (Malone). If UMass is able to pay Coach Kellogg about $1 million, then they should definitely be able to pay their athletes.

There are many reasons why student athletes should be paid. One reason is that they spend a majority of their time on athletics. The NCAA reported that on average, a Division I football player spends about 40 hours per week on only athletics and not including academics. That is about the same as the average worker. However, the difference is that workers get paid and these athletes do not. There is a question of whether student-athletes are actually students. Student-athletes have to miss many classes in order to play in games. If it were a regular college student, we would probably get kicked out school for low grades as a result of missing so many classes.

Sitting in a stadium filled with UMass students who came to cheer on the team just made the atmosphere of the UMass Season Opener Game against Sienna so great. From the chants to the “ooh’s and awe’s” every time someone made an incredible play, you just had to be there in order to understand the great feeling each and every UMass student had. However, seeing how well the student-athletes were playing I thought about whether they should get paid or not. The game made me realize how much of their time the devoted to the sport, but risk their career to play and not be paid for it.

They play to try to get into the pros, but not all of them do and that must be such a waste of time.

They spent their whole lives’ practicing this sport, but end up not getting drafted. As a result of not spending much time in class because of the sport, they do not really have a back up plan. And since they were not paid to play, they have not gained anything from it. However, if studentathletes were paid to play they would not have to worry about money for a while if they aren’t drafted. They would have some money in order to help them while they try to figure out other ways to make an income. If some of the money colleges made from sports went to studentathletes, it could easily benefit the student-athletes because they would not necessarily have to worry about a back up plan. Even though I was concerned about this topic, it did not get in the way of me having a great time at the UMass basketball game and I am proud to be a Minutemen.

Go UMass!

Works Cited "Revenue." NCAA Public Home Page. NCAA, n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

Malone, Daniel. "Derek Kellogg Contract Extension Made Official: UMass Basketball Coach Set to Become Highest Paid State Employee in Massachusetts." Masslive.com. Masslive, n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

The Thanksgiving Game Kimphuong Nguyen

November 19, 2014 In Lynn, Massachusetts Thanksgiving makes people think of a few things: turkey, lots and lots of food, long lines at Walmart, and the annual Thanksgiving game. The Thanksgiving game in Lynn is a big game between the high school rivals English and Classical, two of the four high schools located in Lynn. In this game, the stands are packed with students and alumni of all ages ranging from alumni who just recently graduated and alumni who graduated 50 years ago. I started the tradition of going to the annual Thanksgiving game even before I attended Lynn English High School—I was bias towards English because ten of my cousins have attended or were graduates of Lynn English.

I can clearly remember my first Thanksgiving game as an eighth grader. I went with my cousins who were already attending Lynn English and we all went while the Thanksgiving food was being made. The stands were crowded and people were sitting so close to each other—side by side with all of their shoulders touching. I was more amazed of the crowd than the actual game. I was not really too into watching sports (nor am I now) so I kind of just sat there and went along with the vibes of the crowd. I sat with my older cousins who sat with their friends. It was an interesting point of view because I was in the crowd amongst older high schoolers whom I admired just for the pure fact of them being older than me. It was really cold that day and I was all bundled up with 3 undershirts, a sweater, and a winter coat. I had a hat, gloves, and 3 pairs of pants on. Ever since my first annual Thanksgiving game, I knew it was going to be a tradition of mine to attend this Thanksgiving game for the crowd, friends, and mostly the spirit.

It is kind of crazy to think about the fact that this upcoming Thanksgiving game I’ll be an alum of Lynn English High School. It is going to be so different than going to the game as a high schooler and as an eighth grader. It’s going to be interesting to see how different the vibes will be.

Although I do still have very close friends who are still in high school, I feel as if I will feel very out of place because we are all in different points in our lives.

November 26,2014 Today was the day of the pep rally. I remember this day being one of my favorite days of high school because I have never felt more unified with my school. This pep rally was made to get all the students riled up for the big Thanksgiving game and to get the football players pumped up to play their best. I walked into the rally and everyone was placed in their assigned sections—seniors, juniors, sophomores, and freshmen—and I could feel the energy resonating from the crowds. The crowds were filled with the colors of maroon and gray, hence they were Lynn English’s school colors. The small crowd of alumni who were attending stood off to the side with the teachers. It was so crazy to think that only a year ago, I was the one standing on the stands of the bleachers where the seniors were placed. I remember that year being the most exhilarating year because as seniors, we wanted to be the loudest and proudest. I looked off to each section and noticed that the seniors this year were also the most energetic.

The pep rally started off with each section showing their school pride by seeing what crowd could cheer the loudest. They had a variety of events in the pep rally. They had the powderpuff girls run in with their trophy. It was an exciting time for the powderpuff girls because this was their 7th year beating the Classical girls in powderpuff—they kept the streak going. The football players also ran in and the starting line fortomorrow’s game was also introduced. The cheerleaders performed and got the crowd riled up. Throughout the whole pep rally, I could feel the energy run through me because I was as excited as I was for last year’s pep rally. Experiencing the pep rally through the eyes of an alumn was definitely an interesting thing and I realized why I loved the pep rally so much. This day brought upon unity and spirit, and at the end of it I realized I did kind of miss high school.

November 27,2014 I woke up around 8:16AM and I knew today was going to be a cold day. We were warned to dress up warmly because it was going to be freezing especially since we would be sitting out in the cold for a few hours. But, it is always cold on the Thanksgiving games. I had my outfit ready already—4 layers of pants, 5 layers of shirts, a sweater, a winter jacket, 3 pairs of socks, a scarf, and a hat; I was ready to conquer the cold! I walked into the field with a group of my friends and saw all of the current high schoolers sitting in a section ready to cheer on their team. I could see the school spirt with the maroon and gray on their faces and in their clothing. I saw old friends and it was a joyful atmosphere seeing

everyone. Surprisingly, we ended up sitting in the crowd of high schoolers since we all knew them. I imagined it differently because we were alumni. As I sat in the crowd of high schoolers with my friends who also graduated with me, I saw many familiar faces of underclassmen. Through the loud chatter and excitement, I heard my name being called and I saw my close friends who are still in high school. One of my closer friends, who is a senior now ran up to me and hugged me as if she has not seen my in years. I was filled with joy to see so many old, familiar faces. It made me think about how at the end of my senior year I was so excited to get out of Lynn and to see new faces. However, seeing so many old, familiar faces made me feel more at home and more comfortable.

As I sat in the stands, I observed the people walking into the stands. I saw people of different ages—high schoolers, alumni who were parents, alumni who were in college now, and even some alumni who were grandparents. I kept thinking about how crazy it was that this one Thanksgiving game could bring together all of these people of different ages. This Thanksgiving game really brought the Lynn community together and it was…awesome. I watched the crowd slowly crowd in and all of a sudden I saw an old friend who graduated two years ago. Although I was cold, I stood up and screamed her name. I caught her attention and I ran to her and hugged her. She attends Boston University and I was so excited to see her because I have not seen her in years. It was so nice to be able to catch up for a few seconds and see that she was doing well at Boston University. As I parted ways with her and let her go sit with her friends, and I walked back to my seat I wondered if I would still be attending the Thanksgiving games next year and the year after. It was so funny to see all the alumni at the game because we all vowed that at the end of senior year that we would not be associated with anything Lynn English ever again—but here we all were, together in the stands supporting the Bulldogs as if we never left.

Before the game officially started, I saw three of the high school seniors go in front of the crowd and scream directions. In no time, the crowd went wild with cheering. Next thing I heard was the crowd screaming “I believe that we will win.” At the end of the chants, everyone jumped in the air and all of a sudden baby powder was thrown in the air. This was a tradition that I remember me doing as a seniorthrowing powder in the air. This raised the excitement of the crowd and everyone went wild as the football players ran into the field. I observed the high schoolers and I thought about how much I missed being a high schooler because of the spiritual aspects. The crowds on both teams were lively throughout

the whole game. I always loved the competitiveness on what crowd could cheer the loudest. It was all just friendly competition. In the end, the score was 14-22 and Lynn English lost. It was definitely a more different experience for me because all the four years I attended Lynn English, the Bulldogs won the four Thanksgiving games. As the clock turned zero, I could feel the disappointment run through the crowd and it was actually a sad feeling. However, people still cheered on the Bulldogs as we watched them walk off the field disappointed.

December 1,2014 Reading back and reflecting my essay, I realized how much I actually missed high school. As much as I wanted to get out of there and start a new chapter in my life, high school was a very important part of my life. High school was where I found myself and discovered what I wanted to become. It is so funny to think of how I thought I would never want to come back to high school and do anything related to high school, but here I am reminiscing high school and wishing I could go back. It’s funny how I went into the game thinking that I would not feel like I was part of the crowd since I was an alum now, but I felt right at home. It was a beautiful thing because we were all connected just by the fact that we were all still supporting the Bulldogs—whether you were an alum or still a high school student.

Thinking of the game now, I realized as much as I hated high school at times, I actually overall loved it. It was a chapter in my life that I’ll never forget. Leaving high school was actually really bittersweet and attending the high school Thanksgiving game was bittersweet. The Thanksgiving game was the only way I could connect to my high school. It made me think about how I’ll have many more bittersweet moments of when I’ll have to move onto new chapters in my life. I feel like before I know it, I’ll be graduating college and then I’ll have to leave that behind. Although, it’ll be bittersweet, I’m excited for the chapters to come!

Modern Romance Karina Oganezova

Every romance movie ever made has the same storyline and climax. Boy meets girl, boy asks girl out, girl falls in love with boy, and finally boy asks girls to marry him. We’ve all seen it and lived vicariously through the characters. But what we don’t see is what happens in between all those serious of events. What causes the girl to fall for the boy? Movies depict the obvious stages of falling in love, but not the sentimental and personal aspects of a relationship that lead to the climax of each movie. In my opinion, every relationship should be that secretive and sentimental. I sat down to re-watch, the actual definition of a chick-flick, “The Notebook”. I’ve watched that movie more times to even count, but this time I paid more attention to the relationship in open doors compared to closed doors and how this affects our views of love. My observation was very different from things I witnessed on the campus of UMass.

“The Notebook” is a perfect movie that fully shows how far people are willing to go for their significant other. Noah, Allie’s husband, is telling the movie retrospectively. Allie has dementia and cannot remember any part of the story even though the story is about them. Their whole relationship is displayed right in front of our eyes and we see how they slowly begin to fall for each other.

But one thing I noticed in the movie is how secretive they are about everything. They go to hidden places and express all their love in closed up spaces. Even sitting at the movies with their friends they don’t touch or even look at each other. Now, when you walk into a movie theater, everywhere you look someone is eating another person’s face. Noah and Allie were so in love, yet their love was kept a secret from their parents for a while. My question is what happened to the mystery that love comes with? Another topic I thought about is why this specific movie is such a crowd pleaser?

Since it’s existence, “The Notebook” has been known as the typical romance flick. It shines a bright light on relationships although we all fully know how twisted those could be at times. But if we know, why do we fall into these white lies movies behold? On top of that, why aren’t we inspired to

wait for a love like Noah and Allie’s? We jump at every opportunity to be in a relationship when the best image of love is shown right in front of us through our television screen.

As I was walking the UMass grounds these past couple days, I paid close attention to interaction.

Couples were holding hands, kissing, and just overall very touchy in public. What I found weird was that even my first week being here, people were already holding hands and acting as if they’ve been dating for years. Of course, I don’t know the backstory to any of those relationships. What made me a little bit edgy was why, everywhere these people went, they felt the need to show everyone the intimacy they shared with their significant other. Now, of course, holding hands isn’t that intimate at all. I always held my parent’s hands when I was a little girl. But the problem isn’t the act of holding hands. It’s the thoughts behind these open acts. The idea of love and having a significant other is seen as an object. People show it off as if it’s a new shirt. It shouldn’t be seen as anything but a feeling. Another thing I’ve noticed this week is how open intimacy is on social media. Everywhere I look, I’ll find at least one picture of kissing and touching. Where did the privacy go in today’s society? On top of this, the word “love” is used so loosely, we might as well just describe everything using that word. According to L. J. White, author of “Love the Word, the Meaning”, we can’t even explain the feeling of love until it comes to us. Even then, it is the most complex and confusing emotion that ever arises in us. But people are so ready to express their emotions using that word.

To this day, I am pretty sure I’ve never been in love. I was really into one person but that’s about it.

For some reason though, I felt the need to use that word with someone that was not worth it. I still ask myself why I used that word to describe my feelings. Maybe it was the fact he was my first intimate relationship and so many of my friends have told me how “in love” they were with their significant other.

They would describe it in a way that portrayed exactly how I was feeling. When the time came and I realized that’s not what love is at all, I began to think why so many people I knew had such a rush to express that emotion. My mother always told me that rarely does one meet their true love at such a young age. Everyone needs experience in relationships. Everyone needs to go through heartbreaks and makeups to see what the world and the people in it have to offer. The main issue with romance today is lack of patience. To me, love is something so sentimental that you can’t even imagine existence without that person. Love should be something kept sacred and whole, never to be uncovered by the outside eye. Finally, love should mean patience.

Works Cited

L. J. White. "Love the Word, the Meaning, the Use Article by L. J. White Series The Other Side of the Coin."

Love the Word, the Meaning, the Use Article by L. J. White Series The Other Side of the Coin. N.p., n.d.

Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?

Michael Patrick

I went to the UMass basketball home opener against Sienna. We arrived at the Mullins Center along with several thousand other students. We waited in line for no more than five minutes, although there were a lot of us, we funneled in like herded cattle. Everyone had on some form of maroon or white, with excitement filling the air. Everyone seemed loose, it was Friday night after stressful week of midterms and the atmosphere for letting all of that dissolve into the past was ideal. We stepped into the Mullins center ready for UMass to take down Sienna in basketball. Everyone knew we were good at basketball, and coming off a rocky football season, we were very ready to get behind a team with the potential for winning. We stepped into the stadium to a sea of rowdy students who were yearning for a victory, I was impressed to see so many people in the student section as I made a note to myself, I need to come here earlier next time if I want to sit anywhere near the court.

I was talking with my buddies as the volume level of the crowd grew entirely silent as the lights dimmed and attention was diverted to the court. Then the announcer on the court belts out “and welcome to the Mullins Center your UMass Minutemen!” Explosive is the only word to describe how everyone released every possible sound their throats could create, hands clapping until fully red, screaming of player’s names and profanities against Sienna. We were so ready to start this game.

After watching about half of the UMass basketball game and realizing how good of a team we have, I was thinking the players are essentially professional athletes. Any team that makes the NCAA tournament is not a light hearted play-for-fun team. There is no amateur hour here, these are heavily trained and conditioned professional athletes, who happen to be college aged. That being said, the question must be asked, should they be compensated accordingly, with a contract and a salary? The NCAA is a big time business, it “currently produces nearly $11 Billion in annual revenue from college sports — more than the estimated total league revenues of both the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.” (Edelmen). The players see none of that money. Most NCAA athletes don’t come from a very wealthy background and a small amount of compensation would allow them to have a little extra spending money to properly feed themselves on the road or even to send some

of it back to their families. On a university scale, all the school sponsored teams are “core members of their university’s marketing team, as well as the labor force behind a lucrative secondary industry in hosting organized sporting events” (Edelmen). Every time UMass appears on ESPN, it is free advertising for the university, sports channels are paying to televise these games. Not only that, but think of the amount of people going to these games, buying five to ten dollars’ worth of snacks from the concessions. Syracuse University averaged about 26 thousand people in attendance for each of its eighteen games. If even half of those people get five dollars’ worth of concessions, it is an instant 65 thousand dollars that the university gets directly because people are attending to see their players, and this is just small scale in the stadium. On a larger scale huge sponsored tournaments like “’March Madness,’ [which] have become a huge business. As Forbes' Chris Smith wrote, CBS and Turner Broadcasting make more than $1 billion off the games, ‘thanks in part to a $700,000 ad rate for a 30-second spot during the Final Four’”(USNews). That is absurd. The NCAA is once again allowing huge profits to be made off of their “student athletes”. I know currently there are two players on the UMass team that are academically ineligible. The NCAA has been catching a lot of flak for emphasizing student athlete, making sure the student comes first, while not backing it up as many players are at or below the minimum for their teams allotted GPA. Does the NCAA have any responsibility to make sure that they are getting a good education?

The opposite side of the argument is of course they shouldn’t be paid, they are getting a scholarship, and usually a full ride to the university and that is compensation enough. But when you think of it that just enables them to attend the school, so they can play the sport. They are being rewarded by being given the opportunity to be a school athlete or even having a chance to showcase their skills to potentially get to the next level. But this is not true many student athletes do not even compete at a division one level for all four years. None the less, there are many rewards to be being a student athlete, they have many opportunities and are given preferential treatment. It is not all negatives to being a student athlete.

In my opinion if the NCAA refuses to pay players, than the NCAA should not prevent players from marketing themselves to make money off of things like autographs and jerseys. This way the

university is not directly paying them, nor are they making ridiculous amounts of money, but enough to sustain college life when they are on road games and earn a little for themselves. They should have enough money for food and some entertainment because being an athlete is college is a job. My friend is the manager for the basketball team, and he puts in at least three hours a day at practice, and he is not even required to stay for the full time. They are working at least a thirty hour work week.

Personally, I do not know whether they should be paid or not, but I do believe they work hard enough to deserve more compensation than what they are currently receiving.

Works Cited Edelmen, Marc. "21 Reasons Why Student-Athletes Are Employees And Should Be Allowed To Unionize."Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.

USNews. "Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?" US News. U.S.News & World Report, 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2014

Student Concert Review: Jeremy Denk, Solo Pianist Kimsot Ren

As I enter the welcoming and inviting Bowker Auditorium I quietly walk over to my seat at row M seat four, then make quiet conversation with my peers around me. Suddenly, the lights dimmer signaling the start of the show and all the chattering from every corner of the room comes to an end, almost simultaneously. The stage has the largest piano I have ever seen and about five white panel that help illuminate and emphasize the single piano. The instant Jeremy Denk strolls onto the stage he receives a huge welcoming applause from the whole audience. He starts off with a lively performance of Haydn's Sonata in C Major. Then continues the rest of the concert with a mixture of Janacek and Schubert. After the intermission, he ends with Mozart, Schumann, and a surprise encore of Charles Ives' third movement from Sonata No. 2. Denk performed the solo piano classical music brilliantly on stage.

The first piece, Haydn’s Sonata in C major, was a good introduction. The song was dynamic, it felt free and light with the quick beats. However it also had some heavy parts that encompassed deeper beats. One thing I immediately noticed was that he was dancing to his own music, he was bobbing his head and swaying his hands to the beat of the music while playing the piano all together. He continued this routine of small movements throughout the whole performance. The moment he started his mindless-subtle dance moves the audience could sense that he knew his way around the piano and everyone could feel his connection to each key of the piano.

The bulk of the performance, the contrasting mixture of Janacek’s and Schubert’s music, was well put together. Denk ironically referred to his performance of classic compositions as an “iPod shuffle.” The irony comes from the fact that each compositions he decided to play was strategically put together in a careful manner for the reason that in many ways the two different types of composers’ classical music performed by Denk complemented each other. It was a genius idea to put those two great composers together in his “iPod shuffle performance”

because their contrast provided an impressive mixture and riveting performance. Compositions from Janacek had moments in them that were dramatic and most of his pieces emulated depression.

Denk’s was able to utilize his piano skills in Janacek’s pieces that directly transmitted sadness and anxiety into me in a beautiful-enjoyable manner. Specifically, the last composition, Janacek’s No.5 in minor from On the Overgrown Path, Book 2, was the most tear dropping. I quickly became overwhelmed in a deep emotion of melancholy from the heart-rending sounds of the piano. An elderly man sitting directly in front of me was sniffling and wiping away small tears of sadness from his face at the end of that performance. The Schubert provided a good contrast to the Janacek where it was more playful. The contrasting compositions of Schubert provided uplifting breaks from the sadness of Janacek’s musical tone. Overall the whole performance can be summarized as the harmony being traditional and tonal, based on the regular major and minor scales with dissonance and chromatic aspects. Along with that, Denk used rubato to influence the rhythm, pushing and pulling of the tempo. Likewise, the dynamics included pleasurable huge crescendos and decrescendos. It was clear that he was no amateur pianist and that his technique and skill have been polished.

Surely, playing the piano at a high level of skill is impressive and something to be proud of, but how valuable is it to have? What relevance does playing classical music have with modern society? Is classical music still alive? According to Anne Midgette, chief classical music critic at the Washington Post, “classical music institutions are facing a pretty challenging future.” There has been a deterioration in the number of ticket sales for classical performances, even a popular venue for classical music, the Metropolitan Opera, admitted to ticket sales declining (Midgette). This is a sign that classical music in dying. In literal terms, classical music is still alive, but only serves as entertainment to a minority of the population. Through 17501825 classical music was the most popular genre of music but what how about now in this twenty-first century generation? In this modern era, classical music is seldom listened to therefore it could be considered dead. The evidence is in pop culture, on the majority of top current music charts you will never find classical music making it. The majority of teens do not

listen to classical music or even discuss it. As generations change, people evolve and so does their taste in music.

As part of another course I am enrolled in, Lively Arts Music 150, I am required to attend musical events, one being the solo pianist Jeremy Denk concert. Before this semester, the only live concerts I attended were from huge radio popular musicians. This semester was the first time I attended a solo piano performance of classical music. Due to my miniature knowledge and minor interest in the subject of classical music I was reluctant to attend the concert. My expectations included me being bored and uninterested. Fortunately my pre-feelings about the concert was mistaken and surprisingly I found the event to be an insightful experience that opened my eyes. I discovered that although classical music is not popular in today’s modern society, it does not make it lesser quality of music. Not so different from other music I currently listen to, I found that classical music could evoke similar deep emotional feeling in me. In a generalization, I consider good music to be music that can affect the way I feel, play tunes to my soul and is overall pleasurable to my ears. Sometimes the effect can be uplifting, energetic and happy or it could be sad and depressing. Both spectrums of emotions are capable of being triggered by classical music or any genre of music. Classical music may be dying but the effect is can have on people is still very much alive.

Big Hero 6 Kassandra Rodriguez-Graham

Marlborough, Massachusetts is set in central-eastern Mass, a suburban town with some prominent shopping centers. Solomon Pond Mall, the main mall for Marlborough and its surrounding towns, has attached a movie theatre, not large with only 10 viewing rooms but sufficient nonetheless. Standing in line for the ticket counter, I looked around the entrance, a combination of both old and new movie posters hanging on the walls. You can tell the difference between the posters, what time period they’re from, the graphics very different from eachother.

The newer posters boasted bold colors and unique fonts, clear character profiles and highdefinition images. The older ones, more cartoonized with the typical font of a previous generation.

I was standing in line with my mother and four of my younger cousins, one nine year old girl and three boys aged seven, eight, and ten. Children being how they are, loud, impatient and excited about being in a theatre, can’t stand still so my mother scolds them to “chill” or we’re leaving. Our intended film, Disney Pixar’s newest creation, Big Hero 6. As we got closer and closer to the counter, I listened in to what the people ahead of us were planning on watching. Three customers behind, I could hear the mother of what looked like six children order tickets for the same film. And the mother after. And the mother after the others. When it came time for my mother to order our tickets, you could tell the cashier has dealt with a great deal of soccer moms trying to control their excited (and rowdy) children. The concession stand wasn’t any better. The ratio of mom to child(ren) was probably 1:3 on average, with some parties having 6+ kids tagging along. “I want popcorn and candy and soda and an icee and chocolate and a hot dog mom come on pleaaassseee.” Frustrated mothers/female authority figures attempting not to give in to the childrens’ requests lined the concessions counter while my mother got in line behind them. I stood with the children a little ways away to avoid the chaos, my mindset more on the seating in the theatre. I took half the bunch I had with me and headed toward our intended theatre.

Running a minute and thirty six seconds late to the movie, we rushed through the doors to try and get six seats together. Observing the seats, there were three two-seated side sections together, the only option for a party of our size. Surrounding the seats were children ages from three to fifteen, and interesting compilation seeing as the film is geared more toward the child and not the pre/teen generation. With the exception of me, there were approximately ten to fifteen humans who looked over the age of twelve, sitting with groups of humans who were clearly under the double-digit age.

My cousin, Valeria, sat next to me, the two older boys together in front of us, and my mother and the final child in front of them.

The trailers catered to this specific film were expected, upcoming Disney films and those owned by Disney. When the film actually started, the sounds of people settling into their chairs and getting ready to have their minds blown were more evident.

The main cliches seen throughout the film, about friends being there for you when you need them even when you might not want them, family is always important, evil always loses, and a happily ever after (for the most part). The thing about cliches is they’re meant to be taught to the younger generation, or else we wouldn’t have any cliches to live by. Is that why they’re embedded in all children’s movies? Even the audience’s reactions were predictable, when Hero was sad you’d hear kids saying “oh no, Hero” or when the bad guy was caught a round of applause or in the last scene where Hero and Baymax have a final hug you’d feel a sense of subdued happiness. I don’t know whether it’s just childrens movies in general or if it’s Disney’s doing, but every film is meant to teach you a few lessons in less than three hours without you actually realizing it.

The film itself was set up like any other kids movie. The main protagonist, Hero, of all names, was introduced, a genius fourteen year old boy living in San Fransokyo hasn’t done anything valuable with his life since graduating high school at thirteen but has a deep interest in robot fighting. His older brother, Tadashi, a student at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, takes him on a tour of the robotics lab where he and a few of his classmates spend most of their time. That is where Hero is introduced to Tadashi’s latest project, Baymax, a medical care robot with a “fluffy” and friendly exterior. In creating Baymax, Tadashi didn’t want people to focus on his robotic exterior, with the stereo-

types of being cold and just made of metal.

Hero is amazed by what his brother and his colleagues take part in and gets somewhat obsessed with trying to get admitted to SFIT. During the university’s science showcase, Hero enters his MicroBots, an invention of his own creation, to the head of the robotics department. Hero leaves a lasting impression on them both, earning a letter of acceptance to the university. Incidentally, a fire breaks out in the auditorium where the head of robotics was still lingering. Tadashi rushes inside to try and help but the fire gets the best of what is assumed both him and the professor. There is a large grieving period for Hero, he does not attend class, he doesn’t hang out with his friends, and completely checks out of life.

Until he finds Baymax, the last project Tadashi was working on. Hero and Baymax find out about some villain going about the city in a kabuki mask with his MicroBots, his invention that was thought to be lost in the fire that killed his brother. Hero takes it upon himself to create a suit of armor not only for him, but Tadashi’s colleagues (his new friends) and Baymax. Blinded by rage and overwhelming emotion, Hero has a break in character where he seeks revenge on the person who got his brother killed, whether it be by capturing him, or killing him.

Instead of physically defeating the villain, Hero learns that the love he has for his brother, his friends, his family, and Baymax are much more important than revenge. This is probably one of the most cliched endings a children’s movie could have. The protagonist will face some sort of obstacle that will force him to choose between getting what he wants the wrong way or persevering through the issue and getting something better. Cliches used: patience is a virtue, the bad guy never wins, and nothing is more important than love, wherever it comes from. What more do we need to teach children? Nothing, because it’s been embedded in our systems since before we knew it. It’s how us as humans have survived all these years, through the teaching of cliches.

Anything That Can Happen, Will Happen Thomas Vu

“Thomas?” My friend tugged at my shirt. “Are you alright? You’ve been in a daze ever since we left the movie.” His questions had no end. “What did you think about it? Did you have a good time?” I shrugged the interrogator off and continued trying to make sense of the movie while all of my other friends marveled at what a masterpiece it was.

I went into the movie blind, knowing nothing about the plot or how it was written. There was only two unavoidable spoiler which was that it was directed by Christopher Nolan, my favorite director, so I knew it was going to be good. The other, being that the movie was marketed as being based off real science, which leapt at the hearts of all adventurers including myself. I watched the movie with some of my close friends and my girlfriend. All of us are avid movie watchers, and instead of going out to fraternity parties like most college students do on their Friday nights, we always end up in my room watching something on the IMBD Top 200 List like Godfather or Pulp Fiction. We were something like the Dead Movie-Watcher’s Society, so publicly going to a movie theatre was a change of pace for our group. Of course, I was anticipating nuances. If there is even an ounce of noise coming from something other than the movie, half of my group would throw a fit. It was a Friday evening, and all of the obnoxious high school kids were in the audience, watching the movie to impress their girlfriends of two weeks with their miniscule knowledge of introductory physics, and to have their classy first kiss in the back of the movie theatre as they miss the development of the movie.

“That was mind-blowing! Who would have known that one hour on a different planet can be the same as twenty-three years on earth?” my flabbergasted girlfriend exclaimed. Our friend, Romir, an aspiring space engineer, went on about the physics behind the movie, explaining how Christopher Nolan applied Einstein’s theory of relativity to portray time dilation when Cooper, the protagonist of Interstellar, traveled to a distant planet (Millers) due to a blight on Earth making it uninhabitable.

Cooper experienced a time shift, where twenty-three years passed on Earth when he only spent a

few hours in Millers. Einstein’s actual theory of relativity was too difficult for anybody to understand when Romir tried explaining it (I am still not sure what it means), so he streamlined it as space and time being able to dilate depending on the rate of gravities and velocities people are traveling.

Walking out of the Cinemark theatre and back into Hampshire mall, the expression on everyone’s face was in awe. The themes of the movie seemed to hit everyone differently. Two of my friends were struck by the emotional familial theme of the movie, as tears streamed down their faces. Other friends discussed the astrophysics of the movie, and how while they were impressed with the world, they were in disbelief that anybody could survive through a black hole. I was impressed with Christopher Nolan’s work on Interstellar as a whole, and I usually am satisfied with his work, my favorite being Inception. I was wowed by what the movie portrayed. It was not a superhero movie where Superman yet again saves the world from complete chaos by his nemesis. This movie wasn’t this absurd, fictitious manifestation of a director’s mind. This was supposed to be a movie where science tells us that every part of this movie could happen, as the first part of the movie was even a subtle hint by Nolan to give us hope, where Cooper tells his daughter that she was named Murphy for Murphy’s law—which states anything that can happen, will happen. The possibilities seemed endless, but after hearing Romir criticize the movie for its inaccuracies, such as Cooper not experiencing spaghettification: the process of being vertically stretched into a noodle after entering a black hole.

Something that felt close, and within reach, was actually further than I imagined.

Having hope in something, and then figuring out that it could never happen shatters my dreams. The movie gave a real scenario; where earth may come to the actual brink of no longer being habitable, and the human race having to repopulate somewhere else. Everyone was okay with the movie being fake, but the thought of knowing that if that very plausible situation were to arise, we as a species wouldn’t survive, doesn’t sit well with me. If I believe that there’s something that is not true, I always try to look for what is true. I like to look for hope in things. Movies, fiction or not, were always somewhat of beacons of hope to me. Hope that there’s something more out there, than the reality I see before me.

And to finally see a fictitious movie based on real science, I was excited for the future of the reality that I can see. I did not want to believe that my future was as bleak as the black screen of empty credits at

at the end of the movie.

I’m not an expert in film-making, in astrophysics, or in anything really, but Christopher Nolan and his crew are experts. I expected more from Christopher Nolan. It did not seem right to me that he would add such inaccuracies to a multi-million dollar movie. As a person, I hate leaving things unanswered and I hate feeling powerless. After hearing Romir’s explanation of astrophysics, my mind was not at ease. I did not want to feel like if we could not travel to another habitable planet, then all hope would be lost. The movie was supposed to be based off of real science, so I did what any self-respecting movie fan would do. I went to my study (the desk in my cramped dorm room), and fired up my trusty laptop. Time Magazine, Huffington Post, and Wikipedia articles about the movie; all things that did not help me find the satisfaction I needed. I read article after article about how many physicists were unsatisfied with the movie, for the same reasons that unsatisfied Romir and I. After hours of searching the web, an article came up about Kip Thorne, a theoretical physicist known for his contributions in gravitational and astrophysics, worked as a scientific consultant for Interstellar to make sure that Nolan’s work stayed true to the contemporary theories of astrophysics. The article led me to Thornes recently published book The Science of Interstellar.

It’s a 300 page book filled with a load of science jargon that I’ll never have the knowledge to fully understand, however, to see an answer gave me a glimpse of hope. Hope that Murphy’s Law, as defined in the movie, would be true. Thornes makes notes of all the questionable theories and situations stimulated by Interstellar and provides the equations and explanations as to why Cooper’s travels cannot be disproved. Whether it be from a blight or just Earth generally becoming uninhabitable, if anything that can happen, will happen, then it could be possible that the human species can survive throughout time.

Once finding out about the real truth not that told by my friends, but through my own search for an answer I was able to answer my friend’s question about my opinion of the movie.

“It was great.”

The UMass Community Alexander Wolfe

For many people, College is so much more than just academics. College is about all of the experiences that happen while you are there. For me, I try to take advantage of many different types of activities to try and enhance my experience and get the most out of my time here. One of the ways that I do this is by attending just about all of the sporting events that I can. Attending events such as big football or basketball games, or other events, can really help one become a part of the community.

This is significant because while it is true that getting an education is the primary part of attending a university, it is also crucial to become a part of the community. UMass Amherst has over 20,000 undergraduate students. This means that there is no excuse for not going out and finding a group or community of people that you can connect with. After working hard for the full week, it is especially important to go out and connect in some way with your peers. UMass sports are a great way to do this. While UMass is a huge university, it turns out that events like the basketball game can make it feel small at times. Everyone there is there to root for UMass and is on “the same team.” All the members of the community come together and form a smaller community inside the larger one.

This past weekend I attended the UMass Men’s Basketball opening day game against Siena College at the Mullins Center. Since I decided to attend the university I have been looking forward to attending these games, especially since in the 2013-2014 season UMass Basketball had reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years. Just like almost every other student, I made way my way across campus at about six o’clock in the bone-chilling weather on Friday night. As the thousands of students packed into the line to get in I could feel the excitement from everyone there. College sports are on an entirely different level from high school sports, and this was the first time many of the freshman, like myself, would be experiencing one of these games as a member of the student body.

As we finally reached the lobby of the Mullins Center, my friends and I scurried to the first doorway we could find to enter the arena and find the best seats available. We had gotten there pretty close to game time, so the seats that we found were less than favorable. Regardless, us and about 8,000 other students and fans began cheering for the Minutemen. After about five minutes of waiting, the

game began. As the players were being announced, the crowd was roaring. The UMass students were out in full force supporting their team, just as I had imagined.

The excitement was building. UMass was an exciting young team with crazy potential. Everyone in the stands was ready to see what they were made of. Although UMass started off slow, they picked it up toward the end and were able to pull out a victory in the back and forth game. The crowd had peaks and valleys just as the team did, as they were dull when UMass turned the ball over and were roaring with passion when UMass made a big play. Regardless of what was happening in the game, the UMass faithful were there for the same reason: to enjoy themselves. While the sporting events are not for everyone, they are highly encouraged because even if you are not a huge sports fan, it is a great way to get out and have a great time with your peers. The students work hard throughout the week and use events like this to distance themselves from their schoolwork and go out and have some fun with their community.

This is why the sporting events at a college like this are so incredible and it is why it is almost a necessity to attend the events that UMass has to offer. As for my friends who had not attended the game, I feel like they really missed out. Besides missing the game, they also missed everyone going out to celebrate the big win after the game. They were missing out on the topic of most conversations for the rest of the weekend. While yes, it was just one game against a sub-par opponent, it was still an event where the student body as well as alumni could go and enjoy themselves to the fullest. The crowd at the basketball game really was significant because of the energy that everyone brought and the sense of community.

Everyone there was together in their UMass gear and everyone was having a great time. Only sporting events have this much energy and excitement and can make UMass seem small for a couple of hours.

Events like this make me really feel as if I am part of the community rather than just a number in a sea of Minutemen.

While I was at the game, I met so many new people just because of the simple fact that we were all there to cheer on the home team. I found myself high-fiving and engaging in conversations with complete strangers just because we had one thing in common: we were rooting for UMass to win. I cannot think of any better way to engage with random students in such a fluid way than a big game like this. Many colleges, including UMass, try and use planned events like floor meetings or mandatory fairs to try and get students to get out and meet new people. While these usually do not work, even if they do, people usually meet each other in the most awkward of ways. When our RAs attempted to have us use

“icebreakers” to meet other people in our building, it made me want to meet everyone less. UMass events, like the basketball game, are more effective in the sense that while you do not necessarily have to meet new people or do new things, it encourages it. And if you do decide to reach out to other, for whatever reason, it is in a more fluid manner than a sort of “arranged” meeting.

The UMass home opener was everything I hoped it to be and more. We got to see UMass pull out a win, saw some big plays, met some new people, and most importantly, were apart of the 8,000-or-so students that were all at the Mullins Center for the exact reason: to enjoy themselves. The sense of community was definitely present. Just for a couple of hours, the thousands of people felt like a tiny, tight-knit community because of the energy and passion that the fans bring to the Mullins Center. This will certainly not be the last UMass basketball game I attend, and I cannot wait to become even more involved in the community.