The Chronicle
March 25th, 2014
The weekly student newspaper of The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York www.strosechronicle.com - @strosechronicle
volume lXXXii issue 26
Shedding Hair at Saint Baldrick’s By ChriSToPher SUrPreNANT
Managing Editor
Members of the Saint Rose community came out last Wednesday to shave their heads in support of the fight against childhood cancer. Those who cut their curls amassed donations over the course of several months to put toward cancer research, giving their new haircuts a very special meaning. Reaching and surpassing the fundraising goal, this year’s Saint Baldrick’s Day event was a success in every way. The shaving of heads began at 11 a.m. and continued on throughout the day until 6 p.m. with performances by The Other Guys, The Girls Next Door, and The Golden Notes. As the day continued, participants and onlookers were able to buy baked goods, T-shirts, and wristbands to support the cause. Even the day’s entertainment participated beyond keeping spirits high and energetic. The Golden Notes, Saint Rose’s co-ed a cappella group, and The Girls Next Door, Saint Rose’s all-girl group, had members who volunteered to shave their heads. From The Golden Notes, Carly Dunne shed her hair for the cause. The Girls Next Door had two members, Meghan Mallon and Carly Weller. Mallon and Weller had very personal reasons for participatContinued on page A4
News & Features
KELLY PFEISTER
Meghan Mallon and Carly Weller shaved their heads and raised funds for Saint Bladrick’s Day.
Headliner Announced for Rose Rock By JACKSoN WANg Executive Editor
You say hello, I say goodbyeHellogoodbye. The indie pop band from Huntington Beach, Calif. will be
headlining this year’s Rose Rock, according to Patrick Burke, student association director of social activities. “Everything is set in stone for them to come and perform at the College,” said Burke, who’s in
charge of organizing the annual spring concert, which takes place on the campus quad on April 26. Saint Rose and the agent of Hellogoodbye both agreed to terms on the contract last week. Burke said a bid was put in for the
Arts & Opinion
band about a month ago. “It’s been going back and forth between our booking agent and talking with them in terms of agreement of the College and Continued on page A5
Sports
A blind bowling league. See pages A8 and A9
Review: The Lego Movie. See pages B13
New NBA commissioner causing controversy. See page D22
Photos from around campus. See pages A10 and A11
Study Abroad: squandering an opportunity for change. See page C17
Profiles: Becky Wisniewski and Zach Bye See page D23 and A24
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News
The Chronicle
March 25th, 2014
The Weekend Wrap-Up Your Top 5 Stories from Friday to Sunday
Twitter Banned in Turkey Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has blocked access to the website Twitter for all current occupants of Turkey. The ban comes on the heels of a dispute between Turkish authorities and Twitter regarding the removal of certain website links from the social media platform.
Pakistan Censors NY Times The March 22 edition of the International New York Times was censored by the Pakistani government. The story censored was titled “What Pakistan knew about Bin Laden,” and was removed entirely from the front page of the Times, leaving readers confused.
FBi Pays Microsoft for Data? Financial statements claimed to be from Microsoft Corp. have been released. They show that the Federal Bureau of Investigation may have been paying Microsoft for U.S. citizen “metadata.” Unlike the NSA metadata collection programs, these transactions would be legal and recorded.
ebola outbreak in guinea Officials in the West African nation of Guinea have identified the cause of a recent outbreak of sickness. The disease Ebola is being pinpointed, and has left 59 dead since its rise in February of this year. Those infected exhibit vomiting, diarrhea, severe fevers, and headaches.
Volume 82 Issue 26
Fun Fact:
The only 15-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is “uncopyrightable.”
BSA Piracy hypocrisy The Business Software Alliance recently began an anti-piracy campaign encouraging the public to report unlicensed software use. A recent ad from the group displayed an unlicensed image taken from the website CakeCentral. When informed of this the BSA removed the ad quickly.
Your Voice:
Pic of the Week
March Madness is upon us. How has your week been going? @adagiobreezes: Hosted a Spring Equinox Poetry event with English Club on Thursday! We have beyond talented poets on this campus! lauren Sears: My bracket has been dead since Cuse lost Saturday! Dave Mellan: My bracket got tossed after Duke lost. Courtney Carr: I dont want to talk about it.
Jessice Cacace and Taylor Rossi at Friday night’s semiformal
Matthew Woods: With Syracuse going down, it’s officially baseball season.
Weekly Weather Forecast *INFORMATION PROVIDED BY WEATHER.COM
Tuesday
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March 25th, 2014
Volume 82 Issue 26
In Brief
News
Shooting on Second Street Albany police are investigating a shooting on Second Street. Officers responded to the 100 block of Second Street for a report of shots fired Thursday around 11 p.m.
When police arrived, a 45-yearold Albany man was found shot. The victim was treated at the scene by firefighters and then taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital.
He is currently admitted at the hospital and is listed in stable condition. The incident remains under investigation.
Search Warrant Leads to Drugs and Gun An Albany man is facing weapons and drugs charges following a search warrant on North Swan Street. Police arrested 42-year-old Mariba Lownes after detectives seized 90 grams of heroin, 109 grams of cocaine, 87 grams of methylamphetamine, and 2,000 dollars in cash during the investigation. A loaded semi-automatic handgun was also found during the search. Detectives executed the search warrant Wednesday night at 57 North Swan Street as part of a
Mariba Lownes
ALBANY POLICE
long-term narcotics investigation. Lownes was a resident of the home. Lownes was charged with three
counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree, two counts of criminal use of drug paraphernalia, one count of criminal possession of a hallucinogenic substance in the third degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. He was arraigned in the Albany City Criminal Court and remanded to the Albany County Jail. Lownes was just released from New York State Parole in February for previous drug offenses.
Facebook Robbery Suspect Arrested Local Albany resident Marquis Dixon, 16, was arrested on charges of first degree robbery. This arrest follows an investigation by the Albany Police Department regarding a theft occurring March 17 in a South Pearl Street Parking lot. The victim, a 17-year-old male from Coeymans, was unharmed from the incident. A report from the victim states that he and the
The Chronicle
Executive Editor Jackson Wang ‘14 wangj847@strose.edu
suspect met after contact through a Facebook page for sneaker enthusiasts. The two met under the pretense of the victim selling the suspect a pair of sneakers. After meeting the victim at the parking lot, the suspect forcibly took the property and fled the scene. Dixon was arraigned in Albany Criminal Court and remanded to the Albany County Jail.
Features Editor Conor Shea ‘15 sheac613@strose.edu
The Chronicle
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Calendar of Events Tuesday, March 25th 1 p.m. 100 Acts of Kindness Sanctuary 4 p.m. MAPS ALB 109 3 p.m. “The Pursuit of Happyness” Madison Theater 7 p.m. G4G (Girls For God) Sanctuary 7 p.m. Spectrum St. Joseph’s Hall 8 p.m. Outside the [Box] Albertus 216 8 p.m. Yoga Sanctuary Wednesday, March 26th 9 a.m. Model UN Touhey Forum 12 p.m. A Place at the Table Sanctuary 2 p.m. $100 Challenge Touhey Forum 2:40 p.m. Natural Science Association Science Center Room 352 3 p.m. Issues in Social Justice Sanctuary 4:30 p.m. Student Association Meeting Standish 5 p.m. Mid-Week Mass Sanctuary 7:30 p.m. BASIC Sanctuary 8 p.m. Colleges Against Cancer Meeting Albertus Room 210 8:30 p.m. Candlelight Vigil Sanctuary 10 p.m. Karate Club Practice EAC Room 110 Thursday, March 27th 9:30 a.m. Just Above the Line Touhey Forum 1 p.m. Turning Tables Touhey Forum 2:30 p.m. Universal Healthcare Sanctuary 4:15 p.m. Adventure Club Lima Basement 4:30 p.m. Fill Their Bowls: Mac & Cheese Cook-Off Main Lounge 5:30 p.m. SEB Meeting St. Joseph’s Hall 7:30 p.m. Identity Main Lounge 9 p.m. 48-Hour Theatre Competition Campus Theatre Friday, March 28th 10 a.m. The Pad Project Sanctuary 3 p.m. “The Pursuit of Happyness” Madison Theater 7 p.m. Laramie Project Sanctuary Saturday, March 29th 7:30 p.m. Saint Rose Camerata Massry 8:30 p.m. International Dinner Night St. Joseph’s Hall Sunday, March 30th Monday, March 31st 4 p.m. Environmental Club Meeting Community Service Office 5:15 p.m. Yoga Sanctuary 8:30 p.m. CEC Lima Basement
Marquis Dixon
Business Manager Shawn Dixon dixons@strose.edu
Managing Editor Opinion Editor Chris Surprenant ‘14 Zachary Olsavicky surprenantc572@strose.edu olsavickyz977@strose.edu
Advertising Manager Shawn Dixon dixons@strose.edu
News Editor Searching For Applicant
Arts Editor Andy Gilchrist ‘14 gilchrista788@strose.edu
Web Editor Christopher Lovell ‘15 lovellc083@strose.edu
Layout Editor Jennifer O’Connor ‘16 oconnorj984@strose.edu
Sports Editor Joshua Natoli ‘14 natolij477@strose.edu
Head Photographer Kelly Pfeister ‘14 pfeisterk953@strose.edu
Assistant Layout Editor Searching For Applicant
Copy Editor Jenessa Matis ‘14 matisj311@strose.edu
Faculty Adviser Cailin Brown
ALBANY POLICE
Staff Writers Tori Addison Katherine Bakaitis Asia Ewart Kevin Jacob Tariq Kendall Katie Klimacek Vanessa Langdon Nicholas Negron Alex Pecha Lauren Sears M. William Smith Ashley Sweet Brendan Tenan Staff Photographers Chris Alvarado Anthony Chapin Adriana Rosales
If you have an upcoming event you would like to see in our weekly Calendar of Events, please e-mail chronicle@strose.edu. ANY student can join The Saint Rose Chronicle The Chronicle is published weekly on Tuesdays during the academic year and once during the summer months. The Chronicle is published at the facilities of New England Newspapers in Pittsfield, M.A.
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The Chronicle
News
March 25th, 2014
Volume 82 Issue 26
St. Baldrick’s Day Sheds Light on Childhood Cancer
Continued From Front Page
ing in this year’s event. “Both our grandmothers died [of cancer] over the summer, so we bonded over that. We wanted to do it in honor of them,” Mallon said. In addition to paying tribute to their grandmothers, Weller also participated because she has previously participated in other similar fundraisers. “I decided to do it in memory of Brave Will, a little boy who lost his fight [with cancer] at six months old. My school did a lot of volunteer work for the organization his family set up,” she said. Mallon and Weller’s dedication was especially evident at this year’s event. They started fundraising together over the summer, using social media to their advantage. Not only did the pair advertise their goals on Facebook, but they made a promotional video and posted it on YouTube. Within the first day they posted the video, they had 500 views and received over $500 in donations. As of Wednesday morning, Mallon raised roughly $3,000 and Weller raised around $2,000 for a combined total of over $5,000. Students were not the only ones participating in this year’s event. Vice President of Student Affairs Dennis McDonald and Dean of Spiritual Life Fr. Chris DeGiovine were among the first
to shave their heads. “I shaved my head to raise money for the fight against childhood cancer,” DeGiovine said. “And, in my work as a priest, I’ve had to bury too many children be-
“My good friend and my grandma died [of cancer] four years ago, so I wanted to do this to honor these two people who shaped me as a person.” Tess Thapalia cause of cancer.” Specifically, DeGiovine participated in Saint Baldrick’s Day this year to honor three children he knew who lost their fight: Nick, Maura, and Barbara. Honoring those who lost their fight with cancer was a common theme among many of the participants. Tess Thapalia, a freshman at the College, shaved her head for the first time. “My good friend and my grandma died [of cancer] four years ago, so I wanted to do this to honor these two people who shaped me as a person,” Thapalia said. Aideen Hanlon, co-planner of
Fr. Chris DiGiovine shaves his head in support of the fight against childhood caner. Saint Baldrick’s Day, was impressed with this year’s turnout. “This is a relatively new event for the Community Service Office. It’s only our fourth year [of hosting Saint Baldrick’s Day]. A lot of students have been affected
by cancer, so it’s a great way to spread awareness,” said Hanlon. At 12 p.m., Hanlon said that the goal of raising $10,000 had already been exceeded. Figures were already over $13,000. Although Hanlon was expecting
Freshman Tess Thapalia getting her head shaved for the first time.
KELLY PFEISTER
to close the day with around $15,000, the total at the day’s end surpassed even that lofty ambition. Saint Baldrick’s Day at The College of Saint Rose raised $16,180.34.
KELLY PFEISTER
March 25th, 2014
Volume 82 Issue 26
News
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The Chronicle
Hellogoodbye to Headline Rose Rock Continued From Front Page
placing in a bid,” Burke said. “And after everything was agreed on, we had to go back and forth with Student Affairs and human resources here at the College in order to make sure the band is adhering to our rules and regulations.” Hellogoodbye started as a band in 2001. Since then, it has recorded three albums: Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! in 2006, Would It Kill You in 2010, and Everything Is Debatable in 2013. Hellogoodbye has also released multiple EP’s and singles in its career. Its current members are Forrest Kline, Augustine Rampolla, Andrew Richards, and Michael Garzon. The search process for this
year’s headliner began back in September when the College hired booking agent Christopher Barber to find bands that were in Saint Rose’s price range and could perform in late April. Burke would not say how much it cost to book Hellogoodbye. “From there he would give me lists 60 bands and that was the first list that came out,” Burke said. Once that list was released, students began to vote as the potential performers began to slowly dwindle. After each voting round, Burke said they would contact Barber to make sure all the bands remaining on the list were still available. Burke said he wanted
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Hellogoodbye, an indie pop band from Huntington Beach, Calif., will be performing at this year’s Rose Rock. to make sure students were going to vote for a band that had a chance of coming to Rose Rock. “When it came down to the final four, we had acknowledged to all four of those bands that the College is interested,” Burke said. After the student voting process on the final four bands was complete, Ying Yang Twins finished at the top. But Saint Rose recommended that Burke not book the duo after one of its members was arrested for allegedly beating his wife. Then Burke said they looked at the students’ second top choice, which was Bowling For Soup. But that was shot down after Barber told Burke that there was a miscommunication between him and the agent of Bowling For Soup. After having no luck with booking the second option, Burke tried Hellogoodbye, which was successful. “We did run into a few problems, but we worked through
them to bump up one of those top four bands and that was one of my goals was to make sure we did not skip out on one of those four bands students were promised,” Burke said. Now that a band is booked for Rose Rock, the next task for Burke is finding a local band to fill in one remaining slot. Burke said he’ll listen to demos later this week and will then make a decision. Saint Rose student Bryan Jay will also be performing at Rose Rock. The stage for the show will remain in the same location as last year. It will be kept at an angle facing the campus quad. Also, the sound set up will also remain the same. “Sounds hasn’t been an issue in previous years and we look to continue that with the bands that perform,” Burke said. The food will also be served on the campus quad again. The dining hall will be serving the food in a buffet style. Fried dough will also be making a return to
this year’s Rose Rock as well. “We want to work to keep the food down in the tent where the students can stay and listen to the music, go relax on the green, and have lunch,” Burke said, who’s also giving this year’s Rose Rock a Woodstock theme. “I’m excited for students to enjoy the performances,” Burke said. “I think that will be the most joy of the day is to see the turnout of the students and with the bands and the performances.”
Plan your future DEGREE
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“From there he would give me lists 60 bands and that was the first list that came out.” Patrick Burke
www.strose.edu/grad
Plan your future and make a graduate degree from Saint Rose your next step. Our graduate degrees and advanced certificates will provide the credentials you need to land your first job and launch your career. Most graduate students are placed in internships or field experiences where they acquire valuable hands-on knowledge of the working world. Small classes provide personalized attention from faculty in state-of-the-art facilities. For more information: 1-800-637-8556 grad@strose.edu
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News
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March 25th, 2014
Volume 82 Issue 26
Sister Patricia Kane Award 2014 Winner: Lauren Halligan By LAUREN KLOSE Staff Writer
Every year, the Communications Department chooses a student to be honored with the Sister Patricia Kane Award to be recognized for excellence in the field of journalism. This year’s Sister Patricia Kane Award has gone to Lauren Halligan, a December 2013 graduate, cum laude, for her story “SageFemme Midwifery: Miracles on Madison Avenue.” The story went in-depth on the local midwifery and its owner, Kelly McDermott. The piece was written for a newsroom class Halligan took in Spring of 2013 as an
enterprise story for the local Pine Hills Neighborhood. This was her second ever journalism class at The College of Saint Rose. Halligan first transferred to Saint Rose in January 2012 from Schenectady County Community College. This is her second time submitting a story to the award, having submitted a story on farmfresh milk delivery the previous year from her first journalism class. Since then, Halligan’s writing has greatly improved. She was first a staff writer at The Chronicle before she served as the Features and News editors at different points in time. Halligan is currently work-
KELLY PFEISTER
Lauren Halligan, right, interviewing former Saint Rose president David Szczerbacki, left, at last March’s B.B. King concert.
ing as a full-time reporter for the business section of the Troy Record in Troy, New York. “I know that my time at Saint Rose, especially with Professor Cailin Brown, helped ready me for my career in journalism,” said Halligan. “I chose to submit my story ‘Sage-Femme Midwifery: Miracles on Madison Avenue’ because it is one of the stories I am most proud of writing during my time at The College of Saint Rose,” said Halligan. “Great characters make great stories and Kelly McDermott, the head midwife and owner of Sage-Femme Midwifery, is an incredible human being,” Halligan said. While there had originally been some miscommunication between Halligan and McDermott over setting up time to talk, the two met up on campus for an interview before heading over to the office. There, Halligan had the opportunity to witness an ultrasound and get some pictures from a mother-to-be who graciously let Halligan photograph the process. “As an only child, I had never witnessed anything like that,” she said. “It was fascinating to hear the baby’s heartbeat.” The feedback from the story was very positive, with Halligan receiving 250 likes on Facebook after posting the link to the story. Many clients and former clients of Sage-Femme Midwifery reached out to Halligan to express their gratitude for bringing to light McDermott and her business. Halligan first received news of her winning the award from Professor Cailin Brown during the beginning of March. “Cailin always made a big deal about one student each year getting their name engraved on that plaque in the classroom where all of the journalism classes are held, and I’m really glad that it will be me,” said Halligan. The plaque hangs on a wall in the Center for Communications and Interactive Media in room 121. The award is in honor of Sister Patricia Kane SSJ who started
the Communications Department at Saint Rose in 1981. “I am appreciative to the college for this award, and I am extremely proud and honored to be the recipient,” said Halligan. Since the award was first established in 2009, there have been seven winners, including Halligan. Communications majors and minors are encouraged to submit a print journalism story that was originally written for a journalism
class within the past three semesters. Winners are selected by members of the Communications Department who look for a student whose story can hold a reader’s attention and tell that story in a captivating way. “One of my favorite aspects of journalism is how many different situations I find myself in each day, and this was one of the coolest so far,” said Halligan.
Social JusticeWeek 2014 By Chris lovell Web Editor Social Justice Week officially kicked off this past weekend with the much-anticipated return of Super Strose Sweep held at Price Chopper International. The event was modeled after the popular television show Supermarket Sweep, where contestants answer trivia and then navigate through the store to collect certain items. The annual event benefits the Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless, with all items collected during the game donated to the organization. This year the event was organized by the popular Saint Rose event series Late Knight, which provides alcoholfree alternative events through the Office of Student Affairs. Myles Clendenin, Hazell Imbert and Kait Rooney collaboratively hosted the event, keeping the crowd excited throughout the night. After teams competed in a trivia round, the top teams went through two rounds of shopping, where they had to locate specific items in a short amount of time. Last year’s winners were beaten out of first place by less than fifty cents difference. After the winning team was announced, competitor Matthew Ramirez commented, “It is all for the homeless anyway.” Social Justice Week will continue until March 28, with events scheduled throughout each day. The variety of events allow for members of the Saint Rose com-
munity to expand their knowledge of social justice, as well as attend events that will benefit many different organizations. One of the new partners of Social Justice Week is the Madison Theatre, where they will hold multiple screenings of movies relevant to social justice, including The Pursuit of Happiness and Girl Rising. On Thursday, the Fill Their Bowls Mac ‘n Cheese Cook-Off will be held in the Main Lounge from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm, and all proceeds from the event will go directly to the Homeless Action Committee (HAC). Participants will be offering their best mac ‘n cheese for event attendees to vote on. The event is free, and handmade bowls will be sold concurrently. Throughout Social Justice Week, there will be many opportunities to reflect. On Wednesday night, a candlelight vigil will be held in the Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary from 8 p.m. to midnight. There will also be ‘Pay It Forward’ cards across campus to pick up and pass on with a good act. Participants looking to share their ‘pay it forward’ experience can post it on Facebook or Twitter using #StRoseForward. For more information, and a complete listing of events during Social Justice Week, check out the Facebook page, ‘Saint Rose Social Justice Week’ or stop by the Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary for a flyer.
March 25th, 2014
News
Volume 82 Issue 26
Karen Campbell, Born to be a Nurse By Paige DeSorbo Contributing Writer Every nurse seems to have a story, and with that story often comes a reason why he or she decided to become a nurse in the first place. Karen Campbell, a nurse at Dr. Joel Spiro’s Dermatology office on Madison Avenue, has quite a few reasons why she has stayed a nurse for 52 years.
“I’m not going anywhere else. I love this job way too much to leave.” Karen Campbell The last 41 years of her career she has worked in an office, located just west of Lake Avenue. “I’m not going anywhere else. I love this job way too much to leave,” said Campbell on her longstanding career. On a daily basis she takes patient histories, assists during any surgeries, performs treatment, charts patient visits, and returns any patient’s phone calls. She works 21 hours a week over three
days. “She is a fantastic person and fantastic nurse. She truly cares about everybody,” said Nancy Trzcinki, a nurse practitioner who has known Campbell for 16 years. Campbell knew she wanted to be a nurse at a very young age. As a child her father was paralyzed, and as such she was constantly around nurses, doctors, and medical practitioners caring for him. Campbell attended Milne High School in the Pine Hills area, where all of the teachers were college students from The University at Albany. During high school Campbell worked as a hospital volunteer in the pediatrics wing (a position previously referred to as “candy striper”). From there she went on to attend Saint Peter’s Hospital School of Nursing. After graduating she went on to work at St. Peter’s Hospital for ten years, spending four years in pediatrics and the other six rotating throughout the hospital. Campbell had been a patient of Spiro’s Dermatology office for four years when he offered her a job. She said this offer came at the perfect time, as she was then a mother of seven children. “Work was actually my sanity with seven little kids running
Karen Campbell, helping a patient.
Paige DeSorbo
around at home,” she said. Campbell loves being a nurse, especially in dermatology, she explained. “Dermatology always has new medications, treatments, and new people to help,” she said, regarding the changes of the field. Campbell has traveled all over the country for different dermatology conventions, and says she has noticed how many more
“This job keeps me young and healthy. That’s why I don’t think I will be going anywhere anytime soon.” Karen Campbell treatments and medications are available as time goes on. When asked about her job satisfaction Campbell said, “Making someone feel better is the best part about being a nurse.” She further said that she has developed relationships with many of her patients and coworkers through her many interactions with them. “With her patients she has the best rapport, she is also a team player which is important in an office,” said Patti Gallagher, who has worked with Campbell for nine years. “She truly has an extrovert personality and is a great mentor,” he went on. Campbell said she has no current plan to retire, but when she eventually does she wants to spend time with her seven grandchildren. On her current career trajectory Campbell said, “This job keeps me young and healthy. That’s why I don’t think I will be going anywhere anytime soon.” Patients of Spiro’s Dermatology will surely continue to see Campbell smiling around the office for years to come.
The Chronicle
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Inflatables Collaboration Crosses Disciplines
By LAUREN SEARS Staff Writer, BLAISE BRYANT Contributing Writer, and LAUREN KLOSE Staff Writer
A collaborative effort between the Communications and Art departments is being started by Saint Rose Professors Elizabeth Richards and Susan Meyer. Students in the communications course Multimedia Storytelling are currently working with art students in the course 3D Concepts to create an exhibit set to open on April 17. Students from each department are taking different roles in the project, with the specifics determined by major. “Susan and I started discussion in early September 2013 about collaborating in our own work, as she is a sculptor and I am a video artist and filmmaker,” said Richards. “We were exploring the idea of combining our chosen media into a hybrid project. Since we were fairly well consumed with teaching, we thought a good first place to start would be to have our classes collaborate.” The art students have the task of creating the non-representational sculptures for the exhibit. The sculptures will be made out of a thin plastic material that will then be filled with air to create an inflatable sculpture. “I have always been intrigued
Saint Rose
Liz Richards
by the use of unusual screens to project my films on,” said Richards. As the professors discussed the idea further, the project began to come together. While the classes have limited face-to-face contact, students have been keeping in touch via Blackboard, sending each other pictures as well as videos with questions to be answered. While the 3D Concepts students focus on the physical aspects of the project, the Multimedia Storytelling class has been split up into five different groups: audio, video, documentary, public relations, and journalism. The video team is working to record video shots of both city and country life that will be projected onto the inflatables during the exhibit. Students working with audio have recorded different sounds for each setting. Both groups will be working together to determine placement of projectors and speakers for the exhibit. During the collaboration a team of students will be documenting the process on both sides to show the progression made throughout the project. Public relations students will be producing different forms of promotion for both the project and the information on each story regarding the project. Lastly, journalism students are working with different forms of media such as print, broadcast and radio to inform Saint Rose students of the process of the project and what to expect. “My hope is that [the students] will not only learn to work with students outside of their discipline, but that the project will open up avenues for their own academic and personal growth,” said Richards. Richards concluded that she further hopes “[the students] will have a new way in which they can express themselves, and that they will learn to trust the creative process, and learn to appreciate the happy accidents that inevitably arise.”
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March 25th, 2014
Volume 82 Issue 26
Playdium Bowling Center: Blind Bowling League Hoping to Expand By AMAL TLAIGE Contributing Writer
The blind bowling league at Playdium Bowling Center in the Pine Hills joins together every Thursday night for an evening of fun. The owner and staff appeal to people of all ages and look forward to expanding their blind bowling league. According to owner Neil Luther, other bowling centers in Albany shut down because of financial issues, but Playdium firmly holds its ground. The center, which opened in 1940, offers old-fashioned service in an up-to-date environment and remains the only public bowling center in the city of Albany. Neil Luther bought Playdium in 1983. The blind bowling league began at Albany Bowling Center, which was located on Watervliet Avenue Extension and closed in 1999. Luther, who was previously employed at Albany Bowling Center working at the concessions, knew many of the blind players there. Immediately after Albany Bowling Center closed, the league contacted Luther and he was more than happy to let them relocate the league to Playdium. “I think it’s great. It’s great exercise for them, it teaches them how to be more independent,” said Luther. The members on the league are all locals who are part of Albany Association of the Blind. The league meets on Thursday nights from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and consists of six blind players and two sighted players, occupying four lanes. Joseph Laramie, 66, is the team’s secretary statistician and has been bowling in this league since 1993. “I wanted to do something that was recreational, and a person with limited vision can do. And bowling is something that we can do,” he said. Laramie was born totally blind
AMAL TLAIGE
Dan Pallis, a member of the blind bowling league at the Playdium bowling alley. but underwent operations to gain back little vision and now has 5 percent of what is considered normal vision— he can see very little in his right eye and almost nothing out of his left. Laramie explained the different types of blindness a person can have. To be considered legally blind, an individual’s vision in both eyes must be below 20/200, which is 10 percent of the vision a person with 20/20 vision has. Laramie’s vision is 20/400, so he has 5 percent of normal vision. Some people who are legally blind also have what is known as “tunnel vision,” or field constraint. This form of blindness blocks out an individual’s side vision, as if the person is looking through a straight, narrow tunnel. The Playdium league was not the first league Laramie joined. He had bowled in the past and was excited when he heard about Playdium’s Blind Bowling Team. “We found out they had a blind bowling league here and that worked perfectly,” he said. Jo-
seph's wife, Charlotte, who is completely blind, refuses to join a team if the members are all fully slighted because she needs the rails to guide her. The metal guide rails are a few feet high on the side of the bowling alley that are used to help the bowlers find the beginning of the bowling lane safely. Charlotte relies heavily on them to get a feel of where she is. “I go up to the rail... to the end of the second section... I can feel the little cracks between the rails. Once I get up there I line myself up... what feels comfortable to me. Then I make about a half-step back and do a three-step approach. On the third step I let the ball go,” she said. Charlotte had partial vision at one point, but lost what was left due to a cataract. “It’s very frustrating... I used to recognize color... and I’ve lost that.” While some people can get laser eye treatment to correct this, Charlotte’s eye did not grow fully, making it impossible for doctors to operate on.
Many sighted players don’t like to play with the guide rails up. “A lot of people who are sighted get a little uncomfortable with the rails... they feel like they’re being constricted,” said Joseph. Joseph uses the rails at the beginning of his plays, sticking out his hand to touch it and get a feel for where he is. “I basically try to get myself oriented so I’m lined up with my shoulders pointing down the alley and then I try to put the ball in the middle,” he said. This is different than the approach sighted bowlers may attempt while playing—they may look at the spots in the lane trying to hit a certain mark. This league, however, has two sighted bowlers who volunteer weekly and take part in the game. The sighted players tell the blind players the number of the pins they did not knock down. The bowling pins have numbers assigned to them, which makes it easier for members to play. When they go up for a second shot, they know where
to roll the ball because they can refer to the numbers of the pins they did not hit. Every bowler has their own techniques to get a strike. “A long time ago I was taught that if it’s a seven pin you’re supposed to start from the right ... or if it’s the 10 you’re supposed to start from the far left and angle it to the right,” said William Murray, 61, the team's president. Murray is legally blind. He has fairly good vision in his right eye, but almost nothing out of his left. Murray is more interested in the fun of the game, not his scores. Over the years, Joseph’s scores have fluctuated. “The best year I ever had was a 123 average. Now I’m about a 110....and I’m getting older” he laughed. “That’s what I tell myself.” Joseph wears a distance-spotting telescope which helps him see some distance. He also wore them at his old job where he worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor. Oftentimes his job involved walking the streets of Albany, Troy and Schenectady. The spectacles helped him see street signs and house numbers, as well as bus numbers. “I don’t need to get on the wrong bus, right?” he joked. The league belongs to a national organization known as The American Blind Bowling League Association. They also belong to the regional association that is an affiliate of the national association Upstate New York Blind Bowlers. These leagues are active in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Binghamton. “Everybody’s friendly, it’s a good atmosphere, good people, good location. It’s fun,” said Chris Horan, 34, an attorney with the State Department of Environmental Conservations who is completely blind. Horan has been part of the league for six years. He entered the bowling alley a Continued on next page
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Continued From Previous Page
It definitely makes one appreciate their sight without a doubt,” said Chris Syrett, 31, a sighted bowler who has been in the league eight years. Syrett originally joined because his close friend, who was legally blind, played on the team and asked him to join. While his friend is no longer in the league, Syrett decided to stay because the league did not have many reliable sighted bowlers. “They can be stubborn when trying to learn something new. They like to figure out things on their own. You kind of just have to let them figure out what works best for them,” he said. However, most of the bowlers have been in the league before Syrett joined, with the exception of Horan. “Chris definitely has come a long way from when he started from barely breaking 30 pins a game to now averaging 60 pins now. And he's done it mostly on his own,” said Syrett. Louis Ambrosio, another sighted bowler, also joined the league because a friend of his was a blind bowler. “It’s been great. Me and my friend are trying to get more people to bowl in the league.” Luther and the league members speak to different organizations to let them know that a blind bowling league in Albany does exist. The team as a whole is trying to raise awareness about the league and is enthusiastic about new members joining. “They’re trying to get the younger people who are blind, or are going blind to learn how to do this, to be more independent, also it’s an education for them really,” said Luther. Once in a while Joseph Laramie will bring a group of blind
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Blind Bowling League at the Playdium
few minutes later than everyone else with his black guide dog, Timmy, leading the way. Horan said transportation is one of the biggest issues he faces as someone who is blind. He had to take a taxi to get to Playdium, which ended up running late. Joseph Laramie also finds having to rely on other people for transportation somewhat frustrating. “I like the idea of being independent, do things when I want to, and go places when I want to on my own,” he said. Many of the players take buses or taxis to get them from point A to point B. “We’re kind of held hostage, in a sense, by paratransit or taxis or lined buses. You can jump into a car and go grocery shopping but for us... it’s a whole process,” said Laramie. Another difficulty Horan stressed on was the inability to socialize with others due to his blindness, and not knowing where certain people are in large group settings, but Horan enjoys the game and is learning every day. “Some of the bowlers have taught me hand positions and to follow the rail. I follow the rail with my left hand and use the pendulum motion to keep the ball in a straight line,” said Horan. The sighted bowlers are always there to help the blind players by telling them the numbers of the pins that are up, giving them tips to improve their technique and also help by putting the player’s information into the scoring computers. “It's amazing what these people can do without a sense that we take advantage of on a daily basis.
AMAL TLAIGE
Joseph Laramie, one of the members of the bowling league for the blind at Albany’s Playdium. Laramie and his wife, Charlotte, have made great friends at the facility over the years. people in, sets the rails up, and teaches them how to bowl. The Laramies and other members on the team attend two tournaments a year. One tournament is The Upstate Line Bowling Tournament in Erie Pennsylvania which takes place in April, and the National Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee over Memorial Day weekend. “We’ve gone to many of them and met people over the years and keep in touch. It’s like a reunion,” said Charlotte. The blind bowling league does not have to place in order to go to nationals either. “It’s for anybody who is sanctioned in the American Blind
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Bowling Association or Upstate Blind Bowlers,” she said. The league has gotten very comfortable with their teammates and the staff at Playdium. “We’re very close. I mean they’re older people, but you get to know them. They met my daughter when she was born. They came to her baby shower. It was nice,” said Deonna Hempstead, 21, a cook and waitress who has worked at Playdium since she was 14 years old. “If I don’t come in on a Thursday, they don’t want anybody else to cook for them,” she said. Hempstead has seen Playdium go through its highs and lows. At this time of year it’s still busy, but in the summer it slows down, because there are more outdoor activities, but the blind bowling league never fails to show up every Thursday night. “It’s actually awesome. Just to see them walk around here, find their way fine, come in, order
what they want. They don’t even see the menu, but they already know what they want. It’s great,” said Hempstead. Even with all the leagues that play at Playdium that include the men’s team, women’s team, and co-ed team, business is tougher every year because there are more things for people to do, which takes away from bowling. “With all the other venues it takes its effect on us. The mall, the concerts at the Times Union center, it’s all a competition,” said Luther. The owner wants to see more people who are blind take part in the league. “I would like to see them get some younger people and get the league to grow a little bit. Get more stable.” The other bowlers love seeing the blind bowling league play. “They think it’s just amazing. People didn’t even think that they would be able to bowl... well they can do just about anything that anybody else can do,” said Luther.
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Super Strose Sweep
March 25th, 2014
Photos by Kelly Pfeister
The teams briskly walked through Price Chopper Saturday to collect items for the homeless.
Before the sweep, the teams answer trivia questions about food and social justice.
Matt Ramirez leads his team in the sweep, coming in second place.
Teams wait as their items are checked.
Mark Jones finds an item during the Super Strose Sweep.
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Saint Rose Semi-Formal
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Photos By Kelly Pfeister
Alyssa De Gilio and Abbey Naumowicz enjoy the semi-formal.
Sisters Daniela and Marisa Cunsolo on the dance floor.
Students and their guests danced to music DJ’ed by Patrick Burkle.
A centerpiece at the casino-themed semi-formal.
Attendees were treated to a full meal and plenty of dancing Friday night.
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Top of the Week For March 17th - 24th Movies at the Box Office
T.V. Shows
1. Divergent 2. Muppets Most Wanted 3. Mr. Peabody and Sherman 4. 300: rise of an empire 5. god’s Not Dead 6. Need for Speed 7. The grand Budapest hotel 8. Non-Stop 9. The lego Movie 10. The Single Moms Club
1. The Big Bang Theory 2. The voice (Tuesday) 3. The voice (Monday) 4. Blue Bloods 5. 60 Minutes 6. NCiS 7. The Bachelor: After the Final rose 8. Criminal Minds 9. resurrection 10. CSi
*Source: RottenTomatoes.com
*Source: Nielson.com
Books
Music
Fiction: 1. Power Play (Danielle Steel) 2. Night Broke (Patricia Briggs) 3. Be Careful What You Wish For (J. Archer) 4. Stone Cold (C.J. Box) 5. Words of radiance (Brandon Sanderson)
Albums: 1. Frozen (Soundtrack) - various 2. Spring Break 6 (eP) - luke Bryan 3. Mastermind - rick ross 4. lift Your Spirit - Aloe Blacc 5. g i r l - Pharrell
Non-Fiction: 1. Uganda Be Kidding Me (Chelsea handler) 2. 10% happier (Dan harris) 3. Killing Jesus (Bill o’reilly & Martin Dugard) 4. David & goliath (Malcolm gladwell) 5. lean in (Sheryl Sandberg & Nell Scovell)
Songs: 1. happy (Pharrell) 2. Dark horse (Katy Perry ft. Juicy J) 3. All of Me (John legend) 4. Talk Dirty (Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz) 5. Pompeii (Bastille)
*Source: New York Times Best Sellers
*Source: Billboard.com
Arts
B13 The Lego Movie: Everything About it is Awesome March 25th, 2014
By ANDY gilChriST Arts Editor It’s nearly impossible to make a movie that everyone will like. Everybody has different tastes in genre, actors, digital vs. practical effects, big vs. low budget, and so on. Where one aspect of a film may please some viewers, it might ruin it entirely for others. And films that may appeal to most adults, such as those in the running during awards season, usually contain themes and content that are inappropriate for children. Thus, if there’s a movie that everyone can enjoy, it’s almost always a kid’s movie. While most people assume that the movies in this genre appeal only to children, sometimes one sneaks up on viewers and includes more mature themes such as growing up, getting older, and even life and death itself. These movies contain a level of emotion that most PG-rated movies wouldn’t even think to include and are described as “fun for the whole family.” While that phrase is vastly overused, it absolutely applies to The Lego Movie. While the thought of a movie based on Legos seems like a terrible idea and just a way to make more money through toy sales, the film is actually well written and directed, emotional, and thought provoking. Overall, it’s the first must-see movie of the year. Emmett (Chris Pratt) is a construction worker living in a heavily structured Lego city, a place where everyone does the same thing every day. They literally follow the instructions, unknowingly helping the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) maintain control of the universe. Emmett does his best to follow directions and be like everyone else, but just doesn’t seem to fit in. One day, he stumbles upon a mysterious, glowing item known as the Piece of Resistance. A prophecy made years ago states that whoever finds the Piece will defeat Lord Business and save
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the universe. Being literally the least qualified person for the job, Emmett nonetheless sets out on a quest to defeat the tyrant with the help of the fierce and dangerous Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), the wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), and even Batman (Will Arnett). But this adventure is not nearly as simple as it sounds and everyone involved will learn a lot not just about themselves, but about the very nature of the universe as well. As Hollywood continues to remake every movie that ever turned a profit and make film adaptations of numerous 80s TV shows and toy lines, it was only a matter of time before Legos hit the big screen. But while most movies based on toys put nearly their entire budget into special effects and leave little for the script (Transformers, G.I. Joe), The Lego Movie always puts the story first. Though it is filled with amazing effects, they only appear to serve the plot or to show the vastness of the Lego world. The film comes from Phil Lord
Phil Lord
and Chris Miller, who co-wrote and co-directed the movie and have developed a pattern in their short feature film career, alternating between family-friendly animated movies and raunchy live-action comedies. Beginning with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street, the duo continue the pattern with The Lego Movie and this summer’s highly anticipated sequel 22 Jump Street. The movie follows the traditional Hero Cycle model, complete with the call to adventure, crossing the threshold, the mentor and allies, the transformation, and becoming the master of two worlds. This narrative is perfect for a children’s movie and has produced some of the most popular films of all time, such as Star Wars and The Matrix. By keeping it simple, the film appeals to children’s basic understanding of story while also drawing in an adult audience to its familiar storyline. It’s clear throughout the film that Lord and Miller are both lifelong Lego fans, cramming as
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much about the franchise into the 100-minute film as they can. Past playsets like Lego Ninja, Pirates, Wild West, and Space, as well as current lines like Star Wars and DC Superheroes, all make appearances, displaying the variety of products that Lego has produced over the years. By putting so much into the movie, an especially impressive feat considering all the cameos don’t slow it down or overwhelm the audience, Lord and Miller have not just made a great movie, they’ve also created an extensive and entertaining history of the Lego brand. But the biggest reason The Lego Movie succeeds is because of its emotion and themes. Early on in the film, Emmett realizes that even though he does his best to fit in, his friends don’t really know him, describing him as average and not having any outstanding qualities. His journey to become the hero and save the day, which is filled with both laughter and sadness, can serve as inspiration not only for children struggling to learn who they are as
Chris Miller
they get older, but people of any age who find themselves unfulfilled with their lives. Similarly, a main theme of the film is to not just blindly follow directions, to branch out and be your own person, with the Lego minifigures in the movie literally ignoring the paper instructions that govern their lives. This is not some call for revolution or anarchy in the streets. It is quite literally telling people to do what you want to do with their lives and not letting anyone else tell them how to live it, a message that everyone can understand and appreciate. 2014 has seen nearly three months of film go by, ranging from big-budget blockbusters, low-budget handheld horror, nobudget indie movies, and everything in between. And yet, it’s a kid’s movie based on a more than 60-year-old toy line that has risen to the top. If we get more movies like this, studio-backed productions that put story over effects and truly have something for everyone, then it’s going to be a great year at the movies.
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Arts B14 Divergent: Another Solid Young Adult Adaptation The Chronicle
By NICHOLAS NEGRON Staff Writer Divergent was released on March 21. The film is directed by Neil Burger and is based off the international bestselling novel “Divergent” by Veronica Roth. The story takes place in a futuristic Chicago through a dystopian lens. After a terrible war, the surviving city is divided up into 5 different factions. Factions are societal divisions that classify citizens based on their aptitudes and values. This definition is given by Roth in bonus materials interview at the end of the “Divergent” novel. The five factions serve different roles in society and take on certain characteristics. The Abnegation are selfless. They wear gray and see looking into a mirror as vanity. They are charitable and help feed the factionless (homeless). The Dauntless are brave. They often wear black and have extravagant piercings and tattoos. They work as law enforcers or soldiers. The Candor value honesty and often work as lawyers. Because they believe the truth is black and white, that’s what they wear. The Amity are the peaceful farmers, artists, nurses and general caretakers in society. The Eruidite are Chicago’s scientists and teachers. I.Q. is heavily important to them in determining rank in the faction. Children will grow up in the factions, taking in the beliefs of their parents who either chose this faction or grew up in it themselves. At a certain age, teenagers are allowed to take an aptitude test to decide what faction best suits them. After this, they decide what faction they would like to live in for the rest of their lives. There are initiation tests for each faction. Those who do not pass initiation tests become factionless. The initiations vary. For the Dauntless, it is a series of intense physical and mental challenges. The Amity greet their new initiates with sing-alongs. The aptitude test is a simula-
tion serum. When placed under this simulation, the main character Tris Prior, discovers she is divergent. This means the results of her aptitude test were inconclusive. She tested positive for Erudite, Dauntless and Abnegation. Divergents are rare. They have the potential to disrupt the social norm with their unorthodox way of thinking, according to main antagonist and Eurdite leader, Jeanine Matthews. As a fan of the book, I had very high expectations for the movie. I did realize that not all characters and scenes in the book could have been equally represented in the movie. In that regard, I was not disappointed. The movie is generally a faithful adaption of the book. The star of the movie is Golden Globe-nominated actress Shailene Woodley, who plays main character Tris Prior. Acting opposite her is Theo James, who plays Dauntless member Tobias “Four” Eaton. Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet plays the villain, Jeanine Matthews. Other main actors include Zoe Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, Ashley Judd, Tony Goldwyn, and Maggie Q. “Divergent,” the novel, is a New York Times Best Seller. It has sold over 5 million copies. It is one of HarperCollins’s most successful e-books ever released. As soon as the book was published, it received comparisons to other young adult novels, including “The Hunger Games.” “Compared to other such books in the same genre as “The Hunger Games” trilogy, it did ‘not exactly distinguish itself,’” wrote Susan Dominus of the New York Times. Even though “Divergent” and “The Hunger Games” are both dystopian-themed trilogies centered on an adolescent girl as the main character, they are certainly different. In dystopian literature, themes of survival generally overlap between novels. That goes for any genre of literature. The creativity shown by an author will set one story apart from the next. While others might not
feel the same way, I believe Roth does an amazing job at capturing a realistic and distinctive environment. The film does well to visualize most written descriptions in the novel, including the futuristic city of Chicago. With a budget of $80 million, Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate are very invested in the success of this soon-to-be franchise. NECA has released a variety of Divergent-themed merchandise including clothing, coffee mugs,
Shailene Woodley
Kate Winslet
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bedding, jewelry and many more items. There are also Barbie Collector Divergent dolls of Tris Prior and Tobias Eaton. There are to be two more films made to complete this trilogy. They will be based off the successor novels, “Insurgent” and “Allegiant.” One setback in the plan of this franchise is that Neil Burger will not be returning to direct the second film. Whether new director Robert Schwentke will be able to make Insurgent visually flow
with Divergent is currently unknown. The film debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with 40 percent of critics giving the film a positive review, while 81 percent of the audience liked it. These may not be the best ratings overall, but it will be financial success that will drive the franchise. Divergent is an interesting film that will keep the audience invested in the safety of Tris Prior, Tobias Eaton, and their friends and family.
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Theo James
Maggie Q
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Dark Souls II: Praise the Sun! By TYLER FLOOD Contributing Writer
The Souls video game series has always been infamous for its no-holds-barred mentality when it comes to challenging the player. This mindset of the developers has always been off-putting for some and encouraging for others who reveled in the extra challenge of the game. When it was revealed that the game would be more “accessible” to new players, many fans of the series were put off. But hardcore series fans can rest assured—more accessible does not equal less difficult in this journey of death through the Kingdom of Drangleic. The combat in Dark Souls II is as robust as ever, with slow and methodical battles in which every maneuver you make is the difference between life and death. New additions to combat include Hexes, a new dark magic type that requires both investments in the intelligence as well as the faith stats, as well as the power stance, a new dual wielding mechanic that allows the player to wield two weapons of a similar category (sorry, no power wielding a spear and a claymore) with great force, provided the player has one and a half times the prerequisites of the weapon. This addition makes dual wielding much more viable. Archery has come back to the franchise with much-needed improvements. It’s been enhanced, with characters now being able to holster two different arrow types at a time and fired arrows traversing the map much quicker than their Dark Souls counterparts. That being said, it’s still not viable enough to focus a character build on. Fans may be mixed to hear that backstabbing is also much easier to execute on enemies than in the previous games, but be wary this works both ways. The variety of ways you can fight in Dark Souls II adds a lot of replay value to it—the rewards of pumping up your strength enough
to wield a great sword in one hand to cleave through enemies or bumping your intelligence enough to decimate enemies with the lightning spear miracle are both exciting ways to play, and it’s too enticing to pass up on either. One of the absolute best parts of Dark Souls II is the level design. The way all of the environments intertwine is genius. An early example is blowing down a wall from the outside of a fortress through explosives that allows you to go directly back to the bonfire and rest, the five minute trek reduced to a five second walk. The entire game can be traversed without loading screens as with previous Souls games, but in addition you have the option from the very beginning to fast travel between bonfires that you have been to. Enemies will respawn every time you visit a bonfire, unless of course, that is, you’ve killed that foe enough times that it won’t. Considering that the enemies are eventually all wiped out (which is a method implemented by the developer to prevent grinding for souls) it is a preferred option to fast travel rather than to traverse the empty environment. That being said the environments in this game range from haunting to gorgeous and are quite memorable. Through the players journey in Drangleic they will traverse misty forests, cliff sides, and a volcanic fortress, among other locales. The plot of Dark Souls II keeps the vagueness of previous iterations, with lore filled into you by armor descriptions, weapon description, and conversations with the eccentric NPCs, for a game that challenges you to push forward slowly filling in the player along the way is an excellent way to progress the plot. Dark Souls II has a simple plot, yes, but it is not a game about the plot, but rather the experience of playing, the gameplay and the interactions with the players you encounter online.
The online interaction is one of the key features of the franchise. Other players can leave messages, such as warning, reassuring or tricking each other, invading their world to try and kill them, or offering their help so they can join each other to take on bosses
in jolly cooperation. In addition, covenants can be joined that are integrated with the online experience, each with a different aspect whether traveling to another player’s world to kill them, or to protect them. Dark Souls II has certainly
Statue of a main character from Dark Souls II
made some changes to the franchise, but the accessibility has not hindered the challenge. Overall, Dark Souls II is an improvement upon previous titles in the series and the best yet. Grade: 9/10
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derground gangsta MC Freddie Gibbs with underground legend Madlib you know you’re going to get a great project and this one could potentially be labeled a classic. “Deeper” has strings that cut deep. “High” takes everyone’s favorite pot smoking anthem and flips the script into a rapid fire tale from Gibbs and Danny Brown. “Harold’s” is some of the smoothest sh!t I’ve heard in a minute and “Real” is one of the best diss records since “Ether,” no bullsh!t. Gibbs goes hard at his former employer Young Jeezy and he slices dude up on this one. Even though I got love for the snowman, Gibbs really got at him on this one. Like, once the beat flips? Man, all bets are off. “Lakers” is also smooth as hell with a great Ab-Soul guest
verse and even though the closer “Piñata” is almost nine minutes long, it’s got an impressive list of guest rappers that include everyone from Mac Miller and Domo Genesis to Casey Veggies who spits his verse with a hunger that I never even knew dude was capable of. This album point blank is great. Not one weak track on here. Gibbs delivers with being a real gangster rapper. Madlib delivers with great beats and skits/ samples. This is a winning combo in any category.
Kickin’ It With KJ: Flava for Ya Ear Edition By KEVIN JACOB Staff Writer Hello all and welcome to another edition of Kickin’ It. I missed out on submitting last week but fear not, as I’ve got some new music for everyone to check out as we’ve had some really solid albums come out recently. Let’s get into it. Pharrell, G I R L – Pharrell has been on fire within the last year giving us “Blurred Lines,” “Happy,” and probably playing a part in your favorite artists’ songs. Flat out, dude has been everywhere. In the end of February, Pharrell said that his new album would be coming out in three weeks and I was hyped. As a fan of Pharrell, I was hoping to hear some dope raps mixed with singing as he usually does. Although I didn’t get exactly what I expected of the record, Pharrell still managed to make one of the more uplifting and positive albums I’ve heard so far this year. “Marilyn Monroe” starts the album off with a slightly dark but great track. The string section in it is ridiculous and it brings that vintage Neptunes sound but there’s more to it. There’s a similar sound but it’s advanced and more polished. The first half of the album continues with similar bangers which include “Hunter,” which has some crazy bounce to it, “Happy,” which still is one of the catchiest songs of the past year, and “Brand New,” which if this doesn’t make it to radio, then I’ve officially lost all faith in the industry (although I think I already have. *shrugs*). The best track on the album for me though has to be “Come Get It Bae.” It’s catchy, sexy, and just a straight-up fun record. It actually makes Miley Cyrus looks like she has some type of vocal chops. Well, let’s not go that far. But it’s a great record and oddly enough reminds me of a slightly grownup brother to Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” Take that as a good thing. Although I was re-
ally feeling the first half of the album, the second half was a bit of a letdown in my opinion. “Gust of Wind” with Daft Punk doesn’t really live up to their previous collaboration “Get Lucky” and “Know Who You Are” with Alicia Keys is just straight up weak. Overall, I think that this album was pretty chill and Pharrell has delivered. This is a pop album, but a damn good one at that. This is definitely gonna be one that you’re going to be hearing a lot this spring and summer. Rating: 8/10 YG, My Krazy Life – I’ve been aware of YG’s music for a while. He brought it with “Toot It and Boot It” my freshman year here at Saint Rose and although it was cool, I really started taking notice when he started releasing his solid Just Re’d Up mixtape series. To be honest, YG and DJ Mustard, who handles most of this project, have basically started the ratchet west movement that you hear on the radio today. These two, besides anyone from TDE, have made the west a force to be reckoned with, with their synth heavy g-funk bass that could destroy your speaker raps. YG and Mustard are the originators of this sh!t and they barely get the respect for it that they should. YG is a gangster. He was a member/is still a member of the bloods gang and went to jail for a while for a home invasion robbery attempt. When the intro, “BPT,” starts, you’re instantly thrown into YG’s vision of Compton. And it starts with a bang. After “BPT,” you have one of the better tracks on the album, “I Just Wanna Party,” which has a good verse from Schoolboy Q, but a guest verse from Jay Rock that shows why he may be lowkey the best one in TDE besides Kendrick. He absolutely murders Q on the track and you forget bout YG’s verse at the end. Show stealing performance. The album continues with some cool tracks such as “Meet The Flock-
ers” and the highly popular track “My Ni**a.” Other great tracks include “Me and My B****” and “Really Be (Smokin N Drinkin).” The best track on here for me is “Sorry Momma,” which shows YG at his most personal and instrumentally it’s the most moving song on the whole album. It’s filled with emotion and a blissful saxophone piece done by Terrace Martin. In the end, although the album had some filler, there wasn’t really anything that was terrible or bad about it. YG continues to show why the west shouldn’t be taken lightly. Solid debut album. Rating: 8/10 Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, Piñata – When you pair up un-
Pharrell
Rating: 10/10 That’s all for this week’s edition of Kickin It. Check back with us next week as I got a lot more to talk about and discuss. Have a good week everybody.
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Opinion
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Study Abroad: Squandering an Opportunity for Change By ZACHARY OLSAVICKY Opinion Editor “Kid, the next time I say, ‘let’s go someplace like Bolivia,’ let’s GO someplace like Bolivia.” That line comes from the iconic 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. On the run from a posse of all-star bounty hunters, the titular Cassidy (played by Paul Newman) suggests Bolivia to the titular Sundance (Robert Redford) as a safe haven from the law and a chance to start anew as robbers. Of course, the move doesn’t go well—Bolivia is small potatoes for a pair of Old West robbers, and the duo eventually dies at the hands of the Bolivian army. I couldn’t help but think of this classic film as I read the New York Times last week. The paper featured an article by Nick Kristof, the Gray Lady’s intrepid op-ed writer, in which he encouraged students to study abroad, with Bolivia receiving props.
Why study Spanish at a U.S. college, asks Kristof, when it is “cheaper and more exhilarating” to move to Bolivia? His recommended tactic: “…study or get a job and fall in love with a Bolivian.” Well, he’s romantic, I’ll give him that. But the notion of moving to Bolivia to find that love is laughable: data from the World Bank shows a country with a lower primary school enrollment rate, lower life expectancy, and a per capita national income over $50,000 lower than the U.S. average. You get a lot more for your money in Bolivia, but what could they have there that you could possibly want to buy? To be fair to Kristof, he isn’t advocating a move to Bolivia per se. He makes it as part of a larger argument that studying abroad will help to “broaden perspectives,” one of the central goals of higher education. Kristof, who is a powerful reporter and advo-
Nicholas D. Kristof, a New York Times opinion writer, argues that college students should take study abroad semesters.
cate on human rights abuses and global poverty, credits travel with “opening (his) eyes to human needs and to human universals.” Among his travels were trips to India and Sudan, where he “slept on the floor (sic) of Indian temples and rode on the tops of Sudanese trains.” Kristof’s experiences can be eye opening, but he should be looking at them through the eyes of the people who live there, not through the eyes of an American. Sleeping on floors and riding on train tops should remind Americans of how grateful we should be to live in the United States. People who live in India and Sudan don’t do these things because they want to broaden their perspectives—they do it because they have no other choice. It explains why so many people emigrate to the United States: this is still the land of opportunity, unparalleled by any other nation. And it’s not just people immigrating to the U.S. to live:
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students emigrate to the U.S. for studies. As Kristof points out, three times as many international students come to the U.S. as the number of Americans go abroad. Other countries desperately need well-educated workers, but lack the higher education infrastructure to do so; as a result, higher education is outsourced to the United States. It’s a win-win scenario—countries receive educated workers, and American universities receive billions of dollars’ worth of tuition. Despite the obvious signals that living and studying in the U.S. is better than anywhere else in the world, the number of American students who’ve elected to study abroad has, as pointed out by Kristof, tripled in the past twenty years. Are students wising up to human needs and universals, like Kristof hopes? The answer, sadly, is no—student are simply turning a college semester into an extended vacation. For evidence, you don’t have to go any further than Saint Rose’s own study abroad department. Their Pinterest page is loaded with beautiful pictures and well-made graphic images— but no talk about what people can do to make the world a better place. The Facebook page for Saint Rose Abroad includes profiles of students who are studying internationally. What do they talk about? Sightseeing, shopping, the “extraordinary nightlife,” and even a bit about classes—but don’t worry, the workload “is very light and right to the point,” says one student. Small price to pay for beauty. That isn’t to say Saint Rose’s study abroad department—or any other college’s study abroad department, for that matter—is obligated to share Kristof’s ideals. But it highlights the discrepancy between Kristof’s ideal, which is the admirable notion of service work, and the reality, which is that study abroad is simply a marketing tool for colleges. Of course, it isn’t just college
study abroad programs that fail to match Kristof’s ideals. He points to Utah as one of the most “cosmopolitan” states in America, largely because the state’s populations of Mormons go on missionary trips around the world. Even in that case, intentions aren’t pure—the missionary trips are about proselytizing, a sort of reverse cultural assimilation that only serves to strengthen a religion’s power. The realities of much institution-based international travel is that it supports an institution’s gains. This isn’t to cast moral aspersions—it’s simply to point out that there has to be a viable benefit for schools and the like to promote it, and providing people with opportunities for vacationing is more viable than providing them opportunities to do hard work. But what of people who want to do good around the world? Kristof mentions the website idealist.org, which offers volunteer opportunities around the world. A quick check found a lot of U.S.based positions, but even the U.S. could use the help. Some 50 million Americans live in poverty, and all sorts of social and political advances—raising the minimum wage, jobs programs, stronger anti-discrimination laws—could help greatly. What young people need is not the chance to go on a vacation—they need to learn to take action against injustice and massive inequality around the world. Kristof argues that staying in a different country will help people understand the “complex prism of suspicion” through which the United States is viewed, but this isn’t productive. There is no monolith of good ideas beyond our borders, only the same levels of good and bad ideas we currently have. How does it help me to look at America through a complex, flawed prism? I got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals.
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The Chronicle
Opinion
Irresponsible to Whitewash High School Yearbook
By KAYLYNN DAY Staff Writer Administrators at Sheridan High School in Sheridan, Arkansas made the executive decision to pull seven student profiles from their 2014 yearbook due to the fact that one of the profiles would be written about an openly gay student. 17 year old Taylor Ellis was approached by the schools yearbook editor and asked to conduct an interview about his decision to come out and announce that he was gay. The yearbooks staff thought that having a profile on Ellis would be interesting because "It's a big thing in Sheridan to be gay. That’s something that doesn't get told a lot,” Once word got back to the officials about Ellis’ profile, they decided to not only take his profile out of the yearbook, but those of six other students as well. Hannah Bruner, the yearbooks assistant editor was deeply disturbed about the schools decision and decided to report the incident to the Department of Human Rights in hopes in getting justice for the wrong doing against Ellis. A burst of public support rained in from the Sheridan community in Ellis’ favor, creating backlash against the school and its administrators. Sheridan School District superintendent Dr. Brenda Haynes released a statement to the public regarding the issue stating that “We must make decisions that lead in the proper direction for all of our students and for our community”. If the Sheridan School District believes that discriminating against an openly gay student is in the best interest of their students and community, then they are in desperate need of reevaluating their mission and policies. It is unclear how supporting a student’s brave decision to share and embrace their sexuality, something that many struggle to do, does not go in the “proper direction” that the district is attempting to
go in. A factor that is clear on the other hand is the reason behind the schools decision to pull Ellis’ profile. Whether it was a personal vendetta against the gay community or fear of backlash from the community, the Sheridan School District did not want to be associated with having a gay student or the attention that would come from it. Backlash was something that would not have prospered inside of the school due to the fact that most school and community members have been nothing but supportive of Ellis and his decision since he announced his sexuality. Instead of embracing the presence of diversity in their district, Sheridan administrators attempted to hide it and pretend that it did not exists. It can be questioned if the school district was following the direction of the state in the support of gay couples. Arkansas is still one of many states who does not support gay couples or their right to marry. Through their decision not to allow Ellis’ profile to be a part of their yearbook, it is clear that the Sheridan School District does not support it either. The discrimination and hatred against the LGBTQ community and the debate that comes along with it is one that is quite frankly getting out of hand and not to mention extremely old. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions on the issue, but when it’s all said and done everyone has their own life to live and own choices to make. No one, whether gay or straight, should be criticized for who they love; especially a teenage boy. As for Taylor Ellis, he along with the help of the Sheridan community has compiled a petition containing 30,000 signatures that has been given to the Department of Human Rights in hopes of getting the schools decision not to publish his profile reversed. Not only should the Sheridan School District allow Ellis’ profile along with the six others student’s to
be printed in the yearbook, they should release a public apology to Taylor and his family. Not supporting Ellis’ life choices is one thing, but to publicly discriminate against him is taking things to an-
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other level. It is wrong and unjust for the district to publically ostracize one of their students in this manner. Cases like these go to show that although the LGBTQ community has gained many rights and much acceptance in some parts of the country, much more work needs to be done in order to stop injustices like this from happening. In order for that
to happen, we as a society need to begin to embrace diversity as the Sheridan School District should have done in this situation instead of trying to makes outcast out of those who are different. If anyone would like to show their support or voice their opinion on this matter, the hash tag #StandWithTaylor can be used as an outlet to do so.
Opinion
C19 Victim-Blaming and Bullying in North Carolina March 25th, 2014
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By KATIE KLIMACEK Staff Writer
My Little Pony. Instead of using a boring paper bag for his lunches, Bruce liked to use his MLP backpack. This sparked instant chaos among his peers, and Bruce began to get pushed around, called names, and harassed for his backpack. When this was brought to the school’s attention, their response was despicable. The School of Buncombe County told Bruce and his mom that he had to stop bringing the backpack to school; it had become a distraction for others and a “trigger for bullying”. When this story made news, it sparked quite a firestorm of response. How could school officials say that to a child? I knew that kids could be mean and cold hearted, but I didn’t think that adults could essentially act the same way. By the school responding they way that they did, school officials became the bully in the situation. The school is punishing Bruce, instead of the culprits of the bullying.
It seems as though no matter what the evidence is, extent of harassment, or amount of pleading, kids who get bullied seem to never catch a break. Tormented over the smallest things, like from how much they weigh to the clothes they wear, kids are constantly being terrorized by fellow peers. But it’s not just kids that keep adding fuel to the fire. Just this past week the story of nine-year-old Grayson Bruce was brought to nationwide attention. His story was broadcast on national news, not because of how his fellow classmates treated him or how he handled his situation, but instead was featured because of how his school reacted to his treatment. The news headline read “9-year-old’s ‘My Little Pony’ Backpack Banned by School”. Bruce is an average kid with a like for the popular cartoon show,
Just the situation of this story is frustrating. It seems like no matter what the object of harassment is, no kid is safe from the torment of his or her fellow students. Nowadays status means everything, and the moment you bring someone else’s status down your own goes up. Why does it matter that this kid has a backpack with a pony on it? The pony on it is promoting a show about friendship, caring, and all around happiness. I give Bruce so much credit for going to school with a backpack with something on it that he likes. If the kid next to him can bring in a backpack with video game characters that promote violence and sexual content, then he should have all the right in the world to bring in his bag; a bag that promotes no inappropriate language or mature content. Since Bruce’s story was brought to attention, an outpour of support has reached the nine year old and his family. Several
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A My Little Pony keychain. social media groups sparked to raise awareness for what the boy was going through. It seems as though the squeaky wheel gets the oil; after the rise in support, Bruce’s school released a statement saying that the boy could bring his backpack to school. I’m glade to know that Bruce
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won this time, both against the students and the school. It’s unfortunate that the situation went this way, but maybe it did that for a reason. Kids are not the only perpetrators when it comes to the battle against bullying, as clearly seen in this situation, and until both forces change the fight to end bullying will continue.
Vanishing Act of the Century: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 By ASHLEY SWEET Staff Writer The Malaysia airliner, Flight 370, which went missing on March 8, just over two weeks ago is still yet to be found. As of March 20, 26 countries were involved in the search. The search on Friday expanded to include an area stretching from Kazakhstan to the southern Indian Ocean near the south-west of Perth, Australia. The search near Australia for debris seen by satellite was called off after ten hours. “This is going to be a long haul,” said Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s interim transportation minister, on Friday after announcing they will try to reset the search. The search area of 2.97 million miles has been split into seven areas, for the 29 aircrafts, 18 ships,
21 satellites, and six airborne helicopters currently enrolled in the search. It has been stated that the aircrafts making flights in search of any debris or evidence will have to repeat the flights taken this past Thursday and Friday before they can be confident they have thoroughly covered the area. The area currently being search is almost the size of the country of Europe. The United States alone has spent 2.5 million dollars on the search efforts, and currently has the Navy and a P-8 aircraft involved in the search. “The Defense Department has allocated four million dollars for the search, funding that could last well through April,” said Col. Steven Warren, Pentagon spokesperson, told CNN news on March 21st. The United Kingdom as of late
last week was sending their ocean surveying vessel, HMS Echo to aid in the search of the southern Indian Ocean. Australia also sent their ship, HMAS Success with a group of Chinese and Malaysian vessel to join the enormous Norwegian cargo ship that were sent to assist in the search as well. Those involved in the search are giving the mission their undivided attention as their window of time to find Flight 370 continues to shrink. After two weeks, and spouts of bad weather, the prospect of finding the airliner and its 239 passengers, still intact and safe, becomes less likely. As the search continues at sea, authorities on land have turned resources to also finding the reason behind the disappearance. While there was discussion over the forged passports, attention
quickly turned to Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot and Fariq Abdul Hamid, his co-pilot after Malaysian authorizes confirmed that the plane’s tracking devices were switched off manually and the plane was steered off course. However, friends and family members have come to their rescue after they were accused of terrorism. Shah, 53, was renown by family and colleagues for his professionalism and the respect had for him. Hamid, 27, is upheld in the community for his dedication to religion and aviation career. With neither one of the pilots putting up an abundance of red flags connecting them to terrorism, leaves more mystery to the disappearance. What has been confirmed is that Hamid was the voice on the last transmission from the plane, saying, “All right, good night” to
Malaysian ground controller, two minutes before the first and second transponder was shut down. After which the plane “went dark” and it is believed that the plane veered to the north-west and was last detected by Malaysia’s military radar in the Strait of Malacca. The frustration and heartache of the families of those aboard Flight 370 can only be imagined at this point. Various up and coming young adults were on their way to new jobs, a couple on their honeymoon, friends on their way to visit long lost friends, and many more stories have just begun being told. The world audience’s greatest expectation right now, is that as the passengers’ stories surface, Flight 370 does as well.
C20 Opinion Don’t Put Faith in Pre-Ordering Video Games The Chronicle
By ALEXANDER PECHA Staff Writer Pre-Ordering is a relatively new practice in the video game industry, the idea being that you pay for a game in advance of getting it and receive the game on the very day it comes out. The system has its fair share of detractors but in the end many people pre-order games based only on what developers and public relations people have showed them in relation to the game. How I view pre-ordering is probably crystal clear already, but in case it wasn’t obvious I see pre-ordering in a very bad light. While I believe there are exceptions: such as you being able to have some sort of access to the game through a beta program or knowing a developer who can give you early copies of the games, overall I believe that preordering is both bad for the consumer and bad for the company’s overall quality and honesty. What Pre-Ordering is, is you effectively paying for a product that has no true backing or promise of quality behind it and no proof that it will be worth the 60 dollars that most games cost today. When you pre-order, you are handing the developer and publisher your money on the idea that the game will be good; except for the rare exceptions mentioned above you have no idea how good
or bad the game will be except from promotional materials that are released by the very company trying to convince people their product is awesome and worth your money, even if it isn’t. This isn’t idle speculation either; there are many cases of preordering punishing consumers for their optimism. Perhaps the most infamous case of pre-ordering coming back to haunt consumers is the Aliens: Colonial Marines fiasco. In that particular case the developers (Gearbox, the developers of Borderlands) outright lied about the quality of the game and what it would look and play like. Not only were consumers shafted with their purchases, but the developer itself lost a lot of respect from the gaming community for their low brow tricks. A more minor case was the pre-orders of Duke Nukem, which was a game that had been anticipated for more than a decade but arrived with more a grunting noise than the fanfare people thought it would. Despite these cases, fans of certain developers and publishers continue to pre-order games, sometimes to an insane degree. Bungie (The developer of the old Halo games) announced their new IP and game “Destiny” last year and about one day after they announced Infinity Bungie also announced that you could preorder the game. That’s insane;
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Gamestop is one of many franchises that offer pre-orders for video games. the game had no actual gameplay trailers at the time, no true idea of the grand scope of the game, nothing. Thousands upon thousands of people spent money on a game just because they know the developer, with no true idea of what the game even really was until later in the year. Then there are the pre-order exclusives, pieces of the game deliberately cut out as to encour-
Interested in writing for Opinion? Here are some questions that may spark some interest. Send them in to chronicle@strose.edu!
+Is there a teacher here that has had an impact on you? +Should Saint Rose have online classes? +Is there an item, such as the ipad, that you absolutely love or hate? We want to know about it! Give your thoughts on it and influence those Black Friday shoppers! +What are your steps to studying? +What are your ways to deal with stress? +What is your favorite holiday and why? +What is your favorite Saint Rose event? +What would you like the next word search to be about?
age you to pre-order the game. The worst case of this was Mass Effect 3 which cut out an entire squad mate with important information and lore related to the overall story and made it so you could only get him if you preordered a version of the game or paid extra money after release. This is perhaps the most dubious practice in regards to pre-ordering. The idea that companies will purposely handicap their games for the general public in the hopes of making a quick buck off of “late” consumers is not one that sits particularly well with me. What this says to me is that developers care more about hitting sale quotas than making sure you enjoy the game they have made for the masses, which is a breach of artistic integrity. And at the end of the day that’s what video games are: art. The idea of buying a game before you know its good is also a great hypocrisy by many people,
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especially college students. Many people claim they don’t have enough money for entertainment, but yet are willing to drop 60 dollars or more on an item they are not even sure will be good. You can’t complain about money when you are dropping what little money you have on a game that isn’t even out yet. Basically pre-ordering a game is putting faith in a company that you may or may not trust to deliver on a product that may or may not be good while being expected to pay for the product in full. While in the ideal world company’s would always deliver on the product they promise we have plenty of examples of this not being true. As such the pre-ordering business seems more like a scam than anything. In short, wait for a game to be reviewed by someone you trust before blowing your hard earned money on it.
Sports D21 Golden Knights Scoreboard and Standings Men’s Lax Fall to Saint Michael’s
March 25th, 2014
NE-10 Baseball
NE-10 Men’s Lacrosse
Northeast Division
GP Stonehill 19 Bentley 13 So. New Hampshire 19 Franklin Pierce 24 Merrimack 15 Assumption 12 Saint Anselm 16 Saint Michael’s 6 Southwest Division
New Haven Adelphi So. Connecticut Le Moyne Saint Rose American Int’l Pace
GP 7 15 15 19 17 14 12
Scores: L 5-4 vs. Kutztown
NE-10 Softball Northeast Division
GP Bentley 12 Saint Anselm 14 Saint Michael’s 12 So. New Hampshire 12 Assumption 12 Merrimack 16 Franklin Pierce 6 Stonehill 16 Southwest Division
New Haven Adelphi Pace So. Connecticut Le Moyne American Int’l Saint Rose
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GP 14 17 14 13 14 9 9
GP Record Le Moyne 7 7-0 1.000 Merrimack 6 4-2 0.667 Adelphi 6 6-0 1.000 Saint Anselm 5 2-3 0.400 Bentley 4 1-3 0.250 So. New Hampshire 4 1-3 0.250 Saint Michael’s 5 1-4 0.200 Franklin Pierce 5 3-2 0.600 Assumption 7 3-4 0.429 Saint Rose 7 1-6 0.143 Pace 3 1-2 0.333 Record American Int’l 8 0-8 0.000 4-3 0.571 6-9 0.400 Scores: L 11-8 vs. Saint Michael’s 6-8-1 0.433 6-13 0.316 4-13 0.235 5-9 0.357 NE-10 Women’s Tennis 3-9 0.250 GP Record Merrimack 11 8-3 0.727 Stonehill 14 12-2 0.857 Bentley 10 6-4 0.600 Adelphi 9 5-4 0.556 So. New Hampshire 11 8-3 0.727 Saint Michael’s 9 4-5 0.444 Record New Haven 8 5-3 0.625 7-5 0.583 Assumption 10 2-8 0.200 8-6 0.571 Le Moyne 13 2-11 0.154 1-9 0.083 Franklin Pierce 8 1-7 0.125 9-3 0.750 American Int’l 2 1-1 0.000 6-6 0.500 Saint Anselm 5 0-5 0.000 5-11 0.312 Saint Rose 10 0-10 0.000 1-5 0.167 Scores: L 3-6 vs. American International 5-11 0.321 Record 12-7 0.632 6-7 0.462 14-5 0.737 16-8 0.667 9-6 0.600 6-6 0.500 6-10 0.375 1-5 0.167
Record 11-3 0.786 9-8 0.529 3-11 0.214 7-6 0.538 7-7 0.500 3-6 0.333 3-6 0.333
Scores: L 9-1 vs Georgian Court L 9-6 vs. Bridgeport
NE-10 Track and Field
By JOSHUA NATOLI Sports Editor The Golden Knight netted five goals in the fourth quarter after trailing Saint Michael’s by as many as six. But ultimately, Saint Rose came up short in an 11-8 defeat to the NE-10 Conference rival Purple Knights this past Saturday afternoon at Sullivan Field at the Plumeri Sports Complex. Junior attacks Evan Helming and Colin Sorber led the Golden Knights (1-6 Overall/1-3 NE-10) offense. Helming scored a season-high three goals and with an assist, and Sorber finished with two strikes and an assist as well. Junior midfielders Kris Miller and Ryan McFee, and senior midfielder Rich Bamberger all had one goal each, while junior attack Kevin Fleming earned two assists. On defense, freshman goalkeeper Joe Shapiro came up with a season-high 14 saves. After a scoreless first quarter, the Purple Knights (1-4 Overall, 1-1 NE-10) went into the half with a 3-1 lead then turned it into a 4-1 lead in the opening minute of the third quarter before Sorb-
er finished a Helming feed and McFee scored unassisted to get Saint Rose back to within one. Saint Michael’s then would score five unanswered goals for a 9-3 cushion in the final minute of the period. Saint Rose kept its composure and got two goals back as Bamberger and Miller both scored unassisted goals 43 seconds apart to make it 9-5 game. Senior attack Evan Antolino then netted a pair of goals around a Sorber strike within a five minute span to put the Purple Knights in control behind an 11-6 advantage. Helming then added a pair of goals, but the Purple Knights won the final faceoff as the Golden Knights were whistled for two penalties that allowed the visitors to run out the clock. Antolino and senior midfielder Cooper Quenneville each found the back of the net three times to lead Saint Michael’s. Sophomore goalkeeper T.J. Bicknell recorded four of his seven saves in the fourth quarter. On tap for this week, Saint Rose has a 4 p.m. match at American International today in Springfield, Mass.
Upcoming Games Baseball: 3/26 at American Int’l (DH) 3:30 p.m.
Men’s Northeast-10 Indoor Championships
Softball: 3/26 at Le Moyne (DH) 3:00 p.m.
9th/10 Teams
Lacrosse: 3/25 at American Int’l 4:00 p.m.
Women’s Northeast-10 Indoor Championships 7th/10 Teams
Tennis: 3/26 at Adelphi 12:00 p.m. Golf: 3/25 at Philadelphia University 12:30 p.m.
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NBA Commissioner Already Creating Controversy By TORI ADDISON Staff Writer It has only been about two months since Adam Silver assumed the role of NBA Commissioner and I am already questioning his efficiency. Although it is way too early to judge his performance as chief NBA executive, his ideas for change amongst the league seem to be less popular than they are hated, which is never a good sign. Silver’s recently introduced the NBA’s plan to place advertisement patches on jerseys, which has stirred up some controversy among many fans. Ad-infested uniforms are nothing new in some sports, such as soccer and NASCAR, but the NBA is a completely different story. To plaster jerseys with ads on the basis of connecting sponsors to both the fans and the players is a bit unnecessary. In other words, Silver is look-
ing toward generating around 100 million dollars a year by slapping big name company logos across player’s uniforms and hoping the fans do not complain. While increased revenue flow into the league will undoubtedly be a good thing, the integrity of the NBA jersey is at stake here. I would rather have to sit through five minutes of commercials than see five different logos plastered across player’s jerseys. I guess the sad part is that if ads do make their way to the jerseys, then fans watching the games at home will still have to deal with endless commercials during media timeouts. Each team’s uniform is unique and by using them as moving advertisement space, that uniqueness will start to diminish. As a fan, I would not pay money to buy a jersey with a huge ad across it. If I am buying a jersey it is to show support for my team, not the company endorsing them. To think that big time company
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Former NBA Commissioner David Stern passed the torch to Adam Silver this February.
FLICKR
Current NBA uniforms do not have a lot of room for placing ads.
names such as “Yahoo!” could replace the team’s name etched across the front of each player’s jersey is quite unsettling. As soon as the team’s name is removed from the jersey, the team’s identity is gone. You would think after the failure of Silver’s not-so-brilliant sleeved jersey idea, he would get the hint to stop messing with the uniforms. The league stated that sleeved jerseys have increased sales and shown that fans support the change in style, but players on the other hand do not. When players such as LeBron James are complaining about the jerseys, you should realize that there is a problem that needs to be fixed. Profits should not matter when players are uncomfortable play-
ing in their own uniforms. Silver is fixated on revenue and will unfortunately do whatever it takes to ensure the league is profiting. This year’s All-Star Weekend events showed just how advertisement based the league is becoming between the Sears Shooting Stars to the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. Last time I checked, Sears and Taco Bell have absolutely nothing to do with professional basketball, so the league should keep it that way. Irrelevant advertisements are what commercials are for and no player should have to walk around endorsing fast food when they are trying to serve as role models for younger generations. If anything, Silver’s idea is just going to create havoc amongst the
sports world. Once other leagues such as the NFL and MLB see how much money the NBA is generating, they will be very likely to follow suit. Fans are not going to happy when their favorite players are turned into walking billboards and their once beloved jerseys are vandalized with commercial endorsements. Players who take pride in representing the team whose name is stitched across the front of their jersey are going to lose that sense when the team’s name is replaced with an advertisement. Silver’s idea may seem great for bringing in hefty amounts of cash for the league, but in this case the mixing of the business and sports worlds is one that will not leave a suitable aftertaste for fans.
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Sports
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Making the Best of Swimming’s Dog Days By AleX horToN Contributing Writer Swimming since she was 10 years old and attending lessons since she can remember, Becky Wisniewski’s first swim team was
with the Boys and Girls Club and less than a year later she joined the Union Aquatic Club, which was her first competitive swim team. She is now a junior education major with a minor in journalism on The College of Saint
Rose swim team. Wisniewski was born on Feb. 27, 1993 to Richard and Charisse Wisniewski in Utica. Wisniewski swam varsity from the 8th grade until she was a senior for Maine-Endwell Senior High School, but she said
“I really like the swim team, I don’t know how I would have gotten through school without them.” Becky Wisniewski
that she fell in love with swimming when she was twelve. “It was honestly because of the people involved in it, we had so much fun together,” Wisniewski said. Wisniewski had a group of core friends and a coach that really helped her fall in love with the sport. Wisniewski’s first choice was not Saint Rose. She originally
SAINT ROSE ATHLETICS
Wisniewski has been swimming since the age of 10.
was committed to Hartwick but when Keith Murray, the swim coach for Saint Rose offered her a scholarship a few weeks prior to the college deposit deadline, Wisniewski thought twice about Hartwick and chose to go to be a Golden Knight instead. Wisniewski had wanted to go to a small school that was also well known for its education program. Wisniewski enjoys Saint Rose and all the friends she has made at school. “I really like the swim team, I don’t know how I would have gotten through school without them,” Wisniewski said. Wisniewski’s friends and teammates play an obvious role in who she is, and they only have good things to say about her. The swim team is in the pool by 5:45 a.m. almost every day. “Becky is a positive, supportive and fun teammate to swim with at 5:45 in the morning,” said Bridgette Moss, her roommate and teammate on the swim team. Additionally, a sophomore teammate Sam Hall was extremely positive when talking about the junior swimmer.
“Her humor always lightens the mood when the going gets tough,” Hall said. “She is an extremely hard worker at practice which inspires other team members to push themselves in the pool, and is a great supporter and cheerer when teammates are racing.” Wisniewski specializes in swimming backstroke and occasionally will swim in the Individual Medley, but she said that she will swim whatever the coaches ask or need her to. After Wisniewski graduates from The College of Saint Rose, she plans on becoming an elementary school teacher, and as she becomes a senior next fall and starts student teaching, she takes just one more step closer to her dream.
Want to cover the Golden Knights? Have an opinion on sports? E-mail Sports Editor Josh Natoli.
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Volume 82 Issue 26
Zach Bye: From Buckets to Broadcasting By ANThoNY AUSPelMYer Contributing Writer
Less than five years ago Zach Bye was suiting up for the Golden Knights men’s basketball team as a senior forward. Today, Bye travels with the UAlbany men’s basketball team as a radio broadcaster. The transition from player to broadcaster is one many athletes make. However few make the transition as smoothly as Bye has in his first few years. Radio was instilled in Bye at a young age. Raised in a religious home run by a single mother, the Saint Rose grad was not afforded the opportunity to watch TV. Rather than feel sorry for himself, Bye found opportunity in radio. As a kid he enjoyed listening to New York Yankees’ then radio broadcaster Michael Kay and was a frequent caller into the Jim Rome show. It would be Bye’s first love of radio that would eventually make for a great pairing with his next passion: basketball. Standing at six feet three inches tall as a junior at Saint Rose, one would think Bye was born for the game of basketball. That was hardly the case. Bye’s basketball career got off to what many would consider a late start. By the time he was getting comfortable with his game many of his friends were already improving their skills. With less experience, the struggle for respect would become a common theme in Bye’s life both on and off the court. Bye was well known around the Capital Region before his broadcasting days as a decorated hoops star. In high school, he led the Scotia-Glenville Tartans to back-to-back Foothills Council Championships, and at Hudson Valley Community College he set the record for rebounds in a single game, twice snatching 20. For Bye, these accolades are still held in high regard, however his proudest moments as a player came after his transfer to Saint Rose.
As a ball player in high school, Bye always dreamt of receiving a full scholarship to play the sport he loved. After his fulfilling high school career, he wasn’t getting any full rides. In an effort to stay away from community college, Bye joined best friend and high school teammate Rocco DiJohn at Hilbert College in western New York as a freshman. When he realized Hilbert wasn’t the right fit, HVCC Coach Andre Cook reached out to Bye. “I told him that if he wasn’t getting any scholarship offers he should come to HVCC for a couple years,” Cook said. “Zach was a high energy player, a great teammate, and a great person to be around.” Bye had been courted the year before by Cook, and was worried about his college career being “segmented”. Now in a poor position at Hilbert, he decided it would be best to see what Hudson Valley had to offer, and he calls that decision the best he has made to this point. “It’s the best decision I ever made. Without those two seasons with coach Cook I wouldn’t have gotten the scholarship from Saint Rose,” Bye said. After his time with HVCC, Bye was happy to accept a scholarship to play for the Golden Knights, and after receiving a medical red-shirt his first season, he played the next two with Saint Rose and was eager for what was to come next. By now Bye had gone from new kid on the court, to title-taking, record-breaking, and paid for playing. Not only did he receive a scholarship to play at Saint Rose, but he was even paid to play semi-pro ball with the Albany Legends. Finally, Bye could rest easy as he had earned the respect he had longed for in the game of basketball. Rather than remain satisfied, Bye looked immediately for his next battle. Maintaining an interest in radio and having gone through Saint Rose’s Commu-
nications program, Bye used his connection to the school to get his foot in the door. Just one year after playing for the Golden Knights basketball team he found himself broadcasting their home games over campus radio. This was the foundation for the transition that Bye was about to make. Thanks to Saint Rose Bye was not only given a scholarship and an education, but the experience he needed to succeed at the next level. He eagerly describes his experience at Saint Rose with one word: “Amazing”. Now ready to take his experience into the field, Bye started a blog. In a clever play on his last name he titled the site “byesline. com”. What started out as a canvas for Bye’s passionate opinions quickly turned into a job opportunity. After then-local ESPN radio
host Brian Sinkoff read some of Bye’s material he asked the baller-turned-blogger to be a fillin host for his popular radio show Sound-off with Sinkoff. “I wouldn’t have had that opportunity had I not used the resources around me to get some experience,” Bye said. The experience was not only the time he had spent interning at Fox Sports Radio with Rodger Wyland, and the clips he had from his time at Saint Rose. His knowledge of the game of basketball as a player added an element that can’t be taught. “There is nothing that happens in a game that I haven’t seen already,” Bye Said. “When you hear him call a game, you can just tell he knows his stuff,” Sinkoff said. “His basketball background is key when he’s doing hoop games,
Bye sits alongside UAlbany Broadcast partner Rodger Wyland.
he tries to explain the game to the audience that might not have played,” Sinkoff said. For Bye the transition from playing the game to broadcasting it has gone smoothly. “I just try to re-wire my energy from playing the games to calling them,” he said. “I try to prepare for a game now the same way I did as a player, I do my research and get mentally prepared,” Now having been with UAlbany for three years and called over 100 games as Rodger Wyland’s radio broadcast partner for basketball and football, Bye improves with every broadcast. He continues his search for the respect of his peers in the field, just as he did years ago on the court. The boy who grew up idolizing radio broadcasters and basketball stars has found the perfect balance of both.
COURTESY OF ZACH BYE