This week's stories:
Holiday heaven at the Walden Galleria Mall
By Erin Collins
With the Christmas season fast approaching, it becomes harder to think of gift ideas. Donıt worry! Approximately an hour and a half away from campus exists a vast shopping center. The Walden Galleria Mall, just outside of Buffalo, has two levels of major department stores, boutiques, specialty-clothing shops and restaurants for your shopping enjoyment. Stores like The Bon-Ton, Kaufmanıs, Sears, JC Penney, and Galyanıs Outdoor Sports and Adventure have both upper and lower levels of merchandise. Escalators take customers from one floor to the other in each two-level store. There are also escalators at either end of the mall. In the world of womenıs fashion, clothing and accessories abound in stores like Lerner, New York, Express, Charlotte Russe and The Limited. For menıs clothing, try Guess, Hugo Boss, or Structure. Donıt forget the stores that sell items for both sexes, like Abercrombie and Fitch, Banana Republic, The Gap, American Eagle Outfitters and Old Navy Clothing Co. There are also specialty fashion stores like Victoriaıs Secret, New Age Creations and Wilsonıs Leather Experts. Thatıs just clothing. Who could overlook shoes, sporting goods, accessories, specialty retail, home furnishings and electronics? Stores like Finish Line, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Whitehall Co. Jewelers, Spencer Gifts, Tinaıs Hallmark Gold Crown, Williams-Sonoma, Yankee Candle and Bath and Body Works will take care of all of your shopping wants, needs and desires. If you want to pamper yourself this Christmas season, check out Lee Nails or Regis Hairstyles for a manicure or a new do. Gift certificates, at any store or for the mall in general, also make great presents. Busy people can take advantage of the Key Bankıs convenient location right in the mall. For more cash, stop at one of the several ATMs located throughout both levels. After a hard day of shopping, quiet that growling stomach at the food court. It offers cheap chow thatıs quick too. Everything from Italian to Chinese to Mexican can be found to please everyone. Try Taco Bell, Tedıs Charcoal Broiled Hot Dogs, Arbyıs or Sweet Factory. Plenty of restaurants serve sit-down dinners as well. A good old American hamburger and milkshake are available at Johnny Rockets. The 1950s themed diner will make you think youıre at a sock hop. If you want to try something exotic, go to Kahunaville. This tropical themed restaurant features a jungle atmosphere complete with gigantic moving turtles and a multi-colored waterfall show every 20 minutes. Places like Ruby Tuesday and Jack Astorıs Bar and Grill also offer a variety of food.. If youıre sick of shopping, the Galleria also features General Cinemas for movie lovers. Check out films like ³8 Mile,² ³The Santa Clause 2² and ³The Ring² now playing. If you like video games, wander into Cyberstation, the Galleriaıs arcade. With over 200 stores, plenty of places to eat and lots of entertainment, the Walden Galleria makes a great day trip from St. Bonaventure. So make out your Christmas lists and go shopping!
By Kelly Zientek
Think reading is just for kids? Well, think again. Alpha Upsilon Alpha, an honor society new to campus this semester, hopes to inspire a greater appreciation for reading to everyone inside and surrounding the St. Bonaventure community. Childrenıs author Virginia Kroll helped the honor society kick off its first meeting at the Old Library Restaurant, located on South Union Street in Olean, on Nov. 13. The meeting involved a book signing by Kroll, and a dinner, followed by Krollıs speech. Reba Powers, assistant professor of education and Alpha Upsilon Alpha adviser, said she invited Kroll because she wanted the education majors in the group to learn how to spark interest in reading among the children that they will someday teach. ³She is an excellent role model as a reader and a writer,² Powers said. The society hopes to give education majors a boost in their jobs by providing them with a knowledge of reading programs they can use when they become teachers. Gregory Crawford, a graduate assistant in the School of Education, said, ³I hope to gain insights into the power of reading in education, and what Virginiaıs favorite books are.² Krollıs speech centered on the ³stuff of story,² according to Kroll. She said what makes a childrenıs book goodı does not differ from what makes a goodı adult book. ³Most of my books are autobiographical,² she said. Sophomore Alissa Leavitt, appointed president of the honor society by Powers, said she was excited to hear Kroll speak. ³She seems like a very interesting person,² Leavitt said. ³She can write so many different ways, about all different cultures.² Cindy Mater, another graduate assistant in the school of education, looked forward to having Kroll sign a book for her. ³She is an inspiration for myself as well as other students who aspire to write childrenıs books,² she said. Powers said she first met Kroll when Kroll spoke at a graduate class at St. Bonaventureıs Buffalo campus. ³I found her to be so interesting that I asked her to visit St. Bonaventure and she said, yes,ı² Powers said. Powers hopes to have Katherine Paterson (author of ³Bridge to Terabithia²) visit in the spring, perhaps coinciding with the official induction ceremonies of Alpha Upsilon Alpha in April. Approximately 28 people have applied to the honor society so far, Powers said. Powers described the societyıs purpose to recognize and encourage leadership and scholarship in reading. ³Literature is an important cornerstone in education,² Powers said. People engage in learning through reading and writing and then demonstrate what they have learned through reading and writing also, she said. Having Alpha Upsilon Alpha on a resume can show employers that an individual has a strong commitment to literacy and education, she said. Sophomore Melissa Weise, the honor societyıs treasurer, said the society should be helpful for education majors because ³you can get to know different childrenıs books for when youıre teaching and it keeps you informed about different reading programs you can use.² Leavitt said, ³We have brainstormed some other ideas,² for the society, which should officially kick off next semester. She said they would like to work with local school children in after-school programs, teaching them how to keep journals, for example. Powers said she would also like to have presentations at public health clinics to teach expectant mothers on the importance of teaching their children how to read. At the other end of the age scale, Powers said they would like to get involved with senior citizens, reading aloud to them and helping them write their life stories. Leavitt said, ³Between (Powerıs) connections and the ideas we came up with, we can be really effective.² She said the group hopes to ³increase the importance and awareness of reading to everyone, not just children.² Powers said, ³Literacy empowers us as individuals and the higher the level of proficiency we have in literacy, the more power we have.² Living in the 21st century, people need to be better problem solvers and thinkers, and must deal with various aspects of the changing world, involving flexibility, resourcefulness, complexity, cultures and technology, she said. ³At the core of all those areas is our own literacy,² she added. Alpha Upsilon Alpha is open to undergraduates, graduates, faculty and professors, Powers said. Leavitt said that while anyone can participate in AUA activities, students must be in their fifth semester to be formally initiated. Those interested must have a 3.5 GPA and have until Feb. 12 to provide a ³literary autobiography² of themselves, which describes the role they play in reading and writing, Powers said. Members pay a lifetime fee of $12. Applications can be picked up in Plassmann B42.
Childıs play: writing for kids
By Kelly Zientek
Virginia Kroll, from Hamburg, said poverty drove her to start writing in 1984, shortly after the birth of her fourth child. ³I knew I needed a job and didnıt know what else to do,² she said. Since kindergarten, teachers had always told her she could write, so she did. In 1988, after her sixth child, the editor at Highlights for Children magazine told her she was wasting her time and should start writing books because there was no money in magazines, she said. ³One day, I compulsively announced to my husband that I would be spending three hours a day, three days a week at the library,² Kroll said. ³Twelve months later I had twelve signed book contracts.² Since then, Kroll has written 45 childrenıs books, not to mention 1,700 magazine articles. Although Kroll said she has no favorite book (³Thatıs like asking whoıs my favorite child,² she said), her newer books, like ³Busy, Busy Mouse² and ³Especially Heroes² (due out in spring), tend to hold special meaning. ³Iım more in love with those than the others right now,² she said. Krollıs books, usually involving a child protagonist, stand out because she writes in verse. ³Editors sort of frown on that, but thatıs because so few people do it well,² she said. ³If you can do it and do it well, then you have that little corner,² she said. Kroll said writing ³is about seeing what youıre interested in and doing it.² She used sports as an example. ³I donıt know a lot about sports, but give me animals and I can write a story about animals,² she said. ³I trip over ideas everyday,² Kroll said, explaining how her books get started. ³The trick is to zero in on them or put the little fact or quote at the center,² she said. Kroll writes under several different pen names, one being Melrose Cooper. ³I became aware of a prejudice,² she said, explaining how a group of librarians in New York City would ask her editors about her ethnicity, and refuse to buy her books if they discovered that she was not an African American. After hearing about similar problems among African American authors and illustrators, Kroll said, ³I decided to make myself nebulous.² She created a name based on some of her family membersı names, one that would not reveal her gender or nationality. The response was amazing, she said. Stories that had been rejected under her own name were immediately accepted under Melrose Cooper.ı Although everyone knows her true identity now, she said sheıs made her point. ³A good story is a good story and nothing else,² she said. ³I feel very adamant about that.²
Students put the world on stage at St. Bonaveture
By Shane Colligan
When is the last time you sifted through the stuff in your attic and remembered the ³good old days?² This weekend, members of the Musical Theater Company will do just that in their musical revue, ³All the Worldıs a Stage.² Twenty-six songs comprise the revue, the companyıs third since its creation in 2001. The show features students singing songs from a variety of Broadway musicals that ³evoke places or are about places,² according to senior Rebecca Campana, the revueıs artistic director. She said the songs were chosen by herself and the showıs seven directors: senior Liz Baier; juniors Katie Glaser, Sarah Norton and Jessica Warden; and sophomores Lisa Barnard, Thomas Mulhare and Andrea Reed. The cast will perform songs from many former and current Broadway shows including ³The Wiz,² ³Fiddler on the Roof,² ³Peter Pan² and ³The Lion King.² According to Campana, the one-and-a-half-hour show takes place in an attic because, she said, ³An attic is a place to keep pictures and reminisce. The attic made sense because our songs are about getting ready to go somewhere or looking back on a place.² Campana wanted the scenery ³to allow the actors to interact with the environment,² she said. As in the past, the 29-member cast wears simple costumes: black pants and tee shirts with the showıs logo on them. A few songs require the performers to wear full costume. The club held open auditions the second week of the semester, Campana said. She estimated the company rehearsed about 12 to 15 hours each week for 10 weeks, after auditions. However, some things have not gone according to plan. The music they ordered arrived later than they had expected, Campana said. She said the directors taught what they could in between battling for rehearsal space in the arts center. ³Since the arts center was built on campus, the arts have flourished. There are a lot of different groups on campus who need rehearsal space,² she said. ³ Thereıs only so much traditional rehearsal space and too many groups so we had to search for other spots.² Campana said the group rehearsed in the Robinson/Falconio halls lounge, in the lounges on the second and third floors in Robinson and Falconio halls and in the small practice rooms in The Quick Center for the Arts. Due to scheduling conflicts, this semesterıs revue will only have two performances instead of the usual three. ³This year has been an exercise in artistic Darwinism,² she said. ³The name of the game is adapt and overcome. (As) Sarah Kloos (operations manager for the arts center) says, Itıs the arts. Youıre supposed to suffer.ı My high-school soccer coach used to say, Builds character.ı So weıve been suffering and building character, all with minimal complaining.² ³The directors and performers have been resilient and enthusiastic,² she said. Senior Liz Baier, vice president of Musical Theater Company and chief vocal director for the revue, agrees. ³These kids have energy over the top and show off their many talents while they are doing it,² she said. Meredith Samuels, a senior and member of the organization, said she loves being in the revue because of the people involved. ³You get to meet a lot of people who would normally not do musicals,² she said. Campana said tickets for the show cost $5. ³We are not chartered by SGA,² Campana said. ³We get no outside funds so all of our money comes from any money we make during performances.² She said the company must raise enough money to pay for the rights to perform their songs, purchase costumes they canıt find in the Francis Hall costume shop or in the Olean Community Theater costume shop and buy materials for set construction. They also pay an accompanist, Joelle Harvey, a high-school student from Hinsdale, who joined the group this year. Senior Meghan McGlone, a cast member, said, ³This type of show is for everyone to enjoy whether you are an athlete, a musician or you like to sit around.² ³All the Worldıs a Stage² runs tonight at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Rigas Family Theater in The Quick Center for the Arts. There is no Saturday show due to A Mixed Company s performance of ³Driving Miss Daisy² that day as part of the Rigas Family Theaterıs Family Fun Series.
By Joe Enoch
Drums and Tuba released their second album, ³Mostly Ape,² with the Righteous Babe Records label on Nov. 10. This trio creates one of the most creative and imaginative songs ever experienced. They have a very hard-to-classify sound which melds rock, jazz, electronica, funk, garage, new wave, classic rock and art rock. Pinning this band to a certain genre would not do it justice. The 12-track album has a great live feel to it. This bandıs fame can in part be attributed to their live act. A mostly live recording, they completed ³Mostly Ape² in a weekıs time. When one takes into consideration the technical measures that were taken to create the fabulous mixes of electrical and acoustic sounds, one week seems way too short. Although difficult to compare this band to anything, it can best be compared to the instrumentals of Phish and Led Zeppelin. The percussion highlights much of the music in this album. Tony Nozero, the percussionist of Drums and Tuba, can be compared to drum masters like John Bonham, from Led Zeppelin and Keith Moon of the Who. Most songs start and end with Tony Nozeroıs great beats. ³Great² beats do not refer to what rap listeners often refer to as beats. These beats do not compare with what one would hear in rap music. First of all, the beats in these songs are much more complicated, even for advanced rock and classical standards. The second thing that sets Drums and Tuba apart from the beats in rap music is that a human plays the percussion, not a machine. The guitar work in this album adds much as well. Although Neal McKeeby cannot be compared to the guitar gods, like Brian May of Queen and Peter Frampton of Humble Pie, he is very original and adds something most guitarists would not be able to replicate. He sounds most like the guitarist Mark Knopfler of Dire Straights. In the song ³Metrics,² McKeeby can be heard playing in a Western style and then quickly changes to a classic rock sound and finally bridges into a hard rock lead. This versatile style of play allows for a whole range of songs to be played. The tuba player, Brian Wolff, contributes such an interesting part of this band. It definitely helps define the sound. It does not have the overpowering effect of the guitar and drums but definitely stands out. Sometimes it seems a little out of place, especially in the harder rock sounds, but it eventually grows on the listener. It adds a fresh change from the bass guitar. One never tires of the guitar, but the tuba definitely makes for a good replacement even in a rock setting. Many times, tuba player Wolff will loop his bass lines by recording a section of them and letting the recording continue to play repeatedly while he plays a different line. This shows that Wolff has versatility and talent. The best example of this exists in the song ³Clashing,² where Wolff plays a tuba bass line, loops it, then plays a trumpet part, loops that, then plays another trumpet overlay, loops that, then erases his tuba bass line and then makes another bass line. Basically, he plays three parts at the same time. Many highlights exist in this album. Every song receives praise. Many times, when a band has a unique sound, the sound tends to blend together. Eventually, by track five of an Extended Play album, the listenerıs mind does not even absorb the music anymore. For example, the Strokes full-length album, ³This Is It,² though an original and well-done album, it all flows into one sound after a few minutes of listening to it. This tends to be the case for most modern artists. However, despite how modern and original the sound on ³Mostly Ape,² not one song sounds like another. The only hindrance for this albumıs success is the lack of vocals. Todayıs culture has lost the patience for instrumental music. Society has scared from the radio the truly talented individuals who do not sing. Chances are, Drums and Tubaıs ³Mostly Ape² will not get any radio play despite the musical success of this album. MTV will never feature an artist who does not sing or lacks attractiveness (have you ever seen a thin tuba player?). These sorts of albums find homes with disc jockeys, audiophiles, musicians, and any curious individuals who want to step outside the void of structured money-making music. However, success is best measured by the person who is being judged and any person who is at the very least curious should check out www.drumsandtuba.com.
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