Forfeiting Treasures to the Fox
By Michelle Liu and Nelly Adamietz
The current state of the economy is the inspiration behind the new exhibit “The Pawn Shop: Fox Proprietors,” at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Hampden Gallery.
Their most ambitious project yet scale-wise, artists Tim Winn and Zehra Khan combined their artistic and imaginative skills to create a pawn shop storefront out of paper and wood and used the process of photocopy enlargement to create shop inventory from their small-scale pen and ink drawings.
The pawn shop features drawings of all kinds of objects including appliances, guns, tools, musical instruments and bicycles, essentially for sale to the public.
So far only a sailboat has been sold, but Anne LaPrade Seuthe, the director of Hampden and Central Galleries at UMass, was pleasantly amused.
“[The exhibit] is interactive in that sense. It has an interactive component in which the people can participate,” she said.
There are three separate rooms of the exhibit: one is of all the pawn shop objects being sold; another has a sign over it—“Secret Tunnel Employees only”—and contains a table full of money; and the last has what appears to be a still picture of the two fox proprietors (actually the artists in costume) but then becomes a slow-moving picture of the animals jumping and throwing money in the “employee only” room.
“In fairytales, foxes are usually portrayed as sneaky, cunning, and sly. I think it conveys something about the proprietors. They are witty, but there’s danger underneath. There’s something about the casualness that belies the seriousness,” LaPrade Seuthe said.
“[Kahn] often transforms human characters into animals,” she added. “She likes how the animal characters can be used to activate the environment.”
“The crafty, cunning, buy-and-sell nature of the pawn broker seemed a perfect fit for Zehra's foxes,” Winn explained in an email interview.
Winn said the basic idea of the exhibit formed because of a trip to New Orleans. Artists Winn and Khan found themselves in an antique gun store and from there, decided to “focus on a retail environment, where objects, not people or places, but things, are always the main focus,” said Winn. “We wondered what would happen when a piece of art is dominated by objects, if objects were the main protagonists to the narrative.”
The setting of a pawn shop was chosen because of the economic hardship the United States is presently facing.
“[The current economy] provided perfect timing to make the retail environment a more desperate, unhappy one: so we chose the pawn shop,” Winn said.
“There’s an element of desperation about the exhibit. Everything is falling apart and it represents a desperate time,” LaPrade Seuthe said. “It’s a fitting exhibit of times in relationship to the present economy. It puts people on edge and creates a dialogue with your own life.”
The exhibit raises some very important and sometimes tough questions, said LaPrade Seuthe.
“I don’t think the artists are trying to send out one specific question, but many: what is the value of your possessions? What happens when you find yourself in a desperate situation? Do your values change when there is no one around and you can just take money?” LaPrade Seuthe said.
Viewers of the exhibit were impressed and quietly deciphering what the exhibit meant to them.
“It seems like a cartoon world combined with something sinister. It’s interesting and it’s art that has a sort of edge to it,” said Thom Konan, a publicist for the Hampden Gallery.
“It’s very interactive and lets people interpret it the way they want to,” Eleanor Wong, a publicist for the Hampden Gallery, added. “I get a sense of the foxes and think, so this is what they do on their own time: throw money around.”
Artists Winn and Khan are based out of Provincetown, Mass. They both earned their Master of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.
In the past two years they have worked together, Winn and Khan have exhibited at the Cape Cod Community College, Worcester State College, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Gallery Ehva in Provincetown.
The exhibit will be on display until October 6th.
A Visit from Brendan Hall
By Nelly Adamietz
Brendan Hall, a high school sports reporter and editor for ESPNBoston.com, feels like he has the best of both worlds.
Combining his love for writing with his love for sports, the Westminster, Mass. native joined ESPNBoston.com in May 2010 after working with The Boston Globe as a freelancer for four years.
A 2007 University of Massachusetts Amherst alumnus, Hall found a knack in writing when he started writing for The Massachusetts Daily Collegian as a freshman. Hall received more experience writing and interning for various newspapers such as the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and the Florida Times-Union that prepared him for his experiences at the Boston Globe and eventually, ESPNBoston.com.
Hall has had the chance to report on big-name teams such as the Boston Bruins and the Boston Red Socks, but one of his most prized stories was written about a high school senior, Mike Slonina who shot a basketball for 24 hours straight to raise money for brain cancer research.
Hall stayed awake for the 24 hour period with the senior. “I felt like it meant a lot to the kid,” he said. The story landed itself on the front page of Yahoo! Sports and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback.
In sharing his advice in being successful in the journalism field, Hall explained that he has a hard time explaining his methods, but “details illuminate a story…they give it that life.” He advised to “stay out of the story” as much as possible to avoid inserting personal opinions and assumptions that would conflict with the unbiased voice that a story should have.
Working in the Boston area that is always flooded with reporters in the locker rooms, Hall has found that establishing a relationship with the players is important in terms of comfort and cooperation. “If you get to know these guys pretty well, they’ll work with you,” he said.
All in all, Hall emphasized the importance of experience that will help a journalist find their own and be able to “add their own flair.” Networking is another key aspect for a journalist. “You never know who you’re going to meet or who you’re going to need,” he said.
Hall also records podcasts for ESPNBoston.com with Scott Barboza but for the future, is looking to write stories once a month, giving a voice to the stories of those like Mike Slonina. “This is what I think sports writing is about—the human condition.”
Summer Moukalled, coordinator of the Boltwood Project
By Nelly Adamietz
Equality and social justice are Summer Moukalled’s strongest held beliefs that have both inspired and paved the way for her future and for the future of others.
As coordinator for the Boltwood Project, a community service learning course that works with the mentally and physically disabled offered by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Moukalled feels that the equality of the people in a community is first achieved by serving that community.
“I serve people in order to make equality more accessible for all people and to make the world a more just place,” she said.
An East Bridgewater, Mass. native, Moukalled has always been involved in community service. Ranked eighth in her class at East Bridgewater High School, she became the president of the Key Club her junior year, serving her community in many aspects, from delivering meals to those in need with Meals on Wheels, organizing book and clothing drives, and even volunteering to be an elf in East Bridgewater’s annual Christmas Parade .
Also volunteering to spend time with nursing home residents, Moukalled found a friend in an Alzheimer patient, who each time they met, would discuss sports, and would often ask her the same question, “What sports do you play?” Each time Moukalled would answer the same, “Cross country, tennis and basketball.”
“Whenever I told him I was a basketball player, his face would light up,” Moukalled said. “He loved basketball…I can still remember how it happy it made him.”
Moukalled knew she wanted to say immersed in her passion for service after high school. She started her involvement with the Boltwood Project as a freshman at UMass Amherst and then became the supervisor of The Scouts, a sub-group of the Boltwood Project.
The Scouts is a higher functioning group of adults who are part of a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop, whose volunteers like Moukalled help them with scouting skills. The Scouts also participate in physical activities such as relay racing, stretching, and kickball, as well as arts and crafts.
Now a 21-year-old senior, the beamish curly-haired brunette eventually moved up the ladder in becoming coordinator of the Boltwood Project. Not only has this project sharpened her communication, leadership and management skills, but it has introduced her to a population of people she had little experience working with before.
“It has shown me that despite one's disability, he or she is still a person and is equal to everyone else,” said Moukalled
As one of the leaders for this project, Moukalled tries to instill one of her strongest beliefs—equality, into the organization.
“Everyone, regardless of [their] position in the organization, is an equal,” she said. “We especially try to instill this thought in our volunteers and try to select people into the organization who already believe this.”
One of the ways the Boltwood Project tries to impart the equality of all people is through a series of seminars that allow guest speakers with disabilities to talk about its effect on their lives. Professionals that work with the disabled are also invited to speak. Both professionals and those affected incorporate how the disabled are “people, just like everyone else,” Moukalled said. “It’s truly inspiring.”
One particular seminar reenacts how residents at the Belchertown State School in Belchertown, Mass. were inhumanely treated before its closing in 1992. The purpose of this reenactment is to show how the disabled were mistreated in the past, as well as society’s progression since.
Moukalled not only believes in representing the Boltwood Project as an organization of equality through the seminars, but on an everyday basis. Volunteers, including Moukalled avoid using the “R” word—“retard.” Those part of the organization are also encouraged to confront people, whether it be friends, family, employees, faculty, or even strangers, about its use.
When Moukalled started her involvement the Boltwood Project, she pledged to erase the word from her vocabulary. She wore a rubber-band around her wrist that she or a friend would snap if she said the “R” word. Moukalled quickly broke the habit.
Moukalled believes the bonds she had made with the participants and the other volunteers of the project have affected her the most.
“Being able to go week to week building upon friendships, seeing smiling faces of participants who look forward most to Boltwood each week, and sharing those experience with people who also truly believe in the cause is the most rewarding part of being a member of this organization,” she said.
A life-defining moment for Moukalled was when a participant from The Scouts wanted to make a Valentine’s Day card for her. As the night came to a close, the participant had not yet finished the card and was too embarrassed to present the card unfinished. One of the other volunteers assured the participant that Moukalled would still appreciate the card.
He shyly came over to me and gave me the card, wished me a Happy Valentine’s Day, and told me with a huge smile on his face that he was so glad I come to Boltwood each week,” Moukalled said. “It was a moment I will always treasure. I still have his card sitting in my memory box.”
Five or ten years down the road, Moukalled sees herself continuing her passion for service in medical school or completing her residency for medical school. She hopes to uses her passions for equality and social justice in becoming a pediatrician and working in an underprivileged community.
Fall Flees Amherst
By Nelly Adamietz and Michelle Liu
Autumn is a celebrated season of colors, flavors and fun, especially in the Pioneer Valley. But now, as the fall weather fades, students are left wondering where the season went so soon.
Amherst and other areas in the Northeast were pummeled by the Halloween weekend Nor’easter, leaving students and community members alike questioning the early arrival of winter weather.
From apple and pumpkin picking to haunted hayrides and hikes, University of Massachusetts Amherst students usually have plenty of options to embrace the season, but this year power outages due to the heavy snowfall left a damper on the Halloween weekend spirit.
Off-campus UMass senior, Sara Robinson planned to visit the popular haunted hayride at McCray’s Farm in South Hadley to celebrate the Halloween weekend, but her plans were ruined with the closing of the farm and the conditions and aftermath of the storm.
Not only did the storm prevent her from enjoying one of the area’s fall activities, but she was also without power in her Salem Place apartment.
“Luckily where I live we only lost power for 15 hours at most but during that time it was extremely difficult,” Robinson said.
Robinson and her two roommates were stranded without basic necessities. The absence of warm water left them with frigid showers to match the outside conditions and her electric stove prevented them from cooking a festive fall meal. The three students ended up braving the harsh weather conditions to attempt to buy food.
“Amherst was an absolute disaster. The supermarket was completely drained of food, traffic lights weren't working, and trees and power lines were down everywhere,” she said.
However, before the storm hit, Ari Hansen, a junior at UMass luckily got to experience one of the area’s festive fall offerings.
Hansen recently went to Pine Hill Orchards in Colrain, Mass., a 75 acre farm run by David Shearer, after hearing positive feedback from co-workers about the orchards.
“It was adorable and very interactive,” Hansen said. “We hopped on a tractor that brought us to the trees and picked apples.”
Hansen described her time at the farm as “more an experience than just apple picking.” In addition to exploring the orchards, she ate at a little café on the premises and discovered a small bakery and a stand with local beef for sale.
Sarah Wasnewsky, a sophomore at UMass, had similar experiences at Tougas Farm in Attleboro, Mass. Despite tripping over apples in the orchard, she described her favorite part as “drinking apple cider, eating cider donuts and baking apple crisp” upon her return home.
Another popular site with students for fall leisure is the Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation in South Deerfield, Mass. The view on top of the mountain offers a panoramic view of the Connecticut River, the Pioneer Valley, and the Pelham and Berkshire Hills.
Jessie Purton, a visitor to the western Mass. area, pondered on her recent experience.
“It made me reflect on my place in the world being up so high and looking down,” Purton said.
Cyndi and Johnny Barrett, 2008 graduates of UMass, visited Amherst to reminisce about their college years. That included a trip to Mount Sugarloaf.
“We live in the Boston area and this is the first time we’ve hiked in a long time,” Cyndi said. “The last time we went was when we were at UMass.”
“I like the fresh air because in Cambridge it’s congested,” Johnny said. “We got to get out of the city and see nature.”
But instead of hiking up a mountain covered with crunchy leaves to see a fall foliage view, hikers would have to brave a slippery slope of snow at Mount Sugarloaf during Halloween weekend and the days that followed. At the top they would face a winter wonderland.
According to Masslive.com, some communities experienced up to 27 inches of snow. “Snow-encrusted tree branches, many still bearing leaves, were blamed for bringing down utility wires throughout the region.”
Masslive.com also reported that Gov. Deval L. Patrick declared a state of emergency as numerous communities throughout Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire and Franklin counties were left powerless.
With the state of emergency, students focus shifted from celebrating the season to finding a warm shower, a place to sleep and a powered building to complete academic assignments.
Now as the snow melts and power is restored more than a week later, this infamous October snowstorm will be remembered as a trick, not a treat.
Cross with Caution
By Michelle Liu
It’s 11 a.m. in Amherst, marking the end of yet another big lecture class. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, students are streaming out of Mahar Auditorium, which has a seating capacity of over 400.
Meanwhile, classes all around campus are being let out, some small classrooms and others large lecture halls like Mahar. A few thousand of those students are headed in the same direction toward the Southwest Residential Area. That means crossing Massachusetts Avenue, a busy four-lane road divided by an island.
UMass Deputy Chief Patrick Archbald said that this street is one of the more problematic streets on campus due to the sheer volume of pedestrians and traffic.
“There were so many complaints, issues and near misses at the crosswalk from Southwest to the academic area that we instituted crossing guards about five years ago,” Archbald said.
Accidents, including fatalities, which although less common, have happened on campus throughout the years. From the years 1998 through 2008, there were a total of nine accidents involving pedestrians in crosswalks. Of those nine accidents, two were fatalities.
On average, the UMass police stop 7,000 cars a year in traffic stops.
“We’re serious about people slowing down,” Archbald said. “There are so many crosswalks on campus; there are 14 crosswalks just on North Pleasant Street so people can’t get up to much speed, which is just what we want. We keep the speed limit to 30 miles per hour.”
Allison Araujo, a sophomore at UMass, is both a driver and a pedestrian on campus.
“When I’m driving, I don’t want to stop for people in the crosswalk. When I’m walking, I’ll just walk into the crosswalk without looking and I expect people to stop,” she said. “In each case, I do want to be the dominant person and that’s probably what a lot of students think.”
Because of the high concern of students crossing safely across the street, Archbald said that over the past few years, the university has spent a fair amount of time and effort to try and make the campus safe.
In addition to implementing crossing guards on Massachusetts Avenue, every crosswalk has a triangle sign that says to stop. There are barrels in the road, warning of fines. Crosswalks are well-marked and painted over every year and streets are well-lit with lamp posts.
Despite these improvements, crosswalk safety is still a high concern. Crossing the street is becoming more and more dangerous because of the lack of attention by students and drivers and the hazards are getting worse.
Bill Curtain, one of the five crossing guards, has been working on Massachusetts Avenue for the past five years and sees the dangers every day.
“Students either have their ears plugged in with headphones or they’re texting. They’re going too fast. It’s the same thing with the cars. I’ve seen people drive 60 miles per hour down this road. Sometimes they’re texting at the same time,” Curtain said. “I feel like I have a bullseye on my back.”
According to Curtain, cell phones are the root of the problem concerning crosswalk safety. He believes they should be “banned from campus” because students are so focused on what the text message says instead of paying attention to the road or traffic conditions.
“These students are texting, crossing the road, right in front of cars and the cars end up slamming on their brakes, literally screeching to a stop,” he said. “I see drivers, too, who are stopped because of my stop sign but when I let them go, they don’t move because they’re sitting there, texting.”
Archbald agrees cell phones are a problem, but the solution isn’t that easy.
“Cell phones and iPod easily distract young people," he said.
But they are not the only things drawing students’ attention away from where they’re going.
“There are students wearing big floppy hats. As the weather gets colder, students wear sweatshirts with their hood on so their face is covered and they don’t look before crossing,” Archbald said. “The key really is to just pay attention.”
But Curtain knows firsthand that many students simply don’t pay any consideration to the street or drivers.
“In the morning and during breaks, I see kids just crossing the street without looking. They just walk into the street and expect the drivers to stop,” said Curtain.
Archbald said that this is definitely a common problem on campus amongst students.
“There’s this thinking that the crosswalk is their haven, they own the road and they’re going to stop for me no matter what. We all see it, the pedestrian that doesn’t even look, doesn’t break a stride,” Archbald said. “Thankfully 99.9 percent of the time, the car does stop but the pedestrian has the responsibility to stop and look.”
Due to this mindset, it is considered a main contributor to misses and near-accidents by the UMass police.
“We’re not seeing a lot of fatalities or a lot of injuries. But we’re getting a lot of calls from people who tell us about a car that almost hit them,” Archabald said.
Road rage is also a factor in accidents. Curtain said the students’ attitude towards him is becoming a problem.
“Some students swear at me,” he said. “They don’t like being told to stop and wait, so they’ll just run right into traffic. I’ll yell at them but they simply ignore me or start swearing. They don’t realize the risks they’re taking.”
Archbald said that road rage is also a problem with drivers.
“Mass Ave. has the most intense traffic on campus. It got to the point that cars have to back up for some time because there are just massive amounts of people going to and from classes,” he said. “Motorists would start honking their horn, putting pressure on the people in the front to go when it may not be safe to go, so they gun it and go around people when students are still crossing. That’s when you start having accidents.”
This is especially true around this time of year.
“Right after Daylight Savings Time, we get a lot more reports on accidents and near-accidents because the sun is setting earlier now, around 4 p.m. and students are still walking from classes,” said Archbald. “The sun is right in your face and drivers can’t see anything. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention and slow down.”
Ariel Chin, a junior at UMass, said crossing the street can be frightening because it is not always possible to see if a car is slowing down or not.
“The area connecting Central to the core of campus on North Pleasant Street can be really scary," Chin said, referring to the residential area known as Central which is where the Franklin Dining Common and dormitories like Brooks, Baker, and Brett are.
"People drive so fast on that road, especially later at night because there are fewer students around,” Chin said.
“I’ve come close to getting hit quite often,” Curtain said. “It can be really scary out there
