Articles by: Cody Norman

 

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  Alumnus Creates “Write Home Soon” Project

  Featured, Lifestyle, Multimedia October 31, 2012 at 11:05 am Comments are Disabled

  In high school, Mark Strandquist spent hours working with social justice groups in D.C., listening to first hand accounts of segregation, unequal schools and housing and the crack epidemic from senior citizens. Strandquist was amazed to realize that after a lifetime of hardship, many of these men and women were still suffering, struggling against gentrification to retain their homes and communities. The experience stuck with him and has inspired his latest art project, called “Write Home Soon.” Strandquist, a Mason alumnus and former student media photographer, is asking for the community to create postcards that share a memory or story from a lost space that was once, or still is, important to them. “The main goal is to democratize the creation, exhibition, and consumption of art,” Strandquist said. “To help and foster a space where any individual, regardless of class, identity, or what side of the Anacostia River they live on, can include their voice, vision and memories near the National Mall.” After spending so much time learning the stories of the senior citizens in D.C., Strandquist wondered what happens when individual histories are not recorded. “What I’m interested in is questioning how our libraries, museums and textbooks would differ […]

   

• The Carouser Report: Home is Where the Booze is At

  Editorials October 31, 2012 at 11:01 am 1 comment

  I am sitting at the bar, alone.  Constantly shoving the cold bottle to my lips and keeping my cigarette properly ashed are the two things distracting me from the evening news. I dare not look. Looking into the depths of a used toilet might be more productive than watching the onslaught of reporting on the presidential race. Tweedldee and Tweedledum, the two girls to my left, are having a most interesting conversation. I cannot help myself from tuning in. It is a triumphant dialogue – a personal boozography – of their time in college.  House hopping at Virginia Tech, bar crawling the streets of University of Maryland, and fratting it up down at Radford are among the highlights. And then, as I’ve heard it a million times before – a statement that has come to define Mason – they end with: “OMG, Mason just doesn’t know how to party.” They are not the first and will certainly not be the last to utter these words. What the Mason community most commonly misunderstands is the farfetched idea that, one, Mason is not a party school, and two, the student population should strive to make Mason’s party community similar to those of […]

   

• Recreational Sex Culture Infiltrates College Relationship Scene

  Lifestyle October 31, 2012 at 11:00 am 6 comments

  The room was fuzzy and unfamiliar at first as she blinked her eyes open and tried to recall the events of the night before.  Putting together the pieces she remembered a loud and overcrowded basement, red juice that was a little too sweet and a stranger that had asked her to dance.  She stretched and rolled over to find the stranger sleeping soundly next to her, and it all came back to her.  While her mother may not approve and somewhere deep down the morals that she was raised with threw up red flags and sounded alarms, for some reason she just could not feel guilty. Why?  Because society has led her to believe that it was okay. Today’s society not only condones the concept of recreational sex, it often encourages such promiscuous behavior among young people as a rite of passage.  Decisions that would once have been considered completely immoral or unacceptable are now the norm for college students.  These extreme societal changes did not happen overnight.  While it is easy to blame it on this generation, it is also unfair to pin the entire moral decline on one generation when it began decades ago “Prior to the mid-60s […]

   
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  Blood, Sweat and Beers at the Patriot Center

  Featured, Lifestyle, Multimedia October 31, 2012 at 10:59 am Comments are Disabled

  Country music artist Eric Church proudly holds in his right hand a shot glass of Jack Daniels—his drink of choice. “How many shots I have will determine what kind of night it’s going to be,” said Church, during his Oct. 26 Blood, Sweat and Beers concert at the Patriot Center. Regardless of how many shots he actually downed, Eric Church’s show could easily be one of the biggest parties that Mason has seen all semester. Throughout the 90-minute performance, the excitement level was so high that the few thousand audience members rarely sat down. Energy continuously flowed between Church and his audience. “I promise you I’m going to give you everything I got,” said Church, towards the beginning of his performance. “But you also better give me everything you got.” Clapping their hands, singing along, dancing in front of their seats, waving their drinks in the air, and howling at times, the audience heeded Church’s call. The show began as the 35-year-old, 6-foot-2 singer-songwriter emerged in a cloud of theatrical smoke from under the stage, wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans and baseball cap. The stage was set with pyrotechnics and strobe lights. Playing an acoustic guitar, Church opened with […]

   
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  Students Use Pop Culture Phenomenon to Inspire Voting

  Multimedia, News1 October 31, 2012 at 10:54 am Comments are Disabled

  This election season, Mason is voting Gangnam Style. Twenty people gathered by the George statue on Saturday, Oct. 27, to film a video of Mason students rocking out to the internet hit Gangnam Style, but with a twist–the song’s lyrics were changed to let young people know that voting is something that’s cool to do. The video is part of an effort by the Mason Vote Mob, as well as All Hands on Deck, a self-identified non-partisan group whose goal is to get young people to the polls. The filmmaker, Colin Christopher, is a member of All Hands on Deck. As he filmed the video, Christopher organized and led the group of volunteer dancers in the various signature Gangnam Style dance moves. “This election, there’s a degree of apathy that was not around in 2008,” Christopher said. “It’s important for the politicians and the nation to know that young folks like us are interested, we are engaged, and our voices need to be heard.” Another organizer of the video, junior Janelle Germanos, thought a video based off of Gangnam Style would catch the attention of young people. “We’re hoping to encourage students to vote in a funny way that they […]

   
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  Mason Dining Makes Effort to Bring Local Food to Students

  Featured, News1 October 31, 2012 at 10:51 am Comments are Disabled

  Sophomore Kelly Pizzingrilli purchases two apples, two sweet potatoes and apple cider. She is  not in a frigid grocery store and her food is not coming from halfway around the world. “I like buying a lot of fresh stuff,” Pizzingrilli said. “I don’t like having preservatives or anything in my food.” Globally, produce has acquired an international identity. Mason Dining, however, has decided to bring food back to local roots. Mason Dining is creating locovores: consumers who choose local products, which creates health eating habits. “If it’s fresher, it’s better. And helping out the local communities is always better than getting it shipped cross country,” said freshman Kevin Mason, who purchased apple cider produced in Frederick, Md. Pizzingrilli got her fresh produce from Mason Dining’s Southside Farmer’s Market hosted on Oct. 24, National Food Day. This event was held for the second time this semester to give students access to local produce. “The purpose of this event is to focus on local growers. We buy from a lot of different growers within a 150 mile radius,” said Mary Barron, Customer Relations Manager for Keany Produce. The use of local food is also integrated into Mason Dining’s facilities on campus. Since […]

   
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  D.C. Bike Share Program Brings Resource to Students

  Featured, News1 October 31, 2012 at 10:48 am Comments are Disabled

  Mason students, staff and faculty members can now travel efficiently around campus, while promoting a sustainable environment at the same time, thanks to Patriot Bikeshare. Founded this September, Patriot Bikeshare enhances transportation options around campus and makes bicycles more accessible for people who do not own them. “It is an easy way to travel short distances,” said bicycle and recycling coordinator Tyler Orton, who works with the Office of Parking and Transportation as well as the Office of Sustainability. Patriot Bikeshare is unique because it is the only fully automated bikeshare model. Unlike other models, such as Washington D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare, no permanent infrastructure is needed. The bicycles, provided by ViaCycle, are unlocked through a mobile application or through sending a text message to a designated number. At this point, 20 bicycles are available for rental from four on-campus locations: the Northern Neck Starbucks, the Johnson Center North Plaza, the Shenandoah (Sandy Creek) parking deck and the SUB I Quad by Krug Hall. Riders can pay $3 for a one-time 12-hour rental, or pay $6 to become a monthly member and receive unlimited two-hour rentals. Riders are charged $1 for each additional half hour. The bicycle fleet was purchased through […]

   
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  Campus Students Host “Love Week” to Raise Money for Kids in Need

  Featured, News1 October 31, 2012 at 10:43 am Comments are Disabled

  Paper. Pencils. Pens. These items are most likely taken for granted by students at Mason. But to the children living in Old Naledi, Botswana, they make a world of difference. Under the direction of staff member Brett Miller, Mason’s Campus Crusade for Christ organization, otherwise known as Cru, chose Botswana as the country it will be aiding during this year’s Love Week beginning on Oct. 29. In its previous two years, the organization has chosen to help Haiti and South Sudan. Mackenzie Snider, a conflict analysis and resolution major who has taken on a leadership role in this year’s Love Week, says the goal is to raise $18,000, to package two thousand backpacks with school supplies and to start a mentorship program for the children in Old Naledi. Additionally, Cru staff will send student-made videos, supplying the children with added encouragement. “We’re trying to change all of these kids’ lives and the country of Botswana,” said Joanna Kirby, a junior psychology major, who is co-directing the event with Erwin Camacho, a sophomore systems engineering major. Cru’s objective is not simply to provide the children of Old Naledi with supplies that will improve their lives, but to allow the children and […]

   

• Professor Uses Replacement Program for Blackboard

  News1 October 31, 2012 at 10:41 am Comments are Disabled

  Every class, freshman Minneli Seneviratne walks into Enterprise Hall 80 and sees approximately 150 unfamiliar faces. In any other class this size, lecture after lecture, these faces usually remain unknown and the class loses its human touch. “I immediately felt relaxed,” Seneviratne said of the Government 132: Introduction to International Politics class. “But the same time I felt, am I not going to learn effectively?” Her professor, Peter Mandaville, has found a way to overcome the barrier of numbers. Enter Lore: a new, multifaceted, online tool whose main feature is a Facebook-like discussion board. Mandaville is using Lore for the first time this semester in Seneviratne’s class to create a small class atmosphere. “I am trying to use it as a substitute or a proxy for a smaller, seminar kind of setting,” said Mandaville, who has taught at Mason since 2000. “My sense is not that Lore can act as a full substitute for [an intimate setting], but it can help to bridge the gaps in a class of such size.” Lore has provided the course with a platform for discussion. After lectures, students post questions to clarify content. Before lectures, students discuss readings and assignments. Even during the lecture, […]

   

• Mason Athletes Obtain Academic Excellence

  Editorials October 31, 2012 at 10:39 am Comments are Disabled

  The time commitment involved in being a college athlete is similar to holding a full-time job that requires frequent business trips and out-of-office demands that stretch far beyond the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. work day. While no athlete could realistically claim that playing a college sport does not come with a lifetime of valued memories, the fact of the matter is that the taxing schedules of these athletes are much unlike the schedules of other students on campus. Still, student-athletes, just as normal students, have enrolled at Mason with one common goal: graduate with a degree at one of the most prestigious universities in Virginia. In a recent study released by the NCAA, the association found that student-athletes who enrolled at Mason from 2002-05 – and, therefore, graduated between 2006-10 – scored a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 80 percent. According to the study, men’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s rowing, women’s swimming and diving, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball all finished with a perfect score of 100 percent and eleven teams scored greater than 80 percent. Such astounding statistics are certainly not unheard of in the association, but the accomplishments of these athletes should be applauded and recognized as […]