Hartford Informer 3/25/10

8/9/2019 Hartford Informer 3/25/10

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Volume 33, Issue 19 March 25, 2010

INSIDE

BY THENUMBERS

3The percent increase in tuition announced on

March 11.

The Informerwww.hartfordinformer.com

University of Hartford

Men s lacrosse picked up its second win of the season. For more on

the game, turn to page 15.

SXSW showcased many new aspiring artists. For photos and analysis of the festival turn to

pages 8 and 10.

The health care debate has come to an end and a bill was signed

into law. For two takes on the bill,turn to page 7.

The anchoring process has changed and applications are

due soon. For full details on the changes see page 3.

News

Sports

Entertainment

Opinions

By Alexandria Hubbard News Editor

The university will join the ranksof Hampshire College and Wes-leyan University by implementingmixed-gender housing next year.

The Mixed Gender HousingPilot Program will start in the2010-2011 academic year. The

program places students in theVillage Quad 3 in four- and six-

person apartments. Because of itsnew status, the program is allow-ing only 10 groups to participatethis year.

This will de nitely give stu-dents more freedom in their

choices [of who they live with],said Jennifer Lovelace, the as-sistant director for assignmentsand billing. These students areemerging adults, and this is partof the process for them to grow.

Mixed gender housing is consid-ered a group of male and femalestudents living together in theapartment sharing the commonliving areas, such as kitchen andliving room, but not the individual

bedroom spaces. Only biologicalmales and biological females are

permitted to share a bedroom.In order to be considered for the

pilot program, students must complete the Mixed Gender HousingApplication. As with other housingassignments, students must have

paid the $250 room deposit and be status 1 students.

All members of the apartmentmust attend a Living TogetherSeminar sponsored by the Of ceof Residential Life. They will beheld on Saturday, March 28 andSunday, March 29 from 1 to 2:30

p.m. in a location that will be an-nounced by the weekend. Studentsonly need to attend one of these

dates in order to get the credit.The rst groups who apply and

attend the seminar will be acceptedto the program. If the program isdeemed successful this year, thenthere is a possibility that it will beexpanded for the future, accordingto Lovelace.

Students who wish to apply mustdo so by Friday, March 26 at 4 p.m.at the Of ce of Residential Life.

The idea for mixed-gender hous-ing was brought up by studentsa few years ago who drafteda proposal for this program.They worked closely with Irwin

Nussbaum, who currently worksas the director of the Freshman

Success Center and Orientation.He [Nussbaum] was really the

catalyst for pushing this program,said Lovelace.

From there, the university exam-ined research and data from other schools that had implementedmixed-gender housing. The posi-tive results from other universitieshelped push the program forwardfor Hartford.

The Of ce of Residential Lifeis discouraging couples from

participating in the program.Other schools have also pushedthe same idea. According to anApril 2008 article from the BostonGlobe, Most colleges discourage

students who are romantically in-volved from living together, but afew schools freely admit that someroommates are in sexual relation-ships, which they say is none of their business.

According to the Office of Residential Life Web site, This

program will more importantlymirror the living choices whichawait students upon graduatingthe University of Hartford.

We know that some studentsalready move off campus intomixed-gender housing, saidLovelace. With this program, wecan keep them on campus and keepthem as a part of our community.

Trial Run for Mixed-Gender Housing

SUZIE HUNTER

COURTESY OF ELESPECTADOR.COM

The Mixed Gender Housing Pilot Program will start in the 2010-2011 academic year. It will onlyallow 10 groups to participate in the trial. The 10 apartments will be in Village Quad 3.

Adolfo Prez Esquivel will speak on Friday and Saturday.

By Jeremy StanleyManaging Editor

Adolfo Prez Esquivel, one of the disappeared during the eraof political turmoil in Argentinacalled the Dirty War in the1970s, will present a lecture Fridayat Lincoln Theater.

The Noble Peace laureate willspend the weekend as part of PeaceJam Northeast Conferenceheld at the University of Hartfordfor the rst time.

According to UNotes, 250 to 300students in the Northeast region of the U.S. will be on campus as partof the conference. Fifty students,around half of them Universitystudents, will act as mentors to the

high school students in breakoutsessions.Provost Lynn Pasquerella said,The University is honored to be

hosting Adolfo Perz Esquivel.Tortured and imprisoned for 14months for his attempts to redress

political oppression in Argentinain the 70s, his life serves as amodel of commitment to social

justice.His presence will undoubtedly

inspire and motivate students atall levels to take up the challengeto promote peaceful reform inresponse to human rights abusesaround the world.

Wednesday marked the Day of

Remembrance for Truth and Jus-tice in Argentina, a holiday thatserves to commemorate DirtyWar victims.

For 14 months beginning in1977, Prez Esquivel was impris-oned for speaking out against thosewho were brutally treated by theArgentinean military dictatorship.

According to an article by con-ference coordinator Chrissa Deanon UNotes, Prez Esquivel wasreleased following a letter writingcampaign facilitated by AmnestyInternational after the 1978 WorldCup held in Argentina [shined]a spotlight on human abuses oc-curring there.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner On CampusThe lecture at Lincoln Theater

will require no ticket to the confer-ence to attend and is open to allUniversity students.

Then, when the conference of-cially opens on Saturday, Prez

Esquivel will address conferenceattendees, according to UNotes.

The University is forging arelationship with NextGen Lead-ers, the Northeast affiliate of PeaceJam, where it plans to holdconferences on the campus of theuniversity in the years to come.

Previously, according to UNotes,the PeaceJam conference was heldat Elms College in Chicopee,Mass. for three years. Conferenceorganizers said they were in needof more space and the University

of Hartford became a viable op-tion for the conference, accordingto UNotes.

The University student mentorsare not the only ones lending ahand for PeaceJam, as HartfordArt School students in a designclass have developed material thatattendees will receive, accordingto UNotes.

Hillyer sociology classes stu-dents will run some workshopsand also participate as volunteers.

Folk artists Buskin & Batteau performed as part of the Musicfor a Change music series lastFriday, raising proceeds to bene tPeaceJam Northeast.


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the informer newsnews march 25, 2010 page 2

Computer Problems? See the Computer Support Center By Keith Rugar

Informer Staff Writer Due to an increase in viruses on

campus, university of cials areasking students to use protectionon their computers.

Computer viruses are runningrampant on the Internet andare targetting popular sites likeFacebook. These viruses canslow down the campus network and cause damage to studentscomputers.

Abbey Ortlieb, a staff member in the Computer Support Center,has seen it all. We get computersthat are so littered with stuff thatthey are unusable, she said.

Students who illegally downloadthings like music and movies runthe risk of downloading a com-

puter virus. This can cause the

university to shut down a student swireless connection.Other viruses have been at-

tached to Facebook messages saidto be a video from a friend. Ortliebsuggests that students contact their friends to see if they have sentsomething. Unless your friendsends you videos a lot don t click on it, she said.

If a virus is added to your harddrive students may want to back uptheir hard drive using an externaldevice, but Ortlieb suggests thatstudents do not try to remove thevirus themselves.

If students back up their computer to an external hard drivethe virus may spread to the harddrive. Students shouldn t try to doit themselves; have a professionaldo it, she said.

Students are required to haveanti-virus software on their com-

puter in order to be connected tothe campus network, said SaraRussell of the campus computer

support staff. The university isoffering students with free Syman-tic s Norton Anti-Virus software.

Students who would like tohave the software added to their computer can go to the Computer Support Center in the Computer Center building and have it up-loaded to their computers.

You never want more thanone anti-virus program on your computer. They can con ict witheach other and let in malware,Ortlieb added.

Some students may have heardthe myth that Apple computersdon t get viruses. That is a lie,said Russell.

Right now there are not as manyviruses for Macs, but Mac virusesare really bad, she said.

Ortlieb added that they wereonce given a Mac that was infectedwith a Trojan virus that took over everything.

The campus also has strict rulesabout music downloads over thecampus network. The Digital Mil-lennium Copyright Act gives theR.I.A.A. the right to prosecuteindividuals who download copy-righted material illegally.

This law gives industry of cialsthe right to sue individuals for upto $150,000 for each copyrightinfringement.

The university s policy is to shutoff campus access to anyone foundto be downloading or uploadingcopyrighted material.

If the music industry contactsthe university to notify them

of someone using copyrightedmaterial, the offender s Internet

port will be closed, said Russell.The rst offense would be for two

weeks, the second offence would be for four weeks and a third of-fence would become judicial.

There is a list of sites that arelegal-free sites such as mp3.com, Pandora, Ruckus and SpiralFrog and legal-pay sites such asAmazon, iTunes, Napster, Netf-lix and Rhapsody, but the use of any illegal sites is a violation of federal, state and the university sown regulations.

According to the university sHitchhiker s Guide to the Digital

Millennium Copyright Act, 356University of Hartford studentshave been caught so far.

Students using the Internetneed to be careful about the sitesthat they visit and understand

le-sharing laws that pertain tocopyrighted material.

If you use the Internet you aresubject to viruses; even out of cu-riosity don t click on links if youdon t know where it came from,use a level of caution, said Ort-lieb. Using the Internet requiresyou to have common sense.

For more information on campusInternet rules or computer supportcontact the Computer SupportCenter, room C113 in the Com-

puter Center building.Students and faculty can call

the center at 860-768-5999 or atuhaweb.hartford.edu/gradorien/computersupportcenter.html.

Scholarship Opportunity for Students Increases This Year

By Edline Dyer Informer Staff Writer

This year the Emeriti Scholar-ship Association announced thatit has renewed and increased itsannual scholarship award.

The EA has awarded students based on academic merit since the2006-2007 academic year. Thisyear the award has been increasedto two awards of $500 each.

The scholarship is offered toundergraduate students enteringeither their sophomore, junior, or senior year as full time students acumulative GPA of at least 3.25.

Consideration for the award is based on scholarly achievement

and commitment to extra-curric-ular activities at the university or within the community at large.Applicants must also be enrolledin any of the colleges at the Uni-versity of Hartford for at least onesemester.

Emeriti Association ExecutiveSecretary and Treasurer Walter Banzhaf shed some light on theassociation.

The EA is comprised of retireduniversity faculty and administra-tors who have been recognized bythe university s Board of Regentsfor their outstanding service over a period of years.

They assist the university inachieving its academic and profes-sional goals by using the expertiseof its members to the best advan-tage of the school.

We appreciate the support of the university, Banzhaf said,

in assisting our membership tocontinue their professional, edu-cational and scholarly activities.

The Emeriti Association offersscholarships to students because,Banzhaf stated, All membersserved the university for manyyears, and are committed to seeingits students succeed. The EmeritiScholarship was created to assistour best and brightest with fundingtheir education.

Scholarship money is provided by all of the donation money frommembers of the association allo-cated to an endowment account.

The annual income from thisaccount is used for the scholar-ships. Some donations are alsoused to increase the award amountin a given year.

Very signi cant contributionsin recent years have allowed theEmeriti Scholarship to grow from

being a single $250 award to twoawards of $500 each for the 2010-2011 academic school year.

Thus far the award has beengiven to students of the College

of Arts and Sciences, the HarttSchool and CETA. Every year theEmeriti Scholarship Committeemakes an effort to rotate the awardamong the various colleges.

There is no application formfor students to ll out for thisscholarship; rather, prospectivestudents should submit a resume,two letters of recommendationfrom the applicant s advisor or other faculty members, and a letter of application.

The letter of application is opento the student s creativity, and itshould highlight their academicand extra curricular achievementsat the university.

The deadline for submissionof these materials is Wednesday,March 31 at 4 p.m. All materi-als should be emailed to Walter Banzhaf at [email protected].

We appreciate the support of the universityin assisting our membership to continuetheir professional,educational and

scholarly activities.- Walter Banzhaf

SUZIE HUNTER

Students having problems with their computers can bring them to the Computer Support Center on the rst oor of the CC building.

University Tuition ToIncrease by 3 Percent


The university announced thattuition will increase by 3 percentfor the 2010-2011 academic year.

In an e-mail sent out on Thurs-day, March 11, President Walter Harrison stated that any tuitionincrease was unwelcome but thatthis is the second year that tuitionhas been raised by only 3 percent.

According to Harrison, TheUniversity of Hartford is nowthe least expensive universityamong those private institutionsthat are considered our peers and we will be working hard tocontinue in that position in the

years to come.The increase will mostly be

used to maintain the univer-sity s academic programs andto provide more nancial aid tostudents who need it.

Harrison wrote, With theeconomic challenges that somany families are facing thesedays, our nancial aid staff has

been working tirelessly to helpas many students as possibleto stay in school, and I am ex-tremely grateful for their efforts.In fact, more than 90 percent of our students now receive someform of nancial aid.

Other private universities havehad similar tuition increases.Georgetown University recentlyapproved a 3 percent tuition increasefor the 2010-2011 academic year.Johns Hopkins University will raiseits tuition by 3.9 percent.

Some schools still face higher tuition increases, such as Rice Uni-versity in Houston, Texas, whichwill see an increase of 5.4 percentnext year. Yale University will in-crease its tuition by 4.8 percent for the upcoming academic year.

Tuition increases have been slow-ing down over the past few years. Inthe 2009-2010 school year, privateschool tuitions and fees increased4.3 percent according to a surveyreleased by the National Associa-tion of Independent Colleges andUniversities. This was signi cantlyless than the 6 percent trend that had

been seen over previous years. Someuniversities froze tuition increasesthat year to help families with the

nancial burden.The university will be making

budget decreases for the next year that will take effect on July 1, 2010.According to Harrison, To ensurethat these reductions do not impactacademic quality, administrativeareas have been given the larger

budget-cutting goals, and academicdepartments have the smallest.


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Squatting ProcessHas Been Changed: New Info for Students


Anchoring, formerly known assquatting, will be a rolling process

that takes place out of the Of ceof Residential Life for this year shousing selection.

Students who wish to remainin their current housing assign-ment for the next academic year still need to ll out and submit ananchoring form.

However, unlike in years prior,students no longer need to showup on a speci c day to submit thisinformation.

Previously, students came to aroom announced by the Of ce of Residential Life, usually in Gen-gras Student Union.

There, students could submittheir forms to anchor in their hous-ing assignment.

Students could only completethis process on that day, whichwas previously scheduled this year for April 7.

However, the Of ce of Resi-dential Life s assignment teamcancelled the day early in March.

They have opted instead to haveanchoring be a rolling process witha nal deadline of Wednesday,March 31 at 3 p.m.

Students who wish to anchor can print out the anchoring formfrom the Of ce of ResidentialLife s Web site and submit it tothe ORL of ce on or before thatdate. From there the assignments

team will take the information,verify it and place the students.

Students will receive an e-mailnoti cation by 5 p.m. on Friday,April 2 if the anchoring applica-

tion was accepted.This allots time for students tomake alternate plans for housingin time for Room Selection onSaturday, April 10 if they are notallowed to anchor in their space.

The general rules for anchor-ing still apply, however. In order to anchor a space, students musthave at least 50 percent of thecurrent residents of the apartmentin Regents Park, Park River andthe Village will be returning tothe space.

Only single rooms in E and FComplex can be anchored. First-year living areas, A through DComplex and Hawk Hall, cannot

be anchored.All students anchoring must

have paid the $250 housing deposit and be status 1 students.

If students have any questions,they should direct them to their Resident Assistant or area s Resi-dent Director.

More information on room se-lection will appear in the April 1edition of the Informer.

Students with concerns can goto the Of ce of Residential Life,located behind F Complex.

There is also a room selection booklet available online throughthe Residential Life Web site,uhaweb.hartford.edu/reslife.

Prosthetics Course AddedBy Marissa Pollina

Informer Staff Writer The university is offering a

new class for students in theupcoming fall semester that isdesigned to help students whoare physical therapy majors withan extreme hands on approach.

Students who are looking for achallenge, interested in helpingothers, and students who want toget further in their career choicemight want to choose this newcourse, called Prosthetics andOrthotics.

For those students in TheCollege of Education, Nursingand Health Professions, whoare looking for speci c classesadjusted to their major, thisnew course might be the perfectselection for that open spot inyour schedule.

This introduction course,PRPO 200, will help these stu-dents get a better feel for what

physical therapists actually doand how they do it all. The ideais to get a good grasp on whatthe professionals do and their role in the of ce.

Prosthetics and Orthotics areways to help people becomemobile after a severe accidentwith their body or for people

born with birth defects. Doctorsin this eld help people turn fromstationary to becoming activeeveryday. Though the processmight be time consuming, theend result helps people get

back on their feet and adjust thecertain body part.

Physical Therapy majors work with people who need help withinjuries or previous surgeries.This new course will enablethese majors to go outside the

box and tend to peoples needs.Another way this new course willhelp students is by examining realsituations with real people.

Students who want to further their education in this eld shouldtake this new class.

Professors will be looking for-ward to starting off the new year with an exciting new course andeager students.

Not only will this educatestudents already in the physicaltherapy major, it might also getstudents who are looking for a

change and a challenge to help people in need. Students who areinterested in handling patients andlearning more about prostheticsand orthotics are welcome to signup for the class.

PRPO 200 will not only be ben-e cial to students, but it will alsoassist a patient seeking the care theyneed to progressively get better.

If you want to learn more aboutthis new course you may contactSarah Farrell at [email protected] or call 860-768-4599 if thereare any further questions.

COURTESY OF MEDLAUNCHES.COM

Companies such as Nike have started to create prosthetics.

SUZIE HUNTER

The Of ce of Residential Life will be accepting anchoring ap-plications, available online, until Wednesday, March 31 at 3 p.m.Applicants must anchor 50 percent of the current apartment.


4/16


Public Safety

Blotter

Monday 03-08-10

1. Drug Offense Regents Park Apts.

Tuesday 03-09-10

Malicious Mischief Park River Apts. xBridge

Drug Offense Gengras Student Union

Wednesday 03-10-10Drug Offense Regents Park Apts.

Thursday 03-11-10

2. Harassment Village Apts. #6 3. Motor VehicleAccident/EvadingResponsibility B Complex

Friday 03-12-10

4. Trespassing Village Apts. #55. Vandalism A ComplexVandalism Hartt School of MusicMalicious Mischief Anchor x Bates HouseVandalism to a MotorVehicle Parking Lot - D6. Failure to Cooperate Village Apts. #2

and 3 ParkingDrug Offense Regents Park Apts.Alcohol Offense Regents Park Apts.Alcohol Offense Regents Park Apts.

6

5

3

2

4

1

Obama Reforms Health Care and Student LoansBy Erica ClaytonSenior Copy Chief

Health care Reform: Whatdoes it mean for me?

On Sunday the long-awaitedhealth care reform vote took place,voting in favor of reform with aclose, partisan vote of 219-212.

Some of the new legislation takesaffect immediately while other aspects will be implemented over the next few years.

Students who are nearing gradu-ation are happy to hear that theywill no longer be booted off their

parents insurance plans, but nowhave until age 26 to come acrosstheir own solutions for insurancethrough employment, plan pur-chases or other opportunities.

Now, insurance companies areunable to drop or deny coverageto patients who fall ill or have

pre-existing conditions. If you buy a policy, your insurance com- pany can no longer place a cap onhow much it will cover. And newinsurance plans have to provide

coverage for preventative carewithout a co-pay.

Other parts of the bill will take place throughout the next fewyears, culminating most major

parts by 2014.Small businesses and self em- ployed or unemployed Americanswill be able to utilize exchanges,allowing the purchase of lessexpensive coverage. Under thisclause, insurers will no longer

be able to turn away people with pre-existing conditions or chargethem more than clients without

pre-existing conditions.Amendments are already being

made by the House to be voted on by the Senate.

Should these proposed changestake place, Americans will berequired to purchase coverage by2014, or face a ne of $95, or 1

percent of their income, whichever is greater.

If coverage is not purchased by2015, the ne is increased to $325,or 2 percent of income, and by 2016the ne will be $695 or 2.5 percent

of income. Poorer Americans, thatis households of four or more thatmake up to $88,000 annually, how-ever, will receive subsidies as partof a hardship exemption.

Many families will be providedwith tax credits in order to offsetthe cost of health care premiums,which will be decided based onannual household income.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama issued and signed an execu-tive order declaring that federalfunds cannot be used to fund abor-tions. The bill also denies coverageto people who have entered or may

be living in the U.S. illegally.Consumers will also face new

regulations in food services andindoor tanning salons, according

to CNN.com. Restaurants withmore than 20 locations will now berequired to display calorie informa-tion next to food items on menus,along with contextual informationon food consumption. Nutritionfacts will also be required to be

posted on vending machines anddrive-thru menus, but specials,condiments and test market foodsare exempt.

Indoor tanning policies have alsochanged. Those wishing to tan in asalon will be faced with a 10 percenttax after July 1 of this year, due to

being classi ed as carcinogenicto humans, by the InternationalAgency for Research on Cancer,an af liate of the World HealthOrganization, according to CNN.

These are just a few of the manychanges in the 2,000-plus page bill.Any citizen who wishes to read the

bill from cover-to-cover can doso at the Senate Web site: www.senate.gov. However, the bill iswritten in legislative jargon. For a more in-depth look in laymen sterms, visit CNN.com/health.

Student Loan OverhaulBuried underneath all of the

health care reform news on Sundaywas another important and press-ing bill regarding student loans as

part of the budget reconciliationlegislation.

This legislation shifts all lendingfrom the bank-based Federal Fam-ily Education Loan Program to theDirect Loan Program, according toInside Higher Ed, and will use $61

billion in savings over 10 years for

the Pell Grant Program as well asother education priorities.Much of the original legislation

has been lost in overhaul, eventhough it was passed through theHouse last fall.

Lost to the new legislation areseveral billion dollars that hadinitially been planned to reduceinterest rates on student loans;funding for President Obama sAmerican Graduation Initiative,the goal of which was to gradu-ate about 5 million more studentsthrough community colleges by2020; both among other large

budget cuts.However, in the midst of fund-

ing that was kept in the budget, $2 billion is directed to fund a De- partment of Labor career-training program that has yet to receivefunding thus far, in spite of its

creation in last year s economicstimulus bill. And $1.5 billion isset aside for newer, income-basedrepayment options for students whohave taken out loans for school.

One issue was magni ed upondiscussion: The Pell Grant. PellGrants are awarded as a post-secondary, educational federalgrant program through the U.S.Department of Education.

These grants do not require re- payment and are awarded basedon nancial need, which is deter-mined by Congress after reviewingeach Free Application for FederalStudent Aid, or as students knowit, FASFA. This loan overhaulguarantees that the government will

be able to meet the high, and ever-

increasing demand for Pell Grantfunds without sacri cing awards for current or future recipients.

The Associated Press reports that private banks will no longer receivefees from the government for actingas middlemen in loans to low- andmiddle-income college students.

These savings will be used toincrease Pell Grants for students inneed as well as make it easier for many workers plagued by studentloan repayments.

Beginning in 2014, many collegegraduates will be barred from de-voting more than 10 percent of their monthly income to repay studentloans, as opposed to the currentcap of 15 percent.

The college loan bill still needsSenate approval, however, it isexpected to pass even though thereare some opponents in all parties.

COURTESY OF WELLSY.FILES.WORDPRESS.COM


5/16

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Opinionswww.hartfordinformer.com March 25, 2010

The Informer

Melissa O Brien Editor-in-Chief [email protected]

Twitter: @MelissacOBrien

Alexandria Hubbard News Editor [email protected]: @AlexHubbard

KnowledgeTalks,

WisdomListens

I Believein

Peace

informer staff

Jeremy Stanley 11 Managing Editor

Jonathan Whitson 10 Business Manager

Alexandria Hubbard 10 News Editor

Zach Wallens 10 Sports Editor

Harris Decker 10 Entertainment Editor

The Informer accepts articles and editorials from students, staff and faculty, as wellas selected letters from outside of the University community. Submissions may bemade in person or via intercampus mail (bring or address items to Gengras StudentUnion, Room 158), through U.S. mail (see address at right), or by e-mail, withoutattachments. The deadline for article submission is set by each section editor, andis used at the editor s discretion. All submitted articles are subject to further editing.

We welcome signed letters to the editor. Anonymous letters will not be p rinted!Under certain circumstances, letters will be published with the author s name withheld. For consideration, letters must be received (by any method above) before 5 p.m. on Monday of thetarget issue s publication week. We reserve the right to edit for space, grammar, clarity andcontent. We will not publish letters that we feel are in poor taste or constitute libel. The deci-sion not to publish a piece is made by the editors, who are not required to notify the author.Letters do not necessarily re ect the opinions of the Informer in general or any staff member in particular, nor does the expressed opinion of a staff member necessarily re ect that of theentire staff or editor.

All advertising is subject to review by the Business Manager and the editors. Any ad thatviolates the University policy will not be run. The deadline for ads is 5 p.m. on Friday of theweek prior to publication. A digital version of our rate card is available on our web site, and ahard copy is available upon request. Please note that these rates may change without notice untilan insertion order is made and approved. U.S. Mail subscriptions to the Informer are availablefor $26 per academic year. While single copies of the Informer are distributed locally withoutcharge, quantities greater than one must be purchased at a rate of $1.00 per issue.

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Page 6

Obesity in America is an ever- pressing issue that I consistentlyhear and read about in the news.According to a news segment onCBS in January, nearly 190 mil-lion Americans are consideredoverweight or obese. Diabetesand heart disease are just twoof the results of obesity. Andyet, despite all of this, there arestill Americans who are tryingto be obese.

Prime example: Donna Simp-son of Old Bridge, N.J. Currently,she weighs 600 pounds. Simpsonis consuming 12,000 calories aday in hopes to one-day weigh1,000 pounds.

I bet you re asking the samequestion I am: Why? Why wouldyou want to weigh 1,000 pounds?

Simpson already holds theGuinness World Record as theworld s fattest mom. She has atwo-year-old daughter, and shesays it may be dif cult for her to gain the weight she wants

because she s always chasingafter her.

It sounds sick, absolutelysickening. And her interviewsmake it even worse. In an inter-view with London s Daily Mailshe said, My favourite food issushi, but unlike others I can sitand eat 70 big pieces of sushi inone go. Seventy?

Simpson can barely walk 20feet without needing to sit down.She spends over $750 on grocer-ies every single week accordingto the Huf ngton Post. I loveeating and people love watchingme eat, Simpson said accordingto Fox News. It makes peoplehappy, and I m not harminganyone.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion, the risk of coronary heartdisease, type-2 diabetes, hyper-tension and stroke increase withobesity and excessive weightgain. Overweight and obeseindividuals are more likelyto have liver and gallbladder disease, sleep apnea and respi-ratory problems, osteoarthritisand certain types of cancers.

Despite all of these concerns andhealth risks, Simpson still wants toweigh 1,000 pounds. She makesmoney by appearing on a Web sitewhere men pay to watch her eat andwear a bikini.

I just don t get it. I really can tcomprehend why people go tothese extremes. A few weeks ago, Iwrote about the other end of the sizespectrum: the too-small, unobtain-able ideal of the fashion industry.

Now this?How is it possible that our country

focuses so much of our attentionon weight?

Living a healthy lifestyle isn thard to do. It s also the best wayto live a longer life. You run lessrisk of dealing with a lot of thesehealth issues, and you avoid a lotof complications and hospital bills.

Our country continues to promotethese unhealthy and extreme life-styles. The men who pay to watch

her eat are just as guilty as the mod-eling agencies and designers whotell some girls that they are too fat.

So how do we break this cycle?Can we break this cycle? Or are wesimply stuck?

I don t think there is a way that wecan convince a woman like Simpsonor a woman with a distorted bodyimage that they are slowly killingthemselves. It s not something thatthey would be willing to hear.

A healthy lifestyle is somethingwe must continue to instill in thecoming generations. Childhoodobesity and eating disorders are

becoming more and more com-monplace.

It s something that we, the youngadult generation, could try and amend.Perhaps we can continue to try andchange how Americans view weight.

One Weighted Issue

Education is the foundation of our society. It is fundamental tothe advancement of this countryand its future success.

To keep our world status andcompete in the ever-expandingglobal economy, education is thekey component. If all these thingsare true, then why is education the

rst thing to be cut when state scut the budget?

Yes, we are college studentsand though some of our siblingsare still in elementary, middle andhigh school, you might be thinkingthat it has no direct impact on usas college students, but it does.As scary as it sounds we will behaving children in the near futureand these current budget cuts arenot only detrimental to the currentstudents in public schools but alsoto the future students who haveyet to enter school.

Governor Chris Christie of NewJersey made his budget speech lastweek and intends to cut almost $1

billion in state funding to schooldistricts. For many districts thismeans at least 50 to 100 percent

of their funding for the next schoolyear.How are they going to make up

the de cit? By cutting teachers,support staff and programs thatdon t t the traditional mold of English, math and science courses.

So a child receiving a well-rounded education is out of thequestion. Psychology shows usthat there are many different kindsof intelligence and with these cuts

Education Funding: First To Go?

some children will never reachtheir full potential with their intelligence.

I was talking to one of my friendswho I went to high school with andshe was telling me about a lectureshe attended. The lecturer hadstated the biggest problem witheducation reform is that it doesn thave the backing of the elite. Inthe past, most reform has a surgeof support from the elite class butthat s not the case now.

The elite class and the middleclass are further divided becauseof the different options for edu-cation. If the elite class doesn tapprove of the public educationsystem, they can just opt out. They

can afford to send their children to private schools and avoid publiceducation, which only hinders

public education reform.This also leads to public educa-

tion getting shafted when it comestime for budget cuts.

Christie is making these cuts to public education but his childrenattend private school. So whatinvestment does he have in publicschools? Apparently he doesn t

place much importance on it. Iunderstand he is trying to cut NewJersey s de cit of $10 billion buteducation is not the way to doit. Not only are you hurting thechildren s education you are alsohurting taxpayers.

The loss has to be made upsomehow. Schools can t surviveon zero funding from the state sothey will need to raise taxes inorder to make up some of the loss.

But it s only public schools thatare suffering, charter schools arenot receiving any loss of funding.Charters schools are an alternativeform of public education, thereis no tuition and they are usuallyspecialized programs. Charter schools get funding when statestransfer the per-pupil aid from the

public school to the charter school.This is not only happening in

New Jersey but around the country,many states are sacri cing educa-tion in light of the poor economicaltimes. Some have gone so far as to close some public schoolscompletely. But don t you neededucated individuals in order to

preserve and create a more stableeconomic future?Wouldn t it be prudent to invest

in education? This investmentwill have long lasting effects of at least 60 or more years based onthe average life span.

It is frustrating to see how thestate governments can treat educa-tion as means to reduce state debt.This will ultimately hurt the chil-dren and the future of this nation.

COURTESY OF NJ.COM

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced plans to cut public school funding last week.


7/16

the informer opinionsopinions march 25, 2010 Page 7

Jeremy Stanley Managing Editor [email protected]

Twitter: @JeremyDStanley

Tech.It s my

realname.

By Jessica Rutledge Informer Staff Writer

The Healthcare Reform Bill passed by a Senate vote of 219-212 onSunday night.

Not one of those 219 votes camefrom a Republican, and the GOP isalready pushing for a repeal.

In a few moments, when I signthis bill, all of the overheated rhetoricover reform will nally confront thereality of reform, President Barack Obama said to the room full of Democratic lawmakers and invitedguests on Tuesday, March 23. After months of confusion, controversyand complaints, President Obamasigned the healthcare reform bill inWashington.

Yes we can! The healthcarereform bill passage marks Obama s

rst giant leap towards real change

in America. But the bill that wassigned on Tuesday will impact allAmericans whether they like it or not, bringing with it the good, the

bad and the ugly.The primary objective of the

healthcare reform bill is to expandU.S. health insurance coverage toinclude the more than 32 millionAmericans currently living withoutit; in doing so, the federal govern-ment is not only making healthinsurance available for everyone

but mandatory for all citizens andlegal residents. Americans who donot purchase health insurance willhave to pay a tax penalty imposed

by the federal government beginningin 2014.

With the bill, health insurance will

be made affordable to all, withoutexception, through the combinationof: employer insurance programs, or new health care market exchanges,federal subsidies to lower andmiddle-income Americans as wellas small businesses, and the expan-sion of Medicaid to those below the

poverty line.Healthcare reform has become

the very epicenter of ery politicaldebate and controversy; the new bill

brings both positive and negativeconsequences to the table.

Obama has been stressing themost positive impacts of the billto the American public, especiallythose that will be implemented thisyear, including: a ban on insurancecompanies to prevent insurers fromrefusing children based on preexist-ing medical conditions, tax credits tosmall businesses to help them provide

insurance for employees and allow-ing parents to keep their children ontheir health-insurance policies untilthey reach 26 years of age, accordingto Christian Science Monitor.

Proper healthcare for all Ameri-cans sounds great but there are somedrawbacks, and these will impact allAmericans, especially those who willnot directly bene t from the bill.

Healthcare reform problem No. 1:this new bill includes heavy govern-ment intervention in our free-marketeconomy. The bill allows the Federaland State government the ability toultimately decide which insurance

plan are available to the public, andwhich are thrown out. Althoughan individual can purchase insurancefrom a provider outside of the market

exchange, the provider must chargethe same rates as they would in theexchange. Thus, the government willhave total control over the healthinsurance industry.

Healthcare reform problem No. 2:Obama s bill comes with a hefty pricetag that will run Americans upwardsof $980 billion in the rst 10 years ac-cording to the Congressional BudgetOf ce. So who will be picking up thetab: the health care industry, healthinsurance corporations, our parentsand in a few years us!

Beginning in 2011, the healthindustries will pay up through drugcompanies, healthcare insurers, anda new 3 percent tax on Medicaredevice manufacturers.

Increasing costs of Medicare willimpact middle to upper class Ameri-cans, which includes many of our

parents, who will endure a substantial

increase in Medicare taxes, and theaddition of a new tax of 3.8 percenton unearned income, according toChrsitian Science Monitor.

As University of Hartford studentsin line for employment over the nextfew years, we will be forced to obtainhealth insurance under the threat of federal government nes, and wewill continue to pay for this bill for a very, very, long time.

Obama has ardently defendedthe bill to insure all Americansdespite the political fury, claimingit is our responsibility to reformas a nation: We are a nation thatfaces its challenges and accepts itsresponsibilities, he said. We are anation that does what is hard, whatis necessary, what is right.

The utopian ideal of insuring 32million uninsured Americans isadmirable, but it is going to causemuch more harm than good; the billallots the federal government toomuch power in our democratic na-tion. Although Obama has ferventlydefended that his healthcare reform isnot socialist, the reality is completegovernment control over the entirehealth insurance business sector inthe U.S. economy.

The bill puts every single health-care provider at the mercy of thestandards the federal governmentwill determine regarding the ac-ceptability of plan options and

premiums.Obama claims that this will inject

competition into healthcare insur-ance, but this competition will becreated at the discretion of the federalgovernment.

Furthermore, the overwhelmingcosts of the bill will come out of the pockets of our middle and upper class American families; the healthindustry will suffer expensive taxesand consequent budget constraints tofund healthcare for Americans whoare below the poverty line.

Not all of these Americans whose

coverage we will be funding, areincapable of working for their ownincome and funding their own health-care insurance.

The federal subsidies and marketexchanges that the bill will imple-ment are only going to diminishstruggling Americans work ethics,and provide healthcare options thatare easier and cheaper to obtainwith wages far below the povertyline. If everyone who earns less than$14,000 annually pays no more than4 percent of their income on healthinsurance, there is no motivationor need to transcend these incomelevels, all the healthcare they needis available at sub-par productivitylevel.

The free-market economy of theU.S. cannot function properly withgovernment intervention. Socialisteconomic models cannot function

properly without government inter-vention and limitations on business.If we implement restrictions onhealthcare insurance industry, andmandate all Americans purchaseinsurance from this regulated sec-tor, we are playing with the re thatfuels the difference between socialistideals and democratic free market.

Health Reform Does More Harm Than Good

HCR: Another TakeIt s been a long time coming, it

isn t perfect and it is full of compromises from both sides, but atleast it s done.

President Barack Obama signedinto law this week a health carereform bill that will give theuninsured a safety net that will

prevent people from paying outra-geous bills.

It s hard not to nd this the biggest accomplishment this law provides 32 million people withthe opportunity to get health careunder the new plan.

It came with absolutely no support from Republicans, but NancyPelosi said it in her libuster-length speech to the House of Representatives Sunday night: thiswas a bipartisan bill.

All of the amendments, all of the compromises found in the billlargely came from Republican op-

position to the federal governmentfunded health care option (withadditional help from so-called

Blue Dog democrats who wereessentially in the pockets of privateinsurers).

It s obvious that the bill is not

how Obama envisioned it be-ing with initial proposals likethe public option intact but it s amajor step forward for this countryin providing comparable coverageto other nations.

It shouldn t have even got this bad to begin with predatory practices by insurance companiesvoiding coverage for surgeriesand treatments because of pre-existing conditions is a dark chapter in the medical eld.

Obama called for swift passageof the bills and it didn t get doneas fast as he wanted to, but still,good things came out of this law.

Republicans tried pushing for an

incremental approach to reform a plan that can t work, the entirehealth care system was fractured insome places and broken in others.

There are still many questionsleft unanswered, many sentimentsthat have been echoed by the GOP.

For instance, how will we pay for it? If only 95 percent of Americansare covered why are others left out?

But my biggest question is:When can the public option be put

back on the table?As a Bay Stater, the passage of a

public option would be meaning-ful as it carries on the legacy of Edward M. Kennedy who passedaway last year. Just passing the

bill in its current state de nitelylives up to his ideal, but I can t

help but feel that it could go onestep further.If anything, this bill, spearhead-

ed by Obama, is proof-positivein his leadership ability. He gotDemocrats that weren t willing to

budget to ip votes listening andallowing himself to compromisewith Republicans is a display of his

pragmatic and strategic thinking.That s certainly not the end of

his things to x in this countrychecklist and it will be i nterestingto see what issue he takes on next,

provide he is ready after such ataxing length of time arguing over the bill.

Jobs? Wars? Who knows.

While the Informer stands by its columnistsand supports their right to free speech,please note that the columnists opinions arein no way representative of the opinions ofthe Informer or of the University of Hartford.

The Strip By Zak Shapiro


8/16

EntertainmentPage 8 University of Hartford March 25, 2010

The Informer

By Harris Decker Entertainment Editor

News of Fall Out Boy s breakupsent shock waves through themusic industry. A band that sawdark and dirty club shows fadeinto sell out arena concerts in lessthan ve years was disbandingand one of the founding membersof modern alternative rock wasno more.

That was just over a month ago. Now, frontman Patrick Stumpis back and ready to unveil new

music and a new style. He choseto do so at SXSW in Austin, TX.As a part of Fall Out Boy,

Stump was often the second incontrol when it came to mediahype. The much more charismaticPete Wentz was often the talk of the town, while Stump took a backseat, reveling in his quiet

personality.Even on stage Stump would

often be glued to his microphoneletting Wentz and the other mem-

bers of Fall Out Boy take the leadwhen it came to stage presence.After dropping a large amount of weight, Stump is stepping out of that shell and is ready to smack the crowd around with some new

music.Taking the stage, the newly

slimmed down Stump was almostunrecognizable until he begansinging. Despite his anti-celebrityin Fall Out Boy, you could never doubt Stump s incredible (andunique) voice.

Despite some major technicalissues through setup and most of

the rst song, Stump got throughit and put on an energetic andfun set for the group of industry

professionals.It was surprising that when he

hit the stage, it was just him. Hehad no band and instead, used alooping program (source of someof the malfunction in setup) to

play drums, bass, guitar and piano

all at the same time.During his short time on stage,

Stump showed his new attitudedelivering small jokes and talkingto the crowd more than he would asa member of Fall Out Boy (Wentzwas often the messenger whenspeaking to the audience). The best

part about Stump s return was thesmile on his face.

During Fall Out Boy s nal tour, Iwrote that the band seemed to havelost their spark. They were drones

performing to a brick wall and show-ing almost no emotion. Only time willtell what type of projects Stump willturn out as a solo artist but for a packedcrowd at SXSW, he showed that hehas what it takes to perform, leavingthe Fall Out Boy legacy behind him.

Patrick Stump Returns To The Stage At SXSW

Leaving his former band Fall Out Boy behind, Patrick Stump returned to the stage at SXSW, debuting new solo material.

HARRIS DECKER

Estelle, SSSC Tear The Roof Off SXSW s Final Night

By Harris Decker Entertainment Editor

Cold weather and outdoor con-certs. Things that do not usuallywork well together. Luckily for those at the Billboard.com Bun-galow on Saturday night, the coldwas the last thing on their minds.With SXSW drawing to a close andmost of the best artists already ontheir way out of town, Texas wasin store for one last treat courtesyof Billboard.

Street Sweeper Social Club,fronted by former Rage Against

the Machine guitarist Tom Morello,took the stage by storm providing 45minutes of non-stop hard rock. Thegroup itself has an amazing on stagechemistry, feeding off each other and

putting together a sound that bothre ects Morello s famous style andreinvents itself. The fresh sound of the entire package is complemented

by the classic sound of Morello sguitar.

With a set that included coverssuch as M.I.A. s Paper Planesthere was an incredible energy inthe crowd fueled by the way eachmember of SSSC moved around

the stage. There was somethinginfectious about both their styleand sound. This was surely one of the best performances of the week.

Not to be outdone, Estelle took the stage again trying to brave thetemperature, which had dipped

below 40 degrees. After a massiveamount of technical dif culties, Es-telle nally took the stage sportinghigh heels, oversized glasses and a

band of seven. She raced throughher set, which included Shine and

One Love before closing withher smash single American Boy.

What was really nice about her

performance was the way she bothmoved on stage and interacted withthe crowd. Although most of the

people in attendance only knewthat nal song, most were blownaway by her incredible sound. Her voice aside, she is an amazing talent,working the crowd, telling personalstories and really making a con-nection with a large portion of theaudience during her set.

Following these two big nameartists were Rye Rye and ChiddyBang, two rappers from different

parts of the country. Philadelphia based Chiddy Bang put together an

awesome set, establishing his nameas one of the best up and coming rapartists on the East Coast.

Rye Rye took the stage after midnight and was able to drawalmost 40 people up to the front of the stage to dance and sing for anelongated set.

All in all, Billboard put together one of the best nights of musicunder one roof at SXSW. Despitethe near freezing temperatures and

biting wind, those who showed upfor the show will remember a nightof great music and forget about not

being able to feel their extremities.

Estelle and Street Sweeper Social Club rocked the nal night at SXSW s Billboard.com Bungalow. The two acts showcased highlights of the R&B and hard rock genres.

HARRIS DECKER

The folliowing is special coverage of the South By Southwest music festival, held yearly in Austin, TX. This festival is often the jumping point for the year s best new artists.


9/16

the informer entertainmententertainment march 25, 2010 page 9

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By David Hitchings Art Director

Monday afternoon the Internetgiant Google announced that itwould leave the lucrative Chinesemarket as censorship issues plaguedthe dominant search engine.

For sure this was not an easydecision for Google, but it was aresult of four years of negotiation,disagreement and hostility. The

ercest of which has been a hotlydebated topic since January whenGoogle suffered coordinated cyber attacks to their network.

The source of cyber attacks wererevealed to be allegedly connectedto the Chinese government as part of a larger Internet surveillance opera-tion of e-mail accounts, speci callyGoogle s Gmail accounts.

Since arriving in China in 2006,

Google has been less than will-ing to censor its Web search at itsgoogle.cn domain. Under thisagreement searches like that of

Tiananmen Square would beedited to show only those whichrepresent the Chinese government sview of history.

This Monday s decision meantthat Google would no longer operatewithin what has been dubbed the

great rewall of China forward-ing all web traf c to its Hong KongWeb site, Google.com.hk.

On its blog, Google also an-nounced a dashboard where Chineseresidents would be able to check theservices offered by Google stillrunning in China.

At time of writing, major siteslike YouTube and Blogger had

been blocked with others partially blocked.

What this means for China or inturn for Google could have con-sequences proceeding far into thefuture. Look around, for the aver-age American consumer Google iseverywhere.

It s your search engine, your e-mail account, your internet content,your Web browser and your phoneoperating system.

Google has been for some timea leading developer of technology,inside and outside the internet.Deals struck with Chinese cell

phone providers for search andoperating system are jeopardizedin this move.

Corporate users of Google s application suite may be blocked fromusing Gmail or Google Docs.

And technologies that Googlemay be developing to bring gigabitinternet to the United States willnever be developed for the growingChinese audience.

Out of 1.3 billion people, only 400million are currently online. Whileat this time it may seem like aninconsequential market it is certainto explode in uptake.

It will become a market in whichthe world s number one searchengine will have no part.

Despite loss of users, and whatwill undoubtedly lead to the ex-

pansion of local rival Baidu.com,Google also realizes the potentialfor lost revenue.

The upkeep of their servers is pennies compared to the pro tsa continued operating inside of China.

In the face of these reasons andmore, Google would appear to bemaking the best move from the

public relations stand point.Its mantra don t be evil lends

itself to the situation. Colluding withthe Chinese government to censor itssearch results was not a plan which

could uphold that statement.Under their new decision, they can

provide un ltered full content to theChinese people through their HongKong servers and leave the censorshipto the Chinese government.

It could be argued that they arewalking away from democracy and

free speech, but it would seem theonly way to provide real free speechis in the decision they ve made andit s the bed they will lay in until anymajor changes are made to the waythe Chinese view the Internet. Googlecan only hope at that point it s not toolate to get back in the game.

COURTESY OF REDWIREDREVOLUTION.COM

Google Pulls Out Of ChinaEarthquake: One can only assume that all theseearthquakes are the result of Justin Bieber pande-

monium.

Health Care Reform: Obama s health care billpassed through congress and was signed into law onTuesday.

Twitter Capacity: The irony of the FAIL whale,meaning that Twitter can not handle any moretweets, is that people try to tweet its existance.

SXSW: With all this tweeting happening, who wasactually paying attention at the two week conven-tion?

Kansas: President Obama got this pick wrong in hisbracket, proving that he is in fact falliable. I wonderwhat else he s screwing up?

Tiger Woods: In his rst interview since entering sexrehab, Woods announced he would return to golf atThe Masters in two weeks.

HARRIS DECKER AND DAVID HITCHINGS


10/16


The

Truth

About

Music

Harris Decker Entertainment Editor [email protected]

Twitter: @truthaboutmusic

The Informer On The Road: Wrapping Up SXSW New music. When I arrived at

SXSW four days ago, I had a plan.I was going to see these bands, atthese times. I would attend somecool panels and mingle with peoplein the music industry. The rstlesson I learned in Austin on thevery rst day was: Screw the plan.

The entire week was lled with brand new music. New bands, newsounds, many of which I had never even heard of. My most enjoyableexperiences came from walkingdown 6th Street, hearing some-thing good and going to nd outwho was making the noise. I wouldagree that you need a rough plan.Know some bands that you wantto see but don t schedule yourself wall to wall on a planner, it willnever work.

Some of the highlight perfor-mances from my week included

some known artists such as Patrick Stumps solo debut, Street Sweeper Social Club and Sum 41. It alsoincluded a huge list of unknowns.VV Brown, Jaguar Love, The Lawand Howlies highlighted that por-tion of my week.

While I was in Texas, I was luckyenough to conduct interviews with

eight different artists and bands.It s great to talk with artists abouttheir plans and the way they viewthe music industry in 2010.

Among my favorite people totalk to were Kelley James, Lightsand Scottish bands Twin Atlanticand The Law.

The best part about SXSWis the time spent off the beaten

path. While most fans, writers, bloggers, tweeters, industry folk and artists were at concerts likeMuse and Stone Temple Pilots, Iwas able to see shows featuringunknown or lesser known artists.

What made blogging the entireevent fun and interesting is thatmost writers went to these larger

shows. For me, seeing bands thatI want to see is far less interestingthan seeing talented young bands.

Readers already know that Museis a fantastic band so why write areview of their show? For me, the

real treasure was seeing Patrick Stump s rst solo performanceduring Muse s set.

SXSW featured music for almost any taste. Above, pop-rockers Hey Monday perform at Cedar Door.

HARRIS DECKER

Bands You Have Never Heard Of Who Emerged At SXSW

The Law : The very rst band Istumbled across in Austin, The Law

are a Scottish rock band with an in-credibly easy to follow sound. Their straight forward sound reminds meof other European bands and a great

on stage chemistry gives them agreat edge. The recordings are just as

good as their debut album A Mea-sure Of Wealth. Songs to downloadimmediately: The Chase and

Milk & Honey.

American Bang: Another band that was featured at theBillboard.com Bungalow, these

Nashville rock stars have a classicrock image but a really moderntake on the genre. With a slight

country air this hard rock bandhas a really full sound and greathooks once you hit the chorus inalmost any of their songs. Songsto download immediately: Wildand Young and Whiskey Walk.

VV Brown : It is unfair to put callVV an artist you ve never heardof. Most of the bands above played

at least one showcase in front of a sparse audience. The British Em- bassy showcase I attended featuringBrown was completely packed. She

has a natural energy that the crowdfeeds off of. Sporting a crafty mask and a huge drum to her left, Brown

has a huge voice and some great song-writing skills to pair it with. Songsto download immediately: Shark In The Water and Crying Blood.

Jaguar Love : Probably one of the biggest highlights of the week,Jaguar Love has an infectioussound comparable to Passion Pit.What separates this group is their songwriting. The very thing thatholds Passion Pit back, throttles

Jaguar Love to the head of theclass. Their live sound is just asinfectious as the recordings ontheir debut album HologramJams. Songs to download im-mediately: Up All Night and

Polaroids And Red Wine.

Twin Atlantic

Kate Voegele and Kelley James

Sum 41

Sum 41

The Astroid Gallaxy Tour

All pictures and ar-ticles by Harris Decker.


11/16


Lady Gaga s Most Controversial Music Video Yet

By Danielle HuppkeCopy Chief

Lady Gaga has done it againdelivering nothing but shock andawe with the recent release of her nine and half minute long musicvideo for Telephone.

From the eccentric costume choic-es to the devious plot line, everythingreeked of the in uential Gaga manyof us have come to know and love.

Although many critics and fansalike are saying this video waslacking the vivacious spirit seenthroughout Paparazzi it s hard to

discredit the amazing originality thatis just so speci c to Gaga.

As the anticipation from fans predicted, the video tore through theInternet like none other.

With 22 million views on You-Tube since the video s release twoweeks ago and constant trending on

twitter, the promotion was a brilliantstrategy for boosting sales of thesingle on iTunes.

Telephone was the continuationof her prior music video Paparazzi

but the series was amped up with the presence of the one and only Be-yonce with her fabulous one-linersand blasting vocals.

Also making a special appearancein video was the infamous PussyWagon from Kill Bill which wasthe get away car for the Thelma andLouis like duo in the music video.

The prison dance scenes, lesbianmake out sessions, mass murder at a diner and cigarette sunglasseswere all highly controversial yetriddled with underlying messages

portraying Gaga s thoughts on theUnited States.

Gaga told The Daily Telegraphthat the content of the video includes

commentary on the kind of countrythat we live in.

The blatant product placementseen in the video was yet againanother one of Gaga s visions, sheconveniently meant to for them to bedistracting. Virgin Mobile, Wonder Bread, Diet Coke and the dating Website Plentyof sh.com were all vyingfor a short spot within the movie likevideo. What other artist would beable to put arsenic in Miracle Whipand get away with it?

Although Lady Gaga s burlesque-like unpredictable videos may not

be everyone s cup of tea they surelyare distinctive. Let s face it, Gagais a novelty, she brings a refreshinguniqueness to the stale pop musicindustry that we re all used to andhave been disregarding since age 13.

Gaga is a pop industry revolution-ary, since 2008 she has blasted tofame and won a slew of GrammyAwards, MTV Video Music Awardsand Teen Choice Awards to boot.

She creates 10 minute long musicvideos laced with Warholian imag-ery and social commentary and shenever apologizes for the outrageousmessages she s sending, she s just

being Gaga. Not even Madonna does glamour

and fame like Gaga. She s a tycoon,a trailblazer for challenging thenorm, getting up in your face and not

backing down. As a self-proclaimedfreak, she de nitely knows how to

push the envelope while providinga concrete message hidden in all of her videos for fans to decipher for themselves.

Gaga is the epitome of excess inevery form and that s what her fanslove about her.

With the video leaving us hangingwith to be continued, it s apparentthat Gaga s reign as music videoqueen will live on for sometime tocome and all of the Gaga fans outthere will just have to sit back andrelax until Gaga continues her videoseries of with controversy.

Lady Gaga has a talent for remaining in the spotlight, her video for Telephone extends her run.

COURTESY OF JUSTPICTURES.FILES.WORDPRESS.COM

Andy s Indie ArtistSpotlight: Acadia Falls

By Andy Swetz Informer Staff Writer

A true independent band accel-erating at a tremendous speed ontheir local front, Acadia Falls has

been breaking ground as a young prominent Connecticut band.

The quartet, based in Stratford,Conn., has been swiftly progressingas a unit, creating an undeniablyinfectious sound.

Starting their journey as a band barely a year ago, Acadia Falls hasfound their sound and capitalizedon the success of establishing their legitimacy early on as a group tokeep an eye on.

With a common goal in place, thegroup of high school friends has

been able to bring out their best , notonly in the studio, but also on stageat live shows.

Combining an impressive musi-cal background from each member,Acadia Falls has achieved whatmost bands take years to discover.Mashing a rock basis, Acadia Falls

dips their in uences into punk, pro-gressive, and alternative music tocome out with a whole new sound.

Complementing the skill of agroup of musicians who clearlyenjoy every second of what theydo, band front man James Bizak acts as the catalyst for his powerfuland moving original songs.

Bizak, who also contributes hisgreat guitar ability to the band sunique style, delivers the sealing

punch of the group s complete pack-age with strong and distinct vocals.

In an effort to keep their momen-tum rolling, Acadia Falls constantly

books shows around Connecticut.On April 3, 2010, the band will becelebrating the release of their rstEP titled, Forget the Past, ChangeTomorrow, in Stratford.

The show s lineup also featuresgreat local bands A Loss For Wordsand Late Nite Wars. The upcomingshow will be held at UUC on ChapelStreet in Stratford and will not failto satisfy new listeners eager to hear something new and great.

COURTESY OF MYSPACE.COM

She & Him s Volume TwoBy Sarah Wilson

Informer Staff Writer

The 50s aren t so far gonewith the release of VolumeTwo, the latest work comingfrom the indie-folk duo She& Him.

Appropriately titled, the album seems to be an extensionof the preceding Volume One

by bringing back often forgottensongs from the 50s and 60s.

Though the stylistic choices of the pair s renditions don t seemto have evolved much since their debut, the modern folk spin puton classic love songs continueto impress music fanatics acrossthe country.

When the loveable actressZooey Deschanel met indiemusic prodigy M. Ward on theset of The Go-Getter their charisma was immediatelydiscovered while singing a duet

for the lm. Though Deschanelhad never professionally tried her hand in music, she had years worthof home recordings, and when shesent them to Ward on a whim,the collaboration began.

Throughout Volume Two, De-schanel doesn t stray far from theunique voice she is known for. Her wispy verses bring an airy feel tosongs that were originally createdas pop, and accompanied by Ward scalm, soothing harmonies, the cov-ers of once popular songs becometotally transformed.

Featured on the album are pasttop-of-the-charts hits such as

NRBQ s Ridin in my Car, andSkeeter Davis Gonna Get AlongWithout You Now. Replacingwhat was once electric guitar with

pure acoustics and snares, thealbum thrives on its buoyant andleisurely feel.

Throw these 13 simple trackson and instantaneously it will

brighten the mood in any crowdof downers.

Deschanel s nesse as a song-writer shines through as well inoriginal tracks that are also featuredon the album. In the Sun, is a

piano-backed melody highlight-ing the easiness of Deschanel svoice, seemingly radiating warmth,staying true to its title.

Through tracks such as this one,Deschanel and Ward have perfectedthe California-folk sub genre, leav-ing a trail of the tranquil and blithesounds of the Paci c all the way tothe East.

So if you can t get enough Sheand Him, look out for their upcom-ing sure-to-be dazzling performancesthis summer. The band has signedon to the line-up for several music fes-tivals including Coachella, Bonnarooand Sasquatch. The rest of their timeis scheduled to be spent delighting Eu-ropeans with their mellow melodies,so be sure not to miss it.

COURTESY OF DELAWAREONLINE.COM


12/16

the informer classifiedsclassifieds march 25, 2010 page 12

April 1, 2010

Movie Night. Sherlock Holmes begins at 8 p.m. in Konover Great Room. Free.

April 17, 2010Community Day.

May 7, 2010Movie Night. Daybreakers begins at 8 p.m. in Konover Great Room. Free.

Join Our Team! CAT meetsTuesdays 1:00 p.m. GSU 341

Upcoming Events

Campus Activities Team Making College Even Better!

Help Wanted

This week on STN...

- Find out what health care reform means for college students.

- How events on campus bene t the school and the greater Hartfordarea.

- Who is a Preceptor, and what do they do?

Tune in Live at 5!Watch the Impact We Make!

Sports WritersWanted

Looking to get in-

volved? Want to writefor the Informer? TheInformer is currently

looking for sports writ-ers to cover Hartford

Hawks sporting events.No experience required

as training will be hostedthroughout the year. Ifinterested please con-tact the Sports Editor:

Zach Wallens

[email protected]

860-768-5723

EntertainmentWriters Wanted

Love movies, music,television or games?Maybe writing for theInformer would be theperfect match. It is afantastic way to get

involved. The Informeris currently looking for

entertainment writers tocover stories about thelatest movies, televi-

sion shows and musicevents. No experience isrequired as training willbe hosted throughout

the year by the Informer.If interested please con-tact the Entertainment

Editor:

Harris Decker

[email protected]

860-768-5723

Center for Community Service

Need Community Service?We are currently seeking students who are interested in volunteering.

Various skills are required.

For the contact information of any of these opportunities and more,please visit the Center for Community Service, Gengras Student Union,

room 209. The phone number to the Center is ext.5409

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starting at only 5 bucks! Call 860.768.4723

Get your Message Read!

Help Wanted

Ginza Japanese Cui-sine is currently seeking

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Help Wanted

Live Band Wanted

Ginza Japanese Cuisineis currently looking for alocal band to perform atits restaurant. ContactAlex for more informa-

tion at:

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IT DirectorWanted

The Informer is currentlyseeking candidates for ITDirector. The position is

listed as one of our editori-al board positions and is apaid opportunity. Respon-sibilities include Web site

maintance, update contentonto our Web site, andmanagement of all The

Informers technology. Formore information aboutthis opportunity please

contact:

Jonathan Whitson

[email protected]

860-768-5723

News WritersWanted

Interested in currentevents in politics, world

events or current affairs?Consider writing for thestudent newspaper! It is

a fun and exciting experi-ence that allows regularstudents to get involved.

Prior experience is aplus, but not a decidingfactor. Training will besponsored throughoutthe year for Informer

staff writers. If interestedplease contact the News

Editor:

Alex Hubbard

[email protected]

860-768-5723

Assistant BusinessManagers Wanted

The Informer is currentlyseeking two highly moti-

vated and business mindedindividuals to bolster theirbusiness skills. No priorexperience required, butpreferred. Assistant Busi-ness managers will work

directly under the BusinessManager to organizing

advertising sales, accountspayable, accounts re-

ceivable and budgeting.Training will be sponsored

throughout the year. Ifinterested in learning more

please contact our Busi-ness Manager:

Jon Whitson

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860-768-4723


13/16

the informer sportssports march 25, 2010 page 13

NHL Playoff Race Heats Up, Local Teams in ContentioBy Andy Swetz

Informer Staff Writer

With the final weeks of the

regular season of the NHL windingdown, teams from both the Easternand Western Conference furiously

ght to keep their postseason as- pirations alive.

While the Calgary Flames andAtlanta Thrashers are both withinthe range of three points from a

playoff spot, the New York Rang-ers, Florida Panthers and DallasStars are all within seven points,making losing not an option astheir game schedules dwindle tosingle digits.

At this point it i s still uncertainwhich teams will make the nal

playoff spots however, as timeelapses teams are solidifying their spots from the top ranks down.

Sitting at the very edge of themargins in both conferences areBoston and Detroit. In contentionwith Atlanta and Calgary, both theBruins and Red Wings can easilyslip and fail to make the cut.

Still facing the plague of injuries,if the Bruins do make the playoffsthey would be without their star center Marc Savard, who has beenon and off the team s injury reportall season.

On the opposite end of theinjury spectrum, both Buffaloand New Jersey have no currentreported injuries making them

dominant forces in the Easternconference playoff run. With avirtually stacked team of skilled

players, hockey fans have highexpectations for the healthy andexperienced Devil lineup, espe-cially with the recent acquisition

of Thrasher star Ilya Kovalchuk.Composed of some of the most

elite players in the league today, theWashington Capitals currently leadthe league with 106 points. Thedeadly arsenal of Alex Ovechkin,

Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Knuble

and Mike Green combine for anunstoppable force. Fully awareof their abilities as a powerhouseteam, the Caps look to win their

rst ever Stanley Cup.In line to win the Hart Trophy

for the third year in a row is the

Washington Capitals heart andsoul, Alexander Ovechkin. Cur-rently leading the league with45 goals and a plus-minus of 42,

Ovechkin has been able to achievehis legendary greatness for yetanother season.

With less than two weeks remain-ing in the regular season, it seemsas if the New York Rangers maymiss the playoffs for the rst timesince before the lockout of the2004-2005 season. Although stilla reach, the inconsistent BroadwayBlue Shirts can still make the cutif they buckle down and simplywin games. Coach Tortorella willwithout a doubt push the team tothe max fully knowing that histeam s potential can be tapped into.

To add to the thrill and excitementof the playoff run, the New York Rangers and New York Islanders

broadcasted their Wednesday nightmatchup at Madison Square Gar-den in 3D. The rst major leaguesport to be broadcasted on televi-sion in 3D, the Rangers and Islesmade history as both teams are stilllikely candidates for playoff spots.

Teams on either end of the divi-sion line know what is at stake withthe playoffs just around the corner and the current high intensity at-mosphere will only reach higher levels in the coming days. Keepan eye on the teams in seventh andeighth place in both the East andWest as nothing is set in stone yet.

AP

By Dan Lifshatz Informer Staff Writer

1. John Lackey signs a ve-year,$82.5 million contract with theBoston Red Sox.

Okay, while this may not be theashiest move, the Red Sox werecorrect to make a large move whenthey needed to. With the top threefree agents, Jason Bay, John Lackeyand Matt Holliday headlining theclass, the Sox needed to either retainBay or make a big move for Hollidayor Lackey. The Sox struck big withLackey by offering him the exactsame contract given to the YankeesAJ Burnett last season, and he took it. This move gives the Sox either the rst or second best rotation inthe AL East with Josh Beckett, JonLester and Lackey leading the way.

2. Phillies acquire Roy Halladay

from the Toronto Blue Jays forthree prospects.

This trade was a goldmine for thePhillies as they were able to acquire

possibly the best starting pitcher inthe MLB for a rather low price. ThePhillies clearly needed help at the topof the rotation until last year, whenthey unloaded an interesting pack-age for Cliff Lee to go along withace Cole Hammels, but the Philliessent a ripple affect by acquiringHalladay, but on the tail end, thentraded away Cliff Lee, which is alsoa questionable move.

3. Phillies trade Cliff Lee toMariners for three Prospects.

This move is still somewhat baf-ing. The Phillies traded top- ight

talent to get Halladay and then re-ceived decent talent back for Lee. If the Phillies had kept Lee, they couldhave had a Halladay, Lee, Hamels

rotation for at least one year, whilenot spending more then $9 million

between Lee and Hammels, but de-cided to against it and shipped Leeto Seattle, where he will pair withFelix Hernandez to form the best1-2 punch in the AL West.

4. St. Louis Cardinals re-signMatt Holliday.

The Cardinals since the beginninghad really been competing againstthemselves for Holliday, but endedup signing him to a massive seven-year, $120 million contract. Thismove locks up the Cardinals second

best player, and between him andPujols locks up around $40 milliona year.

5. New York Mets sign Jason Bayto four-year, $66 million contract.

This one is interesting, consider-ing the Sox rescinded their original

agreed offer of four years, $60million to Bay after medically ex-amining him. Most expect Bay in thecoming years to become an almost

pure DH-type player, but at the sametime, adds a big-time bat to the Metslineup who could use another.

6. New York Yankees acquireJavier Vazquez from the AtlantaBraves.

While this is not a headliner by anymeans, Vazquez is going to greatlyimprove the Yankees. By giving upvery little, in Melky Cabrera, theYankees added an extremely solid

No. 4 starter, and someone who can beat the Red Sox.

7. The Boston Red Sox signAdrian Beltre to a one-year, $10million steal.

The Sox went out against the will,and signed a player to replace MikeLowell. While it isn t a long termthing, the Sox added one of, if notthe best defensive third baseman inthe league, who with a short left eldwall and his health good, could returnto his days of 25-plus home runs.

8. The New York Yankees acquireCurtis Granderson for Jackson,Kennedy and Coke.

While the Yankees traded away a

possible future star in Austin Jackson,they grabbed one of the premier cen-ter elders in the MLB, and someonewho can help them repeat in 2010.Granderson, who hit 30 home runsfor the rst time in his career lastyear, will help ease the loss of MelkyCabrera and Johnny Damon from the

potential Yankees lineup.

9. The Seattle Mariners sign 3BChone Figgins.

The Mariners jumped at the chanceof signing one of the best players inthe division last season, by givinghim a large four-year, $36 milliondeal. Stealing him from the Angels,and replacing the wildly inconsistentAdrian Beltre with Figgins will de -nitely improve their hitting and speedon the base paths.

10. LA Angels re-sign BobbyAbreu.

Re-signing Abreu was the key tothe Angels season as they saw bothVlad Guerrero and Chone Figins joinother teams.

After settling for a one-year, $5million deal last season, Abreu madeheadlines with his two-year, $19 mil-lion contract.

While Abreu may be getting older,his bat is still fantastic and will keep

popping within the Angels lineup.

Red Sox, Phillies Head List of Top Offseason Moves

AP

John Lackey signed with the Red Sox and should greatly improve their starting pitching rotation.

AP

The New York Rangers are seven points from a playoff spot with 10 games remaining.


14/16

the informer sportssports march 25, 2010 page 14

Hawks Finish Strong in Rebel Spring Games

STEVE MCLAUGHLIN

By Jesse Ott Informer Staff Writer

Last week, Hartford s softballteam wrapped up the Rebel SpringGames in Kissimmee Fla. on a highnote, claiming victories in three of its nal four games. The Hawks

nished the invitational with a 5-3record, contributing to an overallrecord of 7-4 for the season.

Riding on an impressive seriesin the sunshine state, Hartford ssoftball team now prepares for their rst America East matchup,Maine this Saturday.

After losing the rst matchupagainst Lafayette College earlier in the week, Hartford had the asecond chance at redemption Fri-day. Lafayette struck rst with alead-off, solo home run. The hawks

rebounded in the second, bringinghome two runners and graspingtheir rst lead of the game. The

rst run came in off of a throwingerror by Lafayette s catcher, andthe second was induced by JessicaOliveira s RBI single.

The Leopard s recaptured theadvantage at the top of the seventh

but the team s hope of victorywas foiled when Sara Messinger singled and drove two runners in,ending the game in walk-off fash-ion. Hartford s Brittney Strattongot the win on the mound, throw-ing four strike outs, allowing four runs on six hits, in seven innings

pitched.In Friday s second game Hart-

ford stormed past Manhattan 6-3, behind the bats of Nicole Springer and Jor

Hartford Informer 3/25/10

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