Thursday, October 14, 2010La Roche College • 9000 Babcock Boulevard • Pittsburgh, PA 15237 • 412.847.2505 Vol. 15, Issue 1

This publication reflects the views, attitudes, interests, and tastes of the writers, editors and contributors to The Courier.It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the administration, faculty and staff of La Roche College.

During the week of Septem-ber 6, the Weather Channel observed a 90 degree high

temperature on that Tuesday and a high of a mere 67 degrees that Thurs-day.

The variation in temperatures was also present inside La Roche College.

Walking into the auxiliary or AB building, there was a noticeable climb in temperature that week. It was 82 degrees in room 308, while the temperature in the faculty offices was 64 degrees. That is an 18 degree difference between two places in one

Boiling pointsExtreme classroom temperatures overwhelm faculty and students

Extreme makeover: La Roche edition

La Roche College’s Cantellops Dining Hall, Redhawk Café, and John J. Wright Library

went through major renovations pri-or to the start of fall semester 2010.

While the renovations to Can-tellops Dining Hall and Redhawk

Port Authority cutbacks limit

non-drivers

by Maggie Kellybuilding in the matter of only a few minutes.

“It’s hard to teach when it’s hot, but it’s even harder to learn,” Mark Dawson, associate professor and chair of the accounting and finance department, said.

At least during the fall, students and faculty are able to brave the temperatures with jackets, sweat-ers, or even space heaters. How-ever, nothing truly compares to the oppressive heat that made class-rooms terribly uncomfortable this past summer.

Summer renovations give new look to campusby Joe Ziegler Café were separate from the Wright

Library renovation, the transfor-mations echo a similar theme: modernization.

Director of Food Services at La Roche College Jon Mussitsch said, “We added the demonstration kitchen. We’re having our final in-spection today for McCandless to

get that approved so we can start using it Monday [September 27, 2010]. Our focus was on where the students are,” Mussitsch said.

According to Mussitsch, the ma-jor goal of the renovation was to change the service lines and cre-ate a demonstration kitchen. “Now we’re not just limited to doing

wraps or omelets, and that kind of stuff. The spectrum we can do now is unlimited,” he said.

Along with new serving lines, the cafeteria added new salad and deli bars. “Now our serving style is completely self-service,” he said.

by Rebecca Jeskey

Recent cutbacks in Allegheny County’s Port Authority ser-vices have left non-drivers

with one major question: How will we get where we need to be?

According to Port Authority Spokesman Jim Ritchie, the service changed 77 bus routes and eliminat-ed 14 of them on September 5.

“With some routes, we changed the schedules. With some routes, we changed that actual routing that they followed. In some cases, we actually were able to consolidate routes – two routes that might serve the same area into one,” he said.

Ritchie added that the eliminated routes, in most cases, are now part of other itineraries. The Authority

LRC starts men’s

lacrosse teamby Brian Fischer

Coach Anthony Stamatopoulos leads the first ever La Roche men’s lacrosse team this 2010-

2011 academic school year.Lacrosse is gaining popularity in

western Pennsylvania, Director of Athletics Jim Tinkey said.

“We’ve done some research, and

On September 18, McCandless Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service conducted live fire training exercises at an abandoned house on the former West Cam-pus of La Roche College. According to Malinda Kennedy of the Fire Protection and Prevention De-partment, the “A” symbol on the house represents the side for command purposes during training.

©Michelle Bauer

©Rebecca Jeskey

see Boiling points, page 4

see Men’s lacrosse, page 5 see Port Authority, page 5

see Extreme makeover, page 5

www.larochecourier.com 2

OpinionThe La Roche Courier < October 14, 2010

Technology and your privacyModern electronic devices cross personal boundaries

By Travis Thornton

Privacy. What does that mean to you? Does your privacy only concern your thoughts? Or does it also include your actions behind

closed doors and where you go from day to day? Does your privacy have anything to do with what you view on the Internet or where you are right now? Are your personal tastes involving food, en-tertainment, and beverage choice anybody’s busi-ness?

I remember a time when I could plug my name into an electronic device only to hear that device repeat it back to me. Nowadays, I can throw my name into one of many electronic receptacles and what comes out astonishes me: email addresses, phone numbers, street names, family member names, and more—all for free.

We can only blame ourselves. Most of the available information on the World Wide Web about you and me has been put there by us, via comment boxes, surveys, status updates, and SmartPhone Applications. Since this is all readily available, here’s a taste of what you might find out about yourself:

This is just a small selection of what Spokeo.

com found on me. Try your name and see what it knows about you.

It can be entertaining discovering new things about myself, since information provided by a free Internet resource can be inaccurate. For instance, my wife would be quite interested in knowing that the Internet thinks I am single. But you are not always aware of the information being mined from your virtual activities.

Have you ever wondered why the advertisements you see on some web pages seem tailored specifically to your interests? It’s because they are.

Advertisers have a profile of you and the only thing missing is your name. A Wall Street Journal investigation into online privacy found that “children’s websites install more tracking technologies on personal computers than do the top websites aimed at adults.” Yes, ever since you were a child, cookies and other tracking technologies have been used by data-collection companies to follow your activity online and build a profile of your interests.

It’s somewhat unnerving to know that companies have purchased a list of my interests anchored to my IP address. Not to mention anyone with an Internet connection, research skills, and a credit card can find my house on a virtual whim. But this is just the icing on the cake. The cake is much, much scarier.

Advertisers and stalkers aren’t the only entities interested in you. The authorities can know where you are at any given moment if you carry

a cell phone, regardless of whether or not they have probable cause. According toWired.com, on September 7, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia decided that government agencies may obtain cell-site information about customers from mobile phone carriers without a probable-cause warrant. Have you ever heard of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution?

The loophole seems to be this: if you have given your information over to the phone company, it is no longer private. Location tracking is primarily used in order to give you the best cellular service possible, but I would gladly accept some dropped calls in order to maintain some privacy in the restroom.

You can find another area where you give up any right to privacy when you park your car on a public street. New technology employed on the streets, via the backscatter X-ray patrol van, can see inside your vehicle as it drives slowly by, just in case you store your contraband in the trunk while you are parked on Main Street.

An article in The Toronto Star includes links to photos on the website of the developers of the technology, American Science & Engineering Incorporated, and reveals that “the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Defense, NATO, the U.K. Border Agency, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi Customs and European, Middle Eastern and South American governments are customers for the $750,000 vans.”

While I am unsure about the health concerns involved in a radioactive device bombarding any strolling passersby with X-ray photons, I will certainly wear my nicest lead-woven outfits out in public if I catch this van rolling through my neighborhood.

If you have been to the airport lately, then perhaps you’ve gotten to experience the ultimate degradation of human dignity.

While I can understand the need for heightened security, where do we draw the line? The new full body scanners deployed by the Transportation Security Administration use the same technology utilized in AS&D, Inc’s van to

produce a very good outline of a person’s naked body, as well as reveal any hidden explosives or weapons.

Just ask Rolando Negrin, the TSA employee who was arrested after assaulting a co-worker. The co-worker, according to the police report on The Smoking Gun, would not stop torturing him over what was revealed in his full body image scan during training. The TSA does not save the essentially nude photos that they have taken of you. Well, at least they have said they don’t save them. If there’s one source you can count on for the whole truth, it’s a government agency.

Seeing through your clothes and your vehicle might not be what you had in mind when we were promised more transparency from the government.

Is this what the future is going to be like? What happened to the hover-cars, jetpacks, and virtual-reality? Instead we have iris scanners, random security checkpoints, and location tracking.

Perhaps this invasion of privacy would be easier for some of us to accept if we were all accustomed to being technologically tracked at a younger age. School officials in Contra Costa County, California seem to have the same idea.

An article in Tech News Daily details this school district’s use of Federal Stimulus dollars to utilize RFID (radio frequency identification) technology in order to track about 240 preschoolers “to keep the children safe and to make better use of its teachers.”

It seems as if society in general just isn’t concerned with any of this. We seem to be distracted just enough by our daily struggles and ridiculous amounts of various forms of entertainment.

This technological control grid that is being built around us reminds me of the cautionary tale of the frogs in the slow boiling pot of water.

I just hope that at least some of the frogs realize that they are being cooked before they are chipped with an RFID that may or may not have a temperature-monitoring app.

©Michelle Bauer

www.larochecourier.com 3

Sports and Outdoors

As the summer heat transitions into cooler autumn tempera-tures, many people decide to

explore the Pennsylvanian wilderness for their recreational needs. The out-doors offer people the ability to ex-perience the simple pleasures of life and to witness the spectacular sights that are hidden from urban America. From family day hikes to weeklong hunting excursions, each day offers the chance to see the beauty of nature and the experience of a wholesome atmosphere.

Though the outdoors can of-fer individuals a plethora of enjoyment and lifelong memo-ries, the wilderness is also a po-tentially dangerous atmosphere when taken lightly. Each year, careless outdoorsmen get lost or find themselves in situations that require the services of search-and-rescue teams, and occasionally these services ar-rive too late, resulting in death. This is not meant to turn peo-ple away from the wild, rather to instill a certain sense of re-

Guide for autumn hiking

A La Roche College professor discovered a prehistoric horse tooth while fishing along the

Allegheny River with his family. Edward Stankowski, an English

professor and coordinator for the La Roche Courier, is a self-professed outdoorsman and observer. It is a common occurrence for him and his family to spend the day enjoying some of nature’s finer glories.

Therefore, this past summer when the Stankowski family decided to spend a day picnicking and fish-ing in Venango County along the banks of the Allegheny River, it was just another family outing. Howev-er, on this particular day, Stankowski found something he was not expect-ing.

“I looked down and saw it in the river bank,” Stankowski said. “

Anything can happen in the Na-tional Football League, (NFL) and through three weeks of

action thus far, the league has proven just that.

There have been shockers, disap-pointments, and triumphs.

The biggest shocker of the year, so far, is the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs at 3 and 0. In the second of two opening Monday Night Foot-ball games this season, the Chiefs stunned the San Diego Chargers winning 21 – 14, featuring a team-record 94-yard punt return touch-down from rookie sensation, Dexter McCluster.

The four-time defending AFC (American Football Conference) West Champions currently lead the NFL in total offense averaging 461 yards per game. However, the Chargers must improve their special teams, eliminate mistakes, and turn on the jets soon instead of their usu-al end-of-year surge.

Offensive yards alone don’t win football games.

Defense wins football games, and in Pittsburgh, defense wins champi-onships.

Despite the return of the run

spect for the outdoors. For op-timal enjoyment and success, each individual should have the proper gear, and each trip should be thoroughly planned and mapped out before the first step is taken on the trail.

KnowledgeThe majority of failed hikes occur

due to the lack of common sense. Knowledge and common sense are essential to a successful trip. When planning a trip, a hiker should know what elements he will be facing. The weather, temperature, and terrain should all be factored in when plan-ning a hike. Furthermore, a hiker should know the total distance of the planned route and the estimated time of the hike. Before leaving to go on a hike, a smart hiker should relay this information to a family member or close friend. If unable to make it home, the loved one will be able to contact the appropriate authorities at first sign of a failed hiking trip. This information is vital for search-and-rescue personnel to locate a lost or hurt hiker in a timely fashion.

Moreover, this knowledge will allow a hiker to choose one’s gear more ap-propriately.

Gear Boots

Of all the gear needed, the most

important is the gear protecting the feet. A hiker’s feet are the only source of transportation. I strongly advise against wearing sneakers and flip-flops. These provide very little protection against ticks, snakes, and other creepy crawlies found in the woods. Furthermore, these choices

From the horse’s mouth

I thought it might be a bone or an antler.”

This was not the first discovery Stankowski has ever made. During his previous outdoor adventures, he’s also found arrow heads and fos-sils. But this discovery was of a dif-ferent sort. Robert McBridge, a bi-ology professor at La Roche college, recently identified the object to be a prehistoric horse tooth.

Stankowski said he is delighted by the latest addition to his collec-tion. He says he values each item he finds because they remind him of who he was at the time he found them. Others may consider his treasures to be junk, but Stankows-ki said he prefers to appreciate the history of an item, like a prehistoric horse tooth, that “lived and died be-fore any of us were thought of.”

Football frenzy begins

By Therese Joseph

game, a successful rotation of all three backup quarterbacks, and with Aaron Smith back on the defensive line, there is still only five syllables needed to sum up the Steelers’ suc-cess: Troy Polamalu.

Previous seasons show that with Polamalu the Steelers make the play-offs, and without him they do not.

With his start at strong safety in 2004, the Steelers went 15-1 before losing to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. In 2005, he played every game and the Steelers won the Super Bowl. He missed three games in 2006, and Pittsburgh didn’t make the play-offs.

When playing only 11 games in 2007, the team lost in the playoffs. The Steelers made history in 2008 by winning their sixth Super Bowl; Polamalu started every game that season. Last year, he only played five games before suffering two knee in-juries, and Pittsburgh again didn’t make the playoffs.

If Pittsburgh’s defense can contin-ue to cause turnovers, the run game continues to excel, and Ben revamps the passing attack when he returns, the Steelers could be looking at a seventh Super Bowl.

Senior graphic design student Andrew Graham gave his predic-tion for the season. He said, “I know that this may sound like a Pittsbur-gher speaking, but I think that the Steelers will go to the big dance this year. Show me a better defense in the NFL. Defenses win championships. End of story.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 3 – 0.Some may argue that the Steelers

By Brian Fischer

By Mike Hassett

The La Roche Courier < October 14, 2010

©Rebecca Jeskey

©Mike Hassett

see Autumn hiking, page 6

see Football frenzy, page 4

A rare discovery: Professor Edward Stankowski found a prehistoric horse tooth this summer.

www.larochecourier.com 4

Football frenzyhaven’t played any real teams yet. That all changes in week four, how-ever, when the Baltimore Ravens come to town.

After losing to the Indianapolis Colts 20 – 3 in an AFC Divisional Round last year, the Ravens were busy in the offseason, adding to their passing attack.

Signing wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Donte Stallworth in the offseason, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the beginning of the year, the Ravens look to upgrade their one weak link: their passing offense.

While being overshadowed by wide receiver star Larry Fitzgerald in Arizona, Boldin has already made an impact in Baltimore. He already has 20 receptions on the season, 287 yards, and three touchdowns.

With running back Ray Rice, a stiff defense, and now an aggressive passing attack, the Ravens could be a strong contender for the champion-ship this year.

Playing in a weak division, the San Francisco 49ers were picked to shine. The team went 8 – 8 last year, just missing the playoffs. This year, the team was predicted to win the NFC (National Football Conference) West Divisional Title and produce a strong effort in the playoffs.

Former USC college football coach Pete Carroll returns to the NFL this season as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. After Super Bowl MVP quarterback Kurt Warner re-tired last season, Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback confusion ended with the release of Matt Leinhart, and the decision to start former Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Derek Ander-son. The 2010 first-round draft pick Sam Bradford, quarterback out of Oklahoma University, begins his NFL career with the worst team in professional football, the St. Louis Rams.

In the midst of new coaches and new quarterbacks, the 49ers were almost a sure bet to easily take the NFC West this year.

They are 0 – 3. Following the team’s 31 – 10 loss

in Kansas City, head coach Mike Sin-gletary stayed up most of that night to review game film.

“I need to make a change,” Single-tary stated at a press conference.

He did just that by releasing of-fensive coordinator Jimmy Raye, and promoting quarterback coach Mike Johnson to the position.

Perhaps the most surprising sto-ries of the season thus far reside in the NFC East.

Many picked the Dallas Cowboys to go to the Super Bowl this year, and play it in their new Cowboys Sta-dium, which cost an estimated $1.3 billion to construct. It is the home of the world’s largest high-definition television screen, measuring 160 feet wide and 72 feet tall.

Someone may want to inform Cowboys owner Jerry Jones that just because you look good, doesn’t mean you play good.

The team started out 0 – 2.It does not come to a surprise to

everyone. Last year was the first time in 13

years that the Cowboys were able to win a playoff game. Now Jones wants

the team to win the Super Bowl? Re-ally?

Essentially, quarterback Tony Romo came out of nowhere to be called one of Dallas’s stars. He hasn’t done enough to be called an elite quarterback in most people’s eyes, and he may retain the overrated title until he wins a Super Bowl in Dal-las. The team has great young talent, a brand new stadium, and an excited owner.

But is that enough to win the big one?

Quarterbacks create controver-sy, and this time, it isn’t all about 40-year-old Bret Favre, who again waited to make his decision to come back to the Vikings during the pre-season. Wow, what a surprise?

No, this is about trading quarter-backs within the division, and what some may call disrespectful.

The biggest trade of the 2010 offseason came in the NFC East when Eagle’s quarterback Donovan McNabb was traded to the Washing-ton Redskins after eleven seasons.

McNabb says he’s not bitter about it, but something has to give.

Trading a key player like a quarter-back within a division means Andy Reid, Eagle’s head coach, doesn’t see McNabb has a threat. That should be all the motivation the new Redskins’ quarterback needs to be successful.

McNabb knows the Eagle’s play-book. That will be a challenge for the Eagles to overcome in week four, when McNabb faces his old team for the first time.

Reid admitted to a difficult deci-sion when he traded McNabb, but the decision is final, and it’s time to play football.

“Well, listen, I think the world of Donovan,” Reid said. “And the lega-cy that he left here will be just that, a legacy that lasts forever. He did phe-nomenal things for this organiza-tion, and that’s not forgotten. But at the same time, he wants to beat the Eagles, and we want to beat the Red-skins, so there’s that side of it that you have to deal with.”

Opting to go with fourth-year quarterback Kevin Kolb over McNabb, Reid changed quarterbacks again, deciding to start ex-convict Michael Vick in week two against the Detroit Lions.

After serving 21 months in prison and two months in home confine-ment because of involvement in il-legal dog-fighting, the Philadelphia Eagles signed Vick in 2009 as a third-string quarterback.

Now, supposed to be the backup of future Eagle’s quarterback Kolb, Vick came into the first game of the season when Kolb suffered a concus-sion and impressed the Eagles’ orga-nization.

Starting the next two weeks, Vick helped the Eagles beat the Lions 35 – 32 and the Jacksonville Jaguars 28 – 3.

Thus far, Vick has thrown for 750 yards, including six touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed for a touchdown against the Jaguars.

The Eagles are currently one game ahead of every team in the NFC East.

“In the summer, it was just the hottest I think it’s ever been up there, and that was my tenth summer here. It’s been hot before, but I never re-member it being that hot,” Dawson said.

Dawson said he encountered a situation with one of his students that was a true testament to the oppressive heat.

“Monday night, I had a class of six males, three of them were from Saudi Arabia. And the fact that those kids from Saudi Arabia said to me, ‘Man, it’s hot in here!’ I thought, you’re from Saudi Arabia, you should be comfortable. I just couldn’t get over a kid from the desert telling me how hot it was in my classroom,” he said.

Vice President for Administrative Services George Zaffuto ex-plained that this summer’s renovation projects created air conditioning issues. He said, “This was a summer with a lot of 90 degree days, which was particularly challenging this year. And we had major renovations to more than two areas. Some of that renovation had an effect also. Those two factors were probably the biggest difference over any other year.”

Certain classrooms experienced a lack of air conditioning over the sum-mer. According to the College’s HVAC technician Chris Vojtko, La Roche had to shut down the Science Center system during the John J. Wright library renovations. “They run off the same chiller,” he said.

Some summer students and faculty saw that the College made an effort to make up for the rising temperatures, but not all. As attempts to beat the heat, fans were placed in various classrooms throughout the school, and cold bev-erages that warmed up too quickly were present in many hallways.

“It was like walking behind a bus because it was just blowing hot air around,” Dawson said about the classrooms’ fans. “A nice gesture, good in-tentions, but the problem was bigger than that.”

Dawson also advised students to “dress however you want, just don’t get arrested” in order to be somewhat comfortable in class.

He also noted that a fellow faculty members took a discouraging tempera-ture reading at one point over the summer semester.

“A particular faculty member told me that, in his summer class, he took a thermometer, himself, and it was 97. I can’t verify that, but I have no reason to disbelieve him,” he said.

Zaffuto stated that the air conditioning was running by the time the aca-demic year started. He said, “We had a deadline and a goal of having all that done. The major components for when the students were back. We achieved that.”

Looking forward, regulating temperatures in the school is a balancing act that requires careful attention to the outside temperatures. Currently, accord-ing to a recent campus-wide e-mail, the College is transitioning from air con-ditioning to heat.

“There’s large areas that it can take a week for it to cool down. And then once it’s cooled down, it could take a week for it to heat back up,” Zaffuto said. “What we’ve tried to explain to people, mostly the employees over time, is that we have a system that, when the cold air is coming, the cold air is coming. So, if we’re going to get a 60 degree day, it’s not like your home where you go turn your thermostat off or down. We’re still blowing cold.”

At this point, it is not the high temperatures that are an issue, but the ex-tremely cool temperatures in the buildings. When the air conditioning is ac-tually on, higher temperatures cause the system to work overtime.

“Actually, most of these systems aren’t designed to run at an ambient above like 85. And when they do, your pressures go up, creates more friction, more heat. That’s when stuff starts to fail,” Vojtko said.

The systems are the various air and heat units used throughout the school. The classroom buildings all run off of one central unit, while the residence halls, with the exception of Bold I and II, use individual systems in every room.

Zaffuto explained that there is more than one system in the school. “There’s many systems throughout the college. There are systems that do more than one building; there are systems that only do a building. The residence halls all have individual units. It varies greatly. You would never see a [single] situa-tion in the college, that’s virtually impossible,” Zaffuto said.

In the individual classrooms, using the AB building as an example, the rooms are outfitted with units that are what Zaffuto calls, “the end result of a larger system.”

Some professors and students who noticed warmer classrooms have turned to opening windows in order to cool down. Vojtko stated that this could cause more harm than good.

“That actually throws our whole computer system off because we have room sensors. As soon as they open the windows, all the hot air is coming in, and my room sensor says its 78 degrees in there. So, I automatically think something is wrong with the unit and go down there. Nothing’s wrong with it. All the windows are open, and the air is going outside,” he said.

Vojtko added that temperatures will not be immediately comfortable when the systems change over to heat in the coming months. “It’s actually like a three or four day process to switch over. Because there’s a whole line of pro-tocol you have to go to switch over, which is universal anywhere you go,” he said.

Boiling pointscontinued Boiling points, from page 1

continued Football frenzy begins, from page 3

by Maggie Kelly

www.larochecourier.com 5

EntertainmentThe La Roche Courier < October 14, 2010

Disclaimer: Advice will not work across the board for everyone, even though it can be helpful in gaining perspective on a problem. The follow-ing is meant to entertain and inform, but not to be taken as the only solu-tion to the given problem. Talking to a counselor is something that there is no substitute for.

Dear Maggie,

I am a freshman, and this is my first semester away from home. I re-ally like La Roche so far. My classes aren’t too hard, and my roommate and I get along. As much as I like the college atmosphere, I find myself very homesick sometimes. Before I go to bed, I think about my family, my own bed in my room, and even my cat who is always around to cuddle my feet. My hometown is only about two hours away, but I do not have a car on campus, so I don’t get to go home much. I talk to my parents everyday, and they tell me to cheer up and enjoy the experience, even though they miss me very much. I don’t want to talk to my roommate about how I’m feeling because I worry he might think I’m a sissy. What can I do to make myself less homesick?Sincerely,Homesick

Dear Homesick,

Being homesick is a rather com-mon. Pyschology Professor Dr. Janet Gates said, “Believe it or not, most students feel homesick when they are away from home for the first time. You are definitely not alone in your feelings, and the fact that you have a loving family, and you miss them, makes you a healthy person, not a sissy. Gates added that it is normal to miss the things that gave you comfort.

She suggests keeping yourself busy. “Be sure to attend class, and try talking to your classmates be-tween classes, instead of texting high school friends or parents,” she said. “As your circle widens, you’ll have new experiences and activities that will make you feel happier and more a part of the community.”

Involving yourself on campus is another way to ease your homesick-ness. “Make an effort to try some-thing that interests you, and you may find a new activity and new friends to share it with. Go to the Com-munity Ministry office, and sign up for service learning activities,” Gates said. “There’s nothing like reach-ing out to other people to give you a sense of satisfaction and make you feel less lonely. Your parents will be thrilled to hear about all the new in-terests you’re developing.” Essential-ly, getting involved is key.

According to Gates, getting used to your new environment takes time.

“Above all, don’t punish yourself for feeling homesick. New experi-ences are always a little intimidating, but with some effort on your part to reach out, you’ll soon value your role in the La Roche College family,” she said.

There was a time when Halloween was consid-ered evil. This is not even

meant to allude to the holiday’s pagan origins. It just seems as if today’s children have aban-doned the need to scare or be scared on Halloween. As each year goes on, the amount of Harry Potters and princesses gradually outnumber Fran-kenstein’s monster and Count Dracula. Even more modern horror movie icons such as Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger have gone by the wayside in fa-vor of Team Edward and Team Jacob. Luckily, for those willing to appreciate them, those classic horror gems are still available in text, film, and music. Music has come a long way since Boris Keeley released his campy bubblegum pop hit

The vinyl collectiveby Kurt Hackimer

“Monster Mash” in 1962 in many facets. Since the early 1960s, music has grown pro-gressively louder, darker, and more fitting of Halloween. In celebration of such a won-derfully fiendish holiday, I have devoted this month’s edition of The Vinyl Collective to my five favorite songs that are sim-ply titled “Halloween.” Keep in mind that none of these songs are covers of the other, meaning that each song are only directly similar in title alone. Each band listed has used their musical ex-pertise to create unique tributes to All Hallow’s Eve.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - “Halloween”Originally released on Juju (1981) The first “Halloween” song I would like to introduce is by the irreverent Siouxsie Sioux and her Banshees. Rooting themselves firmly in the post-punk/New Wave scene in the

late 1970s, Siouxsie and the Banshees had already established themselves as fixtures on the UK charts when-ever their third album, Juju, was re-leased in 1981. While Juju, which was ranked by the UK’s Spin Magazine as one of the top 100 records of all time, contained many genre defining songs, the one most fit for the upcom-ing holiday season is most certainly the track titled “Halloween.” The distinctly 1980’s sound of this track may come across as a bit dated, if not slightly cheesy, to today’s listener, but the eerie, bass guitar-driven track about remembering a murdered girl is essential listening for the Hallow-een season.

Sonic Youth - “Halloween”Originally released on Bad Moon Harvest (1985) The famously artistic post-punk outfit Sonic Youth’s wonderfully sul-len and strange take on the Hallow-een season comes from their 1985 al-bum Bad Moon Harvest. The album’s theme, which marked a great stylistic change as the group removed itself from their noisy roots and focused on

see Vinyl collective, page 7

www.larochecourier.com 6

Autumn hikingprovide little ankle support, which is necessary when encountering ob-stacles on the trail, such as rocks and roots. A good pair of sturdy boots should be light-weight, waterproof, and extend above the ankles. When worn, the boot should give the ankle minimal movement.

Socks

A good pair of socks should insu-late the foot and decrease the chance of blisters. A blister on the foot is a sure way to dampen anyone’s spirits on the trail. The smart hiker will also have a spare pair in his or her back-pack in case of an emergency. Also, when choosing what socks to wear or any article of clothing, stay away from cotton! When wet, cotton ex-pedites the hypothermic process. I suggest wool; when wet, wool re-tains insulating value. Furthermore, a good sock is essential in keeping the foot dry, which is another reason to not wear cotton. Cotton retains moisture whereas wool wicks sweat away. This helps prevent athlete’s foot and other related infections.

Clothing

How you dress depends on the weather. Autumn has very unstable weather patterns and vast tempera-ture swings. Within one day, a re-gion can experience cold, frost-like weather in the morning, warm, sun-ny skies in the afternoon, and thun-derstorms riddled with lightning and hail in the evening. To combat this, a hiker needs to be prepared for all possible weather when dressing for a day on the trail.

The most practical way to do this is to dress in layers. This is done by wearing a combination of cloth-ing to control body temperature, so one doesn’t get too hot or cold. This is a well-known tactic used by avid outdoorsman and requires common sense. This method of dress can only be successful if it is in congruence

with the climate and individual hik-er. For example, I would not choose a parka if I were to hike in early Oc-tober. Also, each individual hiker is different. Some people naturally get colder more quickly and vice-ver-sa. This requires each individual to know how his or her body functions.

There are three separate catego-ries for layers: inner, middle, and outer. Each is important and acts individually and together. The inner layer consists of light material that can wick moisture away from the body. This means that the material will take the moisture, such as sweat, and pull it from the body. This is es-sential in keeping the body dry. The inner layer should fit snugly to the body to maximize wicking ability. The inner layer is not intended to in-sulate the body. UnderArmor is a good example of this.

The middle layer is next. This layer should fit looseley around the body, yet snugly enough to maintain contact with first layer. The middle layer is intended to function on two levels: First, it should be able to wick the sweat from the first layer to the outer layer; second, it needs to have insulating value. The middle layer should also be on the lighter end. Wool and fleece are my two favorite materials for this layer. When hik-ing from early to middle fall, the in-ner and middle layers should suffice; however, when faced with colder temperatures or rain, the outdoors-man will have to dress with the third layer.

The outer-layer is any layer of clothing that protects against the el-ements. The outer-layer is defined as being able to protect from wind and rain. This can be a simple rain jacket to a winter parka. During most of the fall season, a hiker will be able to get by with just a simple wind-breaker; however, towards the end of autumn, an individual will have to beef up his outer shell. On these occasions, I would suggest a Gortex jacket. Though a little pricey, this

material is sturdy and comfortable. Again, an appropriate outer-shell is contingent upon the hiker and the climate; use common sense.

Don’t forget about your extremi-ties! If you are facing colder weather, gloves and a hat should be packed. Hands will not function properly in the cold, jeopardizing comfort, and more importantly, health. Also, up to 40 percent of a person’s heat can be lost through their head. Plan on overdressing; it is better to have more than less. Having a big enough backpack is a good way to make sure you have enough space.

Backpack

When traveling off the beaten path, a smart hiker will always carry a backpack filled with basic essen-tial gear, along with food and water. Though one may never need it, this gear can save a person’s life and help them navigate back to civilization. Furthermore, you can stash clothing in your backpack when overheated. Use common sense when packing this bag; no one knows you better than yourself. Here are a few stan-dards:

-Lighter or matchesOne may need to build a fire for

warmth or lighting.

-Topographical map and com-pass

These are necessary if one is un-familiar with the area or hiking on a secluded path. Some hikers carry these at all times, even on well trav-eled trails, just in case!

-Flashlight and pocket knifeThese are both very practical and

handy to have in the woods.

-Water Hiking is a good workout, and

with any workout, hydration is of the utmost importance. Each individual should minimally carry two quarts with them. I drink a lot of water and like to carry at least a gallon, some-times more depending on the dis-

tance. It is absolutely miserable to be halfway through a hike and run out of water.

-Food/snacks Gauge on how long you will be

on the trail. Only you can determine how much food you will need. For a day trip, I like to carry at least two sandwiches and some fruit. Granola bars and trail mixes are also good snacks to have. Snacks like these will boost energy, help generate body heat, and boost spirits. Being hun-gry on the trail is not a pleasurable experience.

-Medications/prescriptionsThis is also common sense. Al-

ways carry necessary prescriptions. When in the woods, delays are com-mon, and you may not be out when you think. This also includes glass-es/contacts. If you can’t hike without them, make sure you have a spare pair in case the first get lost or dam-aged.

-ToiletriesIt is common for outdoorsmen to

use foliage when nature calls. When this happens, it is better to have toilet paper or wipes than leaves. Be smart and cleanup after yourself. Though it is a fact of life, be respectful and dig a hole and cover up your waste.

Remember, when out in the woods, act appropriately and be re-spectful. Many of Pennsylvania’s trails pass through private property. More and more of these trails are being posted due to trash and disre-spectful people.

When out in the woods, carry an extra garbage bag to not only clean your garbage, but to cleanup after others who are not good sportsmen. What you carry in, carry out; good stewardship should be ingrained into every outdoorsman.

“We also gained 20 seats. Our ca-pacity before was 180, and now we’re at 200.”

Mussitch stated that the remod-eling created a better atmosphere for the cafeteria. “We added all new lighting, the four main chandeliers you see when you first walk in. We made sure the room has a really good feel to it. It’s a very big open space,” he said. “The dining area is a lot brighter. We fixed all the lamp posts around here on the columns for accent lighting.”

Lighting was also a focus of the renovation to the Wright Library. “It was so dark in here,” LaVerne Collins, director of John J. Wright Library said. “It was hard to see the books in places. It’s really nice to have new lighting.”

Some of the lighting changes in-clude a large window parallel to the library’s entrance, recessed light-ing, and some pendant lighting above the library’s circulation desk.

The library now also includes a SMART classroom. “They turned the fine arts room into a SMART

room that can be divided [into two classrooms],” Collins said.

To accommodate the 5,000 books from the fine arts room, La Roche also added new shelves to the library’s original shelving.

“The books [in the library’s en-tire collection] were packed, and moved into Science Center class-rooms,” Collins said. “It took three days.”

“When they moved the books back, it was the reverse process,” Collins added. “Books had to be color-coded and measured [be-cause of new shelf locations].”

The College based the de-sign for the Wright Library reno-vation on a design created by La Roche College interior design ma-jors.

“It started with student presen-tations from junior interior design majors,” Collins said. “Two classes divided into two groups.”

Once the College chose one of the concepts and showed a profes-sional design firm, they had engi-neers design the new heating and

electric.The library’s new heating and

cooling systems will allow for eas-ier maintenance, according to Col-lins. “I’m hoping students enjoy the new space,” Collins said. “It’s so much cleaner and brighter”

In addition to the renovations to the library and cafeteria, Mussitsch said that SAGE, La Roche’s dining service provider, is going through extra steps to help modernize the dining facilities on campus.

“So far, we’ve done breakfast on the main line, like we’ve done in the past. That’s going to change,” Mus-sitsch said. “We’re going to start doing made-to-order breakfast out of the demonstration kitchen, once we have our final inspection. It will allow us to do fresher stuff. It’s a new opportunity for us.”

He added that the cafeteria is now equipped to offer alternatives for those suffering from Celiac Disease, also known as gluten in-tolerance.

The cafeteria now also offers eco-friendly to-go containers.

“We got eco-friendly to-go con-tainers,” Mussitsch said. “The theo-ry behind it is this: if you come in and buy the container for around five bucks, we’ll give you the to-go container. You take it, and use it to

take your food out. All we ask is that you rinse them out. You give us the dirty one, and we’ll give you a clean one. We take care of wash-ing, so we are eliminating that end of it.”

La Roche’s dining services also took a leap into popular culture with the addition of the Twitter ac-count: SageAtLaRoche.

Mussitsch said, “We don’t have nearly enough people following us yet. It could become a great tool if we got enough people following it.”

The dining services’ Twitter ac-count will provide updates on daily specials, menu choices, and already includes pictures of employees at work, according to Mussitsch.

“I’m excited. It’s a state-of-the-art dining facility now once the demo station is up and running,” Mussitsch said. “It’s an integral part of what we’re going to be doing. All of the changes that we have done so far have been great, and there has been a ton of positive feedback, and it’s only going to get better from here.”

Extreme makeovercontinued Extreme makeover, from page 1

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cut routes that had low ridership and those that were more expensive to upgrade.

“We’re trying to find ways where we might have routes that really have low ridership or duplicate other routes, and try to reallocate those assets, those buses, those drivers to others areas where we want to im-prove services because we have high-er demand,” he said.

The recent route changes are part of the Transit Development Plan, which is a program that Ritchie said started three years ago, due to guidelines imposed by state officials. “What they wanted to see us do was to improve ourselves, to improve how we operate,” he said. “They wanted us to be more efficient as a system.”

According to Ritchie, the state transformed how it funds public transit.

He stated, “All transits in Pennsyl-vania receive state money to balance their budgets. Port Authority does the same. They traded a new law called that Act 44 in 2007. That law required transit agencies to be more efficient and more productive. If you did that, you stood to receive the maximum amount of state funding available. If you didn’t do that, you risked losing money in the future, which would have hurt our ability to put out buses everyday. We took it upon ourselves to basically study our system top to bottom. It’s the first time it’s ever been done.”

He added that the transition, for most riders, is not an easy adjust-ment. “You have to get used to new schedules, new routes name, and in some cases, you have to find new place to get your bus,” he said.

The transition, for some La Roche commuter students, is a constant ad-justment. English education major Gerry O’Neil commutes from Shaler Township and reported that he sees

we found that lacrosse is something prospective students want to play at the college level,” he said.

All but three players on this year’s roster have playing experience, ac-cording to Stamatopoulos.

“I’m very proud of this incoming class. From a pure talent and depth standpoint, we really couldn’t expect or ask for more. This team has also shown the ability to excel with the intangible qualities that make a team successful.”

Freshman Shawn Teixeira came all the way from Calgary Alberta, Canada to help this first year pro-gram.

He said, “Coach Stamatopoulos got a hold of me and told me what he wanted to do with the program, and I liked what he had in mind.”

Holding 17 years of experience between box and field lacrosse, Teix-eira played for the Team Alberta Na-tional Team, since Canadian high schools don’t have field lacrosse teams.

  “Lacrosse is our nation sport.” Teixeira added. “The Iroquois nation is huge for lacrosse players. The kids are giving wooden sticks when they are born and are buried with it when they die.”

Stamatopoulos played his college ball at Ferris State University, Michi-gan and has coached ever since.

While he was head coach of Fer-

Port Authorityflaws in the Port Authority sched-ules.

“They make it very difficult to have any kind of efficiency in your schedule,” O’Neil said. “Let’s say you have a window, and your morning class is done at 11, and then you have an evening class at 6. It is pointless to try to leave and then come back.”

To O’Neil, the issue with public transportation goes beyond Port Au-thority.

“The fact is that this is America, and if you don’t drive, you don’t count,” he said. “Part of the problem is that our whole suburban lifestyle and way of thinking and outlook is predicated on everyone having an automobile.”

He added, “If you look at how suburbia gets laid out, you have this area that’s outside the city where ev-erything is separate. Well, you live here, and you work here, and you go to school over here, and all of them require that you be able to drive if you’re going to get to places on time and get things done. I have a hard time envisioning the soccer mom on the bus.”

O’Neil isn’t the only commuter student affected by public transpor-tation conflicts, according to Kelsey Landis, Student Government Asso-ciation (SGA) commuter represen-tative. Landis reported that some students have complained about the Port Authority route changes.

She said, “When I asked a com-muter of the school how the Port Authority route changes have affect-ed him, he mentioned that since his car is currently out of service, he has to rely on public transportation, and that he has to walk 30 minutes to the nearest bus stop.”

Landis explained that she has re-ceived few complaints and declined to comment on any current plans to approach transportation issues among commuters.

a more atmospheric sound, revolves around the dark side of America, featuring references to obsession, in-sanity, and cultism. Needless to say, Sonic Youth’s “Halloween” is a far cry from “Monster Mash.” It features only a single ambient guitar, along with drums, being played behind the sexy, detached, voice of bassist Kim Gordon. Sonic Youth’s “Halloween” is not about ghouls or vampires, and is certainly far removed from trick-or-treaters. Instead, the song is a dark and creepy voyage into sex and obses-sion.

The Misfits - “Halloween”Originally Released as a 7” Single called Halloween (1978) Among those familiar with punk rock, The Misfits are household names. Since The Misfits formed in 1977, the four-piece prodigal horror

punk band has evolved (or, as most in the punk rock community would argue, “devolved”) into a merchan-dising empire; slapping their Crim-son Ghost skull logo on everything from belt buckles to barstools. But no amount of goofy trinkets can make fans forget about the abrasive three-chord masterpieces that The Misfits created in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Created in a basement in Lodi, New Jersey by vocalist Glenn Dan-zig and bassist Jerry Only, The Mis-fits dedicated themselves to making violent, catchy songs that focused on their very favorite things: blood and gore. So, naturally, these punk rock-ers, costumed with their signature jet black devilock haircuts and corpse-like makeup, have quite an affinity towards All Hallow’s Eve. Among the dozens of Misfits songs that could fit into a Halloween-themed countdown list, none fit better than their 1978 single “Halloween.” Written simply

about a gang of evil children causing havoc on the devil’s holiday, The Mis-fits’ “Halloween” is a fast, angry punk rock song with vulgar lyrics and a catchy chorus; everything one could expect from The Misfits.

The Dead Kennedys - “Hal-loween”Originally released as a 7” Single called Halloween (1982) on Alterna-tive Tentacles Records. Much like The Misfits, The Dead Kennedys are a punk rock institution. Formed in San Francisco, California in 1978, The Dead Kennedys were crucial to the formation of the hard-core punk movement of the 1980s. Their “Halloween,” however, is not dark and creepy like Siouxsie’s nor is it concerned with blood and gore like The Misfits’. The Dead Kennedys’ ver-sion, released as a 7” Single in 1982 on Alternative Tentacles Records, is an energetic, catchy, and sarcastic social commentary about social conformity. Lead singer Jello Biafra’s lyrics tell the story of a weak minded individuals who is using a Halloween party as an outlet to let go and be themselves.

However, once Halloween is over, the people “run back and stuff [them]selves in rigid business costumes” and continue to force themselves to live the “normal” lives expected from them.

John Carpenter - “Hallow-een” While all of the aforementioned bands offer unique takes on the Hal-loween tradition, none capture the eerie spirit of the holiday better than ominous keyboard melody created by film director John Carpenter as the soundtrack to his legendary 1978 independent horror film Halloween. With the budget for his film stretched paper thin, Carpenter simply could not afford to hire anybody to arrange the soundtrack for his film. So Car-penter, who is not a professional mu-sician, decided to arrange the score himself. The result was a piece that was a driving, yet unsophisticated, melody done in 5/4 meter. This sim-ple score, which provides the Hal-loween with a perfectly unsettling ambiance, remains as the pinnacle of horror movie musicianship; as well as a wonderfully terrifying soundtrack for the holiday season.

Vinyl collective

ris State University and Carnegie Mellon University, both teams were ranked in the top 25 nationally. He served as director of operations and assistant coach at Robert Mor-ris University before coming to La Roche.

Stamatopoulos explained some coaching challenges. “There’s some pure scheduling and logistical chal-lenges that could very likely prove to be tougher opponents than some of the actual teams we’ll play.,” he said. “For example, we kick off our season indoors, in February, on the road, against two very good teams. Logis-tically, this is a tough task.”

Already looking ahead to next year, Stamatopoulos wants to chal-lenge his team. “Our philosophy year-in and year-out is to play the toughest national schedule that we can possibly play.”

He added, “Our schedule next year will most likely look very differ-ent than this coming season.”

Though excited about future sea-sons, Stamatopoulos says his team is ready for this season.

“How well the team does will ul-timately be determined by the indi-vidual efforts that each player puts in. We definitely have the potential to be a very good and dangerous first year program,” he said.

Men’s lacrosse

continued LRC starts men’s lacrosse team, from page 1

continued Port Authority cutbacks limit non-drivers, from page 1

continued The vinyl collective, from page 5

www.larochecourier.com 8

Is La Roche doing enough to make your college experience comfortable?

“No, because the food is expensive, and it’s un-comfortable on my wallet.”

--Brandon Holland, freshman real estate

“We should approach the students more, reach out to the students, and make them feel welcome here.”

--Rose Cheriton, information desk

“This is my first semester here. Compared to my last scool, I am having a wonderful experience. For an adult student returning to school, they’re very accomodating.”

--Susan O’Leary, junior elementary and special education

“The environment is really cool. The faculty is really warm and friendly.”

--Gladson Sam, freshman math

“I’m in classes with mostly girls, so I’m never uncomfortable.”

--Nick Merolillo, senior English language and literature

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