Oct 10, 2019 | News |
Derek Taber Contributing Writer
Nine students are set to embark on a journey to the nation of Tanzania in East Africa where they will learn the impacts of tourism on the local communities. Eco tourism is a form of travel that involves visiting areas of pristine countries, with the intention of conserving the environment, and minimizing the footprint of conventional travel.
Professors Linda Beck and Mark Pires are the two instructors leading the excursion in Jan. 2020. Together Beck and Pires are taking the students to Tanzania for thirteen days to ingratiate them with a set of principles that will help them understand the philosophies of ecotourism.
Learning the impact on the local economy while traveling is the main philosophy that Beck hopes to instill. “In the context of Tanzania, I want to help the students understand the tourists’ roll as consumers with the sustainability of our purchases,” said Beck. “One has to be really careful of how they spend their tourist dollars.”
Large tourist corporations will move into an area and exploit the local communities, adding pressure to the already limited supply of resources. Most tourism companies are owned by foreign investors and keep the profits in foreign markets. Companies will add infrastructure, and put a drain on environmental ecosystems by building roads, and supply lines to keep the tourist well stocked.
Photo captured from the Tanzania Trip held in 2016. (Photo courtesy of Linda Beck)
“People will go off-road on safari creating a havoc to the flora and fauna, but also amongst the animals,” said Beck. The money is kept in the deep pockets of the companies and does not get redistributed. “You want to make sure the dollars you spend actually go to the local economy,” said Beck.
Thomson Safari, a tour company based in Massachusetts that leads Tanzanian safaris, had a lawsuit filed against them in 2010 by the local communities after the denizens were forced from their land and blocked from a vital water supply. Thomson was building luxury safari camps.
“The exploitation of the environment, and the people is widespread,” said Beck.
Another goal on this winter trip is to meet with local environmentalist, and observe the local ecotourism operations. The group hopes to actually engage in ecotourism as well. Beck said, “When we hike Kilimanjaro, when we go on safari, when we visit coffee farms, all of those activities will be done in a sustainable manner.”
Nelson Peterson is a student who is going on the trip to Tanzania in December. Peterson has never been to Africa before and hopes to learn what ecotourism can do for communities around the world. “It will be nice to see how other people live in a different country,” said Peterson, who is excited to help with the Porters Association.
Helping bring water to dryer areas, and lug buckets over long paths to remote villages throughout the Serengeti is a special opportunity to him. “It will be really important to help the porters, part of our trip will be to help them [Porters association] bring water to places,” said Peterson.
The impact of learning the importance of environmentally responsible behavior while traveling is the most valuable takeaway from the journey to East Africa for Beck. “Watching the students get excited about Tanzania,” she said, “[and] learning how to become a global citizen,” is something that one can take with them forever.
Oct 10, 2019 | Sports |
Krystin Paine Contributing Writer
Intramural sports let students and many faculty members of UMF get exercise and have fun in an inclusive way. Intramurals consist of co-ed teams playing games like basketball, volleyball, kickball, flag football, indoor soccer and many others, including some water sports.
Jake Harris, senior and psychology major, has been doing these sports since his sophomore year. “I think there is definitely a need for intramural sports. My teams have always had a really enjoyable environment and being able to kick back and play mediocre volleyball is so fun for me,” he said. “We don’t win often, but that is the beauty of our team. We play to have fun rather than to win, so being able to keep a fun environment when losing is something not a lot of teams can do.”
Harris had only one minor drawback. “I don’t agree with allowing college level athletes to play intramurals. . .I wish there was a separate tier system for intramurals because it feels as if someone who doesn’t play basketball regularly won’t have a chance against the college athletes.”
Garrett Pooler, sophomore and rehabilitation major, is new to intramural sports, having only started playing this year. “I just got asked to play and thought why not do it. I knew nothing about the sport I was getting into but figured it would be a lot of fun,” he said. “I was definitely right as I’ve had a great time and have made a lot of new friends that I value deeply.”
Pooler felt his involvement with intramurals has had a positive impact on him. “I think intramural sports is one of the best things this campus offers. I know for myself I didn’t do them my freshman year and I wish I had. It gives me a reason to go out to see people I may not normally see or interact with. It also promotes exercise in a fun way than just running.”
David Blattstein, junior and community health major, agreed with both Pooler and Harris. “I find it is a positive reinforcer for meeting new people, getting physical exercise, and possibly sparking new interests.”
Blattstein transferred to UMF his sophomore year and felt welcomed by joining these teams. “This immediate new homebody of a friend group let me tag along with them into all their activities and daily events, which would lead me to join intramurals. It has given me something to look forward too,” he said.
“Especially on a very stressful day, knowing I’ll be with most of my friends makes the day much more bearable.” Blattstein believes that intramurals give the people of UMF a chance to challenge themselves and push out of a comfort zone they might not always get pushed out of. “Even if you’re not interested in sports, or have no desire to, I think everyone should try it at least once throughout their college experience.”
Intramural volleyball and soccer have two of the sports to take place in the Fitness and Recreation Center this past month. To sign up for an Intramural sport contact Leah Brackett at leah.brackett@maine.edu or go on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ umfimsports/.
Oct 10, 2019 | News |
Jocea Jordan Contributing Writer
The Relay For Life Club, associated with the American Cancer Society (ACS), elected a new president, plans to increase membership and plan publicity and fundraising events for the community. Relay for Life hosts two main events throughout the year which are the kick off bash in November and their main event at the end of the year in April.
Relay for Life is a club on campus which hosts events in hopes of raising money and awareness for ACS. This club also provides support for those who may have, have had, or know someone who has had cancer. The Relay for Life club hosts events throughout the year to help reach the fundraising goals they have created and to bring the community together.
Newly elected president of Relay for Life Alyssa Higbie, a senior studying psychology, has previously been involved with the club for three years as a team captain for the Community Residence Council (CRC). This year, Higbie is taking on the role as president of the club which involves booking rooms, doing paperwork, as well as planning and running meetings.
Higbie said “checking in with everyone, making sure things are going the way they need to, that everyone has support, and that we are a strong team together,” are all important parts of her role as well.
This level of involvement as a president is different from what Higbie did as a team captain and she wanted to be able to help out even more by being apart of a different part of the Relay team.“When the role of being the president was an option, I realized that I wanted to be more involved in the actual planning and set up of it, by building the team and getting things together on the Relay side of it,” she said.
Cody Robinson and Alyssa Higbie, Relay Recruit and newly-elected President (Photo courtesy of Alyssa Higbie)
“I decided to join Relay for Life because my dad is a cancer survivor. When I found out about Relay three years ago, I said that sounds like something that would be really cool to get CRC together for and also to give back to another organization [ACS],” said Higbie.
She continued, “My dad was diagnosed this past summer with the same type of cancer he had 10 years ago, so to be president this year is a really powerful way for me to be able to tell that story as well. As he put it, he wants to be a two time survivor, and hopefully through my work with Relay. . .could help to impact that as well.”
Higbie believes that by raising awareness of Relay for Life, helping to organize the event and raising money to host the event and for ACS that she will be able to support not only her father, but also others who have and are currently fighting cancer.
Cody Robinson, a junior early childhood education major, is the Relay Recruiter for the club. His role as recruiter consists of “engaging the community to come together, and to also just make a successful event. Reaching out to businesses for sponsorships and connecting to ACS,” he said.
Robinson has been apart of the Relay for Life cause since 2012, and he has worked with both the campus as well as the community for Relay for Life. He has had many roles such as a team member, team captain, and committee member and has been a great source of information for the club.
Robinson said, “I have had several family members that have been diagnosed with cancer of one form or another and unfortunately none of them have survived the cancer so it’s been a huge impact on my life, so joining Relay was kind of like that support net that I could turn to and find more research and help hopefully end this horrible disease.”
“We want to have a great event in April, that brings the community as well as the campus together. We would like a bigger turnout than in years past. “We’re looking to grow the support and raise awareness for cancer research and cancer supports that ACS supplies,” said Higbie.
She said, “As Cody said he found support and connections through relay and having those connections when you have something you’re going through is really important.”
“I think as a committee we’re always looking to have a good event and raise a lot of money, that’s kind of why we do what we do. But through that have fun and meet new people and create some memories that are positive in light of something that isn’t always so positive.” Making Relay into an event where people can enjoy themselves and be involved with the Relay community is important to Higbie.
Zach Bolduc, a freshman secondary science education major, is a member of the club as well. He said, “When I saw that Relay needs help, and considering that it is for a really good cause I figured I would give it a try. Cancer runs very deeply in my family, so I would like to help and I am a very compassionate person in the first place, so anytime that I can give back, I do.”
If students would like to reach out and talk about Relay for Life and learn more information about the organization and club as well as how they can help, they can contact umf.relayforlife-group@maine.edu.
Oct 10, 2019 | News |
Zion Hodgkin Contributing Writer
English professor Sabine Klein sits in the small chair in the corner of her office, going over the information she’ll be discussing in her upcoming talk at UMF. “It’s about Norridgewock, well, specifically the horrific massacre of Native Americans that happened there. My talk is about the way that we sort of keep the memory of Norridgewock alive and why we do it.”
Klein will be giving her talk at the Emery Arts Center, on Oct. 23 at 11:45 a.m. It will be hosted by the New Commons Project, a group dedicated to looking at culture, both of the past and the present. Professor of English Kristen Case, the head of the New Commons Project, will be introducing Klein and discussing some of her accolades.
“She is a scholar of early American literature, her area of expertise is pre-colonial literature of the Americas,” Case says, “she really is an expert in this time period and in this region. Even though she’s an English professor here, her work is very historically informed. A lot of uncovering, and re-reading historical texts of all kinds, in order to be aware of more than one narrative about a specific moment in time.”
In learning about historical events, locally or on a global scale, it is generally difficult to escape a one-sided view of the events that transpired. It harkens to the age old saying, “History is always written by the winners.” Klein wants to simultaneously explore that concept when thinking about the local tragedy, and expand upon the awareness that students have of the event.
“What I realized is that we have this place of a massacre. . .but what’s even more interesting is the way that different communities have used the massacre to talk about the past,” she said.
“I’m going to talk about some of the monuments and literature that were affiliated with or written about that particular place in the 19th century. But, what’s interesting,” She grins a little to herself before adding “again, is that what happens in the 1820’s and 1830’s is that there’s an attempt to solidify American identity.”
“But the way that it’s being done is by basically writing about Indians, but writing about Indians as sort of the people, well” she pauses for a second, collecting her thoughts, “it’s the vanishing Indian trope. So this is the idea where people at the time were like ‘oh my god it’s so sad,’ and so you have this nostalgia of all the bad stuff that happened, but that nostalgia is a way of celebrating the new nation.”
Klein wants to explore how the memorialization of the massacre “serves Americans of English descent, versus Americans of French descent, versus Native Americans.” Each of the groups’ ancestral lines were directly involved in the massacre, and Klein will analyze how each of these groups of people are subsequently benefitting from the way the event is remembered, or not remembered.
Cali Turner, a student and an active member of the New Commons Project, is interested to see what the event has to offer, and wants to learn more about how people are affected by the different ways in which a story is told and remembered.
“I’m excited just to be able to further my education on the area I’m in,” Turner says, “I’m from Maine, but I’m not from Farmington, and it seems like especially with the other things we’ve been doing in New Commons, I think it’s important to be learning about the history, like the land and the people, and to be aware of some of the darker parts about it, because I didn’t even know that the Norridgewock Massacre was a thing.”
Turner also speculated about how historical events are remembered, and the way details are made available about those events. “I think our generation has gotten a bit better at being able to see all sides of an event,” she says, “I think for a long time people were only really able to learn by what they read from one history book, and now, because of how we were raised and because of our access to the internet, more recent generations have developed their own opinions.”
She continued, “We’ve gotten to the point now that most of us understand what’s okay and what isn’t. Or at least to where we can see multiple sides of an event, and know that what one source is saying, isn’t always the entire story.”
This semester, the New Commons Project is focusing specifically on Native history and issues in the state of Maine, and Klein’s talk will target an incredibly important and defining moment in Native history, very close to home.
Case thinks this event will be a “great opportunity for people who are interested in the history of this region, particularly the Native history of this region, to learn about one of the pivotal moments in that colonial time period. Learning about that history is vitally important in efforts to recognize the presence of the Abenaki in this region, not only then but also today.”
Oct 10, 2019 | News |
Zion Hodgkin Contributing Writer
Front St. in Farmington, recently remodeled, has had a longstanding reputation of being one of the least pleasant areas in an otherwise quaint college town. Though there are some wonderful businesses that reside there like Wicked Good Candy, Narrow Gauge Cinema, and Thai Smile, a good stretch of the road had been largely ignored for many years. The street lights were dim, and few and far between, the road has been documented to have some of the worst potholes in the state of Maine, and the Front Street Tavern, tucked away in the basement of a building, attributed to a sense of unease for many college students.
Moreover, one of the largest parking lots for students at UMF was located just past the tavern, down a small road whose entrance was almost completely pitch black at night. For students to access their vehicles, they had to walk directly past the entrance to the tavern on a dark street. Many felt unsafe, and most avoided any reason to access their vehicles at night.
Over the summer the area was remodeled and improvements include better sidewalks, more street lights and a repaved roadway.
One student, Leelannee Farrington, age 20 at the time, recalls why she decided she would never walk that street at night again. “I knew that pub was a bit seedy, so I always hurried past it.” She said “occasionally I would get whistled or hollered at, but because it was so dark I assumed it was just drunk guys being excited about anything that moved, I didn’t usually feel specifically targeted.”
The look on her face shifted a bit. “Then one night, there was a group of guys and one girl, standing at the end of the pub’s driveway under the light from like the only god damn street lamp on that whole road. They were smoking cigarettes and laughing about something as I walked towards their direction.”
Front Street, the new lights brightening up the newly-renovated street (Photo courtesy of Darby Murnane)
She paused before continuing a side note, “Actually I felt more at ease that time than I had some of the other times I’d walked past before, just because there was a whole group and a girl.” She said, “I always felt the most uncomfortable when it was just one or two guys catcalling at me, that’s when my anxiety about what could happen to me really started.”
Leelannee’s experience however, proved that even in groups there are people who will discard their inhibitions and attempt to harass individuals passing by. “One guy immediately noticed me,” she said, “and as I walked past the group he broke away from his friends and began following me, he was trying to flirt with me, and his words were all slurred and he stumbled a bit. I immediately felt panic as I was nearing an area of the road where the light didn’t reach.”
“I told him to fuck off,” she said, “and nothing bad came of it, but I wasn’t about to take that risk again.”
Richard Davis, the Farmington town manager of eighteen years, who was largely in charge of the planning process for the Front St. remodels, along with the Farmington Public Works Director, said he had “not heard about the harassment, but I can see where that might happen (unfortunately),” in an email interview. He also speculated that “the [Front Street] Tavern shutting down was an economic decision by the owners.” Regardless of the reasoning however, he believes that the closing of the Tavern as well as “the improvements [to the road] will help make people feel safer in that area of town, and while accessing their vehicles.
