This year’s 34th Student Government Elections, held March 21 to the 24, were the first elections for the position of Student Body President. Joshua Force, a junior majoring in political science, was one of the three candidates running for the position. Force came in third, losing to Joshua Chaisson.
Author: USM
Young looks ahead
Senator Caroline Young will return for the 34th Student Senate following a failed bid for USM Student Body President. Young ran for president and senator-in the at-large constituency. In the University’s first election for Student Body President, Caroline was the third candidate to toss her hat into the ring.
Lifestyle
When my father Ethan and stepmother Amy started the almost-two-year process of adopting a baby girl from China, both my fianc? Matt and my best friend Ciera told me, “Well, I think you’re finally ready.” This may seem like an odd thing for them to say, but they were both right-had my dad and Amy begun such a process a few years earlier, I may not have been so “ready” to be a sister.
Feel the Love with “Beautiful Locals”
It’s good to see a local music scene that has the ability to create an album like “Beautiful Locals.” The album is the brainchild of Mark Curdo, a local music aficionado who had the genius idea of having Portland musicians cover (now bear with me on this part) other Portland musicians.
Laughing all the way to the bank
USM is well known for its often sharp and poignant-but not exactly comedic-plays. That changed this weekend, with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” USM’s first full-blown comedy in over two years. The commotion surrounding the University’s production had been growing since tryouts were held last semester; by dress rehearsal this past Wednesday, the five-day performance, held in Gorham’s Black Box Theatre, was completely sold out.
“Livin’ in Red, White and Blue”
Brooks N’ Dunn, a country band with family ties to Portland, performed Wednesday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center to a sold out crowd. This staffer was fortunate enough to be there. They put on a non-stop, action-packed show, complete with 30-foot blow up props-two of which were cowgirls riding mechanical bulls.
Editor’s Picks: ‘Round Town
To spice up your April days…
Okay, so it’s not exactly around town (or at least not around Portland), but the Kinsey Sicks dragapella beauty-shop quartet frankly sounds too good to miss. Based out of San Francisco, the quartet boasts “award winning a cappella singing, sharp satire and over-the-top drag,” according to their website.
Words & Images hosting release party Words & Images hosting release party
Words & Images started as a small publication, taking submissions from University students and being distributed campus wide. It has grown into taking national submissions and is being distributed in bookstores: large chains like Borders to and independent stores such as Casco Bay Books, as far south as Boston.
Question of the Week
USM has recently purchased the blue trailer that sits atop a building near the library in Portland: what do you think we should do with it? Morgan Kinney Junior “I think USM should give it to the homeless.” Tracey Mannard Senior “USM should use the trailer as a jail for all the people who use class time to express their personal political views.
Meet Joe Student
Name: Danielle Pflanzer Major: Grad student in the nurse practitioner program Age: Undisclosed Where are you from? Texas Where did you get your RN? In Texas, that’s where I got my undergrad in 1998. I have about a year and a half left. But most of the classroom part is finished.
Letter from the Editor
I never met Lavinia Gelineau. But like many people at USM, I won’t soon forget her. She is a fallen princess, sacrificed at the crossroads of two great iniquities of our era: war and domestic violence. Her short life passed through ours like a tornado over a tidy suburban house, laying bare the hidden sicknesses all around us and demanding that something be done.
FootPrint
Joining student teams from nine other Maine and Eastern Canadian colleges and universities, Laura Smith, Mark Tanguay, Abby Ahearn, Amanda Starkey (all Criminology majors) and Sarah Ferriter (Environmental Science), attended an invitation-only, all-expenses paid conference hosted by Colby College April 2-3.
Guest Column: Greek life still alive and well at USM
Greek life at USM is still flourishing; Phi Kappa Sigma can prove it. While many people may think only of “Animal House” and “Old School” when the word “fraternity” is brought up in a conversation, those affiliated with Greek life think otherwise. Phi Kappa Sigma, one of four fraternities and one of eight Greek chapters here at the USM campus has and continues to break down those barriers in a multitude of ways.
From the mountains
On Tuesday, around 3 p.m., I come up with a plan. Some people might call it a stupid idea. Nonetheless, the search for a partner begins.
By 8 p.m., the search was over.
Nighttime is not the time to be outside. Look in any hiking or climbing how-to book and one of the first rules they declare is invariably “be back in camp by dark” or “in case of emergency, carry a headlamp.
Heroes parade in Portland last Friday
Portland hosted a heroes parade for local military, police and fire fighters last Friday. the parade kicked off at 3:30pm down Congress street. Thousands gathered along the parade route. The event took place in the best weather the area has seen this year; it was sunny and warm.
False threats empty buildings on both Portland and Gorham campuses
A bomb threat was reported in room 105 of the Science Building on the Portland Campus on Wednesday, March 23. The threat came by way of a note left under the door of the room.
“The note said something to the effect of ‘This is a bomb threat and you need to leave now.
In Brief
Student Leaders for February and March announced
Victor Wyatt and Sonia Acevedo received Student Leader of the Month award for March and February, respectively.
Wyatt, nominated by Senator Keith Foster, received the award for reviving Words & Images. “He took a leadership position of something that had zero members and constructed an entire staff.
Finding your feet in a forest of frustrating forms
The Internal Revenue Service website is a labyrinth of odd letter and number combinations, polysyllabic words, cross-referencing and jargon. Given the complexity of tax law and the documents that supposedly explain it, it is no surprise the majority of Americans pay to have their taxes filed.
Campus Crime
Mar. 6
A student saw a vehicle strike her own at Anderson Woodward Hall.
Mar. 7
Someone reported a person attempting to break into cars in the Woodbury Campus Center Parking lot.
A bottle was thrown out of a window in Upton-Hastings Hall and landed 10 feet from a police officer.
Demosthenes’ Corner
USM has a variety of illustrious speakers coming here every week. Here is a sample of some of them. This list is not all-inclusive and the number of listings is contingent on space. If you, your student group, club, etcetera would like to place a listing send an e-mail to joseph.
A new Senate and a first-ever president
The Student Senate, mirroring one of the major national political debates, held student elections this year online, with mixed results. The Student Senate paid $250 for the online survey service, provided by Survey Monkey.
Student Senator Joshua Chaisson won the election for Student Body President with 42 percent of the vote.
USM remembers Lavinia
Those close to her had just begun to dare to hope that Lavinia Gelineau was pulling her life back together. A year after her husband, Christopher Gelineau, died in Iraq, Lavinia was planning a return to college to become a French teacher. She had spent a long year in mourning, at an intensity that never seemed to diminish, and protesting the Iraq war.
HOOPLEVILLE
What is it with us?
Students from all walks of life can be dug up on a given day on the Gorham campus. The average of which you will most likely find chugging a beer or blowing rings of pot smoke in the sunlight and listening to Pink Floyd while staring at the visualizations on their computer screen from Winamp or iTunes.