HOMECOMING WCSU 2010

Homecoming started off on Saturday with a sizzle while students, family and Alumni began grilling and drinking outside of the West Side Campus Center. The day promised to be full of festivities including, of course the game (Colonials vs. Monclair State,) the carnival, street fair and the Hoe’ Down Barbecue. The theme this year was Wild Wild Westconn. Tailgaters and others adorned in cowboy hats and boots rang cowbells and blew horns while strolling around the lot with friends.

“It’s a pretty good turn out,” said Wayne Scinto a private security guard hired for the event, of the just about a hundred people that hung out in West Conn pride sweatshirts and sunglasses, enjoying the brisk yet sunny fall morning.

The various fraternities came to set up tents including Zeta Beta Tau or ZBT, which had the biggest gathering area, featuring beer pong and games like corn hole, and Ducks in a hat, which requires tossing a yellow frisbee into a small slot cut into a vertical cylinder. Even while the Colonials slipped into second on the field, roars in the stands could be heard from the parking lot party and people kept on their positive attitudes.

“Everyone in the Westconn scene is still spirited,” says Missey FitzSimons a Junior and year long member of sorority Sigma Delta Tau, from behind her ultra reflective ray bans. “We keep cheering them on.”

School spirit was definitely in the air along with the delicious smells of burgers, hot dogs and sausages. One enthusiastic group of Alums and family friends served up shrimp and steak and even clams on the half shell, not abandoning their fine tastes despite limited resources in the parking lot.

It was around noon when people began heading towards the game, while in the lot below, carnival workers continued setting up and waiting for the masses to roll in. Toddlers ran from one bouncy game to the next with their parents trailing close behind.

Shannon, a long island resident, whose husband is Alumni, was pleasantly surprised by the family friendly vibe.

“This might be the first time they have all the kids stuff,” she says, enjoying her 9^th year attending the carnival. Her son’s favorite activity was the big tiger bounce house.

 There were six blow- up attractions including an obstacle course, one- on -one foot ball themed tug of war, a bounce house for the kids and even a bungee jumper where a person gets strapped in and using a trampoline can jump and do flips. A mechanical bull seemed to attract a good crowd of daring participants who all, in the end, seemed to be thrown mercilessly from the mechanical beast.

“65 seconds is the longest run,” said Clarence Payne who works for DNA Amusement, the company which supplies the carnival. This year was Clarence’s fifth year participating in Westcon’s homecoming activities. “There’s probably gonna be a big outcome after the games over,” he predicted. And he was right, slowly and than all of a sudden groups of students came rushing in, rustling up the quiet early afternoon calm. Screams no longer came from the stadium, but from the SCAT, one of the three thrill rides and a definite tummy turner.

Meanwhile, along side the O’Neil center, members of the universities’ clubs set up tables with games and activities which comprised the Homecoming Street Fair. The carnival as well as the Street Fair were organized by the SGA and PAC (programs activities council,) but couldn’t have been possible without the hard work and collaborative, creative efforts made by the members of the various campus clubs. Each club’s activity cost a dollar or two and all proceeds would go towards their cause.

Live music was provided for the fair for the third year by Latanya Farrell and the Bookman Styles Band, a few members of which are actually WCSU alumni. They graced the day with old classic sounds from The Steve Miller Band, to contemporary pop such as Amy Winehouse and Rhianna.

“Its awesome, I get to see some old classmates, the turnout is great and the weather is great,” says lead singer Latanya Farrell, before running up to the tent to take her place at the mic. Latanya is a WCSU Alum who had actually won WCSU’s Educator of the Decade award in 1990.

The fair turnout was one of the best yet. Last year it had to be moved inside due to the rain, but this year unity and spirit ran rampant while everyone enjoyed one of the last 65 degree days of the season. 

“To call it a success is an understatement,” said Andrew Wetmore, President of the Student Government Association. “The number of students that wanted to be involved was incredible; it’s a terrific fundraiser (for the clubs,) as well as for publicity and recognition.

By three, people were squeezing by each other to get down the table lined walk way. Holding hands or locking arms was a popular way for groups to not split up. Spokespeople for each table called out trying to attract people to their stand. You could spend a dollar to ‘pie a pledge’ or shoot a ball to win some goldfish. Despite the crowds everyone was able to enjoy a good grilled cheese, a Linda burger and Foley fries from the College Republicans club, or a sweet treat like home made cupcakes or deep fried Oreos in powdered sugar. The Oreos were being sold four for two dollars by the Reality Gospel Choir, who had practiced for a month to sing the national anthem at this year’s game.

One group, Habitat for Humanity, encouraged a little aggression by having people race to hammer all their nails into the wooden stump in front of them. Habitat for Humanity is a nationwide organization, which does work for those less fortunate, building homes. The proceeds at their table will go to the club and will help those who are able to fill the 18 available slots get to New Orleans, the site of their next project.

“Go, you got it!” shouted Jenna Carlone, a junior and a resident at WCSU, to her friends who struck rapidly at the nails. “Westside feels so separated, so it’s good that everyone comes together, it’s good to have school spirit,” she says of the fair with a wide smile.

The king and queen of this year’s homecoming also belonged to campus clubs, Jason Nolen of Center Stage and Michelle Sciarappa of the SGA and treasurer of the Gay Straight Alliance on campus, were the winners. They could be spotted around the carnival taking pictures and giving hugs adorned in their respective crown and tiara.

“We lost the game so that kinda stinks,” says Andrew Henrdrick, media coordinator of Center Stage. “But our nominee was homecoming king so he is our center stage king!”  

At their booth, Center Stage offered tarot and fortune readings by Madame Tuozzolo and Mistress Suzzi. They set out stones and burned sage while a mysterious Madame T read energies from underneath a black scarf and dark sunglasses. Their show, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas opens next week.

The Gay Straight Alliance also had a table, which proved to be a bit messy at times. They set up a huge mural dirtied with hate words and bigoted accusations. For a dollar, the crowd was encouraged to hurl sponges of paint at it to cover the repugnant messages, sending a new one, a message of huge relevance amidst all of the recent tragedies.

Things were beginning to settle down when Sodexo began to serve up their homecoming BBQ, a tradition at the street fair. Sodexo is the company responsible for the food in the cafeteria as well as for all school events. This years BBQ, rather than the burgers and dogs they would have served up last year, consisted of Southwest bean salad, corn and a variety of barbeque meats. The vegetarian BBQ option (along with the Veggies) was meatless ribblets, which may not have been a huge hit, but they get some credit for trying. The rest went over well with the crowd and everyone was pleased with the turnout, including Elaina Mendes who has worked for the WCSU catering department for three years now.

“The BBQ was better this year because of the time and the location,” she says. Last year the barbeque was served on the patio and was a little later compared to this years 4 o’clock start time. This year they were directly outside of the O’Neil center, parallel with the fair. “(The location) helps keeps students all together and they seem to really be enjoying it.”

The meal was free to all students with an ID card, but ten dollars for all family, friends and Alumni. A few people found the price a bit absurd, abandoning their spot in the quickly moving line, but for the most part, everyone was happy and well fed.

Towards the end of the day people started making their way towards their cars, ready to either relax their Saturday night away or get ready for the Homecoming ball. By 5:30 the sun was setting over the West Side Campus and the empty lot where the carnival had been. Volunteers were bustling around packing up all the chairs and tables from the fair.

Andrew Wetmore looked out over the walkway where the fair had been with his arms crossed wearing a pleasant, reflective smile. Only few scattered remnants gave attribute to the days numerous activities.

“The sun shined on us today,” he said with a sigh. Anyone would agree.

"IT GETS BETTER"

Living in a country where diversity and self- expression are often embraced and encouraged, it is hard to believe that ignorance and cruelty still runs rampant among our youth, in the hallways of their high schools and even at home. A string of recent teen suicides are unfortunate proof that lack of tolerance and understanding is still a huge problem in America.

The question now, surrounding bullying and cyber bullying, in a time where even being at home isn’t safe because the attacks can come through the computer or cell phone, and when administrators and parents are neglectful of these certain needs, is: how can kids escape the ridicule, where can they go to cope? One organization reaches out to Gays and Lesbians and anyone who has experienced or is in the midst of hardship, using the Internet as a powerful tool to send a positive message about the future.

 “It gets better,” is a video campaign, broadcasted through YouTube, which invites any one with a positive story for the future to share their message.

Videos have been posted by men and women, service members and even high schoolers themselves who have gotten through issues they have had with bullying in the past. The try to instill the hope, in those who turn to the videos for inspiration, that a bright future full of freedom and self -love is in grasp, if only one sticks around to make it a reality.

An interesting clip by one woman, a recovering homophobic, actually addresses the other side with the message: “It gets better, because some day you will realize that the disease is not homosexuality, it is homophobia.”

Dan Savage, the man who jump started the project, was inspired by the tragic death of a gay teen in Indiana who committed suicide in September after undergoing unbearable taunting from his classmates. Savage, a proud and successful gay man, is author of a weekly advice column which appears in several alternative magazines throughout the states, and has written several books which highlight the struggles tribulations and immense happiness which can be achieved in establishing a life as a homosexuality in America.

The campaign has attracted celebrities, gay and straight including gossip guru Perez Hilton and the lead singer of Maroon 5, Adam Levine.

“Don’t let them, win please don’t let them win,” pleads Adam in his video. “It gets better, high school is not the end of the line.” 

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network released a survey in 2009, which displays a harrowing high school experience for LGBT students. It stated that 84.6% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 40.1% reported being physically harassed and 18.8% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation (http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2624.html.) These numbers show that the fight for equality and unity is far from over.

The “It gets better campaign,” is just one of the several steps which have to be taken towards reaching out to the struggling youth. The Trevor project is another grass roots organization, geared towards those who are considering suicide, which reaches out to the LGBT community with their positive message and companionship.  Hopefully, the hundreds of thousands views the videos have received collectively are a first look for many into a brighter, happier future.

The Coming Age

A big story going around right now is the tragic case of Tyler Clementi who leap to his death after an intimate moment of his was recorded and broadcasted by his roommate and another girl. From this many questions have arisen. The two are being charged with invasion of privacy and prosecutors are pushing towards calling it a hate crime. But the aspect of the case I am interested in is how the internet and recent technology comes in to play and how is alters or doesn’t alter what we deem as morally appropriate. Myself and many others with argue that a person’s morality is cannot actually be altered by the fact that certain technologies exist, that these two kids were cruel and of outrageously poor judgment which unfortunately caused the abrupt end to beautiful life. But what can also be speculated upon is how accessibility to endless technologies may increase the likelihood of these things happening. Just like anything we take the good with the bad. We started making movies and television and we started seeing an increase in violence for example. We internalize it, and it therefore dehumanizes us. Although we all make the conscious choice to watch people’s heads being sawed off slowly, blood and gore everywhere, there is no doubt in my mind that our subconscious yields the consequences of that type of exposure.

So how does this relate to the internet and Tyler Clemente?

I do believe strongly that our morality, every aspect of our culture, beliefs, lifestyle, values, family; religion is conditioned by the external environments into which we are born. With the internet and social networks, we open up doors into our personal lives that we may not have otherwise chosen to expose. But the means is there so we do. And with that condition, lack of importance upon privacy and blurred boundary lines, a younger generation may not understand those boundaries in the same way which we have been brought up to understand them.

If you can catch my drift, in no way do I excuse the actions of the two twits that performed the deed which led a boy to his death, but I want to use them as an example to warn the world of the problems we may face with the coming generations. Our little sisters, our children and their children are being directly born into a society completely and irrevocably emerged in social technologies. It is changing EVEYTHING about the way we live and the things which we value.

Some people like me and you recognize this colossal change as it is happening, but the masses will doubtlessly conform.

A professor of mine introduced an amazing point while we were discussing a recent campaign launched by T-Mobile. The cell provider is now offering KIDS FREE on their family plans. The commercials depict children about the age of ten

"According to a study published in April 2010 by the Pew Research Center, 75 percent of children ages 12 to 17 now have a cell phone.<sup>"

http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/Families/T-Mobile-s-Kids-Are-Free-Promotion-Will-Keep-Families-Connected/td-p/466292</sup>

This is extremely smart on their part, right now the children in the family account for a higher percent of the household consumer decisions than ever before! But this brings up certain issues:

At what point would we regulate ones access to certain technologies? In comparison to a fork or even a hand saw (as my professor put it,) you would place one of those items in a child’s hand only after they have been taught properly how to use it. I am sure if a neighbor saw a ten year old waving around a saw recklessly they would call DCF. But who regulates a child’s use of one of the most powerful tools we have today, a cell phone?

How do we factor into our lessons when teaching our young how to balance their personal lives and everything that is now made to be public. How do we create a code of moral ethics for them?

With this new unrestricted access to the greater evils of the world, how do we ensure that parents are doing their parts, and how do we ensure that our work ethics, moral ethics family ethics will survive?

It is something to think about as we mourn the life of a boy that was destroyed through the lack of care that was taken with such an influential and powerful force. The internet.

Do they teach this stuff in history class?

After coming across a disturbing article explaining some science experiments we had conducted on Guatemalans in the 40's, I was interested in doing a little research about the types of things we were also accomplishing and our level of maturity as a society during that time as well. I planned to report it in stark contrast to the barbarous act we forced upon Guatemalan inmates. But unfortunately I only found some more disturbing stuff.

The original article describes a 'Sexually Transmitted Disease study" conducted by the US within which Guatemalan inmates were infected with Syphilis, in order for the US Government researchers to test the effectiveness of Penicillin. Penicillin later became a major medical breakthrough in the US aiding in the recovery of many US Soldiers in the war and began to infiltrate the main stream.

Hillary Clinton recently issued an apology for the inhumane nature and "reprehensible research" within the study. Not only were the inmates infected with the disease, they were done so through the use of prostitutes!! At this point in time FDR was president.

More about the 40's.

We pulled out of the great depression although rationing continued and the production of automobiles ceased. We experienced Pearl Harbor and reacted with declaration of war upon Japan. Later, we dropped an A bomb (or 2) over Hiroshima.

What I HAD NOT KNOWN about the situation was; with paranoia growing and spreading in the United States, we actually detained about 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent and threw them into internment camps.

"The US justified their action by claiming that there was a danger of those of Japanese descent spying for the Japanese. However more than two thirds of those interned were American citizens and half of them were children. None had ever shown disloyalty to the nation. In some cases family members were separated and put in different camps. During the entire war only ten people were convicted of spying for Japan and these were all Caucasian."

http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/japan_internment_camps.htm

Once we squashed the war with our bombs we relocated our paranoia to Russia and China and all the damn communists...and nothing like the Baby Boom to kick start the psychotically capitalist society which we experience happily today.

At least we are apologizing about something.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6903RZ20101001

Thank you red, white and blue

I just found out about a program that was implemented last year in May of 2009 called the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program or TAA. It is designed to offer people over 50 financial Aid towards educational trade programs, wage supplementation and even tax compensation for health insurance expenses. Sounds great right? The qualifier: you must be over the age of fifty and your job must have been eliminated due to company outsourcing. Outsourcing in a simple definition terms is when jobs and/or manufacturing are moved overseas, which causes people to lose their jobs here. This makes the requirements for eligibility into this program very specific. The way I understand it is, the organization, with the goal to help people re-enter the workforce using their acquired marketable skills and strengths, it may endorse certain training programs, but a person may take part in any approved training up to 104 weeks. The person may also receive unemployment through their training period which can include class time or learning on the job site. Strong emphasis is put on finding suitable choices that will match a person's already acquired skills. I assume this is for obvious reasons, but also to cut costs and allow the process to be timelier. As far as I know a person may use the program towards any new career choice including marketing or even nursing and medical assistant. The latest statistics issued for the program drop off in 2007, but between 2006 and 2007 146,983 people were compensated by the TAA.

I had no idea that such a program had been put into place. While it is an amazing attempt at covering up the lack of trade and outsourcing regulations we impose on big business, it does not erase the facts.

"...at least 3.3 million white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages will shift from the United States to low-cost countries by 2015.”Forrester Research January 2004

http://www.rttsweb.com/outsourcing/statistics/

It is a result of big business craving more bang for their buck, keeping their revenues and projecting newly acquired shipping, trade and tariff costs upon us. Which is why even though an I-phone is made in Asia (most likely for a dollar or even fifteen dollars,) it is sold to us here for 300. Now imagine that our economy is floating on these inflated prices and balancing on their risks. I suppose that is a whole other economical issue that I don’t fully understand, but I do understand partially how deeply embedded we are into outsourcing. How do we prevent it, how do we bring the jobs back? How would it affect us here to limit or even no longer allow companies to take advantage of weaker (it is not necessarily true that they are weaker, especially in some Asian Countries,) systems overseas?

All I am saying is that when it comes down to it, big business dictates the state of this economy. They formed their companies and while selling us their products and making their big bucks, they are no longer offering us jobs. The money is going elsewhere; to other people in other economies, but at outrageously lower rates than it would here.

What I am really trying to say is, what can you do now about it? You can create a program to help to cushion those who have been affected. Spread a few pillows and blankets over rock bottom.

Thank you red, white and blue. Thank you.