Irvin O. Moreno-Rodriguez

Professor Rodgers Jackson

Life of the Mind

November 28, 2011

Dancing at Lughnasa Blog

The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, known in New Jersey as the “Distinctive College”  for its emphasizes on the arts, presented Brien Fiegal’s Dancing at Lughnasa last Thursday night at the Performing Arts Center. The event was held Thursday October 27^th, 2011 and from the very moment you entered the lobby audience members were greeted by wonderful volunteers who also ushered you into your seat. Upon entering the seating area at the center audience members were amazed at the stage that had been set up for the play, a replica Irish house that was accurately decorated with all the possessions of that specific time period. After a long week its nice to sit down and enjoy a memory play, as it was later described to us in class, however be forewarned that this play is not a walk down merry lane. Dancing at Lughnasa at times had bits of humorous material, but towards the end of the play audience members were informed of the serried of unfortunate events that occurred to the Michaels family, Michael being the narrator of the entire memory play a play which recalls past events.  Although many knew this play was not a delightfully one audience attendance that night was above average compared to the other events attended to before including Dracula. The actors that night were very captivating setting the time period and the setting with their Irish accents, and their costumes were tastefully picked for the play. The performance did have one intermission where the many audience positively commented on the visuals that were set up to ease them into the story. The play in the end was really entertaining and I am looking forward to the next time Stockton has the honor to present a memory play on stage again!

Irvin O. Moreno-Rodriguez

Professor Rodgers Jackson

Life of the Mind

October 31^st, 2011

Dracula Review Blog

The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, known for its emphasizes on the arts, presented the Atlantic City Ballet’s rendition of Dracula last Thursday night at the Performing Arts Center. Starting off the night the audience was greeted with the Ballet Master, Kristaps Kikulis, who stirred the crowd with some interesting facts about the Atlantic City Ballet’s performers. He stated that repertoire for Dracula that night consisted of only four American born dancers and the rest of the crew were performers from eleven other countries, including Japan and Russia!  The event was held Thursday October 27^th, 2011 and from the very moment you entered the lobby audience members were greeted by wonderful volunteers who also ushered you into your seat. The atmosphere that night was ecstatic as many felt it was an occasion to dress up and partake in a classy date that night. Although the hall was not entirely full the crowd that night was sufficient enough to hold a thunderous applause after every performance that night. The Dracula Ballet was tastefully done with the absence of words but were replaced by extraordinary body language movements and perfectly choreographed dances. The costumes that night were beautiful and very captivating as they seemed to flow and synchronize with their every moment during their dances. Although Dracula was already a great story, the performance that night was highly dramatic only adding more to the suspense towards the end, the ultimate showdown between Dracula and Van Helsing. The performance did have one intermission where the only talk among audience members included conversations of how the dancers performed some the of the most challenging dance movements ever seen. The Ballet in the end was really entertaining and I am looking forward to the next time Stockton has the honor to present them on stage again!

We had already had a let down by not being accepted into the NCAA soccer tournament.  We had watched the names of the accepted teams appear on the screen during the official announcement.  It was painful seeing the names of those we lost just 1-0 to in the season and even teams we tied or beat, all make the cut.  When the last team, Rowan, who we defeated, came on the screen, we all slumped down in disbelief.  There was a deafening silence, and then we all got up and left.  We did not make the NCAA’s but we did make the ECAC’s.  Even though it was not what we wanted, we had to get back to work and win this tournament.

We made it to the final on November 11^th.  It was against Kean University, who we had tied earlier in the season, and we had home field advantage.  No doubt it was going to be a well-played game, but one that we definitely should win.  Kean scored on a break away in the second half.  But we did not let up.  We earned a penalty kick with just two minutes left in the game, and Bre buried it in the back of the net.  Now it was overtime.  The whole bench was on their feet.  We all wanted this so badly, especially the seniors who were playing the last game of their competitive careers.  However, a Kean forward broke away from our defense and capitalized on her opportunity.  It was over.  Kean won 2-1.  The entire opposing team rushed the field to celebrate their victory, and the game-winning player turned around and went at it with one of our defenders who had desperately tried pulling her shirt during the final play.  She rubbed her goal in our player’s face.  It was salt in the wound.

Our coach verbally attacked the referees for their poor performance.  He was not satisfied at all with what they had done, or had not done, during the game.  Our defender lashed out at our team in frustration.  We stood there, helpless, and lined up to shake hands.  However, one of our players slapped the stomach of that game-winning Kean player.  The Kean player then turned on the waterworks and told our coach what had happened.  That was when everything got extremely out of hand.

Unfortunately, that game was probably one of the worst experiences I have ever had.  It was a terrible way to end things and it made our team look unsportsmanlike.  On the other hand, we had done really well this season and had fought hard in the game.  We ended the season with a great record.  We have to look at this in a positive way and learn from it.  In the future, we have to be able to get key wins in our conference, and we have to remember what it felt like at the end of that game.  So we make sure that we never have to relive it again.

This past Sunday, December 4th 2011, I saw the ChoreoProject 33 at Stockton College. The performance was at 3:00 p.m. in the Experimental Theatre. ChoreoProject is many individual dances choreographed and danced by students in The Stockton Dance Company. Each dancer choreographs a solo, duet, or trio and the ChoreoProject showcases what they have made. This was another performance I was required to see for my dance class and I am extremely thankful that I went. Stockton has so many talented students and the dancers were no exception. Seeing what they created was very interesting. They not only choreographed the dances but also chose their own music, costume, and light design. Some of the movements were so simple but were conveyed powerfully because of the intensity in either the music or lighting. The overall style of dance was modern, which is a free type of dance that is meant to express emotion and inner feelings. The dances each portrayed completely different moods. The last dance of the performance was an upbeat group number that allowed you to leave on a happy note. It was a great experience and I will definitely be seeing it the next time it comes around.

-Victoria Starner

The Honors Holiday Party was held as the Honors event for the month of December. This was a refreshing break to relax from studying for finals. It was fun to get in the holiday spirit with close friends and other Honors students. There were drinks, food, and desserts provided by Chartwells which was a nice touch as well.

It was optional to bring a gift, but to participate in the gift exchange game people brought gifts under five dollars. The game works where each person picks a wrapped gift from a pile and opens it. After each person opens a present they are given two choices of either keeping the present that they opened or “stealing” a more appealing gift from another person.

The presents that people unwrapped kept the game interesting. For example, there was a disco ball, box of pennies, and donut maker that was constantly swapped between people. Although I did not participate in the gift exchange game, I still had a good time watching other people swap presents. Overall, the game was very entertaining and everyone was satisfied with their present at the end for the most part. I am very glad that the Honors program organizes events like these every month. They are a great way to take a break from studying and enjoy time with friends while getting to know other people more.

Alexis Lawless

David Lester’s Suicide Talk

November 20, 2012

On Tuesday, November 13^th, I attended a talk given by Professor David Lester. I obtained extra credit in my Statistical Methods class for being present. Professor Lester is also my Abnormal Psychology teacher. He is famous for his research on suicide. This event was held in Alton Auditorium. Professor Lester is a very interesting guy in class, and I didn’t know much about his research and books, so I thought it would be a good idea to go. It was definitely worth my while.

This was a one-time event and it was held for the sole purpose of David Lester talking about suicide, the signs, how to prevent it, and an explanation of why he has not figured out the reasoning behind it yet. He has examined people’s diaries, both famous and everyday people, and discovered many similarities between the suicidal ones. He used machines to process what people frequently said and felt throughout the diaries. I didn’t know that a machine like this existed before this.

Thankfully, I never lost a family member or friend to suicide. David Lester made it clear that if anyone ever did, then he or she should never blame themselves for not seeing the signs. Weeks before a person even commits suicide, they could be happy-go-lucky day and night. Luckily, Professor Lester was able to get his hands on diaries of his students’ siblings to diagnose, along with famous people’s, to try to get a better understanding about why anyone would want to do this to himself or herself. He does believe that if he were to find an answer, it would simply be an individual case study and could never generalize the whole suicidal population.

Before his speech was over, David Lester gave us the number of a suicidal hotline. I never had to call this number, but I think it was very thoughtful that he gave this out to us. I am personally not suicidal, but if I ever know somebody who is in the future, I will not hesitate to call. I believe this talk was very informative and I’m glad I attended. I learned much about suicide and that it’s not a new problem in the world, and certainly will not be cured in the near future.

As a freshman at Richard Stockton College, I’m new to everything it has to offer. Finding friends is a little tough when you’re the new guy on campus. Upon arrival I knew I wanted to stay active, just like I did in high school. Besides wanting to stay active, I needed to, due to my new college eating habits. Miraculously one day I ran across an old friend whom I played baseball with many years ago. He invited me to play flag football on his team for the fall sports season. I was in!
Our team was called the Dirty Birds. It consisted of four friends from my hometown and five new kids I was introduced to. They all took me in like I’ve known them forever, since I was the only freshman on the team. I didn’t know what to expect when attending our first game. I played football in high school, so I thought this would be a less competitive, just for fun kind of league. Boy was I wrong! This was one of the most competitive experiences I’ve had in my life. Since Stockton doesn’t have an actual football team, I guess all the kids who played football in high school joined this flag football league. Every game was intense. Some almost wound up in fistfights, but someone was always there to calm the situation down.
The referees are also very official. I thought the league wouldn’t have referees and the teams would call the shots. But the men in black and white stripes were on their game. They knew the rules inside and out. One game there was even instant replay footage for a boundary line call. They also have yellow flags just like any football referee, which I had the lucky experience of being struck by one. They are surprisingly heavy.
Our season ended very abruptly. We lost our first playoff game to a team we previously beat. Before this game we were the only undefeated team, out of a league of 30. All in all it was a great season, I met new friends, and I sure am looking forward to next year!

I have always had a fascination with all things morbid. Anyone who would look at my library records might be alarmed because the book that I check out most often is called The Killer Book of Serial Killers by Tom Philbin. No, there is nothing wrong with me psychologically; I am purely interested in the different theories and causations of homicide and suicide, rather than the literal act of it. My interest is no secret to my friends, who brought to my attention a suicide seminar on November 16th. At first, I thought it was going to be a suicide awareness/prevention seminar, but it was actually centered on case studies of people that have committed suicide and who have left behind journals. Of course I was interested; it was a great opportunity to get into the minds of those who felt suicide was their only viable option.

The first case study was an 18 year old girl named Katie. She was the sister of a student at Stockton, and after her death, her journal was given to Professor Lester to analyze. What was interesting was that the last few months before Katie’s suicide, she was more composed and calm, and never mentions the word suicide in her writings. This makes sense because there is a certain peace that comes from making the final decision and Katie’s writings became more positive as the journal came to it’s conclusion. Although seemingly contradictory, many times the word suicide is not used because a person does not want to accept this word, due to it’s negative connotations. She may accept the fact that this is her solution, yet may have trouble writing the actual word down. Most of Katie’s journal entries reflected a very insecure person; someone who is caught up in a vicious cycle of self-deprecation. This becomes a running theme in many of the journal entries of other people as well.
Robert was a professor who felt very paranoid about his work and believed that people were out to get him. He believed himself to be a fraud and that he was essentially an idiot. He also felt impotent when it came to being with his wife. All of these insecurities ultimately led him to his suicide. A similarity between Robert’s journal entries and Katie’s was that they were both adept at listing their downfalls, and where they failed as human beings. Another similarity is that near the end of Robert’s journal entries, he, too, had an emotional shift where he becomes more positive and composed. He has found the solution as well, and that solution was suicide.
The most compelling notion of the seminar did not come during the presentation itself, but afterwards during the question and answer portion. Someone asks the professor if writing in a journal was beneficial or detrimental to these people who have committed suicide. Obviously, the journals provide us with an intimate look into these individual’s minds prior to their final acts, but sometimes these journals can be written with a certain idea that they will sometime, in the future, be seen by other eyes. This may skew the truth and actual intimacy of the journals, if the author is writing it for an audience. Also, especially with Katie, who spent hours and hours cooped up in her bedroom writing horrid things about herself, might have benefited from not having a journal. In the end, we cannot safely say there is a tidy solution to suicide. There are no sufficient conditions for one to commit suicide, although there are many similarities between individuals. The main idea is that suicide, in itself, cannot be understood, but one may be able to understand the individual who commit suicide.