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(03/07/07 12:00pm)
You know what grinds my gears? The way doing laundry on campus becomes a long and troublesome adventure.
I'm very glad that laundry machines are free to the student population. But I do not want to constantly wait for six hours at a time just to get my laundry done. It is difficult just to find a machine that isn't being occupied because of the awful ratio of machines to residents.
Freshmen have to resort to searching all odd-numbered floors for vacancies when they run into this problem. During my stay in the towers, I lived on the seventh floor of Wolfe, a floor with a laundry room.
Just like the dishwashers at Eickhoff, the laundry machines decided to malfunction at the most inopportune times. I had to search all over Wolfe to find a suitable replacement, since two of the three washing machines were broken. When I did find one, it ended up being on the first floor.
Upon descending the stairs to inquire about my clothes, I discovered the washing machine had stopped halfway through its cycle, so my clothes were swimming around in a pool of water and detergent. After toying somewhat with the machine, I realized it would not restart. It took me a long time to do laundry that evening.
Something I don't understand is the disrespect that is shown in the laundry rooms. They are like war zones with people battling as they try to claim machines. Then there are the people who open up the dryers and ignore the bright red light indicating a cycle is still in progress. How can they disregard the light? Apparently it's much brighter than they are.
What angers me more is when they open the door mid-cycle and let clothes fall out. Then they close the door and don't turn the machine back on. Just the other day my friend discovered her clothes, which were intended to be in high heat for only half-an-hour, were still wet because someone opened the machine after only 10 minutes.
Then there are those who neglect their laundry once they have started the process. People who are in need of a machine have to pile up the previous user's clothes on top of the machines. The next thing you know, people will be reporting missing clothes because they cannot find their own apparel amid Mount Fruit of the Loom.
New Residence Hall has flooded twice already in this school year, but I am certain not a day passes when a laundry room doesn't have its own adaptation of a flood. Defective washing machines find a way to leak water, creating dirty little pools on the floor. Not many of the laundry rooms are equipped with mops or brooms; what they really need are inflatable life rafts.
Why are people so careless with the simple task of cleaning clothes? That's what grinds my gears this week.
(02/28/07 12:00pm)
You know what grinds my gears? The food on campus.
I feel like I'm the only vegetarian on campus. It takes a full 15 minutes for me to get my food because no one ever asks for veggie burgers. Frozen veggie burgers take additional time to thaw before being cooked.
I feel like no one ever asks for them because no one ever really knows they're available. I didn't know myself until inquiring about anything vegetarian at the grill.
They used to place vegetarian menus outside Eickhoff entrances, but it seems like food this year has just gone down into the negatives in quality points.
Of course people will say, "What's the problem? You still have salads, pizza and pasta every night." My answer to that is, "Have you ever heard the term 'malnutrition'?" We need to be healthy college students that can go to class without our stomachs growling loudly enough to interrupt the professor's lecture.
When we are healthy we are more likely to pay attention, avidly take notes and learn, which is what we actually came here to do. So why does food so high in demand take so long to be prepared? They can't possibly be adding seasoning, because any college student on a meal plan will tell you how bad the food tastes.
What about the times you go into a dining hall and find there's almost no food left? You are forced to leave the hall, dissatisfied, on an empty stomach. Aren't they supposed to be accommodating?
The dining halls are set in place as a means for students to have meals. Meals are supposed to fulfill the needs and wants of an average human stomach. We cannot possibly have a meal from a burnt chicken sandwich and leftover chocolate pudding. Drink machines decide they don't want to dispense drinks. Everything is constantly breaking down.
Workers try to kick you out half an hour before the hall closes because they don't want to deal with anyone else. They constantly complain about their jobs and lives. They flirt with students or have attitudes for no reason. They mess around when they should be working.
Last year, I almost got hit in the face by a flying object. Looking down as it landed on the floor, I discovered it was a latex glove filled with water. Looking back up, I saw an Eickhoff worker laugh as he collected his glove and apologized. Is this the kind of environment we should put up with when all we are trying to do is eat?
And what about the tray system? Workers slam tray stands into each other, causing plates and cups to crash to the floor. It's one step above last year when they ran into people and yet just as dangerous. Is it a coincidence that the Health Services office is conveniently located on the same floor?
Eickhoff, as a buffet-style dining hall, has a policy that students cannot take food out of the building. I guess they really mean that you won't want to, because when you drop off your used trays and dishes the smell makes you want to hurl everything you have left. Clearly, the trash can they've placed there was intentional. Although it perpetually smells like vomit, the strong students of the College have managed to maintain their composure, either by holding their breath or ignoring the problem.
I suppose you can't really ask for much when you're paying the school more than $20,000 a year to attend. I mean, it's all about the education, so what does food really matter?
I should be able to ignore these hunger pangs. Maybe I'll just convert to eating meat.
And that's what grinds my gears this week.
(02/28/07 12:00pm)
Students put their percussion talent on display in the College's second annual Percussion Studio Recital. Held on Feb. 22 in the Mayo Concert Hall, the performers brought percussion, which is usually relegated to the musical background, right to the front.
"In a concert band or a symphony orchestra, the percussionists lead the rhythm of the ensemble and provide many different orchestral sound colors," percussion professor and faculty advisor William Trigg said.
Each piece was greeted with an eager and welcoming silence as the audience sat in anticipation. The songs, which ranged in tempo and volume, took the audience members to a different world only to return when each piece was completed.
The recital featured 12 of the College's classical percussionists. John Holmok, junior music education major, opened on the snare drum with Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic's "Pezza Da Concerto No. 1." He was followed by senior music majors Jason Price on timpani and Colin Murray on tuba in "A Thing for Tuba and Timpani" by Thomas N. Rice.
The timpani remained at center stage for Elizabeth Lagerstrom, junior music major, who played "March" from "8 Pieces for Solo Timpani" by Elliot Carter. Though Lagerstrom's piece was slow-paced, sophomore music education major Joe Espineira then played the timpani in a thunderous rendition of "Improvisation," also from "8 Pieces."
Junior music major Antonio Padron serenaded the audience on the marimba, playing "Rhythm Song" by Paul Smadbeck. Music majors Vikki Bell, senior, and Katie Kellen, junior, also used the marimbas to perform a duet entitled "Fission" by Alice Gomez.
Next on the drum set was junior music major Caryn Feder, playing "West Side Impressions" by John R. Beck. After the show, Feder commented on the difficulty she had getting her piece to "speak and groove."
"It's not an easy piece, and it took a considerable amount of practice to get it up to the level I did for the show," Feder said. "As it is just for drum set, you really need to find a way to make the melody of the pieces recognizable to your audience."
Jan William's "Variations for Solo Kettledrums" was also performed on the timpani.
Sophomore music major Scott Burrows followed on the marimba in the next piece, Ben Wahlund's "With Sunshine In His Face."
Burrows was joined on stage by Holmok on bells, Kellen on xylophone, Romero on vibes, Bell on timpani, Espineira on the tambourine and maracas and senior music major Rusty Woolf on the drum set. To end the night, the group presented Houliff's arrangement of Wilson and Love's "Good Vibrations."
The recital was first initiated as an annual event when percussion students thought of the idea. Trigg allows performers to pick their own songs. The pieces are ones the students are currently working on or interested in.
Freshman English major Ray Fallon attended to watch a friend perform and enjoyed the show.
"My favorite piece was by Erik Romero on timpani; he did an amazing job of handling some very interesting variations," Fallon said. "As a Beach Boys fan, though, I especially enjoyed the 'Good Vibrations' finale."
(02/21/07 12:00pm)
You know what grinds my gears? Not being able to have access to important information on campus.
They should enforce the rule stating that all posters containing information about events already passed should be taken down within a week after said event's conclusion.
This kind of cleanup only seems to occur when people travel to their respective homes for a "break." I hardly know what's going on anymore.
Also, the College doesn't seem to inform you on what charges you may have. Just the other day, I happened upon my TESS account, finding I owed the school $10,000 in fees I swore I paid off way before the billing statements were due.
Meanwhile, no e-mails were sent to my account to inform me of my seemingly "neglectful" behavior. Shouldn't I be told whether or not the school is in need of my financial aid?
And then the end of the semester will roll around and I'll be wondering why I'm getting kicked off campus.
I have heard several students around campus making inquiries about such things as sending out packages and reserving rooms to hold a meeting or practice.
Unfortunately, these students do not find out how to go about doing what they need to do from the College Web site and are not further assisted by those who are supposed to know everything about campus.
Are we all to go to the information desk in Brower Student Center for every single campus question we have? Even the information desk is not always open for information-seeking individuals. So what else is available?
I like that we are encouraged to be independent, responsible and mature young adults. We live in dorms not quite set to proper temperatures to combat the weather of our outdoor surrounding environment.
We make decisions as to what food to select for a dinner we did not cook. We decide what time to exit the building when we hear the fire alarm.
Yet when it comes to utilizing campus resources properly, shouldn't the College be on our side?
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what grinds my gears.
(02/07/07 12:00pm)
"In 24 hours, six one-act plays will be written, produced, directed, constructed, cast, propped, costumed and presented to an audience."
WIRED!, the play competition first introduced three years ago by senior business major Gabe Alonso, took place on Saturday.
All College Theatre (ACT), TCNJ Musical Theatre (TMT), 'ink' and Sigma Pi Fraternity came together to put on this event.
To give you a glimpse of the creative process, we followed participants from the first twist to the final bow. ACT president James Van Strander served as production manager and writer.
The arbiters - the students who set and adjusted rules, served as hosts and judges and oversaw the competition - were sophomore English major Ashley Gallagher (ACT), 'ink' vice president Lindsay Coleman and TMT president Scott Sadowsky.
Joe Espineira, sophomore secondary education/music major, and Lindsay Gelay, ACT treasurer, were actors in two of the plays. Sophomore English major Michael Krahel and sophomore music major Brian Michalowski were among the directors.
Friday 8:00 p.m.
The arbiters meet Van Strander and 11 other writers in the New Library basement.
They announce this year's theme: "Famous Verbal Blunders." The writers are divided into six teams of two.
Van Strander thinks of John F. Kennedy's 1963 Berlin speech, in which he misspeaks in German and accidentally calls himself a jelly doughnut instead of a citizen of Berlin.
Van Strander and his partner Colin Murray, senior music major, work until midnight writing their short play while listening to German techno music.
10:00 p.m.
Arbiters introduce the first twist: Include an unusual disease in the play.
Saturday 12:00 a.m.
Van Strander and Murray think they've finished their first draft. The second twist is announced: Use two specific props. They begin revisions.
2:00 a.m.
Third twist: Involve a story from The Signal. Van Strander and Murray select the "Cop Shop" story about a student using his roommate's credit card to purchase porn on the Internet. That article will also make an appearance in every other play.
3:15 a.m.
Fourth twist: Include the line "Go drink some orange juice and take a nap, you bitch."
3:30 a.m.
Fifth twist: Employ an arbiter as a prop.
4:30 a.m.
Some writers are looking a bit relaxed. Arbiters add a sixth twist: Use three lines of iambic pentameter. Van Strander finds this rule to be slightly annoying.
5:00 a.m.
Van Strander and Murray hand in their final draft. The arbiters make their final reviews of each script.
7:00 a.m.
Krahel, Michalowski and the other directors arrive and are paired with their writers. They discuss details while the arbiters decide each cast from the list of actors.
8:00 a.m.
Gelay and Espineira arrive with other actors, stage managers and production staff members, and the arbiters reveal the cast list. Actors head to their rehearsal areas with directors and stage managers where they will rehearse until the afternoon.
12:30 p.m.
Stage managers search for the costumes and prop pieces needed.
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Michalowski, Krahel and other directors arrive in Brower Student Center Room 202 to begin loading everything in.
Coleman and Espineira arrive along with other actors and production staff members.
4:30 p.m.
Stage managers run the first and only dress rehearsal.
8:00 p.m.
A random audience member is selected as the fourth judge and the plays commence.
The show begins with the play "Potatoe," which chronicles the story of two brothers who are holding an event to celebrate the grand opening of their bookstore. The event is supposed to feature special guest speaker Dan Brown.
Hijinks ensue, including the accidental booking of a smelly Dan Quayle impersonator played by Espineira. The play's verbal blunder manifests itself when the sign-makers who are commissioned for a celebratory banner consistently misuse the letter 'E.' 'Telephone' gets spelled 'telephon,' 'grand' becomes 'grande' and 'desk' is spelled 'deske.'
Alicia Silverstone's commentary on her film "Clueless" provided the inspiration for "escargot, espionage, and the art of leprosy." Two friends go out on dates with women who are not their wives.
One man, tricked into the date, is reluctant to cheat on his wife, repeatedly stating that he loves her. His friend began cheating on his wife when he found out how "clueless" she was. However, the wives find out about the dates, a waitress is shot and the good guy gets three cups of water to the face.
Coleman and Michalowski's play, "Three Guys, Two Girls, a Dad, a Prostitute, but Unfortunately No Pizza Place" was inspired by an insensitive comment from Barbara Bush about Hurricane Katrina's underprivileged Gulf Coast victims. The no-holds-barred play offered an uncensored glimpse into the lives of two roommates and their good female friend, played by Gelay.
The main character, played by sophomore Vinnie Scaffuto, uses his profanity-laced words of wisdom to convince his friends to dump their loser lovers.
Van Strander and Murray's script, "Cloning Kennedy: A Scientific Look at Revisionist History," is about a researcher and an intern who attempted to create a JFK clone to send back in time to change history in the hopes of bettering America's reputation abroad.
However, they keep running into problems with their clones, ending up with a German Kennedy, a female and even a biological freak of nature.
"The Sam Oldman Ordeal" followed. Created with a sports announcer's blunder in mind, the play is about a journalist reporting on the feud between a super-senior citizen and the oversexed, vain baseball legend he struck out.
The night ended with Krahel's play, "Rarely is the Question Asked: Is Our Children Learning?" The title is a direct quote from President George W. Bush. School faculty members, including a very masculine female gym teacher with a taste for cheese blocks, attend a teachers' conference. Keynote speaker Captain Roger Way, played by senior Ben Daniels and modeled after Bush, spoke about the importance of education and the technological brilliance of PowerPoint while wearing an orange diversity hat.
10:30 p.m.
The winners are announced. Best Actor goes to Scaffuto, for his passionate and profane performance in "Three Guys." The winner of Best Actress is junior Annie Raczko, who played an overbearing mother at fault for the many snafus in "Potatoe." Van Strander and Murray win Best Writing, and Best Overall Play goes to the cast of "Potatoe," directed by Arun Gurunathan.
Participating in WIRED! and winning the Best Writing award left Van Strander feeling extremely accomplished.
"I encourage anyone to give it a shot. It is a frantic, concentrated day of your time but you get the vibe of teamwork," Van Strander said. "I encourage people who have never done a theater performance to try it."
(01/31/07 12:00pm)
"Is that the same card we started with?"
"No way!"
This was only part of Jim Karol's "Psychic Madman" show held Friday evening in Kendall Hall. Karol, the "Madman" entertainer, has appeared on such shows as "NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "The Ellen Show" and was seen in the movie "Jackass Number Two."
The night started with "Benjamin the Juggler" from Moscow, who amused audience members with objects such as rubber chickens, spinning dishes and pins. A round of applause was heard when he finished, while the still-increasing audience waited for Karol.
"I'm excited. I don't know what to expect. I've never been to a magic show," Jennifer Marcelin, sophomore criminal justice major, said.
Josette Marrero, sophomore chemistry major, shared her skepticism. "Will it be good? I'll assume not as good as David Blaine."
But the talents and abilities demonstrated by Karol proved the show to be outstanding after all.
Throughout the night, he accurately predicted what playing cards people held, stated what they were thinking and performed amazing stunts.
Karol even displayed his card-throwing trick used in "Jackass Number Two" by chucking random playing cards in the air. The card selected by a participant became stuck to the ceiling while the rest fell to the ground, wowing everyone. He claims it will not fall down for another 11 days.
In one part of the show, audience participant Mina Greiss, sophomore biology major, was asked to place his finger through a double-jawed fox trap and hand through an Alaskan wolf trap.
After the show, Greiss said, "He's a madman. I thought I was going to die." Greiss was expecting hypnosis or levitation before attending and left the show uninjured and awestruck.
The College Union Board (CUB) sponsored the event in hopes of getting a good turnout because of the free show and its uniqueness. Shawn Peterson, CUB event coordinator, was in charge of running the show.
"Originally, we had looked at both music and illusion-type acts," Peterson said. "After formulating a list of available music acts within our budget, CUB decided those artists were too similar to the kind of music we brought to campus in the recent past. . Because of this, we decided to stray from our normal 'Welcome Back Weekend Concert' and move forward with the magic/illusion/mentalism idea."
Karol was given the nickname "Psychic Madman" in 1990 after correctly foretelling the Pennsylvania Lottery worth over $12 billion. He does not claim to be a psychic, yet his extraordinary memory and mind skills have allowed him to write three books, including "Mind Games," which banned him from nearly every casino in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
He ended the night with a presentation of the new trick he proposed for the third "Jackass" installment. A participant hid a railroad spike in one of three Styrofoam cups while Karol turned his back. Karol smashed his hand into two of the cups he perfectly guessed were empty.
Crystal Kan, freshman digital arts major, thought the show was "freaky." "A friend brought me to the show and I was curious," she said. "It was scary as hell, but cool."
A flyer in Eickhoff Hall persuaded Brian Glaz, sophomore interactive multimedia major, to come. "I was glad to have come but I wish (I had) participated," he said.
Karol expressed his own thoughts about the College. "The school was fantastic and the audience was great," he said. "The audience makes the show and they were fantastic." He added his prediction for the 2008 presidential election: Hillary Clinton as President and Barack Obama as Vice President.
"This is what I do, folks. I influence your choice." He did. "Watch what I do. You'll be amazed." We were.
If you missed this event, you can always catch Karol in "Jackass Number Two," "World Series of Poker" or in the upcoming third "Jackass" movie.