vol105issue15

Volume 105 No. 15Wednesday, February 4, 2009

MATT KiERNANNews Editor

Elementary student teachers attended their second orientation to meet and discuss with each other ways to improve their teaching and tell experiences they have had with teach-ing supervisors and working with students in-side of classrooms.

The orientation that was held in the Bellin Gallery in the Student Center gave student teachers a chance to relate how their time spent teaching has come along and what they’ve learned from seeing a professional elementary teacher work and working with the students themselves.

“They force you to step out of your role of being a teacher and become a student again,” said Ashley Salonia, an elementary student teacher.

Sometimes starting to work in a classroom with a teaching advisor can be difficult if the advisor isn’t sure how to take control of the classroom.

“They let you get the feeling of teaching,” said Megan Jaswell, an elementary student teacher.

Sally Drew, a member of the teacher edu-cation department and who hosted the orienta-tion, had students split into different tables by elementary grade levels and talk about topics that included the factors of becoming a success-ful teacher, getting along with advisors and opening up communication.

The student teaching program has 11 dif-ferent disciplines including art, physical educa-tion, technology education, English and special education. CCSU also has the only technology education program in Connecticut.

Teaching Begins for Elementary Ed. Students

“Central’s teaching program is rigorous, well-respected and meets all the states stan-dards for certification,” said Director of the Office of Field Experience Holly Hollander.

The first orientation was the beginning of the student teachers experience and was given before they had an opportunity to work in class-rooms. After having worked in classrooms, the second orientation gives the students a chance to ref lect on what they’ve learned.

“They’ve had two of them, this one teach-es so they have the direction they need to take. The meeting is good because they have met the teacher,” said CCSU supervisor for Office Field Experience Dale Ortoli.

Supervisors have new students every se-mester and give them advice on how to teach a class of students while monitoring the students teaching.

“After being in the field for a week, it helps them use the classes for real world experience,” said Hollander. “It helps them get ready and or-ganized for a semesters work and the final phase of their professional program.”

CCSU holds 250 student teaching posi-tions, with 54 of them being elementary student teaching. The positions are spread throughout Connecticut into over 75 towns including Westbrook, Torrington and Fairfield among others.

Drew discussed grade level expectations, which are what teachers use to decide if stu-dents have a mastery of a subject. The students also came up with goals for the first four weeks of student teaching and long-term plans that could give them ideas to bettering themselves as teachers and for their students.

The student teachers will be working at their schools for the entire semester.

Connecticut’s Future in Jazz Looks Bright:A 17-year-old guitarist from Rocky Hill was accepted into the Charles Mingus Festival along with his jazz combo from the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts.

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COLETTE GALLAChERAsst. Copy Editor

In response to a letter from the office of Student Affairs, the members of the Ice Hockey Club may be considering leaving or transfer-ring from CCSU.

The Dec. 16 letter reminded the recipi-ents that the funding now allocated by the Student Government Association and extra money from Student Affairs is not permanent or guaranteed in the future.

Dr. Laura Tordenti, the interim vice presi-dent of Student Affairs, indicated in the letter that this is the second time she has written to the club and reminded them that SGA funding for clubs is not expected to increase.

“Again, I share this with you in case stu-dents wish to make alternate plans, including transferring to another college/university,” Tordenti wrote and also carbon copied the let-ter to Scott Hazan, director of Student Activities / Leadership Development and the CCSU Ice Hockey Club coach Jim Mallia.

Should the funds disappear, other mem-bers of the hockey team are considering leaving as they feel they don’t have much else to keep them at CCSU.

“We got letters from the school saying we’re going to get cut significantly next year and we should look for other ventures. I’ve been here three years, I’ve been captain three years, and in my last year, you’re just going to cut us?” asked Kevin Butler, the team’s co-captain.

“If there is no funding from the school next year, and it continues to be a season where it’s half hockey and half raising money just to put my feet on the ice and play for my school, I don’t see myself coming back,” said Butler.

“I feel like we were kind of betrayed.”In an attempt to safe guard the team,

Alexander Estrom, the SGA President has pro-

posed a Club Sports Board and a slight increase in activity fees to fund it. His plans include add-ing a part-time student activity fee and increas-ing the full-time to pay for the board.

Once in effect, if the proposal should pass, club sports the have a seat on the board will be able to distribute money to each club as they see fit.

But these ideas are being met with strong opposition from many full and part time students.

For some of the team members, it is the realistic view that the players’ decision to attend CCSU was based not solely on academics, but the success of the ice hockey team.

John Owens, who plays defense, is main-taining a part-time job and good academic standing, wants to graduate from CCSU next year with a bang, finishing strong both academ-ically and on the ice.

“Next year is my final year of eligibility and I was really hoping to close out my college career both on the ice and in the classroom and now that plan is in jeopardy,” he said.

“Realistically this is the highest level of hockey for any of us on the team and to take the team away would be to end our careers as many of us pay our own way through school and have jobs here that we can’t afford to lose by transfer-ring away.”

In a letter recently sent to The Recorder, Estrom explained that “it goes without saying that these club members are quality members of the CCSU community.”

Estrom commended the Ice Hockey Club for its talented and dedicated members. “It is a true testament to the members that they are able to be such talented players, as well as fund-raise and petition for their team while perusing degrees and working to pay for it all,” he said.

‘Make Alternate Plans’Reduced Hockey Funding Could Mean Transfers

What do you think of the Ice Hockey Club’s funding situation?Do you support the team?How do you think the university should support the Ice Hockey Club?E-mail, tweet or send your thoughts to The Recorder. We want to hear what you – club members, parents, students and faculty – have to say.

[email protected]/therecorderThe Recorder office, room 107 in the Student Center

Connecticut native Jorge Gonzalez talkes about his hopes for his new show

“Graduates”.

Men’s Basketball Falls to SHU

Edward Gaug / The Recorder

Human-Powered Vehicle Club takes science outside the

classroom and into the hands of student creators.

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Editor-in-ChiefMelissa Traynor

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Art DirectorGeoffrey Lewis

Associate Layout EditorCrystal Maher

Photo EditorEdward Gaug

Asst. Copy EditorColette Gallacher

News EditorMatt Kiernan

Asst. NewsAriana Valentin

Entertainment EditorJason Cunningham

Asst. EntertainmentMichael WalshNick Viccione

Lifestyles EditorKaryn Danforth

Sports EditorKyle Dorau

Asst. SportsChristopher Boulay

Opinion EditorMarissa Blaszko

Asst. OpinionShauna Simeone

Web EditorJohn Vignali

Staff

Steve PacknickP.J. DecoteauSean FenwickMike D’AvinoHale YalincakKareem MohamedDan DinunzioTonya Malinowski

AboutThe Recorder is a student-produced publication of Central Connecticut State University and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of CCSU’s administrators, faculty or students. The Recorder articles, photographs and graphics are property of The Recorder and may not be reproduced or published without the written permission from the Editor-in-Chief. The purpose of The Recorder is to approach and define issues of importance to the students of Central Connecticut State University.

Meetings for The Recorder are held on Mondays at 12:30 p.m. in The Recorder office.

THE RECORDERWednesday, February 4, 2009

ChRiS GREGORyThe GW hatchet | George

Washington University

(UWIRE) – Luke Russert, son of the late NBC News correspondent Tim Russert, led a panel of young po-litical experts and activists in a dis-cussion about the role of youth in politics Tuesday night in the Jack Morton Auditorium.

The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management hosted the event, which focused on new media and how politicians have involved the youth vote using new forms of communication.

Panelist David D. Burstein, the 19-year-old filmmaker and founder of 18 in ‘08, said new media has had unprecedented power in the past election.

Burstein said his film “18 in ‘08,” which features a slew of celebri-ties and politicians encouraging young people to vote, has had such a large impact on the political scene that he has been able to organize one of the nation’s largest youth voter en-gagement organizations.

He said new forms of media provide young people with more ac-

Russert Hosts Panel on New Media, Electioncess to the issues and politicians and they provide a sense of “belonging to something.”

Tom Manatos, youth outreach director for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said new media has helped increase the amount of young people participating in politics.

“The youth vote has increased steadily and has become a large part of the base,” Manatos said.

He added that the House is starting to embrace technologies like YouTube to increase youth approval.

Hans Reimer, former national youth director for Obama for America, attributes the surge in young voters to 9/11. He said the event brought a sense of civic aware-ness to young people, adding that the war in Iraq has also politicized the youth.

Reimer also said the Internet and interactive media has played a large role in making youth more in-formed and involved.

Reimer spoke from experience in spearheading programs such as Barack Stars, as well as social net-working campaigns and grassroots movements, which helped get young people involved.

But the question of how to orga-nize and keep students involved after

the election had passed still remained untouched.

“We have got to increase the student lobby in this country,” said Matthew Segal, a 2008 graduate of Kenyon College and founder of the Student Association for Voter Empowerment.

Segal argued that students should be getting involved at an early age with issues that affect them di-rectly. Early involvement, Segal said, will help create a long-lasting base.

Segal also urged students to press local politicians to fight for their local issues and to organize be-yond the campaign trail.

“The youth vote is important because it’s the foundation of the fu-ture of our system of government,” said Rob Maxim, a sophomore who attended the event.

He added, “I liked the panel’s perspective because they could relate to us.”

STEPhANiE WEBBERThe Lantern, Ohio State U.

Ellis Robinson is obsessed with

bikes.So it was a perfect fit when he

discovered Mayapedal, a non-gov-ernmental organization that provides bikes and bicycle-powered machines to a small Guatemalan community.

Robinson, a fifth-year senior in mechanical engineering, joined five other Ohio State students who volun-teered to spend three weeks in December in San Andrés Itzapa, Guatemala, building and repairing bicycle-powered machines and edu-cating the community about them.

The team of engineers, which also included Eric Reynolds, Joe Belisle, Jordan Blimbaum and Alex Hissong, built two machines for the Mayapedal workshop. One was a bi-cycle-powered water pump that a man bought for home use. He had ac-

Ohio State Student Cycling to Power Washing Machinescess to city water, but the bicycle pump was more reliable.

“There’s a lot of unpredictable electricity shortages,” Robinson said. “It happens often enough that it was worth it for him to have a bicycle pump.”

They also built a portable elec-tricity generator for a car battery that charged on a downhill-moving bike, which was a replacement for a sta-tionary-bike generator.

“A lot of people bike into town, and it’s all downhill,” said Melanie Miller, a graduate student in rural so-ciology who was also a member of the team. “Instead of sitting at home ped-dling like crazy, they could actually capture all of that energy of coasting down the mountain.”

Other bicycle-powered ma-chines include a washing machine, a coffee grinder and a plow.

The team agreed that a machine that removed kernels from ears of corn was the most impressive. It even

had an adjusted seat to accommodate the women of the town, about half of whom wear a traditional Mayan skirt that make a normal bike seat uncom-fortable. Miller actually bought the outfit and tried to ride a bike with it.

“It’s never occurred [to the men] that it’s hard to ride a bike with a long skirt,” she said.

Carlos Machán, director of Mayapedal, said a lot of the machines helped women work quickly, using power from their legs as opposed to their arms. Without the machines, he said, women would have wasted a lot of time. The washing machine, for example, turned a six-hour chore into a 30-minute task.

In addition to building ma-chines for the community, the team also visited owners of the machines to teach them about simple repairs, although Miller said all of the ma-chines seemed to be made well and none had broken. The team also had a community day at the Mayapedal

workshop where they taught people how to ride and care for bikes.

Miller was the cultural expert of the team and had a different strength than the engineers - after spending years in Latin America, she spoke f luent Spanish.

“Having Melanie, a non-engi-neer, made us infinitely well-round-ed,” Robinson said.

The team had been planning with Mayapedal throughout Fall Quarter and prepared by repairing bikes with Columbus’ Third Hand Bicycle Co-op.

The team said the lesson they learned was the importance of in-cluding social and cultural elements into machine designs.

“Something like [sitting on] a seat with a Mayan skirt is not taught in an engineering classroom, but you need to take it into account,” Robinson said.

ARiANA VALENTiNAsst. News

The Human Powered Vehicle Club is celebrating their one-year an-niversary this spring 2009. In spring 2008, the club became official after being around for about five or six years.

A project that once started with students coming together to build a vehicle with a teacher has turned into a club by Ben Hasse, President of Human Powered Vehicle club, who had joined a year and a half ago.

The club advisor Professor David Sianez of technology and engi-neering education, who has been in-volved with the program since the beginning, serves as a mentor for the members of the club.

The club is open to anyone who is interested in joining and focuses on

constructing vehicles for the main purpose of creating evergy by humans.

“The club does require a lot of man power to build and also two days’ safety training. The training is on basic safety precautions with the tools and chemicals available to the club members,” Hasse explained. “The training is needed in case a teacher is not around to supervise the students.”

The meeting dates for the Human Powered Vehicle club are not based on a set schedule like other clubs on campus. Due to the hours needed to complete the vehicle, stu-dents are able to stop by the Copernicus Hall project lab room 14507 at any time during the day to continue work.

“The club helps to practice what was covered in classes or just to learn

new skills. The skills can be used to teach down the road,” said Haase. “You get to use different tools and play with different designs. It’s some-thing you create and it is hands-on rather than reading information from a book.”

Although the club faces a chal-lenge at times due to budgeting be-cause, as a first-year club, they receive considerably less funding than well-established clubs. Projects can some-times be difficult to accomplish but the members try to find solutions to make the best of what they’ve got.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is the organi-zation that provides the competitions for clubs interested in creating these vehicles. Last year’s competition was held at Reno, Nev. This year the event will be held at Drexel University in

Human Powered Vehicle Club Takes Science to Hands-on Creations

Philadelphia, P.A. on April 17 through the 19.

There are three different focus-es for the competition ratings, which are utility, speed challenge and en-durance. Haase recently filled out an application in hopes of securing CCSU as a host for this event in 2010.

“It’s approximately about 25 schools that come together for the event,” said Haase. He also men-tioned how at the competition the club sees a variety of people from dif-ferent colleges, amateurs and even professionals.

“It’s a way to meet new people. You are able to compete with other schools, collaborate and network,” said Thomas Lutka, a club member.

Photo: uwire.com

3THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 4, 2009 / NEWS

MATT KiERNANStaff Writer

The Central Activities Network Winter Dance brought students together to dance and talk with their friends while partying in a safe environment without the use of alcohol and staying in a positive atmosphere.

“Getting together like this is great. You get to hang out with your friends with music and not have to worry about going off-campus to have fun,” said Kiamesha Holland, a student at SCSU.

The dance which was sponsored by the CCSU chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People gave stu-dents the chance to feel safe while dancing to music with their friends for a night.

“You don’t have to go to a club, it’s brought to you right here,” said Rebekah Moore, a stu-dent at SCSU.

The Devil’s Den clock tower room was closed off for the night and all of the booths and tables were used for the students who attended to hang out with their friends and take a break when they were tired of dancing.

The dance featured a D.J. who played hip-hop music and had a wide dance f loor for stu-dents to dance on throughout the night. The room had a relaxing atmosphere to it since se-curity was run around the Devil’s Den to make sure no one threatening could come in to dis-rupt the dance.

The Devil’s Den looked almost like a real club where students had to wait in lines outside while their friends went through the doors.

CAN Winter Week Closes with Dance

Even while waiting outside, students seemed to be excited to attend a dance with their friends.

“I think it’s great, people really seem to be enjoying it,” said Kelly Hanley, a student at CCSU and event volunteer for the dance.

In addition to presenting the staff with a ticket, they were required to walk though a met-al detector and were patted down in order to enter the dance, as a precautionary measure to keep students from bringing in weapons or any-thing that could be harmful.

CAN’s Party Like There’s Snow Tomorrow had events throughout the week which included indoor ice skating, club fairs and having pictures taken of students to be put on magazine covers.

There was free food and prizes given at the club expo and ski caps that were designed for the students who attended. The ski caps could have designs airbrush sprayed onto them and could have the students names also sprayed on.

Students also had their pictures taken for free and placed on a Rolling Stone magazine cover along with their friends. A concert the same night was also performed with the groups Live Wire and Easton Legacy.

There was a bus trip to Boston, Mass. where students could go with their friends and spend the day in the city and see sites or eat in restaurants around the city.

The CAN winter week ended with a show-ing of Role Models in Torp Theatre in Davidson Hall.

Yale Professors Doing Away with In-class Web Surfing

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JESSiCA LETChFORDyale Daily News | yale U.

Facebook stalking in class is no longer an option for a growing number of Yale students.

In an attempt to encourage students to pay attention to lectures and to facilitate class discussions, at least two dozen professors and teaching assistants have banned, or at least dis-couraged, laptop use since classrooms were outfitted with wireless in 2006.

Despite the inconvenience the policy pos-es of taking notes by hand, many of the profes-sors said in interviews that they have not received any complaints about their no-laptops policies, and a handful of them even said they received positive feedback.

It’s no secret that students using laptops often multi-task in class — answering e-mails, instant messaging, reading the news and occa-sionally even taking notes.

Since “it’s not practical for Yale to delin-eate wireless classroom by classroom or hour by hour” — as Chuck Powell, the senior director of Academic Media and Technology for Yale’s Information Technology Services, put it — professors are taking matters into their own hands.

Five professors interviewed said laptops put up a literal barrier between students and the professor, hampering discussions and a sense of community within the classroom.

“I want to interact with the students. I want them to be paying attention,” said political science and religious studies professor Andrew March, who banned laptops from his Spring 2008 seminar, “Islamic Political Thought.” “It is impossible, even with the best intentions, to stay off e-mail, the Internet, Solitaire.”

Other professors who expressed similar desires to connect with their students said their no-laptop policy was for students’ benefit.

English and political science lecturer Mark Oppenheimer ’96 GRD ’03, who is teach-ing “Classics of Political Journalism” this se-mester, said his policy against laptops is no different from any other classroom regulation a professor might have — such as no swearing and timeliness.

In discussion sections, laptops also make it difficult to read the teaching fellows’ or other students’ body language, said Robin Morris GRD ’11, a TF for “Terrorism in America 1865-2001” this semester.

“By looking at students’ faces during dis-cussion, I can look for signs of confusion, dis-agreement, boredom, excitement — all signals that help me determine my next move in the classroom,” she said.

Taking notes by hand not only eliminates the noise of typing — often distracting in a small seminar — but also forces students to fil-ter information, instead of passively taking notes verbatim, Oppenheimer added.

Since enacting the policy, professors said they have seen levels of classroom interaction and grades improve.

“I have seen marvelous results,” March said. “I was ambivalent at the beginning, but I would never go back to allowing laptops.”

And at least some students are warming up to the idea, too.

In his course evaluations for “Eastern Europe Since 1914” in Fall 2007, history profes-sor Timothy Snyder asked students how they felt about his policy on laptops. He received unanimously positive responses. One student even asked why more Yale classes don’t enact a ban, he recalled.

4

Editorial/OpinionEditorial

DAN DiNUNziO Staff Writer

Governor Jodi Rell and the legislature have one daunting task ahead of them. Putting a budget in place for the next fiscal year is becom-ing a larger problem by the minute. Connecticut has already lost almost 15,000 jobs and has seen steep revenue losses as part of the financial fall-out from last year.

Even one of the richest states can’t escape the severity and depth of the economic predica-ment the United States is stuck in. Before this recession is over, some estimate Connecticut could lose 60,000 to 80,000 jobs and face a pro-jected deficit of anywhere from six to eight bil-lion dollars over the next two years.

Due to the budget deficit that the State of Connecticut is dealing with currently, funding for public universities is facing a wide variety of

A Sign of the Times problems. Right now, the projected budget is almost one billion dollars in the red. The only way to be able to approach this massive budget that has lost millions of dollars in income tax, casino tax and sales tax revenue is to cut spending.

The anticipation of deep cuts in state funding is putting state universities in positions that no one wants to be in especially during an economic downturn. With the state cutting back, it’s leaving university leaders to wonder how are they expected to pay for daily opera-tions, employees, professors and other mem-bers of staff.

One of the easiest and most profitable ways to have more money to pay the costs of running a university is a steep tuition increase for the 2009-2010 school year. The Connecticut State University chancellor David Carter brought up the idea last month of waiving the

THE RECORDERWednesday, February 4, 2009

ShAUNA SiMEONEAsst. Opinion Editor

Enrollment at Tunxis Community

College in Farmington, Conn. has increased at double the rate of the statewide average, accord-ing to the New Britain Herald. According to Cathryn Addy, Tunxis’s president, enrollment for the spring semester totaled 4,100 students, which is a 17 percent jump from the previous year.

This could be due to the fact that Tunxis recently added on an enormous addition to the school that gives the college a more modern feel. But more likely, the enrollment jump is due to the low tuition costs at the school. In the ail-ing economy, Tunxis may seem like the more practical option for an education.

The annual tuition for a full time student at Tunxis is $2,640. This is extremely low com-pared to the average tuition for public institu-tions across the nation, which is $6,585. The tuition for private universities is even more daunting, averaging $25,143 annually.

CCSU is planning on implementing a tu-ition hike for the upcoming year. For a lot of CCSU students it is hard enough to find a steady job with enough hours. After adding the ex-pense of higher tuition, financial stability may become a serious problem.

Colleges across the nation have been in-creasing costs at a rate well above the rate of in-f lation for decades. Remember “Big Oil”? Even they were increasing prices at a slower rate. Where is the outrage at “Big College” whose prices have been ridiculously high for years?

Before jumping to conclusions and blam-ing these institutions for taking part in price gouging, we must recognize that they really are

It’s Time to Confront Big College spending much more, and the cost of an educa-tion is rising. But instead of spending money adding on another hip café or workout facility in order to attract students, colleges should be spending money on objects that have some ed-ucational value. After all, that’s what college is for—to get an education.

But in this country it seems college has become some right of passage where students get to spend four years of their life partying on weekends, having their food made for them, and living in some quasi-realistic paradise. Let’s get with reality. People who are serious about getting an education, without the highly entertaining social facilities, should not be forced to pay $25,000 a year and end up paying back loans until they are in their thirties.

On top of this reckless spending, govern-ment subsidies and loans have become a stimu-lus for tuition increases. When the government makes it easily accessible for students to get loans for a certain amount, universities realize that they can charge that amount and students will be able to afford their schools. Of course this starts a cycle where the government then must give out more loans so that students can afford tuition, and when they are able to afford that amount colleges will increase prices even more.

This cycle is extremely detrimental to those students who aren’t eligible for govern-ment aid. Instead they are forced to come up with this insane amount of money on their own.

The increased enrollment at Tunxis Community College is not surprising with the availability of student loans tightening up on top of the current recession. Maybe people are finally beginning to realize that spending thou-sands of dollars a year for an institution with a

more prestigious name, or better residential fa-cilities is not worth it.

Hopefully “Big College” will take these enrollment statistics as a warning and stop in-

debting students with tens of thousands of dol-lars of debt before they reach their twenties.

15 percent cap on tuition increase to the Board of Governors for Higher Education. There’s talk of a possible 30 percent hike in fees, which would certainly put a financial burden on any-one still in school.

According to a report from last February, over the past 10 years the cost of tuition for in-state undergraduate students has increased 67 percent at the community-technical colleges, 72 percent at University of Connecticut and an astonishing 128 percent at the Connecticut State University System.

It’s evident that the cost of attending col-lege is going to continue to go up. At what point in time is something going to be done to stop or subside this problem which is greatly affecting each and every student.

With a country that is facing a deep reces-sion and a fragile economic state, many students

are going to be faced with making tough deci-sions on how to pay their bills for school come next fall. Many people don’t have thousands of dollars to just heave out of their pockets to fund their education; the current conditions that our nation faces have resulted in extremely tight credit, and the ability to be eligible for a loan to fund your education is enormously difficult.

College is a large investment and staying local and/or attending a public college might have seemed like an economically smart deci-sion then, but now you could be second-guess-ing yourself. There’s never been such a large problem facing a vast majority of people.

Our nation is entering uncharted territory and hopefully our leaders will help fix the prob-lems that will lead back to the prosperity and promise that the United States is used to.

www.tunxis.commnet.edu

Every student has seen the bake sales and the usual agencies from off-campus infiltrating the student center lobby tables and usually fail to grab the attention of passersby couch-dwell-ers near the information desk. Someone needs to reach out to the “everystudent” and it shouldn’t be the Disney recruiters bribing him or her into volunteering their summers in Florida. CCSU student clubs have a responsi-bility to fulfill in reaching out and certainly the money to do it.

Recruiting for any club is essential for bol-stering executive boards and providing services to the campus that the administration would not otherwise be able to support. Self-sufficiency is the best way to keep a club going and to sustain itself by its members and their individual passions. And there is certainly a wide variety of clubs and organizations to call home for most interests, hobbies, fascinations and fan groups.

Student leaders from clubs and orga-nizations or governing boards have pitched in their efforts on the occasion to reach out to those area of interest, largely targeting residents

who have plenty of time to walk past recruiting tables, but they need to catch the ear of com-muters as well. These are the people with prob-ably the most free time to commit while on campus. They usually have to waste time some-where in between classes, often bored beyond their stops into the Devil’s Den or the library.

Conversely, students have an obligation to the school and themselves. All clubs are com-pletely dependent on membership and with a school approaching 13,000 students, the clubs’ services are further stretched. There is no ex-cuse for poor activity on the CCSU campus when the majority of students refuse to spend time with a club.

The radio station is lacking and doesn’t have enough DJs to man the booth, hence auto-mated playlists during usual class hours; the literary magazine Helix is suffering a lack of participation, which means fewer editions; the Dial yearbook has already folded.

Maybe the student populace is taking the school ad campaign a little too literally and is simply waiting for their future to arrive at their front door rather than stepping up and seizing

the opportunities that are presenting them-selves in the here-and-now.

“Start with a dream, finish with a future” are just words. Most students realize that the University will only help you so much before you have to find your own way. Most can find their path with the aid of clubs and organiza-tions on campus.

Students must see that their college expe-rience will mirror the effort they put in. Clubs are here to provide experiences and services to the student body but this is something they can only attain with the aid of the student body.

And it doesn’t have to be an effort solely for the school. Experience for majors and résu-més receive a boost when a regular student be-comes an SGA senator or president of the car club. Students, you are allowed, nay, encour-aged to make the most of your time at CCSU.

Devotion to time on campus shouldn’t end with the dismissal of a class. You can only benefit in devoting time to your fellow students, or by reaching out to others to recruit and make a difference on campus.

What do you think about club in-volvement on campus? Write a 200-300 word signed letter.

Send your letters to the Editor to [email protected].

Editorial/Opinion5THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 4, 2009 / OPINION

MARiSSA BLASzKOOpinion Editor

In Connecticut, the few weeks proceed-ing our spring semester were record breaking. Unemployment, here and elsewhere in the country, has been an escalating problem in ev-ery industry, according to the Bureau or Labor Statistics. In addition, the cold snap felt just a week ago was one of the coldest in Connecticut history, according to Governor Jodi Rell in a statement that advised citizens about the dan-gers of the Arctic weather.

Both variables have been making local headlines for weeks, but in combination, have proved to be a larger problem than most Connecticut residents have noticed.

The Friendship Center, a homeless shelter in New Britain, has already reported overf low to a point where the employees of the Center have contemplated transporting the homeless to shelters in armories in Hartford. At least five armories, impromptu havens set up for tempo-rary housing in extreme conditions, have been

Obama’s First Days

set up by the Governor in the past month be-cause of the cold.

Other areas of the state, however, have been less fortunate.

Since creating its 2008-9 budget last June, New Haven cut more than $340,000 of the money allocated to helping the homeless – the equivalent, according to the city’s online bud-get report, to the total funding needed to run one to two shelters. The cut, along with all oth-er slashes in the budget, was in response to the projected budget deficit Connecticut is facing.

The same document, however, reports a “increasing population of homelessness,” meaning that each person living on the streets has been allotted significantly less money be-cause of not only the swelling of ranks, but be-cause where the town has decided to cut funding.

Although city officials told the Hartford Courant earlier this month that no one had been turned away from any of its shelters, the no-freeze policy that was enacted last year, which barred shelters from turning away peo-

Homeless in Connecticut

TONyA MALiNOWSKiStaff Writer

Last May, 26-year-old Sarah Richardson changed her Facebook relationship status to “single” after a month of marital separation. Her husband, Edward, became outraged when he saw the change and subsequently stabbed her to death. Obviously, Edward had more than a few screws loose, but how far away are we, the normal population, from letting Facebook gov-ern our lives as much as this British couple?

Facebook has become a major dimension of our social structure. We define relationships by whether or not they are “Facebook official”, we judge people by the content of their profiles and can more or less map their entire personal history based on the chronology of their photos.

In a time where if you pick your nose, Google Streetview may catch it, our generation seems to have no problem living in the fishbowl. We are all equally self-indulgent actors on the Facebook stage, shamelessly displaying that awesome 32-second keg stand in a skirt in the

same album as our Christmas pictures with Grandma.

Facebook calls itself a social networking site, which is true on a very basic level, although not many of us actually use it to make business contacts. We live, work, or go to school in close proximity to most of our digital friends, and therefore have no real need for this sort of on-line networking. Despite its real-world unim-portance, we are still addicted.

The allure of the site is that it satisfies our most voyeuristic urges. We can follow the life of our object of lust, see pictures of them in their natural territory, know what kind of things they are into, and find out their relationship status without having to ask. A little creepy, huh?

This parasocial interaction allows us to hide under the Facebook invisibility cloak to see who has broken up with who, and where ev-eryone spent New Years. If the site ever allowed users to see who has viewed their profile and how many times, it would lose popularity faster than a pregnant prom queen.

So what does this public collection of dis-tant acquaintances really amount to? Besides a

general avoidance of real life, nothing. Facebook allows us to keep in touch with old friends with-out actually keeping in touch. Sure, it’s interest-ing to see that girl you did a project with in 11th grade has gotten engaged, but if you actually see her in the student center, you will probably be trying to formulate an escape route.

Sadly, what happened to Edward and Sarah is not that much of a stretch. The down-fall of Facebook lies in how much we have al-lowed it to become a source of social law. It has turned us into a generation of social peeping Toms and shameless narcissists, brazenly lurk-ing on our chosen subject of interest and chang-ing the definition of privacy forever.

The truth is, we are not our Internet selves. We cannot fit our entire, multi-faceted personalities into the about me box (although I know some people try, often in the equivalent of a short novel.) We are real breathing, sneez-ing, laughing people; much more than a collec-tion of unf lattering photographs and obscure interests. So, my fellow citizens of Facebookland, let us not judge a person by their bumper stick-ers, but by the content of their character.

Avoiding Facebook’s Slippery Slope

MARiSSA BLASzKOOpinion Editor

Over winter break, a group of 34 workers made statewide headlines when they sued a major construction company for thousands of dollars in unpaid wages.

Although the event itself may have been news worthy, the real story lies in the fact that the group of carpenters was not only comprised entirely of immigrants, but is suing for the wag-es owed to them because wages were withheld from them and other workers were perceived as possibly undocumented.

The strength of the workers’ case against National Carpentry Contractors, Inc, is that federal law, theoretically, protects all workers – not only citizens or voters – against abuse in the workplace. But even in the past 20 years, we have seen practices like the Braceros work pro-gram or prison industrial complex, where both government and private investors have dipped into the unemployed underclass to essentially force work upon them, for wages lower than imaginable.

Immigrants’ Case Pushes for Workers Everywhere

ple on cold nights, will likely not go into effect this winter.

The economic deluge facing the entire world does, of course, affect everyone. But when the top few layers of society begin to wor-ry, it means fewer scraps for the millions work-ing for them. In the case of the homeless, who do not have jobs in large part due to either men-tal illness or a lack of open jobs, even the few opportunities they have been tossed are being yanked away.

How, exactly, the state plans on dealing with the problems of the homeless of the coun-try, America’s “untouchables” remains to be seen. But the economic crisis isn’t a Malthusian catastrophe – subjecting the lowest levels of so-ciety to Arctic weather, leaving them to die, be-cause there isn’t enough to go around is ridiculous. Structural unemployment is the root of the problem and without first creating an economic environment where there are jobs for everyone, the number of people, as well as families, living on the streets of Connecticut will continue to grow, even after winter ends.

Now, in the case of the 34 carpenters, protective labor laws are once again being tested.

According to the workers, the company promised to pay the carpenters $13 for their work on the site of a luxury condo complex, but paid only $10 after a false claim that $3 would be deducted, per hour, for “taxes and benefits.” The company also, according to the layer rep-resenting the immigrants, paid no overtime when many of the men worked 65- and 70-hour workweeks. In total, most of the workers are owed somewhere between two and eight weeks’ worth of wages.

The reason foreign and otherwise vulner-able workers are able to compete so seriously with native-born workers is because of the threat of deportation. If the state were to en-sure their human rights – including their right to work for wages in line with others in their field of work – employers wouldn’t be able to threaten deportation; they would be able to unionize, without fear of government prosecu-tion. The simple act of uniting for a common goal – better pay with better conditions and

benefits – would benefit every worker in the company.

None of these Connecticut workers are alone. Earlier that month, hundreds of Chicago workers occupied Republic Windows and Doors after being denied both pay and benefits, and were cheered on by people from around the country. Since Washington’s War on Immigration unofficially began, hundreds of groups from New Mexico to Maine have sprung up around Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the paramilitary-style raids that the government has been conducting on undocumented families.

We are witnessing the birth of a new civil rights movement in this country and in retro-spect, the argument for immigrants’ equality will seem just as obvious as the one for blacks’, or women’s. The differences between foreign- and American-born workers are as shallow as the differences between children being born into black families and white families. And, al-though the fight still sits on the outskirts of so-ciety, it doesn’t yet seem that any amount of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids will be able to subdue it.

GiNA DiNOiAStaff Writer

Taking an historic oath on the Lincoln Bible, Barack Obama became the first African-American President of the United States, on January 20, 2009. Obama didn’t waste anytime getting to business on the major issues facing the American people, the Western World and the Middle East.

Signing an order to close the highly con-troversial Guantanamo Bay was one of the first things on President Obama’s agenda. The infa-mous detention facility where many suspected terrorists are currently housed has been an on-going issue throughout the 21st century. Rumors of torture, including water boarding within the facility amongst other indecent pro-cedures, include the major reasons behind the President’s decision to close the facility.

When asked about the reasoning behind this decision, President Obama was reported saying this was what is needed to happen in or-der to “restore the standards of due process and the core constitutional values that have made this country great even in the midst of war, even in dealing with terrorism”. To some, such as Representative John Murtha, the closing of Guantanamo is greatly praised and long over due.

To others, such as Republican Representative Bill Young, it is a worry and a risk, questioning what will happen to the de-tainees and will they be transferred into other U.S. facilities?

What’s on most, if not all Americans’ minds - the failing economy - was top on the Presidents agenda. This past week, President Obama passed through congress, his stimulus plan to revive the economy. The plan comes with an $825 billion price tag. It will give $142 billion to education, $91 billion to state relief, including Medicaid. Tax cuts will be given to the middle and lower class along with tax cuts for businesses.

The plan passed through the house with zero support from Republicans.

Opponents argue that this is an unprece-dented amount of money and that government is spending money that the United States just doesn’t have. Meanwhile, supporters believe this is what needs to occur in order to bring us out of the recession.

Also on the order of business was the sign-ing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The bill was passed through the House of Representatives, making it easier to sue for pay discrimination. Lilly Ledbetter, who the act is named, sued her employer for discrimination and was awarded $360,000, but a Supreme Court ruling drastically overturned the verdict.

President Obama had promised to sign the Fair Pay Act, making it law – it would’ve been the first major piece of legislation that Congress would’ve passed to Obama for his approval.

Within his first days in office, President Obama met with commanders in the Pentagon to discuss the current situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The goal was to formulate a plan to move forward in both wars. The meeting concluded that there would be a decrease in the amount of troops being deployed into Iraq and instead, the emphasis would be on Afghanistan and hence the fight against the Taliban and Al Queda.

The President has set a goal of having combat troops out of Iraq by May 2010, 16 months from now. Obama made it clear that he feels the United States greatest and most impor-tant challenge should be in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, along with Obama, fears that Afghanistan will become a “base for terrorists and extremists to attack the United States and our allies”.

With a strong focus on the situation in the Middle East, including the crisis between Israel and Palestine, President Obama sent special en-voy, George Mitchell to the Middle East, on an eight-day trip to try to bring some resolution between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas leadership.

Obama, in an interview previous to Mitchell’s departure said that the U.S. would start by listening to the Israelis and Palestinians, as opposed to dictating. George Mitchell was due to travel to Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Although President Obama has not been in office even two weeks, he has made a serious dent in the major issues currently facing this country and the surrounding Western World. Some of the issues have been controversial, but whatever our opinions may be, we should all take comfort in the fact that Barack Obama, as promised, is bringing both hope and change.

6 UpgradeTHE RECORDERWednesday, February 4, 2009

ChARLES DESROChERSStaff Writer

As high school students are more prone to play Led Zeppelin or AC/DC, 17-year-old Alec Beloin is the exception to the rule when he picked up his love for jazz and a six-string guitar.

“I love jazz – you can feel it inside you,” Beloin explained when talking about his pas-sion for the genre. “Something just clicks and you can do anything you want with it in the universe.”

Beloin, a native of Rocky Hill, Conn., along with a group consisting of six other stu-dents from the Greater Hartford Academy for the Arts, were selected to be finalist at the Charles Mingus Festival and High School Competition in New York City. Only five com-bos were chosen from the many applicants of 11 other states and Washington D.C. to participate in the Feb. 20- 22 competition.

The Festival’s representative Sue Mingus would not release the number of applicants but

Connecticut’s Future in Jazz Looks Bright

was assuring when she said, “they’re wonderful. I’m not a musician but the people who are – the ones who did the selecting – told me they were astonished at the level of musicianship from these students.”

Beloin has been playing guitar since he was 13, and like most children he simply started out playing classic rock. It wasn’t until his friends and current ensemble members were ac-cepted into the academy did he begin to listen to jazz.

Every day his friends, Mike Allegue on drums and Matt Dwonszyk on the double bass, would test out standards like Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s Blue Train.

“Whenever one of us would find some-thing new we would immediately show the oth-ers and that’s how we all got introduced to the genre, through ourselves.”

“I guess my mentor would be my guitar teacher, Sinan Bakir,” Beloin said. “I had this guitar teacher and he told me one day, ‘Look I see you’re starting to get serious. So you should look this guy up.’ But my main inf luence is my friends.”

Friend and collaborator Dave Lewis, says that he is in awe of how fast Beloin has progressed.

“He cares so much about what he does,” said Lewis. “He pushes it to the limit every time.”

Only seniors in high school, these teens have been touring the jazz scene for four years now. All three started together in central Connecticut, playing gigs at places such as Javapalooza in Middletown.

Now, at the tender age of 17, they are the house band for the Charter Oak Academy of Global Studies and traveling to Boston for warm up performances.

“It’s amazing thinking that we came into the academy and we were on the bottom look-ing at the kids on top and like idolizing them. Now, we are those top kids,” said Beloin.

The competition will undoubtedly be tough, but if a person were to talk to Alec about his chances they would know why The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts combo was picked as finalists. He believes that because of the history he has with his band mates, they

will sound like a group of seasoned veterans rather than teenagers playing an older genera-tion’s music.

With auditions for The Hart School of Music, The Berkeley School of Music and SUNY Purchase lined up in the coming months, Beloin knows he wants to make a career out of jazz. After careful thought, he realized that his passion for the music was too great to just be a hobby.

“I’d rather be making little money doing this than have it as a hobby and get paid thou-sands to look at old people’s feet,” Alec said about his future.

It’s an answer someone would expect a 17-year-old to say, but it’s that passion and his talent that give Alec and his long time friends a chance to win the Mingus Spirit Award.

“Charles Mingus left one of the largest legacies in American music history,” said Sue Mingus- something Alec fully understands.

Charles Desrochers / The Recorder

MARiSSA BLASzKO

Last semester, the Faculty Senate called on “all academic and administrative depart-ments to play an active role in confronting this unprecedented challenge to civilization by pro-moting sustainability in all aspects of CCSU’s academic life.”

The goal of academia at Central this se-mester should be, according to the Senate, to promote sustainable (or “green”) living in what-ever way they can.

The art department, in particular, has ditched the usual PowerPoint for something that seems to be more of a celebration of hu-manity than a lecture that leaves students with little more than a guilt-trip for not turning off the lights after ourselves.

The first of two shows that will open along side of the other sustainability events at Central may prove to be one of the more hands-on events on campus. Aviary boasts “a variety of music ensemble set-ups, architectural struc-tures, video projections and audio,” making it a

‘AVIARY’ and Its New Approachmultimedia instillation and performance “for the contemplation of birds we can no longer hear and a celebration of those that we can.”

One of the questions artist Michael Pestel is attempting to answer – besides the obvious ones linking global warming to species extinc-tion – is what most other majors on campus are probably wondering: “does art really impact any of this on anywhere near the level of science and technology?”

Here, students see how anything the art department would do relating to sustainability would differ from the other departments on campus. The artist, according to Pestel, “thinks about how to open people up to experience – seeing, listening, thinking,” whereas other re-searchers deal with “scientific facts and figures and political tactics.”

Aviary opens Feb. 5 in the Chen Gallery (second f loor of Maloney Hall), from 4-7 p.m., with an artist’s performance 4:30-5 p.m. Acoustic Environments, a sound and video in-stallation by Charles Menoche and Ron Todd, will be showing at the same time in the Inner Gallery.

7THE RECORDER / February 4, 2009 / UPGR ADE

P.J. DECOTEAUStaff Writer

It’s really a very normal Sunday dinner. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy a nice appetizer of an-telope tartar before a round of kangaroo sausage?

Ok, so maybe I’m being a bit facetious. There’s only one place to find such exotic courses served in succession and it’s a lot closer than you’d think. Hartford’s the Half Door, known for its wide selection of draught beer, cozy Irish atmosphere and top-notch breakfast and comfort foods, hosts an annual beer and game night that pairs world class beers with dishes you’re unlikely to come across without a passport and a lot of plane tickets.

At $60 per person, it’s no cheap date, but the annual celebration of unusual meats and the beers to accompany them is well worth the price of admission – providing you have an ad-venturous pallet and no aversion to carnivorous activities.

The menu, featuring such pairings as wild boar chili with Samuel Smith’s India Ale, not

Half Door Annual Beer and Game Dinner 2009

only affords patrons the chance to try foods that many would never even consider to be food (myself included), but more importantly gives them the ability to brag to even the most auda-cious of food connoisseurs. With six courses, six beer pairings and a generous staff that seems to be more than willing to refill empty glasses once or twice per dish, the food and drink f low from the kitchen is a three-hour barrage on your taste buds.

The event, started in 2004 as the game dinner and then upgraded the following year to include upscale beer pairings, is birthed from an entire year of searching for exotic meats and near-perfect beers (despite the fact that the res-taurant already boasts over 120 bottles in-house).

Manager Spiro Koulouris noted that while the dinner has become a favorite among the re-gions more exploratory eaters, it remains a highlight for those working it as well.

“The staff has a lot of fun with the prepa-ration,” he said.

Along with head chef Matthew Backe, Koulouris and other staff members get to test

CCSU EVENTS: 2.5AVIARY Gallery Opening@ Chen GalleryMaloney HallFREE / 3 – 7 p.m.

3.5Bob Marley Musical Tribute@ Memorial NW Dining RoomMemorial Hall5 p.m.

3.5Central Acappella Society Welcome Back Concert@Alumni HallStudent Center7:30 p.m.

2.11Student Affairs Lecture: Judy Shepard @ Alumni HallStudent CenterFREE / 7:30 p.m.

MUSIC2.5JENNINGS@ The SpaceHamden, Conn$10 / 7 p.m.

With the soothing sound of piano accom-panied by a strong voice and an electronica edge, JENNINGS creates a sound drawn from musicians like Imogen Heap, Annie Lennox, Tori Amos and Moby.

2.6The Nieldsw/ Chuck Costa@ The SpaceHamden, Conn.7 p.m. / $15

The Nields were a folk-rock band who per-formed from 1991 to 2001. They toured much of the United States, performing with artists such as Dar Williams, Moxy Früvous, and Catie Curtis, and appearing at many folk festivals. Two members, Katryna and Nerissa Nields, continue to tour as a folk duo.

2.7Passion Pit@ Iron Horse Music HallNorthampton, Mass.10 p.m. / $13

2.7Ten Shekel Shirtw/ Kate York@ The Space,Hamden, Conn.7 p.m. / $12

Ten Shekel Shirt is a rock band based in New Haven, CT. Their new album Jubilee has received rave reviews near and far. “Utterly be-yond the ken of most pop/rock practitioners.” New Haven Magazine. “Thoughtful, sensitive songwriting.” Detroit Metro Times. After the bands early success (150,000 units sold, na-tional radio play) Ten Shekel Shirt’s front man, Lamont Hiebert, put his music career on hold to co-found Love146 to help end child slavery and to care for survivors. Now he and the band, which currently includes Jonny Rodgers, Colin Meyer and Tim Sway, are back on the road in-spiring fans with their potent blend of rock, faith and social justice.

2.11Backseat Goodbyeand The Ready Set,Floral TerraceFate Kills the Hero@ The SpaceHamden, Conn.7 p.m. / $10

2.11Goblin Cockw/ Warship@ Cafe NineNew Haven, Conn.$10 / 9 p.m.

FILM 3.4-3.5The Godfather I and II@ CinestudioHartford, Conn.$7 / 7:30 p.m.

Probably the only sequel that people actu-ally argue may be better than the original, Godfather secundo is less a perfect Hollywood classic than a shining example of the new wave of American filmmaking. Robert De Niro burns up the screen as the young Vito Corleone, forg-ing his illegal empire on the tough streets of New York. The movie then jumps ahead to the 1950s, with son Michael (Al Pacino) having claimed his father’s throne. Although he runs his successful ‘business’ with no fewer ethics than many other captains of industry, the dam-age to his family - and to himself - begin to emerge from the complicated shadows. Academy Awards® include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Soundtrack and Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro).

3.4 – 3.5The Secret@ Real Art WaysHartford, Conn.

3.6-3.7Frost/Nixon@ CinestudioHartford, Conn.$7 / 7:30 p.m.

Who would have ever thought that a series of interviews between jet-setting quasi-journal-ist David Frost and the disgraced President Nixon would turn into a mano-a-mano duel of wits that actually forced the former President to confront - if not totally admit - his crimes. Based on Peter Morgan’s devastating stage play, Frost/Nixon is at times darkly humorous and at others quite chilling - as it always is when a powerful person tries to justify defying the rule of law. Frank Langella gives an Oscar-worthy perfor-mance that captures Nixon’s essential oddness, while Michael Sheen has great fun as an Austin Power-with-an-IQ TV host, out to convince the world of his gravitas.

CALENDARWeek of 2/4/09

out food and drink combinations, some of which end up on the finalized menu.

This year’s dinner, held on the final Sunday of January, sported a few new develop-ments. While prior dinners featured different types of foreign and domestic beers, all of the drink for this year’s event was provided by the high class Samuel Smith Brewery.

The first dish, antelope tartar on a garlic croustini with quail egg brulee paired with Smith’s Winter Welcome, was tiny but packed an intriguing punch. The braised buffalo short ribs with caramelized onion risotto and black-berry bourbon demi glaze paired with Smith’s Nut Brown Ale provided ribs that literally fell off the bone - not to mention the night’s best course.

Another first for the event also happened to be the night’s strangest dish. The venison mince meat cobbler with a corn meal crust and lemon thyme ice cream was the dinner’s first foray into desserts, presenting a mélange of tastes that was, at first, simply confusing. When taken alone the cobbler was bitter and almost off-putting, but when eaten with the crust and

ice cream the tastes blended together to create one of the more memorable desserts diners are ever likely to try.

The only complaints that seemed to reso-nate around the tables were in regards to the dinner’s smaller than usual portions. Of course, after six dishes and about ten beers per patron only one of those complaints remained, and I was too drunk and full of food to hear it.

“It’s a lot of fun. People get to try meats and beers they don’t normally have access to. It’s something that people are really starting to look forward to.”, Koulouris said.

He then pointed to the event’s sold-out status and the 20 or so people who remained on the ticket waiting list in the hopes that a few ta-bles would cancel, a clear warning for next year’s hopeful diners that tickets were hard to come by this year and will be even harder to get for the next.

It may not be your typical Sunday night dinner, but rosemary roasted squab with crispy prosciutto is infinitely more memorable than turkey and mashed potatoes.

8 THE RECORDER / February 4, 2009 / Upgrade

MiChAEL WALSh Asst. Entertainment

Danny Boyle has made his mark on cinema by applying his talents to a wide multitude of genres. Boyle’s lat-est effort, Slumdog Millionaire, pushes his eclectic collection of films that much further.

Slumdog tells the life story of a young Mumbai boy from the slums, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), who uses the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” to detail the events of his life, in particular his search for Latika, his destined love.

Slumdog Millionaire is a modern day fairy tale. The films story is told through a carefully crafted, nonlin-ear, narrative structure, using a pleth-ora of f lashbacks. The game shows portion of the film acts as present day, and as the films plot device by using carefully crafted questions to tell a new part of Jamal’s past life. Simply put, the film is more about the way Jamal reaches his destination

rather than the actual destination it-self or the game show. And boy is it well done.

There’s so much to love about Slumdog that it’s hard to simply sum-marize it all. This is a special film. For me, it’s one of those very unique masterpieces that come along once or twice a year rendering the critiquing of the film to be difficult. I know, it sounds funny. It should be rather easy to spew words out to detail what you love about a film. In this case, it hasn’t come easy. This film is just good.

Boyle’s years behind the camera comes to fruition with this film. The high paced, frantic, cinematography Boyle offered up in 28 Weeks Later is combined with the beautiful cinema-tography he developed with 2007’s Sunshine. The film is expertly han-dled and it is a noticeable quality. Boyle absolutely knew what he was doing with this film and it shows through his visionary work.

Story-wise, there is a lot to love. True vision of slum life in India or

MiChAEL WALShAsst. Entertainment

A lot is to be expected when Luc Besson, the man responsible for ac-tion heavies such as Leon: The Professional, gets behind production. Whether it be directing, writing, pro-ducing or a few of those titles com-bined, action fans can expect the best from Besson. Besson’s latest project, Taken, a film he both wrote and pro-duced, is no slouch in comparison to other notable projects of his, such as The Transporter and District 13.

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a father struggling for the love and ac-ceptance of his daughter. Against his better judgment he allows his daugh-ter to go to Paris with a friend. When his daughter and friend are taken by men involved with trafficking wom-en, Mills, a former spy and preventer of “bad things”, heads to Paris and re-visits the skills that make him dan-gerous, in an attempt to retrieve his daughter.

There’s no beating around the bush here. Taken is badass. Neeson absolutely steals the screen giving his best old man tour de beat ‘em up im-pression. Throughout the film Neeson is absolutely fierce, energetic and convincing. Director Pierre Morel, who reteams with Besson for their second film together, does a good job handling the action scenes. Never are they so disorienting that

lack of focus is lost from the impor-tant action scenes that make this film as entertaining as it is.

As fun as it is, Taken is as straightforward as action films come. Besson’s script involving the traffick-ing of women in foreign countries is slightly exploitative in the fact that it simply uses it as a trigger device for the action. This is not a social com-mentary piece on the dangers of these all too serious events, which must be understood to not be too critical on the films simple story.

The script can also be found suspect if you crave realism in your films. The way Mills attempts to track down his daughter can only be enjoyed with a high suspension of disbelief. What Mills needs to have happen, happens and the informa-tion he needs to find is given to him. Fact of the matter is, this film is a gritty revenge tale with simple straightforwardness. A little implau-sibility does nothing to take away from the enjoyment that is to be had, from watching a 56-year-old Liam Neeson kick the crap out of criminal scum in gauntlet fashion.

The unique thing about Taken is that it’s not an American produced film and was released here in our homeland much later than it was in other countries.

My theatrical viewing of this film was my second viewing and I must say that it held up quite nicely.

Slumdog Is Worth A Million

Taken Heats Up Winter MonthsThis all comes despite the fact that the film was released in the states with a PG-13 rating. No actual scenes were cut from the film but a few of the sequences were limited down a tad.

It’s always disappointing to see a film of this nature get cut to a PG-13 rating and it isn’t just because we want more blood. The tampering with the action and torture sequences disturbs the emotion of the film, one of the most important aspects of Taken. The revenge Mills is seeking can still be felt but even the few select cut moments would add more to it. If no other version of this film existed I’d have no qualms, so take it as a grain of salt when judging this film.

Taken is one of the surprise films of the past year. It begins slow but when the nearly nonstop action comes at you you’re completely taken aback by its high adrenaline nature. Do not let the tame PG-13 rating fool you. Things are still a bit grisly and the action is exciting and fulfilling.

Taken, led by Neeson’s demand-ing and dominating performance and Morel’s cool and calm directing, should certainly be experienced by anyone looking to fill their hunger for revenge.

not, the film is still very captivating and oozing with emotion as the boys fend for themselves, survive on their own and grow into young adults. Certain Indian journalists have at-tacked the film for not being exactly precise (one writer complained about how these boys would never know the name of Samuel Colt simply be-cause they would never refer to the gun as a Colt).

Other Indian journalists have opened their eyes and realized that Slumdog is not supposed to be a docu-mentary piece on life in India. I, for one, would rather not comment on what I haven’t experienced. All I know is that loads of inaccurate films are made about all types of locations, from Boston to countries in Asia. Whether this film is one of them or not is beside the point when judging how technically sound and enjoyable the film is.

For as much charm this fairy tale holds there is an equal amount of gritty crime thriller to be savored.

Part of the success of everything stay-ing rather balanced is the ensemble performance; three broadly different young actors play the three children in the film. All three versions stand out remarkably. The youngest ver-sions of Jamal and his brother Salim have an uncanny ability to perform their scenes naturally.

As the story progresses and the boys grow, new actors are introduced and they each uphold the quality of acting. The film culminates with Dev Patel (Jamal), Freida Pinto (Latika) and Madhur Mittal (Salim) rounding out the tremendous youth perfor-mances. Not to be forgotten are Ankur Vikal, who plays crime boss Maman, the film’s most evil charac-ter, and Anil Kapoor, as the game show host Prem Kumar. The film wouldn’t be what it is without each and every one of these names.

Slumdog is one of the freshest films you’ll find in cinemas right now. Aiding this is the absolutely scorch-

ing and energizing score by Indian composer A.R. Rahman.

The score, which also features musician M.I.A. and her hit song Paper Planes, is unlike most things heard in films. At times it’s intense and at other times it’s joyful. Rahman uniquely covers all grounds with his own brand of music.

Slumdog Millionaire is simply the incredible culmination of lots of talent. As much as the film is to be credited to Boyle for his directing prowess, it would have been impossi-ble without the actors talent, Rahman’s engaging score or Simon Beaufoy’s carefully structured screenplay of the Vikas Swarup novel.

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, I can only hope the charm-ing Slumdog Millionaire walks away with a great deal of Oscars.

Boyle may finally be getting the credit he’s always deserved.

20th Centruy Fox

Fox Searchlight

9THE RECORDER / February 4, 2009 / UPGR ADE

NiCK ViCCiONEAsst. Entertainment

Jorge Gonzalez III, a proud product of the Connecticut’s public university system, re-cently took the time to comment about a televi-sion pilot that he co-wrote, co-produced and which is now available online. The show itself is called “Graduates” and follows three gradu-ate students caught between two different worlds: that of the beer drinking undergrad and that of the teaching assistants, working di-rectly as peers of the university faculty. The pilot, which has only been out a week or so, has already been seen by 23,000 people, and is cur-rently ranked number six “Most Liked” on CollegeHumor.com’s hotlinks for all time.

Nick Viccione: How is California treating you? Being a Connecticut native, I am sure you have something to say about your expe-riences in both places. Jorge Gonzalez III: Well, of course. I graduated from the University of Connecticut but I was not the only one who had a hand in this project to do so. One of the other co-producers and co-writers, Paul Gulya did the same. Patrick Beck, the other co-writer and producers graduated from Curry College in Massachusetts. We all went to high school together in Milford, where we grew up. During high school, the three of us had a television production class that we all re-ally enjoyed and it sparked our interest in en-tertainment and consequently it was something that we stayed active with throughout college.California, to touch on your other topic, is great. It really is. It is the entertainment hub. It is in your face. Radio, television, movies, music any medium you can think of. No matter where you go, you are always bound to encounter someone who is either pursuing the same thing as you, or is already in the industry themselves.

NV: So, let me get see if I understand this correctly. There are more things to do out there other than hitting up the local Walmart, Taco Bell and Duchess every night?

JG: [laughs] I still love Duchess, don’t get me wrong whenever I come visit home, I make it a point to visit there. And I go to Taco Bell all the time out here.

NV: Let’s talk a little bit about the Web site Collegehumor.com; are they are based out of California as well?

JG: They are actually based out of New York.

NV: So how did your relationship with them come about?

JG: Well, our amazing director and editor on the project, Matthew Pollack, who is also a friend from high school and college, attended the school of visual arts in New York City for editing. When we were first casting for “Graduates”, we tried finding talent out on the

Sitting Down with the ‘Graduates’ Producer

west coast. And to put it bluntly, it was abso-lutely terrible. People were not fitting the char-acters. And our philosophy was, you can write something very good, and no matter how funny it is, if you don’t have actors that can portray the characters well enough. It was going to be point-less, and a huge waste of money on our parts. So we took a step back, and then juggled the notion of trying to find talent on the east coast and that’s where we started to get linked up with Collegehumor. We found the talent we were looking for in New York City. And subsequent-ly, Matt works as a freelance video editor for Collegehumor.

NV: What was it about the college demo-graphic that drew you into making a project like Graduates? What made you feel confi-dent that this was the right area of entertain-ment to attack? Was it mostly first hand experience?

JG: The inspiration for it came from an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times called “The Odyssey Years.” The article focuses on our mid-twenties where people fall in and out of love, they go from job to job to job, they go to grad school, they move from city to city all across the country. It is not cut and dry anymore as it used to be in our parents generation where you would just go to school, get married and have a family. Now there is this period of life, around this time where you are still trying to find out who you are as a person. Sometimes it takes a lot of dif-ferent steps, and a lot of different hurdles to overcome before you figure out what you really want to do.

NV: So how did you apply that directly to the characters in Graduates?

JG: Well, we broke it down and ultimately came to the thought of Graduate Students, and more specifically a teaching assistant who is, not only working with your future peers, faculty and trying to make a career for yourself, but also, think about it, you just graduated college, the party life is still there which is hard to avoid. It’s about making a transition. Paul, Pat and myself are going through that right now. In that life cycle that everyone in this position goes through.

NV: So, how long did it take? Let’s say, from the very beginning, when ideas were first being thrown around, until the final project rolled off the presses.

JG: We first started developing the idea around October of 2007. We wrote numerous drafts to get a piece that we felt confident with. We had a solid draft around January or February of 2008. We then didn’t start production until August of 2008 because we filmed at Curry College, for a five day shoot it was easier for them to let us film there when there was no school in session.

NV: Why the full length, 30 minute pilot, as opposed to what you normally see on, let’s say, Collegehumor.com or YouTube, which is mostly little dink and dunk shorts that are no more than seven minutes long?

JG: Well, we knew that we wanted to make something that stood out, and was different from what you just said. We want, ideally, to be noticed, and to get sponsorships. That is why we wanted to put our content on websites like Hulu.com where you can watch full episodes of “30 Rock”, or “The Office” and the like. From our experiences, if your content is good, and the quality is good, people will care. People are

willing to sit in front of their computer for a half an hour or an hour watching episodes. That is why we decided to go against the grain, and in-stead of chopping Graduates into a bunch of mini episodes. We knew we could do it. It’s quality.

NV: This entire project was self-sustained; written, self budgeted, self produced, etc. How much of an emotional, physical, and fi-nancial strain was this on you?

JG: It was definitely a feat. We took out a loan for 20,000 dollars and we were able to raise some money from friends and family. When all was said and done, it ran us about $25,000. The bottom line, in our minds, was that if the quality was top notch, it would immediately set us apart. People are demanding it now. It’s not so much anymore where you can just pick up your dad’s camera and film something anymore. The whole thing was a great learning experience to say the least. We are still paying this loan, and will be for the next several years, but ultimately it was an investment in ourselves and the knowl-edge and the experience that we gained. There is no price tag that you can put on that. The pieces fit perfectly, and what you see is what you get.

NV: And the feedback so far?

JG: It has been amazing. Right now it is a matter of reaching out, trying to get the word out there: blogging, reaching out to college students and people like you who are going to be our main audience. We’ve kept in contact with some of our main guys, so to say, but it really is just us grinding it out. Once you have a dedicated mass audience, it is easier to attract the attention of a studio or some sponsorships.

NV: And your free time?

JG: Absolutely not. [laughs] I still work a nine-to-five out here and I do this on my lunch breaks and on weekends. I try to catch a movie on Saturday mornings, maybe grab dinner one night a week, and catch up with an old friend or something. Working on this does not feel like a job though, because we are all very passionate about it.

NV: I don’t really know who “they” is, but as they always say, the cream always rises to the top. Best of luck to you!

JG: I really appreciate it. We sure hope so.

To watch the pilot episode of “Graduates” in its entirety, visit www.graduatespilot.com.

Jorge Gonzalez iii

Jorge Gonzalez iii

10THE RECORDERWednesday, February 4, 2009 SportsDevils Burnt [by] Sienasive from the opening faceoff until the last minute of play, dominating Central.

“Sometimes in life, you gotta stand there and take it on the chin,” said co-captain Kevin Butler. “I’m not going to lie to you, it hurt – as it should, if you’re a player and you have heart.”

It was the first time CCSU had been shut out since October 16 of 2006 at Penn State. In addition, it was the worst loss since a December 10, 2004 loss against Stony Brook in which the Blue Devils fell 10-0.

On Sunday, CCSU was missing eight players for their game at University of New Hampshire: the six disqualified players, as well as Kevin Butler and Kevin McConnell for violating team rules.

Despite the lack of manpower, Central fought hard to overcome a 3-1 deficit and tied the game to force overtime. Central was penalized in the extra period, resulting in a Wildcats game-winner on the power play.

“Great character game for us,” said head coach Jim Mallia. “This OT loss without eight core players will pay dividends down the line. As I told the guys, I am very proud of how everyone in the uniforms today re-sponded to the adversity.”

With the pair of losses, CCSU fell to 12-8-1 on the season. Central returns to action on Friday, as they look to rebound when they host Marist at Newington Arena. Game time is 9 p.m., and admission is free for students.

Continued from page 12

Continued from page 12

Continued from page 12

off the dribble too many times. When that happens, bad things happen.”

Central’s largest lead of the game was three points, and the Blue Devils’ time in front was limited to a mere 24 seconds. Marcus Palmer hit a three-pointer to make it 11-9 early in the first half.

Following a Joe Seymore free throw, Shane Gibson of SHU drilled a three to tie the game at 12. Central would never regain the lead. Gibson came off the bench for the Pioneers and scored 11 points on four of six shooting.

“They’re a very good three-point shooting team,” said Dickenman.

Central struggled to find them-selves early, committing three shot clock violations in the first half, two in the first three minutes of the game.

“I think that was just confu-sion,” said Ken Horton. “Nobody re-ally knew how much time was on the clock. That’s a mistake on our part. We were a little out of sync for a while.”

The Blue Devils fought hard in the second half, but just could not make up the difference from the hole they put themselves in. Sacred Heart scored the first five points of the game, and while Central kept it inter-esting for most of the second half, five points was the closest they could come to catching SHU in the final 15 minutes.

Tamir Johnson started for the Blue Devils, but was limited to just eight minutes of play, took no shots and committed two fouls. David Simmons and Aaron Hall also strug-gled, combining for a total of one point and three rebounds. CCSU de-pends on the depth of its rotation in order to survive, and while Joe Seymore was a bright spot, coming in to score 11 points, they did not get that depth on Saturday.

“If you take Joe out, our bench was almost non-existent,” Dickenman said. “They beat us, period. Plain and simple.”

Central has lost three of their last five games and six of their last ten. The schedule looks to be a little more kind to them in the month of February, as the Blue Devils are home for six of their final eight games. It is a pivotal stretch for a team fighting to have a home game in the NEC Tournament.

“That’s gonna be real good for us,” said Horton. “You’re used to playing at home. That’s where you practice, that’s where you like to be.”

Central will host St. Francis (PA) on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Detrick Gymnasium, and take on first place Robert Morris on Saturday at 4 p.m. Both games are free for students and can be heard locally on ESPN Radio 1410 as well as online at ccsubluedevils.com.

Blue Devils Fall to Pioneers Pioneers Outshoot Devils

three-point range. She committed four fouls and had just two assists as opposed to four turnovers.

“Too much individual play at different times in the game,” said Piper. “The drive was open, and we’re trying to shoot a three. One on five, shooting a three is a bad shot.”

Sacred Heart started the sec-ond half on a 10-2 run, turning a two-point lead into double digits in a span of 2:15. The Pioneers were led by guard Alisa Apo, who scored a team-high 17 points while grabbing six re-bounds. A well-balanced SHU offensive attack saw all five starters score at least 11 points.

An interesting side plot was the history between Khalia Cain of SHU

and CCSU’s Leanne Crocket. The two high school teammates led Manchester High School to a pair of Class LL state championships in their careers. While Crockett had far bet-ter stats on the day, Cain had three points in a winning effort.

With a 68-57 victory on Monday at Wagner, Central’s record stands at 13-8 overall and 8-3 in the NEC. Heading into this week’s action, women’s basketball has dropped three of their last five games.

“There’s no ‘if ’. We have to bounce back,” said Piper. The Blue Devils attempt to rebound as they play host to the Robert Morris Colonials on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Detrick Gymnasium.

Edward Gaug / The Recorder

Edward Gaug / The Recorder

Edward Gaug / The Recorder

Jhanay Harris drives the lane.

David Simmons shoots over two Pioneer defenders.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 4, 2009 / SPORTS 11

CCSUBLUEDEViLS.COM

Six different athletes recorded top five finishes while the Central Connecticut women’s indoor track and field team competed at the URI Track Invitational on Saturday.

Freshman Amanda Kelley placed second in the shot put, record-ing a distance of 11.76 meters, and was fourth in the weight throw, dis-tancing 14.38 meters.

Freshman Meghann Cocca and sophomore Renee Archer recorded top five performances in the 55 meter dash. Cocca crossed the line in 7.77 seconds to place fourth in the final, while Archer finished in a time of 7.88 seconds to take home fifth.

Freshman Kate McGuire and junior Kim Savino were another pair of athletes to finish in the top five in the same event. They both performed well in the 500 meters with McGuire placing third in a time of 1:21.63 and Savino recording a time of 1:23.41 to place fourth in the event.

Senior Kathleen Lima was the final Blue Devil to have a top five fin-ish, placing fourth in the 800 meter run. The Westerly, R.I. native crossed the line in 2 minutes and 24.15 seconds.

The CCSU women’s indoor track and field team will next be com-peting at the Yale Invitational on Feb. 6 and 7.

Women’s Track andField Compete at URI

CCSUBLUEDEViLS.COM

Senior Erin Crowley won all three freestyle sprints and broke the pool record in the 200 free to lead the Central Connecticut swimming and diving team to a 146-114 victory over Wagner on senior day at the Jack Suydam Natatorium.

The Plainville, Conn. native re-corded a time of 1:52.96 in the 200 freestyle to break the previous pool record of 1:54.21 set by Tammie Repass in 2001. Crowley won the 50 and 100 free events in times of 25.01 and 53.87 seconds respectively. She holds the Northeast Conference top time this season in all three events.

Freshman Alex Czaplicki also won three events for the Blue Devils, taking home the crown in the 100 and 200 backstroke as well as the 200 IM. Czaplicki recorded times of 59.23 and 2:07.26 in the 100 and 200 back, respectively, while touching in at 2:10.79 in the individual medley.

Fellow freshman Kristen Malski finished first twice on Saturday. She won the 100 breast-stroke in 1:08.83 and the 200 breast in 2:31.18.

CCSUBLUEDEViLS.COM

Senior Sean Smith won the 400 meters and placed third in the 200 meters to lead the Central Connecticut men’s indoor track and field team to a seventh place finish at the Boston Indoor Games on Friday evening.

Smith set season best time’s in both events, recording an indoor per-sonal best of 22.55 seconds in the 200 and a 49.33 second mark in the 400.

The Blue Devils finished with 54 team points overall to finish in a tie for seventh with Williams. Northeastern won the meet with 118 points, while UMass was a distant second totaling 83.5 points. CCSU had eight different athletes score points as well as both relays.

Junior Ry Sanderson broke the CCSU school record in the 5,000 me-ters for indoor track, with a time of 14:58.56 to place sixth. He broke the previous record of 15:02.31 set by Matt Kalinski in 2002.

Junior R.J. Simeone and fresh-man Dan Watson were one second apart in the 800 meters, to place third

Smith Leads Blue Devils, Sanderson Breaks Record at Boston Indoor Games

Crowley Sets Record, Blue Devils Top Wagner on Senior Day

and seventh, respectively. Simeone recorded a time of 1:56.24, while Watson crossed the line in 1:57.62. Simeone was also a member of the Blue Devil 4x400 meter relay team that placed fourth.

He was joined by Smith, Dionis White and Shawn Buchanan to re-cord a time of 3:24.89. White also scored points in the 400 meters, plac-ing eighth with a time of 51.50.

The CCSU distance medley team of Matthew Whalen, Tom Hylan, Watson and Robert Weston took home fifth place, crossing the line in 10:49.55. Whalen also ran to a second place finish in the 1,000 me-ters, timing in at 2:32.44.

Clinton DePaolo and Matt Berube were also scorers for the Blue Devils. DePaolo, a senior, placed fifth in the 55 meter hurdles, recording times of 8.17 and 8.20 on the day. Berube, a freshman, recorded a dis-tance of 13.7 meters to place fourth in the triple jump.

The Central Connecticut men’s track and field team will next be com-peting at the University of Maine on Saturday Feb. 7.

Sophomore Megan McGorry came away with two first places and one second place finish on the day. She won both distance free events, touching in at 5:08.48 in the 500 free and setting a personal best time of 10:25.49 in the 1,000 free. The West Haven, Conn. native was second in the 200 f ly, recording a time of 2:13.63.

Junior Kandra Kane set season best times in the 200 and 500 free-style events and finished second in both. She touched in at 1:57.57 in the 200, while finishing the 500 in 5:12.77.

The trio of freshmen divers for CCSU each set season best scores in the one-meter diving event during exhibition competition. Sam Smolicz recorded the top score with 223.50 points. Mallory Miller and Madison Vestergaard were close behind with 218.65 and 191.45 points, respectively.

Central Connecticut will now begin to gear up to defend its crown at the Northeast Conference Championship Meet at Yale University on Feb. 12-14.

ChRiSTOPhER BOULAyAsst. Sports

CCSU sports talk has a home on the Internet, CCSUFans.com, a web forum that was created by the school’s alumni to host a range of in-depth conversations about all things Blue Devils, especially CCSU basket-ball, baseball and football.

The unofficial forum is run by the site’s administrator, Larry Licata ‘96 as well as Adam Kozak ‘04. The Web site is ad-free and run complete-ly out of pocket by Licata.

The purpose of creating the fo-rum was to create an outlet for fans to speak their mind about CCSU sports, a topic that has been garnering atten-tion since the school’s sports pro-grams have been growing so rapidly over time.

“CCSU basketball is big enough that [CCSU fans] deserve their own space,” Licata said. “We have no com-mercial interest. I do it for the love of it. We just want to be here to keep in touch with each other and discuss CCSU sports and current student issues.”

The forum began in late 2004 as a free, simplified message board. It finally made its present day debut in September of 2006. The Web site has a section for CCSU sports, academ-ics as well as non-CCSU related discussion.

CCSUFans.com has also creat-ed buzz for sports that are out of sea-son. Interest for CCSU football has

CCSUFans.com Keep Alumni in Sports Loop

grown increasingly larger since the forum was born, according to Kozak.

“The forum really brought foot-ball to the conversation all year long,” Kozak said. “When I came [to CCSU], I knew nothing about foot-ball. But with the forum, people get pumped about one game. The mem-bers really talk up every game. It’s great.”

The forum averages 1,000 hits per day, with most regular posters signing in from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Florida. Licata and Kozak have noticed that they gain more users every few days. The Web site also has a weekly poll that is always related to a CCSU sports-spe-cific topic that Kozak creates.

The Web site’s popularity peaked when the men’s basketball team won the Northeast Conference championship during the 2006-07 season.

“We currently have about 150 active users, but the Web site was ab-solutely f looded when we were se-lected to play Ohio State,” Licata said.

Both Licata and Kozak are hopeful that the forum will attract more students to post and create an even more dynamic community.

“I don’t see us stopping anytime soon,” Licata said. “We just want to keep it positive and talk CCSU sports with the fans. This Web site is by CCSU people and it is for CCSU people.”

ccsubluedevils.com

ccsubluedevils.com

ccsubluedevils.com

Ry Sanderson at Friday’s meet.

Sports 2.4 THE RECORDERWednesday, February 4, 2009

See Devils Fall Page 10 See Pioneers Outshoot Page 12

See Burnt Siena Page 10

Saints Strike Down Devils

SHU Pioneers Outgun Blue DevilsMen’s Basketball Falls to Sacred Heart

KyLE DORAUSports Editor

FAIRFIELD, CONN. - Saturday’s battle be-tween first and second place in the Northeast Conference lived up to the hype – at least for the first 20 minutes.

Central women’s basketball hung in there with the Pioneers for the first half, but Sacred Heart showed why they are 10-0 in conference play, pulling away in the second half for a 76-64 victory at the Pitt Center in front of 1303.

Kerianne Dugan was six for nine from the field, scoring 17 points and grabbing four re-bounds in a losing effort for the Blue Devils. Forward Leanne Crockett pulled down a game-high ten rebounds.

CCSU was able to dominate the inside game, scoring 32 of their points in the paint and 16 on second chances, but was unable to match the shooting prowess displayed by the Pioneers.

KyLE DORAUSports Editor

FAIRFIELD, CONN. - Three shot clock viola-tions in the first half were indicative of Central’s play on Saturday in a 77-69 loss to the Sacred Heart Pioneers. More than 1,800 fans were on hand at the William H. Pitt Center to see SHU jump the Blue Devils for third place in the Northeast Conference.

Looking at the box score, the stats were strikingly similar on both sides - not surpris-ing, considering how similar the two teams are. Both schools feature undersized post players that have tremendous agility and range, and each club lives and dies with their three-pronged offensive attack.

For Central, Shemik Thompson, Marcus Palmer and Ken Horton played well, each scor-ing at least 14 points. However, the Pioneers triumvirate of Ryan Litke, Joey Henley and

KyLE DORAUSports Editor

The score wasn’t the only thing that got out of hand on Friday at Newington Arena. The Siena Saints and Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils waged the type of combat that would be expected between each team’s respective namesakes.

The focal point of the game was a second period dustup that resulted in twelve disquali-fications for fighting, as the Saints continued their dominance over the CCSU Blue Devils with an 11-0 rout.

Nicholas Orlando led the way for Siena, scoring three goals, all on special teams – the first two on the power play, and a third short-handed. Stephen Terrio chipped in four assists. The Saints once again swept the regular season

series between the two clubs, in which Central was outscored 17-1. CCSU has not defeated Siena since November 4, 2005.

With 12:11 remaining in the second peri-od, Siena goaltender Adam Brown covered the puck as Rob DiClemente came in and hacked at his glove to try and knock it loose. Brown and the Saints took offense, throwing the Central winger into the corner. His linemates, Mike DiClemente and co-captain Joe Dabkowski joined the fray.

In the scrum, Mike DiClemente was en-gaged by Brown and double-teamed by Siena’s Erik Reinfried. As the Saints forward ripped off DiClemente’s helmet, Central goaltender Carmine Vetrano skated across the ice and went after his Siena counterpart.

“When I saw [Mike DiClemente] get dou-ble-teamed like that, I knew it was the goalie; I

knew the goalie had everything to do with it,” said Vetrano. “I had to put my ego aside, put ev-erything aside and help my team out.”

All twelve players that were on the ice re-ceived fighting majors, which carry an automat-ic ejection and a one-game suspension.

“They took something to the next level,” said Dabkowski. “When you’re out there and that happens, you gotta protect yourself and protect each other.”

Frustration may have played a role in the development of that situation. As the Siena lead grew larger, the more chippy it became. The Saints got on the board in the first minute on a Patrick Markiewicz goal and never looked back. After one period of play, it was 4-0. By the time the fight occurred, it was 7-0.

“We worked hard this game, but they were putting pucks away,” Dabkowski said. “It gets

frustrating, playing them over and over again and not getting the outcome you want.”

Kevin McConnell had already been eject-ed in the first period for a hit from behind. Joining him in street clothes for the third period were the freshly tossed Dabkowski, both DiClementes, Vetrano, Ryan Beaulieu, and Brian McConnell. With top offensive combo known as the Blue Line out of the game, CCSU struggled against the depth of Siena.

Craig Height, who had been lifted after a first period in which he gave up four goals, had to get back in net to replace Vetrano. The end result was four more goals from the Saints to make it 11-0.

Siena never let up during the game, con-trolling the offensive zone and staying aggres-

Sacred Heart shot over 47 percent from the field during the game, and better than 43 percent from beyond the arc.The team went six for nine from deep in a second half that saw them build a lead as high as 20 points.

Central looked to have momentum as the first half drew to a close. Gabrielle Oglesby cut SHU’s lead to two on a three-pointer with 32 seconds left. SHU held the ball for the last pos-session, but CCSU defense stepped up and forced the Pioneers to hold the ball as time ran out.

“I was disappointed with the lack of emo-tion that we had to start the second half,” said head coach Beryl Piper. “You would think the kids would be fired up, and it’s like they go out scared.”

Shontice Simmons was a focal point after the game, as she struggled to involve her team-mates in the offense. Despite scoring 13 points, she missed twelve shots, including all four she took from

Corey Hassan hit the key shots when it mat-tered, each scoring in double digits in a winning effort.

CCSU head coach Howie Dickenman no-ticed the parity in the statistics.

“You can see that everything is even ex-cept the final score,” he said. “They jumped on us early, and we weren’t very sharp, we weren’t crisp.”

Hassan and Litke in particular were a thorn in the side of the Blue Devils all game long. With their spread offense, Central could not over commit on the defensive end, allowing the two shooters room to spot up. Even when they were forced to take off-balance shots, it felt like every one that they took went in and was a heartbreaker.

“It came down to us not playing good one-on-one defense,” Dickenman said. “We got beat

Edward Gaug / The Recorder

Edward Gaug / The Recorder Edward Gaug / The RecorderShemik Thompson looks to deliver a pass down low to Ken Horton.

Forward Mike DiClemente is swarmed by Siena while co-captain Joe Dabkowski attempts to intervene.

Freshman Shontice Simmons leaps over an SHU defender.