The Warrior Champions film was a one-time event held in the Performing Arts Center on September 3rd, 2016. The winner of multiple film festivals, the Warrior Champions was a extremely motivational documentary. Shadowing the lives of a group of wounded American soldiers with disabilities due to combat, the film sends a powerful message of triumphing in the face of possible defeat. There was national pride in everything these veterans did and said on screen. They felt nothing but pride to have represented their country on the battlefield, even at the cost of a limb.

Specifically four members of the group of wounded soldiers were determined to keep on fighting for their country. Due to their injuries, they could not fight on the battlefield anymore, so they took their fight to the olympics. The film follows the hard work these soldiers have to put in in order to achieve their dream of going to compete for the United States in the paralympics. The fight these soldiers put up to be able to do the most simple things like get dressed in the morning is remarkable. It was very eye opening for the audience to see things they take for granted every day to be such a difficult feat for the veterans.

Former soldier Melissa Stockwell lost one of her legs in combat, and as a result decided to take up the sport of swimming. Melissa put so much heart and soul into swimming that she decided she wanted to train to swim at the paralympics in Beijing in 2008.  Having only one leg to kick with was a huge disadvantage for her to overcome. However, Melissa did not settle with mediocre times, and sought to be the best she could be.  Being a swimmer myself, her particular story was fascinating to me.

    Warrior Champions was a moving film that, when viewed, had the ability to touch everyone in the room in some way. A documentary about never giving up, it had the power to possibly change the lives of the viewers. It was impossible to walk away from that Stockton event without having been touched in some way.

On September 19, 2016, Dr. Gregory H. Stanton gave a lecture entitled “The Ten Stages of Genocide”. While I was not familiar with Dr. Stanton’s work previous to the lecture, I quickly learned that he holds a significant presence in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies. This area of study is relatively new, having only emerged in the 1990’s. Dr. Stanton is at the forefront of this field. He is the current president of Genocide Watch, an organization that seeks to create an international movement to prevent and stop genocide.

The ten stages of genocide, as observed by Dr. Stanton, are as follows:

1)    Classification: identification of a specific population

2)    Symbolization: identification of races and/or religions with a symbol

3)    Discrimination: laws that separate one population from the general public

4)    Dehumanization: the use of hate propaganda to deny the humanity of a population

5)    Organization: the gathering and training of militias or other forces

6)    Polarization: the labeling of moderates as extremists and efforts to arrest, imprison, or kill them

7)    Preparation: formal plans

8)    Persecution: isolation of the victims by means of force

9)    Extermination: governmental cooperation with the planners of the genocide, allowing them to carry out genocidal massacres

10) Denial: minimization of the destruction by the perpetrators

Dr. Stanton indicated that a significant population mistakenly believes genocide no longer affects the world. While many assume genocide ended with the Holocaust, other episodes of genocide have since occurred. Lack of public awareness, however, is not the only reason it continues. A lack of authoritative international forces and political will to step in and stop genocide also perpetuate its existence.

 Currently, Dr. Stanton is working on a high school textbook to guide the development of genocide curricula. A major theme of Dr. Stanton’s presentation was that one of the greatest allies in the fight against genocide is education. Concurrent to Dr. Stanton’s presentation, our own Stockton University offers a spectrum of Holocaust and genocide resources. In doing so Stockton helps us to become global citizens. As global citizens, we have a responsibility to not only stop genocide, but to also remain vigilant as the threat of genocide is never truly extinguished.

On October 5, 2016 at 8:00pm I attended the Suicide Prevention Week dialogue. This event was sponsored by the active minds mental health club here on campus. The dialogue was a one time event this year at Stockton that featured a special speaker, Pablo Campos, that gave his own personal story of how he tried to commit suicide.

He started his story with background information on his family. His parents came to America from Guatemala in order to give their children better lives. As the youngest child, Pablo’s mother always joked that he was raised by his older sister and they two peas in a pod. However, Pablo said he remembers his childhood very differently. He explained that he remembers always being alone, playing with toys quietly in the corner. Pablo’s older siblings were bright, intelligent people with promising futures and talents. Teachers would always come up to him and compliment his brothers’ accomplishments, saying Pablo was soon bound to be an engineer at Penn State too. However, all comments like these did was burden Pablo with the weight of everyone’s expectations. The aloneness he felt from as young as he can remember, stuck with Pablo throughout his entire childhood, adolescent, and teenage years. He estimated that his depression formally started around seventh grade. Not long after, to combat this feeling, he turned to drugs and alcohol. The only good, positive thing in his life had been soccer, but by freshman year, he quit.

On a complete downward spiral, Pablo finally decided one day he could not take it anymore, and took some pills and went for a drive. He did not want to be alone anymore, he did not want to be a substance abuser anymore, he just wanted it all the stop. Pablo ended up getting spotted by a police officer for his reckless driving and speeding, but continued to drive for a while with the lights on behind him anyway. Finally, exhausted, Pablo decided to pull over, crashing his car into the guardrail. When the cop pulled his gun, Pablo yelled at the officer, “Shoot me please, just end it, please shoot me.” Thus this began years of going in and out of therapy, rehab centers, and advising.

Sitting in that audience and hearing this story from such an attractive, well-dressed, professional looking young man was shocking to me. The man in the story he told did not match up with the person I was looking at, and that’s when it hit me. I really cannot see mental illnesses. Any person, no matter their outwards appearance, can have inner demons no one knows about. Pablo said he never confided in anyone the depression he went through for years, everyday putting on an act of being like any other kid. Pablo’s complete turnaround of his life was so inspiring and gave me such hope that anyone I knew who was struggling would have a better life one day. I absolutely loved this dialogue and it really showed that you never know what is going on in someone’s life.

On October 25^th, I visited the Funny Farm Rescue in Mays Landing with Stockton’s Animal Friendly Organization. The farm did live up to its name because the first thing I saw as we drove in, was huge flocks of birds in the middle of the road. Most of the animals were not gated, as far as I could tell from looking at the farm from my backseat window. I saw two dogs running and fetching bones and a young calf taking a nap on the side of a barn. I thought: What did I get myself into? I was awestruck by the setup of the farm- I have never experienced anything like this. Once we parked or tried to park, despite the birds pecking at the gravel in the parking area, we walked onto what seemed like a chaos. However, as we got to touch all of the animals and get a feel for the environment, we soon realized that it was only an organized mess. For example, while the birds do walk around the entire farm, they walk in an organized flock fashion. This same concept could be extended to the rest of the animals in the farm including the horses, cats, dogs, pigs, and cows.

This farm is not open to the public very often so I was fortunate enough to see all the rescued animals, feed them, and learn about their stories. My friends and I asked one of the workers for a tour around the farm. The worker told us the names and rescue stories of every animal on the farm (there had to have been over 50 rescue animals at the time). One story that really stood out to me was about one of their adopted rescue dogs. Veterinarians predicted this dog to live for only a few months because of a rare condition in his esophagus that makes him throw up all of his food. After hours of research, the owners were able to sustain his life by training him to eat blended dog food in a crate sitting upright. Looking at the dog eat and play during my visit was truly inspiring. It made me feel good knowing that I was baking and fundraising for a worthy cause that honestly cares about disadvantaged animals. I look forward to returning to Funny Farm Rescue again in the near future!

On November 19, 2016, the Stockton Honors Program sponsored the first annual Run, Run Rudolph 5k race. Kate Volpe, service director of the Honors Program, spearheaded the event and encouraged Stockton students to become involved, whether it be running in the race or volunteering to work behind the scenes. Students of all levels came out to fundraise for the worthy cause and get into the Christmas spirit; all proceeds from the event were going to be used to purchase Christmas gifts for families in need around the local community. Following the race, there was a session for all the volunteers to discuss the positive and negative aspects of the day as well as provide input on how the event could be run more smoothly in the future.

My friends and I volunteered to help with Run, Run Rudolph, including set up at seven o’clock in the morning. Although I slept through my alarm, I was able to make it to the event prior to registration to set up the remaining water stations and make posters of encouragement that would be seen throughout the course. At eight o’clock, registration began. I was assigned to hold up a sign that directed runners to the appropriate room inside the TRLC. Standing outside of the campus center in frigid temperatures was not my ideal Saturday morning, but it was rewarding to know that I was a part of such an exciting fundraising event for a worthy cause. Finally, the racers were all checked in, and the volunteers were distributed across the course around Lake Fred. Before I went back outside, I had to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a hot chocolate and a donut for an extra boost of energy to cheer on the runners as they ran by.

After everyone completed the race, runners enjoyed water and fresh fruit while listening to popular Christmas music and socializing with friends. Kate held a closing ceremony where she congratulated all the runners and thanked everyone for their help and participation throughout the day. As runners started to leave, volunteers began cleaning up for the reflection session. Everyone who took part in the session was given an index card to record the best and worst parts of the day and how improvements could be made for the next few years. Overall, people were very analytical, and it was awesome to see the commitment to making the event the best it can be. The first annual Run, Run Rudolph 5k race was a success, and I look forward to volunteering at it for years to come!

Alyssa Royce

Professor Michael Rodriguez

GEN 1033: The Life of the Mind

11 November 2016

Blog Post Number Two: Knock Out Opiates

Knock Out Opiates was an event hosted by R.I.S.E. A.B.O.V.E, a student-run organization here at Stockton that promotes healthy decision making among students. This event was both a dialogue session and a voluntary opportunity for students, specifically, because we discussed opiate use in our community while also taking action. To date, heroin accounts for ninety percent of opiate use in the United States. In terms of Stockton University and its surrounding cities and communities, heroin use is at an all time high with hundreds of arrests and overdoses each year. In addition to heroin usage, prescription drug use is also a prevalent issue within this community and within the United States as a whole. Of course, there are several ways to become addicted to prescription drugs; but, a large number of cases derive from injury or illness for which prescription drugs are issued. I, along with other R.I.S.E. A.B.O.V.E students, went to the neighboring apartment complex, where many Stockton students reside, and hung flyers that draw attention to the issue of prescription drug use and urged these individuals to talk to their doctors about the dangers of these drugs before deciding to take them. One flyer, for instance, reads “Would you give your child heroin for a broken arm?” The point here is to indicate that prescription drugs are just as addictive and just as dangerous as heroin or other opiates that we may know and may view in a negative light. I know for me, personally, when I had my four wisdom teeth removed my surgeon recommended oxycontin; yet, I made the decision to take controlled amounts of ibuprofen instead because I have educated myself about the dangers of prescription drugs, which I encourage others to do as well. I am hopeful that my volunteerism has made an impact within the Stockton community and has allowed for a more open conversation about prescription drug use.

Alyssa Royce

Professor Michael Rodriguez

The Life of The Mind

30 September 2016

Blog Event #1: Constitution Day

Constitution Day, held on September 21st, featured keynote speaker Akhil Reed Amar, Professor of Law at Yale Law. The following is an abstract and reaction of Amar’s address:

Foremost, I want to acknowledge the fact that I consider myself to be both politically active and politically aware; I closely follow the ongoing election, I am a frequent and active viewer of Fox News, I work at a polling institute where I collect data regarding local politics in my region, and I have even lobbied and held congressional briefings on Capitol Hill. I acknowledge this fact not to help lengthen my paper, but to demonstrate my political activism and to segway into where I lie on the political spectrum. If you happen to have attended the keynote address, you will have undoubtedly recognized the leftist nature of this dialogue. Though I will not explicitly state my political affiliation, I am sure it will be made evident that my views lie on the opposite end of the spectrum and that my opinions directly contradict that of Amar’s.

To begin, I would like to discuss Amar’s comparison of Barack Obama to Abraham Lincoln as this was the one claim that stood out to me the most. Simply put, President Obama is one of the worst presidents this nation has ever seen: a bold statement, perhaps, but not a false one. In terms of the United States economy,  Obama has worsened our economic condition immensely. Following previous recessions in US history, the economy has consistently strengthened and compensated for its losses, including but not limited to following the Great Depression. After what is now known as the “the Great Recession,”  America has not by any means regained our economic standing pre 2008. Rather, Obama has nearly doubled our national debt and has led to the perpetual increase of Americans living in poverty and depending on government programs for financial assistance. President Abraham Lincoln did not by any means destroy the US economy the way Obama has; Lincoln, in fact, strengthened it, for instance, through the passage of the Pacific Railway Act which supported a transcontinental railroad, a tremendous asset to the US economy.

I, of course, must also discuss the discrepancy between racial tensions in modern day and in the 1860s and how poorly Obama has handled our current condition, specifically in comparison to Lincoln. There is no denying that race is a heated topic today, specifically with the prominence and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. To avoid hurting feelings, I will try my best to put this lightly: Americans are not being killed due to limited gun control nor are they being killed because law enforcement is a racist and trigger happy institution. Although I will not digress and discuss why I disagree with the existence of systematic racism and why I am a firm supporter of the Blue Lives Matter movement, I will say that a major contributor to racial tensions in the United States is crime. More specifically, crime is a huge issue in this country and is a major contributor to death, especially among the African American community. By way of explanation, in 2013, out of the 660,000 crimes committed, African Americans were the perpetrators 85% of the time, despite accounting for roughly 13% of the population. I must pose the question: what has President Obama done to combat this? Obama adamantly opposes the War on Drugs despite the fact that drug use and distribution is a major contributor to crime and that even his home city, Chicago, is notoriously the murder capital of the nation. Obama has made little to no effort to support African Americans and to relieve them of crime and its consequences. Comparatively, it goes without saying that Lincoln made great efforts to support and even free African Americans. Lincoln is, of course, known as the Great Emancipator, after he signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Hopefully it goes without saying at this point, but Obama is by no means comparable to Abraham Lincoln.

Moreover, I find it appalling and, in a way, unethical that Stockton would pay someone to essentially endorse a presidential candidate in front of a room filled with naive and fickle college students. On several occasions, Amar commented on Donald Trump’s attitudes, opinions, and beliefs and inexplicably prompted the audience the vote for Hillary Clinton. Presumably at this point my partisanship has become evident and it is clear that I would disagree with his supporting Clinton.

There were many arguments which Akhil Reed Amar made during his address that I strongly disagree with, yet those mentioned above are just a few that greatly peaked my interest. Overall, I was thoroughly angered by this presentation and I undeniably felt misled by its title: Constitution Day. The content of this presentation had very little to do with the Constitution, but moreso illustrated Amar’s personal political affiliation and why we should vote democratic this November, which I can assure you will not be doing nonetheless.     

Lily Davis

Blog Post 3

Bay Atlantic Symphony Concert

On Friday, November 11, 2016 I went to go see the Bay-Atlantic Symphony’s “Veterans Day Salute” concert.  Originally, I went to the concert because I was required to for a class I was taking, but I ended up really enjoying it.  The concert was in the Performing Arts Center, and there were so many people there, they filled up practically all of the seats.  The Bay Atlantic Symphony, which is an orchestra that  anyone in South Jersey can join, comprises of violins, violas, cellos, bass, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, french horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, percussion, and the harp.

At this specific concert, the orchestra played a selection of songs that all have resonating themes of American spirit.  These songs include “Armed Forces: the Pride of America,” “1812 Overture,” and many selection of pieces  from Leroy  Anderson.  During the “Armed Forces: the Pride of America” piece, the orchestra would play each branch of the military’s song, and the people who served in that branch would stand up. It was such an amazing experience, to see just how many people have served in the military.  It was also very emotional, because there were just so many people who have sacrificed so much for our country.  

Personally, this was my second Bay-Atlantic Symphony concert that  I have gone to this year.  The first one was a very formal concert, which I enjoyed a great deal.  But this concert I appreciated so much more because it was such an emotional experience.  At the end of this concert, the orchestra played a surprise song.  It was the National Anthem.  Just after the first few notes, the entire Performing Arts Center was on its feet, singing along.  It was truly such a beautiful and emotional experience.  

On November 17th I tabled for the Run Rudolph Run event hosted by the Stockton Honors Board. This event consisted of a five kilometer run for those daring enough to accept this fairly difficult but manageable run. The entry fee for this event was $20 per participant and encouraged racers to dress in seasonal apparel such as antler hats and elf hats. For those who don’t have seasonal apparel on hand they would be sold at the event as well.  This whole event took place at Stockton University on our very own scenic pineland trails, the perfect location for any event! All proceed from this event went towards less fortunate local families who don’t have the money to buy their children presents for the holiday season.

This run was not only a fun way to get out and be active with friends, but also a great way to help our local community as well. At the reasonable cost of only $20 people could enjoy a fun afternoon in good company at the most picturesque part of a great campus. For those who could not partake in the event for various reasons donations were accepted as well as every little bit helps make another individual’s holiday season brighter. While tabling for this event most of our donations came in the form of good-hearted Stockton students and faculty giving a dollar or two to a good cause. All the proceeds from this event went toward various toys and gifts that were later donated to the Stockton Police Department’s Toys for Tots program. While this is only the first year of this annual run we hope to see it gain momentum each year as volunteers such as myself help think of new ways to make this event more fun and exciting then the previous year.

On November 14, about 15-20 classmates in the Honors freshman seminar joined President Harvey Kesselman and his wife for dinner at the N-Wing Cafeteria.  Since we were all uncomfortable at first, nobody said anything until President Kesselman broke the ice with a joke about how quiet we all are.  He introduced himself and made all of us introduce ourselves and give a general background about ourselves.  Although the instructions were quite clear, it was hilarious how many people couldn’t remember what to say for their background.  Everyone made fools of themselves and made this meeting much less formal than it started off as.  We had many discussion sessions relating to the recently concluded election.  He asked the general audience questions such as; why do you think Trump won, are you surprised with this outcome, and what are your feelings toward the outcome?  Thankfully everyone who shared their input stayed tranquil, especially because it is such a heated topic.  President Kesselman seemed to be very impressed with the knowledge and thoughts the students shared with him.  After we got off the topic of politics he shared with us information about the expansion and construction of Stockton University.  He compared modern day Stockton to the school that he was a part of its first year as a college.  It was outstanding how much this school has grown and how much change could occur in such a small time.  At the end of the dinner as we were wrapping up Kesselman asked the students for ideas and thoughts that he could help implement or aid the students with.  This experience was a great opportunity to get close to such important people and be introduced to a more formal scene.