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Sports Laker Review Oswegonian.comOpinion
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VOLUME LXXXI ISSUE VIIIFriday, Oct. 31, 2014 • THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF OSWEGO STATE UNIVERSITY • www.oswegonian.com
B1 B5 C5
SOCCER TO HOCKEY MUSLIM REPUTATION T. SWIFT SHAKES IT UP
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PUTIN CRITICIZES U.S.
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A3 Take Back the Night
Women’s Center puts onannual rally, march on domestic, sexual violence
Jan. 5-23 ~ oswego.edu/winter Check out the course list at myOswego
Register now!
Winter Session 2015
Race for 24th district heats upMaffei, Katko facein series of debatesduring final daysLuke ParsnowNews [email protected]
Photo provided by John Katko for CongressDemocrat Rep. Dan Maffei (left) and Republican hopeful John Katko (right) are the two competing candidates for the local distrcit in the 114th Congress.
Katko leads Maffeiin new Siena pollLuke ParsnowNews [email protected]
Campus safety measures revisited after SUNY Canton, high school incidents
‘Distracted walking’ problem at collegesCampuses across nation affected due to frequent use of phones
Kyan PefferContributing [email protected]
Stephen BorgnaStaff [email protected]
The latest public safety issue at Oswego State and college campuses nationwide is due to the emergence of today’s technology.
This issue involves many students walking around campus with their eyes zeroed-in on their cellphones or other mo-bile devices—completely oblivious to their surroundings—as they’re texting, check-ing their Twitter feeds or listening to music through headphones.
It’s referred to as “distracted walking,” and it’s a concerning trend on campus to Oswego State University Police Chief John Rossi and his department’s officers.
“With modern technology, it is pervasive throughout society these days,” Rossi said.
According to Rossi, distracted walking is defined as “walking without being aware of your surroundings, especially while us-ing an electronic device.”
Since owning a cell phone has become very common, distracted walking has be-come frequent. At Oswego State and colleges nationwide, it has reached epidemic levels.
“Every person, literally, every person is walking distracted, unless they’re [talking] on the phone and they can’t look at it,” said Sim-one Madlin, a senior public relations major.
“It would be easier to count the times that I don’t see somebody walking and texting,” said Gregory Finger, a senior
SUNY Canton authorities announced on Oct. 25 that the suspect involved in a shooting threat made against the campus had been apprehended.
Alexis Vazquez, the primary suspect in the threat, had allegedly made threatening statements on the social media outlet Yik Yak that were reported to Canton Univer-sity Police. Vazquez, of Brooklyn, was ar-raigned by the Honorable Gary L. Favro on federal charges in Plattsburgh. Vazquez is currently in the custody of the U.S. Mar-shall Service pending bond. The investi-gation into the statements is under the di-
See DEBATES, A4 See POLL, A4
See WALKING, A4See SAFETY, A5
During the last week before the midterm elections, Rep. Dan Maffei and John Katko faced off
in a series of broadcast debates in the race for New York’s 24th congressional district.
Voters were not able to see any kind of debate between the two candidates this en-tire election season. Democrat incumbent Maffei and Republican challenger Katko first debated on Oct. 17 on WRVO Public Media. They debated again on the same station on Oct. 26, then participated in a se-ries of televised debates, first on Time War-ner Cable News on Oct. 27 and then CNY Central on Oct. 28.
In the debates, the candidates discussed a variety of both local and national issues, including the Ebola virus, the job market, negative campaign advertisements, Com-mon Core, Social Security, the Affordable Care Act, ISIS and immigration.
One of the highly political issues brought up time and again during the debates, one that Maffei and Katko claim to represent while the other does not, is bipartisanship in Congress. Currently, the Republicans hold the majority in the House of Representatives and the Democrats hold it in the Senate. Since the Republicans took back control of the House in 2010, the lack of bipartisanship has been a matter many Americans are up-set about. A March 2014 poll from the Bipar-
tisan Policy Center’s Commission on Politi-cal Reform and USA TODAY found that 77 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing.
During one of the debates, Katko was asked if he had any strategies to fix this problem.
“I do. The very first thing I am going to do if I get elected, or when I get elected, is I
David Armelino |The Oswegonian
want to call up the senators in the state, and I won’t care whether they are Democrats or Re-publicans,” Katko said. “I’m going to call Sen. Schumer and Sen. Gillibrand and say, ‘What can we do together to get these things done and get the gridlock moving?’ I think it will be a very strong symbol of me working across the aisle from day one. And quite frankly,
my entire career I’ve had nothing but work-ing with various factions—putting together task forces in El Paso, Puerto Rico and back here, of all manner from gangs and drugs. You have to put together coalitions. Law en-forcements have vastly different priorities on
Photo provided by Dan Maffei for Congress
rection of agents from Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, in cooperation with the New York State Police Bureau of Crimi-nal Investigations. If convicted, Vazquez faces a maximum sentence of five years, as listed under 18 U.S. Code Section 875.
Additionally, a high school student in Washington State, Jaylen Fryberg, opened fire on his school cafeteria on Friday, Oct. 24, killing one person and injuring four others before turning the gun on himself.
With both threats and shootings in school settings on the rise nationwide, espe-cially over social media such as Twitter or Yik Yak as mentioned above, both Oswego State University Police and Residence Life
Republican Congressional candidate John Katko has taken a sudden lead over incum-bent Democrat Dan Maffei in the race for New York’s 24th congressional district, according to a new poll by the Siena College Research Institute and the Syracuse Post-Standard.
The poll states that Katko now leads Maf-fei by 10 points, a surprise to some, as Katko trailed Maffei by eight points in the last Siena poll in September. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
“Campaigns, political parties and outside groups spend millions of dollars to produce mailings and commercials aimed at educat-ing, influencing and moving voters,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said. “The results of that effort can clearly be seen in the 24th congressional district, as voters have shifted dramatically and now support Katko – who had been trailing by eight points – giving him a 10-point lead against the incumbent, Maffei. Katko has effectively brought Re-publicans ‘home,’ increasing his lead among them from 44 points to 71 points. And he’s increased his lead among independents from seven points to 21 points.”
New York’s 24th congressional district consists of all of Onondaga, Cayuga and Wayne counties, and the western part of Oswego County, and includes the cities of Syracuse, Auburn, Fulton and Oswego.
“While Maffei continues to hold a com-manding 32-point lead in Syracuse, down from 48 points, Katko has opened a 21-point lead in the rest of Onondaga County and a 13-point lead in the other counties. The areas outside of Syracuse had previously been
Walking while looking at cell phones causes injuries.
Photo provided by Sports Information
PAGE2 FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014
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THIS WEEK ON THE WEBA weekly list of what to check out on Oswegonian.com
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Alain Pierre-Lys
Following a gloomy and damp week, this weekend’s weather will provide much the same. After a partly to mostly cloudy Friday, clouds will increase on Saturday, and a few rain showers are likely during the morning. Another shot of chilly air will arrive in town on Sunday with cloudy skies, a few rain showers and a possibility of snow mixed in the morn-ing. Expect the weather to settle in the 40s, as winter is coming.
Devon Nitz | The Oswegonian
POLICEBLOTTER
Felix Burgos Jr., 22, was arrested on Oct. 25 at 12:17 a.m. at the corner of West First Street and West Bridge Street for an open container violation.
Brian Deinstadt, 18, was arrested on Oct. 25 at 12:28 a.m. at the corner of Market Street and Water Street for public urination.
Ryan Blinkhorn, 20, was arrested on Oct. 25 at 12:37 a.m. at 31 W. Bridge St. for an open container violation.
Daniel Pontera, 21, was arrested on Oct. 25 at 1:03 a.m. at the corner of West First Street and West Bridge Street for an open container violation.
Adam Marcellus, 21, was arrested on Oct. 25 at 1:15 a.m. at the corner of West Bridge Street and West Fourth Street for an open container violation.
Tyler Varnum, 23, was arrested on Oct. 25 at 1:15 a.m. at the corner of West Bridge Street and West Fourth Street for an open container violation.
Matthew Halfon, 20, was arrested on Oct. 25 at 2:04 a.m. at the corner of West Sixth Street and West Bridge Street for public urination.
Ryan Joseph, 23, was arrested on Oct. 25 at 2:29 a.m. at the corner of West Sec-ond Street and West Bridge Street for public urination.
Maurice Gantt, 27, was arrested on Oct. 26 at 12:07 a.m. at the corner of West Bridge Street and West Third Street for public urination.
Brook Dafoe, 23, was arrested on Oct. 26 at 12:15 a.m. at the corner of East Elev-enth Street and East Oneida Street for un-lawful possession of marijuana.
Jelene Morris | The Oswegonian
A headline in last week’s issue was incor-rect for an article about the Student Association passing a resolution condeming anti-semetic and racist behavior. The headline should have read “SA passes new legislation to advocate against anti-semitism.”
Correction:
A3NEWS FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
THE OSWEGONIAN
The AgendaOur weekly list of what to do in Oswego
Technology department hosts its 75th Technol-ogy Education Fall Conference, Friday in Wilber
and Park Halls at 9 a.m.
Theatre performance: “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Friday at Hewitt Union Ballroom at 7:30 p.m.
Volleyball vs. SUNYIT has their senior day, Saturday at Max Ziel Gymnasium in Laker Hall at 12 p.m.
Swimming and diving vs. Wells College, Satur-day at Laker pool in Laker Hall at 1 p.m.
Safe trick-or-treat, Sunday in residence halls and Marano Campus Center at 11 a.m.
-- Maureen Curtin, Women’s Center adviser
Take Back the Night is a reminder that women are never in graver danger than when confined, whether in body, speech or movement. Recent assaults on campus tell us that Take Back the Night is far from obsolete.”
Oswego State ‘Takes Back the Night’ Women’s Center puts on annual event to protest domestic, sexual violence
Students participate in a candle light vigil and march around the Oswego State campus in protest. Participants also read speeches and share experiences and stories.
The Student Association held their sev-enth weekly meeting of the semester Tues-day evening. The number of senators pres-ent was enough to make quorum.
The minutes from last week’s meeting were approved and the agenda for the current meeting was approved immediately after.
There was one guest to the senate. Kim-berlyn Bailey, president of the philosophy club, spoke on behalf of the club to the sen-ate. She reported that the club officers from last academic year never proposed a budget for this year. The philosophy club regularly has pizza at its meetings and Bailey said the club was asking for money to fund that pizza each week. She said that faculty had been paying out of pocket for the pizza up until this point. The philosophy club pro-posed $300 for funding pizza, an amount that would suffice for the remainder of the school year. A senator volunteered to write a bill for the proposal.
There was no public comment.
In executive reports, SA President Tucker Sholtes was absent for the meeting as he was attending a conference in New York City. Sholtes’s chief of staff, Ryan Hopf, told the senate that Sholtes has been working more on the end-of-year concert that will serve as an alternative event to the traditional Bridge Street Run. Hopf told the senate there are currently nine bands in the considering pro-cess and SA will have to pick three of them. Bids for each to perform at Oswego State will be going out next week. Hopf also discussed the schedule of the SUNY SA conference, which Oswego State is hosting for the first time, on Nov. 7 to 9. He said there would be a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. on that Friday, a breakfast on Saturday morning where Oswe-go State President Deborah Stanley will be speaking and a dinner in Sheldon Hall. Hopf added that the Campus Calendar Commit-tee still needs two representatives from SA on its committee. The committee plans the college’s breaks, holidays and events for the
coming semesters. The committee is current-ly planning the 2018-2019 school year.
SA Vice President Neely Laufer reported that she got to meet former U.S. President Bill Clinton in Syracuse on Oct. 24. Clinton attended to rally support for Democrat Rep. Dan Maffei, the incumbent candidate running for New York state’s 24th congressional dis-trict. Laufer also discussed her role as being a part of the committee for Auxiliary Services.
Finance Director Elena Sanchez briefly reported that she discussed ways to improve with the finance committee.
In committee reports, Rules and Judiciary Chair Jillian Kranz said the committee met and they discussed bill writing. A required bill writing workshop for all new senators will be held next Tuesday before the meeting. Finance Committee Chair Tyler Jodeit said he has had to do some work amending the DECA bill because of a change in conferences that DECA members want to attend. DECA is an international association of high school
and college students that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, fi-nance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges across the globe. Stu-dent Involvement Committee Chair Shantol Williams said her committee did not meet because they did not meet quorum.
SA Civic Engagement Director Christo-pher Collins-McNeil reminded the senate that the Rock the Vote campaign will be host-ing its election night party on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 4 p.m. in the downstairs food activity court in the Marano Campus Center.
Sen. Emily Nassir reminded the senate about the “Miss a Meal” event on Nov. 13. She will be tabling prior to the event and she had been talking to local restaurants about providing some form of discount for Oswe-go State students on that day. At this time, Franco’s is the only place that has agreed to a $1 off any product on that day.
New senators who were sworn in last week were appointed to committees.
In hall council reports, Williams said Shel-don Hall is starting the game “hall murder” soon. Kranz said she is helping in the works of a campus-wide competition for the residence hall with the most home-like room in the building.
Williams also said the African Student Orga-nization is having a miniature Olympic compe-tition on Nov. 8. Things like sack races and vari-ous obstacle races will be the competition. There will be various prizes, including gift cards.
There were no special orders.There were no general orders.In senator issues, Kranz addressed that
senators should try to dress more business ca-sual during the meetings. She said she felt the senators have drifted away from that tradition.
Sen. Jordan Dedrick was confirmed as the assistant director of on-campus living and Sarah Fessler was confirmed as the assistant director of public affairs.
The SA senate meets every Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Lanigan 102. All meetings are open to the public.
Sarah GuidoneStaff [email protected]
Take Back the Night, an annual fall event at Oswego State, was held last Tuesday to speak out against domestic and sexual vio-lence for women.
The marches originally grew in response to the way women were expected to confine or limit activities to protect against sexual assault by strangers, according to Maureen Curtin, faculty adviser of the Oswego State Women’s Center.
“Though research now confirms that most victims of sexual assault are harmed by those in their friends and family circle rather than by strangers, the march continues to serve a function: We must be free to travel public space at any hour without others interpreting our activities as an invitation or sign of avail-ability,” Curtin said. “Put another way, Take Back the Night is a reminder that women are never in graver danger than when confined, whether in body, speech or movement. Recent assaults on campus tell us that Take Back the Night is far from obsolete.”
The event, which usually starts in the Hewitt Union ballroom, was moved to the food court in the Marano Campus Center this year.
“Our Take Back the Night march will start in the Campus Center food court, lead around toward lakeside and circle back to the Campus Center food court,” said Heather Crean, president of the Women’s Center. “We do this because at the end of the march, we have food out and invite everyone to speak about their own personal stories. It’s a very intimate time in which we try and create a welcome, open atmosphere where people can not only share their stories but to know that even people who may not know them are there to support them,” Crean said.
Take Back the Night usually has a good turn out. However, the majority of the people who attend are women, as Bethany Cole, a junior at Oswego State, noticed.
“It’s unfortunate that you see just a lot of women here because statistically, men are the people that commit these crimes so it’s
kind of sad. So I feel like we need more of a way to get them here,” Cole said.
Senior Luke Carbonaro works for SAVAC and he often sees the other side of sexual assault. He feels men don’t attend events like these because they may feel hesitant or intimidated.
“Sometimes guys are just afraid,” Carbon-aro said. “People stand up in front and say men are to blame, not saying that happened here but that’s the general feel guys get. It makes it more hesitant to come out and sup-port. I think it needs more communication.”
Take Back the Night is a popular event on campus, and one of its main purposes is to try to educate people about sexual assault.
“We typically have a few hundred people come to our events such as Take Back the Night and the Slut Walk,” Crean said. “While we hope that our turn out is high, what we really care about is educating people. I would rather only have 100 people come and truly learn the truths about sexual assault and victim blam-ing, rather than 500 coming just to be there.”
There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes in order for an event like this to occur, according to Crean.
“T-shirts and food need to be bought, venues need to be booked, we invite many people to come and either table at our events, which would be showing more resources to getting help if they so choose, or we invite
people to speak in front of the crowd before we march, to name a couple of things,” Cre-an said. “It takes months to plan an event like this, and those months are incredibly stress-ful, but it pays off in the end.”
At the event, there were a few tables stationed to allow students more resourc-es they can utilize.
“Over the years, professional counsel-ors have been available to talk with anyone who wanted additional support,” Curtin said. “More recently, the evening’s activi-ties are an occasion to introduce students to the resources and mechanisms available on campus, including the college’s responsibil-ity to adhere to Title IX.”
The overall consensus is Take Back the Night gets people talking about sexual as-sault, and in order to learn and grow people need to be talking about it.
“SUNY Oswego may seem like a small school that can’t make much difference in the world, but that’s why it’s so important to have these types of events here. No matter how small and out of the way an area like Oswego seems, these types of thoughts are everywhere, and they need to be fought everywhere,” Crean said.
“I think an event like this brings the issues forward. I think it would be beneficial if more administration was here. If they came out, it would definitely make a difference, but I think this is the right step forward,” Carbonaro said.
David Armelino | The OswegonianStudents and Women’s Center representatives read speeches and hand out free T-shirts to those who attend.
Andy Breckman, creator of “Monk” host the talk, “Writing for the Screen” Monday in the Marano
Campus Center, Room 132 at 3 p.m.
Math seminar, “Suspect something fishy? How sta-tistics can help detect it, quickly” is taking place on Monday in Shineman Center, Room 196 at 4 p.m.
Alumnus, David Haas host the talk, “The Life of a Person who Stutters,” Monday in the Marano
Campus Center, Room 201 at 7 p.m.
Fundraiser for SEFA and United Way, Baskets of Caring, Wednesday in front of Room 132,
Marano Campus Center at 10 a.m.
“Das Leben der Andersen” a German film, Wednes-day in Marano Campus Center, Room 132 at 7 p.m.
Movie: “Neighbors,” a 2014 comedy, Thursday in the Marano Campus Center, Room 132 at 7 p.m.
David Armelino | The Oswegonian
NEWS FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014THE OSWEGONIAN A4
Walking with cell phones causing injuries
business administration major. “People are al-ways walking and texting on their phones. Elec-tronics have taken over our lives recently.”
While this may seem blown out of propor-tion, there have been causalities. They’ve been escalating every year.
According to a study published in the Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal, 559 pedestrian injuries with mobile phones occurred nationwide in 2004. By 2010, this figure nearly doubled to 1,506 injuries—an increase of 947 incidents.
There have been a total of 5,482 pedestrian in-juries with mobile phones between 2004 to 2010, the study reported.
A study by the Pew Research Center also re-ported that between 2004 and 2011, 116 pedestri-ans were seriously injured or even killed while distractedly operating a mobile device.
The first-mentioned study stated typical mobile phone related pedestrian injuries consist of walking into traffic and being hit by a car or walking into a telephone pole, for example, while using a mobile device and thus disregarding the surrounding environment.
The categories of injuries associated with the above-mentioned figures are similar to the inju-ries associated with incidents such as a car acci-dent or sports injury. The study also stated this included dislocations, contusions, fractures, con-cussions, sprains and lacerations, among others.
“Obviously, walking into traffic can have tragic consequences, as well as slipping and fall-ing onto the pavement, or down stairwells inside buildings,” Rossi said. “You could also be in a position to be easy prey for a criminal waiting for an easy victim to target for a variety of crimes.”
Fortunately, Oswego State hasn’t experi-enced any serious incidents due to distracted walking, at this time.
“There was one person struck by a car back-ing out of a parking spot last semester,” Rossi said. “Luckily it was a minor injury.”
That’s not to say a serious incident isn’t al-ways possible though.
At the moment, all University Police and the school can do to prevent any collateral damage from distracted walkers is advise stu-dents to put their phones down and pay atten-tion when walking to class or going about their business on campus.
“We have not been enforcing distracted walk-ing,” Rossi said. “Some officers may have men-tioned something to someone who may have been walking by them not paying attention to what they were doing and was a safety hazard.”
According to Rossi, students can breathe easy because they have nothing to worry about in terms of legality. Distracted walking itself isn’t illegal.
“There has not been an effort to enforce any-thing,” Rossi said. “As it is not against the law to be walking while distracted.”
Students have no need for concern unless their actions disrupt the flow of traffic.
“There is [no punishment for distracted walking] unless you are obstructing motor ve-hicle traffic,” Rossi said.
This goes for any crime committed acciden-tally as a result of distracted walking, although, it is hard to think of a distracted walking scenario other than blocking traffic that could land some-one in trouble, according to some students.
“There’s only so much damage you can do
while walking distracted,” Finger said. Chief Rossi emphasized that distracted driv-
ing, such as texting while driving, is the Univer-sity Police Department’s primary focus when it comes to cell phone-distracted behavior.
“Driving while distracted is targeted at dif-ferent times of the year using state grant-money to put several additional officers out on directed traffic patrols,” Rossi said.
Unlike distracted walking, texting while driving is illegal and receives considerably more attention from government and law enforcement compared to distracted walking.
But, when it comes to distracted walking, col-lege campuses are ground zero.
According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, college students have increased rates of pedestrian related injuries be-cause they walk periodically and regularly use their cell phones—often at the same time.
A study published in the Journal of Safety Re-search concluded using a cell phone while cross-ing a street may indeed increase the risk of injury among college pedestrians.
A part of the study conducted an experi-ment with college student participants to test the safety awareness of students crossing a road while using a mobile device, compared to students not using one.
The device-using group performed poorly. The study stated as part of its findings, the
participants walking while using a mobile device “left considerably less time to spare [when cross-ing a street].” In addition, the mobile device using participants “missed more opportunities” to cross a street and were “hit or almost hit significantly more times than when not distracted.” These par-ticipants exhibited “reduced attention to traffic.”
The researchers stated college students hav-ing a vocal conversation when crossing a street adversely affected their safety awareness as a pe-destrian—distracting them as much as if they were “counting backward by threes.” This is if they’re only talking on the phone, not staring at the screen.
It seems college students are the most likely to be injured while walking distracted.
“I think it is a serious problem,” Erik Towers, a senior criminal justice major and psychology major, said. “It inhibits your ability to pay at-tention to your surroundings, and I think it’s a problem that is not well known about but should definitely be addressed.”
Towers also said there are distracted walking “hot spots” around campus.
“They should look at where the hot spots would be on campus,” Towers said. “There are some serious intersections that are used pretty commonly where people aren’t that aware of traffic; one of them being on the corner of Ru-dolph Road and Centennial Drive—the road that goes in between the Campus Center and the Shineman Center. A lot of people are distracted over in that corner.”
Other students agree the student body is teaming with students directing their attention to their phones as they walk through campus.
“I would say like 75 percent of people I see out in the quad (are walking distracted),” said Veronica DeFazio, a senior graphic de-sign major. “They’re about 25 percent aware of their surroundings.”
“I think it’s a problem,” Madlin said. “You always see people walking and texting and look-ing at Twitter or Yik Yak.”
Students are uncertain how distracted walking should be addressed, if a response is necessary.
“I think it would be hard to address a situ-ation like this just because you’re not operat-ing a motor vehicle; you’re not operating any heavy machinery that could physically really hurt somebody,” Finger said. “If you’re running and texting I could see that being an issue. You know, you could knock somebody over. But as far as walking, if you bump into somebody it’s as simple as saying ‘I’m sorry.’ As far as addressing it, just try to encourage people to be careful and be aware of their surroundings.”
“I don’t know if you can address it,” De-Fazio said. “I don’t think the school can put a rule on that.”
However, some of these students don’t be-lieve it is a problem demanding much concern.
“I believe it’s a problem, but not a serious problem in any way, shape or form,” Finger said.
Finger said some students walking on cam-pus are more immersed in their phone and less mindful of their surroundings than others.
“I know personally I don’t sit there and stare at my phone the entire time if I’m tex-ting and walking,” Finger said. “Some peo-ple are very self-absorbed into their phones and they get lost in it. But for the most part I think people are pretty aware of what’s going on around them.”
UP urges students to simply pay at-tention to their surroundings to prevent any further incidents.
federal, state and local levels. You have to get them to come together, and I’ve been doing that for 20 years and I am confident that I can do it.”
Maffei responded to Katko’s statement saying his opponent has opposed many pieces of legislation that when voted on were very bipartisan.
“The bipartisan budget agreement that saved $85 billion and is keeping the govern-ment open until right through 2015 that I supported, he opposes. Very bipartisan. The bipartisan bill in the Senate to provide just for background checks for firearms, something that the FBI has plenty of statistics tell you makes places safer—it’s bipartisan—he op-poses it. The immigration bill in the Senate—we clearly need comprehensive immigration reform to secure our borders and to make sure that farmers have workers that they need—he opposes it. So, what bipartisan stuff is he for? And in terms of working with Sen. Gillibrand and Schumer, ask Sen. Gillibrand and Schum-er. I worked with them all the time. That’s the only way you can get things done, is in a co-alition. Mr. Katko, I think he says, well I’ll call them up, as if they haven’t ever picked up the phone. It just doesn’t… it doesn’t work that way, and we’ve been down this road before with Ann Marie Buerkle, and you know, I’m not sure if we should risk it again.”
Ann Marie Buerkle was Maffei’s Republi-can challenger in the 2010 and 2012 congres-sional elections. Buerkle unseated Maffei in 2010 and Maffei defeated her in 2012.
Both Maffei and Katko have emphasized their stress on job growth in the Central New York area over the course of the campaign sea-son. The candidates both agreed on the principles of how to get the local economy going again.
“In the end, it all boils down to who has got the best opportunity to get it done,” Katko said. “Mr. Maffei has been in Congress four of the last six years, two of them he had con-trol of the House, the Senate and the presi-dency, and he’s got nothing done. Last year alone, 3,100 jobs left Central New York. Three thousand one hundred jobs. The recovery in Central New York lags recovery in New York state, and recovery in New York state lags re-covery in the nation. We have given Mr. Maf-fei an opportunity for four of the last six years to lead us, and nothing’s happened.”
Katko also stated a remark he has repeat-ed at the multiple debates this week, saying, “If I don’t do something in two years, I ex-
pect my constituents to throw me out.”Maffei responded, agreeing the two have
similar plans, but that the difference is his plan “has details.”
“A lot of what Mr. Katko says is, ‘Oh let’s keep the good and get rid of the bad.’ But he doesn’t say how to pay for anything. He says he is fiscally responsible, but he doesn’t point to any cuts that we should make. He doesn’t point to any way to pay for things. There are no de-tails in his plans. In fact, the seven bullet points that he offered fit on one sheet of paper.”
One of the most controversial national is-sues of the Obama presidency is the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in 2010 by the president. Not a single Republican in either chamber voted for the bill’s passage.
“I don’t think I’m talking about repealing the bill,” Katko said. “I’m talking about fix-ing it. I think there’s great portions of Obam-acare, there’s great principles. First of all, ev-eryone has health insurance. No matter what happens, we have to make sure everyone has health insurance. And we have to take a look at some of the great provisions, like the well-ness provisions in there, and the 26-year-old policy, and portability from pre-existing con-ditions. Those are all good things, and there’s a lot of good things in Obamacare. But there is also a lot of things that are very bad about Obamacare, and I think we have to have that can-do spirit.”
Maffei acknowledged there are both pos-itive and negative provisions of the act.
“There is no question that the Affordable Care Act is not perfect,” Maffei said. “And there is no question that the Affordable Care Act is do-ing some good things. The question is, should we have just voted no, as Mr. Katko would have, and continued to do nothing? Incidentally, prices were sky-rocketing long before the Affordable Care Act. And in fact, if you look at the numbers, medical inflation has gone down.”
Both candidates have felt they expressed their opinions and plans clearly for the lis-tening and watching audiences.
“Rep. Maffei prevailed in tonight’s de-bate by standing up for Central New York values and highlighting his strong record of working with Democrats and Republicans to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and put Central New Yorkers first,” said Maffei spokesman Kane Miller.
Katko’s campaign did not respond to re-quests for comment.
The final debate between the candidates is scheduled for 7 p.m. on WSYR channel 9 on Nov. 2.
Final debate scheduled for Nov. 2
District getting national attention
WALKING from COVER
DEBATES from COVER
POLL from COVER
neck-and-neck,” Greenberg said.Greenberg also said Katko had been
running slightly ahead of Maffei with men and trailing badly with women. Now, he has a narrow five-point lead with women and a larger 16-point lead with men.
“A swing that large is hard to believe, given the district and the campaign so far,” said Grant Reeher, a political science pro-fessor at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. “Maybe there has been some momentum for Katko, but I imagine that may be settling back down now. I just don’t have the feel that the gap is that large at present. It would be surprising. One ques-tion is how the respondents were filtered. Each poll makes a determination of what a likely voter is, based on some responses to initial questions about likelihood to vote. Maybe they only took the people who were the very most likely to vote.”
Maffei’s campaign responded to the Sie-na results with their own poll from the Glob-al Strategy Group. That poll showed the con-gressman with a five-percentage point lead.
The narrowed race for this district has garnered national attention and has proven to be one of the most competitive congressio-nal races in the nation. Several Washington, D.C. insiders have stepped foot in the dis-trict to support their party’s candidates. U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio
came to the district to headline a fundraiser for Katko’s campaign. In August, National Republican Congressional Committee Chair-man Greg Walden stopped in Syracuse for a fundraiser as well. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California visited Auburn and spoke to Katko and reporters there. Con-gressman Maffei had Vice President Joe Biden and former president Bill Clinton address vot-ers in Syracuse in the last two weeks.
This week’s Siena poll has suggested why national leaders are interested in the area. The district has created a reputation for a battleground area in the last few elec-tions. Maffei was first elected to what was then the 25th district in 2008, unseating Republican James Walsh, who had held the seat for 16 years. Maffei was the first Democrat to hold the seat since 1965. In 2010, Maffei lost the seat to Republican Ann Marie Buerkle, then unseated her by a very narrow margin in 2012.
“The district is relatively evenly balanced on the whole. There are different parts with different tilts,” Reeher said. “Certainly the city tilts heavily Democratic and many of the suburbs tilt Republican. That and other demographics of the district contribute it to being a competitive district, and one that is generally moderate.”
Both candidates will be campaigning heavily in the last few days of the election season. The midterm elections are Nov. 4.
Neither Maffei nor Katko’s campaign re-sponded to requests for comment.
Lily Choi | The Oswegonian
Number of accidents involving inattentive college students increasing
Lily Choi | The Oswegonian
NEWSFRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014
THE OSWEGONIANNEWS A5A4
Final debate scheduled for Nov. 2
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District getting national attention
and Housing officials have put policies in place to ensure the safety of both students as well as university staff. ResLife staff, including both resident assistants and hall directors, are given emergency response training for situations ranging from a fire emergency to a situation such as a shooter on campus. In a situation in which there is an active shooter on campus, both UP and ResLife have stressed the importance of maintaining student safety above all else.
Since the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, UP have seen an increase in both state and federal mandates for preparedness for emer-gency situations. In an interview, University Police Chief John Rossi stated that emergen-cy action protocols have been outlined on the state and federal level, as well as within the local Oswego community.
“This policy was first disseminated by the Department of Criminal Justice Services in Albany shortly after the massacre at Vir-ginia Tech, and has since been modified and adapted accordingly as shooter situations have developed over time,” Rossi said.
These protocols are kept confidential but are specific for as many potential situations as possible. Rossi acknowledged that differ-ent protocols exist depending upon an as-sailant’s weapon, as well as if there are one or multiple shooters on campus.
ResLife staff emergency training was described by Richard Kolenda, the assistant vice president of Residence Life and Hous-ing, as a “comprehensive” program, includ-ing a video on active shooters.
UP takes threats made to students on campus seriously. Risk assessment tech-niques have been distributed by both the FBI as well as the Department of Justice, and UP has guidelines in place to analyze the potential risk of a threat made to students on campus. UP examines each threat on a case-by-case basis, but take any threat made to students or staff seriously. They have also developed an advanced tactics unit, which is trained to handle emergency situations ranging from natural disasters to a campus shooter in greater depth than standard offi-cers. These officers are trained to react quick-ly and tactically to emergency situations.
In a situation in which there is an active shooter on campus, Rossi said,“There is only one way [for police] to react, and that is to neutralize the threat immediately.”
In the event that a threat is made using social media, such as Yik Yak, the legal infra-structure to trace the source of an otherwise anonymous post has been in place for several years. While the privacy policies of social me-dia outlets protect them, and the user, from police mining information from their servers, law enforcement officials can obtain a search warrant to gather information about the per-son that posted the threat. This includes the Internet Protocol (IP) address, which identi-fies the specific machine that a threatening post originated from. With this information, authorities are usually able to gather informa-tion sufficient to make an arrest.
“Making a threat on social media is no different than leaving your fingerprint at a crime scene,” Rossi said. “Historically, social media administrators have been cooperative with law enforcement in investigations re-lated to shooting threats.”
Despite the prevalence of social media evidence in shooting cases, especially in the case at SUNY Canton, UP does not actively monitor students’ social media, at this time. This is primarily due to certain legal protec-tions given to online users. According to a Department of Justice guide published in 2011, law enforcement cannot directly view the correspondence made by users, which is protected under the Electronic Communica-tions and Privacy Act.
“There’s a difference between freedom of speech and yelling ‘Fire!’ in a crowded movie theater,” Rossi said. “Viewing electronic corre-spondence requires a federal subpoena, which requires specific evidence to obtain. The excep-tion to this is communications, which may be involved in acts of domestic terrorism, which can be obtained under the Patriot Act.”
Social media has become widespread since its popular inception with Facebook in the early 2000s. What is unique about Yik Yak, a smartphone app in which students can post anonymously in a “feed” and has become popular on many college campuses, is the element of secrecy it provides to users. Students feel that the anonymity of Yik Yak makes those making these threats feel safe.
“If people are searching for a means to lash out, they’ll do it on an anonymous social network like Yik Yak,” sophomore Anna Jimenez said.
Some students expressed the belief that authorities should take a more active role in monitoring social media outlets, but the widespread use of this media makes it nearly impossible to monitor each individual user.
While UP does everything in their power to prevent threats to the campus, they rely on student reporting in the case of social me-dia activity. Rossi expressed his trust in the Oswego State student body to come forward with information regarding dangerous activ-ity in the campus community.
Federal mandates under the Jeanne Clery Act require that UP warn students when “an institution determines that a crime for which it must report statistics – such as a homicide, sex offense or robbery – presents a serious or continuing threat to students and em-ployees.” Crimes which may be brought to the attention of UP through confidential or privileged means are not subject to Clery Act reporting in situations where the reporting may bring further harm to the victim.
Warnings for Oswego State students are made through the NY-Alert system, and may also be broadcast through WTOP-10 or other forms of media. An amendment to the Clery Act demands that authorities alert their stu-dents in a “timely manner,” though what con-stitutes this is not specifically outlined and is, more or less, at the discretion of local or state authorities. Rossi hinted that issuing a public warning presumptuously may create unnec-essary panic in students, but assured that in a situation in which students may be in danger a warning would be issued promptly.
Despite the frequent broadcast of
shooting threats in popular media, Os-wego State has not received threats of this nature to date. According to Rossi, the most frequent crimes committed on campus are petty theft and criminal mis-chief, usually destruction of property. UP strives to keep the residents of Oswego State safe, and campus law enforcement has a zero-tolerance policy for threats made against the campus community. Students are advised to keep their doors locked and valuables secure.
Protocols for students in shooter situ-ations can be found on the Oswego State website. Students are advised to lock their doors, block their windows, and remain in their dorm room or another safe location un-less directed to do so otherwise by ResLife staff or UP officers. In the case of a shooter, students should remain hidden and quiet, preferably behind heavy cover such as a thick wall. If possible, students should try to remember any details about the shooter – physical characteristics, type of weapon and number of assailants can prove to be vital information in the UP response to a shooter situation. Students are also advised to pro-gram the contact information for UP into their phones, as 911 lines may be jammed in certain emergencies.
Above all, students should remain safe, keeping out of sight and quiet. If confront-ed directly by a shooter, students should be cooperative. Demands or questions should be responded to quickly and concisely. If a shooter demands money or valuables, they should be given up without struggle. If it is absolutely necessary, such as in an act of self-defense, online emergency pro-cedures suggest to “consider acting with others to overpower the shooter if the op-tion presents itself. Use any weapon that is available to you.” This should, however, be taken only as a last resort.
If a student witnesses dangerous activity, or has seen messages that may be a cause for concern on social media, they are encour-aged to contact ResLife staff or UP as soon as possible. Law enforcement officials must respect anonymity in reporting, if requested, though police reports usually need to be filed in person.
ResLife, UP ready to respond in emergencyCampus authorities discuss student safety, freedom of speech in procedures
Study shows LGBTs more accepted
Aaron WilsonContributing [email protected]
Over three-quarters of the LGBT commu-nity feel they have at least some acceptance by American society, according to a 2013 Pew Re-search survey.
Ninety-four percent of people between the ages of 18 and 44, according to the survey, said American society is more accepting of the LGBT community than it was 10 years ago. Seventy percent of LGBT community members in the survey attributed the increase in social accep-tance to individuals who personally know some-one who is LGBT, according to Pew Research. Five Oswego State students discussed how their sexuality affects their social acceptance.
Freshman Crystal Hernandez said her friends had no idea she was bisexual. Hernan-dez said her friendships changed very little when she came out.
“I guess in weird ways it has affected my re-lationships, but in a comfort zone, because they feel like I can relate,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez observed that her friends who are girls ask her for advice about boys or ask if their boobs look good in a certain shirt.
“They say I have a guy brain,” Hernan-dez said. “It doesn’t bother me. I know that I think differently.”
Hernandez said she doesn’t feel ostracized by her friend groups because of her sexuality. On Coming Out Day, Oct. 11, 2014, her friends wore T-shirts in support of her sexuality.
“In one instance, they defended me against someone who used derogatory language to-
ward the LGBT community,” Hernandez said.Tom Garland, also a freshman, said his
friends and family always knew he was gay. When he officially came out, some of his friend-ships changed in minor ways.
“I’ve had straight, dude friends come up to me and ask me to do their hair and eyebrows,” Garland said.
After he told some of his male friends he is gay, Garland said their perceptions of homosexuality began to change, as the survey would suggest.
“A lot of my ‘rednecky’ friends are more open to it now,” Garland said. “When I came out they became more OK with it.”
Garland said the “rednecky” friends held conservative views and thought homosexuality was gross prior to his coming out to them.
Jaxon Cobb, a junior, said some people viewed her as the stereotypical lesbian while others changed their views on the LGBT com-munity once she came out.
“When they found out I was homosexual, they sort of learned that homosexual people are honest, good people too,” Cobb said.
Cobb identifies as a transman but would rather avoid sexuality labels.
“Well, when I came out as a lesbian, noth-ing really changed between my friends and I,” Cobb said. “But, coming out as trans has sort of changed how they treat me. The pro-cess is awkward for some friends because the pronouns have changed.”
Graduate student Ryan Pabis said others made assumptions about his personality be-cause he identifies as gay.
“There is this image of the ‘gay best friend,’ ” Pabis said. “Typically it’s a gay guy who will be your ‘arm candy,’ your shopping assistant, the person you talk about boys with. All these im-ages are drawn up from our society.”
Pabis said friends who assumed he has good taste in fashion upset him.
“Those types of responses get me really up-set because they have this stereotype of what a gay person should be,” Pabis said.
Neeny Phakdeetham, senior, said that al-though she is closer to her gay male friends than she is to her straight male friends, it is because of their personality, not their sexuality.
“I never thought of them as different,” Phak-deetham said. “They’re just my friends. Every-one is equal; it just depends on your personality.”
Phakdeetham said befriending a gay person allows one to cross the barrier of thinking gay people are different.
JoAnn DeLauter | The OswegonianPolls report largest LGBT acceptance in 10 years.
SAFETY from COVER
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THE OSWEGONIAN A6
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Oswego State app adds new features
The Oswego State app for smartphones has recently been updated to include fea-tures that allow students to access their MyDegree Works, Labstats and an updated emergency information tab.
Before the update, a few things students could access with the app was the dining menu, weather, campus directory, athletics and emergency information.
Oswego State first launched a mobile website in the summer of 2011. The college redoubled its mobile efforts in the fall of 2012 and launched native iOS and Android apps along with a more feature-rich mobile website, according to Sean Moriarty, Oswe-go State’s chief technology officer.
“One of the new features, Labstats, will give students real time information on the usage of computers in labs across the cam-pus,” Moriarty said. “If the lab you are at is full, by looking at the app you can see where there are labs with computers open. We think this will be quite popular during
mid-terms and exams.”The campus has also rolled out a safety
app called Oswego Guardian. There will now be a link to Oswego Guardian on the Oswego app.
“We have almost 400 registered users since the rollout for the fall semester,” Mo-riarty said. “This app is used as a safety monitor for students on their smartphones. They can activate timers, or use it as a panic device that will notify University Police of their GPS-based location, on or off campus.”
Students are excited about the new fea-tures of the app and feel they will benefit from the update. Samantha Schou, a junior transfer at Oswego State, downloaded the app before transferring in order to learn more about the school.
“I actually did not know you could access MyDegree Works or availability in the computer labs with the update, but that’s very useful and I will most likely use it,” Schou said. “I haven’t used the app for much besides the dining hall menu. I would like ingredients posted about a dish, if I didn’t know what it is made of.”
According to Moriarty, Oswego State
was looking to improve students’ access to information.
“Our goal is to help improve the stu-dent experience and student success with the roll-out of the new features of the app,” Moriarty said. “Putting informa-tion in the hands of students when they need to contact and gain assistance from their advisers and take care of the details around registration.”
More people have been using the app, and there has been an increase of usage over the last year. There are currently over 5,700 downloads of the app.
According to Moriarty, since the release of MyDegree in June 2014, total Android installs jumped 85 percent to 1,185 and iOS installs increased 47 percent to 4,520. Daily usage of both apps has also increased. The Android app has consistently registered 250 percent more page views when compared with the same time period from the previous year and iOS increases have fluctuated between 50 per-cent and 230 percent from day to day.
“I use the app at least once a day, it has easy resources for the school, like the direc-tory,” Schou said. “I would recommend it to other students.”
Sarah GuidoneStaff [email protected]
Updates include Degree Works access, stats on campus computer lab usage
The SUNY Oswego app, first launched in 2011,gives students access to multiple important features
THE OSWEGONIAN
SPORTS B3
B1 FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014
SPORTS
MEN'S SOCCER
LOOKS TO PLAYOFFS
VOLUME LXXXI ISSUE VIII • www.oswegonian.com
B6
OPINION
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
MUST STOP
Photo provided by Steven Z
UPCOMINGMATCHES
Swimming and Diving
* green indicates home games
Saturday, Nov. 1
1 p.m.
Men's Ice HockeyFriday, Oct. 31
@ 7 p.m.
VolleyballSaturday, Nov. 1
7 p.m.
Women's Ice HockeyFriday, Oct. 31
12 p.m.vs.@ vs.
First weekendpotential trap
Andrew PuglieseSports Editor
Despite an impressive 5-3 victory against the USA under-18 team last weekend, the men’s ice hockey team must stay focused; otherwise this week-end could be a trap.
For opening weekend of the regular sea-son, the Lakers head on its annual Western New York road trip to play at the Buffalo State Bengals and the SUNY Fredonia Blue Devils. Last season, both teams knocked off Oswego State at one time or another.
In game one of the 2013-2014 season, the Blue Devils shocked the Lakers in the, then, Campus Center Arena on a Hunter Long game-winner in overtime, 3-2. The Bengals shutout Oswego State in Buffalo to begin the second half of SUNYAC play for the pro-gram’s first win over the Lakers, 4-0.
This season, both teams return substan-tial amounts of their rosters. While Oswego State is the coaches’ pick to win the confer-ence and is nationally-ranked, both the Blue Devils and the Bengals have legitimate odds of pulling off upsets. The Lakers have to re-turn to the ice this weekend with the same aggression, speed and physicality in order to live up to the preseason hype and make a statement for why they deserve it.
Friday night, Oswego State goes to Buf-falo State, its first trip to the building since being shutout on Jan. 25. The Bengals have lost four-year starting goalie Kevin Carr and have question marks in the defensive zone, but their offense is talented and ready to test the Lakers.
The team’s leading scorer from the 2012-2013 season, Nick Melligan is back after a year away, and will be surrounded by a tal-ented cast of scorers. Among them is senior Dan Turgeon and sophomore Taylor Pryce, who will need to be shut down or the con-tests will become a back-and-forth offensive battle and anyone’s game.
Turning the focus to Saturday night, SUNY Fredonia, similar to Oswego State, re-turns a majority of its roster from last season. After splitting time in the crease, junior Jeff Flagler and sophomore Christopher Eiser-man both have a season under their belts and are ready for year two. Rest assured their competition for the starting job will push them to even higher heights.
Besides experience and talent in between the pipes, the Blue Devils return its top two scorers, now seniors, Stephen Castriota and Jared Wynia. One of the weakest offensive teams in the SUNYAC last year, Jeff Mer-edith’s squad can only get better from here.
In the preseason d3hockey.com and USCHO.com national polls, Oswego State was ranked No. 3, only behind last season’s national championship participants St. Nor-bert and Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Those rankings epitomize how high the bar is set for the team this season. A roster full of re-turners and the win over the USA under-18 team last weekend only further solidified the Lakers as a favorite to return to the Fro-zen Four; however, the berth is not handed over, it must be earned.
The schedule ahead is grueling, filled with potential upsets and tough oppo-nents that are also nationally ranked. Wins in every game they are expected to win, like those this weekend, will sure-ly put the Lakers in a position to make a deep postseason run. Those wins will come by staying focused and mentally tough, as well as leaving it all on the ice, no matter if the front of the opponent’s jersey says "Plattsburgh" or "Fredonia."
Laker Ledger:Editor's Column
Senior swimmer impactful throughout her career
From soccer pitch to hockey rinkFreshman award winner for women's soccer now transitions into playing for the ice hockey team
Sam WatkinsStaff [email protected]
Freshman Sarah Grupp was awarded SUNYAC Player of Week in her soccer season and scored four goals.
the Week and ECAC Rookie of the Week for women’s soccer earlier this year, many were surprised to see Grupp’s name among those listed on the women’s ice hockey roster.
Grupp had a stellar first season for the women’s soccer team, scoring four goals and tying senior captain Bri Dolan for most min-utes played, as well as developing into a po-tent weapon the Lakers will look to rely on for the next three years.
Women’s soccer head coach Brian McGrane
received contributions from many of the freshmen this year, but Grupp was certainly a standout.
“We saw some video on her before the season, and we knew she would be a pretty good player,” McGrane said. “She was tremendous, her ability to play four different positions for us at any given time. Her soccer I.Q. and knowledge is very good.”
McGrane went even further, giving Grupp one of the greatest compliments an athlete can receive.
“We thought we would be getting a good
player, but from start to end, she was may-be the most consistent player we had all year,” McGrane said.
Although Grupp has yet to make her Oswego State ice hockey debut, it is ex-pected she will bring the same vigor and youth to this exciting ice hockey squad.
Grupp’s height also serves her well, as she stands in at 5 feet 10 inches tall, the third tallest player on the ice hockey team.
Oswego State swimming standout Sa-bia Filiaci is in her final season. One of the greats to come through the program, and as her teammates say the “perfect teammate,” she has one last year to ac-complish her goals, one more year of ear-ly morning swims, double practices and then its is all over.
Filiaci has been on the swim team since her freshman year. She has helped the team tremendously since she started. A hard worker, her striving to always be the best is what makes Filiaci special.
As soon as Filiaci came to Oswego State, she made a huge impact in her first year, was the team’s best 100 meter but-terfly swimmer. She placed 10th at the SUNYAC Championships in the 100 but-terfly and helped the 200 and 400 med-ley relays finish fifth and the 200 and 400 freestyle relays finish sixth at the
Dillon DeckertContributing [email protected]
SUNYAC Championships.After an amazing start to her ca-
reer the sky was the limit, there was so much potential.
“After her first year we knew she was going to be great for a while, unlimited
potential,” head coach Mike Holman said. With such a good start, she knew she
had to work harder to become better and build off an impressive first year.
“I knew I had to continue to work hard in the offseason, if I was going to continue to grow,” Filiaci said.
That is exactly what she did. She grew and had an incredible sophomore year. She was swimming in more events, be-
coming one of the best.She finished sixth in the 100 butterfly,
22nd in the 50 freestyle, 23rd in the 100 freestyle and helped the 200 freestyle re-lay team to a seventh-place finish at the SUNYAC Championships.
With a great finish to her second season, people realized she was one of the best.
With two seasons to go, it was going to be hard to top.
“I just want to see her do the best she can. She’s a great swimmer and more im-portantly a great leader,” Holman said.
Filiaci was in a comfort zone, becom-
ing a veteran now finally settling down.“I’m a lot more open, I was being my-
self, I was having fun,” Filiaci said.As her anticipated junior season came
around, she proved again why she was one of the best.
“My times decreased every year and I was getting better,” Filiaci said.
She finished 4th in the 100 butterfly, 9th in the 200 butterfly, 13th in the 50 free-
style and 7th in the 200 freestyle relay.With a great finish to her junior year,
and even more improvement her ceiling remains high, and she is still trying to be-come the best.
“Everyday I come to practice trying to get better, always striving to be the best,” Filiaci said.
Her hard work and commitment does not go unseen.
“She’s one of the hardest working girls in the pool, a great leader on this team, a great role model,” Holman said.
Filiaci is one of the team captains and with that she carries a lot of responsibili-
ties. The freshmen look up to her. She’s the leader and they strive to be like her.
“She’s so nice and so good, very humble, always looking out for her team and wanting us to be good,” said freshman Natalie Brophy. “She cares more about us it seems than herself. She’s the perfect captain.”
Humble describes Filiaci well as she never brags about her dominance in the pool. She realizes she’s one of the best, but is always looking out for the rest of her team. Her vision is always bigger. She is never satisfied and con-tinuously striving to be better.
“She always wants to be better, al-ways works hard at lifts, practices, to try to reach her goals she sets for her-self,” senior Kat McKinney said.
It’s hard to find athletes like Fili-aci who care about their team more than themselves.
“All the girls love her, they all get along great,” Holman said. “I think they all look up to her mostly because of her work ethic, and how she bought into the tradition, and became one of the best on the team through hard work and commitment.”
As her senior season starts, many ask what’s next for the star swimmer.
“As long as she’s happy, I’m hap-py,” Holman said. “I just want to see her season end in a bang.”
“I want to break the school record and win a SUNYAC title,” Filiaci said.
The senior has high expectations for herself this year. She has one last chance to swim into the Oswego State record book and be remembered as one of the all-time greats.
She’s had one goal since she came to Oswego State as a freshman and has one last season to achieve that goal: se-nior swimming standout Sabia Filiaci hopes to win a SUNYAC championship in her last collegiate season.
One can call her a soccer player, one can call her a hockey player, or one can just call her what she really is, an athlete. Sarah Grupp, a freshman from Charlottesville, Va. has not wasted any time in beginning her Oswego State athletic career.
After being named SUNYAC Player of
SABIA FILIACISenior, Schenectady, N.Y.
Strokes: Freestyle, Butterfly I think they all look up to her mostly be-
cause of her work ethic, and how she bought into
the tradition, and be-came one of the best on the team through hard
work and commitment."-Mike Holman, head coach
Grupp now brings much needed size at her 5-foot-10-inch frame to the women's ice hockey team.David Armelino | The Oswegonian
See GRUPP, B2
Captain sets goals high for final season as a Laker, also provides great leasdership for teammates
Photo provided by Sports Information
Senior Checklist-Continue to improve-Set standard for returners to follow-Become individual SUNYAC Champion
David Armelino | The Oswegonian
Andrew Pugliese | The Oswegonian
I've grown up playing these sports. I love them. I could never decide which one I love more, and I don't have to."
-Sarah Grupp, freshman dual-sport athleteFRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014 B2
THE OSWEGONIAN
Quote of the Week Blue LineSCOREBOARD
Oswego State
Men's Tennis
7
2
3
0
Saturday, Oct. 25
Women's Soccer
3
1
Saturday, Oct.25
VolleyballSaturday, Oct. 18
Men's Soccer
2
1
Wednesday, Oct. 29
Oswego StateROAD RECAPS
Men's SoccerThe Oswego State men’s soccer
played its final SUNYAC contest on the road on Saturday, Oct. 25 at No. 4 SUNY Oneonta. The Lakers lost the game against nationally-ranked Red Dragons by a score of 4-0. The Lakers were outshot 21-16 and 6-4 with shots on goal. Junior goalkeep-er Todd Lawson made two saves for Oswego State while senior Zack Sac-cocio and freshman Connor Lundus-ki led the way with four shots a piece. The Lakers will start its postseason play on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the col-lege at Brockport for play-in round of the SUNYAC playoffs.
Volleyball
The men's and women's swim-ming and diving teams were at SUNY Oneonta on Saturday, Oct. 25. The men lost their meet, 133-105. While the women lost, 133-82. For the men, senior Justin Ber-rios and sophomore Ben Hale per-formed well in diving, both earning first place in their respective events. The Lakers also nabbed first in 100-yard breastroke with sophomore Jacob Mullett. For the women, se-nior Sabia Filiaci won the 100-yard butterfly. Fresman Kaylin Luhrs won the 500-yard freestyle. Sophomore Maya Kaplan also earned a first place in the 100-yard breastroke.
Swimming and Diving
The Oswego State volleyball team competed at SUNY Fedonia this weekend for the SUNYAC Pool Play At Fredonia. The Lakers took on SUNY Geneseo on Friday, Oct. 24 and won, 3-2. Sophomore Lau-ren Edwards led the way with 26 digs in the match. Oswego State then played SUNY Fredonia and SUNY New Paltz on Saturday, Oct. 25, defeating the Blue Devils, 3-0 and losing to the Hawks, 3-0. In the match against SUNY Fredonia, ju-nior Rachael had the most digs with 26. While against SUNY New Paltz, junior Kelsey Dillon had the most kills for the Lakers with five. Oswego State plays their final regular season match on Saturday, Nov 1. Before they get prepared for the SUNYAC playoffs the following weekend.
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Jimmy Pope is not like any other fifth year student, of course he has a lot of ex-perience, he knows what it takes to be the best athlete he can be, like any veteran should. But what separates him from other fifth year athletes is how he got here.
The native of Red Hook, N.Y. came to Oswego State in the fall of 2010. He per-formed well for the men’s swimming and diving team throughout his freshman year and it showed at the end of the sea-son when he finished 10th at the SUNYAC Championships in the 200-meter butterfly.
After a great first year, many would ex-pect him to be a swimmer to look out for in the following season. But, before his fresh-man year ended in April, Pope decided to make a decision that would change his life.
Pope decided to join the military re-serves. It was something he debated be-fore he came to swim on the shores of Lake Ontario.
“It’s something I’ve always been inter-ested in doing and I came in under recruit-ship and I loved this school, so I decided to come here instead of join the military,” Pope said.
He did the research, he talked to recruit-ers and he was finally convinced to join the
Captain more than meets eyeAfter taking a year off to be with the military reserves three years ago, senior leads with character
reserves. At first, he thought it would just mean having to move away from home for a summer but he soon realized it would be a large commitment of his time.
“It would have ran past the end of sum-mer and conflicted with swimming so I de-cided to push it back a little ways and just take that year off of school,” Pope said.
Right after making the decision, he went and told his head coach Mike Hol-man, who was of course sad to see him go, but also not surprised.
“We were just supportive. I hon-estly didn’t think he’d come back,” Holman said.
Pope made a promise to Holman that
he would come back and he ended up keeping that promise, but not before hav-ing to do training for much of the year he had taken off from school.
While other students were moving back into their dorms in August 2011. Pope went down to Fort Jackson in South Caro-lina for basic training. He was there until the end of October where he then went to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas for combat medic training. He was there until March 2012.
Pope explained how it felt to be at train-ing while his team was at the SUNYAC Championships in February.
“I remember sitting up in my bunk
with my cell phone on the Internet trying to get updates,” Pope said. “It was tough to be away from it.”
After finishing his training, Pope came back to Oswego State to visit the team and to show he was ready to be back swim-ming in the fall. This motivation came from not being able to swim as much as he was used to during training.
“When I went to basic training, there was no swimming involved at all, so that’s the longest I’ve been out of a pool and I felt like a fish out of water.”
Pope came back for his sophomore year in the 2012-2013 season. He ended up finishing 17th at the SUNYAC Cham-pionships in the 200-meter butterfly.
After coming back from an experience like military training, many people would change how they act. Holman saw a ma-ture version of that man that had left for the reserves.
“It definitely changed him a little bit, but not that much, he was always like that in character,” Holman said.
Going into Pope’s junior year the team and the swimmer improved tremen-dously going from winning two meets to seven, while also seeing Pope do well at the SUNYAC Championships, finishing at 11th place in the 200-meter butterfly.
JIMMY POPESenior, Red Hook, N.Y.
Strokes: Freestyle, Butterfly
-Military Reserve-Senior captain-SAVAC member-Role model-Record seeker
Women's ice hockey coach enjoys presence of multi-sport athletes on roster
A player who may not have Grupp’s height but certainly shares her dual-sport ex-perience, is sophomore ice hockey defenseman Alli Ullrich, who also plays for the women’s tennis team. Ullrich, who plans to log big minutes on the ice for the Lakers this year, of-fered some words of advice to Grupp and all dual-sport athletes.
“You need to definitely give it a shot,” Ull-rich said. “Try it, and you’ll eventually get to know the team better, and get better everyday. Quitting is just not an option.”
Ullrich also acknowledged that participat-ing in two college sports can be challenging at times.
“For me, tennis and hockey are two ex-tremely different sports,” Ullrich said. “Being in shape for hockey isn’t necessarily the same as being in shape for tennis. Time management is also important, with practices changing and your routine always changing.”
Despite this, Grupp insists she never had
any doubts about playing both soccer and ice hockey.
“I’ve grown up playing these sports. I love them,” Grupp said. “I could never decide which one I love more, and I don’t have to.”
The two sports, although largely differ-ent games, present many of the same chal-lenges. For Grupp, whether she is on the ice or on the soccer pitch, her intensity never changes. Grupp only has one level, and that is 100 percent.
“I’m a little behind right now because I haven’t been on the ice for long,” Grupp said. “There isn’t too much of an adjustment. Both coaches tell me the same thing. Be as aggres-sive as I can.”
Despite being a member of the Oswego State women’s soccer and ice hockey teams, Grupp’s involvement as an athlete does not stop there, as she also participated in track and field in high school.
Grupp, however, insists we will not be see-ing her in any capacity for the spring season this year.
“Probably not going to be playing. I think I’ll take a season off,” Grupp said.
Two sports may be her maximum, but Grupp would certainly love to be named SUNYAC Player of the Week as a freshman, for two different sports.
“It would be really amazing,” Grupp said. “Coach Dillon was teasing me about it. She said she expects me to show up and win an-other one.”
Grupp has already had to manage her teams’ schedules accordingly, as she was un-able to begin ice hockey practice until the soc-cer season officially ended. The transition from soccer to ice hockey this year has incorporated more than just Grupp, as her many coaches also had to communicate. Grupp was initially sought after by Dillon and the ice hockey team before the soccer team learned of her ability.
“When we told the soccer coach, Coach McGrane, that we were recruiting Sarah for hockey, he looked her up and found out what league she played in, and he was very happy,” Dillon said.
When initially learning of Ullrich’s decision to join the tennis team, and the newcomer Grupp’s to play mul-tiple sports, Dillon admits she had her reservations
“Of course there are reservations. We don’t want any of our players to get hurt,” Dillon said. “But that’s the beauty of Divi-sion III, it allows players like Sarah and Alli to work on their athletic prowess. I like dual-sport athletes, because they are usually more coordinated, they are work-ing on other skills and they are excited to put on the skates.”
In just two months, Grupp has set the tone for what should be a notable Laker ca-reer. Grupp’s soccer performance may have already earned her accolades and recogni-tion, but the only award she plays for is a SUNYAC, and maybe a national title. She will have three more years after this one to achieve that goal, and if her team does earn that distinction, one can guarantee Grupp will have played a large part in it.
See POPE, B4
GRUPP, from B1
Andrew Pugliese | The Oswegonian
Matthew MoranAsst. Sports [email protected]
B2
SPORTS FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014 B3 B3
Athletes of the Week
AMANDA HEBERGERWomen's Soccer
Senior, Liverpool, N.Y.
The senior midfielder capped off her college career recording three points in a win against SUNY Cort-land who was ranked second in the SUNYAC coming into the match. He-berger started her senior day quickly, flicking on a header to Emma Geyer who was able to score, earning her an assist on the goal. The Liverpool native was then able to add an in-surance goal in the second half as she beat the keeper on a loose ball played in from the corner, giving He-berger her second goal of the year.
JUSTIN BERRIOSMen's Swimming and Diving
Senior, Bronx, N.Y.
A diver for the team, Berrios was able to grab top points in the one meter dive. At the Rochester Intsi-tute of Technology Dual meet, the senior scored a 215.95, which put him at first and earned the squad nine points. In the SUNY Oneonta meet, the Bronx native dominated the diving events, nabbing a first place finish in the one meter again. Overall, Berrios has earned the Lakers 13 points for his diving ef-forts so far this season.
2: Two Oswego State ice hockey newcomers made their Laker debut in a big way last weekend in the Marano Campus Center Arena. Men's transfer Joey Davies scored two goals in Oswego State's 5-3 win over the U.S. National Under-18 team. For the women, freshman Andrea Noss also scored two in her team's 2-0 win over the To-ronto Midget Aeros.
5: Men’s tennis junior Alex McCarthy only lost five games between his doubles and singles match against Hough-ton College on Saturday, Oct. 25 in Romney Fieldhouse. McCar-thy, along with freshman Brian Lyudmer won at first doubles, 8-4. McCarthy then went into singles and dominated, win-ning (6-1, 6-0). The transfer from Syracuse has made a large impact in his first year during the team’s non-regular season.
6: Men's soccer heads into the SUNYAC playoffs this weekend as the sixth seed in their conference. The Lakers went 3-5-1 in SUNYAC play this season after not winning a single game in conference or out of conference last year. Oswego State will play at the three seeded The College at Brockport Golden Eagles on Saturday Nov. 1 at 6 p.m.
Freshmen lead XC into SUNYACsMen's cross country group of four freshmen set up Lakers to perform well at conference final
Mike NakoskiStaff [email protected]
Freshman Kyle Pollicove performed well at the annual Don Masterson Invitational finishing 52nd, he has gone onto to have great success in his first season.
Coming into the 2014 season, the Oswego State men’s cross country team gained many freshman runners. Usually it takes a year or two for a new runner to make the transition from high school cross country to college, especially with the added on two miles. This year is a little different, as the Lakers have had very strong performances from its freshman runners.
Starting off with the first race of the year, one could tell it was going to be a special year and one for the books. In that first race at the 8th annual SUNYIT Invi-tational, freshman Justin Sommer from
Massapequa, N.Y., Colin Greenseich from Cicero, N.Y., Tom Kolankiewicz from Roch-ester, N.Y. and Kyle Pollicove from Whites-boro, N.Y. made immediate impacts and all finished within the top 27 in the race and the top seven on the team, including a 9th place finish by Greenseich, and a third place finish by Sommer.
This success would continue in to the next race, the annual Don Masterson Invita-tional where again Sommer, Greenseich, Ko-lankiewicz and Pollicove all finished in the top 47 of the race and top seven on the team. In almost every race this year they have consistently finished within the top seven of the team.
At the Harry F. Anderson Invitational at Roberts Wesleyan College, Sommer fin-ished in first place on the team and 22nd in the race with Greenseich right behind him
in 26th. Kolankiewicz continued his consis-tency of finishing at the top of the team by finishing in 76th place. Kyle Pollicove con-tinued his great season as well, finishing in 91st place.
At the Lafayette Leopard Invitational both Greenseich and Sommer finished in the top 20, in 13th and 19th place respectively. Kolankiewicz finished in 33rd place with Pollicove right behind him in 36th.
Head coach of the cross country team Stephanie Grimm has been very happy with the performances by the freshman runners.
“It’s typically not the case that your fresh-men make an immediate impact,” Grimm said. “It’s a big transition from the 5k race to the 8k race in the training, and what goes along with that.”
Going from the regular 5k (3.1 miles) race in high school to the 8k race (5 miles) can be
a big transition, especially in how one races. Greenseich and Sommer have taken this transition in stride.
“It’s a totally different race. It’s a little bit longer, and you have to be a little bit more patient, and you have to think a little more of where you’re at,” Sommer said.
“I like it better because I’m better at lon-ger distances, but it is definitely a challenge doing longer distances because I would go out too fast at the beginning of races, and I’m still working on it.”
With the SUNYAC Championships, and NCAA Atlantic Regional race just around the corner, the team will look to its freshman runners for excellent performances.
“What we’re looking at is a freshman comparison, to the other freshmen and try-ing to get them to look at being the top five freshmen in the conference, which is where I think they’re at right now. They’ll play a large role for SUNYAC and Regionals,” Grimm said.
Both Sommer and Greenseich are having exceptional performances this year and are excited for what the future brings.
“I’m pleased with performances so far but there is always room for success and room to do better. It’s nice to be in the top five, and be able to come in first year and be in the top five help out the team,” Sommer said.
Greenseich also expressed how excited he is about the future.
“It’s nice. I like it a lot. It’s fun to feel like I have a huge impact on this team already, and I can’t wait to see how far this team can go in the coming years, if I’m already doing this well, I feel like we can get a lot better,” Greenseich said.
Greenseich, Pollicove, Sommer and Ko-lankiewicz have all had a personal best of at least 27:55 in an 8k Race.
With the SUNYAC Championships com-ing up on Nov. 1 and the NCAA Atlantic Re-gonials coming up on Nov. 15, both Grimm and the Oswego State men’s cross country team are excited to see what the future will bring especially with a strong young team made up of 10 freshmen and sophomores. With the way this season has been going, that future looks very bright for years to come.
Men's soccer preps for postseasonLakers all set for its match against The College at Brockport in its first playoff game in five yearsSteven CorderoStaff [email protected]
The Oswego State men’s soccer team is preparing for its first playoff game since 2009, as it will go on the road to take on the College at Brockport Golden Eagles.
The Lakers have finished the season with a record of 5-10-2, a significant improve-ment over the 2013 campaign, which saw the Lakers fail to win a single game. They started off the season with a victory this year, and it certainly gave them the confidence boost they needed to get the season underway.
Head coach Robert Friske is excited for the current team, and recognizes that there is a presence on the team that will be here in the future, and it has the potential to be some-thing even greater.
“They’re excited,” Friske said. “It’s a young team. We have some nice veteran leadership, but we have a lot of young kids on the team as well who are contributing. This is exciting for everyone. Let’s not just be happy to make the playoffs. We’re in it to win it. We’re trying to become a great team.”
Despite winning its first game of the season, the early part of the campaign was a struggle for the squad as it would not win a game until the month of November and went on a massive scoring drought. How-ever, it was able to right the ship in order to clinch a postseason berth.
“We began pretty unprepared, but they’ve worked really hard to get in shape and become a tight group and become friends, and they’re starting to have chemis-try and results at the same time,” Friske said.
“The whole conference is tough, so it doesn’t matter who we face. Everyone is a challenge, with plenty of tough teams.”
Friske also sees the offense improving over the course of the season as a key contribution to the improved results of the team, and he hopes it maintains going into this weekend.
“We went from a team that barely got dou-ble digits in shots and shots on goal, and now we’re averaging in the teens and getting close to 20,” Friske said on his team’s improvement throughout the season. “It’s really promising.”
“We had some problems scoring, but we’re getting more opportunities,” Friske said.
The players have a positive aura going into this weekend and fully believe they have what it takes, as a group, to succeed.
“We’ve got to win. We all believe we can win, everyone believes in each other,” said Matt Massenzio, junior midfielder. “This is the biggest game of the season coming up. We’ve just got to be ready for it. One game at a time.”
The College at Brockport will be no easy opponent for the Lakers, but the team is showing confidence and knows what it needs to do.
“We can’t give up any set piece goals,” Massenzio said. “I think the team will pull through and finish their chances. Everyone wants it so bad, especially since we’ve al-ready lost to Brockport the way we did,” Massenzio said.
The Lakers started to gain confidence after a dramatic 2-1 victory over SUNY Potsdam at home on Alumni Weekend, and from there the Lakers went on to win three matches in five contests, including victories against Buffalo State at home and SUNY Geneseo on the road, putting the team in prime position to make the
Sophomore forward Harrison Rieber wil be one of the key factors to the Lakers upseting the Golden Eagles.
David Armelino | The Oswegonian
playoff push they did.Connor Lunduski, a freshman who has
had no problems making his presence known on the team by contributing some big goals throughout the season, thinks the team has be-come a family and has improved throughout the year.
“As time has gone on, we’ve been playing and working hard together,” Lunduski said. “We’ve got to stay as focused as we can and stay focused on what we need to do and not make as many mistakes as last time. They’re a very physical team, so we need to be able to play our own game against them.”
The Lakers will travel to The College at Brockport to take on the Golden Eagles at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The winner of the match-up will travel to SUNY Cortland to take on the Red Drag-
ons who are the 2nd seed for this year’s SUNYAC Championships.
The Lakers suffered a 4-1 loss against The College at Brockport earlier this year and will be looking to take the most important game of the season from it.
“We will feel great going into the postsea-son. We’ve got a tough test at hand, but I think we’re ready,” said Mitch Brickman, sopho-more midfielder. “We’re a much more tightly knit group, and it’s helped to improve our scoring, which was huge during the confer-ence games.”
He is very confident about the team’s chances, and he expects to come out with a win.
“The mindset this weekend is a W, to come out with a win and move on to Cortland,” Brickman said.
Photo provided by Sports Information
FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014THE OSWEGONIAN B3 B4SPORTS
This week in Campus RecreationLauren LaskyContributing [email protected]
This past weekend, Campus Recreation held events for students’ family and friends during their stay in Oswego.
On Friday, there was a 3-point contest in Lee Gym. Twenty-four participants took part in a competitive but friendly atmosphere. In addition to students, family members ranging from young children to parents joined in. Each participant had two attempts to score as many 3-pointers as they could within the allotted time. The top six contestants advanced to the final round. Jahmeer Rollin and Daniel Ross were the winners of the event and received championship T-shirts.
Later that night, there was a Splash-In movie from 8 to 10 p.m. The 40 people who attended the event floated around Lee Pool in inner tubes while watching "Frozen." Refresh-ments were provided by Auxiliary Services.
On Saturday night, Open Skate took place in the Marano Campus Center Arena and included an immense turnout of 238 partici-pants. In addition to ice skating, there was a candy guessing jar and two trivia games for children. Auxiliary Services provided refresh-ments for this event as well.
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Students who participated in the 3-point shooting
contest held by Campus Recreation on Friday for
Family and Friends Weekend pose for a photo.
In sports news, the men’s flag football semifinals took place Sunday afternoon. Save the Receipt dominated 2 for 1 in a quick sweep, 25-6.
Hustlin Homies also faced off against Win or Lose We All Booze. The cold, chilly Oswego weather matched the competitive atmosphere of the game.
Win or Lose We All Booze took off running from the start of the game, and the first touch-down of the game was scored by Bill Lackner on a fourth and goal. Exceptional plays were made by John Rauseo and Alec Nelson, who
have scored multiple times throughout the playoffs. Touchdowns were capped off by the team’s “extra point specialist” Chris Magill, who is known for helping Win or Lose We All Booze gain a few points once the team has a lead in the game.
In the end, the higher seed, Win or Lose We All Booze, continued its hot streak with a shutout, 20-0. The team looks to be a tough competitor coming into the finals, as it has not allowed a single point throughout the playoffs.
Save the Receipt and Win or Lose We All Booze will compete for the championship on Friday, Oct. 31 at 4 p.m.
Anyone interested in learning how to play tennis or improve his or her skills can come join Campus Recreation for a free tennis lesson and tournament. There will be instruction for all skill levels and equipment is provided to participants.
The tennis tournament and free lesson that was previously planned for September 13th has been rescheduled for Sunday. Onsite registration begins at 4:30 p.m. and play is from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Romney Field House.
Campus Recreation also offers open recre-ation for badminton and pickleball the remain-der of the fall semester. Interested students can come out Tuesdays 4 to 5:30 p.m., now through Nov. 18.
Last year was also the first year for junior transfer, Aidan Meehan. He shared how im-portant Pope is to this team.
“He is the person to talk to whenever, if you’re tired, feeling down. He knows what it’s like to be tired,” Meehan said. “He tells me when to go, how to do it, push hard, don’t be negative. It’s good to have a person behind you saying all those things.”
That positive mentality led Holman to name Pope as one of the captains for this season.
“I always thought he’d be a captain in his senior year. One, for just what he’s done, and coming back and finishing this up,” Holman said. “He’s got a connection that goes deeper than anyone else on this team because of how long he’s been here.”
Pope expressed his gratitude for being named as one of the captains.
“It means a lot that he trusted me with be-ing a captain because there are definitely some other people who could have done an excellent job at it as well,” Pope said.
Along with being captain, he also still deals with the responsibility he has under contract with the reserves. Although done with train-ing, he still has to go away ome weekend a month as part of his contract with the re-serves, something he has been doing since he finished training.
“I have to go down to Utica to drill one
weekend a month, which does occasion-ally interfere with meets,” Pope said. “I try to work with my unit and coach so that I don’t miss anything.”
It is this kind of commitment that shows the younger swimmers on the team what it is like to put it all on line for the team.
“I think it sets a great example, especially for the newcomers,” Meehan said. “He shows
commitment to the team, seeing him work-ing so hard. He tries really hard no matter what the circumstance.”
Though missing some events, he also gives advice to his teammates as well as get-ting some of them involved in a student as-sociation group.
“He misses some stuff here and there, but I think we have a handful of other kids that have the same interests. He’s been able to give them advice and answer ques-tions,” Holman said. “He’s been involved in SAVAC, where we have a lot of other kids get involved in that as well.”
SAVAC, the Student Association Volun-teer Ambulance Corps of Oswego, Inc., is something that connects deep within Pope as he debates what he wants to do when he graduates this spring.
“This year I plan to talk to active duty recruiters and weigh my options. I’m also thinking about going into paramedic school, flip flopping ideas right now,” Pope said. “I would like to go into active duty but that question is, ‘Do I do it immediately after school or wait a little while?’”
While he still has time to think it over, there are still some things that Pope is look-ing to achieve in the pool for himself and the team.
“We’ve got a record on the board that’s been standing there for a pretty long time. The 200-meter butterfly record. It’s a stretch but it’s a personal goal of mine to beat that record since freshman year,” Pope said. “As far as the team goes, I’m hopefully looking to move up a spot at SUNYACs or at least hold our ground from last year.”
Oswego State’s 200-meter butterfly record is 1:55.18 set by Pete Rosenkrantz in 1977. Pope set a time of 2:01.38 in last year’s SUNYAC Championships, so it will be interesting to see if he can achieve the goal. While the team is looking to improve from last year, they have already lost their first two meets against tough opponents Rochester Institute of Technology and SUNY Oneonta. The team will be having their first home meet of the season on Satur-day against Wells College.
One thing is for sure there will not be many like Jimmy Pope that come through this program again. All coach Holman can hope for is that the younger swimmers take what they have learned from the fifth-year senior so that the team will be stronger in years to come.
Long-time record in sightas senior finishes career
He's got a con-nection that goes deeper than anyone else on this team because of how long he's been here."
Mike Holman, head coach
POPE, from B2
Photo provided by Campus Recreation
OPINION
“I’m going to be a baseball player. I didn’t have a lot of money, so it’s the best I could do.”
Will Corriganundeclared major, sophomore
“I’m going to be little red rid-ing hood, I already had a red skirt.”
Emily Defilippopsychology major, freshmen
“I’m going to be Luigi. Actually my friend is going to be Mario and Waluigi.” Marina Ruffalohuman development major, sophomore
“I’m being Ricky from Trailer Park Boys, it’s a TV show on Netflix.”
Nate Beachbiology major, freshmen
See web exclusive Opinion articles at www.oswegonian.com/opinion
“I’m Steve Rogers, my room-mate is being the Winter Sol-dier, my arch nemesis.”
Brendan Peekcreative writing major, freshmen
“Congress shall make no law... abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the press...” -First AmendmentVOLUME LXXXI ISSUE VIII • www.oswegonian.com B6
B? B5
OPINION
GET ID, GET
VOTING B3
SPORTS
ROOKIES MAKE
STATEMENT
THE OSWEGONIANThe independent student newspaper of Oswego State since 1935
GUIDELINESWe want your thoughts on our coverage, campus and local issues, or anything
regarding the Oswego State community.
Email all letters as Word attachments to [email protected] or mail submis-sions to 139A Campus Center, Oswego N.Y. 13126
All writers must provide their real name, address, academic year, major and phone number (which will not be published).
Members of organizations should include their title if their letter addresses an issue pertaining to the organization.
For publication, letters should be 250 words or less and submitted by the Tuesday prior to the desired publication date.
The Oswegonian reserves the right to edit and reject letters and cannot guarantee that all letters will be published.
Opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not always reflect those of The Oswegonian.
FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014
What are you dressing as for Halloween? Why?
STAFF EDITORIAL
IN THE OFFICE
Issack CintronStaff Writer
Lily Choi | The Oswegonian
David ArmelinoPhotography Director
Cease school shootings today
Photo provided by Vox Efx
good time, but be mindful that things could take a turn for the worse if proper precau-tions aren’t taken.
Take Bridge Street Run last year, for exam-ple. A day of bar hopping and fun through-out the day turned into tragedy as it was later revealed two students were hospitalized and one passed away from heroin overdoses.
While at a large party with people you may not know, be weary of where you leave a drink or any other consumable substance, because some people who attend these par-ties won’t hesitate to slip something in them.
This may sound like an after school spe-cial, but these kinds of things really do hap-pen, and just because you are convinced something like this won’t happen to you, think again.
There is also no shame in staying in for the night while your friends go out to a party. I myself am going home for the weekend be-cause, for one, it’s not exactly my scene, and two, I don’t feel obligated to go out when I don’t want to.
This isn’t to say going out is the wrong thing to do by any means. My point here is
that Halloween, being on a Friday, will be full of parties around town, and if you are planning on attending some, just be aware of who is around you and what might hap-pen if you let your guard down.
If you’re not one to go out on Hallow-een, there are plenty of things to watch on TV that encompass the Halloween spirit. AMC’s fearfest is happening right now with classic horror movies like the “Hal-loween” series, “Nightmare on Elm Street” and the “Child’s Play” series.
FX will also be showing a number of movies on Halloween throughout the day, including “Halloween Resurrection,” the “Paranormal Activity” series, “Final Desti-nation 5” and “Men in Black 3.”
Netflix also has plenty of horror flicks, new and old to browse through. If you don’t know where to start, check out the Laker Review section of the paper online.
Whether you’re going out to a party, staying in and watching movies or go-ing home and passing out candy, be safe with what you’re doing and have a happy Halloween!
Halloween falls on a Friday this year, which means plenty of students will be taking advantage of the holiday by attending parties on and off campus.
This can be an enjoyable occasion for peo-ple to dress up and even make new friends along the way. On the other hand, it spells nothing but trouble because of the anonym-ity of what Halloween brings, especially in a college town.
It’s completely fine to go out and have a
shootings in America. Yet according to research, another catalyst exists in the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012. Accord-ing to Wikipedia, between the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, 83 shootings have occurred with 263 deaths and 170 others left wounded. Since the Sandy Hook shooting two years ago, another 70 have taken place with 50 deaths and 80 others left wounded. An-other website, everytown.org, combats that fact, claiming the following:
“Since the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, Conn, there have been at least 87 school shootings in America. How many more before our leaders pass common-sense laws to prevent gun violence and save lives? Communities all over the coun-try live in fear of gun violence. That’s unac-ceptable. We should feel secure in sending our children to school — comforted by the knowledge that they’re safe.”
Everytown’s claim is backed by the fact that, since Columbine in 1999, a combined total of at least 170 school shootings have occurred, resulting in the deaths of 313 people and leaving 250 others wounded. Out of those statistics, at least 51 percent of the shootings, 16 percent of the deaths and 32 percent of the wounds took place fol-lowing the events at Sandy Hook Elemen-tary in December 2012.
However, many Americans may not be aware of these numbers, they may not know of the other 167 school shootings that have taken place outside of Columbine, Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech in 2007. People should be aware of this growing epidemic in America, which has plagued the last de-cade and a half and continues to trend up-
ward in terms of frequency. Instead, the 50 lives that have been lost since Sandy Hook due to school shootings will get lost in the fray as the media will focus on the nine Americans that have been di-agnosed with the Ebola virus. This isn’t to say the Ebola virus shouldn’t be taken seriously, for it is also lethal. The point is that more school shootings occur in America than people are aware of.
Unlike Ebola, however, there hardly exists a way for school shootings to be predetermined or discovered before it occurs. Most of the time these incidents are completely out of the blue with no one suspecting the shooter of having any prior mental or personal issues. It is usually after the fact that people try to decipher why the gunmen decided to act, what drove them to the state of mind they were in, how they acquired their weapon and when they decided they would take such actions, etc. Nev-er do they look at the person prior to the incident and determine that they are likely to perform a school shooting because it’s such a hard thing to pre-dict.
Regardless of whatever the argu-ment is about school shootings, let it be known these incidents are becoming much too frequent, yet much too un-derexposed. There may be ways to pre-vent future incidents from happening if society is to go deeper into what may cause these shootings. Until then, let it be made aware that school shootings are a growing epidemic and must be addressed more thoroughly, otherwise the numbers may only tragically grow.
Last Friday, a firearm found its way into an American school… again. Last Friday, shots were fired in an American school… again. Last Friday, young, promising and innocent lives were lost… again. A week later the media is fixated on a school shoot-ing… once again. Isn’t this trend getting old? Aren’t people sick and tired of hear-ing about a young kid bringing a firearm to a school and causing havoc? Don’t people want this all to stop?
Three lives were lost last Friday dur-ing a shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School north of Seattle. According to multi-ple reports, the shooter, 15-year-old Jaylen Fryberg, invited his victims to the lunch-room where he opened fire with a .40 cali-ber handgun, killing two and wounding three others before turning the gun on him-self, committing suicide. Authorities have begun taking a look into what could’ve possibly motivated this incident while the rest of the nation tries to figure out how to prevent this epidemic from spreading fur-ther. A shooting like this will once again bring up the argument of gun control, es-pecially with the midterm elections loom-ing within the next week, and this decade and a half long argument traces back to the most significant shooting of all.
Whenever a school shooting occurs in America, the one thing that comes to mind for many Americans is Columbine, which makes sense because the Colum-bine High School shooting has seeming-ly long served as the catalyst for school
Have fun on Halloween, be safe y’all
VOTE IN MIDTERM ELECTIONS It is time for the midterm elections on
Tuesday and registered voters must head out to have their voices heard.
Voters will often refrain from heading to the polls in years where there is no pres-idential election. According to the Pew Re-search Center, 37 percent of the voting-age population actually voted in the 2010-mid-term elections. Compare that to the 2012 elections where President Barack Obama was re-elected and 54 percent of the vot-ing-age population voted.
This is not just a problem that has come about in recent years either. Pew Research tracks back to 1948 where the presidential election had a 51 percent turnout. The fol-lowing midterm elections had a 41 percent turnout rate.
Some voters may not think their votes
mean much, but midterms are the time to elect national lawmakers to Congress. We may not be electing a senator this year, but there are 27 races for seats in the House of Representatives. Even if you are not vot-ing in Oswego County there is a race for a seat in Washington D.C. for wherever you are registered to vote. The governorship is also on the ballot, along with the attorney general and state comptroller.
Not to mention, some state legislators are up for election across the state. There are also three propositions on the ballot for New York voters. The first one is to revise the state’s redistricting procedure, some-thing meant to avoid gerrymandering. At first glance, voters may think this sounds like a good idea, but the major difference is the redistricting goes to a third party panel
hand picked by both parties. If legislators do not like the lines drawn at the end of the process, then they can draw them on their own, basically bringing things back to how they are now. The second proposal aims to allow legislators to distribute bills electronically. The current state regula-tions require bills to be printed before they can be voted on. The third proposal would provide about $2 billion in borrowed funds to provide for schools. This would allow the state to provide new technology in classrooms across the state.
There are plenty of reasons to get out and vote on Tuesday. If you want your voice heard, do not wait until the next presidential election to do so. Do some re-search on the races, proposals and candi-dates, and get out there and vote.
Let’s rid the streets of guns taking lives of innocent civilians daily
Photo provided by Sports Information
OPINION B5FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014THE OSWEGONIAN
Being up to date with the world, especially politics, allows us the
ability to look at leaders’ mistakes,”
Photo provided by CollegeDegrees360
Tip of the hat...
◊...to the ladies and gentlemen going to extremes to hold open doors.
◊...to those voting in Tuesday’s election.
◊...to doctors and nurses keeping our country safe from Ebola.
◊...to those dressing as Ray Rice for halloween; that’s not funny.
◊...to those not paying attention while walking; look up.
◊...to those complaining about humans versus zombies; it’s for charity.
Wag of the finger...
When I was younger, my mother would always take me to go vote with her. I would feel so grown up when she let me enter the booth with her and pull the handle. As I got older and learned more about how the government works, I grew less interested in politics. It saddened me to learn about cor-ruption and complete destruction of other nations and families due to the fight for con-trol and power.
Through hidden messages, it was thrown at me that my vote doesn’t count and I didn’t matter. Continuing on with high school, the idea of turning 18 was not as euphoric as television had made it. It wasn’t until I saw a protest about healthcare that I realized how important it was for young people to vote. As I looked at the demographics of people
Lily Choi| The Oswegonian
Vote young, make change for futurein the protest, 90 percent of the people were over the age of 30, and the other 10 percent were people around my age. I was curious as to why this was.
Regardless of the saying, “Young people are the future,” it is much better to be aware of what is going on around us than to be ig-norant. Being up to date with the world, es-pecially politics, allows us the ability to look at leaders’ mistakes, analyze them and vote for someone who is qualified. How can we expect change if all we choose to do is com-plain? Through my class discussions, I real-ized that young people can contribute fresh and brilliant ideas. We should be the main people in the voting lines and trying to reg-ister to vote. There is already this notion that our generation is ignorant and self-centered,
Cherilyn BecklesStaff Writer
As the weather progressively gets colder and the leaves that have already changed colors begin to fall, the festive mood of autumn can be felt. Naturally, this means companies begin to oversupply us with any-thing that could possibly be related to fall and the holidays. One item that seems to be gaining an increasing amount of popularity is pumpkin, specifically pumpkin spice.
Ever since Starbucks came out with their pumpkin spice latte, also known as PSL, it has received an enormous amount of hype; especially, by the YouTube beauty communi-ty. It was an item in every beauty vlogger’s favorites videos at least once. It became the drink of the season and for some people it’s not fall unless Starbucks has started serv-ing PSL. There is even an iced variety of the drink. Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s are trying to catch up with this trend and are offering pumpkin spice lattes as well. Now there’s a pumpkin spice version of almost any food item you would want ranging from candy to beer.
It’s interesting the same phenomenon isn’t occurring with apples. Apples are a fruit harvested in the fall as well. Starbucks does offer a caramel apple spice, but that’s essentially apple juice and cinnamon with caramel and whipped cream on top. I only found out about it by Googling it. I’m aware that apple cider is also popular now, and I have tried apple cider doughnuts. However, I haven’t seen much else. This might have something to do with the fact there are so many different varieties of apples and it’s available almost year-round. However, pumpkins can only be harvested in the fall, and that gives them this quality of being
Lily Choi| The Oswegonian
Pumpkin spice craze deserves praise
limited. So, this causes an increased demand for them.
I’m from New York City, and I have never tasted anything pumpkin flavored until this semester. It tastes exactly like a food item that represents fall might taste, and this pleasantly surprised me. I’ve had chocolate with pumpkin filling, pumpkin doughnuts and pumpkin bread, and I can’t help but feel I’m succumbing to the hype. I don’t particularly mind.
Aleema-Jadesola SanusiContributing Writer
Thomas AustinStaff Writer
Ebola crisis not big fear
Ebola is a disease that hit the U.S. a few weeks ago and has now reached New York City. There has been talk of how this is a serious issue and something must be done about it. While that is true, Ebola has been around since 1976 and only one person has died in the U.S. because of Ebola. Yes, Ebola is a scary disease and it should be stopped, but this isn’t any-thing to panic over.
When it comes to Ebola there is a gray area of what the public knows and the doctors and people who have studied Ebola know. Ebola has been around since 1976 when the first outbreak was reported in central Africa. Ebola did not just hit the human population this year. According to the World Health Organization, this is a disease transmitted through human-to-human transmission. Another thing the public is confused about is that you don’t always die when you come in contact with this disease. The average death rate is about 50 percent, and in the past, they have varied from 25 percent to 90 percent.
As a country, we have already been moving forward with Ebola. People have been cured and are OK now. Also, just because a person is near the area of the outbreak, doesn’t mean he or she will get the disease. People have been around others with Ebola in the same hospital and nothing is happening to them.
Ebola is a very scary disease that can do damage, but this isn’t something we should be overly concerned with. There have only been four cases in the United States, one person has died and out of the four cases, only two of them have contracted it in the U.S. The other two came from Liberia and Guinea.
As we keep learning about Ebola, more and more facts have been coming out. I think Ebola is a scary disease, like any other disease, but I don’t think we should be overly concerned about it. We are all blessed to be in the U.S., and we just need to trust our doctors find a cure available to everyone. Until then, we need to know that Ebola isn’t going to outbreak all across the world. This is a disease that has hit the U.S. and we are just realizing what this disease does.
Disease spreading, but no need for panic
Photo provided by Taqi
Voter identification easy find, provide Mitch Petrella
Staff [email protected]
Just like Halloween, election season is upon us. It is that time of year when candidates make their run for seats in the House of Representatives, Senate and the title of state Governor. There are on-
campus clubs and promotional events to get students to vote; Rock the Vote is out and about informing students about the absentee process. Students can learn how to cast an absentee ballot for their county because not all students at Oswego State are from Oswego County. Outside the state of New York, a different battle is oc-curring, the battle of voter identification versus no identification.
Voter ID laws have always been a con-
Proof of residency for voting should be easy task, not burdensometroversial topic no matter what side of the political spectrum you reside on. Democrats argue that ID laws are unconstitutional and discriminate against minorities while Re-publicans contend that laws prevent voter fraud, the two main issues being voting for someone else and voting twice. Personally, I am an independent, so my ideologies are mixed. However, I believe voters should
have to present some form of ID when vot-ing in primaries, midterm elections and presidential elections at the minimum.
As of now, over 30 states believe voters should have ID when entering the voter booth at the very minimum. Because a ma-jority of students and faculty here at Os-wego State reside somewhere in New York State, they should be aware of New York’s voting laws. The state does not require any document to vote, unless they are voting for
the first time and then must have a photo ID. However, New York does require the person to state their name, address and sign the polling list before entering the booth.
In contrast, states such as Arizona and Ohio have a “strict non-photo ID” law where an ID is required to vote. You may cast a ballot as a provisional vote and then must come back to show ID within a certain time frame. If you fail to present ID, your vote becomes invalid. Because the documents are non-photo, ID may be something like a bank state-ment or utility bill.
I have no issue with providing some form of ID to vote because it should not be that hard to present it. If you are 18, the minimum age to vote, you likely have a form of ID. Driving is a common way people might get to the polls, so when you walk in, you already have ID in the form of a driver’s license, permit or non-driver ID. Any of these are ap-propriate to present at the check in table because it has all of your information on it. Don’t have these items? Grab your social security card and present it to the check-in table. You may also find a recent bank statement, bill or insurance policy with your name and address on it. Personal responsibility goes a long way in life and it’s important to keep things organized.
In an ideal scenario, each county from every state should provide a ser-vice where people can get identification specifically for elections and they could be used for any election, no matter the size. Free program or not, having proper identification is not a difficult feat in this day and age.
Extremists causing discrimination toward Muslims
A poll done by Newsweek shows 46 percent of Americans say this country al-lows “too many” Muslim immigrants. The same poll reflect that 41 percent of Ameri-cans believe the Muslim culture glorifies suicide.
Acts of terrorism have been mak-ing headlines since the late 1970s. Today, the FBI’s top priority is to protect the U.S. from terrorist groups like al-Qaida and ISIS. Recently, ISIS militants killed Baghdad civilians in a suicide bombing, launched attacks on Kurdish forces and killed a British hostage, Alan Henning.
Current news emphasizes the endan-germent of the innocent by Muslim terror-ists. The terrorists cause the harm. Mus-lims desire peace.
Over 80 percent of the U.S. follows Christianity with less than 1 percent of the population following Islam. Lack of rep-resentation in this country has led to mis-interpretations of the Islamic religion. The Quran states,“All mankind is descended from Adam and Eve, an Arab is not bet-ter than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab; a white person is not better than a black person, nor is a black person better than a white person except by piety and good actions.” Most Muslims share American values such as the need to seek equality and justice for all. Mus-lim extremists or Islamists believe in the merging of the mosque and the state un-der sharia law. Islam extremists use non-violent approaches to spread ideology and install Islamic supremacy around the globe. On the other hand, Islamic terror-ists use violent acts to instill fear and force changes of government in their favor.
A common misconception made about Muslim men is that they are vicious for allowing the stoning of cheating wives and performing public honor killings. The Quran, like other spiritual texts, has a high regard for life and does not promote violence. Practicing Muslims are like prac-ticing Christians; they sin. However, Mus-lims largely believe in encouraging peace and protection of wives. Muslim extrem-
ists believe all women should listen to the needs of the men and continually sat-isfy them. An extremist might go as far as threatening to divorce their wife because she spoke when she was not addressed. A terrorist could ruthlessly murder a woman for revealing too much skin.
People should not stereotype, but why do they? Anytime you think about inter-national news, the first thing that comes to mind is the Middle East. Westerners do not realize the rate at which non-western-ers are slain, mainly because reporters do not highlight this information. In fact, al-Qaida kills eight times more Muslims than non-Muslims. Why aren’t more Americans aware of this? It’s simple. If a Muslim man saves a drowning infant, religion becomes a pointless detail in the story coverage. However, if a man, who happens to be of the Islamic faith, drowns an infant the story becomes another outlet for more Is-lamic distrust in America.
In America, Muslims experience ste-reotype in various forms. Some cases of discrimination against Muslim Americans include inequity in the workforce or being denied a job, being heavily searched at air-ports, or even being harassed by strang-ers who see a hijab as an emblem of hate. There are many organizations in the U.S. such as Jihad Watch and the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) that promote Islamophobia; prejudice against Islamic doctrine or Muslims.
I have witnessed these prejudices first hand. A co-worker of mine had a cus-
tomer refuse to talk to her, even though she was the only employee at customer service, simply because she was Mus-lim. Another friend of mine was forced by her father to break up with her boy-friend because he was Muslim. What is next; separate drinking fountains? How is this any better than discrimination against African-Americans before the Civil Rights Movement? Muslims are be-ing generalized into this one erroneous identity, which is leading to division in the Islamic community.
There are different kinds of Muslims. To practicing Muslims, extremist views are senseless and do not reflect their be-liefs and values. Non-extremist Muslims do not even want to be associated with their merciless extreme counterparts. According to the Pluralism Project at Harvard University, mosques across the country are holding open houses and inviting non-Muslims to learn about Is-lamic beliefs and values. According to the same organization, Muslim student groups are holding “Islam Awareness Weeks” on their college campuses where they are reassuring Muslims denounce militant Jihad and Islamic fundamental-ism. Muslims are constantly having to battle negative stereotypes, which can be frustrating and infuriating.
Terrorist acts harm everybody: Mus-lims and Non-Muslims. Negative ste-reotypes against the Muslim religion also hurt people. Don’t be an ill in-formed citizen.
Christina MaderaStaff Writer
so why promote that image? For just half an hour a day, we can flip through a newspaper or watch CNN to learn about the future of the country that not only we have to live in, but our children will as well. As Edward Everett Hale once said, “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something, and I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
Lily Choi| The Oswegonian
Though many base their opinions of Muslims off extremists and terrorists, religious texts promote peace.
FRIDAY Oct. 31, 2014INSIDE Swift goes fully pop on
funky fifth albumHip-hop duo Run the Jewels drops free second album
C5C4C3 Latest ‘Borderlands’ game continues amped up fun
Laker ReviewThe Oswegonian
ARt ExhIbItIoN: CIRClES AND SquARESDate: Friday, Oct. 31Time: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.Location: Oswego State Downtown, 186 W. First St.
ARt DEpARtmENt FACultY ShowDate: Friday, Oct. 31Time: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.Location: Art Association of Oswego, Fort Ontario, 1 E. Fourth St.
thEAtER pERFoRmANCE: “RoCkY hoRRoR pICtuRE Show”Date: Friday, Oct. 31Time: 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.Location: Ballroom, Hewitt Union
SAFE tRICk-oR-tREAtDate: Sunday, Nov. 2Time: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.Location: Residence Halls and MaranoCampus Center
tAlk: “wRItINg FoR thE SCREEN”Date: Monday, Nov. 3Time: 3 - 4:30 p.m.Location: Auditorium, Room 132, MaranoCampus Center
tAlk: “thE lIFE oF A pERSoN who StuttERS”Date: Monday, Nov. 3Time: 7 - 8 p.m.Location: Room 201, Marano Campus Center
moVIE: “NEIghboRS”Date: Thursday, Nov. 6Time: 6 - 8 p.m.Location: Auditorium, Room 132, Marano Campus Center
Events CalendarFriday, Oct. 31 through Friday, Nov. 7
Laker review Laker reviewFRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014C2
Cover image provided byloadthegame.com
weekly Ep Revue: Emblem3 fails to impress
After coming in fourth on the second season of Fox’s “X Factor,” Emblem3 were greeted with open arms by thousands of fans as they prepared the release of their debut album “Nothing To Lose.” Their success grant-ed off the album led them to create and release the follow-up EP, “Songs From The Couch Vol. 1.” Failing to make many strides forward, their independent EP failed to garner the recognition of their mixed review debut. Now in 2014, the trio, who recently became a duo, hope
to experience the same fame that came from their stint on the “X Factor.”
Titled “Forever Togeth-er,” Emblem3’s latest release showcases more of the op-reggae blend listeners were previously exposed to. The resulting EP is a collection of halfhearted, alarmingly plain tracks with very little individuality to be noticed. The brothers, whose debut release had been produced through Simon Cowell’s la-bel, have been the charm to this ordinary necklace, as both “Songs From The Couch Vol. 1” and their cur-rent release will most like-ly fail to gain any sort of lasting traction.
Clearly picking up from Cowell’s ability to churn
out boy band material, “Ob-sessed” focuses on what sounds like meaningless lyrics. Providing nothing new to the industry, this track may have actually been permissible had it had the backing of their old la-bel. Without industry mar-keting though, this track is sure to enter one ear and out the other.
What begins as an actual-ly interesting song soon falls to pieces on “Don’t Know Her Name.” From its open-ing guitar strumming beat to the singers’ wispy vocals, “Don’t Know Her Name” presents itself as a new di-rection for the brothers, but that soon changes as the song progresses and becomes ex-tremely similar to “Obsessed.”
The album’s only memorable track is the easy-listening title track, “Forever Together.” Sweet and simple, this minimally pro-duced track perfectly captures fluid motion as its blend of reg-gae and pop music creates a warm atmosphere. Similar to some of Bruno Mars’ earlier music, this track is the only one with relevance.
“Forever Together” is not anything special. Sure, songs on it could be entertaining for a long car ride, but in a world saturated in fun car music, why even bother spending the time looking into them? Unless of course you want to be one of the few people that will re-member the words to a single one of their songs. For Em-blem3, it seems as though their 15 minutes is up.
Riley AckleyPromotional [email protected]
best of Netflix: Deconstructing horror genreRonel PuelloLaker Review [email protected]
Every week this month, we’ve featured an assortment of the best horror movies currently streaming on Netflix Instant. Here’s a last batch of movies guaranteed to keep you con-stantly looking over your shoul-der up into the wee hours of that sweet daylight.
2009’s “The House of the Devil” might have slipped un-der your radar, and that’s com-pletely understandable consid-ering its humble cast of relative unknowns and independent re-lease, but this hidden treasure of horror cinema needs to be seen and truly appreciated. Desperate college student Samantha takes a job as a babysitter for the mys-terious Ulman family, but she soon discovers that the Ulman family is luring gullible teens to their deaths in order to perform satanic rituals.
The movie is a simultane-ous send-up and love letter to the grindhouse horror movies of the 1970s and ‘80s. Everything in the film, down to the feathered haircuts, the Sony Walkmen, the title cards over freeze frames and the delightfully cheesy ‘80s soundtrack just reeks of a tongue-in-cheek affection for the movies that made Halloween a treat at the movie theaters.
If you’re a film buff or even
just a horror film fanatic, Palm d’Or winner Michael (pro-nounced Michelle) Haneke’s name might not be on the top of your list of horror movie di-rectors. His 1997 thriller and its 2007 American shot-for-shot remake “Funny Games” places him firmly in upper echelons of directors to make audiences feel permanently unsettled by what they’re seeing on the big screen.
The film begins with two teens asking a vacationing fam-ily for eggs from their fridge. Without spoiling the rest of the film for any prospective view-ers, the bulk of the story is these two kids systematically inconve-niencing and then torturing the
“Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.” Starring the eminently likable Alan Tudyk (“Fro-zen”) and Tyler Labine (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) as two courteous hillbillies, who through a series of in-creasingly hilarious misunderstand-ings, keep getting mistaken for your stereotypical murderous hillbillies of horror movie lore. The college stu-dents who keep getting lost on their way to their spring break cabin in the woods do almost everything in their power to make them out to be these murderous characters to a fault.
The movie is just as much about the beaten to death clichés found in B-movie horror films as it is about not judging books by their covers. It’s sure to make you laugh and make you think a little bit by the end.
vacationing family in order to satisfy some kind of twisted bet between the two. The film leaves the audience feeling completely powerless as the tropes of the “last girl” or even the concept of good things happening to good people are thrown entirely overboard. “Funny Games” is a darker, less comical take on the role of violence in movies and the role of the passive spectator similar to the deconstruction of the horror genre put forth in Drew Goddard’s “The Cabin in the Woods.”
For something not nearly as depressing, yet even more exaggerated in its take down of horror movie tropes check out
Photo provided by magnetreleases.com Photo provided by flickfacts.com Photo provided by magnetreleases.com
Laker review FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014 C3C3
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‘borderlands: the pre-Sequel!’ amplifies series’ fun, energyElliott AltlandStaff [email protected]
More and more first person shoot-ers try to boast a leveling system that allows for individualization and cus-tomization of the way you play; Bor-derlands shows them how it’s done. Building off the success of the first two games, “Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!” doesn’t drastically change the Borderlands formula. While we aren’t seeing any dramatic changes, “The Pre-Sequel!” brings with it enough small improvements, and an incred-ible story to warrant it a place amongst its predecessors.
While this game is being made by a different developer from the original games 2K Australia instead of Gearbox it still has all the heart and feels just as good as the previous entries. Border-lands is a shoot and loot, quest-based, first-person shooter RPG; now that’s a lot of different labels.
The game has the player running across the open world, completing quests and side quests, leveling up characters with different perks and abilities, and collecting thousands of guns in the process. All the different aspects of the game are given appropri-ate time and depth; nothing feels half done or unfinished. This game is just as much a first person shooter as it is a quest-based RPG, a quality that helps it appeal to various gamers.
Combat in “The Pre-Sequel!” feels better than it has ever been. Zero grav-ity makes the game faster paced; it has the player constantly jumping, run-ning around and slamming back on the ground as they fight off enemies. Located in space, on Pandora’s moon or the Hyperion moon base, the game gives the player Oz kits; these are oxygen kits that are a usable resource to leap and smash across the world. These kits are also highly customized, giving the player different bonuses for having more or less oxygen and creat-ing unique play styles.
These great combat mechanics are
coupled with a massive selection of weapons. “The Pre-Sequel!” has thou-sands of weapons, none of which you will see twice, and these weapons all vary in class, element, magazine, fire rate etc. Customizing how you play and adapting your character to your strengths is simple with such a large arsenal at your disposal. In burst fire or
continuous streams with different el-emental perks, lasers are a deadly new addition to the armory that I found myself using throughout the game.
While the new environments are fresh and fun to explore, they suffer from an outdated and dying engine that shows great age. Transitioning back to the “Borderlands 2” engine
on a 360 is jarring when one is used to next gen visuals. The visuals of “The Pre-Sequel!” are noticeably worse than its predecessor. The game suffers from serious pop in texture issues, and at some points, the game struggles to perform. The game froze consistently when using certain weapons/perks.Whenever there was a lot of action happening on screen, the game would stop for a second, or chug through the combat consistently, taking away from the experience.
The game’s story connects the events of Borderlands 1 and 2 wonder-fully and makes the game a must-play for any fan of the series. Jack, Roland, Lilith and Moxxi are all back again, but this is truly Jack’s show. Jack is the hero of this game, and it follows the story of how he was betrayed and why he eventually became Handsome Jack.
Another strong highlight of the game is the humor and side quests. The game has a large amount of quests for players to embark on. This makes the game playable for even the solo gamer. The side quests available provide paro-dies on Doctor Who, Pokemon, Star Wars and even Ghostbusters. From side quests to the main story, Border-lands is funny, but not at the expense of great character development, a deep narrative and some of the best game-play in the entire genre.
“Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!” suffers from an aging engine and has more technical glitches than ex-pected from a Borderlands game. At the same time, they don’t drastically take away from the experience, and the game comes with well-defined and polished features. The game had gamers laughing, running, and gun-ning for hours. Borderlands contin-ues to set the standard for RPG first-person shooters. A must play for any Borderlands fan, and I highly recom-mend it for any first-person shooter fan who is looking for a great single-player experience.
C3
Photo provided by pcpowerplayer.com“Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!” strikes up fun and entertainment in the first-person shooter’s third high-energy installment.
weekly Ep Revue: Emblem3 fails to impress
Laker reviewLaker reviewC4 FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014C4
The relatively unknown, but well respected, hip-hop duo known as Run the Jewels has just released their second full-length album for free. “Run the Jewels 2” was to be released through the Nas-founded indie label Mass Appeal on Oct. 24, but the group consisting of Atlanta native Killer Mike and Brooklyn-based MC/producer El-P released their al-bum prematurely on their web-site where it can still be down-loaded for free.
The partnership was born out of a collaborative effort on Killer Mike’s seminal 2012 re-lease “R.A.P. Music,” which El-P produced in its entirety. On the surface, it would seem that El-P’s highly kinetic, esoteric ref-erence-laden lyricism wouldn’t mesh well with Mike’s bombas-tic southern drawl, but when they get together it’s the hip-hop equivalent of letting loose with automatic weapons and a few artillery barrages for good mea-sure. The beats are a concussive force and the boastful bad boy characters they play in their lyrics are just too fun not to indulge in.
The album is definitely a prod-uct of this post-“Yeezus” era of making your album a concise, in-and-out affair of 12 tracks or less, but the duo most assuredly embraces a less-is-more approach with the tracks on “Run the Jew-els 2.” Each track, excluding the album’s closer, is under three minutes on average, but each track blends so well into the next one that you’re able and willing to take on the experience as a whole.
The album starts off with a veritable bang with Killer Mike’s dark, scheming lyricism lurk-ing amongst heavy synths and grimy bass lines on “Jeopardy.” The first single to be released off the album, “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry,” feels like it would have fit right in on the “Grand Theft Auto V” soundtrack with its hy-perbolic drum loops and mile-a-minute rhyme scheme. The duo are unquestionably at their best
on “Blockbuster Night Part I” as both El-P and Mike deftly ma-neuver through dense beats and masterfully pass the lyrical baton to one another verse-to-verse in a way that will make even the most casual hip-hop fans impressed.
The flow of the album is some-what thrown off by “All My Life.” It’s not a bad song by any means, it’s just that the album starts off by firing on all cylinders and slows down a bit for its conclu-
sion, so it being placed so early in the album messes with its inter-nal pacing. Former Rage Against the Machine front man and sub-urban guerilla poster boy Zack de la Rocha makes his presence known on “Close Your Eyes.” The song’s hook is composed of de la Rocha saying “run them jewels fast,” which is syncopated and looped over and over again with an industrial beat backing up the lyrics. On first listen, the song is grating on the ear, but El-P’s stellar production and Mike’s eminent likability shines through and makes it one of the album’s standout tracks. “Lie, Cheat, Steal” is without a doubt the most infectious track on the album and probably the strongest song to be produced out of this collabora-tive project.
“Run the Jewels 2” isn’t go-ing to be for everyone, even to those who consider themselves to be ardent followers of the genre. Killer Mike and El-P are just two guys who really dig each other and are going to make music that appeals to them and that breaks the mold of what it means to make hip-hop. If that means alienating newcomers or people who find them to be too abrasive, then good riddance. Bad boys eventually have the last laugh.
Ronel PuelloLaker Review [email protected]
Run the Jewels returns, impressive diamond in the rough
Photo provided by therepublik.caThe seemingly odd couple of El-P and Killer Mike prove they’re a match made in hip hop heaven over dark, futuristic beats.
T.I. releases solid ninth album, does not work wonders
The best albums tell some kind of cohesive story or at least have a prev-alent theme throughout. Hip-hop/rap isn’t an exception to this. When one looks at great rap albums—Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d. City” to name a couple—they have something in common. There’s a certain theme surrounding them that brings all of the tracks together into one, cohesive listening experience rather than a collection of randomized songs.
T.I.’s latest album, “Paperwork,” falls in between these two kinds of albums. The veteran rapper’s ninth studio album, released Oct. 21, is a solid effort, spitting out some stand-out tracks and some forgettable ones. Being in the business for nearly 20 years and pumping out nine albums, T.I. is one of the hardest working rap-
pers out there right now but also one of the most low-key. His efforts fall under the radar to the more casual rap fans, which, ironically, is why he’s probably survived this long in the business—he doesn’t have the heavy expectations that Kendrick has acquired, the media attention Kanye is accustomed to or the split fan base Drake has garnered. He’s doing his own thing, and it works on “Paperwork”—to an extent.
The album opens with the song “King” because rappers have a ten-dency to sensationalize themselves. T.I. opens the track by speaking: “May no man, woman, child or ani-mal walk a lifetime on God’s green earth and not expect to be tested.” In a way, this sets up the album’s theme, which is a good thing. As mentioned, T.I. has been doing this a long time and it couldn’t have been done without its fair share of chal-lenges. T.I. shows off his impressive rhyming skills right out of the gate on “Paperwork.”
The album doesn’t necessarily al-
ways exude this theme of challenges and being tested, which is part of its problem. At 18 tracks on the Deluxe Edition, there are only three songs on “Paperwork” that don’t feature a guest artist. Among them are Chris Brown, Usher, Rick Ross, Iggy Aza-lea and Pharrell Williams. While T.I. still has a large presence on his own album and his voice is still heard throughout—no easy task consider-ing the amount of featured artists—there’s still a familiar formula of “chorus, rapping, chorus, rapping.” Fortunately, for the most part, the tracks are still well-made.
One such track is “National An-them” featuring Skylar Grey, which gets back to the aforementioned theme of challenges and acts as a commentary on American govern-ment and politics as it relates to African-Americans. Here, the rap-per seems to have something to say, which is when he’s at his best. That’s not to say some party tracks aren’t worth listening to, either. Singles “All About the Money” and “No
Travis ClarkAsst. Laker Review [email protected]
Mediocre” are solid bar/club hits worth partying or dancing to.
T.I.’s latest won’t be heralded as one of the best rap albums in years”but it is a solid album. It will satisfy the rapper’s fans and maybe even garner him some new ones.
Could he have taken more creative risks? Yes, but that’s when compar-ing it to other rap albums that take those risks or get more people talk-ing. It’s still a decent listen. “Paper-work” isn’t a work of art but it is a solid work of effort.
Photo provided by commons.wikimedia.org
The most consistently middle-of-the-road rapper in the game, T.I. underwhelms musically.
Laker review C5FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014
Run the Jewels returns, impressive diamond in the rough
Photo provided by commons.wikimedia.org
Taylor Swift shakes off critics, embraces new pop sound
Taylor Swift is back with her fifth studio album “1989.”
The 24-year-old, known for her re-latable songs of love, heartbreak and friendship, started her career when she was just 14 years old. In 2006, when she was 17, Swift released her first studio album, “Taylor Swift.” The third single off the album, “Our Song,” made her the youngest person to write and per-form a number one song by herself.
Her 2008 studio album, “Fearless,” won Swift four Grammys and made her the youngest person ever to win Album of the Year. With 30 million cop-ies of albums sold and about 80 million digital downloads, Taylor Swift is one of the bestselling artists of all time.
“1989,” titled after Swift’s birth year, was released earlier this week. The album is Swift’s turn away from her country background and intro-
duces her new, poppy sound. “On ‘Red,’ I wanted to try on as many dif-ferent sounds as I could; on ‘1989,’ it was about figuring out which sound fit and wearing it proudly,” Swift said in an interview. Swift collaborated with Max Martin and Shellback, who she previously worked with to produce her last album “Red,” along with Fun. gui-tarist Jack Antonoff and Ryan Tedder, the lead singer of OneRepublic. With-in the first 24 hours of the release of “1989,” the album became number one on iTunes.
The lead single off the album is the upbeat anthem “Shake It Off.” Re-leased on Aug. 18, the song debuted at No. 1 on big name charts. This is Swift’s second single to debut at No. 1 and is the 22nd to debut at No. 1 in chart his-tory. “Shake It Off” is written by Swift, Martin and Shellback. The song is all about how Swift has learned to “shake off” what her haters and critics think of her.
“People will find anything about you, and twist it to where it’s weird or wrong or annoying or strange or bad,”
Swift said in a interview. “You have to not only live your life in spite of peo-ple who don’t understand you, you have to have more fun than they do.” The song features an interesting saxo-phone backdrop as well as a trumpet. The drum beat is constant and barely changes throughout the song. “Shake It Off” is a fun and catchy song that keeps the audience moving.
Heather ClarkStaff [email protected]
‘Constantine’ debut struggles, characters lack certain magicAlain Pierre-LysManaging [email protected]
Everyone loves a British ac-cent. This wasn’t the entire basis for bringing the popular anti- hero John Constantine to the small screen, but it’s more than a choice of vernacular. It’s a subtle commitment to the DC universe’s version of “Constantine.”
For those who don’t know, John Constantine the character is incredibly interesting. He isn’t the low talking action monger that Keanu Reeves depicted in the 2005 film; he’s actually kind of funny. Welsh actor Matt Ryan (“Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag”) brings Constantine a much-needed sense of depth and even though Constantine remains one of the darker DC Comics productions to date, Ryan man-ages to actually capture the cyni-cism and wit John Constantine is known for.
The series opens its first scene with our main character on a self-imposed stint in a mental institu-tion, his first words being “Make sure they’re tight love.” The mo-ment encapsulates one of the biggest flaws of “Constantine”
as a show, its tone. This problem stems from the subpar dialogue, which is to be expected from a primetime NBC program. But more surprisingly, Ryan’s abil-ity to bring charisma and energy to Constantine is eclipsed by the fact that he shines in the show’s character-driven scenes. Seem-ingly standing head and shoul-ders above the rest of the cast, Ryan actually brings Constantine beyond an angst-filled dabbler of the dark arts; he’s damaged and it’s obvious.
To the credit of Daniel Cerone, who wrote the script, “Constan-tine” builds a fascinating back story and throws viewers right in the middle of it all. One of the strongest plot points is Astra Logue. Astra (newcomer Bailey Tippen) is a young girl who Con-stantine attempted to save by us-ing another demon to handle his business. It didn’t go well. The aforementioned demon, Nergal, not only does not do Constan-tine’s bidding but drags Astra to hell. It’s these details that paint the context of Constantine’s char-acter and gives the season hope for some interesting arcs.
Thankfully, “Constantine” has something else going for it. It looked pretty cool and this com-bined with decent story arcs is admittedly fun. From moments
like the creation of a crater into hell and exorcism like body-bending, “Constantine” puts a staunch amount of effort into its presentation.
Director Neil Marshall, known for his work on “Game of Thrones,” is the main culprit for the creative take on the dark arts. These moments make up for the weakest part of the show and that’s who Constantine comes back for, Liv.
Liv is the stereotypical dead
The second single, “Blank Space,” has not officially been released as a single. It will not be released as a single until Nov. 10. The song was also written by Martin and Shellback. The song has a heavy use of synthesizers. It is a very light and airy song that talks about be-ing in love with a “bad boy” and end-ing very well. Rumor has it the song was written about Swift’s ex-boyfriend
and One Direction heartthrob, Harry Styles. Her vocal choices make for an interesting but catchy heartbreak song.
“Welcome to New York” is the first track on the album and introduces the audience to the ‘80s inspired sound that runs through the album. The song uses heavy synth along with Swift’s signature vocals. Written by Swift and Tedder, the song talks about making it to New York and as the cliché, which goes “if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.” In a re-cent interview, Swift said, “Every re-cord, I’ve tried to challenge myself to make something different.”
“1989” introduces Swift’s new pop sound that deviates away from her semi-country style. The album is inspired by popular ‘80s music and definitely shows it. Riddled with catchy and lively songs that get the audience up and dancing, “1989” is a must listen. It’s a great album to listen to at any time, whether it’s getting ready for a date, studying or dancing around your room like no one’s watching.
friend’s daughter who acts as the driving force for the plot, and as quick as she comes she goes. Lucy Griffiths, who was cast as Liv, was written out of the show as regular filming began. Aside from Liv, we’re given an inter-esting cast of characters to work with, Chas (Charles Harlford), Constantine’s oldest friend and a survival expert, and Manny (Harold Perrineau), an angel who brings Constantine a more than ineresting oppurtunity.
Though it was a pilot, “Non Est Asylum” only scratched the surface on what is a wealth of character de-velopment. While it was clear the creators, Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer, wanted to approach Con-stantine’s pilot episode with a bit of lighthearted humor, it wasn’t exact-ly cynical. With that said this pilot isn’t without any hope. The depth of the storyline and Ryan’s perfor-mance will carry this show or be diamonds in the rough of another one season and done show.
Photo provided by nbc.com
Photo provided by taylorswift.comAmerica’s sweetheart Taylor Swift is growing up on her new album ‘1989.’
Matt Ryan displays some potential as the titular occult detetive, but several other factors hold back the show from truly connecting.
Comics & Games
LAKER REVIEWFRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014C6
WESLEY,The Robot
Crossword Puzzle
For this week’s crossword answers go to:Oswegonian.com/lreview
For this week’s crossword answers go to:Oswegonian.com/lreview
Puzzle provided by boatloadpuzzles.com
Creative Writing
Down
Across
Freddy Alisar | The Oswegonian
1. 4.7.
12.13.14.15.17.18.19.20.23.24.25.30.32.33.34.37.38.39.41.44.45. 46.50.51.52.53.54.55.
Generation ___Strike callerDairy productGun org.ZilchMusical showKiev’s countryCIA employeeSmall earringSmall piesSmall houndGambleRam’s mateLeavingLinks gadgetsSpoilVoyagingGuaranteeLower limbBallpoint, e.g.RegistersNot dullSinging voiceRiver embankmentTwisterSmell___ in a millionFeel remorseDrying clothBombshell ___ WestPres. before HST
Large antelopeNoah’s vesselGolf goalJoinedRevolutionary War militiamanImploredMoon feature
Freight weightWood stripCourageous personAssertMolecule componentBarking soundFailureAbove, in poems
8.9.
10.11.16.20.21.22.
Yacht racePerpetuallyMohter’s sisterCiti Field playersPack animalAlpha’s followerOverwhelmsLooks at
23.26.27.28.29.31.35.36.
Seaport in SpainPot’s partnerCapri or ManPoetic contractionJokesUltimateRevokeMain dish
40.41.42.43.44.47.48.49.
1.2.3.4.5.
6.7.
Ronel [email protected]
Travis [email protected]
In high school,All the boys lie and all the girlsPretend. Butterflies in your stomach,How do they get in?
So I imaginePretty brown eyes entrapped with mineAs anticipation fills the room,Closing space between us.
His fingers dance in myHair as my hands wrap around hisWaist. He mouths something,But I can’t hear over my heartbeat.
I smile in response. Someone passes by and his eyes never leaveMine. He takes the first step.
Our nose tips touch.
His skin smooth as a perfect peach,His hand trails from my hair to my neck.A bomb explodes in my stomach,Thunder in my ears.
He tilts my headAnd let his plush lips lay on mine.I don’t see his eyes anymoreI don’t see anything, I feel him.
My breath is stolen,My knees are weak and I feel the red burning My cheeks. My words fail meBut I manage a release
“Again?”
Lily Choi | The Oswegonian
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Newly built 1 & 2 bedroom apts. Free lawn care, garbage/snow removal. On premises washer/dryer. Partial or all
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CLASSIFIEDS FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014 C7
lassifiedsc Contact:Selena [email protected]
Phone: 315.312.3600
H o r o s c o p e s B Y G a b r i e l l e R e i m a n n
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19):
Aries (Mar. 21 - Apr. 19):
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18):
Pisces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20):
Taurus (Apr. 20 - May 20):
Gemini (May 21 - June 21):
Cancer (June 22 - July 22):
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22):
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22):
Libra (Sep. 23 - Oct. 23):
Scorpio (Oct. 24 - Nov. 21):
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21):
ON THIS DATE
1967: American actor, producer and rapper Vanilla Ice is born. 2000: American actress and singer Willow Smith, daughter of Will Smith, is born.2011: The total world population of humans reaches seven billion. The United Nations now recognizes today as Seven Billion Day.
S u d o k u Fill in the grid so that each row, column and 3x3 block contains 1-9
exactly once.
Across
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A big event you have been planning looks to be a fun evening; seek help in someone who also might be highly in-volved. Like you, they will be more receptive to what really needs to get done and will cut out procrastination. Today will be regarded as constructive rather than obstructive.
A confusing and vague vibe could have you feeling as though you’re not function-ing at your best. However, if you can keep those irritating factors in perspective, you’ll manage to avoid getting too tense and will keep yourself grounded. Checks and bal-ances are a must.
It looks like it will either be one of those warm and loving days, or one of those rather unreliable, fickle days. It re-ally depends on which influ-ence wins you over. Although romance has the capacity to be very sweet, a sense of indepen-dence may be the more appeal-ing option.
It’s a day that may require a little more consideration in regards to a couple activities. Don’t rush something that needs more time and be mindful of opportunities that might only benefit you in the end. Remem-ber some individuals might need more space than others.
A slightly limited feeling may descend on you today. Today you might over invest in a par-ticular matter or development, which could turn out to be a massive time waster. If some-thing looks as though it’s just not going to work out, then you may need to draw a line.
It may not hurt to listen; ask for direction as well as adjusting your strategies when it comes to a possible stalemate. Remember that seemingly simple solutions might only make you think that something is resolved, but in fact you may have overlooked an essential step.
Given that it’s going to be a work-centered day, it’ll likely be one that will involve a usual amount of commitment. Bear in mind too that your sense of dis-cretion may not be as depend-able as usual. Take care with casual, verbal exchanges today.
Yesterday’s quick-witted mood is likely to remain with you to-day, although a distinct need to impose routine and stability is likely to make the day harder than it needs to be for you. You may not get the results you really want if you restrict yourself too much.
There may be slight tension in the air in regards to unbal-anced choices. It could be as simple as a choice between two very different results with pros and cons on either side, or it could be something more. Not wishing to miss out on some-thing is the bane of making these choices.
Tensions may lead to a feeling lately that life is slipping out of control. This is particularly true in the sense of your social iden-tity as well as choosing friends. It is important that you are assertive at this time and refuse to follow the crowd. Only you know what is best for you.
Today you may zone in on a couple earlier errors or minor problems that may have slipped under your radar. Your best strategy will be to regard this brief blip as a form of leader-
ship. Errors that are identified today could actually develop in an encouraging way.
Sharp influences are likely to create misunderstandings and minor tensions in your private
life. You may tend to overreact to the smallest of things, while ig-noring the one matter that needs to be addressed. Get to the root of the actual problem, then minor disruptions should diminish.
