Inspired students

ARTS Worcester student exhibition showcases emerging artists and unique media

by Gwen Walsh
Alumni Editor

This year’s Colleges of the Worcester Consortium Student Art Exhibition offers a compelling student gallery experience with an unending list of different media. From traditional media like oil on canvas or woodblock print to more contemporary materials like old running shoes and driftwood, it is clear that the students selected for this show were not hesitant to demonstrate their inspiration and creativity. This is the Eighth Annual show of its kind at the ARTS Worcester gallery at the aurora, and students from Anna Maria College, Assumption College, Becker College, Worcester Polytechnical Institution, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester State University, Quinsigamond Community College, and our very own Clark University participated.

The exhibition was juried by Susan Heideman, Professor of Art at Smith College, who selected 88 pieces out of 227 submissions for inclusion.

The opening for the show was on Friday, February 3rd from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and was very well attended. Live music was provided by Gamble and Burke and both the upstairs and downstairs galleries were packed with students, parents, friends, faculty, and of course many photographers.

Students were responsible for preparing their own art for display, which is an important learning experience for new entrants in the art world because it has a huge impact on how the work is perceived; some students were very thoughtful and professional with their presentations while others treated it as just another amateur show, and the discrepancy was very apparent. Overall the quality of work was quite impressive, and the atmosphere of the event, with scores of people interacting with and supporting emerging artists, was truly inspiring.

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And the winners are…

First Prize: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Paul Kinsky, sculpture, “North American Ghost Rhino”
Second Prize: College of the Holy Cross, Lauren Wright, sculpture, “Expose”
Third Prize: Clark University, Nina Eicher, painting, “John and Henry”
Honoroable mentions: Clark University, Caitlin O’Brien, photography, (digital print) “Morning Mist”; Clark University, Rick Segal, photo, (archival inkjet print) “Tree Fall”; Worcester State University, Rachel Lubanko, print “Untitled 63″; and College of the Holy Cross, Michael Auth, photo, “Pomegranate #3.”

Peace, love and Vagina Monologues

Performers advocate for openness

by Jeremy Levine
Scarlet Staff

When I told various people that I was going to see The Vagina Monologues for the first time, most of them said, “Oh. It’s an experience.”

That was kind of disconcerting. Shows are usually described as “funny,” “excellent,” “moving,” or “sad.” Never “an experience.” I was braced for the worst.

I soon found out, however, that this description was exceptionally accurate. The Vagina Monologues are most certainly an experience. As a male, it was fascinating to see the vagina in ways that had never occurred to me. I mean, its just a body part, right?

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Apparently not. The vagina is much more than a body part, its the essence of what it is to be female, the epitome of feminine empowerment, and every single one is unique, not just on a biological level.

The performances themselves were fabulous. Stage productions often rely on acting, but not this one. Sure, the lines were memorized, and agonizing hours went into rehearsal, but the feeling was sincere. The people on stage really cared about vaginas, and really understood how the women they were portraying felt. This made much easier to connect to the message.

I learned about angry vaginas, young vaginas, old vaginas, neglected vaginas, adored vaginas, mysterious vaginas, overeager vaginas, and shy vaginas. One woman described her vagina as being “better than the grand canyon,” while another stated that hers “stays closed, and [she] doesn’t go down there.”

A bunch of losers

Clark places on Huffington Post’s Most Awkward Colleges list

By Kathryn Natale
Copy Editor

Image courtesy of Corey Dickinson.

The Huffington Post caused a buzz on campus last week when it posted an article entitled “Socially Awkward Colleges” to its website. The article features a list of the most socially awkward colleges according to InsideCollege.com, the most notable of which is our very own Clark.

The list is not ranked, but instead catalogues the colleges in alphabetical order with a link to a quick profile of each college next to its name.

The article gives no indication as to how the list was compiled, but InsideCollege.com placed the list under Experts’ Choice Lists, which the website says are “from the opinions of many experts from the field of education.” The website also notes that said experts are “high school counselors, admission representatives, educational planners, and other industry pros.”

While these experts may indeed be trustworthy, none of their names are actually attached to the list or to the website itself, and the list was formed by opinions instead of analysis and fact. Many angry readers commented on the article requesting a valid source for their schools’ level of awkwardness. One reader of the InsideCollege.com list pointed out that many of the schools on the list are known for having strong programs for students with learning disabilities, and therefore it is offensive to label such schools as socially awkward.

More suspicious than the lack of sources given for the list are the schools that actually appear on it, eight of which are in Massachusetts. Schools such as Boston University and Tufts perplexed readers by appearing on the list alongside party schools such as the University of Arizona. There seems to be no cohesive thread running through all the schools listed, and many of them seem anything but socially awkward.

CUSC considers a proxy system

by Jeremy Levine
Scarlet Staff

This week’s meeting of the Clark University Student Council was dominated by a continuing effort to establish more complete representation on campus. First, however, Council considered various Grants Committee recommendations.

First, there are two new members of Grants Committee: Sophomore Ivy Mbayah and First-Year Scott Cabell. Their work ethic was spoken of very highly by other Grants members, and it looks like they will be very helpful for Grants in the future.

Two Management 100 groups approached Grants with requests. The first group requested $350 for raffle prizes to benefit Abbey’s House, a local women’s shelter. They were looking to get various gift cards as prizes, and Grants felt that $250 would be adequate, which is the amount they were allocated by Council.

The other group requested $300, also for a raffle, but to benefit a local church that supports LGBTQ refugees that have been chased out of their country. Just like the other group, they received $250.

The Unitarian Universalist Campus Fellowship requested $325 to fund a trainer for the OWL program at Clark. OWL (Our Whole Lives) is a sexuality curriculum, that a number of dedicated Clarkies have been attending regularly, and because of this dedication and the program’s usefulness, Council allocated them the full amount requested.

News of the Weird

Five articles about strange spuds

by Claire Tierney
Scarlet Staff

Haggis chips

The famous New York food fair introduced America to Great Scot International’s latest “potato-like chip” trend. The chips are the flavor of Scotland’s national delicacy, Haggis. Haggis consists of a sheep’s or calf’s offal (the entrails and internal organs of an animal ) mixed with suet (the hard white fat on the kidneys and loins), oatmeal, and seasoning and boiled in a bag, traditionally one made from the animal’s stomach. The new chips are planned for U.S distribution later this year.

It’s only fun until…

Terror struck the quiet town of Denton, Texas, resulting in the lost eyesight of a 17 year old boy. This tragedy occurred after an accident with a potato gun, which is “a pipe-based cannon which uses air pressure and combustion to launch projectiles.” In the case of the 17 year old boy, it was not a potato that was being launched, it was a frog. When the frog failed to fire, the victim (who had otherwise been a bystander) looked down the pipe as the potato/frog gun finally fired.

Glowing Gardens

In the genes of jellyfish is a protein that has the special ability to light up green, which has made them highly useful for research in genetic modification. Scientists have introduced the protein to potatoes in order to allow the potato to glow when it is in need of water. Other proposed projects include creating Christmas trees with glowing needles. Scientists have begun using fireflys and zebrafish to create organisms that may light up when they detect water pollutants.

The Republican Party’s Countdown to Meltdown:

Why can’t Mitt Romney seem to pull away in his bid for the Republican nomination?

By Justin Griffin
Contributing Writer

Without a doubt, the week of February 13^th has been the most trying yet for former Governor of Massachusetts, and Republican

Photo courtesy of conservativenewssources.files.wordpress.com

nominee hopeful Mitt Romney. Granted the end of the week did yield some high rewards, winning CPAC and of course Ron Paul’s coveted Maine Caucus, they came at a heavy price. The longtime frontrunner, but often challenged candidate has worked hard to maintain his image as the moderate, economically conservative, “no other option” choice for the Republican party, that can beat Barack Obama. Despite the marquee endorsements, the title of frontrunner, and all the money that Super PACS can garner, Mitt is only collecting 25% of the republican vote, and lags behind President Obama in the recent national polls by 7%. Why? I’ll give you five reasons:

1. Who am I running against again?

First it was Rick Perry, the conservative alternative and hot commodity from Texas: that fizzled out after the first debate (#embarrassing). Then it was Herman Cain, independent businessman who was ready to unleash a 999 economic plan that “no one could keep their hands off,” (too soon?). Then there was the rise of Shrute, I mean Newt; you have to hand it to the guy, he’s brilliant. No one plays attack politics like Gingrich, no one! That ship has seemingly sailed, or should I say failed. Now, Rick Santorum is on the prowl and is perhaps the most dangerous adversary of all, not because he’s an actual threat to beating Romney, but because of what he forces Mitt to do… we’ll address this further in reason #4 (stay tuned). The point is, Romney has had to focus so hard on beating the ultra conservatives in his own party, that he hasn’t been able to stay on message as a moderate republican that can steal independent votes from Obama. The longer this fight drags out, the more conservative Mitt becomes, and that hurts him when facing Obama!

Men’s Basketball coverage

Scarlet photographer Liz Mattarazzo covered the Men’s Basketball games against Springfield College and WPI.

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CUSC President position uncontested

Spring debate sees few candidates, fewer attendees

By Jeremy Levine
Scarlet Staff

The time has come upon us yet again to embrace the oldest and noblest of democratic traditions: voting for our elected officials. Student Council Executive Board elections are fast approaching, and a debate was held on February 20th in Tilton Hall to discuss the issues.

The event was rather sparsely attended. Only a handful of students were present, as well as very few current members of Student Council. This may be because only one of the four positions had any opposition, but it is just as likely that Clark students remain apathetic towards Student Council, an issue that was brought up by some candidates.

The debate was hosted by Rebecca Liebman, Wright Hall Representative, and was moderated by Alex Hoyt, Station Manager at Radio of Clark University, and Ashley Klann, Editor-in-Chief of this fantastic gazette.

Andrew Schuschu, current Junior Class Representative, is the only candidate running for President. He is the current Chair of the Finance Committee, and has been working tirelessly all year to work on transparency. He has worked to make Student Council accountable for its spending by forcing the Council to be audited like any other club, and has worked on the dollar-by-dollar breakdown of the Student Activities Fund allocations. Schuschu cited these successes, as well as his track record in terms of goal fulfillment, as his chief qualifications for the job.

Sleeker campus coming

Updates to dorms, including more community spaces, on the horizon

By Zach Weinstein
Scarlet Staff

Change may be coming to Clark over the summer but in some ways be a return to certain Clark roots. Last month, President Angel announced a slew of planned projects to the Clark campus and the surrounding area via a campus wide email.

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One of the planned projects is “building [a] connector that houses lounges and other community spaces to Sanford and Johnson during the summer of 2012, with a comparable project for Hughes and Dana during the summer of 2013.”

One of the goals of this renovation is to create a community space that fosters social life and creates additional study spaces for these dorms. A piece of Clark’s history provided some of the inspiration for this project.

There used to be an abundance of such spaces; the Little Center for Johnson and Sanford, and Dana Commons for Dana and Hughes. Executive Vice President Jim Collins, the coordinator for these projects, said, “Over time we’ve gotten away from that.” This project would be a way of renewing some of the community spaces on campus as has already started to happen with the renovations of Bullock and Wright Halls. It is likely that this effort would be well received by students as the planning process originated largely out of discussions with R.A.s and feedback from student surveys.

Vapor, Liquid, Snow, Solid

Professor’s new play less interesting than it should be

By Ethan Goldstein
Contributing Writer

Clark is a university that prides itself on how it mixes the arts and sciences.  Gorgeous paintings of cells decorate Lasry, and one frequently meets science majors who spend their time taking electives in Traina and joining various clubs unconnected to their area of study.  So it’s actually rather surprising how few science-themed theatrical productions are performed among the mixture of drama and comedy, realism and surrealism and all other varieties of plays and musicals that make theatre such a constant presence on campus. Vapor, Liquid, Snow, Solid, by theatre professor Danny Balel, would at first appear to remedy this strange absence thanks to its structure, which shows a deteriorating relationship in four stages, mirroring the four states of matter. Yet the play fails to live up to its promising name, thanks to its reliance on cliches and the blandness of its characters.

The audience is first greeted by the announcer (Vicki Grogan), a bright but useless presence who narrates the show in interludes between the major scenes. She does not affect it until the end, at which point her relevance is too little too late, and a rather desperate attempt to break the fourth wall at that (as seemingly all modern plays must do.) She engages the audience on a personal level but tries too hard; her eyes dart from audience member to audience member trying desperately to meet each of their gazes.