By: Maverick Lynes, Staff Writer On Monday, Sept. 18 Upton-Hastings residents received word, via email, of a confirmed case of bed bugs inside the building. The email informed residents that treatment to take care of the the infestation had begun and that the situation was being monitored closely. It also encouraged residents to check their rooms…
Author: USM
Safety for USM students becomes a priority
By: Sarah O’Connor, Staff Writer This summer, USM’s Public Safety Department underwent significant changes. Following the campus safety audit was the resignation of the Director of Public Safety, Kevin Conger. While it is confirmed that the audit occurred, its contents are unknown to the public. When asked for the report, several USM administrative offices would not…
USM Women’s Volleyball takes on Bates
By: River Plouffe Vogul, Sports Editor On Tuesday, Sept. 13, the USM women’s volleyball team traveled to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine for their seventh match of the season. The lady Huskies were just coming off of a two game winning streak and sitting comfortably at 5-1 overall. Bates had just dropped their last two…
Residential Life, here to encourage and assist
By: Mary Ellen Aldrich, Arts and Culture Editor As a freshman, all of the offices, staff members and new faces can seem somewhat daunting. Knowing who to go to for whatever question or concern a student might have is not always an easy task. The abbreviations, titles and office names can become muddled together and…
Reflecting on Planned Parenthood Student Organizing Summit
By: Emma Donnelly, Contributor I was on my way to a canvass the last week of July, and the Planned Parenthood organizer who works closely with our group, Jess, told me she had good news: in September she was going to send me and three other people from Huskies for Reproductive Health to North Carolina. Everything…
Working with the Free Press
By: Dennis Gilbert, Free Press Advisor Post-secondary study at its best provides the opportunities and means for students to exercise creative control over their education. This is particularly true in the Liberal Arts, where foraging and feasting beyond the major is actively encouraged. In some programs, fully a third of credit hour requirements for the…
Wind River Review
By: Sarah O’Connor, Staff Writer I traveled to the movie theaters recently, but having already seen It and the romantic comedy Home Again, I was at a loss for what to see. Looking at my choices online at the local Nickelodeon theater, I spotted Wind River. I had neither heard of it nor seen the trailer,…
How to write a good character
By: Daniel Kilgallon, Staff Writer The importance of developing intriguing characters through rich dialogue is a crucial part of crafting a quality screenplay for a movie. Very few writers in Hollywood today have mastered that skill, but Quentin Tarantino is absolutely part of the elite company. One of the greatest examples of this is the opening…
Depicting childhood aspects through photos
By: Sarah Tewksbury, Editor-in-Chief On the third floor of Portland Museum of Art (PMA), tucked away in the back corner in the William Dette Hamill Gallery, museum goers can stumble upon an exhibit dedicated to the innocence of childhood. The collection, titled Child’s Play: Representations of Adolescence, has been open to the public since July…
NAMI on Campus joins Maine’s NAMI Walk
By: Sarah Tewksbury, Editor-in-Chief Sunday, Sept. 24 at 9 a.m. the USM National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) campus group will participate in the 15th annual Maine NAMI Walk. Each year, NAMI hosts walks across the country as a way to spread awareness for the group’s mission while simultaneously fundraising. The University of Maine System’s (UMS)…
New program offers incentives for students
By: Sam Margolin, Staff Writer A national non-profit called Complete College America (CCA) has created the “15 to Finish” program for all University of Maine Schools. The organization asks states governors and colleges to take a pledge, “to work with states to significantly increase the number of Americans with quality career certificates or college degrees and…
USM Corporate Partners host panel discussion
By: Sarah Tewksbury, Editor-in-Chief Thursday, Sept. 14 USM Corporate Partners held a breakfast gathering and discussion. The topic for the breakfast was Maine’s Future in Food. Three speakers were invited to share with the audience of nearly 60 their thoughts on how, according to the discussion question outlined by USM Corporate Partners, “Maine’s food-related businesses…
46th Student Senate holds first meeting
By: Maverick Lynes, Staff Writer Friday, Sept. 15, the 46th student senate held their first meeting in Upton Hastings on the Gorham campus. The meeting began with introductions and the senate could not make it through that without the first awkward moment. Shaman Kirkland stated how his “fun fact” about himself was that he, “got food…
Sports preview and athletic opportunities at USM this fall
By: River Plouffe Vogel, Sports Editor Fall is upon us, classes are in full swing and USM’s 2017 academic year is well underway. For many student athletes however, their year started almost a month ago in mid-August as they returned early for preseason training. Being a student athlete is a huge commitment and USM has…
Changing Values in a Changing Climate
By: Abram Marr, Contributor All governmental administrations have their faults. We sometimes see that we are not properly represented, and sometimes the administration contradicts itself. Currently the official webpage of the White House states that “protecting clean air and clean water, conserving our natural habitats, and preserving our natural reserves and resources will remain a high…
Gollum: A precious, likable antagonist
By: Daniel Kilgallon, Staff Writer It has been nearly fifteen years since one of the greatest villains in the history of movies truly debuted in live action on the silver screen. Unfortunately, we have been experiencing an era of Hollywood ever since that seems to be slowly losing grip on the essential storytelling element of…
Creating an environment for bands and artists
By: Jordan Castaldo, Staff Writer Located on 25 Temple Street in Portland, the Portland House of Music provides a place for a wide variety of people, generally over the age of 21, to experience new and local bands for a cheap price. Not only do they provide music lovers a place to see great bands,…
What’s in a picture: the value of photography
By: Bradford Spurr, Photography Director Phōtos, “light,” and Graphé, “drawing,” are the Greek roots of what we understand today to be photography. Drawing with light, a romantic vision of an art form that has evolved into one of the most preeminent avenues of creative expression in the 21st century. If somebody on the street were…
Hurricane Harvey Healing
By: Sam Margolin, Staff Writer It has been two weeks since Harvey ripped into the Southern United States as a category 4 hurricane. According to CNN, 51 inches of rainfall, a record for a tropical cyclone in the continental United States, forced 450,000 victims to seek assistance from FEMA for disaster relief aid. This socio-economic disaster…
A New Semester, a Fresh Start for Student Government
By: Cara DeRose, Staff Writer This fall, following a school year rife with controversy, USM’s Student Government Association (SGA) prepares to roll out new initiatives, which its members believe will strengthen the fragile relationship between students and their student leaders. New, and old, faces accompany these initiatives. Muna Adan, a third-year self-designed media studies major,…
Memorialization of American Nationalism
By: Sarah Tewksbury, Editor-in-Chief Today marks the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on American soil. It has been 16 years since 2,977 individuals were killed as a result of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s carefully coordinated efforts. Moments of silence will be held around the nation that will focus on memorializing the innocent…
People of USM: Maria Tzianabos, Instructor’s passion for dance runs deep
By Jake Hahn, Free Press Staff For some, the art of dance is just part of the background noise of life, just another thing they may see throughout the course of the day. For others, however, much more thought is put into the art. For these people it’s a way of life, not just a…
The dreadlocks debate: appreciation or appropriation?
By Dionne Smith, Free Press Staff There is an ongoing debate about whether it is appropriate or not for white people to wear dreadlocks. The argument stems from the history of white people appropriating different aspects of other cultures as well as stereotyping cultures. In the twenty-first century, is it okay for all aspects of…
Top reasons why you should meet with your faculty advisors!
By Janis Albright and Kim Charmatz, Professional Advisors This article is the second in a series on the benefits of working closely with your Faculty Advisor. Below are the responses when we interviewed Lecturer Holly Bean, from the Recreation and Leisure Studies Department, and Robert Sanford, Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, and Department Chair….