Olivia Gorecke

Prof. L. Rosner

Life of the Mind

21 November 2014

The Trial of the Catonsville Nine

On Monday, November 3^rd, members of Professor O’Hara’s Dissent in America course performed scenes from Daniel Berrigan’s play, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine. As a member of the class, I was able to participate in this performance.

The play itself was adapted from court transcripts, and turned into a form of free verse by defendant and priest Daniel Berrigan. He and nine others, during the height of the Vietnam War, took over three hundred draft files from the Catonsville, Maryland draft board and publicly burned them with homemade napalm. While the files were burning, the nine held hands and prayed over them, waiting for the authorities to come. The play chronicles the trial in an almost poetic way, ultimately leading to the guilty verdict for all nine defendants.

The class and myself worked on this play for months. Professor O’Hara explained that this was much more than simply putting on a show, and that the themes of civil disobedience and resistance displayed by the nine are more relevant now than ever.   I was extremely happy that I was present for and participated in the retelling of such a key moment of American dissent.

Tuckerton Seaport was alive in the spirit of Halloween. Skeletal hands breached the dirt surface, a slender neck hung loosely from the noose of a rope, held fast to the edge of a tiled roof, and dolls decked in bloodstained dresses leered at passerby from their seats.

The seaport is the historic reservoir of the Tuckerton community, retaining local relics dating back earlier than 1920s. In 2012, the Seaport had a nasty encounter with Sandy, and is still recovering in many ways from the storm and its destruction. The little community port was setting up for their upcoming annual Halloween party, complete with haunted walks and a corn maze, and supplemented by information of the port’s rich history and folklore. There were only a few people working diligently in preparation, so crew needed help setting up. Our team was there for Make a Difference Day, a day designated to set trivial matters or work aside and volunteer time or materials to people who need them.

The light breeze carried over the port, bathing our skin and clothes in the salty air. We had to squint every time we faced east. Even though some would argue we lucked out with the weather, the sun was bright and made it difficult to see, creating a paradox of warmth as we shivered in the cool air. Regardless, we all ended up with our jackets off as we got into our work. We transported chairs from the second floor of the museum to the house down the path, setting them up in orderly rows for a presentation later that evening. We then took on the task of restoring the front entrance in a new coat of white paint. There was only so much we cold do in the few hours we had, but by the time we had finished, the place looked incredible. The front entrance looked brand new, the decorations were in place, and the seaport was just about ready for its haunted walk later that night. The director thanked us earnestly, and invited us back later that night for the event. We thanked in in return as we boarded the vans back to school. I’d love to return, even if just to walk the boards and take in the rich calming atmosphere as I look out over the water.

Saturday November 1, 2014 was the honors freshman trip to the city of Philadelphia. The honors students met by the Stockton’s Arts and Sciences court at 9:20am, loaded the bus, and our adventure began!

The bus arrived in Philadelphia at the first stop, the Mummer’s Museum. I was shocked the hear that some of my fellow classmates have never heard of or know what the Mummers are, because I have grown up my entire life seeing the Mummers perform in local parades. A former Mummer met us at the entrance of the museum and was going to be our personal tour guide. He took us around the museum and we were able to see some of the costumes on display that were wore in the parades up close, and a card in front of the costume said exactly what parade the costume was worn in. It is definitely better seeing the costumes in person than on the television screen because I was able to see the details in the costumes. There even was a section of the museum that had costumes and props that we were able to try on.

Then, the group boarded the bus again and made our way to Ninth Street, where the bus dropped us off at a market. We were able to roam around the streets to see what we found. There were all sorts of butcher shops, places that sell fish, grocery like shops, and restaurants. As my friends and I were walking, we saw a pizza place, which we ate at and were served AMAZING pizza. After eating the delicious pizza, we continued to roam the streets and found a cute little candy shop, which sold cookies, chocolate, ice-cream, chocolate covered strawberries, and many more sweets.

Overall, even though it was a rainy day, I think we all managed to have a great time at the Mummer’s Museum and exploring the streets of Philadelphia!

In early October, my class took a trip to the Stockton Farm. This trip enabled us to see what it takes to grow and produce food naturally, opposed to just buying it from the store. The trip to the farm coincided with the reading of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Since the book talked about growing food organically, the trip to the farm provided a firsthand look as to what that could be like.

When we first arrived at the farm, we all gathered in the pole barn to look at what organic pesticides and fertilizers were used on the farm. All of the things that we were shown were good for the growth of the vegetables. Some of the pesticides and fertilizers that were used were even made by the people who work on the farm. There are many different options of organic fertilizers and pesticides that can be used, opposed to ones that can potentially danger the food or even the people eating it. After that, we got to walk around the farm and learn about all of the different things that could be grown or were currently growing. We also got to go into the hoop house to see what was being grown in there. I thought the hoop house was interesting because it could be used in the cold to keep the vegetables growing in a warmer temperature. On the flipside, the sides of the hoop house could be rolled up in the summer to make it cooler inside.

I think that the trip to the farm was very informational. I liked how it went along with the book that we were reading at the time. I never knew that Stockton had a farm until we went to visit. After the visit to the farm, I would not mind going to help volunteer once the weather gets better.  Overall, the trip to the farm was a good one.

Like many colleges, Stockton has a wide variety of clubs, activities, and organizations. One of these clubs is the Gamer’s Club. The Gamer’s Club meets every Wednesday at around 8:00 p.m. and goes on until midnight. Like the name suggests, the main activity of Gamer’s club is games. The kinds of games played are card games, board games, and video games. While some board games are provided, you have to bring your own video games. From time to time, events are held. These events are usually tournaments held with a certain video game. Other times free food (usually pizza) is brought over.

In my time spent in Gamer’s Club, I can say that it is quite enjoyable. I’ve been going to it ever since I’ve heard of it (which was around the beginning of the semester). All the people that I met are quite friendly. I even took part in a tournament (and won a 10 dollar gift card from it), and it was very fun. I highly recommend taking part in Gamer’s Club to anyone who enjoys playing games.

Delta Zeta sorority and Alpha Chi Rho fraternity held their first annual Glow Walk event on September 23, 2014. The Glow Walk was an optional walk or run around the Stockton track field during the evening, to help raise money for their philanthropy. To participate, a minimum of a five-dollar donation was required. After ever lap completed, participants received a glow stick; the more you walked or ran the more glow sticks you collected. The fraternity and sorority that held this event had snacks, music and a very fun atmosphere. Together, the fraternity and sorority raised over $2,000 for the NJ Hearing Aid Project and The American Cancer Society.

Many of my family members have passed away from cancer, so when I heard about the event, I was thrilled to be a part of it. I invited many of my friends from my residential hall to participate along with me, and they were also very excited. While walking around the track and listening to upbeat music, my friends and I shared many laughs and fun memories of the night. Collecting the glow sticks was a fun idea to encourage participants to continue walking. Since the event was held at night, the track was completely lit up with neon colors, making it a fantastic sight to see. My friends and I collected as many glow sticks as we could and made them into bracelets, necklaces, and headbands, which also encouraged us to continue walking. Time flew by as we were having fun and at the end of the event, which lasted several hours, my friends and I collected over fifty glow sticks.

Overall, I had a great time donating my time, money and support to Delta Zeta and Alpha Chi Rho’s philanthropy of the NJ Hearing Aid Project and the American Cancer Society. The event had a fun filled atmosphere and a great turn out. I look forward to attending the event next year and hope to see the sorority and fraternity raise even more money than this year.

On Tuesday, September 23, I, along with a couple of my friends, participated in Stockton’s Glow Walk, which involved running, jogging or walking Stockton’s track, lighted only by glow sticks and motivated by loud music. The proceeds, a $5 donation from each participant, would go to various charities and organizations the few fraternities and sororities running the event found suitable. At first glance, my friends and I were excited to receive a glow stick for each lap, which inspired us to want to run as much as we could and end up lit head to toe. However, after eight laps of continuous running (or, in my case, simply attempting to keep up with my cross-country runner of a friend), we found our lack of distance training to be an issue, so we knew it was time to walk it out.

Overall, although it was not a long event, the glow walk was simply a last-minute opportunity my friends and I decided to take. I had known the event was coming up and was interested in participating. My friend, Jen, asked me if I wanted to go with her, and little did I know that the event was that very night. I am glad I accepted and was able to end up donating to a good cause and having a good time on what would have been a typical Tuesday night of endless studying. Sometimes, unexpected plans are the most memorable plans, being that none of us knew what exactly to expect, and I certainly did not know that I would end up running 2 miles that night!

Meghan Butryn

GEN 1033, Honors: Life of the Mind

Dr. McGovern

1 December 2014

Blog 3

On October 29^th Stockton’s S.E.T club organized an event called Lola-no-bozza. One of the main reasoning behind the event was to encourage students to resist drinking on Halloween night especially because Halloween fell on a Friday night. Halloween is my all-time favorite holiday so I could not resist celebrating two days in a row. I went with all my friends and got all dressed up as a skeleton. When we first arrived we were handed glow sticks and lead to the dance floor. There was an awesome DJ and everyone was dancing. If you weren’t one for dancing there were chairs and tables to hang out with your friends. If you got bored there was a photo booth in the corner of the room and it was free. Everyone would pile in with all there close friends and take pictures of their great costumes. To satisfy ones hunger there was tons of pizza as well as well as many specialty drinks made by different clubs. All of these alcohol free of course but to show you that even with out alcohol they were still extremely tasty!

After lots of dancing and eating you could go around the room and put your tickets in for certain prizes. They ranged from smaller cute ones such as gift cards to Wawa to one night at a hotel. One of my friends was lucky enough to win a one night stay at a hotel close to her house. There were so many prizes so he majority of people attending were able to walk out with something. At some tables there were different pamphlets and fun facts about the statistics on drinking at Stockton. It was an extremely fun and safe event to go to with all your friends. Hopefully they’ll have it again next year if you missed it!