Paterson announces his withdrawal from the forthcoming election for NYS governor

Story on Page 5Editorial on Page 10

NEW PALTZ ORACLETHE

oracle.newpaltz.eduVolume 81, Issue XV Thursday, March 4, 2010

PHOTO BY FELICE BERNABO

SLAMMINGSLAMMINGPOETICPOETIC

New Paltz Slam Team triumphs at inaugural Wade-Lewis Invitational

See Story on Page 3

INSIDE THE NEW PALTZ ORACLE• Student Senate Votes Down Dorsi...........Pg 4• Dungan Proponent of New Sidewalks....Pg 5• DiStefano Examines Public Ed. Act........Pg 6• Snow Blows Through New Paltz............Pg 7

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Pierce LydonEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Julie MansmannMANAGING EDITOR

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James LeggateNEWS EDITOR

Justin McCarthyFEATURES EDITOR

Zan StrumfeldARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Pete ThompsonSPORTS EDITOR

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Felice BernaboPHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Alec HorowitzASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Jon AielloCARTOONIST

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Maxim AlterSunya Bhutta

Pamela VivancoAndrew Wyrich

COPY EDITORS

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Elizabeth DamianoBUSINESS MANAGER

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Patrick MartzKathryn Smith

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Andrew Carden, Emily Canty, Kaitlyn Day, Sarah Fine, Elexis Goldberg, Ryan Patrick Han-rahan, Emily Herendeen, Sarah Hurd, Michelle S. Kramisen, Emily Kurland, Chelsea LaDue, Becky Longley, Jessica Mingoia, Jesse Ordan-

sky, Jessica Ostrow, James Petrich, Casey Quin-lan, Danielle Quitoni, Michelle Ravit, Regina Rivers, Shawn Rubenfeld, Jordan Siwek, Alex Silverberg, Sam Speer, Alison Stevens, Emily Sussell, Ashley Thompson, Chris Thurston,

Nekaiya Trotman, Harris Wichard, Kelly YoungSTAFF

The New

Paltz Oracleestablished 1938

Incident: Petit LarcenyDate: 02/28/10Location: EH LOUNGEFemale student reported that perpetrators unknown stole her iPhone when she fell asleep in the lounge.

Incident: Criminal Mischief

Date: 02/28/10Location: POND ROADFemale student reported that while her vehicle was parked perpetrators unknown broke the driver’s side rear window.

Incident: PDAADate: 03/01/10Location: LOT NO. 5Female student reported that her parked vehicle was hit by another vehicle parking in an adjacent space. Subjects exchanged infor-mation at the scene.

Incident: HarassmentDate: 03/01/10Location: EHFemale student reported being

threatened via an online forum by a male student. Subject advised to cease all types of communication with victim and her boyfriend. No charges pressed at this time. “No Contact Letters” to be issued.

Incident: Criminal MischiefDate: 03/01/10Location: LFHCustodian reported that perpetra-tors unknown damaged door and vending mechanism of a Pepsi snack machine.

University Police BlotterDisclaimer: This is only a partial listing. For all incidents, please visit the University Police Department.

SUNY New Paltz University Police Department

Emergencies: 845-257-2222 www.newpaltz.edu/police

About The New Paltz Oracle

The New Paltz Oracle is the of-fi cial student newspaper of SUNY New Paltz. Our circulation is 3,000. The New Paltz Oracle is sponsored by the Student Association and partially funded by the student activity fee.

The New Paltz Oracle is located in the Student Union room 417. Deadline for all submissions is 5 p.m. on Fridays in The New Paltz Oracle offi ce and by e-mail at oracle@newpaltz.edu.

All advertisements must be turned in by 5 p.m. on Fridays, unless otherwise specifi ed by the business manager. Community announcements are published gratuitously, but are subject to restriction due to space limitations.There is no guarantee of publica-tion. Contents of this paper cannot be reproduced without the written permission of the editor-in-chief.

The New Paltz Oracle is pub-lished weekly throughout the Fall and Spring semesters on Thursday. It is available in all residence halls and academic buildings, in the New Paltz community and online at oracle.newpaltz.edu. For more information, call 845-257-3030. The fax line is 845-257-3031.

The New Paltz Oracle holds as-signment meetings every Sunday at 7 p.m. in Student Union room 418. Articles, photographs and il-lustrations are assigned to the pool of staff and contributors.

Volume 81

Issue XVIndex

News...............................................Community Calendar..........................Editorial.............................................. Columns............................................. Felice Bernabo..................... Andrew Wyrich.....................The Gunk................................The Deep End..................................Sports..........................................

3 - 89

10111111

1B - 12B12B

12- 16

Corrections In issue XIV in an articled entitled “NP Bus Loops Into a New Year,” we reported that

the Loop had 3,000-4,000 student riders per month. In actuality, it has 3,000-4,000 riders

per month in general.

To clarify an article from Issue XIV entitled “New Calendar for NP,” the views expressed by Hillel do not necessarily refl ect the views of the entire New Paltz Jewish community.

Everyone is entitled to take one free copy of The New Paltz Oracle.

If you need additional copies, please contact the editor-in-chief at x3030 or at oracle@newpaltz.edu

Five Day Forecast

Friday, March 5

Partly SunnyHigh: 39Low: 24

Saturday, March 6

SunnyHigh: 44Low: 28

Sunday, March 7

Mostly CloudyHigh: 44Low: 31

Monday, March 8

Partly CloudyHigh: 44Low: 33

Tuesday, March 9

Partly CloudyHigh: 45Low: 32

New Paltz Poets Place First Despite the snow and cold weather, an

estimated 1,100 poetry lovers gathered in the Student Union’s Multipurpose Room to watch and listen to the nation’s top-ranked slam poets on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Each night 400 people or more attended the show and the New Paltz Slam Team won the battle of words by 1.1 points at the Wade-Lewis Poetry Slam Invitational.

At the invitational, which is the second largest collegiate poetry slam in the na-tion, the SUNY New Paltz team eclipsed SUNY Oneonta with their 114 point total that earned them fi rst place. Oneonta came in second place with 112.9 points.

On the fi rst night of the competition, 10 teams were split up into two different groups. The fi rst group consisted of teams from SUNY New Paltz, Yale University, Berklee College, the University of Massa-chusetts and a wild card team; the second grouping included SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Geneseo, the Slam Storm team and another wild card team.

Due to the weather, teams from the University of Pennsylvania and New Jersey City University dropped out of the competi-tion as well as two members of the SUNY Geneseo team. As a result, there were 14 more poets needed, which called for the two wild card teams and a New Paltz slam team member, Mike Krau, to represent SUNY Geneseo.

After hearing the different voices and themes each night, the New Paltz Slam Team members said they are proud of their win.

“There was a home fi eld advantage, as you could tell by the roar of applause when anyone from New Paltz graced the stage,” said Slam Team President Megan Falley. “However, I am confi dent that we were the most well-equipped team and deserved the win. We not only worked hard to put this en-tire tournament together, but to be impres-sive competing in it.”

Aside from two nights of poetry and a guest appearance from world-renowned spoken word poet Anis Mojgani, there were also multiple tributes to the late Dr. Marga-ret Wade-Lewis, who some New Paltz Slam Team members have said was a great inspi-ration to them.

On the fi rst night, there was silence when alumnus Lee Riley read “Never For-gotten,” a poetry tribute to Wade-Lewis. Rather than holding a moment of silence, the diverse voices of the audience united to generate beautiful sound in memory of Wade-Lewis on the second night of the competition. During both days, cans were passed around and attendees were encour-aged to donate whatever they could to the Wade-Lewis Scholarship Endowment Fund.

Enthusiasm, curiosity, shouts and ener-gy overfl owed the large room as every mem-ber of each team went up on stage to share their poetry. Each grouping of teams faced

fi ve random judges that were chosen from the audience who raised a number between one and 10 at the end of each performance.

“I determined the competitors’ scores based on content and performance, which is what we were instructed to do,” said sec-ond-year student Rebecca Shaw, who vol-unteered to be a judge on the fi rst night of the show. “I noticed that I was a little more generous than a lot of the other judges, but I didn’t really see my high scores as gener-osity; they were just a representation of my amazement.”

Friday night, SUNY New Paltz won fi rst place in the fi rst grouping with 118.18 points while the Yale University team took second place with 115.5 points. SUNY Oneonta won for the second batch while Slam Storm team placed second with 117.2 points.

Shaw said that although this was a com-petition, she enjoyed both days and every poem.

“I truly loved all of the poems, and not in an ‘I-don’t-want-to-choose-favorites’ kind of way. Every poet and poem blew my mind,” she said.

Falley received a perfect score of 50 points from the judges after performing “fi ve letters written the day my state senate decided to uphold the sanctity of marriage.” Falley also won the award for best female poet, alongside best male poet Zach Hilton of the Oneonta team, who also received a perfect score. When they received their awards - half of a dollar bill - the audience squealed with laughter.

On Saturday night, the Yale University team, the Storm Team, the New Paltz Slam

Team and SUNY Oneonta competed for the win. The fi ve judges chosen for the night were not as easy to win over; despite the au-dience’s positive outbursts, many low scores were disclosed.

According to SUNY New Paltz Slam Team coach Brian Omni Dillon, his team edged at their “oldest and most intense ri-vals” when they defeated SUNY Oneonta at the invitational; no other school’s team (aside those from New Paltz and Oneonta) has ever won the state title.

“We ended up winning by 1.1, which is certainly a fairly decent margin, considering we beat them in states by about twice that,” he said. “However, strategically speaking, they played us well. So while there were some moments of slightly raised eyebrows, we certainly never descended into nail-bit-ing.”

Although New Paltz won the competi-tion, Falley said that the slams are not all about competing.

“Competition is the focus of how poets come together initially and how we draw in an audience, but actually competing is just arbitrary numbers,” she said. “It’s a game. Getting to meet poets from across the coun-try is really the most celebrated part.”

SUNY Oneonta Slam Team Coach TJ Natole agreed with Falley, saying there is a “certain beauty” when poets can come to-gether in one place.

“It’s easy to say that the connections between many of the teams, who did not know each other before this weekend, is something that will last for a long time,” he said. “The competition is the reason to get

us together, but it’s not what really makes the events worthwhile.”

According to Natole, there is a special bond between the teams from Oneonta and New Paltz.

“We are huge in-state rivals, who love to compete against each other, but also love to hang out as family afterwards and in be-tween,” he said.

SUNY New Paltz Coaches Tracy So-ren and Dillon, as well as Falley said they hope that the Wade-Lewis will be an annual event. According to Soren, this event helps Wade-Lewis’ legacy live on, which is some-thing she said will “enrich New Paltz and every student who encounters her legacy.”

They also noted that the invitational provides a means for students to give back to the community, and that they hope this will become an annual event for charitable reason as well.

“It’s a beautiful event that brings poets from all over the country together, brings poetry to the Hudson Valley, unites a cam-pus, unites poets with a campus, brings academia in the form of art, opens peoples minds, brings out new issues, shows how people can express themselves, brings a well known poet to a smaller town and it forms unbreakable bonds,” Soren said.

The event was sponsored by Rap, Mu-sic, Poetry, Oasis/Haven, Democracy Mat-ters, Male Call, Students for Fresh Water in Developing Nations, Burlesque and the Sexy Pitches. Organizers of the events said that without assistance from these organiza-tions, volunteers, scorekeepers and others, the show would have not been possible.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz Oracle Pg 3NEWS

PHOTO BY FELICE BERNABOThe Wade-Lewis Poetry Slam Invitational was a smash hit with an estimated 1,100 in attendance.

By Pamela VivancoCopy Editor | Pvivanco57@newpaltz.edu

Senate Denies Dorsi SeatAt the last meeting of the 49th student

senate, members of the body denied Sen. Josh Dorsi for associate justice, a position in the ju-dicial branch.

Even though Dorsi has dedicated fi ve semesters as a senator, many members of the body said they were nervous that Dorsi already shared a very similar strict view of the consti-tution as the already appointed judicial branch members. After brief discussion, the majority of the senate body voted not to appoint Dorsi the position.

Sen. Caitlin Ryan and other members of the body said they felt that the judicial branch needed more diverse interpretations of the con-stitution.

“It’s not about disregarding the constitu-tion; it’s about having an ethical conscience at the same time,” she said. “So for me my prior-ity would be the people and not the document.”

Sen. Hana Akimoto argued that, at the mo-ment, that voice is not coming forward and “we should have as a full a board as we can.”

The senators were encouraged to recom-mend members to run for associate justice. Those who voted against Dorsi said that they would possibly be willing to recall the vote once someone with a different perspective is appointed. If Dorsi is appointed, he would have to resign his seat as senator.

Earlier in the meeting, the senate con-fi rmed third-year psychology Nolan Conaway to the alternate seat for the recently formed re-search line panel.

Vice President of Academic Affairs and Governance Brenna Fearey said she admired the fact that Conaway was a third-year student and that having an alternate who would not be graduating this year might mean he could step

up next year since he would already know the process.

In her formal report to the senate, Student Association (SA) President Stephanie Samuel announced that the Senior Committee is con-tinuing to work on the fashion show that will happen in three weeks. She also announced that SA Productions and MIQ are planning a Six Flags trip for Saturday, May 8 that will be an-other addition to the Senior Week celebration.

Samuel also reported that during spring break, SUNY New Paltz will choose the book company they would be affi liated with - Barnes and Nobles or eFollette - and whether or not this will be a Pepsi or Coca-Cola campus.

Executive Vice President Abe Uchitelle announced that due to the weather, the meet-ing with a consultant for a conversation about possibly making the athletic fi elds organic will be postponed for at least another couple of weeks. Next week, Uchitelle, New Paltz Town Supervisor Toni Hokanson and Ulster County

Area Transit (UCAT) representatives will be discussing and re-evaluating the future of the New Paltz Loop shuttle service in terms of the route and the schedule.

Fearey announced that the Academic Af-fairs Committee will discuss possible academic calendars for the 2013 school year on Wednes-day.

According to Vice President of Finance Yasmin El Jamal, the Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) “weekend” will begin on Friday, April 9. The committee will begin to examine the budget for the upcoming academic year at this time.

Vice President of Programming Kevin Purcell announced that if SA Productions doesn’t hear from Girl Talk’s management by next week, Gym Class Heroes and the winners of the battle of the bands will be the only acts featured at their April 21 concert.

The next general meeting of the student senate is on Tuesday, March 9.

By Pamela VivancoCopy Editor | Pvivanco57@newpaltz.edu

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz OraclePg 4 NEWS

NewsBriefsNational

Three Los Angeles school teachers have been suspended for giving chil-dren pictures of O.J. Simpson, Dennis

Rodman and RuPaul to carry in a Black History Month parade.

Los Angeles school district spokes-woman Gayle Pollard-Terry said

Wednesday the teachers were removed from their classrooms at Wadsworth

Elementary School. She says the teachers, who are white, could have

made a more appropriate choice, such as Oprah Winfrey.

She says the school held the parade Friday, with children from other

classes carrying photos of black heroes such as Nelson Mandela, Harriet Tub-

man and President Barack Obama.

*****

Authorities in central Georgia say a mother and father offered sex with their 14-year-old daughter in lieu of making payments on their minivan.

Dodge County sheriff’s Capt. Tony Winborn says the parents were ar-

rested Monday and are in jail awaiting a bond hearing. They face child moles-

tation and pandering charges.

*****

More than 10,000 drums of nuclear waste that have been buried in Utah

likely include some radioactive mate-rial that’s too hot to be buried under

state law, according to an environmen-tal group’s report released Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Energy has been disposing of depleted uranium

from a nuclear weapons complex near Aiken, S.C., since 2003.

*****

The Los Angeles Police Department has apologized to the family of Robert F. Kennedy for exhibiting the shirt, tie and jacket the senator wore when he

was assassinated in 1968.

World Briefs, pg. 5

Research Money to be DistributedStudent appointees to the Student Association (SA) Research

Board, which was created to make decisions regarding the allocation of funds from the $25,000 budget line dedicated to fund student research projects, were recently confi rmed to the group by the senate.

Vice President of Academic Affairs and Governance Brenna Fear-ey said she wrote a proposal to form a committee for allocating these funds, as the line was untouched by students last semester. She said that the existence of this board will allow students to actually access this money for research projects.

“The senate passed this line without creating a process to give the money out. It was a poor idea in hindsight,” she said. “It was unfortu-nate that we weren’t ready last semester, but we didn’t want to go in blind. There are a lot of intricacies that come with some types of pro-posal that can be made.”

The $25,000 line was created in the SA budget last spring. The idea was promoted by then-SA President Ben Olsen, who was trying to come up with ways to better impact graduate students. According to Olsen, members of the Graduate Student Association felt that the availability of these funds for research would be a good way for SA to better meet their needs.

The board will decide whether or not to grant up to $750 per proj-ect when students submit requests. Though Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Ray Schwarz and Director of Research and Creative Activity Maureen Morrow also sit on the board, only student members –

one undergraduate, one graduate and the vice president for academic af-fairs and governance – can vote on whether or not to grant the requests. They must reach a unanimous decision.

At a recent meeting of the student senate, graduate student Kim Belmonte and undergraduate student Darryl Steffen were confi rmed to the board. The senators said they were strong candidates because they have conducted research and they “balance each other” because Bel-monte has worked in social science while Steffen has done research in the chemistry fi eld. Alternate Nolan Conaway was appointed on Tues-day; this seat was created if a confl ict of interest arises for any student representatives on the board.

To apply for funding, students and professors will be required to work together on an application to be submitted to the board. The ap-plication will include a budget proposal as well as statements from stu-dents and faculty explaining the research.

Fearey said board members will consider the diversity of projects and other factors when examining requests.

“The projects should contribute to the wealth of academic informa-tion out there,” she said. “We will try to keep it balanced.”

If money in the research line is not used, it will be reallocated. Fearey said leftover funds could possibly move to the conferences line since students conducting research often attend conferences to present their work.

Those interested in applying for research funding can access the application on newpaltzsa.com under the “forms” tab or contact Fearey at npacademicaffairs@newpaltzsa.com.

By Julie MansmannManaging Editor | Jmansmann60@newpaltz.edu

FILE PHOTOSUNY New Paltz may switch book and soda companies over spring break.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz Oracle Pg 5NEWS

NewsBriefs

World

Libya is demanding an apology for a joking remark by a U.S. offi cial about the Libyan leader’s call for a holy war

against Switzerland.

Last month Moammar Gadhafi ap-pealed for a Muslim holy war because Switzerland banned building of new

mosque minarets.

At the Friday State Department brief-ing, spokesman Philip Crowley said he was reminded of Gadhafi ’s speech at the U.N. in September, noting, “I can recall lots of words and lots of papers fl ying all over the place, not necessar-

ily a lot of sense.”

On Wednesday, Libya called in the U.S. charge d’affaires, Joan Polaschik, and threatened negative repercussions if the U.S. fails to apologize, accord-

ing to the offi cial news agency.

There was no immediate response from the State Department.

*****

The House of Lords has a momentous decision to make: Should it get cats to chase the mice that have infested one of Britain’s most famous buildings?

London’s Houses of Parliament, also known as Westminster Palace, has

rodents, and the peers aren’t exactly sure what to do about it.

Ivan Anthony Moore-Brabazon, the House’s administration chief, turned down suggestions to acquire cats on

Wednesday. He says the felines could ingest mice poison or wander around

the chamber and disrupt business.

He favors the current tactic of using poison and mousetraps.

*****

A smoker who died after battling emphysema has had his dying wish

granted with the placement of a “Smoking killed me” sign on his

hearse and his grave.

Compiled from the AP Newswire

Amid sinking poll numbers and an overwhelmingly anti-incum-bent political environment, Gov. David Paterson announced on Fri-day, Feb. 26 that he will not seek reelection to his current position.

His decision came after a recent article in The New York Times, which cited the governor’s apparent involvement in a legal squabble between David Johnson, Paterson’s driver, and a woman who testifi ed that Johnson had violently assaulted her. The woman claimed she had been harassed by State Police to drop her charges and, shortly follow-ing a call from Paterson himself, she failed to appear at a key court hearing. Her case was then dismissed. The governor had since called for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate his administra-tion’s handling of the case.

For the SUNY New Paltz community, Paterson’s recent handling of the state’s massive budget defi cit has hit close to home.

In 2008, the governor proposed a Defi cit Reduction Plan, which taxes SUNY students in an effort to close the budget gap. Students have since seen a raise in their tuition, but most of that revenue has gone to other state agencies.

Marc Pottak, co-president of the New Paltz branch of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, does not approve of the way Paterson has handled his job.

“He has done a poor job thus far, and I don’t see him getting any better,” said Pottak. “He may be a good person, but he’s irresponsible with money and his taxing methods in recouping the budget are ter-rible.”

Jerry Smith, a fi rst-year student and Democrat, has mixed feel-ings about Gov. Paterson’s time in offi ce.

“He has tried very hard to keep the budget under control within a recession and supported a gay marriage legalization law,” said Smith. “But, he has been incapable of keeping Albany running effi ciently, and he handled the Republican takeover of the state legislature poorly.”

Campus conservatives are not any easier on the incumbent Gov-ernor.

“I do not approve of the job that Paterson has done,” said Ari Buziashvili, co-chairman of New Paltz Young Republicans. “He has proven himself an incompetent leader and his incredibly low approval ratings, possibly the lowest for any governor in New York history, speak for themselves.”

Buziashvili cites Paterson’s support for same-sex marriage as a key reason for not supporting his bid, and dislikes that the governor has stated on several occasions that his lack of support is due in part to his skin color.

Following former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation amid a prosti-tution ring scandal in 2008, then-Lieutenant Gov. Paterson was sworn into offi ce as the fi rst African-American to serve as governor of New York. His calls to adjust the state’s fl oundering budget and bring sta-

bility back to Albany won praise from politicians across the political spectrum.

Since then, however, Paterson has been embroiled in a series of controversies and political missteps.

The day after Paterson’s swearing in, both he and his wife re-vealed they had engaged in extramarital affairs. In late 2008, Paterson garnered criticism for his slow handling, one which took nearly two months, of the appointment to fi ll the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. In April 2009, Paterson alienated many of his conser-vative supporters after proposing a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Paterson, who enjoyed a 65 percent job approval rating as re-cently as January of last year, has slipped to an approval of just 22 percent, according to a new poll commissioned by the Siena Research Institute.

Paterson’s widespread unpopularity, even prior to his recent drop-ping-out, had infl uenced several high-profi le New York politicians, both Democratic and Republican, to consider entry into the race. At-torney General Cuomo, a Democrat, was seen as a likely primary challenger to Paterson, while former Congressman Rick Lazio had already announced that he will seek the Republican nomination.

Paterson Ends Reelection PlansBy Andrew CardenStaff Writer | N01790806@newpaltz.edu

Dungan Seeks More SidewalksNew Paltz Mayor Terry Dungan has

proposed a new law that will require all new developments in the village to include a side-walk.

According to Dungan, the Village Plan-ning Board may require developers to put in a sidewalk. If they do not, the developer is still obligated to leave a 4-foot-wide path so that pedestrians do not have to walk in the street. This law, however, has not been enforced re-cently.

In 2007, the most recent year that Dungan had numbers available, seven pedestrians and several cyclists were hit on highways in New Paltz.

“It’s a big problem,” Dungan said, be-cause Main St. is a portion of two state high-ways- Routes 32 and 299, and because there are many pedestrians in New Paltz, especially when students are walking to and from class. One landlord even discussed the problem with Dungan after several of his tenants had been hit.

The village had applied for a $1 million grant to build sidewalks on streets that either completely or partially lack them such as N. Manheim Blvd. and Henry DuBois Blvd. Ac-cording to Dungan, the committee awarding the grant did not choose New Paltz because the village had allowed developers to not build pedestrian paths.

The proposed law will require all devel-opers to include sidewalks for their plans to be

approved. SUNY New Paltz students are open to having safer paths through the village.

“It’s a fantastic idea,” said Hana Akimoto, a fourth-year biology major and student sena-tor who lives in the village.

Dungan hopes to reapply for the grant once the law is passed. If New Paltz wins the grant, sidewalks will be put on portions of land alongside the road. The village owns 50-foot-wide path for all streets, but the portions of roads that do not have sidewalks are not using the full width available.

However, Dungan said that one developer was concerned about having to clear snow off of new sidewalks.

“Out of consideration for your tenants, you should want to do it,” Dungan said. “It’s part of living in the village.”

By James LeggateNews Editor | Leggat06@newpaltz.edu

PHOTO COURTESY STATE.NY.US Many New Yorkers do not approve of Paterson.

At the Feb. 22 Council of Organizations meeting, SUNY New Paltz Vice President for Finance and Adminis-tration Jacqueline DiStefano gave a presentation to students regarding the college’s current fi nancial situation and the possible impact of the proposed Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act geared toward SUNY and CUNY schools.

DiStefano was asked to meet with the Council of Or-ganizations by request of the Student Association. She said the session was designed to “present information in regard to the college’s budget – its intricacies, various sources and related restrictions.”

Before approaching the topic of the new legislation, DiStefano discussed the major factors that go toward main-taining the college fi nancially.

“There are many different sources of support beyond just your tuition,” she said. “There are about 14 different ways that money gets to the campus.”

Other than tuition, the two major monetary sources for SUNY New Paltz are operating support, which is the every-day running of the institution, and capital funds, which are used to provide for new buildings and major renovations. Other forms of support come from student fees, which in-clude residence hall rent, as well as activity, course, tech-nology, athletic, parking, auxiliary and dining and health services. The funding from the state for operating support has been cut since May 2008.

In regards to spending money, funds appropriated from the New York State Legislature include: state support, tu-ition, fees for athletics, parking residence halls, technology and summer school tuition. Not included are: student activ-ity fees, research and development, fund raising and auxil-iary services. Even though DiStefano is the chief fi nancial offi cer, she does not cut the checks.

“We are given, by the legislature, the authority to spend the money,” she said. “So every dollar that’s collected from tuition, the legislature has control of it. All transactions – like the collection and expenditure of money, the issuance of contracts and paying pay roll – must be processed through the offi ce of the state controller.”

According to DiStefano, from just an operating stand-point, costs can add up to over $100 million.

“From the state tax payer support of our funds budget, only 18.1 percent comes from the state,” she said. “With ev-erything that goes into operating this campus, only a small portion comes from their support.”

If the newly proposed Public Higher Education Em-powerment and Innovation Act is passed, SUNY would become responsible for their overall academic fi nances and the fi nancial power from the legislature would be re-moved. According to Distefano, this will benefi t students. Also, DiStefano said the proposed legislation would create a funding model that protects student tuition and other self-generated funds from being used for other state purposes.

“It gives us the ability to prepare multi-year plans,” she said. “Right now, we have to wait and see what the legisla-ture is going to do as far as tuition and cuts go.”

Other benefi ts that DiStefano mentioned during her presentation included a funding model that protects student tuition from other uses, a reliance on market force and the cost of providing service, an increased investment in im-proving quality and student fi nancial aid, as well as leverage resources to create student opportunity and jobs.

“Last year, the total increase in tuition was $620,” she said. “So tuition was raised, and one would assume that tu-ition would go to invest the quality and accessibility. But at

the same time, we were cut 90 percent of that money. So, they raised tuition and it got swept for the general uses of the state. A piece of this legislation will ensure that all of the revenues would stay with the university and be invested back.”

In response to a question by students regarding a rumor that the college might go private because of the new legisla-tion, DiStefano immediately denied the claim.

“No,” she said. “We’re part of a system and we’re sup-ported by the state by a certain percentage, so there is no push to go private.”

As for how the legislation would affect tuition, DiS-tefano addressed students with a chart showing the prices that SUNY schools have gone through over the last twenty years, before the proposed legislation existed.

“There have been tuition increases,” she said. “But they’ve been large percentage increases when the economy is bad and people can least afford it. What this legislation is talking about is having small measured increases to keep up with the cost of infl ation, and it is controlled by a compre-hensive tuition policy.”

SUNY New Paltz President Steven Poskanzer believes these small increases aren’t a bad thing.

“Having these checks is safer than putting faith in the state,” he said. “It’s like telling someone that there’s a mon-ey tree in Albany and any day now we’ll get the fruit from that tree. You can debate what is a fair price for people to pay, but the current funding model is still making SUNY weaker and weaker everyday.”

However, Sen. Eve Stern was inquisitive as to what her protection from these tuition increases would be if the leg-islation passed.

“Do we have a guarantee of how much they are going to raise it?” Stern said. “Is it up to their discretion?”

According to DiStefano, tuition hikes will be in ac-cordance with an established policy. She said it would be controlled by the SUNY Board of Trustees and every year’s increase would be subject to consultation with each cam-puses’ college council and students would be consulted in regard to proposed tuition increases.

However, when asked how much student representa-tion there will be and how much of a voice these students will have, DiStefano was unable to give a defi nite answer because, “they haven’t devised that yet.”

In reference to the drawbacks or negative outcomes of the legislation, DiStefano could only mention the worries of others and not her own.

“What I am aware of is that there is a concern about lack of accountability,” she said. “There is concern that we’ll diminish accessibility for students. There is concern that we will privatize SUNY and there is concern that we will take away from union benefi ts.”

However, DiStefano believes the university has proven its accountability over the past years, and those doubting the legislation should be less worried.

She also said the United University Professions (UUP) union, which has voiced an opinion against the proposed legislation, has done this because they fear the privatization of SUNY and that their union benefi ts will be diminished.

According to Professor Peter Brown of the UUP, DiSte-fano did not discuss the “disastrous consequences that pas-sage of this bill would have for students.”

“The UUP strongly opposes this legislation because it would invariably reduce state support for SUNY,” Brown said. “This would allow campuses to drastically raise tu-ition, reduce access to higher education for economically disadvantaged students and allow individual campuses to collaborate with private business enterprises, all without

legislative oversight.”Stern said she believes that all students should be aware

of this proposed legislation.“When I found out about this legislation, I felt that it

was my obligation to tell everyone – not to offi cially take a side – but that they need to know what’s going on in the school,” she said. “This is really going to affect everyone because you’re talking about the control of tuition going from state to the administration. That’s a huge deal… Tu-ition is obviously going to go up, but to what control is it going to go up?”

Sen. Eli Conrad-Hampton said he is also opposed to the bill.

“When I read about it in the news, I see chancellors of CUNY schools and other SUNY schools being really happy about it,” he said. “They’ll say things like, they want to dif-ferentiate the elasticity of the this and the that, and I feel like they don’t want us to know what they’re talking about – and they don’t.”

With Gov. David Paterson ending his campaign for election on Friday, Brown does not think it will make a dif-ference to the outcome of the proposed bill.

“Regardless of what the governor does, I don’t think the legislation will pass,” Brown said. “The more people learn about it, the more they realize that it would take the public out of public higher education. Nobody wants that except for SUNY administrators, who would love to be able to get out from under legislative oversight, which they view as burdensome.”

As for using the Council of Organizations meeting to explain the college’s fi nancial situation and the effects of the proposed act, Brown believed there was an ulterior motive.

“Jacqueline DiStefano is part of the campaign to win support from student and faculty for the proposed legisla-tion,” he said. “She does what she is paid to do and she does it well. I have the greatest admiration and respect for her as a person.”

DiStefano said that students have the ability to reach out to their legislators if they want to voice their opinions.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz OraclePg 6 NEWS

DiStefano Explains ControversyBy Maxim AlterCopy Editor | Malter42@newpaltz.edu

PHOTO COURTESY OF SUNY.EDUSUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher supports the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz Oracle Pg 7NEWS

Snow Shuts Down New Paltz

The heavy snowfall during the past few weeks has disrupted school and SUNY New Paltz students’ lives.

To date, there have been over two school-sanctioned snow days this semester, but there were more occasions some students felt classes should have been canceled. Citing unsafe driving and walking conditions, some students claim that the school doesn’t cancel classes often enough, and that the present system is fl awed.

“They should have closed on that one day where it was snowing all day,” said Mark Malizia, a second-year political science major. “The decision to stay open [once it has been made] shouldn’t be defi nite. It should be open to reevaluation.”

The school announces whether or not it will be open in the morning by 6 a.m., and the decision for the entire day is made by 2 p.m. A message is posted on the school’s Web site, and people are able to sign up for text message and e-mail alerts as well. Because the an-nouncements are made so early, the weather may change by the time the decision takes into effect.

“It’s not an exact science,” said Eric Gullickson, director of media relations. “Every-body’s perspective of what is bad weather is different.”

The decision to cancel all classes is not as simple as it may seem. It takes a series of

reports from the campus Facilities Management division and Jacqueline DiStefano, the vice president of fi nances and administration, in which they discuss their ability to clear the walk-ways and roads on campus, as well as weather forecasts for later in the day. If both parties are in agreement that it would be prudent to cancel classes, DiStefano puts a call to both the pro-vost’s and the president’s offi ces before a fi nal decision is made. From there, DiStefano con-tacts the Offi ce of Public Affairs, who then makes the announcement to the general public.

In addition to this process, professors are allowed to cancel classes on an individual ba-sis at their discretion. According to school policy, if they feel that it is dangerous to attempt to have class, they should contact the heads of their departments, as well as the Offi ce of Public Affairs. However, some professors prefer to follow the school’s lead.

“I follow the university’s policy,” said Reynolds Scott-Childress, assistant professor of history. “If they’re open, I come.”

The school canceling classes on a regular basis can lead to problems at the end of the semester. Each class is required to have 12.5 contact hours (time in class) per every credit, so the typical three-credit course is mandated to meet for 37.5 hours in a semester. According to Gullickson, the school’s expectation is that the professor will hold a make-up class on the designated days at the end of the semester to account for the lost time. If not, the class risks being considered incomplete.

“I don’t understand why they don’t schedule more class time than required,” said fi rst-year student Katie Temple, “just to act as a buffer for the snow days.”

By Keith CarrollContributing Writer | N01824308@newpaltz.edu

PHOTOS BY FELICE BERNABO So far this semester, there have been one partial and two full snow days at SUNY New Paltz. The school informs students through their Web site, sending text messages and e-mails.

SUNY New Paltz recently formed the Campus Art and Aesthetics Committee as a means of beautifying the college grounds. Having only been in existence for a few months, the group is keeping its primary focus on developing a framework.

The committee is the product of the Facilities Master Plan from April of 2008, and was recommended by the Campus Facilities Planning Task Force in order to consider aesthetics. It was then decided that the group would be presidentially ap-pointed, and its members received invita-tions in October 2009. Chaired by Vice President of Finance and Administration Jacqueline DiStefano, the list of invitees also included Dean Mary Hafeli, Shana Circle of Admissions, Brian Wallace of the Dorsky Museum, Brian Pine and John McEnrue of Facilities Management, under-grad Mary O’Leary and faculty members Emily Puthoff and Rachel Mattson of the art and secondary education departments, respectively.

President Steven Poskanzer outlined

the committee’s goals in a November up-date.

“I have charged the group with de-veloping policies concerning the visual/aesthetic environment of the campus and making recommendations to the Cabinet on public art pro-posals and projects, generating and re-viewing proposals for the installation of temporary and permanent displays of art both on the campus grounds and in buildings – with the exception of the Dorsky Museum, evaluating gifts of art to be displayed on campus and in-forming itself about issues surrounding freedom of expression through art on pub-lic college campuses,” he said.

The committee held its fi rst meeting at the end of October and has assembled sev-eral times since.

“Our work has really been focused on developing policies concerning the visual environment,” said DiStefano. “We’re in our very initial stages. The fi rst step is to get ourselves some guidelines.”

Once a procedure is mapped out the committee can prop-erly handle any of-fers that they’re pro-vided. A few have already been made, and the group will remain open-minded in its decisions. Op-tions include work from outside artists, student-made pieces and even work from faculty members. The displays, while improving the cam-pus aesthetically, can also spark the

interest of prospective fi ne art students.“I think it’s an awesome idea,” said

second-year visual arts major Kaity Gor-man. “There are so many talented kids at this school. It would be great to walk

around campus and be able to see their work.”

SUNY New Paltz was already ap-proached by local composer Joseph Ber-tolozzi and asked to install his “Bridge Music” listening stations on campus. The stations feature recordings of Bertolozzi “playing” the Mid-Hudson Bridge with varying uses of percussion. A temporary spot was needed for the winter months when the conditions are unsuitable on the actual bridge, but the committee did not have enough time to work out a plan.

“We’ll consider proposals as we move along,” DiStefano said. “I’d like to have a pretty solid draft of a proposal by the end of the term.”

In order to make this possible, each committee member has been allotted his or her own task, such as thinking about the vision and goal, researching policies and procedures at other institutions, taking an inventory of the space on campus and making suggestions as to what should be displayed.

“Everybody is pitching in,” said DiS-tefano. “Our ultimate goal is to educate and make it an even more beautiful place.”

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz OraclePg 8 NEWS

Group Plans to Beautify CampusBy Pete ThompsonSports Editor | Pthompson51@newpaltz.edu

“There are so many talented kids at this school”

— Kaity Gorman

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Gunk

PHOTO BY JUSTIN McCARTHY

Check inside for a preview of this year’s Best Picture race at the Oscars on Page 7B!

Story on Page 5B

PHOTO COURTESY OF IMDB.COM

La VidaLARP

Livin’

The New Paltz OracleFEATURES | 2B

Photos Challenge Concept of BeautySUNY NEW PALTZ WELCOMES NANCY BRUNO’S PHOTOGRAPHY

Throughout last week, the “Beauti-ful Women Project and Genuine Men Photography Exhibits” were on display in Student Union 100. With dozens of still images and heartfelt stories pro-vided by photographer Nancy Bruno, the traditional defi nitions of beauty and courage, for men and women, were challenged.

Initiated and organized by Mark Balaban, the senior counselor of SUNY New Paltz’s Psychological Counsel-ing Center, the exhibits were brought to campus as part of a program dedicated to the National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and sponsored by the Residence Hall Stu-dent Association, the Of-fi ce of Student Affairs, the Athletics Department and Student Activities.

“This and other pro-grams during the week are important ways of raising people’s aware-ness of eating disorders and the signifi cant cultur-al factors that contribute to their development,” Balaban said. “This ex-hibit in particular ad-dresses the way in which our culture defi nes femi-nine beauty and mascu-linity. They challenge us to appreciate beauty and gender roles in a broader and more complex way.”

The “Beautiful Wom-en Project” is a documen-tary which focuses on the lives and experiences of an assortment of women from all paths of life, young and old. According to the offi cial “Beau-tiful Women” Web site, with each image, there are “mothers, daughters, wives and neighbors you see every day – at school, at work, in the grocery store, in a doc-tor’s offi ce waiting room, or walking through the mall.” With women from all walks of life, the photographs and stories aim to depict what makes them beautiful in their present state.

One of the women on display in the exhibit was Madeline. As a 5-year- old, Madeline is already considered

beautiful. She is a spark that lights up the room. She is a curious child, who is full of questions and spirit. She is also responsible for the collection and distri-bution of over 1,000 stuffed animals to children affected by Hurricane Katrina. Another example of beauty came from Betty. Much older than Madeline, Betty has survived World War II, marriage and childbirth. The most important lesson she has learned from her experiences is that without love and the trust of her family, she could never have accom-plished anything.

The “Genuine Men Project” is also a documentary, which concentrates on

the way men are judged and defi ned by society. According to the offi cial “Genu-ine Men” Web site, “it is the way a man meets his life’s experiences and chal-lenges that defi nes what it means to be a man of great character and strength.”

The project focuses on 35 different men, all at different points in their lives and all from a mixture of backgrounds and upbringings.

“They are fathers, sons, brothers, husbands, neighbors, colleagues and friends. They are people you see going to work every day, watching a game with friends, barbequing in the sum-mertime or working out at the gym,” the

Web site said.The journey of a man throughout his

life was represented through a variety of images and stories. One of the genuine men on display was Dave. In his youth, Dave was frustrated by the ongoing comparison to his siblings. It took Dave a long time to realize that what really did matter was what he had was within himself. As he grew into the man he has become today, Dave was drawn to the teachings of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk. At the core of Merton’s writings, the search for ones “true self” is every-thing. Dave currently teaches the kids in his after-school program that, if they

believe in themselves, they can accomplish anything.

Another example of a genuine man on dis-play was Bill. Throughout Bill’s life, his most impor-tant possessions have been the people who surround him. He has enjoyed the love from strong and car-ing parents, siblings who were both his friends and confi dantes, as well as teachers who have made him wise and understand-ing. Bill considers himself one of the luckiest men to have found a profession that fi ts so well with his own life experiences. Bill is a teacher, and has now gained the ability to change lives and give children the same love and knowledge he received growing up. Teaching is what defi nes him as a man.

According to Balaban, the exhibits were very well received within their time at SUNY New Paltz.

“Despite the weather, we had over 300 people come to view the exhibits across the week,” he said.

Balaban believes there is no single message students can take away from the exhibits.

“The important thing is for students to start to think about these issues and how they impact their own lives and the lives of their families and friends,” he said. “The exhibits are designed to stim-ulate discussion and thought. I hope that is what students take away from them.”

Thursday, March 4, 2010

This week, I’ll be showing you how to do a half double crochet (HDC). This stitch is slightly larger than the

SC (single crochet) that I showed you last week, which allows for quicker

progress.

Hooked on YarnBy Kaitlyn Day

Staff Writer | N02212829@newpaltz.eduBy Maxim AlterCopy Editor | Malter42@newpaltz.edu

Step 2: Insert hook into stitch then wrap the yarn around the hook (the same as step one) and pull the yarn through the

stitch only. Now you will have 3 loops on your hook.

Step 3: Wrap yarn around again and pull through all three loops on the hook.

If you’re enjoying this and want to learn more, then come to Le Knitty Gritty on Mondays at 4:30 p.m. in the foyer of the library by the chairs. If you have class or are busy, go to the Muddy Cup around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for a friendly

crochet group.

Step 1: Wrap yarn around the hook from back to front right to left.

Come write for The New Paltz Oracle!Our next story meeting will be held in Student Union 417 on Sunday, March 7 at 7 p.m.

Step 4: Repeat until the end of the row, make your extra stitch, turn your work

and repeat!

“The important thing is for students to

start to think about these issues and how

they impact their own lives and the

lives of their families and friends”

-Mark Balaban

The New Paltz Oracle FEATURES | 3B

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The historic town and village of New Paltz, set against the stunning backdrop of the Shawangunk Mountain Ridge, is a place both that is both avant-garde and vintage; it is a vibrant community that hums with the energy of a thriving college town. For many students at SUNY New Paltz, this town has been their home long before they entered college.

Kelly Gorton, a third-year chemistry major, knew since her second year of high school that she was going to stay in New Paltz for college.

“My favorite thing about New Paltz is that I am able to call it home,” she said.

Gorton hopes to enter pharmacy school after graduation, but said she isn’t opposed to the idea of returning home.

Many students like Gorton, who lived at home for her fi rst two years, also chose to attend SUNY New Paltz out of practical-ity. For those who are unsure of their future career goals or prefer not to leave their fami-lies, remaining in New Paltz for college was a reasonable choice. In some cases, it was the only option.

Raneen Rahal, a second-year biology major, lived in Lebanon for two years dur-ing 10th and 11th grades, but returned to New Paltz unexpectedly for her senior year of high school. By that time, many college admission deadlines had passed. Rahal ap-plied only to SUNY New Paltz, but planned on transferring after fi rst year.

“Fortunately, I ended up enjoying the college,” she said. “So I fi gured I would just continue and graduate from New Paltz.”

Living at home instead of living on cam-pus is “very convenient,” Rahal said. “You don’t have to worry about forgetting to pack things, and you always have somewhere to go if you need a quiet place to study or just need to get away from college to breathe.”

However, Rahal also noted that one of the downsides of commuting to school is missing out on dorm life.

Similarly, Gorton said, “I do feel that I missed out a little on the whole ‘going away to college’ experience; living on campus, eating crappy dining hall food, looking for-ward to breaks to go home.”

However, as a member of the soccer team, she was still able to form friendships and stay connected to campus life.

Living in New Paltz for only two se-mesters can make it diffi cult for students from outside the area to experience every-thing that makes the town unique, Gorton said. Those students “only see a part of what New Paltz really is.”

“The atmosphere is so much different when SUNY isn’t in session,” she said.

Elissa Steinhofer, a second-year photog-raphy major, spent her fi rst year of college at SUNY Purchase, but was unhappy with her

experience there. Now at SUNY New Paltz, she is satisfi ed with her decision to transfer.

“I feel that I am getting a much better education and experience here overall,” she said.

Steinhofer loves the mountains and the small-town feel of New Paltz, as well as its proximity to both Albany and New York City and the endless variety of restaurants. A benefi t to knowing the area so well, Stein-hofer said, is that she can help other students looking for things to do off campus.

“I am always shocked when people say they’re bored and there’s nothing to do around here,” she said. “They just don’t know yet.”

Features of the area that local students are familiar with include Taste of New Paltz, a showcase of local cuisine and entertain-ment, the annual Regatta on the Wallkill River, for which participants construct ec-centric homemade boats, and the wealth of local farmers markets that sell fresh produce and ice cream during the summer.

Many students who are native to New Paltz agree that the mountains are one of the area’s best attractions, but students from outside the area know little about them. The Mohonk Preserve and the Ice Caves in Sam’s Point Preserve are popular recreation areas that are less common with students on campus. Rahal’s favorite place is Lake Min-newaska.

“I love going there and enjoying a nice barbeque, with some hiking, soccer and just staring out at the view,” she said.

Ted Svirbly, a second-year double-ma-jor in Asian Studies and international busi-ness, said he doesn’t think other students “know the full greatness of the mountains.”

“There are some awesome places to hike and chill at,” he said. “Whenever I can, I show people cool places like ‘Low Falls’ and we go there during the summer. I wish more people would get the chance to see it.”

Svirbly is currently studying abroad in Japan but has lived in the hamlet of Esopus all of his life. Although he wants to see more of the world fi rst, Svirbly said he may end up in New Paltz in the future as it is an “easy place to meet good people,” and “a good place to raise a family.”

Ashley Salerno, a second-year elemen-tary education major from Massapequa, N.Y., said New Paltz is very different from her hometown, in that she considers it “a true college town.” The close relationship between the college and community attracts a large proportion of students from larger, more metropolitan regions like Long Island and New York City.

Most students who call New Paltz home said they really appreciate what the town has to offer and think non-local students have a lot to explore.

“New Paltz has a lot of strange and in-teresting aspects, but overall it is a wonder-ful place to live,” Rahal said.

There’s No Place Like New PaltzFOR LOCAL STUDENTS,NEW PALTZ IS WHERE THE HEART IS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TED SVIRBLY AND RANEEN RAHALStudents who call New Paltz home said that they appreciate their town and the college.

By Corinna RidgewayContributing Writer | Cridgeway89@newpaltz.edu

The New Paltz Oracle4B | FEATURES

Thursday, March 4, 2010

This semester, the sociology depart-ment merged the research methods, so-cial statistics and social change classes for a project aimed at promoting awareness about relations between students and cam-pus police.

Brian Obach, the professor of the so-cial statistics class, describes the project as being broken into three parts. The fi rst part is coming up with a question and then con-ducting research on what has been written about the topic. The second is to then devel-op a hypothesis that is testable and to gather data. The third is analyzing this data and coming to conclusions about it. Therefore, each group plays its own part in this process.

The groups get together and each class has an active part in each step of the process.

“We meet as a group several times dur-ing the semester at crucial stages of the re-

search process,” Obach said. “We have just developed a set of questions and conducted background research on the issue. The so-cial change class had the primary responsi-bility there.”

According to Obach, the research meth-ods class taught but Eve Waltermaurer now has the responsibility of coming up with the hypothesis and telling the others how they plan to collect the data. Waltermaurer said her class has come up with four hypotheses.

“One relates to interactions between of-fi cers and students relative to potential so-cial stereotyping of certain students relative to crime perpetration,” she said. “Two other hypotheses relate to understanding how the type of interactions, crime prevention versus crime reaction are differentially met by stu-dents and offi cers and how student past ex-periences play into a students willingness to not only see an offi cer as reactive. The last two hypotheses explore how interactions

with offi cers and the judicial system impact students’ understandings of their rights.”

Part of collecting is a survey they will be issuing to mainly students and possibly other campus community members.

“Students will be asked a number of questions about their perceptions of the police and student-police relations on cam-pus,” Obach said.

From there, the project will be turned over to the social statistics class where they will arrange the data and see if there are any patterns, like perceptions regarding race and gender, said Obach.

Becky Millman, a fourth-year sociol-ogy major and social change member said her group initially had to brainstorm topics they wanted to study about relations and then look up articles on the subject and re-view them. She said that the topic of campus police and students relations is an important one because it is something everyone can re-

late to and can talk about. “Though this is specifi c to New Paltz,

it can be applied to other schools to create knowledge surrounding this issue,” Mill-man said.

Sophia Varosy, a second-year sociology major, is in the social statistics class. She said that her role is to make the information decipherable to everyone.

“This is a good project to do because it gives Sociology majors a chance to have experience doing an actual research project and improve relations,” Varosy said.

Obach’s goal is for the research to make an impact.

“Ultimately our hope is to contribute in some way to identifying problems, under-standing them and helping to bring about solutions,” Obach said. “Sociology is all about understanding how society works and how we can make life better for the people living in it.”

Truman’s Nightclub and Lounge at 2 Ter-williger Lane in New Paltz, N.Y. has long pre-sented itself as “9,000 square feet of sexy so-phistication,” as its Facebook page said. Upon its opening in July 2009, Truman’s “heavily” marketed toward the gay community, said owner Kevin Swenson. But in recent months, the club will be retracting from that image in hopes of redefi ning itself as a place for other demograph-ics as well.

“When we fi rst opened up, our goal was to be a mixed thing. When we fi rst started brand-ing, we found that we branded a little too heavily toward the gay community,” said Swenson. “We always wanted to appeal to both and be a com-fortable venue for both. So, over the past couple of months we’ve kind of readjusted our brand.”

Through a different public relations ap-proach that involved reaching out to other de-mographics, Truman’s strives to remain an al-ternative night club, but one that brings in other

groups besides the gay community.“I think from a business aspect, they’re do-

ing the right thing. But from a moral standpoint, you shouldn’t give in just to make a buck,” said Steven Cao, a third-year business major, who questioned whether Truman’s new marketing angle sells out its original targeted demographic.

Other students see the change as having a negative impact on the gay community. Marina Russo, a fourth-year political science major, thinks the club could easily draw in a diverse crowd while still marketing itself as a gay club.

“There aren’t a lot of gay bars in the area and it’s not like [New Paltz is] not a gay friendly community as a whole. It’s nice to have one place that’s special and you can feel 100% com-fortable,” said Russo.

Swenson insisted, however, that the re-branding of Truman’s is not meant to exclude any previous attendees of the nightclub.

“I know there was a backlash when we started rebranding,” said Swenson. “I think that what people didn’t understand is that when we

initially opened up, we called ourselves an alter-native venue. We were going after many differ-ent crowds. And the mistake we made in heavy branding was thinking that it wouldn’t affect our other markets, whereas it kind of turned off our other markets, which really bothered me, to be honest.”

Swenson said the club’s goal was to pro-vide a classier alternative to other bars and clubs in town which he considers to be stereotypical college hangout spots. Swenson also plans to in-clude a restaurant in the facility. Swenson, a Cu-linary Institute of America graduate, said food is one of his passions and hopes to incorporate it into the Truman’s experience.

“Eventually, we’re going to push the res-taurant angle more,” said Swenson. “It’s about bringing that higher class element. And I think from what we’ve seen so far, there’s a big de-mand for that.”

As far as events, Swenson said the club still does host gay events. But with the new rebrand-ing, they won’t all be as geared to the gay com-

munity as they were in the past. Having recently received a visit from Ni-

cole “Snookie” Polizzi, who is friends with some of the club’s employees, Truman’s hopes to get the more cast members of “Jersey Shore” to visit in the near future. Additionally, tomor-row Truman’s will host its fi rst “Sin City Friday” and will kick off the event with a performance from Jamie Drastik, a local artist who was re-cently signed to Pitbull’s record label, Mr. 305 Inc.

Swenson assured that he intends on keeep-ing Truman’s the same open-minded, gay-friendly establishment it has always been, and feels the change will not stop gay people from coming.

“I think a lot of the gay community, espe-cially the young ones, didn’t understand when we started rebranding. They thought we were totally changing, whereas that was not the case,” said Swenson. “We were just repositioning. We in no way want to alienate the gay community.”

By Justin McCarthyFeatures Editor | Jmccarthy46@newpaltz.edu

Truman’s Reaching Out to Broader DemographicsPOPULAR NEW PALTZ GAY-FRIENDLY NIGHTCLUB REDEFINES ITSELF

Courses Come Together to Collaborate for ChangeSOCIOLOGY CLASSES EXAMINE POLICE-STUDENT RELATIONS

By Sarah BoaltContributing Writer | N01833989@newpaltz.edu

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FACEBOOK.COM AND MYSPACE.COM

After “heavy branding” in its early stages, Truman’s Nightclub and Lounge is making an attempt to reach both gay and straight patrons with different public relations outreach.

The New Paltz Oracle FEATURES | 5BA Day In The Life with Justin McCarthyKEEPING UP WITH THE

CRUSADERS OF THE CROSSThe moment the game master abruptly got up from

her chair, withdrew a dagger and held it to me threaten-ingly, I had to ask myself: What the hell am I doing?

Granted, it was a “boffer weapon,” a padded dagger wrapped in duct tape. But it was intimidating enough to make me realize I had done something seriously wrong. Upon revealing that I had done some time in prison after naively working as an assassin for Olad, a major enemy of the Crusaders of the Crown, the good time we were having over glasses of “mead” at the “tavern” came to a screeching halt. The members of the Crusaders of the Crown were capable of overcoming many of each other’s differences, but a traitor at their table was unthinkable.

It was my fi rst time LARPing (Live Action Role Playing), and although the Game Master, Lauren Coluc-cio, a third-year Spanish major with a double-minor in Italian studies and German had been kind and helpful before the LARP-ing offi cially started, her character, Ch’taia Estel, wasn’t as friendly and didn’t hesitate to point a dag-ger in my face. Fortunately, I was able to convince her and the other crusaders that I was no threat to His Majesty and that I was there to help.

LARPing isn’t as simple and silly as it may seem. You really have to be into it. The group meets every Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Sojourner Truth Library. Each mem-ber is responsible for creating a char-acter to be in ongoing weekly quests and for wearing a costume that looks vaguely like something out of a “The Lord of the Rings” movie, Coluccio told me.

Before the meeting, I was stumped as to what I would wear as a costume. Nothing in my wardrobe resembled anything even remotely like “The Lord of the Rings.” Fortunately, my closet consists of a lot of green clothing, a Jesus Christ Halloween costume and a king’s crown from my 21st birthday. So, I mixed the three together and decided I would be some type of royal elf.

I have to be honest: I was a lit-tle anxious as I headed over to the library that night. Among my ma-jor worries were: A) getting hit in the face with a sword, and B) being seen in a weird costume by people I know.

But upon meeting the partici-pants, I felt better. It didn’t seem to faze them that non-players could see them LARPing. And boffer dueling, which I opted out of, has a set of rules, including no hitting in the face. I was relieved.

LARPing is a game for those who have matured, but never grew

out of their childhood imaginations. It combines impro-visation, creativity, adventurousness and action-fi lled journeys.

“LARPing is for anyone that’s ever wanted to know what it’s like to cast a spell, to have an epic sword fi ght to the death, to create dangerously powerful potions, to defend the safety and honor of their Kingdom,” said Co-luccio. “I think it’s all these things that attract people to LARP, because at one point or another they’ve wanted to know what it’s like to be a staff-bearing Elf or a happy-go-lucky Halfl ing.”

Coluccio had started New Paltz LARP at the begin-ning of last semester and as more people got involved, the LARPing evolved as well. She drew on inspirations from “Harry Potter,” “Dungeons and Dragons” and the movie “Role Models” in order to come up with more complex ways to play the game.

In dueling, she introduced the game of “King of the Hill,” in which a team must defend its base from an op-posing team. A system of “hit points” was also developed in order to determine the winner and loser in a given du-eling match.

Over the winter break, Coluccio wrote the “King-dom of Kasinthia Handbook,” a detailed guide to LARPing that outlines kingdoms, races, religions, leg-ends, folktales, non-player characters (NPCs), technical and magical rules. With all of the developments made

this semester, the game is pretty elaborate.Characters often have personal issues with one

another which sometimes lead to dueling, but all LARPers play as a team. Even though they come from different races and kingdoms, they are all citizens of Kasinthia and serve King Aldo as

his selected Crusaders of the Crown. With each weekly quest, they must work together to complete tasks and overcome obstacles.

Although the strange names and rules to LARPing were foreign to me, I found it easy to jump right in and play. Fellow players are welcoming to new mem-bers and will only turn away those who do not show respect for both other players and the game.

Once I got over my personal in-hibitions, I actually found the game to be fun. Although I often thought of LARPing as weird and silly, I re-alized the participants were normal folks who know how to use their imaginations to have a good time. So what if it’s not real? For a few hours each week, it’s very real. And it gives one an opportunity to es-cape reality which doesn’t facilitate the kind of adventures that exist in LARPing.

I’m sure everyone has won-dered what it was all about after seeing LARPers roam the campus with capes and swords. Well, give it a shot. If you attend a meeting with an open mind and a desire to have fun, you might be surprised where your imagination will take you.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

By Justin McCarthyFeatures Editor | Jmccarthy46@newpaltz.edu

Look out for more of the “A Day In The Life” series!

ALL PHOTOS BY JULIE MANSMANN

The New Paltz Oracle6B | FEATURES

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Unhappy Anniversary for Local Gay Marriage Activists

On Feb. 27, marriage equality activists gathered in Peace Park in New Paltz, the site of the original 2004 gay marriage event, to hold a rally. Former Mayor Jason West spoke about his ongoing dedication to obtaining equal recognition for all same-sex couples in America. Sen. Tom Duane said he would introduce a marriage equality bill in the state Senate.

PHOTO BY KELLY MERCHANT

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The New Paltz Oracle ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | 7B

10 Contenders for the Naked ManTHIS YEAR’S OSCAR NOMINATIONS FOR BEST PICTURE

By Ryan Patrick HanrahanStaff Writer | N01941313@newpaltz.edu

Thursday, March 4, 2010PHOTOS COURTESY OF IMDB.COM

“Avatar” is the story of an ex-marine caught between the bat-tle of a mining company and the indigenous people of Pandora. Does it deserve to win Best Pic-ture? No. Without the effects, “Avatar” is cliché. The story is blatantly unoriginal and the acting is less than noteworthy. It is a visual wonder that will probably revolutionize the fi lm industry, but it’s really just not worthy of the Best Picture title.

On Sunday, March 7, the biggest day in fi lm arrives with the highly anticipated 82nd Annual Academy Awards. This year’s ceremony is particularly exciting because, for the fi rst time since 1943, there will be not fi ve, but 10 nominees for the coveted Best Picture award.

The Best Picture nominees are a diverse bunch this year and many aren’t the typical contenders.

“The Blind Side” is the story of a family who takes in an impov-erished black teen who becomes a football star. It is truly a feel good movie, but its charm is by no means Oscar worthy. Like most other inspirational sports movies, “The Blind Side” plays by much of the same rules, with little to no originality storywise. It is a good pick-me-up, but

nothing truly special.

“District 9” is the story of one man’s physical and mental transformation as he struggles to survive in an extraterrestrial refugee fi lled shanty town in Jo-hannesburg, South Africa. With stunning special effects that go hand-in-hand with it’s story, it is a well-acted sci-fi fi lm. “Dis-trict 9” deserves the recognition of being nominated, but when compared to other nominees,

falls short.

“The Hurt Locker” is an Iraq War thriller which realistically depicts the lives of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal team. It creates a tension unlike any other war fi lm. Bigelow de-serves to win for Best Director. It is a valiant fi lm with marvel-ous acting, directing, cinema-tography and a story that shows the living and constant hell that war creates. This fi lm deserves

to win Best Picture.

“An Education” is a coming-of-age story about a young British school girl in 1961, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy twice her age. Witty, charming and extremely well-acted, it is a delightful fi lm with all the features of an Oscar win-ner. It is a sincere, funny, clever and thoroughly enjoyable fi lm. It deserves the nomination, al-though winning Best Picture

would be a surprise.

“Inglourious Basterds” is an over-the-top war fi lm, set in Nazi occupied France. It is an action-packed whirlwind with some of the best dialogue I have ever heard. Col. Hans Landa is one of the greatest villains of cinema and Christoph Waltz brings him to life. It is a high quality piece of rebel cinema for the average moviegoer. While I’d be surprised if it won, I be-

lieve it deserves Best Picture.

“Precious” is the story of a 16-year-old Claireece Precious Jones who is an obese, illiterate, African American girl living in Harlem with her dysfunctional mother. It is a remarkable fi lm about love and tragedy with both a heartbreaking story and fantastic acting. However, as much as I enjoyed “Precious,” I feel that its acting surpasses the fi lm itself and thus it does not

deserve Best Picture.

“A Serious Man” is the story of Larry Gopnik, a Jewish phys-ics professor, who lives with his troubled family in the suburbs of Minneapolis in 1967. A black comedy, “A Serious Man” is a funny and lovingly crafted fi lm with terrifi c acting and a well-written story to boot. The fi lm is a true gem that left me smiling. It deserves its nomination, but it

would be a surprise winner.

“Up in the Air” tells the story of Ryan Bingham, a man whose job is to fl y around the U.S. fi ring people for companies. It depicts the recession in a poignant and charming manner that I person-ally fell in love with. The acting is phenomenal and I connected so well with the story. It is an as-toundingly well done fi lm that I also believe it is deserving of the

Best Picture title.

“Up” is an animated adventure fi lm about an elderly widower, Carl Fredrickson, who is joined by a young wilderness explorer, Russell. They travel to South America by using a house sus-pended by helium balloons. Beautiful, hilarious and heart-warming, “Up” is one of my favorite fi lms and probably one of the best animated fi lms ever made. Its story is full of excite-

ment and is just fantastic.

“Avatar”Director: James Cameron

“The Blind Side”Director: John Lee Hancock

“District 9”Director: Neill Blomkamp

“An Education”Director: Lone Scherfi g

“The Hurt Locker”Director: Kathryn Bigelow

T .

“Inglourious Basterds”Director: Quentin Tarantino

“Precious”Director: Lee Daniels

“A Serious Man”Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen

“Up”Director: Pete Doctor

“Up in the Air”Director: Jason Reitman

The New Paltz Oracle8B | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Don’t tell that to Martin Scorsese. With dozens of award winning fi lms under his belt, and his latest re-lease of “Shutter Island,” Scorsese has managed to prove once again that, even at the age of 68, he is on top of his game and can deliver a fresh genre defi ning experience.

With so few iconic fi lm directors still alive and on the scene, Scorsese has a lot to prove every time he embarks on a new production. Many of his fans know him for creating an impressive body of work, with his bread and butter being mostly gangster movies. After seeing his recent effort, it’s obvious that Scorsese is, even now, still growing as a fi lmmaker and has a lot more to offer to the craft.

“Shutter Island” is a breath of fresh air in the month of February, where the worst movies of the year usually go to die. If it had been released only a month earlier, I am sure it would have received an Oscar nomination. Scorsese has created a work of art that is portrayed through striking imagery, a unique ominous atmosphere and surreal sequences that are perfectly constructed. It is bursting at the seams with style, intel-ligence and engaging storytelling. The fl aw-less camera work and haunting tone keep you on the edge of your seat till the fi nal nail-biting seconds.

Set in 1954, “Shutter Island” revolves around U.S. Marshall and World War II veteran Teddy Daniels, who is played by Leon-ardo DiCaprio. In the story’s introduction, Daniels arrives on Shutter Island, a high security asy-lum for the criminally insane

located many miles off the Boston Harbor. After meet-ing his new partner, played by Mark Ruffalo, he is spi-raled into the investigation of a missing patient, who is believed to be hiding somewhere on the island. How-ever, there is an alternate motive to his search that is quickly revealed to the audience: Daniels is there to uncover illegal experiments he believes the asylum’s staff and doctors have been doing on their patients, similar to those of the Nazis. As the plot thickens, it becomes apparent that the deeper he gets, the more dangerous the stakes become and the less likely he will ever manage to escape the mysterious island.

The storyline then splits into two parallels that ul-timately intersect. In one, Daniels is stuck in a battle against the facility’s staff, which he believes is hiding a dark secret and perhaps have been aware of his in-vestigation all along. In the other, he is trying to cope with a personal tragedy that is slowly consuming his every thought and dream, turning his life into a living nightmare. This is where the masterful work of Scors-ese kicks in.

The dream sequences are perhaps some of the most eerie and beautiful moments I’ve seen captured on fi lm in a long time. After dealing with the discovery of the Dachau concentration camp during his service in

the war, Daniels is agonized by the thousands of innocent victims he and his fellow sol-

diers were too late to save. Daniels is also troubled by the death of

his wife, who was engulfed in a house fi re he was

unable to rescue her from. Combine the two, and you can only imagine the hallucina-tions that terrorize our main character.

Leonardo DiCaprio, as usual, gives an amazing performance. In fact, every actor involved is as believ-able as the last, and only add to the engrossing narra-tive. However, what catapults this fi lm ahead in qual-ity is its climax and conclusion. I was left immensely satisfi ed when it was all said and done, and the fi nal seconds have been lingering in my mind since I left the theater. Sure, many critics have been calling it pre-dictable and you’re going to run into the occasional smart-ass who believes the movie sucked because the ending was too easy to spot or the fi lm was overhyped, but who cares? You could have given away the end-ing to “Shutter Island” prior to my viewing, and it still wouldn’t have made it bad, in any defi nition of the word. For many of the fi lm’s detractors, if Scors-ese doesn’t produce a masterpiece – another “Raging Bull” – then he has failed, and that isn’t fair. Why is it that when someone is good at what they do and are celebrated for creating a classic, their other above av-erage work is considered mediocre?

What makes this movie great are the subtle plot points and clues that are set up throughout the picture. Nothing is random and every detail is important. Seri-ously, every single moment means something. Even

the fi nal lines of dialogue are multi-lay-ered and thought provoking, making a

second viewing utterly essential. It doesn’t matter how quickly

you solve the mystery, get-ting there is an absolute

treat. Martin Scorsese has created some incredible works

of art, and “Shutter Island” is just another example why his name is

synonymous with genius fi lmmak-ing. You’d be crazy not to check

it out for yourself.

By Maxim AlterCopy Editor | Malter42@newpaltz.edu

Thursday, March 4, 2010

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Scorsese Shutters Audience With New Film‘SHUTTER ISLAND’ IS MULTI-LAYERED AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING

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Copy Editor | Malter42@newpaltz.edu

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Season 6 Episode 6: “Sundown”

Holy smokes! (Get it? There’s a smoke monster.) This was the episode of “Lost” I’ve been waiting for. With last Tuesday’s “Sundown,” not only did the writers manage to pack in multiple answers, they actually made a Sayid centric episode that was ridiculously entertaining.

It’s not that I don’t like Sayid as a character. He’s great. He doesn’t just kick major ass on the drop of a dime, but the dude’s a regular MacGyver. For some reason though, his story never re-ally interested me too much. Throughout the previous fi ve seasons, every Sayid episode has had the same basic recipe – torture, kill, rinse, repeat. Throw in some love and feelings here and there for good measure, and you just made yourself a Sayid souffl é. However, in “Sundown,” they baked a Sayid master-piece… I’m hungry.

Lets get started, shall we? About fi ve episodes ago, Sayid died. Miraculously, after having his feet fi rmly in the grave for two hours, he woke up. Since then, he hasn’t really been the same. Dogen, the temple’s leader and highest-ranking person within the hierarchy of the “oth-ers,” knew what was going on. Accord-ing to him, Sayid had become possessed by something very evil and there was a darkness growing.

In order to prove his innocence, Sayid is sent on a quest into the jungle to stab the Locke imposter, also known as the smoke monster, in the heart. However, Dogen seems to have other plans. Ap-parently, stabbing the smoke monster in

the heart doesn’t hurt him – because he has no heart. So that means Dogen actu-ally sent Sayid out to fail and be killed. Luckily, the smoke monster had other plans as well, and convinces Sayid to work for him. In exchange for his ser-vices, he offers Sayid his heart’s desire. Which brings me to the fl ash-sideways.

In the alternate universe where the plane never crashed, Sayid is visiting his family in Los Angeles. The twist? The woman Sayid has been in love with his whole life, and who died in his arms in the parallel reality, is married to his brother. This doesn’t mean Sayid isn’t still in love though and it becomes ap-parent when she fi nds a picture of her-self in his bag. As more time goes by, we learn that Sayid chose this outcome because he doesn’t believe he deserves her. His past of being a professional tor-turer in the Republican Guard has made his heart cold and empty.

After spending some quality time with his dysfunctional sibling, Sayid learns that his brother has gotten him-self in trouble with a bad crowd. He bor-rowed money from a very shady group and, even after paying back his debt, is being threatened for more cash. Soon after, his brother is hospitalized after being beaten to a pulp. You know what that means? It’s time for some Sayid butt kicking.

When he arrives at the group’s hide-out, he learns that the leader is Martin Keamy, the hardcore evil mercenary from season four – who is also dead in the island reality. In no time at all, Sayid manages to grab a gun from one of Ke-amy’s men and blow everyone away. On his way out however, Sayid hears a noise coming from one of the freezers

and decides to take a look. Who does he fi nd? The lovable Jin, who we last saw being escorted by airport security in epi-sode one. It looks as though Jin has been captured and tied up by Keamy’s crew. I’m sure we will learn more about that in an upcoming episode.

Back in the other reality, the Locke imposter is unable to penetrate the temple fortress because of a layer of ash surrounding its exterior. So instead, he sends the obviously brainwashed Claire, and now Sayid, to do his bidding for him. Once inside the temple, Sayid warns the “others” that the monster is coming and if they do not join him, anyone still inside the temple will die at sundown (hence the title).

The next 15 minutes of the episode were some of the most edge-of-your-seat moments so far in the season. Sayid, in a hypnotized daze, murders Dogen and his translator in cold blood, giving the smoke monster entry into the temple. In a giant murderous cloud, he bursts inside the fortress and begins murdering everyone in his path.

Kate, who was in the middle of heat-ed conversation with Claire, is forced away from Miles in an effort to escape the massacre. Just when you think Miles is going to bite the big one; Ilana and the rest of the beach group come to the res-cue. They are even joined by Benjamin Linus, who apparently is a good guy now! The episode ends with an incred-ibly creepy scene that includes Sayid and Claire tiptoeing through a mess of dead bodies, all while Claire sings “Catch a Falling Star.” Unfortunately for Kate, she has no choice but to join the evil crew and is reunited with the faux-Locke outside the temple. I can’t

wait to fi nd out how she manages.Next week’s episode will be centered

around Ben and is titled, “Dr. Linus.” With Ben’s personality taking a total 180 this season, it will be interesting to see how his character copes with ev-erything that is going on. He no longer cares only about himself, which is ac-tually refreshing to see. I fear however that, since this is the fi nal season, a lot of the main characters are going to start dropping like fl ies. Is there any hope for Claire? Will Sayid fi nd redemption for his actions? Will Benjamin Linus die? Is Sawyer now evil too? What do you think? Let me know!

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT |9BThe New Paltz Oracle

Trivia From “Sundown”:

At the hospital after Omer’s mugging, Sayid and Nadia pass Jack, who is in his hospital

scrubs in the hallway.

Omar wakes up Sayid at 2:30 am. 23 is one of The Numbers.

The minivan parked outside Omar’s house has the same license plate as Jack’s jeep

(2SAQ321).

In medicine, the term “Sundowning” refers to the phenomenon where people with psy-chosis or dementia become very agitated at dusk. At this time they are more likely to go wondering off away from safety when they

are very confused.

Information derived from TV.COM/LOST

The New Paltz Oracle10B | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Liana and the Michaels Jazz Up New PaltzMUSIC MAJORS COLLABORATE TO CREATE LOCALLY SUCCESSFUL BAND

On Tuesday, Feb. 16, Liana and The Michaels, a band that specializes in vocal jazz, performed at Oasis Café off of Main Street. With the celebration of Mardi Gras in full swing, fourth-year transfer student Liana Gabel passionately sang such jazz clas-sics as Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “The Girl From Ipanema” and the popular Art Blakey tune “Moanin’.” Needless to say, there was an abundance of dancing.

“We get really good feedback,” Gabel said of her audience.The local jazz band was formed this past fall by a group of

music students. Its members are SUNY New Paltz jazz studies majors Gabel, Michael Kadnar and Ben Basile as well as New Paltz graduate and former jazz studies major Michael Hollis. Their sound is a blend of jazz, blues, swing, and fusion with prominent emphasis on Gabel’s charming vocals.

The band is clearly named after its members, but there are actually only two Michaels in the band.

“They used to introduce me as ‘Michael,’ and people actually thought that was my name,” said non-Michael Ben Basile.

During the show, Liana and The Michaels were joined on-stage by assistant professor Mark Dziuba.

“He was just looking for something to do,” said Gabel. “He asked if he could play with us.”

Every musician who performed on Tuesday is a part of the New Paltz music department: student, teacher and alumnus.

“It’s a step in the right direction. We’re music students, and we want to build repertoire. This is what we want to do,” said Ga-bel on performing.

Liana and The Michaels play regularly at both Snug’s and Oasis, including playing at Café Bocca in Poughkeepsie.The band plans to expand to other venues and play bigger events.

“We want to play at wineries,” said Gabel. “We’ll play gradu-ation parties, birthday parties, anything.”

The members of Liana and The Michaels are all active mem-bers of the music scene in New Paltz, performing in multiple groups several times a week. Kadnar is currently involved in fi ve separate projects and Basile is taking on six. Hollis is a part of many popular New Paltz bands including Breakfast in Fur. In ad-

dition to working with “The Michaels,” Gabel performs her solo work and makes up one half of a musical duo with local Jings member Oscar Bilger.

The next Liana and The Michaels show will be at Snug’s on Friday, March 26. The band just recorded a demo, which will be on the Internet soon for all to enjoy. It isn’t hard to get into the band’s sound. They’re a group of talented and passionate musicians, and they perform a lot of catchy, soulful tunes.

“I only play songs that I love,” said Gabel, “I won’t perform songs that I don’t love.”

By Kate BradyContributing Writer | Kbrady23@newpaltz.edu

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Liana and the Michaels will be playing a show at Snug’s on Friday, March 26. PHOTO BY KATE BRADY

Tuesday, March 9Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -

Beat The Devil’s Tattoo

Broken Bells - Broken Bells

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Liars - Sisterworld

Monica - Still Standing

Pavement - Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Tuesday, March 16Chamillionaire -

Songs From The Heart

Drive By Truckers - The Big To-Do

Ludacris -Battle Of The Sexes

Nas And Damien Marley -Distant Relatives

The White Stripes - Under Great White Northern

Lights [Live]

The Whigs -In The Dark

Upcoming CD Releases

The New Paltz Oracle ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT |11B

Citay Brings Vivacious VibesBAND CREATES DREAM FOR A MUSICAL GET TOGETHER

Every now and then, a band will release an album that reminds us of all the good things rock n’ roll has given us throughout the past few decades: scorching guitar solos, male and female vocal harmonies and repetitive progressions that build and climax - just to name a few. Citay, on their third full-length Dream Get Together, create an album that’s surprisingly refreshing, despite the imitations of their obvious infl uences.

The various inspirations that songwriters Ezra Feinberg and Tim Green create may represent the “get together” that the album’s title suggests. They combine 70s style guitar riffs, folky organs, alt-rock guitar walls and other likeable techniques, to produce an album that summarizes what has worked best in rock albums since the Zeppelin days. This music will defi nitely appeal to listeners of genres such as folk, classic rock, jam band, psychedelic and pop.

Hailing from San Francisco, Citay was initially comprised of Feinberg, Green, and Tim Soete, former members of bands Piano Magic and The Fucking Champs. The live act is made up of six musicians, the other three hailing from bands such as Land and Sea, Tussle and Horn of Dagoth. They’ve been recording music since 2006.

The album begins with “Careful With That Hat,” a song on my short list for most grooving song on Dream. Acoustic guitars, sing-a-longs, multi-minute guitar solos and head bopping rhythms make the song a downright jam. For those who like slow instrumental crescendos, this song drives. The song amounts to seven minutes, so if you don’t like the groove, the song may appear boring. But it all depends

on your tolerance for instrumental jams.

The song, much like the album, is predictable yet listenable. You may have heard these instrumental hooks before, but Citay has a way of making these familiar techniques refreshing. Their infl uences are apparent, but their approach is genuine.

“Secret Breakfast,” the fi ve minute instrumental in the middle of the album could be a homage to the instrumental jams of yesteryear. With Blind Melon-like guitar tones, and harmonized guitar solos with a touch of distortion and delay, it sounds like a musical time capsule that has just been rediscovered. A minute in, the guitars and drums are joined by a hazy fl ute, combining renaissance folk with soft stoner rock.

The album sounds like a constant celebration with its upbeat rhythms and big, full sounds. In fact, the whole

album plays as if it should be heard live at an outdoor festival. The guitar tones, the dominant element throughout the album, are totally entrancing, and usually layered over strummed acoustic chords. It’s rock-pop, but thanks to the effects and song structure, the album gives more of a psychedelic vibe. Take the harmonies from “Fortunate Son,” which sound like a song from the fl ower-power days of 60’s folk. The song expresses how psychedelia can be both entrancing and neat.

Overall, Dream Get Together is likable mostly for its diversity. The album ultimately sounds like it was created by a bunch of hippies, but hippies who stay off the drugs when it comes time to get serious. There’s a great contrast between spontaneity and awareness, creating the sound of a polished jam band. And despite the album’s title, Citay has made this dream a reality.

By Peter Spengeman Contributing Writer | Peter.spengeman94@newpaltz.edu

Thursday, March 4, 2010

MakingMusic

History

A fi re at Manhattan’s Criminal Courthouse caused Lil’ Wayne to stay out of prison for just a little longer. A few weeks earlier, a dental emergency forced a judge to push

back the sentencing, and Wayne went through eight root canals, which honestly

doesn’t sound that much better than prison. His case has been rescheduled for March 8.

::Guitar player/producer for Death Cab for

Cutie, Chris Walla, now has his own label, Trans, which is part of Warner Music’s

Independent Label Group.

::The reunion of Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking-era lineup has

offi cially come to an end. Bassist Eric Avery, who rejoined his bandmates in 2008

after their initial breakup 17 years prior, revealed that he has left the band.

::Gang Starr rapper Guru suffered a heart attack that put him in a coma. Rumors of the 43-year-old MC’s death were quick to circulate, but it turns out that Gifted

Unlimited Rhymes Universal is alive and well.

::Last week it seemed like the nearly four-decade-old mystery surrounding Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” was fi nally

solved after the U.K. press speculated that record exec David Geffen was the subject of Simon’s 1972 hit. Simon had previously promised that in a newly recorded version

of “You’re So Vain,” the name of the vain man in question would be revealed when the song was played backwards. The reverse lyric sounded simply like

“David,” fueling rumors that Geffen, who allegedly favored Simon’s musical rival Joni Mitchell, was the focus of her hit.

However, Simon said that Geffen is not the “David” in question.

All information derived from Rollingstone.com, Pitchfork.com and Spin.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MYSPACE.COM Citay’s third full-length album, Dream Get Together, is a surprisingly refreshing album.

Folk ‘n’ Awesome’s

Top 10 Picks of the Week

List compiled by DJ Coho.List compiled by DJ Coho.Their show is every Tuesday night from 8 to 10 p.m.Their show is every Tuesday night from 8 to 10 p.m.

1. “Reinventing Axl Rose” - Against Me!2. “The Caged Bird” - Boulder Acoustic

Society3. “Do You Want Power” - The Ettes

4. “Break It Up” - Jemina Pearl 5. “Monsters of Folk” - Monsters of Folk

6. “Shaka Rock” - Jet7. “Everybody, Come Outside!” - Pome-

granates 8. “The House That Dirt Built” - The

Heavy 9. “Trapped Animal” - The Slits10. “Echo Kid” - Turbo Fruits

The New Paltz Oracle12B | THE DEEP END

Thursday, March 4, 2010

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KATIE CHIRICHILLO, CAPTION BY FELICE BERNABO

This Week in the Deep End:

Katie Chirichillo

NAME: Katie ChirichilloART: Photography, band pho-

tographyYEAR: Second-Year

MAJOR: Visual Arts, applying for Photography BFA

INSPIRATION: Music, bands, the outdoors, stories/nostalgia

FAVORITE ARTIST: Too many to name

DREAM: To combine her pas-sions for photography and live

music into a career

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz OraclePg 8

Wile E. Coyote In Your Backyard: What You Should

Know About Canis latransMarch 4

4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Student Lounge in Vanderlyn Hall at

SUNY UlsterDr. Roland Kays of NYS Museum on “New York’s Coyote/Coydog/Coywolf: What is it and how did it get here?” Dan Bogan of Cornell University on “Subur-ban coyote behavioral ecology; impli-cations for ecology and management;” and Robin Holevinski, of SUNY ESF on “Foraging Ecology and Population Sta-tus of Eastern Coyotes” will participate in a panel discussion about the coyotes. Sponsored by Catskill Institute for the Environment. For more information, call 845-687-5231 or log on to www.catskil-

linstitute.org

“Fresh Dance”Directed by Yoav Kaddar

March 4 to 68 p.m. in McKenna Theater

“Fresh Dance,” an annual production of the department of theatre arts uniting pro-fessional dancers, regional dance com-panies and students focuses on choreog-raphy and performance across a diverse spectrum of dance. It encourages oppor-tunities for artistic collaborations between dance, music, theatre and other art forms. Tickets are $16 general reserved, $14 se-niors and SUNY New Paltz student/fac-

ulty/staff.

“Improvisations of Audience Stories”

March 58 p.m. at Boughton Place

Community Playback Theatre presents “Improvisations of Audience Stories.” For more information, call Toni Horvatin

at 845-691-7795.

First Sunday Gallery Tour “Carolee Schneemann: Within

and Beyond the Premises”March 7

2 p.m. at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art

Join guest educator Kevin Cook on a tour of the exhibition “Carolee Schneemann:

Within and Beyond the Premises.”

“The Future of Gas Drilling in New York State”

March 85:45 to 8 p.m. at SUNY New Paltz

ScheinMedia and the SUNY New Paltz Environmental Task Force are pleased to present a public forum, “The Future of Gas Drilling in New York State,” on Monday, March 8 from 5:45 to 8 p.m. at SUNY New Paltz. The event features a closing keynote by U.S. Congressman Maurice Hinchey, representatives from New York City, the New York State De-partment of Environmental Conserva-tion (DEC), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the gas industry. ScheinMedia founder and CEO Jonathan A. Schein will serve as a moderator of the

panel section of the event.

Summer Camp DayMarch 9

11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Student Union Room 100

Need a summer job? Want to work with children, teens or people with disabili-ties? Gain experience for your resume! Whatever your major, there may be a job that fi ts you! This event is sponsored by

the Career Resource Center.

“Keeping Pace with Energy Options for Municipalities”

March 139 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. at SUNY New

Paltz Lecture Center“Keeping Pace with Energy Options for Municipalities” features several new strat-egies for fi nancing energy effi ciency and renewables for home, municipal buildings and businesses; also Green Job/Green NY training and employment opportunities and SHV’s Ten Percent Challenge. Please go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/K97DX-YP to pre-register (required); to carpool: rideshare.us/index.php. Look-up code: EnergyFeb27. For more information, con-tact Dare Thompson at 845-236-3074 or via e-mail at darethompson@gmail.com.

“Peace Pilgrim”Free Film Showing

March 134 to 8:30 p.m. at Poughkeepsie

Friends MeetingThe “Peace Pilgrim” crisscrossed the

United States on foot from 1953 until her death on the road in 1981, carrying noth-ing but her peace message and what fi t in the pockets of her blue tunic. Her inter-nationally known book, “Steps to Inner Peace” will be available at the fi lm show-ing. The screening will be followed by an audience discussion. This is part of the “Give Peace a Film” series and there is no

admission charge.

Washington’s Headquarters Honors Mary Ann Fish

March 27 1 to 3 p.m. at the Green Room of

the Ritz Theater in NewburghOn Saturday, March 27, Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site cele-brates Women’s History Month. The an-nual program honors Martha Washington, dedicated wife of General George Wash-ington. The program will include the presentation of the “Martha Washington Woman of History Award” to Mary Ann Fish, a founding director of the Palisades Park Conservancy. The award acknowl-edges the contributions made by a woman in advancing the promotion of history. The program will also include a guest speaker, topical talk, refreshments and musical entertainment. Admission is by donation. For further information contact

845-562-1195.

Sixth Annual Symposium on Energy: The Energy Highway

April 168 a.m. at the The Links

at Erie Village“Effi cient, Secure, Reliable and Envi-ronmentally SensitiveTransmission and Distribution of Electricity” with Dr. Rhea Jezer, chair at “The Links at Erie Vil-lage,” The fee is $40. For more informa-tion and to register go to: www.cazenovia.

edu/energy.

Landlord Tenant Relations Committee Opening

The Village of New Paltz has an opening for a tenant representative on its Land-lord Tenant Commission. Any one who is a resident of the Village of New Paltz and would like to serve on this important commission should contact the village

clerk at Village Hall.

OASISOASIS is a student-staffed coun-seling and crisis intervention cen-ter and telephone hotline. OASIS volunteers are trained and super-vised by the Psychological Coun-seling Center to respond to anony-mous telephone calls and walk-in requests for support, information and referral. Peer crisis interven-tion is provided in college-related areas such as academic stress, loneliness, sexual orientation, suicide, drug and alcohol-related problems, relationship and family confl icts.

OASIS, located in the Deyo Hall basement, room G13C, is open from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. while classes are in session, and the extension is x4945.

HAVENHAVEN of OASIS is the student-staffed hotline and walk-in center, supervised by the Psychological Counseling Center. HAVEN vol-unteers provide support, infor-mation and referral for students who have been the target of rape, attempted rape or any unwanted sexual experience.

HAVEN is located in the Deyo Hall basement, room G13c and is open from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. while classes are in session, and the ex-tension is x4930.

Call or stop in when classes are in session. The 24-hour HAVEN beeper is 845-455-6093.

Campus Escort

Call x3338 for an escort from anywhere on campus to anywhere on campus. 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night. Not a taxi service — for safety, not for the lazy!

Safe RiderNeed a ride home from the bars? We provide FREE rides home or back to campus please give me a call at 845-834-2213.

Facilities Management

Having facilities related issues? Please call x3301.

To submit an announcement, write down the name of the club/event, date, time and location. Then e-mail it to oracle@newpaltz.edu. All submissions are due by Sunday at 5 p.m. Submissions are printed at the discretion of the editor-in-chief.

Pg 9The New Paltz Oracle

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz OraclePg 10 OPINIONS

This November will be the end of an era for New Yorkers. With incumbent Gov. David Paterson’s withdrawal from the race, the seat that many political scientists regard as being the second most powerful chief ex-ecutive position in the nation will be up for grabs in the upcoming gubernatorial elec-tion. For SUNY New Paltz students, this is the best news we’ve heard from Paterson in a while.

This will be the end of a dramatic and tu-multuous governmental experience for New York State. Gov. Paterson, who began his time as governor two years ago this month after the highly publicized prostitution scan-dal of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, will end his short term as chief executive of New York at the end of the year. After feeling the effects of Paterson’s mismanagement of the eco-nomic crisis and general disarray in Albany, we urge the next governor to try to fi x the state’s problems rather than perpetuate them.

For SUNY New Paltz students, Pater-son’s announcement could mark an opportu-nity for improvement. In his efforts to deal with the economic crisis that all of America is struggling with, Gov. Paterson made nu-merous budget cuts to education that will negatively affect SUNY students. Addition-ally, his recent proposal of the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act could threaten the security that New York college students enjoy in having an af-fordable option for higher education.

The purpose of the SUNY system is to provide New York students with an edu-cation they can afford. The proposals that have been made by the current governor do not help SUNY schools remain affordable for students who come from lower-income households. Although this legislation could do a lot of positive things, there is no safe-guard to stop it from upping prices above the affordable means of New York students. Stu-dents could also fi nd themselves in a position where they cannot afford to study the major of their choice as a result of the act. The tax cuts that have also been proposed will fur-ther drive prices of a given student’s tuition. None of these decisions will benefi t SUNY New Paltz students. We are strongly against the budget cuts that have already been made and we hope that the next gubernatorial can-didates will also oppose the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act.

Not all decisions made by Gov. Paterson were bad, however. The New Paltz commu-nity, which holds signifi cance in the ongoing battle for gay marriage, can certainly appre-

ciate the current governor’s attempts to le-galize marriage equality in New York State. Although he was unsuccessful, we found his efforts to provide equality for all citizens of New York to be the shining moment in his disappointing performance as our governor. Hopefully, with a new governor, this can be something New York can look forward to.

With Gov. Paterson’s recent decision, SUNY New Paltz students can only look to the future. Although Paterson will serve the remainder of his term, 2011 will usher in a new era for our state. As students, we

hope he or she will acknowledge our need for affordable higher education. Risky ar-rangements that will encourage competition amongst state colleges could threaten our ability to attain an education is the last thing we need. We are suffering from this econo-my, too. So, we need a governor we can trust.

Whether our new governor is current New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, former Rep. Rick Lazio or any other candidate that may prevail, we remind them to listen to student voices, which will hope-fully be heard if we make an effort to get out

and vote. We are the future of this country and this state. We have hopes and dreams, but we also have fi nancial limitations. Don’t make decisions that will jeopardize not only our futures, but the future of New York.

EDITORIALEND OF AN ERA BRINGS HOPE FOR FUTURE

Editorials represent the views of the major-ity of the editorial board. Columns, op-eds and letters, excluding editorials, are solely those of the writers and do not necessar-ily represent the views of The New Paltz

Oracle, its staff members, the campus and university or the Town or Village of

New Paltz.

CARTOON BY JON AIELLO

Come write for The New Paltz Oracle!Our next story meeting will be held in Student Union 417 on Sunday, March 7 at 7 p.m.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz Oracle Pg 11OPINIONS

COLUMNSStill Gotta Catch ‘Em All

Around three years ago, my parents de-cided that it was time to move on from Mary-land and fi nd the place they were going to retire. It was the right time, with one child about to graduate college and the other (me) about to graduate high school. They were going to have an empty nest. But where were they going to retire? What town would be perfect for them? The choice was easy. It was the town they met in and loved dearly: New Paltz, N.Y..

Yup, they decided to retire in the town that

I go to college in. Now, to be fair, they kind of had a claim on the town before I did; they were here fi rst. They went to college here in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s and it is the town they met in. So it would make sense that this dearly special place to them would be the perfect place to re-tire. Two years ago, the summer before I started my fi rst semester here, my parents bought a house less than a mile from campus. I do like change and new things, but to me this was still sad because it meant that it was real, and I would be losing my childhood home.

The new house had some perks to it for me; my room was about three times the size of my old cramped room where I could use my bed as my desk chair because there really wasn’t enough space. My bedroom also didn’t have the awful blood-ish red carpeting and in-sane asylum white walls. Instead, it had pret-ty foam green walls and beautiful light wood fl ooring. I also had my own bathroom instead of having to share one with my brother (although I hadn’t really for four years when he was in college, but when he came home I would have to). The house also made less loud cracking and creaking sounds at night which would scare the

crap out of me. It is set on a open hill rather than in the middle of the woods (which at even the age of 18 can be scary at night when you are alone in the house). The new house was in a development where I could see almost all of my neighbors. My old house was on a 5 acre lot in a neighborhood where no house was the same and I could only see one of my neighbors

While my parents bought the house two years ago, it wasn’t until this year that my child-hood home in Maryland was sold. And with it, I lost the biggest part of my childhood. So much of my childhood got left there; my playhouse, my playground with my favorite swing that even up to the last day I was there last summer, I used. I like my new home, but the old one had some charm the new one does not. When my parents and my brother fi rst moved in, it was just the house, but a lot got added to it. They built a separate large garage, added a real play-ground, and had the place landscaped. By land-scaped I mean a garden that wrapped around the entire house and included a small man-made pond in the backyard, as well as adding on a deck. The house itself had a special charm as it was a one of a kind. The original owner was the

architect of the house and there was no other like it.

While I did lose the biggest part of my childhood, it isn’t all gone. I still have all the memories of that house. Like waking up many times to a cow that had escaped from the farm next door who was munching away casually on our lawn, thinking the ice on the pond was thick enough to hold my weight (which it wasn’t) and running outside and stomping around on the deck to scare the deer away from eating our garden, which they eventually got used to and I had to almost run right up to them to get them away. Aside from these memories, I have many, many photos of my own and ones taken by my parents of the house and me there. While it will never be forgotten, it still feels like a large part of me is now gone.

Felice BernaboPhotography Editor

Fbernabo10@newpaltz.edu

Felice is a former Marylandite forced to move to the same town she attends college because her parents decided to retire, even though her

dad still hasn’t actually retired. She enjoys being a new New Paltzian and does admitedly

like New York way more than Maryland.

When You Can’t Go Home

“I want to be…the very best…like no one ever was…DUM DUM DUM!”

These omnipotent words could bring any child of the ‘90s out of hibernation and make them pick up that dusty old Game Boy to catch ‘em all. Don’t deny it.

While sitting restlessly in my room over winter break, mindlessly surfi ng Web sites I had checked only moments before, my friend texted me with a cryptic message: “Gotta Catch ‘Em All.”

My mind raced as I thought about what my friend was insinuating. Of course, he was referencing not only the greatest cartoon of my childhood but arguably (not really argu-ably, but I put it in here for my editor-in-chief who foolishly believes that “Final Fan-tasy 7” is better...he is mistaken) the greatest game ever to entrance my mind and snare

countless hours of my life and never return them: “Pokemon.” My friend challenged me. He believed that he could pick up a copy of “Red Version” and become a “Pokemon Master” before me and with Squirtle as his starting “Pokemon,” no less. Ha! Needless to say, a competition was born.

Before I tell you what has transpired be-tween what began as a friendly competition, I must inform you of the importance “Poke-mon” had on me at an early age. “Pokemon” was more than just a mere game; it was an integral part of my early life. If someone was to ask me to describe my childhood in one word, I would immediately answer: “Pokemon.” Now being older and wiser, I truly wish I could run through my house, go through the mounds of useless crap in my basement and dig up all of my old games and tally how many hours of my life I wasted on every color of “Pokemon” that the wizards at Nintendo could churn out. Not only did I obsessively play the game, but I also collect-ed the cards like it was the most important thing in the world. Looking back on my card collecting I realize just how bizarre it really was. Why did I collect these little pieces of paper that had a picture of someone’s drug manipulated mutation of an ordinary animal on the front? I didn’t even play the “game” that you were supposed to take part in with the cards, but I didn’t care.

“Pokemon” was my childhood, and I needed to “catch them all.” The prospect of

fi nally getting a metallic Charizard in that little wrapped up square of awesome was worth the fi ve or so dollars they cost (and the high chance you would get a pack fi lled with Energy Cards and Oddishes…ugh).

It was a constant competition between my friends and myself, seeing who could beat the next gym leader faster, and who had better “Pokemon.” I remember that at one point of my life I was able to get through the infamous Rock Tunnel by memory. For those of you who don’t know, Rock Tunnel is a pitch black labyrinth which you need a certain move to navigate, if you are not a super-nerd like myself. Bringing your game-boy to school and showing off your “Poke-mon” team was an every day occurrence, and when someone brought in their cable to connect Game Boys, the real fun began as everyone in the room would watch two pre-pubescent nerds battle to the death (or until the lunch bell rang).

But, back to the story at hand. Soon more of my friends had dug up their old Game Boys and entered the 2010 “Poke-mon” fray. Slowly but surely, “Pokemon” was becoming my drug of choice. I brought my Gameboy everywhere, constantly up-dating my fellow “Pokemon” trainers (my friends) about my progress throughout the game, and watching my Abra turn into a Kadabra (and after some slick trading tech-niques) an Alakazam!

Unfortunately however, the winter break

was ending, and I realized that my newfound “Pokemon” obsession would have to be put on hold for at least a few months. I had been so focused on completing every mission that I had only made it to Koga in Fuschia City (those of you who know “Pokemon” will un-derstand how disappointed I was...I was so close yet so far from glory). But, my friend who originally proposed the “Pokemon” re-surgence was in a similar area and wanted us to put our training to the test – he want-ed to battle. The battle was epic to say the least. Our “Pokemon” intellect was equally matched, and our skirmish came down to one “Pokemon” each. He had a Wartortle, I had a Charmeleon. Water always beats fi re. He had conquered me in our battle of the “Pokemon” wit, and I left for New Paltz a defeated man. Luckily for me, I arrived upon the snowy landscape of New York and was told my friend had brought up her N64 and a copy of “Pokemon Stadium.” It appeared my obsession could be satisfi ed for just a little longer.

Andrew is a fi rst-year student and will hopefully pick a major out of the air by

next year. His vices include drinking more coffee than is healthy for him, watching

way too much “Scrubs” and listening to a disturbing amount of pop-punk music. He also loves the New York Metropolitans to

death, and wishes that they didn’t lead him into a deep dark depression every October.

Andrew WyrichCopy Editor

Andrew.wyrich63@newpaltz.edu

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz OraclePg 12 OPINIONS

CARTOONS

Jon Aiello is an aspiring super-senior in the Asian Studies program at SUNY New Paltz. His super-abilities include an un-canny memory for movie lines and a penchant for dirty jokes, neither of which have done

much to help his scholastic career. Aiello enjoys cynicism, long scarves, 50s pin-up girls and fl an. Jon dreams of one day breaking the glass ceiling faced by white males in the hibachi fry cook industry.

Do you have cartoons that you want to see printed in

The New Paltz Oracle?Send them to us at

oracle@newpaltz.edu!

Jon AielloCartoonist

N01717845@newpaltz.edu

Sudoku courtesy of Spen Sky Sudoku Generator

For the Week Ending March 7

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz Oracle Pg 13SPORTS

Hawks Players of the Week

First-year Alexandra McCullough performed well in the 82-79 (4 OT) semi-fi nal game against SUNY Oneonta on Friday. McCullough scored a career-high 25 points, including 10 points in the overtime sessions to help the Hawks advance to their fi rst SUNYAC Championship in school history. On Saturday in the fi nals against No. 1 Cortland, McCullough was limited to fi ve points and four rebounds, but her efforts still earned her a apot on the All-Tournament Team for the Hawks.

Fourth-year Kristen Caban scored 11 points and had fi ve rebounds, three assists and three steals in the 82-79 (4 OT) victory over Oneonta in the semi-fi nals Friday night. In the fi nals against No. 1 Cortland, Caban drilled her fi rst four shots of the game, including three from behind the arc. She fi nished the game with a career and game-high 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting from behind the arc and added fi ve rebounds. Caban was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Outdoor Pursuit TripsRock Climbing:Saturday, April 10 - Top RopeCost: $25All levels are welcomes and all equipment is included. There is a 20 person max on this trip. The registration deadline is Monday, April 5.Saturday, April 24 - Multi PitchCost: $25Multi-pitch rock climbing trip to the Gunks, there is a 12 person max for this trip. This trip is intended to the intermediate and advanced climber. Registration will close on April 19.Horseback Riding: Saturday, April 17Cost: $12Take an hour long trail ride, all levels are welcome. Registration closes on Monday, April 12. Registration is in room 220 in the gym.Paintball: Sunday, April 18Cost: $20Grab your friends and play paintball! There is a 40 student max. Registration is closed on April 13 for this trip.

Group Fitness ScheduleMonday 12 p.m. Cycling with Corinna 3:30 p.m. Absolute Abs with Bianca 6:30 p.m. Vinyasa Yoga with Lana, Room 101 7:15 p.m. Dance Groove with Elisa 7:30 p.m. Cycling with Lauren N. 8:30 p.m. Belly Dance with AmyTuesday 4:30 p.m. BOSU Strength with Corinna 5:30 p.m. Zumba with Jen 6:00 p.m. Vinyasa Yoga with Lana, Room 101 7 p.m. Jujitsu with Lauren, Room 101 7:30 p.m.

Willpower & Grace with Saara, Cycling with Starr 8:30 p.m. Hip Hop Cardio with DanitWednesday 7 a.m. Cycling with Corinna 5 p.m. Vinyasa Yoga with Lana, Room 101, Boot Camp with Bianca 6 p.m. Cycle Strength with Lauren Z. Belly Dance with Amy 7 p.m. Cycling with StephanieThursday 12 p.m. Cycling with Corinna 5 p.m. Vinyasa Yoga with Lana, Room 101, Zumba with Corinna 5:30 p.m. Cycling with Starr 7 p.m.

Willpower and Grace with Saara 7:30 p.m. Cycling with Jessica 8 p.m. Hip Hop Cardio with DanitFriday 2 p.m. Dance Groove with Elisa 3 p.m. Willpower and Grace with Shelbie 3:30 p.m. Cycling with Starr 4 p.m. Vinyasa Yoga with Lana, Room 101 4 p.m. Boot Camp with Bianca

Intramural Spring SportsRegistration for outdoor fi eld hockey, softball, tennis (singles, doubles and mixed) and ultimate frisbee is going on until March 13.

Wellness and Recreation Events and Activities

Weekly Sports Update

Men’s BasketballMarch 2: The State University of

New York Athletic Conference (SUN-YAC) announced the 2009-2010 Men’s Basketball All-Conference teams. Two New Paltz members were selected, as second-year students Shereef Taylor and Jayquan Anderson each earned honors for the team.

Taylor, a guard on the team, earned second team honors. Taylor averaged 15.6 points per game and was led the Hawks in blocks and steals over the last season.

Taylor was also second in assists (66) and second in minutes played with 31.1 per game. He also scored a total of 406 points over the last year, which is ninth best all-time at New Paltz.

Anderson earned third team honors as he averaged a Hawk best 15.7 points per game and scored 408 points on the year which will land him as seventh best all-time at New Paltz.

Anderson was tied for the team lead with 5.7 rebounds per game. He was second in blocks with 18 and third in steals with 29 on the year.

Women’s BasketballFeb. 27: The SUNY New Paltz

Women’s Basketball team lost to Cort-

land 51-45 in the SUNYAC Women’s Basketball fi nal. The Hawks led Cort-land by four points at halftime and Kristen Caban scored 22 points, but Cortland was able to hold on to the lead and fi nsh the Hawks season. The Hawks fi nal record was 18-10.

March 2: The SUNYAC also an-nounced the 2009-2010 Women’s Bas-ketball All-Conference teams. Forth-years Nicole Sarcone and Maggie Farrell each earned second team for the 2009-10 season.

Sarcone averaged 6.5 points per game and 3.6 rebounds per game. She led the Hawks with 144 assists and had 63 steals on the season.

Farrell led the Hawks with 10.8 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game for theteam. She also had 48 steals on the season.

Men’s VolleyballMarch 2: The New Paltz Men’s

Volleyball team lost to their rival, the ninth ranked Vassar College. Even Jake Moore’s 20 plus kills were unable to come back from 2-1 down for the win

Moore led the Hawks with a team-high 25 kills and Kevin Stross chipped in with 23 kills and a .600 hitting per-centage and three service aces. The Hawks fall to 10-9 overall and suffer their fi rst loss in the NECVA Metro.

By Andrew WyrichCopy Editor | Andrew.wyrich63@newpaltz.edu

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz OraclePg 14 SPORTS

Reyes of Hope for 2010 Lineup

After doing some soul-searching in my perpetually shattered orange and blue heart, I decided that Mets Manager Jerry Manuel’s, decision to bat shortstop Jose Reyes third in the lineup is a decent idea.

At fi rst, I was skeptical. As much as I love Reyes, he is not like Florida’s Hanley Ramirez, and treating him as such would be a mistake. Ramirez has a monster swing ca-pable of hitting home runs, Reyes has a more

short swing that is better suited for doubles and triples. Manuel had the idea of batting Reyes third during spring training last year, and obviously it did not pan out. Last year, I was extremely opposed to Reyes being put in the third slot, but this year the circumstances are different.

Much like last season, I questioned Manuel’s motives about shifting Reyes down in the order. When Jose starts a game by hit-ting a double, the Mets usually score fi rst and many times win the game.

Reyes is one of the best, if not the best lead-off hitter in the major leagues. He ex-celled in the leadoff spot for many years, and had led the league in stolen bases multiple times. It is a well known fact that when Reyes is on the team the Mets have a different perso-na about them. Simply put, they actually win.

But as I searched my aching heart and mind, I thought about Reyes’ MVP caliber 2006 season and the potential he showed in the power department. In 2006, Reyes hit 19 home runs and knocked in 81 runs, while hit-ting .300. He had a league leading 64 stolen

bases and only struck out 81 times. All of these numbers were put up as the Mets lead-off hitter, meaning he may do even better with more protection. Suddenly, I saw what Man-uel sees in Reyes – untapped potential.

Reyes, if healthy, could be a productive number three hitter in the Mets lineup. First of all, this would help ease him back from his injury-riddled 2009 season. By having him bat lower in the order, Reyes will have to put less emphasis on stealing bases, and be more focused on driving in runs, and with Angel Pagan and Luis Castillo getting on base be-fore him, Reyes will have plenty of opportu-nities to drive in runs. He will get a healthy dose of fastballs hitting in front of Jason Bay and David Wright, which will make scoring even easier. He will not have to tax his fragile legs, and will ease into the role later.

Putting Reyes in the third slot in the order could also deepen the entire Mets lineup. Due to the knee surgery Carlos Beltran underwent this off-season, the Mets will be desperate for offense until he returns in May. An Opening Day lineup of Pagan, Castillo, Reyes, Bay

and Wright then Daniel Murphy, Jeff Fran-coeur and Rod Barajas would be deeper and more cohesive than one that had Reyes bat-ting in the leadoff spot.

Even when Beltran comes back from his surgery, Reyes could still stay batting third. Imagine the depth of a lineup with a healthy and productive Beltran in the middle of Reyes, Bay and Wright. It would be hard to fi nd a better 3-4-5-6 punch in the game.

In order to compete with the Phillies for the NL East crown, the Mets are going to have to make bold moves. While moving Reyes down in the order an unconventional idea, it’s not the worst. On Tuesday, the Mets completed their fi rst intrasquad game, which was Reyes’ fi rst appearance as a number three hitter. And, as if to prove Manuel’s point, the fi rst pitch Reyes has seen since his surgery last season was turned into a run scoring tri-ple. While this is only a spring training game where the Mets play themselves, it is a small bit of hope that Mets fans such as myself need to survive. Without them, who knows where would we be…

Andrew WyrichCopy Editor

Andrew.wyrich63@newpaltz.edu

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The New Paltz Oracle Pg 15SPORTS

Winter Olympics In Review

Who took home the most medals from Vancouver in 2010?

RUSSIA: 15

KOREA: 14

CHINA: 11

SWEDEN: 11

FRANCE: 11

UNITED STATES: 37

GERMANY: 30

CANADA: 26

NORWAY: 23

AUSTRIA: 16PHOTOS AND INFORMATION COURTESY OF VANCOUVER2010.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF DOUGLAS HERMAN

SPORTSTHE NEW PALTZ ORACLE

Farrell, Sarcone earn second team SUNYAC honors

See Story on Page 14

Lineup shift could benefi t Reyes, Mets in upcoming seasonColumn on Page 14

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