Thursday, April 23, 2009
YOU SPEAK, WE LISTEN
Radnor, Pa.
CABRINI COLLEGE
Pacemaker Winner Vol L, Issue 24
www.theloquitur.com
‘Ride out’ bad economy at local parks nick pitts sports editor
ndp722@cabrini.edu
The smell of cotton candy and shrieks of thrill seekers, t w o
familiar scenes of summer, are on the horizon. But students are fearful that summer means empty wallets, small paychecks and no time for vacations. “How am I supposed to enjoy my summer vacation when I have no money to spend,” senior English and communication major Jillian Smith said. “Graduating without a job isn’t helping my bank account so I highly doubt I’ll be having fun this summer.”
Trips to destinations like Disney World and Busch Gardens may be pushed off the calendar. Trips to nearby amusement parks will take their place for many. Luckily for Smith, a resident of South Jersey, she does not live far from these smaller, less costly forms of entertainment. The regional parks are gearing up for a potentially big season. “I believe it is going to be one of our best years, I really do,” operations manager of Clementon Park and Splash World in Clementon, N.J., Joe Eckman said. Eckman, a 12-year veteran of the park, admits that this is the worst the economy has been since his tenure, but he understands the opportunity this allows. “For those people who just don’t have the money to go far this summer, we are the place to be,” Eckman said. “We are that place they can go day after day and still have a good time with their families.” According to the Washington Times, Disney World has cut 1,900 positions in their U.S. theme parks as of April 4.
nick pitts/sports editor
Clementon Park in Clementon, N.J., and Gillian’s Wonderland Pier in Ocean City, N.J. expect good seasons despite economic woes.
Although these cuts had been part of a previously announced reorganization plan, the bad economy has sped up the process. This is because larger destination parks are bracing for less than ideal numbers for this summer season. While the economy is causing many families to cut back on extensive vacation plans, local parks, who have much cheaper entry prices than Disney World or Universal Studios, are gearing up for better-than-average seasons. “With the economy, it is what it is. I know it probably hurts the bigger parks like Disney, Busch and Universal Studios,” Jay Gillian, owner of Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, said. “But for our kind of seashore park, sometimes it is better for us, to be honest with you.” Gillian, already a park owner in Ocean City, N.J., is even expanding his operations to Sea Isle City, N.J., another local seaside town that has not had amusements of any kind in over 10 years. It will be the only new amusement park in the country to open this season, and just the third seaside attraction on the Jersey Shoreline. “I think it is going to be a good year for local parks, but I also think its going to be a strategically make it or break it year,” Wade Jackson, Webmaster of a regional park fan site, said. “Parks are getting exposure to a lot of firsttime visitors that are going to give it a try, but they may never come back if the experience sucked, so this is their chance to shine.” David Dorman, general manager of Clementon Park and Splash World, plans
AMUSEMENT, page 3
Empowering women to end worldwide poverty shannon keough copy editor
sek723@cabrini.edu jessica wegelin
asst. sports editor
jw729@cabrini.edu jen wozniak
asst. managing editor
jlw729@cabrini.edu
Zenebech Gashaw, like many other women in Ethiopia, gets up at 4:30 a.m., prepares breakfast for her husband and children, walks the children to school, which takes up to an hour and a half, and then works all day cooking, fetching water and cleaning. At dinner, women like Gashaw feed their husband first, children
second and themselves last, which often leaves them with no food. Women being a low priority is the condition of many women around the world. Women in countries all over the world, especially in Africa and Latin America, are often seen as unequal to men, are rarely educated and are often the targets of rape and abduction in unstable areas. Finding ways to empower women is the focus of a worldwide movement now. Bridget Flynn, senior special education and Spanish major, experienced the empowerment of women firsthand as a 2008 CRS International Intern in Ethiopia. She explained that Ethiopia a very male-dominated country and Flynn saw
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“One should empower women because women have the right to be empowered, simply because we are human beings.” -Abiosseh Davis
women like Zenebech everyday. Flynn said girls are often not educated because they are needed to stay home and help the women with chores. Even for girls who are able to attend school, it is an extremely dangerous journey. “A girl would take a 10-mile walk to high school with fear of getting raped or abducted [along the way] or raped at school by her teacher, and she would still go. I complain that the line at the caf is so long, but really what am I complaining about? I have nothing in this world that I can complain about,” Flynn said. Educating women allows them to live up to their full potential, help countries grow economically and improve the health and well-
being of all people. Women who are educated not only learn skills for various trades, but receive knowledge about diseases to improve the health of people living in developing countries. Organizations working on women’s issues understand that one cannot fight poverty effectively unless women are educated and empowered. “Every time someone makes that decision to say instead, ‘Today I’ll go to school,’ or instead, ‘Today I’ll feed my child first’ or instead ‘Today I won’t let my daughter be hurt by anybody,’
EMPOWERMENT, page 3