Soundgarden goes underappreciated

Posted by Eric Shapiro

Soundgarden is more than a footnote in rock history and the handful of widely known Soundgarden songs hardly constitute an accurate representation of the band's sound.

These days, Soundgarden is best known for the hit singles off its 1994 release "Superunknown." "Blackhole Sun," perhaps the band's most famous song, was brought to the attention of post-Generation Xers by Rock Band. "Fell on Black Days," "Outshined" and "Jesus Christ Pose" have also achieved varying degrees of popularity and remain mainstays of rock radio.Front man Chris Cornell went on to form Audioslave with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and even co-wrote the theme song to the 2006 James Bond film "Casino Royale."

However, next to Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden is considerably less well known. Ironic, considering it was supposed to be the band that catapulted grunge into the mainstream.

Greatest hits album "Telpehantasm" provides some much-needed context. The first two tracks "Hunted Down" and "Hands All Over," taken from debut EP "Screaming Life" and LP "Louder Than Love" respectively, showcase Soundgarden's earlier sound, essentially a heavier, dirtier, Melvinized version of the cock rock that saturated the radio decades before.

On the former track in particular, Cornell is a dead ringer for Robert Plant. Soundgarden and its peers in the Pacific Northwest underground music scene shunned the sexism and over-the-top excesses of classic rock.

However, if you strip away the fuzz from the band's guitars, the band isn't all that different from a musical standpoint, especially early on. "Outshined" and "Rusty Cage," both from "Badmotorfinger," constitute a major leap forward, incorporating a wider range of influences from funk to psychedelia and concentrating more on hooks. Johnny Cash even brought out the unlikely country song buried in "Rusty Cage."

Then there are the requisite tracks off Soundgarden's most commercially successful (and perhaps best) LP, "Superunknown." Lesser-known tracks "My Wave" and "Spoonman" hold up just as well as the aforementioned ballads "Black Hole Sun" and "Fell on Black Days." Hell, the same can be said for nearly every song on "Superunknown."

Still, it is the latter two classics that elevate Soundgarden beyond the reductive label of grunge and into the ranks of truly exceptional rock musicians.

With the exception of Nirvana, none of the bands that comprised the early 90s alternative rock "movement" tackled depression and hopelessness better. That's more than a minor accomplishment in a mainstream rock environment that until recently, even at its most starkly emotional, proved reluctant to delve into the darker side of human nature.

In the shadow of its masterpiece, follow-up LP "Down on the Upside" is easy to dismiss as a lackluster swan song. Nevertheless, songs like "Burden in my Hand," "Pretty Noose" and "Ty Cobb" are hardly indicative of complacency. The deft combination of acoustic and electric guitars weathered by a rougher production than on "Superunknown," achieve a distinctive and memorable character.

Soundgarden will probably always be the least known of the big four grunge bands despite its greater role in pioneering the grunge sound and opening the door for its underground contemporaries to cross over into the mainstream."Telephantasm" serves as a worthy summation of the band's legacy and a reminder that the sub-genre didn't start and end with Pearl Jam and Nirvana.

Eric is a junior who loves rock music in all forms. You may see him around campus in a band T-shirt listening to his iPod and looking unapprochable, but rest assured he is quite friendly and will usually only attack when provoked.

Balancing music and text: Albany Symphony Orchestra plays Zankel

Posted by Samantha Hoffmann

On Oct. 22 the Albany Symphony Orchestra and actors from the Capital Repertory Theatre treated the college's Arthur Zankel Music Hall to a wonderfully animated performance.

The main event of the night was the playing of Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music to Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream." An additional treat to open the concert was the world premiere of three melodramas, also based on scenes from "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

The orchestra's performance of all four works left very little to be desired. The precision and emotion shown by each individual player culminated in an enveloping quality felt throughout the entire hall. Pairing the music with the talented acting of the Capital Repertory Theatre players and the humorous use of explanatory charts and sarcastic commentary made the whole performance entertaining and enjoyable.

Being treated to three new compositions allowed the audience to feel like Goldilocks, sampling melodramas rather than porridge. The first composition put too much emphasis on the music, the last put too little emphasis on the music and the middle composition balanced the music and text "just right."

Melodramas are comprised of music and spoken text, which is an unusual element for composers to work with. Each approach showed a different way of balancing music and text.

Lukas Olejnik's "That Fire Which Burned the Carthage Queen" put great emphasis on the musical passages, which made the intervals between each line of spoken text almost too long. Consequently, it was difficult to follow the storyline since by the time one line was said one had easily forgotten the previous one.

Shen Yiwen's composition, "How Happy Some O'er Other Some Can Be!" showed a more symbiotic relationship between music and text. The equal balance allowed the listener to appreciate both elements as well as notice how they worked in conjunction. Shen put ironic twists on excerpts from Mendelssohn's incidental music to emphasize the text's themes.

Right after the actress playing Helena spoke of her foiled marriage plans with Demetrius, the orchestra played a distorted version of the famed Wedding March, taking the jubilant first few chords and twisting them into hectic unhappiness.

Benjamin Pesetsky's "Pyramus and Thisbe: Burlesque for Orchestra" took full advantage of the comical, disastrous elements of the play within a play. In this melodrama, there was more emphasis on the actors and the text, while the music took a back seat. Even though the acting was entertaining and the audience clearly enjoyed the use of gimmicks, such as hats and cross-dressing, it seemed as though something was lost by the music having such a small role.

Playing a work as famous as Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" can be very nerve-wracking since most people attending such a performance have their own idea of how the piece should sound before they enter the hall. If the Albany Symphony Orchestra members were nervous however, they never showed it.

The precision and accuracy with which the incredibly fast passages were played, the flawless intonation of the exposed opening chords and everything in between showed only confidence and extreme preparation on the part of each orchestral member. This performance of Mendelssohn's famed piece showed why it is still held in such high regard over 160 years after it was written.

For all of their impressive professional playing, the ensemble's evident sense of humor was a clincher when it came to gaining the audience's high praises. Its format of interspersing scene excerpts and filling in narrative gaps with explanations and commentary was innovative.

The Albany Symphony Orchestra succeeded in keeping the audience interested in both Shakespeare's playful story and Mendelssohn's captivating music so much so that the performers received a standing ovation and spattering of "Bravo!"s at the end of the two and a half hour concert.

Halloween and hooking up: how to avoid awkward interactions

Posted by C.

The preparation and aftermath of Halloween can be nerve wracking. The costumes, festivities and hook ups can leave you feeling like more of a trick than a treat. Here is some advice to keep embarrasing moments to a minimum:

1. Wear a costume you feel comfortable in. Don't wear something that will unravel or expose any of your goodies. Be comfortable

and confident.

2. Eat a huge meal and stay hydrated … with water. No one likes interacting with someone who has cottonmouth.

3. If you plan to have a night of costumed, responsible fun you won't need to worry about the possibility of praying to the porcelain god.

Halloween is an exceptional excuse to act like a fool, but please refrain on the ghoul.

Dear C.,

I'm a freshman and I had a raging crush on this one guy all through high school. He's one of my best friends and over the summer we had a fling. He's now in NYC and I miss him a ton. I kind of want to go down to the city to see him, but we haven't seen each other since the summer, and I'm not sure where we stand. I don't want to make things awkward. What do you think?

–New York State of Mind

Dear NY State of Mind,

First of all you have to think about what this fling consisted of — were you guys doing the deed or just making kissy face here and there? Then consider his personality: is he a player or a more sensitive kind of guy?

The player type is more likely to have multiple flings with girls and only contact you late at night. The sensitive type is more likely to spend time with you without hooking up.

Whatever type he is, text him if you haven't already just to check up on him. Ask how he likes school, maybe throw in an inside joke; make it light and friendly, but not flirty. Bringing out the big guns right away might overwhelm him.

See how he responds. If it's positive, tell him you were thinking of going to the city with some friends, but make sure to actually find some friends to join you and be sure to clue them in on the situation.

Keep it simple and casual so he won't be overwhelmed by the idea. It will also, hopefully, calm your nerves if you know it's a casual thing.

Also, if he is one of your best friends, I wouldn't be too worried about him being awkward. Yes, I know it's easier said than done, but a little mystery is what makes relationships exciting.

–Hearts and Stars, C.

I am a nonbiased, nonjudgmental third party (because I love parties). My aim is to advise, not to direct. The real question is what will you do?

Email me at SkidWWCD@gmail.com with questions. Privacy is guaranteed. Advice can remain unpublished upon request.

Assay the state of critical writing

Posted by Jack Ferguson

Now that I am a senior I feel there is one statement about my college career I can fully stand behind: I hate, hate writing academic essays. And with the much-touted rise in plagiarism, it seems that you do too. But why else do we attend college if not to grow in knowledge and learn how to better express it? I will proceed with the assumption that if you pay roughly $50,000 a year, you hope to leave with a functional education and adept expression.

The college academic essay is not difficult to write – rather, it is absurd. Almost nowhere does one find so narrow a concept desired in so little space from such a paucity of information. If you're like me, you approach a paper either in begrudging acceptance of the high school topic-sentence-and-four-supporting- points format, or in willful rebellion against it. How did this come about?

I know that I came here not feeling skilled at writing essays in the least. But even supposing that the student body had perfected the clunky unreadable high school essay format: should colleges ask for and support the perpetuation of this rigid template of expression? At a school with a motto such as ours, at least, one would expect not. Further, is this any way for a liberal arts school to help its students engage the world – through tired, desiccated regurgitation?

It seems that the college system is a place where teachers and methods of pedagogy are allowed a wide range of expression. Perhaps for the first time in their academic careers students are exposed to information in accordance with their teacher's – and not the school's – methods. Given that each of us learns differently (the most cited example being that of group-learners v. isolates) the variety here allows for greater individualization, the student choosing his or her professors and classes as best suits his or her mind's proclivities. Why then do we stick to a method of composition designed for ubiquitous utility instead of individual expression?

One could hardly argue that de Montaigne, Didion, Orwell, Sontag, Eliot or any of the great essayists caught even a whiff of the format we hammer away at here. And many of us have never come upon an essay of their ilk nor been taught it in class.

I am of the opinion that before any paper may be assigned the professor should hand out a published essay and hold a discussion on it, pore over its contents, dissect its twists and buttressing evidence. And not just in low-level intro courses, but every time. Why pretend that a student who is unread in the best forms of writing will be able to fashion anything like a readable piece of work?

There is an old saying about how all undergraduate writing is, as a whole, almost hilariously unreadable. This is the central injustice at stake here. To spend time and money and walk out with nothing to show, never reaching a point when I feel my skills have been honed feels to me like being the victim of some cruel (and expensive) deception, in which I myself am complicit.

Once we accept dreadful composition as one of college's necessary evils, we master the art of bluffing it. I have heard my peers talk at epic lengths of BSing one's way through a paper. You're familiar with it, I'm sure. It involves taking one thing and pretending it's another – a somehow distinctly different and better thing. The worst part is that feeling that the teacher is rolling his or her eyes but accepting it. BSingdoesn't feel like lying so much as lumping together rude thoughts in a hasty and careless manner. It's expressing the words and not the point. It's learning how to ignore the point altogether.

Before I proceed, chest-pounding and hollering, a caveat: students very often choose to go home and watch videos or have a beer or chat online or kiss their boyfriends when they could (and probably should) be staying in the library for another hour or two. If you want to have some fun, bring a tuba to the third floor of the library late next Saturday night. Pause, and listen for the reproach that will never arrive. Do we really lack so much work ethic? Do we really desire to squander this unique opportunity?

I would argue that the rise in plagiarism results not from student laziness or lack of knowledge, but from not knowing how to fashion one's knowledge into a coherent, manageable form. I believe that no student wants to potentially mar his or her name or take the unnecessary risk of getting caught. But the task of forming out of nothing a piece of coherent knowledge presents a daunting, nearly insurmountable task. Why else do we always resort to the first form of writing we were taught, though it be a repulsive process?

This is not in any way a defense of plagiarism, often the product of duplicity, haste or rank inattention; this is sympathy for the struggle of those without recourse to a nonbrain-deadening format. The professor might argue: suck it up, bang the thing out. But try it for four years. In fact, try it for two with the immediate prospect of two more years of this drudge, and pretend that the feeling welling up inside isn't that of fear and revulsion.

Try attempting, as we do, to marry the money and debts we face at every new matriculation with the growing knowledge that we will leave here with nothing for which to feel proud.

Try having only this format to use, and then you tell me why the library is deserted on a Saturday night.

Jack Ferguson is senior History and English double major from Philadelphia, Penn.

Carbon victory, Senate failure

Posted by Tyler Reny

Common logic would dictate that the Deep Water Horizon oil spill, the worst in U.S. history, would have offered politicians, environmentalists and the public the impetus to pass climate change legislation. In reality, the spill, in addition to poor political decisions by Barack Obama and Harry Reid, nailed the coffin shut on the most serious Senate effort to control U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

The New Yorker recently published an article with an amazingly detailed description of the political maneuvering and missteps that led to the tragic death of the "Cap and Trade" bill drafted by liberal, centrist and conservative senators: Kerry, Lieberman and Graham. The "Cap and Trade" proposal would have placed overall caps on emissions while offering flexible options for polluters to comply. The author of the article, Ryan Lizza, investigated exactly why the bill failed.

Before the tragic oil spill, a perfect storm of factors had steadily chipped away at the legislation. Republicans were already jumping ship. McCain, who had offered Lieberman his vote, had pulled out. He was facing a rare primary challenge from the ultra-conservative J.D. Hayworth in Arizona and he would have to moderate his views to appease the party's base. Throughout the spring, the conservative talking heads had won the framing war by branding the Cap and Trade bill as a "Cap-and-Tax." Trying to justify a new tax to reduce levels of carbon dioxide is a tough sell to voters.

The triumvirate's key political strategy to win back some republican and moderate democratic support for the Cap and Trade legislation was to offer expanded offshore oil drilling in return for a vote. After the "drill, baby drill" demonstrations at GOP conventions, it was clear that the republican base supported the expansion.

But that is where Obama screwed up. On March 31, without conversing with the senators, he announced that the administration was opening up large tracts of U.S. waters to oil drilling. The bargaining chip was off the table. The senators now had nothing to offer to conservatives and moderate democrats for their support. Graham's other possible strategy, offering new large loans to build new nuclear plants in return for votes, had already been destroyed when Obama's budget proposal was released with $54.5 billion for that exact purpose. Obama handed the opposition exactly what they wanted without asking for anything in return.

Then on April 15, the White House drove Graham away from the bargaining table. Somebody in the Obama administration had told a Fox News reporter that the White House was not going to support Graham's proposal in the bill to raise gas taxes to pay for the Cap and Trade bill. This was a blatant lie. Graham had never proposed such a raise. The news quickly spread around the airwaves and Graham's phones rang off the hook with angry calls. The tea-party conservatives were livid that one of their own would propose an increase in taxes. Graham felt the pressure from his home state, lost his temper and walked out on the talks for good.

To make things worst, the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stunned his colleagues when he announced that the Senate would tackle immigration reform before climate change. Immigration was rising to the forefront of the debate in his home state of Nevada and, facing a tough reelection campaign, Reid felt he needed to mollify his home state voters. But it was all a political ploy. The Cap and Trade bill was almost ready for public release and Reid should have thrown all of his support behind it. The Senate Majority leader revealed that he wasn't at all serious about the legislation.

The fate of Cap and Trade was sealed on Earth Day, ironically, when the Deep Water Horizon rig sank to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and 62,000 barrels of oil a day began mixing with the warm ocean waters. The bill, which would have drastically expanded such drilling, was drowning under media coverage of dead sea birds and oil slicks the size of Rhode Island. With such a disaster on their hands, no senators would ever have supported it. Seven months of negotiations were destroyed. The bill was tossed.

Republicans are poised to take back the House in November and greatly diminish the democratic majority in the Senate. The GOP's "Pledge to America" specifically mentions its opposition to any future Cap-and-Trade bill and the future Speaker of the House John Boehner is unlikely to support any type of climate change legislation.

So, we sit back and watch as dysfunctional Washington continues its partisan sniping and carbon continues to spew into the atmosphere. Perhaps when we reach the peak in global oil production (by conservative estimates in the next 20 or 30 years) and prices begin to spike will our government finally get its act together. In the meantime, however, I suggest looking into purchasing land in Greenland. By the time we retire and the ice recedes, its coasts might offer prime beachfront real estate.

Tyler Reny is a senior government major who enjoys good food, politics and jazz.

Four Loko energy drink drives doctors, campuses crazy

Posted by Adam Cohen

A recent New York Times article has confirmed what many of us already suspected: the alcoholic energy drink Four Loko is terrible for you.

That appetizing, iced tea look alike in a can is actually being described as liquid cocaine by some. While that may sound like overkill, doctors do say that it is a dangerous drink that often leads to blackouts and sickness.

Four Loko is produced by Phusion Products LLC. of Chicago, Illinois. It comes in nine flavors, is sold in 47 states and has gained popularity quickly with college and high school students over the past year.

In fact, this month 32 college students were hospitalized due to consumption of alcohol, and at least nine of these incidents involved Four Loko. At least one college has banned Four Loko on-campus after numerous hospitalizations.

Four Loko comes in 23.5 ounce cans full of malt liquor and fabricated energy. The "four" in its name comes from its four main ingredients: caffeine, taurine, guarana and alcohol. Sounds tasty.

But seriously, this drink sounds toxic. And coincidentally this beverage can also be a cause of toxic drinking, which means consuming so much alcohol that the drinker passes out. While this seems unlikely, as the drink contains only 12 percent alcohol, it is the other ingredients that are the silent problem.

The caffeine in Four Loko — which amounts to about as much as a cup of coffee — is a stimulant which counters the effects of alcohol as a depressant. This means that the normal depressant effects of alcohol, which often make the drinker tired and less interested in continuing to drink, are counteracted by the caffeine stimulant, which keeps the drinker awake and prone to drinking more without feeling the effects. As a result, it is easier to overdose and become a victim of toxic drinking.

Students on any college campus tend to be concerned with saving money, and the $3-4 price tag on a can of Four Loko can be very appealing.

Between The Hunt last weekend and the upcoming Moorebid Ball this weekend, there has been and will certainly be a good amount of students enjoying alcoholic beverages, and Four Lokos will likely make an appearance.

A ban of the drink on-campus may be overkill but I would like to offer a warning against Four Loko.

In fact, I do not recommended drinking Four Loko, consuming large amounts, drinking quickly or mixing any other caffeinated beverages with alcohol.

Four Loko is dangerous, but so is any irresponsible consumption of alcohol. Do embarrassing photo booth pictures from last year's Moorebid ring a bell? How about hook-ups with misidentified, costumed persons? Right.

Stay classy Skidmore, and have a safe and fun weekend.

Adam Cohen is a junior Peer Health Educator who knows more about your body than you do

Editorial: Hail to the chief

Posted by the Editorial Board

We attend President Philip A. Glotzbach's Skidmore and cannot envision any other. As he departs the college for the next six months, we take a moment to reflect on the changes he effected as our president in the last seven years.

In a shift as similarly dramatic as when students saw a new campus in 1962, the Skidmore of today is different from the one graduates attended just a few years before. Members of the college community live and learn in buildings constructed and renovated through President Glotzbach's efforts, made possible by his record $216 million fundraising efforts. From the First Year Experience to Creative Thought Matters, students and professors work in a college structured by his initiatives that we cannot imagine living without.

Through his tireless dedication, the college's standing among higher education institutions has improved. For many students, the choice to attend Skidmore sprang from changes that occurred in the seven years since Glotzbach first became the president of the college. In the constant evolution of the college's image across the country, his time as our president has showed an increased perception of Skidmore as a serious academic environment.

Students will have new options available to them after graduation because of Glotzbach's work these last seven years. In a hiring environment fraught with challenges and uncertainties, his efforts to shape the college's reputation became more valuable than ever. We know that post-graduate life will be made easier because we attend a school that prepares us for and recommends us to a broader range of career opportunities.

But his work is not done. Just as today's students cannot imagine a Skidmore without the programs and initiatives they benefit from every day, we hope that the classes of 2015 and beyond will enjoy more expansive facilities for the sciences, a solid foundation of programming for sophomore year and a more diverse student body. These future students should be able to devote themselves to a broader range of academic disciplines and to explore these departments with greater ease.

But even as he forges ahead with new and exciting changes to the college, Glotzbach should revisit some of his previous misguided policies. As students have said again and again, by making residence halls universally "substance-free," Glotzbach and his fellow administrators assured that no residence halls on campus would be truly substance-free. With his creation of a new task force to study this problem, we hope that the president and his fellow administrators might come to new conclusions about how best to change flawed policies regulating student drinking.

As he has engaged with students through speeches and conversations through the last few years, Glotzbach has treated us as respectful equals. He reminds us of the lives we will be embarking on after graduation even as he shows genuine interest in the day-to-day concerns of our time at the college. We hope that when he returns from his sabbatical next May, he will continue to move forward with the rapid and widespread improvements characteristic of his years as our college's president.

Ghost Walk tour details Saratoga hauntings

Posted by Brian Connor

Saratoga Springs is well known as an attraction for racing and ballet enthusiasts. But, according to Haunted History Ghost Walks tour guide Gloria Ottavio, the city plays host to other, less visible crowds.

"Saratoga tends to invite ghosts," Ottavio explained to a group of 30 gathered in the Arts Center. "People think ghosts are the spirits of people who have passed on," Ottavio said. "This is a historical parapsychologist ghost walk."

Ottavio, a retired teacher from Rochester, has led ghost tours through the streets of Saratoga on Monday and Wednesday nights from July through October 31st. The tours are based on the research and writing of parapsychologist Mason Winfield, who has authored several books on hauntings and paranormal activity in the region.

According to Ottavio, Saratoga attracts ghosts for the same reason it first attracted visitors some 300 years ago. "Because of the fault line, Saratoga is geographically conducive to supernatural phenomenon," Ottavio said.

She explained that cultures and peoples all over the world tend to build temples and other religious sites on fault lines because of increased electromagnetic activity.

"Wherever you have buildings that look like churches, it tends to invite paranormal activity," said Ottavio, before leading the crowd out into the cold shadowy streets of Saratoga and through Congress Park.

The first stop was in front of the "Spirit of Life," a statue of Hygieia, the Grecco-Roman goddess of health, commissioned by Katrina Trask and created by Daniel Chester French, the sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial.

Here Ottavio recounted the fateful history of the Trask family, whose estate, Yaddo, is said to be named for the Trask children's attempts to pronounce the word shadow as they watched mysterious shapes glide throughout the estate's supposedly haunted grounds.

Though the Trasks all met a grisly end, Spencer dying in a railway accident and Katrina and the children succumbing to diphtheria, Ottavio assured the crowd that the site is not necessarily haunted.

"Though I've heard [the statue] waves her right hand — I haven't seen it," Ottavio said.

The tour then moved along to the Canfield Casino. Founded in 1870 by bare-knuckled boxer, state senator and congressman John Morrisey, Ottavio described the building as one of the main haunts of Saratoga.

According to Ottavio, Morrisey, nicknamed Old Smoke because of an unfortunate flesh searing sustained during a bout of pugilism, is said to still inhabit the building.

"This is most likely a residual haunting, or a haunting of a place, and an intellectual haunting, in which the apparitions interact with people," Ottavio said.

Ottavio welcomed the crowd to take photographs of the casino in order to capture paranormal activity. "People have taken pictures in the park and found a lot of orb activity, so if you take any pictures and things show up, let me know."

The next stop was the Carousel in Congress Park. "This is not haunted, but I like showing it to people anyway," Ottavio said. She then gave a brief history of the amusing relic before moving on.

Next the tour stopped in front of 75 Spring St., West Hall, a former Skidmore College dormitory. Ottavio recounted the experiences of Kathy and Laury, two students who in 1966 came back from the dining hall to find a woman with dark brown hair standing in their room. The woman vanished shortly thereafter.

The two women then bought a Ouija board, the board game and séance tool being very popular at that time. The Ouija board yielded the words, "I was killed in this room, strangled. He dragged me into a closet and bricked up the wall."

According to Ottavio, in 1969, Laury wrote a paper, the research for which brought her to an unsolved murder case in the police department files. Laury did some more sleuthing and eventually a body was recovered from the walls of the dormitory.

Gloria remarked that the finding of a body is unsubstantiated. She did not say whether or not Laury owned a Great Dane or a VW bus.

The next stop was the Savage House, at 108 Circular St. Built in 1843, the house served as a boarding house, a hotel and, in recent years, a private residence.

Ottavio remarked that the Corinthian columns that adorn the building are reminiscent of sacred architecture, and might thereby contribute to paranormal activity within.

Ottavio also cited recent renovations as a cause for increased paranormal activity. "When there are old homes that are refurbished, it riles spirits up," Ottavio said.

Ottavio then brought the tour to 57 Phila St. Built in 1875, the one-time hotel catered exclusively to Jewish tourists. According to Ottavio the building is now haunted by an apparition whom the inhabitants refer to as Mr. Green.

The tour then stopped at Hattie's on Phila Street and Ottavio recounted numerous stories of the eponymous founder's experimentations with voodoo. According to Ottavio, contractors working in the basement of Hattie's found the bones of large animals strung together by yarn in a fashion typical of voodoo ritual.

The final stop on the tour was the Adelphi Hotel, built in 1877. The second floor of the enormous Victorian building is haunted by an apparition referred to as the lazy ghost, according to Ottavio. "People see impressions of someone's butt on chairs, and then it goes away."

Reactions to the tour ranged from appreciative to critical. "Although I wasn't scared by the ghost tour, I enjoyed the historical aspects a lot because this is a very historically rich place," Erin Pruckno '10 said. "I had a good time."

"People have a fascination with ghosts, because there is a lot of ambiguity about the dead, and what happens to one's soul when they die," Hunter Prichard '12 said. "Ghosts are almost able to cheat death by staying on the physical plane, without being alive."

Prichard, however, remained skeptical. "I personally don't really believe in them, it's just a money-making scheme more than anything. It's just like me having a goblin hunting tour in my house, charging people $20 to go goblin hunting."

The Saratoga Ghost Walk is sponsored by Haunter History Ghost Walks. Walks take place on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights through October.

Call (716) 655-6663 for details.

Be patient with your desserts

Posted by Katie Lane

Sometimes I get bored with the names of baked goods. Chocolate chip cookies. Vanilla cake. Apple pie — you get the point. C'mon fellow bakers, let's get creative here!

I wanted to rename this week's recipe something awesome. My housemate Elaine and I were staring (drooling) down at the pan of uncut gooey goodness and, for lack of creativity, decided to put the responsibility on Betsy, one of our other housemates. I declared that the first words out of her mouth upon tasting one of the bars would be the official title of these bars.

See, I imagined Betsy exclaiming, "How delightful!" or gushing, "Ohmygosh, YUM!" Nope. Betsy doesn't exclaim or gush. I should have known better. Elaine and I danced around giggling impatiently while Betsy (completely unaware of our plans, yet highly suspicious of our behavior) sampled a bite.

"What the heck are in these?" she demanded.

Well, a deal's a deal. I bring you WHATTHEHECKAREINTHESE Bars, also known in a previous life as Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dream Bars.

Okay, so maybe I don't have a future in bringing creative and refreshing new names to the baking world. Man, this brings back bitter memories of losing that Name-The-Mystery-Color Crayola crayon contest when I was seven…

Betsy, let me tell you just what exactly is in these: oats, peanut butter, sweetened condensed milk and lots and lots of butter, all topped with a healthy dose of oh-so-sweet milk chocolate chips and chopped up Reeses.

I guess the original title got it right…these are pretty dreamy.

Let's get real for a moment though. One problem I had with these bars was all that chocolate goodness on top. Yes, I did just use chocolate and problem in the same sentence.

Although I pulled the pan out of the oven marveling over the glistening chocolate, when I popped them in the freezer to speed up the cooling process, all the topping hardened and just fell off when I tried to cut it.

My advice? Be patient (unlike me) and let them cool nice and slow as nature intended. Otherwise, just sprinkle them on under that top layer of crumble so the chocolate-y goodness is trapped forever!

You can call these what ever you want; what's in a name anyway? Let's EAT!

If you try this recipe, please let me know at www.asprinkleintime.wordpress.com

---

WHATTHEHECKAREINTHESE Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup melted butter

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 1/4 cups rolled oats (not instant oatmeal)

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup peanut butter

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk

• 3 packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped

• 1 cup milk Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9" x 13" pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together melted butter, sugar, soda, oatmeal, flour and salt until crumbly. Set aside about 1 cup or a little more.

Press the rest of the crust into prepared pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir together the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk.

Once crust has baked, evenly pour and spread peanut butter filling over the baked crust. Be gentle so you don't pull up the warm crust while you spread the filling.

Evenly sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top of the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk mixture. Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle the chopped candy bars and chocolate chips evenly over the top.

Return to oven to bake for another 5-10 minutes or until topping is light golden brown and candy bars/chips are melting.

Allow to cool slowly but completely to make cutting and serving easier.

Satirical parodies: 'The Horse's Tale'

Posted by Julia Leef

At Skidmore, there are many opportunities to become involved in writing and distributing news on campus whether through a club or organization or through your own personal efforts. The latest expression of this creative freedom is the release of a new periodical entitled "The Horse's Tale."

"The Horse's Tale" is a one page copy of "Skidmore's Most Professional Periodical" that reports events concerning the college infused with satirical twists. The first issue, released on Oct. 7, contains two "excerpts" from stories that presumably would be continued in the rest of the paper if there were more to read than just the front cover.

The first story is an "interview" with President Glotzbach concerning an upcoming book of his. The "interview" describes the book as a fantasy novel about wizards in space.

The second fictitious report describes continued taxicab rides specifically for intoxicated girls, complimentary of Ralph's Cab.

The last bit of text lists several more articles that would be found in the nonexistent additional pages.

According to the anonymous editor-in-chief of "The Horse's Tale," creating this periodical stemmed from a desire to bring comedy onto the Skidmore campus, as well as to provide an entertaining alternative to the regular college newspaper.

"The stories are based on real Skidmore happenings integrated with a humorous point of view…. It's just like Jon Stewart, but irrelevant," the editor said.

Although there has only been one issue so far, "The Horse's Tale" plans to continue to release new satirical reports about once or twice a month. The editor said he or she hopes these newsletters will continue to bring humor into college life that is rife with stress and academic strain, cheering students and allowing them to relax and laugh over these delightful stories.

"The thinking is that no one likes to read…. It's something to pick up, chuckle at, tell your friends about and then forget until the next one," the editor said.

A quick look at skidmoreunofficial.com revealed that "The Horse's Tale" was received warmly by students, and may continue to be as future issues are released.

"The Horse's Tale" can be found in various locations on campus, including Case Center.

Sports wrap: Field hockey wins 3 consecutive games

Posted by Audrey Nelson

Advancing to No. 1 in Liberty League standings, the field hockey team won all three of its games this week, against St. Lawrence, Hamilton and Hartwick College.

The No. 7 Thoroughbreds won their 2nd straight Liberty League regular-season game against Hamilton College on Oct. 24. Skidmore dominated the first half with a 17-1 shot advantage, but the Continentals made a come back, taking 17 shots in the final 35 minutes.

Junior Annie Rosencrans made her 14th goal of the season in the 6th minute, starting off the Thoroughbreds early with a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Ceilidh MacNeill scored her 4th goal of the season on a close range shot at the 20:41 mark, putting the team at a 2-0 halftime advantage.

The Continentals' Nikki Haskins put the score at 2-1 with 22:38 remaining, but didn't keep up the momentum, resulting in Hamilton's first loss since Sept. 14.

The team's 7-0 win against Hartwick College on Oct. 27 set the Thoroughbreds at 15-1 for the season, while the Hawks fell to 4-12. Senior Christine Kemp scored four goals and had one assist adding to her now 178 career points, only three points away from holding a new record. The team has won 14 straight games, tying a program record from 1999.

Kemp landed the first goal of the game in the 9th minute, followed by a goal at the 15:25 mark from Katie Potter '11, with assist from senior Claire Superak.

The Thoroughbreds finished the half at 3-0 with a second goal from Kemp. 22 seconds into the second half, Brittany O'Brien '11 deflected a pass past the Hawk's goalie, her fifth goal of the season. After the team's 5th and 6th goals from Kemp, junior Lauren Tobias landed the team's last goal at the 61:01 mark, making the final score 7-0. The women will host Wheaton College at 1 p.m. Oct. 30, to wrap up their regular season.

Men's soccer at CROP Walk

On Oct. 17, members of the men's soccer team volunteered at the 31st annual CROP Walk in downtown Saratoga Springs. Coordinated by the Church World Service, CROP Walks serve to raise awareness about world hunger and poverty. With over 16,000 walks across the nation annually, the total amount of money raised exceeds $15 million.

The walk in Saratoga Springs began in Congress Park and extended up Broadway and along several side streets until finishing again in the park. The team volunteered as crossing guards, halting traffic when necessary and ensuring the safety of the walkers throughout.

The men's team would like to thank those who participated in and organized the event and look forward to volunteering in the coming years.

Women's soccer

After a scoreless first half, the women's soccer team scored three goals in the second half of its game against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Oct. 24, finishing the game with a 3-0 win. The Thoroughbreds improve to 10-4-2 while the Engineers fall to 4-9-2.

Junior Gabi Palacio landed the first goal in the 48th minute, and knocked in the second goal at the 60:55 mark after a deflection off the Engineers' goalkeeper. The shutout was achieved after sophomore Ali Evans' goal in the 84th minute, ending the game at 3-0. The Thoroughbreds will host Nazareth College at noon on Oct. 30.

Liberty League honors

The Liberty League honored five Skidmore College student-athletes this week for their performance in the past week.

After earning its second consecutive Liberty League regular season title, the field hockey team received three honors.

Junior Annie Rosencrans picked up co-offensive performer of the week, senior Liz Catinella was named defensive performer of the week, and first year teammate Kelly Blackhurst earned co-rookie of the week honors.

Both senior Meredith Palmer and Corinne Palmer '14 of the volleyball team earned weekly honors for the third straight week in a row. Meredith was named performer of the week for the 4th week in a row, while her sister Corinne picked up co-rookie of the week for the 5th time of the season.

The volleyball team will host the Skidmore Invitational on Oct. 29 and 30 at the Williamson Sports Center.

Threading 200 years of local history

Posted by Audrey Nelson

Unlike any other form of art, fashion recreates its consumer into a work of art as well. The Saratoga Springs History Museum's exhibit, "200 Years of Fashion in Saratoga Springs" presents this idea elegantly.

Upon entering the second floor of the once high stakes casino, one finds three mannequins, ranging from the 1790s to the 1990s, standing stagnant and elevated against a wall, introducing an ordinary museum experience where viewers admire from a distance.

But the next room immerses the viewer in the scene of a fine boutique where mannequins mingle with museumgoers. Each couture outfit belonged to a prominent woman of Saratoga Springs society, as the town has remained a social base of the rich and famous for over two centuries, allowing viewers to imagine how these women might have lived.

A 5-foot-3 inch mannequin, dressed in a purple two-piece wool day dress c.1889, admires a display of jewelry and hairpieces including ribbons made from the hair of President Ulysses Grant's family. To wear such pieces "were a way of remembering past loved ones," explains an inscription. A shelf above the boutique-like jewelry display plays host to three hats from the late nineteenth century, sitting atop mannequin heads.

Further on, in a jazz-filled room, a grandiose wardrobe displays a vintage bustier and folded blouses. A circular rack holds clothes on hangers, tempting viewers to browse through them, though a sign reads, "Please do not touch the artifacts." Cramped between these latter displays, a mannequin wears Lucy Scribner's 1904 beige, embroidered wool coat.

The chronologically haphazard display prompts viewers to compare women's evolving role from the Victorian era to the roaring twenties and to times as recent as 2008.

Unfortunately, to fully understand the museum's intent, one must buy the exhibit guide, which explains that the "job" of the Victorian woman in Saratoga Springs was to, "elevate the family's social status by making connections throughout the course of the day." Pages later, the guide explains that during the 1920s Saratoga Springs, "was leaving Victorian influence behind and new, liberating styles of clothing were being worn by women."

Though lacking in historical background, the detail in displaying this exhibit is exquisite. The artifacts, furniture, hanging art and mannequins are almost as delicate and exciting as the fashion itself.

Before a three-paneled mirror, a graceful Victorian figure admires her red, embellished, brocade and velvet day dress, her umbrella placed neatly in a vase to her right. Miss Katherine Batcheller lies on a feminine couch next to a tabletop flapper, epitomizing the mélange of decades throughout the exhibit. The scene is enhanced by period furniture and paintings in accord with each of the outfits.

In one of curator Michael Levinson's vignettes, multiple mannequins represent the private dressing room of Katrina Trask, poet and wife of Spencer Trask, who together founded the artist retreat Yaddo. Her often kimono inspired robes — beaded, braided, embroidered and laced — dating between 1910 and 1915, wait as the mannequins glance around the room, deciding which outfits to wear today.

In the hallway, less than a dozen mannequins line the walls. An Issey Miyake pleated orange tunic, paired with Emilio Pucci psychedelic leggings greets you with fashions worn by Mollie Wilmot, Palm Beach socialite and philanthropist who vacationed in Saratoga Springs during the horse racing season. Across the hall is Michele Riggi who wore a glamorous red Cymbeline Paris designer gown for the Saratoga Performing Art Center's 2008 Summer Gala, "West Side Story."

A Balenciaga cocktail dress stands next to a Jacques Fath wool suit, which contrasts two Dior dresses missing the designer's famous "New Look" of padded hips, narrow shoulders and calf length skirt.

Finally, up one last flight of stairs rests a divine, 1896 olive green gown, belonging to Miss Katherine Batcheller. Embroidered with pearls and sewn with thread made of gold, the gown was worth just $5000 at its purchase. The mannequin wears a black and white spotted fur shawl while lying peacefully on a settee, a stained glass window behind her, and period artifacts surrounding her.

Museumgoers enter an elite social gathering, and become part of an impossible bevy of style, status and history. Rather than merely admire, one integrates seamlessly into a fraudulent, mum scene as though walking by Monet's gracious women in "Femmes au Jardin."

Though exhilarating to live among couture and to let the imagination dictate the actions of the mannequins, eeriness coats the exhibit. Maybe artifacts such as the Grant family's hair ribbons, or the century old children's shoe or even the strips of white paper that emulate the mannequins' hair overshadow the outfits. Perhaps this realistic immersion into the 19th century is unsettling.

Yet the presentation of this exhibit is like no other. One could find more expensive, rare or fabulous outfits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but could not as easily immerse oneself in the times of the outfits' debuts. To be in the town where these fashions were worn, and to know of the women who wore them creates a closer and more striking bond to the clothes. Artifacts always have the potential to shock an audience. The Saratoga Springs History Museum amplifies this potential by placing the audience in a fictional social gathering while keeping them at arm's length.

The exhibit will be open until March 1, 2011.

Head of the Fish a part of Saratoga's history

Posted by Gabe Weintraub

Racing has a long history in Saratoga Springs. Most only associate the town with horseracing, but the city's past is also deeply linked to the history of competitive rowing in the U.S.

This weekend, Saratoga Rowing Association plays host to the Head of the Fish Regatta, the second largest regatta in the country, by volume of boats entered. The 2.3-mile course along Fish Creek will be flooded with almost 1,600 individual entries representing 167 clubs, hailing from 12 states and three countries.

The regatta was first held in 1986, making it relatively young compared to other major regattas in the country – the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta has been contested in Philadelphia since 1953. Nonetheless, rowing runs deep in Saratoga Spring's history, and is even intertwined with the city's more famous pastime: horseracing.

Rowing is one of the oldest organized intercollegiate sports and Saratoga Lake has been the site for top regattas since the late 19th century. In July 1874, the Rowing Association of American Colleges hosted the University Race for the Championship at Saratoga. The three-mile, nine boat race was the first intercollegiate athletic championship of any sport in the U.S.

"All of the major Ivies had boathouses in Saratoga," said Chris Chase, the founder of Saratoga Rowing Association and regatta director for the Head of the Fish.

At the time there was also some connection with the horseracing community, with the track underwriting crew activities, according to Chase. Horseracing brought with it a culture of gambling, however, and the Ivies eventually chose to leave for reasons of integrity.

According to Chase, the sport had lost its following in Saratoga by the late 1960s. The Saratoga rowing community lay relatively dormant until 1986 when a group of oarsmen, led by local architect Tom Frost, held the first Head of the Fish Regatta as a fundraiser to help buy a racing shell for their new club.

"One of the underlying factors was that they took a lot of tension out of the regatta," Chase said. "The original rule was if you protested [a judge's ruling] then you got kicked out. They didn't want uptight people there. They just wanted to row and race and have some fun."

That first iteration of the regatta drew only about 30 boats and a few hundred people, according to Chase. When he took over the race from Frost in 1999, there were around 650 entrants. This year he expects close to 1,600 entrants and nearly 9,000 attendees.

The nature of the race has changed slightly to accommodate its popularity. "We're way too big today to not have rules followed," Chase said. "We do take the competition more seriously since some of the best teams from the east coast and Canada are here, so we're more strict than we used to be."

"Early years were more of a Woodstock affair," Chase said. "People would come and row and have a few beers. There are people who have come here every year since '86. The race has come a long way and in some ways the carnival affair is gone. We're parking 85 trailers and hosting eight-to-nine thousand people. Keeping everyone safe is a big deal."

The regatta still retains some of the quirk and novelty from its early years, however. "We have the most unique trophies of any race," Chase said, "They're all actual fish heads." Every year Frost gathers fish heads from around the waterway, embalms them and mounts them on plaques. Frost also decorates the trophies. "He makes them really unique to each event," Chase said. A trophy for a boat of older, master rowers might feature a pair of bifocals, for instance. "He [Frost] is still doing it," Chase said. " It's incredible what he does. They're works of art. People come here just to win a fish head. That's easier said than done. Some of these events have 50 boats." Frost, it is worth noting, is not a fisherman and collects the fish as donations.

Part of the draw comes from the course itself. Fish Creek is rarely disruptively choppy. Saratoga Rowing Association hosts four regattas for junior level crews every year; more than 60 major events since Chase took over as direction. "In that time, I think I've lost two, maybe three days of racing due to weather," he said.

That consistency is enticing to teams looking to fill their fall schedules. "You only get a certain number of weekends in which to race during the fall," Chase said. September is too early because teams need the time to train and get back on the water. That leaves October before winter when weather starts to play a factor. "You narrow it down to like four good racing weekends," Chase said. With big-name events like the Head of the Charles in Cambridge, Mass. holding long-standing claims to specific weekends already, the options get even slimmer. "That's how you choose how to end your season," said Chase, "that's a big deal."

For many of the novice rowers in attendance, the Head of the Fish will be the first and only chance to compete this fall. "Rowing takes a long time to learn," Chase said. "A lot of teams promise their freshmen that this will be their first and only race. Getting here and getting on the water is a big deal. It's not like baseball or basketball where you play a lot of games." Chase also said that the Head of the Fish is particularly appealing because of its distance. "It's long enough to make it respectable," he said, "but short enough to make it possible to do multiple races."

That will be the case for Skidmore novice crews, who will get to make their racing debuts on their familiar home river. In fact, the course for the Head of the Fish begins at Stafford Bridge – directly in front the Skidmore Boathouse. The course runs to the mouth of Saratoga Lake, with the finish line near the former location of the Route 9P Bridge. The bridge, which has historically been a landmark for coxswains to steer by, was closed and dismantled in September. It will be replaced during the winter.

Although Skidmore will be competing, fall season head races are lower priority than spring sprints, and Head Coach Jim Tucci says he prefers to treat the races as glorified training sessions, adding a competitive change of pace to what would otherwise be a monotonous fall season.

The Head of the Fish also serves as a de facto reunion for Skidmore rowing alumni. The open and masters categories afford graduates the opportunity to row together again.

This year the two-day event will see collegiate, open and masters boats race on Saturday, and then juniors and high school boats on Sunday. Saratoga Springs High School has an extremely well respected program. According to Chase, the area has one of the highest concentrations of junior rowers in the country, with more than 1,000 participants between Saratoga Springs and Albany. Additionally, he anticipates that after this fall, SRA will have trained more than 100 rowers who have received scholarships at Division I colleges.

Local masters programs, for post-collegiate rowers, are also a highly regarded. This August, masters boats from SRA, Skidmore Community Rowing and the relatively new Queensbury Rowing Center earned more than 15 medals at the 2010 USRowing Masters National Championships on the Cooper River in Camden, New Jersey.

"It's pretty amazing that two of the best adult teams in the country are here, separated by just a two-mile stretch of water," Chase said.

Crew does not carry quite the same prestige as thoroughbred racing, but it makes its presence felt in the Saratoga Springs community. Chase anticipates that 45,000 people will visit Saratoga Springs this year for rowing events. "The history of rowing goes a long way in New York and Saratoga," Chase said. "In rowing, all roads go through Saratoga."

Compost: Turning our waste into a resource

Posted by Maranda Duval

Skidmore's commitment to environmental initiatives is evident all over campus. There are low-flow toilets, sinks and showers in the dorms. There is geothermal energy to meet the heating and cooling needs of the three newest buildings. There are even local options in the dining hall, including fresh produce from the organic student garden. Yet one very basic component of a sustainable campus is distinctly lacking: compost.

What exactly is compost? It's the end-result of decomposed organic materials such as plant matter and animal waste. Think apple cores, cucumber peelings, egg shells, coffee grinds, animal manure and grass clippings that have all been converted into a nutrient-rich, soil-like substance. Compost can be used as soil conditioner, fertilizer and even as a natural pesticide.

The environmental benefits of composting are widespread. By returning vital nutrients to the soil, it reduces the need for chemical pesticides and fertilizers (which can disrupt natural nutrient cycles). By diverting plant and animal wastes from landfills, it reduces the habitat destruction associated with building new landfills. And finally, by providing an aerobic environment for decomposition, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions, specifically methane, which is produced when organic waste decomposes in anaerobic conditions.

It sounds good, but is composting a feasible task for Skidmore? Last year, two environmental studies majors, William Coffey and Nadine Dodge, wrote their senior capstone project on that exact question. Their final report, entitled "Composting at Skidmore College: Turning our Waste into a Resource," found that composting at Skidmore is not only feasible, but would reap numerous benefits for the college.

The report found that Skidmore currently produces approximately 4,521 cubic yards of organic waste every year in the form of food waste from the dining hall, lawn-maintenance byproducts and horse manure from Skidmore's stables. Dealing with this high volume of organic waste is not only a financial burden on the college, but it also presents an environmental challenge at an institution where "responsible citizenship" is written into the mission statement.

According to the study, if Skidmore captured and converted its organic wastes into compost rather than disposing of them, the institution could produce 2,260 cubic yards of finished compost per year. The finished compost could be used in the organic student garden and in campus flowerbeds and landscaping. In fact, it is likely that the college could replace all mulch and compost currently used on campus, which would save the college thousands of dollars per year.

It is estimated that only 500 of the 2,260 cubic yards of compost generated each year would be used on campus. The surplus compost (1,760 cubic yards) could be sold in the community at a profit estimated at more than $25,000 per year.

There is an abundance of support for composting at Skidmore, including students, faculty and staff members. Dan Rodecker, the director of Facilities Services, thinks that with the right management, the composting system could be "as successful as the student garden" (which produced over 1,000 pounds of food in its first year of production). Karen Kellogg, associate professor in the Environmental Studies program, believes that "composting at Skidmore is a low hanging piece of fruit financially [and] environmentally."

The paybacks of composting are clear, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to generating potential profits, to attracting prospective students and serving as a living laboratory for classes. Composting just makes sense. So what's stopping us? Adequate land? Capital investment? Widespread awareness and support? Kellogg said, "A compost system at Skidmore is going to involve lots of different entities on campus… Everyone needs to be on board."

To represent the student interest in composting at Skidmore, the student Environmental Action Club has developed a subcommittee specifically devoted to composting on campus. If you want to get involved, come to the EAC meetings on Mondays at 9 p.m. in Ladd Hall. If you don't have time for the meetings, send an email to tarnow@skidmore.edu expressing your support. As Kellogg puts it, "This is going to take commitment on everyone's part."

MLBPA executive lectures on business of sports

Posted by Lauren Sager

On Oct. 25 Skidmore graduate Rick Shapiro '77 came to the college to speak to students, faculty and community members about his career in the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). At 4 p.m., he led a discussion on sports business, career entry and paths and labor-management relations in Emerson Auditorium.

At 7 p.m. in Gannet Auditorium, Shapiro held a lecture titled, "Power and Influence in the Context of Business and Sports." The management and business department, the athletic department and career services sponsored Shapiro's visit.

In the first part of the lecture, Shapiro briefly explained the purpose of the MLBPA, as a "labor union under federal labor laws." According to Shapiro, it is not only the most powerful union in sports, but also the most powerful union in the U.S.

The union was founded in 1965 when the average salary of a professional baseball player was about $6,000. While star players don't necessarily need representation, there are many players who do, especially those who make minimum salaries on split contracts between the major and minor leagues.

The remainder of the lecture was dedicated to questions from the audience. During the question period, Shapiro spoke about his experience of watching sports now that he is in the industry.

He said, "Watching baseball was simple growing up. I rooted for the Mets, and it didn't matter who was on the Mets. I rooted for the uniform. Now I watch baseball differently because I know many of the players and cannot help but root for them. Watching a game can easily turn into a work situation."

Then he explained why he believes that approximately 800 professional baseball players should make more than their average $3 million per year: baseball players can be traded at any time and move to a new city within 48 hours, it takes them longer to achieve free agency than it does for a professional athlete in any other sport and they can be sent down to the Minor league at any point in the season.

Shapiro also spent a portion of the lecture reminiscing his time at Skidmore. When he began his career at Skidmore in 1973, he was one of the few male students and asked the administration to put up a rim and backboard for him and his friends.

He lived on the seventh floor of Jonsson Tower and was a government major. At the time, he had no intentions of entering the sports industry and only took one business class in his time at Skidmore.

Shapiro has been with MLBPA for close to a year, where he holds the senior executive position. Before joining the association, he represented professional baseball and hockey players as a long-time arbitration consultant. Shapiro holds a degree from Brooklyn Law School and has served as an attorney for many players and player agents in hockey, baseball and other sports.

SGA responds to student call for meetign with Campus Safety

Posted by Kat Kullman

Tuesday, Oct. 26, the Senate of the Student Government Association discussed the upcoming meeting with Campus Safety and talked to the Asian Cultural Awareness club about bringing the hip-hop group, Far East Movement, to the college.

At 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2, Senate will have an open discussion with Campus Safety, during which the officers will respond to any questions or concerns raised by the students.

While Senate is always open for any student to attend, this meeting will be held in a larger venue and all students are encouraged to attend discussion.

"We're hoping to get a really big turnout for this. We've been hearing a lot about Campus Safety, from confusion over parking spaces to unpleasant interactions. We want this talk to be really productive," Alex Stark, SGA president, said.

Senate also heard from two members of ACA who proposed their idea to bring the all Asian-American hip-hop group, Far East Movement, to the college for Spring Fling.

"We want to bring this group to Skidmore because they're really good Asian-American role models. We'd like to have them do a concert, as well as a question and answer session during the weekend," said Allan Wu '11, member of ACA.

The ACA has approached many of Skidmore's clubs and departments and so far has 16 interested in helping to bring the group to campus. ACA has raised about half the money needed, but would require a supplement and a loan from SGA.

The ACA is still in talks with the hip-hop group and is currently fundraising. SGA showed support and urged the group to return once it had more concrete details.

Students pedal for poverty: James Lyness organizes 30-mile ride to benefit Uganda

Posted by Julia Leef

At 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 23, 16 Skidmore students and eight volunteers from Saratoga Healthy Transportation Network (SHTN) participated in a 30-mile bike ride from Case Center to the banks of the Hudson River in Schuylerville and back to raise money to buy bicycles for people in northern Uganda

The event, Pedal to the River, was organized by James Lyness '13, Skidmore representative of the BAP (Bicycles Against Poverty) program.

James came up with the idea for Pedal to the River during a personal bike trip to Schuylerville, when he realized that it would be an ideal distance for a group bike ride that would pass one of New York's more prominent landmarks.

"I've been in touch with several members of Saratoga Healthy Transportation Network through email and meetings and they expressed interest in the event, so I went ahead with it," Lyness said.

Lyness spoke to the beauty of the landscape on the designated route, which provided views of the Green Mountains in Vermont, as well as the Adirondacks. "I'm sure it was a great experience for the freshmen and even some of the sophomores to get out and see parts of the area they'd never seen before," Lyness said.

Gabby Stern '13, a participant in the event, said that she enjoyed the ride and was happy to support Lyness, praising his efforts to promote BAP at Skidmore.

"I attended the event because I'm interested in social justice issues and I'm happy to support a cause that is meaningful and proactive. Also, I love to bike ride and didn't want to miss the opportunity to take a beautiful ride to the Hudson on a sunny Saturday," Stern said.

Pedal to the River was an overall success and Lyness is in the process of planning a concert featuring Bailiwick in November. The concert will take place in the Spa and Ugandan food will be provided by BAP members.

The donations from this concert will bring Skidmore's BAP even closer to reaching its goal of $10,000 for the year. These funds will be held at Bucknell University until they are used to purchase more bicycles.

BAP strives to provide bikes for people in Uganda so they can have better access to the market, farms, water and basic services such as health care. According to the organization's website, using bicycle loan agreements will also encourage "responsible money management, community cooperation and creative usage of the bicycle towards economic ends."

Thus far, 300 bicycles have been distributed between 2009 and 2010, which, through community sharing, has impacted more than 1,000 people. BAP has made great strides through its fundraising, a third of which goes to the Gulu Walk Foundation, a program created to benefit and aid Ugandan children who have been impacted by war.

For more information, visit BAP's website at: www.bicyclesagainstpoverty.org

Oles goes beyond the classroom: Professor discusses influence of social work practice

Posted by Mariel Kennedy

Pat Oles has been a professor, social worker, assistant dean of Faculty and dean of Student Affairs on campus. He is currently teaching the First Year seminar Purple Nation, which he describes as "playful romp through 20th century political struggles," Study of Social Policy and Introduction to Social Work.

Besides teaching and social work, Oles enjoys pizza, the Grateful Dead and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. His favorite Beatle is Paul.

Skidmore News: Where are you originally from and where did you go to school?

Pat Oles: I spent most of my childhood in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It's a small college town. I studied at Syracuse University, and I'm hoping we'll return as national champs in basketball this year.

SN: How long have you been a professor at Skidmore?

OLES: I came here in 1985. I know I look remarkably young for being here for so long.

SN: Did you hold any other teaching positions before coming to Skidmore?

OLES: I was the director of a small, nonprofit agency in town, and several faculty members were on the board of directors. I started teaching here part-time and found that I really liked it; it felt good. When a position opened I applied and was hired. The Skidmore position was my first teaching job.

SN: What is it about social work that interests you and prompted you to become a social worker?

OLES: I always planned on going to law school because I love politics. The summer after my junior year, I worked with emotionally disturbed kids. I loved the job, and it turned all my plans upside-down.

I worked with children as a family therapist and then as a clinical social worker. What I love about social work is that it captures both of my interests: politics and social policy as well as working with kids and families. This is what still holds me in the profession.

SN: Can you speak a little about your experiences as a social worker?

OLES: First, I worked mainly with latency age (five- and six-year-old) kids with Attention Deficit Disorder and learning disabilities.

This was a great place to start because the kids were a great age with which to work.

This age group is very behavioral in character. Also when you're young as a clinician, the age difference is great enough to be authoritative.

Next, I worked with adolescent delinquents. This was very challenging and interesting work because I dealt with older teen males who were in trouble with the law. Also, in general it is tough working with teens from urban environments. Along with clinical issues, they have a discouraging setting which creates a social issue.

Finally, I worked with female teens that were sexually abused and on the streets. This area was the most challenging in a way, but I learned most from them — mostly because it wasn't until I was in this position that I realized what shmucks men were. It helped me to greatly understand the gender relations in us all.

SN: How has being a social worker affected you as a teacher?

OLES: In teaching, there is always the idea of what is being taught and to whom. Social work is a relationship-based profession and so is teaching.

I'm interested in who I am teaching, their goals, what they want from the class and their different learning styles.

Social work values clients' self-determination and rights. One struggle in teaching the current generation is determining who is responsible for how well the students do in the class.

We are inclined to think that it's the institution's responsibility, but I find it is more affected by the efforts students put in.

I try to find ways for students to learn independently. I'm a big fan of service learning and learning outside the classroom.

I have students working on political campaigns, with disabled students and with the elderly to name a few. In many ways, these experiences are more powerful than lectures, even though some systems are tempted to not recognize the work put into these activities.

Delineating the Responsible Citizenship Internship Award and looking ahead

Posted by Julia Leef

The purpose of college is to help students prepare for their futures through the divulgence of valuable learning experiences concentrated in a particular area of interest. Many students not only commit themselves to learning during the school year, but also spend their summers doing internships that give them experience and knowledge outside of the college.

Unfortunately, like all things in life, internships cost money, or at least don't pay anything, and so students often find themselves turning down a great opportunity due to financial difficulties. The Student Government Association had that problem in mind when they established the Responsible Citizen Internship Award fund as a way to help students afford unpaid internships.

The RCIA was first proposed by last year's SGA president, Raina Bretan '10, after students voiced their desire for more internship opportunities at several student town hall meetings. "Essentially," Bretan said, "students hated having to sacrifice a worthy internship for a paid retail job." After SGA discovered a significant budget surplus, Bretan suggested using that money to help resolve the issue. "In Senate, I brought up the potential for creating a fund to compensate students for their unpaid internships," she said. "It went over really well—the rest is RCIA history."

The idea moved along quickly, turning into a formal proposal in less than a month. SGA decided to allot $75,000 per-year for the next five years, allowing 30 students to receive $2,500 each.

Other key financial questions that needed to be considered were how much of the surplus funds would be co-invested with the college's funds, how to handle the surplus itself and how to spend it. Jim Welsh '10, last year's vice president of Financial Affairs for SGA, was heavily involved in answering those questions and meeting with administrators from different areas of the college, including Vice President for Finance and Administration Mike West.

"Once it was determined that the co-investment option was the best course of action from a student perspective," Welsh said, "Raina and I asked Mike West to draw up a formal agreement between the college and SGA which could be voted on by the SGA Senate." The proposal for the RCIA and how to fund it passed, according to Welsh, "enthusiastically and overwhelmingly."

Applications came pouring in as soon as the program began, so much so that the numbers became potentially overwhelming. Almost 150 students applied, each with an outstanding application and an exciting potential internship, but with only 30 scholarships to go around.

So how did SGA decide who most deserved the money?

"It was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to sort through," said Associate Government Professor Bob Turner, who was a member of the RCIA selection committee along with Raina and Welsh.

There were applications for programs in places as far away as Tanzania and Indonesia, organizations like the Mote Marine Laboratory and the Outward Bound Center for Peace Building, with jobs that ranged from immigration reform in Washington, caring for sea turtles in Florida and working in museums. "We tried to ensure a broad array of careers were represented," Turner said. In order to fairly select the winners, the SGA selection committee developed a rubric that would help them determine which students deserved the awards. Using this rubric, they graded the application essays submitted by students that explained how the internship would benefit their education, what they would get out of the experience and what their responsibilities would be. Still, the number of great applications exceeded the available funds.

As a partial solution, the program received supplemental finances from the President's Discretionary Fund, which provided $25,000 and allowed the committee to award scholarships to 10 more deserving students.

Geneva Kraus, now a senior, was one of the recipients and had nothing but praise for the program. She was offered an archaeology internship at Klamath National Forest, but was concerned about the financial losses she would suffer in this exciting, but unpaid internship.

"One of my friends back at Skidmore . . . suggested I apply for the RCIA grant," she said, a decision that would have a huge impact on her life. "It was truly a life-changing experience because now I know the job opportunities that are out there for archaeologists and exactly what they entail," Kraus said. "Even better, I know I am capable of succeeding if I ever find myself in one of those positions." The RCIA allowed her to travel across the country without worrying about expenses that could not be accounted for with an unpaid internship.

Katherine Rasche, now a junior, also received the RCIA, and used the money to intern at the Portsmouth Museum of Fine Art in New Hampshire. After the internship she and the other recipients provided feedback about their internships to the RCIA board, as well as evidence that they were making the most of their opportunity.

Rasche said that her internship gave her the experience that she could not have had at Skidmore. "The art classes I take here are amazing," she said, "but I've only ever had experience in the studio, so this internship award gave me the opportunity to pursue an aspect of my major that I don't think I would have been able to at Skidmore."

Assistant Director of Leadership Activities Barbara Schallehn, corresponded during the summer with the award recipients and their supervisors in order to make sure that students received their awards and used them to carry out their responsibilities.

The RCIA has done much to help students along the paths to their future careers, leading to jobs, senior theses, subsequent course work and graduate school. But what lies ahead for the RCIA?

The current program is in place to continue for the next five years after which, according to Welsh, the SGA Senate must review it before it can be renewed. But the people behind the RCIA have high hopes for its future. Turner expressed his wish that the program would cause increased interest in high impact education experiences, and would lead the college to be more deliberate in building upon a student's academic career, possibly taking what is now an individual matter and bringing it onto a systematic level.

Turner said that the goal of the program is "to demonstrate the transformative education potential of these internships and to make it a priority for the college," which would then allow students to follow their interests more intimately and at a younger age. Turner has also asked the department chairs to talk with the recipients about sharing their experience with other majors, something that could benefit those who did not apply or receive the award.

Welsh hopes that the RCIA will prompt students to look into summer internship opportunities that they may not have considered without the possibility of financial backup, and also hopes for additional funding that will expand upon the number of students who will be able to pursue their interests outside of Skidmore.

"One of Raina and my goals with starting this program was to jumpstart the college's efforts and to improve the transition period for students between college and life after college," Welsh said. "I would love to see the program expand to be able to accommodate all of the many qualified applications this program has received and will continue to receive moving forward."

Jonathan Zeidan, the current SGA vice president for Financial Affairs, said that SGA will continue to support the RCIA program and will use the annual interest from its investment with the college to continue to fund the program. "It is my responsibility to ensure that all the other financial operations are appropriately handled so students can continue to benefit from the Responsible Citizen Internship Award," he said.

Bretan, when asked how she thought the RCIA would progress in the years to come, mentioned that, at some schools, the administration provides each student with one summer of funds for unpaid internships, and hoped that one day the same could be said of Skidmore.

"We're starting small, but hopefully one day we can build on this goal," Bretan said.

When girls pick the programming, Rory Gilmore always wins

Posted by Jack McDermott

The great thing about this semester is that I finally don't have to live in the dorms. Sorry freshmen.

That's right, I am all the way down in Scribner Village, which is basically on a separate planet from the main Skidmore campus.

Now, other than the fact that you have to cook your own meals and you have a living room, it really doesn't feel that different.

There is one thing I have noticed though: when you live in a house, you tend to watch more television than when you live in a dorm room. At least I do.

The problem is, when you live with five girls, the choices of television shows and movies do not always line up with what you want.

There are three categories of television shows that my housemates like to watch: trashy TV, food/home TV and Gilmore Girls.

Yes, Gilmore Girls gets its own category.

For the first few weeks of school, Gilmore Girls (and Friends, which I have no objection to) were literally on every hour of the day.

I would wake up, come downstairs and eat breakfast while Lorelei and Emily Gilmore argued in the background.

And I would do the dishes while Lorelei thought "WWTBFCD (What Would the Barefoot Contessa Do)?" I would be writing the first installment of this column for the paper while Rory was in the newsroom at Yale.

Oh sheesh, the fact that I know all of these references says something. And it is not good.

When Gilmore Girls isn't on though, it is a toss up between Pretty Little Liars, one of the Kardashians (I'm still trying to figure out how many of them there are), Four Weddings and Toddlers and Tiaras — the worst of them all.

And there is absolutely no changing the channel once Say Yes to the Dress comes on. I made that mistake once.

Then we have the Food Network and HGTV. I actually sort of enjoy those two stations. I mean, who doesn't love watching delicious food being cooked or watching houses get demolished and remodeled?

But, nevertheless, I am pretty sure that our TV has been preset to channel 42, which is the Food Network.

Without fail, every single time I turn on the TV, it is on channel 42.

For movies, it's a whole different story. The other night I really wanted to go out to a party or do something exciting and fun, but my housemates were dead-set on sitting around watching Pocahontas, a classic Disney movie, but not really something I would pick to watch on my own.

Apparently, in order to properly watch Pocahontas, you have to do two things: talk about who is hotter, John Smith or Kokoum, and sing with all your might.

At one point, one of my guy friends from next door texted me saying "Sorry," because he could hear them singing through the adjoining wall.

The worst, however, is when the Mary Kate and Ashley movies come on. All 85 of them.

They seem to have the same basic plot, but of course it takes 20 minutes to decide which one to watch.

Apparently "Switching Goals" does not even compare to the theatrical genius of "Billboard Dad." I wonder if you can guess what that first one is about?

Now not all of these things are that bad, and I may be starting to, God forbid, actually enjoy some of the trashy television that is unfortunately broadcasted to our living room at all hours.

When you are in a house where there is a television, the problem of what to watch will always arise.

Living with people is all about compromise, and unless you enjoy the same shows, this can be very difficult at first.

I'm a little outnumbered, but when you compromise to deal with Gossip Girl, you can usually sneak in some action movies here and there to amp up the testosterone level.