Spirituality and religious oppression are subjects that have brought about great tension worldwide since the beginning of humanity. To bring some of the conflicts that arise from religion and its many different forms, Daniel Tomé held a dialogue session on October 25th in the Arts & Sciences building. This was part of a series of sessions that Tomé has held, and will continue to have over the course of the semester.
During this dialogue, the group present watched several video clips relating to current tensions and quarrels being held over spirituality and religion. These included clips from the Daily Show commenting on Islam vs. Christianity vs. Judaism and one on Mormonism vs. Christianity. Other clips included a short interview of a Muslim American’s reaction to 9-11, and yet another, the controversial television show Sister Wives. All of these clips showed the tension that lies between just a few of the many religions that are present in our country alone, and the problems that ensue as a result. After viewing the short video clips, the group answered several questions about their own religions. The questions were on a yes and no basis, and students answered yes by stepping into a circle that was formed by the group members. The answers included whether one went to church or temple, if one needed to eat specially prepared food, if one felt he/she was the minority or majority in their K-12th grade school systems, etc.
After this set of questions was answered, a discussion was held to see what each person felt about the videos that were viewed in the beginning of the session. Many points and valid opinions were brought up. These included how religion and its conflicts are often taken as a joke, how each religion can feel it is the absolute truth, how arguments are often held over minute differences while similarities are ignored, how common ground is often found only on the basis of hating a third party, and many other important observations.
What all of this focused on was the fact the hatred between different religions seems to be amplified rather than quelled on a regular basis. The only way different religions and spiritual practices can hope to coexist is to first stop searching for the differences in others and try to find similarities that can unite different groups. This does not mean that a utopian world is around the corner, but that there is always a better direction to head in.

I had the pleasure of attending the freshman Convocation in Stockton’s Performing Arts Center on September 23, 2011.  Our speaker was John Thorn, the official MLB Historian.  Thorn explained how he grew up in a displaced person’s camp for the Holocaust.  Thorn learned the English language from the backs of baseball cards.

Thorn began speaking about a full range of topics such as a man named Rothstein, The Great Gatsby and our freshman reading book Shoeless Joe.  After simply listening and taking notes, I began to see where Thorn was leading the audience; everything was connected!  The Black Sox scandal was a part of The Great Gatsby and Shoeless Joe.  A man named Rothstein was the mastermind of the scandal in real life, while Wolfsheim was the character depicted as Rothstein in the Great Gatsby.  On the subject of Shoeless Joe, Thorn regarded it as a great book.  On the surface, it seems that Shoeless Joes is only about baseball, yet the themes make it so much more than that.  Thorn explained this by saying, “Baseball is not about baseball…at least not entirely.”

Thorn concluded the speech by telling us to follow our dreams and convictions and to also take risks.  John Thorn is a master of Q and A which followed the speech.  One audience member asked what team Thorn thought would win the World Series this year.  Thorn replied the Phillies which obviously pleased the crowd by their applause.  Sadly his prediction will not come true this year.  All in all, it was a great speech and welcome to the incoming freshmen.

Family weekend, a weekend where some students dread, while others cannot wait for it to come. I was in the middle of these two groups because I was not sure what to expect. I did not want my parents to embarrass me in front of all my new friends but I still wanted them to see the campus. When my parents and family arrived, along with everyone else’s parents, hugs and kisses were being given out all around. We then headed over to the carnival, which took place on October 6th and was located in parking lot 5, which Stockton had truly out done themselves on. My family and I signed in so that they were able to get their free meal voucher and receive tickets.
Once we were all signed in my family and I walked around to get a feel for what there was to do. We first decided to play some carnival games. It was one ticket per play and my sister was really good at the ring-toss. She had beaten me three times and I was only able to win once. We then headed over to the Greek-Life Tent where there was a bunch of tables. Some of the things that were on the tables were information on Studying Abroad, Fundraising for Relay for Life, hair extensions for Brest Cancer Awareness Month, and other fundraisers held by the Greek members. The table that we went to first was the table that was fundraising for Relay for Life because you were able to pie someone in the face for a dollar, and my sister really wanted to do this. My sister, being the softball player she is, was able to hit the guy in the face with the pie on her first try.
When my family and I were finished in the Greek Life tent, we walked over to the food tent. For lunch they had hotdogs and hamburgers along with chicken and a bunch of different sides. Lunch was good and it felt nice to be able to sit down for a meal with my family again. When we were finished, we then headed to the blowup bounce houses because we decided to save the best for last. The first one that my sister and I went on was an obstacle course that was a race. I ended up finally beating her at something, but only by a couple of seconds. After the obstacle course we went around and tried out all the other bounce houses but nothing had topped the obstacle course one.
All in all, the Stockton Family Carnival was a success and Stockton’s PTA had done a really good job on organizing the event. It was a nice event where Stockton students were able to spend time with their families. You could tell that everyone had a good time based on the fact that not one person did not have a smile on their face. This event was a success and I look forward to attending it again next year.

On this very night of October 27, a darkly enchanting ballet, Dracula, was performed in the Performing Arts Center by the Atlantic City Ballet.  Out of the 24 stunning dancers, only 4 were from America.  The talent was spectacular. The ballet was based off of Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, written over 100 years ago.  The story is deep, dark, enchanting, seductive, full of love, and full of hate.

When the story begins, Dracula rises from his coffin, surrounded by his three favorite wives.  With the conspicuous, red outfit he wears, it is easy to discern who he is and his ties with blood.  A young lawyer, Jonathan Harker, must go to Dracula’s castle in order to get some papers signed, and he heeds none of the warnings the peasants bombard him with. Dracula sees a picture of Mina, Jonathan’s fiancee, and he is incredibly attracted to her.  He makes Jonathan his prisoner while he goes to England to search for Mina.

Mina is with her friend Lucy in England, and Lucy is trying to find a suitor.  She finally does, but eventually, Dracula comes to shake things up.  Both Lucy and Mina are entranced by Dracula, and when he finds out that Jonathon has escaped his castle and married Mina, Dracula is outraged.  He drains Lucy of her blood and makes her a vampire instead.  Her change into a vampire is obvious with the costume she wears of red and black.

Dr. Van Helsing helps Lucy’s fiancee and some of his friends stake her heart.  Then they set out with Jonathon to find Dracula, but when they return to the jail where they left Mina, she is in Dracula’s embrace being fed upon.  He escapes to his castle, and Mina gives Van Helsing and the others a map to find Dracula.

When they all arrive at Dracula’s castle, the wives lay in wait.  They are all staked through the heart, and finally, Van Helsing rips Dracula form his coffin and ends his life as well.  Mina is heartbroken and refuses to return to Jonathon.  She realizes that she loved Dracula.  Even more, she has become a vampire as well, for when the ballet ends, she retreats to Dracula’s former coffin and slams shut the lid, claiming it as her own.

The entire story contains no dialogue, only music and ballet.  The dancers are skillful, each dancing gracefully despite the weight or malfunctions of their costumes.  The changing colors of the lights really added to the tension and bloody fights of the play.  The use of fog machines also added to the chilling, vampric feel of the entire story.  This ballet was an incredible feat.

I had been looking forward to this ballet for over a month, and I was not disappointed!  The dancers were phenomenal, and the music really brought the emotion alive that dialogue could not.  The story of Dracula was retold in an entirely new way, and it caught me up in its enchanting embrace one again.

The perfect way to end homecoming week is with a dance.  On October 15^th, the Osprey Ball was held to bring homecoming to a close.  The Student Senate was taking free pictures, which was a very nice gesture and an excellent way to remember the dance.  The dance offered sparkling cider in fancy glass to make us all feel fancy.  The food offered was different, tasty, and plentiful.  The dance was 70’s themed and I feared that all the music who be from the 1970’s.  Luckily, the organizers of the dance picked an excellent DJ that kept the dance modern while sticking to the 70’s theme.  He played popular modern music for us to dance to but would occasionally throw in some classic 70’s tunes that everyone knew and would sing to keep us in the 70’s theme.  The music was amazing, staying mostly upbeat and energetic with the occasional slowing down to give us a break and to get close to our dates.  The dance was a ton of fun and I am definitely going next year.

All throughout middle school and high school we were told that if you wanted to get into a good college you had to have a ton of community service hours. Now that I am in college trying to boost my resume for graduate school I find myself looking for opportunities to give back more to the community. I was able to accomplish this through the Day of Service. Having found out during Welcome Week that there was a chance for me to achieve this desire, I jump on it. On September 8th, 2012, I woke up early in the morning ready to make a difference. Since, I found out about the Day of Service late, I had to sign up at the event because I missed the preregistration. Sign up was easy and once that was done I had to walk down the hall to one of the conference rooms to select which assignment I would be working on that day.
I was able to select the Girl Scouts and then went to the event room to await further instructions. Once I got there I met up with friends and realized that I and another friend had the same assignment. Daniel Tome then went up on the stage and thanked us all for being there taking a step towards helping our community. Having him say this really enforced the fact that our town does need us and what we do is really appreciated. Once the thanks were given we were broken up into our groups and told where to go. Hearing all the groups that were available really made me proud to be part of a school that really gives back to the community.
The Girl Scout group met in the conference rooms and again we were further broken down into smaller groups. My friend and I were lucky enough to be in the same group, called the Thanks a Lot group. Once we were broken up into groups, we were assigned a room and then they explained what we were supposed to do. The first room we went into was my favorite out of the three rooms. In this room we had hundreds of sheets of paper listing troops and the sections they were in. We cut the papers by troop, and then placed the list along with the correct number of patches in a Ziploc bag. I found this very relaxing and fun. The next room that we went to was where we had to come up with ideas for the girls to earn their patches. I found this room very creative and I had a lot of fun being able to think outside of the box. The third room was where we organized the bags from the first room into brown bags by what section they were in.
After we broke for lunch and went back, we helped the leaders load the bags into the car. We went back and reflected on the activities we did that day. Some of the things that we talked about were how to better their Day of Service activities. All in all the day was a success, not just for my group but for the whole event. I was talking to a couple of friends who had other assignments and they had said that theirs was a success as well. I know that I will be attending all of the Days of Service that are in the future and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to get involved and help their community.

On October 14^th we were lucky enough to listen to a speech given by one of Roberto Clemente’s close friends about his life.  I already knew some information about Roberto Clemente: he was a Puerto Rican baseball player that played for the Pittsburg Pirates as a right fielder.  But this presentation about him had me learn so much more.  He played professional baseball starting in 1952 and his jersey number is 21 because it is the letters in his name (Roberto Clemente Walker).  After he was a ball player he wanted to become a chiropractor because he had sleeping troubles and he wanted to make other people more comfortable to get better sleep.  He had a great sense of humor and was a very good person that was very active in charity work.  I learned he died in a plane crash on the way to Nicaragua.  He was on the plane to help deliver goods to the victims of an earthquake that devastated Nicaragua.  I also learned that Puerto Rico is a very impoverished commonwealth of America and 60% of the engineers in NASA are Puerto Rican.  We also had the honor of meeting Roberto Clemente’s son, who was kind enough to shake our hands and take pictures with us.

On October 20^th I attended the performance of Broadway in the [BIG] Box in Stockton’s Performing Arts Center.  The show consisted of solo and duet artists performing different songs from a wide variety of Broadway shows.  But it wasn’t just like a talent show where the acts have nothing to do with each other; they incorporated it into some sort of explanation of Broadway.  The show had a “host” which not only introduced the acts but interacted with the performers and explained how each acted showed a different dynamic of Broadway musicals.  The show not only had solo and duet acts; the show had an ensemble to catered to the more shy of Broadway fans who don’t want to be in the limelight but want to be a part of the action.  I went to the show because two of my friends were a part of the ensemble, which performed four different songs which included Wicked’s “One Short Day” and Hairspray’s “You Can’t Stop the Beat”.  They did great and they said they had a lot of fun being a part of the show.  I, being not a very good singer but a big lover of everything Broadway, would want to be a part of the ensemble if they ever did a show like this again.  This show was not only a pleasure to watch, but it was also a great opportunity for everyone to get their chance on stage.

Kevin Hesson

10/27/12

On October 24^th,
Nelson Johnson came to Stockton to talk about his book, Boardwalk Empire. The
event took place in the Lakeside building next to the apartments at 4:30. Students
and professors were very excited to meet with him and ask questions. The event
was also being catered which, for freshman, is a godsend due to the lack of
quality in the food at N-Wing.  Johnsoncame prepared with a slide show of pictures from the late 19^th century and early 20^th century. These pictures consisted of images
of the railroad in its early days of construction, and the famous “Million
Dollar Pier.” After wards, many students asked questions about the book and the
process that he had to go through to write it.

Aside from the book itself, Johnson discussed how the idea to write it came to him. He had
noticed that there was a lack of scholarly texts about the full history of
Atlantic City. He wanted to change that and began to conduct his research. He
told the audience that he had not expected to write another book branching off
of the first one. The book “The Northside” is a book about the north side of
the city where the African American community lived. Johnson made it clear that
during his research, he discovered that without the African American population
in Atlantic City, the railroad would have never been built, and the boarding
houses would have never developed. He went through a slide show depicting the
staff of a particular boarding house. There was a sole white person in the
picture who happened to be the manager. The rest of the employees were African
American. This helped to define the importance of the African Americans in the
development of the city because they made up the backbone of the workforce.

Later, Nelson Johnson spoke about his publishing process. He, like many other writers,
struggled to get his book published. Someone asked how many tries it took for
him to find a publisher who was willing to publish the book and he said, “less
than a hundred, but more than 50.” He showed great dedication toward his book
and saw the project through to the end. It took a lot of effort over a long
period of time just to complete the writing process. Johnson wrote on and off
for years and years but eventually completed his goal.

I got to personally talk with Judge and author, Nelson Johnson after he gave his
presentation. We discussed history and I informed him that I was a history
major. For one thing, I was extremely excited just to talk with an author since
one of my life goals is to write a book, and it was very interesting to have a
conversation about history and historical interpretation. Our conversation led
to discussion about Atlantic history. He recommended a book to me called
“Europe Between the Oceans” by Barry Cunliffe. I have yet to read the book but
I looked up the information and call number in the library and I plan on
spending a few hours absorbing it. My experience at this event was a very
positive one. Although I thought the turnout was low considering the
circumstances, it was still very interesting to talk to the author of a book
which I found very intriguing and informative. I greatly respect Nelson Johnson
and I think that he provided a glimpse of what it is like to be an author in
the real world, as well as an aspiring historian. However, the most interesting
thing by far is that the book was turned into a television series. This
amplifies his commercial success but I think the most important thing that he
did was contribute to the historical pool of knowledge on Atlantic City.