NY Times Logs Oct 4-6

Tuesday October 4:

Interesting and slightly depressing article on the State Department’s ‘warm relationship’ with Canadian Energy Company TransCanada.  Emails released earlier this week show that the state department, instead of being an oversight agency, is ‘collaborating’ with huge energy companies like TransCanada.  The top U.S. lobbyist for the company was a former top official in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign, which points to substantial conflict of interest, and United States Embassy official in Canada have openly voiced their support of the projects in the emails that have been released.  Once again, the lines between government and private, corporate interest have been blurred.

The article on the Occupy Wall street movement was fascinating and heartening to me.  I thought the Times was able to get some great quotes from people that showed the ultimate dissatisfaction with political and corporate greed.  In particular, the quote from the Illinois college student who said he was dropping out of school to join the protests “for as long as it takes” shows a strong and pervasive disillusionment with the current political and economic climate.  I agree with the Time’s assertion that the movement will have to define clear leaders and clear demands and organize into a more unified movement if it wants to truly make impact, but for now, I believe that this is a phenomenal start that is much needed in this country.  With all the articles I’ve been reading on shifts of power in Germany and other European countries, I am glad that the same dissatisfaction in the United States is finally producing real results.

Wednesday October 5:

With Chris Christie’s decision to not seek the nomination, I was very interested in the coverage the Times paid to the shifting dynamics of what is now a settling field of contenders.  Particularly, the emphasis on endorsements was very interesting, as endorsements play such a huge role in determining who will be elected.  The field is especially shifting around Mitt Romney, who is no longer facing real opposition from Rick Perry, and now, with Christie’s decision to not pursue the nomination as well as endorsing Romney, is easily the strongest candidate in the field.  The Times short overview of the race made me realize America’s obsession with political celebrity and the intense process that accompanies the decision to run.

I found the article on the Taliban controlling cell phone signals in Afghanistan.  The idea of the Taliban controlling modern technology that is so integral to daily life now is a reminder of the amount of power they hold in Afghanistan, and how they are still able to make Afghanistan remote and shut off from the rest of the world just by having the influence to turn off the cell phone signals.  The Times notes that the Taliban are using the modern technology they once would have shunned, but using it in a way to keep Afghani people from progressing and modernizing. 

 Thursday October 6:

I’ve been noticing that I’m noticing more and posting a lot about politics or international new stories. More heartening news in the headline that Democrats are pushing a tax on the richest one percent of the nation, to help pay for job creation programs.  Not a moment too soon.  The White House needs to stop kow-towing to the Republicans and push their own agenda before everything really goes.  As if the richest corporate leaders can’t afford to pay a little extra on their taxes.  It is completely ridiculous that tax cuts for billionaires have been so accepted for so long in this country.  Finally, hopefully, politicians will stand up for the people they represent, not the people who buy them off.

Like I said, I’m noticing a lot of political stories more lately.  But I guess a lot of other people are too.  The difference is, they are acting on their beliefs and I’m just commenting on it.

Car Stalled On Tracks - In Class Prompt

James Laboke knew something was wrong when he saw a car stalled on the train tracks with the driver slumped over the wheel.

At approximately 6 a.m. this morning, Laboke, a seventeen year old waiter walking to an early shift at the Eezy Breezy restaurant, spotted and reported the car to police.  Laboke stated that the 1987 pink Cadillac Seville was stalled on the tracks and that the driver, 80-year-old Quebec tourist Francois Truffant, appeared to be unconscious. 

The Amtrak Downeaster, with a daily 6 a.m. stop in Old Orchard Beach, was about 10 minutes away. 

To save the car, the town’s police force reacted immediately, sending out a call to all local units about the dire situation.

“I knew there was no time,” said police captain Janet Paradiso, who was on duty in her cruiser when the call went out.  “I had to do something.”

Rushing to the scene, Paradiso managed to push the stalling car from the tracks by ramming it with her own cruiser.  Just thirty seconds later, the Downeaster rolled through at 40 mph, on its scheduled morning run.  “It was that close,” Old Orchard Beach chief of police Brian Paul said of the incident.

Truffant was taken to Southern Maine Medical center after the incident. He was in stable condition after the impact of being hit by the Paradiso.  He told police that he is a diabetic, and it is believed that he may have gone into insulin shock as he reached the railroad crossing, causing his unconsciousness.

Truffant’s memory of the incident is hazy. “I don’t remember a thing,” he said.

Laboke was greeted as a hero in the summer beach town for saving Truffant from the train.  Laboke, an Afghan refugee who had been a resident of Old Orchard Beach for three years, was very humble when asked about the incident.

“I never thought about it,” he said. “I just knew I couldn’t let that man get crushed by a train.”

After reporting the incident to police, Laboke showed up for work on time and went about his work as normal.  After learning of Laboke’s heroic action, Charles Champaigne, owner of the Eezy Breezy restaurant, had nothing but praise for his employee.  “It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Champaigne said. “That young man is one of my most responsible employees. He’s just a great kid.”

Ella N - "New Student Art Gallery Opens in Philbrook Hall"

“New Student Art Gallery Opens in Philbrook Hall”

by Ella Nilsen

10/2/11

This fall, the newly opened Petrella Student Art Gallery in Philbrook Hall will give students a chance to both submit and view art by their peers.  Located in one of Philbrook’s nine dining rooms, the Petrella Gallery’s brick walls are lined with student art in all its various forms: drawing, painting, screen-printing, and photography.  The artwork will be replaced every couple of months and idea of displaying sculpture in addition to hanging pictures is currently being considered.

“I wanted to establish an opportunity for to students display their artwork publicly,” said gallery creator Adam Hill.  For Hill, a junior biology major, the idea for a gallery came last year.  “Previously, to view student artwork, you would have to go to the Paul Creative Arts Center. ” he said.  “No longer restricted to one particular building, this gallery allows any student to show their friends and family a hidden talent they may have.”

To make this idea a reality, Hill contacted members of Dining Services, including director Jon Plodzik. Approval from Dining was quick and the office was immediately supportive of the project.  Students in the UNH Art Association assisted Hill in setting up the gallery.

“I thought it was a great idea,” said Philbrook manager Brandon Crosby, “If I’m putting up pictures, I’d much rather it be student pictures, whether it be photos taken by students, or artwork made by students.”  Many of the pictures displayed elsewhere in the dining hall are photographs of student life at the university, most of which have been taken by UNH Photographic Services. 

From Crosby’s point of view, the cost to put up student artwork was about equal to what he currently spends on photos for the dining hall.  “It’s not very expensive stuff,” said Crosby.  “We have to do it anyways and I’m happy to do it.”  All student artwork is donated for the duration of the show; costs come with the supplies needed to display the artwork.

According to both Hill and Crosby, Philbrook was the most logical place to display student artwork because of the setup of the dining hall.  Unlike other campus dining halls Stillings and Holloway, Philbrook is separated into many different rooms with ample wall space. 

As of now, Hill is hoping to expand the project into one more dining room in Philbrook, and eventually, other spaces on campus.  He has also been talking to sculpture and woodworking professor Leah Woods about the possibility of featuring sculptures in the gallery along with the current pieces.  They are hoping to be able to display sculptures in the gallery soon, once the necessary pedestals or hanging cases are built to house student work.

“My idea would be to see one display case and two free-standing pedestals,” said Professor Woods.  She stated that the pedestals would display large works, whereas small pieces would be contained in a hanging display case.    

Woods believes that the risks inherent with showing freestanding work in a crowded and public place would be worth the benefits.  “This is my fifth year here and we’ve never had a problem with theft or things damaged or roughed up,” she said.  “Part of me thinks that people would touch the pieces, but I don’t think that’s a problem because I want people to experience the tactile sensation of holding clay or sculpture or wood.”

Philbrook Hall’s manager Brandon Crosby remains supportive of the idea for sculpture pieces in the dining rooms.  The biggest potential conflict for him is the issue of space management.  “There are peak times at dinner and lunch in here when it’s hard to find a spot to sit,” said Crosby.  “I don’t want to take seats out to put a display case in, but I’m sure we can figure out a way to display whatever it is.”

For Hill, the benefits of the gallery are already apparent.  “I’ve seen a lot of people go up to it and smile,” he said.  “It feels good to know as a student you are able to do something to improve the campus.  If you have an idea, do whatever it takes to make it work.”

For more information, to join the UNH Student Art Association, or to submit artwork for the next gallery show, email Hill at petrella.gallery@gmail.com.  The Petrella Gallery is a product of the UNH Student Art Association, Dining Services, and Student Senate.

Ella N - "First Time Student Director Hopes Play Will Resonate with UNH Students"

Ella Nilsen

“First Time Student Director Hopes Play Will Resonate with UNH Students”

9/26/11

It’s 8 o’clock on a rainy, humid Thursday night at the University of New Hampshire.  Paul Creative Arts Center is mostly empty, save for Room M118, where actors are rehearsing for the upcoming Mask and Dagger production of “Rabbit Hole.”  Inside the classroom, amidst scattered desks and chairs, Jess Emerson gathers her four actors around her.

            “Focus on the things you’ve learned in the past few days and use them,” she says, before sending them off to separate sides of the room.  Two students sit off to the sidelines and wait for their scene to start.  The remaining actors, Kahley MacLeod and Amanda DeMarco, settle around a table and begin the scene.  Their characters are sisters at odds and uncomfortable with each other.  The atmosphere in the room changes rapidly and tension builds.  DeMarco animatedly narrates a bar fight her character, Izzy, gets involved in as Macleod, her older sister sits listening, silent and angry.  DeMarco caps off her story with a wild punch in the air, yelling, “…then, BOOM!  I hit her!” as MacLeod eyes her with apprehension.

            “Okay,” Emerson says, “I’m going to stop you guys there.  Let’s go back to the beginning of Izzy’s line and start again.”

            First time director student director Emerson is currently overseeing the fall production of “Rabbit Hole.”  The first and only Mask and Dagger production during the fall semester, “Rabbit Hole” is a drama with a small cast.  The story of this award-winning play revolves around middle-aged couple Becca and Howie, whose young child is accidentally run over and killed by a seventeen-year-old driver.  The play follows the couple and their family through the grieving process.  The play especially focuses on the character of Becca, who pushes her family and husband away as she copes with her son’s death.

            For Emerson, a theatre major and actor herself, directing a show is something completely new.  “I was terrified at first,” she said, “and now, I just kind of fall into it.”  Her only previous experience with directing was in class, and this is completely different.  “In directing, David Kaye just challenges you in every possible way, and you have to go through a scene and find every tiny little nuance.  With your own piece, you don’t need to follow the same rules,” she says.  “You can find your own way of getting into people’s heads and figuring this artistic genre out in your own style.”

            How are her actors responding to guidance from a fellow student?  “It’s different working with a student director because there’s less pressure to be excellent and less formality a lot of the time,” said Amanda DeMarco, who plays the character of Izzy.  Nevertheless, DeMarco says, “Jess is pushing me to explore the character in ways I would never think of.” 

Actors interviewed said that the intimacy of working with such a small cast and a student director has truly made the rehearsal process unique.  “Acting is really dependent on the people you work with,” says MacLeod, “and I really got lucky with ‘Rabbit Hole.’  I trust them completely.”

For Emerson, the message of “Rabbit Hole” is very translatable to college students.  “As the year goes on, and the weather gets colder, and the classes get harder,” she says, “everything about me gets more and more down and there’s less hope that the year is ever going to end, or that this paper is ever going to end.”  The play, she says, is ultimately about finding hope, and more importantly, finding support in other people.  “The biggest message of the play for me is…you can’t walk alone in this world,” Emerson says.  “I want people to reach out if they are having problems.  That’s Becca’s biggest problem, that she hasn’t reached out until the end.”

New York Times Reading Log - Monday 26th-Wednesday 28th

Monday, September 26^th: 

Today’s business section caught my eye with some nice graphics and an interesting article called “Tablet Wars Flare.”  It was interesting as a student living in the current tech bubble to think about why some products (i.e. Apple’s iPad) are so successful, and why others (basically every other competitor Apple has), flop instantly.  I know very few people that have tablet computers that are not iPads.  I suppose it is Apple’s complete star power and it’s consistent ability to do everything first that separate itself from its lagging competition. 

The Times seems to be naming Amazon as the biggest possible competitor with Apple, and states that this is because of their opposite marketing strategies.  Says the Times, “Apple sells books, movies and music in order to sell devices.  Amazon sells devices in order to sell books, movies and music.”  Weirdly this makes sense.  Amazon is a competitor instead of a copier, which is what most other technology companies are when compared to Apple. 

The piece of news on the front page that I’m most drawn to is the story about Saudi women gaining the right to vote and run for office.  I’m shocked and so happy to hear this amazing story.  The Arab Spring is producing amazing results in many medieval countries.  It’s very heartening.

Tuesday, September 27^th:

The photo on the front cover of the New York Times is very direct and more than slightly chilling.  It’s the one of the small girl from Yemen, wearing a headband that reads, “We will win for the blood of our martyrs.”  The image is so many things: inspiring, riveting, scary.  When such momentous occasions like revolutions are shown through the eyes of children, it always makes things more sobering.

I found the article on wasted natural gas being burned instead of captured and used for energy purposes both fascinating and completely frustrating.  The stubborn incompetence of the energy industry is astounding.  This quote in particular was dumbfounding:  “Every day, more than 100 million cubic feel of natural gas is flared this way – enough energy to heat half a million homes for a year.”  The gas being a high pollutant is worrisome enough, but with a potential energy crisis looming, it makes absolutely no sense, in any way, to keep wasting energy resources so carelessly.

The article “Fighting Cancer with Vinegar and Ingenuity” was a very well written article on a very interesting and heartening subject.  I really enjoyed reading about such a sensible, cheap, and practical fix for a problem like cervical cancer.

Wednesday, September 28^th:

Today, the story in the paper that grabbed my attention the most was the one about spouses of now disabled army veterans.  I think that by focusing on a group of people that are largely forgotten by the public, but who have the very important and tragic job of caring for the continued causalities of war, the article was extremely powerful. 

The article was able to sustain my attention the whole way through, especially because it focused on two families and two caretakers in particular.  One was April Marcum, the wife of Tom Marcum, a soldier who suffered traumatic brain injuries.  The other was Rosie Babin, the mother of Alan Babin, who suffered severe trauma when he was shot in the stomach.  By focusing on these two different families, the Times was able to highlight both families affected by members with physical and emotional injuries, and was also able to show the pronounced affect that caring for an injured family member has to the emotional health of the caregivers. 

It is really important that important publications like the Times focus on issues that many might not give thought to.  In times of war, or after a conflict, the focus largely remains on the soldiers and doesn’t often cover a soldier’s family.  This story highlights the overall tragedy of war.

Delayed Jellyfish Lead

Some perfect beach days aren’t meant to last. 

One such doomed summer day occurred Wednesday, when the day’s festivities at Wallis Sands Beach were interrupted by a surprise visitor: a very large, very dead jellyfish washed up on the beach.

Hurricane Irene Piece - 9/12/11

Hurricane Increases Work, Anxiety for UNH RA’s During Opening Weekend

by Ella Nilsen

            Nervous freshmen.  Returning students.  Anxious parents.  Carloads of dorm room furniture.  A campus-wide traffic jam.  What any person would classify as mayhem is routine for UNH Resident Assistants (RA’s) on the university’s opening weekend.  Something out of the ordinary?  A hurricane arriving at the same time.

            “It was really stressful,” says RA Katie Lemay.  For Lemay, who lives in UNH Residence Hall SERC A, a dorm that has both upperclassmen and freshmen residents, the normal pressures of opening weekend were heightened by the oncoming storm and the extra security measures the university took to prepare for it. 

            Due to the storm, Lemay and other RA’s were given instructions on how to respond if hurricane conditions made campus unsafe.  “ResLife immediately began to prepare us,” said RA Jenny Wu, of Christensen Hall.  “Our hall director informed us on new information as it was obtained.” 

Safety measures included putting RA’s on weather watches, preparing to tape windows, and keeping residents away from windows as much as possible.  “My original plans were to stay up all night and knock on residents doors once it got bad,” said Lemay.  “Housing was expecting some of the windows to break in…we were told to wear clothes that were appropriate to jump out of bed quickly.”  RA’s were to keep their residents in the hallways if weather conditions became too threatening.  “Some of the residents asked me if they could sleep in the hallway,” Lemay said.  Such safety precautions did not end up being necessary.

Even though the storm did not ultimately affect Durham or the Seacoast area as much as was predicted, anxiety ran high for new students.  Said Wu, “We had to inform residents about hurricane procedures during our first floor meeting, which usually sets the tone for the whole year…therefore, some students were even more nervous for college.” 

Some parents who had dropped off their new freshmen decided to pick them up and bring them home until the storm passed.  Many called the residence halls, asking hall directors and RA’s if they could come pick up their children.  “It was hard for us to get back to people,” said Lemay.  “‘Should I come pick up my son or daughter?’…that’s a minor question during move-in.”