Mar 30, 2018 | News |
By Darby Murnane Contributing Writer
The new Director of the UMF Honors Program, John Messier, plans to bring new life to the program by working to increase student engagement, bolster involvement in community service, and foster a better cohesion throughout the program as a whole.
The current Honors Program is facing a number of challenges in trying to create a meaningful experience for its students, the foremost of which is a distinct lack of student involvement.
“We have a lot of students who aren’t really active in the program,” Messier said. “A lot of students come in their freshman year and they’re quite excited about the program and they take a course or two but then over time, there’s not a draw to bring them back in.”
To combat this issue, Messier intends to increase the number of required credits as the current requirement is a minimum of 12. To ease of the burden of accumulating the requisite credits for students with larger majors, more general-education honors classes may be created so students can fulfill core requirements while also gaining honors credit.
Messier is also exploring ways to give students more autonomy over their honors experience. “I’m really thinking about focusing the Honors Program on a project-based learning model, so that students have more agency and ownership over their learning and are doing some of it outside the classroom,” Messier said.
Students would have a great deal of flexibility over what these projects could be–a presentation on a study abroad experience, research, or even working with a volunteer organization. The hope is that the projects could be a culminating piece of the students’ honors experiences that give them a specific goal to work towards.
Messier defines the idea as something that’s “intensely personal about finding a meaningful project for the students but that they’re doing outside the classroom so they have to figure out how to solve problems, how to be autonomous, how to achieve their ends.”
Steven Pane, a professor of music and honors instructor at UMF, supports this idea as it aligns with his goals in honors courses. “I see myself trying to encourage student-oriented projects for the campus,” Pane said. “For example, I was an active member in a student run philosophy group in which the students selected their own readings to discuss and debate.”
While the independence over larger projects can be daunting, Pane is highly confident with the students he’s worked with. “[Honors] students are really self-motivated and there’s in intensity about what they do,” Pane said. “They’re not afraid to go off into a weirder area which is often where brilliance lies. Students really need to be given space to find their own way.”
When students are not in the classroom, Messier is hoping to increase the community service aspect to the program in order to give back to those in need as well as to keep students more involved.
“A change for the program could be that students have to accumulate so many hours or do so much community service,” Messier said. “And perhaps during semester’s where they’re not taking an honors course, the expectation is that they’re going to do some sort of community service or involvement, to keep them active and engaged in the program.”
Honors student Rowan Burns, a Junior Early Childhood Education and Psychology major, is eager to partake in volunteer service, however as a busy student, she is worried that reaching a set amount of hours may be difficult.
“I think the volunteering idea is good as a concept, but not so great as a practice. It leaves little to no room for Education students who need to do student teaching and internship, students who transferred and don’t have a lot of extra time, or students who enter the program later on and are already struggling with time by taking extra classes,” Burns said in an email interview. “If exceptions and adjustments could be made for those students then I think it will work, but if not then it’s only going to further limit opportunities.”
There are also service-oriented travel courses in the works. Messier is currently working on setting up a trip to the highlands of Guatemala to build stoves for the Mayan families living there. The service aspect of the trip would greatly cut down on the cost as it would not be for credit, therefore students would not have to pay for tuition.
Mar 30, 2018 | Feature |
By Nathan McIvor Contributing Writer
Assistant Professor of Creative Writing William Mesce is the author of two dozen screenplays and a former corporate writer at HBO. His industry experienc
Mesce wrote the screenplay for Road Ends, a 1997 crime film starring Denis Hopper. (Photo courtesy of IMDB)
e serves him well in teaching a craft that, for better or worse, exists as an industrial product in mainstream Hollywood.
In conveying the difficulties of the profession to students, Mesce describes the screenplay as “a tool for somebody else, not an end … it’s a document to be used by one-hundred fifty other people.”
Tinseltown can be a tough on aspiring screenwriters, something Mesce learned as young man when he submitted a screenplay to a contest held by Brian De Palma, director of Scarface and The Untouchables. The rules promised that the winner’s work would be used for De Palma’s next feature film. Mesce received a meager check for winning and no further response.
When De Palma’s next film Blow Out was released years later, Mesce noticed two lines of dialogue he had written in the film. Mesce had been duped into doing uncredited work on a film “Written and Directed by Brian De Palma.”
Despite this rude awakening to the screenwriter’s trade, Mesce dedicated himself to the craft. Mesce likes to impart resilience to his students because they deserve to know the reality of the trade before moving to Los Angeles. The 1997 film Road Ends, a crime thriller starring Dennis Hopper and Mariel Hemingway, remains Mesce’s best known work.
After leaving HBO in 2009, Mesce found his love for teaching when a friend from graduate school asked him to teach a class at a local New Jersey college. Mesce says there is “no greater buzz than being in a classroom when it’s clicking.”
A metropolitan man, teaching at a campus like UMF was uncharted territory for him when he joined UMF in Sept. 2017. “This one is the smallest schools I have taught at,” Mesce said. “It gives you the opportunity to have the same student several times. A professor can watch them grow over the years and develop a bond. That could never happen in any of the other places I’ve taught at. I had the same number of students in my high school class as the entire student body here!”
Mesce also noted the easy going demeanor typical of a small Maine town, saying “people are nicer and I find that the students have a different frame of reference from what I am used to. So far, I’ve never had a writing student who couldn’t write.”
Mesce found his love for movies growing up in Newark, New Jersey, where he spent his summer afternoons at the local movie theaters. Mesce credits Chinatown as his generation’s genre film, and prefers films that have “a sense of place” and lists Sam Peckinpah and Sidney Lumet as his favorite directors.
Mesce most recent book, The Rules of Screenwriting and Why You Should Break Them was published by McFarland in 2017.
Mar 30, 2018 | Feature |
By Jane Metsker Contributing Writer
Next semester, for the first time, UMF will be offering an Afro-Brazilian musical martial arts class called Capoeira. The class incorporates history and dance as well as martial arts and will be instructed by Professor Chelsea Fairbank.
Fairbank has always had an interest in music, culture, and history. She first saw Capoeira being played in a park and became fascinated with it. At nineteen, Fairbank moved to Hawaii and was able to find classes there with an instructor from the “motherland” of Capoeira, Bahia Brazil.
“I was very lucky to train with him and have some very close lineage,” said Fairbank. “It’s similar to martial arts where there’s a lineage of teachers, what they call mestre [meaning master] in Portuguese.” Fairbank trained with her mestre for a few years before relocating to Brazil to study full time and learn Portuguese.
According to Fairbank, Capoeira incorporates history, music and community. Historically it has been disguised as a dance and described as a “fight dance.” It has been criticized for being different from traditional forms of martial arts, however, Fairbank said she absolutely believes it could improve anyone’s confidence and ability to protect themselves.
“If somebody was looking for a more straightforward self defense, protection oriented, I think it can fulfill those but it’s not the primary mission of training in Capoeira,” she said.
Tekia Cox, a Junior Anthropology Major, stated in an email interview that she’s looking forward to taking a class that’s both fun and could be useful for developing self defense skills.
“I hope to be able to protect myself and also an anthropological look at that type of defense,” Cox said. “Even if UMF prides itself on being safe it’s important for everyone to learn self defense.”
Fairbank explained that Capoeira is a form of physical and mental training that develops “cunning of an awareness around you and a confidence towards self protection.” Fairbank noted that there’s an ongoing debate about the differences between Capoeira versus more traditionalized martial arts, self defense, that we would think of in the west. She also stated that the class is very inclusive and proactively welcomes all genders.
Senior Psychology major Emily Beard is interested in the course because she has previous experience with martial arts and interested in furthering her education on the subject.
“I took Taekwondo for years and I recognize that this is a very different style of martial arts but I would like to get back into it.”
Beard has some previous knowledge of Capoeira and explained it’s a very defensive art. “It’s good for preventing harm without causing it, it teaches you to block attacks but you won’t learn much about instigating attacks.”
Fairbank said Capoeira has been historically used as a means of escaping oppression and using cunning to facilitate that. “It’s a large symbol for liberation.” She explained that it was a way of training under the gaze of your oppressor so that they don’t know what you’re doing. “It represents empowerment and community in a huge way, it represents inclusion.”
The text included in the course will be an ethnographic text call The Ring of Liberation, however the course is open to anyone with an interest in any component of the course. Fairbank said anthropology students might have an especially keen interest in the course because of its background, but could be intriguing to anyone.
“It is a really unique and special place to explore your own limits but also expand beyond them and have an openness and willingness to do that kind of work,” Fairbank said. “Capoeira presents the the opportunity to do that in a really playful and community based and really joyous kind of way.”
Any students feeling intimidated by the idea of taking the course can be assured it’s an open and inclusive environment for students of any skill level. “If there’s any intimidation about approaching the course, remember that in Portuguese it’s called playing Capoeira, not fighting Capoeira, and I that captures a real sense of how playful the growth that you can achieve through Capoeira is.”
Mar 30, 2018 | Feature |
By Willy Doehring Contributing Writer
UMF students Billie Rose Newby and Gail Bello recently placed second and third respectively in the Terry Plunkett Maine Poetry Festival’s annual Student Poetry Contest, which was open to all University of Maine System students. To celebrate their achievement, Newby and Bello will be reading their poems before the festival’s keynote speaker, poet Sharon Olds, at the University of Maine at Augusta on April 6, 2018.
Third Place winner Gail Bello. (Photo courtesy Gail Bello)
The competition was stiff for students participating in the contest. There were over 90 submissions from across the state, with each student allowed to submit up to three poems. For Newby, a freshman in the Creative Writing program, placing second was as surprising as it was exciting. “I was honestly shocked,” Newby said. “I was really happy, but also never thought that my work was actually good enough.”
Like most Creative Writing majors, Newby learned about the contest through reminders sent to majors by professors Pat O’Donnell and Jeffrey Thomson. At the time, the contest didn’t stand out to Newby, but after seeing that submissions were open to students of any year, she decided to enter.
“It was a spur of the moment, ‘I’m going to be brave and apply for one of these’ kind of thing,” Newby said.
Bello, a junior Creative Writing major, had a similar experience to Newby when it came to entering the contest. Bello had heard about the festival in the past but never entered before. Bello thought to herself, “You know, I’m gonna go for this one,” after seeing the email reminding Creative Writing majors of this year’s contest. Bello was thrilled to be in third place, but like Newby was surprised to see her work recognized. Bello’s poem “had been rejected by different literary magazines in the past, so it was cool to see it finally be given a place.”
The festival will be a first for both Newby and Bello. Both have read their poetry in front of an audience before, but it has always been at smaller events such as student readings in the Landing. “I’ve kind of been not thinking about it in hopes of not getting overly nervous,” Newby said. “I’m sure I’ll be fine right up until the moment I actually get up to read.”
For Bello, dealing with the nerves is a bit easier. “Personally, I’m very blessed that I don’t have a fear of public speaking,” Bello said with a laugh. Still, the festival will be the biggest reading yet for Bello. “It’s not my first time reading my work, but it’s my first time being recognized for it,” she said.
On the day of the festival itself, Newby will read her poem “Contents of Uncle John’s Attic,” a list poem that tells a couple’s tragic story through the items stored in their attic. Bello will read from her poem “When I saw Degas’s Little Dancer of 14 Years,” which refers to Edgar Degas’s famous sculpture of a young dancer while reflecting on Bello’s own time ignoring directions in ballet class.
Mar 30, 2018 | Feature |
By Andrew Devine President
UMF Political clubs such as the College Republicans and College Democrats are preparing events and efforts in anticipation for the November midterm elections.
While 2016 saw the Farmington campus very active in political efforts, fall of this year will see students involved in Congressional and local elections and campaigns.
According to Ballotpedia, a nation-wide election information website, in Farmington and Maine, items on the ballot will include: U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Governor, State Senate, State House, and other state executives.
Patrick Fallon, president and chair of the UMF College Republicans (CRs), discussed the activities of the club this semester in an interview. As of this month, the CRs have had visits from Mary Mayhew and Shawn Moody, gubernatorial candidates, hosted the Field Director for the 2nd Congressional District from the Maine GOP various times, and attended the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. where they saw the President speak.
The College Democrats also have several upcoming events including an event hosting all four candidates for the 2nd Maine Congressional District on campus to campaign for their nomination and to debate pertinent issues in current political discourse.
Jeff Willey, President of the College Democrats, wrote in an email interview, “One of my favorite events this year has been Jared Golden visiting our club to discuss his campaign and what he wishes to do should he win the election.” Willey went on to write, “It personally feels as though I am making an important contribution to the future of this country and is stellar being directly involved.”
The CRs do not have any definite plans at this time for events in preparation for the election, but anticipate being busy in the fall. Willey stated that the College Democrats plan on doing voting registration drives to get as many young people here at UMF actively involved in the political process. Neither club will endorse any candidates prior to the Primaries leading up to the election. After that point, Fallon stated that the CRs would support any nominees held by the Maine GOP.
Willey concluded in stating, “I would love our club to be involved in the upcoming elections, and I am certain our members will be, myself included. However, what I am more focused on is simply informing the University student body about the candidates who they will be choosing between and trying to get as many people involved in the democratic process as we possibly can.”
