UMass Students and their Surrounding Community
By Michelle Woodward
Check out this video from the week of 11/9/11 on UMass This Week. Meghan Connolly reports on UMass Students and their relationship with Amherst residents in a package at 10:15.
In a town like Amherst, where there is a large state university in the middle of a small community in western Mass, there are often tensions between the townspeople and the throngs of students. Although UMass has tried to get rid of it’s “zoomass” reputation, it is a school where 40 percent of the 21,000 undergrads live off-campus, and on most weekends at UMass you will inevitably see herds of students leaving their dorms and either walking, crowding onto PVTA buses, or flagging down a taxi to go to an off-campus party.
Due to the large number of students heading off-campus and causing disturbances in Amherst neighborhoods, there are arrests made often for disorderly conduct and students with houses get hit with fines for noise violations. This is especially a problem at the beginning of the year and the end of the year, when it’s warmer outside. For instance, four weekends into the current school year, on Sept. 23, 24, and 25, over 100 people were arrested or issued summons to court according to an article in The Daily Collegian.
Although some think this is the type of thing you expect to deal with when you live in a college town, others think students are disrespectful of their neighbors and go too far when it comes to partying and drinking.
Deputy Police Chief Patrick Archbald says that they try to remind students to respect their neighbors, but it’s not always the first thing on their mind. He said, “When you come into a community with thousands in southwest, particularly, and you’re heading in mass into southwest you’re not thinking, ‘oh I’m a neighbor and I’ve got to be careful.’”
Chairwoman of the Amherst Select board, Stephanie O’Keeffe, says most students are civil, and as someone who lives close to campus herself, she doesn’t normally have problems with her student neighbors. “It’s just a very tiny minority of the kids who are causing problems,” she said, “and that is a concern because that really damages the reputation of all the students.”
UMass student Kaitlyn Medeiros agrees. She thinks that the university gets a bad name when students go out and party too hard, or go too crazy, because UMass students do much more than that. “We’re known as a big partying school because of what we do but we really do a lot more than just party here,” she said, “we’re a really good school for our academics and there are students doing better things on campus like starting student organizations.” When there are problems with drinking and disturbing the neighbors, Meideros for one thinks it diminishes the reputation of UMass overall.
Due to an internship position she held last year, Medeiros had to go to a few town meetings where Amherst residents discussed the college students. She said the residents seem to have a generally bad view of students, and find them to be a problem on Friday and Saturday nights. “They talk about the UMass campus and all their crazy partying, and they say a lot of bad things about us,” she said.
Archbald says that students who hold parties at their house may not mean for it to get out of control or disturb the neighbors, but when there’s a good party news travels fast through the internet and cell phones, and it grows. And even if they turn people away, it can still cause problems for other residents.
“Even after they’ve reached their capacity for their building or for their property, it’s just the people alone walking towards the house is disturbing to neighbors not just next door, but all over and they don’t have any control over that,” said Archbald.
O’Keeffe says the town just wants students to realize that Amherst is their home for the time they are here, and they need to respect it. “The same kinds of behaviors that would be completely unacceptable back where your parents live or even in the residence halls, that’s also unacceptable to us in the rest of the community.”
These kinds of behaviors range from littering and being loud to destroying property or urinating on resident’s lawns.
O’Keeffe adds, “I would think that when things get out of control that should be just as unacceptable to the rest of the student body as it is to the folks in town because really it’s the university’s reputation, the value of your diploma, that’s suffering in the long term.”
However, students and residents agree having three colleges in this one town bring more pros to the community than cons.
“Without the school this would just be a really small town” said UMass student Danny Blumenthal, “the school pumps a lot of money into town’s economy.”
“Students are a huge part of the community,” added O’Keeffe, “this is a college town and the whole vibrancy of the community is defined by the fact that we have the university, Amherst College, and Hampshire College here.”
This doesn’t mean, however, that they will tolerate obscene behaviors. Through groups like the Campus and Community Coalition, Amherst residents and UMass faculty, staff and students, are invited to join together to remind students about their neighbors and to be mindful of then when they are walking the streets late at night.
One event that has happened the past two years has been the “Have a Heart” program, in which the UMass Police work together with the district attorney’s office and any other volunteers. They give cookies and handouts to students walking around in neighborhoods near campus, and simply remind them to respect their neighbors.
“Our job is to remind,” says Archbald, “and it’s really something we have to hit at the beginning of the semester because that’s when it’s the worst”
O’Keeffe said Amherst residents are generally understanding, and know that where they live may come with disadvantages.
“It only become problematic once they start interfering with other peoples’ lives,” said O’Keeffe, “nobody doesn’t want students to have a good time.”
FEATURE STORIES
The BOLTWOOD Project
By Michelle Woodward
In 1969, a few UMass students in a coffee shop on Boltwood Walk came up with an idea. They decided to take the challenge their professor, Merle Willmann, had posed to them: to set aside two and a half hours one night a week to go out to Belchertown State School for the mentally retarded. The professor knew of grad students that worked at the school, who had called him asking if there were any students that might help out between dinner and bedtime. Willmann, a professor of recreation planning and management design, told the students that if they could set aside this small amount of time every week they could really make a difference in these people’s lives. What the students at that coffee shop might not have planned on, however, was how much of a difference it would also make on theirs.
They soon came up with the name “the BOLTWOOD Project,” and became a registered student organization. Students helped with everything from planning and participating in activities to just talking to the people at the facilities and keeping them company. As involvement heightened, they arranged for students to earn credits for their involvement, and they started an interview process for getting in.
“Before I knew it we had 10 groups going out to the school,” said Willmann, who became faculty director when they started and still holds the position 43 years later.
The BOLTWOOD Project became more and more popular, and facilities from all around the community were calling Willmann, asking if he could send student volunteers to help them, too. He accepted many of these pleas, and created more groups to go out to these locations where they serviced mentally and physically disabled individuals.
At peak involvement, 25 groups met each week, with approximately 225 student volunteers, 25 supervisors, and a student coordinator and assistant coordinator helping with the operational and administrative responsibilities.
After he retired as a professor, Willmann said he eventually reduced the number of groups to make things easier on him. He continued on as faculty director, but in his retirement he wasn’t able to put in the time that he had previously. Now, students go out to 10 different facilities in the area helping a wide range of mentally and physically challenged people. This semester, BOLTWOOD sent two groups to The Bangs Community Center in “The Fun Club” program, where students organize dance parties, talent shows, and outings with adults with varying levels of mental and physical abilities, and the “Los Amigos” program, where students do arts and crafts, play games, and share stories with adults in challenging situations who live and work in the Amherst area.
Groups were also sent to Chestnut, Mountain View, The Hollow, and Sunrise, all group homes in the Amherst area, where students entertain residents and get to know them in a small group setting. Other groups include volunteers that go to Jessie’s House, a shelter for displaced families, volunteers that participate in Scouts, who help adult men and women scouts earn merit badges and go on outings, and volunteers that go to Farren Care and Berkshire Hills Music Academy.
Lucia Franceschi, a volunteer since her freshman year, has worked in two different places through The BOLTWOOD Project. The first, Northampton Hallmark, is a nursing rehabilitation facility. She worked with kids as young as one year old to adults who were 50 with severe Cerebral Palsy who had very restricting mobility and who were unable to speak.
“It was really cool to talk to them and try to figure out their communication even though they couldn’t communicate verbally,” said Franceschi who is now a junior communications disorder major.
She eventually became an assistant supervisor at this facility for one semester, until she moved to the Berkshire Hills Academy of Music in South Hadley at the beginning of this year. With this group, she deals with many college-aged kids who have a wide range of disabilities, from Williams syndrome to Aspergers to Downs syndrome. “They are a very lively group of kids who come to this academy to have a college experience because they can’t go to a mainstream college,” said Franceschi.
Franceschi keeps signing up for The BOLTWOOD Project every semester because of the relationships she has made with other volunteers and the individuals she works with in these facilities. “It’s really cool to experience people who are outside of the people that you would see day to day,” she said. “And it’s a very rewarding experience.”
Another volunteer, Carlene McGuigan, just started The BOLTWOOD Project this semester and visits the Farren Care Center in Turner Falls, a rehabilitation hospital much like the one Franceschi worked in her first few semesters. “We do activities and just visit with the people there,” said McGuigan, “and they love it- they enjoy it so much.”
“I think as college students we have such potential to change the world,” she added, “just getting involved in the community is one step, and one way to do that.”
Though McGuigan and Franceschi are both communications disorders majors, people from all majors and backgrounds are encouraged to apply. “There are history majors, psych majors, communications majors in my group,” McGuigan said, “and everyone just wants to help, that’s why we’re there.”
It’s this mindset that inspired Willmann to direct The BOLTWOOD Project many years ago and continue today. “My heart goes out for people, especially those that are need,” he said.
But Willmann wanted The BOLTWOOD Project to benefit the student volunteers as much as it does the mentally and physically disabled kids and adults they help. When he created it, he had a hidden agenda. “I’m a firm believer in developing leadership,” said Willmann.
All students are interviewed first, and if they are invited to participate in The BOLTWOOD Project they begin as a volunteer. This in itself requires leadership skills, as volunteers are expected to entertain and take care of the participants in their group. If the volunteer exhibits organization and responsibility, they may be asked by their supervisor to step up as assistant supervisor of a group. They help the supervisors, who must step back from interacting with everyone and be more managerial. They must plan the activities for each week, direct these activities, interview and select their team, solve any problems that might occur, and read the journals written by each volunteer.
Willmann selects the “best of the best” to serve as assistant coordinator and coordinator, who basically run the show. With some mentoring and help from him, they do all that is needed for The BOLTWOOD Project to run smoothly.
It is with this model that Willmann hopes to foster leadership development with his students. In The BOLTWOOD Project, they are not only helping the community, but learning how to work with others and developing skills useful in the workplace.
“BOLTWOOD helps students learn the responsibilities of being an employee,” said Willmann, who hopes that everyone involved comes out of the experience a better person. The students who volunteer learn leadership skills and get the feeling of making a difference, while participants engage in fun activities while making lasting friendships.
Check out UMass This Week's episode from October 26, 2011
the package about BOLTWOOD is at 11 minutes.
Arrested Development ReturnsCheck out UMass This Week's episode from October 26, 2011
the package about BOLTWOOD is at 11 minutes.
By Katie McKenna
On October 2, 2011, Mitchell Hurwitz made an announcement that created a long-awaited buzz among millions of people. Hurwitz, the creator of TV show Arrested Development, announced that the show was coming back with 10 more episodes leading into a movie.
Fans went ecstatic blogging, sending Tweets, updating statuses, making phone calls – it didn’t take long for the word to spread. Jason Bateman, who plays Michael Bluth, tweeted, “It’s true. We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early ’13. VERY excited!”
The 30-minute comedy ran on Fox from 2003-2006 and was cancelled due to a lack of viewers. However, over the past five years, it has gained popularity through Netflix, DVD’s, and re-runs on Showtime. Viewers demanded more from this short-lived TV show, and that is what they got. UMass students in particular take up a part of that fan base.
Many people don’t understand why Fox cancelled it because they see that it has such a great cast and storyline. The show is about an extremely dysfunctional family living together in one house. Every character has a clearly neurotic or often dislikeable character flaw, yet somehow the writers make these characters into funny, comical people.
At a time when Fox was promoting a re-broadcast of popular TV show Family Guy, the network cut the second season into 18 episodes instead of the original 22 episodes. The third season of Arrested Development was originally 22 episodes and was cut to 13 episodes. The last four episodes of Arrested Development were done in a two hour timeslot, directly opposing the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics on February 10, 2006.
Kathleen Mackenzie, a sophomore History major at UMass, got into watching Arrested Development on Netflix after a friend suggested she watch it. Originally from Northampton, Mackenzie grew up in an artsy scene and explained to me that her high school was a little different than most. The “popular” crowd wasn’t filled with jocks, but instead, kids that were in theatre and chorus. Her school had its own set of quirks, just like Arrested Development does.
Mackenzie got into Arrested Development after showing a friend Freaks and Geeks, a TV show that she enjoyed which also was taken off the air. She enjoys all the quirks of each character in the show and how they can all blend together to create one crazy family.
Her favorite character on the show is George Michael, an awkward teenage boy played my Michael Cera. “I’m a big Michael Cera fan and I feel like George Michael is the only character that’s just 100 percent likeable, not only because he’s funny, but because he’s such a good person,” said Mackenzie.
UMass sophomore Angela Miller also loves the show, but for different reasons. She feels that the best part of the show is that the entire family is dysfunctional, but she thinks some are moreso than others. The middle child, Gob, is a magician who is constantly trying to take over the family company. He sincerely believes that he has a lot to offer professionally, but in reality, he lacks any organizational thought whatsoever.
“My favorite character is Gob because he takes things so seriously, but he really shouldn’t because he doesn’t really do anything for the family,” said UMass student Angela Miller, “He’s a loose cannon,” she said. She actually watched the show when it was on television because it was on right after something else she used to watch on Sunday nights.
Miller, a Public Health major at UMass, is originally from Littleton, Mass. The show was popular in her town because she believes that the show definitely caters to a certain demographic. The show is centered around an upper-middle class white family, and that is the audience it seems to attract.
Andy Bernstein, a sophomore Communication major, has his own theories about why he loves the show.
Bernstein is from Danvers, Mass. and has made and directed his own movie entitled “What Rough Beast.” He works as a programming director at the school’s television channel, UVC-TV 19. He also had the opportunity this past Fall to work on the set of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as a production assistant. Bernstein’s major in Communication reflects his love for TV and movies, including Arrested Development.
“I think the cast is a huge factor in the popularity of the show,” said Bernstein. His favorite character is Tobias, a never-nude who aspires to be an actor, but miserably fails throughout the series due to complete his lack of social cues.
“Personally, I love Tobias the most because he’s just sort of played up to be entirely ignorant of himself and of others, so almost every time that Tobias is on screen, you know that you’ll be laughing out loud,” said Bernstein.
Mackenzie, Miller and Bernstein can all agree that the show has a fantastic cast, but they cannot agree on a favorite character. Although they all come from different places and they all have different majors, they all seem to enjoy watching this dysfunctional family try to make way with every day life. They all have different characters which only goes to show that each and every character has his or her own comical qualities. Many different types of people can like Arrested Development due to its strong writing and great cast.
SPEECH STORY
The Pawn Shop- Fox Proprietors
By Michelle Woodward
By Michelle Woodward
Imagine you walk into a pawn shop and find a secret tunnel leading to piles of money, but no one knows you’re there. The employees are somehow missing, and there are no cameras to catch you in the act- what would you do?
This is the scene created by Tim Winn and Zehra Khan in the exhibition currently being shown in Hampden Art Gallery in the Southwest residential area, “The Pawn Shop- Fox Proprietors."
Fourteen journalism students filed into the gallery this Monday to hear gallery director Anne Seuthe speak about the exhibit, what it means to her, and why she chose to show it.
“The pawn shop,” Seuthe explained, “is a place that you go when things are pretty hard.” And seeing as America is struggling through a long and hard recession, “it is a fitting exhibit for the times,” she said.
These types of materials are fitting for the idea of a pawn shop, as it “supports the ‘rag tag’ concept this exhibit refers to,” says Seuthe.
As you move forward into the next room, you see a silent video on a two minute loop. This is mostly Khan’s contribution, as she is very interested in the costuming and performance aspect of art. In the video, both artists have been painted and wear paper costumes to look like the fox proprietors. The video shows them in the “secret tunnel” shown in the exhibit, jumping up and down and tossing handfuls of money into the air.
Being able to walk into the actual pawn shop, and having the video of the artists interacting with the work makes this exhibit different than so many others that simply showcase 2D pieces of art on walls.
“It’s very interactive,” said Eleanor Wong, a publicist for the gallery who attended Seuthe’s speech.
You can even buy the pieces hanging in the pawn shop. Each drawing has a price tag hanging down, like the real objects would in a real pawn shop. Though Hampden Art Gallery isn’t commerical, this is another technique used by the artists to create interaction between the art and the viewers. It makes you feel as though you really are in a pawn shop.
A pawn shop, of course, made out of paper and black and white depictions.
Thom Konan, another publicist who attended the event, described the exhibit as a “cartoon world combined with something sinister.”
Winn and Khan created the “cartoon” world of paper by fabricating small drawings, photocopying and enlarging them, and going over it in ink. The illustrations are inspired by the style of street art and graffiti. On Winn’s website he claims, “my art (and its subjects and its environments) is not precious.”
But should it be? Are other artists’ work of higher value, and for what reason? What determines the value of art and objects?
Winn and Kahn use the idea of a pawn shop as the environment for these types of arguments, and they choose to use notoriously cunning, sneaky, and sly foxes as the proprietors of this shop. With minor details they make big statements, but still leave a lot for the viewer to wonder.
Seuthe says that the exhibit “raises a moral question, in a lighthearted way.”
The Pawn Shop: Fox Proprietors
By - Katie McKenna
The Pawn Shop: Fox Proprietors
By - Katie McKenna
To some, the Hampden Gallery may be just another concrete building on the way to class, but gallery director Anne Laprade Seuthe proves that behind the walls lies an impactful portrait of desperation.
The Hampden Gallery houses visual art in the Southwest Residential Area at UMass Amherst. The Journalism 300 class of 15 students took a brief but stimulating tour on Monday afternoon. Laprade Seuthe conducted the tour as she educated the class on the purpose of the gallery’s artwork, the artists that took part, and her own personal views on the artwork.
The title of the exhibit was “The Pawn Shop: Fox Proprietors.” Paper wires and faulty doors depicted a scene of economic and social despair. Creams and beiges colored the walls of sadly unfortunate truths, and occasional neons drew in the crowd. Laprade Seuthe said that perhaps the owners were foxes because foxes are known to be cunning with sharp teeth – an unfriendly animal, symbolic of the cruel world depicted in the artwork.
The exhibit presents some unordinary opportunities. The artists created a clip that replays every two minutes to give people a background on the “fox proprietors.” Additionally, viewers are allowed to actually buy things that are “for sale” in the Pawn Shop. Eleanor Wong said that was the reason she liked this exhibit in particular – “It’s very interactive,” she said. This opportunity allows not only the artist, but also the viewer to become actively involved with the piece.
The playful scene “belies the seriousness of the subject matter,” says Laprade Seuthe. Like a Woody Allen movie, the artwork takes on a serious subject and gives the viewer a cleverly drawn laughter. The resulting feeling is not comfort, but rather, the viewer is able to see sadness, as the art resembles an accepted sadness towards reality’s upheavals. “It’s like a cartoon world combined with something sinister,” says Thom Konan.
“This is a place where you would go when things are pretty desperate,” said Laprade Seuthe. The exhibit could be a reflection of the current economic recession. Seuthe noted that the artist’s may not have created the artwork with the intent to cover the recession, but maybe they included it subconsciously.
“Art is a dialogue of your own experiences and what’s happening on a larger level,” says Laprade Seuthe, “Any artist creating their own work inevitably taps into their own material.” It is near impossible to create without tapping into one’s own experiences because we draw from our own experiences, which may be why many English teachers say “write about what you know.” A friend once told me that in order to write better, one must live better. The artwork created by Zhera Khan and Tim Winn reflects their personal experiences and attitudes toward the subject, whether they realize that or not.
“Visual art is a communication,” said Laprade Seuthe, “An artist has some tie to actual lived experience of the matter.” The message the artists are trying to communicate is entirely up to the viewer, but there are definitely central themes located within the exhibit such as desperation and accepted loneliness.
The artists, Winn and Khan, are in their mid-thirties and would like to take their artwork as far as possible. Both artists earned their MFA’s at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, Mass.
“I look forward to seeing more from these artists,” said Konan, who also noted that the art has an “interesting edge to it.” The artwork definitely has its comfortable and relatable themes with an element of insecurity and unfamiliarity. Konan believes that the artwork is original and supports the artists in their work.
Konan is not the only one who enjoys the exhibit. Laprade Seuthe said that it is a popular place, as students will peek into the windows and drop into the gallery to see what it’s all about. She said that some people have even bought things from the “Pawn Shop,” in which case the money is donated to the artists.
UMass Amherst students are encouraged to check out the Hampden Gallery, as it features a plethora of interesting visual pieces. The thing about art is that every person sees something different. Every viewer can form his or her own opinion, and each opinion is as valuable as the next. Journalists have only covered a few.
