Mar 2, 2018 | News |
By Caitlin Raye Contributing Writer
It’s that time of year again, when snow is piling up and UMF facilities is working hard to keep the parking lots clear and free of snow for students and faculty.
Keenan Farwell, Grounds Manager at UMF, leads the facilities crew in charge of snow cleanup and parking lot bans. Facilities tries to clear the parking lots after receiving snowfall of more than 12 inches. They usually plan the parking bans during the school week, but do occasionally have to plan the bans for the weekends.
During a parking ban, students that have not moved vehicles from the closed lots get a parking ticket. Then they get a call, text, and email from Public Safety to have their vehicle moved, and if they do not move, they are then towed at their expense.
“We try to not tow but sometimes it is a necessity,” Farwell said.
Parking bans are done to help access the parking spaces. During the winter, snow builds up from plowing the throughways and makes a large berm in front of the cars, making it difficult to get in and out of the parking spots. Snow removal from lots helps with water build-up and also opens more spots to park.
Ana Drew, a resident hall CA, agreed that parking bans are important. “Cars start to get stuck if they aren’t cleared completely.”
Erika Tardif, a junior at UMF, agreed that parking bans are a good idea, but felt they could be handled differently. “I think they should do one lot at a time verses trying to clear four parking lots at a time, moving all those people into one parking lot,” Tardif said.
“The parking bans are never convenient for everyone, but it is something that is necessary to do to keep our parking lots safe during the winter months,” said Farwell. “We try to give plenty of notice and also plenty of space for the students and faculty to park during the bans.
Kelsey Brann, a sophomore at UMF, echoed Tardif’s frustration: “I think [parking bans] are inconvenient because we have to find somewhere else to put our cars.”
Although not everyone agrees that parking bans are convenient, Farwell said that “normally we only have parking bans on student parking lots because most of the staff and faculty lots are closed to overnight parking, so we have a chance to clear the snow from these lots before the cars park in them.”
Even when students agree that snow removal parking bans are necessary, there is disagreement on how to handle the snow removal. Drew would like to see the parking lot next to Scott Hall cleared more often, whereas Brann would like to see Lot 26 cleared.
Mar 2, 2018 | News |
By Emilee Eustis Contributing Writer
With the popularity of its futsal program last year, Jaycee Jenckes, the Assistant Director of the Farmington Recreation Center, is hoping to see a similar turnout for the 2018 spring season.
“Futsal is a modified form of soccer that’s played indoors,” said Jenckes. “We borrow rules from both professional futsal leagues, and indoor soccer leagues to best fit with our facility.”
The Rec. Department prepares for the futsal season by keeping the floor in good condition and properly staffing enough referees to keep the games under control and keep track of the score. The Rec. Department also provides all the necessary equipment like balls, pennies, and goals, so all players need to bring is shoes.
“We have college students, UMF faculty, [community members], Mt. Blue school teachers and parents, and even a few out of town folks who all just love to come together and play a little competitive soccer,” said Jenckes.
Anyone 18 years and older are allowed to register, and the mix of UMF students, faculty, alumni, and community members helps to intensify the levels of the game. The teams play for a championship at the end of the season.
“The winners of the league get individual jerseys however they want to have them designed and also get their names on our Futsal Trophy so we budget to be able to buy those prizes for people.” Jenckes said.
Seeing members of the community come together and enjoy themselves for one night is one of the highlights of their program. Since many of the programs put on by the Rec. Department are centered around children, this program is very important to them. This is one of their few that programs that supports the adult community, and their health and activities. Futsal games take place on Friday nights and each game is 40 minutes long, split into two 20 minutes halves.
The futsal program will continue to evolve, as the Rec. Department has added a Fall season as well. The Rec. Department has other programs such as Pickleball and rock climbing on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
For further information, anyone can stop by the Community Center located at 127 Middle St., or they can call the Rec. Center at 207-778-3464. They also post updates and flyers about all of their programs on their Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/farmingtonrec.
Mar 2, 2018 | News |
By Dale J Rappaneau Jr. Contributing Writer
Back again for its fifth year, the UMF Internship Fair will connect studen
Spring Internship Fair Poster in the Student Center. (Photo by Eryn Finnegan)
ts with local and regional businesses, each of which are in search of interns for various positions.
The Internship Fair will take place on Wednesday, March 7, from 11:00 a.m to 1:30 p.m., in the Olsen Student Center, and will feature such businesses as Alice James Books, the Maine State Aquarium, Sebago Trails Paddling, various district attorney offices and more.
“It’s a smattering of everything,” said Joe Austin, interim Associate Director of the Partnership for Civic Advancement (PCA). “We want students to have a taste and visit tables to talk to folks, some directly involved in their area of interest. We also want them to think about things they might be interested in, yet haven’t thought about before.”
Austin admits that it can be nerve-wracking for students to approach businesses about internships, but he believes it’s “important for students take the opportunity to put themselves out there.” Austin recommends bringing a resume in case a business asks for one.
Austin also recommends asking the representatives a lot of questions. “It’s intimidating, but the key to getting over that is to ask questions. ‘What’s your day like?’ ‘How’d you get in the field?’ If you have a genuine curiosity, it comes through.” Austin added, “The businesses that come to the fair, they come because they get great students, and they’re here to help students. Just walk right up and start a conversation.”
For the last four years, the Maine State Aquarium has been one of the core returning businesses attending the UMF Internship Fair. Elaine Jones, Education Director for the Department of Marine Resources, which oversees the aquarium, said she “treasures their relationship” with UMF.
“There’s so much opportunity for students,” said Jones, “and a lot of our interns will tell me, ‘We learned more at this job than during an entire year of school.’ The hands-on experience is huge for their growth.”
The Maine State Aquarium, located in Boothbay, hires three paid interns each summer. The interns work five days a week at the aquarium, caring for and interacting with aquatic creatures of all types. At the time of writing, all three positions are still open.
“I started as an intern, and I’ve been in this position for twenty-eight years,” said Jones. “Been there, done that—was one of them—and I’m gonna make sure [the interns] walk away being able to call on me for a recommendation.”
Austin admits that not all students will find their ideal career opportunity at the Internship Fair, which is why he encourages students to contact him at the PCA office and schedule an appointment to discuss internship possibilities.
“We have many more listings than will be at the fair,” he said. “If they don’t see something they like, we can talk about it. We’ll work with them to find something that works.”
Students interested in discussing internships with Joe Austin can reach him at austin@maine.edu.
Mar 2, 2018 | News |
By Darby Murnane Contributing Writer
The Vagina Monologues, written by Eve Ensler, were recently performed by the Campus Violence Prevention Coalition (CVPC) and the UMF Counseling Services at Emery Arts Center, co-directed by Mary Ellms, Gavin Pickering, and Riah Pic
The Vagina Monologues present various pieces on feminine identity and sexuality.
kney.
Premiering in the 1990’s, The Vagina Monologues explore the feminine identity and sexuality as well as the taboos surrounding them. The play is performed as part of the V-Day activist campaign, which fights violence against women.
While some monologues in the play have more comedic value such as one which discusses various types of moans and another which lists strange slang terms for the vagina, many of the monologues tackle difficult subjects like the struggles faced by the transgender community and the violent sexual assaults of Bosnian women.
Ellms and Pickering, both graduates of UMF, remember seeing the Monologues performed every spring during their time in college. When reflecting on her first time seeing the play, Ellms said, “I felt very uncomfortable the entire time,” as she had never heard women’s bodies being spoken about in such a blunt, bold manner. “And I think I was really culture shocked when I left. I just didn’t know what to do,” Ellms said.
Pickering felt equally as shocked upon seeing the show and recalled “taking a step back and having to reflect on sort of preconceived notions and privilege and just what we don’t think we don’t know.”
However, when approached by CVPC about putting on the show, they were eager to do so. For the directors, some of the shock-value has worn off and the material has begun to more natural.
Pickering, who has a history with theatre dealing with social issues, said, “I feel like we’re coming from the perspective of educators and that changes how we hear what we’re doing.”
“For me, The Vagina Monologues is about women empowering other people to be okay with who they are and to reclaim who they are,” Ellms said. She believes that this play is not just for women, but for people of all different gender identities. The play encourages people to be more open about their shared experiences and breaking the silence surrounding some of these experiences.
Pickering agreed with this idea and expressed his hopes for a diverse crowd as he believed it would help further the discussion of consent and sexual assault.
“I hope that a lot of men come to the show, young men come to the show to learn about the female experience, because it’s so important to hear the perspective,” Pickering said. “And that’s what I remember about seeing the Vagina Monologues is that sort of new heightened awareness of what the female experience really is, especially the fear and the risk involved in just living your daily life as a woman.”
Cast member Aurora Bartley, a third year English major, finds a sense of empowerment in her involvement with the play. “I thought it was very liberating because you know doing this production about vaginas feels really important to me especially in a time where all of these sexual assault allegations are coming out in the news and everything,” Bartley said.
Ellms hopes the audience finds that sense of empowerment too. “It’s really important for people to hear that vaginas are okay, and that it’s okay to have one, it’s okay to like them, it’s okay to talk about them and to ask questions about them,” she said. “It’s all okay, you don’t have to be afraid of it.”
Mar 2, 2018 | News |
By Nicole Stewart Staff Reporter
Chinese Chess (Photos by Nicole Stewart)
The UMF Office of Global Studies hosted a Chinese New Year Celebration in the recently renovated Fusion Center that brought together the community as they celebrated with music, food, and activities.
Participants were greeted with red envelopes filled with chocolate gold coins inside, meant to bring happiness and good luck. The celebration featured food such as pork and vegetable dumplings, Kung Pao and rice and activities including Chinese Chess, Chinese Paper Cutting, learning Mandarin, and practicing Chinese Calligraphy.
Haiyu Zheng, an international exchange student, explained that Chinese New Years is “the biggest celebration in China, because we don’t have any other celebrations.” Zheng further added that “this is a period of time where people, family members gather together and it is a celebration that lasts about two weeks, from the Chinese New Years Eve till the Lantern Festival.”
During Chinese New Year, each family has different celebrations and traditions.
“Basically we write Chinese calligraphies and we put them on the wall,” said Zheng. “We decorate our room with those things as a sign of good luck. Happiness, unity, all of those good things.”
Lynne Eustis, Assistant Director Of Global Studies said that UMF has hosted celebrations of the Chinese New Year since 2003. The planning of this event began in the fall.
“We started talking to our visiting Chinese professor,” said Eustis, who asked visiting Chinese students to talk about what activities they would like to see at the event.
Freshman Sara Szanty, in charge of the calligraphy station, believed that the community members and UMF students enjoyed practicing calligraphy and liked seeing the amount of people who attended.
“It’s great seeing people of different cultures coming together to enjoy the Chinese New Year,” said Szantyr. “I think it is a great way to experience a culture without traveling all the way to China.”
All students were welcome at the event.
Eustis said that they used the red envelopes to keep track of attendance. “Based on what we had left, we figured we had about 150 or more people,” Eustis said. “Which is pretty good, that’s about what we had last year.”
Zheng stated that the celebration reminded her of being back in China. “It makes me feel so homey, and so much better because during this time usually it is a time that family gets together and I am away from home,” Zheng said. “Seeing something familiar makes me feel very welcomed.”
