Paige Weisman

The Stockton Honors Program sponsored Pizza and Pong, a one-time music-filled event held in the Campus Center on October 24. I probably will not tell anyone outside of this blog that my first time playing (water) pong was with my college’s Honors Program; nonetheless, I will always treasure it as one of my first college memories. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to compete and reignite my team spirit. Because I was one of the first people there, me and a few other people started a game and, surprisingly, we were all equally-matched. It was only until after I chugged my first cup that somebody told me we do not have to drink the water. Even though I would have preferred to quench my thirst while playing, I did not mind.
As I sat in my night class before going to the event, I was looking forward to Primo’s pizza, a Stockton Honors staple. I enjoyed getting to know other students over a couple slices along with some cups of water that were not in play. I especially loved talking to some of the kids I recognized from the freshman honors seminar. After we ate and more people came, a small tournament began at one of the two tables. I did not do too badly on my own for having just started to play, but I enjoyed spectating since most people have more experience than me. The free-play table was a lot more competitive than the tournament table because proud friends were going against each other. There is no better feeling than bonding over water pong. I am excited to attend more honors events, as I feel fortunate to have a built-in community as a freshman.

On Monday, November 14, I attended a poetry reading by Dr. Akhil Katyal of India, Stockton’s International Writer-in-Residence. At 7 PM, I took a seat. However, the seat I took was not in the correct location. Apparently, the reading was in the Board Room, even though countless emails had told me it was in the Event Room. So at 7:15 I took a seat in the correct room.
Luckily, I was not too late. He had only just started speaking, and not even reading the poetry, by the time I got there. I am not going to lie, Dr. Katyal had a bit of an accent. His accent made it a tad hard to understand, but I still understood most of what he was saying. Since it had only been a few days since the election, everyone was still pretty sensitive about the results. It was all so raw. He wrote a poem about how he felt when he saw the results. In another one of his poems, he slipped in that he had a boyfriend, which made me understand even more why the election results had such an impact on him and his psyche. Between being a person of color and being gay, there is a lot at stake for him when it comes to the social justice area of politics. His thoughts and poetry were profound. He wrote about his identity and his travels, from India to Chicago to New York to Stockton. Listening to his poetry was a great experience.

Last Saturday, I woke up at 5 PM. I had somehow managed to sleep through being texted by about a dozen different people and called by a few as well. I quickly downed the pills I had missed taking that morning, and began to accept that it would be nothing but an unproductive day in my dorm. That is, until I checked my text messages. My friends Mike, Kelsey, and Alex, all in the Honors Program as well, had texted me an invitation to come out with them to the Campus Center Theatre to see a movie. Little did I know, this would not be just any movie. This would be Sausage Party. Ah, but I get ahead of myself. I would first, before diving into the movie, like to state how much I appreciate that Stockton University has movie screenings like this. As all of us residential students know, campus gets very dead on the weekends, and it can be depressing. The fact that people go out of their way to screen these movies for us really says something about Stockton University, and the way it takes care of its students. I am truly grateful.
I’m sure every reader is wondering by now about Sausage Party. I assume most people at least saw commercials for it, but if you haven’t, I recommend you do so that you understand the nature of this movie. If there was one word to sum it up: raunchy. This movie pushed boundaries. Yes, I was brought up in a conservative Christian home, so any raunchy movie would have been a culture shock for me – but this was different. This movie was at the very end of the spectrum, or at least as far as you can go without getting pornographic. There was no lack of purposefully-poorly-hidden innuendos, especially at the end. There was uncensored cursing – even the F word – and I was fairly shocked that a public university was allowing this to be screened. Maybe the people in charge aren’t aware of how wild this movie is! Don’t tell them.
Yes, this movie is raunchy and absolutely not something to show the kids, but believe it or not, it was more than that. Behind the 4th-wall-breaking, naughty, and dark humor, there was a deep message – a social commentary. No, I’m not crazy. If I were next door in Atlantic City, I’d bet on a lot of money that this was a commentary on the somewhat pointless divisions we draw between ourselves based on religion. Specifically, the commentary is on the extent of how pointless they are in the opinion of the movie’s producers and writers. To fully experience how this is played out: watch the movie. I warn you, it’s very dirty, but if you can take it, watch it. However, I can tell you, the movie’s thrilling conclusion is reached when the characters unite together and reject the ideas of blindly following their religions and of allowing themselves to be divided by them. Overall, ask anyone who saw this movie: it was a wild ride.

My lacrosse team makes it a priority to participate in several activities that give back to the community. They’re excellent for team bonding and allow the team to do something productive for youth and surrounding neighborhoods. Recently our team, along with every other sports team at Stockton and in our conference, took part in an effort to raise donations in the form of cans and other food donations for families who cannot always have the most luxurious Thanksgiving. Each of us asked our friends and family to donate cans of corn, instant mashed potatoes, and other thanksgiving staples. The response we got was overwhelming, raising over 100 items as a team. We were so happy with our ability to aid local families who wanted to have a nice thanksgiving meal but couldn’t afford it. Thanksgiving is a holiday that’s about giving back to people without expecting something in return; it’s about the joy of helping and being thankful for whatever we might have. It’s important to realize that however much one might have, there is always someone that has less. Participating in community service activities has given me a new perspective on volunteering, and has given me way less to complain about. I now seek out opportunities to volunteer on my own, because it’s an excellent feeling when people give thanks for donating time and resources to their cause. I’m sure the families we were able to help were thankful and joyful, but really it is the team and I that are thankful for the opportunity to give back.

Kristen Russo

On November seventeenth `at 4:35pm I attended the Winter Extravaganza event, hosted by the Commuters on the Go Club. This was a service event, which involved making holiday themed ornaments and decorations for a nursing home. There were suitable supplies for the crafts, including glitter, snowflakes, glue, and other arts and crafts materials. In addition, the club provided snacks such as cookies and lemonade and played holiday music to set the mood for the activity. The leaders of the club were kind and helpful throughout the event and took most of the responsibility afterwards for cleaning up the spilled crafts and glitter. Moreover, the snacks combined with the creative aspect of the project created a lighthearted atmosphere that made community service, something many students resent, into a fun and stress-relieving activity.  Overall, the Commuters on the Go Winter Extravaganza was a fun way to spend time with friends while simultaneously making a difference in the community, and it provided a way for students to harness their creativity while also making a positive impact.

On October twenty-second at 2:10 p.m., I attended a dialogue session entitled From MARS Major to Mars Scientist in L112, a program about Stockton alumna Dina Bower and her professional journey from a marine science major at Stockton University to an astrobiologist. Bower was originally interested in marine chemistry but when offered an opportunity to pursue graduate research in astrobiology didn’t hesitate to seize the opportunity. The accomplished scientist now uses her knowledge of oceanography, chemistry, and geology to attempt to find evidence of previous life on other planets, and she is currently focusing her research specifically on Mars. Bower commenced her presentation by describing her original goals and how she ended up in astrobiology instead and then spent the remainder of the time describing her graduate work and recent research.. Dr. Bower’s speech was incredibly thorough, detailing her experimental designs, describing the equipment used, and including photographs and data charts of her discoveries. Although much of the research was difficult for me to comprehend as a freshman undergraduate, she did keep the audience frequently engaged with pictures, questions, and personal stories. Bower even remained in the room afterward to answer individual questions and allow students to view her collection of rocks from Mars. Overall, it was enlightening to hear about a career I never thought would have been an option for a marine science major!

Akhil Katyal read his poems on campus. Many of the poems he read were written about the cities that he has recently been to since he has been traveling reading his poems. His poems were mainly about places and current issues. The first one he read was about the recent election of Donald Trump. He discussed some of his issues and concerns due to the increase in discrimination of other races and of the LGBT community after the election. He had another poem about Bombay and he discussed a train station there. I really enjoyed his poems and liked how current they were and how some of them talked about current issues. It made them easier to understand and relate to because I knew about the issues in which he discussed from hearing about them all recently.

            After Katyal read his poems the audience had the opportunity to ask him questions. I thought it was interesting that he speaks 4 languages. He writes poems in not only English, but in Hindi. He sometimes even translates his poems between languages and can read them to many different audiences. He also talked about how he has noticed that the poems he writes in English tend to be more melancholy while he feels he is more humorous when he writes in Hindi. Overall, it was very interesting to listen to his poems and learn about the author. The poetry meetings are definitely more interesting than I had originally anticipated since I am not usually interested in poetry. I would recommend going to one and trying it out even if you think you would not be very interested in it.

Alyssa Royce

Professor Michael Rodriguez

The Life of The Mind

2 December 2016

Blog Number Three: Lolla No Booza

Lolla No Booza was an event hosted on October 25th 2016. The event took place before Halloween and served as a fun way for students to enjoy the holiday without the destructive decisions associated with it- namely, alcohol consumption. Underage drinking- as well as drug use- are extremely prevalent during holidays such as Halloween where students gather in large groups to celebrate. I am the treasurer of a club at Stockton called R.I.S.E. A.B.O.V.E, which stands for Ready to Inspire Students to Excel And Better Our Various Experiences. R.I.S.E. A.B.O.V.E is a student led group that promotes good decision making among students and encourages students to succeed and excel. R.I.S.E. A.B.O.V.E. took on Lolla No Booza, helping with costume contests, dance offs, games, mock-tails, and food. I, personally, worked in one of the scare rooms where I stood behind a chair in which people sat and jumped out to scare them. Lolla No Booza is a very interesting and effective way of promoting and facilitating healthy decision making during Halloween. It is important to address the risks and pressures that students are facing in their daily lives, especially when it comes to alcohol consumption. Lolla No Booza was a huge success and I look forward to volunteering there again in the years to come.

As a member of the honors college, it is essential to complete community service to help those in the community. One of the ways I volunteered this semester was by helping raise money for Stockton’s Global Health Team. In order to do this, I went with other members of the club to the Shoprite in English Creek to help the cashiers and bag groceries for customers. Many people were generous enough to donate to the cause. The money raised goes toward the Global Health Team’s annul trip to a country in need of medical assistance. There they bring supplies and assist the doctors and other organization to provide care for the citizens. Last year, they traveled to Nicaragua to help care for the people there. The location for this year’s trip has not yet been determined, but it essential to start the process of raising awareness and funds for the trip as soon as possible.

My time volunteering was spent bagging groceries to raise money for the club. This allowed me not only the chance to help out the club and raise money, but also to be able to interact with others in the community outside of the campus. I look forward to having the opportunity for volunteer for more events sponsored by this club, as I think it is a really important cause.

In the beginning of the semester, there was a panel consisting of eight students that had attended either the Republican National Convention or the Democratic National Convention. These students were accepted into a twelve day seminar where they were required to carry out certain tasks for the convention. I learned how over the course of time, the nature of the conventions have changed. Originally, they were for each party to come together and vote on one person to represent them in the election. Now they are mainly used to advertise the nominee and put on a show that the entire party supports the nominee. This is because the citizens feel more compelled to vote for someone who has the support of their party rather than a person that does not have the backing of whom they are representing. In order to maintain this front of unity, there are many things that go on behind the scenes to ensure that there will be no displays of support for another candidate. For example, all the signs that viewers see on television are made to look like people brought them, but actually, these signs are pre-made and handed out for people to hold. Similarly, booing and negative comments towards the nominee are drown out by shouts of support and praise for them so that there is not an image of the party not agreeing with the nominee. The topic of a third party was also discussed and the conventions basically make it so that the third party never has a chance of publicizing their candidate as much as the main two democratic and republican parties. They could never raise enough money to host a convention, and this is why that it is unlikely a third party candidate would ever win the election. This event opened my eyes to the techniques that modern politics use in order to sway voters one way or another and I think that more events like this would be beneficial to the common voter.