Recent Posts

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  Mason study shows federal workplace decreasing

  Featured, News April 10, 2013 at 3:46 pm Comments are Disabled

  Characteristics, including number of women in the workplace, also changing As a major employer of residents of the Metropolitan Washington Area, the federal workplace is often seen as a defining characteristic of this area. This federal workplace, however, is changing. Joanna Biernacka- Lievestro, a graduate student research assistant at the Center for Regional Analysis, has found that the federal workplace is decreasing after 12 years of gains. “I think this particular topic is pretty relevant to the current economy in the region,” Biernacka-Lievestro said. “I thought it would be interesting to see how the federal workplace is changing, along with the characteristics of this federal workplace.” Lower government service (GS) grade-level jobs decreased, while higher level managerial positions increased. The federal workplace also faces an age problem. “What we have learned from the area is that one of the research findings is that the workforce is aging,” Biernacka-Lievestro said. “We have the issue of aging in the federal workplace, and what is going to happen when these people retire.” Biernacka-Lievestro has also found other characteristics changing within the federal workforce. Between 1998 to 2011, the total number of salaries paid to the federal workplace increased by 34.1 percent. According to the […]

   

• Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

  Editorials, News April 10, 2013 at 3:36 pm Comments are Disabled

  As I look back on the last three years and towards my last two semesters, I’m discouraged. College is a great experience with many benefits, but I have found myself discontent with the structure of education. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I haven’t enjoyed or found benefit in my time at Mason. I have learned a lot and grown substantially in my three years at college, but I don’t believe that I have had a practical education. The problem is the system. The workforce requires anyone wishing to make more than minimum wage to have at least a bachelors degree, four full years of schooling, before anyone considers paying you more than minimum wage. There is a clear distinction between myself and some of my peers, though. As a humanities major, I am not studying a skill set. My classes are largely theory based and I am not sure that I am any better prepared to enter the workforce than I was three years ago. Sure, I am much more well versed in the names of communication theory, have a basic knowledge of astronomy and will soon be able to read classic literature in Latin, but are those skills worth […]

   
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  Mason falls to Santa Clara in final game of CBI

  Featured, Sports April 9, 2013 at 4:16 pm Comments are Disabled

    The nets came down for the final time in the 2012-2013 season at the Patriot Center. Unfortunately for the Patriots, it was the Broncos of Santa Clara University who stepped up to cut them down. On paper, it looked as though Mason would be outmatched in the series, as Santa Clara had a highly efficient offense on the season, living and dying on their efficiency from beyond the arc. In the second tier postseason tournament of college basketball, coach Paul Hewitt was looking to participate in this tournament to gain postseason experience for the young team by electing to compete in the College Basketball Invitational. The CBI began in 2008 and was most notable for being the tournament won by Virginia Commonwealth University in 2010, the year before the Rams would go on to shock the college basketball world by advancing all the way into the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 2011. In a best of three series played over the course of last week, the Patriots first traveled out to Santa Clara, California for game one of the CBI last Monday night. It was a game where Mason’s biggest lead of the night against the Broncos was […]

   
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  Mason at the movies

  Lifestyle April 9, 2013 at 4:12 pm Comments are Disabled

  This week, you’ll have the opportunity to see three incredible movies that received overwhelming critical acclaim and Academy Award nominations on Mason’s campus. The Office of Student Involvement will host screenings of these films in the Johnson Center Cinema, free for Mason students.   The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey The long-awaited prequel to “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” will end its run at the JC Cinema April 6-13. This first part of a trilogy adaptation from J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous work of fantasy is about a fussy and reluctant creature named Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is called upon to join a ragtag team of thirteen dwarves to help reclaim their stolen kingdom and treasure from a mighty dragon. Led by the wise wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), the fellowship embarks on a perilous quest that involves trolls, goblins, the fearsome creature Gollum (Andy Serkis) and many other dangers. Though smaller in scope and stakes than “The Lord of the Rings,” part one of “The Hobbit” is an action-packed cinematic experience that’s a marvel to behold. New Zealand’s stunning scenery and state-of-the-art special effects make for a visually thrilling film. Incorporating material from Tolkien’s extensive […]

   
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  Graduate Fulbright award student studies in Norway

  Lifestyle April 9, 2013 at 3:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  It’s March, and the cold is nearly unbearable. People are layering wool garments on top of wool garments to fight the bitterness of a Norwegian winter. Bundled individuals are strapped in their frosted skis and are waiting anxiously for the 45 kilometer ski marathon to begin. Mason graduate student Mona Anita Olsen is one of these anxious marathoners who is thrilled by the adventure the Fulbright Student Program is offering her. “It’s been eye-opening on so many fronts,” said Olsen, who is completing entrepreneurial research in Norway as a part of earning her Ph.D. in Education at Mason, as well as being a Fulbrighter. “I had friends to teach me how to ski. Number one: it’s so hard. Number two: I have a lot of respect for skiers. The joke was that I won the purple knee awards! I fell A lot!” Olsen said. “But seriously, I learned a lot from this experience. Without having a vision I’m not as strong of a person as I think I am, so this was a great experience.” The Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards grants to individuals in the U.S. who wish to teach or complete studies and research abroad. Fulbrighters, as Fulbright […]

   
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  Annual Drag show packs JC

  Featured, Lifestyle, Multimedia April 9, 2013 at 3:44 pm Comments are Disabled

    Not a single chair or table was open in the Johnson Center at 9 p.m. on April 5. Students were leaning against the kiosks near the Atrium’s pop-up stage, and some were even lined up along the walkways, trying to do anything to avoid being stuck viewing the annual PRIDE Week Drag Show on the second floor of the JC Atrium. The PRIDE Week Drag Show is held at the end of Mason’s PRIDE Week. PRIDE Week takes place every April, and is Mason’s way of celebrating an anniversary of the active movement toward human rights for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, which began in 1969 and the early 1970s. The drag show is an anticipated event — co-sponsored by the Office of LGBTQ Resources, Weekends at Mason, and the Patriot Activities Council — and features not only Mason student entertainers, but drag queens and kings from the D.C. area. “[The Drag Show] represents a fun and entertaining side of the week,” said Alex Gant, the coordinator and emcee of the drag show. “PRIDE Week is a mix of serious discussion about rights and activism, addressing the challenges that face LGBTQ identified people and how to move forward […]

   

• Speech archive records hundreds of international accents

  Lifestyle April 9, 2013 at 3:37 pm Comments are Disabled

  For more than 13 years, Mason linguistics professor and phonologist Steven Weinberger has administered the Speech Accent Archive, an online resource with hundreds of voice samples from native and non-native English speakers. The site, which receives over one million hits per month, lets visitors recognize and compare the world’s accents. Weinberger created the site after deeming it beneficial to students taking his English phonetics courses. All linguistics majors at Mason use the website to conduct research or to help improve site fluidity. “We needed to know what non-native speakers sounded like,” said Weinberger. “Actors who are learning an accent, speech pathologists and linguists find the website to be valuable. It’s also good for everyday people who are interested in the way different people talk. The beauty is that everyone is reading the same paragraph, so you can easily make comparisons.” The website allows nearly anyone in the world to submit samples of themselves reading a standard passage. The speakers must first fill out a short form that provides information on their native language background. After the recordings are collected, Mason linguistics students work to organize and sort the information based on the speaker’s age, the birthplace of the speaker or the […]

   
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  A Dunne deal

  Featured, Lifestyle April 9, 2013 at 3:31 pm Comments are Disabled

  Customer service representative Charles Dunne takes extra initiative to serve patrons at Southside   As his face greets the brisk morning air, Charles Dunne wheels out his 4-speed mountain bicycle. Dressed in dark navy slacks, black dress shoes and a thick jacket, Charles straps a plastic helmet atop his head. He takes a deep breath and prolongs his exhale. Then he’s off. Cycling four miles up and down the moderate hills of Fairfax, Dunne coasts onto Mason’s campus. Parking his bike outside Southside, Dunne is now ready to ride the day as Mason Dining’s customer service representative. The line for Southside is backed up three feet to the elevator for lunch at noon. The slow, mundane shuffling of anxious feet harmonizes with the chatter of students engaged in various conversation. James K. Conant, a professor of Public and International Affairs, heads straight to the salad bar after entering the campus’ all-you- can-eat dining hall. He crafts a salad of mixed greens, small vegetables and ranch dressing. Next, he ladles noodle soup into a dull green ceramic bowl and retires to a booth near the back of the hall. Upon sitting, Conant realizes he forgot silverware. He finds a fork for his salad […]

   
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  Mason Players produce play written by alumnus

  Featured, Lifestyle April 2, 2013 at 3:02 pm Comments are Disabled

  The dressing rooms of the Harris Theater performance building are what some would call stereotypical. Eggshell-white painted cinderblock walls, no windows and bulbous Hollywood-styled light bulbs, meant to mimic the light effects of stage lights, outline wall-to-wall mirrors. Students, ranging in age and theatrical experience, strip down to undershirts and underwear to don hand-me-down or thrifted costumes, and then spend the rest of their time applying stage makeup to age their young faces. “See?” said Collin Riley, who is playing the protagonist, Franco Baldini. “You learn so much doing theater,” he said, jokingly, as a crew member in charge of costumes taught him the importance of properly tying his necktie. Every spring, these Mason students and faculty come together to form the Mason Players, a theatrical group that performs an array of plays and musicals that are generally free or low-cost to students with Mason identification. As a part of the Department of Theater’s Season of Magic & Transformation’s lineup of plays for the spring semester, the Mason Players are acting out the story of “Passaggio,” the goings-on of a small Italian town struggling to find a medium between reality’s responsibilities and the drive to achieve life’s larger dreams. “It’s […]

   
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  Grassroots campaign hopes to ease student debt through revolutionary consumer movement

  News March 27, 2013 at 5:30 pm Comments are Disabled

  JoinStampede creates online petition with over 25,649 signatures to take to private lenders and negotiate discounts, rebates, or modified interest rates   In the beginning of March, the student debt in America finally surpassed the long anticipated $1 trillion mark. To help ease the burden of debt that now cripples 37 million Americans, a new campaign called JoinStampede is looking for the support of 100,000 people with student debt loans to sign their petition. JoinStampede hopes to be able to approach private lenders with the combined support of each signature to negotiate a discount, rebate or modified interest rates for student debts. Mason alumnus Quincey Smith works for JoinStampede and said that the success of the campaign could potentially effect current Mason students with debt. “What JoinStampede does expect to do is create a consumer movement using political style campaigning on the basis that when people band together, their collective voice has the potential to change the dynamics of the marketplace, and that businesses will be forced to adapt or be left behind,” Smith said in an email. “We want to be in the same shoes as our members, this is a long-term interest,” Stephen Dash said, founder of JoinStampede. Students who seek out loans from private lenders must receive approval from the university certifying that they are full-time students. “The private lender forwards the money to the […]