the smcc beacon 9-12-2012

2 Welcome Back! Career & Transfer Connections 3 Free Money Medical Supplies 4 PSTD On Top of the World 5 Soul-Making True Love? 6 Networking Identity 7 Op-Editorials 9 Gluten-Free The Candidate 10 Off Beat Music Events 11 Sports

Sustaining Higher Education: A Conversation With Angus KingSenatorial Candidate Angus King Discusses Higher Education

By Daniel E. Gagnetudents today face the continual in-creasing burden of debt in order to obtain a degree. As technology has

evolved we are no longer the farmers of yesteryear. We are a race of techno-logically savvy capitalists. Thriving in society today requires us to get training beyond primary and secondary schools, although not always a four year degree or better. Of course a bachelor’s, master’s degree, or a doctorate is not necessary in many fields, but the largest growing sector is in training short of these. It seems however, that most of us today are bombarded with advertisements of many forms that lead us to believe that attending a university is an absolute must in order to succeed. The average cost of that college education has been out of control for decades at a rate triple that of inflation. Here at SMCC we have been lucky to have those rates at just over 2% annually since 2001, only one third of most other institutions matching very close to the rate of inflation, while simultaneously grow at around 15%.

Angus King, now running for the U.S. Senate, agreed to be interviewed by The Beacon to discuss this very prob-lem. He grew up in Alexandria, Va. to a family whose par-ents were the first to go to college. His mother, in order to attend college in the 20’s and 30’s, had a scholarship which stipulated that she become a teacher for every year she had a scholarship after graduation in order to repay the founda-tion. Before becoming Governor, or running for Senate, he taught at both Bowdoin and Bates colleges, and continued to be an educator as recent as last spring. Having such a his-tory in post-secondary education, as well as being governor for two consecutive terms, he has quite a unique view on how the system works. That being said, he also has a lot to say on why college cost is such a huge problem for students and families struggling with how to finance an education without creating unsustainable debt. In response to whether or not colleges and universities should be penalized for higher than average default rates, King exclaimed, “Boy, I’ve never heard that! That’s a really interesting idea… That implies their really not taking care of their students. That’s an idea that deserves some real con-sideration. That’s a way of indirectly policing what we talked about, which is giving them more help when they come in.” When asked if allowing students to utilize bankruptcy protection to wipe out overburdened student debt would act to help stimulate the economy, King replied, “I don’t know.

Send Them to the StreetsSMCC Photo Students Exhibit Work By Sarah Dutil

he Art House, a cozy gallery located at 61 Pleasant Street, located just outside Portland’s Old Port district, ended their summer season of exhibitions with the

display “Street Photography.” Students from Liz Bieber’s summer Photo 1 classes had the wonderful opportunity to

exhibit their photo-graphic responses to a “Street Photography” assignment given them earlier in the summer semester. The gist of the assignment is to explore, and document a sense of Portland, or any city streets, by us-ing the subject matter found in and around these streets. When asked to expand on the param-eters of the assignment Ms Bieber explained, “One idea

of street photography is to capture that piv-otal moment when light, composition, and moment converge. Initially many students can have trepidations about shooting strang-ers. The thing about shooting strangers is, it is, a little nerve racking. It’s controversial. Shooting in a public space is a right, but it doesn’t always feel like it is. In the end, the very same students presented the most captivating images.” Hosted by Liz and a handful of students from the class, one could easily tell that each photographer’s take on the assignment was coming from a different perspective. Faculty, fellow SMCC students and the curious trickled into view the work, entering and leaving the space with a warm and cheerful energy. Students spoke about their learning process throughout this project, saying they found that strangers were more likely to take a real photo when they were unaware they were being photographed. Over all, the event had a very pleasing turn out.

THE SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT NEWSPAPER | Volume 8 • No. 1 • SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

(Continued on page 10)PHOTO BY DENISE MICHAUD

PHOTOS BY SARA DUTIL

2 • SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 • Beacon

Career & Transfer ConnectionsShould a Four-Year Degree Be in Your Future?By Sharon Bannon, Director of Career and Transfer Services

areer & Transfer Connections is now a regular column covering topics in career and transfer plan-ning. Guest writers, including professionals from

the worlds of education and employment and your fellow students, will be regularly featured in this column. Infor-mation packed into the submissions is sure to be interest-ing, thought provoking and useful. Speaking of interesting and thought-provoking information, consider transferring for a bachelor’s degree or even continuing on for a master’s. Why? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site, employees with a high school diploma have median weekly earnings of $630.00. Someone possessing an associate’s degree will earn a figure of $768.00. Holding a bachelor’s degree will offer the possibility of $1,053.00 per week. A master’s degree could net an employee $1,263.00 each week. Here are some other thought-provoking numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 2011 unemploy-ment rate that people holding only a high school diploma was 9.4%. Workers who had earned an associate’s degree did better with a 6.8 % unemployment rate. Job seekers with bachelor’s degrees had an unemployment rate of 4.9 % during 2011. People with master’s degrees experienced a 3.6 % unemployment rate in 2011. More education doesn’t only mean higher earnings. It also means more employ-ment opportunities! Visit the Web addresses below to view these figures and, additionally, information on specific career earning potentials in the state of Maine and national figures on job prospect projections with an associate’s degree:• http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm• http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_me.htm• http://data.bls.gov/oep/noeted?Action=empeducOf course, higher education can be expensive. That is why doing research and choosing the right institution is criti-cal. Here are several basic areas you will want to investi-gate when shopping for your four-year college: Major – Do they even offer the major in which you want to study? Quality of the program – Do they welcome transfer students and their courses/credits? Do they offer intern-ships in your major? Did you review the profiles of faculty in the department? Do they have information on where their alumni have gone on to work? If you want to spend a semester studying abroad, are there opportunities for that?

Go to the department’s Web page! Start your research early! Visit this Website to read reviews from students who are attending colleges around the country and have submitted their comments online: http://www.studentsre-view.com/ Program Logistics – Will you be a full-time or part-time student? Do they offer both day and evening courses? Are any of the required courses offered online? What are the academic and technical resources available? How sophisticated is the equipment or software that they use for teaching? Cost – Public College? Private College? In-state? Out-of-state? Search their Web site for the “Net Price Calculator” that colleges are now required to have on their Web sites (usually located in the financial aid section). Do they have scholarship funds dedicated to transfer students? Location – How far away is the college from home? Will you have to fly or drive? Living Arrangements – Will you be living in a dorm and dining on a meal plan? Will you look for an apart-ment and have roommates sharing costs? Will you be close enough to commute from home? College Culture – What is the right environment for you? Are you a focused, serious student and the idea of a “party” school is repelling? Are you looking for a large, vi-brant University that is almost a small city? Are you hop-ing for something a little more intimate where you aren’t one of 250 students in your course? What kind of student organizations and activities are offered on campus? Your continued education is a substantial investment in your future. Take the time to be a savvy consumer and make smart decisions. There is help available for this pro-cess at SMCC. You can contact the Office of Career and Transfer Services at 741-5626 and set up an appointment for assistance with your transfer plans. Also, on Thurs-day, October 18, 2012, from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM, the annual SMCC Transfer Fair will bring over 30 four-year colleges to the Campus Center Lounge on the South Portland Campus to offer SMCC students information about their institutions. Colleges also visit the South Portland Campus on an individual basis and you can view all of the dates on the Career and Transfer Services On-Campus Calendar by clicking on the “Students” tab inside your portal and then scrolling down on the left to “Career & Transfer Services.” Best of luck with your further higher education!

Welcome Back Students and Staff, Welcome Back!By Mary-Alice Mercier

rom The Beacon to all SMCC, welcome back for another great year! The 2012 fall semester has begun, and word is buzzing that it is off to a great start! The

teachers, and students alike, are looking forward to a fantastic and interesting year. The annual “Welcome Back Barbeque” gave students and teachers a warm welcome with great food provided by our own Ocean View Dining Hall. The Barbeque also offered, as usual, a chance for students to check out the campus clubs! There are so many opportunities offered here at SMCC and most, if not all of them, were shown off on the 13th. As the Dining Hall and Hildreth park-ing lot filled with hungry SMCC students and staff, all lined up for the massive buffet of burgers, hot dogs, salads, and dessert! Of course we should not fail to mention the three attractions for the students to enjoy, a rock climbing wall, a bucking bull, and all of the SMCC supporters and clubs. Teach-ers welcomed back former students and new students were gladly accepted into the open arms of the myriad of SMCC clubs. Of the clubs who attended the event they included: Phi Theta Kappa, Student Ambassadors, Choral, Amnesty internation-al, The Beacon, and more. Supporters such as, the American Legion, Planned Parenthood, and the Metro Bus Representatives were also there. Shane Long from the CeSIL office (Center of Student Involve-ment and Leadership) was present to inform students how to get involved in SMCC’s clubs and events, helping guide new and old students to a place that is right for them. “I am excited about the number of clubs trying to recruit

here. Last year was a great year for the clubs and we are hoping this year will be even better.” The CeSIL office oversees the clubs and activities here on campus and they are excitedly looking forward to the new school year. Everyone seemed to be anticipating the new semester

in a great way. Even the resident hall directors were ex-cited for the new and returning arrivals. “I am glad to have students back in the dorms. It gives them such a great opportunity and I am glad to be a part of it,” said Surfsite Hall Director, Katharine Gergosian. “It has been fun getting to know the new residents

and it is good to see the returners coming back as well,” pointed out Spring Point Hall Director, Jessica Fontini. After talking with both directors it was quite obvious that the dorms are booming with new energetic students. The campus is alive with those looking for a great

education while making friends that could, and in many cases, will last a lifetime, both with teachers and students. “It’s wonderful to be back!” Began Philosophy Instructor and new Chorale Director, Richard Pitre. “I am looking forward to some very interesting and stimulating discussion in my philosophy classes. And as the new Chorale Director, I am looking forward to exploring new av-enues and we welcome anyone to come and join us!” Several instructors wandered around the event as all had a chance to catch up with one another. Physics and astronomy instruc-tor Kevin Kimball commented on the new semester with the observation that, “I look forward to having a ball! If you can’t have fun here then you have a problem! Who can’t have fun with a trebuchet or with as-tronomy!” Instructors are clearly ecstatic and anticipating a great new year. Tom Ryan, a returning student emphati-cally stated, “It feels good to be back here on campus. I was starting to get bored, I enjoyed my classes last semester and hope for the same. It is good to see old friends and I am

excited to make new ones.” There were several returning and new students here on the campus each one happy to be here if for nothing more than friends and education. “The main reason I am here is to get my degree in

CampusNews

Students gather around the tables for informtion about clubs at the Welcome Back BBQ.

(Continued on page 8)

Beacon • SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 • 3

CampusNews

The Culinary Arts Dining Room is now Open for Business

Every Wednesday & Thursday enjoy an ever changing four-course lunch and enjoy Friday’s, the buffet luncheon.All seatings are at noon at the affordable price of $14 per

person with a suggested gratuity of $2-$3. Call ext. 5612 for reservations, Tuesday - Friday between 11 and 2.

The food is amazing. The service is fantastic.

And the view is

unbelievable!

Directions to “Free” MoneyThis is a two part story, part one follows, part two will be in the next issue of the Beacon, due out on September 26, 2012

By Shawn Veasey ould you like directions to “free” money? Now that I’ve got your attention—No, wait! Don’t put the paper down because I’m really going to give you

directions on how you can find “free” money. And no, you won’t need a shovel or a map. Well, there will be a map of sorts and this article is part of it. We’ve all heard the word “scholarship,” but what do we really know about scholarships? One thing you may have gathered from the title is that scholarships can be considered “free” money. Investorwords.com defines schol-arship as, “A type of financial aid, in the form of a grant that does not have to be repaid by the recipient. Scholarships are most often given to students for one of two reasons: achievement in academics or other areas, or financial need.” What do scholarships mean to you, the student? In today’s financial climate it can mean the ability to pay for your education with little to no student loans and/or even paying for tuition at that dream school you never thought you could afford. So not that we’ve established the what (scholarships), and the why (“free” money), let’s move on to the how? How can you win a scholarship? If you answered, “I can’t win one because...” let me stop you right here because you’re wrong. You can win a scholarship. Nearly every student at a two, or four-year college qualifies for some kind of form of scholarship. While there’s no guarantee you’ll be awarded a scholarship, the only 100% guarantee you will never win one is by not applying. We won’t be able to cover everything about scholar-ships in this article but never fear, this is just part one of a series of articles written about scholarships. We’ll go into further detail on “Where to find scholarships?” “The Dos & Don’ts of Scholarships” and “How to Write a Scholar-ship Essay,” so make sure to tune in to the next installment of The Beacon. Before we close I’m going to give you a few quick, easy and safe (Yes, safe. Please see the end of the article), tips on where to find some local scholarships. The first place to look is in your SMCC email. Sharon Bannon, the Director of Career & Transfer Services, emails students with a wealth of information regarding scholarship and transfer opportunities. Information also can be found on SMCC’s website.

To locate SMCC’s scholarship list from www.smccme.edu, just click on Business & Community, then under Alumni & Foundation, click Scholarships. About mid-page there are two links; click the one that reads “Apply For A Scholarship”

and it will take you to SMCC’s scholarship page. As of 9/7/2012, SMCC was still accepting applications. Are you a graduate of Morse High School in Bath, Maine? If so, do you know about the Morse High School Tuition Scholarship? If you qualify, tuition for the classes you take at the SMCC Bath and/or Mid-coast campuses can be waived, in other words FREE. Applications are available at the Bath Campus. We’ve covered quick and easy, now on the to safe. While there are many scholarship websites and scholar-ships out there, not all of them are legitimate. Be careful when divulging your personal information to sites with offers that seem too good to be true and never give your credit card and/or bank account information. A legitimate scholarship site will not ask for these things.

Respiratory Therapy Students Collect Medical Supplies for Worldwide DistributionBy Barb Ramsay

his year the SMCC Respiratory Therapy students are participating in the college Day of Service initiative by

conducting a drive to collect much needed medical supplies for underdeveloped coun-tries. Three organizations that will benefit from the collected items include: Rotary International, collecting crutches for Africa, Partners for World Health, collecting unused disposable and reusable durable medical supplies to redistribute across the world, and Konbit Sante, improving healthcare in northern Haiti. The respiratory therapy students have set out collec-

tion containers around campus for donated supplies. If you would like to donate items you can find those containers in the Campus Center, Health Science Building, and Gym. The respiratory students are also collecting from several of the local hospitals in the hopes of gathering many items that the organizations need. Items to donate include:• Durable equipment such as crutches, walkers, potty

chairs, orthopedic supplies, etc.• Wound care items such as bandages, gauze pads, first

aid kits, etc.• Smart phones (iphones, international phones, all

phones except Verizon phones)• Unused body lotions, protective barriers, skin cleaners,

toothpaste, mouthwash, baby powder, etc • Personal care items such as combs and toothbrushes

sheets and towels If you have any supplies you are no longer using, they can be utilized in areas of the world where supplies are hard to come by. If you don’t have any items to donate but would still like to donate, please consider purchasing a first aid kit or bandages and drop them into a collection container by October 19th.

A more complete list of donation items will be posted on the boxes. For more information about these orga-nizations, please logon to:• http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAnd-News/News/Pages/090610_news_crutch-es.aspx• http://www.partnersforworldhealth.org/GET_INVOLVED.html• http://konbitsante.org If you have questions about what to donate or have an item that may not fit in the boxes, please call Karen McDonald in the Respiratory Therapy office at 741-5510.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KONBISANTE WEBSITE

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL


Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Hindering the Transition from Combat to Home LifeBy Tom Sharpe

ost-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condi-tion that develops after a person goes through an extremely traumatic experience. These traumatic

experiences could be caused by reason such as: near death, serious physical injury, combat or any event that causes extreme fear, and when one feels an extreme sense of help-lessness. Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, one in eight soldiers has been diagnosed with PTSD. However, in some cases, soldiers will not develop the symptoms of PTSD until several years after returning home from combat missions. The Veteran Administrations (VA) has documented over 500 cases were Vietnam War veterans didn’t show symptoms of PTSD for more than 20 years after returning home. The VA is concerned that many combat soldiers may not realize they have PTSD and not receive treatment. There is documented evidence that soldiers, when returning from combat deploy-ments, experience PTSD in some form. The severity of PTSD depends on the sol-dier’s own ability to cope with the stressors involved during the traumatic events that are associated with combat. Many times a soldier may have to physically hurt or kill an enemy soldier. Circumstances force them to end someone’s life. This act of theirs brings them to deep sorrow. How-ever, the enemy soldier is a human being too. Witnessing death and destruction becomes an everyday incident for a soldier in combat. They have to bear the grief of the suffer-ing and deaths of their fellow soldiers as well. Such situa-tions definitely have a depressing effect on soldiers. Being around death is bound to disturb the soldier and deprive them of peace of mind. While being surrounded by sorrow, soldiers often think of happier times. The memories of happier times become more painful. Moreover, the soldier is away from home and family. This constant emotional struggle results in severe mental stress. The undulating emotions a soldier may have to go through results in great mental strain. Many soldiers suffer from, as a result from combat, feel-ings of detachment and irritability. This is in addition to sleeplessness and difficulties in concentrating. The trauma soldier’s endure due to witnessing death, violence and destruction result in mental and physical distress. Coming home from a combat deployment and tran-sitioning to home life can be best described as returning to the three dimensional world after experiencing a fourth dimension. A soldier may feel the rest of the world can’t comprehend the concept of the fourth dimension, never the less relate to it. This often will leave the soldier feeling they are wasting their time dealing with people who can’t relate to their perspective and may feel more at home in a war zone. One infantry soldier returning from Iraq said: “Through all the hell and anguish I have experienced fighting a war, I would rather be fighting a war than wake up everyday to the bullshit I have to deal with and over-come here at home in what I call my job and Life.” It is a

general feeling among combat soldiers, when transitioning from combat to home life, that a lost feeling is experienced when they return home. There is a gap between soldiers and civilians, which is having an effect on understanding one another. Every soldier who has been in combat cannot help but to be changed for life. When a soldier returns from

combat they believe that every-thing will be OK. The soldier believes he will be comforted if he can just get home. How soldiers transition from combat to home life varies for each individual soldier. A soldier, who spent a year living 24/7 in a hostile environment where people are trying to kill you, may take more time to adapt to the so-called “normal life.” Evi-dence suggest when a soldier finally arrives home there is an element of euphoria, followed by disorientation. Soldiers slip into what can only be described as an illusion of normalcy. As time passes, most com-monly three to six months, the soldier can no longer suppress what he has become as a result of combat. The soldier true self begins to emerge. This can be expressed in many forms. Most commonly, and not in any

particular order, the soldier may show signs of anger, iso-lationism, and depression. The worst case is the soldier re-sorts to suicide. The soldier will become sensitive to being around others, startle easily and may show little interest in doing things he once enjoyed. Additionally, the soldiers may turn to alcohol, drugs or other unhealthy choices to escape the realities of the effects of war. When the soldier reaches this mind set, it will affect many aspects of his life and most likely with negative consequences. It is at this point the soldier is experiencing (PTSD). Although PTSD is considered a mental disorder, it’s actually a physical condition that affects the entire body. Physical symptoms include fatigue, chest pains and short-ness of breath. In addition, muscle shaking and headaches may occur. The behavioral actions can be rage, agitation and fear. The soldier may likewise experience panic and the inability to think clearly. When a soldier experiences one, or any combination of these physical and behavioral symptoms, this will affect the soldier and those around him. With the onset of PTSD, the soldier will have dif-ficulties with what is considered normal to his family and friends. This transitional experience for the soldier and family often reflects the gap in perspectives. A soldier just returning home from a combat tour can’t possibly under-stand what can be worse than being shot at every day, or living under the constant threat of imminent danger. The family feels it was they who had it worse off. They were left behind waiting, worrying and running the household alone. In some families this meant single parenting. These two experiences seem incompatible. However, the reality is that each person matured individually during the soldier’s deployment and is not the same person they were when they parted. The transition from combat to home can and will be stressed when a soldier is burdened with PTSD.

On Top of the WorldBy Thomas Sharpe

n a warm and muggy afternoon in August, about two decades ago, I set sail for the North Pole on board a nuclear power submarine. As the sub-

marine headed down the Thames River to open waters, I was topside preparing the deck for under ice operations. While conducting my duties, which I trained for the past six months, it was difficult to fathom the impend-ing under ice cold weather mission. I could feel the sun burning my exposed skin and the spray of warm, brackish water on my face. The submarine headed for open water yearning for the freedom of the vast open ocean. My duties were completed topside and as I entered the hatch to descend below decks, I was overwhelmed with the smell of unfiltered air that is unique to all submarines before they submerge in to the darkness and abyss of the sea. This smell reminded me that we are about to embark in to the depths of a world that was not naturally meant for man and can be unforgiving if not respected. Pushing those thoughts aside, I proceeded with my task at hand. Event free and twenty-nine days after leaving the protection of the Thames River, the submarine arrived at its assigned destinations. The crew was conducting final checks before the submarine surfaced through the ice at the North Pole. I was at my station, the Ballast Control Panel, conducting system checks. Hearing the Captain give commands with confidence in his voice and various sound of the systems coming to life, brought me back to the training the crew endured over a half a year ago. It was as though I was watching a rerun of the entire train-

ing. My drifting mind was brought back to reality when the order was given, in a commanding voice, “Hover the submarine… Prepare to Vertical Surface.” As the submarine successfully surfaced through the ice, you could hear the groans of the steel hull trying to be compressed by the heavy ice. The crew was prepar-ing to embark in to a world were very few had ventured before. The crew’s excitement and anticipation radiated like a young child waiting for Santa Clause on Christ-mas Eve. As the hatch was opened, the wind blowing through the hatch sounds as if a car window was down while driving on the freeway. In an orderly manner, the crew members one-by-one ventured topside. It was cold, harsh, and barren as if they were walking on the moon in the vacuum of space. As I entered the hatch to go topside, the air heavy and numbing, took my breath away and I felt I had the wind knock out of me. I can vividly recall that the absence of smell in the air and, how smell was replaced; the air stung your nose as if you were inhaling bumble bees. I ventured away from the submarine, the absence of color and the brightness of the snow was dis-orientating as if you were walking in a complete whiteout. With the suns azimuth at a constant, day and night had become one. It was as if time stood still like a picture of scene hung on the wall. For one brief moment, I felt as though I was alone in the world. Tom Sharpe is currently enrolled at SMCC in the and is President of the SMCC Veteran’s Club. He also served in the U.S. Submarine Service.

Workshops in Studying Here at SMCC, is a series of three

one-hour workshops with an emphasis on college study and success skills. These workshops are free to all SMCC students and no advance registration is re-quired. Come to one or all three of the workshops. Workshopsareheldinthe1stfloorclassroomintheHutchinson Union Building (HUB) on the South Portland Campus, and on the Mid-Coast Campus, in room 117 of the Academics building. Please see the attached schedule for details. These workshops are also available as video tutorials on SMCC’s Portal. Students may download them under the student tab/resource page. Recorded in MP4 format,

they can be played on a computer or mobile device. Resources are available for all WISH topics on the Portal under the academic departments tab/academic student support/academic achievement resources.

Wednesday 9/12 12:30-HUB ConferenceTime Management & Avoiding ProcrastinationThursday 9/13 12:30-Mid-Coast Time Management & Avoiding ProcrastinationTuesday 9/18 12:30-HUB Conference Effective Reading & Note TakingWedsnesday 9/19 12:30 HUB Conference Effective Reading & Note Taking

Thursday 9/20 12:00 Mid-Coast Effective Reading & Note TakingTuesday 9/25 12:30 HUB Conference Study Skills & Test Taking Wednesday 9/26 12:30 HUB Conference Study Skills & Test TakingThursday 9/27 12:00 Mid-Coast Study Skills & Test Taking

• • •“I can vividly recall that the absence of smell in the air and how smell was replaced; the air stung your nose as if

you were inhaling bumble bees.”• • •

TheOtherWorld


TheOtherWorld

Soul-MakingTeaches you Power and Evil Have the same DNAThis is the beginning of a story, written by Tom Sharpe, who is sharing his experience in Iraq. Look for regular installations of “Soul-Making” and follows Tom’s fascinating story.

ne may ask what is soul-making and how does it apply to human beings? If soul-making is part of life for all human beings, then when would one’s

soul be considered made or complete? Moreover, what are the rules governing soul-making, and what role does evil play in this quest? There are no cookie cutter answers to these questions. More important than the answers, is the knowledge to ask the right questions. Questions must be asked so that when answered, the answer does not induce other questions to clarify answers. According to philosopher John Hick, soul-making comes from one’s own findings and not solely through biblical rules. Human beings have the choice to decide their paths to soul-making and to decide what evil is or what evil is not. The story is clear in the bible about how Adam and Eve through their own disobedience brought themselves to suffer such consequence, and it is not that God himself has brought them suffering. Furthermore, Hick states that, “There is a reason why God allows evil”. Does God allow evil? I do not think God allows or con-dones evil. I believe we should ask this question; why does God give humans the ability to be evil? As human beings we have free will. Because of this free will we have a choice to follow God’s plan or reject it. If all human beings were perfect in God’s eyes and did not have free will, we would be slaves to God instead of having the choice to prove to God we accept him. Look at it this way; in general terms, when two people get married it is because they love each other and have similar interests and willingly accept each other. However, if a marriage is arranged or forced on two people then there is not acceptance. This analogy, I believe, applies to God’s plan as well. God has given human beings the ability, through free will, to accept his plan or reject it. In my short time on this earth I have experienced several life changing events. There is one event that made me question who I am and understand how power and evil share the same DNA. The one event I can vividly remem-ber and still struggle with today occurred while I was de-ployed to Iraq eight years ago. I was assigned to a Military Police (MP) Unit responsible for detainee operations at Camp ___________ . The detainee population was 5,200 spread out over eight compounds. Military Intelligence (MI) determined that over half of the detainee popula-tion could not read and comprehend plus write in their own language. This was a concern because those detainees

with deficiencies in reading and writing skills could easily be convinced that the Koran tells them to kill infidels (Americans). The decision was made to start a school, teaching detainees deficient in reading and writing in their native language. The Detainee School of Basic Learning Skills was officially opened in July of 2004. Fortunately, or unfortu-nately as you will see, I was selected to be the principal of the school based on my background as a Military Training Specialist and my background and experience interacting with peoples of nations around the world while serving in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service. At first, I thought what a great opportunity to put down my weapon and pick up a pencil and fight this awful war through education and understanding. My vision was that peoples of different cultures, geographical location and religious beliefs, with acceptance, could peacefully coexist. Although MI sup-ported my vision, I was reminded that my job as principal had two functions: education and intelligence gathering. I was to win the hearts and minds of the detainees, have them gain my trust, spend every waking moment among them (live by their rules) and never let them find out I was also collecting information for identifying detainees who may pose a threat to the safety and security within the compounds. Additionally, I would forward any informa-tion gained from detainees concerning planned hostile activities against Coalitions Forces in Iraq. Within six weeks I was accepted by the detainees. To my advantage, in the Arabic community, teachers are treated with the highest regard (God-like and referred to as “Teacher”) and protected. To prove my loyalty and trust, I would enter the compounds, each housing 650 detainees, without my guard detail of six MP’s. In fact, I was guard-ed by loyal detainees by order of the Elder Imam (head religious leader who also was a detainee) with orders that I would not be harmed and that guards would give their lives if necessary to protect the “Teacher”. Additionally, my Iraqi counterpart inside the compound was an individual who had served as a high level official and had been one of Saddam Hussein’s Cabinet members. To my advantage the detainee population feared him, and this was valuable in maintaining peace within the compounds. With the mission going well and with my unexpect-ed celebrity status and prestige among the detainees, and having been given a “God Like” status, one would think I was on top of the world. Plus I wasn’t dodging bullets anymore. However, I was not on top of the world.

(To be continued in the next issue of the Beacon)

The Temperamental ‘True Love’By Anastasia Taylor

he statement by William James in The Pragmatic Theory of Truth says; “…the greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truths.” is a

perfectly valid statement in my life that I associate with my view on ‘true love’. There are many people who fantasize about find-ing their soul mate, their matching puzzle piece, and their forever lover. Some goes as far as to say they believe whole-heartedly that there is someone out there for them as well as for everyone else in the world. These people believe that it is an absolute truth that your other half is out there just waiting to bump into you on the sidewalk, spill coffee on you at a café, rescue your cat out of a tree or help you pick up your school books after you’ve fallen on your face. Yeah, this is the stuff that always makes a good sappy romantic comedy, which always seems to end with a man or woman running through the airport to catch the love of their life before they’re gone forever. And you know they’ll kiss and hug in front of a crowd, get married and live happily ever after in a cute little house with a wrap around porch and a white picket fence. Fortunately, or unfortunately for me, depending on how you see it, I’ve come to the realization that this ‘one

true love’ is nothing but a bunch of bologna. Everything that I’ve experienced and held to be truth has pointed me to this conclusion; there is no such thing, no matter how great the relationship is, it rarely lasts ones lifetime, and if it does then someone had to have been lying. A very dis-mal view, I know, and perhaps my take on love will come back to bite me in the ass someday. But I’ve seen too many peoples’ love lives to accept this truth that others believe in. My mother is on her third marriage, my father on his second, my grandfather on his

fifth wife now and my great grandfa-ther was married seven times. Even in my own love life things haven’t turned out so well from the start. The first boy that kissed me, although it was very romantic during the pledge of allegiance, later pushed me down the slide backwards. That was in the fourth grade and since then it’s been

nothing but build up and let down. This is not to say that there haven’t been moments in my life where I have been close to accepting this idea of one love for a lifetime. But I’ve always come back around to the examples in my life that never worked out, and the truth that I hold near that someone will always break your heart. Call me a cynic, an anti-marriage advocate or a fairytale hater, but the truth of the matter is it’s difficult to accept one truth if everything you know contradicts it.

Religious Observances

The Southern Maine Community College campus community is enriched by the diversity of faith traditions represented in its population. While

SMCC is, and will remain, a secular institution, we recognize that for many of our community members, faith, spirituality and belief play significant roles in their lives. To help promote a climate that is sensitive to religious and cultural diversity and to honor the diverse faith traditions embraced by members of our community, we would like to note the following religious holidays and days of observance occurring in the coming month. The observances listed are representative and not meant to be all-inclusive of the vast number of diverse faiths and observances celebrated world-wide. September is the ninth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. In the Roman calen-dar, it was the seventh month. In Latin, septem means “seven” and septimus means “seventh”. On September 21st in 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and became the first woman to sit as a justice of the United States Supreme Court. She was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and, after her retirement in 2006, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., by President Barack Obama. National Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th. Hispanic Heritage Week was approved by President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded to a 30-day period by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. The September 15th date was chosen for this celebration of Hispanic and Latino Americans because it’s the anniversary of the independence of five Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras.

September marks the beginning of the ecclesiastical year in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

September 8 Nativity of Mary (Christian) This feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic liturgy as well as in most Anglican calendars. The day celebrates the birth of the Virgin Mary and occurs nine months after the observance of the Immaculate Conception in the Roman church.

September 17-18 Rosh Hashanah ( Jewish) Rosh Hashanah, literally “head of the year” in Hebrew, is more informally known as the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days which occur in the fall. In Jewish liturgy, it is described as both a day of judgment and one of remembrance. At this time, God is said to open the Book of Life and take an accounting of the deeds of humanity. The righteous are inscribed in the Book and sealed, while those who have fallen short are given a respite of ten days to reflect and repent until Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is marked by the sounding of the shofar, a ceremonial ram’s horn.

September 19 Ganesh Chaturthi (Hindu) This festival honors Ganesha who is the son of Shiva and Parvati. During the festival, Ganesha manifests his presence for all of his devotees. Ganesha is widely worshipped by Hindus as a god of wisdom and pros-perity and he is traditionally called upon at the start of a new venture as a means of securing good fortune. He is portrayed as having the head of an elephant, a symbolic representation of his wisdom.

September 22 Mabon (Pagan/Wiccan) Mabon is a mid-harvest festival coinciding with the autumnal equinox when the day awnd night are of equal length. It honors the changing of the seasons and is cel-ebrated as a time for giving thanks for abundance and blessings. It also commemorates the balance between light and dark.

Note- Some dates may vary depending on whether Gregorian, Julian or lunar calendars are used to mark observance

• • •“I’ve come to the realization

that this ‘one true love’ is nothing but a bunch

of bologna.”• • •


Why War…It’s a Tool used for those in Power and PoliticsBy Michael Scofield

he organizing principle of any society is for war. It is the basic authority of modern state in which people reside. In its war power, today it is oil and

tomorrow it is water. It is what those in power like to call “The God Business;” Guns, Oil and Drugs. However, there is a problem…our way of life. It’s over, unsustain-able, and in rapid decline. That is why those in power implement and demand destruction. Those in power will continue to make money as the world burns. For this to work, the people have to remain ignorant of the prob-lems until it is too late. This is why those in power have triggers in place; 911, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and War on Terror. A population in a permanent state of fear does not ask questions. War will be the desire of those in power and will become the people’s desire as a willing sacrifice. The fear of the people will become justification. Fear is control. Fear is money.

Interested in Networking Successfully? By Patricia Mancini

ake another look at volunteering! Are you looking to secure some contacts within your area of study? Are you wondering if the field you are studying is a good

fit for you? Set aside any outdated ideas and roll up your sleeves and venture out into your local community, give back, cultivate, encourage, and foster growth all while sorting out the answers to critical questions of your own. Create a whole new win/win situation for yourself and your neighbors. It is hard to hear a news re-port that does not touch on some sort of cutback, budget shortfall or staffing shortage, whether it is a local start up or an international business. The result? Volunteering is not just a nice thing to do, and more than ever, the lifeline for many organizations. As volunteers we are breathing a breath of fresh air, bringing new and current talents, and a desire to discover the intricate in and outs found behind the scenes of an organizations.

Depending on the company you choose to work with, the commitment levels will vary as greatly as the tasks you may be challenged to undertake. You will find yourself in a unique position as the person offering the skills sought. The greatest challenge can be to take full inventory of the time you have to give to a new endeavor. Volunteering should be

of mutual benefit to both parties doubling the satisfaction factor, so take a step back and honestly evaluate the time you can offer. Review what your goals are and be realistic with regard to your avail-ability. Be sure to consider your commitments to family, work, and school (including study time - be

honest!) The worst-case scenario would be making promises you can’t keep. Remember, these organizations depend on the dedication of their volunteers. What is your passion? What are you curious about? Where can you see yourself offering the most good while supporting your own vocational goals? Perhaps there is an organization that has touched your life or the life of

someone close to you. Conversely, if there is something that holds no interest do not take it on. If the thought of cold calls on a phone bank make you cringe, it may not be your thing; there are others who have the tools to take it on. Once you begin to look within a certain field, it will quickly become clear that there is something for everyone to do. From recruiting other volunteers, to marketing, to mentor-ing, to fundraising, or meal preparation, to a companion for the elderly, or advocating for a child, there truly is a place for each of us to strengthen our communities while simulta-neously strengthening our resumes. See this as an oppor-tunity to reach mutual benefit through mutual exchange. While on the road to self-discovery if we allow ourselves to develop a connection to our community we may happen upon a path that leads directly to our future. My goal is to undertake some adventures in volun-teering and pass on the experiences to you over the next few months. My roll as volunteer started with writing this article, but I won’t stop there. There are several organizations that I have in mind. I would also love to hear about your personal connection to a group or business, and would love to help the curious get started with volunteering.

Editorials&Opinions

9/11 and Its Affect On My IdentityBy Pious Ali

hen I was in middle school my teacher asked us to do a profile of some one we adored and I choose my s/hero: my grand mother. During the exercise she

turned the tables on me, and taught me something that I didn’t grasp until now. The exercise was simple you have to find someone in your community and write a profile, but you were also supposed to spend some time with them so you could ask a lot of questions. I decided to choose my grand mother since we lived in the same house, and also, I wouldn’t have to sacrifice any of my soccer time with some one else. I swamped her with lots of questions: from how old was she when she got married, and if she chose not to go to school or if her parents chose not to sent her to school. I was able to get a decent one paged paragraph from her and she said something on the last day of the interview that didn’t made it into the profile because I didn’t comprehend it then. But it has always been in the back of my mind and it unraveled for me after I became an adult. It literally translates like this…“Your identity is not completed until the day you die” How true. You see at birth you have only one I identity, a member of the human race, simple and straight. Then the nurses will ask your parents what your name is and you are then given a name, first, middle, and last. Then down the list on the birth registration form another iden-tity is added to the growing list, your race. So far you have three identities within a week of being born, before you leave the hospital, and you don’t have any control over any of this. As you grow older you add more identities some by

choice others you acquire naturally, some of these identi-ties give you a life long invincible bubble, whereby others leave you out there like a golden fish in a glass bowl. Being a Blackman and a Muslim puts me into the later group and proves my grandmother is right. My basic identity to the govern-ment used to be very simple, an immigrant, male, black non-His-panic. To the world I was the guy next door. When traveling by air domestically I was but one of many passengers and if I was flying inter-nationally I may be sus-pected of being a drug ‘mule’ because of my then “dreadlocks” hair-style. After September 11th everything change for me, and many other people. All you need is a certain look and a certain name. And it doesn’t matter where I am flying to I will be ‘randomly’ picked by the computer to go through extra searches. I once travel to an African country (not my home country) and their computer ‘ran-domly’ picked me. I was shocked and surprised, but I kept my cool and waited to see what they were going to ask me. The officer took my passport (US passport) and asked me to follow him. At first, I thought he was going to ask for money, a “bribe,” before he let me enter the country, a common practice in many third world countries. I was thinking of which one of my western acquired ideals on patriotism I should use to point out to him that he was representing his country and should not be asking bribes from visitors, as that will not speak well of him and his country. When the first question came I was stupefy. Officer: Mr. Ali what nationality are you Me: American citizen of Ghanaian descent Officer: What were you doing in Israel? Me: Visiting friends, Officer: Who are your friends and how did you meet them? At this point I lost my “cool” and asked him if my visa to his country was good. He said yes, but insisted that I answer his question. I calmly asked what does my travel to Israel have to do with me coming home to Africa? He responded and said, “Your (U.S.) Government wants to know.” Then I yell and said, “I am tired of this, I went to

Israel they detained me, I am coming back to a continent that I call home and you guys are also detaining me, what the ‘H%^#’ do you want me to do, change my name or what?”At this point he stamped my passport and said, “enjoy your stay Mr. Ali.”

Its been more than a decade since 9/11 happened, thousands of educational conferences, interfaith dialogues and open houses to mosques have happen all over our nation, but there is still a large percentage of Americans who think every Muslim, whether American or not, is out to kill Americans. And some politicians and misinformation experts who are taking advan-tage of other people’s ignorance to incite hatred against American Muslims worsen the sit-uation; we are less than 1% of the populations. A couple of years ago some one threw a pigs head into a mosque in Lew-iston, and in 2010, there was Muslim bashing political speeches and attacks over the Ground Zero Mosque. This year

we have seen a spate of shooting and burning of mosques and the wrongful shooting of Sikhs who the shooter may have thought were Muslims. Our country is the most diverse in the history of our world, we have people coming from every corner of the globe, we are the most racial, religious and gender diverse nation that have ever existed and yet we have not been able to use it as much as we should. Whereas I believe 9/11 is an awful thing to happen, it gave us an opportunity to reach out to people who are different from us, which we did immediately after the attack. However with the spate of hatred going on against minorities of any type across our nation and the high level of intolerance between dif-ferent political and social ideological groups. It seems like we need to work harder than ever. We have a great and diverse community here at Southern Maine Community college I hope and wish that in memory of the 9/11 Victims you will reach out to some one you haven’t spoken to before, in your class, at the “noisy lounge,” or at the cafeteria and say, “Hello.” Tell them who you are and ask them to tell you about them-selves. That is how we build a caring community.

• • •“What is your passion? What are

you curious about? Where can you see yourself offering the most good while

supporting your own vocational goals?” • • •

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW HOLMES


“You don’t write

because you want to say something, you write because

you’ve got something

to say.”F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

There is something you have to say and this

is the place to say it. So what’s stopping you ?

Be involved. Be heard. Be a part of shaping

your own reality.

Next writer’s deadline: 9/17Send submissions to

[email protected]

Editorials&OpinionsWhy Are Republicans Lying?Because the truth hurtsBy Jeff Toorish

n 1990 Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan ran a marathon. During a recent interview he claimed he finished in under three hours.

He lied.

His actual time was more than four hours. Serious runners will tell you that the difference between running a marathon in under three hours and more than four hours is something no runner would confuse. It’s the difference between driving your family sedan to work and screeching around a racetrack. In a formula one car.

PANTS OF FIRE STRATEGYRyan has shown an almost pathological tendency to not merely stretch the truth as so many politicians do, but to break it, smash it to pieces and then reassemble it into some-thing twisted and evil. Sadly, there is growing evidence this is the Republican victory strategy for the White House this election cycle. Examples are abundant: The Romey/Ryan campaign has spent weeks criticizing President Obama for allegedly saying “you didn’t build that” in reference to the accomplishments of small businesses across the US. The problem is, Obama’s words were cynically taken out of con-text to create a false impression of something the president never said. What the president actually said was if you are a small business, the road that brings your customers to you was built with state and federal help, you didn’t build it. The Romney/Ryan campaign leveled withering criti-cism against the president for cutting medicare to help pay for healthcare reform, also known as Obamacare. The GOP ticket has claimed that these will be draconian cuts that will harm America’s elderly. They fail to mention that in Paul Ry-an’s own budget, he proposes almost exactly the same cuts to Medicare. The Romney/Ryan campaign continues to cynically suggest the cuts are not the same thing. That is simply not true. In other words, a lie. During the GOP national convention, Ryan criticized Obama for not taking strong action on the federal deficit. Ryan neglected to mention that Obama did, in fact, create a deficit reduction panel on which Ryan served. Ryan did everything possible to thwart the panel’s success to prevent the presi-dent from claiming a victory on deficit reduction.When he talks about it now, he also seems to forget that he served on that panel --much as he seemed to forget his marathon running time. In talking about jobs, Ryan claimed Obama broke a promise to help keep a GM plant open in Ryan’s congres-sional district of Janesville, Wisconsin. During the last campaign Obama did speak about keeping the plant open with the help of the federal government (something Ryan would likely oppose a different congressional district). The problem is, GM closed the plant before Obama took office. Ryan continued to make this claim, and continues to make it today, even though it has been pointed out by media outlets across the spectrum that Obama was using that particular plant as an example and, more importantly, it closed during the administration of George W. Bush. Political conventions and campaigns are tightly scripted. For the most part, there are very few surprises. When you hear everyone in the party saying the same things over and over, that is a plan, an agenda, a strategy. In this case you might call it the “pants on fire” strategy --as in liar, liar, pants on fire. It is clear Romney/Ryan campaign and the entire Republican Party have settled on this strategy with the cyni-cal notion that Americans are not really paying that much attention and won’t. Just throw enough muddy lies against a wall and some of it will stick.

KEEPING IT UNREALLying is not limited to Ryan, the man at the top of the GOP presidential ticket, Mitt Romney, has made many veracity devoid statements as well. Romney tried to make the utterly ridiculous case that Republicans, while not fully accept-ing the president’s agenda, tried to work with Mr. Obama during the past four years. That is absolutely false. In reality, Republicans have done everything they could think of to

thwart the Obama agenda, often to the detriment of Ameri-cans everywhere. It is clear the GOP will do or say anything to deny this president any victory at all costs no matterthe pain it causes hundreds of millions of Americans. There are many more examples of the GOP not merely playing fast and loose with the truth but simply ignoring it and making up new false realities. During all this Repub-licans disingenuously decry the Obama Administration as having no significant successes, in other words, a failure. Romney, Ryan and the rest of the GOP would like you to believe they have some brand new plan to get the nation out of this crisis. They claim they can balance the budget; cut taxes (or at least cut them for the very wealthy and corpora-tions which are the cuts they propose), preserve Medicare (by turning it into a voucher system that will destroy it) all while bringing down the deficit with some sort of secret plan the details of which they willnot discuss. That is also a lie. The truth is, they have no real plan. They have the tired old failed policies and ideas espoused by the GOP that have been proven for decades as harmful to nearly allAmericans.

THE REAL QUESTIONSo the real question is, if the Obama Administration is such a failure, why do the Republicans led by Ryan and Romney find the need to lie about the president’s record?There should be ample factual material to truthfully critcize President Obama and his administration. The answer: the criticism of the Obama Administration being a failure is the biggest lie of all. This administration came to power in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression brought

on by policies favored by conserva-tives. While he has tried to solve the nation’s problems, the Republicans have battled the Obama Administra-tion every step of the way, refusing to make even rudimentary concessions for fear of angering the GOP/Tea Party base. The fact that Romney picked Ryan as his running mate is evidence of just what a grip the extreme right wing has on the Republican Party. A different running mate, perhaps one

with some diversity and who does not lie about things like Medicare cuts and marathons would have served the GOP ticket better with independent voters. But Romney was so frightened that he had not really sealed the deal with all those rightwingers who wanted someone else as the Repub-lican candidate that he was willing to risk adding Ryan to the ticket. It is safe to say that many liberals are marginally disap-pointed with Barack Obama. Many are not as energetic in their support as they were four years ago because theybelieve he did not stand up to the right wing. But that mar-ginal disappointment in Obama is exactly why he has thus far been reasonably successful. If Obama had takenthe tack of backing those policies that merely played to his base, as George W. Bush did, then liberals would be much happier but the nation would have suffered. Rather, Obama has championed policies and politics that have tried to include all Americans, even those not naturally his base. All this with exactly zero cooperation from the GOP,including Paul Ryan. In other words, he has been a President for all of us, which is what successful presidents try to do.

BEATING THE CHAIRDuring the Republican National Convention those of us paying attention saw a party led by a man, Mitt Romney, who refuses to release most of his tax records because heknows Americans will be shocked and repulsed that someone of his wealth pays so little in taxes. A man who has had to continually reinvent himself over and over again byrepudiating things he once believed. A man who refuses to explain even the most fundamental elements of his proposals. We were also treated to the utter horror of the number two guy on the ticket, Paul Ryan, being caught in lie after lie, to the point that newspapers began calling him, “Lyin’ Ryan.” The culmination of the GOP making its case to the American People for this election was an octogenarian actor, Clint Eastwood, having a surreal debate with a chair --this was the absolute best the Republicans could come up with. Guess what? The chair won and it didn’t even have to lie.

• • •When you hear everyone in the

party saying the same things over and over, that is a plan, an agenda,

a strategy. In this case you might call it the “pants on fire” strategy --as in liar, liar, pants on fire.

• • •


Arts&FeaturesThe Gentlemen Spruce Up the Eastern PromBy Brittany Williams

o. Here we are once more, back to the ol’ grind stone with noses to the books, ladies and gents! Of course, you’ll have to be prepared for a week of, “Oh, how

was your summer?!” and, “You look great! I missed you so much!” And if you’re not being asked it, you’re bound to be around about ten people who are. Now, I’m not generally one to brag, but I just really want to tell you all how awesome my summer was. Before spring classes even finished, the State Theater announced several impressive shows including, Of Monsters and Men from the great country of Iceland, The Lumineers who recently exploded with their single, “Hey Ho,” the beautiful Fiona Apple, and so many more. I was also ex-tremely fortunate to have hopped on a plane to Colorado this sum-mer, and experienced the natural beauty of the Red Rocks Amphitheater first hand. I’ll say this just once, if you ever get the opportunity to travel that way, DO IT. I’ve never experienced anything quite so awe-inspiring. And upon my return, the local scene was hopping with music in the streets of the Old Port just about every night. I don’t

know if it was because of the hot weather, the hundreds of tourists, or just because this city is so great, but the air was simply buzzing with weird excitement nearly every night. Now, I’m not sure if ya’ll heard, but Portland hosted a reasonably large event up on the Eastern Prom in August. A group calling themselves, The Gentlemen of the Road formed an alliance and chose some small (but lovely) cities to share their music with, to promote local growth in economy, and showcase the well-kept secret gems in each place. We happened to be one of them. The lineup included names such as The Maccabees, St. Vincent, Dawes, and others, while being hosted by the very funny Reggie Watts. However, the biggest name on the list, drawing the most from the crowd, was Mumford and Sons. Without a doubt, they rocked it. Their set was brimming with

energy and affection for the crowd with every single face turning toward the stage, rising to their feet, and swooning for this group of gentlemen. The grassy nook of Eastern Prom provided wonderful stadium-like seating, and as the

sun began to set over the bay, the clouds blushed reds and oranges, illuminating the stage that had been lined with old-fashioned carnival stringed lights. Needless to say, it was enchanting. As the evening was drawing to a close, the band announced that several local locations would be

hosting the events performers in after parties that would be running long into the night. Deejay events, and band meet-and-greets were sold out everywhere, while the streets flooded with happy campers. Yet, as much as The Gentlemen and their goal im-pressed me, it also brought a strange ambiance to the day. It was obvious that most in attendance were interested in the last performers more than the others, and just seemed to loiter until the closer. Unfortunately, one of the event rules included no one in or out of the gates once their ticket was scanned. This meant if you arrived early to get good seats, you couldn’t leave until the last show was over, which meant thousands of people were stuck in a gener-ally small area for 8 hours. Not a great mix. Around dinner time, I ran up to indulge in a treat along the back side of the prom, hoping to score a piece of pizza or a batch of homemade fries, and to my dismay found that 75% of the vendors had run out of stock, and the remaining had lines so long it would take hours to get through. Perhaps it was my mistake for not bringing a few snacks along with me, but it certainly put a damper on the evening as many were becoming restless with hunger, and impatience for Mum-ford and Sons to arrive. So one might ask, was it worth it? Even with the ups and downs and the lackadaisical crowd, it was still exciting to have such a large event local. Do I hope they do it again next year? Yes. Do I think everyone should go? Absolutely! Just remember to bring a snack. -b

Amy F., Katie W., and Devin S. keep it realHungry students and faculty enjoy food and fun

Computer Tech. I have always had a deep interest in com-puters and I want something that documents that I can do what I know I can,” returning student Uncle Boston added. Boston continued, “After being out of school for thirty years I decided to come back and get that documen-tation. It is definitely a culture shock!” Second year student Kayla Magliozzi said, “The best part about being back is getting back together with my friends, we are like family here. I also love having the beach back!” Returning students are not the only ones getting giddy for the semester. New students are all buzzing about the new friends they have made. An added plus, the loca-tion of the school, which has everyone smiling! “I chose to come here because of the beautiful location!” says Kate White, a new student to SMCC. “The people here are extremely nice and the teachers are really willing to work with you too!” Kate and her new friends were asked why they chose SMCC as a place to study? New student, Amy Fialkowski added honestly, “It was recommended to me by my councilor and I listened, I am definitely enjoying it so far and am truly glad that I had listened. I enjoy the campus especially the beach and I really like the friends I

have made so far!” Only the best is wanted for the students on campus, and instructors and deans alike, were making that quite well known. “It’s exciting! It is a new year and I am getting energized again!” said Dean of Students Diane Vickrey. “My door is always open for those who need to speak with me, I encourage it!” We were also able to get a word with President Ron-ald Cantor. He honored us with some sweet words about having the students back on his campus. “I am terribly ex-cited to see so many students joining us! I am looking for-ward to a wonderful fall semester! I am also eager to hear from them as well, so they are free to stop by my office when they need to.” A happy and pleased smile was found across President Cantor’s face as he spoke more about the campus and its students, “Also, they should check out my blog! The blog is where I share my thoughts about the col-lege, the students, and the faculty, as well as good opportu-nities for the future.” In the end his final remark truly hit home, “I want to make sure the students on campus talk to me so that I can make SMCC everything I hope it to be!” President Cantor truly is ecstatic to have students back on campus, as his hopes are very high for this new semester. The Beacon wishes everyone the best of luck, as we are happy to have our fellow students back on campus, excited for what it has to offer. Welcome back, once again, students and staff, welcome back!Above, Kevin Kimball, Assistent Professor of Physics, enjoying

the atmosphere at the Welcome Back BBQ, Fall 2012.

An adventurous student hangs out

• • •“Their set was brimming with energy and affection for the crowd with every single

face turning toward the stage...” • • •

Welcome Back(continued from page 2)


Arts&Features

A Gluten-free PerspectiveBy KayLynn Russell

ver the past few years, I have been gluten free twice, once by the doctor’s orders and once on my own free will. For countless

years I have had health issues, and everybody always asked, “Have you ever thought it might be gluten?” Needless to say, I’ve since found out that I am not gluten intolerant. Yes, I still have stomach issues, but those have begun to become under my control. When I was gluten free, I missed my favorite food: bread. I come from a long family line of carb-o-holics, so naturally, I love bread. I used to think that the long bread rolls were ‘miracle bread’ because they always got rid – temporarily – of my persistent sore throats. One might think that being gluten-free would be a hindrance. It is, but there a lot of people in the world with gluten intolerance and who have to be careful about

avoiding wheat. However, I managed to learn to live with it. It was annoying, however, because it wasn’t helping me (little did I know, that wasn’t the problem..), and some of the gluten free foods were not that great. I did manage to find things were really good, such as BioNature gluten free pasta, which makes amazing gluten free chicken

noodle soup. I also discovered Blue Diamond Nut Thins.

Being gluten free was expensive, I won’t lie about that. But at the time, we thought it was necessary. I hated that a small package of noodles was $8, but I loved them. Being gluten-free can also have its advantages: weight loss, blemish free face.

Also, having to eat gluten free introduced me to baking. I love to bake now,

and while I was on the gluten free diet, I was actually made my own recipe (see the recipe typed below). Granted, I converted it from a non-gluten free recipe, but I called it my own invention, as I used a different combination of gluten free flours. It’s called Applesauce Sweet Bread, and it got my uncle, who is a tremendously picky eater, to enjoy it a lot.

For the recipe, I used all Bob’s Red Mill flours. Unknowing what the outcome would be, I was very surprised when the loaf turned out sweet and incredibly moist.

A M O V I E R E V I E W The CampaignBy KayLynn Russell

walked into the theater trying to have an open mind about The Campaign. As one who is not a fan of Will Ferrell, or Zach Galifianakis at all, but one who know

their work, I believed that this movie would be just like the rest of them: stupid. Unsurprisingly, I was right. The Campaign was explicit in sexual dialogue, filled with innuendo and crude humor, and nudity, along with one of the main characters having “sexual escapades” with someone other than his wife. With an ‘R’ rat-ing, the movie completely lived up to it. At one point in the movie, after one of the debates, there is a woman with her breast half-exposed, an act that was completely uncalled for. However, on the other hand, I surpris-ingly loved it. Although incredibly inappropriate, it was hilarious, and the writers made a great parody about politics. I was doing a mixture of shaking with laughter and shaking my head in horror. Though badly acted, the character of Cam Brady (Ferrell) was hilarious, along with the character of Marty Huggins (Galifianakis). Huggins and Brady are two rivals running for election to Congress. Throughout the movie, Brady plays dirty, try-ing to bring Huggins down with everything he has, making

fake television ads and degrading him any chance he gets. Huggins is the good guy who loves pugs and honesty. He is only running to try to make good in his county and his home state of North Carolina. As the movie plays out, we discover that the Motch brothers, Glenn and Wade (played by John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd respectively), are evil. Two billionaire CEOs, they want to take over the North Carolina district, and recruit Huggins to help them do so.

As Huggins slowly realizes the campaign is slowly interfering with his marriage and forming him into a dirty politi-cian, he has to decide whether to save his mar-riage or make his father finally proud of him (for the wrong reasons). If you’re just looking for a good laugh, and don’t care about all of the inappropriate content, then this movie is great. If you’re looking for a

politically correct movie, you’re better off not watching it. The filmmakers did a great job at selecting music for the soundtrack, the lighting was perfect, and the setting for the movie convinced me that they really were in the South. I would give a standing ovation for the pugs that played in the movie, as they were way up there on the cuteness scale. For hilarity, I give it 5 out of 5 stars. For everything else, 1 star, because, as Marty Huggins says throughout the movie, “…It’s a mess!”

TODAY’S Quick fix:POPCORN

By Kaila Magliozziopcorn is probably the most well known snack food in the world. Everyone loves popcorn, right? It’s buttery, it’s crunchy, and it always satisfies. Popcorn is personally my favorite snack; it can be

made so many ways. Popcorn can be air popped or popped over a stove or in a microwave, even over a campfire. Whatever way you like it, popcorn is always perfect. Of course, we all think of popcorn during a movie with a little bit of salt and butter; but did you ever think of who created popcorn or when it was made? Probably not. Here’s a little info for you: Scientists at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History uncovered fossilized cobs in Peru as early as 47,000 BCE. Surprised you? Me too. Pop-corn was served at the very first Thanksgiving feast, too, brought by the Native Americans. Of course, the Pilgrims loved this idea so much they poured milk and sugar over bowls of popcorn and ate it for breakfast (I’d love to see someone do this in our generation). In 1885, the first popcorn “machine” was invented. These machines, called “poppers”, were made to be pushed on foot, pulled by horses, or mounted on trucks. The most surprising fact I found about popcorn is there are, on average, around 300-500 kernels in a bag! It doesn’t seem like you eat that much, right? Act II is found to pop the most kernels (91%) at the best price, but Newman’s Own pops about 97% of kernels. There are millions and millions of different Popcorn Brands. 28 of those brands are gluten free. Popcorn can actually be very healthy if popped the right way (air-popping is best). However, it’s hard to eat popcorn healthily when there are over 200 flavors of popcorn. That’s correct, 200 plus flavors! And if you thought “butter” was just a flavor, here are some crazy ones: Blast O’ Butter, Salted Butter, Butterlicious (clever…), Extra Butter, More Butter, Buttery Salt, Light Butter, Fresh Butter, Move Theatre Butter, Better Butter, Xtreme Butter, 94% Fat Free Butter, Ultimate Butter, Old Fashioned Butter, Butter Lovers Butter, Buttery Kettle Corn, and Buttery Seasoning. Not to mention some of us eat caramel popcorn, kettle corn, chocolate covered popcorn, marshmallow popcorn… The possibilities of this manipulative snack are simply endless. Email us at mbeacon.smccme.edu to let us know what flavors of popcorn are your favorites?

The illustration on the left depicting Govorner LePage is by Art major, Andrew Holmes. You’ll see several of his illustrations in this issue, and if you’d like your illustrations to apprear in the Beacon, contact advisor Chuck Ott, at [email protected]

Applesauce Sweet BreadYield: 1 loaf1 ¼ cups original flavor

applesauce1 cup white sugar½ cup vegetable oil2 eggs3 tablespoons of lactose

free (or normal) milk1 cup of Gluten Free

all purpose flour½ cup soy flour¼ cup potato starch1 tsp of baking soda½ tsp baking powder½ tsp ground cinnamon

(plus a little more to your taste)

Few shakes of saltOven: 350 degrees

Directions: In a large bowl, combine applesauce, sugar, oil, eggs, and milk; beat well. Sift in flour, soy flour, potato starch, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until smooth. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake in oven for 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.


Arts&Features

This is a huge issue. We have to think about a whole series of answers.” He went on to describe how complicated the issue of student loans is. What we should be looking at is cost. If college is so expensive it is going to be a problem, wherever that money comes from—a grant, loan, family, etc. then we need to look at how we can help deliver that educa-tion more efficiently. He also added that the interest rate ought to be as low as possible.

One possible solution could be to limit grants and loans to students seeking degrees in growing fields, like healthcare, engineering, math, and sciences. However, King says we don’t want the government getting involved with student choices as to what is available to them with regards to their degree. “We like French majors, but we don’t like Spanish majors (for example). That’s tricky there might be some analysis… We know we have a shortage of teachers…Maybe that’s an area where we can start a pilot program and see how it works”. “What can we do as a nation to increase funding for public universities, without creating a financial burden on taxpayers or allow for tuitions to increase?” Senato-rial candidate King brings the conver-sation back to the idea of a partner-ship between the universities and the political process that funds them saying, ”I think the universities need to show the politicians that they’re doing everything reason-ably possible to be as efficient and productive as they can…Here’s an Idea for the community colleges. You could double your enrollment tomorrow without increasing any infrastructure costs if you were on a co-op plan and half your students were on intern-ships at any given moment… this is the way N. Eastern University in Boston runs their whole program.” This con-nects the students with the community and with real jobs King goes on to say, “part of the problem is that quite often school facilities are not fully utilized.” To further illustrate this point King brings up the fact that in the private sector if you build a factory, you can’t afford to have that facility to only run for eight hours a day, it must run for 24 hours straight to be efficient. That may not work for schools he point out however, perhaps having classes from 8:00 in the

morning until 10:00 at night would increase the efficiency of the facilities. We’re dealing with a world of limited resources. King continues, ”We’re going to have to make it fit within existing resources. And that will cause them to be more creative about how they deploy their faculty and their buildings.” In response to the question as to whether or not con-gress should cap tuition and fees to better match inflation rates, King said,” I’m not a big believer in price controls.” He further explained that you end up with a bureaucracy and people get lawyers and find ways to work around the

rules you set up. “I’m more interested in a competitive model…I’d like to see a univer-sity come along and say we can do this for $20,000 a year instead of $50,000, and this is what you’re going to get. And see if they attract the students,” he says. Of course, they would have to actu-ally deliver an educa-tion with reasonable value, unlike some of the universities with out of control default rates like some of the for-profit schools that

represent 26% of the borrowers and 43% of the defaults. “Students often drive the price because they expect all these amenities, facilities, and personnel,” King says. He makes an interesting analogy saying his friend, who works at a private college calls it, “an arms race.” If one school gets a new art center than his school has to have a new art center. It would seem that if students want to keep costs down than we also need to keep expectations low as well. We drive the cost up almost as much as they do because of our expectations. When most of us enter college in our late teens and early twenties, we want everything without considering the real cost—colleges and Universities cater to those desires. Can we really blame them for giving us what we ask for?

As long as the federal Govern-ment continues to hand out money to those who don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions this pattern will likely continue. The truth is, that there is no easy answer. We all need to look at our real expectations. Perhaps this means sharing your con-cerns with our administrators, talking to your state representative, or simply becoming involved with the student senate. We cannot expect any changes to occur if no one speaks up and shares their opinion. Your future and that of generations to come depend on your voice being heard.

The entire Angus King interview can be seen on the “SMCC Beacon Newspaper” YouTube channel. Let us know what you think. All comments are welcome email us at, [email protected]. Please note ATTN: Editor in the subject box.

Waylon Speed with Rugged and Marc Pinansky Waylon Speed is the convergence of four musicians from Burlington, Vermont, bringing their unstoppable no frills country-metal blend of rock to a rapidly growing horde of devoted fans nationwide. The formation of this band could not have come at a better time. Seemingly overnight, they have become a staple in the music com-munity, equipped with a full pallet of all original music.EMPIRE DINE AND DANCEThursday September 13th | Doors at 9pm | $5 day of | 21+ Dr. Dog with Delta SpiritFounded on a creative relationship whose roots stretch back to when McMicken and bassist Toby Leaman met in the 8th grade, Dr. Dog was years in the making. After long hours practicing in basements, performing in barns, and tweaking knobs on cassette four track machines, Dr. Dog was officially established in 1999 with the Psyche-delic Swamp record.STATE THEATRE - Tuesdat, September 18th | Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm | $25 day of/$22 advance

A Band Beyond DescriptionA night with BBD and their special guests re-creating the timeless music of The Grateful Dead, Phish, and The Allman Brothers.THE BIG EASY – Thursday, September 20th | Doors at 9pm | Free! | 21+

STARSStars is a Canadian indie pop band signed to the Arts and Crafts label. Originally formed in Toronto in 1998 by vocalist Torquil Campbell and keyboardist Chris Seligman, the band relocated to New York City and then subsequently to Montreal. The band also includes singer-guitarist Amy Millan and bassist Evan Cranley. Drummer Pat McGee has toured with the band for years, despite not appearing on their albums until the release of Set Yourself on Fire.PORT CITY MUSIC HALL – Thursday, September 20th| Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm | $22 | 18+

Julian Lage Hailed by All About Jazz as “a giant in the making,” Lage grew up in California and was the subject of an Academy Award-nominated documentary, Jules at Eight. He gained pivotal early exposure as a protégé of legendary vibraphonist Gary Burton, recording and touring with Burton on two projects: Generations (2004) and Next Generation (2005). Solo on guitar!ONE LONGFELLOW SQUARE – Friday, September 21st | Doors at 8pm | $20 day of/$18 advance

DADA LIFE with 12th PlanetThe Swedish power duo DADA LIFE seems to be gracefully penetrating the world with their off kilter, shameless sense of humor and their harder hitting elec-tronic style. Olle Corneer and Stefan Engblom, who say on their official website that they “destroy dance music, have fun, don’t look in the past, don’t think too much, and always follow the money,”STATE THEATRE – Sunday, September 30th | Doors at 7pm, Show at 9pm | $31.50 day of/$26.50 adv | 16+

Substaining Higher Education(from cover)

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW HOLMES

PHOTO BY DENISE MICHAUD

THE Off BEAT P R E S E N T S Music EventsCOMPILED BY BRITTANY W I LLI A M S


SportsReportsSeawolves Fall Baseball PreviewBy Chris Conlee

ith the new semester starting and autumn upon us, our Seawolves baseball team is hard at work on the diamond getting ready for the upcom-

ing season. I recently caught up with 1st year coach Jared Lemieux to learn a little bit about the new coach, get his take on the team, and his expectations for the upcoming season. Coach Lemieux comes to us after two years as head coach of Maranacook High School in Readfield, Maine; where he was recently honored as the 2012 KVAC Coach of the Year. Prior to that, Coach Lemieux spent time as an assistant coach at various locations, as well as playing baseball professionally in the Canadian American Indepen-dent Professional Baseball League. The coach described his coaching style as aggressive. As for his team’s philosophy the coach said, “We’ll be an aggressive running team but, we’re built around our pitching and defense.” Coach Lemieux expects big contributions in the lineup from the corner outfield spots and shortstop, which each boast returning starters, as well as new comers at first and second base. “We expect to be a disciplined hitting team with tough outs up and down the line up.” He also expects to have a deep pitching staff this year. The coach has been impressed with how quickly his team has been picking up the new system he implement-ed. He’s also very happy with the amount of team chem-istry and energy they have showed. “I’m excited about the energy these guys are bringing. They are bringing high energy and a lot of enthusiasm. They obviously care about the game and are ready to work to get better at it.” With a short preseason and grueling schedule with occasional back to back days of double-headers; He feels he’s been pushing them quite hard and is excited with how they responded. The only concerns Coach Lemieux noted were largely about him being new to the team and conference. “I’m not sure what to expect from our opponents, this being my first year. It’s a new gig for me we’ll see how well the kids adjust to a new style of coaching and new expectations. Hopefully they respond well, it’s really in their hands.” Coach Lemieux is very optimistic about this year’s team and the season ahead of them. “We’ve got a good mix of some guys who have some experience in the program and some fresh faces. I’m excited about what we have coming in for our pitching staff and I think we’ll have a solid line up with some key returning bats.” The coach has lofty goals for the season, starting with winning the conference regular season and ending with going to nationals. “We’ve got high expectations but I think we have the right set of high expectations. We were successful last year winning the conference and I think this team can improve from there.” The Seawolves’ first game is Wednesday at Bridgton Academy and their home opener is Sept. 15th, a double-header against Mass Bay CC. Come out and support your Seawolves!

The Men’s Sports Scene From the Links & the Pitch

Men’s Soccer Falls While Golf Places 2ndCourtesy of the SMCC Athletics Department

ean College proved to be too much for the Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) Seawolves as they cruised to a 6-1 victory in both programs’

season opening game. The Seawolves kept it tight before the Bulldogs of Dean College scored the first of their four first half goals at the 15:38 mark. Freshman midfielder Matt McClure (Buxton, ME) scored the first Seawolves goal of the season with 2:35 remaining in the game.

The Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) golf team finished second in the first Yankee

Small College Conference (YSCC) match of the season. SMCC hosted the match at The

Purpoodock Club in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The Seawolves team score of 356 was just 9 strokes from Central Maine Community College’s win-

ning score of 347. Leading the way for the Seawolves was freshman Elliot Coats with a score of 85. Coats also finished the match individually tied for third place with University of Maine Machias’s Dylan Link. The other players contributing to SMCC’s finish included freshman Chris Pierce (Waterboro, ME) (pictured on page 12) with a score of 88, Isaac Green-rose with a 90 and Nick Curato (Oakland, ME) with a 93. The Seawolves will compete again on September 15th in another YSCC match hosted by University of Maine-Augusta.Team Results SMCC ResultsCMCC, 347 Elliot Coats, 85SMCC, 356 Chris Pierce, 88EMCC, 375 Isaac Greenrose, 90 UMA, 379 Nick Curato, 93UMM, 383 Bill Kirk, 93 Joe Falconieri, 92 Sean Doran, 97 Josh Woods, 117

The State of the PatriotReality TV By Gerry Foster

ill Belichick is the funniest man in Football. Hard to imagine, but it’s true. Granted, the mans sense of humor is very dark, dry and sarcastic, but it’s prowess

cannot be denied. If any of you saw the NFL Network special: “A Football Life,” you know just how funny he can be. I started thinking recently he’s even funnier than he led on. This off-season Bill held his own reality game show, for all of the Patriots organization. The show was not televised, was not recorded, and if it was not for roster le-galities, it wouldn’t have been known by the general public at all. The Patriots, as an organization, picked up a dozen big names in free agency, and signed countless “no-name” players as well. All in all, the Patriots signed fifty players. If you look

a little bit into those signings you see a stunning trend. Of the 50 players signed, 9 of them were wide receivers, 7 were tight ends, and 6 were running backs. 22 offensive players were signed to a team that boasted one of the most lethal offenses in the NFL in 2011. What is even more shocking is the amount of talent that they added to a team of tight ends that last season, had more yards receiving, and more touchdown connections than any other tight end tandem in the history of the NFL. In fact, of the top 15 tight ends in fantasy football, the Patriots have 4 on the current roster, 2 that were within the top 5 in almost every statistical category. Among the players that were signed, at least two of them played big roles in key Patriots losses throughout the years. Let the games begin. I picture a room shaped much like a Cinemagic movie theatre with aisles on both sides of stadium style seating. Bill Belichick is doing his best “you are the weakest link” and “you’re fired” impressions, all while destroying the hopes of men in their waning years of professional foot-ball, and laughing maniacally the whole time. Player after player is ejected from the room while the seasoned coach figures out new and embarrassing ways to fire them, some by vote, others by lottery, some by “eeny meeny minny mo,” and yet still others via games of playbook memory. All in all, the Patriots made 137 roster transactions in the off-season for a final roster of 53. At least 3 of the players they signed, were fired, signed, and later fired again. It seems Billy just couldn’t get enough this summer. Perhaps we will get to see even more of this behavior dur-ing the season, but it’s my guess he will go back to being what we are used to him being, robotic: “Ummmm...I mean, yup…ummmmm, well…they didn’t do what they were supposed to, and we’re just gonna have to get better.” The jokes are over - let the real games begin.

Group fitness classes are free for students, faculty and staff with valid SMCC identification. Classes begin this Tues-day, September 4th. Have a happy and healthy semester!

ATHLETIC BOOTCAMPMonday - Thursday 7:00PM - 8:00PM - Turf Room (basement of HUB Gymnasium, next to fitness center)This course is designed to develop your speed, strength, agility, endurance, and power. Each high energy 60 minute workout consists of a series of functional drills and exercises, sequenced to be both challenging and accessible for all fitness levels (students, athletes, and faculty). We will use a variety of different equipment: agility ladders and rings, nautical ropes, medicine balls, steelbells, kettlebells, superbands, sandbags, jump ropes and weights. There will be sweat.

YOGA.PILATES.CORETuesdays and Thursdays 12:15PM - 1:15PM - HUB Aerobics StudioThis course blends exercises from classical pilates, ashtanga yoga, and functional core work into a full body strength and endurance workout. Each exercise and movement will flow into the next, creating a seamless blend that will improve balance, energy, flexibility, con-centration, and focus. This class welcomes students of all levels and abilities.

About Your Fitness Instructor: Michael SchwartzMichael Schwartz is an innovator in the field of functional exercise. Before moving to Maine in 2002, he created numerous workouts for the top health clubs in New York City, appearing on television, magazines, and newspapers. He has coached (soccer, hockey, cross country, track and field, lacrosse, and nordic skiing), designed sport-specific strength and conditioning pro-grams (hockey, field hockey, soccer, lacrosse, swimming, motocross, volleyball, basketball, kickboxing, sprinting, and distance running), and trained a variety of individu-al clients and athletes throughout his years as a strength and conditioning specialist. His workouts are highly motivational, effective, and fun. Michael lives near the SMCC campus, and can of-ten be seen, accompanied by his two daughters on their bikes, on his blades being pulled at a high rate of speed by his husky mix, Pre.

Freelance Writing Opportunity for Students

Student Health 101, a student-written publication reaches over 1,000,000 stu-dents, at 500 different colleges and universities each month. Student Health helps students manage the pressures they’re under, from stress, to money, to eating well, and much more.

Student Health is currently looking for freelance student journalists to write features and shorts on health issues that are of concern to students. We are looking for writers with excellent reporting skills who can work under a deadline. Writers are hired on a freelance basis and paid a fee per article, based on article length and difficulty of the subject matter. Feature stories are 1,250 to 1,500 words, while short features are 300 to 600 words. Visit Student Health 101 online at http://readsh101.com/contentpreview_STD.html to see the publication, and if you are interested please submit writing samples online at http://studenthealth101.com/writing.html


SportsReportsSeawolves Fall Softball PreviewBy Chris Conlee

his past week, I caught up with the softball coach to get her take on her team for the fall season. While I approached the softball field, all I heard was laughter

and loud voices. I immediately knew the fall softball team was going to be a fun team to cover. After her practice, first year coach, Emily Leverone and her two assistants were kind enough to grant me an interview and tell me a little bit about herself and her team. Coach Leverone comes to us after 4 years at St. Joe’s in Maine where she was a 4 year starter and a team captain her senior year. She also owns most of St. Joseph’s softball hitting records. This is her first coaching job, but she’s run many camps and clinics teaching softball funda-mentals. She will certainly be fresh breath of (extremely cheerful) air for the softball program. Her main goals for her first year in the program are to build the program, get some new players involved, and build a sense of team unity. “We’re basically building from

the ground up this year. We’re looking to make it a wel-coming program. Even for players who have never played the sport. We’ll bring in everyone and make it a family.” She is hungry to win for the fall but, she recognizes her challenges in building a roster and looking forward a bit to the spring. “For the fall season, I’m looking more to see what the girls can do. In the spring, I’ll be pushing for wins, wins, wins.” The coach’s main concerns for the season are just to get players committed to softball. “I’ve got a lot of athlete’s from different sports too switch over. The girls are great though, they want to be there.” She’s very confident in her team’s talent. Getting new players to mesh together and the team’s experience level are really the only possible is-sues she sees. As for team philosophy, the coach quoted her cen-terfielder Yaritza Tejada, “No sacrifice, no gain.” Coach Leverone also expects to have a very potent hitting lineup. “We’ll definitely have a power hitting team this year. (3B) Lindsey Howell and (1B) Kathryn Gilio can definitely rip

the ball.” She’s also excited from what she’s seen from her defense. “With the girls we have now, I think we’ll be solid all around. It’s just getting everyone to be a team. That’s it. We’re solid everywhere I think.” Coach Leverone also noted that the she expects the experienced players to be a strength for her, taking on leadership roles. “Team captain (SS) Casey Garrapy, will definitely bring a lot of knowledge and skill and all around game to the program as well as a positive attitude. Kathyrn Gilio she’s gonna be a big power hitter this year.” She also noted newcomer pitcher Colleen Davis, “She’s a pitcher who is going to be a force to reckon with.” “Dy-no-mite” her assistant added. I know this team has been a joy to cover so far. I’m sure they’ll be just as much of a pleasure to watch on the field. Win or lose, I know they will be supremely enter-taining. All they need to succeed is your support! Come out to see them at their first game Thursday Sept. 20th at 4:30.

Women’s Soccer Drops Opener and Rebounds with 4-1 VictoryCourtesy of the SMCC Athletics Department

he Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) women’s soccer team dropped their season opening game to Dean College 5-0. The Seawolves kept things

close in the first half, only trailing 2-0 at halftime. Freshman forward Michela Desjardins (Fort Kent, ME) battled a tough Bulldog defense and was able to get six good looks at the net. But Dean goalkeeper, Jessica Gelbman, would not let anything through as she tallied 9 saves on the day. Neriha Bautista (Dixfield, ME) spent 90 minutes in goal for the Seawolves, recording 8 saves. On September 8th The Lady Seawolves evened their season record at 1 and 1 by resoundingly beating Saint Jo-

seph’s College JV team 4-1. Sophomore midfielder Lauren Rafford (Bangor, ME) put the Seawolves on the board at the 25-minute mark. The unassisted goal was shot from beyond the right side of the 18-yard box. Rafford’s goal would be the only one in the first half. The Seawolves turned up the heat after halftime, scoring two quick goals to start the second half. The first came from Sophomore Bethany Gullbrand (Portland, ME) (pictured on the left) in the 50th minute assisted by freshman Brittany Young (Portland, ME). Freshman forward Michela Desjardins (Fort Kent, ME) scored two minutes later off a long assist from sophomore defender

Ali Waterman (Cumberland, ME). Saint Joe’s finally got on the board in the 60th minute. The final goal for SMCC came in the 78th min-ute and was also scored by Desjar-dins off an assist by Casey Garrapy (Underhill, VT). Conference play begins Tues-

day, September 11th with a 4:00 PM home match against Central Maine Community College.

• • • The Seawolves turned up the heat after halftime, scoring two quick

goals to start the second half. • • •

the smcc beacon 9-12-2012

Documents

college education

college cost

streetssmcc photo students

year degree

postsecondary education

average cost

unsustainable debt

rate of inflation