I will freely admit that I am not fond of Mary Roach’s Spook.  The book is just too unfocused and rather pointless in my mind.  But my biggest problem with the book is the ending.  The book ends with Roach having found no proof for the existence of an afterlife, but she then states that she believes in ghosts anyway.  This ending, in my mind, betrayed the entire concept of the book, and ruined what little enjoyment I got out of the book.

            So I was very interested in the Convocation starring Mary Roach.  I though this show would give me a better understanding of this frustrating book; and maybe I could appreciate it a bit more.  I had a number of predictions heading into the auditorium. I thought it would be a little weird, somewhat funny, and would answer the question of Roach’s beliefs.  Only one of those predictions actually came true.

I guess I should talk about the theater itself.  The very high seating of the auditorium made getting a good view very easy.  The place was packed full of people; in fact, I’m pretty sure they ran out of room.  The audio system was working so that everyone could hear Roach just fine.  I did question why they needed to turn a lot of the lights off.  It wasn’t a video being shown so there wasn’t a need to dim the lights.  I noticed some people trying to take notes, and I imagine the low lights were very frustrating for them.

Mary Roach herself was exactly what I expected her to be.  She was energetic, snarky, and unapologetically herself.  The Convocation wasn’t a little weird, it was full on bizarre.  I specifically remember a brief talk about Hyena birth methods that came up somehow.  It wasn’t a little funny; it was hilarious!  I laughed out load several times during the Convocation; I can’t really give any better proof that this show was funny.

The prediction I had that came true was that I did get my answers on Mary Roach’s beliefs.  Mary Roach does not necessarily believe in ghosts, but she does believe that there are things we cannot explain.  She believes in curiosity, in never ceasing the search for knowledge.  She believes an answer does exist, and Spook is just a part of her search for it.

The Convocation did not change my distaste for Spook, but I am able to see it, and Roach herself, in a more positive light.

The Stockton 10^th annual Day of Service certainly was an interesting experience for me.  I was a member of the voting registration team; our job was to get people to fill out forms so they could have the right to vote.  We also had the job of getting people in the know about an upcoming election for the New Jersey state Senator.  When our initial location had too few people, we moved to the Atlantic City boardwalk.  I had the job of both monitoring the table we set up, and walking along the boardwalk to ask passers to register.

There were plenty of good things that came out of the experience.  Getting to see Atlantic City for the first time in my life was exiting, and the weather was bearable for the most part.  The best part of the whole trip was the positive responses from some people.  Many people stated that they were already registered, and I knew that they were telling the truth.  Several people stopped to complement our college for what it was doing.  Some people even got into lengthy conversations about different subject matters.  (I, sadly, was not one of these people.)  We also did get several people to register on the spot, and handed out a good couple of forms.  But with the good must also come the bad.

There were plenty people who were downright rude.  These people either brushed us off like we were nothing, said they were already registered but were clearly lying, and even straight up ignored us.  These responses were kind of painful.  I was putting effort into this project and they couldn’t care less!  Even worse than the people who ignored us were the people who gave us looks of anger or disgust as we asked them or as they passed by.  They looked utterly disgusted at what we were doing, it was pretty uncomfortable.   The other major problem with our day was in organization; or lack thereof.   The voter registration group not only had to relocate, but it took us at least half an hour before we finally got a table, and we never got any chairs.  These problems made looking serious quite difficult.

The main thing I take away from the day of service is a lesson in tolerance.  I now know not to be rude or brash to people who are trying to advertise or sell stuff from stands like the one we were in.  People honestly put effort into these things, and I think it’s disrespectful to ignore them.  I think that the Day of Service could’ve gone better for my group, but I still view it as a success and a positive experience overall.

David Graziano

Make a Difference Day

                I’ll admit that I went into Make a Difference Day with somewhat low expectations.  I was told this was sort of like the Day of Service only not as large.  The organization of the event was my biggest problem with the Day of Service, and I doubted it would have improved in only a months’ time.  I suspected a lack of organization would plague the entire day, much like it did in the Day of Service.  Only one of these predictions actually came true.

There were some serious organization problems starting out.  Many people missed the part about handing in your paper for a bus ticket, and that slowed down the boarding process considerably.  The signs for different groups also could’ve been clearer.  There were no descriptions of exactly what we’d be doing, and for the whole bus ride I was concerned we’d get nothing accomplished.  But then we made our stop and everything just worked.

Our job was putting together Thanksgiving dinner boxes for families that were still suffering from the effects of Super Storm Sandy.  The event was being organized by another group, and we were volunteering.  This took care of the organization problem.  We just got in line and formed two human conveyer belts that put the different items in boxes and sealed them up.  We just kept doing that for a smooth 2 hours, completing a remarkable number of boxes.

There was a bittersweet felling of making a difference, but also knowing that we live in a world where such a difference needs to be made.  The only real complaint I have is that after the lunch break, the place had more volunteers than it knew what to do with.  This lead to an hour long period of just finding random activities to do for FoodBank, or just standing around trying to find something to do.

I really felt good about myself after Make a Difference Day, felt I played a big role in helping some people in need.  I would describe Make a Difference Day as an excellent activity, one that I hope will continue years in the future.