Category: Arts & Culture

Scope out these upcoming lectures here at USM.

Bob Bergeron possesses the intensity of an industrial-strength bug zapper. He is constantly buzzing, crackling and popping, practically glowing, feeding on ideas like dragonflies. His poetry possesses these same qualities; simple and vibrant, it kicks you in the ribs.

The Free Press asked Bob Cochran for a self-portrait in his style. Cochran declined, saying, “It would look like a Rorschach test.”

Want a month of life coaching? You can get it if your the high bidder. Paintings, photos, life-coaching; these things and more are up for auction at the 30th Annual Art Auction at Maine College of Art (MECA).

In Hoopleville, there are powdered whales and tilt-a-whirls. People hit each other with hammers and have blimpophobia. Hoopleville’s newsletter has been appearing in select Portland locations since last October.

Free Press: How long/how many comics have you drawn for the Free Press?

Jack Duffy: I started submitting comics to The Free Press in 1998. Since then I’ve created about 300.

Humiliation is a monstrous tidal wave willing to squash you. It will demolish you. It will suck you under and bury you unceremoniously among the rotting black bones of failure. To avoid humiliation, people don’t take risks. They remain comfortably out of reach of the threat.

“My dog is smarter than your honor student.” What is your immediate reaction to this bumper sticker proclamation? Are you surprised, insulted, confused, or are you, at this very moment laughing and nodding your head in agreement? If you are doing the latter, then it is my guess that you, dear reader, are part of the new breed of dog lover.

Written by Moises Kaufman and the New York based Tectonic Theater Project, “The Laramie Project,” which opened USM’s 2004-05 theatre season, uses excerpts from interviews conducted by the Tectonic Project to provide an intimate-and often profoundly disturbing-look at the nature of hate-based violence in America.

Recently, I was able to spend an evening with Lewis Robinson, a Portland resident and professor in the USM Creative Writing MFA whose first collection of short stories, “Officer Friendly and other Stories” was published in hardcover in 2003 to nationwide critical acclaim.

Richard Witham works for Facilities Management at USM, where he is a carpenter. He spends his days on campus doing finish work, building cabinets, countertops and doing maintenance. He is also a self-taught wood carver who makes intricate wildlife sculptures.

Open Mic nights are like go-kart racing. Ambitious lunatics are given access to expensive equipment, allotted a time and set loose on a stage where they will hopefully not blow up.

I will have you know that I suffered quite a lot in order to properly write this article. Because I consider it my personal responsibility to give you only the very best information, I really had no other choice than to party it up at Portland’s many many nightspots.

William Burke reviews “L’auberge Espangnole” (The Spanish Apartment).

Anthony’s Italian Kitchen

151 Middle St.

774.8668

10:30 a.m. – 9 p.m. Mon-Sat

The greasiest, most delectable pizza in town. Find it between Videoport and Bull Moose, and under Casco Bay Books. You could basically live in this building. Salads, pasta and sandwiches are also very good and on the menu.

“The Laramie Project” is a creative compilation from over two hundred interviews with the people of Laramie, Wyoming, examining reactions to the beating and subsequent death of Matthew Shepard in 1998. Director Wil Kilroy and his actors agree that this is not the kind of project USM has seen before.

People eat late for many reasons. Some of them are nurses who work night shifts at hospitals and they eat their breakfasts at 10:30 p.m.. Some are insomniacs gone nuts by the claustrophobia of four rooms, driven into the city’s night for a belly full of sleepless solace.

My friend Diane’s diet allows, nay, encourages her to eat cheesecake. That’s right, cheesecake: the fat-laden, richer than rich, utterly delectable dessert (which just so happens to be a favorite of yours truly). This discovery was made while Diane, I and two other media studies seniors stood in her fabulous gourmet kitchen a few Friday evenings ago.

Alex Steed is brainwashing you with hypnotism. He is collecting all of the sensitive thoughts in Portland and wrapping them softly. Steed is the compassionate tyrant king of a “dictatorial arts & literature collective specializing in essays, chaos, interviews, stories, music, design and more.

I have this idea to write about Greek involvement in the arts. People laugh when I bring this up. They think this will be a very short piece, i.e., Greek Involvement in the Arts… doesn’t exist. It is this stereotype that I seek to break. Are fraternity brothers sculpting anything besides beeramids? Is anyone shooting intellectually stimulating porno? It has been proven that arts flourish in abusive environments, such as prisons and detainment camps.

This is not a comprehensive list, but it will get you started on finding some places to study. Explore the area for yourself, break your routine and find your own favorites. If you find a terrific spot, let me know!

While much of USM was taking a well-deserved break from the rigors of academia, the Stonecoast Writing Masters of Fine Arts Program was making the most of the dog days by graduating its inaugural class and launching its third year in style.

If you scan the latest runways featured in the pages of Vogue, Bazaar, W and the like, you will notice that this season’s trends are decidedly less, well, uniform. This observation does not apply to the ample selection of distinctly feminine shapes of the season, but rather the myriad of styles, colors and takes on what are arguably the most lax struts down the catwalk in recent seasons.

Most every Thursday night on the Gorham campus, the Gorham Events Board offers students a friendly alternative to doing Jell-o shots in Upton-Hastings Hall in the form of “Thirsty Thursday” events. Thirsty Thursdays offer everything from games to give-aways to free music.