TThehe CCenturionenturionThe week of April 14, 2008 www.bucks-news.com Volume: 43 Issue:14

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FASFA troubles ahead

BY TOM ROWANCenturion Staff

American Education Servicesand the Pennsylvania HigherEducation Assistance Agencyhave temporarily suspendedfinancial aid, awarding onlystate grants to those studentswho have filed a FASFA form byMay 1.

This decision does not meanan end to loans from thePHEAA, but it means that thePHEAA will no longer be thelender or bank from which stu-dents borrow money. Thisincludes the Federal FamilyEducational Loan Program con-stituents Stafford, Parent PLUS,Graduate PLUS andConsolidation loans. Studentsare asked to choose from anotherbank or lender such as a creditunion, or savings and loans asso-ciation.

What has brought about thisinconvenient change?

“The sub-prime mortgagemess has made it difficult forPHEAA to raise the cash it needsto fund student loans,” it says onthe AES official website. “Otherbanks and institutions who don’thave this problem will continue

to work withPHEAA to ensurestudents and fami-lies have access tothe money theyneed to pay for theireducation.”

All loans issued atthe beginning of theyear are still viable;h o w e v e rAES/PHEAA willbe sending all bor-rowers a letter ask-ing them to quicklychoose anotherlender.

Some Bucks stu-dents have alreadyreceived their let-ters. “I got really scared,” saidCenturion Editor-in-Chief LauraIrwin, 25. “I saw the letter comein the mail and my stomachback-flipped. The first thought Ihad was ‘how am I going to go toschool next semester?’”

The PHEAA has instituted twonew federal grants.

The Teach Grant is worth up to$4,000 for students intending toteach in a field with a high-demand for educators, such aspublic or private elementary orsecondary schools that serve stu-

dents from low-income families. And the second is the National

Science and Mathematics Accessto Retain Talent or SMARTgrant, available for juniors andseniors who are majoring inphysical, life or computer sci-ences, mathematics, technologyengineering or in a foreign lan-guage determined to be criticalto national security. This grantcan be worth up to $4,000 to U.S.citizens, who are PELL eligibleand full-time students in a four-year degree program with a

cumulative grade point averageof at least a 3.0, according to theAES website.

“PHEAA is still committed, aswe have been for 44 years, toserve the financial aid needs forPennsylvanians and other stu-dents from around the country,”according to PHEAA.com.

If you have any questions con-cerning the status of your finan-cial aid, you can contact AES cus-tomer service at 1-800-233-0557.Or call Bucks’ Financial AidOffice at 215-968-8200.

AES is limited in awardingfinancial aid, & grantdeadlines are approaching fast.

Bucks is ‘Covering the Police Beat’BY SARA CROUSECenturion Staff

Whether a journalist is report-ing on the war in Iraq or on a citycouncil meeting, there are essen-tial tools every good reportershould have. So Bucks’ journal-ism program every year hostsspeakers to discuss these careerthemes during the annual“Media Day” event.

This year, the topic is “Crimeand Punishment: Covering thePolice Beat,” and features jour-nalists Bill Moushey of ThePittsburgh Post Gazette, ErinO’Hearn of Channel 6 ActionNews and J.D. Mullane of TheBucks County Courier Times.

"The police beat is the essenceof reporting, covering excitingbreaking news, big stories andcrime. It is a great beat for some-one who works well under pres-sure and is capable of meetingdeadlines. All of the speakers inthe forum have covered thepolice beat and it is an excitinggroup of individuals includingveteran print reporters and abroadcast news journalist," saidTony Rogers, journalism profes-

sor.Moushey has been an inves-

tigative reporter for ThePittsburgh Post Gazette since1985.

His stories have included aseries revealing abuses withinthe federal witness protectionprogram, uncovering corruptionon the Supreme Court ofPennsylvania, and revealingdreadful health care conditionsin the state prison system.

Moushey is a 1976 journalismgraduate of Kent StateUniversity. Before joining thePost-Gazette, he was an inves-tigative reporter at WPXI-TV andeditor of Pittsburgher Magazine.

His 1996 series "ProtectedWitness" was a finalist for thePulitzer Prize. He was awardedthe National Press Club’sFreedom of Information Award,and received honorable mentionfor The Newspaper Guild’sHeywood Broun Award forreporting about society’s under-privileged.

Moushey is an associate pro-

Clinton holds local

rallyPOLITCAL NEWS PAGE 3

Gas prices are

through the roofSTUEDNT LIFE PAGE 4

Calendar,

Crossword,

Sudoku and

CryptogramTO DO PAGE 5

A Modern

Hypocrisy: CatsOP/ED PAGE 11

Special Student

Life Section: A

look into

today’s hottest

trendsSTUDENT LIFE PAGES 6-8

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Bucks baseball

and tennis get into

the swing of their

seasonsSPORTS PAGE 12

J.D. Mullane(left) is a colum-nist for the BucksCounty Courier

Times.

Bill Moushey isan investigativereporter for thePittsburgh Post-

Gazette.

Erin O’Hearn(left) is a reporterfor Action newsChannel 6 TV.

PHOTO BY JAY JONES

Tuesday: Sunny, with ahigh near 56. North windaround 7 mph.

Wednesday: Sunny, with ahigh near 65. Northeast windbetween 3 and 7 mph.

Thursday: Sunny, with ahigh near 72.

Friday: Mostly sunny, witha high near 75.

Saturday: A chance ofshowers. Mostly cloudy, witha high near 69. Chance of pre-cipitation is 30%.

Sunday: A chance of show-ers. Mostly cloudy, with ahigh near 64. Chance of pre-cipitation is 30%.

fessor of journalism at PointPark, teaching classes ininvestigative reporting, andmedia law.

Erin O'Hearn joined theAction News Team as ageneral assignment

reporter in January of 2006.Before arriving inPhiladelphia, she worked for

6 ABC's sister station, WTVD,a station in Durham, NorthCarolina.

O’Hearn began her broad-casting career at CapitalNews 9 in her hometown ofAlbany, New York.

Before getting into news,O’Hearn spent time produc-ing episodes of an MTV docu-mentary called "True Life."

Mullane is a columnist forthe Bucks County CourierTimes and a blogger forPhillyburbs.com. He wasnominated for a PulitzerPrize for his crime series thatexamined the 1962 rape andmurder of a 9-year-old girl ina Bristol Borough church.

He is the only reporter tointerview bank robberWilliam Alston, who shot a

Bristol Township sergeantand escaped to Africa, whereAlston lived for a decade as aclean cut, soft- spoken uni-versity English professor.

He will appear on anupcoming episode of“Forensic Files” on Court TVwhere he discusses the 2000murder case of Rachel Siani, aBucks student and “gentle-men’s club” stripper who was

Mullane is a former Bucksstudent, and has a BA in jour-nalism from TempleUniversity.

"What I've taken from mytime covering the police beatin Boston, is that unfortunate-ly in a big city most crimesoccur in certain neighbor-hoods. For me as a dorkywhite kid from the Midwest, I

learned to go into a commu-nity with an open mind. AndI've realized that most peoplein these areas aren't crimi-nals, but hardworking indi-viduals," said Rogers."Although it takes someonewho can handle dealing withemotionally draining subjectmatter, there are two sides tothe police beat. Some storiescan be very inspirational andrewarding for the reporterand the readers.”

All are welcome andencouraged to attend andhear about

The forum will begin at 10a.m. in the library auditoriumon Wednesday, April 23 andit is free and open to the pub-lic.

News2 Monday, April 14, 2008

Bucks County Community College’s Student Newspaper

EEddiittoorr--iinn--CChhiieeff

Laura IrwinMMaannaaggiinngg EEddiittoorr

Janine LogueAAddvviissiinngg

Tony Rogers

SSeenniioorr SSttaaffff

News, Website Mark Bennett

Student Life Kevin Yorke

Entertainment Kristin Calciano

Sports Phil Coles

Op-Ed Jay Jones

EEddiittoorriiaall SSttaaffff

Tom Rowan

Matt Fedor

TToo rreecceeiivvee tthhee CCeennttuurriioonn’’ss EEmmaaiill EEddiittiioonn::

Register at www.Bucks-News.com and a .PDF version of the newspaper

will be delivered directly to your email box.

LLeetttteerr PPoolliiccyy

Letters should be limited to 300 words. They will be edited for spelling and malicious or libelous

statements, and may be edited for space. Letters must be the original work of the writer and

must be signed. For identification purposes, letters must include the writer’s full name, address,

and telephone number, although the address and telephone numbers will not be published.

Send letters to:

Centurion

275 Swamp Rd

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Centurion@bucks.edu

www.bucks-news.com/Letters to the Editor

215.968.8379

Official Member2006-2007

Centurion Publication

ScheduleThe Centurion is published weekly on

Mondays.

Deadline for advertising is noon on the

Wednesday before publication.

Publication dates are as follows:

4/214/28

5/5

BY SARA CROUSECenturion Staff

In honor of Women’sHistory Month, Bucks hostedi’s fifth annual Reading andWriting Women event onMarch 26 in the GatewayAuditorium.

The open microphone eventfeatured Bucks studentsspeaking their minds throughoriginal poetry, song, shortfiction, or essay. In addition

to their own work, many stu-dents approached the podi-um to share the words ofother women writers.

A broad range of topicswere discussed, includingenvironmental degradation,death, sexual identity, friend-ships and inspiration.

Though many of the speak-ers talked about hope, not allmessages were joyful, withreadings of Joni Mitchell’s,‘Bad Dreams Are Good.’ A

feature inthe Sept. 172007 issue ofThe NewYorker, thep o e ma d d r e s s e sthe igno-rance ofcontempo-rary societyt o w a r d snature, writ-i n g“Everyone’sa victimh e r e ,n o b o d y ’ shands arec l e a n ,there’s solittle left of

wild Eden Earth.”The event presented cultur-

al issues specific to certainspeakers at Bucks. ShannonVaccaro, an English majorfrom Trenton, N.J., readworks by European poetAlfonsina Storni in bothEnglish and Spanish. As oneof her favorite feminist writ-ers, Vaccaro said, “I enjoy herwork because she is not over-ly happy and she delves intothe darker side of humanityby embracing death.”

Although the event wasintended to project the voicesof women through artisticexpression, several male stu-dents also read their ownoriginal works.

Bucks student, poet, andmusician John Lennox pre-sented an original poem andplayed acoustic guitar for theaudience.

Lennox said he has beenwriting poetry, “on and offfor all of his life.” Lennoxalso read the famous poem,‘The Poison Tree,’ by WilliamBlake.

In addition to poetry andshort fiction, snacks wereavailable and prizes weregiven away in a raffle.

The event was organized byall the first-year professors inthe Language and Literaturedepartment.

Language and Literaturedepartment chair Susan

Darrah said, “This was thefifth annual reading and writ-ing women’s event and thebest turnout yet.” Hopefullynext year there will be aneven larger turnout.

Reading event draws a large crowd

ABOVE:SHANNON VACCARO READING A POEM IN SPANISH

LEFT: STEPHANIE DRAIFINGER READING

PHOTO BY SARA CROUSE

Bucks’ journalism program hosts Media DayCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

3Political NewsMonday, April 14, 2008

Hillary Clinton rallies local supportersBY KRISTIN CALCIANOEntertainment Editor

Sen. Hillary Clintonbrought her campaign toLevittown on Monday,March 31. Clinton, alongwith Pennsylvania Gov. EdRendell, held a rally at theKeystone Industrial Park toexplain her ideas and plansfor the United States if she iselected.

She spoke about such issuesas tax breaks for the wealthy,energy efficiency, and healthcare.

Clinton said, “I want us tofeel as we’ve felt in the pastwhen President Kennedy said‘We’re going to send a man tothe moon,’ and we sure did.”

Clinton also spoke about afree trade agreement to fix theNorth American Free TradeAlliance so that moreAmerican workers will beable to find employment.

“We can begin to re-shapethe global economy so it isstill possible for people tohave the American dream,”said Clinton.

On the issue of ending thetax breaks given to major oil

companies, Clinton said,“There is no justificationunder the sun for the oilcompanies to be given taxbreaks. The oil companiesdon’t need your taxes to bemaking this astronomicalamount of money.”

Clinton also aims to create5 million new jobs within theclean energy industry in thenext five years. She hopes toadvance such technologies asbio-fuels, wind and solarenergy, and increase gasmileage.

An ever-present platformfor Clinton is healthcare.Clinton has always been astrong advocate for the ideaof a universal healthcare sys-tem, and continues to stick tothose values.

Clinton said, “I’ve met peo-ple who have no choice but togo to the emergency roombecause they can’t afford tosee a doctor regularly.”

She also spoke about therising interest rates that manycollege students face fromloan companies. Clintonwishes to make collegeaffordable for all students

who want to pursue highereducation.

She said, “Student loan peo-ple are charging our children22, 30, even 50 percent [inter-est] and that is criminal.”

Clinton lightly touched onthe subject of the War in Iraq,saying that she wants beginremoving U.S. troops fromthat country within 60 days ofher assuming the presidency.

“Our young men andwomen did everything theywere asked to do,” saidClinton. “They were told toget rid of Sadam Hussein andthey did that. Then they wereasked to give the Iraqis a freeand democratic vote and theydid that too.”

Clinton added, “There isnothing left for the military todo.”

In her closing statements,Clinton, who trails Sen.Barack Obama, assured vot-ers that she will see the racethrough to the end no matterwhat. She said, “I see a signout there that says, ‘Pleasedon’t quit.’ Well, one thingthey know about me is I donot quit.”

Clinton contemplates vice-possiblesBY JOHN SKUDRISCenturion Staff

Sen. Hillary RodhamClinton may be down in thecount to Sen. Barack Obama,but she’s not giving up yet.

Trailing the Illinois Senatorby about 100 delegates, it isnot out of the question thatClinton could still rally forthe Democratic nomination.With that in mind, it’s inter-esting to explore her runningmate possibilities.

A vice presidential nomineeshould have certain, “elec-tability factors.”

According to Larry Sabato,director of the University ofVirginia Center for Politics,there are several things that acandidate should considerwhen choosing a vice presi-dent.

First, a vice president nomi-nee should do no harm to theticket. A candidate doesn’twant to pick a vice presidentthat has scandals swarmingaround his or her everymove.

Second, the candidateshould be able to carry his orher home state. It’s even bet-ter if the presidential nomi-nee were unlikely to win thestate without choosing thatperson as vice president.

Third, the vice presidentshould help unify the partyby being from faction thanthe presidential nominee.

Finally, the vice presidentshould bring something tothe table that the candidatelacks. If the presidential nom-inee has little experience,then they could choose a vice

president with a lot of experi-ence.

Clinton has four very viablecontenders for the vice presi-dential spot, all with distinc-tive strengths.

Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh hasbeen a Clinton supportersince December 2006.

The son of former senatorBirch Bayh, he is in his secondterm as a member of the sen-ate and is from Indiana, a tra-ditionally Republican state.He is a moderate who in 1996gave the keynote address atthe Democratic conventionnominating Bill Clinton.

Before becoming a two-term senator, Bayh was atwo-term governor ofIndiana. His ability to garnervotes in such a Republicanstronghold could bode wellfor a Clinton-Bayh ticket.

The thought of being able tograb Indiana’s 11 electoralvotes might be temptingenough for Clinton to selectBayh as her running mate.However, Bayh isn’t withoutweakness.

Indiana wouldn’t be a guar-antee for Clinton even withBayh on the ticket, andbeyond his electoral strength,there isn’t much else there.

Another Clinton supporterwho could be a strong vicepresidential nominee isPennsylvania Gov. EdRendell.

The former Philadelphiamayor and chairman of theDemocratic NationalCommittee could easily lockup PA’s 21 electoral votes forClinton. He has an easygoing

personality and strongpolitical savvy that couldmake him a favorite ofblue-collar and white-col-lar voters alike.

He endorsed Clinton inJanuary 2008 and hasbeen one of herstaunchest supporterssince.

However, he has previ-ously announced that his2006 reelection campaignwould be the last of hiscareer. Whether or not hechanges this stanceremains to be seen. Butone would think that ifoffered a chance at the secondmost powerful seat in theworld, he would eat hiswords and join Clinton forthe long haul.

Whilst it doesn’t look prettynow, a Clinton/Obama ticketwould likely be the unifierthat could stomp out anychance of McCain winning inthe fall.

Obama brings youth andthe ability to rally voters thatusually aren’t interested inpolitics. He wouldn’t bringany states into play, since hehails from DemocraticIllinois, but he would bringenergy to the campaign thatClinton hasn’t.

However, one major draw-back is that the two are ateach other’s throats every dayand likely will be for the nextfour months. Could the tworeally coexist even after rip-ping each other to shreds allsummer?

Many may think that choos-ing Obama would be the best

choice for Clinton, but it isn’tnecessarily the wisest.

McCain doesn’t hold muchstrength above Clinton. Hedoesn’t have much moreexperience than her, nor doeshe have even close to the eco-nomic knowledge that shedoes. However, a strength hedoes have is his militaryexperience.

This could be neutralizedby choosing former NATOSupreme Allied CommanderEurope Wesley Clark.

Clark commandedOperation Allied Force inKosovo in the 90s, ending thegenocide in Kosovo thateventually led to the nation’sindependence this year.

His strong military record,combined with his endorse-ment of Clinton inSeptember, makes him astrong candidate for her vicepresidential spot. He couldpotentially limit McCain’sability to preach of betternational security and militarycredentials.

However, as evidenced byhis failure in the 2004 presi-dential primary, Clark is aweak campaigner with littlepolitical experience. IfClinton is willing to take therisk on his campaigning andgo with him, she could reapbig rewards.

Clinton still has a long wayto go to garner theDemocratic nomination.

It would take a strongshowing in the upcoming pri-maries and a gaffe or two byObama to make the superdelegates flock over to her.

If Clinton can pull it out,she would have a stronggroup of potential vice presi-dents.

Bayh, Obama, Rendell andClark all have more strengthsthan weaknesses and couldeasily deliver for Clinton ifcalled upon.

Her potential choices arestrong, but it could be too latefor her to come back and winthe nomination.

Only time will tell.

ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE ARE HILARY CLINTON AT A LOCAL RALLY

PHOTOS BY KRISTIN CALCIANO

4 Monday, April 14, 2008Student Life

Gas prices are outrageous by the gallonBY JAY JONESOp/Ed Editor

A full-time student at Buckspays a pretty penny for class-es, and it is nothing com-pared to a four-year school’stuition.

Even with a decent payingjob, many students can barelyafford to pay for their classes,books and lab fees.

And once tuition is paid for,where does any extra cashthey have go to?

When it comes down to itand the bills are totaled, it’sthe last thing students couldimagine. It’s not food, friendsor significant others, it’s gas.

“Carpooling with my broth-er and neighbor helps,” saidMorrisville local Trent Russo.“But if prices keep going upwe’ll have to choose betweenthe car and school.”

According towww.unece.org, the U.S. has765 cars per 1,000 people, thehighest in the world, makingit necessary to drive in orderto make a living.

Bucks students should con-sider themselves lucky theydon’t live in Kodiak, Alaska,where gas prices are reportedto be a choking $4.33.

“I work 30 hours a week for$8 an hour,” said Shelly Bastof Yardley, chemistry major.“Half my paycheck goes intothe gas I use to get to campusfor 20 hours of classes.”

According to a report by theEnergy InformationAdministration as of May

2007, at a retail price of $3.03per gallon, 13 percent of whatwe pay for gas goes towardtaxes, 10 percent to distribu-tion and marketing, and 8percent to refining and 69percent to crude oil.

“When I go out I have tothink what I can get all at onetime,” said Sarah Rambo,from Bensalem. “I try not todrive too much.”

So, for those of us who arehorrible at math, what doesthis mean?

Simple: supply and demandis the concept that is drivinggas prices up.

The world’s crude oil pricesare increasing because thedemand is outweighing theproduction.

“I actually laughed when

my grandparents tell me ofwhen everything was cheap-er,” said Simon Peterson,chemistry major of FairlessHills. “But it’s not funnywhen I’m at the pumps.”

In the U.S. job market,between 32 and 40 hours isconsidered full-time.

With a current minimumwage of $7.15 in PA, increas-ing to $7.25 in 2009, the aver-age student can make lessthan $224 a week.

With Bucks tuition at $95per credit and 12 creditsneeded to be considered afull-time student, full-timetuition starts at roughly$1,200 a semester, not includ-ing books.

“I hope [the price of gas]goes down,” said Sarah

Douglass, business adminis-tration major fromBuckingham, adding that itprobably won’t because“summer is around the cor-ner.”

In the end, even thoughmost college students enjoyindependence from their par-ents, they can’t afford to keepup with America’s continu-ous demand for driving.

“I work for a company thatowns cars,” said KevinMcGinty, Trevose nativemajoring in finance, “and Ihave to put 75 bucks [of gas]into my car a week!”

As we complain, considerthe reported prices in othercountries for a single gallonof gas. Denmark, $7.44, theUnited Kingdom, $7.72 and a

staggering $10.03 in Turkey,according to a report releasedin 2007 from the FederalMinistry for EconomicCooperation andDevelopment in Germany.

The search for the cheapestgas in town has become suchan issue that some wellknown, and enterprising,companies are getting in onthe action.

Google, one of the most-used search engines on theinternet, provides a gas pricesearch program in conjunc-tion with their road mapssite.

For those of you that are nottech savvy, that means thatyou can type in your homeaddress and the program willsearch all local gas stationsfor the lowest possible price,according to the parent siteGasbuddy.com that runs theGoogle program.

As of April 10, the sitereported the cheapest gasaround Bucks $3.12 at gas sta-tions in Penndel, with themost expensive of $3.39 inLancaster.

But until the time comeswhen gas prices finally beginto drop, or the much talkedabout but rarely seen alterna-tive fuel cars hit the massmarket, Bucks students willhave to continue findingways to make do with thecurrent drain on our bankaccounts.

Sometimes cost-cutting canbe for the best, but manytimes it’s for the worse.A BUCKS STUDENT DRIVES THROUGH CAMPUS

PHOTO BY KATE MCDERMOTT

BY TOM ROWANCenturion Staff

The sweat pours off TravisBarker’s poised face as heguides his seasoned handsstrategically from one heart-breaking beat to another,mesmerizing the awed crowdinto a euphoric trance.

It’s not just the music res-onating from his abuseddrum set that captures theaudience’s undivided atten-tion; it’s the manner in whichthe artist creates his magic.

Playing as if his uniquehair style has been set on fire,Barker runs the barrels withsuch energy and enthusiasm,his individual effort alone isworth the price of admission.

It’s Barker’s talented dis-play which inspires millionsof Americans to take up themost difficult instrument onthe stage.

But there is a reason noteveryone plays the drums, soin lieu of learning a very com-plicated art form, teenagersand college students have set-tled on a computer simula-tion.

On Nov. 20, 2007, EAGames, in association withHarmonix Music Systemsand MTV Games, released the

much anticipated virtual real-ity simulation Rock Band.

This designed rival of thepopular guitar imitation,Guitar Hero, Rock Band,released first for Playstation 3and Xbox 360, includes realis-tic controllers that resemble aguitar, drum set and micro-phone with the capability toadd a fourth controller, a bassguitar.

With the addition of threeother instruments, Rock Bandoffers a musical variety whichis intriguing to those whochoose to play with familyand friends, as well as thosewho enjoy other instrumentsthan guitar.

The microphone and drumset alone have made this sys-tem one of the best sellingvideo games of the year.“When I play rock band I feellike the lead drummer forLed Zeppelin,” said LaSalleUniversity Student BrandonHargraves, 20.

Guitar Hero does have theability to include a secondguitar, but with the newinstruments involved RockBand offers a more groupfriendly atmosphere and lotsof fun.

LaSalle University StudentMatt Harner, 19, has fallen in

love with thisnew system thathe and his fourr o o m m a t e sbought to dis-tract them fromtheir dailystress andaggravations asboth studentsand athletes.

“More peoplecan play and it’sgot better songs[Than GuitarHero],” saidHarner. “Plus, Ican downloadsongs on RockBand and Idon’t think youcan do that forGuitar Hero.”

True, RockBand does offerbuyers theopportunity topurchase addi-tional songs forthe system ontheir officialwebsite.

At this time,the website only offers track-by-track buying, but thefuture may include entirealbums as well as popularbands such as Metallica,

debuting singles for upcom-ing albums for the gameaccording toRollingStone.com.

As of March 27, 2008, 70songs were available for pur-

chase with prices rangingfrom $1 to $5.

Rock Band will be releasedfor the Nintendo Wii systemon June 22, 2008.

‘Rock Band’ captures the musically inclined

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 Bucks Baseball

Home Game

vs. Delaware

2 Read the

Centurion

Newspaper!

3 Men’s Baseball

vs. Camden 3:30

p.m. (away)

4 Aquatics Fitness

Instructor Classes

from 5-9 p.m.

5 Bucks Tennis

vs. Central Penn

1pm (home)

6 Bucks

CountyHigh

School Art

Exhibition,thru

April 12

7 Art Exhibition 8 Social Science

club trip: Ben

Franklin Bridge:Up

and Over

9 Men’s Baseball

vs. Northamption

2pm (away)

10 Bucks’ book

group discusses

Finn: A novel by

John Clinch

11 Jimmy Bruno

Jazz concer

8pm/Proffessor

Freeman reads

from latest book

12 Bucks Tennis

vs. Philadelphia

1pm (away)

13 See the movie

“Street Kings” star-

ring Forrest

Whitaker and

Keanu Reeves

14 Jobs: Getting

Your Foot in the

Door Workshop

11a.m.-12p.m.

15 Social Science

club trip: Isiah

Zagar and the

Magic Garden

16 Lower Bucks

campus evening

transfer fair 5-6:30

p.m.

17 Counseling

Workshops: How

to be successful at

Bucks 11a.m.-

12p.m.

18 The Leane play

Trocodero Main

Stage

19 Men’s Baseball

vs. Delaware 12

noon (away)

20 Random sobri-

ety checkpoints

scheduled all over

Bucks County

21 Team Tennis

Bucks vs. Central

Penn 3 p.m.

(away)

22 Foreign Film

“Cache” 7p.m.

Library Auditorium

23 MLB: Phillies

vs. Milwauke

Brewers 8:05 p.m.

(away)

24 Men’s

Baseaball vs.

Lackawanna 1:30

p.m. (home)

25 American Red

Cross Lifeguard

Training from 6-9

p.m.

26 The NFL holds

its annual colle-

giate draft E-A-G-

L-E-S!

27 See the movie

Harold and Kumar

Escape from

Guantanamo Bay

28 Watch 2 hours

of Family Guy on

TBS 8-10 p.m.

29 Men’s Baseball

Bucks vs. Lehigh-

Carbon 2 p.m.

(home)

30 MLB Phillies

vs. San Diego

Padres 7:05 p.m.

(home)

Monday, April 14, 2008 To Do 5

April Calendar of Events

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Across1- Easy stride; 5- Hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, e.g.; 10- Helper; 14- Egg-shaped;

15- First showing; 16- Donkey cry; 17- Oppressively heavy; 19- Religious cere-mony or ritual; 20- Biblical high priest; 21- Spouse; 22- Mistreats; 24- Autocrat;26- Radar screen element; 27- Act of sneezing; 33- Wrong; 36- Vows; 37-Owing; 38- Civil disturbance; 39- Quick raid; 40- Small gull; 41- Name of a feu-dal Japanese clan; 42- Memento; 43- Break off; 44- French governess; 47-Network of nerves; 48- Bother; 52- Discovers; 55- Terrible time?; 57- Graffiti;58- ___ Minor; 59- Competitor in a triathlon; 62- Demeanor; 63- Merits; 64-Singles; 65- Heating fuel; 66- Golfer Calvin; 67- Harbor;

Down1- Like ears; 2- Small egg; 3- Seine spot; 4- Antiquity, old-style; 5-

Congenitally attached; 6- Trial; 7- Thin woodwind instrument; 8- Silent; 9-Furtive; 10- Sudden; 11- Pupil's place; 12- Go out with; 13- Stares at; 18- Engagein histrionics; 23- Prejudice; 25- Attention-getter; 26- Colorless flammable gas;28- Novice; 29- Nostrils; 30- Notion; 31- Belonging to us; 32- Branta sandvicen-sis; 33- Whence; 34- Verdi opera; 35- Burden; 39- Footfall; 40- Driving aids; 42-Revenuers, for short; 43- Conflict; 45- Off-course; 46- Fourth highest peak inthe world; 49- Shorthand taker; 50- "See ya!"; 51- Toss, as one's cookies?; 52-Aggregation; 53- Part of HOMES; 54- On the briny; 55- It may become bald; 56-Wish for; 60- ___ Dawn Chong; 61- Cut (off);

BY LIOR SHULMANCenturion Staff

There is no shortage ofvideo game players at Bucks.

Dave Geldner, a 19-year-oldeducation major, said therewas a time when he playedNintendo’s Super Smash Brosat least five hours a day.Geldner reminisces on theFall Festival at Council RockSouth where he partook in aNintendo Super Smash Bros.tournament.

“I was there!” chimed inDave Feinman, an 18-year-old liberal arts major andchronic gamer of Grand TheftAuto San Andreas. Feinmanhas been in love with thegame since it came out threeyears ago and plays abouttwo hours a day.

“I don’t do anythingbecause I play my game,”Feinman said, agreeing thathis schoolwork is affected.Feinman is hooked on Worldof Warcraft, and has beenknown to stay up ‘till 3 a.m.playing.

Feinman and Geldner ledme to The Hub, a roomtucked away in Founderswhere you can expect to findpeople playing video gameswhen no class is in session.

“People get too into it,” said

Danielle Serota, a liberal artsmajor who has also beenplaying World of Warcraft fora year and a half. She esti-mates she plays seven hours aweek, and thinks most peo-ple, like her, play in modera-tion.

“WoW [World of Warcraft]is better than other videogames because of the objec-tives,” Serota said, addingthat the game makes youthink, and by doing so, ismore stimulating than watch-ing television.

Serota said the $15 a monthfor World of Warcraft is qual-ity entertainment comparedto other games like Halo 3,Time magazine’s top game of2007.

A virtual world has beencreated, where players knoweach other by their characternames, such as “Wiz,” fromSuper Smash Bros. Evenwhen they do not know eachother’s real name, players arefamiliar with each other’sgame names.

But video gaming canbecome a problem “when youlose track of the real world,”said Feinman.

For Geldner, “There wasnothing else that mattered. IfI had a dream, it was inAsheron’s Call.”

BY JAY JONESOp/Ed Editor

Webster’s Dictionarydefines fad as a temporaryfashion trend, one followedenthusiastically by a group.

In the 1930s stamp collect-ing had kids going bonkers,in the 1920s flag pole sittingwas sweeping the nation, andthe 1960s was when everyhippie had to have a tie-dyeshirt. In the 1990s there werethose mutant creatures calledFurbies and Beanie Babies.

In an age of computer tech-nology and high-speed inter-net the media plays a criticalrole in the way we areinformed of the latest trends.Indeed, it is a trend untoitself.

Fifty years ago, poodleskirts were what every girlwas wearing and every stu-dent would have loved noth-ing more than for the ‘RedMenace’ to be gone.

The Centurion staff wantedto get a handle on college cul-ture by understanding the

trends, fads and crazes thatdrive most students our age.Sending out a team ofreporters we canvassed thecampus to get a handle on thewhat’s hot in 2008 amongBucks students.

The millennium years areno different from earlierdecades in having plenty offads. Low-carb diets, realitytelevision, Roller-shoes and“American Idol” are all exam-ples of 0-something trendsand fads.

The 90s were the timeswhen Bucks students wereenjoying the Spice Girls andwatching their parents battleover one of the most coveteditems on the market at thattime, the Furby.

For those who don’t know,Furbies were one of the firsttruly interactive toys. Theywere released in 1998 andsold over 27 million units,according to CNN.com.

The main focus of this crazein the media were the parentstrying to purchase this itemfor their children, leading to

numerous fights and riotsbetween customers whensupplies ran low.

There are also fads in lan-guage. Not so long ago acommon fad was the frequentuse of the word “Not.” Usedto mean “just kidding,” thephrase was used in many sar-castic statements or jokes.

Rewind even further andyou find yourself in the1930s, a time of highlyadvanced technology like theradio. “The Wizard of Oz”was the blockbuster movie-and the big fad was goldfisheating.

This craze was started in1939 by Harvard freshmanLothrop Withington, who,acting on a dare, swallowed aliving goldfish with a mashpotato chaser. This soonbecame a sensation amongcollege men.

“I can’t believe someonewould find swallowing fishcool!” exclaimed StephanieMintz, a liberal arts majorfrom Yardley. “That’s justgross.”

Forward 10 years andpeople had moved on toone of the most inventivetoys every created, theSlinky. Invented inPhiladelphia by RichardJames, the Slinky wasbasically 87-feet of flatwire coiled into a 2-footspiral. With its ability to‘walk’ down stairs it wasone of the favorite toys ofchildren during the 40s. Ithowever would lose itshold on the top fad spotwith the invention of thehula-hoop a few yearslater.

Trends are part of whatour society and economyare based around andsometimes they work tochange history in wayswe could never imagine.

“We probably think it’sstrange now,” said DeanJohnson, a biology majorfrom New Hope. “Butmaybe in 50 years peoplewill think shows like“American Idol” are justas weird.”

6 Monday, April 14, 2008Student Life Special:In every era there are fads, crazes and trends

trends

Did you watch‘PowerRangers,’‘ReadingRainbow,’ ‘PeeWee’s Play-house,’ ‘BillNye theScience Guy,’‘Anamaniacs,’‘Get Smart,’and ‘FraggleRock?’

Reading is on the declineBY PHIL COLESSports Editor

If you are reading this arti-cle, congratulations, you areamong the very few 18-to 24-year-old college studentswho still read a newspaper.In fact, getting students toread anything other thantheir required textbooksseems like a challenge any-more.

So why is it that so few stu-dents read newspapers orbooks?

“I can answer that with oneword,” said Bucks HistoryProfessor Ward Vincent.“Television. [Also] relatedstuff like video games. Webecame a visual nation ratherthan a reading one.”

Many people agree thattechnology is to blame for thedecline in college-age read-ers. It may be that it is justeasier to turn on the TV, orsurf the net, rather than openup a book and digest a couplehundred pages. Or could it besomething else that is keep-ing students away frombooks?

“I’m reading books forschool, not for leisure,” saidAnaida Badalyan, 26, a nurs-ing major and Philadelphiaresident. “I don’t have time toread, and I don’t watch TV.”

In a study conducted by theNational Endowment for theArts, the conclusion was thatliterary reading is in dramaticdecline, with fewer than halfof American adults now read-ing literature. According tothe NEA, the steepest declineis among young adults aged18-24. The rate of decline hasnearly tripled in the pastdecade.

“This report documents anational crisis,” said NEAchairman Dana Gioia.“Reading develops a capacityfor focused attention andimaginative growth thatenriches both private andpublic life.”

Not all college studentshave neglected the wonderfulworld of books. “Right nowI’m out of books [to read],”said Caitlin Cummiskey, 18, ajournalism major fromLevittown. “When I go toBorders, I get six books.”

Newspaper readership isalso in decline among 18-25year olds, according to BucksJournalism Professor TonyRogers. “One of the firstthings I do to start the semes-ter is ask how many studentsin the class read a newspa-per,” said Rogers. “Maybeless than half the class raisestheir hands, and this is a jour-nalism class!”

“I just talked to two peoplewho didn’t know we had a

school newspaper [atBucks],” said Alexander Neu,20, a journalism major fromBensalem. “When they heard[there was a newspaper] theygot really excited [to read it].”

This brings us to anotherproblem that this lack ofreading creates. Many collegestudents don’t know what’sgoing on in the world aroundthem because they don’t read.

“I think it’s our responsibil-ity as a citizen to be well-informed,” said Rogers. “Andyoung people are not verywell-informed about currentevents.”

Rogers said the other prob-lem is that newspapers arerun primarily by babyboomers in their 40s and 50s.Not surprisingly, they tendto create publications thatsound like they were writtenby, well, a bunch of 50-year-olds who know little aboutpeople in their late teens andearly 20s.

Gamers galore

A BUCKS STUDENT WON’T BE ONE OF THE STATISTICS.

PHOTO BY JAY JONES

PHOTO BY JAY JONES

BY ANDREW BROWNCenturion Staff

Justin Derry doesn’t consid-er himself as much of a textfiend. The 19-year-oldLanghorne native said, “A lotof my friends don’t have textmessaging. Plus, my fingersare big, so it takes me foreverto send one. I’d say I onlysend about 50 a day.”

Derry’s daily output maystill seem high to some, espe-cially to the parents payingcellular bills. But the truth isthat to avid texters, 50 a dayis at the low end of the spec-trum. For better or worse,text messaging has become anintegral part of many lives.

According to Acision, themessaging and charging com-pany of choice for over 300network operators and serv-ice providers worldwide, thenumber of text messages sentduring New Year’s 2008increased 30 percent from theprevious year. People sent astaggering 43 billion texts towish their loved ones a happyNew Year. It appears thatcollege-aged students areamong the most fervent tex-ters.

By simply performing a

Google search for “collegetext messaging,” it becomesapparent that this is a meansof communications that isubiquitous on college cam-puses. Articles pop upregarding the numerousways institutions are usingtexting. Colleges are usingSMS for emergency alerts,athletic recruitment—albeitillegally so—and in a multi-tude of other ways.However, while this means ofcommunication can be a greattool, many college studentsdo not recognize it as such.

Journalism major Jay Jonesprovides an excellent exam-ple of how young peopleoften use text messaging.Jones, who bought aBlackberry specifically for itstext messaging capabilities,says he and his 16-year-oldbrother often exchange textsduring the course of the day.Jones said, “At the beginningof [my class today] he sent mea text that just said ‘Yo.’”

Jones’ interaction with hisyounger brother provides awindow into the text habits ofmost college students. Amajority of the texts that stu-dents exchange seem to be

l a r g e l ys u p e r f l u -ous. It real-ly justseems to bea way forstudents tohave con-stant inter-action withone anoth-

er, no matter how unneces-sary this interaction may be.Essentially, it seems that SMShas become a modern way forstudents to pass notes. Often,it takes place during class,which has created a majorconflict between teachers andstudents.

Caitlin Cummiskey, an 18-year-old journalism major,knows this firsthand. “Onetime I was texting my friendin the back of the class while Iwas sitting in the front. Theteacher noticed me and pro-ceeded to stop the class andjust stare at me for a coupleminutes. It was really embar-rassing. Now I’m more care-ful if I text in class.”

Cummiskey’s teacher isn’tthe only one who has beenbothered by in-class text mes-saging. Jennifer ErbCaramenico, a professor of

psychology at both Bucks andTemple, has noticed countlessstudents texting during herclasses. This is not somethingthat Caramenico particularlyenjoys.

“When you’ve got yourphone out while someone istalking, it’s a blatant disre-gard for what that person issaying,” she fumed. “At leastif you’re daydreaming youcan at least pretend likeyou’re paying attention. Butwhen you’re visibly playingwith your phone, it’s insult-ing. I really can’t stand it.”

Some professors have beenso bothered by it that theyhave decided to take a stand.Syracuse UniversityPhilosophy ProfessorLaurence Thomas has begunleaving class if he notices astudent texting while he isspeaking. It doesn’t matter if

it’s only one student in a lec-ture hall of hundreds. He hasstated that he will no longerstand for “such brazen disre-spect.” He has even gone asfar as threatening to resignfrom Syracuse altogether ifthings do not improve.

Thomas might just have togrin and bear it. It seems thattexting is a trend that is hereto stay. It’s just another wayto pass the time for most stu-dents, including psychologymajor Maureen Quinlan.

The 19-year-old Levittownresident said she sends a fewhundred texts a day, mostly“out of boredom.” However,she insists she never sendsthem during class. Thismight be a compromise allstudents will have to make ifthey want their professors tokeep their sanity.

7Monday, April 14, 2008 Student Life Special:trends

Did you see ‘JurassicPark,’ ‘Star Wars,’‘Ghostbusters,’ ‘or‘Harry Potter?’

Txt msg phenomenon: r u in2 it?

Online dating is a convenient but pricey optionBY ALEXANDRA NEU Centurion Staff

Bucks Student CoryWalters, 20, a sports manage-ment major, says it’s not easyto find dates at Bucks.

“I’ve tried to get to knowpeople on campus, but itbeing a commuter school,schedules are different andnothing ever matches up.Students just go home afterclasses and it would be mucheasier to date someone ifaway at a four-year college.”

It may be difficult to timeyour schedule around datingwhen you’re too busy withclasses, homework and work.Now, from the luxury of yourvery own home, you cansearch for love on the inter-net. Online dating hasbecome an option more col-lege students are looking at.

Mike Spatola, 22, a sportsmanagement major fromWarrington said, “I think it’sok as long as you’re not pre-tending to be something else.It’s not like you’re dating justonline, you eventually meetin person if you’re ok withthat, if not you’d be forcingyourself into an awkward sit-uation.”

So is online dating the newtrend of 2008?

Websites such as eharmo-ny.com, match.com andchemistry.com let people ofall ages create an online pro-file of themselves, includingthe proper search criteria inwhich you want to be pre-sented. These dating sitespull your attention to themwith their catchy phrases andlovey-dovey TV commercials.

Unfortunately, these sitesare not free. To apply youmust register and pay amonthly or annual fee.Chemistry.com and eharmo-ny.com are $49.95 per monthwhile match.com is $19.95 permonth. The question is, dobusy students have time orthe money to pay these fees?

Jenna Slivka, 20, an educa-tion major said, “E-harmonyand those websites I feel are abig hit with the older genera-tion, they’re expensive andweird. Teenagers don’t needto be spending their moneyon that we have more impor-tant stuff to pay for.”

Social networking websitesFacebook and Myspace arealso places where college stu-dents can meet other collegestudents, but it pays to be

cautious about who you meetthere.

Desiree Sanders, 20, psy-chology major fromLanghorne said, “Facebookand Myspace are great waysto meet and talk to peopleand they’re free, but I wouldnever date anyone off there.It pays to be cautious when somany people on these web-sites could be either lying orgiving false information.There are so many creepsanymore, you never know.”

Unlike online dating servic-es, Facebook and Myspaceare free. You can make yourinformation private so peoplesuch as “creepers” or “stalk-ers” are more easily avoided.Many people use them to findlong-lost classmates orfriends.

Justin Biacono, 19, a busi-ness major from Warringtonsaid, “ I think if you can’tsocially approach someoneyou got a problem, On theinternet I can say my name isMike and I’m 54-years-old,use someone’s picture, andlie, it can be some creepystuff.”

If you don’t want to resortto the internet and are afraidthat people you meet online

may be lying about them-selves, how else can youscore a date?

Believe it or not, there areopportunities and events atBucks where students canmeet other students and,maybe, just maybe, findsomeone to date.

Student life InformationCenter Coordinator DavidColello outlines some of theoptions available.

“Around Valentine’s Daywe had a dance last year,there was a spring fling out inthe quad on a nice day wherethere was free giveaways andgames. A lot of clubs are whatput these events together.

There are places to hangouton campus such as theFireside Lounge, cafeteria,and Solarium, which studentsput to good use.”

But Cortney Pitcher, 23, aneducation major fromLevittown, said it’s still toughto find dates at Bucks.

“There are three differentBucks campuses, the studentsgo to classes, get their stuffdone and leave to do otheractivities such as work,” shesaid.

“It’s difficult to hold con-versation with anyone letalone have a connection beingheld.

If Bucks wasn’t a commuterschool I would find it easierto make friends. When you’reaway, it’s not an option tomeet new people, it’sinevitable,” she added.

So is online dating the hottrend of 2008? Perhaps it is.For some, it has proved to bea somewhat effective way ofmeeting new people, depend-ing on the time and interestthey have in giving it a go.

But for many college stu-dents, online dating may bejust too expensive to be a real-istic option.

Did you getcaught upwith catchphrases like,‘...not!’ and‘Where’s thebeef?’

PHOTO BY JAY JONES

8 Monday, April 14, 2008

The Myspace and Facebook generationBY KYLE CRAWFORDCenturion Staff

Facebook, the newest tech-nological masterpiece tograce the world with its pres-ence is ubiquitous across notonly our nation, but theworld. It is a public way tocommunicate with friendsfrom other schools by leavinga comment on their personalweb-page.

While at work and home,Chris Pennington goes on hiscomputer and accesses dif-ferent websites, includingFacebook.

“At nights ... I would saythe first thing I really do is goon the computer and checkmy sites. I think everyone hasa series of sites they check forupdates on,” saidPennington, 20, architecturemajor from Holland.

Over the past couple years,kids, adults, teenagers,bands, movies and fan siteshave become a new onlinebreed. The days of email arebecoming obsolete as timegoes on, however a new phe-nomenon in communicationhas emerged, online socialnetworking.

Originally called TheFacebook, former Harvardstudent Mark Zuckerburgfounded it as a hobby back onFeb. 4, 2004. He kept it upduring his time at school, asan easier way for Harvardstudents to communicate,word of its existence soonspread to other colleges. Thewebsite soon became accessi-ble to anyone who is part ofmore than 30,000 colleges and

other organizations. The web-site now has more than 69million active users.

Students seem to have anobsession with this trend inpublic conversation. Thewebsite also lets you uploadpictures of yourself to yourpage, making it accessible toeveryone to see what youlook like.

Locations ranging fromwork, to home, to school oreven their cell phones. Infact, a number of studentsconfessed to checking theiraccount from school comput-ers.

Alyese Reilly, a 20-year-oldelementary education majorfrom Langhorne said joking-ly, “Isn’t that the only reasonfor the library?” Althoughjoking at the time, there was acertain amount of seriousnessto the statement.

She is not alone; many stu-dents use the library more forpersonal activities thanresearch. Walking around theupper level of the library atBucks for only a shortamount a time, numerouscomputers were plasteredwith the unmistakable deepblue top of a Facebook page.

There are so many variousreasons to check yourFacebook, called notifica-tions; these checkable itemson your account push stu-dents toward addiction.

There are many applica-tions available to add to yourpage making it more interest-ing when others are lookingat it. “I am completelyaddicted to the Lord of the

Ring’s Application onthere, I go on it each time Isign on,” said MelissaJerome, a visual arts majorfrom Newtown.

There are also privatemessages which are per-sonal e-mails to accounts,new comments on the pageitself or comments on pho-tos uploaded onto youraccount.

The mere sight of a newnotification alert is enoughfor anyone to sign ontotheir account. However,new features have emergedturning this communica-tion standard into a form ofstalking.

The new term for stalkingcalled “lurking” is unfortu-nately more common thanmost people would think.Lurking is a polite way tosay that you were staring atanother person’s photosbehind their back or lookingat the people they talk to andwhat they said to each other,without them knowing.

Even though Facebook,Myspace and other websiteslike it are extremely popularamong teenagers and youngadults, some students don’tbother with the latest crazesin internet communication.Phil Coles, 25, journalismmajor from Quakertown hasboth a Myspace and Facebookaccount, however he neveruses them. “I only started aFacebook account so I couldwatch what my girlfriendwas doing.”

This has been a socialdownfall for some, who

might have said the wrongthing in the public eye, andgot caught for it.

“I really use Facebook totalk to my friends, but I alsolurk people” said 20-year-oldShannon Ladden, a liberalarts major from Richboro. “Iget lost with time when Isearch from person to per-son.”

Many students also admit-ted to looking at people’s pic-tures that they might befriends with on Facebook buthave not talked to in years.

“When I sign on, I look atthe pictures of all the people Igraduated with that gotknocked up, but I don’t reallylurk unless something catches

my eye,” said Reilly.Whether or not it is healthy

for this website to be so pop-ular is under discussion;however, many universitiesnationwide are offering inter-net support groups for thosewho have become addicted.

Among the topics to dis-cuss, MySpace and Facebookare the top two among thelist; these sites have become astaple of American life.People sign on constantly tocheck for updates, notifica-tions or new friend requests.

Facebook seems to be hereto stay, whether or not it’sgood is currently underdebate, but a lot of peoplesure like it.

Student Life Special:trends

BY KEVIN YORKEStudent Life Editor

When you were younger,what was your favoriteshow? Might it have been theTeenage Mutant NinjaTurtles or possibly the PowerRangers? Look out - youngpeople in America are goingcrazy over a girl whose fatherwas famous for having an“Achy Breaky Heart.”

Miley Cyrus, daughter ofcountry star Billy Ray Cyrus,has made a huge impressionon the younger age groupcommonly referred to astweens. Kids in grade schoolhave taken to the 16-year-oldpop star.

The girl has her own show,her own clothing line, herown movie, multiple hitalbums and reportedly earnsaround $3.5 million a year.She has had performances onGood Morning America, TheTonight Show with Jay Lenoand The Oprah WinfreyShow. Not bad for a girl whodoesn’t even have her dri-ver’s license yet.

While millions of ‘tweens’are flocking to the HannahMontana craze, it’s different

for teenagers and college stu-dents. Back in the day, mil-lions of 18-24 year olds wereunified in their love forbands like the Beatles or bell-bottomed jeans.

But those days of a unifiedyouth culture are long gone.No one trend has reallycaught on with young adultsfor many reasons. Today’s18-24 age market tends toseeks out its own brand ofindividualism. “Everyonelikes that? Oh, well then I’llfind my own niche,” might bea typical response.

But Cyrus, otherwiseknown as Hannah Montana,has really caught on with theyounger crowd, mainly chil-dren 6-14. Montana’s publicappeal and popularity haveskyrocketed since her originalepisode aired March 24, 2006on the Disney Channel. Theseries premiere registered hitratings for Disney, as 5.4 mil-lion little ones turned on theirtelevision sets to watch thepop star with the double life.

Disney’s marketing cam-paign didn’t hurt, either.There’s the clothing line,where you can buy shirtswith Hannah’s giant face, cre-

ating a walking advertise-ment for the show. There aremultiple consumer productsthat carry the HannahMontana name, includingage-appropriate video games,Hannah Montana accessoriesand home décor. And, ofcourse, there’s the show.

The popular show is basedon the premise that Cyrus, asa teenager, lives a double life.She is able to live her normallife as a teenager but also livelavishly as a pop star, whenshe turns into her alter-ego,the blonde-haired HannahMontana.

The only people who knowof this transformation are herfriends in the show - and mil-lions of viewers at home.

The kids like the singing,dancing and the ‘tween’ com-edy. But what the parentslike is the lack of racy or inap-propriate dialog and positiveinfluence the show has, ifnothing else. Better to havethe kids watching HannahMontana then playing GrandTheft Auto, if you ask par-ents, who are happy to allowtheir kids to watch a girl whosays goofy things and is a rel-atively good role model. That

is why the Hannah Montanaand Cyrus name are so mar-ketable.

The show has turned into ahuge cash cow for Disney andCyrus. Disney has apparentlypicked a winner.

And Cyrus makes anattempt to be a role model.“I'm not letting any stupiddecisions get in my way,”said Cyrus. “I want to be arole model, letting girls knowthat they can follow theirdreams,” she said in a recenttelevision interview.

Now it looks as if the kidsthat don’t like HannahMontana are becoming theminority. Emma, a 9-year-oldin fourth grade, told theCenturion, “I was the onlygirl in my class that didn’tlike Hannah Montana. It waskind of scary.”

What’s even scarier is thepublic scrutiny that Cyrusnow faces. Of course, the lifeof a pop culture icon can getdissected and criticized foreven the smallest things.

For instance, during a scenein her movie, “HannahMontana & Miley Cyrus: Bestof Both Worlds Concert,” sheand her father forgot to buck-

le their safety belts whendriving.

This prompted a publicbacklashfrom parents whodidn’t like the disregard forsafety. Cyrus’ father made apublic apology.

Many stars with kids havemade special appearances onHannah Montana, due, inpart, to the fact that whenthey are on the show theyknow their own kids will bewatching.

Big name guests includeLarry David from “Seinfeld”and “Curb YourEnthusiasm,” former WWEwrestler and movie starDwayne “The Rock” Johnson,and Heather Locklear.

The show has begun to seepinto the public consciousness.With constant airplay and aplethora of products to fillstores, Cyrus’ stardom lookslimitless.

Kids are fine with this. It’sthe parents who hope that shestays as innocent as she looks,and doesn’t morph intoanother Britney Spears.

Maybe older teens willjump on the bandwagon inthe process.

‘Hannah Montana’ is the tween craze

STUDENTS IN THE LIBRARY CHECK OUT THEIR FAVORITE SITES

PHOTO BY KATE MCDERMOTT

9EntertainmentMonday, April 14, 2008

‘In Flames’ newest album rocksBYCHRISTOPHER JOHNSONCenturion Staff

Metal is an undeniable partof today’s music scene. Youcan hear everything from thesounds of Metallica’s “BlackAlbum” to the strains ofKillswitch Engage’s cover of“Holy Diver.”

Metal is an important genreof music and In Flames newalbum “A Sense of Purpose”is no exception. With its hard-driving guitar riffs and explo-sive drums, it’s an album anymetal head should have.

The album was releasedApril 1, and the special edi-tion of the album flew off theshelves the first day.

On top of the regular edi-tion of the album, only 1,500limited edition copies weremade, which contained a 160-minute DVD showing themaking of the album andscenes of the band members’personal lives.

The album artwork wasdone by Alex Pardee, whosework may be familiar to fansof the Used as he also did theartwork for their albums.

Lead singer AndersFriden’s dreadlocked per-

formance on this album is nodifferent than previousalbums, using his uniquevocal stylings to capture theattention of the listener. Hishigh-pitched, almost“scream-o,” vocal style makesyou hold on to every word.However, it should be notedthat the entire album is notjust him screaming, and hedoes use softer tones in theband’s longest song “TheChosen Pessimist,” which isactually a metal ballad ofsorts.

The noticeable difference,however, is the use of differ-ent reverbs and sound effectson the guitars to create aneerie sense of amusement anda strange sense of being lost.

One of the most noticeablydifferent tracks on the albumis “Alias,” which has aunique sound to it in that theopening riff sounds distinctlylike an orchestra.

The rest of the album usesthe guitars to their fullestextent whether it’s the harddriving sound of “TheMirror’s Truth” to the softballad sounds of “The ChosenPessimist.”

On top of this new album

and having the single “TheMirror’s Truth” playing onthe radio, as well as havingthe video on HeadbangersBall on MTV2, In Flames isalso on Gigatour, an alterna-tive tour to Ozzfest.

They are currently headlin-ing with metal great

Megadeth, along with fellowScandinavian band Childrenof Bodom, who also releaseda new album, “Blooddrunk”on April 7.

Both In Flames andChildren of Bodom are com-ing to the Electric Factory onApril 24.

While infinitely differentthan previous albums, “ASense of Purpose” should beadded to any Scandinavianmetal fan’s collection.

Its sound and style shouldmake any true metal fan wantto headbang.

Advertisement10 Monday, April 14, 2008

Last Thursday I thought tomyself, “has spring finallysprung?”

For those of you that some-how don’t know, lastThursday was absolutelybeautiful. It was warm, therewas a slight breeze, and therewasn’t a cloud in the sky.

I love days like that, justbeing outside in weather likethat feels great, even though Iwas at the Centurion for mostof the day doing this. Andafter the dark, cold andgloomy winter we’ve had, thesun on your skin feels like asweet tasting medicine foryour soul.

I hope it stays like this for awhile and even though I tryto think positively I can’t helpbut have the feeling that win-ter is playing a trick on me.

As much as I want to thinkspring is finally here I won-der if old man winter is justletting me get my hopes up somy fall will be that muchharder.

Every year it happens, andevery year I fall for it.

I get these little purple wildflowers in my front yardwhen it’s not warm but notfreezing, about 40 or 50degrees outside.

And when I come homefrom work or school andnotice those little patches ofcolor and I think, “Finally, itwill be warm soon.”

Those flowers come up atthe beginning of March, and Iknow full well that winterwill still be here for at leastanother month, but I tellmyself and others, “Soon,give it another week.”

Over the years that’s how ithas been. We’ll have a reallynice day, downright gor-geous, and then followed bycold miserable weather.

I could watch the weatheron the news, but all they do isstick their head out the win-dow and guess; I can do thatbut without having to watchthe 6 o’clock body count.

Whenever I’m presentedwith a day like this, I just tryto not think about the cold,depressing days still remain-ing and put it in the back ofmy head, but it’s always backthere.

I wouldn’t trade these lone,lovely days for anything; theyget me thinking about the

days only a few weeks away.Bonfires and barbeques at

night; football, paintball orhiking during the day.

The hiking is probably thebest. Nothing beats going toTyler or Five Mile Woodswith a few of my buddies andjust walking around beingoutrageous without having toworry that someone you’retrying to impress is watchingyou act like an idiot.

Wondering around, some-one would spot a deer, andthen another one, and anoth-er, and another.

Sometimes it would seemlike we stumbled right intothe middle of a herd.

Skipping stones on thecreek, knocking over a deadtree, changing the signsaround so people get lost.

I’ve had some great times.A place called Quaker Penn

Park near Tullytown is goodif you’re not so much intohiking and would just like toscrew around in a nice, peace-ful shaded area.

A word to the wise, themetal trash-can lids aroundthe park look just like giantFrisbees… and share thesame aero-dynamics.

So if you find yourselfbored the next sunny day tryheading to a park, you’d besurprised how much fun youcan have.

Op/Ed11 Monday, April 14, 2008

A Piece of my MindA weekly column by Centurion Editor Mark Bennett

A Modern Hypocrisy

A weekly column by Centurion Editor-in-Chief Laura Irwin

Oh Baby! A weekly column by CenturionManaging Editor Janine Logue

It is pretty funny but whenyou become visibly pregnantpeople, as in absolutestrangers, start to randomlyapproach you.

They touch your belly andtell you long personal storiesabout when they had theirkids or the time that their sis-ter’s-husband’s-cousin had aterrible breech labor.

I was at a large public eventover the weekend and manypeople did just that.

Everyone seems to have atheory about my pregnancy.

Again, these are absolutestrangers whom I have nevermet before in my life.

They know nothing of mylife, my husband or our med-ical histories.

Most people think my bellyis too small, others are surethat I have gained way toomuch weight. A lot of peopledeclared that I am having aboy because of my “I swal-lowed a basketball” look.

Those people are right, I amhaving a boy, but the scientistin me says that my shape hasmore to do with my genetics,diet and activity level than

the sex of my baby.Speaking of the sex of my

baby—I had a 3D ultrasoundand there is really no doubtabout it, we are definitelyhaving a boy.

Not only are we having aboy, we are having a boy whotakes after his mother.

When the ultrasound firststarted the baby stuck out histongue at us. My mother said,in a joking fashion, that he isjust like me.

I told her that, if he werereally just like me, he wouldhave given us the finger. Sureenough, about 15-minuteslater, he gave us the finger.

That’s my boy, and I evenhave it on DVD.

I am sure that the DVD willcome in handy when, inabout 13 years or so, I amexplaining to some schooladministrator that Alex hasalways had an attitude prob-lem.

Alex is the name that wehave picked for the baby. Wedon’t have a middle namequite yet, but there are a fewpossibilities on the table.

That is another thing people

do when you are pregnant;they ask you about the name.

First, there are a bunch ofquestions about why youchose that name.

Then, they give you theiropinion of the name, like youare ever going to see themagain and really care whatthey think of the name youpicked for your child.

Next, you get to hear thestory of every person theyhave even known with thatname, what the person didfor a living, whether or notthey were handsome or pret-ty, the whole nine yards.

The whole stranger dynam-ic changes when you arepregnant.

No one walks up to some-one who is not pregnant andstarts asking a bunch of per-sonal questions or tries totouch their belly.

If a stranger did that to meat any other time in my life Iwould react much differently.

Most people would proba-bly call the police.

Pregnancy is such a weirdtime in a person’s life.

Got something to say? Send a letterto the Editor at centurion@bucks.edu!

So, I have this cat...When my roommate was given Kirra as a gift, we were told,

“she is an awesome, cute female kitten. Here you go.”So little and petite and dainty.So despite the fact that I hate cats and am an avid “dog per-

son,” I went over to the dark side, I grew very much attachedto the cat.

You can say I’ve spent a lot of time with Kirra, and thatwe’ve gotten to know each other pretty well. And that basical-ly started when I realized Kirra is male.

Not to mention utterly confused by his name-to-gender situ-ation.

It would have been weird to just change his name after a fewmonths, so we kept it. My roommate and I have an unspokenbattle of how to spell his name. She always writes “Kyra”which I think is girly and stupid. I figure writing it as “Kirra”at least gives him the benefit of being named after a skate-boarding company, something slightly more emasculating.

Whatever, poor guy.Kirra is cuddly and soft. He always likes you to hold him or

pet him and is a major attention-seeker, especially from men.Whenever a man in nice cologne stops by, he forgets I’m hisbest pal and takes no time jumping up into their laps and curl-ing into a ball to fall asleep.

If you refuse to sit and let him do this, well you’ll still knowhe wants to sit on you because he’ll reach up with those tinylittle cat paws and stare at your face until you pet his furry lit-tle head.

The thing about pets is that they really don’t care aboutsocial taboos the way we do. I call his pestering moments,"Now's a good time to play with the cat."

It also helps that cats do really weird things. And as some-one who has grown up around dogs, I find their behavioramazing and entertaining to watch.

The other day I was getting dressed for class, when I heard ahuge crash followed by an “uh-oh” sounding meow.

I went to investigate, but not only could I not find a distur-bance, but my cat was MIA too.

Fifteen-minutes pass with me hunting for him, worried andshaking a bag of kitty treats, before I give up and finish gettingdressed. Once I get back to my room, I hear a long, veryunhappy, "Meeeeooooooowwwwww."

This makes me worried and I go into my living room to seemy cat on the floor, splayed out and stuck half-way at hisabdomen in a paper bag handle.

I debated whether or not to film his predicament, but Idecided against it because he was super peeved about his sit-uation. Instead, I scooped him up, carried him into my roomand took a pair of scissors to that mean-old-paper-bag-handle.

I did catch on film many of his freak-out moments of run-ning with near super-hero strength around my apartment.

The 8-foot jump into the air to slap a ceiling-hanging decora-tion.

The time he got his head stuck in a tissue box.The time he crawled up into the shade of my lamp and

popped out the top.The time he balanced on the top of a chair to catch his tail.The time he Matrix-style ran up the wall to sit on the highest

possible ledge of the window.How he always lays on the crossword puzzle I'm doing or

the book I'm reading."Hey," I think he thinks to himself, "now's a good time to

play with the cat."

PHOTO BY LAURA IRWIN

Monday, April 14, 2008

CC enturionenturion SSportsportsBucks baseball is back in full swing

BY TOM ROWANCenturion Staff

The names Utley, Rollins andHoward have become synony-mous with the PhiladelphiaPhillies. Their trials and tribula-tions have been broadcast acrossthe world. If the team fails, theseplayers failed.

Unfair?That’s the burden superstar

athletes carry. They are identi-fied by the red pinstripes andvice-versa. The pressure isalmost a requirement for a pro-fessional athlete; but what aboutthe amateurs? Are players at thecollegiate level asked to carrytheir team through thick andthin?

Here at Bucks, a two-year insti-tution, attracting star athleteswarranting that amount of atten-tion is not commonplace.However, under the supervisionof new assistant coach Gregg

Wilson, Bucks baseball has givenrise to a band of backyardbrawlers that have identifiedthemselves as the next big thing.

“I don’t see us doing worsethan first or second [in the EPCCConference]” said Wilson, “aslong as the team sticks together.”

Wilson, a former player forBucks and transfer student fromHoly Family University, has tai-lored his lineup to extract the tal-ents from his versatile playersand use them cohesively to builda winner on the geese-riddenBucks diamond.

His lineup features MarkHughes, center fielder and lead-off hitter who, just recentlyagainst the Community Collegeof Philadelphia, went 2-4 withtwo doubles. Second basemanSean Bizzle, 3-4 with a walk and3 doubles and third basemanRyan Herrmann who, accordingto Wilson, “holds down thirdbase both figuratively and liter-

ally.” His ace is left-handed pitcher

Craig Kieffer, who is 2-0 with 17strikeouts in 12 innings, and hisbig bat in the lineup is JaySechowicz, the clean-up powerhitter who, against CCP, hit a

towering 425 foot homerun.In their conference, Bucks is 2-

0 with a bright future ahead ofthem. From the looks of theirstrong makeup, the Centurionshave the ability and talent to notonly make the playoffs, but to go

as deep as their mighty bats cantake them.

The team lost 10-11 in the ninthSaturday, April 12, at Lehigh-Carbon. Their next game is homeon Tuesday, April 15.

Tennis team looks forward to new successesBY STEVEN LAWSONCenturion Staff

With a new team and newcoach, Bucks’ tennis team hopesfor great results this season.

The Bucks coed tennis teamstarted their season on March 25.

It is a season of new begin-nings.

A new head coach and ayoung team with very little expe-rience make up a team that istrying to put a winning productonto the court.

“I am very optimistic. We area very young team includingseveral players with no realexperience to speak of,” saidHead Coach Steven Coyne, whois in his first season replacing Dr.Barry Sysler after he retired atthe end of last season.

Coyne is very optimistic abouthis team’s upcoming season andalso looking forward to being thehead coach. “I am extremely

excited about this season (beingmy first) and would like to ableto be as successful as formercoach, Dr. Barry Sysler.”

Coyne is also very excited tosee how his young inexperiencedtennis players grow and hopeful-

ly succeed. With inexperiencecomes a learning curve thatsometimes may take some timeto get over, but the team is hope-ful that they can establish them-selves into formidable opponentsin the Eastern Pennsylvania

Community College Conference,where they compete.

The team has two players whoCoyne believes are vital to theirsuccess this year. “I have highexpectations for Adam D’Alonzoand Marc Krum. Both of theseyoung men played high schooltennis and they are the corner-stone of this team.”

The team will need these play-ers’ leadership to succeed thisseason en route to the PCAAState Championships at theHershey Racquet Club inHarrisburg, PA on April 26.

Other team members areKeshia Liverpool, MeganBradshaw, Jen Owens, DianaAltobelli, Steve Herold, GregAllebach and Alex Konig. Theseplayers are practicing hard andare all excited about their seasonand the chance to compete forthe titles in their various matchtypes, whether it is singles ordoubles.

Time will tell if the tennis teamcan succeed with the youngnucleus that they have to com-pete with. Coyne is very opti-mistic and excited to coach thisteam for the first time. Hopefullywe will see a state championshipfrom our Buck tennis team.

The student body should all goout and support your Bucks ten-nis men and women. Every cheerfrom the crowd can help a playerimmensely. Anyone can join thetennis team; maybe keep this inmind for next year if you are astudent looking for a club thatyou can call home. Informationabout the team, including aschedule, can be found atbucks.edu/athletics/tennis

The team’s next match is at 3p.m. this Tuesday, April 15 onthe Bucks campus, when theyface Northampton. On Saturday,April 19, they play atHarrisburg.

Coca-Cola Two-Year CollegesScholarship

One $1,000 scholarship will be awarded for the Fall 2008semester. Criteria for this scholarship is as follows:

1. U.S. Citizen or permanent resident.2. Must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 at the time

of nomination.3. Must have engaged in community service in the 12

months prior to nomination and be able to provide documenta-tion or be employed full-time or part-time.

4. Must plan to enroll in at least two (2) courses during theFall 2008 semester at a two-year degree granting institution.

5. May not be children or grandchildren of Coca-Colaemployees.

Applications are available in the Financial Aid Office. Theapplication deadline is May 9, 2008. Please pass the word

about this opportunity!

Par for the course at MastersBy The Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) TrevorImmelman gave Tiger Woods animpressive number to shoot at.

Showing that 4-under 68 in theopening round was no fluke,Immelman put up the same scoreFriday with birdies on the finaltwo holes to break a logjam atopthe leaderboard at AugustaNational.

The South African was at 8-under 136 heading to the week-end and one stroke ahead ofunheralded Brandt Snedeker,though Woods and Justin Rosehad just teed off in the secondround and several other top con-

tenders were still on the course.Immelman bounced back from

his only mistake, a bogey at thepar-3 sixth, and finished strongwith birdies at Nos. 17 and 18.

He rolled in a 15-footer on thefinal hole, appearing fully recov-ered from some scary healthissues over the past year.

Immelman lost 20 poundsbecause of a stomach parasiteafter last year's Masters, and latein the year a benign tumor wasremoved from his diaphragm.Still on the mend, he missed thecut in half his events this season,and his best showing in a stroke-play event is a tie for 40th.

"I realized that it can be taken

away from you real fast," saidImmelman, who shared the first-round lead with Rose. "I feel likeI've been loaned a talent. I'm try-ing to do as well as I can."

He took advantage of anotherwarm, sunny day — a strikingcontrast to the frigid tempera-tures and biting wind thatplagued the tournament a yearago. With the threat of rain in theforecast, Immelman knew it wasimportant to put up low num-bers while they could be had.

"The course is going to showits teeth," he said. "You've got tomake some good scores whileyou can."

PHOTO BY TOM ROWAN