By David Campion
“Question one?” asks Ray, a short man of about fifty who owns a tiny store overlooking the head of the Westport River, in Westport Massachusetts. The view is spectacular, especially mid-day in the autumn. We are standing outside, underneath a couple of enormous maples that just finished turning a sharply iridescent yellow, and in the shade as we talk he drags on a cigarette. After a few moments, I begin to explain Question one to him but he cuts me off, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard about this. Well, personally, I am all for it; the less government, the better.”
This seems to be a popular citation amongst the majority of people I interviewed – one usually used as a summation for why they will vote yes on Question One. Brendan Corry, a resident of Westport as well, explains to me, “You see, the more money, the more corruption. What we’ve got right now is too much money in the hands of the politicians, and what we need to do is take it away from them. There’s too many of their buddies getting paid for useless stuff, and I’d personally like to save that money for myself.” This, too, seems to be a recurrent theme.
By Leah Champion
When Christopher Champion was in fourth grade, he sat in a quiet classroom at the Conley School and tried to follow along in his book as each student took turns reading paragraphs. When it was his turn he stared at the page, looking at each letter carefully and trying to determine what words they formed. Struggling, he stumbled through each word, but finally Chris was able to finish the paragraph. He turned the page and waited for the next person to take their turn, but instead his teacher walked over to his desk and asked him a question: “What are you, retarded?”
Christopher Champion is my brother, and in fifth grade he was diagnosed with Rapid Automated Naming—a disorder that prohibits fluidity in reading. Renaming is a processing issue that delays your ability to recognize things, whether it is numbers, letters, or words. In some severe cases, people suffering with this can have tremendous trouble even forming sentences to speak in conversation fluently. RAN usually goes hand in hand with dyslexia—a combination that can affect up to fifteen percent of school-aged children. Renaming generally comes in a package with other disorders like dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, etcetera, but in Chris’s case, renaming is his only issue. This otherwise intelligent and care-free kid can get stressed out just trying to read the directions on his homework assignment.
By Adilson Tavares
If we ask someone about the reasons that makes a Cape Verdean stay in the U.S. it will certainly be easier for him to answer than if the question was to an American wanting to stay in Cape Verde. USA and Cape Verde are two countries that are extremely different but there are many aspects that they have in common. The first is that the U.S. is one of the most developed countries in the world and Cape Verde is one of the poorest countries. Because of that many Cape Verdeans come to the U.S. and don’t want to go back home. It is also true that, although not in the same proportion, the same happens to most of the Americans that go to Cape Verde. I did some research on this and then tried to figure out why it happens. What is it that the US offers to the Cape Verdeans and vice-versa? It is like seeing the cat running after the mouse and then the mouse running after the cat.
By Meghan Kelly
“That vaccine made me so sick.” These are the first words out of Samantha Fraatz mouth when she was asked about the Gardasil vaccine. “I really wish I never got it” she continues. Samantha is one of the many cases that have had a negative affect from the medicine. All of us have seen the commercials for this miracle vaccine stating “I want to be one less.” Within the last few months recent news has been released of the vaccine having many negative affects on people that have been hidden until now. It is true that this vaccine can help prevent four types of Human Papilloma virus (HPV) but it seems that these young girls are being misinformed about the vaccine and what it does, it seems that doctors are not doing the appropriate testing that they should be doing on these girls before they receive the vaccine to make sure it will not harm them in the future.
Like so many others Samantha received the vaccine when it first came out, “I didn’t really ask any questions my doctor said it would help prevent HPV and that I should get it.” Little did she know that this one vaccine would make her life miserable. A few months after receiving the vaccine Samantha’s feet started to swell, thinking nothing of it she just thought it was the heat and didn’t worry about it. Weeks passed and she went to her doctor who said she just seemed to have bad circulation. Eventually her swelling just got worse and her feet started to tingle this made her very nervous and she went to the hospital to get testing done. After getting multiple tubes of blood taken, two MRIs done and some x-rays the doctor told her she would let her know her results.
By Patrick M. Correia
At 6:30 am on a typical Massachusetts November day, the sun rays dance and spin between the houses as I begin my walk through the frigid morning air to downtown New Bedford. I can feel each cold breeze grasp my thighs through my khakis and hear each leaf crunch beneath my sole lacking loafers. I arrived at the bus terminal at 7am on the dot and began to panic as there was no bus, nor was anyone waiting. My experiment to join the one percent of the 40,987 working individuals using public transit, according to the 2006 U.S. census, in New Bedford was off to a bad start.
As I waited, shivering with each cold breeze in the shade of the brick parking garage that straddles the bus station, two men began to wait to my left. I saw the red and black monster come roaring into the station around 7:30am, a half hour late. I quickly threw out my remaining coffee, gave the bus driver $24 and said, “South Station round trip.”
BY ANALISA DA LUZ
It is 4:20 and Mengying Wang runs faster because she is late for her 4:45 English as a Second Language class. When she enters the classroom, she greets the professor and goes to sit. After a while she looks around and sees students from Brazil, Cape Verde, Jordan, Japan and students from China like her. “I am never tired of looking at this classroom every Monday, it is so amazing!” she says with a smile of excitement all over her face. She knows that if she stayed in her country, she would never have classroom so diverse and unique.
This is one of the reasons she decided to come to the United States for one year. After thinking and studying the situation for a long time, she decided that the USA was the best place for her to come.
By Emily Donnelly
Michael Woodbury casts his rod across the surface of Monponsett Pond in Halifax, Massachusetts. It’s a cool September morning, and the only other signs of life are the duo of swans gliding peacefully through the water. He prefers to fish early in the morning, dawn is best. “Got `em,” he exclaims, as he hooks the rod and frantically begins reeling. Within half a minute he is pulling up a largemouth bass. He gently unhooks it and smiles. “About average size for the lake,” he says, referring to the size of the two and a half pound fish. His grip on the bass’ mouth is gentle yet firm, so as not to injure the fish or cause it any extra stress. His smile quickly fades as he inspects the condition of the fish. An open sore can be immediately recognized as well as the muddy-brown coloration of the scales. This fish is not healthy but unfortunately is common for this pond.
Shaking his head, he kneels over the side of his boat and releases the fish back into the water. “Thank you!” he says as he always does when releasing his catch. Any day he gets to spend on the water is ideal for the local cranberry bog foreman. The twenty seven year old fishing enthusiast makes this his mantra, ‘Catch and release, zero limit.” Especially when it comes to Monponsett, since having lived on the pond his entire life, he has watched its condition drastically deteriorate.
“It really is a tragedy,” he states. “If I had my way, I would shut the pond off from all boat traffic and recreational use for a few years. The fish need to regenerate, they’re too stressed and the water is just nasty.”
By Katie Mulligan
The hallway is dim and humid. It is silent, save for the clomping of the guard’s heavy boots and the jingle of his keys. A large metal door comes into view. The sound of muffled howls echoes on the other side. The guard’s shaky hand reaches for the knob and it opens. Suddenly, there is a deep sea of wagging tails and happy barks; groups of four-legged creatures scramble over each other to sniff and drool on everything in sight. One of them offers his rump and waits with bated breath for someone to scratch him. A bell rings and abruptly, they cease. The eager animals line up like soldiers at the ready-suited up and raring to go. They know it is time to race. Among them, there is one dressed in a green jersey with a giant “9” written on it in black. He stares, ears perked, waiting
On November 4th, 2008, the Massachusetts statewide ballot will pose a question for voters. A “yes” vote will prohibit dog races on which betting or wagering occurs, effective January 1, 2010. A “no” vote will make no change in the laws governing dog racing.
By Alicia Holland
The cracked concrete sidewalk was completely deserted as the sun folded into the grayness of the early evening sky and the wind blew fragments of fast-food wrappers that were carelessly tossed from car windows. Mutilated remains of Dunkin Doughnuts cups were sprinkled throughout the parking lot. The medium sized building directly behind the vast slab of concrete had wide windows that revealed mostly darkness inside, except for a very faint glint of light weakly gleaming from a slightly opened door at the back. The rows of DVD rentals had been there for years and “previously viewed” movies on clearance at the front rows arranged in the middle to face the entranceway were still tightly stocked on the white shelves. There wasn’t a person in sight. A lone piece of printed computer paper was taped at its four corners onto the glass of the window near the entrance. The usually glowing neon “OPEN” sign was now as dead as the extinguished flame of a candle. Liza Sendrowski yanked at the entrance door in frustration, but it didn’t budge an inch. The truth of the matter was certain: the Blockbuster in Hanover, MA, like many other stores, was gone forever and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it.
By Cathy Krug
Standing in the middle of a swarm of bees, Liz Brillon points to a hive nearby. It’s a series of four boxes stacked upon one another, balancing on a cinder block. She bravely walks amongst the hives, checking the status of the honey and the general well being of the bees. The bees never hit her, circling her while following their path to the hives, hence ‘bee-line.’ She’s covered from head to toe in a white suit and veil that hide her features. It’s an intimidating image, but it’s important to protect her from any stings. Liz says that everyone has some sort of allergy to bees; hers, luckily, is very minor. It’s one of the risks of the job, but to Liz it’s worth it. At the end of the day, it’s all about making high quality beauty products and candles that aren’t harmful to her buyers.
With the current emphasis on organic, U.S. made products, their business venture should fit right in. In most candles and beauty products, one of the main ingredients is petroleum. “Would you buy a house next to an oil refinery?” is the question Liz uses to put it in perspective. Every time one of those candles is lit, or someone bites their lip after using chap-stick, they are ingesting the petroleum.
By Alice McAuliffe
We all know that technology changes the world, it makes life easier or faster and it’s happening everywhere around us. Even stores are using technology to bring in costumers and the Stop and Shop grocery stores are no exception. They’ve installed the “Shopping Buddy” system, where you can get a hand held scanner, go through the aisles at your own pace and scan what you want, then bag it and go on your way. But imagine as you go about with your scanning, you throw something into your carriage and for a few moments, forget to scan it. It’s an honest mistake that anyone can make, but it’s also possible for people to do this on purpose, to not scan things correctly to save money and could this become a huge problem down the line? That’s the question that comes to mind when we forget to scan and it’s a question I’d like to answer.
First, I wanted to know exactly how a person uses the system. I learned that when a costumer first walks in, they’re greeted by a small station with the hand held scanners, and after scanning their Stop and Shop card, one of the Shopping Buddies lights up, which is the one the costumer uses. They then go through the store, scanning the barcodes of their items until they’re done, and then go to whatever checkout they want. There, they can a special barcode that tells the scanner they’re done, and this brings the order onto the screen, so all that’s left is to pay for their groceries and be on their way. The system also lets them bag their items along the way, either with plastic bags available at the small station or the new earth friendly bags the company now sells.
While its good knowing how to use the scanners, it doesn’t answer the question of how reliable they are or if it’s easy to steal with them. For that, I spoke with two managers from different stores, and even though I asked them both the same questions, I got different answers from them. Some unsetting information I got came from Cheryl, a florist manager whose department is near the registers and she’s noticed a number of issues. When I asked her about any problems the scanners can cause, one thing is told me is that “they can scan one item and put many more into a bag, they can scan a small size of say, aspirin, and put a bigger size in so it comes up as aspirin, but is the wrong number. They come with very creative ways to cheat the system.” Another example of problems came from Robin, a Front End manager from another store and she told me that “in Revere, they had big problems with people either not using them or abusing the system by stealing, so they took the scanners out of that store. But that’s one of the only places to have them taken out, around here we haven’t had any major problems.” They also have some bugs to work out of the system, as the scanners do crash from time to time; even when I was talking to Robin, she was informed by another employee that someone’s order had been lost.
By Sasha Smith
There’s yet another way the future is now dependent on the federal government, not surprisingly it comes in the form of cash. As with any other situation in this country, if there’s a lack of funds, things in the future tend to look bleak and many goals may remain as simply unattainable. Today the average exemplary college scholar, whom may be involved on campus, academically excelling and a role model of what college success looks like can easily find themselves leaving school On September 5th of this year at Tennessee State University, 400 students were given 48 hours to pack their things and leave the school’s campus, they had been “purged” from the University. These students hadn’t done anything wrong and most of them probably were academically achieving, but the recent downturn in America’s credit economy has had consequences for students who want a higher education degree. Obtaining that degree for an increasing amount of students may mean leaving college with $40,000 to $90,000 dollars in debt. This surprising is not a shock to many students anymore, but rather becoming a pattern.
As many citizens are well aware, affording college has always been a challenge for many students and obtaining financial aid is a significant part of attending and remaining in school each year. With these next few years many students will find themselves helping schools to bridge the gap left by state budget cuts in funding. States are responding to budget cuts by taking away from colleges and Universities, thus the schools pass the costs on to the students and their families. School tuition is on an increase, especially for out-of-state students. The College of Notre Dame increased their costs by five percent bringing their overall fees to $34,650. With private loan lenders, such as Citigroup, who normally give generously to college students taking away their loan programs, it’s leaving college students virtually dependable on federal help and thousands of dollars in debt. John, a representative f Citigroup simply commented on the issue by saying, “based on the legislation and the way things are in the economy, it would no longer be a smart or beneficial choice for Citigroup to continue giving out private loans to students at this point.” But not everyone is turning their hands away from students, well-off corporations such as Bank of America are still committed to loaning to students nationwide, their corporate office was not available for comment.
By Hernidia Tavares
It was very early in a morning of November 2003, when Jo, Ana Mafalda’s sister and my mother, received the news. My Aunt Ana Bela was outside crying and yelling “Jo, hurry up! Mafalda was taken to the hospital! She has just tried to commit suicide! ” My mother couldn’t move! She was frozen and could only say “This is impossible! She would never do that!” I had no reaction. My only thought was “She won’t survive”, while everybody was praying for the contrary. In fact my inner self was afraid of such a thought.
After coming from the hospital my mom told me what the doctor reported to them “Gasoline burned sixty percent of her body and we cannot guarantee that she will survive”.
On November 19th it will be five years since Mafalda passed away. Five years after her death, her sisters still try to keep alive the promise they made to her – to seek justice towards the person truly responsible for her choosing to burn herself to death.
By Lauren Saldi
Phillip Coppolino worked as a baker during the day. When he came home from a long day of work he liked to make wine. The red and white wine was made in the cellar of his home with help from his family. To him, wine was not a job; it was a passion.
Pasquale Truglia worked as a laborer for most of his life. But once he retired, his life was dedicated to making his own wine. Just like Phillip, it was his passion in life. He was so dedicated to making wine, that he would never drink store bought wine. He would only drink the wine he made in his own cellar. Just like Phillip, this was a family affair in which each member of the family had an important role. Along with the family, friends were important too.
Without the family and friends, this wine process could never have been done and neither Phillip nor Pasquale would have ever been able to fulfill their passion: to make their own wine.
Hernidia Tavares had the 1,000 word feature she wrote for English 280 this semester published in Cape Verde Online on Tuesday. Check it out:
It was very early in a morning of November 2003, when Jo, Ana Mafalda’s sister and my mother, received the news. My Aunt Ana Bela was outside crying and yelling “Jo, hurry up! Mafalda was taken to the hospital! She has just tried to commit suicide! ” My mother couldn’t move! She was frozen and could only say “This is impossible! She would never do that!” I had no reaction. My only thought was “She won’t survive”, while everybody was praying for the contrary. In fact my inner self was afraid of such a thought.
After coming from the hospital my mom told me what the doctor reported to them “Gasoline burned sixty percent of her body and we cannot guarantee that she will survive”.
On November 19th it will be five years since Mafalda passed away. Five years after her death, her sisters still try to keep alive the promise they made to her – to seek justice towards the person truly responsible for her choosing to burn herself to death.
(more)
By Amanda Sullivan
“It’s like Christmas. Sometimes I find something I never knew I bought or thought I lost” says Katie Cummings when she looks around her dorm. The microscopic sized dorm room features drawers that do not close, a closet overflowing onto the floor, and a bed hidden beneath the other clothes that cannot be shoved into the closet or drawers. And all she can say is “Just put your stuff anywhere and just push that stuff there out of your way.”
Katie is comfortable with her extravagant amount of clothes and her lack of space because she’s stuck. Her option to get rid of all her hard-earned clothes and have a clutter free dorm limits her clothing choices while enjoying the Christmas surprise allows her to keep up with the latest fashion trends.
Katie Cummings has chosen Christmas. She is not alone. Elyse Harper, a Bridgewater State College commuter student, also chose Christmas. Her private room is painted with “way too many clothes floating around” some she says with a laugh “don’t even fit anymore.” When asked whether she has clothes she would never wear she laughs again and hints at the possibility that there may be a pair of footie pajamas that grandma got her but she is “just too cool to wear” them. Many others are in the same boat. Kalyn Harkins, an Emmanuel College student, shares the same experience of having too many clothes and not enough space. She says there are “clothes with tags on them in my closet” but she hopes she “will wear them eventually.” It does not hit college students alone. Josh Fear a student of The Australian Institute found that eighty-eight percent of people have at least one room just for clutter or as he calls it a “clutter room.”
By Heather Novacek
As I walk up the cemented path of the white raised ranch house on 364 Vermont Avenue, I think about the man who had his last breath on the orange flowered couch. I think about the man who raised his five children in the home and also his battle with cancer. Knowing only that this man died from Lymphoma cancer on September 29, 1975 makes me want to learn about his fight against the disease. Not all grandchildren have the pleasure of meeting their grandparents, and I am one of them. Having my grandfather die eleven years before I was born and not knowing much about his life, made myself want to investigate who really was Richard Novacek.
Sitting down with my grandmother and looking at scrapbooks that she had put together after his death was very fascinating. Just looking at some pictures and reading about him from some newspaper clippings gave me a small look at to what I was going to learn about my grandfather. Knowing his major battle in his life was him trying to beat the cancer was what I wanted to learn about.
By Shayna Curran
At Bridgewater State College, the second floor lounge of the campus center is forbidden territory for most of the student body, although it is always the most populated area of the building. From the lounge, shouting, heated debates, and laughter can be heard anywhere on the three tiered foyer. Get a little closer, and you will see a group of darkly-clad students, some of them lying down, others cuddling, most of them engaged in lively conversation.
The regulars at the lounge typically have some affiliation with the Adventure Role-Playing Club, or ARPC – an official organization recognized by the school for over a decade. During the day, they surf the internet, discuss politics, and maybe do some schoolwork between classes. But nighttime is when official club business begins.
By Jess Kline
“You probably can’t get a fair trial in front of juries anymore.” This quote, from a doctor who has been called upon by the Massachusetts Courts on approximately 200 occasions or so over the last decade or so as an expert in his field, was referring to a specific type of trial. This same type of trial evoked an ex-state public defender, who is now federal, to say that the process has “juries sizing up whether people deserve to be released, if they’d been punished enough.”
“No one wants to sound sympathetic to sex offenders,” said Dr. Brown, a doctor of psychology practicing out of Newton, Mass. It’s true; they may have done unspeakable things. But, these people, sex offenders (even the words turn your stomach a little), are subjected to a process that seems to be very unique to them. They are the only type of criminal that gets sentenced, does their time (which is usually pretty long), and then may or may not be released, depending on whether the D.A. thinks they will do it again. Although it sounds like double jeopardy, these are “civil” commitments and so do not infringe upon such right. They are retried and then either released or committed to a mental health facility indefinitely, until they no longer pose a threat.
Of course no one wants sex offenders running the streets, but the process does not run the way it was intended. There are many leaks in this fairly new faucet. The law, which was severely revamped in 1999 to include much more people into the category of sex offenders, provokes a series of prejudices. First of all, before they are retried in a process called a Sexually Dangerous Persons (SDP) Civil Commitment Trial to determine if they pose a significant threat to society, there is a hearing in which a judge will decide whether the case is worth going to Court. There’s a potential problem there though. One main reason why these laws were rewritten was because during the ‘90s, there was a lot of negative media coverage of judges releasing people who would then reoffend. As a result, some judges are afraid of letting the wrong guy go free and living to regret it; it may seem easier to just not take the risk. It’s a horrible thing to live with, to think you inadvertently caused a sex crime.
By Rachel Carr
The house on 9 Pond St. is well-known to Attleboro residents, not because it has great charm like many of the houses in the area do, but because of the pile of ornate objects that fill the yard. A yellow metal sign that reads “Ain’t Life A Bitch” in black painted letters dangles from a sea of junk. Pulling into the unpaved driveway, there is a lot to take in but for some reason that sign calls attention to it before anything else in the yard does. Although your attention is eventually drawn away from it, you can’t help but think that this sign says it all. Curiosity surrounds the house; speculation spreads through town. Answers for those curious minds are difficult to find.
The white-haired man who lives there has spent years working on his yard. However, his yard is not one envied by the neighbors. In fact, his neighbors are clearly bothered by it. City records state the ownership of the property was transferred to George E. Parker on January 1, 1978. The neighboring property was also transferred on this date to Margot Parker. Is the white-haired man George E. Parker? Is Margot somehow related to George?
English 280: The Journalistic Essay 