NEWSOct. 21, 2011 The Critic, Page 8

Morgan Forester

Critic Staff

Have you ever noticed a rancidsmell on the first floor of Vail? Maybeyou were heading down to get yourmail or dj-ing at the radio stationwhen you came across the over-pow-ering scent of decay.

The smell comes from the eleva-tor, more specifically it comes fromthe Hydraulic Fluid used to keep theelevator running smoothly. The schoolhas opted to use vegetable oil insteadof traditional oil in efforts to be moreenviornmentally friendly.

According to Head of Mainte-nance, Tom Archer, the smell occurs

when the oil leaks past seals in the Hy-draulic System.

“The fact that we use vegetableoil does make the smell more likely.This happens because the vegetable[oil] starts decomposing when ex-posed to the atmosphere,” saysArcher.

Those working in the mailroomare painfully aware of every time the

Hydraulic Fluid has leaked. RhondaTrucott can only find one word to de-scribe it: “nasty.”

“Eventually you get used to thesmell,” says Trucott, “but any time youhave to leave and come back it hitsyou all over again.”

According to Archer, the mainte-nance team does not cut any cornerswhen it comes to the odor from the el-evator. Rather than cover the smellwith a deodorizer, the team does athorough clean.

“The deodorizer is used only

when clean up occurs, we never leave

oil in the pit and apply deodorizer to

solve smell issues,” says Archer.

Following clean-up, all of the oils

taken from the Hydraulic System are

then recycled, something that is eas-

ier to do being that the oils are veg-

etable based.

Perhaps cleaning out the Hy-

draulic System more often would solve

the smell problem, but for now it is a

once in a while downside to an organic

system that reduces the school’s

waste.

Peter NuteNews Editor

Lyndon State College’s webmaster,Takuya Shimamura studied martial artswhile going to college in Japan and is athird degree black belt.

Shimamura occasionally travels toBoston to continue his study in ShorinjiKempo, a style of karate.

“There isn’t much opportunity forthat around here, which is why I wasgoing to Boston.”

When asked if he was looking forcompetition around the college, Shima-mura laughed, encouraging others to pickit up and learn some new skills.

Shimamura was born and raised inTokyo, Japan. After graduating from col-lege he moved to the United States at theage of 23, and studied exercise science atKeene State College in New Hampshire,eventually obtaining a degree. The differ-ence in how colleges are run in Americaand Japan was a difficult thing for him tograsp initially.

“Getting into college in Japan is re-

ally tough. You have to study like two orthree years just for the testing to get ac-cepted. After you get in things are easy.

When I started going to college here, Iwas surprised by how many papers I hadto do, how hard I had to work.”

Shimamura fell into the role of web-master at LSC after taking a computer

class at Keene. As he continues to de-velop LSC’s website, his job continues todevelop and grow as well.

“I took a computer class at Keene,and I liked it, but it was kind of boring. Istarted studying it myself on the side.The job (at LSC) started as maintainingthe website; it grew into developing thewebsite itself. For the past four or fiveyears I’ve been a part of the marketingstrategy here at the college, sending outemail campaigns and monitoring the col-lege’s Facebook page. I also work on de-veloping services for current students andprospective students.”

One of the appealing things aboutAmerica to Shimamura is the opportu-nity for work. Jumping from one careerto another in Japan is a difficult thing todo.

“In Japan, after you pass age thirty orso switching a job is very hard. Once youget in a company, people tend to be therefor a long time. When I lived in Japan, Ihad to put my date of birth on my resumeso the employer could search by age. Thiswas legal when I lived in Japan, it isn’t

now. But some (companies) still have asense of when you pass age 35, the com-pany just won’t hire you. But here, thereare far more opportunities.”

Cultural differences can make it dif-ficult for Japanese people to integrateinto American society. This was not thecase for Shimamura. “I think some Japan-ese people get depressed because of thecultural difference. The people are dif-ferent, the food is different, but I didn’treally have any cultural shock when Icame to America.”

Shimamura is married and has twodaughters, ages three and five, who go toschool in town. He enjoys reading non-fiction books on his Kindle, listening tomusic, and taking walks. He can often befound at the McDonald’s in town on hiscomputer. “McDonald’s has Wi-fi,” hesaid. “I need noise. I can’t work in a quietstation. When I go to McDonald’s, Iwork faster. A lot of different people walkin, and it gives me the chance to do somepeople watching.”

Photo by Sierra Willenburg

Shimamura works at his desk.

----- CHICKENS VS. MONKEYS ----a c o m i c b y Z e k e G . H e c t o r

“Eventually you getused to the smell,” - Rhonda Trucott

Black Belt Web Sensai at Lyndon

Smelly Elevator Leaks Vegetable Oil