Business alumni to hold reunion and present award

by Melissa Lepouski staff writer

The Cabrini business alumni looks forward to seeing the business faculty, senior business majors, alumni business majors and minors and their guests at the fourth annual Business Alumni

Reunion.

It will be held Sun., March 26 in the Mansion from noon to 3:00 p.m.

Ann Servey, professor of business administration, stated, "The purpose of this business event is to visit with friends and professors, network and enjoy your- self."

"It is an informal get together to do networking among each other," Servey continued.

The fourth annual Edward C. Christ Business Alumni Award will be presented. Edward C. Christ is a retired faculty member who comes every year to see this award be given.

The individual to receive the award will be nominated by business alumni and selected by the Business Alumni Committee.

Servey said, "This was a very exciting part of the event."

"We are really trying to gear 1his towards the seniors," Servey said. "It would be a good idea for the seniors to come and meet with the alumni and network."

If any senior would still like to come to the Cabrini Business Event they can contact Ann Servey at (610) 902-8322 or ann.servey@cabrini.edu.

3/24- Lutenist Tim Miller will be performing music from the Renaissance and Early Baroque eras at 7:30 p.m.

3/25 - Champion Irish dancers Mara Powers and Shane Callaghan will be performing traditional jigs and Riverdance

3/26 - J and Su ginnin jaz C t our ance em

Same old, same old it may be,'\ j but going to the movies is not only affordable, (sadly the prices of tickets jacked up to $5.22) and entertaining, but the theater is full of yummy buttered popcorn

Don't reaJlyfeel Ike going oul?.

No problem. Why not rent a movie at a local video store? Gather a group of friends and make a night of relaxation and viewing pleasure.

If you can control yourself, take a trip with a bunch of pals,(or go by yourself, whichever) down the road to one of the largest malls in America. King Of Prussia Mall, of course! There's plenty to look at and a nice variety of places to fill a tummy. On the upside, the Plaza often features neat events that are sure to amuse you.

•From 5 to 8 p.m.

•Admission is $8.

For more information, call 215-299-1000 or visit the web site at www.acnatsci.org.

by Shanna Lynn Fanelli features editor

She is a solitary figure out on the sidewalk in front of her house. The broom deftly swishes in her agile hands and she walks with a determined step, despite the fact that her senior citizen card had faded years ago.

The broom suddenly stops its swing and the woman bends over, rescuing a flower bud that is hanging away from its bed, petals lying within easy step for a hurried foot on the cement. She turns to me and smiles in slow motion,

"It's a beautiful thing," she winks and resumes her sweeping.

Her name is Rita, known by everyone on the block as "Marigold Rita" because of her love for the flower, which she plants in abundance on her property and along the thin strip of grass between the curb and street.

Her method of planting is to scatter the seeds in handfuls, shaking her fist over the ground, letting the wind blow them to a destination.

"They'll grow," she says.

They do.

"They'll be beautiful," she says.

They are.

When they run their course and die in the autumn, there is no fear because, "They'll come back."

They will.

Marigold Rita loves life. She celebrates it in everything she does, everything she sees. Plastic candles in the window tirelessly flicker, their orange bulbs a bright memorial to her husband who had suffered with cancer and finally lost the battle years ago.

A voice moans through the screen door of her house, trying to form words that will not stick together.

"Marge," she grins, referring to her daughter, also an older woman. She shakes her head and chuckles, "She wants pancakes for dinner again."

The night before, an ambulance had parked itself in front of her house and Marge, born with severe mental disabilities, suffering from a weak heart and feeble liver, had been carted into the vehicle.

The crew had greeted Rita by name, as if this event took place almost weekly.

Marigold Rita keeps plastic bags of seeds she dries herself around her home. She is quick to give them out as gifts to the neighbors. They are "beautiful."

When asked how she copes with the hardships of life, Rita replies with, "a prayer." When asked why she loves life so, it's because she's had, "many blessings." When asked by who, her eyebrows go up and she responds as if in surprise of the question, "By God." By God.

For most of the human race, it's a familiar answer. ·God, in some form, in some idea, is a reassuring thought.

The Christian faith embraces God as the Almighty, the Everlasting Father who sent his son Jesus Christ to earth to die for the sins of the world, so that the souls of all people who believe Christ to be the Messiah will go on forever after their bodies die.

The Jewish faith also follows the word of God, the great Yahweh. But for them, the word of God did not come down in the form of a dove to settle on the head of the Lord's son. While Jesus is recognized as a great prophet, they are still awaiting the coming of the Messiah.

Then there are those of the Islamic faith, believers in the one deity Allah, followers of the teachings of the prophet Muhammad.

There ~e also those of faith who do not have a one, all-knowing deity but instead many deities. The practice of Wiccan faith for example, has not just a god but also a goddess, each Tepresenting different aspects of the religion. In -addition to the god and goddess are other deities who aid in enlightenment, as well as the emphasis on being in harmony with one's surroundings.

For those who practice the teachings of Guatama Buddha, mental and moral self-purification is what is significant in achieving enlightenment.

It's when all these and other groups of different beliefs are massed together that things become, well, confusing.

Which faith is the right one? Who's "god" is God and what belief is for real?

Ladies and gentlemen, the answer may never be found. How can it when the questions will never end, the discoveries fail to cease? Since the dawn of time when man walked in hairy glory throughout the earth, ways of worship have been as diverse as the selection of toothpaste in supermarket shelves.

But that's okay. Religion has always been the family tree with many branches. The similarity is to have a belief to believe in, which all groups do.

Marigold Rita believes in Jesus. She cc,msidersherself to be a devout Catholic, yet when asked why she's so re• ligious, she replies forcefully, "I'm religious, but I'm even more spiritual."

What's the difference?

"I feel that spirituality is being one with God," Lee Gamble, a senior and computer science major, stated. "Where as in religion, people follow tradition."

Gamble just may have given definition to the ideas that have gone through the minds of many.

Is it possible to be spiritual, yet not be religious? According to Molly Beebe, junior early childhood and elementary education major, yes.

"I'm spiritual," Beebe said. "Yet I don't go to church."

According to an on-campus poll, when asked if religion is an important part of life, 70% repli~d yes while 30% said no. But when questioned if spirituality is more important than religion, 65% said yes and 35% answered no.

So how is religion viewed? What qualifications does a person have to have to be considered spiritual, and why is it such a popular thing to be?

"I think religion is tied to a particular organization," Karen Pollack, health coordinator, said. "It [religion] is a set of traditions while spirituality is the feeling, affective part."

Having this firm sense of feeling is something that many people hunt down all their lives. To know the answers, to understand what it all means and have the ultimate, unshakable faith is important to people. Religion begins to offer these things. It is a structure, no matter what category of religion it falls under, and that is what humans crave.

Being part of a structure, following a set of rules, is easy and safe. Truly believing, living and applying those ideas to every day life is hard.

It is a struggle most are familiar with. Jill Reimels, a 17 year-old from East High has very firm ideas about why everyone should have some type of religion.

"It gives you good security," Reimels said. While most are inclined to agree that religion should be a part of one's life, answers as to why become muddy.

"I don't know," Drew Logan of Downingtown said. Perhaps that is why religion took up 70% of the popular vote in the poll. We don't know, do we?

So if we really don't know, then why does it play such an important role in so many lives?

"I think with religion, it helps raise moral values you learn at home and in church," Gamble said.

"I don't think that one is better than the other," Bebee stated. "We're all trying to get to the same place." What is that place? Is it a higher level of self? Heaven? A better shot at being reincarnated as something cool?

"It's happiness," Rita said and she bends over to run fingers over dirt that will soon be home to bright little caps of marigolds. Happiness. It is a term that can not be structured or conformed. There are no rules to happiness and there are no boundaries.

For Rita, happiness is the simple term she uses to describe spirituality. It is a term that religions all over celebrate, from the ritual masks and costumes of certain tribes, to the odes of joy in many a contemporary service. Religion and spirituality is a complex phenomenon that really can never be tied to one definition. How can it when human beings are so complex themselves?

It is when answers are made mandatory that begin to discourage people from religion. Instead of trying to add religion to their life, they instead shy away from it. For as many people that do care about their religion, there are those who frankly don't.

Yet according to them, this does not mean that they are not spiritual, "I don't believe in such a thing as one great God," 52 year-old Jim Gluth of Upper-Darby said. "But I do think I am a spiritual person."

Gluck goes on to explain that for him, being spiritual is not in images of a man hanging from a cross or countless statues of saints deities, crystals or books. For him, simply being consid~ erate and aware of life around him is what spirituality is all about.

"I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is look out my window," Gluck said. "I take a deep breath and in that moment, I feel more alive, more content than I ever could want to."

Gluth continues to explain that being spiritual is trying to be the best you can be. He wants to lead a good life, a feeling shared with different religions the world over.

So what is religion? Where is faith found? What constitutes as spirituality? The world may never know, but one thing is for sure: The way people mold, embrace or simply ignore the ideas behind re1igion and spirituality is a revolution that has been going on for a long time and will continue to grow, evolve and exist.

Like a marigold seed.

In this day and age of medical advancement, scientific discoveries and the ability to be a click and a clack of the keyboard away from unlimited resources, it is refreshing to find that religion has not been shuffled to the back but is instead very much alive and active in our world.

Why is this so great? It is not because there is one right religion or the fact that there is a final, "ends all" answer. It is wonderful because it means that we as human beings have not let ourselves rot away into unthinking shells that depend on microchips for brain power.

As the campus poll has shown, 70% agree that religion is an important part of life. Though the "religion" each participant was referring to is questionable, the fact that the high recognition for a means to improve not only oneself, but also the contribution that one can add to the world, is highly encouraging as we begin our new century.

The poll also addressed the issue of spirituality, which was deemed important by 65% of the Cabrini community. What constituted between spirituality and religion is the general agreement that religion is an organized, structured routine that allows those who practice it a means of security, familiarity and fellowship.

Spirituality on the other hand was viewed as the way an individual wishes to conduct their life. Instead of being structured and set, spirituality is up to the individual to choose how their life will be lived, what is important to them and how the world, its inhabitants and they themselves, will benefit from their existence here on earth.

Keeping this in mind, it is then wrong to cast discrimination against an individual based on their religion of choice. As religion is itself such a complicated and diverse subject, there is no logical way to simply single out a person and prejudge or ostracize them simply based on the title they use for their own personal guide to their spiritual beliefs.

ery at ACME decided at that moment to go on strike.

The cashier tried again and again to get the swipey-thing to work. Managers were being called left and right and salad mixes began to wilt. Suddenly at the back of the line an obnoxious voice began to wheeze out complaints. Loudly.

played next to the manager's mug by the "OUT' doors marked "Do Not Enter" that everyone _walks through to get in.

It took a couple of years for the realization of it all to dawn on me but, I have a gift. Yes, it's true my little Snapple consuming community. Yours truly has been graced with the infuriating talent of picking the wrong line in stores to stand in. Constantly. Maybe some of you also share this forte so you can relate.

Any-hoo. So, I'm standing in line at the ACME near my house with my cereal and hot tea in hand when wouldn' cha' know it, the line stops. This is not a pause due to a piece of celery that got jammed in that little black thing the items ride down, (although it has happened). This was a complete halt, an irritating hold-up where your feet begin to ache and you get really bored because you run out of headlines to read in the magazine racks. Why the hold-up? Because this middle-aged woman with a bad, red dye job was trying to pay with a MAC card. Unfortunately for her and the rest of us, the machin-

I turned around to see who this rude person was and witnessed a small, pudgy woman waving her puffy fists and belching out disapproval about how ACME basically sucks, (not her exact words, which are unprintable) and how our cashier was a moron, like it was the cashier's fault the machinery went wacky.

Well, I had heard enough. So I turned myself around, gave her a steely-eyed glare and announced for all to hear, "How dare you carry on so, you fat tub of lard, you. It is not the cashier's fault the machinery is not working. She is doing the best she can and furthermore, if anyone should be complaining it's me and the people who have actually been standing in line for a long time, not you who just got here. So, would you kindly put your puffy fist down and just shut-up?"

The ball of pudge was speechless and everybody in line began nodding approval and cheering at my forthrightness. The cashier proclaimed me a hero and I got my picture taken where it was dis-

•Amy Gassen's commentary "The Winding Mountain Roads Less Traveled" was abruptly cut off without an ending. Here is the original ending: ''friends, has made all the difference."

•Students Ryan Jones and Shaun Hazlett set Cabrini track records last year. Then they transferred. Hazlett now runs for Gwynned Mercy, and Jones runs for Ryder, but he wants to come back next year, so that is good news.

We'reawfullysorryforallorourmlstakesl

Actually, I did give the little fireball an evil eye, but only when I was safely pulling out of the parking lot and I spotted her waddling towards her car. Why, oh why did I do just what everyone always does when an innocent person is being picked on by a bully? I hated myself for keeping quiet while the rude beast ranted and raved and I could tell by the flinches of shoulders that others felt the same. Still, no one said a thing to that woman.

I pondered over this should-bei n-a- bad-after-school-specialevent. Too often do people keep quiet in order to stay "safe." In doing so, confrontation of any sort is ultimately avoided, but important characteristics such as standing up for your fellow person and your own beliefs are sacrificed.

I made a resolution that day to start showing more backbone and stop playing it "safe" all the time. It's hard because you're putting yourself on the line, but the payoff is worth it because you're staying true to yourself and people respect that. I do.

Shanna Fanelli is the Features and A&E editor. We told her she HAD to write about housing, but she just wouldn't listen.