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Summers to assume presidency in July

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Allegretto seniors reminisce

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Beacon.MCLA.edu

Volume 80 ◆ Issue 6

Beacon@MCLA.Edu413-662-5535

Mark Hopkins Room 111

By Brittany GallacherEditor-in-Chief

John and Anastasia Stanmeyer will visit campus March 24-26 as part of the Hardman Journalist-in-Residence Series. � is is the � rst time the College has had two journalists-in-residence, according to Professor of English/Communications, Zack Finch.“� e idea of having a pair is new,”

Finch said. “� ey are partners, a husband and wife team, and they both do rather di� erent work…Together they seem to o� er a really broad range of interests and experiences.”Finch will be escorting the

Stanmeyers around campus during their visit, along with Professor of English/Communications, Dr. Joseph Ebiware.“Ebiware and I became co-

Hardman scholars last spring,” Finch said. “� is is our third semester [organizing the event].”John Stanmeyer is a

photojournalist who has worked with National Geographic over the last decade. � e MCLA Web site describes him as “a humanist

dedicated to social and political issues that de� ne our times.”According to the site, John has

produced over 12 stories for National Geographic, 10 of which were featured on the cover. He was also a contract photographer for Time magazine, where he worked on photographing the war in Afghanistan, the � ght for independence in East Timor,

and the fall of Suharto in Indonesia.Finch said he is most interested

in hearing about John’s project called “Out of Eden.”“� ey’re in the middle of year

three of this project,” Finch added. “John and the writer,

Hardman Journalists to visit campus a� er spring break

HARDMAN JOURNALISTS, continued on page 3

Campus looks forward to working with Summers

Photo by Agnella Gross/The BeaconJulie Cimiammo as Elizabeth Corban and Marcus Neverson as Daniel Corban in last week’s premiere of “Catch Me If You Can.”

By Brittany GallacherEditor-in-Chief

Last week, the Board of Trustees selected Dr. Greg Summers as the 12th president of MCLA, prompting a campus-wide discussion of his quali� cations and what he will bring to the community as a whole.“I can see him � tting in at MCLA pretty

well,” Brendan Peltier, ‘15, said in an email. He was a student representative on the search committee to hire a new college president. “As the voice for public higher education, he will be a great spokesperson.”Jahnoy Edwards, ’15, took a di� erent

approach to the � nal decision, stating that “normal students” may not get a chance to know the new president.“I think he will do just � ne,” Edwards

said, “but Mary Grant was known because she went around all the time and talked to students. Unless [Summers] presents himself to the whole campus, only the top students will know him.”Faculty Association President Sumi

Colligan said in an email that, from a union perspective, she believes Summers’ position as Provost in Wisconsin will work to MCLA’s bene� t.

“He has had to advocate for public higher education in a very challenging political climate,” Colligan added. “Whether Summers is a good � t for MCLA remains to be seen. Given his own academic background, I do believe he understands the value of liberal arts in a public higher education setting. I think he also appreciates the importance of shared decision making processes.”Other students asked about the new

president were unsure of how to respond, given that many did not attend his question and answer session because of the snow.“I was disappointed that [Summers] won,

mostly because they held the student talk during the snow day,” Natasha Antona, ’16, said. “I felt like there should have been another opportunity to see him. I went to see Paula and Jane, and I got to talk to them one on one, but I didn’t get to do that with Summers.”Despite these feelings, Antona said

she would like to work with Summers on getting the Greeks united with the community, as she is the current president of Beta Lambda sorority.

Summers favors MCLA’s liberal arts reputation

CAMPUS REACTIONS, continued on page 3

Photo from the MCLA Web SiteJohn Stanmeyer has traveled the globe photographing for National Geographic.

Photo from the MCLA Web SiteAnastasia Stanmeyer, editor of Berkshire Magazine, has been a journalist for over 25 years.

See page 12 for more photos!

Students’ and faculty’s reaction to the new president

By Brittany GallacherEditor-in-Chief

Dr. Greg Summers said he is looking forward to getting closely involved with the campus community, as MCLA’s smaller size gives students more opportunities.“One of the things I admire about

MCLA is that the institution can provide opportunities to all students,” Summers said. “At a bigger institution, you are only able to give [these opportunities] to certain groups of students.”He went on to list the broad

access of opportunities that MCLA o� ers, including the undergraduate research conference, service learning, internships, and being able to get to know faculty on a personal level.Summers was chosen as the 12th

MCLA president last week and will be starting his presidency in July, according to Tyler Fairbank, the Board of Trustees Chair.In an interview with � e Beacon

yesterday a� ernoon, Summers said he feels honored to have been chosen as the College’s next president.

“I certainly felt a keen sense of the responsibility that this position carries,” Summers added. “It was very clear to me when I was there how much the faculty, sta� and students really love the university and how invested they were in � nding the right person for the job. I have a responsibility to make sure I handle it well.”He describes MCLA as an

outstanding institution that drew him in because of its strong reputation for as a liberal arts institution.“[MCLA] serves students

well with the kinds of education practices that are transformational,” Summers said.However, his presidency at the

College will be very di� erent from his Provost position at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.“It’s a di� erent role,” Summers

explained. “I’m Provost here, so I have a broad set of responsibilities, but being in the presidency of an institution carries a lot more responsibility. � at’s something I’m certainly looking forward to.”Summers is not only taking on a

SUMMERS, continued on page 3

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Campus News Beacon.MCLA.edu2WeekendWeatherThursday, March 12

Friday, March 13

Saturday, March 14

Sunday, March 15

SunnyHigh: 39°Low: 13°

Prec. Chance: 0%

It’s a HEATWAVEHigh: 40°Low: 23°

Prec. Chance: 0%

Partly CloudyHigh: 39°Low: 27°

Prec. Chance: 60%

Wintry MixHigh: 40°Low: 29°

Prec. Chance: 80%

SGA budgets confirmed, only 4 cut

By Idalis Foster Staff Writer

Student Government Associa-tion (SGA) held its final budget meeting on Monday where club e-boards vied for larger sums to be allotted and voiced concerns about certain allocations.

E-board members from Out-doors Club expressed their disap-pointment in cuts for both food and trips that they say would help build membership and support the trips they’ve continued taking.

“We only have two four-person tents and one two-person tent which are all broken in some way,” said Lucas Tobin, President of the Outdoors Club. “We would like to get better equipment that could actually last longer than the stuff you’d get at Walmart.”

Dance Company asked SGA for $1,000 to $2,000 more to be able to provide their dancers with costumes and cover the celebra-tions for their 15th year as well as events they hold for members after their performances.

“After our spring performance, being that it is so early this year we want to be able to have events for our dancers,” said Bryanna Bradley, treasurer of Dance Com-

pany. “We would like to be able to do the same next year as well as a bigger performance for our an-niversary.”

After both clubs voiced their concerns, the senate called the vote to question. Both clubs were advised to ask for supplementary budgets in the coming year if needed.

The budget was passed but not without some confusion over whether abstentions counted in figuring out the majority vote.

The vote was motioned to be reconsidered by multiple senate members. President Brendan Pel-tier threatened to veto the recon-sideration of the vote if it were to be passed.

Senator Colby Harvish stated he was “disheartened that [Bren-dan] would take such an action which would silence the voice of many of the senate members who were chosen to represent the stu-dent body.”

Ultimately the reconsideration to accept the budget did not get enough votes to go into effect and the original budget remained.

SGA Co-Sponsoring LAS’s All Around The World

Elizabeth Diaz, treasurer of

Latin American Society (LAS), and vice president of LAS Dani-elle Callanan asked the senate to consider co-sponsoring the club for their All Around The World event in April. The event show-cases different cultures in the La-tina American community with food, performances, and educa-tional posters.

Diaz asked for $800 of the sen-ate to cover costs including sup-plies for students to be able to cook and make posters for the event as well as to pay for any Ar-amark services needed.

Senator Kelsey McGonigle pro-posed the amount of $500 as ad-vised by Treasurer Nick Hernigle in order to have enough SGA budget money left for the rest of the semester to help other clubs who may need co-sponsoring for their events.

Callanan and Diaz agreed that they would be happy with the $500 as it would still help. The senate approved of co-sponsoring with LAS for $500 for All Around The World.

Artists Association Name Changed Postponed

The SGA looked over the con-stitution for Artists Association

and found multiple errors in its context. Greek Seat Representa-tive Taylor Krowitz pointed out a list of errors in the constitution in an effort to make sure the changes were amended before the approv-al of the new name for the club, Crafting Club.

Parliamentarian Samantha Beaton apologized to the senate as she printed out an older copy of the constitution for the club and the topic is tabled until after Spring Break.

Philanthropy Season for Greek Organizations on

CampusPi Upsilon Pi is raising money

for Cystic Fibrosis patients while Beta Lambda is raising money for Breast Cancer Research.

Pines is looking to raise $7,000 in time for the Cystic Fibrosis 5K Run on April 11. Greek Seat Krowitz asked SGA to consider donating to their cause over break and will bring the topic back up at the next meeting.

In order to donate, you can search Pi Upsilon Pi on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation site and con-tribute any dollar amount.

Club budgets were approved on Monday night. Of the 36 clubs recognized by SGA, 4 budgets were decreased, 32 clubs budgets saw an increase, and two new clubs have been created since the last fiscal year and three have become inactive. Information from the 2015 and 2016 fiscal year budget presentations. With $26,000 removed from the reserve fund and $384,000 made from the Student Activity Fee at a 85 perecent collection rate, SGA worked with $410,000 as opposed to FY 15’s $121,000 allocation.

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Club members ask for economic assistance for further activties despite final budget decision

By Makayla-Courtney McGeeneyManaging Editor

The silver lining, progress of equality, and the influence of individuals are what politi-cal leader and LGBTQ activist Cheryl Jacques shared with the campus community last Wednesday. Examining the relevance of the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ was an additional recurring thought for Jacques in terms of ana-lyzing equality’s journey.Jacques expressed that the presence of a black

president and her status in the political field are direct examples of growth in several areas of civil rights. “There is unexplainable, life-changing prog-

ress in the last few years,” she said. “It’s no lon-

ger the gay person over there; it’s your brother, your roommate or your coworker.” She acknowledged the strides made under

the Obama administration, including 37 states legalizing gay marriage, repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” DOMA and many other executive orders. He’s also the first figure to publicly ex-press his support for the LGBTQ community. Junior Carrisa Sacherski noted Jacques’ focus

on the movement’s progress.“She had a good conversation that has a ne-

cessity to be on a spectrum from history and now into the bigger picture of it all,” Sacherski said. Things Jacques suggested the audience do to

support the civil rights movement include:•Vote and make it count by being educated

on the views of the person being supported. Develop your own opinion rather than study-ing polls.•Have the courage to come out to announce

your sexual preference. Jacques said that is the single reason why the movement has devel-oped so much. If people remained closeted, then others wouldn’t understand or could be educated on it. •Be a straight ally who gets involved. She sug-

gested questioning establishment’s policies to improve them and to support local LGBTQ advocate groups. The LGBTQ community is not the only dis-

criminated group in America; Jacques listed

Jacques defends gay civil rights from timeline of history

JACQUEScontinued on page 4

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Campus News 3Beacon.MCLA.edu

explained. “I would like to see someone who is willing to work with us.”Peltier has his own ideas for when Summers

officially starts as president.“The number one priority [for Summers] should be

funding for higher education in Massachusetts. The second will be student engagement and recruitment for MCLA,” Peltier said in his email. “The one piece of advice I would give is to make sure he

understands the dynamics of Massachusetts politics, and to make sure he truly embraces his time here in the Berkshires.”Colligan offered her own advice.“I think it is important [for Summers to understand]

that as faculty, we will work with him,” she said. “He also needs to understand that faculty at MCLA are not afraid to speak their minds. We hope he will listen to us with an openness and honesty that will facilitate fruitful dialogue.”

Paul Salopek, are retracing our collective footsteps out of Africa that began 60,000 years ago on route to populating the planet.”Ebiware said he is interested

in another aspect of John’s presentation: the camera.“[This event] has to do with

communication, journalism and, in this case, photojournalism,” Ebiware added. “I am interested in hearing how we can use the camera to tell a story…to document history and events.”Anastasia Stanmeyer is currently

the editor of Berkshire Magazine. The MCLA Web site said she has been a journalist for more than 25 years, and has led various youth and adult writing workshops in the Berkshire community.Anastasia also has travel

experience after living in Hong Kong and Indonesia for 12 years, writing and editing for Time, Asiaweek, Newsweek and Stern magazines. According to the site, one of her projects included an investigation on the HIV/AIDS epidemic that has spread throughout Asia.“MCLA students will

benefit immensely from the presentations,” Ebiware said.

“The couple will cover all aspects of photojournalism and journalism [as a whole].”The Stanmeyers will visit 10 to

12 different classes while they are on campus, following an itinerary created by Finch.“[They are] mostly English/

Communications classes, but also Fine and Performing Arts and Interdisciplinary studies,” Finch said.John will answer questions and

present a public lecture in room 121 of the Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation at 6:30 p.m. on March 24.Anastasia will present her lecture

and Q&A session on March 25 at 11:00 a.m. in room 218 of Murdock Hall.“Students will be able to get a

sense for the varied pathways that people working in the creative arts, and journalism in particular, have taken in a world where these pathways are not clearly lit,” Finch said. “They are getting a liberal arts education here, but a lot of times our professional paths aren’t clearly established. We have to discover them and invent them as we go along. The Stanmeyers have done that in many ways, so students will learn from their stories and be inspired by them.”

Professor Ely Janis presents on representations of Ireland

By Gionna NourseStaff Writer

“The Big E on a giant scale,” is how Political Science Profes-sor Ely Janis described the 1904 World’s Fair during his presenta-tion on March 6. World’s Fairs originated in 1851

in Great Britain with the “Crys-tal Palace Exhibition” and then started to be held internationally. Fourteen World’s Fairs were held in the United States from 1876 to 1916. These fairs served as an opportunity not only for different countries around the world to dis-play their skills and innovations, but to also make a case for their place in the league-of-nations. For different countries, the

World’s Fair meant different things. Certain countries were al-ready at the top, and just wanted to show off, while others really had to prove that they deserved to be represented at the World’s Fair. “For countries like Great Brit-

ain, The United States, France and Germany, [the world’s fair] was about patting themselves on the back, and sort of reminding the world how great they were, be-cause they were at the top of the heap,” Janis said. If a nation was not independent,

different rules applied, meaning that they weren’t automatically given a place in the World’s Fair, like certain other countries. “For nations that were not inde-

pendent, [like Ireland], it was an opportunity to make the case that they should have that opportunity and representation,” Janis said. In 1893, Chicago hosted “The

World Columbian Exhibition,” aiming to showcase itself as a growing and dynamic city. The exhibition drew over twenty-seven million visitors from across the nation and internationally. Its biggest attraction was the unveil-ing of the first ferris-wheel. Since the exhibition attracted a mas-sive number of individuals from various cultures, Ireland wanted its place within the action. They wanted to be represented, and wanted to show the world their history and accomplishments. The only problem was that under

the rules of the fair, only indepen-

dent nations could have their own exhibition. Since Ireland was not an independent nation, they were delegated to the “Midway”, the entertainment district of the fair. Ireland’s first exhibit included a reproduction of an Irish Village, Blartey Castle, and famous kiss-ing stones, in an attempt to draw people in, and tie into the idea of Irish nostalgia. Ireland’s exhibit did contain a

Linen display, to show an indus-trial aspect, but because it was placed on the Midway, it was basi-cally just there for fun and enter-tainment among fair-goers. This drew in a lot of visitors, which proved to be a great first step for Ireland coming into the World’s Fair scene.

In 1904, St. Louis launched their own World Fair in Forest Park,

which consisted of 1,500 build-ings on 1,200 acres of land. Fifty nations were represented at the fair, as well as forty-three of the forty-five states in the nation. There was great focus on industry and new-technology within the national exhibits, and the state ex-hibits consisted more of crafts and souvenirs.“For the nations, it was a chance

to showcase their accomplish-ments, and acknowledge that these were the nations that should be respected internationally,” Ja-nis said. At the time of the St. Louis

World Fair, Social Darwinism and the idea of a racial hierarchy were starting to be established. “This was the idea of white Eu-

ropeans at the top, and everyone else sort of below, and the Irish were somewhere in that range,”

Janis said. The World’s Fairs would some-

times have “anthropology ex-hibits”, or what some would call “human zoos”. Typically, people dubbed as “uncivilized” would be brought in and told to showcase their skills of shooting bows and arrows, fighting, etc. Although Ireland wasn’t consid-

ered uncivilized, they still were treated as a lower class popula-tion. As Ireland started to prove its place amongst the other na-tions, the country started to show potential for industrialism. Ireland was then promoted as a great investment for the Ameri-can people. “This exhibit was sup-posed to be illustrative of Ireland’s progress,” Janis said. However, the exhibit mostly con-

sisted of old buildings, and skills that went back for centuries. It didn’t really show signs of indus-trialism. It showed the rural part of Ireland, and not the urban and growing aspect they were trying to portray.Those in charge of the entertain-

ment at the fair thought it to be a good idea to bring some enter-tainment back into Ireland’s ex-hibition, with hopes of drawing more visitors. The actors that per-formed were classically trained, and the plays performed were not a hit with fair-goers, to say the least. Since Ireland was a private entity, and promoted their own exhibit, they had to turn a profit, so the amount of visitors at their exhibits was vital. In a failed at-tempt to gain any profit whatso-ever, the Ireland exhibit was offi-cially closed after the 1904 exhibit in St. Louis was finished. Many faculty and staff mem-

bers were interested in the lec-ture, including Librarian Linda Kaufmann. “Because of my experience at

the 1964 World Fair, I have a bit of a casual interest in World Fairs, and I have read some books on the topic, which is what drew me to this lecture,” she said.I think it is a really nice oppor-

tunity for us to get together and learn about our colleague’s re-search,” Emily Maher, Chair of the Physics Department said.

“

“

For countries like Great Britain, The

United States, France and Germany,

[the World’s Fair] was about patting themselves on the

back.

Ely Janis

Stanmeyers to give lectures on journalism experience

HARDMAN JOURNALISTS, continued from page 1

Janis describes the 1904 World’s Fair as “The Big E on a giant scale.”

Students and faculty give advice to SummersCAMPUS REACTION, continued from page 1

Summers to assume presidency in July

different role at MCLA; he will also experience a change in size of institutions. In regards to

communicating with students and the surrounding area, Summers just wants to get involved.“The first challenge

I’ll have coming into MCLA is doing a lot of listening,” Summers added. “I want to learn as much as I can about the institution, and I want to hear from folks who have been engaged at this institution for years.”Though many students did not

get to attend his Q&A session on campus last month due to the weather, Summers said he would like to bring his communication strategies from his current university to MCLA.“I hold regular office hours [at the

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point] and I’d like to keep that at MCLA, where people can stop by and ask questions,” Summers said. “I want to be a presence on campus, where people feel comfortable talking to me.”Summers added that he would

like to be a full-fledged participant at events on campus, including

performances, gallery openings, and athletic events.“One of the special things about

a campus community is that the work of the campus doesn’t end with class not being in session. That’s something I am excited about.”

SUMMERS, continued from page 1

New president to attend campus events and get to know students

““

I want to be a presence on

campus, where people feel

comfortable talking to me

Photo from the MCLA Web site

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Campus News Beacon.MCLA.edu4

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“8 years serving MCLA”THINK AHEAD

Brunch honors prospective studentsBy Idalis Foster

Staff WriterLast Saturday, prospective students were

honored at the Annual Admissions Aca-demic Recognition Scholarship Brunch in the Campus Center Gym.

The students were welcomed by Admis-sions staff and current MCLA students bright and early at 9:30 a.m. with breakfast provided by Aramark.

The prospective students were seated by major with other students of similar in-terests, both prospective and current. Stu-dents working for Admissions dispersed themselves amongst the tables, answering questions about the school and their expe-riences within their majors and extracur-ricular activities.

Information sessions followed the brunch including sessions on study abroad pro-grams, STEM Academy, the Honors pro-gram and LEAD Academy. The day ended in campus tours for the families.

“About 35 families registered for the event,” said Gina Puc, Director of Admis-sions. “Invitations were sent to all students

who received academic scholarships.”The scholarships ranged from the Presi-

dential Scholarship to the Ruth P. and Nicholas Boraski Scholarship. Students were presented with the award in alpha-betical order, brought to them by students from Admissions.

According to Joshua Mendel, Associate Director of Admissions, transfer students were also amongst the students honored, including members of Phi Theta Kappa, an academic honor society that requires a 3.0 GPA.

Faculty members from many depart-ments on campus attended the event to talk to students about their interests. Puc delivered the opening remarks, followed by a student perspective by Elizabeth Doughty, a resident advisor for the Flagg Townhouses. Doughty emphasized how opportunities here both in the summer be-fore freshman year and during her actual school years here have made a difference in her own life.

Both Puc and Mendel emphasized that the brunch is “a special way for us to honor

these students and make their families feel honored as well.” They pointed out that these awards are not just for academic achievement but for extracurricular en-gagement.

Interim President Cynthia Brown also welcomed the students in a moving speech about how far MCLA has come in terms of ranking by large financial organizations like Kiplinger’s. Brown also mentioned the future president Greg Summers and his ex-citement to engage with the students both incoming and current to advance the col-lege even further.

Monica Joslin, dean of Academic Affairs, presented the awards and congratulated the students on their accomplishments. In its closing, Puc allowed time for students to speak to staff from financial aid before directing students to leaders of the infor-mation sessions.

“We want students to see these people on campus and feel free to smile or say hi,” said Puc. “These are students who could be on campus next semester and we want them to feel comfortable here.”

Reducing climate change with clean energy

By Rominda DeBarrosStaff Writer

Last Thursday Rob Sargent, energy pro-gram director for Environment America, spoke on the topic of “Building support for the shift to clean energy” at the Green Liv-ing Seminar. In line with the Seminar’s cur-rent theme “Issues with Climate Change,” Sargent focused on the obstacles of shifting to clean energy and also the solutions.

Sargent began the talk on a positive note by saying that despite the climate changes already underway, there was still a possibil-ity that we could avoid the worst of it.

“We have a challenge that’s scientific, which is that carbon is building up in the atmosphere and we’re already are at a point where we can’t avoid the consequences of climate-altering carbon in the atmosphere,” Sargent said. “We have a reasonable chance if we all lean into it to avoid the worst con-sequences of it through a shift to clean en-ergy.”

In addition to the scientific challenge of carbon’s build up in the atmosphere, Sar-gent also highlighted the political challenge of the dominance of fossil fuel. However, throughout listing these and other chal-lenges of shifting to clean energy Sargent remained optimistic about the carbon-solv-ing solutions that could be carried out now.

A few of the main short-term solutions Sargent spoke about were tapping into public support for the shift to clean energy, protecting the environment, and protect-ing public health. Sargent went on to speak about the ways in which the public could tackle the climate crisis. Saving energy, shifting to clean renewable energy, reduc-ing our oil consumption and reducing pol-lution that causes global warming are all major ways for people to help.

“All these things are happening in a lot of places,” Sargent said. “And they are happen-ing with success and in ways that are giving people some confidence that solutions are at hand and that they are as feasible and de-sirable as they are necessary.”

Sargent said that one of his jobs was to get others to recognize how feasible and desir-able moving away from fossil fuels was. He also pointed out how important it was to identify why different people liked renew-able energy solutions as it would also help to increase support.

Concluding the talk, Sargent displayed in his presentation the many solutions to the climate crisis that were already making progress. This included the massive growth of wind-powered electricity in the U.S in the last fourteen years, the 132 million met-ric tons of carbon averted, the growth of solar powered energy by 140 times, and the numerous jobs produced.

After the talk, Sargent opened the dis-cussion portion where audience members inquired more about the issues in shift-ing to clean energy and even highlighted a few other solutions that were already hap-pening. Amongst the audience were com-munity members Jake Laughner and Kim Seward.

“What I liked about the lecture was that it was so positive. It was giving us a way to look at the future that’s a little more hopeful than what you see in the news,” Laughner said.

“I’m really glad that MCLA does this se-ries. It’s fabulous to see younger people get-ting involved because that is what we need,” Seward said.

The Green Living Seminars will reconvene on March 26 with a talk by Ellie Johnston titled “Act Globally, Act locally -- Address-ing Climate Change at Every Level.”

Speaker questioned why Black Lives Matter is being usedJACQUES, continued from page 2other identities, such as African Ameri-

cans, Irish Americans, women, and Jewish Americans. “It’s been more than 60 years since the

Brown v. Board of education case ended,” she said. “African American discrimina-tion had a long journey and it is nowhere close to being completed. It’s been this long and we have to use the phrase Black Lives Matter?”She continued to reflect on the other

groups, pointing out that some women now earn $.78 to the man’s dollar versus the previous $.72 demonstrating the lack of equal pay. She pointed out that in the past, Irish were discriminated against by not be-ing allowed to apply to certain businesses and Jews were denied ability to own prop-erty because they deemed not fit or worthy. “She was awesome! I thought she con-

nected well with the students and hit all the main points,” Junior Alexandra Kadell said. “She was very motivating.”Jacques explained that under marriage

circumstances and receiving benefits, gay couples wish to have the same things that straight couples do. A few years ago, Jacques was talking to her mother about

the security her partner won’t have if she died including social security to aid in raising their three children singly. “Never give up on educating someone be-

cause it takes time for information to digest,” she said. “Some families don’t accept their children coming out in which case you can build your blood family and a support family.”The common phrase “that’s so gay” was ad-

dressed in how people may not realize the de-rogatory intent when it’s said. Jacques said it has a negative connotation. “This is a campaign of education and out-

reach,” she said. “Gay civil rights will follow the pattern of all civil rights. Black lives mat-ter just shows how you have to defend the ground.”

Photo from MCLA websiteCheryl Jacques spoke to the campus on LGBTQ rights last Wednesday.

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Features Beacon.MCLA.edu 5An extended hand to help feed those in needAma Bemma Adwetewa-Badu ‘15 created ‘A hand up’ to help fight hunger and homelessness in the Berkshires

By Kaliegh HayesFeatures Writer

Senior, Ama Bemma Adwetewa-Badu is extending her hand to give food to those in need in her pro-gram “ A Hand Up” here on campus.

Created last year, Adwetewa-Badu helped create A Hand Up, which is a student run community service group that focuses in on hunger and homelessness in Berkshire County. The group was originally named “A Hand Up Not a Hand Out”.

Photo by Isabel McKenzie/The BeaconAma Bemma Adwetewa-Badu was inspired to create ‘A Hand Up’ after seeing the homeless roaming around while she was at her church picnic, she insited on feeding them.

The program has three different sec-tions: service, education, and the com-munity meal.

“All of the sections are community ser-vice programs,” Adwetewa-Badu said. “Students can sign up to get hours that way or just serve in the community. They don’t have to sign up for every event, they can do just one.”

The service section is when students are sent downtown to the Berkshire Food Project, which is North Adams’ local soup kitchen, and also to the Friendship Center, which is a food pantry.

The education section is to help educate the campus through various program-ming ideas that the volunteers come up with.

The community meal section is where the students put on events for soup kitchens.

“I really want the service section to ex-pand,” Adwetewa-Badu said. “Yes we go to the Berkshire Food Project. Yes we go to the Friendship Center. But there are a ton of other places that have the same populations of people that would need help. So in the future I want the program to reach out and create relationships with different organizations.”

In North Adams the Berkshire Food Project is only open Monday through Friday so this raises an issue for those in need.

“People don’t stop being hungry on the weekends,” Adwetewa-Badu said. “I re-ally want the community meal section to grow, because we only have two events this semester, but I’m hoping that we get to a point where we have meals every weekend.”

Badu has been one to give back for

some time, but she remembers going to one of her churches picnics and that’s when she decided that she wanted to give to the homeless.

“When we had these picnics we’d see these people who were homeless walking around,” Adwetewa-Badu said. “I told my mom that we needed to get these people something to eat! There’s an abundance of food everywhere it’s just that we need to find a way to give it to people.”

Adwetewa-Badu took that inspiration and brought it to campus to create some-thing big out of it.

A Hand Up has a number of events for this spring, including a can drive on March 23rd, Jeopardy in the Campus Center Market place on March 24th, and a movie night March 26th, according to the Facebook page.

More events are posted on A Hand Up’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/AH-andUpMCLA. Students are also able to sign up as volunteers on the page as well.

Though she’s graduating this spring, Adwetewa-Badu has high hopes for the

Teammates take the lead off the court to assist high school seniors

A Hand Up’sUpcoming Events!

Monday, March 23Can DriveResident halls12 a.m.- Sat. May 2 8 a.m.

Tuesday, March 24JeopardyMarket Place10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Wednesday. March 25JeopardyMarket Place2-7 p.m.

Thursday, March 26JeopardyMarket Place10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sunday, April 19Community MealChurch Street Social Hall11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Sunday, May 3Community MealChurch Street Social Hall11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

“ There’s an abundance of food

everywhere we need to find a way to give

it to people”

program in future years. “I’m trying to create a three to five

year plan for whoever takes over this program,” said Adwetewa-Badu. “I do hope that the program will continue to grow.”

She has certainly left her mark on MCLA, but after graduation, she is go-ing to start a new chapter in her life which involves graduate school, and the hopes of becoming a poetry teacher.

Ama Bemma Adwetewa-Badu

Men’s Basketball players Page ‘15 and Kennedy ‘18 came together to co-coordinate the E3 program

Photo by Isabel McKenzie/The BeaconJacob Kennedy (left) and Kraig Page (right) co-coordi-nate E3, which helps Dury High School seniors apply for jobs, college and become leaders in the commu-nity

By Juanita DossFeatures Editor

Senior Kraig Page just couldn’t turn down another oppor-tunity to help other students. He was an orientation leader, he’s a peer advisor, and now he continues his involvement as a co-coordinator for the E3 program.

“I enjoy it a lot,” Page said. “The students have a huge im-pact on us. Seeing them show interest by coming back each week makes it all worth it.”

Page was handed the opportunity last semester by Spen-

cer Moser, coordinator of Center for Service and Citizenship. He then de-cided to share the opportunity with freshmen Jacob Kennedy.

“I jumped on the opportunity be-cause many students we work with come from the same environment as me,” Page said. “If I broke free, they can do it too with guidance.”

The E3 program is geared to help non-traditional Drury High School seniors apply for college, jobs, and get involved in the community, through leadership skills, lessons, and activities.

E3 gave a helping hand at the Berk-shire Food Project around Thanks-giving time and engaged in a lesson on breast cancer awareness back in Oct.

During their breast cancer aware-ness event, students decorated pink ribbons in remembrance of friends and family members who lost the fight. They also made ribbons to sup-port those who are currently fight-ing.

Once the decorating of ribbons concluded, they were hung up in the marketplace along with a sign that read ‘E3 supports the fight against Breast Cancer’.

The high school students arrive on campus every Tuesday and meet in Sullivan lounge. The program starts off with an ice-breaker, followed by a lesson and ending with the leader of the day; which is a student who shows great effort and participation in the day’s lesson.

This is Kennedy’s first time working with other students, and he sees his experience as a way to help build his character.

“Even though this is my first time, I definitely enjoyed it,” Kennedy said. “It helps me with my leadership and communication skills.”

Despite the responsibilities and hard work of running the program, Kennedy is thinking of coordinating E3 for the following semesters.

Page and Kennedy not only act as

“”

Kraig Page

The students have a huge impact on us

mentors to the students, but provide an ear to listen to any problems they may be having in both a group and individual ses-sion.

Other staff members of the E3 program are Isabel McKenzie ‘17, Kircy Canela ‘18 and Miesha Adams ‘18.

Both Page and Kennedy are a part of the men’s basketball team and the MASCAC all-academic team. When they’re not on the basketball court, you can catch them giving back to the community.

Photo from Facebook.comDuring E3’s Breast Cancer Awareness Event, students were able to deoco-rate pink ribbons in remembrance of family members. They also created ribbons to support women who are still fighting.

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Arts & Entertainment Beacon.MCLA.edu6

By Matt AcetoA&E Writer

Two seniors, two voices that ring throughout campus like the North Adams clock tower. During their four years here at MCLA, Greg Wilson and Mikaelle Olivier have helped turn the Allegrettos club into something spectacular.As co-presidents of Allegrettos,

Wilson and Olivier work together to coordinate the steadily grow-ing a capella club. They’ve noticed the club expand during their time here, both on campus and in the surrounding community.“It’s a whole new club. At the be-

ginning, no one really knew what direction they wanted to take,” said Olivier, who joined the club when she was a freshman. “Start-

ing to compete was a big mile-stone. We wanted to perform in our community and not just at the school.”Like Olivier, Wilson joined Al-

legrettos as a freshman. He first discovered the club as a visiting student during his college search.“I saw the Allegrettos perform on

Accepted Students Day,” Wilson said. “It definitely drew my atten-tion and made me want to attend MCLA more.” Though he was interested in join-

ing the club, Wilson initially nev-er envisioned himself becoming its president. “I just hoped they liked me!” he

laughed.Wilson and Olivier both share

countless memories from their experiences with Allegrettos.

Their favorite memory, as Olivier

described, was a trip to Boston in which they had to stay overnight in a church attic. “The only cheap housing we

could find for the night was the church that we performed at, they offered us a room in the attic,” Ol-

ivier said. “We built a giant fort and had a pillow fight. We got to know each other really well.”Though they come from different

states, Wilson and Olivier both share similar backgrounds in the performing arts. Wilson, a native of Millbrook, NY, started singing when he was 9. Olivier, too, has enjoyed performing since she was a child. “I’ve sang all my life,” Olivier

said. “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t part of a choir.”In between practice and perfor-

mances for Allegrettos, Wilson and Olivier keep busy with other clubs. Wilson has been part of both Harlequin and Yorick since his freshman year, and Olivier is president of Harlequin and trea-surer of the Biology club.

“I’m definitely someone who likes to be busy,” Olivier said. “You get something out of each club so it’s good being part of three.”After graduation, the two have

plans for bigger endeavors. Ol-ivier plans to move to Connecti-cut where she will teach biology and chemistry at Hartford public schools. Wilson is taking a year off from school to work, and is applying to graduate schools in Boston.Regardless of their future out-

comes, music will always be part of their lives. “A capella groups are becoming

more popular even after college, so if there’s a club that I can join in my spare time I definitely will,” Wilson said. “I don’t know what I’d do without music. Not at all.”

Allegretto seniors reminisce

By Shirin HijabA&E Editor

Tonight at 7:00 p.m., two poets will present their work in Gallery 51.Diana Whitney and Hannah

Fries put forth different visions in poetry. Whitney is more mod-ern, while Fries tends to extend her images and keep them in the mind for slightly longer. Fries’ work focuses more on nar-

rative and occasionally nature while Whitney has a fascination with human emotions, especially the emotions of women and how they experience the role of being

a mother.“Down on the floor, brag of

bruises / blooming like plums on my neck, tender, / bad and legiti-mate. I wanted / to ditch it, wanted to drive alone / in the car for the first time,” Whitney writes in the title poem of her first collection “Wanting It,” “silence / such con-centration, my hands tongued the wheel…. They looked at me / as if I could kill them. They wanted to kill me / back against a locker.”Whitney’s poetry is at times dis-

mal and ironic. It is always sharp and fierce, with a feeling that the poet has understood the dangers of being a woman and decided to

confront them, through poetry and through a continued, power-ful existence.“Lovemaking among the ru-

ins. Something on the radio.” Fries writes in her poem “Love at Formel’s Junkyard”, a mystical, nostalgic ballad. “Maybe ‘Muskrat Love.’ An air

of urgency perhaps, // or the op-posite. In seventh grade spin-the-bottle, / we lunged at each other across the circle, smashing our tight // mouths together in a way that would make dentists cringe. Embarrassing, / that desire to grab, to take and pull back quick

enough to leave // oneself intact.”Fries, in contrast to Whit-

ney, is a poet seeking the kind of fulfilling knowledge that comes from naturalism.But in her poems, there is also

an unafraid feminist slant where whatever task the poet attempts or epiphany the poet has, it is to a great extent, to help the woman, the poet, on her path to fuller understanding of her art and the space she lives in. Her poetry re-lies more on memory and lacks the conflict and sometimes bitter tone of Whitney. The contrast at the performance will be fascinat-ing to see live.

Women poets with contrasting visionsWhitney’s poetry is

at times dismal and ironic. It is always

sharp and fierce, with a feeling that the poet has understood the dangers of being a woman and

decided to confront them, through poetry and

through a continued, powerful existence.

Greg Wilson and Mikaelle Olivier share what they’ve learned and their plans for the future

Photo from drunkenboat.comHannah Fries, in the US tradition of poetry, is more closesly linked to Whitman, Mary Oliver, and Hilda Doolittle.

Hannah Fries and Diana Whitney read tonight at Gallery 51 as part of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers

Photo from diana-whitney.comDiana Whitney is closer to some of the contemporary writers like Mark Zapruder, Natasha Thretheway, but also at times comparable to Adrienne Rich in her feminst, imagistic poetry.

“

”

It’s a whole new club. At the beginning, no one

really knew what direc-tion they wanted to take.

Starting to compete was a big milestone. We wanted to perform in our commu-nity and not just at the

school.

Mikaelle Olivier

“

”

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Arts & Entertainment Beacon.MCLA.edu 7

Review by Mitchell ChapmanA&E Writer

One of the most important func-tions of science fiction is to ask questions about scientific truths and possibilities, no matter how timely they may be. We’ve seen this time and time again with films such as James Cameron’s “The Terminator,” which explored the potential dangers of Artifi-cial Intelligence (AI) and Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” which provoked commentary on mankind’s explo-ration of the unknown. “Chappie,” however, is a differ-

ent kind of flick in that it does not emphasize the dangers of this new technology. Directed by Neill Blomkamp (“Elysium”, “District 9”), “Chappie” focuses on 2016-era Africa that has just employed the Scout units, autonomous ro-bots designed to carry out police protocol, a result of Dev Patel’s (“Slumdog Millionaire”, “The Last Airbender”) Deon Wilson, who more or less serves as the main character. The real joy of the film comes from Chappie, a scout that has become self-aware as a result of Wilson’s experiments, and must cope with the world around him.

Of course the Scouts and the corporation that makes them create several problems in this society, as does Chappie himself. Had Blomkamp decided to take the subject matter more seri-ously, those issues could’ve been explored in full. One of the many generic criticisms of “Chappie” and largely the reason why it has a 33 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes is that on the whole, the film is uneven. Segments fo-cusing largely on the innovation and beauty of Wilson’s creation get rudely interrupted by a heist film. Sure, one could say that ac-tion clichés were unavoidable in this kind of film—the Scouts are designed to handle situations deemed too dangerous for human cops after all—but to go so far as

to incorporate a heist orchestrat-ed by rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser of Die Antwood (who play themselves) brings a level of silli-ness that at times hurts Chappie’s message. I’m not saying that I dis-like Blomkamp’s inclusion of the heist sections. In fact, by the film’s end I found myself liking both Ninja and Yolandi, but the bits in which “Chappie” is at its strongest do not include them. Let us meander back to science

fiction and its profound ability to ask important questions about scientific truths. “Chappie” is a movie about introducing self-aware AI in an environment that has yet to see it. Could this be a good thing? For me, this is what makes “Chappie” profound. I can name close to a dozen films in which this technology is villain-ized, but can think of few that explore the beauty of mankind’s creation. Deon Wilson creates new life in the form of Chappie, and is allowed to watch it grow, learning from “all the informa-tion humans have ever had” until it eventually surpasses human in-tellect. It is a very humbling expe-rience, as Chappie has questions that mirror those we have for our own “creator,” like “Why would you make me if I was only going to die?” Such questions have great rel-

evance today, as self-aware AI is not entirely out of mankind’s reach. “Chappie” provides a re-freshing stance on the debate over self-aware AI, which has largely focused on mankind’s ability to

control the technology or rather, the technology’s ability to control us. It’s a shame that Blomkamp did not choose to further explore

the implications of Chappie’s AI, though he does manage to cre-ate a very entertaining flick that loosely balances action and im-

portant social issues regarding a possibly not-so-distant future.

‘Chappie’ provokes questions about AI

I can name close to a dozen films in

which this tech-nology is villain-

ized, but can think of few that explore the beauty of mankind’s

creation.

Photo by wikipedia.org‘Chappie’ is a film that is less philosophical than it is action-packed and made-for-entertainment.

The strong questions asked by the film don’t come through as a consensus states the movie is uneven

“

”

Photo from filmpulse.netChappie has the ability to interact in the ways humans can but eventually will surpass humans.

Photo from telegraph.co.uk‘Chappie’ has a lot of violence preventing real answers.

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Sports Beacon.MCLA.edu8Baseball looking to bounce back after difficult 2014

Photo by Liz Quirk/The BeaconAfter a season in which they went just 3-23, the baseball team is looking to get back on track in 2015 with a combination of fresh faces and returning players.

By Jake MendelSports Writer

The baseball team is prepared to prove people wrong in 2015. Fol-lowing a 3-23 record in the 2014 season, the Blazers are ranked 8th in the MASCAC preseason poll.

The team is led by Jeff Puleri, who is entering his 13th season as the team’s head coach. There are seven starters returning for the team, including two all MASCAC players, seniors Chase Preite and Rory Slattery.

Two categories the ’Blazers will need to improve on in 2015 are earned run average (ERA) and batting average. Last season the team’s ERA was 5.61, the highest in conference with Bridgewater being the next highest at 4.76. As a team, the ’Blazers hit .229 last season and they know that is something they need to work on if they plan to improve in 2015 (information from the MCLA Athletics website).

“We hope to improve on our team’s batting average,” said ju-nior Nate Gutmann. “Being able

to produce runs early in the game would be a huge improvement.”

Last season the Blazers scored a total of 69 runs, but only 23 of those runs came in during the first three innings last season. If the Blazers can improve that number they will be able to set the tone and gain momentum early in games.

“I have high expectations for the team because we have a good group of seniors and talented young guys,” said Mike Manciva-lano, who is one of six seniors on the team. “We have the tools to

win games and if we do what we need to do each game, then we will be a good team.”

The ’Blazers also have six fresh-men on the team who look to make an impact even though they know that the transition from high school to college baseball isn’t always an easy one.

“Coming from high school to college is a big jump in skill level but playing in the fall helped a lot, I think the key to succeeding is listening to coach and especially the senior leadership.” said fresh-man catcher Nick Disanti. “They

can provide insight to slow the game down and adjust to this level of play.”

The season starts on Friday for the ’Blazers as they will play ten games in eight days as a part of the Russ Matt Invitational in Florida. The first home game will take place on Thursday, March 24 against Norwich. Last season the team went 1-13 in conference. The team’s first MASCAC game will be a double header at home against Salem St on Saturday, March 28.

Lacrosse looking forward to inaugural season

Photo from MCLA AthleticsJunior Kaitlyn Brown is just one of many players looking to make an impact in the program’s debut season.

By Jesse CollingsSports Editor

With the snow finally begin-ning to melt away, the Women’s lacrosse team is looking forward to getting their inaugural season underway. After being founded two years ago and competing as a club team last season, lacrosse will compete in MASCAC for the very first time.

Head coach Maria Bartini talk-ed about building a program from scratch.

“The challenge with starting a new program is establishing tra-ditions and team culture, but I see that as a positive, actually,” Bartini said. “I’m enjoying the opportu-nity to build a new program with the values that I want to instill without having to break down old habits and traditions that may not be consistent with my values.”

Despite the fact that the Trail-blazers have yet to play a game, Bartini senses a great energy with the team as they head into their first season of MASCAC play.

“There is a lot of positive en-ergy and excitement at our prac-tices. The team is really coming together as a unit and I think we will have positive nervous energy before our first game,” Bartini said. “We are all looking forward to seeing what we will do against our opponents this season.”

In the MASCAC preseason poll, the Trailblazers were picked to finish seventh out of eight teams in the conference, ahead of only Massachusetts Maritime. Bridge-water State was picked to win the

conference, as they are coming off of a perfect 6-0 regular sea-son conference record in 2014. Worcester State and Westfield State rounded out the top three. Despite the low expectations from opposing coaches, Bartini is undeterred in her beliefs in the team’s potential.

“I expect us to be competitive and give 100% in every single one of our games,” Bartini said. That is what we control and that is what I want my players to focus on. If we give our best effort throughout games, play as a team and sup-port one another, the results will come.”

Indeed, Bartini believes strongly in the team, which sports a di-verse culture of players with dif-ferent levels of experience.

“We have players who will cer-tainly be making significant im-pacts on the stats sheet and will turn heads in the conference. There’s a lot of talent in our squad from players with years of experi-ence to players who picked up a stick for the first time this year,” Bartini said. “I have high expec-tations for each and every player on my roster and I hope that they will strive to surprise me with even better performances from one game to the next.”

The team will open their season on March 17 at Mitchell College. Their first home game will be on March 24 against Sage College, and will be played at Williams College. They are set to begin MASCAC play on March 28, when they host Massachusetts Maritime at 1 pm.

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Sports Beacon.MCLA.edu 9Schedules

Friday, March 13

BaseballMCLA vs SUNY-IT@ Winter Haven, FL1:30 pm

MCLA vs SUNY-IT @ Winter Haven, FL4 pm

Saturday, March 14

So� ballMCLA vs Smith@ Clermont, FL9 am

MCLA vs U. of New England@ Clermont, FL11 am

Sunday, March 15

So� ballMCLA vs Southern Maine@ Winter Garden, FL9 am

MCLA vs Lesley@ Winter Garden, FL11 am

BaseballMCLA vs Lesley@ Auburndale, FL3:30 pm

MCLA vs Lesley@ Auburndale, FL6 pm

Tuesday, March 17

So� ballMCLA vs Endicott@ Clermont, FL9 am

BaseballMCLA vs Bard@ Auburndale, FL9: 15 am

So� ballMCLA vs Luther@ Clermont, FL11 am

BaseballMCLA vs Bard@ Auburndale, FL11:30 am

LacrosseMCLA @ Mitchell3:30 pm

Wednesday, March 18

BaseballMCLA vs Utica@ Winter Haven, FL9:30 am

So� ballMCLA vs UMass-Boston@ Clermont, FL3 pm

MCLA vs Western New England@ Clermont, FL5 pm

Softball heads into season with high hopes

Photo by Liz Quirk/The BeaconSenior pitcher Amanda Meczywor warms up her pitching arm with junior Jennifer Sicinski.

By Tyler BaconSports Writer

� e MCLA so� ball team is looking to start the Trudeau era o� the right way and compete for a MASCAC championship. � e Trailblazers return eight key play-ers from last year’s team including First Team All-Conference pitch-er Rachel Quackenbush. She led the conference with 196 strike-outs and ranked fourth in earned run average (ERA) with a 1.91.

According to the MAS-CAC preseason poll, the Blazers were selected to nish second in the conference this season; only behind the Bears of Bridgewater State.

Quackenbush believes that be-ing picked second is an honor and she is ready to start the season next week.

“I think that the MASCAC coaching sta� voting us to take second is an honor,” Quacken-bush said. “We look forward to the season starting this week. We

have worked hard for months now and are ready to prove our-selves in the conference.”

Sophomore Katelyn Henault thinks that while it’s awesome to be voted so highly, they are going to come out ghting when they start their season o� in Florida.

“I think it’s awesome that we were voted second this season. It will de nitely make for a com-petitive season,” Henault said. “However, we’re coming to win and we’re going to ght to do so.”

� e Blazers return two key piec-es to the o� ense with Michaela DiNicola and Amanda Meczy-wor. DiNicola and Meczywor will look to ignite an o� ense that has struggled over the past two sea-sons. DiNicola did hit an impres-sive .329 last season and Meczy-wor reached base 38 percent of the time. Junior Abigail Lucas was a spark o� the bench last season by hitting a solid .324.

� ere have been some struggles so far this season that the Blaz-ers have had to overcome. � e

weather is always a problem early in the season and does not allow the Blazers to practice outside.

Junior Sierra Bailey believes that it’s not just an MCLA struggle, but one that impacts the entire New England region.

“� e struggle as always is being in the gym and that goes for every team in New England basically. As everyone knows that there is 3 feet of snow on our eld,” Bailey said. “We won’t see our eld a lot this year and will be working in-side of the gym. It becomes repet-itive sometimes and is really hard to focus.”

Quackenbush believes that the weather is not the only struggle the Blazers have had to overcome during this early season.

“� e few struggles we have had this far is that all the return-ers had to learn a new coaching style and so we had to develop a new relationship with this years’ coaching sta� but we all gelled rather quickly,” Quackenbush said. “Also, we are just extremely

eager to get on some dirt so be-ing stuck in the gym everyday has been a bit of struggle.”

� e Trailblazers will be led by new head coach, Jamie Trudeau. She replaces Mike Ameen, who coached the team for the past three seasons.

According to MCLA Athletics, Trudeau was an assistant coach at Siena College in Albany, N.Y. for the past two seasons, she served primarily as the hitting and in- eld coach.

Henault believes that adjusting to a new coach has been just ne for the team so far this season.

“Everything has been great hav-ing a new coach,” Henault said. “� e structure of practice has def-initely changed, we have become more time e� cient and t more into each practice.”

� e so� ball team opens up their season on Saturday with a double-header against Smith College and University of New England in Cl-ermont, Florida.

By Dan WiedererChicago Tribune

KRT Campus

At the Heisman Trophy ceremo-ny two months ago in New York, quarterback Marcus Mariota was celebrated as college football’s best player, a driven and dynamic leader who propelled Oregon to 36 victories in 41 starts.

Mariota’s college achievements now have led him to the precipice of another dream, the opportuni-ty to take a crack at becoming an NFL franchise quarterback. � at chance will arrive soon enough in a quarterback-needy city to be named.

Yet now, with December’s ac-claim giving way to February’s scrutiny, Mariota nds himself grinding through the exhaus-tive pre-dra� evaluation process, aware that there are a multitude of opinions as to how much success he can have on the next level.

On � ursday at the NFL scout-

ing combine, Mariota faced the media’s blitz, following in the footsteps of other recent Heis-man-winning quarterbacks such as Johnny Manziel, Robert Gri� n III, Cam Newton and Tim Tebow.

Does Mariota feel worthy of po-tentially being the No. 1 pick?

“Any player would stand in front of you and tell you they’re con- dent in their abilities,” he said. “And I’m no di� erent.”

But is Mariota anxious about the criticisms swirling, the wor-ries that his extensive lm library from Oregon doesn’t prove he is adept at making the array of throws he will have to make in the NFL?

On Saturday, Mariota is sched-uled to run the 40-yard dash, participate in the other athletic testing and throw in front of league decision makers. And a� er that, inevitably, more debate will mushroom.

He seems like a lock to be a top-10 pick. But will he land with the

Buccaneers or Titans? � e Red-skins or Jets? Will he be available when the Bears pick at No. 7?

But inevitably, for a league of-ten built around micro-analysis and paranoia, there’s also worry that Mariota’s success in Oregon’s no-huddle, spread o� ense is fool’s gold, that the quarterback ulti-mately will take too long to blos-som if he ever breaks through at all.

And suddenly, Gri� n’s name clutters the conversation as a once promising young quarterback now headed for his fourth NFL season with the Redskins facing a mountain of questions about his ability to succeed from the pocket.

� at, for NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock, creates the trickiest element of the Mariota evaluation _ the attempt to determine which weaknesses can be strengthened and which are permanent.

Is it possible, Mayock wonders,

that Mariota will excel quickly in a pro-style o� ense and be able to do far more than he was asked to do at Oregon?

But Mayock hesitates when ana-lyzing Mariota’s ordinary pocket awareness, drawing on conversa-tions he has had over the years with quarterbacks such as Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Man-ning and Matt Ryan.

“How much of pocket aware-ness is innate and how much can be learned?” Mayock said. “And all of them said you could learn a little bit. For instance, you feel the rush, you duck your shoul-der down, put both hands on the football, ball security. (� ere are) little things you can practice to get better in the pocket.

“However, every single one of them basically said, ‘I kind of feel like I was born with it.’ “

So once again, the Mariota nar-rative spins in a circle.

Mariota remains top prospect for NFL

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Opinion Beacon.MCLA.edu10� e Beacon

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Makayla-Courtney

McGeeney

Web Editor Osakpolo Igiede

Senior News EditorNick Swanson

Features EditorJuanita Doss

Editorial Board

Sta� Writers

Gionna NourseRominda DeBarros*

Harmony Birch*Idalis FosterTyler Bacon

Kaliegh HayesJake Mendel

Mitchell ChapmanMatt Aceto

Matt Hotaling

Photographers

Isabel McKenzieLiz QuirkJay Tocco

Copy Editors

Darien QuickRominda DeBarros

Harmony Birch

VideographersKaleigh Anderson

Advisers

Nikki Kratonis

Jenifer AugurGillian Jones

Jim Niedbalski

Editor-in-Chief Brittany Gallacher

Design Team

Osakpolo Igiede*Shauna Gilardi

Sta�

*Holds more than one position

What are your thoughts on the new president?

“I like that he wants to sur-round himself with people who know what they are doing. Smart move.” -Amanda Fleming, 2015

“I was excited that the college chose a male president.”

-Connor Sylvester, 2017

“I went to Gates session, so I was kind of rooting for her.”-Joe Carew, 2018

“Summers seems to be will-ing to intergrate himself into the campus, which makes me feel better about him being chosen.”

-Tia Polana, 2015

Photos compiled byLiz Quirk

Advertising

Sam StuhlerShauna Gilardi*

Health & FitnessBigger than biceps

By Makayla-Courtney McGeeney

Managing Editor

For my environmental class I have to read a book pertaining to the course and then present on it at the end of the semester, and my book is In Defense of Food by Mi-chael Pollan. � e front cover is a head of iceberg lettuce. Even though I already knew

about most of the content from the book just by educating my-self on food, there are some great scienti� c points about nutrition-ism and how the American food culture began. � e Western Diet is considered the American diet consisting of loads of fat and sug-ar and drive-thrus. Some of the advice he gives toward the end of the book read:•Don’t eat anything your great

grandmother wouldn’t recognize: going back another generation is important because your own mother may be a victim of the food product industry. For ex-ample, grocery shopping in the dairy isle and seeing Go-Gurt Portable Yogurt and trying to ex-plain what they are to your great grandmother would be di� cult because it’s a processed food and its ingredients are � lled with arti-� cial colors and avors, synthetic sweeteners, and novel fats. � ink about it…blueberry avor yogurt

in a tube…•Avoid foods with

ingredients that are hard to pronounce, contain more than � ve in number, and include high-fructose corn syrup: the ex-ample used from this section was Sara Lee’s Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread, which is a huge contradiction right in its title. � e author then lists the long line of ingredients, which is a paragraph long containing high fructose corn syrup, enriched bleached our, and mono-and diglycerides… Enough said, don’t eat it. Find bread that is made out of something like sprouted wheat and that’s it. •Avoid foods that make health

claims: I’m sure, even as a college student, you can look in the cabi-net and pick up � ve things that say you’ll lose weight, increase metabolism or decrease choles-terol. � e author points out that if it has a package to begin with, then it’s more likely to be a pro-cessed food product and not a whole food. � e reason for this is because health claims are used as a marketing strategy and gen-erally need to be approved by the FDA before being sold. � is also means that the company had to conduct some scienti� c study to prove the claim and food science isn’t dependable. Food companies want to make it so that consumers don’t have to think about eating.� e more e� ort and planning

you put into your diet, the health-ier you’ll be, the more energy you’ll have, and you’ll see more results. Make these changes and take these rules to heart now be-cause the Western diet diseases do not wait until you’re 50, and they’re looked at more commonly now than ever. BE PROACTIVE.

Some food guidelines

Cartoonist

“I’ll be good to have him aboard, he’s approachable and seems to want to make time to listen to students opinions.”

-Rachel Nids, 2015

“I think it was a great choice for the college. He seems to have a plan for future stu-dents.”

-Jackie Paluilis, 2015

By Shirin HijabArts & Entertainment Editor

Elia Suleiman began with a very speci� c style in his 1996 � lm “Chronicle of a Disappearance,” which for western viewers would look a lot like the still frames and documentary style of Ulrich Seidl, but with the humor and deadpan of Wes Anderson. Some � lmmakers have a particular take, with such originality, that it’s pos-sible they are aliens; this is the case with Elia Suleiman.Whether or not he comes from

another solar system where the thought processes and creativ-ity exceed ours, he remains an alienated Palestinian, living in the trauma that is exile.Suleiman has only made three

feature � lms. He takes his time, making them perfect. “Divine In-tervention” is his famous. Where “Chronicle of a Disappearance” details the disappearance of the � lmmaker himself and explores the land of Palestine, the occu-pied territory and the West Bank in general. It shows a series of vignettes which attempt to show the listlessness and torture of be-ing occupied. A son and a father � ght at times, Suleiman types up subtitles to the � lm on his 90s computer, a car descends down a hill to a Natcha Atlas song.In a way, “Divine Intervention”

is a much more dynamic � lm,

going further and tackling on many more ideas. Elia

Suleiman is in the fi lm but he’s less present. � e � lm has few spo-ken words. It shows the con icts between Palestinians but also the foolishness of Israeli soldiers. One scene shows a French woman asking for directions from a po-lice o� cer and he pulls out a man he has arrested and blindfolded and tells the woman three di� er-ent ways to get to the Old City. � e second time she asks for di-rections, the prisoner is gone. In Suleiman’s fi lms, Palestinians are good at performing what looks like magic when they disappear or cause an Israeli checkpoint to collapse just because of the sheer beauty of a woman walking by. In � ction or semi-� ction, magic

has been used in the past to deal with occupying powers but not in a way that Suleiman has. He’s created an unusual vision of Pal-estine in his � lms, di� erent from any of the more realistic works of Hany Abu Assad, Annemarie Jacir, or others.In a di� cult-not-to-completely-

love scene, Suleiman’s lover (in the � lm) takes on Israeli police-men who are at a � ring range. She ies, dodges bullets, and takes out all the men until only the com-mander is left standing and she leaves him there to contemplate his existence. It’s a daring knife in the eye of imperialism and arms-building, both US and Israeli (or both).Suleiman’s fi lms are some of the

closest to perfect in their innova-tion and their personal quality. He takes the personal quality of some of the Iranian New Wave directors to a more subversive level and brings power to Pales-tine cinema.

Exile within Palestine

Art & Politics

Notes on Unknown Places

Thursday, March 12, 2015 Announcements, Events, & Opinion Beacon.MCLA.edu 11

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The MCLA Beacon Online

Training Classes for March and April

Now Hiring: Relay OperatorsNo Experience Necessary - will receive 3 weeks paid training

Relay text and voice telephone calls to and from individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or have difficulty speaking.

Preference for excellent typing, speaking, spelling and reading skills, and High School Diploma or GED is required.

Hamilton offers a competitive wage, incentives and bonuses

Part time Shifts include a Weekend rotation

Apply Online at

www.workforhamilton.com

FINANCIAL AID ANNOUNCEMENTS

Interested in taking summer classes?

Summer Financial Aid Applications are now available

in the Financial Aid O� ce

Stop by and see if you may have eligibility for aid!

� ere’s still time to apply for 15-16 � nancial aid! Complete your FAFSA at

www.fafsa.gov

******************Scholarship opportunity:

MassMutual Scholars Programwww.massmutual.scholarsapply.org

March 31st deadline

Saturday, March 14, 8pm Club B-10 / $10 student / $16 advance / $22 day of / $26 preferred

KAT EDMONSON

“This isn’t head-in-the-clouds stuff, but it sure is dreamy.” —NPR

“... the most beautiful thing I’ve heard in my life.” —The Boston Globe

Wild Irish for a swoon-worthySt. Patrick’s Day.

$10 student / $16 advance / $22 day of / $26 preferred

Wild Irish for a swoon-worthy

Tuesday, March 17, 8pm Club B-10 / $5 member / $8 student / $12 advance / $18 day of / $24 preferred

Tickets: massmoca.org / 413.662.211187 Marshall Street, North Adams, Mass.

KAT EDMONSONLive Music

LIAM Ó MAONLAÍ

Wild Irish for a swoon-worthyWild Irish for a swoon-worthySt. Patrick’s Day.

MAONLA MAONLAÍLive Music

RPS to host annual Little Sibs Weekend for on-campus residentsResidential Program Services (RPS) is

pleased to announce that registration for the 7th annual Little Sibs Weekend has started and will run until Friday, March 13th. � is weekend is a special event for on-campus residents and their siblings (ages 8 to 17). In order to register, please bring a completed Overnight Guest Pass and $10 to RPS in Townhouse #89.RPS has teamed up with Intramurals,

the Women’s Center, Student Activities Council (SAC) and the three Residence Area Advisory Boards to create a jammed packed weekend of events. Activities will include games, cra s, movies, a pool party and laser tag!For more information, please contact

Devon O’Dowd, Special Projects Co-ordinator for RPS, at 413-662-5142 or devon.o’dowd@mcla.edu.

To the Editor:

I am writing you today to express my thoughts and feelings about MCLA’s food service. � e quality of the food needs to be improved. Why should students pay about $2,000 for a meal plan for food that is, in my opinion, not that good?� e U.S. is full of processed foods that

have short - and long - term e� ects on a person’s overall health. With knowing that, you can assume the food is not good for us at all. One solution can be providing good quality food, food that is made from scratch using only fresh ingredients with-out raising the price for students.With the change comes the problem of

healthy choices. � e food providers can still make all the same food for everyone, but they can reduce the salt, and other additives that might be troublesome for some students. � is allows the students to have power over the choices they make when choosing to eat healthy, especially

for someone who has high blood pressure and other conditions. � e food needs to be fresh and tasty; otherwise, the students will just feel like they are being underserved by the school.� e key is � nding a provider that meets

your every need at an a� ordable price, and that is what you will not � nd here at MCLA. � e food provider does not meet every student’s wants and needs. In my opinion, and many other students I have talked to, agreed that the food provider ei-ther needs to improve the quality of their food, or we look for a new food provider that is willing to provide good food with-out the hassle of price increases. � ank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Portia HoodBerkshire TowersClass of 2016

New food provider wanted to � t student’s needs

MCLA’s 13th Annual Undergraduate Re-search Conference (URC) will be held on campus � ursday, April 23, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.� e 2015 Keynote Luncheon Address

Speaker will be MCLA Alumna, Alicia Gir-genti, Ph.D. � e annual Undergraduate Research

Conference (URC) recognizes our stu-dents for their hard work and dedication in producing outstanding academic and cre-ative projects. We de� ne “research” very broadly, and the conference is open to par-ticipation from all disciplines. Any student doing independent research in the natural and social sciences or the humanities, or original creative work, is invited to partici-pate in this event. Students will present papers in a 15-min-

ute talk or display their work as posters and be available for discussion with members of the campus and local community. � e URC program also includes special ses-sions centered on a speci� c topic or theme and performances. All of the student work presented is part of a process involving stu-dents working closely with a faculty spon-sor from their area of study or artistic ac-tivity.� e URC is a campus-wide event. Classes

are not held during Undergraduate Re-search Conference day so that all students and faculty may attend and participate. � e conference’s success depends upon the wide participation by student present-

ers and an audience of student peers and faculty.� e full program, including the on-cam-

pus location and time for each session will be announced at a later date. Light refresh-ments will be served, and all presenters and faculty sponsors will be invited to attend lunch and the keynote address by MCLA alumna Dr. Alicia Girgenti, Assistant Pro-fessor of Criminology at Merrimack Col-lege.� e deadline for registering to partici-

pate as a presenter for this year’s URC is MARCH 25, 2015, using the Undergradu-ate Research Conference website:h t t p : / / w w w. m c l a . e d u / A c a d e m -

i c s / u n d e r g r a d u a t e r e s e a r c h /conferenceregistrat ion/2015-URC-Registration/2015-undergraduate-res-earch-registrationMore information and guidelines for sub-

missions are posted on the Conference website:http://www.mcla.edu/urcStudent members of Undergraduate Re-

search Advisory Board:Bentley Munsell: Biology and PsychologyDeven Philbrick: English/Communica-

tions and PhilosophyElizabeth Pitro� : BiologyDr. Ann Billetz, Director of Undergradu-

ate ResearchDr. Graziana Ramsden, Associate Direc-

tor of Undergraduate Research

Deadline to register for Undergraduate Research Conference is approaching

Thursday, march 12, 2015 Photo Essay Beacon.MCLA.edu12

Father Kelleher (Jake Bonenfant) has a moment to himself.

Daniel (Marcus Neverson) tries to excplain himself while Elizabeth and Inspectore Levine look on.

Inspector Levine (Breana Gladu) reassures Elizabeth Corban (Julianne Cimaomo).

Photos by Agnella Gross

Sidney (Brittany Nicholson) talks to a mounted deer.

Catch Me If You Can

The show took to the stage Wedesday through Saturday last week. It told the tale of Daniel Corban, his missing wife, and the steps taken to find out what really happened to her.

Elizabeth Corban reflects on the sofa.