On October 14^th, I had the opportunity to attend the “Boo! Who?” event in the Townsend Residential Learning Center. This event was hosted by D-building RA’s, Anthony, Julie, and Nancy. It served as a one-time event to educate attendees largely about stereotypes, and how to better interact with our peers. It lasted from about 8:00-9:00, followed by a watching of Hocus Pocus. The event was well-advertised around my dorm, as I live in D-building. The purpose of the event was intentionally kept a secret and was only described vaguely, as my RA described, because to go into too much detail about the event would be to detract from the meaning of being there at the event that night. “Boo! Who?” was targeted at Honors students, although others were technically invited. There were less than three non-honors students that attended the event.

I had gathered a small group of friends to go with and arrived about twenty minutes early. Decorations were mostly set up, and Anthony and Nancy were putting on the finishing touches. There was a table of candy and refreshments by a wall, and I assisted in setting up a Pandora station appropriate to the atmosphere they were trying to achieve. After about thirty minutes of talking to friends, more honors students arrived and we began the night’s activities.  First, we played some group games while the organizers set up an activity, now knowing how many people were there and therefore how many materials they needed to make. While playing, each person was assigned a stereotypical role on our backs, such as Jock, Theater Student, Loner, Pothead, and Greek Life student. We couldn’t see our own tag, and were told to treat others stereotypically according to their tag. I was assigned a pothead, as I found out quite quickly when people started asking me for brownies. The purpose was to show that people with labels such as these would generally be offended and saddened that they could be treated in such a way that that they were considered two-dimensional. Obviously, there is more to a person than their stereotype, and the burden falls on us to realize that.

Afterwards, we performed a similar task in which we were assigned a role that was kept secret from everybody but ourselves, and to act like that role. As a jock, I interrupted conversations to talk about muscle gains and protein powder, as that felt like what I was supposed to do. This was meant to either give insight into ourselves or others, depending on how closely our assigned role matched our own personality. As someone who is horribly non-athletic, I considered the fact that not all jocks behaved stereotypically, and would take that into future consideration in the future. It offered an opportunity to reflect on my own biases and evaluate them with regards to other people.

Finally, we finished with a game of “On the Bus.” The premise is that a moderator asks a question about our lives, and if it applies, we get off on the left side of a line, and if not, we move to the right side of the line. The questions got increasingly deep and personal, such as going from having siblings to having experienced racism, body image issues, and whether suicide has impacted our lives or not. The purpose was to show that, even as negative experiences affect our lives, we aren’t alone as others have experienced the same thing. I didn’t stay past that, and didn’t watch the Hocus Pocus movie afterwards, as I had other obligations.

Overall, “Boo! Who?” was a fun experience that made attendees really reflect upon how they treat others, and how others deserve to be treated, as well as let us know that in our toughest times, we were not alone. It was a refreshing experience that I am glad I could spend with my friends.

On Thursday, September 10, 2015, I attended Frozen Earth, a climate change panel discussion at Stockton University’s Noyes Museum of Art. The moderator of the discussion was Diane Burko, an artist who has addressed the issue of climate change, particularly the retreat of glaciers. The panelists included Michael Lemonick, Amy Lipton, Dr. Jeff Niemitz, Andy Revkin, and Aaron T. O’Conner. Lemonick is a writer for Climate Central, who covered environmental and science issues for TIME prior to his current position at Climate Central. Lipton is a gallerist and co-founder of Eco Art Space, a leading organization of artists, writers, scientists and businesses developing strategies to address environmental issues. Nimitz is a Professor of Earth Sciences at Dickinson College. Revkin is a journalist and professor who has covered science and environmental issues for over 30 years and is currently the Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace University. O’Conner is the director of The Arctic Circle, an Arctic residency research and public engagement program.

The program began with Lemonick explaining how he misrepresented scientific evidence concerning the ozone depletion as being related to global warming when he was working for TIME. The October 19, 1987, issue of TIME had a cover with both topics being addressed underneath the phrase “The Heat Is On.” Lemonick used this example to show how the relationship between scientists and science writers who report their findings has developed since the 1980s, and how the evidence for climate change has continued to mount. Amy Lipton continued to elaborate on similar efforts that she leads in Eco Art Space, such as her project “Down to Earth” at the Schuykill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia. Lipton educated visitors about sustainable practices and green principles and their relationship to aspects of society such as art and agriculture.  More recently, Lipton has organized Human/Nature: Art and the Environment, a program she has led with The Nature Conservancy to promote and establish discussions between climate scientists and artists.

Dr. Jeff Niemitz was the next participant to speak. He discussed the correlation between the increasing CO₂ levels and increasing global average temperature, and the evidence that climate change deniers often ignore, such as how loss of land ice, not sea ice, contributes to sea level increase. One of Dr. Niemitz’s specialties is the geological and climatological history of Earth, and he discussed how greenhouse gas emissions have been behaving during the last 1 million years and how their increase today is unprecedented in this time frame. He continued the panel discussion by showing predictions for further carbon emissions for up to the year 2100, as well as the problems resulting from the emission increase, such as further increase in average global temperature.

Next to speak was Andy Revkin, who discussed his work on documenting changes in the Arctic. Aaron T. O’Conner also elaborated, explaining how severe changes in Arctic ice levels have been and what the effect has been on the surrounding ecosystems. The panelists ended the discussion by stressing how important hope is in ameliorating environmental problems associated with climate change, and that the fact that these issues are becoming recognized should give us hope. They also pointed out that may be too late to completely mitigate climate change, but that future work should be focused on attempting to live with it and preventing it from getting worse.

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On October 2, the Performing Arts Center hosted the Aquilo Theatre Company production of “Sherlock Holmes.” The production included three of the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Copper Breeches,” “The Adventure of the Yellow Face,” and “A Scandal in Bohemia.” I was intrigued when the first act began and a woman entered on stage beautifully playing the violin. I knew that this was not going to be an average story of Sherlock Holmes.

The play was infused with much more humour than I had expected. Oftentimes the character of Dr. Watson was the comic relief of the play. His flurrying fits of typing made the crowd roar in laughter. At another point, Watson’s character played a horse for an imagined carriage ride. Immediately after, two of the characters were set to be married. The one told Watson to “[s]top horsing around and play the vicar.” This also got a rather large reaction from the audience.

The constantly changing way that the scene was set was also well done. The play used images projected onto a screen to act as a scene for the outside environments, ranging from cityscapes to individual rooms within houses to Holmes’s own apartment. This multi-media approach was able to create interesting effects that would not otherwise have been possible, such as in Act 2 when Holmes unmasked the “Yellow Face.”

Overall, the play was superbly well done. The actors were noticeably professional. Even when faced with a couple of minor setbacks, they still played wonderfully and did not once leave their characters. This play shattered my expectations and left me with a new look at Sherlock Holmes and the versatility of using the stage as a medium of portraying literature.

On August 29^th, the Stockton Entertainment Team set up an event for all of the freshman. We played a game called “ThinkFast.” Every team was made up of four people and each team got a remote to answer the questions. Every question had multiple choices to choose from and was worth a certain amount of points. The longer it took the teams to answer, the fewer points they were awarded. Teams could also change their answers before time ran out but when they did this the amount of possible points to earn from that question decreased. There were groups of questions where the teams only had a few seconds to answer each question and each team could get thousands of points. When this happened, the rankings changed drastically. After each question and group of questions, the top ten teams were shown on the projector and each remote told that team where they were ranked.

When the game started, the questions seemed like they would be easy but then they got harder. There were questions about Stockton and then there were questions about celebrities. A few questions showed music videos and the teams were asked questions about a very specific detail from the clip that was shown. There were also pictures shown throughout the game that the teams were told to remember for a later question. The pictures were of all different famous people and then at the end of the game the teams had to answer which person was not shown from the list given.

Of course, there was a prize on the line. The top three teams were given a prize, so everyone tried really hard to win. The Stockton Entertainment Team seems to know that if you really want a bunch of college students to participate in a game, there had better be something they can get out of it because at each event they run that I have attended, there has been at least one small prize given out. The prizes for ThinkFast consisted of tickets to Six Flags Great Adventure, Hurricane Harbor, and a SET basket.

This event really made people come together as a team and try to see who knew more random facts. Some teams, like mine, were put together randomly because we needed more people to the group since we originally thought it was more than four to a team so we had to split up. This helped me get out of my comfort zone and work together with people I had just met. It was a really interesting learning experience. It was a great part of Welcome Week because it was not like any other event. It did not make me feel like I was being forced out of my comfort zone because there were no ice breakers to make me uncomfortable. The event was not about learning about Stockton or listening to people tell us what do in the case of many different situations; it was about learning how to work as a team and just have fun.

Thrill, suspense, and mystery came to Stockton University’s Performing Arts Center on Friday October 2nd, 2015.  “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” was performed at the PAC, and not a single member of the audience was disappointed.  The performance was put on by the Aquila Theatre Company and starred Loren O’Dair as Sherlock Holmes, Peter Groom as Dr. Watson, as well as Kirsten Foster, Michael Rivers, and Hemi Yeroham playing various roles.  The first act, “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” had the audience on the edge of their seats, following along with Holmes and trying to figure out the crime as well.  This act also had a few comedic moments from Dr. Watson, and some very appealing visuals both on stage, and on a screen above the actors.

With the audience’s adrenaline raised, the production rolled on into Act II, “The Adventure of the Yellow Face”.  This acted combined aspects of love, mystery, and the supernatural, and was most of the audience’s favorite act.  By the time intermission came, the audience was chomping at the bit for Act III, and were would arrive eagerly at their seats in anticipation of a grand finale.  The final act was phenomenal, and introduced the character Irene Adler, to most Sherlock Holmes fans is known as “the girl who got away”.  Ending Act III, Sherlock Holmes receives a letter from Professor Moriarty, his arch nemesis.  This last bit left the audience in shock and awe and led to thunderous applause.  Overall the production was phenomenal and if you ask anyone, they would most likely recommend the show to you.  Anyone who is a fan of mysteries, Sherlock Holmes, or other related topics should definitely see the show.

On Sunday September 27th 2015, the audience at the Performing Arts Center took a trip back to the 1930s and 1940s with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.  The orchestra, under the direction of Nick Hilscher, filled the air with toe-tapping songs that made everyone want to get up on their feet and dance.  As the musicians took the stage, they opened with “Moonlight Serenade”.  The band played with a magnificent vibrato that made the audience feel like they were standing on the beach staring out at the moon as the moonlight reflects off the ocean.  The orchestra then played a variety of other songs.  One of these songs was “I Get a Kick Out of You”, where they audience learned that Mr. Hilscher was not only a director, but also a wonderful sounding singer.  Following that, the orchestra played songs like “Sunrise Serenade”, “In the Mood”, “Tuxedo Junction”, and “Pennsylvania 6-5000”.

Then Mr. Hilscher introduced Natalie Angst, the lead female vocalist who would go on to sing “That’s Sabotage”.  Mr. Hilsher then described to the audience that Ms. Angst, two members of the band named Ian O’Beirne, Donald Staudt III, and Kevin Sheehan, as well as himself were members of the vocal group, “The Moonlight Serenaders”.  Each of the five members of the group came up to the front of the stage and sang “Chattanooga Choo-Choo”, which seemed to be a favorite audience-wide.  Following this song, there was a brief intermission where the orchestra members sold shirts, and CD’s of the music to audience members as well as have a meet and greet session.

Upon returning from intermission, Mr. Hilscher explained to the audience how the Glenn Miller Orchestra has been around since 1938 and has played all over the world in countries like the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, England, Italy, Germany, France, as well as South and Central America.  The first song played after intermission was dedicated to the veterans in the room, which was “American Patrol”.  The orchestra then played another hour’s worth a wonderful tunes, ending with “St. Louis Blues March”, and as the audience was leaving, played “Moonlight Serenade” again as a farewell song for the audience.  The Glenn Miller Orchestra Concert at the Performing Arts Center was an amazing experience for all who attended, and even after the show, many of the audience members continued to hum the music to themselves contently.

On Sunday, September 27^th, the Performing Arts Center (PAC) presented The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra. The Orchestra was formed by Glenn Miller 75 years ago, and since then has performed in all 50 US states as well as Europe, Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Guam, the Philippines, South and Central America. Traveling 48 out of 52 weeks a year, the Orchestra play a total of about 300 play dates a year. The Orchestra consists of music director/male vocalist Nick Hilscher, female vocalist Natalie Angst, five saxophone players, four trumpeters, four trombonists, and three rhythm musicians (piano, bass and drums). By two o’clock the audience was seated and the show began.  The Orchestra members all came out in matching suits and ties, their brass instruments gleaming under the stage lights. The band sat in their seats and started playing Tuxedo Junction, filling the room with swinging music. The band then went on to play other classics before ending the first half of the performance with The American Patrol as a salute to War veterans.

When the band began the second half they introduced a vocal group called The Moonlight Serenaders, which included Nick Hilscher, Natalie Angst and three other Orchestra members. The group sang along to Chattanooga Choo-Choo, which earned The Glenn Miller Orchestra the first gold record ever awarded to a performing artist, Perfidia and I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo. They also played Pennsylvania 6-5000, a crowd favorite, and my personal favorite September in the Rain, which Nick sang as the vocalist. The Orchestra’s finale consisted of Sunrise Serenade and Moonlight Serenade. The crowd loved it so much they did an encore performance of St. Louis Blues March.

Although the performance was only two hours long it transported the audience back to the era of swing and big band.

Adam Smith

Dr. Rosner

GEN 1033-003

9/22/15

Freshman Blogging Project: Day of Service

Service is a vital part of becoming a competent citizen. By providing service to others, one may learn new things, not only about those being served, but about oneself. On September 12th, I attended Stockton University’s 12th Annual Day of Service. The purpose of this event was to enlighten students about the benefits of community service and provide them with opportunities in which to donate their time and effort. The Day of Service started at eight o’clock in the morning, where students ate breakfast and registered for the day. Like most students attending the event, I was eager to dive into “hands on” community service that would hopefully fulfill one of my requirements for service learning, but as I began talking to my peers, I realized that not many students knew what the itinerary entailed. We shrugged our shoulders, finished breakfast, and waited for the first lecture to begin.

What struck me as odd, when I first sat down in the event room, was that it seemed as if the day was not going to revolve around physical community service at all. It became evident, however, that the student body would be lectured for a majority of the day about the benefits of service. Although this may have seemed disappointing at the time, I believe it was a smart decision on behalf of the planning board. Without the information sessions about organizations such as“Books Without Borders”, students would not know where to volunteer, let alone how. For a short while, I assisted a few members of the “Books Without Borders” organization in the packing and arranging of books that would be sent to the less fortunate. This was the extent of the physical service that many students took part in. What I realize now is that this Day of Service, in particular, served as stepping stone for students, and provided them with the necessary information to take part in community service in the future.

Another aspect about the Day of Service that I am impressed with is the wide variety of opportunities that the students were presented with. While I was sitting in the information sessions, listening to the speakers, I could not help but wonder, “What do these lectures have to do with each other.” I am now aware, looking back at the event, that the planning board used varying organizations as a means to show students that they can volunteer in many aspects of society, whether it be homeless shelters or  book organizations.

Although I may not have been enthusiastic about how the Day of Service played out while I was there, I now realize the importance of the event. It was more of an informational service to us, than a community service interaction. I now feel more knowledgeable about the various community service opportunities in the area and would not hesitate to sign up again for the next Day of Service. I believe that Stockton University’s 12th Annual Day of Service prepared students to take action in the community, while also providing them with information that will further benefit their time at the university.

Saturday, September 12th I was reluctant to arise for a full day of service learning. Lacking sleep and motivation, as most college students are, I rolled out of bed for free breakfast. My buddies and I all joined the red team and waited anxiously to be informed as to what we would be accomplishing that day. After keynote speaker Todd Bernstein got us committed to participating in the activities we were assigned to aid Books Without Borders. In this segment we physically aided Books Without Borders in unloading, sorting, and repackaging books for donation. We were informed about their goal of donating recycled books to school libraries that are less fortunate than most. I eventually ended up signing up for the club at the Get Involved Fair.
Our next station is where I experienced service learning for the first time here at Stockton, or maybe in my life. Excepting to accomplish labor-based tasks I was caught off guard by the servicer learning portions of the day. However, after thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that service learning is more beneficial to the community than one-and-done volunteer opportunities. I could tell many people were bored by the lectures, but they didn’t understand that if everyone was informed of things, such as why it’s better to drink from a refillable container and not bottled water, or that they have to ability to impact their environment through speaking their opinion, writing letters to government officials, and voting, then no one would have to provide service hours as a special event. These services would be completed naturally by citizens if they were informed and motivated. For example, roadside cleanups would become less necessary if people converted to the use of refillable containers.
As an environmentalist I’ll admit that hearing from Water Watch and a representative from the sustainable farm were my favorite lectures. However, I also felt that the Green Dot spokesman was trying to teach an important message. That is that if oneis a bystander to an event, such as seeing someone pocket goods from a supermarket, or are witness to domestic abuse, it is the job of said bystander to speak up and take action. It may be hard to approach the situation without support of others to take a stand, but taking action can take many forms, such as calling the authorities, getting the attention of other bystanders, or intervening through rhetoric rather than physical contact. Unfortunately there are “red dots” out there, but the number of people who are bystanders and take action, or green dots, against this one person can make a huge difference.
Whether everyone at Day of Service enjoyed the service learning or not, we hope that they at least gained knowledge from it. Every bit of service learning helps; such as the bettering of one’s knowledge about drinking from a reusable water bottles. Day of Service helped to shape Stockton as a community. We all got to know more about one another and gained service opportunities. When this knowledge is put to work it will benefit our community as a whole