By Meghan Kelly

As Joanne Darrigo a junior at Bridgewater State College, leaves her house at 6:30 AM, she has checked her purse twice to make sure she has multiple number two pencils, two forms of identification and her admission ticket. Driving down the highway she is anything but calm. She fidgets with the radio, singing along to any song she knows as she is closely following her MapQuest directions to Randolph High School. She is doing anything in her power to avoid thinking about her fate for the next four hours. Throughout the years people have questioned whether or not standardized testing is appropriate to determine a person’s level of success. For many high school students these exams are the SAT’s and the ACT tests that determine whether or not a college will accept them. For many students at Bridgewater State College the dreadful exam is the Massachusetts Test for the Education Licensure better known as the (MTEL). This exam determines whether or not a student is prepared to enter the teaching field.

For an elementary education major the MTEL comes in a set of three. The exams which are the Communication and Literacy exam, General Curriculum, and the Foundations of Reading exam all must be passed for an education major to continue into their final steps.  For many students these tests do not come easy. For Darrigo they have been a struggle. “I think it is a test that most people find extremely hard to pass. it is unrealistic and serves no purpose. i know i am qualified to become a teacher, but because I cant pass the MTEL’s I have to choose a different career path.” said Darrigo when asked about the exams. Darrigo is one of the many students that have had to change her major due to the test. Joanne has taken the Communication and Literacy exam three separate times, only passing one section and falling short of passing the next by only a few points. Each of these exams cost $125 every time a person takes them. As college students, many are struggling to pay for everyday items let alone the MTEL. “Of course I think it is ridiculous that they feel it is sensible to charge students such large amounts to take a test that they require and make impossible to pass. I have spent about 300 dollars trying to pass the tests and in the end I am still forced t change my major.” Darrigo stated.

Megan Askew a sophomore at Bridgewater State College is also having difficulty with the exams. Over the past seven months she has taken two different exams, the Communication and Literacy exam twice and the General Curriculum once. She has yet to pass any. “I think the MTEL’s are an unfair assessment of your knowledge. I think that a standardized text cannot determine if you will be an effective teacher.” For people like Askew who have always dreamed of being a teacher, it seems their dreams may be a little too far out of reach for them. Askew like Darrigo is contemplating changing her major to communications.  In March of 2009 all students who have not successfully passed the General Curriculum exam will be required to take a new MTEL consisting of forty-five math questions. “I think that the new math exam is ridiculous. They already have math in the general curriculum exam so why add more.”  With more test being added it seems that it is only becoming more and more difficult to become a future teacher. “Math isn’t one of my strongest subjects, this new exam is only going to stress me out even more, and it’s only something else I need to pass before I can be accepted into the School of Education.”

Samantha Fecteau is a junior at Bridgewater State College she is also having difficulty passing this exams. She has taken both the Communication and Literacy and the General Curriculum exam and is struggling to pass them both times missing by only one point. Its instances like this where the exams just make a student frustrated. “I don’t feel that it is fair for three exams to determine my career, just because I don’t pass an exam doesn’t mean I cannot be a good teacher.”  said Fecteau.  It seems that many students feel that the tests do not give a fair judgment on whether or not a student will succeed in a classroom. “Teachers who have passed the exams and who have received jobs in schools cannot relate to the students, this often times can make for an awful teacher.” In some cases Fecteau is right. Almost every child has had, or has known a teacher who is just miserable. These are the teachers who are passing the exams. For a student who’s dream has been to be a teacher and who is willing to put their heart and soul into this job not to be allowed to teach because of the MTEL is just a shame.

The faculty at Bridgewater State College has tried their best to help their students pass these exams. The 2004 summary results of the average Bridgewater State College student passing the Communication and Literacy exams were that first time test takers passed 60%-86% of the time on the reading part of the exam and 36% of the ones who did not pass have tried more than once. The pass rates for students taking the writing section of the exam were between 55%-89% for first time test takers and out of the ones who have not passed 45% have retaken the exam. Most Professors around campus don’t agree with the test, but there is not too much that they can do about it. They are trying their best to help their students in any way they can. They recently have added a course to the Bridgewater State College curriculum that is strictly for the Foundations of Reading exam. This is supposedly the most difficult of the three MTEL exams to pass, and the hardest to prepare for. Although the class does not count towards a student’s core curriculum courses it does give those students three extra credits and a big advantage when they do take the exam. Several students have said that this course has definitely helped them prepare for the exam; many say that they would have never been able to pass it without the course. Since students who have not taken the General Curriculum exam and passed it do not have an opportunity to pass it without taking the new math section Bridgewater State College is now offering a course over winter break strictly focusing on the math section.  This course is offered free of charge because faculty knows how hard this exam will be for many students.

Samantha Fraatz who is a sophomore at Bridgewater State College has yet to take the MTEL. Samantha laughs as I ask her what her thoughts are on the MTEL “I’m going into my second semester of my sophomore year and I already feel so behind, those exams are so intimidating.”  It seems that Samantha is stalling out of fear that she will not pass. “I don’t have the money to take them right now, and I know once I start taking them reality will start to sink in.” Samantha even though she has not had the anxiety and stress of the MTEL still has the same view as the other students around campus.

“I just don’t test well, that’s my biggest fear it’s hard to say if I’ll pass these exams the first time.”  Does she face the fear that her dreams might just be a little too far out of reach?  For many younger students like Samantha it is important that they stay on track, taking the MTEL’s early is key to graduating on time. The quicker one starts to take the exam, the more opportunity they will have to pass it and it gives them a lot more time so that they are not so stressed out. Many younger students seemed to be baffled by the whole process, worrying about core requirements, choosing a second major and making time in your schedule for the required forty hours of observation in a classroom is not an easy task. Although faculty is trying their best to inform student of the road they must take to become a teacher, it seems that they need to be a little clearer to the freshman and sophomores earlier on in their careers. Many of them like Samantha seem to feel a little lost in the whole process.

Joanne Darrigo shuts her test booklet, raises her hand to tell the instructor she is finished and throws her pencils back into her purse. She steps out of her exam room mentally exhausted, but feeling accomplished. It is now dark outside. She once again pulls out her MapQuest directions and heads home. She grabs her phone and calls her mother to tell her she has finished. When asked how she did, she tells her mother that she honestly was not sure. Now all she can do is wait; hoping that she has done well enough on the exam to pass. Although, it is pointless for her to worry about how she did on the test now, she will anxiously a wait the next thirty days for her test results.

The MTEL is only offered at certain times of the year. If you do not sign up on time there is a penalty fee for registering late. In between waiting for your test results to come back, one must decide whether or not they should sign up for the test again before the registration time passes. For many this is a very tough decision. A person can sign up to take an exam again, and find out two weeks later that they have passed it, once again your money goes down the drain. If a person feels they have passed and decide not to sign up; they could receive news that they have not passed and must sign up on a late registration fee. Either way it is a way for the test administration to take your money. The way this test is administered is just not fair. No matter what a person does they are going to have to pay money to take the test again if they fail. It is just another way to take a persons money. For young college students going to school full-time coming up with the test money is hard enough, never mind the late fees for the exams.

It is clear that the MTEL’s are every education major’s worst nightmare. They require long nights of tedious studying of information they have already learned. Stress levels are raised and students feel drained after they have finished the four hour exam. Whether or not these tests should exist is something that will be questioned for years to come. Many Bridgewater State College students see these exams as a nuisance, and are having a very difficult time understanding why the must pass them. When each Darrigo, Askew, and Fecteau were asked if they would rather be put in a classroom and judged on their performance with the students, rather then take the MTEL’s? They all responded with “Definitely a classroom” College students are watching their dreams slowly being pulled away in front of them over these exams, Bridgewater State College is doing everything in their power to help them pass these exams, but the true power lies in the hands of the student. Studying for these exams is all one can do until something is done about them, which at this point in time does not seem like an option.

By Alice McAuliffe

For Michele Morris, her work days are full of different events, filled with drying tears, giving hugs, and making children feel loved. Most days, she sits with children at the small, colorful tables, helping them paint and glue papers together, she settles arguments between two children who want the same toy and she tries to remember every detail of each child’s day. and she recounts every detail to parents who wonder about what their child did all day, and for Michele, it’s all part of job, to not only care for these children but to make sure they have a good time in daycare while their parents are at their own nine to five jobs.

Michele has been in this line of work for nearly seventeen years, and has worked a many different kinds of daycare, from major corporations like Mulberry to more modest, privately owned ones. But this time, she left her previous daycare center for another reason. “I moved from a private daycare to another because they had no pre-kindergarten program,” she said, “and I’m glad Kelly’s in a new place.”

Having her daughter in a daycare center is nothing unusual, considering how many childcare centers there are, and how many kids are being enrolled in these places every year. While daycare can seem like a convenient, easy choice for working parents, picking the best place can be very difficult. This is because there are many styles and types of daycare out there, but the three most basic kinds are corporations with multiple centers, home daycares run from someone’s house, and private ones that are own by someone, but are in a separate building. Each different kind of daycare offers many different services and programs, and sifting through that can make parents wonder, what’s best for us? Where can I find a daycare that not only gets my child ready for school in a few years, but works best for my schedule? Shifting through all that is hard to decide, but looking at the different daycares and talking to people who’ve been through it already can shed some light on the choice.

One of the largest corporate daycares in the country is Bright Horizons and this particular business was started by Roger Brown and Linda Mason in the 1986. Outside, it looked like a long, pale yellow ranch building, with a number of fenced-in playgrounds out front and a large parking lot in the back. When I went in, I saw that they had a keypad on the front door, one that requires a number code in order to let anyone in and this is a safety feature to make sure not just anyone can walk in and cause problems. The building had a very cookie-cutter, uniform style to it, one that screams “corporate” in how it’s run and set up.

While this kind of daycare does teach children basic things like colors and shapes, they also offer a number of different program that teach children about cultures, a program called “Imagination Celebration” where the children can dance, play instruments and have a great time discovering music. This center even teaches pre-schoolers math and writing, things that are surprising considering that these children are only three years old. While they teach advanced things, they also make sure that everything is appropriate and within each child’s reach.  “We look at each child’s interest and development level,” said their director, Lori Christiansen, “and we look at what range they are at in each stage and plan activities around that range.” This type of center also provides after school care to kindergarten children, so they have a place to go after school until their parents can pick them up. These are services that can often be found at other types of corporate daycares, and while they can offer a lot to help children get ready for school, they don’t offer a very homey setting for kids, and this might make parents wonder if this is best for them.

One of the many private owned daycares is Creative Kids Academy, located in Norwood Massachusetts, on Washington Street and right across from Bird Park. This daycare center is built inside a three story, white house, it has a fenced in playground and inside, it has a staircase, cheery yellow wall covered with murals and art projects, the rooms are filled with toys and the whole place has a warm, homey feel to it.

Fsionbhan, a pretty, late twenties women bought the home daycare and has done what she can to make her families happy.  They teach a number of different topics to the kids, such as science, math, art, yoga and help children improve their language skills. She also makes sure her teachers plan their activities around the ages and the abilities of their children. Her center also offers a number of extra programs available to the children, like having a puppet show, and having bubble shows outside, where the children can watch huge bubbles being blown and have the chance to pop them afterwards. They also have Tumble Bus come to their school, where the children can climb inside a school bus that’s had it’s seats removed, and instead is filled with mats and padded climbers so they can practice gymnastics, exercise and have a fun break from the classroom. “We have fieldtrips brought to the school,” she says, “the parents can fill out a permission ship if they want their children to be part of these programs.”

While these are just two of the many places out there, just knowing what they do behind their doors isn’t quite enough to help parents pick a place. It helps talking to others who have either been in these kinds of daycare or had their children enrolled there, to hear what they think and what they experienced.

Christie Marcuella, a thirty year old woman who has left the daycare field, had her daughter go from a church daycare to afterschool care at a corporation. Her daughter, Eleanor, is very advanced and enjoyed school, which impacted how she did in daycare and how she’s doing in school. Marcuella was more impressed with the homier daycare, telling me how they were more intimate and personal with the children, something that she felt did a lot of good for her kids. “They did a lot for my kids,” she said, “they were very giving and generous…”  Her daughter went to an after school program after her kindergarten and it help her get ready for school, where she had to learn about riding on the bus and learning the structure of school.

But she had a much better experience there then in the corporate daycare, and one of the few positive things is that corporate daycares can hire and train their employees, so the teachers can do a better job looking after the children. To Marcuella, corporate daycares are “more about watching the kids then teaching them. The kids are there to be watched while their parents are at work and if they learn anything, great.”  One of the biggest problems she had was when the daycare refused to pick her child up after school, because she was the only one at that school and to them, it wasn’t worth driving there for one kid. Of all the things she said, the one that stuck with me the most was, “to them (corporations), you’re just a number to the company and the company is more important then numbers.” While she wasn’t thrilled with the corporate daycare, Eleanor was only in their program for ten months and in the church daycare for two years, making her

Marcuella and Michele Morris aren’t very different from each other, both have spent years in daycare and both understand how they work and teach children. She knows that home daycares are in someone’s home, with only a few children and they can have different ages in one room. To her, corporations can have a lot of kids, so they need bigger rooms and more staff to keep up with their numbers, and that private daycares are in the middle, with separate staff and rooms for each age group.  She knows from working in corporations daycares can have a number of benefits, like being open for business longer and having fewer days off, providing snacks and lunches to the kids, having better equipment and toys, just to name a few. She also pointed out that home and private daycares are often closed when the own takes a vacation, something that can cause problems for parents if they need to drop their kids off during that time.

But the biggest thing she’s learned from daycare is that a number of factors impact the choice, like if a parent needs to drop their children off early in the morning, they might pick a corporation that’s open much earlier then a home daycare because it’s convenient for them. They also look at locations and see if they want a daycare that’s closer to their home or their work, and prices impact the choice, as corporations can be more expensive while private and home daycares are more willing to take in welfare children. Morris also said that “it depends on the child, that some aren’t kids comfortable in daycare and in that case, a home daycare might be best for them until they get used to it.” or, going the other way, they might pick a corporation because they feel their children will learn more and get more out of their time in daycare. Morris knows that daycares teach quality programs and provide children with an early start to their education. But she also knows that each child is unique and special, and that when it comes to picking a daycare for them, it’s best to choose one where the child is comfortable, one that the parents feel works for their lives, and while it’s not a simple choice, it’s one that can impact a whole family years from now.

By Alicia Holland

The glare of the fluorescent lights reflected upon the automatic sliding doors of Border’s bookstore. The persistent tapping of footsteps reverberated off the outside pavement and filled the entranceway with a song of the comings and goings of customers. The shelves of the main display section were packed with bestselling books just waiting to be snatched up by a passionate reader. Among these many bestsellers were a grouping of books that can be found displayed in any store that carries books.

Kate Dlugosinski curiously gazed at the staggering centerpiece display of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga that was packed with a variety of merchandise. The display flaunted t-shirts, key-chains, bookmarks, stickers and so much more. The four novels Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn all have a midnight black cover, each centered with their unique cover image that sparks the imagination to new heights and stirs the curiosity of even the most disinterested of consumers. An apple, a bloody flower, a frayed piece of ribbon, and a white chess piece are the book covers that have captivated so many readers. The thick pages of each book provide a window into the intoxicating world of an epic, supernatural love story. The series follows the forbidden relationship between Bella, a human starting at a new high school and Edward, a fellow student and mysterious vampire who becomes a huge part of her life. Their worlds collide and a chain of events are set into motion due to their unusual and intimate relationship.

The series is technically categorized as fiction for young adults, according to Borders.com, but the books definitely have had a mass appeal that stretches way beyond the intended designated age group of around 14-17 year olds. Adults that stretch beyond the twenty-something mark also find the vampire series very intriguing and enjoy engaging in the whirlwind phenomenon.

Sam, a Borders employee and fellow Twilight fan who requested that her last name not be revealed, said that she has seen girls eight to fifty-five years old come in to buy the first book and then come back the following day for the next book. “The series is unbelievable…you wouldn’t think you would love the series, but you do. It’s addictive!” she said.

Twilight, which was originally published in 2005, has become an unexpected, overnight success more recently with the anticipation of the film adaptation of the phenomenal novel. According to Publishers Weekly, in the United States the first three novels brought in sales of 8.5 million copies and the last novel sold 1.3 million copies on the very first day that the novel was released this past August, which was record-breaking for Hachette Book Group USA.

College student Nicole Mitchell became instantly obsessed with all of the Twilight novels and was completely mesmerized by the unique “vampire narrative.” Nicole, who was completely unfamiliar with the Twilight novels, was introduced to the series when her mother borrowed the first three books from a friend. Nicole’s mom became obsessed with the books, read them non-stop and teetered between being impatient and overly anxious as she waited for Breaking Dawn to be released. She enjoyed the series because she can personally relate to the characters and their struggles in various ways, as do many other readers. The experience of first love is definitely an identifying element for readers and the experience of dwelling upon monumental decisions that can trigger a whirlwind of changes or can create no changes at all is relatable.

Since her mother was making such a “fuss” and there had been so much hype, Nicole decided to give the series a chance. Like her mother, Nicole became absolutely fascinated with the vampire love story. “I was certainly captivated by the time I finished reading the book jacket,” stated Nicole in an email. During her summer job, Nicole had trouble in trying to pry the books away from her fingers during her break time because the story made her so oblivious to aspects like the time. At her home, Nicole would very forget to pay enough attention to some of the people around her and if she should be making dinner because she was so lost in the story. Sometimes Nicole’s two year old son would literally shut her book while she was reading when he and his father desperately wanted to yank her head out of the book so she would return to reality. A point even came when the men of the house needed to physically throw objects at Nicole in attempts to snatch her complete and undivided attention away from Bella’s story. Crumpled wads of paper, small toys, soda cans, and Thomas the train were sacrificed for the cause of excessively diverting Nicole from her beloved books.

Nicole admits that she would still read the series even if she was much older because the story is still easy to understand and is enjoyable. If she was younger she also would still read the books since they are targeted for the younger age groups, but smight not fully comprehend the story as much as she normally would as a slightly older and more experienced reader.

In contrast, another successful vampire book series is Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Series which is frequently pegged as more of an “adult-version of Twilight,” so both series are in direct competition with each other. The series follows the exploits of telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse as she lives in a world in which vampires live among humans. Vampires have gone public about their existence due the invention of synthetic blood, so vampires have become like a new species. The focal point of the show revolves around Sookie’s romantic relationship with a vampire named Bill and how she uses her special abilities to help other people. Krista Fleming, a Bank of America employee, prefers Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Series over Twilight, but is a fan of both series. It took some time for her to get into the Twilight series at first, but she did become very interested after all. She really liked how the supporting characters in the Twilight books helped to bring humor and entertainment to the stories just as much as the main characters. The books have recently been adapted into the HBO series True Blood, which has sucked in many fans besides the devoted readers.

Peter Sendrowski, a father of a college student who is swept up in the Twilight phenomenon, has recently become a fan of the series himself at the encouragement of his daughter Liza Sendrowski. Being a longtime avid reader and fan of sci-fi, fantasy, horror and romance stories Peter was increasingly drawn to the vampire series and instantly fell in love with them once he began the first book. He read them in a very short amount of time, even with his very busy schedule of working practically the entire day. He was so captivated with the series that he definitely reorganized his time so he could read. “I did so much reading, two books in one week that I had problems staying awake at work,” he stated in a questionnaire. His daughter Liza was extremely surprised that he sped through all four books and how he became so astoundingly excited about the upcoming film release of the first book, which has every girl fourteen years old and up in a sublimely euphoric state of being.

The November 21st release of the much anticipated film adaptation of Twilight has achieved a great deal of success in its opening weekend. Entertainment Weekly.com reported that the film topped the box office by bringing in $70.6 million. These successful figures allow the film to be categorized as “the fourth biggest premiere of the year” so far. There has been a great swell of both positive and negative fan feedback, but mostly positive input has prevailed. Young high school girls frantically frolicked through the theaters this weekend, wearing their Twilight T-shirts and hugging their paperbacks.

“You feel like you are in another world reading the books and you do not want to come back to reality,” Liza Sendrowski said in an email. Liza was in her own little Twilight heaven at the end of the summer right before the beginning of school because she was devoting all of her time to finally reading the series, and of course an incredible obsession was instantly sparked as a result. Liza really likes how the first novel begins like a typical story about the everyday life of a girl adjusting to her new circumstances in life and how the story transcends into a much more complicated and supernatural love story. She would read the novels at any time of the day that she could get her hands on the covers because she just had to find out what would happen next and if that would be something good or bad.

As a great fan herself, Kate Dlugosinski has been lost in the “twilight zone” ever since she picked up the first book. The character of Edward is the spark that fuels her obsession because he represents the perfect vision and qualities of every girl’s ideal boyfriend. One moment in the first novel that she loves is when Edward walks Bella to her next class, which was gym. They walk together down the hallway in silence and Bella has something to say when they reach the entrance to the gym. However, any inkling of thought leaves her once she is face to face with him and she becomes completely unaware of what she was previously pondering. Her bones and mind turn even more into Jell-O when Edward strokes her cheek with his fingers and finally walks away. “Twilight is my brand of heroin,” Kate ironically said in an email. Her well chosen words are very clever and ironic because the heroin comparison is exactly what Edward says to Bella in the book when he is explaining to Bella just how dangerously tempting her unique and intoxicating scent is to him and how that temptation puts her in danger. This addiction of Kate’s caused her to uncontrollably reflect the negative or positive emotions of the main character of Bella as Kate progressed through the books. Kate would feel happy when Bella was happy and feel depressed when Bella was depressed. Kate would sit night after night in her dorm room, clutching her Twilight paperback and waiting for the next suspenseful scene to come alive. Occasionally she would exclaim a thunderous roar of laughter over a snarky and sarcastic remark in the dialogue or would unleash a gasp of surprise in response to a shocking action scene.

On a different note, Brittany, a student at Emerson who requested for her last name not to be mentioned, read the first book but could not get into the series although she can see why younger readers go crazy over the books. She liked the beginning for the most part, but just wasn’t sucked into the vampire love story like many others. Brittany became very consciously aware of the skyrocketing phenomenon of Twilight when she was in the book section of Stop and Shop. She noticed how a great number of the books on display were the books of the series, so they obviously stood out more than the other books propped up in the area. It was a bit strange how the simple book area of a grocery story was providing a lot of space to house a random young adult series like Twilight. Even though the books are definitely appealing to girls, she heard some of her co-workers once discussing their personal interest in the series which was a huge and rather amusing surprise to Brittany.

Now back from Borders, Kate is in possession of a number of Twilight products that range from a T-shirt and the movie soundtrack to a Twilight pen and an Edward tote bag. Kate did not want to pass up a chance to get merchandise that would otherwise be violently gobbled by other hungry fans. She has seen the film twice and is thoroughly looking forward to many more showings in the future. Her and a friend have been rereading the books and probably will continue to reread them in the future.

by Emily Donnelly

Three family members crowd around a large clay-like structure.  It appears to be a creation intended for some giant fish tank, like a castle of sorts.  It stands about 2 feet tall and will easily fit your average saltwater fish.  In time, this creative memorial will house saltwater fish off the Gulf of Mexico.  The family members eagerly slap clay onto the sides of the strange looking structure.  They are smiling as they add in the key ingredient, the remains of their lost loved one.

The family decided to call Eternal Reefs, an alternative memorial company, specializing in creating these natural reefs, when they lost their loved one.  At a time when the natural environment of wildlife is dwindling fast, this family took a bold step in choosing the right memorial and it looks like many others will be following in their wake.  Alternative burials and memorials are steadily gaining popularity in the United States these days and many people are skipping the traditional cemetery burial which has dominated the world of the dead for thousands of years.

Traditionally, the cemetery is the resting place of the deceased.  And while it is true that many bodies go unretrieved in cases like war and accidents, the cemetery still serves as the prominent place for a memorial to be set up.  Essentially, when dealing with death, something which no one can prove to completely understand, people tend to gravitate toward a physical memorial, whether it be a ritual like a funeral or some sort of marker like a gravestone.  Sometimes having a place to go and remember a loved one can help propel the healing process.  But the more necessary function served by the traditional cemetery is it provides a place to leave the remains of the dead.  Simultaneously, the cemetery is a place of rich cultural history and serves as a place where one can immerse himself into the culture of a past generation.

Many however have an aversion to the idea of a traditional gravesite burial.  Whether it be psychologically stressful to imagine their bodies underground when they die or whether they truly wish to be remembered in a non-conventional way, many people are choosing a more natural burial.

Many companies have appeared in recent years which offer people more alternatives for memorials or burials other than being buried in a cemetery.  One such company called Eternal Reefs, specializes in creating memorial reefs, part of which includes the remains of the deceased.  The company has seen in increase it popularity in recent years due to the now popular “go green” fad.  George Frankel, a spokesman for the company, said, “We believe that the entire paradigm surrounding memorialization is about to change. The concept of ‘natural burial’ is quickly growing in popularity.”  He believes that this, as he appropriately called it “shift in thinking” has several causes.  One factor is the breakdown of tradition in western society.  He pointed to the divorce rate and the overall breakup of the family unit’s closeness saying, “The idea of a family cemetery plot that used to include several generations of a family being interred at one site is disappearing.”

Frankel also mentioned two factors which are forefront on the minds’ of those looking for options.  People are looking at the value and the cost of a burial or memorial.  As it is no secret that death is expensive for the deceased’s family, many people are instead looking for the best value.  Frankel noted the reality that the funeral industry tends to categorize those who choose cremation for their deceased as “cheap” and not wanting to spend money.  He continued, “Our experience is very different. An Eternal Reef is not a cheap memorial, but people perceive ‘value’ in making a memorial reef that will actually benefit future generations.”  And benefiting future generations is what an Eternal Reef is all about.  The reefs which can be placed off the Gulf of Mexico or in the Atlantic, provide marine life with a natural setting to hide out.  The actual reefs look like large, clay, fish tank ornaments, where tetras and angelfish would hang out.  Essentially, they are havens for fish whose natural reefs are being destroyed on a daily basis by pollution.

Like Eternal Reefs, other companies offer alternative memorials for the deceased but unlike Eternal Reefs, these companies do not offer alternative burials. Frankel noted, “There are numerous memorial choices that can only utilize a small portion of remains, Life Gems, Space Services or Celestis, fireworks and paintings all use a small portion of the remains and they are memorials, but families still need to dispose of the majority of the rest of the remains.”  One company he mentioned, Celestis, is the first company to ever launch a portion of cremated remains into outer space.  Celestis offers several options to families wishing for an extravagant and memorable memorial.  For $9,995, one gram of cremated ashes can be launched into the moon’s orbit or even to the surface of the moon starting in 2010.  Not only that but the entire family can watch as the remains are launched by rocket into the universe.  Similarly, for $12,500 one can have a gram of his or her remains launched into deep space.

Celestis assures possible clients that their remains will not be scattered in space, therefore contributing to “orbital debris.”  Instead, the cremated remains which can vary from one to seven grams, are placed in modules or capsules which stay attached to the rocket being launched.  The company gained notoriety with their first launch in 1997 which held the remains of Timothy Leary and Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry.

For those who embrace traditional burial, they also have several options.  The most commonly practiced is a standard graveyard burial which involves a plot of land, a casket or coffin, and some sort of memorial marker such as a gravestone.  But the expenses for this type of burial quickly add up.  Not only are the plot, headstone, and casket expensive, many cemeteries require the purchase of what is called a grave liner.  Basically, the casket is placed within the grave liner to prevent it from sinking into the ground.  These are typically made from materials like concrete, fiberglass, stainless steel, copper, bronze or even plastic.  There is also the cost of embalmment.  Usually, when there is to be an open-casket style wake or funeral, embalmment is a must.  This is the work of a mortician or undertaker and involves the making up of the corpse’s physical appearance.  However, one can only naturally wonder what will happen to cemeteries when they run out of land.

Fortunately, most states by law require that about ten to fifteen percent of plot sales be put into the care and maintenance of the cemetery.  This involves the overall upkeep of the appearance, cleanliness, and condition of the cemetery.  Many people however, choose to have their bodies cremated after their death and simply have their ashes scattered in a cemetery.  Kristina, office manager of JJ Shepherd & Sons, Inc, a funeral service company located in Massachusetts believes that the number of people choosing cremation has “definitely risen in the past few years.”  She continued, “I would say our cremation rate to full burial rate is close to 50/50, and honestly, I would say about fifty percent of the families that choose cremation do bury the cremains.”  Having the body cremated is one thing that has helped free up extra and much needed space in cemeteries.

Another way to store remains, while simultaneously freeing up ground space is by having the remains kept in a mausoleum.  This is what is classically known as entombment.  Like the ancient Egyptians, people today can have their cremated or non-cremated remains stored above ground in a large, tomb-like building, which most often is located within a cemetery.  While it may sound pricey, the actual price is comparable to all the costs one would spend on an underground burial and one perk of community mausoleums is that they can be shared by several bodies, therefore, having the families split the cost.  Inside a mausoleum, crypts hold the caskets of non-cremated remains, while cremated remains are stored in niches (like urns).  While many choose mausoleum’s for their glorious and elegant appearance, many are thinking more practically.  Mausoleums are both clean and dry which comfort many who fear underground burials (which are known for essentially feeding bodies to bugs to put it lightly).  Mausoleums protect the body from the elements and allow for a more undisturbed decay.

Upon completion of the memorial reef, the family stops to take in the sight of it.  It sits among about a dozen others, similar to look at yet each containing individual differences.  The difference is simple; each reef contains the remains of a different deceased person and each one will also be put into a different location on the ocean floor.  But all of the reefs are memorials and generous at that.  They will all provide hideaways for saltwater fish to thrive in for centuries to come.  In a time where “going green” is not only fashionable but smart, many families are going a step further by memorializing their loved ones eternally in the ecosystem.

By Jack Donovan
The man came in with a puzzled look and asked for a Western Union money transfer form; I gave how the form and he started to fill it out. He seemed confused but filled it out and handed it to me. He was sending $400 dollars to a man in Nigeria. After the information was punched into the computer, a test question was needed. I asked the man what the test question was going to be. He gave me a puzzled look asking “what the hell is a test question” That’s when I realized that this could be a possible scam. I asked him if he knew the person that he was sending the money to, he said that he didn’t, and his voice became shaky. He went on and explains that he had received an e-mail from a man asking him to receive and sends the money back to him; he would then be able to keep 10% of the money he received.  This is called money washing and it’s one of many major scams that many people end up falling for.

“People are just looking for away to get free money” Says Josh Green, employee at Foodmaster “because of that, people can be stupid” Internet scams are still in this day and age a major problem. Many people are scammed every day with the prospect of free money. The increases of communication technology is what is causing people into being tricked into giving up information or money to people they don’t really know.

Online scams are aimed at tricking people into giving out sensitive information and or money. They are very convincing most of the times and they have a number of tricks to make you think you are getting a good deal. The internet is a great place to get information about anything you want, and it’s also the prime location to take money away from you. Spam mail is the most common form of scamming people there is. John Goodwin, a student from Whitman Hanson high school is a victim of spam mail. “I use to try and enter contests online all the time” he laughed saying “I never won any of them but now I have had to change my e-mail address a number of time because I have been bombarded with spam e-mail” He went on to say that “I have never given out any information that might come back to haunt me but I can see how people could believe that it was legit.” Spam is a major problem with e-mail providers, and some offer better protection from spam then others.

People that respond to the phony e-mails can receive a very quick answer from the scam artist. They will explain tom you that what they are doing is very legal and it’s a legit way to make some extra money, this of course is false. Many e-mails may be sent to one another until the unsuspecting victims is comfortable enough to make the move and follow the instructions of the scam artist.

The major target group for scam artists is the elderly. The elderly are more likely to be scammed because they are generally less knowledgeable about current technology then younger generation. The elderly are also more likely to give money to different charities, but these also could be a scam to take money from the old. They see an e-mail that looks legit and they send money or personal information to the unknown individuals and them losses and become victim to a scam artist. Many of the elders feel that they won’t be scammed because they feel they can spot phony information. Margret Ryan an 89 year old women from East Bridgewater said “I have never been afraid of being scammed” she says, “I don’t have much money as it is, so what could they possible take from me”.

A common scam that involves sending e-mails back and forth from one another is an inheritance scam. The scam artist sends an e-mail to you that you have earned a prize inheritance from a long lost family member.  Then you e-mail them back asking how much it is and what you have to do to get it. The scam artist is a pro at making you think that they are legit, so he or she tells you that you have to send some money for legal fees and mailing fees, and then you will get the money that is supposedly guaranteed to you. People that would believe this same are usually tight for money, and when they hear that they have inherited some money they see is as a dream comes true.

Trying to convince people that they are being scammed can be a donating task. The prospect of free money distorts their reason, and that the main goal of the scam artist. When they come in to the store determined to send the money and they can’t understand that money transfer agents are just doing their job protecting them from losing their money. Agents are required to inform the Western Union Company of any suspicious activity that they might see. They are also required to judge the situation before sending the money. If they feel that the person is trying to pull something, or if the transaction seems suspicious, an agent cannot put the transaction through. There is also for some counties, a test question that is required, this helps stop any transaction that is questionable from occurring.

“I can usually tell who is being scammed after the first couple of minutes of someone filling out a Western Union form.” Says Nancy Abrams book keeper at Foodmaster “They are usually new to western union and have very confused looks on their face”, she said with a smirk “Then when I see where they are sending the money, I can usually tell for sure”. Western Union is a money transfer system that allows someone to send money all across the world. They have a number of different forms for sending money to different places. The company is very concerned about people using the service for less than legal purposes. They have a whole division that is dedicated to stopping people using the service from scamming people. Agents are constantly given news letters telling about the latest threats and what to watch out for.

A representative from The Western Union Money Transfer Agency stated that they have a whole section working on learning the latest types of scams. “Keeping people from using are services for illegal purposes” The agent also stated that agents on the front lines are the best way to be able to detect and stop an illegal transaction using their system.

Countries are also trying to stop scam artists from working in and outside their countries by having companies such as Western Union follow strict guide lines that most are indorsed. An example is the country of Mexico; Mexico is very concerned about the amount of fraudulent money that is sent in and out of the country.  Mexico will actually suspend all or most money wiring services  for days if there is a spike of illegal activity being sent in and out viva money wiring. This creates a major hassle for people that are trying to receive or send money to love ones in foreign countries.

There are many types of internet scams flooding the World Wide Web. They can range from giving out your e-mail address and personal information to companies to taking money from you and stealing your identity.  The scams range from cable descramblers, to get rich quick scams that require you to send money to make money.

A Melissa D. sent an e-mail to me saying “Dear Jack Donovan, please activate you $500 gift card” this is a very popular type of scam. When you receive this e-mail you think that you have just made out big, but when you look at what you have to do, you quickly realize that it’s just a scam. What Melissa D. wanted me to do was to fill out a bunch of information about where I lived and how I could be reached. Then in order to get the gift cards I had to register and pay subscriptions on three different services, each one being about 10 dollar a month. This can add up quickly if you don’t unsubscribe to them immediately, and there’s no guarantee that you will even be able to get any gift card from them. When trying to respond to the e-mail, there was no response from them back. Then a few hours later I got a response from a man named Mike, and he said that I had won a $500 target gift card, and I just had to enter information in a form and I would get it. Once again this was an attempt to try and get money and information out of me.

You can report suspected scam attacks to a verity of different government and privately run programs that’s aim is to stop scam attacks form happening. The Internet Crime Complaint Center is the place to visit in order to report a crime taking place viva the internet. All you have to do is fill out a form and explain what you think is going on, and then you leave it in their hands. The ICCC is a government runs an agency that deals with many types of crimes that occur on the World Wide Web, from scams to stopping internet predators.

The government in the early part of the 2000s was trying to fight internet scams. They had started many different websites to inform people and keep them from falling in to the hands of scam artists. The sites now days seem to be abandoned buy the creators. After trying many times to e-mail the site creators I received no response at all. Not only did I never get a response from the websites, I got e-mails back saying that the address did not except anymore. Scams have not gone away, but the resources that had been in place so people could learn and fill out complaints have been abandoned. People will continue to be scams on the internet; the crooks continue to come up with new ways to get money from your pocket.

As the increases of technology increases more ways to communicate to one another also increases. Scam artist have proven time after time that they can adapt with the times. In the age of increasingly advanced technology cyber crime is becoming more and more popular. People can easily make something look real and make out with $100s of dollars, so being cautious about what you put online is a must. With the economy the way it is, saving money is top priority for many people. The scam artist knows this so they are going to try to take full advantage of people. Online shopping has doubled over the last 10 years and there are many great deals to be found, but there are also deals that only work out for the dealer, or the scam artist .Following a simple motto can help protect you from ending up as a victim to some same artist in another country, As Nancy Abrams says “If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is” “there is no such thing, nor will there ever be free money”

By Adilson Tavares

This year at Bridgewater State College there is a total of 123 international and exchange students, who are divided in 89 long term international students and 34 short term exchange students. This amount of international students appeared as Bridgewater State College takes of a program named “The Exchange Program” that involves nine partner institutions throughout the world. It has reciprocal programs with universities in England, Ireland, Cape Verde, Brazil, Beijing, Hong Kong, Kansai and Wakayama Japan, and Canada.

Mrs. Mary Delgado, who is the responsible officer for the external affairs and for this program, said that their hope is to have an equal amount of students going to the various universities as those that come to BSC. The question is if this program is worthwhile to the American students that live in a low-context society, and so are not used to being exposed to a different culture, and if they would be interested in applying for an exchange program to study abroad.

The American students share the idea that this program is good for them. Asked about how good the program should be for the American students, Lauren Connelly, an American student, said “I definitely think there should be an exchange program for the American students. American students are very naive, and it would be great learning experience.” She also said that she would like to have the opportunity to be part of an exchange program.

A similar opinion was given by Annie Barter, another American student, who said that she thinks that the program is wonderful and that she is so glad she had the chance to meet some of the international students. She also said that it makes her want to travel to their country because it sounds like a wonderful experience. “I have heard of the exchange program that BSC offers but I had no idea how far the exchange students really came. I knew China was involved, but I didn’t ever think of Cape Verde as a country students did the exchange program with. I would like to travel abroad to Australia if I got the chance also.” she said.

Ricardo Fidalgo is one of the exchange students; he is from Cape Verde. During an interview he said “Studying at Bridgewater is a singular experience in my life since it enabled me to be in touch with different cultures, traditions and ideologies, and to learn more about the world and develop my language skills.” He also told me that being at BSC is extremely beneficial for he is very exposed to English native speakers who have helped him a lot to improve his language proficiency.

Another Cape Verdean exchange student is Paulo Borges who said that studying at Bridgewater gives him the opportunity to improve his English, writing, speaking, listening and reading, and to get to know the American culture. “The people are extremely friendly, the college system is extremely organized, and I am impressed with the new technologies in the teaching system.” he told me with an expression of satisfaction on his face.

A student exchange program is a program in which a student, typically in secondary or higher education, chooses to live in a foreign country to learn, among other things, language and culture. These programs are called ‘exchanges’ because originally the goal was an exchange of students between different countries. No trade off is actually required, so a student is allowed to go to another country without finding a counterpart in that country to exchange with. In many countries in the world, the universities have an official exchange student program because in many parts of the world, a foreign degree, especially if earned from certain countries, is honored more than a local one.

The program is really captivating the interest of many BSC students so far. Jose Neves and Maruilson Coelho are two students that applied for an exchange program tour to Brazil. Jose said that the reason he applied for an exchange program was the opportunity to experience something new and a different culture and way of life, and another reason was that going to Brazil would add another culture to his repertoire. Maruilson said “for me it had to be the culture and know the language… Also, take advantage of that semester, by making friends, visit different cities of Brazil and share my own culture.”

The same desire to study abroad is shared by Yara Cardoso, another student that also applied to this program, but tour to Nicaragua. “The reason I chose to sign up for the Study Tour to Nicaragua is because I wanted to do something different in my first year of college” she said and pointed out that “even though the language barrier is a bit scary, I’m not worrying too much about it because I have other languages that will hopefully help me understand a little. I also receive 3 credits just for going to a different country for 10 days!” The college is making all the efforts possible to make the students believe in the exchange program and not be afraid to get themselves enrolled in it.

Some of the people that are at the head of the program expressed their thoughts about the benefits that the program brings to the college. Mrs. Delgado said that the exchange program helps to globalize the campus community by exposing the U.S. students to other people and cultures throughout the world, and that having the exchange students interact with the U.S. students not only in the classroom, but in the residence halls and in a variety of campus activities, brings new insights to both the exchange and the BSC students.

Following the same thoughts, Mrs. Kristy-Ann Eldridge, who is the one responsible for all the international students at the BSC, told me that having international and exchange students at BSC brings depth to the cultural diversity of the campus and creates additional opportunities for intercultural learning. She also said that they hope that this expands the American student’s perspective of the world and their role in it, which will help them to become more effective employees/ employers and community members.

Mrs. Patricia Abdelal is a professor at BSC and she works with the international students; she teaches ENSL10250 (English as a Second Language). She emphasized that the international students bring news about other parts of the world which is a very positive aspect. She said that the U.S. is a very large country and so the students here are not used to be in contact with different cultures and different ways of life. She also said that because of that the interaction between them and the international students is very beneficial since they have the opportunity to share their culture with others and also to learn from others about different aspects of the world abroad.

As an American citizen, Mrs. Abdelal expressed her gladness for the opportunity to be working with the international students. “I’m glad to teach the international students because it gives me the opportunity to learn a lot of things about their countries and it makes me change my vision of the other countries of the world” – she said, and she added that it applies to every American.

The National Student Exchange (NSE), which was the only comprehensive student exchange program in the United States in the past, presents as benefits to the students, aspects such a broad personal and educational perspective, exploring and appreciating new cultures, widening university boundaries, taking courses not offered on the home campus, learning from different professors, accessing courses with different perspectives, exploring new areas of study, experiencing personal growth, living in a different geographic area, investigating graduate or professional schools, looking for future employment opportunities, becoming more independent and resourceful, acquiring life skills, experiencing life from a different point of view.

According to research on the benefits of an exchange program, Al Guenther says that the Garden Valley Collegiate has been actively involved in student-exchange programs, whether sending GVC students to other countries or hosting international students during their stay in Canada. He considers that such programs allow students to blend cultures and see a new country. He also says that studying abroad is a great experience for anyone. You could visit and explore the countries that surround your host country. It’s like a trip with some learning added to it. Not only can you learn about the country, but you can also practice your second language very well. The cost of the trip is not much at all, considering what you get out of it. When an exchange student is at your place, you can also learn a lot. International students can teach you about their life in their countries. At the very least, you will have a lot of stories to tell to anyone who is interested.

Specialists focus on Culture Shock that normally happens when international students arrive into another country, as the weakest aspect of an exchange program. All these aspects are well known by all international students, because they have somewhat lived it at least once. In an article, Canchu Lin refers to some strategies to overcome the problems caused by the culture shock. He said that such problems would be overcome when the students complete the process of intercultural adjustment. This adjustment is more easily reached if the students find at the college, people that are prepared to help them to a quick integration and adaptation to the new reality.

Mrs. Patricia Abdelal, based on her experience with the international students, said that they are very successful at BSC because there are people at the college that are prepared to help them and to support them. She said that BSC is a college that has all the support needed to receive the international students and help them to overcome any aspect that is giving them a hard time. She also said that if the group of the international students from the same country is large, it is good because they can support each other and the friendship among them is the strongest support that exists because it replaces the pain caused by separation from family members and friends back home.

Martha Denney and Erin Eckert, authors of Re-entry Shock: Torn between Two Cultures (1993), present a positive view of the exchange program and indicate the difficulties faced by the students as beneficial for them. They say that our accumulated life experiences make us who we are and shape how we view the world. When we are confronted with conflicting values or views of the world we must either accept or reject what we are seeing. They continue saying that this process of cognitive development is exactly what we experience on a daily basis as we learn to live in another culture. If something does not match what we know, we must evaluate it and either accommodate the information or reject it. And then they conclude by saying that living in another culture is usually a profound experience that causes us to grow rapidly, more rapidly than if we had remained at home in a familiar environment.

Regarding to the problems faced during his adaptation to the new country, Ricardo said that, by the grace of God, and with his personal effort and sacrifice, he could jump over those obstacles and make tremendous progress. While Hernidia Tavares, another exchange student said “I have faced challenges with assignments every day at BSC but this experience is the great part about it. I learn better when I am challenged, and the best of it is that BSC provides all the conditions for me to triumph.”

By Cathy Krug

The campus is silent during the early morning. It’s 7:15 on a Saturday in September on a college campus, so the majority of the population is either at work or still in bed. A large group of students head toward the other side of campus, where the Kelly Gymnasium stands waiting. Their soft chattering and the crunching of leaves is all that can be heard. Ali DerMarderosian walks through the tunnel leading under the commuter rail. It’s covered in bright paper advertising off campus housing, among other ads. The ground has Greek symbols written in chalk, proclaiming the greatness of the sororities. She exits the tunnel on the west side of campus, where the gym looks up ahead. The activity around her picks up as cars pull into the parking lot, depositing more sleepy eyed college students. Ali smiles and waves as she catches up with other clinicians, ready for a busy day at the clinic. They walk into the gym and are greeted by several people in red shirts; the group leaders. It’s Ali’s first taste of the Children’s Physical Developmental Clinic, and she can’t wait to get started.

The Children’s Physical Developmental Clinic, or ‘CPDC,’ is a program that addresses the physical, motor, and social needs of children with disabilities (www.bridgew.edu/cpdc). It has been on the campus for thirty-four years and has served hundreds of children. The students who take part in it are volunteers; it’s not a requirement of the college. Even so, it draws at least one hundred students a semester, and the wait to join is long. As a current clinician, I have my own experiences that keep me involved. Only 50-60 children are admitted into the program each semester, so it’s understandable that only one hundred students would be invited as clinicians.

Ali was immediately drawn to the program when she was a freshman. As a senior, she has completed seven consecutive semesters. Checking her mail freshman year, she saw a flyer stuffed into the tiny box. It had a picture of a college student playing floor hockey with a young boy. The boy firmly held the stick with his right hand; his left hand was placed carefully on the top of the stick. He was smiling. The headline exclaimed that this was the Children’s Physical Developmental Clinic, and that they were looking for new clinicians. It caught Ali’s attention and she climbed the stairs to go up to her dorm room.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do on campus,” Ali remembers. “I knew what my major was, but I didn’t know what I could do with it. It looked like fun and a great community service opportunity.”

Kristen Bissonnette, a second year senior at Bridgewater State College, feels the same way. “I have always enjoyed working with children who have disabilities, and I thought the clinic sounded like fun and a good opportunity,” she says with a smile. Kristen remembers that fateful day in her freshman year when she opened up her mail box to find a flyer about the clinic. At the time, she wasn’t really sure what to do at the college. Like Ali, she was drawn to the idea of helping out young children while meeting new people. On a big, new campus, an opportunity to get involved like this seemed like the perfect solution. She is now in her eighth, and final, semester, a fact that is very sad for her.

It’s very rare that a clinician would opt out of multiple semesters. In fact, most students who take part in it eventually move up into a leadership role as a group leader. After your second semester, a student is eligible to be a group leader, which gives you a behind the scenes look at clinic. The group leaders are in charge of five to eight clinicians and three or four children. It gives them a chance to be more creative with the program by setting up special games for the children while learning the clerical stuff as well. It can be stressful. If they don’t choose this path, though, they can continue on as clinicians.

“You just keep going back every semester…It draws you back, especially that last Saturday,” Ali says. At the end of the eight weeks, the clinic hosts a lunch with the parents and children. It’s an opportunity to talk to the parents about how their child progressed in the semester as well as when the parents express their appreciation for everything the clinician did. It’s mayhem in the gym as the kids run around, excited for the sandwiches and dessert platters laid out. They sit sporadically in the bleachers as well as out on the pool bleachers. Clinicians and their children exchange gifts and hugs as they make promises for the following semester.

“It’s hard to put it into words,” Ali laughs as she struggles to describe why she loves the clinic. “Making that connection with the child is the greatest feeling in the world.” During her second semester at the clinic, Ali worked with a difficult child. This child, referred to by her initials for confidentiality, has a range of disabilities: Down Syndrome and blindness are the most noticeable. One day, Ali was setting up the trampoline when JL came into the gym with her father. She held his hand tightly and giggled at everything going on around her. When Ali came over to say hi, JL let go of her father’s hand and latched onto Ali’s. Ali was taken aback by this gesture, but was eager to see what would happen. JL led her towards the trampoline, ready for the clinic to start. Ali couldn’t believe it.

“At times I would wonder, ‘Does she even remember me?’ The fact that she felt comfortable with me was a great accomplishment.” JL had been known to be stubborn, not cooperating with her past clinicians. It felt like a victory and Ali was happy about that day’s clinic.

Most of the children do remember their clinicians, and they eagerly await the next week’s clinic. Ali baby sits a child in the clinic, and she was amazed at how much he told her. “He would tell me his favorite activities, and what he hoped would happen at the next one,” she says. If you were to ask the parents, they would have similar responses. Clinicians are encouraged to call the families during the week to check in on the child, as a way of keeping communication open. A large portion of the parents often invite the clinicians to their house for dinner, as a way of thanking the student for their time in the program. This is when the clinician sees the child in their natural environment; it’s also shocking how the siblings are jealous of the “play time” their brother or sister gets to take part in every Saturday.

Jack R. is a parent of one of the children. He is also a former clinician. Recently, the clinic hosted a panel discussion with four parents, to share their experiences. It was recorded and posted on the CPDC website. Jack’s experience was like that of most clinicians. About thirty years ago he was a physical education major here at Bridgewater State College and had Dr. Huber as a teacher. There was talk of a new clinic starting up which caught his attention. He was paired up with a child named Eric, who had three sisters and a single parent mother. At the end of the year, his mother requested that Jack continue to work with him; she felt that he needed a positive male role model in his life. Jack did work with Eric during his remaining years at the college.

Years later, Jack married and had children of his own. One of his babysitters had a sister who had a degree of disability, and she was engaged to be married. Jack and his family were invited to the wedding and were surprised to see that she was marrying Eric. Jack now had a way of keeping in touch with his former child, and started to receive phone calls, wondering when they would go to a baseball game. Jack showed up at their apartment one afternoon, ready to go out to dinner with them. Eric pulled a picture out from his pocket; it was of the two men years earlier in front of the Kelly Gymnasium, leaning against a rail. Jack felt a bit choked up at this. “It really moved me…because you never know the influence that you may have on the kids that you’re working with.”

Now, Jack experiences the program from the other side. His daughter is enrolled in the clinic, and she loves it. One of the challenges he experiences every day is communicating with her. She is nonverbal, meaning she cannot speak; often times, he has to play Twenty Questions with her, and his only clues are her grunts and head motions. Whenever he brings up the clinic, he says that she gets excited about it. “She loves the college,” he says, and another parent remarks that their own son “Thinks he goes to [the college].” Taking a moment to reflect on everything that has happened, Jack says that he wouldn’t change anything that has happened. “It has opened up a whole new world…We’re still learning. We’re still growing,” he says with a chuckle, and another parent tells their story.

Shelia Campbell, the administrative director of CPDC, says that there is a long list of people waiting to get into the clinic.

For both clinicians and children, there is no guarantee that they will get in. “The wait list is not like taking a ticket at the deli counter— every semester we review the waitlist and look at the current children and students in the program and choose children based on the needs at that time,” she says, further explaining the wait list. Together with Doctor Huber, the director and founder of CPDC, they will pick the new clinicians and children, making sure they have a variety of abilities and disabilities. They don’t want to flood the clinic with the same disability, such as cerebral palsy or Down syndrome. Because of this, they ensure diversity in the clinic. It’s important for the college students to be exposed to this diversity; for many, it will be the first time they experience it before going out into the field.

After a few semesters in the clinic, Kristen decided she wanted to do this for the rest of her life. Sitting down with Doctor Huber, she had a conversation with him about it. They were in his office in the Tinsley Center and she asked if there was a major that centered on CPDC. It turned out there was. “Under the Phys Ed Major, the concentration of Motor Development Therapy/Adapted Phys Ed is offered. I was ecstatic when I found out about this, and I haven’t looked back since.” That was two years ago, and in that time Kristen has worked with several kids in CPDC as well as at the Massachusetts Hospital School.

Kristen is not hesitant when you ask why she keeps coming back to the clinic. While it can be tough, she has no regrets. “Working with a child is always challenging. But getting to their strengths and weaknesses, and building from there to help them achieve their goals is totally worth it. I think only having eight weeks to get to know them and work on goals is a difficult challenge!” she says with a smile.

Come January, a new batch of clinicians will gather in the Kelly gymnasium for their first clinic. Like Ali, Kristen, and other clinicians before them, they’ll nervously take part in a training session, learning everything about the clinic. At the end of the first official clinic, they’ll understandably be tired. After cleaning up the equipment and filling out paper work, most will congregate in one of the campus’s dining halls for a filling brunch. They’ll then head off to their homes or dorm rooms to continue with their day. A nap usually sneaks its way in this routine. Clinicians and children alike will anticipate the next week, talking about it and planning fun activities to make it the best day ever.

By Ricardo Fidalgo

August 28, 2008 is a new day for Yang Shang’s life. After 24 hours of suffering on a boring and monotonous flight from China, the plane finally lands at Logan Airport. Among hundreds of Chinese passengers, Yang gets off the plane and looks around with high expectations. It is her first contact with Western culture. She is impressed by the environment. The blue sky and the fresh air seem to foreshadow a great experience for her at Bridgewater State College. Her first thought was “will I feel safe at Bridgewater State College?” Trying to conquer her fears and anxieties she maneuvers her way through the large Boston airport.

She takes a seemingly short train ride to Bridgewater, where the college staff welcomes her and makes all the arrangement so that her experience will be the best possible. As she moves forward with her stay, everything began to change. Her impressions about the U.S. only got better the more time she spent here. Before coming to Bridgewater she blamed Americans for their individualism. “Before coming here I thought Americans were self-centered and selfish” she said, but now she sees that America is what it is because of its individualism. She learned a valuable lesson that she believes she will be able to put into practice when she goes back home.
A lot of international students had some kind of stereotypes or even bad impressions about United States back home, but when they came to Bridgewater State College in this exchange program they began exploring better American culture and style of life and as a result they became fond of this country. The Shadow was scattered and the reality shined before their eyes, and as a result their impressions about US changed for better.
According to Harold Tavares, International Relation Coordinator at Bridgewater State College, all the people that are in charge of international students promote wonderful activities on Campus to reduce their stress and home sickness. They   hold meetings to know academic and social problems that they face and work hard to find solutions.
Besides Academic activities, cultural programs are held to help them be in touch with their native country and socialize with American culture.”Normally we involve them in cultural activities in order for them to feel comfortable, to have fun and to appreciate the experience they are having at Bridgewater.” said Tavares.
According to this coordinator they brought Capeverdean international students to a famous Capeverdean concert and other international students had opportunity to see a Celtics game in Boston. This along with other cultural activities held on campus helped them integrate in American society; gave them opportunity to overcome their anxiety and stress and feel at home. In addition, they were put in close contact with American culture and their impressions about United States changed for better.
Yang is an international student that came from Beijing, the famous Olympic city, the capital of China, where the Great Wall stands, and a major center for tourists from all over the world. After majoring in English she has come to Bridgewater to get her master’s degree. She came from a collectivist and high-context culture, where people are regarded as deeply committed to each other. They value the society over themselves and societies goals over their own.
Back home she helped a lot of people who needed her help but when she needed support from them, they generally refused to lend a hand in her time of need. Now that she understands that American individualism is actually beneficial to not only the individual but also society as well, she is appreciating and being deeply impacted by this American ideal. “I think that Americans are happy because each person minds his or her own business” she said “nobody will be stressed because of others’ problem” she added. Taking this fact into consideration, she decided that when she goes back home she will adopt an individualistic style of life without going to an extreme.
As a matter of fact, the opportunity she is having here to improve her language skills is by far superior to in English non- native country like China. She is enjoying her experience because her level of English language proficiency is improving considerably. Now she appreciates the level of the Educational system in USA, especially at Bridgewater State College. “In my opinion their educational system is better” she said “especially for those that are majoring in English” she added.
Yang is not the only Chinese exchange student that is appreciating and adjusting to American culture. Juan Du is a good example of International student that this exchange program made fond of USA. Knowing previously that she was coming to a country of opportunity her academic ambitions were very high. The facilities she had here, the internet access, the support at Academic Achievement Center along with the classroom environment fascinated her. She is now a true admirer of this wonderful country.
Although from the same country (China) as Yang, Juan is from different city whose name is Tai Yuan, six hour trains ride from Beijing. Like Yang, Juan majored in English at a university in China and came to Bridgewater specifically to do her master degree. She is twenty two years old and she wants to have a brilliant future. So, coming to Bridgewater helps her develop her language skills, gain more accuracy and proficiency.
Yang is appreciating her experience at Bridgewater. She has had some outstanding professors here, she found the level of participation in the classroom extremely beneficial, and she found that the professional attitudes of Americans were wonderful. Coming to a democratic country where she can express herself freely touches close to her heart. She is cherishing every single moment she is having here because she understands that the level of expression allowed in her home country is extremely limited. The United States is now a “paradise” away from home for her.
Yang and Juan are not the only international students that the Exchange program has helped, and without the Exchange Program they would not be able to appreciate the American culture. Anas Tweiger is another one that is appreciating the freedom and liberty that characterizes American society. “They (Americans) have freedom of speech” he said.
Anas came from a small city in Jordan named Tafila, where in the past, people depended mostly on agriculture to survive and they didn’t have that kind freedom. In a city that didn’t have electricity until 1986, he was astonished by the level of technological advancement that was seemingly endless in every part of the United States.
He left behind his beautiful wife and two kids to come to Bridgewater State College to get his master’s degree in Business Management. He is homesick, but whenever he calls back home, he informs his wife of wonderful friends he made at Bridgewater.
Before coming to America he only received information about USA in magazines, television, and newspapers. When he got here his mind opened to a new world, where he could find peace, freedom and emancipation “in the past I couldn’t be in touch with Americans, so it wasn’t until I got here that I began exploring great things about their culture” said Anas. The way Americans express themselves in the classroom amazes him almost as much as the level of technology that he found simply in the Bridgewater State College library.
Anas is Muslim and coming to a country where he would find peace and liberty to worship his God freely is something that has significantly increased his respect for the American culture. In fact, he does not have anything to complain about. There are some aspects of American society that run counter to his beliefs, but he prefers to be open-minded and respect American culture even when he normally wouldn’t approve of it.
He made friends in the U.S. especially the older people who were more interested in knowing about other cultures,”I had a good experience here. I love American people, especially in this town”, he told me.
According to Harold Tavares, the impact is stronger in those students who do not have a large community in the US; since in their country they have less opportunity to be in touch with American lifestyle. They are confined by the only information they receive by the Media, which sometimes distorts the image of the US for political purposes. So, when they get here and they see how things function in reality, they become extremely impressed.
Those that come to the American colleges to study will be able to be in touch with Americans and then overcome stereotypes they had previously. As a matter of fact, in some countries, the image of the US broad cast by the Media is extremely negative and cast the United States in a horrible light. People without knowing Americans well, start to blame and depreciate their culture without being able to know the truth. But when they came to a situation that they are in close contact with the reality, the shadow they had in their mind disappeared.
Since a lot of students are so grateful for the opportunity to study here they often forgot all the biases and stereotypes against United States that they had back home and they start to see American culture in a different light.
Rather than war and violence, The U.S. found a strategy to make friends and “ambassadors” all over the world. “You bring students here to study when they go back home they are your friends. This is a good strategy to make your enemies becoming your friends” said Basan Nembirkow, Superintendent of Brockton Public Schools. In the case of these international students, they were not United States enemies, but some of them had some bad impressions of American culture and when they came to Bridgewater they had opportunity to explore American lifestyle and were able to change their minds freely without the influence of political propaganda.
“It is good to have international students in U.S. because when they go back to their country they will be American ‘ambassadors’ there” said Anas. All those students that are impressed with the freedom, liberty, American level of education, and culture are willing to share it back home in order to improve the image of U.S. in their country.
The exchange program changed their view of America for better, and they are very grateful for that. The freedom of speech and other liberties here have made them fond of this nation; so much so that they do not want to be silent about their ideas and beliefs when they go back to their native country. Bridgewater has produced so many American “ambassadors”; many people will speak on the US behalf when they go back to their country.

A profile of Humans vs. Zombies

By Ian Marsan

Four brave survivors, Steve, Joe, Daywalker, and Matt, slowly work our way across East Commuter Lot at Bridgewater State College. A cold realization of their own deaths overcomes them, but the group has a mission to accomplish. Their objective lies a mere 100 yards away. 100 yards away over a wide open parking lot, infested with the living dead. Ahead, the horde of ravenous zombies sizes up their quarry; it’s only a matter of time before the four humans reach the commuter underpass, a choke point where the MBTA Commuter Rail crosses overhead. There, the humans will surely be ripped to pieces. The stage is set for a four on fifty fight for survival…
To most, this sounds like a scene out of a Hollywood zombie apocalypse. For some though, this was Wednesday night.
A strange new game is springing up on college campuses across the United States. The apply named, “Humans verses Zombies,” or, “HvZ,” has been gaining in popularity for the last three years. The idea of this game focuses on two groups of players acting the parts of humans and zombies. Essentially, it is a game of tag where the zombies must “kill” all of the playing humans. Originating in Goucher College, MD, Brad Sappington and Chris Weed (who could not be reached for interview) started the game which began gaining popularity on other local campuses. Slowly, HvZ has moved from colleges to other groups, including: “high school students, businessmen, children, and active military on U.S. bases,” (source: wiki.humansvszombies.org). At Bridgewater State College’s campus alone, there are 179 registered players (source: Humans vs. Zombies BSC chapter Facebook).
The game’s coming to Bridgewater State was the brain child of Caleb Lopez. A sophomore at the time, Caleb insisted that, “I wasn’t really into the school’s offered sports. That’s the reason I play Ultimate Frisbee too. But I saw this clip of kids running around shooting at their friends with Nerf guns and thought how bad ass would this be!?” Apparently he was not alone. The first game of HvZ at BSC was played during the spring semester of 2007 with around 20 people participating. Since the first game, the popularity has caused the number of players to balloon to nearly 6 times as many registered students in less than two years. “It certainly makes walking to class more interesting,” said one player, bedecked in camouflage, spying out a door.

When Humans versus Zombies was brought to Bridgewater State, the original rules (which can be found on the HvZ website, http://humansvszombies.org/index.php) were modified to fit the school’s smaller participation. The rules for Humans, state that once outside you must wear your blue armband, use only legal, sanctioned weapons (Nerf Guns, socks, and pool noodles), and leave buildings via a legal exit. If inside any building: that is a safe zone. A Zombie must also abide by rules: If stunned, they remain inactive in the game for a half hour. Also, Zombies must always wear their red armband outside to actively play. All other BSC rules apply to players as well. These rules are strictly enforced while in play to avoid any attention from law enforcement.
Many of the rules only came to be once the police were notified. One night in an early game, Mike Clark, a player and BSC student, was waiting in between a group of parked cars waiting for any humans to walk past. Through the course of an hour, three different police cruisers came and spoke to Mike about how suspicious he was acting. “That had to be some kind of record,” Mike said when he remember the incident. As such, hiding behind non-player cars is now an illegal procedure.
Unfortunately for the players of HvZ, their game goes mostly misunderstood. Most Bridgewater police officers have just started coming into contact with the game. “They’re just kids playing tag,” said one officer, “but they have to draw the line somewhere.” True enough. More than once, police have been called in regards to suspicious activity, more often than not at night. In one case, a player asked for assistance from ECC dining hall faculty to let her out a back door to escape. The staff didn’t understand a game was being played, and an officer was called to investigate. The result of which led the officer to take a report from Andrew Patota, one of the pursuing Zombies. “It was all a misunderstanding,” Andrew explained, “but the cops shouldn’t have been involved.” With all things considered, the campus police are exceptionally willing to understand and cope with HvZ. During the first games, patrolmen were likely to stop players and ask what they were doing. In the latest games, the police seem not to care about the game, as long as players abide by college rules. In fact, police have shouted votes of confidence to passing humans, or even information; “One time a cop rolled up and asked if I was a human or a zombie. I told him I was a human and he let me know he had seen a group of zombies on the other side of campus,” Steve Fuller, a player, remembered.
The same nonchalance can be seen in the surrounding community of Bridgewater State College as well. While not directly affected by game play (being the game is strictly played on campus grounds), local stores and their employees have begun to notice roving groups of college students armed to the teeth with foam swords and dart guns. “I thought it was odd seeing a bunch of boys carry around Nerf guns and stuff. One of them explained why. Seems like fun if you ask me,” said Devon, a Roche Bros. employee. “One night about eight or nine of them came in,” said an employee of the McDonald’s on Broad St, “they came in and basically hung out for, like, three hours. They were nice enough to leave when we told them we were closing.”
The night the employee spoke of was the night of the first mission. One main factor in Humans vs. Zombies is the missions. Each mission is a way of forcing the Human group and the Zombie group to interact. They are used as a means to shorten a games length.
A game’s duration can last from three days to a month. The length depends on the player participation. “I like quick rounds,” said Dave, another player, “with really brutal zombies. The sooner one round ends, the sooner another round can start.” At BSC, games are  shortened to a week, using missions to speed the process. Any humans left alive after one week are declared the survivors for that round. The reward? Bragging rights.
Because of missions involving all active players (missions are mandatory to play), the visibility of the game has increased exponentially. Many new faces are brought into the fold with the conclusion of each round. Unlike other schools where a player must remain on campus for the duration of the game, the BSC chapter has begun to allow commuter students to play. “We have a lot of problems between resident players and commuters,” Caleb reported, “there are a lot of complaints about commuters having an unfair advantage, leaving and not doing missions.”When commuters started to play, there came a point where all commuters were almost banned because of infighting between resident and commuter. The war of words, clearly visible on the group’s Facebook wall, climaxed when a non-student was accepted into the group as a player. Rita Rahl Denomme, an employee of Bridgewater State College, who could not be reached for interview, played only one round before a major reconsideration was taken by Caleb about player eligibility: membership was barred to only BSC students. “I like playing with other students,”  said Travis Condon, “it’s a great way to get involved on campus and meet a bunch of new people.”
One odd, yet revealing aspect of the game is the camaraderie it embodies in the players. For the most part, every player has an idea of who else is playing. “The first round, everyone knew everyone.” said Caleb, “More new faces join every round, but mostly everyone seems to know each other.” This has led to a certain mythos around former star players. For example: Steven Fuller. Every round Steve has played, he has been at least top three among surviving humans, more often than not becoming the winner. It has reached such a point that Caleb makes a special note of pointing Steve out at the beginning of every round, “Get a good look at his face, you’ll never see him again.” Another player, Alex Lewis, due to his craftiness has been given the nickname, Daywalker, a reference to the vampire slayer, Blade.
It seems to be this established, yet unrecognized team status that appeals to most players. HvZ has established itself as a way of showing your true colors. “When it comes down to it, I play for the fun aspect. I get to run around with my friends, outsmart the bad guys, and still go to college. What’s wrong with that?” said Caleb.
Since the BSC chapter is still in the early stages of play and thusly still working out the bugs, the problems have been minor and dealt with quickly. A new addition this year has been the creation of two more administrative positions. With these new additions, the game has begun to expand even more rapidly than before. “Every round, we get a new group of players,” said Caleb, “Hopefully by this time next year we can reach around 200 active players.” At this rate of expansion, the BSC chapter of HvZ would reach the size of other surrounding school, including UMass Amherst, with 733 registered group members.
Regardless of size or recognition, a certain level of immaturity is assumed of players. “More often than not I will catch someone laughing at me and I can’t help but laugh with them.” said Steve Fuller, “People don’t realize how much preparation and brain power it takes to play this game. I’ve walked 8 miles off campus to win this game.”
Steve was not embellishing his tale…
He and the other three survivors had forced their way into the tunnel and completed the mission as aforementioned. Now all they had left to do was escape the horde of hungry zombies. On the other side of the underpass, Steve had noticed the resistance was minimal. With a swift turn of his head, he mouthed, “Fly,” to Joe, and they flew. Matt had seen thier flight and followed suit. Steve called out to Daywalker, but his voice was lost in the horde’s trumpet of anguish, their meal was escaping. Valliantly, Daywalker stemmed the tide, chopping any zombie trying to gain ground through the underpass. We got as far as the Catholic Center before the zombies had flooded through the underpass, brushing aside Daywalker, and were quickly giving chase. “They’re f__king getting away!” cried one zombie when they saw the survivors were almost off campus and out of play. Before they could set a defensive perimeter, the zombies were on us. In horror movie fashion, Matt tripped and fell face first in the ground. Joe and Steve stood over their fallen comrade, holding back the tide so Matt could regain his footing. “What the f__k are you doing!?” Matt commanded, “RUN!” As they escaped off campus, Steve and Joe had enough time to look back and watch as Matt rolled over, guns blazing until the onslaught had buried him. Because of their friend’s noble sacrifice, the human race survived. Victorious, Joe and Steve had accomplished the impossible; they had won Humans versus Zombies.

By Hernidia Tavares

Eight o’clock in the morning and Luis Lima arrives at his office in a school in Brockton where he has been working for his last four years as a teacher.  These past few years he has been thinking a lot on his homeland Cape Verde. Winter is the hardest time for him. “I hate the cold,” he says running to his black Mercedes bought two months ago “I can’t avoid thinking on CV every time I feel this chilling weather!” As we get in the car he starts the engine and turns on the heater. He is giving me a ride to my apartment when he decides to talk about his life, something that strangely he tries to avoid. “I came here to study… and now I’m living here.”
Many come with this idea, though as they got here “it seems that they pass through a brain drain process and forget all their goals… they just don’t study or if they do, they don’t go back to CV!” says Lenny Cabral, a descendent of Cape Verdean immigrant whale fishers. The last possibility happened to Luis who left his country when he was eighteen years old and came to the United States of America where he would late have his degree at the English Language. The reason why he didn’t go back only he knows.
It has been like this with a great number of Cape Verdean youths who leave the country to study abroad, especially to those who come to study in the United States of America. They leave Cape Verde with the main reason of studying for a higher education. After finishing their studies, circumstances trap them and they just can’t go back.

Cape Verde has a long tradition of immigration and the majority of its population is in Diaspora. According to the most recent census (in 2000) the population in the Cape Verdean national territory was 434,625 and projections suggest that it would have risen to 475,947 in 2005. The size of the Diaspora is estimated at 500,000, including 265,000 in the USA, 80,000 in Portugal, 45,000 in Angola, 25,000 in Senegal, 25,000 in France, and 5,000 in Argentina. Historians say that the first immigrants were fishermen and their destination was North America for whale fishing in the early 1800’s.
Long ago the whale fishing period has gone and now, a great number of youths leave the country with the focus on education. “Education is the most rational way through which we can help developing our country,” says the Prime Minister of Cape Verde Jose Maria Neves. However, this argument doesn’t seem attractive for youths who have just finished their education. They just want a good job through which they can provide good health care, house, commodity, wealth, in sum a safe life to their family in the future. Cape Verde doesn’t seem to be in conditions of affording it to its youths.

Before studying Luis worked for some years in order to save some income for his education. “I did all the kinds of decent jobs that one can imagine… I even worked as assistant at hospitals.”  After finishing his studies, he grabbed the first opportunity that he was given to work as a school teacher in Brockton, because, as he said, “I know that the money that one can make here it can’t be made in CV even if you have a higher position comparing to the position one have here.”
The majority of the students who manage to graduate are offered good conditions of work that many times hold them in the USA for the rest of their life. As Lenny Cabral, a story teller argues, the United States has a strong power and attractive condition to absorb anything and anyone who can be useful for this country. Admar, a Cape Verdean student at Bridgewater State College, adds that the employers offer conditions that it is difficult to refuse when you come from a country as Cape Verde where you are more likely to become unemployed even if you have a degree.

Maria Cardoso, one of few that didn’t went through the “Brian Drain Process” as L. Cabral calls it, shares the same opinion. “When I had my graduation in 2002 I could have stayed in USA if I wanted. The temptations were huge, but my main goal was to go back and be a useful Cape Verdean citizen working there, in the ground,” she says.

Youths quickly get used to the standard American life style and what happened is that “when they are confronted with the idea of going back they want to transport this life style to Cape Verde. Then, they just can’t do it because the life style people have here doesn’t fit to the way people live in CV” says Vanessa a descendent of Cape Verdeans who always lived in the USA and sometimes spends holidays in Cape Verde.

Others argue that people get used to the USA where one can have any imaginable thing and that what frighten them is the idea of living in Cape Verde where the problems are huge comparing to USA. Luis says that living in the United States is very different because you can always have work and you can have anything you dream with and moreover “who can guarantee me that I will have a job where I’m paid the same salary that I can make here?”  For instance, a youth who have bachelor degree in Cape Verde can make in average $500 per month, while in USA, youth with the same qualification makes this same amount in a week.

Maria has a different argument. As she says “it doesn’t matter how much you win here because the more you win the more tax you pay.” She came back to the USA for her Master degree program. Back home she was a teacher and she says  she doesn’t mind making less money in CV because taxes are lower than in USA and because she knows that she can always save some free time for her family and friends “I have a good social life,” she says, an aspect of living that Luis is longing for.

Luis says he miss badly the good moments he used to spend with his friends every afternoon and sometimes he can’t avoid the idea of going back but, “Things are harder than they seem to be! Possibilities of finding a good work that can provide all the things I need to live well are limited and master people are a lot.”

Another thing that can also prevent youths from going back to their country is the poor capacity of the country to meet their needs as professionals. “A recent mastered doctor wants to work in his/her field with all the necessary equipments to better apply his/her knowledge and serve his patients” says Tony. However, he adds, what happen is that when these doctors go back sometimes the conditions that CV can provide are poor and they feel obliged to go back in time and “forget the most advanced technologic techniques they were taught.”  As Tony says, this can contribute a lot to the decision of the youths in staying in USA where they can always renew their methodologies, techniques and everything they have learned, as the facilities are more than in CV.

Emotional aspect that can also prevents youths from going back. According to Daniel Santos, a graduated student in the Communication field their work is more valorized in abroad than back home. As he wrote on his email to me, “every time I announced in the newspaper that I was going to give a speech in Portugal, the room would be crowded, but here, in my own country I have to beg for people’s participation” and he adds “it is very sad! I want to give my contribution to my country, but people doesn’t seem to value my work”

Many people argue that what most frighten those youths are the huge possibilities of becoming unemployed back home. The kind of work that those youths are more likely to have is teaching and by doing this they would feel forced to forget the area they specialized in.  However, according to the Prime Minister Neves who was in a conference with Cape Verdean students in Massasoit, one must not fear the unemployment but fight against it.

According to the Prime Minister, the government cannot employ all the students after finishing their education, though “the country still needs them!” He continues his speech remembering that CV is growing so fast and a lot of areas needs investors. He exemplifies pointing out careers in the area of business and management, administration and tourism that on his point of view can generate a lot of new jobs, which consequently would decrease the rate of unemployment “Youths need to interiorize the idea of going back and start businesses of their own where they can provide jobs for dozens more of youths. “This is the idea that I want youths to go back with!… ‘What kind of business can I invest on so that I can offer a job to more ten youths?’”

Some say that this idea of going back depends very much on the goals of each individual person and also on the situation of life they have in the United States, comparing to the life they had back in CV. Maria remembers that when she first came to the USA she told her mother that she wanted to finish her studies as soon as possible because, as she says, “my country needs me… and I can’t stand the idea of living in the USA for all my life.”

After graduating she went to Cape when she worked as a teacher for five years. She has two children, a huge house, a sophisticated sports car and what can be considered a “good life” within the pattern of life in CV. The only reason she came back according to her, is for her Master degree which, has always been one of her dreams.

She brought her two children and her mother to help her with them, but still she complains for making “this sacrifice” as she said because “I feel sorry for my kids; they don’t have the liberty they had back home.”

They live in the second floor of a building of three floors and as she says their neighbors are always complaining about the kids’ noise. She told me that her son is becoming nervous because he can’t play at home the way he used to do in CV and this “breaks my heart.” Maria strongly refuses to change her goals and she doesn’t allow herself to go through the Drain Brain. “I can’t see the moment I finish so that I can take my kids back to our country. Going back for me is a question of love… and I love my country,” she says.

Luis has a very contradictory opinion.  In one of our several meetings he took me to the place he calls his world, because as he told me, he wanted to show me what grabs him here. “I do love my CV; it is my country! Damn if I didn’t! But I can’t imagine myself living without the routine I have here.” Everyday before going to work he goes to the Dunkin Donuts, where from his car, he orders hot chocolate. On the weekends he has always something to do. Central Park, Boston Aquarium, museums, restaurants, theatre and zoo are some of his preferences. “My decision of living in the United States it is not only because of money and not all about money” he tells me as he drives us to a theater in Boston “it is also about love and identity. I love living here and I found myself in this country!”

By Christina Hickman

Theatre 16 at the Providence Place Cinemas is sold out for the 12:01 am showing November 21st. Every seat is taken, even the first row seats that no one ever wants to sit in. This inconvenience is well-worth it to finally see the book Twilight come to life on screen. The audience is diverse:  slightly more females than males, ages ranging from middle-aged down to those around ten. All have their eyes glued on the screen. The anticipation builds as Kristen Stewart, or the fictional Bella Swan, and Robert Pattinson, the vampire Edward Cullen, lean in precariously close to each other. Someone from the middle of the audience yells, “Kiss already!” Their shout is returned with a muttered “I hope everyone just shuts up for this,” from a man that is clearly annoyed with the amount of screaming that has gone on throughout the movie. Already lines like “I don’t have the strength to stay away from you anymore” and “When a lion fell in love with a lamb” have elicited group effort “awwwww”s from many females.  Now, however, the theatre silences. Only the crunching of popcorn and crinkling of candy bags can be heard. The actors on the screen move closer and closer, their lips finally meeting in a long overdue kiss. The audience erupts in a wave of claps and whistles for the fictional onscreen pair.  Welcome to Twilight Mania.

Within the past few months, the hype surrounding book series by Stephenie Meyer called Twilight or the movie based on the first book has been inescapable. Stores advertise the phenomenon endlessly: a walk through the mall might bring you past an F.Y.E. music store with life size cardboard cut outs of Bella and Edward, a trip into Borders bookstore will bombard you with the series and other miscellaneous paraphernalia, and Hot Topic has the soundtrack blasting through the stereo as you peruse their Twilight shirts, bags and other goodies.

“I haven’t seen anything like it since Harry Potter,” said one mother of a fan while shopping,

This sudden outburst of mass interest is enough to wonder if there is more to Twilight than it being a popular, short-lived trend, or if it indeed the new Harry Potter.

Twilight was first released in 2005, with author Meyer noting the exact writing start date as June 2, 2003. What happened in the three years since the release that caused this hysteria to ignite?  The three other books, New Moon, Eclipse, and the most recent Breaking Dawn, have been released one a year starting in 2006. Now these books have sold over 25 million copies worldwide.  This includes the thirty-seven different languages that they have been translated into.  The book Twilight alone boasts awards such publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, one of Amazon’s “Best Book of the Decade…So Far” and the American Library Association “Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults” and “Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers.”

The plot is simple: a girl moves to a small town, girl meets boy, boy turns out to be a vampire and love of her life. Something about the 498-page book keeps readers hooked.  Readers note their interest for one of these reasons: the romance, the suspense, or the vampire plot. However, most admit to not knowing why.

“There is something in the writing that makes me want to keep reading,” says Nicole Baillargeon, a twenty one year old English major at Salve Regina University. “I don’t know. It’s like a drug.”

Whatever their reason, readers are so caught up in the books that they often don’t know that there is a world outside of the one created for them. Another fan’s mother reveals that the family went on vacation and her daughter, fifteen years old, spent fifteen hours a day reading the books. While that may be a slight exaggeration, others have experienced the same addiction.

“I started the third one this morning, and I am already three quarters of the way finished,” says another shopper. She remarks that she is glad she has an easy full-time job to allow her to read them.

“I read all four books in a week’s time,” says Corrina of Fort Washington, Maryland.

Twilight series readers agree, for whatever the real pull, the books are hard to put down.

There has been nothing that has produced a bigger response from fans than the book-based movie’s production. Websites swarm with speculation of the movie and then after-thoughts post-viewing. Some bash the movie, calling it “irritating, depressing and horrid” while others defend it as a noble independent film with a 2-month shooting period. Debates rage on about whether the movie was cast wrong, from the lead female and the lead male all the way to the roles of the lesser vampires. Even book sales have sky-rocketed after the release of the movie. A locl Borders bookstore completely sold out of every book in the series on Black Friday, the busiest day of the year in retail.

However there is absolutely no doubt that the mania for movie was extreme. The Hot Topic Twilight Tour, a five-day long event from November 11 to 15, had various actors and actresses from the movie appearing at locations across the country.

Locally, Square One Mall in Saugus, Massachusetts hosted Robert Pattinson, the onscreen Edward Culllen.  The scene was nothing less than pandemonium. With close to three thousand fans waiting impatiently in the last few minutes before six pm, the mall is resounding with “Robert” chants. Some have been waiting for twelve hours without sitting, eating, drinking or going to the bathroom, like twenty-year old Hannah from Keene, New Hampshire, just to reserve their spot as close to the small stage for the Q&A session as possible.  The chants subside and morph into ear-piercing screams as Robert Pattinson makes his way through the crowd and onto the stage. The volume seems to somehow increase and cameras flash like strobe lights in a nightclub. After a couple minutes of waiting for the audience to calm down, Robert starts his Q&A. When asked if there is famous person he would stand outside all night in the rain for, he replies “Jack Nicholson.”

The night before, fans began a line prior to midnight to be the first 500 in line. The first 500 received a wristband that allowed them access to a meet and greet with Robert. These dedicated fans waited outside until seven am despite the rain, the opening of the mall.  Those who were not within the first 500 headed straight for the barricades around the Q&A stage.  After waiting since seven am, Robert does a six-minute interview that can barely be heard, and then he is gone.

For these super fans, it was worth it.

“[It] was nice to see the actor that would be portraying the character I had grown to love my senior year of high school,” says 20-year-old Hannah of Keene New Hampshire, even after a two-hour long drive and just missing the meet and greet cut.

The events in Saugus were tame compared to other locations around the country. In San Francisco, the crowd of over 3,000 became rowdy enough to cause police to shut down the event. One girl broke her nose after being trampled on by fellow fans and another fainted after being stuck in mob-like crowd. Pattinson later agreed to still perform the meet and greet after the crowd settled.

The Internet response for the movie has been astounding. The popular website Myspace featured different interviews with the cast the week before the movie’s debut. You could go with one of the enemy vampires played Rachelle Lefervre into one of her favorite vintage shops to see what she likes to wear, watch the “Making of the Movie” which features writer Meyer’s feelings on the movie, or see Hayley Williams, lead singer of current teenage rock sensation Paramore, interview Robert Pattinson. (Paramore is featured on the Twilight soundtrack.) On November 21st, the day of the movie release, the Twilight Movie’s Myspace had over 320,000 friends, with numbers growing by the hour. The discussion board is raging with active from reactions to the movie. The number of topics is steadily approaching two thousand, some with over a hundred responses.

If you do not feel like battling it out with teens and 20-somethings, one can always opt for the official Stephenie Meyer website (www.stepheniemeryer.com) or TwlightMoms, “Where Fans of Stephenie Meyer at Our Unique Phase of Life (balancing family, work AND our Twilight addiction) Become Friends” as the tagline says (www.twilightmoms.com).

“Even though it was written for a teen audience, it reminds the older readers what it was like to be in love like that,” says one 27-year old fan Mary Beth. “I love these books for the same reason I like Jane Austen, a good love story that entertains and takes me out of my everyday life.”

The intense hype and the making of the movie drove another question into readers, fans, and outsiders minds: Is Twilight the next Harry Potter? Coincidentally, actor Pattinson was in two of the Harry Potter movies as the character Cedric Diggory. There are mixed responses. Some think that it meets the standards, saying that it will replace Harry Potter for teenage girls and is even bigger than it already. Others think that the movies cannot compare, (Harry being the winner) but the books might get even bigger.

“[It will] top out on book sales and merchandise from the teenage status quo” says Kael, 36 of Wisconsin on a Twilight discussion board.

People recognize that in relation to Harry Potter, it still a new phenomenon in the making. Other Twilight fans don’t think that it will live up to the Harry Potter mania because mainly because of the target age, despite that it reaches men and adults. The question, then, still stands.

Despite all mixed reactions on the Internet, the response after the midnight viewing is spectacular. As the final scene cuts to the ending credits, the audience erupts into applause, cheering and whistling. As the crowd exits the theatre a few devoted fans stay to watch all the credits. One fan, age twenty-seven, says that seeing the movies makes her want to go back and re-read the book, to check for the irregularities. An ecstatic boy donned in a gray and black striped sweatshirt draws her attention. Talking to a group of three of his girl friends he just keeps repeating how hyper he is.

“It topped the book. It was amazing,” says the 17-year-old boy. “She played Bella perfectly.” Exiting the theatre, people can still hear his shouts: “I could stay here for another two hours!”

The mall crowd consists entirely of tired but happy Twilight fans at 2:30 am. Groups of girls jabber on about how hot Edward is while others speculate seeing it a second time already. In the parking garage a girl jumps out of the passenger side door. A second later a flash goes off from her digital camera. A car that looks identical to the character Edward

Cullen’s sits in the far corner of the lot. As the girl retreats back to the SUV she came from, smiling and giggling, it is safe to say that she is secretly hoping that Edward was closer by than in the on the movie screen or in the pages of the book. A trend or not, it is hard to say yet. What matters is that Twilight is very much alive and thriving right now.

By Lauren Saldi

The electricity had been out for a little over thirty minutes when I arrived at Magic Years Nursery School.  The parking lot was pretty empty and there were several teachers standing outside in the freezing cold, some with coffees in their hands and others with their heavy winter jackets on.

The school was pitch black inside and there was a constant beeping of the alarm with an orange light flashing.  A few other teachers came out of the building, with the telephones to their ears and contact cards in their hands calling parents to tell them school has been cancelled.  Other teachers were outside meeting cars just as they came in the entrance to inform them that school was off.

Just as the lost call had been made, the lights came back on.  Everyone let out a sigh and shook their heads.  In a matter of moments, a decision was made by the owner of the school to call all the parents back and tell them school was back on.  Before anyone could even pick up a phone, the school telephone began ringing with parents wondering if school was back on.  The answer was yes and minutes after that, students began arriving.  The once empty parking lot began to fill with SUVs, Vans and Trucks all with pre-school students in them.

As the students piled in the school they headed off to their designated classroom consisting of a polar bear, black bear, panda bear, brown bear or koala bear.  They took off their jackets and hung them on the hooks.

In the black bear classroom, the children are three years old.  The kids scatter throughout the classroom and play with the toys all around.  One little girl goes and plays with the doll house set, mumbling a conversation between two little dolls.  Over in the other corner of the classroom, three boys are playing with a tool set.  One little boy is hitting the oversized nail with a rubber hammer.  Then, another boy named Jaeden, takes the hammer out of another one of the boys hands and you hear some bickering.  The teacher turns around and approaches the boys. “Jaeden don’t take it, we share” she said in a soft, calm tone.  Sharing is one of the most stressed aspects of the school.  The first thing the classrooms always focus on is sharing and why it is important.

As the children play each get called over to the main table in the classroom to start on their project of the day.  On this day, they were making turkeys for Thanksgiving.  They were to put the beak and eyes on the cut out paper turkey by gluing them on.  Then, they were to go over to the easel to paint it brown.

As all this was going on, a couple children walked up to the teacher saying they needed to go the bathroom.  This was a common theme all throughout the day in each and every classroom.  “Anyone else need to go potty?” each and every teacher asked.  The rest of the children would say no and then they would take the children that had to go to the bathroom while the other teacher in the classroom stayed with the rest of the children.  However, every time they would return to the classroom, one or two more children would have to go to the bathroom.  It was like a never ending cycle of young children having to “go potty.”

The brown bear classroom consists of four year olds who will all be 5 by the end of the year.  The atmosphere of this classroom was very different from the Black Bear class of all three year olds.  There isn’t a real big issue of sharing between the four year olds, unlike the three year olds. In addition, the classroom is much more structured with more detailed projects and “playing stations.”  One of the many detailed projects that they do is an alphabet book.  Each week, they have a letter of the week where the children create a page for each letter of the alphabet.  For this present week, they were doing the letter T and turned the T into a turkey since it was Thanksgiving week as well.  They also work with the letter of the week during their circle time.

During circle time, they sing songs, read a book, work with the calendar and weather and also work with a new program called “Handwriting without tears.”  Handwriting without tears is the new way to help make the children write in a more simple, but more organized way.  It’s all based on the lines and curves used within letters and shapes.  It has big lines, little lines, big curves and little curves.  Both the teacher of the classroom and then school director agreed that it works really well with the children.  Deborah Culkin said, “It works well and it’s age appropriate.”  This program is used in the four year old and young five year old classrooms because it will help get them ready for kindergarten.

After spending time within the classrooms, an interview with school director really made everything come together.  Deborah Culkin opened the school 26 years ago.  She says she opened the school because “she loves children and enjoyed interacting and playing with them.”  Her main goal and top priority for the school is to make sure that the children are creative.  She said, “I want to tap into their creativity to express themselves without being a teaching directed school.”

This holds true throughout each and every classroom within the school.  The children are free to be creative with every project they do whether it is making a Christmas tree or making their own reindeer face.

Picking teachers is an important process for Deborah because she wants to pick the right ones.  She looks for passion in the applicants and they must have a big heart and love children.  Of course she looks to make sure that they are qualified, but having passion and a big heart is more important to her because this is what the school is based around.

As mentioned before, each classroom has a bear for their mascot: Black Bear, Brown Bear, Polar Bear, Panda Bear and Koala Bear.  Why did Deborah pick bears? Well, when she first opened the school she only had two classrooms who were both represented by the polar bear.  As the school grew, she had to pick more bears because she couldn’t have polar bears for every classroom.  Within the classrooms, there are actual stuffed animals of the different kinds of bears.  The bear is used within the classroom for roleplaying.  If a child is crying or a child is angry they let the child talk to the bear so they can express their feelings.  She says the children find it easier to talk to the bears sometimes, then it is to the teacher.  In addition to this, each day a child gets to take the bear of the classroom home with them.  The reason for this is that it helps language development within the children and brings home life to school and their school life home to their family.  It also gets the parents involved because they are to write in a journal about what the child did with their time with the bear.  When they come back to school, the teacher reads it to the rest of the class.  Getting the family involved with the child’s learning is one of Deborah Culkin’s most important aspects of the school.  She wants the parents to be part of the child’s education and wants them to know what is going on within the school and within their classroom.

Deborah also incorporates the Spanish language in the children’s learning.  She went on to say how learning another language is good for the child’s memory and important for the cognitive development.  The cognitive development works with the construction of thought processes which includes remembering, problem solving and decision making.  The Spanish teacher comes once a week to teach the children something new.  She always starts with asking the children what they remember from the previous week.  Deborah says that the children retain the language very well.  In addition to that, she says it will help the children in the future when learning more detailed aspects about the Spanish language. Also, she said that it’s good to know another language since so many people speak more than just English in America.

Discipline is a big aspect throughout the pre-school.  Each classroom is supposed to discipline a child if they are doing something bad.  When interviewing one of the teachers, Eva Luciani, said that she always uses the phrase “That makes me sad” rather than saying “That makes me mad.”  She says it is more effective and she realizes that the child understands the word “sad” better than the word “mad.”  Once she talks to the child, she then removes the child from the play area and asks the child why they did what they did whether it was hitting another child or taking a toy out of another child’s hands.  Then, the child has to sit by themselves for only about 2 minutes.  It is only a short amount of time, but it is very effective.

Eva goes on to explain how she is fair within the classroom.  Each day there is a line leader.  When picking the line leader, the line leader is always the child that took the bear home the previous day.  Each child understands this and there is no complaining.  This helps for an organized day in the classroom.  She also picks two helpers for the day.  The two helpers put out napkins and cups for snack time and help Eva with anything else she needs throughout the school day.  She says the children often like to help out so this is way for them to do so.  By having them help, it also makes them feel important within the classroom.  Everyday there is always two different helpers, making it fair within the classroom.  Fairness is very important in keeping the classroom organized and making sure the class runs smoothly throughout the entire school day.

There is a lot to take on when becoming a teacher in a pre-school classroom.  There is even more to take on when you own the pre-school.  Magic Years Nursery School does a great job within the classrooms and does a great job with keeping the classrooms organized and making them run smoothly.  Even though it is a lot of work, it is still fun for all the teachers and for the owner.  Magic Years Nursery School is a great school to send your 3, 4 or 5 year old child.  They will learn a lot and will have a fun time exploring their creativity.  So do the right thing: Enroll your child in Magic Years Nursery School.  You can be sure you won’t regret it.

A story of overcoming fears and hiding under coffee tables.

By Patrick M. Correia

She stands at the top of the stairway peering down to see who exactly has entered her new home.  The jingling keys or footsteps would sell out any new comer before they ever had the chance to realize what was going on.  She waits panting, flashing off her pointy teeth and slathering jaw below her gleaming eyes and propped, attentive ears.
She is agile and appears ready to pounce at the oncoming intruder.  She stands and waits with pique composure, ready for anything.  Her collar’s jingling ceases and her panting stops abruptly.  Her mouth takes on a serious expression as the person’s head peeks around the corner of the creaky wooden stairwell.  She is startled momentarily.

There is usually a brief second where eyes meet and neither party wishes to make the first move.  After this initial awkwardness, I take a step forward and she darts back in a white flash underneath the coffee table to await her savoir.  There is no noise as she waits for her owner to arrive home and save her from the lumbering beast that I am, unless I bring food that is.  This is Zorra, named for the black spots around both her eyes resembling Zorro’s mask.  She is a corgi mutt and she is actually afraid of me.

I have been terrified of dogs, especially shitsus that were able to sneak under my neighbor’s fence, since I can remember, but I have never actually seen a dog so terrified of me.  I have no particular recollection of what might have caused this fear, though I am sure it came far before the neighborhood mongrels were the scourge of my existence.

Zorra was discovered with her canine family under a bridge, deserted by a once caring family. She was adopted transitionally by a family in Tennessee and eventually made her way to Somerville and into the care of my roommate.  It seems that I have, inadvertently, agreed to be a participant in an experiment of some type of emersion therapy.  I would be subjected to living with my fear for quite some time, having to double check my actions and sneak by rooms, lest I be attacked.  I did not expect my fear to return the feeling.

The Counseling center at Bridgewater State College is about as inviting as a partially submerged brick building can be.  Finding the councilor was a challenge in and of itself as they initially had my interview scheduled with the wrong individual, but after the initial confusion I was lead down a hall way to the office of Wayne Assing, a councilor at the school.  He spoke in a quiet, discrete and inquisitive tone from his stock, uncomfortable college chair, and he seemed as confused as I in regards to what exactly my purpose was there.  He informed me that the feelings I once held towards canines could have been the result of almost any stimuli that I had been exposed to throughout the years, including television.  Damn the When Animals Attack series on Fox that were o so popular in the 1990’s.

The concept of Cynaphobia without a traumatic event, such as being attacked, is a rarity.  After a befuddled reiteration of what exactly I was discussing, he asked if I had ever heard of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

He described this process, while lit by the dim light of the lamp to my left and the glow of the Desktop monitor on my right, which lead to its slight blue glow constantly distracting me from the conversation.  His example of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was that of a person with a fear of elevators.  First they would discuss this fear with a councilor and then they would travel to a location to witness this fear, but not interact with it.  Finally the patient would get on the elevator with the councilor and attempt to overcome this fear.  This whole process would take several sessions to complete.  I apparently went straight to the final step sans councilor, “Suddenly this has forced you to address something in the subconscious.”  He stated in his quiet inquisitive tone.

He mentioned the concept of Desensitized Exposure and Desensitization, which is the constant presence of a subject that is troubling to an individual in an attempt to desensitize the individual.  “(It was a) conditioning kind of experience.”  He said in regards to my being thrown in with the beast that I initially felt wanted nothing more than to tear the flesh from my bones.

The first day Zora arrived she was quiet drugged and I was hung-over so we were both off to a fairly calm beginning, but after that the days were filled with awkward moments.  We would meet in the narrow hallway, both with an option to dart into our respective side rooms if one of us made the mistake of stepping forward. After seconds that felt like an eternity, it was clear that she was blocking food and I was quite hungry.  With this first step my fear of her was in the beginning of its decline.  She bolted through the dinning room and to her fortress of solitude under the coffee table.  I was instantly startled and took a step back in fear of an aggressive reaction, but soon realized what had occurred.  I wonder if anyone with a fear of elevators ever had this situation happen to them.

Lauren Martin, a graduate student at UMass Boston and my proud roommate, is the kind soul that adopted the dog from Tennessee. She had the daunting task of adapting Zorra to a new world with speeding cars, crowded streets and snowy winters.  She calls the dog over with a sympathetic and high-pitched voice, of which Zorra seems to be very fond.  Her tail wags and shakes her lower half as she approaches the couch and jumps up to acquire a better view of the television.
“Zorra has two siblings, one brother and one sister, and if you believe it she is the least shy,” Lauren said when asked about Zorra’s canine family, while petting side of her neck. “The brother, for example, was adopted recently and the people returned him because he was so shy and afraid … even after two weeks.”

Lauren took a slight risk in bringing this amazingly shy dog home.  She was transferring her from a rural environment to a completely urban one.  Zorra would have to become used to buses, bikes and a great deal of foot traffic on her walks.
Lauren mentioned how she had grown up with pets and had longed for a dog ever since moving to college.  After a brief period of dog sitting for a friend she decided that she was ready to take care of her own.

Lauren feels that the dog may have been abused, as it does not allow you to approach it with your hand above its head.  This is an especially fearful prospect to someone with a fear of dogs.  To put my hand below its jaw would only increase its ability to snap at me.

Lauren sat calmly petting Zorra, whose focus remained on me throughout the interview.  She definitely seemed soothed by the presence of her owner. “I encourage visitors and ‘strangers’ to come over. She is very shy around them still, but I want her to eventually know that if I am there and tell her it’s ‘ok’ that she doesn’t need to be scared.”

Throughout the interview it seemed to be working.  Zorra sat in a very close proximity to me and seemed completely at ease with my presence.  She has truly made strides in overcoming her anthropophobia.  Lauren noted that during Thanksgiving Zorra did not perform her usual duck and cover method when in a new environment, but rather seemed friendly and affectionate to Lauren’s family.

In lieu of a Dog Behaviorist, I felt the source would be much more appropriate.  So I gathered what I believed her general concerns would be and asked her a few questions.  I crouched down with my paws opened upward and tried to be as submissive as Ceaser Milan, the famous dog whisperer, would have wanted. When questioned about her previous fear of me, Zorra remained silent, though I feel she may have stammered something to effect of “Food?  Outside?  Go Outside?”  That is of course if she had the ability of speech.   After a few minutes of questions I opted for the obvious one, “Give me five?”  She placed her paw on my hand in her typical timid fashion.  She backed away from my attempt to pet her as she can still clearly sense a slight timidity in my actions.  We turned and both went to eating our respective meals, silent as a middle aged couple in a nice restaurant.

As I trudge up the creaky old stairwell in the house, I realize that she has been waiting there.  She had previously launched herself from the couch and ran to wait at the top of the stairwell, as is her custom.  I can hear her paws scatter across the floor, resembling the crackling of a bag of chips, for a brief instance as I start my ascent.  She waits patiently as her face takes on its standard inquisitive nature.  As I turn the corner she occasionally takes on a new attitude.  Her tail begins to wag to the point that her entire lower half shifts along and she is often unable to remain in one position for more than a second.  She will not jump or bark, but rather remains around me wagging here tail frantically.

Her new found excitement goes beyond the fact that I have an inability to find my mouth while eating thus supplying her ample treats; we have now both altered our fear slightly.  Neither of us has completely overcome our fears.  Zorra’s fear, unlike my own, seems to be the direct result of physical abuse, though we both may be repressing it. I still almost have a heart attack when a small dog comes running around to bark at me through a fence and she still remains under the coffee table when company comes over the apartment.

Our personal feelings about one another have grown greatly.  She is now willing to remain in the same room as I even when I am left to watch after her.  This is mostly in the hopes of getting the snack that I am currently missing my mouth with, but I feel it is at least partially because she enjoys my company, even though I still somewhat feel that conversation with a dog is quite the odd experience.  We both seem to be ambivalent to one another with instances of momentary affection.  And besides, who else is willing to watch Stephen King’s The Thing with me and not complain?

By Megan Kelly

It is a cold wintery morning; everyone is still trying to resist the urge to get up because they know that it is still going to be a while before their parents are awake. Seven o’clock finally comes, let the craziness begin! Zachary, a fifteen year old boy, begins to run through the hall way banging on the bedroom doors of his siblings’ rooms to assure that he gives them a mild heart attack before they go down stairs to see what was left for them. Two of his sisters awake from their slumber in excitement of what is to come. They are aware of what is about to happen, but leave it up for Zachary to see what is to come next. A child at heart, Zachary now has the oldest sister’s door left to obnoxiously bang on and wake her for the morning festivities. Unresponsive, the boy enters his sister’s room; as the little toy Yorkshire terrier barks like crazy at him for startling her, he makes his way into her bedroom he begins to call her name, “Adri…. It’s time to wake up… Adri…” suddenly he is then ransacked by his sister with cans of silly string. Surprised by the attack, his two other sisters laugh hysterically as they watch his brother get what was coming for him.

Here is the scene of a typical Christmas morning in the Abburzzese/Kelly household and being a blending family of nine children one will never know what to expect during the holidays. No matter how old each of the nine siblings gets, there is always some type of prank in the midst. It would not be a holiday without one. Although for some people pranks may not be the typical holiday tradition, there are many types of traditions that are just as important to others.

Traditions can mean many different things for different people, whether it is for a holiday like Thanksgiving or even Christmas, a tradition is a tradition which must be up held no matter what. Traditions are more than just a text book definition, they are what someone creates for themselves to make the holidays memorable. When it came time to talk about traditions, the one person that I thought would be important to go and talk to was my mother. As holidays come and go, especially the Christmas holiday, there are many types of traditions that take place in both my household and those around me. The most important source in which I could to talk about the importance of traditions is my mother, someone who has been instilling traditions from her childhood on both me and my other siblings.

When asked about what a tradition meant to her she stated, “Traditions mean that I am honoring the practices that my family before me passed on.” With this in mind, I now begin to look back on the countless holidays I have celebrated with my mother, and now I realize why we have done the things we have. “It (traditions) means trying to bring to the next generation the special feeling that I experienced because of a holiday or special event. It means sharing the love that was shared with me.” Through my mother’s definition of traditions, it is apparent that those traditions that take place of the holiday season are not only important to her, but to those around her. As for Stephanie Leke a junior attending Hofstra, although her traditions consist of family as well, her definition is of a broader spectrum. “Traditions are supposed to be rituals that are done annually during certain times of the year. It’s one of those things that one can always expect every year and can usually guess how whatever it is will turn out.” Here, two different ideas of traditions but also similar in ways, overall to both, traditions are important and something that will continue for as long as one wishes them to.

Each person has their own tradition in which they carry out during the holiday season. When it came to looking back at the various traditions Adriana Abbruzzese looked at both traditions she has with her mother and her father. Being from a family where both parents divorced and remarried one might think it to be difficult to maintain the continuations of traditions during the holidays. In Adriana’s case, she is able to look back at both traditions that have occurred while her parents were still married as well as creating new ones when both her parents remarried. One tradition that she has with her father is, during the holiday season they enjoy a nice glass of eggnog and watch “corny Christmas Classics.” Although she has these traditions with her father, the holidays are a difficult time when it comes to spending time with everyone. Although we are of a blended family we still have traditions that remain a part of our holidays. We are able to develop traditions with both parts of our family that we spend with during the festivities throughout the day.

For Caitlin Hope, a major tradition she has during the holiday season is decorating the house for the season. Setting up her Christmas tree, hanging lights, and other various holiday accessories around the house are all a part of a major tradition for Caitlin. Although both Caitlin and Adriana are considerably young, these tradition they have are ones that will impact the traditions that they have during the holidays when it comes time for them to start their own families.

In today’s society, the rate in which parents get divorced is at an alarmingly high percentage; coming in at 40 to 50 percent. With this in mind, the question was raised, does the fact that your parents are still married, divorced, or remarried affect the way you view the holidays? While talking with my mom, knowing she is from a divorced family, it does not seem as if her view on the holidays is any different from Caitlin’s whose parents are still married. My mother, both as a child and today still manages to make the best of her parents being divorced.

On Christmas day, her mom, and step-father join us for our Christmas brunch and the opening of gifts. During Christmas morning when her mother and step-father are there, as well as the majority of her children and step-children Christmas morning can be chaotic. For my two grandparents, it is always an interesting sight, for many years it would just be my mother, my brother, my sister, and I, so to add another six people to the mix it made for an interesting morning. Their low key Christmas morning was now turned into a chaotic extravaganza of Christmas pranks and wrapping paper wars.

As for my mother’s father and step-mother, along with her two step-sisters, they join us for a second Christmas celebration a week after Christmas. Here, although it is not Christmas morning, there is still a great amount of chaos going on. Although my mother only has two step-sisters, it is still crazy. Our family continues to grow each year therefore, our Christmas that is a week after Christmas is just like Christmas morning all over again. The fact that her parents are divorced seems to play no negative role in how she views the holidays. If anything, she seems to carry on a tradition in which she would partake in when she was a child. Through the hard times of having divorced parents, and being someone who is divorced as well, she always manages to make the best of holidays, and ensures that we (my brother, sister, and I) have the best holiday possible.

As for Caitlin the fact that her parents are still married has not really change the way she views the holiday, “If anything, it has made me view the holidays as a joyous and exciting time. I didn’t have to travel between two families, or feel like I was spread too thin. Christmas morning was always spent at my house, opening presents (really early), playing with our stuff, a nap thrown in there somewhere, then off to a relative’s house in the afternoon.”

Although both my mother and Caitlin have two very different situations, they seem to make the best of what they have. With this, they are able to carry on and develop new traditions with those they love.

With traditions of the holidays come many important memories that stick with someone forever. Along with the memory of now enjoying a glass of eggnog with her father, Adriana also remembers fondly on Christmas morning her mother cooking, and her father assembling the many gifts her and her five other siblings just opened up. As I began to write this article, I talked with Adriana, who happens to be my-step sister, about one of the many memories I have gained from being a part of her family. As her and I take a trip down memory lane we remember the countless holiday pranks in which we play on each other throughout the day. With the size of our family, at Thanksgiving everyone picks someone’s name out of a hat, this person is the person you will buy a Christmas gift for. Buying nine gifts can get quite expensive, therefore we pick names. For the most part we try to keep it a secret from everyone but usually that fails.

Christmas day is here… let the pranks begin. Usually this consists of buying a gift and placing it in the biggest box you can and finding ways of weighting it down. As Adriana and I look back on this, we remember the Christmas morning that someone was opening a gift from our brother Tony. It was quite heavy, which was interesting considering our spending limit was $25.00. The gift was suddenly ripped open, crumpled newspaper flew everywhere and suddenly a rock, was among all the wrapping paper and gifts. So began the prank war that now consumes our holidays.

Traditions are important to the holidays because they are what make them special and unique for each family. As I talk to my mother about this article and ask her question about her traditions, I realize that the traditions that she had as child are ones that she now bestows and carries on for my brother, sister and myself. She tries her hardest to instill in us the same outlook on the holidays that she has had. The holidays are a time for someone to go out and make memories that will stay with you forever. If you are someone who does not believe in traditions, go out and make your own. They do not have to be a textbook tradition; they can be anything you want them to be. Make your own memories that you are able to remember forever and pass down to those you love.

By: Jennifer Morgan

If you stop by and peak into the picture windows of 1143 Broadway Street in Hanover, you would see a shop that looks as if it is under renovation. The crumbling drywall lay on the floor from where the walls have been taken down. New cans of paint sit unopened, ready to make their debut on the freshly dry-walled walls. In one corner of the shop black and white tiles have started to be installed. However, this shop is no longer under renovation, in fact it will never have the opportunity to open. Some of the residents of the small town of Hanover, Massachusetts would make sure of that.

The dream she spent eight years making was finally about to come true. Dawn Fazio, of Randolph, Massachusetts, had planned on opening Ink Haven Tattoo Studio. Fazio, a tattoo artist has been saving her money for nearly a decade so that she would be able to open her own tattoo studio. “I worked so hard to save that money. I have been working as a tattoo artist for more than fifteen years. It took me ten years to support myself and be able to save enough money to start my own business. It has been a goal of mine for such a long time and it was taken from me, just like that,” said Fazio.

This would have been the one and only tattoo studio in Hanover. This was one of the reasons it attracted Fazio. It would allow her exposure to new clientele as well as her loyal customers that would make the drive from Randolph to continue to proudly display her artistry on various parts of their bodies.

Dawn Fazio’s dream of opening Ink Haven Tattoo Studio in Hanover would never come to fruition. Despite the fact that she had located and leased a space and had a permit to open her business in hand, when many local residents discovered that a tattoo studio would be opening and took a stand against the opening of a tattoo studio in their small town. Over forty town residents wrote letters to the Hanover Zoning Board asking them to pull her permit because they were unhappy with the type of business and people it would bring into their neighborhood.

The residents demands did not fall on deaf hears and n Wednesday, August 13^th 2008 the Town of Hanover Zoning Board had scheduled an informal hearing regarding the future of Fazio’s Ink Haven Studio.

The small, stale smelling room of the Hanover Town Hall was packed with more people than were anticipated for this informal hearing. It was announced by Zoning Board chairman Gene Beaupre that despite what is discussed on this night, there would be no formal decision made. Fazio appeared in front of the anxious group of residents to propose her business plan.

Fazio was quoted on her petition site as saying, “Ink Haven has a few of the absolute best artists in Massachusetts. We want to give the town of Hanover a nice, clean, safe and sterile environment where people can count on great customer service and mind blowing tattoos. Also, I am trying to discourage people from going to underground tattoo artists; you don’t know how unsterile that is. At Ink Haven we would provide an extremely safe and sterile experience for the person being tattooed.”

This proposed safe haven for those seeking tattoos had fallen failed to convince the residents that turned out to oppose Fazio’s business at the informal zoning board meeting. Many of the residents in attendance live within a close range to the proposed location of Ink Haven. Fazio obtained a lease from the owners of Myette’s convenience store, an old, red shingled, rustic looking store that has two commercial business spaces to lease. One is already leased by Joe’s Pizzeria, and Fazio’s Ink Haven would have been located next door.

One Hanover resident that wished to remain anonymous said, “We’re glad to keep Fazio out of our nice little town. Randolph seems like a great location for her shop, she is closely located to the residents in Brockton who are most likely used to having needles in their arms. It’s as simple as this, keep the scum up there and out of our little town.”

Hanover resident, Joan Norris, who lives directly across the street was said she feels that there are better locations for Fazio to take her business to, despite the commercial zoning laws, the neighborhood is primarily residential and should remain that way.

Norris was quoted further as saying, “While neither my husband Ray Larsen nor I are opposed to tattoo parlors in general, we feel such a shop belongs in an area where it is surrounded by other businesses. Here, it is completely out of place in a spot that is surrounded by residences. Deserved or not, tattoo parlors have the reputation for drawing an unsavory element among their clients.”

Norris said children visit Myette’s frequently and the school bus stops in front of that space. She said she’s also concerned that the stigma tattoo parlors can carry could decrease property values.

This sentiment seemed to be shared by many of the residents that were in attendance that night. No formal decision was to be made at the informal hearing; however Fazio’s found out that night that she was not going to be allowed to open Ink Haven Tattoo Studio at 1143 Broadway Street. The elderly couple who owns Myette’s convenience store and who leases the two shops adjacent to their store received numerous threats from the some of the disgruntled residents of Hanover, promising retribution if Fazio opens her tattoo studio, that the Myette’s pulled Fazio’s lease. According to Fazio’s lawyer the couple’s fear of retribution was the sole reason that they revoked Fazio’s lease.

“I feel so angry and discouraged at what these people have done. They resorted to threatening an elderly couple just to keep me out of their perfect little town. I was never out to hurt anyone, I just wanted to live out my dream of opening my own studio and prove to myself that I can be successful. It seems to me that these people are the ones that people should be worried about if they are willing to threaten an elderly couple. This whole ordeal seems so backwards to me. I thought we were living in the year 2008 where people are supposed to be more accepting of all types of people, apparently I’m wrong,” said Fazio.

Not every resident in Hanover felt that Fazio deserved the treatment she was given. Linda Harris, a 23 year old student and Hanover resident, said, “I think it’s perfectly fine that she should have been able to open a tattoo shop here in Hanover. It seems that having a tattoo is the norm these days. So many of my friends have tattoos, actually some of them have one or more of and their educated people seeking degrees and professional careers. It’s really sad that the people I consider my neighbors, my tight community would ostracize someone just because she wanted to open a tattoo studio. It shows there really are ignorant people who just aren’t willing to accept people for who they are.”

Beth Ryan, a 36 mother of two and resident of Hanover shares Linda’s opinion. “I’m angry for a couple of reasons. First of all, the town kept this controversy so under-wraps that I didn’t even know about what happened until it was too late. I didn’t even realize there was a petition that Fazio was asking people to sign until two months later. I have two tattoos myself, as does my husband. We are both hard workers and good citizens of this community. It makes me so upset to think that I’m living in a town that is so judgmental and believes that they are so much better than everyone else. I wish she was able to open her studio here in Hanover; it would have brought in revenue for the town as well as shown that we are a progressive community, not one that stigmatizes people as trash if they have tattoos. It’s crazy how popular the art of tattooing has become these days and for a small group of snobby people to have control over a woman’s livelihood, well I think that is ridiculous.”

Fazio poured her entire savings into opening Ink Haven Tattoo Studio, buying the supplies necessary for opening a tattoo studio, hiring crews of workmen to renovate the space just to her liking, and then to her lawyer for fighting her case to open the studio she has dreamed so long of opening. “It’s so sad. So many years I worked for this. I poured my heart in it, my blood, sweat and tears all went into this venture and look where it got me, nowhere and broke,” said Fazio. She has no money left to open a shop anywhere else. It has all been spent chasing the dream of Ink Haven Studio in Hanover.

Fazio is still determined to go on. “I’m a fighter. Things have never been easy for me, but I’ve always survived. It will take a long time for me to be able to open my own business the way I wanted to. I saved that money for so many years because I didn’t want to have to rely on loans or have high overhead costs. I had such a good business plan, I mean it was ten years in the making, it was so solid. Now in this downward economy there is no way I want to take out a loan and risk not being able to pay on it. The way I saw it was that if I failed using my own money than I wasn’t a good business woman or the people just didn’t come to me. But in any case it was my money to lose. If I succeed, like I think I would have, then that would have been wonderful, made all my dreams come true. But now if I were to take out a business loan, well then I would be in default if the business for some reason were to fail and I don’t want something like that on my record. Look, I’m a smart woman with a lot of years of experience. I may not look the business type but I knew, I believed in this venture and now it’s all been taken away from me, just because I would be tattooing. It’s ridiculous.”

Fazio has not opened another tattoo studio; however she has gone back to work as a tattoo artist in Randolph. Her established clientele who reside nearer to Randolph are glad to have her back. “I have had so much support from my regular customers. They are upset over what has happened, but they’re glad they don’t have to drive all the way to Hanover to get a high quality tattoo,” said Fazio.

Although Hanover was successful in keeping Fazio and Ink Haven Tattoo Studio out of their town, there is a definite divide among the residents about what happened to Fazio and how it represents their town.

A look into an attempt by TheQuad.com
to rival the giants of online social networking

by Jacqueline Dixon

The weather called for spurts of rain and it was particularly warm for a Saturday evening in November. The theatre district was crowded as usual, but cars began to slow down in curiosity as they passed through, hoping to catch a sneak a peek as to why there was an unusually long line, of about two hundred chicly dressed young women, forming down Boylston Street. Directly across the street, the Boston Commons offered a scenic view for all who stood in the line enduring heel-induced pain for over an hour.
With umbrellas as far as the eye could see, the line crept slowly towards the front door of the popular nightclub, The Estate. The path was laid with cobblestones and thesound of hundreds of heels clicking closer to the entrance seemed to get louder as many of the girls became anxious to get out of the rain. Stepping through the, rather small, entrance to the club, the intensity of the music, a blend between hip-hop and remixed techno tunes, began to pulsate through your body as you moved up the staircase and into the main part of the venue. The florescent, multi-colored revolving lights flickered throughout the club giving the atmosphere a disco-esque flair as eager faces searched the crowd for the nights’ most anticipated guest to appear.
This evening was especially exciting for the fashionistas of the city of Boston — the savvy club was hosting The Lauren Conrad Collection College Tour. But The Estate was merely the physical host of this extravaganza — TheQuad.com was the primary sponsor for the show, along with Aldo shoes and Mark cosmetics.
TheQuad.com, which was created by College Tonight, Inc., a publicly-traded social media company based in Los Angeles that develops and operates various properties focused on the college demographic, signed an endorsement deal with Lauren Conrad in April 2008, officially making her the national spokesperson for the company. The Quad chose Lauren because she is the star of the popular TV show, The Hills, on MTV, as well as a hit within the demographic that they are attempting to target — 18-24 year old college students.

Jason also commented that the partnership made sense considering the goal of the Lauren Conrad Collection Tour is the attract college students, particularly females, to the line and The Quad provides online tools for college students. He said, “Lauren is a positive role model for young adults and a great ambassador to our brand. Involving students in the show really integrated the college communities, just like the type of interactivity you see on TheQuad.com.”
Lauren Conrad also had intentions with her involvement with The Quad. The site became a promotional tool for Lauren to advertise her nation-wide fashion show that was presented in the four major college cities in America: Austin, Atlanta, Minneapolis and, lastly, Boston. The unique feature about this fashion show; however, was that Lauren did not want typical, sickly thin, models to sport her collection — she wanted regular college women, who are active participants within their educational institutions, to present the line. Therefore, the site became an open competition, or the LC3Tour as it was more commonly known as, for college girls to nominate and vote for their favorite potential models. Through The Quad, Lauren was able to promote her new clothing line — The Lauren Conrad Collection — to her target market.
The online hype for the show was tremendous. Hundreds of girls were nominated and thousands of students registered with the site in order to vote for their favorite nominee. The Quad promoted the show very well — promising a night to remember. Although the site did not have any coverage of the other shows, a few pictures of the Minneapolis show did surface on the site, which increased excitement and anticipation of the Boston event.
Samantha McCormick, a Bridgewater State College student and attendee of the show, commented on her perspective of Lauren’s use of the site. She said, “It [the fashion  show] was a great idea. I actually thought the place would be empty, because I couldn’t see many college students buying twenty dollar tickets online. I was wrong – the place was packed with (sweaty) girls.” Muna Kasule, a Boston University sophomore and finalist in the show, also had a positive view of Lauren’s use of The Quad. She said, “It’s a great idea because a lot of their target audience, young women, are huge LC [Lauren Conrad] fans, including me! We’re around the same age so we relate to her well.”
The Quad signed onto the internet in October 2008 and has slowly been working its way into the daily use of thousands of college students. The site’s main concept is to provide a useful tool for college students. With features in areas such as academics, Greek Life, networking, and retail, The Quad is attempting to establish themselves as a worthy competitor for other networking websites of its kind, for example Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter.
One aspect of The Quad that many students feel defines the site from all others is the Greek Life feature that only this networking site offers. This portion of the site provides a tremendous amount of benefits for Greek organizations around the country. Many organizations pay hundreds of dollars a year for other methods of managing their finances, social and philanthropic events, and promotion of their chapter. Yet, many Greek affiliated college students, also prefer Facebook, and do not view the Greek Life portion of the website as something they would ever need to use, because their national headquarters offers free tools for managing their fraternity/sorority chapter.
For academics, The Quad provides tools to enable students to work in groups more efficiently with a file bank, a to do list, and a discussion area. To round out the service offering, they offer “The Scene“, which has events going on around the student’s campus, the ability to see where their friends are going, organize and plan events, see venue’s specials and deals, etc. Of course “The Shop” sells college focused merchandise, including their top of the line beer pong tables, which have already been extremely popular within the college community.
Yet, considering The Quad is an extremely new utility, they are primarily focusing on gaining a competitive advantage over their arch nemesis — the Queen bee of popular networking websites, Facebook. Regarding their stance on their competition, Jason said, “The idea behind The Quad is that it provides a fundamental utility for college students and is not meant to be a ‘time-waster’ or ‘social networking’ site such as a Facebook, which rely on millions of users to be effective, but instead act as a service based product with a social kicker.”
The prime feature The Quad offers that students fine most appealing is the college only atmosphere. Since Facebook graciously opened its doors to anyone and everyone, many students feel it has lost some of its appeal. Many students are concerned about their privacy on open social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. It is quite
unnerving to know that at any time, teachers, parents, employers, and less than desirable characters, may be scoping them out without their knowledge.
And it could be this very feature that gives The Quad a leg up on open networking sites because it focuses on a niche audience — strictly college students. For example, in 2006, Brian Wynne Williams, CEO & Co-Founder of VigetEngage.com, commented on an article in The Wall Street Journal, which did a study on the subject a month after Facebook announced it was opening its doors. He said. “Facebook enjoyed success because it was ‘the student’s social networking site’. This made it feel exclusive and semi-private and kept out a lot of the spam and predator fears that plague MySpace. Facebook’s decision to open up has created a backlash and could be costly if it’s not managed properly.”
Yet, despite a small decrease in usage directly after they accounted they were an open social site, recent statistics on Facebook usage are disgustingly frightening — or just plain monumental. According to Facebook’s Press Room statistic page, there are more than 140 million active users and an astonishing 2.6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day worldwide. Also, Facebook active users are doubling every 6 months, with Facebook getting more than sixty-five billion page views per month and more than half of their active users returning daily. Also, another cause for concern for The Quad is that their business plan is somewhat flawed, for a quarter of it customer base will graduate every year, while users of Facebook tend to stay active until their early to mid thirties.
However, the Executive VP & CTO for College Tonight, Inc. is hopeful for The Quad’s future. Jason said, “We’ll be launching new applications to solve the further needs of college students, as well as provide additional features for the Greek Life and Academics community. We constantly work with students to find out their needs and
build a product that’s made BY students FOR students, and linking brands directly with students in ways that are inherently a part of their lives.”
Although they do have some features that may give other sites a run for their money, it still does not appear to be enough to take the reign from Facebook, for many students still prefer Facebook for numerous reasons. Most are simply more comfortable with Facebook and its features. And although there is general consensus that the fashion show was an excellent idea for The Quad and Lauren to, through one another, promote themselves, most attendees feel the site did not do all it could to advertise the event, or
themselves.
Colleen Cimoch, a Bridgewater senior, believes the site is definitely not doing all they can to target college students, for there are many people have never heard of the website. “I heard of the show before I heard of The Quad. But Lauren should have done more promotional giveaways or meet and greet contests. I feel like this would have helped her line get more exposure and give the website more publicity as well.” said Cimoch.
Given the benefit of the doubt, the site is brand new and does have some quirks to work out, and it will obviously take the producers a few tries before they reach celebrity status like good ol’ Facebook. However, usage of the site spiked since Lauren’s fashion tour. As a result of the tour, The Quad registered over five thousand active users, over four hundred candidates were nominated to participate in the show, and over 50,000 votes were cast online and via text message — in the month of October alone. It appears the only thing left for The Quad to do — is keep those “active” users, but it doesn’t look promising, for many attendees thought the show was a complete flop.
It was a full house in The Estate late Saturday night. With The Quad, and Mark cosmetics, advertising on a large flat screen projection, approximately two hundred college students came out for the event. Completely unaware of what to expect, for their was absolutely zero press coverage of the other three shows available to the public,
Boston attendees stormed The Estate in hopes of a premier fashion extravaganza. But what they got, was a two hour wait followed by a twenty minute fashion flop, which appeared to be hosted by amateurs. Although the venue was superb and the crowd came out in herds, the actual show was, what many students referred to as, a complete bust.
Many students felt the voting process for the nominees was unfair as well. The whole idea of “not wanting typical, sickly thin, models to sport her collection, but regular college women, who are active participants within their educational institutions” was a fluke, considering every model weighted about ninety pounds, and strutted down the
runway as if they hadn’t had anything to eat in about two weeks.

Cimoch said, “We waited in the rain for an hour, then in the estate for another hour and a half. I have been to fashion shows in New York and compared to that Lauren’s show was very poorly executed and her designs were not anything new or innovative. She had about three dress designs, then just slapped different, ugly, fabrics on them and called it her ‘collection’.”
Due to the online hype and uninspiring show, many students have expressed their intentions to never use the site again. Courtney Smith, a Bridgewater State College junior, said, “Honestly, I will probably never use the site again. The fashion show was a great idea, and I feel it really caught student’s attention, but the site just has too many problems. I think they need to work out the wrinkles before they try and use such a high-
profile event, which really did not do a great job of advertising the site.”

By Pablo Dalton

The lobby of the Church of Scientology on 448 Beacon Street in Boston is rustic and tacky. Every surface is covered in plastic-shelled gift packages of books, videos, and other propaganda, one of which is specifically devoted to explaining the ills of psychology and psychiatric medicine. An early-generation flatscreen television with a built-in DVD/VCR player (the door to the VCR slot had broken off) bubbles quietly with a recruiting video displaying stereotyped youths of every ethnicity declaring abstract motivational sentiments. A Caucasian girl dressed like a Native American with paint on her cheeks declares serenely, “I believe in peace,” and then the video’s ambient music peaks, a Scientology logo popping up onscreen followed by information on the Church’s youth program. A woman named Carol with glossy eyes and big lips in a black pantsuit would not speak to me unless I filled out a “Routing Form,” allowing the Church access to my name, physical and email addresses, and other personal information. Their receptionist said, “The Church doesn’t have a stand on the issue. There’s nothing we can tell you that you can’t find out on your own.” The information that there would be a protest in 15 minutes seemed to startle her, and as I left, the lobby began bustling with Scientologists as though they had materialized from every corner of the three-story brownstone.

Anthony Simone represents a movement called Anonymous. This opposition to the Church is without leadership or centralization, and its wrath is viral. Appropriately, the logo for the “group” is a suited figure with no head. Their cause is perpetuated by individuals united only by their computers and blunt desire to dismantle the Church entirely. On November 15^th, 2008, Simone and the Anons gathered as they do, once a month, to remind the Church that it was still under attack.

It was overcast around 11am when Simone arrived in front of the Church. He wore a black ballroom mask that he later removed, a sharp double-breasted charcoal overcoat and jeans.

“[I’ve been involved] since the beginning,” he said, and his exposure to the movement was through flyers and online threads. He is the closest thing to an administration that Anonymous has in Boston.

“I’m the permit-holder [for this protest],” he said, “my name is public record. The Church knows me at this point.” He lit an American Spirit with a silver Zippo lighter and explained that a typical protest included 30-40 people, and that the Church, lately, had offered little physical opposition.

“Sometimes they send people outside to instigate. They scream in our faces and try to get us to assault them so that they can sue. They’ve called in bomb threats to their own building and blamed us. We’re not violent. We hope that people will do their own research and realize what we really are.”

Simone is a backbone rather than mind of the Boston operation. He made his rounds greeting people by their online handles as they arrived. There was Teal, Time Machine, and Photo Guy, all of whom were extremely polite. “We’re very accepting and open,” said Teal, who had arrived with her mother and a friend who wore dark sunglasses and a gray scarf wrapped around his head. Regarding the organization and its issues of central leadership, Simone explained that they functioned through “natural order and consensus.”

Scientologists walked by on their way to work, frowning and muttering to themselves.

“We won’t be intimidated,” Simone said, “and we’re here to remind them that we haven’t forgotten about them.”

Anonymous’s website, whyweprotest.net, cites the Lisa McPherson Case as their primary argument for the claim that “Scientology Kills.” They provide a link to a memorial website for McPherson that claims her involvement with the Church and its rules regarding medical treatment resulted in McPherson’s inability to receive proper attention, leading to her death. Protest videos have sprouted up all over YouTube in the last year. Masked individuals, usually wearing those of the film V for Vendetta, warp their voices so that they sound like the villains in every film ever made about a kidnapping and issue direct warnings against the Church for allegedly violating human rights and bribing the IRS into tax-exempt status. “We are Anonymous,” the slow, chunky voices say, “we do not forgive, we do not forget. We are Legion.” Soon after the videos began to appear, the Church’s website was hacked so that entering the words “dangerous cult” into a search engine would list the Church’s website as the first result. Protests began internationally and the media began paying attention.

Time Machine left to get posterboard and markers, and soon after, more protestors arrived. Photo Guy hovered over Simone and a Boston Police officer, snapping pictures of the two as they agreed that this would be a peaceful protest and the sidewalks unobstructed. Then Ted the Scientologist showed up and all became a perverse rapture.

It happened like the climax of Barton Fink, with a voice like John Goodman’s or that of an equally gigantic force of nature. “HEY SCIENTOLOGISTS! I’M ONE OF YOU! DO YOU WANNA FUCK MY MOUTH?”

Photo Guy smirked as he left to cover the Proposition 8 rally taking place elsewhere in the city: “We have just lost public favor.”

Ted the Scientologist bounded down the street screaming. He wore a chocolate brown suit, maroon dress shirt and crimson bowtie. He is bald and clean-shaven, with modest glasses and a young, energetic grin. “Hey! I will fuck you in the mouth! Who wants to draw a horrible mustache on me?” He carried a briefcase with a piece of paper taped to it that read, in jagged black marker, “Ted the Scientologist (I’m One of You).” Someone pulled out a marker and scrawled a curled black mustache on his face. He patrolled the sidewalks, screaming as a possessed woman giving birth to a chainsaw might, but with a deeper voice. His name is Rick Glass, and he is without fear.

Behind us, two children peeked out of a window and their mother yanked them away. Lifting the window, she leaned out. Rivaling Ted’s screams, she enunciated every harsh syllable with deliberate, rabid maternal rage: “We have little kids in here,” she screamed, jowls quivering, “Watch. Your. Mouths.”

“It’s not my fault,” Ted/Rick said, “I was mouthfucked against my will as a child.”

The police informed the protestors that the language needed to be tame. Somebody muttered something about the First Amendment. A protestor in a black suit and tie prepared an iPod dock which was protected from the sputtering, asthmatic weather by a little green umbrella, and cued Tay Zonday’s “Chocolate Rain” to play. The little speakers blared this song a few times, some nerdcore hip-hop and electronic music, and a particularly Wu-Tang-esque song in which several angry voices prompted listeners to “read a motherfucking book.”

“[Ted] is a little tough, but he is an asset to the movement,” Teal said.

“Don’t take him too seriously,” Simone reminded us all.

It was noon and the weather hadn’t improved. Pairs of scientologists flooded out of their bastion and glared at the blue-haired skinny girl handing out flyers, face obscured by a surgical mask. They threw thumbs-downs at those with “Scientology Kills” posters. Almost every car passing by, however, smiled and obeyed the posters reading “Honk Against Cults.”

By 12:30 there were close to thirty Anons. Paul Bradford, a higher-ranking member of the church, came outside to speak with the police officer overseeing the protest, but refused to speak to anyone else. “Hi Paul!” the protestors shouted.

A coughing factory-default-beige Toyota Camry pulled up to the church and a stocky Hispanic man came out with a giant stack of pizzas, a bogus order of course, but one that the Anons say the Church called in. I am inclined to believe them, because no one took out a cell phone the entire time. Paul stood out by the pizza man’s car, shooting jittery glances over at our corner and shaking his head at the pizza boxes.

Ted’s shrill mouthfucking spree had quieted, as he was preparing for his next assault. Having removed his suit in exchange for a sleeveless black hooded sweatshirt, he stood as close to the Church as was legally permitted and began screaming in a way that put the blackest of Norwegian Death Metal vocalists to shame. “SCIENTOLOGY WHAT?” he boomed, followed by the chorus of 20 or so voices, “SCIENTOLOGY KILLS!”

“BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!”

His arms were outstretched, legs spread apart and planted against the pavement as though he were preparing to be struck by something massive. He was ululating. It rippled through the entire crowd – the dancing kids in suits and pilgrim hats and creepy eyeless masks, nearly every driver on Beacon street, the jowly woman’s children who had returned to the window as spectators.

Still the Church did little more than walk around and stare.

“Just got off the phone with New York,” Simone said to Teal, “they have about 30.”

In spite of the success of both major cities’ numbers that day, there are those further concealed within the digital underground who feel differently about the movement. A year ago, a man who will be called Anonymous One sat in front of his computer, entranced in a blue layer of electric light, reading the words sent to him in a private message: “are you ok?” to which he replied, “my pussy is so wet.” Anonymous One is in fact a 19-year-old heterosexual and his baiting trick led to the arrest of a businessman from Hawaii who believed he was talking to a thirteen year old girl. The businessman’s correspondence with the digital nymphomaniac was saved and forwarded to his employers, local authorities, and the FBI. All of this took place through the same online forums that have become the breeding ground of vigilantes and subsequently, Anonymous revolutionaries.

Anonymous One is no longer a direct enemy of the Church, but his role as bait to online sexual predators exposed him to the movement in February of 2008. Anonymous One is a small, goofy individual chronically-clad in a black hooded sweatshirt with a local grime-punk band’s logo on the breast. Wiping cocaine from his nostrils, he explained that the Anonymous movement likely originated through the collective efforts of the same hackers that discovered the Hawaiian businessman’s Social Security number.

“No one had any real information on Scientology until recently. Probably one person started a thread and from there it was a domino effect. The way I was first introduced was within 2 days of the first scientology thread. I wanna read about this more, I thought. So everyone on the forum started digging up information on Scientology,” he said calmly, without any of the rushed inflections of a man on coke.

“I personally started getting angry at Scientology. People were making flyers for other Anons to print out and put out wherever, mostly college campuses – the average user on the forums is around 19. It looked like fun and it’s for a cause I respect. I made my own flyers, people liked them and started printing them out. But like with everything else on the internet, I got bored.”

It rained for awhile. People floated past us. The music got quiet and the screaming stopped. Nobody from the Church had come out in awhile, and the protestors eventually dispersed to march towards Columbus Park and hand out flyers, maybe stopping by the Proposition 8 rally, maybe just going out for a bite to eat before they went home. Some of them sounded eager to attend a party at somebody named JT’s place.

Ted approached me and offered some words of council: “As a member of the press, school or not, you should keep your distance if you want to talk to the Church. We had an Israeli journalism student try going in to talk to someone and she came back out an hour later scared shitless holding a black DVD that said ‘Anonymous Hate Crimes Against Scientology.’ Be careful unless you can handle that sort of shit.”

Two Scientologists in matching sweatpants followed me for two miles but I ran and veered off onto Charles Street, stopping for a coffee. The weather was weird all day, with spastic winds and inappropriate bouts of warmth as though a storm were on the verge of tearing through the narrow streets. It came so close, but then the wind died down and there was no storm. Anonymous One has his own thoughts on storms.

“[Original forum-users] feel like we’ve lost the cause,” he said. “It’s been taken over by kids looking for a trend. The forums have nothing to do with Anonymous anymore.” He sat back in his chair, only slightly bothered by the drips and a little anxious since he’d finished all of his coke. Coming down with a Vicodin, he suggested that a nobler war was still being waged in the birthplace that now rejects Anonymous, the same cause with which he was first aligned, a silent movement against pedophiles and predators that has been neglected in the wake of Anonymous versus Scientology. If you don’t like a church, he argued, shrugging and grinning as the pill coursed though him, don’t join it.

By Paulo Borges

By all appearances, Christian religion is losing its illumination on the campus of Bridgewater State College over the course of the years.”Christian church is annoying and boring…I was forced to go to Catholic Church when I was kid, but I’ll never go there again!” said Jared Ingersoll, a 22 year old student, living on Campus at Bridgewater State College. Jared reported that, after coming to college he got the freedom of choice and lots of different life realities that he was not exposed to when he lived under his parents’ authority.

Ingersoll is one among thousands of Christian students at Bridgewater State College, who replaced their Christian religious belief for other new college choices. There are Churches on campus; however Christian beliefs are fading away in their lives progressively to the point that some of them say they don’t know what they are when the issue of religion is brought up. Naturally, there is always an exception to the rule. There are others who choose to be in church. They maintain their firm Christian beliefs and keep going to church. Christian church attendance is diminishing day by day particularly on campus where the Catholic and Christian Fellowship church are struggling for survival.

Ingersoll’s experience constitutes an extraordinary illustration of someone who rejected the Christian church and belief embracing a new college lifestyle. For example, he said that his parents baptized him in the Catholic Church when he was a little boy. After being baptized, he kept going to church because his parents particularly his mother, used to force him to go to church every Sunday. As he was not grown enough to change his options, so he kept doing what pleased his parents. “At the age of 17 to 18, I started making my own decision” said Ingersoll.

He affirmed that he decided not to go to the Catholic Church anymore. However, he went to other Christian churches such as Baptist and Methodist churches. Even though he moved to a different Christian church, his ideas about boredom, darkness, corruption, coldness, monotony and spiritual brainwashing in the Christian church didn’t change.

In contrast with the church, college life is completely the opposite. “When I came to college, I had lots of new choices such as: sleeping as much as I want…hanging out with friends…having sex…drinking… partying and go to clubs” said Ingersoll.

According to Susan Muller and Dixie L. Dannis college marks a time when life-change is typically high, the authors designed this study to determine whether life-change was related to the degree of spirituality, the “directing” component of health, among a college student cohort. Participants and Methods: The sample group, consisting of 180 northeastern US undergraduate college students, completed the 48-item Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R) and the Schedule of Recent Experience (SRE) in the fall semester of 2004. Results: Findings indicate that college students, who reported experiencing higher levels of life change, both positive and negative, also scored lower on spirituality. Nevertheless, these students had scores indicative of a higher desire to find spirituality, even though their motivation to do so was low. Conclusions: Although life changes among college students likely will remain high, lower spirituality can be enhanced; therefore, interested health educators are encouraged to help students increase their degree of spirituality.

This loss of spirituality and Christian mandatory church attendance is also due to other collegial life constraints. “Laziness…class and assignments keep students very busy; students also would rather sleep more, go to club and drink instead of coming to Church”, said Mrs Barbara Hernauld, a Catholic Nun, working at the Catholic Church on the campus of Bridgewater State College. In addition, she said that many students stop attending services after receiving their Confirmation. Before Confirmation they come to church not because they are willing to come but it is because their parents use the power of their authority to push them to come to church. Once they are at the college their lives become so busy that they have no more time for Church.

Hernould thinks that today’s youth don’t like formalized religion. It doesn’t fit their needs. The Christian church values are against the choices college life offers the students. For instance, “Counseling Services found out that the first year and second years in college, can be full of indecision, insecurities, disappointments, and most of all, mistakes.  These years are also full of discovery, inspiration, good times, and good friends.  Unfortunately, it’s not always the good times that stand out. Not all college students know what they want in a major, get good grades, have activity packed weekends, numerous close friends, or lead carefree lives.  Those who insist upon this ideal of “the best years” stereotype work against a student’s already difficult self-development. Those who accept and understand the highs and lows of their student’s reality are providing essential support and encouragement.”(Marcus Goodyear, The wisdom to distinguish)

Besides, all these constraints, college students show no interest in church for other reasons as well. “Young people like music and social activity” said Chang Hee son, a Christian Reverend at the Christian Fellowship Church, on campus at Bridgewater Sate College. “I like the Sothern Baptist Church…they sing…they dance and it is more enjoyable; I’d go to that church” Ingersoll said. He also made several affirmations concerning different aspects of the Catholic Church. “First it is for old people. The instruments are very limited. They usually play piano and stand very quiet and sing until the service ends. They sing the same song over and over again. It is extremely boring and disgusting. The procedures and the system of structuring the service is the same and before going to church people already know what they encounter there.”

Eventually, Reverend Hee Son reported that they have been introducing new instruments in the church to play contemporary music to attract young people in order to give more dynamics in our music we play. He said that the Christian Fellowship church on campus has also been working more on social community activities since it is one of the things young college students like doing most.

However, the main problem has to do with those who have already made their choices. According to Ricardo Fidalgo, a youth leader in Seventh Day Adventist Church, (student at Bridgewater State College), the Bible says that once one leaves   church and starts doing the worldly things, it will be extremely hard to come back to church again. The person only comes back if he or she is afraid of the end of time that the Bible refers to (final days when there will be a complete destruction on earth). Another reason can be looking for family safety.

For instance, Kelly Tanguay, a student at Bridgewater State College said, “When I have my children I will come back to church because I think church shaped me and made me who I am today…and I want the same for my children too.” She used to go to church when she was with her parents. Her parents took her to church whenever they went to church. Now that she is on her own she does not feel she needs church. She knows there is a church on campus but she prefers doing something different such as sleeping, studying and hanging out with her friends. She is very busy with school and friends now. She would rather party with her friends, hang out with them, work and play sports, instead of going to church. She thinks that church is a family issue.

According to David Crank, We need the fellowship, encouragement, and accountability that come with a church body. We also need the prayers of other believers and often the support and assistance of others. A church family should provide close relationships with others, who care about your family and share many of the same goals, values and convictions. A church family can come to your aid in times of financial trouble, major health problems, or when you need the advice and expertise of others. A good church can be a great blessing to your family.
We also have an obligation to the Lord to serve and minister to the needs of other believers. We ought to be there for them in their time of need. We should be good examples, offering encouragement and godly advice. We should be keeping others accountable and sharing what the Lord has taught us. To isolate ourselves from regular fellowship with other believers is to neglect our duty as members of the body of Christ. Others need the benefit of our gifts. It is not just a question of whether we need church – the church needs us! (Marcus Goodyear, The wisdom to distinguish)

Unlike Tanguay, Rong Zheng, also a student at Bridgewater State College said, “Church is the only place where I got people who are nice and makes me feel in a family group.” She came from China from a very traditional family. When she got to America she faced many problems. “I don’t drink… I don’t go to club…I don’t want boyfriend now.” She likes church because she learns about the Bible, and Jesus’ words comfort her. She also likes the direction her life is taking now because she is following those Biblical rules. She is involved in different activities in the church now. She sings and does social work. She thinks college stress can be relieved when you come to church and participate actively in the activities. It makes you forget your difficulties and focusing on spiritual relieves.

As stated by Earl Palmer, Paul (The apostle) has impressive confidence that amateurs can offer real help. We, the church members who are to help one another in times of stress, are amateurs. Yet when our motives are clearly set to encourage and bring wholeness, the results can encourage and unite. From personal experience, I know it works. In this age of experts, we must all remember and be reminded that people are helped by people. Paul the expert does not prescribe a panacea for the Philippi argument; he turns over the problem to the family at Philippi. The message is crystal clear: They must do the helping, and they must find what help best fits that situation.

Besides the ATS American Society people need church because it’s a family reunion. Jesus said, “Who is My family? Those who do My will” (see Mark 3:33, 35). We are a family—rejoicing with one another, crying with one another, helping each other. We need each other’s support. We need church because it’s a classroom. We are preparing for a mission; we are on an extended course of study. For the rest of our life we are enrolled in a course of Christian discipleship. We need church because it’s a refuge. The sanctuary is a place to get away from the busyness of the world. It’s a miniretreat. It’s a place to focus my thoughts on things above, to worship. .”(Marcus Goodyear, The wisdom to distinguish)

However Ingersoll does not share the same opinion concerning the need of church. “I am an Agnostic…I believe in a higher power…I don’t believe in God in a sense of Christian churches” Ingersoll said. He believes there is something that created and controls the world. On the other hand he believes that there are certain things in the Bible that are true and there are others that are lies.”It is true that Jesus came and helped people…but it is false that Jesus is the son of God”, said Ingersoll. He does not believe that Jesus walked on the water. The miracles which the Bible refers to are unconceivable for him. He does not understand how come that Bible a Holy Book encapsulates impossible actions, performed by humans.”Why it is that, man is not being eaten by whale and come out again” asked Ingersoll. “For example the Bible says that “Jonas” was eaten by a whale and then came out afterward…for me that is impossible” Said Ingersoll.

Today Ingersoll is more worried about his course, friends and being nice to everybody.AS long as he does not hurt or offend anybody, he is practicing good action. He does not need church to help him guide his life. He is not at all concerned about the churches on campus of Bridgewater State College, because his position today does not match their requirements. Ingersoll believes that instead of church on campus there should be other institutions which would help him have success in his studies.

By Paul Daveport

“Maybe you have a good career, family, success, everything is together except for one thing that you need,” Person no. 924902369 on craigslist personals predicts, “you crave cock and want to be treated like a slut.” Person no. 924902369, whose real name is anonymous and pretty much untraceable on craigslist’s massive and always changing personal’s database, is “Married – Looking for Older Married,” is 50, and is a man looking for a lady. He will probably find such a friend on craigslist judging by the frequency and variety of users with similar interests who flood the site daily. One will generally find people searching for a “first time encounter” with another married individual, or an old pro who’s scouring the field for some “new tail”, in numbers and variety that show this site is doing something right in providing a space to solicit something society generally views as morally wrong.

With around 40-60 posts under “miscellaneous romance” in the Boston area craigslist on any given work day, a little more than half of them involve married people looking for some kind of satisfaction outside of their legal spousal commitment. The internet has always been a place where people are free to anonymously air their indiscretions without fear of judgement, and usually to find friends. But the anonymity of most scandalous internet industries has long been in tact throughout the general public, especially during the daytime. All this is changing, though, as other internet sites devoted to just this specific secretive activity have started emerging, taking the position that everyone should know this is happening, but no one has to know who’s participating.

AshleyMadison.com, whose motto is “life’s short, have an affair,” provides services in every major city in the US and Canada and guarantees complete discretion to those who “feel neglected and are in need of some excitement.” Founded in 2001, it prides itself on being the worlds’ number one “married dating service” for those “looking to have an extra marital affair.”

Now, you can hear about this website, and soon others, on almost any major Boston area FM Radio station, sitting in traffic on the way to work, or dreaming of your “bit of a fetish for a woman in boots” while driving back to your boring old wife, like craigslist Person no. 924416588.

The website features an extensive catalog of TV commercials that may not all be seen before bedtime, but also print ads, radio ads, and extensive media coverage that is bound to infiltrate the days of many of the morally superior “majority.”

Earlier in the decade, the website even went so far as to put up a billboard with their motto “Life’s short, have an affair” in America’s premier tourist crossroad Times Square in New York. This angered enough wholesome New Yorker’s that the website made onto FOX News in late 2006, and enrollment to the dating service peaked for that yeat.

Aside from being a site out there to support the unhappily or unsatisfied married, Ashley Madison is as much a cyber business as it is a cyber buddy. To use the site, sign up is free, but with every friend a user wants to contact, it costs a user 5 credits. As of 2007, it cost $55 to buy 100 credits, making each contact about $2.75. With everyone on the site sharing a common goal, it’s a pretty good bet that a person will find at least one, if not 20, potential affairs pretty soon after joining. The website’s CEO Noel Biderman claimed to the San Francisco Weekly that one women didn’t even have to put up a picture or any info to get 20 messages on her digital doorstep almost immediately after signing up.

The Ashley Madison Agency does more than just hook married individuals up for sexual encounters, but also avidly promotes monogamy as myth. Information is abundant throughout their website explaining in kind, simple, and non specific terms that cheating is largely guilt free, and most people do it anyways. The website lists eight articles, each approaching the topic in the broadest sense possible, that explain why cheating is cool, including one called “The Monogamy Myth & the Prevalancy of Affairs” by Peggy Vaughan that seems to exist only to explain why a user should trust the other articles’ non-specific and largely non-sourced data and statistics. Ms. Vaughan is the administrator for DearPeggy.com, an “Extramarital Affairs Resource Center,” and author of 10 eBooks, who, with her adulterous husband James, has been preaching the “Myth of Monogamy” for over 30 years.

“According to studies of the animal world, most of us are naturally inclined to “cheat” or have more than one mate in a lifetime,” says Dr. David D. Barash, Professor of Psychology at University of Washington at Seatle, in his 2001 book cleverly titled “The Myth of Monogamy.” His book too is promoted on the Ashley Madison website, which uses an article from his story on their “Articles” page to further explain why we cheat. Like “Dear” Peggy Vaughan’s work, most of the specifics and science of the subject in the article are simplified, if discussed at all, but provide another working professional’s okay to go ahead with the ruse and cheat away.

“I want to feel the thrill of that first kiss again,” Person no. 923838868 on craigslist explains in their ad, “(and) have a new and interesting conversation. I am a financially secure successful business owner with a flexible schedule (daytime). Not just looking for sex (but that is a major part of it), but also a conversation, a connection, passion.”

What motivates those who use these sites is hard to determine, but easy to assume. There is no universal pattern evident of necessarily deviant activity, or a common thread of abandonment and loneliness, amongst their users. Each case is unique, and each user has a different goal that they can use other participants to help accomplish, be it physical or personal.

Geneviève Beaulieu-Pelletier, PhD student at the Université de Montréal’s Department of Psychology, wanted to find out exactly why people cheat, and if there is perhaps a psychological correlation between all cheaters.

According to psychologists, people with avoidant attachment styles are individuals uncomfortable with intimacy and are therefore more likely to multiply sexual encounters and cheat. But this has never been proved scientifically, which is what Beaulieu-Pelletier attempted to do in a series of four studies.

The first study was conducted on 145 students with an average age of 23. Some 68 percent had thought about cheating and 41 percent had actually cheated. Sexual satisfaction aside, the results indicated a strong correlation between infidelity and people with an avoidant attachment style.

The second study was conducted on 270 adults with an average age of 27. About 54 percent had thought about cheating and 39 percent had actually cheated. But the correlation is the same: people with an avoidant attachment style are more likely to cheat.

It has been estimated that the probability of someone cheating in a relationship in the US is between 40-76% according to the researchers at Science Daily; a very broad number, but very telling in that it shows usually more than half of us commit infidelities.

“These numbers indicate that even if we get married with the best of intentions things don’t always turn out the way we plan. What interests me about infidelity is why people are willing to conduct themselves in ways that could be very damaging to them and to their relationship,” says Beaulieu-Pelletier about her study.

“Infidelity could be a regulatory emotional strategy used by people with an avoidant attachment style. The act of cheating helps them avoid commitment phobia, distances them from their partner, and helps them keep their space and freedom.”

Both these studies at the Université were followed up by two other studies that asked about the motives for infidelity. What they showed was the will to distance ones self from commitment and their partner was the number one reason cited.

Beaulieu-Pelletier’s studies revealed no differences between men and women. Just as many men and women had an avoidant attachment style and the correlation with infidelity is just as strong on both sides. “Contrary to popular belief, infidelity isn’t more prevalent in men,” she concluded.

A less scientific approach to figuring out why we cheat is addressed on the internet’s most common “cyber-parent/friend,” yahoo questions and yahoo health. This site narrows it down to a few general motives: a person’s quest for appreciation, revenge, and the juiciest of all, self destruction.

“Someone who is feeling unloved or unappreciated may begin looking outside their marriage for sources of comfort and affirmation. Occasionally, these partners even blame their spouses for their infidelity – rationalizing it as, ‘Well, if he paid more attention to me, I wouldn’t have to cheat,’ or ‘If she can’t give me the love I need, I have a right to seek it elsewhere,’”  explains yahoo’s own intimacy expert Dr. Laura Berman, whose yahoo page and profile pic, with teased blond tresses and a knowing smerk, differ little in presentation and detail than those found on Ashley Madison’s website.

On revenge, the doctor explains, “Perhaps your partner cheated on you in the past or you merely have suspicions about their faithfulness. This might drive you to try to get back at your partner by committing similar offenses.” Maybe sociopathic, but this :revenge” theory is not an outright sign of “avoidant attachment” disorder, and not even that unreasonable.

Here’s where stuff starts getting psychological, but perhaps not in the direction that the students at the University of Montreal were hoping. As the doctor has noticed, “Some people have such low self-esteem that when something good happens to them (such as meeting and dating a great man or woman), they think they don’t deserve that gift. In response to such feelings, these people may go out of their way to self-destruct their relationships. Other people keep their feelings hidden, thinking “better to break their heart before they can break mine.”

Infidelity often affects more than just those two members of the union whose sanctity is being broken; in some extreme “best-of-craigslist” moments, children of the broken couple have come across their own parents ad’s in some truly disgusting ways.

“First things first: don’t lie to these people. I have lived with you for 20 years, and you are not that fun,” one son from southern California posted in a reply post to one he found on craigslist personal’s posted by his mother in the winter of 2007, who used her real estate business card picture and address to solicit an affair on the site.

“My head is reeling right now having figured this out,” this traumatized son explains, “and I don’t think Dad knows about it, and I don’t think he’d be too happy.”

After giving his mom a few more tips about internet discretion and answering her office phone, he explains that he too partakes in internet-fueled sexual encounters and does not wish to run into his mother on his sites, and that he’ll be coming home for laundry later that weekend.

As the political climate changes, so too does cyber-affairs. Now, it is not uncommon to run into an ad for a man looking to spice up his sex life with another, younger model than the man he’s stuck at home with after getting sucked into a sexless marriage like any other after same-sex marriage was legalized in Massachusetts back in 2006. One such ad is from a“Handsome Senior Bear” who “wants younger boyfriend, TOP(son) who is good company and likes to take day trips and dine out….maybe interested in cultural activities too/ portuguese and spanish also spoken.”