Hey hey hey!

How’s everyone doing on this oh-so-long weekend, or you could say, mini vacay? For those reading this that AREN’T going to SUNY New Paltz, let me inform you that we have NOOOO classes until WEDNESDAY! How splendid is that? Thank you Rosh Hashanah! I know a bunch of people went home or visited friends at colleges this weekend….but I’m staying here in the Paltz. This is due to: 1.) I have rehearsal for many of those days we have off. 2.) I’m giving tours around campus.

However, it was so nice to smack that snooze button this morning, without a consequence in sight! Oh and I want to get ahead of some homework, since Midterms (with a capital M) are around the corner and the musical will be in full storm very VERY soon. It would be IDEAL to get some of those papers and projects behind me. I hope I achieve my objective here. I don’t wanna be all talk and no action.

So last night I attended something called 24 Hour Theatre, which was presented by Alpha Psi Omega (the National Theatre Honor Society on campus) and New Paltz Players. Flannery Spring-Robinson and Kathleen Bulman were the Producers, keeping this entire event alive and kickin’! It took place in the Blackbox located in the Smiley Art Building.

The program (above) explains what 24 Hour Theatre entails and what the objective was, so I shall type up what it states.

“The mission of this event was to provide fresh talent, yearning to collaborate with other passionate individuals in order to create an innovative performance. The individuals are urged to take on roles which they may not be used to; such as Producer, Director, Writer and Actor. Each group had a task to take a common theme (in this case, the common theme was resistance), and thread it throughout everyone’s ideas: the Producer’s concept, the writer’s text, the director’s vision, and the honesty of the actor’s performance. Thus, culminating in an end product that, if for no other reason, is successful because it was created within the time frame of 24 hours! That shows true passion for commitment, collaborations, and fun!

This project wasn’t for people to go on massive power trips and gain a huge ego! NO NO! It’s about GREAT MINDS NOT THINKING A LIKE…and that is a good thing! Learning to work with others, who have varied views, is a beautiful and beneficial process: the true art of the theatre is collaboration.

We were told to please take in this experience with an open mind and the willingness to try something new!” <– And I couldn’t agree with this statement any more!

Alright, so on that note, the two short plays that were created within a 24 time span were called…From the Human Psyche, and Cross Beam. The Group Statement of …From the Human Psyche was that through this collaborative piece: “We are seeking to confront that which we want to resist. Before confronting, we must identify and accept. Before identifying comes the inevitable search. This is a compilation of what we discovered as a group through internal and external exploration. We invite the audience to explore these themes as they apply to their own lives.” And the producers, directors, writers, and actors in this production were Paul Rigano, David Mangiamele, Carley Colbert, Patricia Draghi, Kristin Dwyer, Meg DiMaggio, and Nick Bourchier.

Meg DiMaggio & Carley Colbert holding hands, adding movement to the piece.

David Mangiamele speaking his great monologue!

Nick Bourchier talking about life in America, with Trish Draghi in the background.

Paul Rigano playing the keyboard while the cast sings. In this picture Kristin Dwyer, Meg DiMaggio and Nick Bourchier.

They did a marvelous job! It was all so honest, delicate, and stunning. Music, lyrics, and monologues were created especially pertaining to this theme of resistance. Each piece the person did (sung or spoken) related to something personal that affected their lives. The vulnerability made it that much more beautiful! Paul Rigano said this was a great experience and we should all do it next time it comes up! Perhaps I will P. Rigs…perhaps I will.

Here’s a little clip with Producers Flannery Spring-Robinson and Kathleen Bulman giving a nice introduction, as well as a little clip of From the Human Psyche before my camera’s battery gave out!

24 Hour Theatre Introduction on YouTube

Then there was a 10 minute intermission, so the Blackbox could be arranged differently for the next play, which was Cross Beam. This play dealt more with lighting effects. Their mission statement of their work was the following: “We have created a semi-traditional drama, through experimental means, in an attempt to communicate a series of resistance between the ideas of the natural and the contrived.” So this play was a little more abstract. Jess Maxwell was the producer as well as the writer with Alex Oates. Ryan Carlesco, a freshman here, got involved by being the director, and the cast included Chris Lavin as Steven, Rachel Ritacco as the Mother, Alex Rich as the Father, and Stephanie Spohrer as Light Girl. At first, it was hard to grasp the concept, but after talking with Chris Lavin, he stated the turning on of the flashlight symbolized the opening of portal to his own, mystical world, which was resisting reality. Anyway, that’s the basic gist. The spectacle was striking, as well as the message. Here are some pictures to show you what I mean.

Chris Lavin with the light!

Stephanie Spohrer freezing in place.

Alex Rich, Rachel Ritacco acting as concerned parents.

This one is my favorites! Chris Lavin and Stephanie Spohrer shinging the light on one another.

Anyway, everyone had a great time and the audience was very supportive! That’s always lovely!

A big round of applause everybody, for all who was involved!

Alright, all! Soooo I know I blogged about last Saturday, with my brother Kyle singing in his a capella concert. However, someone was gracious enough to put up a youtube video of this lil’ bro of mine singing “Everything.” Therefore, I just had to post it and show it to ya. Kyle might want to wring my neck for pasting this up here, especially since I’m devoting an entire blog about this video, but it’s my brother’s first solo with the Earth Tones! So I’m a little gushy…and proud….Tis true. So this here’s the sophomore, Kyle Alestra, at UAlbany, singing Michael Buble’s “Everything.” Enjoy, people!

I’ll give you a REAL blog soonish, instead of just tacking on to a previous blog.

Sound good? Hope so!

So hey everyone, long time since up an update, my apologies. I’ve been so busy with reading, writing, and working but now I finally have a little bit of free time. I hope everyone is enjoying this change in weather, I know I am. MORE TO COME ABOUT THE FALL TIME IN NEW PALTZ SOOON!

Although the weather is nice that’s not the reason I’m writing. In my junior year here, I’ve finally reached a crossroad. I don’t know HOW I thought of this this weekend but basically I changed my mind on what “I want to be when I grow up”. Since High school I knew I wanted to be a Guidance Counselor and I don’t even really know why. I had an awesome guidance counselor so she definitely inspired me, but I’ve always liked classes, and making schedules and all of that stuff so I thought it would be the perfect career for me, and I still do. However, this weekend I decided I want to get my PhD. That’s right, that’s Dr. Kevin McSherry! That sounds so weird, I can’t even imagine that but I kind of can and I think it would be really great to have it.

Since taking a whole bunch of classes here about therapy and counseling, I’ve decided that I want to explore the Clinical route instead of School counseling. But then again I don’t know because I’ve ALWAYS wanted to be a school counselor! It’s so confusing! I feel like a senior in high school again applying for colleges. You don’t know what you want to major in, what you want to do with your life, where you want to go! So this post is for you you intelligent group of prospective New Paltz students. You’ll probably never know what you want to do, and then when you do decide, you’ll probably change your mind. And that’s okay because that’s life and we all do it. So don’t fret if you have no clue what you want to do, it’ll all work out in the end.

Even though I have no idea what I want to do right now, surprisingly I’m not worried at all. More so excited! It’s really scary to think that I might be getting my doctorate, going through even MORE schooling than I had originally planned, and write a dissertation. Yeah so I kind of don’t want to do that last part but I can do it, I hope!

That’s all of my rant for now, at least until I speak to my advisor to see what he has to say about my plans.

As you probably know from reading other blogs, this past weekend was Spirit Weekend and it was SO much fun. It reminds me so much of Field Day back in Elementary School except this time all of the Residence Halls on campus compete to see who has the most spirit. There’s field events, a scavenger hunt, a banner contest, and my favorite, THE LIP SYNC! Everything went really well and I think everyone had a lot of fun so first I wanted to thank all of the RHSA E-board for making the day go by so smoothly and second I wanted to thank everyone in the Halls who participated who made the day a blast.

Enjoy the Weekend!

Kevin!

So hey ya’ll. How’s everyone doing? Whenever I ask how people are doing, I seem to get responses such as: “Eh- I’m getting sick,” or “I’m tired.” So everyone take those vitamins and try to get some sleep. Ah I sound like my ma, but she’s totally right. I could really use some more Zzz’s. I know, I know, it’s easier said than done right? Yes, well I’m in the same boat as all you sleep deprived and sickly kids. However, hopefully this little viral “bug” will be stepped on soon and we’ll all be able to enjoy this lovely autumn season!

Anyway…

I know I just posted and ever’thaaang, but I wanted to give you an inside view of one of my classes. This is my class, Voice 1, with Professor Stephen Kitsakos where we meet every Tuesday and Friday from 12:15 until 1:30. I recorded bits and pieces of our class on Tuesday, September 16^th. On this particular date, we were each given one of our solo songs, which we will be working on all semester to achieve specific goals such as audibility, dynamic variety, clarity, resonance, etc.

So in this particular video, Shana Circe and her husband edited it (I cannot take the credit.) They did a really nice job! They incorporated background music when we weren’t singing, and has the page “flip” as a nice transition from one image to the next. However, I wish they edited me out when I’m singing in the end…buuuut I will not complain, since it’s beautifully done and all. OHand Professor Kitsakos told us to sing with a southern accent for fun, and mine came out…well…not southern… Oh dear. Amy Smith, the girl I was singing with in the center of the circle, now SHE had a southern accent. Not I!

OK enjoy! See how much fun we all have in Voice 1! Click the video below!

See Voice 1 for yourselves, on YouTube!

Talk to ya soon, I gather.

(props to Christina for an awesome title!)

Greetings, from one very exhausted Jessie… but let me tell you, the experience that I had this weekend makes it is worthwhile!

It all started on Friday, at 3:05 PM, in my Storytelling & Culture class, when I had to give a presentation about a story from an underrepresented culture in the United States of America. Initially, I decided that I wanted to research a Latin American tale, because with my Spanish major, my appreciation for Latin American culture is continuously growing. I found an adorable and humorous story entitled “Juan Bobo,” which was a lot of fun to present. I enjoyed the entire experience, from choosing a story, to researching how Puerto Rican culture explains aspects of the story, to actually presenting it in front of my class. The audience seemed interested, and they were quite supportive, so I was in a great mood when my class ended at 4:20. At this time I practically RAN to the RHSA office, changed into an RHSA shirt, put on my recycled- material accessories, and headed to Hasbrouck Dining Hall by 4:30 for the SPIRIT WEEKEND KICK-OFF BBQ!

The BBQ was nice- residents came out sporting their awesome recycled fashion pieces, and eager to pick up their scavenger hunt lists! Check out some mighty fine looking New Paltz students rocking their newspaper decor:

Then, I headed back to my hall to finish preparing some things for the rest of the weekend. Bright and early on Saturday morning, I met with the RHSA executive board to finalize some more things, and then we dispersed throughout the community for the scavenger hunt. Check out some super spirited halls, hustling around town to find clues:

At 2:00 PM, we headed to Old Main Quad for the burning of a mock residence hall room. Old Main Quad was full community members, and it was really nice to see administrators, offices from around campus, and even children from the community supporting a great cause. I went inside the Fire Safety house, where I was surrounded by smoke and forced to crawl through it. It was frightening, but definitely an eye opening experience. Finally, at 2:00 PM, the actual burning occurred. There was a speaker who constantly updated us with what was going on (the fire department has just been contacted, firefighters have just got to the fire house, firefighters are arriving on campus). I do not have any words to describe what it was like to see the room burning, and hearing “the firefighters are just putting on their equipment,” as I continued to watch the flames grow bigger and bigger. It was great that so many people came to watch the demonstration, because it was really important to see. It taught me a lot. I am thankful that our campus having such a strong Department of Fire, Health, and Saftey, because it encourages students to take responsibility and understand the unfortunate yet realistic aspects of life- and there is no better form of prevention, than education.

As soon as the demonstration was over, we headed back to the RHSA office to count over $400 worth of pennies. It was SO tedious, but we are so proud of the halls for raising so much money, which will be donated to Green Peace and the NEACURH Focus Project. After, we spent several more hours going through pictures from the scavenger hunt, and pretty soon, we looked like this!!!

Sunday morning was started the right way, thanks to Val! She brought us PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE for our bagels! Then we went to Old Main Quad for the field events. Check out this video to see the excitement that went on:

After a day outside, we ended the weekend with our infamous lip sync contest and viewing of the banners:

Before I conclude, I want to give a shout-out to DEYO HALL!! YOU GUYS ROCK AND I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!! Each hall puts in a tremendous amount of work preparing for Spirit Weekend, so here is a sneak quick behind the scenes view of what Deyo Hall did for Spirit Day:

Thursday Night they had a kick-off and invited all the residents in the building:

From Friday to Saturday, they were hard at work, finding all of the items on the Scavenger Hunt list:

Then, they were up all Saturday night working on the banner:

Field Events took up Sunday afternoon:

And finally, lip sync!

I hope that all who participated (whether it was challenging yourself on the field or learning a new fact about New Paltz history) feel like this weekend brought many different aspects of New Paltz together. I hope that you had fun, enjoyed yourself, and feel like you have grown as an individual, as a hall, and as a community. Until next time, enjoy! -Jessie

Hello hello!

So it’s Sunday evening, and I really don’t want this weekend to come to a close! I feel like it just flew on by without a warning!

So I’d like to tell you about my Saturday night! As a junior you’re allowed to have a car here, so after I did some homework and ate some dinner at Hasbrouck (of course!) I drove to Albany. Jessie is completely right in her past blog; New Paltz IS the perfect distance. It takes me about 3 hours to get home to Long Island (eastern Long Island), about an hour and a half to NYC and an hour and 10 minutes to get to Albany. So it always feels like a mini road trip whenever you decide to go somewhere. I like that, well, because I love road trips! I’m getting better at driving long distances, thank heavens, because I’m the one out of my friends who has the car. So I best get used to it.

My bro Kyle, who is a sophomore at U Albany, had a performance Saturday night. He’s in an a cappella group called the Earth Tones and they just so happened to have their 10 year reunion concert! How cool is that? They opened up the concert by all (about the 40 of them who could make it?) singing an introduction together. Then the original Earth Tones groups sang and as the concert progressed it made it’s way to the present group. It was great! My friend Renee was there with me, along with my parents and my Uncle Paul from Florida. We all sat and watched, marveling how energetic they were and what amazing vocal chords they had! Uh! I just couldn’t believe how in sync the oldest groups were, when they haven’t sang this, in, what, a decade? Their blending was amazing! Renee and I commented later how we thought it sounded better than a recording! I’m in an a cappella group here on campus as well, called The Sexy Pitches, so it’s always wonderful to hear other groups have fun and do a fantastic job! (P.S. I can’t wait to post videos/pictures about the Sexy Pitches in blogs to come!)

Renee and I were ecstatic when the soloist Christian Rodriguez sang “September.” WOW were we smiling like crazy. We love how he sings that song!!! I think I’ll post a video from youtube of a past performance of it. You just have to hear it! His low notes are so rich and when he gets up to those high notes, your jaw just drops! “Do you remember, on the 21^st night of September?”- That’s today ladies and gents, by the way!

“September” by the Earth Tones @ the 10 Year Reunion Dinner!

OH and my brother totally surprised me by singing a solo! He sang “Everything” by Michael Buble. I’m so proud of that lil’ bugger! He had no voice that morning and he just did everything possible to get it back and WHAM…he performed it beautifully! I wish he told me he had a solo though, or I would have brought my video camera. Ohhh well. I looked around the audience when he was singing and saw a bunch of cameras out, so hopefully someone took a video of it and slapped it on youtube. Go Ky!

This is my brother singing “Everything.” So proud of him!

Above, some Earth Tones’ Alum dancing, while singing “Africa.”

To sum it up, the night was fantastic. Unfortunately, Renee and I couldn’t stay to hang out with the Tones afterward. We had to get home after the concert finished because 1.) we had Fresh Dance auditions Sunday morning (I’ll tell you about those in a bit.) And 2.) We had to see our friend Paul Rigano on SNL! That’s right! Our friend was on Saturday Night Live. Fun fact: Paul and I are a married in Company, the musical (the main stage production that’s being performed on campus) so I guess you could say I was “so proud of my hubby!”

After we left the UAlbany campus, Renee and I stopped at a gas station, filled up the tank and starting driving down the thru way listening to Gavin DeGraw. Renee and I made it back to her apartment, which is right on Main Street in New Paltz, with plenty of time to relax and chat before 11:30PM rolled around. We changed into comfy PJs, put the kettle on the stove, threw some popcorn in the microwave, and a bunch of us crowded around the TV to watch our friend (and by the way, Renee’s house mate) on the telly! James Franco was the star guest that night and he was doing a scene about John Steinbeck’s alternative ending to Of Mice and Men.

Ok, so Paul is the guy with the brown hair, stubbly face, and he’s holding the dog’s rope in his hand. SO LOOK FOR THE GUY WITH THE DOG WHEN THEY CHASE JAMES FRANCO (OR GEORGE’S CHARACTER) OFF STAGE LEFT! It’s at the end of the skit! He’s the last guy to leave the stage…with the dog!!!

Paul Rigano on Saturday Night Live!!! TAKE A GANDER!!

Then today, Sunday, was Fresh Dance auditions. Fresh Dance is a dance recital New Paltz has every year which runs for one weekend (Thurs-Sun.) All of the dance numbers are choreographed by students who attend SUNY New Paltz, and so they hold one large audition where 20 people enter the dance studio at a time. Then the choreographers select the people they want in their piece (and contact them later.) I talked to one of the choreographer’s today and she said there are at least twenty choreographers this year, so that hopefully means there are going to be a lot of opportunities. Unfortunately, some of the numbers have a chance of getting cut if the number isn’t ready by piece showing. Piece Showing is when each dance number is performed in front of Yoav Kaddar, the director of Fresh Dance. He makes the final decision if the dance has an efficient concept and is ready for the actual performance of Fresh Dance. There are all kinds of dance pieces, from lyrical, tap, ballet, solo pieces, hip-hop, jazz, musical theatre selections and more!

At any rate, auditions were a little long (about a half n’ hour) but they were enjoyable, and even though I messed up a heck of a lot, it was still fun to dance around and do funky moves! I loved the hip-hop audition piece. It was loads of fun, even though my hip-hop skills aren’t up to par. I just gave it some attitude and BROUGHT IT! Haha, not really, but I did have fun with it!

OK, well I have rehearsal in about fifteen minutes, so I better post this and say my goodbyes! I will be talking to you soon! And check out everyone’s blogs about Spirit Week. I’m sure there will be many of them, since it was an exploding event that took place on campus this weekend! Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend due to theatre rehearsals/Fresh Dance Auditions/Seeing my brother/Homework. Guess ya can’t do it all.

Peace

Yo, Check-It, today was the Fire Safety Bonanza I was telling Y’all about and it was AWESOME!  It was really a good time overall, and for those of you who went and supported your halls: Good Job!  And for those of you who didn’t wake up until 2pm: oh well, maybe next year.  There was food, free pamphlets, keyring toys, and activities.  The activities were really the best part because they were a real eye opener to even me, a real fire safety buff (or at least now I am…)

Next to the R.H.S.A. table there was the R.A.D. program table.  At this table, there were Officers Kelsey and Coxe who played the victim (who knew how to beat the snot out of an attacker) and the attacker, respectfully.  Very cool.

The first activity was the “Rescue Drag.”  This entailed some poor soul (Me) thinking they could drag an -approximately- 165 lb. dummy fifty feet and back.  FIFTY FEET!  Lets just say, that the dummy and I were lucky that Capt. Scott Schulte was there to help me with the last forty five feet (give or take my dignity…)

After that there was the “Let’s-all-crawl-into-the-smokey-room,” dealio and that was scary -no lie.  There were five of us, and one Fire Fighter, and he briefed us about feeling the door, staying low, and crawling TEN feet to the exit door.  Scary…  As soon as I got in, I was like Dane Cook in the War Flute bit! LOLOL  First of all, lets just talk about this phenomenon of memory loss that happens when you open the door:  I forgot to crawl.  Then, I was blinded by -no, not the light (thank you, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) but by the incessant smoke, no matter that we were on the floor.  Oh, did I mention that I went first?

Now, this next one, was probably the least realistic, but regardless, it was a good experience.  I participated in the Fire Extinguisher training session.  There was a Fire Fighter that operated a propane flame source from a “trash can” and I used the Water Pressure Extinguisher and the P.A.S.S. technique: Pull the pin; Aim; Squeeze the lever, Sweep the extinguisher back and forth at the base of the flame.  Very Savvy…

Now here’s the BIG ONE -Oh My GOSH!  At 2pm they lit a mock college room on fire -legit: no propane, dynamite, gasoline, charcoal, aerosol cans, candles, steak dinners, what-have-you.  Just the room and the flames.  This was one of the most scary and impressive things that I’ve ever seen -and I know what you’re thinking: “Hey Matt, you sure do get scared a lot, huh?”  Nay.  No I do not; but this inferno was something to be seen.  And for the late sleepers of the group, I’ve got a snazzy-do video you can chickety-check out.  Now, this was an event that I wasn’t going to miss, so I planted myself some forty feet away and setup the cam.  As soon as they lit this thing up, i could smell smoke, and as soon as the smoke accumulated there was fire -from there it was over: the picture fell ,the computer monitor EXPLODED and the tapestry created a curtain of flame.  Even me being forty feet away I could feel the heat, and it was deceiving how real it was, because at first, I thought it was the sun, or me just getting all worked up, but when I checked in with the peeps next to me, they confirmed that it was real flame broiled hotness.

Overall, I was super glad that I went, schmoosed, took pictures and video, and had a blast.

Oh, and I have recently discovered “No Air,” by Jordin Sparks (recently? I know, right? what, do I live under a rock? ).  And in case some Dane Cook fans are wondering, I am seeing My Best Friends Girl tonight!

PEACE!

Matt

P.S.  There will be NO audio on the video -do not fret!

: D

fire-safetyb1

Today I wanted to talk about a conversation I had the other day in QAC. QAC stands for Queer Action Coalition which brings together people of LGBTQ community and their allies. The e-board members brought up an interesting topic of how many people feel comfortable using the word Queer and what it means to others. I began to think of all the ways queer has been used and the history of the word. And it seems funny to me that words like this, could have such a heavy meaning and yet I fully understand the importance of the discussion. I have certainly been called names during elementary school and middle school that held a great impact on how I view some words today and to think that I cringe when I hear a word still baffles me. Everyone had something to say about the word during the meeting, so I thought I’d share my opinion on the word here. Queer to me used to mean odd, out of the ordinary, or weird. I’ve certainly been called it before, and known it wasn’t meant in a positive way. However, I wanted to take the word back. To re-claim it.

So Queer now means community to me. For people who either do or don’t fit under the “norm” of what gender identity or sexual orientation they are “supposed” to be, I feel Queer was an appropriate term. I’ve met people who are straight and identified as queer and i think its refreshing to hear of people who are willing to look outside the box in regards to labels! I get so frustrated sometimes when people only think there’s one label for themselves and only one way to fill that role. I encourage people to embrace all kinds of labels and roles that are offered in today’s society. To only identify as punk or preppy, gay or straight, or any other black or white reference is limiting someone’s growth. Open your eyes and step into the grey areas. Accept that sometimes the fuzziness between two things are more interesting than the two separate labels.

If you are interested in taking part in the QAC meetings, we meet Wednesdays at 9PM in SUB 402! (However this upcoming week we are watching “But I’m a Cheerleader” in the Hawk’s Nest which can be found in the Purple Lounge at 9PM. Come early to get good seats!)

YO! Please be sure to check out my blog early next week for stories, pictures, and videos from (drum roll, please!)… SPIRIT WEEKEND!!! Spirit Weekend will take place from 4:45 PM on Friday, September 19, 2008 until 9:00 PM on Sunday, September 21, 2008 and I am SOOOOOO excited!!! So so so excited!

This year, the theme of RHSA’s annual spirit weekend is “Recycling the Decades.” In a sense, the theme is comprised of two themes, swirled together to make one awesome weekend! First, “recycling!” RHSA’s goal for the 2008-2009 school year is to spread green practices throughout the residence halls and the SUNY New Paltz campus. This year, Spirit Weekend will greatly emphasize how to recycle while living on campus, and what measures residents can take in order to help our environment. Secondly, “the decades” will be the creative and fun portion of our theme. Halls will be all decked out in past decades, as they will be re-using the styles, colors, music, and ideas of the past decades in a fun way in order to demonstrate hall spirit.

So, on Friday, at 4:45 PM, in Hasbrouck Dining Hall, RHSA will sponsor the Kick-Off Barbecue! Halls are asked to come to the barbecue dressed up in recycled materials. At this time, RHSA will distribute the scavenger hunt list.

The Scavenger Hunt, or “the Amazing Hawk Hunt,” will last for 24 hours. It will incorporate getting many residents from each hall involved. The list includes a great deal of community service, including recycling bottles, batteries, and ink cartridges, in addition to writing letters to support St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and collecting unused school supplies and canned goods. There are portions of the list that will encourage residents to do some research about the historical New Paltz community, to expose participants to exciting aspects that make our community special. There are portions of the list that will promote participants to get new faces involved, and there are parts of the list that are just plain old fun! Also, the Department of Fire, Health, and Safety will be burning a Mock-Residence Hall Room on fire in Old Main Quad on Saturday, at 2:00 PM, which will be worth points for each resident who attends. We are really looking forward to seeing many participants involved with the Amazing Hawk Hunt!

On Sunday morning, each hall will hand in their banners, that should reflect each respective hall, the New Paltz community, and the theme, and then head over to Old Main Quad for the cheer off, which is an awesome opportunity for halls to showcase their spirit! Halls will compete in a plethora of activities, including but not limited to: tug-of-war, dizzy bat race, riddles, pie eating contest, and a sponge race. We are very much looking forward to a 2:30 PM performance by the New Paltz cheerleaders, as well.

The finale of Spirit Weekend will occur on Sunday evening, in Elting Gym at 7:00 PM. Closing ceremonies will begin by a short speech by Maria Davila, Recycling coordinator on campus, followed by the infamous lip sync contest!!

The main goal of Spirit Weekend is to build community within the residence halls on campus. Really, it is a weekend full of bonding, excitement, and fun. Again, next week I will be sure to post pictures, videos, and stories, so check it out. For now, I hope you enjoy the rest of the week, and I hope to see YOU at Spirit Weekend!

Enjoy! –Jessie

Yesterday, I saw my bff Kellie in the SUB and she was all:  “Hey, come on down to Queer Action Coalition with us!” and even O.L. Eli F. and my co-Blogger Holly Gooden were all: “Yeah, definitely come!” So, I went, and I really enjoyed myself.  The meeting is Wednesdays at 9pm, in SUB 402 -but wait, you don’t know what Q.A.C. (pronounced “quack”) is?  Well, it is a group on campus that advocates and educates about G.B.L.T.Q. (Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian, Transsexual, Queer) rights and so forth.  So far they have events like Coming Out Day, Halloween parties, something-for-Thanksgiving, and other cool business going on.  To tell you the truth (the whole truth, and noting but the truth) I wanted to continue to get involved, but I didn’t think it was going to be with Q.A.C.  Actually, I thought it was a one-time-deal meeting instead of a weekly organization, but as it turns out, I really like it and I’ve got something else to be involved in.  And that’s another thought that popped into my head: that you never stop getting involved in new things, if you don’t want to.  That being said, I will be as active in Q.A.C. as I can this year, because I am PUMPED to be there, with Kellie, and Holly, and my new friend Leighann.

Now, back to my friend Kellie: she is a riot! I met her last year because we were in F.Y.I. together, but only in the last few months.  I find it weird that in such an involved organization as F.Y.I., there can still be people that don’t meet until the party’s almost over -in this case: F.Y.I.  Regardless, we are crazy close and if any of you see her just shout out some Anchorman quotes and she’ll get the idea/laugh incessantly.

Aside from Kellie and Q.A.C., I am really looking forward to this weekend.  No, not to engage in illegal and debasing activities but for Fire Safety!!! On Saturday, at high-noon in the Old Main Quad, there is a fire safety Bonanza and they will be burning a college room -and for real, though, they lite the room UP!  I also heard that its basically going to be an awesome get together of classy, classy individuals like Fire Chief, Scott Schulte.  I hope to see you all there -yes, ALL of you!

Oh, and just in case you guys were wondering, Ive been listening to a lot of Bob Marley -namely: “Could You Be Loved,” it’s magical.

My homework AWAITS-

Matt Stracq

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