Jared Golden Holds Town Hall Discussion at UMF

Jared Golden Holds Town Hall Discussion at UMF

By Emily Mokler Editor-in-Chief

Student Aislinn Forbes speaks with Jared Golden. (Photo by John Thayer)

Democratic nominee for the US House of Representatives Jared Golden visited UMF to speak to gathered students and locals about himself and his views.  Golden currently represents Lewiston in the Maine House of Representatives, and is running against Republican incumbent Rep. Bruce Poliquin.

Jeffrey Willey, the president of the UMF College Democrats, introduced Golden to the crowd, who took up every seat with some standing in the back of Roberts C23. Golden wore blue jeans and a blue plaid button-down, his tattoo of a cross on his right arm revealed as he held the microphone.

Golden greeted the crowd and mentioned that several other local politicians running for positions in the Maine Legislature were present, including Jan Collins and Scott Landry. Those in the audience could speak to all of them after the town hall. Golden spoke for nearly an hour, and then answered questions one-on-one with audience members.

“It’s not easy being in politics today because of the tough political environment,” Golden said.

Golden was studying at UMF to become a history teacher when 9/11 occurred, which inspired him to join the Marines. He served two combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Golden spoke frankly about his diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after his time in the Marines; “I think most people think of [PTSD] as an incapacitating disease that keeps people from being successful in life, or unable to work, or unable to be a leader in their community, and that’s just not true.”

After being in the Marines, Golden attended Bates College as a nontraditional student. Golden lamented that an ad online took a comment about fitting in as the oldest student at Bates out of context to spin it as though he was embarrassed of his military service. Post-graduation, Golden volunteered at a school in Afghanistan and worked as an aide for Sen. Susan Collins in Washington, D.C.  

Golden also referenced when Gov. Paul LePage said Lewiston lawmakers such as Golden should be “rounded up and executed”, calling vitriol representative of everything wrong with politics.

Golden asked the crowd to raise their hands if they were sick of politicians blaming the other side for political shortcomings. A majority raised their hands. Golden described himself as willing to work across the aisle to heal the deep political wounds in America.

Willey said, “Your vote matters. Your opinion matters. Learning about these people [running] is very important because they are representing your values. If you aren’t expressing your will to them, they won’t listen.”

Willey cited the local example of the 2016 Maine House of Representatives race for the Farmington and New Sharon district. Democrat Scott Landry won Farmington, but incumbent Republican Lance Harvell won the seat with less than 100 votes.

“It doesn’t matter what your party affiliation is, just get out and vote, especially students,” Willey said. “They have this huge voice that they’re not using.”

Mariah Langton, a sophomore Early Childhood Education major, attended the town hall. Langton said, “Voting is one of the most important things I’ll do this year. I want to have a say in who will be representing me and the state in the future!”

The event was organized by the Franklin County Democrats and the UMF College Democrats as a follow-up to a Democratic candidate forum held back in April.

   The midterm elections are being held on November 6th.

President Brown discusses UMF’s “Behind the Scenes”

President Brown discusses UMF’s “Behind the Scenes”

By Elina Shapiro Staff Reporter

President Eric Brown recently spoke at the All Campus Meeting about UMF’s current financial position and future goals. Lincoln Auditorium roared with laughter as Brown started talking humorously about his transition to President from Provost.

   Brown talked about plans to increase enrollment, including collaborating with other

UMaine campuses on different programs and courses, sending professors to local high schools to promote UMF and expanding the early college and graduate school programs.

Eric Brown is very involved in his first semester as Interim President. (Photo courtesy of UMF)

   Brown mentioned that UMF is down 40 in-state students and noted the competition with other UMaine schools. “We work together, we’re part of the same system, but there is competition there. We are looking at a lot of the same students,” said Brown in an interview.

   The percentage of UMF students who continue after their first year (71%) has gone down recently, but other UMaine schools are having similar problems.

   “Our retention rates have dipped a bit but they’re probably still the highest in the system, actually,” said Brown. “Relative to the other campuses, we’re doing well. We exist on such a fine line that a few students here or a few students there have a big impact on retention.”

   Brown has plans to increase UMF’s retention rate. “I would love to see a shift of our FYS classes, our first year seminars, to our first semester and give our students a really dynamic experience in that class, which would mean changing some of the ways that the course is designed,” said Brown.

   UMF is also working on a system in which students can get help when they first start having problems. “One thing that we’ve been testing out this fall is finding out earlier about students who are struggling in a class and sending an early report,” said Brown. “We are trying to really get to those students sooner to find out what their situation is and provide resources.”

   Though Brown mentioned some financial concerns throughout the talk, he also discussed areas of growth. “I go into it energetically, full speed,” said Brown. “We have a lot of exciting opportunities with new leadership in Honors, Experiential Education, with the kick-off of our New Commons Project, with movement around project-based learning and reimagining first year seminars and first semester experience.”

   Patti Bailie, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, felt encouraged by Brown’s words. “I was very impressed with Eric,” said Bailie. “I thought that he did a really good job of communicating both the challenges that we’re now faced with and the opportunities for future endeavors.”

   At the end of his talk, Brown emphasized the importance to vote “yes” on the Bond on November 6th. 8.5 million dollars of this bond goes directly to Franklin County and could go to renovating the Student Center, the Mantor Library, residence halls, and Sweatt-Winter, the childcare center on campus.

   Bailie strongly agrees that people need to vote for the bond. “[The bond] has got to pass!” said Bailie almost jumping out of her chair. “If you don’t vote for anything else, go and vote for the bond. Tell your families!”

   Callie Bates, a junior Elementary Education major, thought the talk gave her a new perspective. “I think it’s important to understand what’s going on at the school, even logistically,” said Bates. “But where I am going into education I think it’s important to consider that not only from a student view but also from a teacher view – what will I expect when I am in the education system, as a professional educator, how it will look financially behind the scenes. I thought the perspective there would be a helpful thing.”

   Students and faculty will receive emails indicating when the next All Campus Meeting will be and they can also check the website: https://www.umf.maine.edu/events/ where such events will be listed.

UMF Theater Presents “A Curious Case of a Dog in the Night-time”

UMF Theater Presents “A Curious Case of a Dog in the Night-time”

By Aislinn Forbes Contributing Writer

The wood creaked under Brock Bubar’s feet as he entered Alumni Theater through the dark hallway that circles around the seating, having arrived a half an hour before rehearsal starts. Bubar stretches, bending in half or standing on one foot, while he studies his script. “You know, just to go over lines,”

Jonas Maines as main character, Christopher. (Photo by Steffon Gales)

Bubar said, chuckling good naturedly. “There’s a couple lines I always mess up so I have to look at them over and over again.”

Hope Lash, the stage manager, is also there early. Lash is small in stature, but has clear focus and command of a room. Lash has a lot of responsibilities before the actors arrive and after they leave. “My job basically involves knowing everything that happens during a production,” Lash said. As the stage manager, Lash is responsible for communication between the various departments; lights, sound, props, costumes, actors, director.

“Stage managers have such value in the rehearsal and performance process because there is a point where the play moves from the director’s hands to the stage manager’s,” Director Jayne Decker wrote in an email. “Hope worked with me on last year’s production of “Hamlet”, and I’m so glad she is back for our current play.”

Lash’s experience with Hamlet has prepared her well for “A Curious Case of a Dog in the Night-time”. “It’s smaller, it’s a lot smaller.” Lash said, relieved, “The cast is only 10 people, in “Hamlet” there was 22.”

Both Lash and Bubar remarked that the experience developing A Curious Case of a Dog in the Night-time has been rewarding because of the many new faces. “I think about half the cast is incoming students,” Lash’s voice dropped with sincerity, “and they’ve been amazing to work with too, and getting to know them.”

   Bubar enthusiastically stated, “That’s one of the best parts about the theater, getting to know everyone you work with.”

The nature of the play and the size of the cast causes most of the actors to play more than one role. Bubar has to portray five separate characters, with two different accents. In order to make costume changes faster between characters, “Everyone has a base of black,” explained Bubar. “And the other stuff is like decoration on top.”

According to Lash, this fits well with the design of the set, “the colors are very muted.”

Decker wrote that she chose the play in order to challenge the actors. “There is great physical work for many of them, including fight choreography and stylized movement.” However, the actor only represent a fraction of the people needed to make the production work.

“One of the great joys in directing a play like Curious Incident is the opportunity to collaborate with scenic and lighting artist, Stan Spilecki,” Decker said, “and sound designer, Michael Diffin because the technical elements establish context for the play.”

Stan Spilecki, in an email interview, described the concept behind the set design. He took the personality of the main character into account when designing the setting, which he calls non-realistic. “Christopher is a mathematics prodigy who needs to order his life,” Spilecki said. “This brings thoughts of order and chaos and thus a version of the Rubik’s Cube.”

Costumes and props are handled by students. Declan Attaway-Murphey and Samantha Wood are responsible for the costume design, the two of them spend hours in the basement of the theater searching through boxes of clothes for things that fit both the show and the actors.

Senior Jessica Leibowitz designs, crafts and organizes the props. “Jess has been working on something all summer,” said Bubar mysteriously. “I haven’t been allowed to see it.”

“A Curious Case of a Dog in the Night-time” opens on Thur., Oct. 18th and will play through Sun., Oct 21st. To purchase tickets students will need to call the UMF box office at (207) 778-7465. Tickets are $5 for students.