The SMCC Beacon 2-3-2015

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THE BEACON

Other World Arts & FeaturesOp & EdCampus News Sports

February 3, 2015Volume 12Issue 9

Student Film - Dynamic Lens on HoloLens Cocaine Sugar Seven Things Hoop Highlights

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Renown Filmmaker, Photographer Speaks at SMCCMauricio Handler in Jewett Auditorium

By Nickolas Evan AckerLiberal Arts Major

ON January 22nd Mauricio Handler gave a pre-sentation in the Jewett Auditorium on his life’s

work. Handler, a National Geographic photographer and nature videographer, is known for his work in underwater photography and is one of the top underwater photogra-phers of his time. National Geographic has published five of his images and he was photographed by Brian Skerry while underwater next to a whale; this photograph was published by National Geographic and is one of their most download-ed images. Handler’s first work for National Geographic was in their “3 Degrees of Japan’s Seas”, an underwater photography expedition off the coast of Japan. In 1990 he spent twelve weeks doing wildlife photography in the Galapagos Islands where he is known for his photographs of seals that were starving to death during an El Nino year. Now Mr. Handler has gone from photography and has

begun shooting in “Ultra High Def 4k”. Handler uses Red Digital Cinema’s cameras for this work which enables him to shoot in such high definition. To put this in perspective, Red Digital Cinema designed the cameras used by Peter Jackson for the Hobbit Trilogy which gave Jackson the abil-ity to shoot in such crisp 3D. Without these cameras and the advancement of this technology the level of quality Mr. Handler’s videos has would be impossible. Mr. Handler showcased five videos at his presentation; some of these videos were published and used by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance, a partnership of conservation organizations in the Dutch Caribbean Islands. These videos were shot in the ultra high definition described previously and were of such high quality that the processor of the computer showcasing them struggled to process the files playing and the frame rate of the videos suffered at times. Most clips in the videos were underwater shots, although there were some of above water wildlife. Handler revealed to the audience that he is in Durham, Maine doing a documentary although was vague over the details and it was apparent that the project was still in its infancy stage. To quote Mr. Handler on advice about creat-ing a documentary, “If you want to write about anything,

anything creative, don’t think you need to go to Paris or the Galapagos. Draw a 10 mile circle around your house and do a documentary about that. Each home is a story.”

The Art DepartmentShowcasing One of SMCC’s Terrific Programs

By Erik SquireEducation Major

The Beacon set out to learn about one of our fine departments on campus,

The Art Program. Art is one of the greatest things that humans create. It has been around for ages, on cave walls, created with innumerable mediums, and on unimag-inable surfaces. Artwork has touched the soul, caused outrage, and stirred emotions. To learn a bit about what SMCC is doing to progress art in this 21st century, we inter-viewed a couple art students as well as the former Art Department Chair, Jeff Badger. The Art Program just celebrated their ten year anniversary. When SMCC changed from SMTC they started with an artisan residence program. This means there was one artist and one studio on campus for five consecutive years, and over this period that person developed courses and purchased equipment to develop the Art Department. Over the course of time the Art Program built itself in increments. One year they had a photographer, then a painter, then a print maker, etc. And each of those people

wrote courses. By the end of the artisan residence program they had enough courses to develop a degree program that would be equivalent to that of the first two years of a foundations program at an art school or university program. With that, the Art De-partment was able to start. They got their curriculum and started developing articu-lations with other colleges (such as Maine college of Art, Leslie University College of Art and Design, and Saint Joseph’s). They’ve also had students transfer to many other art schools, such as the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, as an example. Samantha Pratt is taking her second art course. She did Drawing 1 last semester and now she’s in Drawing 2. She says her art is more of a hobby; she’s not particular-ly interested in pursuing it as a career. She simply enjoys creating it, so she exclaims, “it’s a perfect elective!” I joked that I could tell she took it seriously because she had a bit of charcoal on her face. Sam (as she likes to be called) ex-plained that when she’s out of college she’ll still continue to draw for recreation, and that it’s nice how she’s learning different methods because now she knows how to work differently. In her words: Chuck (Charles Ott, Art Professor) really helped last semester. I always drew a certain way, and he helped me draw in different ways so it’s great

how they can open up your eyes to all the different kinds of methods. Not even just drawing, but you also see things differently. I’m excited to see what I’ll learn this semester. I would just encourage people who haven’t had an interest in art be-fore, to just try it out, you know, as one of their electives. It’s great that we have the department because it’s something that students can do that is a different kind of work, like, it’s not writing papers The Beacon also spoke with Krista Kelly, a second year Art major, and she will be working as an art curator through SMCC this semester. The dictionary defines an art curator as such: In contempo-rary art, the title curator is given to a person who selects and often interprets works of art. In addition to selecting works, the curator often is responsible for writing labels, catalog essays, and other supporting content for the exhibition. As Kelly explains, art curating is vast but, specifically, a curator might work for a museum, or work for certain artists dis-playing their work, or work hanging art in a gallery. Kelly is a great example of SMCC’s art students who are doing great things. Last but not least, The Beacon sat

down with Jeff Badger, and asked him to talk about the Art Department and some of the exciting things they’re working on. Jeff was the Art Department Chair for five years, and this year Virginia Rose will be taking his place as Chair. Jeff states that he feels as though the Art Department is filling a unique niche in the Maine arts community that students

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THE BEACONPage 2 • February 3, 2015 OnCampusThe Student Advocate

By Wayne LawsonBusiness Major

Hello readers of The Beacon. I am Wayne, a nontraditional student –

which is a polite way of saying I am older than a few of my instructors. I am begin-ning my second semester at SMCC, with a tentative major in business. I also have a visual impairment due to chronic ocu-lar migraines (“migraines with aura” for medical terminology sticklers); I am not blind, usually, but I wear sunglasses and I walk with a white cane because “usually” is unreliable. I have nearly two decades of experi-ence from work in the private vocational rehabilitation industry, pre- and post-dating the onset of my visual impairment, and so I will first be writing what I know: the challenges encountered by students with disabilities, the obvious and the less obvi-ous. While I carry symbols of my disability – sunglasses and white cane – the majority of disabilities remain unseen, and so I hope I may raise awareness of the challenge of “you don’t look disabled.” I will write to The Beacon’s readership as a whole, and not merely to people with disabilities, be-cause people with disabilities tend already to be aware of the challenges they face. Left unchecked by my editor, however, I will write about the more subtle chal-lenges encountered by students because they are different in one way or another or more. Disabilities, race, ethnicity, religion, socio-economics, sexual orientation – these are easy topics that we often hear about. There are also real challenges that can be faced by any student, leaving them feel-ing or being alienated from the general

community and without the support of an identifiable community of minority. The ultimate factor is that we are a community. We are many unique indi-viduals, coming together for a common purpose. Our individual needs to drive us together because we may accomplish more en masse than we may singly. We have chosen to be a part of this community, just as we may choose to depart this community. If we are able to work together for our common good, then our opportunities multiply with each included individual, as they diminish

with each individual we alienate. It doesn’t always take a lifetime of service to make a difference; sometimes it takes just a few words of encouragement or guidance to someone who appears to need. And so I hope to write to all, for the benefit of all. If you cope with an under-represented challenge within our campus community, please feel free to talk with me. Even if you cope with a better-represented challenge, I will be happy to talk. I am a full-time stu-dent on campus, and I may also be reached by email: [email protected].

Obviously, I hope, direct responses from the college should be sought through your faculty advisor, staff advisor, or Sandra Lynham of the Office of Counseling and Disability Services – if you are unsure of who to talk with, the Office of Student Success is a great place to start. I may raise awareness, but they may offer actual assis-tance. Thank you for the opportunity to con-tribute to our school.

THE BEACON Art Director Alexander Brooks Graphic Designers Cody Cook Michelle Lessard-Terry Digital Media Editor Jennifer Lague Managing Editor Garrick Hoffman Photo Editor Nickolas Evan Acker

SECTION EDITORS F.A. Coletti Arts & Features Garrick Hoffman Op & Ed Rebekah Marin The Other World Erik Squire Campus News The Beacon Staff Sports

CONTRIBUTING C. Samuel Belton WRITERS Ashley Berry Taylor Chretien Patrick Doyle Ian Ziller Nickolas Evan Acker Wayne Lawson Richard M. Bigega Nicholas S. Alexander Nick Miller

ILLUSTRATOR Craig Stanley

ADVISERS Chuck Ott Rachel Guthrie

SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE | For the students, by the students

can come to for a strong, affordable foun-dations program. If the students succeed at that then they can go elsewhere and really focus on their own media, and their own specific medium, or career track from there. The Art program has been around for ten years now and it has grown quite a bit. They have a new sculpture studio, six build-ings on campus where they host art classes, and then there are also courses in Bruns-wick and satellite sites (such as Portland Pottery and Windham high school). There are over a thousand students taking our classes every semester. Often most of the art programs are liberal studies programs, so it’s largely focused on transferring. One of the department’s capstone courses is the portfolio seminar, and that’s something that Jeff teaches. It’s a professional skills class where students develop their resume, their

artist statement, their portfolios, and things of that nature. As Jeff says, “we do our best to tailor that class, just like our program, toward a variety of interests.” One of the noteworthy endeavors of the Art Program is their very first trip to Barcelona over the spring. It’s a four-credit course in the art and architecture of Barce-lona, Spain. The students will be meeting a few times on campus and then over spring break they’ll head to Barcelona for seven days. While there, the group will be doing a variety of themed days, for example, Miro and Picasso who were both tied to Barce-lona, and the students will witness their artwork from the 20th century. They will also visit the architecture of Antoni Gaudi, as well as take a trip to Figueres where the Salvador Dali museum is located. The group will be taking two day trips; in the morning they will start with a lecture, Jeff will have local artists and art historians coming to do lectures, as well as myself. In the afternoon the students will be going out and looking at what they have just learned about. Jeff feels that this is re-ally great because “you can learn about art history in a classroom and you’ll talk about architecture art and then you look at slides. In this case we’re going to talk about it and then go and see the real thing.” Jeff happily explained that: Barcelona is a really amazing city in terms of being a crossroads of Europe. You see everything from Roman Ruins to Modern Architecture. It’s an interesting thing. I’m really looking forward to it. I went to Barcelona myself when I was in col-lege and I have not been back there yet. But I’ve

been reading a whole lot about it and it’s great. We’re running it through CIEE, which is a local organization and they are assisting with all the logistics. It’s going to be really great. If it works we’ll try to do it again. Jeff Badger also puts together a month-ly Art Lunch Box, and it’s the last Thurs-day of every month. He’s trying to book speakers who will have a cross departmen-tal appeal. For example, he had Mauricio Handler, who did Marine Biology and was a Marine Biologist natural photographer. Jeff feels that it was a great crossover with Marine science, Communications and New Media (because Mr. Handler also does film), and then also Art of course. Another interesting feature about the Art Department is that at the end of every spring semester, SMCC’s Art seniors have an art exhibition. It’s going to be at Three Fish Gallery in April, and it’s part of the student’s graduation requirement. There are nine students finishing the program this semester so they will all be exhibiting their work, and Jeff says he’s looking forward to that too. Finally, Jeff left off the interview with something for those who believe they don’t have the “talent” to be an artist: Some people may have more (artful) ability than others starting off, but what it really comes down to is work; working at understanding the concepts and putting in the time in the studio to develop those skills. Anybody who comes into my class - and I will say this about any of the other instructors - if you come in and put in the time and the effort, you will improve (from where ever it is that you start from).

Art Department(Continued from Page 1)

AWESOME PEOPLE WANTEDBuild marketable and desirable skills in leadership, communication, collaboration, experience, and awesomeness! Both The Student Senate and SMCC’s Honor Society are looking for team members that are looking to do great things and really go places.

Alpha Chi Nu, SMCC’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (the one that brought you the Captain’s Cupboard), is looking for a fresh dynamic officer team for the fall semester. That means: This could be your opportunity to do BIG things! Please come to our current officer meetings to get acquainted with the team and what we do.

Meetings are every Tuesday between 12:30 and 1:15 @ The Captains House.Please contact us by E-mail for more info: [email protected]

The Student Senate is looking to fill more seats on the Senate floor. This is your opportunity to step up and offer thorough representation for the student body here at SMCC. We can make powerful changes and positively impact the welfare of the campus and its students (academically and otherwise). Be that person… Find the leader in you. There are approximately 20 Student Body Representative seats available to represent our population of 5,000 students, and only two of those seats are filled.

Senate Meetings are Wednesdays from 4:30 - 6:00pm in Jewett Hall Auditorium.Please contact The Center for Student Involvement and Leadership for more information regarding the Student Senate: [email protected]


THE BEACONFebruary 3, 2015 • Page 3OnCampus

MLK, Community Café, and Beacon Monay


(Yeah, it is spelled “money,” but we didn’t want to lose that “aye” rhythm we had going.)

As the last bit of vacation mode leaves you, you can at least be happy about all

the snow days (or be terribly upset about them). However, now it’s time to get back into the swing of things, and to assist you on this journey, The Beacon is providing to you (free of charge) superlative news to catch up on the campus happenings. Here’s round two, brought to you by the best and brightest (college) newspaper in the world. The Beacon caught wind (through an email blast) that SMCC will be hosting a Community Café to pull in some feedback from the students. To learn exactly what a Community Café was and what will be hap-pening there, we contacted President Ron Cantor. The following is a response from him: I’m glad you and The Beacon are continu-ing your vital contributions to our community.A very close connection exists between SMCC’s Strategic Planning process and the vital themes of open communication, transparency and engagement that we have been emphasizing to help our entire culture move forward. It’s the only way for us to empower people for success in a changing world. The leaders of our Strategic Planning effort recognized that a framework already exists that fits what we are doing (see theworldcafe.com). We’ve adapted the World Café process and renamed it to fit the SMCC com-munity. February 13 will be the big show that makes it happen. As for outcomes, the Community Café and Strategic Planning process will lead to a Stra-tegic Plan that guides the college for the next 3 years. It will be a strategic plan in which we are all engaged and we all have meaningful owner-ship. From enrollment and budgetary challenges to changing societal values—from President Obama’s proposed College Promise to President Fitzsimmons’ resignation, we are experiencing a watershed moment for SMCC. The outcome must be that we approach the changing future togeth-er, strategically positioned to advance student and community success. Turning to the “small” questions of what we can look forward to this semester, and what chal-lenges we face, some of it is addressed above. I’ve asked our faculty to focus on perfecting SMCC’s “game”, i.e., perfecting the quality educational experience that we deliver every day, in ways that every student connects with on his or her own terms. This will require extreme engagement and flexibility from all members of the SMCC community. I asked them to focus on perfecting the game, not keeping score. We have a few staff members and administrators who will keep score on enrollment, budget, etc., and share their find-ings and insights with everyone else. Enrollment has been challenging but we’re hopeful that we’ll see the curve turn upward soon. Future budgets will force us to make very difficult choices—be-fore Vice President Sortor and I make these diffi-cult choices we need informed input from all—which brings us back to the Community Café and similar activities like the upcoming budget forums, the college-wide Leadership Council, etc. Bottom line, our changing world requires many more college graduates with advanced skills and informed perspectives. SMCC must overcome challenging budgets and politics, as well as the huge challenges associated with so many students who are not prepared for college-level work, as we deliver exactly what Maine needs. No entity

is better positioned to do this than SMCC. Ultimately success is up to us. - Ron In other news: Through SMCC, one of the Beacon writers had a chance to attend the Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast, held at the Holiday Inn by the Bay. It was a heartwarming and thought-provoking morning. There was talk about triumphs and discussions of further struggles that minorities still face.Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, who was introduced by U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, talked about the importance of voting, and how we need to remove the barriers to others doing so. Rachel Talbot Ross, NAACP President of the Portland Branch, profoundly said, “We matter. As simple as that may sound, it’s the heart of why we’re here. There is no us and them. There is only we.” It was a very moving statement that seemed to strike everyone as they reflected on it. Further along in the event, it was particularly precious to see children carry a peace flag (that they had put together themselves) as they marched up the stage and accidentally held it upside down. And another moment for pause was when Pastor Jeffrey McIlwain repeated multiple

times that, “we who believe in freedom cannot rest.” The entire event was a terrific way to commemorate a great man and his life’s work. Finally, the last bit of news is that The Beacon is establishing yet another $300 scholarship for a fortunate Beacon staffer to earn. On top of that, The Beacon is also making a $500 donation to the President’s Fund. The President’s fund is an emer-gency fund to which students can apply, if finances are dire to their enrollment. Students can either receive the money as a sort of grant, or as a loan. Those who apply typically get a response about the decision within 48 hours.

Student Interviews

By Taylor Chretien

I asked these questions and these are the responses I got from students.

What do you like about your classes, and or professors? What do you expect out of the semester?(grades, knowledge, etc.) How do you like living on campus? And lastly, what is your major and what do you like about it?

Shana McLaughlin She likes that her professors tell stories about their careers. Considering what they have done is what she wants to do. She is an Early Childhood Education major. She loves the excitement she gets when she is in the classroom.This semes-ter she hopes to make many new friends. She loves living on campus, because it has a great beach setting. “Living on campus offers many positive outcomes. You get to share an environment with people that have dreams and goals just like you. If you share these goals with SMCC, we will help you make your dreams come true.” Also this semester she is aiming to have her GPA be above a 3.0.

Dierdree Glassford She is a hospitality/culinary arts major, and loves learning about the ser-vice industry, hearing stories from other people in her profession, and learning that the art of being a people person still holds some substance. “The CULA pro-gram here is the bomb, and Chef Board-man is the best mentor, understanding and supportive, but also pushes you to be your absolute best.” All of her classes at first seemed pretty intimidating. She was worried she wouldn’t be able to handle it all, being a full time student and all. Her professors make her feel like she is completely sup-ported and capable. “One in particular, Steven Banks, has no problem explaining things over again, and provides amazing notes. It’s extremely helpful and takes away the stress.” She expects to get out of the semes-ter alive. She plans on getting all A’s and B’s again, and hopes to successfully pro-vide many different theater workshops for the SMCC theater club. She is hoping to just get through it and welcome sum-mer.

Nicole Kindred “My major is behavioral health and human services. I like that it’s training me to be a better help for people in need and showing me kind of what it’s like to be on their side of things and how to better understand and help them!” She likes that the classes are small enough for you to get to know everyone, and learn their opinions on what is being studied, but also big enough to do your own thing. She expects to strive this semester. She says last semester was a little rough, but being a first year student, that’s kind of expected. Living on campus has its pros and cons just like everything else. She likes the fact that she can roll out of bed in the morning, 30 minutes before class starts, and still have plenty of time to make it on time. She loves that she doesn’t have to worry about the drive or gas money. She likes the dorms being small enough that you pretty much know everyone.

DynamicA Student Film – Created Here at SMCC


SMCC has a very diverse com-munity with a myriad of

interests and passions. One such noteworthy pursuit taking place on campus is that of Al-exander Balzano; he is creating his own film. Alexander is a Communications and New Media (CNMS) Major. He originally started here in the fall of 2011 studying liberal arts, so he has been a patron and community member here for almost four years. This semester he will be graduat-ing. Before he moves on, however, he will be leaving his mark on SMCC. The Beacon set out to ask Alex-ander a bit about his film that he has named Dynamic. He describes the movie, saying: It is a martial arts coming of age movie centered on a struggling teen, Jesse, who has recently lost his fa-ther and is dealing with merciless bullying in high school. Jesse is taken under the wing of Tom, the town hermit who is skilled in mixed martial arts and has some inner demons of his own. Being a short film, I’m shooting for about 20-25 minutes for total run time. When asked how he felt his endeav-or would enrich the campus community, Alexander explained: I think that in addition to all of the amazing films coming out of the CNMS department, my film will help benefit the SMCC community by showing the public that the

knowledge that students gain here goes towards professional level work that will give them a lead-ing edge when looking for work in the professional world. Alexander will of course be directing the film; however, it’s going to need more than a director, so he is trying to promote his upcoming casting call. He says he is mainly looking for male actors around the 18-20 year range to play the primary protagonist and antagonist of the film. On top of that, he is looking for men and women in the 30-40 year range to play the main character’s mother and another to play Tom (the men-tor-type character). He will also be looking for people to play various extra roles, mainly

teenage/early twenty year olds as most of the scenes that require extras take place in a high school environment. For these roles in particular, Alexan-der would like to encourage any stu-dents who live in the dorms to talk with him (if interested) as this would be good way to gain experi-ence in this field. Finally, Alex-

ander stated: I’d like to give a thanks to the Communications and New Media department for making my time learning here feel fulfilling and exciting me for my future after SMCC. I’d also like to thank Corey Norman for giving us practical knowledge and passion for what we’re learning about. In conclusion, SMCC, be sure to check out Dynamic and all the other student films at the Maine Mayhem film festival premiering at the Nickelodeon theater in Portland, in early May.


THE BEACONPage 4 • February 3, 2015 OtherWorldBest Practices to Keeping Yourself Protected Online

By Nicholas S. Alexander

The Internet has come to a point now that it’s part of each and every one of our daily lives. We connect to

one another through social media websites, chat mes-sengers and email to converse; we complete transactions involving our credit and bank information for things we want or need; we play games and watch videos for enter-tainment and much more; though there’s one thing most of us don’t think about often enough while using the Internet. That thing is our security. You may be wondering why security is so important. Here’s a scenario why! Imagine that you’re on your favorite social media website communicating with your grandpar-ents that you so dearly love and adore. While chatting you take a moment to check out a pop up that caught your eye. You decide to click on it and at that moment you suddenly get logged out. Confused, you decide to log back in and at that very moment you’re told that your password was incorrect. While trying to login you get a phone call from

your grandmother. She’s crying and insists that you answer to why you said such terrible things. Still confused, you pause and realize that your account has been compromised. You manage to calm your grandmother down but are infu-riated over that pop up you just clicked. Although that particular scenario is rather extreme, my point is that you can never predict the severity of an attack. It’s best to take action before attacks occur, so here are the best practices you can take to start protecting your-self. Got Internet Security or Antivirus software? You never know when malicious content will try to sneak into your computer. Start by protecting yourself with one or the other, it doesn’t matter if it’s free or costs an arm and a leg. Start now! It’s better to have something than nothing! One of the best things you can do to protect your-self is to make your passwords secure. Don’t store your passwords anywhere besides your brain and don’t be afraid to challenge yourself with the complexity of them. Don’t break the golden password rule, that rule is to never give anyone your password! A secure password reduces the chance of an attacker figuring out your password. Be careful what you put out there! Everything you put on the Internet stays on the Internet. Not only is that a problem but that information could potentially be viewed by anyone. Use caution over the amount of information you allow others to see. Putting too much out there might just net you into some big trouble like identity theft. The less that’s out there the more you protection you have! Avoid clicking pop-ups and other advertisements. Most pop-ups and advertisements are misleading and only

have poor intentions. One of the best things you can do is down-load an add-on or exten-sion for your web-browser such as AdBlock. AdBlock does exactly what its name suggests. It blocks ads, espe-cially the annoying ones! It’s never a bad idea to have multiple email accounts for different things; consider having one for important emails and another for poten-tial spam. Keeping spam away from your important mail scales down the chance of accidentally opening up harmful attachments and other junk! Keep yourself up to date! Keeping your computer up to date is one of the most important things if not the most important to keeping yourself protected. Each update released fixes a number of potential bugs and exploits! Got your doubts? Check it out! It can never hurt to research a website before going there! Websites like Nor-ton Safe Web or even Google can help with determining whether a site is safe or not! It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this knowledge and keep yourself protected! Spread the word!

Nicholas S. Alexander is a member of the Computer Technology Senior Seminar course and is planning on a career in Information Technology. If interested in learning more about me or finding this article online visit www.nicholassalexander.com!

24 Hour News Need of Format ChangeBy Frank Coletti

Communications and New Media Major

According to Pew Research, 71% of people 18- 29 get news from the Internet and not subject to watching

“what’s on” television because of the Internet’s ability to pick indulgences. As a fellow Internet news follower I de-cided to try going against the grain and studied CNN’s 24 hour news cast. I started watching at 9 A.M and it was 9:16 A.M. before they broke from “Je Suis Charlie.” The next story illustrated the new scrutiny over Obama’s budget and the Homeland Security Funding. The focus of the hour was clearly the satirical newspaper’s involvement with a terrorist’s thwart and its ripple but what was bothering was the repetition at the top of the hour. To put things in perspective over the past year (Jan-uary-September 2014 compared with the same period in 2013), CNN’s prime-time audience has “declined by a quarter to a median viewership of 495,000”, according to Nielsen Media Research. This business, protected by the first amendment, needs a boost of viewership. “Je Suis Charlie” was an incident of twenty people including two police officers and nine Charlie Hebdo employees murdered over Islamic Extremist retaliation for the Prophet Muhammad’s cartoon depiction going into publication.

On the same day of “Je Suis Charlie” the Nigerian ter-rorist organization Boko Haram massacred 2,000 of their civilians. CNN’s website covered the story, but their live feed did not. Why? Many of Portland’s residents are African refugees who would of benefitted from the live coverage. There must be a fundamental difference between what goes on air and what gets printed. The Islamic world was overturned by World War I, but it was the dust that settled that bellowed the real fire. According to Al Jazeera, “the boundaries of the modern Middle East were drawn up after the war ended by French diplomat Francois Georges-Picot and British officer Sir Mark Sykes, out of territory lost by the Ottoman Empire.” Many attribute this incident to the inception of American Insurgency, and terrorist groups like ISIL want these bor-ders abolished. The Atlantic covered a similar story in 2012. “Eu-rope’s arbitrary post-colonial borders left Africans bunched into countries that don’t represent their heritage, a contra-diction that still troubles them today.” The article explains the more democratic Africa dispute secession claims at International Courts of Justice, like when Nigeria and Cameroon disputed the rights to the oil-rich Bakassi penin-sula in 2011.



THE BEACONFebruary 3, 2015 • Page 5OtherWorld

Just How the Hell did Microsoft Pull that off again? Microsoft HoloLens? What’s that?

By Richard M. Bigega

Just a few hours after I was asking myself where Google Glass went, a new reality

was born in Seattle. I’ll spare you the dra-ma: the good guys won. First, some context: Microsoft haven’t released an exciting product in nearly fifteen years, and had become world-re-nowned for being one of the best technol-ogy companies in the world that actually never pose a threat to invent or create a revolutionary product. Don’t get me wrong, even early works were traced to be copies of the Apple’s Macintosh. Micro-soft is, in my opinion, the best technology company, but not as good as real perennial invention challengers like Apple or Sam-sung. It is the feeblest of the giant inven-tors and that is fine. Microsoft’s problem though is a matter of hubris, of not coming up with revolutionary technologies like touch technology that inevitably becomes the platform for future tech adventures. At Microsoft, people are geek and skill-laden. Yesterday, though, Microsoft showed the world that it finally conceded it would be outperformed for centuries, and the only way to win was to invent and not copy what others have done. They launched an incredible new product and they beat critics, and it was pure ecstasy to watch. Microsoft envisioned a world where technology could become more personal—where it could adapt to the natural ways we communicate, learn, and create, where our digital lives would seamlessly connect with real life. The result is the world’s most ad-vanced holographic computing platform, enabled by Windows 10. For the first time ever, Microsoft HoloLens brings high-defi-nition holograms to life in your world, where they integrate with your physical places, spaces, and things. Holograms will improve the way you do things every day, and enable you to do things you’ve never done before.In all likelihood, skepticism will force some to repel this amazing tech, but in the entire world, how wouldn’t you want to enjoy the following aspects of the HoloLens?

Empowering you to achieve more Microsoft HoloLens puts you at the center of a world that blends holograms with reality. With the ability to design and shape holograms, you’ll have a new medium to express your creativity, a more efficient way to teach and learn, and a

more effective way to visualize your work and share ideas. Your digital content and creations will be more relevant when they come to life in the world around you.Go beyond the screen As holograms, your digital content will be as real as physical objects in the room. For the first time, holograms will become practical tools of daily life. Shape holograms to fine-tune a design. Interact with them to learn something new. While sharing your ideas, be able to show and to tell from multiple perspectives. Microsoft HoloLens enables you to make decisions more confidently, work more effectively, and bring your ideas to life right before your eyes.Transform your world with holograms We envisioned a world where technol-ogy could become more personal—where it could adapt to the natural ways we

communicate, learn, and create; where our digital lives would seamlessly connect with real life.A new reality Microsoft HoloLens goes beyond augmented reality and virtual reality by enabling you to interact with three-dimen-sional holograms blended with your real world. Microsoft HoloLens is more than a simple heads-up display, and its transparen-cy means you never lose sight of the world around you. High-definition holograms integrated with your real world will unlock all-new ways to create, communicate, work, and play.Your world as a canvas Microsoft HoloLens intelligently maps the room you’re in, blending holograms with the environment around you. Pin holograms to physical locations you choose so that your room becomes the canvas for your holographic projects and games. With

Microsoft HoloLens, you can interact with holograms and everyday objects together.New ways to collaborate and explore Go somewhere you’ve never been and get to know it from every angle. See holograms from your colleague’s perspec-tive if he’s in the next room or on the other side of the world. Explore a new dimension that is grounded in, but not limited to, the physical world. Microsoft just gave me a reason for a cautious optimism. Technology will never stop evolving. We’re just seeing the start of a new era of creations and adven-tures, much like when the touch tech was introduced at the end of the 20th century. Microsoft HoloLens brings to us a new way to see our world, to explore spaces we have never seen, and new ways to create things with HoloStudio, which will even let you turn your holograms into physical objects with 3D print compatibility.

You Don’t SayThe devolution of our language and us

By Rebekah MarinLiberal Studies/English Major

Recently, Duke University student Daniel Kort launched a language campaign

called “You Don’t Say”. In Kort’s Huffing-ton Post article he talks about the use of language he was hearing at a number of the university’s basketball games. Unim-pressed with the lack of respect Duke fans showcased on the sidelines, he started the campaign to shed light on the frequent use of derogatory slurs. The campaign is wor-thy of recognition, as poor sportsmanship hinders the positive atmosphere attributed with attending sporting events. However, after reading Kort’s article I found myself thinking not only about poor language usage on the courts, fields, and rinks around the country, but also the word choice used in 20-something’s daily conver-sations. It seems like speaking in shorthand is popular among the college crowd. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I’d love to plug my ears and pretend it isn’t happening. The English language is always evolving, but it could probably do without some of the most recent additions to the dictionary. While scrolling through a list of the most recent additions to the Oxford Dictionary Online, you’ll see words like apols, derp, vom, srsly (seriously?!), and plenty more alien-like words. What do those words even mean? I’ll leave the decoding up to you, and get to the point. An expanding vocabulary isn’t a neg-

ative thing, but why do words that already exist need to be turned into shorthand and accepted as entirely new words? It seems redundant. Over the years our language has changed drastically. Have you tried decod-ing Shakespeare or Chaucer? It’s difficult of course because that type of language has become outdated and uncommon, but the progression into modern language doesn’t strike me as a complete downgrade. Hope-fully today’s changes will not make our language out to be a heap of abbreviated slang that will be just as hard to decode as Shakespeare. This column is far less inspiring than

Kort’s language campaign, but I’d like to challenge all of my Beacon readers out there to be more conscientious of your word choice. Next time you have the urge to word vom some of the newest slang, think twice. Along with my challenge, take a look at Kort’s article titled, “Duke Stu-dent Athletes Speak Out on the Power of Language” on The Huffington Post’s website and resist the temptation to use slanderous language toward people who are different from you. Our generation is full of leaders, and keeping some professionalism in the way we communicate would be beneficial.

After World War II European-African colonialism collapsed and first generation African leaders decided to respect the arbitrary borders to minimize disputes over natural resources. However, the cultur-al impact has become the problem. The people are nationalized together with no history or acknowledgement. Likewise, to ISIL, Boko Haram understands this injus-tice. Boko Haram translates to “western education is sin.” Third party border creation has lead to problems in countries like Burkina, who were drawn with no natural resources, and in countries like Syria, where poorly executed cultural borders lead to constant religious warfare. However, the diplomatic farce has no connection to CNN’s bias on the “Je Suis Charlie” incident. There’s curiosity when a piece of art is scrutinized, especially on a global scale, so critiquing the actual depiction Charlie Heb-do printed is too daunting a task to tackle, but any loss of a human life over the hands of an Art is a boondoggle of loco and a very unfortunate outcome of French-Arab inte-gration. Art is always for the celebration of life, and satire falls into that spectrum. Satire is not for everybody. I remem-ber learning about Jonathan Swift in High School and it divided the class room. “A Modest Proposal’s” serious tone acted as a catalyst of humility and, coincidentally, birthed modern entertainment; some see it as glorified bullying. When writing indulges in superficial behaviors like categorizing or stereotyping to ironically present a more dimensional issue.

South Park has this ability and masks profound philosophy into raunchy, gut wrenching entertainment. Charlie Hebdo creates the same enlightenment concealed with cynicism. If there was a global free-dom of press, satire would have a lot less pressure, and this event might have been avoided. But if artistic stands need to hap-pen to protect the Freedom of Speech then we have to accept that inevitability. Charlie Hebdo and CNN’s mutual interest around the first amendment could explain CNN’s news firestorm. Islamic Extremist were fearful of the image of Mu-hammad going into print but the backlash of hindering the globe’s Freedom of Press lead to a religiously unbiased movement. A beautiful example of humanity. And a good way to get viewership. CNN’s push for viewership by repet-itive format can be seen as a form of bias and can lead to American-Muslim tensions. According to Al Jazeera America, “The French Council for the Muslim Religion said its recent study found that 128 an-ti-Muslim actions or threats were recorded in France, not including Paris, from Jan. 7 through Jan. 20, in comparison to 133 in all of France, including Paris, in 2014.” Hindsight will illuminate CNN’s strat-egies to boost viewership but in the end the common denominator is freedom. Citizens burdened by third party border control feel insurgency because lack of feeling free. Sti-fling citizen’s Freedom of Press also creates an insurgency due to lack of freedom. In the mean time of a global under-standing of cultures, CNN’s ergonomically fashioned Internet news of unbiased global information acts as the catalyst and should be mimicked by the live feed.

24 Hour News(Continued from Page 4)


THE BEACONPage 6 • February 3, 2015 OpEdReviewing America’s College Promise Plan

By Ashley BerryLiberal Studies - Political Science

Community colleges are life rafts in the savage and tumultuous sea that is the

job market. The appeal of higher education reaches not only first time students, but mothers, mid-lifers, veterans, the elderly, and anyone wishing to improve their life’s circumstances. Regardless of anyone’s age, the idea of four years being between now and a degree can be daunting. Community colleges offer a middle ground between those with no education and the traditional four-year degree. With roughly 30% of associate’s degree hold-ers now making higher salaries than their bachelor’s degree-holding counterparts, the attractiveness of community college has

steadily been increasing. Recently, President Obama proposed that two years of community college be free for Americans, stating that it should be as “free and universal as high schools.” This would be an incredibly important step, as it could make the world of difference for many people and industries. Our country is reach-ing a shortage of skilled workers that the job market demands. While community colleges offer a plethora of degrees, they are still not producing enough graduates to fulfill the ever-increasing need. As fantastic an opportunity as President Obama’s plan is, a significant amount of structure will need to be created to make this plan successful. David Brooks, a writer for the New York Times, made a fantastic

point in a recent article about the lack of adequate childcare options. Lack of childcare is a significant factor in parents being able to attend and finish college. Access to childcare on campus would be a great benefit for stu-dents with children and would allow more parents to go back to school. Another issue faced by community colleges, and that has contributed to high dropout rates, is that students often feel that they’re not connected to their school or to others on campus. A great method that the state of Tennessee came up with in their free community college program was to combat this issue with a mentor program. To have someone who can help with assignments, talk, or go to school activities with is a fantastic way to engage students and keep

them focused on their goals. Any successful community college plan must present fund-ing for students to cover additional school costs, keep students engaged, and improve the quality of the material taught to make sure students become successful graduates. This is a chance we have to take. While this will require substantial funding, and may need to be amended, it will be worth it. This is a plan that can effectively serve the people who need it the most. It may not go perfect-ly, but in life nothing goes perfectly on the first try; however, this is a crucial first step in finding a solution. If there was ever anything worth the money, it is education. Access to education changes lives. The start of broader access to education will solve many of the problems our nation is currently facing.

Dear Editor,

A few Wednesdays ago, unknowingly I dropped my wallet when I was getting

out of my car in front of Hildreth Hall. I went all morning not realizing this. When I walked over to the cafeteria for lunch I realized I was without my wallet. A fellow colleague told me that a student found the wallet on the ground and handed it into the work-study office for safe keeping. To the student who found my wallet and turned it into the work-study office, thank you, thank you, and thank you… Your thoughtful act turned what could have been a nightmarish day: cancelling my one and only debit card, replacing my driver’s license and having to get a new library card, into one that reaffirmed a belief that there are plenty of good hearted people on this planet. Sincerely,

C. Richard Ott, Adjunct Faculty

Dear Editor,

Jewett Hall Auditorium is our showroom; it is one of the few places on campus that

sits over a hundred people, allowing us to host events, carry meetings, and make a good impression in the public’s eye. That is why I contend that Jewett’s auditorium is due for some updates/remodeling. I don’t say this as a criticism, but as a constructive idea. Despite the financial struggles that SMCC is currently enduring, it would high-ly beneficial for this school of higher edu-cation to financially invest in appealing to more students. Imagine if we were to hold TEDx talks and host events for high school students as well as other public members? Not only would that carry the possibility of boosting the enrollment rate, it would also be a cause to take even more pride in our school. This is my humble opinion, but it is shared by others, and I will be sure to share it at the Community Café. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Erik Squire, SMCC Student

Letters to the EditorThe Beacon encourages letters from studnets, faculty and staff about campus, commen-

tary about the newspaper, and more. All leters may be printed in anonymity if desired, but the sender must be identifiable for the Beacon editors. Those who submit should be concious for their word count. We appreciate your imput!


THE BEACONFebruary 3, 2015 • Page 7OpEd

State of the Union Review

By Ian ZillerLiberal Arts - Political Science Major

Last week the President had his State of the Union address before Congress.

The speech tackled the many issues that the President wished to address, including free community college, trade agreements, raising taxes on the wealthy, and talks with Iran. The President talked about all of these and he also said that he would use his veto power. Up to now, President Obama has only ever used his veto power twice; however, this is the first time that Republicans controlled both Houses of Congress in his presidency. The question is, how much of this will actually get passed? It is likely that since Republicans control both Houses, it will be difficult to get anything passed. However, if either side wants to get their agenda through, they may have to start compromising since the Republicans can’t get anything passed without the support of the president, and the president can’t get anything done without it going through Congress. So the parties may have no choice but to negotiate. However, as seen with the government shut down a couple of years ago, it could mean that Congress does not want to work with the president and may refuse to negotiate. So, the question remains: how likely is it that the president and Congress can work together? It will be an interesting issue to watch.

Sugar: The Deadly, Ubiquitous IngredientA glimpse into sugar and obesity

By Garrick HoffmanLiberal Arts Major

“Sugar. It’s in everything!” These are the laconic words in the description

of an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, posted on YouTube. According to nutritionist Rovenia Brock, about 35% of sugars that Americans consume are in beverages. But look at all the food products in your house, or on the shelves of supermarkets and convenience stores. Alarmingly, sugar is, more often than not, among the first few ingredi-ents. Peanut butter. Breads. Sports drinks. Protein supplements. Even juices - the very same ones you might be feeding your child. And if it’s not strictly labeled as sugar, it’s labeled as high fructose corn syrup or sucrose. Although the Last Week Tonight episode begins humorously, it leads to a clip from a news broadcast, with the anchor touching on an insidious fact: “Today the average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, three times what we need. That’s equal to 75 pounds of sugar a year for every man, woman, and child in the United States.” Later in the episode, neuroscientist Eric Stice says in an interview, “Sugar acti-vates the brain in a special way that’s very reminiscent to drugs like cocaine.” It has become increasingly well-known that sugar is a huge catalyst in the obesi-ty epidemic of our country. Very often, people mistake calories and fat for the sole culprits in weight gain; this, however, is a

misconception, although both components indubitably play a role in weight gain. But sugar is the truly lethal component, which is why former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed to limit the sales of soft drinks over 16 ounces, understanding how much soda beverages contribute to obesity rates. Sunk-ist, for example, is the worst soda in the country, containing over 70 grams of sugar per 20 fluid ounces. What makes ex-cessive sugar consump-tion so perilous to our body? It’s a major contributor to type 2 diabetes and, as mentioned, obesity. Type 2 is, according to the fifth edition of Biology of Humans, “characterized by an abnormal-ly high level of glucose in the blood. The high blood glucose levels are caused by

problems with either insulin production or insulin function.” When insulin resistance develops, “the body’s cells fail to adequately respond to insulin.” Ultimately this leads to an augmented deposition of fat in fat cells, and if you’re eating too many malnutritious foods, your body can become confused

and store this fat that it may not need. If excess fat is not getting burned off via exer-cise, you’re on your way to poor health and a position among the already jarring statis-tics

States in the south have some of the worst obesity rates in the country. Missis-sippi and West Virginia, for example, ex-ceed 35 percent in obesity rates among the adult population, according to a Washington Post article. That’s more than 1 in 3 people

statewide. In a Gallup poll, data shows that the Huntington-Ashland community in West Virginia-Kentucky-Ohio stands at an obesity rate of 39.5 percent. Boulder, Col-orado has the lowest rate, at 12.4 percent - about a third of the Huntington-Ashland community. It is of chief importance to examine our diets and exercise proclivities, especial-ly when $190 billion goes to obesity-relat-ed medical costs annually in America, and when 90-95 percent of diagnosed cases of diabetes in America are type 2 - the type that is almost invariably self-inflicted from a lack of exercise and poor nutritional habits. In 1958, about 1 in 100 people had dia-betes; today, 1 in 14 people have diabetes, according to the Portland Press Herald. If those facts and figures don’t sound the sirens, what will?

“Sugar activates the brain in a special way that’s very

reminiscent to drugs like cocaine.”


THE BEACONPage 8 • February 3, 2015 Arts&Features

Miller TimeInterstellar Gets 5 Oscar Nods but is Chris Nolan Still Upset?Best Original Score Hans ZimmerProduction Designer Nathan CrowleySound Editing Richard KingSound Mixing Gary A. RizzoVisual Effects Paul Franklin

By Nick Miller

Let me start this article exercising that I did not care for Interstellar until the last thirty minutes of the movie. Nolan is a director who gears his films towards smart people. To

comprehend his storyline you have to be willing to look at the big picture. The marriage between visually-driven action and Sorkin-esque dialogue vehicles the story while the poetic justice cements avant garde themes. You just got to be willing to sit through them. Just like Inception and the Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar continues the Nolan reper-toire with a depiction of humanity weaning Earth’s natural resources. An assembled team of astronauts is sent into a wormhole to find humanity’s new inhabitance. Nolan’s film was just overlooked by the Academy for categories with his involvement. The twist endings have been subpar since Memento. Nolan’s early success warrants his movie exploration but that timeline implies contricity and creates detachment among his fans, like when critic’s praise the Orwellian setting allusion. In the end Interstellar lacked the elusive mistress of pace and suffered greatly; no small naked golden man in Nolan’s future.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!A Perennial Film in the Big Budget Show Off The blockbuster films for the 2015 summer are finishing their final chop so it feels fitting to take a look back. The 2014 summer, like most summers, brought us overhyped, under-written tripe with few gems. This time it was brought to us by Michael Bay. Trans-formers: Age of Extinction was great for ticket sales and pushing the visual horizon but the story was just a tweak of its predecessor while still slowly strangling the elegance of the original. The Big Budget arm race is polarizing the industry and subsequently landing itself on my Top Ten 2014 Films of the Year. However, a mulligan may be in order because the other day I stumbled across TMNT. Aside, from the nostalgia it had in my heart I remember the film being good. But who could forget the radical branded comics, video games and car-toons? Biasly their TMNT lunchbox was the crowning achievement, but digression aside, TMNT is a well-balanced tale with a complete story, solid action and recommendable for all audiences.

By Patrick DoyleLiberal Arts - English

AT this very moment I am stuck in the blizzard of 2015, Snowmageddon. All my essentials are met (cigarettes, instant coffee, english muffins) and I have spent

the majority of this storm in solitude. My dad does snow removal for his job. I found a bunch of storm candles in case the power goes out. They sound like a weird co-logne, Storm Candle by Yankee Candle. How was/is yr Snowmageddon?

Predisposed

Boys will be Boys and

Girls will be Girls but both of these

are the same thing, so shut up.

Morning Poem

I woke up the next morning and when my eyes opened all I saw

were things that reminded me of you, so I shut them.

Interactive Poetry PerformanceThe inside of my head

is a television set and sometimes the

signal cuts out like when a whole field

of tall grass sways and then suddenly stops.

Every other human on the planet has the remote control to my

head and flips channels while I walk. I get electrical

shock currents through my spine and I jolt, freezing and thawing

within a matter of seconds until it’s over for now.

We’ll be back with another Special News Bulletin

of my stupid brain after this.

The reader then pretends to be shocked after this last line.


THE BEACONFebruary 3, 2015 • Page 9Arts&Features

Seven Things Surrounding Portland’s “Seven” SculptureIndiana’s Impact on Maine

By Frank ColettiCommunications and New Media Major

7. SYMBOLIC ART

It was seven years ago today when I saw my first Robert Indiana piece. Seven of my

friends were watching 7th Heaven when we decided to go to the closest Seven Eleven. We drove my dad’s 70’s mustang with a seven fifty seven and a vanity plate that read “LKYNMB7.” We passed the Farnsworth museum that housed Robert Indiana’s time-less LOVE sculpture on their front lawn. A goofy introduction but a statement on human’s relationship to symbols. Just as LOVE graces the corner of 6th Ave., Indiana’s #7 will achieve the same stan-dard. However, the permanent installation has been under some local scrutiny. On Dec. 14th it was vandalized and last week it received a poor review from Portland Press Herald’s Martin Steingesser. I checked it out myself and found seven cool things about Indiana’s #7 statue.

7. THE INCREDIBLE WORLD “Please give us public art that occasion-ally reminds us of a deeper sense of what it means to be human in this unfathomable, incredible world,” Steingesser said in his #7 critique. The LOVE sculpture guides people to see the incredible world. When I was in NYC with my friend, his sister and her husband wanted to take wedding photos in front of LOVE. They didn’t think they’d end up sharing an artistic bond through mutually recognized symbols with hun-dreds of other lovers. Acts like this through Art can resonate with the people and hope-fully will be recreated in Portland.

7. ART CAN BUILD A CITY Last month Grime Studios had a charity Rock-a-thon for a new location. The event stressed the importance that their 24 hour recording studio had on the Portland’s Art Scene. Artists need both a studio to experiment and a library to study. I donated five dollars to keep the former while 400,000 dollars was raised to keep the latter. Portland needs Indiana’s #7 to concrete their city as an arts hub. Mark Bessire, the director of the PMA, said, “in hopes of helping to transform Congress Square…(#7 will be the) figurehead for a city that sees itself as a place for bold art.”

7. ART CAN BE AN INVESTMENT Indiana is Pop Art which, in its global context, acts as an oculus for money to coagulate with the museum. So when 400,000 dollars is dropped on this art form there is a long term investment involved. Warhol’s work is rationalized by the Re-naissance’s grandeur while both still prais-ing relative deities; one is God, the other is money. If you’re like me and read the flyers at the urinal then you might be familiar with SMCC’s Business Club informational tidbits. If you don’t use a urinal they have flyers elsewhere. In one of their recent fly-ers that stuck with me there was a Warhol quote: “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” Hopefully the relativity between Renais-sance and Pop will bless similar monetary dividends.

7. BACK TO FUNDAMENTALS Indiana’s embrace of words derives from roadside entertainment signs and highway street signs. The mostly primary colors from post war America compliment the organization; the signs that inspired the balance were asymmetrical or radial. Sometimes the materials were old street signs morphed into his own terms of the American identity radioed through symbols of raw, identifiable emotions. Indiana’s presence in our community will hopefully sharpen Portland’s artistic event horizon.

7. SUPPORT A MAINE VET Robert Indiana was born in New Castle, Indiana on September 13, 1928. In 1942, Indiana started high school in Indi-anapolis, Indiana at the Arsenal Technical High School, an institution known for its strong art department. He graduated in 1946 as the valedicto-rian. He was also a photographer, photo editor of the class year-book, captain of the honor society, and a staff member of the school newspaper. Robert received a Scholastic Art and Writing Award for the John Herron Art Institute when

graduating, but instead choose to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Camp Atter-bury, Edinburgh, Indiana. Robert Indiana’s style fit in nicely in the New York art scene and in the fall of 1956, Cy Twombly used Indiana’s loft during the day to prepare for a show at the Stable Gallery. Shortly after, he created his first single word painting, FUN, subsequently launching him into fame in the New York Pop Art scene. The study of words lead to his opus, the LOVE series. In 1978, he moved permanently to Vinalhaven, Maine.

7. VANDALISM Street Art is the most digestible of the contemporary practices which creates a common denominator between it and Pop. Both have the bond between the formal

practices of the art form and the main-stream viewership. Similarities between the art forms and their synchronicity aside acts of vandalism are always going to happen. So why the poor review? Steingesser was Portland’s first Poet Laureate and has a piece of art hanging in the PMA, but his recent PMS makes me think he vandalized #7. After all, when addressing the Dec. vandalism, Indiana said, “It was probably some local artist who decided, ‘Why am I not in front of the museum instead of that guy?’ I am not surprised. This has happened many times before. I am a target.”

Marin at the Movies“Blackfish”: Killer Whales in Captivity

By Rebekah MarinLiberal Studies/English Major

This week I decided to switch it up and embrace the wonderful resource that is

Netflix to do a little documentary watch-ing. Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowp-erthwaite, came out in 2013 and depicts the life of performing killer whales, more specifically a 12,000 pound Orca named Tilikum. The documentary explains the lives of killer whales in the wild, and the drastic changes they endure once captured and held in captivity for years while being forced to perform. As a former SeaWorld trainer wan-na-be, who used to cry tears of joy while watching the Shamu show, I was appalled to learn what really goes on at SeaWor-ld. I grew up believing the very lies that SeaWorld’s executives wanted the public to accept: the animals held there were being rehabilitated, and every incident involving a trainer and a killer whale was the trainer’s fault. I was aware of the documentary, but I had been living the “ignorance is bliss” ap-proach, because I anticipated that this film would completely change my mind about the issue. And it did. These animals live in pods in the wild, where the offspring never leave their moth-er’s side. For years SeaWorld has captured young Orca’s, separating them from their families, placing them in a tank with other unfamiliar Orcas and teaching them to

perform for the sole purpose of entertain-ment. The film tells the real story behind all of SeaWorld’s tricky tactics through interviews with former SeaWorld trainers, Orca experts, and witnesses from some of the attacks. They recall the 2010 incident that resulted in the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, where SeaWorld blatantly blamed Brancheau for her own death, first saying that she slipped into the pool, and later that her ponytail triggered the whale to attack. Both explanations were proven false. Unfortunately this was not the first incident where SeaWorld attempted to sweep any evidence or truth under the rug. After a number of battles between SeaWorld and OSHA, the trainers are no lon-

ger permitted to enter any tank with any of the whales. Blackfish isn’t a documentary to ignore. Whether you’re a marine life enthusiast, a SeaWorld lover, or somewhere in between, you’ll be shocked by the truth and in awe of the true power these mammals possess. I can’t write much more without spewing the whole mesmerizing storyline out, but next time you feel like you’ve watched everything else on Netflix, watch Blackfish.



THE BEACONFebruary 3, 2015 • Page 11Sports

This Day in Sports History: February 3rdBy The Beacon Staff

For the second time this semester, with 5 more columns to go, it’s time to climb

into the “WABAC Machine” ~ Google search Mr. Peabody and Sherman, an ani-mation series from late 50’s and early 60’s ~ and you’ll be exposed to history told no other way. Here’s the skinny, Sherman is a beagle who is the smartest being on the planet. He saves Sherman a dorky bespectacled, red-haired boy from a group of bullies. Peabody, being the smartest and most benevolent creature on the planet adopts Sherman after he discovers that Sherman is an orphan. Mr. Peabody builds a time machine called, “The WABAC Machine” and takes Sherman on adventures to observe history. This being a sports column, Mr. Pea-body and Sherman eventually make it to the first Kentucky Derby. Sad to say, that episode isn’t covered in this column as it aired on December 30th, 1959, nor will the first Kentucky Derby be covered as that

took place on May 17, 1875. Keep reading, the Kentucky Derby does get mention. Regardless of having a “WABAC Ma-chine” or not, here’s what has transpired on This Date in Sports History ~ paranormal activities such as: a power outage during Super Bowl XLVII (47), 2 years ago when the Ravens defeated the 49ers 34-31. Conspiracy theorist from across the foot-ball spectrum screamed almost as loud as deflated footballs on a cold rainy night. More along the lines of the super nat-ural taking over: in 1982 Englishman John Sharples stepped off of the dance floor, a disco-dance floor, after dancing for 371 hours. 106 years earlier in 1876, Albert Spalding started the Spalding Sporting Goods Co. manufacturing the 1st official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball and football. Cash in hand to start the company, a whooping $800. In 2001, The XFL (Xtreme Football League) debuted. The ill-conceived league was the brain-child of WWF’s Vince McMahon. Needles to say there is only room enough for one

professional football league in the USA. In the category of “rather not hear about it,” in 1998 Brain Cashman replaced Bob Watson as general manager of the evil empire and what else follows, but the Yankees winning the series in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Then there is ~ Peyton Manning winning a 5th Asso-ciated Press MVP award making him

the only player to win the award 5 times. In case you’re wondering Tom Brady has 2, and Brett Favre has 3. The big story: the Patriots winning Super Bowl XXXVI (36), 20-17 over the St. Louis Rams in 2002, which happened to be the Patriot’s first Super Bowl win. The story behind the story: because of the September 11th attacks, the NFL post-poned a week of regular season games, which resulted in the Super Bowl being moved from January 27th to February 3rd. The game was designated a National Special Security Event by Homeland Security, and has remained a NSSE since. Tom Brady was named the games MVP after leading the Patriots downfield setting up an Adam Vinatieri game winning field goal as the game clock struck 00:00. The Patriot’s squandered a 17-3 3rd quarter lead when Kurt Warner ran for a 2 yard touchdown and threw a 26 yard touchdown to tie the game. The really big story though: Profes-sional jockey Willie Shoemaker saddled up on a thorough breed for his 40,352nd mount. In 40,350 races Shoemaker won 1,100 stakes and 8,833 wins. His career spanned 42 years in which he won 11 Triple Crown races, 5 Belmont stakes, 3 Preaknesses, 1,009 stakes races, 10 national money titles, earned more than $123 mil-lion in purses of which $10 million where deposited into his bank account, and to end the column, he won Kentucky Derby 4 times. And that’s this day in sports history.

This time of year the sun is directly in the line of vision when SMCC drivers are leaving campus at the same time elementary students begin their walk home.

DRIVE SAFENear death experiences every day between the kids who aren't stopping and the drivers driving recklessly. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

There are no flashing lights or crossing guards at the corner of Broadway and Spring street.

Owls lead back to 13 on a 3-pointer at the 13:28 mark. Over the course of the next 8 minutes SMCC would gain mini-mal ground and trail by 11 when Brianna Losee popped another 3. Leading 58-49 with 5:48 left in the game, the bottom completely fell out for UMPI as the Lady Wolves outscore the Owls 18-0 and walked off the UMPI court with a come-from-behind victory. Amira Jones and Tiana Burton would score 13 a piece, as Jordan Turner would net 9 for the Lady Wolves. The victory in Presque Isle was a wonderful step in the right direction after a frustrating loss to the Commu-nity College of Rhode Island 61-53. Last Thursday the Seawolves would win heavy-handed against Unity College in a 90pt blow out 113-23 and this past Sat-urday the Lady Seawolves would end up on the winning side against Dean College 74-65. The Lady Wolves now sit at 9-3 in the YSCC and hold down 2nd place following CMCC who come to South Portland on February 11th. Shortly after the Lady Wolves walked off the Presque Isle floor the men squared off against an energetic Owl team that seemed to have something to prove against the division-leading Seawolves. After 5 minutes of play the Owls were 11pts up (15-4), as the men found themselves in a battle to remain undefeated in the YSCC. 5 minutes later SMCC was back in the game having cut the Owls lead to 2 on a 3pnt jumper by Chase Soares. The UMPI Owls would re-spond again, padding their lead to 7 (22-15), after which SMCC would out-score Presque Isle 15-8, knotting the halftime score at 30 a piece. The opening of the second half saw SMCC score the first 9pts behind the scoring of Tyheem Simon (5pts), and Carlos Gonzalez and Chase Soares. The Owls would hit from beyond the 3pt arch, cutting the SMCC lead to 6, only to see Chase Soares connect with a 3, pad-ding SMCC’s lead back to 9. Again UMPI hit from beyond the arch trimming the lead to 6 at which point Emmanuel Perry drained a 3, grabbing a 9pt lead for SMCC. The rest of the half saw UMPI trying to claw their way back into the game and SMCC respond to the threat. SMCC’s lead would fluctuate between 5 and 13 for the remainder of the game. In the end SMCC would walk off of UMPI’s basketball court with a 74-64 win, their 6th win in a row, while im-proving to 17-1. One week later SMCC would fall to Dean College 60-72, which dropped their record to 17-2.

Hoops Highlight(Continued from Page 12)

Emanuel Perry gets air as he drives against the men Owls of UMPI. Emanuel contributed 3 points and 2 wins in the Men Seawolves win against UMPI.

Amira Jones applies pressure on an inbound pass against UMPI’s Rebecca Campbell. Amira finished with 13points while grabbing 10 re-bounds in the Lady Wolves win at Presque Isle.


UPCOMINGEVENTS

Woman’s BasketballFeb 5 - NHTI 8pm

Feb 11 - Central Maine CC 6pmFeb 19-23 - The YSCC Post-Seacon Tournament at NHTI

Men’s BasketballFeb 5 - NHTI 6pmFeb 11 - Central Maine CC 8pmFeb 20-23 - The YSCC Post-Seacon Tournament at NHTI

(Opponents TBA)(Opponents TBA)

SMCC SPORTS

Hoops HighlightsMarching Towards the YSCC Tournament

By The Beacon Staff

With the YSCC post-season tournament on this side of the horizon, a mere 2 weeks away, the women and

men’s basketball teams have been working hard to iron out rough spots, fine tune their games, and gain momentum while trying not to eye the rapidly approaching post-season tournament. Over the weekend of the 25th, the Beacon sports staff was able to travel to Presque Isle in order to cover the Seawolf squads when they took to the hardwood floor to battle it out against the Owls of UMPI. The squads spent Friday evening in Bangor, breaking up what would have

been a monotonous and debilitating 5½ hour bus ride into 2 shorter rides, enabling them to arrive at UMPI with fresh legs and a clear eye on the prize. The Lady Wolves took to the court at noon, an hour ahead of their scheduled 1 o’clock start because of a storm that was headed up the coast and jumped out to a 6-2 lead after spotting UMPI the opening points of the game. The first 10 plus minutes of the game saw the Lady Wolves build a 20-10 lead behind the scoring of Alicia Hoyt, Tiana Burton and Amira Jones, who accounted for 16 of the 20 SMCC points. That is when the game got interesting and interesting fast as UMPI’s Darby Toth took over the game, scoring 20 of the 27 points posted by UMPI after trailing by 10, while guiding the Lady Owls to a 37-30 half-time lead. Simply put, Toth, the 5’4” junior guard, put on a show of driving

and scoring which often frustrated the Lady Wolves guard-ing her. Toth would eventually foul out of the game with a little under 4minutes to play as SMCC held a 2pt lead. UMPI’s spunky point guard would lead the Lady Owls in scoring with 22pts and tie for game high honors with SMCC’s Alicia Hoyt, who also found the net for 22pts. The 2nd half started with UMPI jumping out to a 15pt lead within the first 2 minutes as Darby Toth and 2 team-mates drained 3-3 pointers, building a 46-31 lead for the Lady Owls. Over the course of the final 18 minutes and 25 seconds the bottom would slowly fall out for UMPI as the Lady Wolves outscored the Owls 27 to 12. Again Alicia Hoyt found herself in the mix as she pulled SMCC to within 10 at the 15:19 mark on 2 free throws. UMPI’s Brianna Losee would answer, padding the


Students represent SMCC with vigor in the 74-65 Women’s Basketball victory and 82-70 Men’s Basket-ball loss against Dean College on January 31st, the Men’s Team’s loss was only their second of the season.

Josh Tuplin had five rebounds, all of which were offensive along with four assists and a three-pointer.

Abigail Nielsen finished with a solid eighteen points, five rebounds, and two steals in the 74-65 win by SMCC over Dean College.

Tiana Burton came away with five assists and three steals in the Dean game, contributing valuable stats off the bench and helping push SMCC’s women’s basketball team to a 14-7 record.


THE BEACONFebruary 3, 2015 • Page 13

Hoops HighlightsMarching Towards the YSCC Tournament

By The Beacon Staff

With the YSCC post-season tournament on this side of the horizon, a mere 2weeks

away, the women and men’s basketball teams have been working hard to iron out rough spots, fine tune their games, and gain momentum while trying not to eye the rapidly approaching post-season tournament. Over the weekend of the 25th, the Beacon sport staff was able to travel to Presque Isle in order to cover the Seawolf squads when they took to the hardwood floor to battle it out against the Owls of UMPI. The squads spent Friday evening in Bangor, breaking up what would have been a monotonous and debilitating 5½ hour bus ride into 2 shorter rides enabling them to arrive at UMPI with fresh legs and a clear eye on the prize. The Lady Wolves took to the court at noon an hour ahead of their scheduled 1 o’clock start because of a storm that was headed up the coast and jumped out to a 6-2 lead after spotting UMPI the opening points of the game. The first 10 plus minutes of the game saw the Lady Wolves build a 20-10 lead behind the scoring of Alicia Hoyt, Tiana Burton and Amira Jones, who accounted for 16 of the 20 SMCC points. That is when the game got interesting and interesting fast as UMPI’s Darby Toth took over the game scoring 20 of the 27 points posted by UMPI after trailing by 10, while guiding the Lady Owls to a 37-30 half-time lead. Simply put, Toth the 5’4” junior guard, put on a show of driving and scoring which often frustrated the Lady Wolves guarding her. Toth would eventually foul out of the game with a little under 4minutes to play as SMCC held a 2pt lead. UMPI’s spunky point guard would lead the Lady Owls in scoring with 22pts and tie for game high honors with SMCC’s Alicia Hoyt who also found the net for 22pts. The 2nd half started with UMPI jumping out to a 15pt lead within the first 2minutes as Darby Toth and 2 teammates drained 3-3 pointers building a 46-31 lead for the Lady Owls. Over the course of the final 18minutes and 25 seconds the bottom would slowly fall out for UMPI as the Lady Wolves outscored the Owls 27 to 12. Again Alicia Hoyt found herself in the mix as she pulled SMCC to within 10 at the 15:19 mark on 2 free throws. UMPI’s Brianna Losee would answer padding the Owls lead back to

13 on a 3-pointer at the 13:28 mark. Over the course of the next 8 minutes SMCC would gain minimal ground and trail by 11 when Brianna Losee popped another 3. Leading 58-49 with 5:48 left in the game, the bottom completely fell out for UMPI as the Lady Wolves outscore the Owls 18-0 and walked off the UMPI court with a come from behind vic-tory. Amira Jones and Tiana Burton would score 13 a piece, as Jordan Turner would net 9 for the Lady Wolves. The victory in Presque Isle was a wonderful step in the right direction after a frustrating loss to the Community College of Rhode Island 61-53. Last Thursday the Seawolves would win heavy-handed against Unity College in a 90pt blow out 113-23 and this past Saturday the Lady Seawolves would end up on the winning side against Dean College 74-65. The Lady Wolves now sit at 9-3 in the YSCC and hold down 2nd place following CMCC who come to South Portland on February 11th. Shortly after the Lady Wolves walked off the Presque Isle floor the men squared off against an energetic Owl team that seemed to have something to prove against the division leading Seawolves. After 5 minutes of play the Owls were 11pts up (15-4), as the men found them selves in a battle to remain undefeated in the YSCC. 5 minutes later SMCC were back in the game having cut the Owls lead to 2 on a 3pnt jumper by Chase Soares. The UMPI Owls would respond again padding their lead to 7 (22-15), after which SMCC would out score Presque Isle 15-8 knotting the halftime score at 30 a piece. The opening of the second half saw SMCC score the first 9pts behind the scoring of Tyheem Simon (5pts), and Csrlos Gonzalez and Chase Soares. The Owls would hit from beyond the 3pt arch cutting the SMCC lead to 6, only to see Chase Soares connect with a 3 padding SMCC’s lead back to 9. Again UMPI hit from beyond the arch trimming the lead to 6 at which point Em-manual Perry drained a 3 grabbing a 9pt lead for SMCC. The rest of the half saw UMPI trying to claw their way back into the game and SMCC re-spond to the threat. SMCC’s lead would fluctuate between 5 and 13 for the remainder of the game. In the end SMCC would walk off of UMPI’s basketball court with a 74-64 win, their 6th win in a row, while improving to 17-1. One week later SMCC would fall to Dean College 60-72, which dropped their record to 17-2.

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The SMCC Beacon 2-3-2015