By Celine Fleenor

On October 11, 2016, I attended a dialogue session entitled “La Chancleta: Discussing Discipline vs. Child Abuse”, which was hosted by the Latin American Student Association and Lambda Tau Omega Sorority, Incorporated. I was a little apprehensive about going since I am not of Latin American descent, and I don’t know much about the culture, but I found the session to be very interesting and informative. To start off, we talked about discipline in different cultures and the expectations that parents have for their children in different countries such as the United States, New Zealand, and China. Different members of the organizations shared their stories about their own discipline growing up and different factors that played a role in how they were disciplined such as gender, age, the presence of siblings, and if it was their mother or father giving the punishment. Then we discussed the fine line between discipline and child abuse, and when the punishment has gone too far.  They also brought in a Stockton alumna from the Lambda Tau Omega Sorority, who works as a social worker, to weigh in on the conversation. She talked about how she deals with cases where families need counseling due to child abuse. Some children even need to be removed from their homes because of abuse situations. She talked a lot about how she can’t bring her work home with her otherwise she gets too attached to the cases and the children involved. Props to her for being brave enough to be a social worker, because I could never. All in all, I thought this dialogue session was very informative and I’m really glad that I took part in it. It was great to discuss such a universal topic and learn about different cultures in the process.

Lily Davis

Blog Post Two

Joining Alpha Phi Omega

Alpha Phi Omega (or ΑΦΩ) is a national co-ed service fraternity organization  which is based on the three principles of Leadership, Friendship and Service.  It was founded on December 16, 1925 at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania by a group of former Boy Scouts who  wanted to continue to perform service and help their community, while also being in a group of people who  have the same ideals as each other. After being a male-only  fraternity  for fifty one years, it became a co-ed fraternity in 1976. This meant that chapters now had to accept women as well as men.  

Currently, Alpha Phi Omega has over 400,000 members on over 375 college campuses in the United States.  There is actually chapters in Canada and Australia as well!  

I first became interested in Alpha Phi Omega actually over the summer, when I met one of my coworkers, who also goes to Stockton University.  She told me all about the fun opportunities that Alpha Phi Omega provided to her and she also told me about  how many new friends she had made in the fraternity.  I’ll admit, it took a little bit for me to adjust to being “in a fraternity” but so far it has been a lot of fun!

During Rush Week, we had to go to some really interesting activities. We had to make capes for children in hospitals, and we also participated in bonding activities, which included things like mocktails and an ice cream party.  After Rush Week, we were initiated into the frat which consisted of some things we were told to keep secret, but included a ceremony in a dark room. So far, in Alpha Phi Omega I have not done much, but I am excited to do more!

On October 12, 2016, the RA’s for D building held a one-time event to bring awareness to the common occurrence of people being labeled, more specifically at Stockton University. The event, which took place in a common room in D building, started with an exercise to demonstrate how easy it is to use stereotypes in groups of people. By putting labels on every person’s back and treating them as their label suggests, the participants could learn how even people who claim to never bully are still capable of using negative stereotypes. More specifically, everyone learned how it can hurt to degrade others to merely a label. The activity was repeated in multiple variations, but the reflection afterwards made the reasons for the activity come together. People should not use labels, or act as catalysts in promoting how others are labeled.

After this event, we did a less interactive activity that required a line on the floor. The RA’s would state certain traits people may have, from whether one considers Stockton their home to whether one has been in a relationship that has hurt them. The participants would step over the line for whichever statements applied to them. This was a good way to silently learn about the people around us. While students all talk and learn with the people around them every day, they rarely understand the deeper and more personal aspects of their lives like these.

To end the event on a more positive note, each person received a little jar, which they could put their name on. Then, everyone was given a few sticky-notes and markers. The RA’s instructed everyone to write down positive notes like what everyone is thankful for or looking forward to. Essentially, the jar was meant to be a ‘positivity jar’. The RA’s strongly urged everyone to continuously add to the jars throughout their experience at Stockton. In addition, we were all urged to not only put positive notes in other peoples’ jars, but into jars of those we aren’t well acquainted with.

The night was fun, and slightly Halloween themed. There was candy, pizza, and a movie afterwards, which made the event a lot more social after all of the memorable and educational aspects of the night. Overall, the event was an excellent balance between informational and entertaining. The labeling and jar activities both promoted social interaction and having fun while still maintaining the original purpose of the event, which is to be aware of the dangers of labeling. While the event did manage to get serious at times, everyone was having a lot of fun and seemed to enjoy the activities. The D building RA’s often go above and beyond in their planning and hands-on coordinating, and this wonderful Wednesday night in October was no different.

In early October my friend Christina and I volunteered to work concessions at Stockton Entertainment Team’s Hypnotic Intoxication event.  The event was a great turnout, over 200 students attended to see a professional hypnotist makes fools out of willing volunteers.

He started off by explaining the science and history of hypnotizing.  He told us when and why he started and explained that he is not only an entertainer but an educator.  The crowd looked at him puzzled but he said at the end of the event he would explain how he was an educator.  Once he taught us the basis of hypnosis he warned the audience that he would be safely manipulating our minds.  He told us that only a few of us would genuinely be effected by the process.  He started off with a simple mind trick to see who was a viable volunteer for the show.  We were told to clear our minds and convince us that our feet were stuck to the floor.  It had honestly worked on me so I went up on stage with other people that were extremely effected by it.  My friend Christina and about 2/3 of the audience sat down because there was no effect on them.  Next he did a much more intense and detailed trick which, because it worked on me, I have no recollection of what it was about.  However, at the end of the trick I regained complete consciousness so I sat went off the stage and back into the crowd.  I was the first of many people to back out, some because it had minor effect and other because the people were freaked out and did not like having their brain tampered with.  The hypnotist played many tricks on the students on stage like making them think they were celebrities, making them pass out on command, and of course, making them think they were drunk.  The last trick was the water bottle intoxication trick.  This involved every given a water bottle filled with whatever alcoholic drink they wanted to imagine.  During this skit the hypnotists took two girls drinks unknowingly and then gave them back a minute later.  Then he woke up all the hypnotized volunteers and told us the dangers of parties.  He showed us all that it doesn’t take much time for someone to drug a drink if it is not watched at all times.  We all learned that you can never be too careful at a party by being cautious of your surroundings. This event was a great time and we all learned a great lesson from it.

On October 13, an Afternoon of Service was hosted by Commuters on the Go. The event was held in the Campus Center Event Room, and served to fulfill a short-term Honors service requirement. About thirty or so students attended the event, which included a number of small service projects to benefit the less fortunate.

The projects involved in the Afternoon of Service included building teddy bears for children in the hospital, creating small baskets for poor mothers and homemade birthday cards for homeless children. I personally participated in the birthday card activity with a handful of other students from my dorm building. Over the course of the event, a large number of cards were created, many with corny, birthday-related puns decorating the covers, others with a more simple “Happy Birthday” and stickers. The mothers’ baskets station, which made small baskets and cards for Mother’s Day, saw no less creativity. I personally think it was a bit early for a Mother’s Day-themed service project, but it probably came down to the logistics of collecting and distributing the baskets. The final station, which created teddy bears for children in the hospital, was a longer process and as such continued into the reflection session at the end of the event.

The reflection session following the event served to tie together three separate activities that initially have little in common with each other. The actual reflection involved participants writing the most important people, traits and physical objects in their lives, trading with someone else, and throwing away one of the other person’s cards. This served to illustrate the situation of the people this program was designed to help – having lost something dear to them without having had any sort of say in the matter. The reflection was more powerful than I would have initially thought it would have been, and that is to the credit of the organizers of the event.

This Saturday (October 22, 2016) I volunteered with Stockton’s Model United Nations to help organize a simulation for Atlantic City High School students.  Stockton’s Model UN paired up with the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority to help introduce high school students to the Model UN experience, as well as learn about diplomacy and the actual United Nations.  October 24 is Model UN’s birthday, so the event was also to help celebrate the organization.

I was rather nervous for the event because I had only been in a simulation once before during Model UN club so I was still quite unfamiliar with how simulations run and what to do.  The volunteers were supposed to team up with one or two high school students to help them become acquainted with Model UN, so I doubted I would be much of a help for them.  Thankfully for me (though unfortunate for the event itself), only one person from Atlantic City High School showed up.  Apparently, there had been multiple events offered to the Atlantic City HS students during the same time as the Model UN Simulation, and none of the students chose our program.  Despite this, we decided to complete the simulation ourselves for practice, since many of the volunteers, like myself, didn’t have very much experience in Model UN.  We had two simulations ready to go, one on Global Development and Sustainability and another on Combatting Racism, and we decided on the Combatting Racism one.

I represented France, whose primary problems with racism included xenophobia, due to the large amounts of illegal Syrian and Pakistani immigrants in France, and was facing prison overcrowding because of that.  In my opening speech, I explained the problems France was facing and asked the other delegations for money to help fund educational programs so that the French public could understand what the immigrants were going through, help with prison overcrowding, as well as for countries who were not accepting many Syrian Refugees (like the United States) to start to.

Many other countries also felt as though education could help combat the racism in their country, as well as that the racist political rhetoric many politicians spread encourage citizens to take violent actions against minorities.  There were eight countries, including France, that sponsored and wrote a resolution on Education and Political Reform.  The resolution stipulated that .07% of UN countries GDP would go toward a fund to create educational programs that would focus on language, cultural differences, and world issues, and the programs would be monitored by UN officials.  In addition, the Political Reform part of the resolution was modeled off a Kenyan law which forbids hate speech from politicians, elected officers, and others in positions of state and government office.  The resolution passed almost unanimously, which was a proud moment for myself and the other co-sponsors of the bill.  We even got Russia on board, and they were originally against helping solve any other country’s racism.  Despite a rough start, the simulation ended up being quite successful.

On September 27^th, Stockton Political Engagement Project sponsored Constitution Day presented by Dr. Akhil Reed Amar.  When first learning about this event, I wasn’t particularly excited to attend the event.  In my high school years, history wasn’t my favorite subject, especially in the realm of politics and government.  Still to this day, I stay away from politics mainly because I feel as if I am not educated enough in that area.  Yes, I have my beliefs on certain political issues and I stand by them firmly, yet I have the fear that my lack of education will make me appear unintelligent when trying to engage in a political conversation.  In fact, I fear that my voice will not be heard but that it will be squandered and disregarded. From the talk presented last Wednesday, I felt as though my knowledge on American political history and current events elevated and now I can hold an intellectual conversation with my peers.

For Dr. Amar to even consider coming to our institution was a big deal.  Not only is he a renowned orator and professor of law and political science at Yale College and Law School, he  was also given an award for Teaching Excellence.  In the discussion held, Dr. Amar took a very enthusiastic approach to relaying the information and knowledge of politics to his audience.  Due to this enthusiasm, I was enthralled throughout the entire duration of the program- feverishly jotting down notes as I listened to Dr. Amar speak.  Most of the information he relayed was that of which I had learned my junior year of high school in my AP US History class.  Knowledge that I had previously known was the 14th amendment, which was recently discussed in my Honors Freshman Seminar class, along with the political unrest between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists when composing the Constitution.

However, there was information presented that was news to my ears.  For instance, I was fond of the fact that Dr. Amar incorporated Richard Stockton, the man whom our institution honors, into his lecture.  What made this incorporation intriguing was that I didn’t know that Richard Stockton was alive as well as an active member in politics in colonial America.  Also, I was unaware that he was captured, tortured, and broken by the British.   In addition, there was a quote that resonated with me: “The world is becoming American.”  When first hearing this, I was puzzled. How could the world become Americanized?  Once Dr. Amar explained the meaning behind the quote though, it was no longer baffling to me.  He claims that by America declaring its independence and then by establishing its own government, the country launched the idea of democracy to the world.  To me, this gives me a great sense of pride and patriotism for our country.  It is impressive to say that our country spearheaded a take on politics yearned for by countries throughout the world.  Overall, I felt as if this experience enlightened me immensely on American politics.

By: Amanda Romeiser

On Monday, October 17, 2016, I became a member of the walking dead, or rather the limping dead. My transformation came about during an event known as Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ), which is hosted by Stockton’s Live Action Games, or L.A.G., Club. This 24-hour week long game of tag is one of many HvZ games that is played at different schools, camps, neighborhoods, libraries, and conventions around the world. All players begin as humans, except for one player who is chosen to be the “Original Zombie” (OZ). The identity of the OZ remains a mystery until he or she tags a human for the first time, turning that human into a zombie. When humans are turned into zombies, humans must place the green bands that were originally around their arms around their heads. A human’s only defense against the zombies are socks, marshmallow shooters, or Nerf guns, which stun zombies for 2 minutes, giving the human a chance to run away. Luckily for the humans, there are safe zones around campus, like the buildings and staircases, where they cannot be attacked by zombies.

Stockton’s HvZ game began on the night of Sunday, October 16, following the kick-off meeting. When I originally signed up to play, I had two fully healthy knees. Unfortunately, I sprained my MCL and bruised my bone during a Quidditch tournament on Saturday, October 8. Due to this injury, I knew going into the meeting on Sunday night that I was not going to survive very long. My goal was to make it past Monday night.

In addition to the game play that occurs around campus during the day, the moderators, who are the members of the L.A.G. Club who run the game, created missions each night to bring the humans and the zombies together. These missions began at eight o’clock, and their theme involved a nutty professor and chicken nuggets. It was during Monday night’s mission that I joined the undead. I already had the iconic limping zombie walk mastered, so my transformation was effortless.

As in all games, there are winners and losers of HvZ. The zombies win if all human players are tagged and turned into zombies, while the humans win if the last zombie starves to death, meaning that the zombie did not tag anyone within 48 hours. This was my fate, but overall the zombies won this semester’s HvZ game. I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience playing Humans vs. Zombies, and I look forward to my next, during which I will hopefully be fully capable of running for my life.

On October 19, I attended another party for the third political debate in the Campus Center Board of Trustees.  This event was run by professional staff members of the political science department at Stockton.  At this event, I was greeted with soda and popcorn.  Again, this debate viewing featured a bingo board since these debates continue to make Americans lose faith in their political system.  many different and quite ridiculous phrases were made into popular memes like “Bad Hombres, Nasty Woman, and Puppets.“  This debate was the most informative of the three, focusing on many different topics such as immigration, the economy, healthcare, gun ownership, and Isis in Syria.   Like the first event, this was also put together well with the inclusion of another projector displaying live tweets on the debate all night, snacks, and political entertainment.  The night ended with the moderator announcing a state (Nevada) which completed my bingo board.  I could have won a presidential PEZ dispenser but they had run out by the time I got bingo.  Now that all the debates are over, the American people can make their decision for who they want to destroy the country next.

As part of Stockton University’s Visiting Writers Program, Murphy Writing of Stockton hosted a live poetry reading featuring one of New Jersey’s very own poets, Gregory Pardlo. Mr. Pardlo visited the campus on Monday, October 10, and read a series of poems from his latest poetry collection, titled Digest.

Mr. Pardlo’s poems spanned a variety of topics, from childhood to parenthood to everything in between. Pardlo read poems about his family – poems about his parents, his aunt, his daughters – about his life as a kid, and about his newfound life as a parent. His poem’s worked in a variety of references both from history and popular culture, from Freud and Nietzsche to Prince and Arthur Ashe.

After reading about a dozen poems from his book, Mr. Pardlo opened up the event to an open discussion on poetry and writing. The discussion turned out to be just as interesting, as Mr. Pardlo was very open and charismatic while talking to the students in attendance. Questions were asked about Mr. Pardlo’s writing strategies, his family, and his first experiences writing poems. The most interesting question asked regarded what inspired him to become a writer. Mr. Pardlo responded saying that a copy of “Rolling Stone” magazine featuring Eddie Murphy on the cover was one of his first inspirations to begin writing, because he loved Eddie Murphy and wanted to become an entertainer like him.

After the question and answer session ended, the reading ended, with students told that copies of Pardlo’s book were for sale outside the theater. My friend and I left the theater and bought a copy of the book. While we paid for the book, Mr. Pardlo came out and sat next to the line, ready to talk to the students and sign copies of his book. Once I bought my copy, I went over to Mr. Pardlo and had him sign my book. We both grew up in the same area, so we discussed summer jobs at Wawa’s and Six Flags while reminiscing about the Jackson and New Egypt area.

Overall, the reading was very enjoyable, and I look forward to attending many more in the future.

– Dan Tidcombe