Th u r s day, A p r i l 2 5 , 2 0 1 3

Student Newspaper of Massachusetts College

of Liberal Arts

North Adams, Mass.

For more content,visit online at:

Beacon.mcla.edu

Volume 78 ◆ Issue 12

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Students display work at URC

Students display their work at the URC

News - Page 3

Sports - Page 8

Softball on winning streak

‘Agamemnon’ shines in Venable

The softball team is currently on a 4 game streak

Theater Lab production proves be a unique

audio/visual experience

Arts & Entertainment - Page 6

News 2-5Arts & Entertainment 6-7Sports 8News 9Opinion 10Fun & Games 11Photo Essay 12

Photo by Jack Guerino/Beacon StaffStudents dance to music played throughout the event in the Campus Center. It had been two years since Relay for Life was held on campus.

SGA urges fuel divestment

SGA President Jason Brown and Treasurer James Wetzel re-cently encouraged the Endow-ment and Trust Committee to di-vest from fossil fuels in order for the College to utilize green energy as much as possible.

Brown and Wetzel provided a PowerPoint presentation and exemplified green energy efforts already established on campus such as the bike share program, utilizing LED lighting and energy efficiency, recycling initiatives on campus, and the recent addition of the BRTA bus partnership with Williams College. The bus part-nership will not only allow MCLA students to visit Williamstown and downtown North Adams, but will also offer the opportunity for Williams College students to visit North Adams.

The duo elaborated on the growth of environmental efforts on campus, such as the increase in waste-reduction awareness with campus dining, environ-mental science earning their own independent department, and the community garden located next to the Smith House.

Wetzel noted that divesting from fossil fuels is an opportunity the College should try to be a part of.

“It’s really about us acknowl-edging and changing what we want to see in future years,” he said.

Brown also noted that as an environmental science major, he

believes divestment would give MCLA an opportunity to take a lead in environmental initiatives.

“I would be very excited to see MCLA be a leader as we move forward in this,” he said.

Wetzel added that ultimately, money is not a driving force in their efforts and hopes.

“It’s the statement we want to make, not the amount of money we want to take out of it,” he said.

Alumni George Smith noted that divesting will certainly take effort on the committee’s end.

“We’d have to sell some of the investments we have now,” he said. “We’re invested in mutual funds and bonds. The investment with fossil fuels is indirect,” he said.

Chief Advancement Officer Marianne Drake also noted that the foundation’s small size could make divesting a slightly compli-cated matter.

“Determining a way to divest from fossil fuels in a prudent mat-ter is complex for a small orga-nization like the MCLA founda-tion,” she said. “Large universities with significantly bigger endow-ments invest directly in stocks, so it is easy for them to sell those stocks or not purchase a signifi-cantly bigger fuel stock.”

She did note however, that they will look at the process of divest-ing closely.

“The endowment and Trust Committee members will be care-fully reviewing the investments,”

DIVESTMENT, continued on page 4

College raises money for cancer research

The College hosted a Relay for Life Friday night in order to raise money for cancer research and promote cancer awareness.

Students and members of the community walked laps around the Campus Center gymnasium from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.

“I think it’s a really good turn-out, and I’ve never been to a Re-lay for Life before, so this is my first one, and it seems really fun,” sophomore Gregory Wilson said. “I really like how together every-one is; there are people sleeping over and everyone is having fun. It seems like a really good time.”

Walkers made their laps to a constant stream of music pro-vided by a DJ. Performances and activities were scheduled

throughout the night. Allegrettos and Yorick performed as well as Dance Company.

Anika Pommers-Dear said she was most excited about the danc-ing that took place throughout the event.

“I’m just here supporting this whole effort,” Pommers-Dear said. “I think the turnout is great, and it’s pretty cool especially if you think about the size of the school.”

Colleges Against Cancer orga-nized the event.

“I think this says a lot about our campus community,” Dan-iel Anderson, president of Col-leges Against Cancer, said. “It says that we can look beyond what we could have done for fun on a

CANCER,continued on page 3

By Jack GuerinoStaff Writer

By Ryan FlynnSenior News Editor

The College hosted a forum outlining pro-posed renovations to the Conte middle school in North Adams on Wednesday April 17.

The forum precedes an April 30 vote held for citizens to approve the city’s portion of the cost of the project. Opposition to the Conte project includes people who preferred other proposed renovations, as well as those who think the Conte renovation won’t address all the issues it should. Others are worried about the $6.5 million of the project the city is finan-cially responsible for.

“While some think we cannot afford to take this project on, I would argue we needed to find a way and we have,” North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright said in his preamble.

Murdock Hall set the scene for the event, renovated itself in 2006 at the cost of $8.6 mil-lion, according to the official website of the ex-ecutive office for administration and finance. The forum was hosted by MCLA’s President Mary Grant alongside Alcombright, and it included several speakers to explain details about the project.

The mayor expressed his hope the forum

would “concisely present the facts and avoid misinformation” related to the Conte renova-tion.

The proposed renovations to the school re-quire North Adams to pay $6.5 million, or 20 percent of the costs of the project. The Mas-sachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is footing the bill for the other $23.2 million,

or 80 percent of the project – 80 percent is the highest reimbursement rate the MSBA gives and the $23.2 million is “the single larg-est amount of money ever awarded to North Adams by the commonwealth, Alcombright

CONTE, continued on page 4

By Andrew HodgsonStaff Writer

Conte renovations: both sides meet at forum for discussion of elementary school project

Photo by Jess Gamari/Beacon StaffNorth Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright listens while North Adams Public Schools Superintendent James E. Montepare speaks at the forum last Wednesday.

Thursday, April 25, 2013 News Beacon.mcla.edu2

Weekend Weather 4/25 - 4/28Thursday, April 25

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Saturday, April 27

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Public Safety Logs

SGA executive board, senators sworn in

The Student Government As-sociation’s (SGA) newly elected executive board and senators were officially sworn in at Mon-day night’s meeting.

“I look forward to the great things that will be happening for the organization in the future,” Jason Brown said before admin-istering the oath of office and of-ficially swearing in newly elected SGA President Jake Powers.

Powers ran unopposed on a ticket with Executive Vice Presi-dent Brendan Peltier and Coor-dinating Vice President Hannah Sterrs. After swearing in two oth-er members of his cabinet – Alex-andra Kadell as parliamentarian and Kelley Bryant as treasurer – Powers also swore in the newly elected senators that were pres-ent. The senate chair and senate secretary positions will be elected at the first meeting of the fall se-mester.

The outgoing SGA members wished the new executive cabi-net and senate luck and reflected upon the past year of the SGA.

“It’s been a privilege to work with all of you this year,” Brown

said. “I truly appreciate the work of my cabinet and the work of the senate.”

Constitutions

The senate unanimously ap-proved the revisions to the SGA constitution and by-laws pre-sented by former Parliamentar-ian Brycen Waters at the April 1 meeting, but not without some debate over a clause pertaining to the student trustee position.

At the April 15 meeting the senate voted to approve an amendment allowing the student trustee to hold a position on the senate, but this decision was ve-toed by Brown. A vote to over-turn the veto was postponed until Monday, but ultimately failed.

The senate then approved an amendment strictly prohibiting such a situation. The approved amendment reads: “The student trustee cannot be a member of the SGA student senate or SGA executive board.”

The senate also voted to ap-prove the constitutions of two newly formed clubs: the Artist Association and Fashion Student Organization.

By Chris GoodellStaff Writer

Powers: business, balance, and leadershipA wearer of many hats on

campus, Jake Powers enjoys staying busy.

Most recently, Powers was elected president of Student Government Association (SGA) for the 2013-2014 school year. Starting his freshman year as class treasurer, Powers quickly noticed himself taking on responsibilities beyond his position, which influenced him to run for class of 2014 president in his sophomore year. He was elected and has held that position since.

Powers has also been a peer advisor, an orientation leader, an academic resource assistant, a residential area security monitor (RASM), SGA’s senator, SGA’s secretary, SGA’s public relations chair, and Advisory Board’s secretary.

“I don’t really have a lot of free time. I’m the kind of person that likes to be constantly busy,” Powers said. “Even when I go on vacation I’m like, ‘oh gosh I need to do something.”

Coming from California, Powers ran for vice president of his class during his junior year of high school. He had arrived at Weymouth High School only two weeks prior. Always seeing his older sisters hold leadership roles, Powers was ready to dive in and become a leader.

“I didn’t end up winning, but I was happy I did it, because it ended up leading to a variety of leadership roles,” he said.

During his senior year, Powers was co-president of his high school’s chapter of Rotary Interact, a community service club. He helped lead a group of young people to Central America to teach kids English and hygiene.

“I like being involved. I like feeling like I can make a difference,” he said.

Powers was also secretary of his high school’s Red Cross club, and volunteered at local hospitals.

Power’s older sisters are to thank for his interest and success in leadership.

“I always saw my sisters in leadership roles in sports. I would see them doing all these good

things, being team captains and whatnot. I wanted that feeling of being a part of something and being a leader,” Powers said.

Powers is a business major with a concentration in sports and events management. He plans on focusing on any jobs with a management aspect. Interested in the healthcare field and the business aspect that comes with it, he said he would enjoy managing nurses, hospitals or ERs.

“I like fast-paced environments and I like challenges being thrown at me. I wouldn’t mind working long hours; I already do that,” he said.

Powers expressed what he believed was his greatest accomplishments have been thus far.

“Finding out who I am. Every one comes into college not really knowing who they are; you have a blank slate,” Powers said. “Also, the friendships I’ve made, and just everything you go through in college. It all helps shape who you eventually become. That’s what I think education really is; it’s preparing you for the world.”

Powers admits that academics are important, but he makes it clear that communication and social skills are equally as significant.

“Personally, I’ve learned so much more outside of the classroom, being a part of all these organizations, learning more about who I am and how I work with other people. That’s certainly what the real world is,” Powers said.

By Jaimee MelvinSpecial to the Beacon

Photo by Kacie Clark/Beacon StaffPowers takes leadership posi-tions in many campus clubs.

SGA President/Executive Vice President/Coordinating Vice President

263 - Jake Powers / Brendan Peltier / Hannah SterrsStudent Trustee

80 – Stephan Rochefort 208 – Alyson StolzSenate At Large

172 - Lucas G. McDiarmid 179 - Hannah McClearnen170 - Aloysius Street 168 - Stephan Rochefort

Athlete Seat264 - Alyson Stolz

Greek Seat256 - Taylor Krowitz

Commuter Seat249 - Paul Mclatdey

Sophomore Seat57 - Ama Adwetewa-Badu 49 – Christopher Cozzaglio

Junior Seat47 - Osakpolo Igiede 35 – Vanessa Jordan 38 – Danielle Bloh

Senior Seat54 – Marie-Ange Anodjo 50 – Joseph Goncalves

Senior President21 – Sharron Smith 49 – Jake Powers

Senior Vice-President15 - Joseph Goncalves 53 - Adam Tobin

Senior Treasurer64 - Marie-Ange Anodjo

Senior Secretary66 - Brianna KingJunior President

69 – Elizabeth DoughtyJunior Vice-President70 – Osakpolo Igiede

Junior Treasurer66 – Evan Pirnie

Sophomore President34 – Nick Hernigle 14 – Arkeem Samuel 37 – Kelsey McGonigle

Sunday, April 14

2:44 a.m. - Public Safety responded to an alarm in the Flagg Townhouses. The alarm was extinguished.

Monday April 15

9:32 a.m. - Public Safety responded to a vandalism incident in the Center for Science and Innovation. A report was filed. 2: 43 p.m. - Public Safety responded to a motor vehicle accident near Venable Hall. A report was filed.

Tuesday, April 16

11:00 p.m. - Public Safety responded to a drug offense in Hoosac Hall. The situation was completed.

Wednesday, April 17 12:25 p.m. - Public Safety responded to an investigation in the Amsler Campus Center.No further action was required.

Thursday, April 18 3:43 p.m. - Public Safety responded to a motor vehicle accident near Murdock Hall. The situation was investigated.

Friday, April 19

8:59 a.m. - Public Safety investigated information reguarding to vandalism in the Center for Science and Innovation.

Saturday, April 20

2:34 a.m. - Public Safety responded to a medical call for a Hoosac Hall resident. The subject was transported to local hospital.

4:12 p.m. Public Safety responded to amedical call at Hoosac Hall. No further action was required.

Thursday, April 25, 2013 News 3Beacon.mcla.edu

Turnout for URC one of ‘largest’

Posters, presentations, and per-formances took over the campus during the Undergraduate Re-search Conference (URC).

Thursday April 18, the hard work every presenter had put into their research finally came to frui-tion as classes were cancelled and students filled classrooms to learn a lesson or two.

“Some of the paper presenta-tions were standing room only,” Psychology Professor Maria Bar-tini said.

According to Bartini, this year’s conference had one of the largest turnouts she had seen, especially during the keynote speaker.

This URC’s speaker was MCLA Alumni Evan Herrmann. Her-rmann graduated in 2007, at-tended a master’s program at Uni-versity of Massachusetts Amherst, and is currently continuing his re-search in behavioral pharmacol-ogy at University of Vermont.

“This place kind of feels like home,” Herrmann said about the College.

Herrmann credited his inter-est in behavioral pharmacology to classes taught by Psychology Pro-fessor Thomas Byrne.

He presented research he had

done throughout the years, saying how a lot of it never produced any substantial data, but that it was worth every minute.

“I basically spent a year getting my feet wet, learning more about the research process,” he said.

Being an alumnus of the Col-lege and having entered gradu-ate school, Herrmann presented tips on what to do once students graduate from MCLA for the re-mainder of his time.

“Kick in the door if you need to,” he said, referring to finding a research position in a graduate school. “These jobs rarely present themselves to you.”

He added that undergraduate students should study math, sci-ence, practice writing, and get

some research experience ahead of time, just like the students cur-rently presenting.

The day began with poster pre-sentations, and continued with special sessions, paper presenta-tions, and the interdisciplinary research presentations.

Senior Corinne Blake present-ed at the 2 p.m. session, which included other presentations on politics, language, astronomy, history and terrorism. Blake pre-sented “What is Feminism?” with fellow senior Brianna Vear.

She researched attitudes toward feminism on campus. She recent-ly presented the same research at the National Conference on Un-dergraduate Research (NCUR).

“At the national conference all of the sessions followed a general theme. The session that we pre-sented at all of the presentations had to do with gender issues,” Blake said. “Whereas here, since it’s a smaller conference, there’s not as many in one theme, so it’s done in more of an interdisciplin-ary setup.”

Blake noted some of the ben-efits of presenting only to MCLA students as opposed to presenting on a national level.

“Obviously the other one’s a lot bigger, so one of the problems with the national one is that not all of the presenters were there,” she said. “Some of the sessions were cut short because there were a lot of weather issues throughout the country.”

She was very happy with the turnout, and stated that she was pleased with the audience’s inter-est in the subject.

Sophomore Ellen Farrell at-tended the conference as a spec-tator and felt inspired by the pre-sentations.

“I thought that all of the pre-sentations that I saw were really well done,” Farrell said. “I really respect and admire the people who took the initiative and put

the hard work into making the event great.”

One of her favorite presenta-tions involved the study of same-sex couples and adoption. She added that she felt inspired by everything she saw, and that she would one day like to present at the conference.

“I know it’s a lot of work, but I feel like it would be great to say that I can do this, too,” she said. “I look up to the people that did pre-sentations and I think that could be me someday.”

Students appeared to be in con-cordance that the URC is a very beneficial part of the College’s curriculum.

“I think it really shows the se-riousness of academics at MCLA and how people are really work-ing in their disciplines,” Farrell said.

By Nick ArenaManaging Editor

Classrooms relocate for renovations

The 13 classrooms and two lec-ture halls closing during Bowman Hall renovations will be spread among Murdock Hall, the Cen-ter for Science and Innovation, Church Street Center, and Ven-able, a logistical change the Col-lege has been addressing for years, according to Jim Stakenas, vice president of administration and finance.

Stakenas said the new locations will include a 72-seat room in the new Center for Science and In-novation, an attempt to make up for the Bowman 101 and 102 lec-ture halls. Classrooms in Church Street Center will see more use, and five of the labs in Venable Hall will be stripped and replaced with furniture and technologies once used in Bowman. In addi-tion, three conference rooms in Murdock Hall will also be con-verted to classrooms.

Stakenas said this is one more step in the renovation of the Col-lege.

“This has been in the works for over three years, and I would like to apologize to anyone incon-venienced by this. However, the Bowman renovation is going to be well worth waiting for,” Stak-enas said.

Other than dealing with the new allocation of classrooms, the College has also had to work on scheduling for all these class-rooms. According to the fall 2013 course schedule, there are 729 classes offered during the fall se-mester, including classes in seven different buildings along with off-campus and online courses.

Murdock Hall will see the larg-est distribution, 34 percent of classes, to one building. The ad-ministration has been working closely with department heads and faculty to make sure every class has a room.

According to David Eve, busi-ness administration department chairperson, the biggest problem with this issue has been making schedules that are outside profes-sors’ normal schedules.

“People are used to their sched-ules; this is just a shake up,” Eve said. “This is almost like what happened with the Murdock ren-ovation. Bowman should be the same.”

The Bowman renovation pro-cess will start after the Center of Science and Innovation is fin-ished, and all classroom modifi-cations will be completed during the summer.

“I would like to remind folks that [the renovation] is only for one year and that by fall of 2014 Bowman will be back online,” Stakenas said.

By Matthew TedescoSpecial to the Beacon

normal Friday night and be here instead and that beating cancer is something more important.”

Anderson added that the Col-lege hasn’t hosted a relay since spring 2011.

Anderson explained that all the money raised goes to the American Cancer Society (ACS) for research.

“Recently the ACS made a discovery that they may have found a literal cure that could destroy cancer cells, and that’s what these funds go towards,” Anderson said. “With govern-ment funds being cut, it’s private funding that helps directly fight cancer the most.”

Anderson said that the relay takes a lot of planning before the actual event, and as it gets closer more work is involved.

“The nitty gritty stuff starts about four months before the event, and we really start to push people to sign up and cre-ate their teams when they come back from winter break,” Ander-son said. “I guess it’s a progres-sive thing, but the busiest month is the whole month to two be-fore.”

Anderson explained that much of the event’s success is based on making connections and building relationships with others interested in helping.

“It took a while, but in the past few weeks we have had so many people that were outside

of the club just approach us and ask what they could do to help. The National Residence Hall Honorary are taking care of the grilling and the food; they have taken care of that before for us, which is great,” Anderson said. “The DJ actually volunteered his time, and I believe he does it because he lost his grandmother to cancer, so he does it to give back.”

Anderson believes that the best way to continue the relay in coming years is to get more stu-dents involved.

“What we really want to try is to get new members because we are mostly seniors graduat-ing this year,” Anderson said. “What we really want to drive home with people is that, if you

want relay to come back next year, it’s a student driven thing. It’s students that make this hap-pen exclusively and they need to join Colleges Against Cancer and come next year and work to bring relay back.”

Anderson said that cancer touches everybody, and so many people look to get involved in order to help beat it.

“I personally lost my mom a year ago to cancer; everybody is touched by cancer somehow,” Anderson said. We even have a few people who join the Colleg-es Against Cancer who have not had cancer affect anyone in their family, but they still want to do something about it so there are a million different reasons why people get involved.”

College fights cancer with fundraiser

Photo by Kacie Clark/Beacon StaffJunior Kali Yomota-Kurland, left, and senior Skyla Seamans, right, look through the poster exhibit.

CANCER, continued from page 1

Photo by Kacie Clark/Beacon StaffOn the morning of the conference, Venable Gym was converted into an information expo for students to showcase their work.

Photo by Kacie Clark/Beacon StaffKeynote speaker and alumnus Evan Herrmann, 07’ gives a talk on his research and getting into graduate school.

Thursday, April 25, 2013 News Beacon.mcla.edu4

added. He also assured the crowd that the project will fit into the current budget without the need for tax overrides.

Superintendent James Monte-pare continued by talking about the needs of the district the project will help alleviate, ad-dressing more room for special education and helping to stem over-crowding in the current two k-12 schools. The new Con-te elementary school is planned to begin renovations in 2014 and be open for the 2015 aca-demic year, taking in 310 stu-dents from Sullivan, if the vote passes.

Mel Overmoyer, a project op-erations manager for Strategic Building Solutions presented the crowd with the process of coming to decide on this plan. “We looked at many options,” he reiterated the words of most of the guests. Other plans included one that proposed a new school at Greylock, which would give the district three schools, but was far too expensive. This proj-ect has another distinct advan-

tage over renovating Sullivan in, “it can be done without vacating kids from school,” Overmoyer said.

Overmoyer passed the mic to Kristian Whitsett, an associate architect at Margo Jones, who explained the specific renova-tions of the physical building and the goals of many of them. Whitsett explained how the

team considered safety concerns for parents, as well as the hur-dles they faced because of the structures limitations as well as financial concerns.

Montepare described the most recent events in the time-line of the project. “On Febru-ary 5 the city council approved a $29.7 million bonding order for renovating Conte school,” he

said. His appeal was an emotion-al one, calling himself a “digital immigrant,” and stressed the need for technology upgrades to keep the area’s education at the cutting edge of an ever-chang-ing world.

After all the speakers had gone, the mayor interjected a political note before the ques-tion and answer (Q&A) session.

“I am convinced that this is the right decision, after several years of significant research and analysis by a host of qualified people and committees, if our community votes no it will set us back in ways we cannot yet imagine.” With that, the Q&A began, and the speakers moved to the defensive.

Concerned parents and city councilmen voiced concerns about the project. City coun-cilman John Barrett III voiced concern that the design didn’t relieve the district’s over-crowd-ing enough. Overmoyer insisted that the project will address “about 50 percent” of the over-crowding.

Another concern was that the project hadn’t taken into ac-count “contingency” spending that is spending for unforeseen items. Overmoyer assured the crowd that “the 29 million dollar figure is all inclusive,” and the project had about $3 million for contingencies, which is required to be in the plans submitted to the MSBA.

Currently, the building sits unused with Sullivan and Grey-lock servicing all students K-7.

CONTE, continued from page 1

Forum discusses Conte renovations

fully reviewing the investments,” she said.

While it was acknowledged that divest-ment could ultimately result in a small loss of the number of scholarships, Brown not-ed that students at a recent SGA meeting were okay with this because they said they valued the long-term effects of divestment.

Drake stated that she agreed with Wetzel and Brown’s presentation and also that the committee appreciates the students’ pas-sion for green energy.

“The Endowment and Trust Committee members applaud the MCLA students for their thoughtful advocacy regarding green energy,” she said.

The presentation took place in the Ad-vancement Center.

About 400 students, faculty and staff were evacuated from several campus buildings by Public Safety officers Thursday, April 18 after a natural gas leak was reported in the new science building under construction.

The gas leak caused no damage and after the 1:05 p.m. evacuation, everyone was allowed to return to the buildings by 2 p.m., according to James Stakenas, vice president of administration and finance.

The evacuation took place during the college’s Undergraduate Research Conference, but no URC activities were interrupted.

“I personally want to thank students for their cooperation and faculty and staff for their cooperation,” he said. “The evacuation went extremely well and everyone was safe.”

The gas leak was accidentally caused by a company working on behalf of the MassBroadband Initiative. The company was burying a conduit when it struck a gas line that once connected to a house

that is no longer there, Stakenas said.“There is a company called Dig Safe

and Dig Safe is supposed to come and determine where items are underground,” said Stakenas.

Buildings evacuated by Public Safety included Porter Street offices, Mark Hopkins, Freel Library, Blackinton House, and Berkshire Towers, as well as the Boardman Block and residences in the immediate area.

The North Adams Police and Fire Departments responded, and Berkshire Gas Co. shut off the gas line.

By Ryan FlynnSenior News Editor

Buildings evacuated during URCDIVESTMENT, continued from page 1

Students urge to end investments

Photos by Jess Gamari/Beacon StaffFrom left, North Adams Superintendent James Montepare, project operations manager for Strategic Building Solutions Mel Overmoyer, North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright, and Margo Jones associate architect Kristian Whitsett spoke to a full house on April 17.

from

Thursday, April 25, 2013 News beacon.mcla.edu 5

The North Adams Chamber of Commerce and the City of North Adams have announced the 21st Annual Community Day of Service will take place on Saturday, April 27. Registration will begin in the lower level of Church Street Center at 9:30 a.m., followed by an official welcome and assignments to work teams and projects.

For more than 20 years the College and the local community have come together to clean-up and improve our community. The scope and type of projects have evolved over the years, as well as a significant increase in the number of people who come out for the day to make North Adams a better place to live.

In an effort to grow the Day of Service, volunteers will work closely with Green Living seminars in support of the Eagle Street Rising project, which will take place alongside the Day of Service. Volunteers also will return to Hillside Cemetery to continue restoration work there.

Student volunteers will join individual community volunteers, local leaders, and civic organizations such as Art About Town; YMCA; Drury High School students; Northern Berkshire Community Coalition; Price Chopper; Big Y; Roger Eurbin and the Hillside Cemetery project; Mayor Richard Alcombright; the College’s faculty and staff; etc.

Participants end their day in downtown North Adams. In conjunction with Day of Service, the College’s Green Living seminar series is undertaking Eagle Street Rising, a project to help rejuvenate the Eagle Street business district. The day will end with lunch on Eagle Street and the vision of a vibrant Eagle Street.

To sign up to volunteer contact Spencer Moser at spencer.moser@mcla.edu or 413-662-5251. To share project ideas, contact Glenn Maloney at glenn@northadamschamber.com. Walk-ins are welcome.

Day of community service to take place Saturday

On the bottom floor of Bowman Hall, there is a small, closet-like room, full of containers of stop bath and developer, as well as enlargers, dozens of trays, tongs, and tiny bottles of photo-flo.

By next semester, these instruments of another age will have found another home; the darkroom will not be replaced in the redevelopment of Bowman.

“The darkroom was here when I attended the college,” English/Communications Professor, and alumnus, Gillian Jones said. “It’s actually where I learned to develop film.”

A 1991 graduate, Jones has been teaching students the art of film photography in that same

darkroom since 2001.With the closing of the

darkroom, Jones will continue to teach English 205, “Intro to Black and White Photography,” in the fall, but the students will be learning exclusively digital techniques.

There will still be a darkroom on campus after Bowman closes; the Photo Club has one in the Campus Center.

“There will still be a place for students to develop film,” Jones said. “There just won’t be any instruction to go along with it.”

The cost of transporting and handling of the chemicals may be the main reason the darkroom is not being replaced, according to Jones. “We’re a green darkroom, so none of the chemicals go down the drain. The school pays

for the transport and disposal of the chemicals. The chemicals themselves cost hundreds of dollars every semester.”

Combined with the cost of the chemicals is the fact that much of the darkroom equipment would need to be updated in a renovation.

“The equipment is outdated, it would need newer and better e q u i p m e n t ,” Jones said.

A c c o r d i n g to Jones, at least one of the projectors is broken.

These old pieces of e q u i p m e n t signify a bigger

picture: The move to digital seems like an inevitable step, when according to projections from the Consumer Electronics Association, 85 percent of American households will own a digital camera by the end of this year, and the unit price of such cameras has consistently decreased over the last decade.

Coupled with increased availability of higher end digital cameras, 46 percent of Americans have a smartphone, which are almost universally equipped with cameras ranging from 5 to 41 megapixels, according to Huffington Post’s 2012 article by Catherine New, and VentureBeat.com.

Despite the cultural trends, if there was a spiritual home of film photography, it would be college campuses, Jones said “Just because an art form’s become obsolete, it’s not a reason to stop teaching it. Drawing is obsolete in a way, but we continue to teach it. I would have kept teaching it, if they’d asked me.”

Current students of the class have mixed feelings about the switch. Lynn Freda, 16’ didn’t know this was the last semester of the traditional class, but was pleased she was learning film

developing: “I’m glad we’re using the darkroom, it’s a cool thing to know how to do. Anybody can take photos with a digital camera, but this is the old school way.”

Gionna Nourse, 15’, agreed. “I think it’s important to learn how to make photos other ways, the way people used to do things,” she said. “It’s kind of a lost art. It was really cool.”

However, each of the students does see a benefit to making the switch to digital. “I’m glad they’re moving to digital, it’s a lot easier. I think it makes sense,” Nourse said.

Digital photography makes more sense in today’s job market, according to Freda. “I think it’s sort of a good thing, because then we’re getting the skills we need when we graduate. People aren’t going to ask if you can make film in the darkroom, they’re going to ask about your camera and computer.”

Jones has similarly accepted the change; she doesn’t shoot film herself anymore, unless it’s to demonstrate techniques to her class.

“It sad, but I’m okay with it,” Jones said. “It’s just not feasible anymore. I understand.”

By Kacie ClarkBeacon Staff

Photo by Kacie Clark/Beacon StaffPhotography instructor Gillian Jones places a black and white negative in the print enlarger.

...an end to the dark room

Going digital...

Photo by Kacie Clark/Beacon Staff

The black and white photog-raphy dark-room in Bowman Hall.

This Sunday April 28!

Thursday, April 25, 2013 Arts & Entertainment Beacon.mcla.edu6

By Shannen AdamitesA&E Editor

What constitutes a fan, anyway?

Over the summer, I went on an intense pop-punk binge. It was a good time at first; I appreciated the tightknit, local community, high energy, and sense of cama-raderie at shows. I enjoyed the upbeat and bouncy tunes that perfectly suited late night drives across the state, and how the lyr-ics suited my life at the time.

That was all, unfortunately, short lived.

For every great show I attend-ed, there was an awful experi-ence. I’ve seen opening bands booed off the stage and com-pletely disrespected, as well as some bands exuding so much arrogance that it detracted from their performance.

I noticed tension both in per-son and over the Internet regard-ing personal life choices, which somehow found their way into music. Straight-edge kids would ridicule and judge concert goers who drank and partied.

I’ve felt alienated in some cases, where if I didn’t know a band inside and out or was an “out-sider” to their local scene, I was deemed a “poser,” a term I asso-ciate with defensive eighth grad-ers. These people were well into their twenties.

I witnessed an awful case of venue disrespect, where a stage diver accidentally kicked one girl in the head. She collapsed into a seizure. The rest of the show was cut short. The venue’s rules explicitly stated that stage diving was not allowed.

I’m not saying all of this only happens in one particular “scene,” or even this extremely. It actually happens everywhere in various ways, and frankly, it needs to stop.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you have so-and-so’s dis-cography, seen them X number of times, and own X amount of merchandise. It doesn’t matter if you mosh and throw down, or prefer to stand off to the side. Personal life choices should not have any relation to enjoy-ing music, and no one should be mocked for them in the first place.

“Poser” is an awful term, and doesn’t make anybody sound anymore dedicated than the guy who just discovered a band. Peo-ple need to start somewhere.

Live music, no matter what genre, is for everyone to enjoy; it’s not an elite society. Stop the hate and start respecting com-munity. Help each other out. Have fun, branch out, keep an open mind, and get over it.

I don’t mean to lecture, but shows really should not be in-timidating for anyone.

“Agamemnon” rocks Venable Students present classic Greek tragedy with an alternative, glam-rock twist

The Fine and Performing Arts (FPA) Department brought sex, glamor, and heavy metal to Ven-able Theater last week. Audience members got their hand stamped outside before entering into the theatre-turned-concert-hall and experiencing the rock show that was ‘Agamemnon’.

An arena-like stage was built over the seats. Before the show began, actors walked around the stage and through the crowd dancing to rock music. They were wore aspects of punk rock fash-ion, with dark makeup and edgy hair to match.

Before the show began Assistant Director Jonathan Kinney en-couraged audience to participate in the action. Then, senior James Dunn (Chorus) welcomed audi-ence members to the show.

“Welcome you mother [exple-tive] to Agamemnon!” He shout-ed into the microphone. The au-dience and actors cheered and screamed in response.

Junior Joshua Lapierre (Aegist-hus/Watchman) shouted from the ceiling and audience members looked up to see him as an angry rock star shouting down at them from the rafters, sporting a spiked Mohawk.

Agamemnon relied heavily on audience participation.

When Jacqueline Coughlin (Clytemnestra) entered, she im-mediately captivated the audience with her diva rock star attitude. She asked an audience member

to hold her drink, and another member to hold her microphone as she sang.

After the performance Kinney was at a loss for words.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said, the smile never leaving his face.

Professor Standley was also ex-tremely pleased that the actors and audience were having so much fun.

Senior Tom Leidenfrost who played Agamemnon said he was challenged by playing such a hate-ful man.

“He is everything that I hate about men but it was fun to play and show people what I don’t like about him and get people to not like him too.” Leidenfrost said.

“I had such a great time,” Coughlin said as she pulled a pair of mardi gras panties out of her dress.

“I guess these are mine now,” she joked.

Coughlin said she channeled cabaret singer, Meow Meow and a little bit of Meatloaf during her performance.

“She has such amazing stage presence and I incorporated a lot of her movements in my per-formance,” she said about Meow Meow.

Devin Monroe and Kaylie Sweet were stunned by what they had just seen and were particular fans of Jacquelyn Gianetti as Cassan-dra.

“When I walked in I was twitch-ing and foaming at the mouth. It was fantastic!” Sweet said.

By Kaylie WarnerA&E Writer

Faculty presents original poetry

Photo by Kayla Degnan/Beacon StaffSenior James Dunn, juniors Joshua Lapierre and Erik Dabrowski hoist freshman Clarissa Henesbury into the air as they perform an intense, sacrifice scene in “Agamemnon.”

NASC grad to hold book signing Saturday

Faculty and students gath-ered Tuesday night in the El-dridge faculty lounge to listen to professors share their poetry.

Professors Annie Raskin, Jen Augur, Jeff McRae, Donald Washburn, and Ben Jacques all read from their original po-etry works and even working poems. Ben Jacques, who or-ganized the event, opened the night by thanking the students and faculty that came to listen and celebrate poetry, in honor of National Poetry month.

McRae started out the night, reading a poem that he read at his first faculty poetry read-ing at MCLA almost ten years ago. Raskin could not believe McRae had been a professor at MCLA for that long.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, with a smile, looking down at his poems.

Augur read a couple of po-

ems that she called, “Ocean po-ems.”

Ben Jacques read a lyric poem that he is currently try-ing to add to music too, which he wrote for his wife. He read another poem about his wife’s grandfather who was a carpen-ter and his life.

“His name was Pearl and he made many things,” he said.

Washburn specializes in son-nets and short poems.

“Don’t let your mind wander because the poem will be over before you know it,” he said, advising the audience.

Washburn touched on his retirement and how it has got him wondering about how much time he may have left. He read a poem that her wrote years before, to explain how he is feeling about this new junc-ture in his life.

“Poems are like flowers and we gather them even though we know they will wilt and die,” he said.

By Kaylie WarnerA&E Writer

Photo courtesy of FraternalBonds.comThomas Donahue, author of “Fraternal Bonds,” will be signing his book at The Pitcher’s Mound on April 27.

North Adams State College (NASC) graduate Thomas Dona-hue will a holding a book signing to promote his novel titled ‘Fra-ternal Bonds.’

The event is free and open to the public.

“Thomas Donahue was born in Boston, Mass and raised in the city’s West Roxbury neighbor-hood. His interests include fam-ily events, reading, writing, and Boston sports,” according to the novel’s website.

Donahue graduated from NASC in 1991 and published his novel in 2007.

The book signing will take place at The Pitcher’s Mound, lo-cated at 218 Ashland St., from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 27.

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Thursday, April 25, 2013 Arts & Entertainment Beacon.mcla.edu 7Skyla Seamans: advocating for passionSenior discusses

feminism, her love for academics, and her dedication to

community serviceBy Haley Costen

A&E WriterSenior Skyla Seamans has a pen-

sion for sticking with things she’s passionate about.

As the vice president of Stu-dents Taking Action for Gender Equality (STAGE)—the club she co-founded with senior Brianna Vear, and as treasurer of Pillars, the campus community service club for four years, Seamans has stayed consistent with her inter-ests.

She also contributed to The Beacon for three semesters as a staff writ-er, a columnist, and later the senior news editor, before taking up the position of office manager in the Susan B. Anthony Women’s Center, where she has worked since her freshman year.

Seamans was no stranger to school in-volvement upon coming to the College, as she was the valedictorian of her high school class in West Pawlet, Vermont, and part of everything from the business club to the French club; however, she quickly learned to concentrate on what was really important to her.

“Coming to MCLA, I honed in on what I was really interested in—which are femi-nist and gender issues, and I put all of my

time and energy into those,” she said.Seamans is an English-Communications

major with concentrations in journalism and professional writing. She also has a minor in women’s studies as well as child and family studies.

She credits her devotion to feminism and gender issues to her mother and her involvement with the Women’s Center.

“I was raised by a single mother and I think I just admired her strength and abil-ity to rise above the struggles that I faced as a child,” she said. “I think I always had feminist views but never identified as a feminist until I came here. And when I started working at the Women’s Center, I knew that this is what I want to do, and this is my passion.”

She and Vear originally created STAGE

because the Women’s Center was a place only students with work study could work, and the campus was lack-ing an actual club that allowed feminists and other like-minded stu-dents to hang out and organize activities on campus.

“We decided to make the club an extension of the Women’s Cen-ter, and then it just sort of turned into its own thing, even though both work on some of the same issues,” she said.

In order to manage her time, Seamans con-

tributes most of her free time to school work.

“I think academics are the most impor-tant. Then I put the rest of my time into Women’s Center and STAGE, and make time for friends after that,” she said. Add-ing “I think you just have to put your pri-orities in line in order to make time for everything.”

When she’s not doing school work, or in the Women’s Center, Seamans enjoys cooking vegetarian meals, reading, and hanging out with friends.

“I do have fun,” she insisted. “I enjoy school—it’s really fun for me. I’m one of those students that actually does school as a hobby,” she joked.

She will be attending graduate school in the fall at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Conn., where

she’ll be working toward her master’s in women’s studies. Her career focus is to fight for gender issues.

“I could see myself working in a com-munity women’s center, a campus wom-en’s center, working at a family crisis cen-ter, something that involves working with women and children.” Seamans, whose columns in The Beacon were on femi-nist issues, added “I could also see myself writing for a women’s issues magazine or a publication like Ms. Magazine, or some-thing like that.”

Seamans said that as long as her career involves activism and writing she’ll be happy.

Though she is excited and feels she is more than ready for graduation, Seamans looks back at her time at the College fond-ly.

“I think that a huge part of my devel-opment at MCLA was working at the Women’s Center, meeting such a strong group of friends that have similar views to me and have a passionate view of gender equality, and being able to start this club (STAGE) to further those interests and al-low other students to join us.”

Photo from Skyla Seamans Skyla works very hard to pursue her interests and academics.

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Seniors debut original art Senior art majors will share their work at

Gallery 51 in a reception on April 25 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. This year’s exhibit focuses on different functions of the brain, titled “Path-ways to Perception.” Their art will be on dis-play at the gallery until June 2.

The artists presented their work at the Un-dergraduate Research Conference last Thurs-day. This week, their art will be open to the public. The featured students include: David Camilo, Andrew Cross, Carrie Jean Converse, Nicole Proulx, Adam Duchemin, Eric Walsh, and George William Dunbar.

Duchemin chose to focus on surrealism and dreaming through artistic nudes expressed in mixed media. His series is titled “Gorgeous Dreaming.”

“Each of my pieces is a transformation of me-diums and imagery to get the idea of dreams,”

he said. “I will focus on the fantasy and beauty of dreams. In each piece, I show the nude hu-man at its most surreal.”

Along with dreams, the students explored memory, facial recognition, consciousness, ideals and insanity, and science through their visual interpretations.

Prolux particularly enjoys depicting people in her art due to their complex natures and vivid personalities. Her focus pertains to facial recognition through expressive and emotive portraiture.

She added, “I also would not have had so much fun being in this show, ‘Pathways to Per-ception’, without all of the other seniors in the class with me. I couldn’t ’have asked for a bet-ter group of people with which to share this entire experience.”

Gallery 51 is free and open to the public ev-ery day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is located on 51 Main Street.

By Jennifer NaultA&E Writer

want to see more material, read more unique columns and

articles?

check out beacon.mcla.edu!

What’s happening at MASS MoCA?

The Human TowerTonight at 7:30 p.m.

Club B-10$9 adults / $5 students / 10% discount for members

Artist Talk: Xu BingTomorrow at 5:00 p.m.

Club B-10Free to Williams Students, Faculty and Staff and MASS MoCA

Members $8 general admission to lecture and reception

The Lisps: FuturitySaturday April 27 at 8 p.m.

Club B-10$12 advance / $16 day of the show / $10 students

AgamemnonContinues through

this weekend

april 25-27 at 8 p.m.2 p.m. matinee on april

27

call the box office at 413-662-5123 to reserve

tickets

free for students

Thursday, April 25, 2013 Sports Beacon.mcla.edu8

By Ariana TourangeauSports Editor

David Lee of the Denver War-riors tore his right hip flexor on Saturday during game one against Golden State in the play-offs. This injury will put him out for the rest of playoffs and possi-bly alter the chances for the war-riors to win. The Warriors are currently 3rd in the Western conference with a record of 57-25 putting them behind No. 1 Oklahoma City and No. 2 San Antonio. According to ESPN.com, Lee is an All-Star forward for the War-riors and led the NBA in double-doubles with 56 this season. He averaged 18.5 points, 11.2 re-bounds and 3.5 assists. Without him the Warriors will definitely be experiencing a loss. After looking at the standings and scores of other teams the Warriors do have a good chance in making it far in the playoffs, maybe not winning but they definitely had a chance of get-ting there. They still might I’m not saying Lee’s injury ruined that for them it just might make it a little hard. I will never understand why in-juries happen. It’s one thing for them to just happen because no one is invincible, but to happen at a crucial time is just beyond me. Why couldn’t it have happened in the regular season instead of at the beginning of playoffs? I guess it’s better it happened at the beginning instead of closer to the end, but still, an injury can definitely effect the tone of a team whether it be positive or negative. Look at Louisville for example, Kevin Ware, a key player for the team got injured at a very cru-cial time during the playoffs and they still managed to win it all, so maybe Denver still has a chance. It’s just a bummer for an athlete to work so hard for something just to have it ruined right when it gets down to the wire. According to an article on ESPN.com, Denver’s coach Mark Jackson is focusing on getting the team to move forward from Lee’s injury. "We can't replace him, and we know that," Jackson said. "And that's the thing we have to know right away. He's an All-Star power forward who's had an incredible year. But we have some guys on our bench that can do some things to cover up his absence. But we cannot replace David Lee." Despite the injury and how or when it happened, it happened and now the team has to work hard to do well in playoffs with-out Lee.

Injuries ruin everything

The Men’s Tennis team earned their first victory of the season after defeating Johnson State Col-lege on Sunday with a final score of 8-1. The win brings the Trail-blazers to 1-8 in the North Atlan-tic Conference (NAC).

According to the College’s web-site, five Trailblazers won single matches against Johnson State. Senior Daniel Nesti won 6-0, followed by sophomore Taylor Krowitz, junior Amory Galili, sophomore Mitchell Mabardy, and Ray Yelle. Krowitz and Galili also won 8-0 in the second dou-bles match.

“We made the other team work,” Nesti said. “Nothing came easy.”

The men were less fortunate Friday’s match as they fell to Cas-tleton College Spartans 9-0. With the win, the Spartans improved to

9-3 overall.“As the matches go on we

are learning to pull it together,” Mabardy said. “There are difficult points in the matches but we are working though them as a team.”

The men also played Wednes-day April 17 at Sage College. Nesti and Krowitz were both victori-ous in their singles matches and in doubles. The duo had all of the three points for the Trailblazers.

“We are still improving on our consistency of play,” Nesti said. “When you’re missing shots and giving the other team free points it simplifies the match for them, eliminating the errors is key.”

The Trailblazers next match is home against Lyndon State Col-lege at 3:30 p.m. This is the last conference match before heading into the NAC Championships.

For more information or the team’s schedule, visit http://athlet-ics.mcla.edu/sports/mten/2012-13/schedule.

Men’s Tennis earns first win

By Justine CozzaSports Writer

By Chris OxholmSports Writer

By Nick SwansonSports Writer

Baseball team loses double-headers

The baseball team had two long days on Monday and Tuesday playing double-headers against Framingham and Westfield. Los-ing 6-0 in both games against Framingham, the College then split against Westfield winning game one 4-2 and losing game two 7-5 after 12 innings.

The game against Westfield was played at Joe Wolf field in North Adams, marking it the closest game they have had to home all season.

“It was great to play at Joe Wolf,” junior Ross Miner said. “We had more of a crowd. Some of our friends and the softball team came to support us, which is way better than an away game with just our parents watching.”

Game one was pitched by Min-er and junior Cody Weaver. Min-er pitched three innings getting one strike-out. He left the field after the third inning with a sore arm. Weaver finished the game with four strike-outs only letting in two runs.

Sophomore Rory Slattery singled, running in sophomore Chase Preite in the fourth inning. Soon after, junior Sean Coyle bat-ted in Weaver and Slattery for two more runs.

In the fifth inning, senior Joe Duncan scored a run for the Trailblazers off of Preite’s single. The team held their lead through the sixth and seventh inning for the victory.

“We played ball the way we wanted today,” Miner said. “We

played to our expectations and it worked out for us in the end.”

The Trailblazers could come out on top in game two, but they battled out the MASCAC game for twelve innings, almost the length of two entire games in one.Game two was tied at 5-5 in the sixth and it wasn’t broken until af-ter six long scoreless innings. Freshman Shane Lynch and soph-omore Jeremy Tanguay of West-field, ran home in the last inning when sophomore Dan Rokitows-ki doubled. In the bottom of the twelfth the Trailblazers couldn’t make up the runs and the long game came to an end.

The Trailblazers can now only look ahead to their next MAS-CAC game against Mass. Mari-time on Saturday. Their only chance to the playoffs is to sweep the series.

“We’re still hoping for the play-off spot,” Miner said. “We have to win every game out. If we play like we did today, we will definite-ly take it.”

Mass Maritime (3-7) is an evenly matched team for the Trailblazers. They sit one spot on top of them in the MASCAC rankings with just one win ahead of the Trailblazers (2-10).

The games at Mass Maritime begin at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Trailblazers also play Elms College today at 3:30 p.m. along with a home double-header against Norwich University on Sunday beginning at noon. The last regular season game is at Springfield College on Monday at 3:30 p.m.

For Schedules, Scores, and Standings, go to www.atheltics.mcla.edu

Softball on four-game winning streakThe softball team is currently

on a four-game winning streak after two double-headers against the Framingham State Rams and Westfield State Owls. Most re-cently the Trailblazers faced the Owls on Tuesday, the first game ended 2-1 and the second 5-1, which completed the sweep.

The Senior Day ceremony was held prior to the games on Tues-day, when seniors Megan Boyer, Ainsley MacDonald, and Kendra Hobbs were honored. This was the Trailblazers first home game of the season due to the field be-ing unsuitable for play.

“The fact that we are actually able to play at home on such a big game day for us means a lot, and it being senior day will give us enough strength to do well,” Boyer said.

The Owls scored their only run in the game early in the first in-ning after taking advantage of the error; Westfield’s Breanne Bisceg-lia hit a double bringing home the runner.

The Trailblazers earned their

first run in the second inning af-ter a deep hit to left field by Boyer that brought home the runner on third.

“I always tell myself bat to ball, bat to ball, and keep all attention to the pitch, then I swing hoping for the best; today I’m happy I was able to make the hit,” Boyer said.

Boyer earned a double but the inning ended after MacDonald struck out swinging.

The team dominated the bases during the bottom of the third inning when Westfield made an error trying to catch a fly ball in shallow center field. That mistake was essential to the Trailblazers lead because it the score did not change for the remainder of the game.

Both teams played well defen-sively during the game. The Owls got out of the third inning with a diving tip-of-the-glove catch by their left fielder. Then the Trail-blazers with a knee sliding catch by right fielder Michaela Dini-cola.

Rachel Quackenbush pitched from beginning to end for the Trailblazers and struck out the fi-

nal batter. “The team has a powerful de-

fensive side, and when Rachel is on the pitching mound it is very effective for our strategy,” Coach Mike Ameen said.

The second game was substan-tially more one-sided than the first. The score was 1-0 with West-field winning until the Trailblaz-ers rattled the scoreboard in the fourth inning.

Boyer again brought the Trail-blazer into the lead after a blast to the outfield that earned her a double, which brought home two runners. Freshmen Saman-tha Boyle then singled to bring in Boyer and the inning ended with a Trailblazers lead 3-1.

In the sixth inning, Hobbs hit a powerful homerun straight to the center that ensured the lead of 5-1; not another run was scored in the game.

“This day was very important to our season, we have four con-secutive conference play wins and it can’t get much better than that; I am very proud,” Ameen said.

A day before the Trailblazers took home the sweep from Fram-

ingham that started their win streak. The first game was shutout 1-0 and the second 3-2.

Quackenbush threw 12 strike-outs and did not walk a single batter the entire game. This was enough to control the shutout to end the game and Angelica Perfi-do scored the only run in the top of the second inning.

“We use a tremendous amount of teamwork to help each other, and being the catcher I see the whole field in front of me, so from my perspective if something is not working well, we can help one another to better ourselves,” freshman Tanelle Ciempa said.

The second game was competi-tive and at the end of seven in-nings it was tied 2-2. The game was then brought to the eighth inning when Perfido hit a line drive to left field and sent DiNi-cola home. The Rams could not make a comeback and the game ended 3-2.

The Trailblazers now stand at an overall record of 14-18, 8-4 in conference play. The double-header will be played at Skidmore on April 25 starting at 4 p.m.

For full coverage of the Rugby club go to www.beacon.mcla.edu

Thursday, April 25, 2013 News Beacon.mcla.edu 9

Sitting in an office in the base-ment of Murdock hall, Peter Allmaker is surrounded by bits of computers, technology and stuffed animals.

Allmaker has been working for the school since 1983, teach-ing computer science and in that time has seen a lot of changes. The TR-80 has been replaced by the Windows-powered Gateway computers that currently inhabit the computer lab. There exists a means for computers to talk to each other. Allmaker says that this isn’t even the endgame.

“When I was in college, I was a bartender. And the guy I worked for was of my father’s generation. And we talked about the technol-ogy of his day and how things had changed,” Allmaker said. “In his time, the personally owned auto-mobile was just becoming a real-ity. Then when I was young, com-puters were things only owned by Governments and major corpora-tions. Now I am embarrassed to count how many are even in this room.”

The proliferation of comput-ers has raised the issue of how to integrate them into the school environment. This is not a new issue, as schools have been teach-ing computer science classes for thirty years now. But now that a phone can perform many of the

duties of a computer, the rela-tionship people have with their computers has changed, Allmaker continued.

“Fifteen years ago I used to car-ry a PDA to keep my calendar,” he said. “Now I carry a phone, and so do a lot of people. But a phone is connected to a lot of other things, so how we approach them is dif-ferent.”

The Internet has changed peo-ple’s approach towards comput-ers.. Instead of simply performing small or large tasks on PCs, peo-ple go to them as a resource for information and entertainment, Linda Kaufmann said, public ser-vices librarian, sitting in a glass room, looking out at the students studying in the library.

The library has had to adapt to the times as much as anyone. It has created an online catalog for students to more easily access in-formation than card catalogs used to allow.

“I see fewer students than I used to,” Kaufmann said, motion-ing towards the students in the study area outside of her room. “There used to be a saying in the library: ‘Librarians are the gate-keepers of information.’ That isn’t the case anymore.”

Pamela Contakos is the digital services librarian in Freel Library and has been working at this school for a year now.

“People approach the library as a different type of place,” Con-

takos said. “It is a place to meet people. They see it as a quiet place for studying, not research.”

“On the one hand it is harder to get good information on the Internet. One can be awash in a sea of data. On the other hand, the greater access is an invalu-able resource,” Kaufmann con-tinued. “Altogether technology has brought more people to the library, as it is a good dedicated study space, but it has also kept some people away.”

This approach to the value of the physical space has held true for the computer labs. When the school began requiring laptops, Allmaker said he was worried that they would render the labs obso-lete. However, in the years since the requirement was instated, labs have not suffered a significant drop in their use.

“Before the laptop requirement 93 percent of students were bring-ing laptops anyway. And the labs were seeing use. That final 7 per-cent wasn’t going to change things that much,” Allmaker said, point-ing to the ceiling, indicating the location of the labs.

“The reason labs survived is because they have exclusive soft-ware that the students need. We are working on streaming soft-ware so students on campus can access the programs. We will see how that affects us,” he continued.

With the newest generation growing up around ever shifting

technology, the focus has been recently on informing teachers in how to use computers and the Internet in their classes, Allmaker said. He thinks this is a distrac-tion.

“When the phone was first invented, they were pretty rare. But teachers learned how to use them without ever taking a class on their use,” said Allmaker, un-hooking his iPhone from his belt and pointing to it. “The telephone was never a topic of study, it was just a tool. The question with computers should be when to use them, not how.”

Curt King is the new chief in-formation officer. His respon-sibilities include governing the activities of all the technical

departments in the school. Al-though he seems to agree with Allmaker, he added a caveat.

“The ‘if you build it they will come’ approach does not work,” King said. “People need to be convinced to change after years of teaching methods. And they are going to be reluctant if they don’t know how to use the new tools.”

According to King, 50 percent of the faculty currently uses Can-vas, and his goal is to both in-crease that number and improve the teachers use of the technol-ogy. He said that using electronic milestones will give students an unprecedented level of access to how they are doing in class, and help them get the best education possible.

By Raanan Sarid-SegalSpecial to the Beacon

College has technology changesBrief History of Computer Technology:1946 – ENIAC

1951– UNIVAC – First commercial computer

1969 – ARPANET – beginning of internet

1971 – First Microprocessor

1974/75 – Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair & IBM 5100 Computers – First Consumer Computers

1981 – IBM PC Home Computer

1981 – Microsoft

1983 – Apple

Source: PBS “Triumph of the Nerds”

The primary election for the Republican and Democratic can-didates vying to replace U.S. Sen-ator John Kerry will be on Tues-day. The special election will take place on June 25.

Voters registered in North Ad-ams can vote Tuesday at the Saint Elizabeth Parish Center on Saint Anthony Drive from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

There are five candidates run-ning to replace Kerry, three Re-publicans and two Democrats.

Republican Gabriel Gomez is a former navy SEAL who served the country flying E2-C Hawk-eyes and C2-A Greyhounds off aircraft carriers. According to his profile on gomezforma.com, Gomez sees politicians in Wash-

ington more willing to bicker and fight than to listen and learn, and thinks too little gets done.

Michael Sullivan is a lawyer who served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Mass. from 2001-2009, and as Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from 2006 to 2009. He also earlier served as the District Attorney for Plymouth County, Mass. and as a Republican member of Mass. House of Representatives.

The third Republican candidate is Daniel Winslow, former presid-ing justice of Wrentham District Court. He is also the former chief legal counsel to Governor Mitt Romney from the years 2002 to 2005.

“I don’t see a repeat like the Scott Brown and Martha Coakley election,” said Political Science

Professor Bob Bence. “Neither Republican has the appeal that Brown had.”

For the Democratic side, the candidates are Stephen Lynch and Ed Markey.

Lynch served as a member of the U.S. House of Representa-tives from Mass. since 2001. He is a Democrat representing the state’s 8th district. Born in South Boston, he received his J.D. from Boston College Law School.

“The Democrats have an ad-vantage,” Bence said. “There are more Democratic voters and are both congressmen with better name recognition.”

Ed Markey is a U.S. Represen-tative for the Mass. 5th congres-sional district and has been the longest serving member of Mass. and New England house delega-tions. He is the second longest

serving current member of Con-gress from New England and is a progressive who has focused on energy policy, according to Wiki-pedia. He is also a former chair-man of the select committee on energy independence and global warming.

In regards to the keystone XL pipeline debate, California bil-lionaire and former hedge fund manager Thomas Steyer has joined forces with a handful of young Mass. advocates to pres-sure Lynch to relinquish his sup-port for the proposed pipeline, according to the Huffington Post. Lynch previously voted in favor of expediting approval of the pipe-line while his rival, Markey, is the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee and an outspoken opponent of the project.

“Markey is slightly more liberal on abortion and environment,” said Bence. “He appeals more to independent voters.”

The polls have shown that Democrat Markey has been lead-ing in the primaries and Bence said he will probably win the pri-mary election. He also estimates that whoever wins the primary on April 30, will most likely win the election on June 25.

“I’m curious to see the voter turnout for students,” said Bence. “They will be out of school and less likely to vote. Students usu-ally vote more Democratic so the numbers could make a differ-ence.”

North Adams will also hold a special election on April 30 to vote on funding for a school building project at the former Sil-vio O. Conte Middle School.

By Tia PolanaSpecial to the Beacon

Primary election for Mass. Senator on Tuesday

Students to be inducted into national LIT SocietyThe English/Communica-

tions Department will induct 34 students into Lambda Iota Tau (LIT), a national literature honor society, this Saturday, April 27, at 11 a.m. in Murdock Hall room 218.

The event is free and open to the public.

Members of the English/Com-munications faculty, as well as some 70 family members and

friends, are expected to attend to celebrate the accomplishments of the inductees.

LIT is a national honor society for literature, whose purpose is to recognize and promote excel-lence in the study of literature in all languages. It was founded at Michigan State University in 1953 and now has over 46 ac-tive chapters with an increasing membership totaling 40,000 stu-

dents.At the College, members of

LIT are students majoring or minoring in English/Communi-cations with a concentration in literature, writing, journalism, broadcast media, public relations and corporate communications or film studies.

To become a member, students must be in the upper 35 percent of their class in cumulative grade

point average, have attained at least a full B average in at least 12 semester credit hours, be en-rolled in at least their fifth college semester, and have submitted an initiation paper representing their best work thus far.

As members of LIT, students have the opportunity to publish their work in the annual journal, which includes poems, short sto-ries, essays and critical analyses

written by its members across the county. The best work in each category is awarded a publication prize from the Lambda Iota Tau headquarters. In addition, sever-al scholarships are awarded each year to qualifying members who wish to apply through the official Lambda Iota Tau headquarters website.

For more information, go to www.mcla.edu .

Thursday, April 25, 2013 Opinion Beacon.mcla.edu10How do you feel about the events in Boston?

“I’m not indifferent to it but I’m not surprised by it. It’s not the only place that these things happen. I care about global issues.”

-Raj Ishmael, 2015

“Definitely tragic. Glad they caught the culprits. It hurts Bos-ton and the marathon in a way. It was an awful tragedy on Patriot’s Day.”

-Bryan O’Keefe, 2013

“It’s an atrocity. I can’t understand why they’d go for a marathon, a universal peaceful event. It’s disappointing to see such a young individual responsible for it.”

-Thomas Chiang, 2014

“It’s horrible, it’s tragic. I’m glad the cops found him before the locals. I’m glad they could find him in less than a week.”

-Kelly Lewis, 2014

“It’s disheartening, but sometimes you have to keep living your life and not live in fear.”

-Alyson Carey, 2013

“I feel that it’s a reminder that our freedom is not always free. This event is shocking to us but it happens a lot in other coun-tries.”

-Tyler Scatliffe, 2013

Compiled by Shauna Dacus/Beacon Staff

The BeaconThe Beacon is published Thursdays during the academic year and is distributed free to the College community. The Beacon is funded by the Student Government

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On Friday, during the heated hunt for the m a r a t h o n b o m b e r D z h o r k a r T s a r n a e v , A r k a n s a s State Rep. Nate Bell (R) felt as

though he should bring the argument of gun control to the table.

"I wonder how many Boston liberals spent the night cowering in their homes wishing they had an AR-15 with a hi-capacity magazine?" Bell wrote on Twitter.

Later Bell came out to apologize in a statement claiming that he wasn’t too worried about the content of his message, just that he had bad timing.

Assuming he was following the news, he would have certainly known that this was the weapon that Tsarnaev and his brother did the most damage with.

Maybe this was a foolish attempt to reiterate the gun- lover’s argument that if all

the good guys owned guns there would be no bad guys. What would a gun owner have been able to do in a situation like the Boston Marathon, in a mass panic, where people were running from the blasts and attempting to find cover or help the wounded? Does finding one person with a remote really sound that easy?

Looking back at Friday, we see the efficiency in which the Boston Police Department shut down the city and successfully took Tsarnaev into custody with minimal damage being done. This was not due to the people of Boston “cowering in their homes,” it was due to the people of Boston clearing the streets for the police, giving them a clear line of sight and leaving few places for the bomber to hide.

What Mr. Bell should come to understand is that the people of Boston don’t cower in their homes and they don’t cower in fear behind the barrel of an assault rifle. Should he want to dispute that, I think the people of Boston would gladly welcome him to pay a visit.

Commentary

By Nick ArenaManaging Editor

Arkansas representative’sgun comments insult Boston

Congress must act again to stop student-loan interest rates from doubling to 6.8 percent.

Lawmakers should know the drill by now. They voted last summer to extend the lower interest rate.

The current interest rate of 3.4 percent expires in July, and a lack of action would be costly. The rate increase on federally subsidized Stafford loans would cost nearly 10 million borrowers about $1,000 each year over the life of the loan.

That's real money to college students. Last year, 45 percent of the freshmen enrolled in Washington state's public higher-education system took out loans for college. Students are graduating from institutions in this state with an average debt of $22,244, according to the Project on Student Debt.

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., is pushing a legislative solution that ought to garner support from her colleagues, including the rest of Washington's delegation.

The first-term lawmaker is co-sponsoring a bill that would keep the low interest rate for two years. Meanwhile, Congress would work on a long-term solution to slow the rapid accumulation of

student-loan debt.A long-term approach is

needed. It must be one that broadens access to college, makes it more affordable and increases college-completion rates.

Half of all college students borrow to pay for school. The average student-loan borrower graduates with $27,000 in loans. On top of that, they face a weak job market. They should not be burdened with high interest rates as well.

College-debt strategies should prioritize low-income and middle-class students completing college without having to rely on loans.

A second priority ought to be no-interest loans and those with affordable, income-based repayment plans for middle-income students.

A Congressional Budget Office report from February said the federal government makes 36 cents off every student-loan dollar it spends. Student loans could bring in $34 billion in profit for the government next year.

The problem is not the revenue, but what ought to be done with it. It should be used to subsidize the cost of higher education.

Congress should extend low-interest rate for federal student loans

MCT Campus

Commentary

Thursday, April 25, 2013 Fun & Games Beacon.mcla.edu 11

Weekly HoroscopesAries: March 21-April 19Put aside your own concerns and focus exclusively on what others are needing or saying. Your selflessness actually pays off down the road, but try to do it for its own sake. Karma helps, too!

Taurus: April 20-May 20Things are getting really interesting today, so push yourself just a little harder to take them all the way! Your people thank you for your effort, and you might make this a day to remember.

Gemini: May 21-June 21You are having lots of fun right now -- so much so that you might find it easy to smooth over an old feud or otherwise take care of a longstanding problem. Do it with a smile on your face!

Cancer: June 22-July22Your home needs attention today. Is it time for spring cleaning? Get to it right away. You may also find some problems that need fixing before you can feel comfortable, but you’ve got the right attitude for it all.

Leo: July 23-Aug. 22You are finding it easier to get along with someone who is often a pain in your side. Just roll with the friction and you should find that things start to shake out between you two in a really good way!

Virgo: Aug. 23-Sept. 22Impulse buying is a problem today -- so stash your credit cards where you can’t reach them and turn off your internet connection when you’re bored. You should find more self-control soon.

Libra: Sept. 23-Oct. 22You may find yourself flirting with almost everyone you meet today -- even those you’d never think of in that way. It’s all good fun until the wrong person starts taking it too seriously.

Scorpio: Oct. 23-Nov. 21Though you have all the information you need, it’s still hard for you to make decisions today. See if you can get your friends to help, or find an authority you know you can trust.

Sagittarius: Nov. 22-Dec. 21You need extra time to make sense of today’s business -- so set aside a time and place to think things through. Your people are sure to help, because social ties are stronger than ever.

Capricorn: Dec. 22-Jan. 19You need to take care of a career-related issue soon -- though it may be really positive! Move on up the ladder, find a new, more blissful job or see if you can start your own business from scratch!

Aquarius: Jan. 20-Feb. 18Your brainpower is legendary, and that means that you’re not surprising anyone when you bust out with a few hot ideas today. Things look really good for you and your people if you can act on them.

Pisces: Feb. 19-March 20Try not to read too much into it when your mate or business partner starts freaking out today -- it’s just part of the natural order. You should both come to an understanding in a few days.

Horoscopes courtesy of Yahoo.com

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

FOR RELEASE APRIL 24, 2013

ACROSS1 Singer Bryant6 Tooted in a

Revolutionaryband

11 Jacques, e.g.14 Common java hr.15 “__ of Two Cities”16 Be in the red17 Michael Jackson

memorabilia19 Coal container20 Met display21 Met supporter:

Abbr.22 Completely

drained24 Cold War

concerns27 Web address

ending28 Line-drawing tool33 Fruity36 Aristotelian pair?37 Cauliflower __:

boxing injury38 “Exodus” author39 Heavy curtain41 Head of a family?42 Channel for film

buffs43 Jalapeño rating

characteristic44 Nemo creator

Verne45 Conversational

skill49 Info source, with

“the”50 Like early life

forms54 Shakespearean

actor Kenneth58 SALT subject59 Worker who

handles returns,briefly

60 Tune61 Uno ancestor,

and, in a way,what are hiddenin 17-, 28- and45-Across

64 Prune65 New worker66 Pick of the litter67 Sot’s symptoms68 Readied, as the

presses69 Deep sleep

DOWN1 Engaged in

armed conflict

2 Beatles jacketstyle

3 Contract changeapprovals: Abbr.

4 Tit for __5 Motel Wi-Fi, for

one6 Singer-dancer

Lola7 Jurist Lance8 Top choice,

slangily9 Type of sch. with

low grades?10 Iron-fisted rulers11 “Don’t sweat it”12 Baby’s boo-boo13 Convalesce18 First in a car,

say23 Uno e due25 Retired fliers26 Straddle29 Spark plug

measurement30 Color31 Look open-

mouthed32 Valentine’s Day

deity33 Target of a joke34 St. Louis symbol35 Sci-fi travel

conveniences39 Dict. feature

40 Dirty one in amemorableCagney line

41 Sugar shape43 Terrace cooker44 Night-night

clothes?46 DDE, in WWII47 Worn at the

edges48 Sarcastic remark51 TV monitoring

device

52 Most likely will,after “is”

53 Surgery beam54 Not in need of a

barber55 Mob action56 It may run

from cheek tocheek

57 Carol opening62 Zip code start?63 Day-__: pigment

brand

Tuesday’s Puzzle SolvedBy Ed Sessa 4/24/13

(c)2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc. 4/24/13

Cry of the Senior

Comic by Jackie Coughlin

Last Issue’s Puzzle Solves

Thursday, April 25, 2013 Photo Essay Beacon.mcla.edu12

Relay For Life

Photos by Jack Guerino

Students add a coloful plastic bead to a strand with every lap the completed.

Members of Yorick perform during the relay on Friday night.

A local cancer survivor in the community shares inspiring words to walkers about the importance of relay and the fundraising involved. Behind her, a volunteer DJ plays music from 6 p.m. until 7 a.m.

Students wear customized shirts for the event.

Cake pops are offered as a free late night snack for all participants.