On a recent Thursday night, a woman in light-colored jeans and spiky high heels floated across the wooden floor of the Multi-Purpose Room of the Sullivan Gym in Portland. Her agile movements were carefully syncopated with the fast rhythmic beat emanating from the small boombox, and the twenty-four students watching her were struck, clearly amazed.
Book Reviews
Originally a novella written by Neil Gaiman in 2002, Coraline was adapted into the graphic novel format in 2008 and into a stop-motion animated film the same year. This is an urban fantasy featuring 10-year-old Coraline, whose family has just moved into a mysterious old house in the English countryside. With only her elderly neighbors and busy parents for company, Coraline is often alone and bored. One rainy day, she explores the house and discovers a bricked up door that becomes a portal to a parallel world. It is the home of her “other mother” a spirit who will do anything to keep Coraline with her.
Movie Review: The Book of Eli
Have you ever gotten deja vu while sitting in a movie theater? If you haven’t, go see “The Book of Eli,” and you may find yourself wondering why this particular film makes you feel like you’ve seen it before. Then it will come to you: it’s “Mad Max” with religious overtones.
The Flaming Lips to head Maine Festival
To the surprise of many music fans last Friday, The Flaming Lips was announced as one of the featured bands for the first annual Nateva Music & Camping Festival happening from July 2nd to the 4th in Oxford, Maine.
Heard and Seen
Local independent record label Eternal Otter hosted their vinyl release party at Space Gallery on Friday night. The event was held to promote the release of the label’s three new series of 7-inch singles, titled “Death, Rebirth and Transformation.
UMass Boston downs USM
UMass Boston had four players in double figures as they rolled to a 70-48 win over USM in Little East Conference men’s basketball action at Hill Gymnasium last Tuesday.
Husky Highlights
The nationally-ranked Manhattanville women’s hockey team shut out USM 3-0 at the Playland Ice Casino in Rye, N.Y. on Saturday.
Women’s basketball rolls to win over UMass Boston
Sophmore Renee Nicholas (Sebago) recorded a double-double that included a single-game school record 13 steals to help lead the Huskies to a 55-31 win over conference foe UMass Boston at Hill Gymnasium last Tuesday.
Crushin’ it with the Red Claws
About a year ago when the Maine Red Claws found out they were going to make Portland their home as the NBA Development League affiliate of the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Bobcats, the city began to buzz with excitement and anticipation. The enthusiasm extended beyond the city public and into the area’s colleges and universities, including students like Matt McLaughlin.
Women and men’s Indoor Track place second in USM Co-Ed Invitational
The USM women’s track team had a good showing and placed third on Saturday’s meet at Costello Sports Complex in Gorham.
Hannaford donates $250,000 for new multi-purpose field
The USM soccer field has taken some serious wear and tear over the years. This isn’t going to be a concern for Athletic Director Al Bean and the USM athletics department for much longer. The Hannaford Charitable Foundation recently awarded a $250,000 donation to the USM athletics department to help build a new multi-purpose synthetic field with lights, to replace the existing grass surface.
Student assaulted and robbed in Gorham
A female student was assaulted and robbed by a man near the intersection of School and Church Streets in Gorham at around 2 a.m. while returning to the Gorham campus, according to a campus safety alert Monday afternoon.
Faculty butt heads with administration over their role in restructuring
In an emergency Faculty Senate meeting marked by significant tension between faculty and administrators, professors voiced concerns about their involvement in USM’s restructuring plan and the plan’s timetable.
USM President Selma Botman repeatedly told faculty they would only serve as advisers and would not help write the restructuring plan.
Haitian earthquake strikes home
Haiti has had the world’s attention since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck on Jan. 12.
Millions have turned to the television to watch the devastation caused by the quake and its subsequent aftershocks. Donations for relief have poured in from all over the world to aid the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.
Employee dies at work
Police say a USM employee was found dead in her cubicle in Luther Bonney Hall at around midnight on Monday, Jan. 4 by a custodian on their evening rounds.
Ann Brushwein, 59 of Portland, was a software support specialist for Computing Services. She had worked at USM since 1999.
Fewer students buying textbooks
Due to increasing options for acquiring textbooks, fewer students have used the USM Bookstore to buy their books.
According to Nicki Piaget, Director of the USM Bookstore, sales peaked three years ago and have been slightly decreasing ever since. Much of this is attributed to the new market for textbooks online.
FISOSE created to give forum for faculty
A group of professors concerned the administration isn’t taking student and professors’ concerns seriously formed a group at the end of last semester to act as a forum to discuss new ideas to restructure the university.
Faculty in Support of Student’s Education was created as an ad-hoc committee of professors from the Faculty Senate and Associated Faculties of the Universities of Maine, and born from the premise that decisions concerning university restructuring should be transparent and inclusive to students and faculty.
Internet rights and you: What’s at stake?
Government and trade officials are currently working on agreements that may affect your future Internet use. Some of the outcome may be good, some of it bad. Here’s a peek into some of these issues.
How to Help
In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, massive amounts of donations have been funneling in to charity organizations.
Text message-based donation have emerged as a fast, easy way of making a donation – during last week’s NFL playoffs alone, text donations came pouring in at a rate of $500,000 per hour, according to The Red Cross.
Letter from the Editor
Watching Conan O’Brien go down in flames was the high point of the month for me. Like many of his fans, I never watched the Tonight Show-I don’t own a TV-but he has always been my favorite late night host. So when Conan declared war on NBC for demoting him by switching his show’s time, I watched online and laughed with my fellow fair-weather fans as he introduced “insanely expensive” new characters like the “Bugatti Veyron Mouse,” while playing the original master recording of “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones.
The F word: A Feminist’s Perspective
Over the arrival of the New Year, I spent time wondering as usual about what could possibly inspire young people to collectively form a movement, or, to ignore one. There are signs everywhere that societal progression is constantly and consistently happening (although never without a debate), right? As much as it seems a change gon’ come, something still feels like it’s tugging at that notion, insisting that perhaps the change isn’t going to be as universally progressive as just technologically and sexually evolved.
Building community starts with a new student center
Now, I am not given to having a conversation with myself very often, but the other day I walked over to the Woodbury Campus Center and did just that. I said to myself, and out loud, “USM’s student center sucks.” Really, it is abominable and depressing.
I have been in there thousands of times over the last few years and, frankly, I cannot remember wanting to stay in the building, even to eat.
Real change is needed to stabilize the economy
Perhaps one of the most disturbing pieces of economic information released in last week’s news was that Goldman Sachs reported record profits of $4.9 billion for the fourth quarter of 2009 for a total of $13.4 billion for the year.
Meanwhile, 15.3 million Americans remain unemployed.
Portland: Five Days a Week
With a vibrant local music scene, untold numbers of bars, and art galleries every 15 feet, Portland is the cultural nexus of Maine. With bars, clubs, and cafe’s all vying for your attendance with a variety of events, offering “nights” for everyone from the bar-stool academic (see RiRa’s trivia night) to the the sweaty retro buff (80’s nights galore!), it can be difficult to sort through the melange.