the merciad, march 21, 2001

8/6/2019 The Merciad, March 21, 2001

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PAGE 2 THEMERCIAD MARCH 21, 2001

CAMPUS NEWS

Annie Sitter/Merciad photographer

Shuttle service in* full swingBy Billy ByrnesContributing writer

The shuttle serviceis underwayand it was veryapparent last weekend w hen St. Patrick's Dayhit the Hurst.

Saturday night the shuttle was packed allnight long taking people downtown and bring-ing them back to campus.4The shuttle has been running since the week-end before spring break. Each weekend thatithas been in operation, more and more studentshave taken advantage of the service.

Freshmenhave been using it the most. Manyof them are taking it to MillcreekMall andTinseltown.-Late at night, the upperc lass men seem to bedeciding not todrive downtown, but take theshuttle serviceinstead, i

The shuttle service is free to all Mercyhurststudents.

Mercyhurst Student Government asks stu-dents to bear with them while they work toget the schedule running a little smoother. Itis expected to take a few m ore weekends be-fore the schedule is perfected.

MSG suggests that students check the signsposted m the Student Union, Baldwin andMcAuley Halls for more information regard-ing the schedule.

Pick-up areas include McAuley Hall, MaryD'Angelo Performing Arts Center anda loca-tion near the middle of Briggs Avenue.

The shuttle service runs on Fridays from 7p.m. until 2:30 a.m., Saturdays from 2 p.m.until 2: IS a.m. and Sunday afternoons from 1p.m. to 6 p.m. Students will soon receive aprinted schedule.

MS G is interested in hearing student opin-ions on the new service. Students should con-tact an MSG representative with any com-ments or suggestions.

Political activism on campus

Students form Mercyhurstchapter of Young DemocratsSome Me rcyhurst students are making an ef-fort to become more politically active. With12 charter members,Mercyhurst's chapter ofYoung Democrats is working to become arecognized organization on campus.

The gro up held its first meeting March 14.Officers were elected and ideas for establish-ing bylaws were discussed.

Sophomore Morgan Tracey was electedpresident of Young Democrats . BrianaStratman, also a sophomore, will serve asvice president. The position of secretary willbe filled by sophomore Andrea Bauer. Dr.Alice Edwards will be the faculty adviser forthe group.

"This has been an idea of mine since lastyear," said sophomoreC. J. Kilroy who servesas the Northwest Region Director for Penn-sylvania Young Democrats. As NorthwestRegion Director,Kilroy oversees chapters ofYoung Demo crats in 15 counties of WesternPennsylvania.

Although still in the organizational stages,

the group has already started to get involvedwith a few local political projects.

On Saturday, March 17, sophomoresBrianna Stratman and Morgan Tracey, alongwith junior Sara Seidle volunteered with avoter registration drive at Sullivan's Pub insupport of a local Democratic candidate formayor, Rick Filippi.

Members of Young Democrats plan to at-tend the annual Pennsylvania Young Demo-crats leadership conference in Pittsburgh, Paat the end of April.

Kilroy said,'This event will provide the op-portunity for Mercyhurst Young Democratsto meet other members from around the state."She added that making these connections canbe useful for ideas and help with biggerevents, especially for a group like M ercyhurstthat's just starting out

In the next few weeks, the group plans tobegin actively recruiting more students to getinvolved. Anyone interested in more infor-mation can contact one of the officers.

ComputerCenterioffers adviceon how?to deal! with virusesOver the past few months, theMercyhurstCollege campus has experienced a numberof computer virus problems. Some werese -rious enough to cause the loss of personal fileswhile others caused merely a day of incon-venience.

According to JimLassmah, PC supportspecialist, many of those problems could have)been avoided by having an antivirus programinstalled on a computer, keeping that programupdated and upgrad ed with the latest anti-vi-rus data files and by following a few com-mon sense steps in regard to the Internet.

Lassman said that the campus has aMcAfee site license for Mercyhurst faculty

and administrative computers. Students areadvised that they should acquire some sort ofvirus scanning program for their own personalsystems.

Two of the most comm on ways a virus caninfect a computer are through Internete-mai 1downloads and from files on peripheral de-vices, like floppy disks or zip disks. A littlecommon sense in handling these processeswill go a long way toward avoiding the in-convenience and/or a real catastrophe, ac-cording to Lassman.

When downloading files from the Internetto a personal computer, the creators of thoseprograms are given access to the computer.The computer should, therefore, be set to au-

tomatical ly virus scan any files that areopened.

Lassman warns to be careful of free soft-ware or files. Poorly written software canmimic virus programs. The dominant sourceof virus infection, thee-mail browser, cre-ates an open door to the outside world.

E-mail attachm ents can contain potential vi-rus programs that can severely disable yourcomputer aswell. Do not open attachmentsfrom unfamiliarsources.Even be cautious ofattachments from friends, especially thosewith no personal messages or an unfamiliarstyle of message writing. A virus can hijack afriend's e-mail address book and send itself

to everyone listed. JIf in doubt about an attachment,e-mail the

i ,"

| sender for confirmation before opening thefile. Also, close the preview pane on your e-mail window. This window automaticallyopens the e-mail. ?

Virus software should be set to scan all filesyou try to open. If it does not automaticallyscan floppy/zip type disks, virus scan thefloppy or zip disk prior to trying to load anyfiles.

Use a password to protect any shared filesor folders over the network be cause virus cre-ators can utilize any opening to penetrate yourcomputer system.

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MARCH21. 2001 THE MERC1AD PAGE 3

&

Dancers bring it on in OhioBy Robin Carpen terMerciad writer

Amid the snow of March9,22 Mercyhurstdancers left forthe American CollegedanceFestival in Bowling Green, Ohio. Accompa-nied byMark Santillanoand Mark Schneider,two of the dance faculty,the dancers enjoyedthree days filled w ith dance classes, perfor-mances and a special dinner for those in at-tendance.

Classes ranged from ballet, modern, hip-hop and partnering. Santillano was featuredin the faculty and guest artist concert.

An exciting aspect of the whole weekendincluded a chance for three studentsto show-case their own choreography. Freshman

Kelsey Pohm performed a solo in the infor-mal concert called, "Bed of Lies" with musicby Matchbox 20. Laura Moore presented,"Letting Go,** whic h prem ieredat Mercyhurstin the February production of R aw Edges III.Katie Mitchell showcased a piece titled"Gone"to the Cult's "Painted on My H eart."

Both Moore and Mitchell had the opportu-nity for their choreography tobe adjudicatedby a panel of professional dancers and danceeducators. &

The festival gave the dancers fromMercyhurstthe chanceto network with otherdancers and more importantly, the chance toshow other schools the talent of theMercyhurst dance department.

ENTERTAINMENT

Dinner and amovieNunziCheck, please

By Rochelle CurranMerciad writer

The year's Oscar AwardswinnersBy Phil PirrelloMovie critic

And the award for Best Picture goes toX ."Almost Famous"! Sadly, thatis the one thingwe won't be hearing March25, Oscar nightWith that said, we also won't be hea ring, orseeing some other great films take home thegolden statue. U nfortunatelythis year's Acad-emyAwards did not have too many great filmsto choose from. |

Sure, "Gladiator" reigned supreme with12nominations. But isit wormy of being placedon the same pedestal with past Oscar win-

ners "Titanic"and "American Beauty" Thisyear 's best picture race is one of the tightestones in recent memories,with 4 of the 5 nomi-nated films all havinga clear shot at victory.

jHere is a breakdown ofthe main categoriesand who will win O scar night.

Best supporting actress:Kate,Hudson isthe clear front runner with her portrayal ofPennyLane in Cameron Crowe's "AlmostFa-mous." Fellow nominee FrancesMcDormandis nominated for the samefilm and the samecategoryas Hudson,so they couldcancel eachother out 1 f that happens, the Oscar may goto actress MariciaGay Harden for "Pollock."

Will Win: Hudson. Oscar already dissed"Famous" once,it won't makethe same mis-take again. J

Best supporting actor: This race mirrorsthatof ast year's,when the new and oldguardof Hollywood acto rs, specificallyTom Cruiseand Michael Caine, squared off forthe statue.This year, it is Albert Finney for "ErinBrocovich" versus Benicio Del Toro fortra ffi c." Joaquin Phoenix from "Gladiator"should savor the flavor ofhis possible onlyOscar nod. Jeff Bridg es' aggressive turn asthe President in"The Contender" istoo left-wing for Academy voters^ Same forWillemDafoe of "Shadow of the Vam pire."

Will Win: Del Toro. His performance iswhat made the ensemble cast in "Trafficshine. But Hollywood could honor the oldguard and give the award to Finney.

Best Actress: Since "Erin Brockovich"opened last year, Oscarwas already attached

to its star, Julia Roberts. The award will be aperfectcap for a great lasttwo years of beingAmerica's Sweetheart."The Conten der's" Joan Allen, "Chocolat's"

Juliette Binoche and "RequiemFor*aDream's" EllenBurstyn all gave great per-formances. Roberts' only clear competitionis LauraLinney for "You Can CountOn Me."

Will Win: Thenight, and Oscar, belong toRoberts.Best acto r: The race belongsto Tom Hanks("Cast Away"), Russell Crowe("Gladiator")and Ed H arris ("Pollack").

Russell Crowe's second nomination in a

row shows thatthe Academy knows hot tal-Jent when they see it, but are still trying tomake up for passing up histurn in "The In-sider." Harris has been denied the win for"Truman Show" and "Apollo 13." Crowecould see this Best Actorgo to anotherOscar*jwinner, as it did last year.

Hanks made talking to a volleyball for al-most an hour lookhard, while showing howeasy this soonto be three-time-Oscar w inneris at being oneof the century's best talents.

Will Win: Hanks won't find himselfstranded at the podium come Oscar night.

J ), Best^ picture and director: How"Chocolat" managed to get nominated theworld will never know. The m agnificentachievement director Steven Soderburgh ac-complished, earning two best director andpicture nominations for "Traffic" and "Erin

Brockovich," may be what cancels out hischances to win.

It is a dead heat between Ridley Scott's |"Gladiator" and AngLee's "Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon." Both are epicfilms with amajestic heart at their cores. This race is tooclose to call. The popular box office Romanepic may thrash the gravity defying w arriorsof'Tiger." ).: ShouldWin: Lee and "Tiger" shouldroarto victory. But Scottand "Gladiator" may riseto the podium, too. ^ j

2000 infilm may have been medicore, butOscar night will be anything but.

On anygiven night, one is sureto find the park-ing lot ofNunzi's filledwith cars. This restau-rant is popular with Erie locals because ofitsfabulous Italian food.I went there forthe firsttime four years ago and I've gone regularlysince. The atmosphereis homey and the pricesI are more than reasonable. The w aitresses tend

to be a bit rough aroundthe edges,but thequal-ity of the food more than makes up for it.You get a salad and an endless supply of

homemade bread with each meal. The tomatosauce is spectacular. Dishes range from tradi-tional American favorites and classic Italiandishes such as ravioli and lasagna. Myper-sonal favoriteis eggplant parmesan.I will nothesitateto say thatNunzi's eggplant parmesanis one of the best in Erie. Partof the restaurantis a bar, so drinks are available.

I strongly recommendNunzi's if you arelooking for a place that is close to home, hasgreat food anda comfortable setting.Nunzi'sis locatedon 2330 B. 38th St., justa shdrt drivefrom campus.No reservations are required, butthey are accepted. Credit cards are also ac-cepted.

MIND THIS

$5 COVER

KWCS MfK CLUI1926 PEACH STREET

A NON-ALC0H0UCEVENT1 7 * UP WITHPRO PERU).

3000 Miles toGraceland' *j

Ticket stubBy Phil PirrelloMovie critic

If KevinCostner's movies keep earning lessthan I do, "The Postman 's" next line reading Iwill be over theP.A. at a Hardee's drive |thru. After watching "3000 M iles toGraceland," a pompous, mean- spiritedwannabe Sam Peckinpah ilm, hope Costnerlikes fries withthat,, }

The plot: Director/co-writerDemianLichtenstein has made a convoluted Rubixcube of action movie cliches and pyrotech-nics, based around a clever set-up involving 1Elvis impersonating casino robbers.

Michael (Kurt Russell) is fresh out ofjailand is ready to rob a Vegas casino with fel-low "Elvis," Murphy (Costner). Murphy is 1one of wo illegitimate sonsthe King had andhe wants payment for his denied lineage.

This bank robbing bunch includes Chris-tian Slater, David Arquette andBokeem IWashington.

I Aftera squib filled, shotgun blast bonanza-of-a-heist, Murphy double crosses bis crew,killing some ofthem.Michael survives andteams up withCybil (portrayed with surpris-ing range by CourtneyCox). She is a wannabecon artist who risks her and her son 's life totake back the m oney from Murphy. After12

double crosses too many, Michaelconfronts IMurphy in a purposeless shoot out in the^obligatory abandoned warehouse.> . . .

Th e good: I laughed when thisfilm was at-tempting to be serious and I was straight-faced I

1when itwas tryingto be funny. The bestgagscome from Kevin Pollakand Thomas HadenChurch'sU,S. Marshall characters. Their ban-ter and chemistry is so fresh, they deserve abetter movie. Russell only shows craft whenonscreen withCox. Shesteals the show, prov-ing that she has thechops to be a leading lady,just not in this movie. \

The b ad; Lichtenstein relics too heavilyon jittery camera shots and new ways to ex-plode things to make me want to care abouthis story, which seems to not care aboutit-self. '- $* I

I* 1 didn'tcare for the charactersbecause they

are all bad guys with varying degrees of bad-ness. Costner's psycho is great to watch atfirst, buthis constantmisuse of the "F-word"and various stupid homicides wear thin. Andyou know it is bad when your conclusion re-lies on the presence of Howie Long and Ice-T (!) shooting aimlessly at good guys whiletrying to look cool. ^. ^

Looking cool is what "3000 Miles" fails todo. The story is there for a greatmovie. Unfortunately, this isn'tit. At the 120-minute mark, "3000Miles to Graceland" stillhas a long way to go. After watching this,the 5 miledrive home rom Tinseltown neverseemed so long, but at least it was more en-tertaining.

.. i

rThe^Street Beat!MERCYWORLDT w o Family House " movie in the PAC March21 at 8 p.m.

AROUND TOWNGreg Carey- comedian at Jr.'s Last Laugh March 22-24 at 7:30 p.m.

Blaziif Fiddles andDanu in the PAC March 22 at 8 p.m.Moon Boot Lover play at Forward Hall March 23 at 8:30 p.m.

Studentvs. Faculty - basketball game in the MAC March23 from 7-10 p.m.

Diversity101 Dance - inthe Union March 2410pm

Dan cin' and Rom anci n' Erie Philharmonic playing at Warner Theatre March 24 at 8 p.m.

'"110 in the Shade" play at Erie Playhouse March 23 and 24 at8 p.m.


4/8

PAGE 4 THE ME ROAD MARCH 21.2001

OPINIONTHE GOOD . . .

The weatherhas finally warmedup, although itmay be brief and peopleare takingadvantage of the sun and melting snow by spending more time outside. fe,

Admissions has a new sign on theoutside directoryso thatvisitors to the campus can locatethe office instead of w ondering around the campus aimlessly.1

Congratulations tothe winnerof the Outcast game,Rocco Telli, who won the tripto theBahamas. Itwas one of the coolestthing thathas happenedon campus and many studentswere excited aboutthe activity and attendedthe event Thanks toSAC for the activity.

THE B A D . . . The potholes aroundcampus and on Briggs and Lewis Avenues are unbelievable. Some

of themare big enoughto swallowa smallcar. Students w ithcars hope that once the winterweather andthe snow lets up that the problemwill be corrected. *

Some people still seem to have a problem understanding one way signs. Cars continu-ously drive the wrong way up the entrance ramp on Briggs Avenue. This isa potentially

dangerous situation forpeople drivingthe rightway and the people walkingto and fromclasses. f

THE UG LY. . . 1 Most students know wherethe trash cans are inthe Union.So why is it that some

students justtoss their mail onthe floor by their mailboxif they don'twant it? The same istrue for he printers andthe copy machines in the library. With allthe talk of recycling oncampus, students should try harderto get the paperin the garbage.

THE CONTROVERSIAL Several studentshave reported thaton Monday nightthey were visitedat their apartments

and met with search warrants by Mercyhurst police and safety officers, anofficer of the D A'soffice and a college Area Director. The search warrantswere servedon the charges of drugpossession.The students were askedto sign voluntary searchwarrants but were then informedthat the officers had othersearch warrantsthat would allow them entryeven if they didn't signthe voluntary w arrant. After having their apartments searched several students got in troublefor having alcohol and candles.One student claimed that when the people entered the apart-ment, everythingwas searched,including closets, kitchen cabinets anditems kept in the medi-cine cabinet. Both the chief of police and safety, Ken Sidun and the deanof residence life,Laura Zirkle were not available for commentas they are on vacation thisweek. The Merciadpromises toloolrintothis^tory rurther^totd'wfn bring the futfstoiyin next week*$ issue.'

Surprise 9maintenanceOne student-whodoesn't likethe surprise

Maybeit's happenedto you or tosomeone youknow. You're in your apartment or dorm andmaintenance unexpectedlywalks in your doorafter a knock you didn 't hear.',, A

Invasion of privacy? Trylack of security.Bynow, you're probably thinkingI mustbe con-stantly paranoid andthe most insecure personon campus.

Yeah, I don 't feel comfortable walking homelate at nightall the way to my apartment, but Icertainlyam not OK w ith maintenance beingable to unlock my door and waltz in. WhatifI'm in the middleof changing or just got outof theshower?.? **

Last year, one of my friends was sick in bed

and asleep when maintenance came intoherroom to prepare the w indowsfor winter. Shewoke up to the noise, alarmed thatthis strangerwas in her room.Onceshe stirred, the mainte-

nanceguy looked down atthe bed and he wasstartledto find someonein the room. They bothjumped, alarmedto find someone elsein theroom.

While maintenance might have been sur-prised to find someone asleepin the bed, myfriend was annoyed thathe had the powerandauthorityto let himselfinto her room.

Shouldn't weall feel safein whatwe believeto be isolated communitywe call Mercy world?I don't wantto criticize maintenance for barg-ing in, but sometimes I feel that's exactlywhat's happening. Last timeI called mainte-nance abouta problem, they said they wouldcome withinthe hour. Four hourslater, I calledmaintenance, wonderingwhere they were andwhy I wastedmy time. My point is that whenthey finally arrived (the following morning)Iwasn't expecting them. * i

Mississippi:the sometime stateIn a class freshmenyear, a professor was talk-ing about Mississippi, the state.I raised myhand and informedhim in front of the wholeclass that Mississippiwas not a state. Per-plexed, he wanted to know whatit was ex-actlythat I thought Mississippi was, to whichI replied, a city and ariver. $ I

I am not telling you this story becauseI

wantto embarrass myself andI certainlydonot want people to pointat me in passingandwhisperto their friends about how stupidImust be.

I am not stupid.I get good gradesand Iwork hard. I am telling you this story becauseI want topoint out that somewherealong theline thereis apparentlya lack of proper edu-cation.

My case is extreme,I am sure.I am surethatthere are not many other peopleout therewho make such insane comments, but it justshows thatI was not properly taught aboutthe 50 states. And it doesn 't stop there.I

Last termI took a class called GlobalIs*sues.The first half of the classwas about theenvironment and global warming. Thefirsthalf was really interestingand I acquireda

lot of information thatI would nothave onmyown.The second half of the class focused on war.

Afterthe first discussion on the to pic I wenthome and thought about whatI knew aboutthe wars that ournations fought. I knew a lot about the Revolutionary Warand the CivilWar, becausewe studied themfor endless hours in nigh schoolI knew someinformation aboutthe Gulf War becauseit

Famous last words

Heather Cvitkovic

was the only war, so far, that was fought inmy lifetime. AndI knew general and basicknowledge about boththe World Wars andthe VietnamWar. I knew aboutthe Germans,Pearl Harbor andthe Holocaust, who it wasthat we fought n Vietnam. Thiswas wheremy knowledge ended andmy questions be-gan. *

My knowledgeon World War I and II wasso general that any information that we gotin class andhad to do for homework,I de-voured. And that is unusualfor me becauseI do not really like historyand I am not apolitically motivated person. J

This was different This wasa war thatshaped our nation Most importantly to me,it was a war thatmy grandfather hadfoughtin. The fact thatI knew so little was upset-ting to me.

As littleas I knew aboutWorld War II wasnothing comparedto how little I knew aboutVietnam.What I did know I had learned frommovies and that infamous Billy Joel song,"Goodnight Saigon."

I was not prepared forthe vast amount ofinformation that was outthere about this war,information thatI had no idea about I be-came very interested in the VietnamWar, not

because I like war or this particularwar, butbecauseI wanted to know about the historyof my country,a history lesson that seemedto have passed m e by.

I couldgo on listingthe historical facts thatI know nothing about:the KoreanWar,Watergateand so on. But I think that it isenoughto say thatI knewso very little about

two major w ars that our country fought.Hi rememberhigh school, it wasn't that longago.And I can honestlytell youmat very littleattentionwas focusedon the World Wars andI never learned anything about the VietnamWar in high school. We focusedall of ourtime on the beginningof the United Statesand the foundations of our nation.We didn'tpay much attentionto the way that our na-tion haschanged, almost asif we wanted tostay in the glorious past and ignore the hor-rific future.

I thank my professorof global issues, BobSturm, He opened my eyes toa whole otherworldof history. He madeit interestingandrelated itto my life now, rather than just forcefeeding me the facts and figures.He mademe wantID learn about what had happenedin our past He intriguedme enough thatIdid independent researchand reading. In col-lege that canbe considered quite a feat

I know that there really isn't much we cando now, thoseof you who are in the sameboat, exceptto take it upon ourselvesto learnabout our nation's historyand not justthe nicestuff, but the badstuff, too. And I hope thatthe education majorsout there willtry oneday to changethis sad stateof affairs.

Left to write

Kristin Purdy

I was in my bedroom, the TV wason andthe hair dryerwas going. Withall that noise,Ididn't hearthe initial knocks at my front dooruntil I shut off my hair dryer and heard themknockingon my bedroom door.They let them-selves in and needless to say, I was a littlealarmand agitatedto find them alreadyin my

apartmentA simple solution wouldbe to have a chainon thedoor. A chain is relatively inexpensiveand would also makeme feel more secure.Hopefully, this would prevent students frombeing caught off-guard when maintenance sud-denly appears in your apartmentor room with-out warning.

There have been reports earlierin the yearabout break-insin some of the apartmentsaround campus. Whilea chain on the doorwon't help whenyou are not in your apart-ment, it would add an extra senseof securityat nightand when youare alone.

If thecollege provided chainson doors,anyunwanted guests, like maintenance, wouldhave to wait untilI came to the door and letthem in myself. I appreciate the job that main-tenanceis doing and most ofthe time they re-spond quickly toa complaint However, Idonot appreciateor tolerate someonebeing ableto walk into my apartment whileI'm therewithoutme initially knowingit. 4 *

iETTER fTO

THEfEDITORRegarding last week's opinion piece Th eUgly,"in which the author asked, "doesanyone question;,., the relevanceof lastyear's senior gift,the patio outsidetheUnionT^While the patio is smallerandtherefore less functional thanthe plans

fewould haveled one to believe,this year'ssenior/gift is completely useless.Thefront gatesand buildings behind them arebeautiful and imposing.Why?spoil theimpression thus created with that unat-tractive rock? Infact, when I first heard

4 'ft &r

about it| I thought it was a joke. Where Icome from,in an era of glacial endmo-raines, rocksare ubiquitous. Neithercrops nor greenlawns grow on rocky soil,and in the processof landscaping,manypeople pay to have-iboulders:removedfrom their property.My parentshave suf-ficient rocksof an appropriate sizetofurnish several small colleges or perhapsevents large university. (Peopleare al-ways asking whatF11 do with my anthro-pologydegreeperhaps I could go intothe rack business!) To me, the rock seems

like a bad purchase.*Imagine the futuremeetings of Mercyhurst alumni."Myclass built the Munson Plaza$MWellmine boughta rock." Why can't the se-niors contributeideas as well as money?I would donateif I thought the gift wasworthyof my backing. For instance,wehave a lovely library and it's practicallyempty^Why not estabhsha book-buyingfond? 'i

Can Matras


5/8

MARCH 21. 2001 TH E MERCIAD PAGE 5

O V M P U Sj Q U E S T I O N fWhatdo you thinktaboutjjthe

newfcoffeehouse in?the library?WW

fl think it is a nice idea. However, Ifeel the ability to use thecampus cardwould benefit both students and thecoffeehouse." Nicole Hess, junior

pt fs great. It's convenient.It will 3?serve a good purpose during finals." Jerry Duncan,junior^

fix's nice to be able to drink indielibrary, like Barnes& Noble." Greg B eato, senior

71 guess it's af good idea^cspeciaUy for latenight studying." |Janet Reisner, junior*;

"I thiik it's acool ideaas longas you can drinkin the library.'^ ? i %

Jeff Oros, senior

T MIt's a great additionto campus life.p>aul Buhholz,sophomoreT

1 like the atmosphere. It's more personal thanthe LakerInnfbut it is not as quiet as the li-brary! LauraJunker,sophomore

*

"I like thatyou are ableto apply towork hereand be onpayroll^tt's also a different atmo-sphere fromthe general library.** Amy Patton, junior

*T4.Irs convenient thatyou can studyand grab acup of coffee. It saves time, instead of goingto the union." Sarah Foster, junior

"I think that it is a goodidea.fWe have beenhearing about it for some time now andft isnice to finally have i t "Megan Cvitkovic*] sophmore 4fc>y j

isL

"I think it's a goodidea.I only wish that theyhad gotten it beforeI went to Ireland. Oh well,I willuse it next year." Maura Donahue, sophomore

f^1 think it's a good idea. I hopestudents take full advantageof t.I wish it hadn't taken so long toget one " j& Andrew Ci s, senior

"We think it'snice to have a jjlacein the libraryittMgo and have aquick break from Studying." Kerri Bernas,

Lauren Collins, freshmen

OPINION

Do yourselfHot or not?Megan Cvitkovic

So winter seemsto be endlessly draggingon (andon) with no reliefin sight

But let us think positively for a minute andstep outside of our wardrobe depression!.* Surely,most justdread having to look inthe closet any-more and see the same old same boring clothesthat we have been wearing all winter long andforsome ofus for many winters (sigh), but therecan be a cure!y

The idea is to think spring and then make it!Clothes thatis, not spring, although we wouldall like the power to make the snow go away.By making your own clothes, I propose usingthoseold| boring and slightly unappealing lastseason items that are just taking upspace in yourcloset and transforming them into somethingspectacular! Ithonestly just takesa little cuttingand trimming here and there!

A simple,fun and totally trendy piece to startwith is the ever popular distressed jean skirtmade from a pair of oldjeans.And while somehave tried andfailed, to make theskirt, it is rela-tively simple butdoes requirethe use of a sew-ing machine (grandma's always have old oneslayingabout).Most Fashion Merchandising ma-jors know how to make the skirts,so just askthem to show youand once you know how youwill be making them forall your friends.

There aretons of otherlittle numbers you cancreate foryourself, like signaturedistressed tees.Take an old,kind a cool t-shirt and go EdwardScissorhands on it until you getthat just rightlook! Make capris out of those pants that arejust; a ittle-too short for you anymore.OP threequarterlength shirtsout of boringlong sleeves.

Do whatever, be creative,go crazy,get zany!Just think spring and take that mind frame oyour clothing.Then when spring finally emerges(hopefully soon) you can debut yourone-of-akind clothing!

Zack VenableHeather CvitkovicSara SeidleKristin PurdyAdam DuSholeAnnie DeMeoAnnie SitterLeslieEcbanStacy NorrisMike TannerPhilPirreUo ]

Editor in Chief& Advertising ManagerExecutive & Administrative EditorManagingNews EditorArts & Entertainment EditorFeatures EditorSports EditorPhotography Editor JCopy EditorRegional Exchange EditorLocal Exchange EditorMovie Critic

Staff Writers |Kate Cywinski Stacy Norris

MeganCvitkovic

The Merciad is the student-produced newspaper of Mercyhurst College. Itis published through out the year with the exception of mid-term and fina lweeks. Office at314 Main. Telephone 824-2376. Fax 824-3249.E-mail.

The M erciad welcomes letters to theeditor. All letters must be signed,but your name can be withheld on request under certain conditions. Lettersare due on the Monday before publication and should be n o longer than500 wo rds. All letters should be submittedto Box 485.

Boycotting Kraft macaroni and cheeseOr is it Kraftcheeseand macaroni?What's'the point of signing the Infact KraftBoycott? What differenece will my signaturemake?

These aresome of the questions being posedby folks wh en offeredthe opportunity to joinInfact's Kraft boycott Infact is a Boston-based public interest group.

The company has two earlier successfulcampaigns that are noteworthy to remem ber:the Nestles' Boycott (1977-84), which got thelife-threatening market of infant formula ineconomically poor countries reform ed; andthe GE Boycott (1986-93), which got the in-dustry leader General Electric out of nuclearweapons business.

Infact even won the1992 Academy Awardfor their documentary film, "DeadlyDecep-tion: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and

Our Environment"Infact's long-term goal is to work towardcreating a wo rld that affirmslife for all peopleas they try to meet their basic human needsfor food, water, shelter and good health.

Their current focus is the tobacco industryand its advertising and promotion that appealto children and young people.

It's a fact that tobacco giant, Philip Morris,has been restricted inits use of the Joe Camelcharacter that attracted so many teenagers totobacco addiction in theU.S.It continues to

Questioning faithSr. Geri Rosinski

promote its Marlboro Man brandtransnationally. This is currently the w orld'sleading cigarette brand.

As it enters new markets in Asia and East-!em Europe, youth smoking rates dramaticallyincrease andso wil 1 the ilinesses that inevita-bly accompany such trends.

One solution is the economic pressure of aconsumer boycott that impacts PhilipMor-ris. This time Infact's approach is an orga-nized consumer boycott of Kraft Foods,

which is a subsidary of Philip Morris.Its earlier successful campa igns, proved thepower of a consumer boycott. It can workagain. Every person's consumer choicescount! *=

Do you want to make a difference in thehealth of young people around our planet?Do you believe that one person (namelyyou)can make a difference? Then prove your de-sire to make this world a better placeby sign-ing on todayto Infact's Kraftboycott! Formsare available in Campus Ministry.
http://mercyhurst.edu/http://mercyhurst.edu/


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PAGE 6 TH E MERCIAD MARCH 21, 2001

FEATURES

When in RomeBy:Annie SitterMerciad writer

After a grueling week of finals 14 students,myself included, and two professors leftdreary Erie to spend eight days touring theruins and wonders of Ancient Rome. Dr.Randall Howarth and Dr. Allan Belovarocwere the 'bosses' of the trip; from bookingour reservationsto later actingas ourown per-sonal tour guide. This was convenient sinceAncient Rome is Dr. Howarth's area of ex-pertise.

Landing around 8 a.m. Rome time, after anighton a planewhere most of us didn't sleepfor morethan 45 minutes,we began our springbreak. Just outside our first hotel, the CasaKolbe, stood the Forum of the Romans, agreat place where many ideas and politicswere tossedaround. Downthe path,we stoodin the Coliseum and peered into the old un-derground tunnelswhere the gladiators onceroamed before quite possibly meeting theirdeath on the Coliseum floor above.

Sunday brought about a trip to theCapitoline Museum, some shopping, somelunchand then our firstbus trip to the VaticanCity. This was my personal favorite stop,especially after my near fainting experiencewalking into St. Peter's Basilica.

I have visited a few churches in the past

but the Vatican is truly one that, when youwalk in, you feel 'something'. Some of uswere even lucky to have the chance to climbup into the dome of the Basilica.iWc wereable to peerinto the nave where Mass wasbeing held (it wasa Sunday) and even able tocontinue up the windy, narrowing stairwell

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the merciad, march 21, 2001

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