S’mores!

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Luke Schmidt

Yes, the first day of classes after spring break was a snow day! For this reason, I got a lot of curious looks from strangers at the grocery store as I was stocking up on graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars. The lady waiting behind me in line decided to scream, “S’MORES?!” She must have been thinking that I was crazy for purchasing all the ingredients for the ultimate summer cookout on a snowy day. Little did she know that McDaniel has an indoor fireplace that can be used for s’mores anytime of the year!

The purpose of the event: Alpha Lambda Delta First Year Honor Society social! ALD is an honor society that inducts sophomores each year who have performed exceedingly well during their freshman year at McDaniel. It is a great honor that is respected as a privilege and not a right. ALD members are required to attend one social event and one service event each semester. The s’mores social event tonight had been planned for a while, but the cold weather this week really made it a successful event – a great way to warm up by the fireplace, eat tasty snacks, and socialize with friends.

ALD has a variety of other events throughout the year which all include free food and drinks – the best perk of being in the club. Pizza and a movie is always a popular event. The most recent movie night featured Disney’s Tangled (there were a lot of laughs). I think the most notorious event is handing out candy to students who are studying in the library during finals week to encourage them to keep up the good work! The newest tradition takes place at the end of the spring semester for the seniors and involves passing down the “torch.” The three must have party snacks at this event – sparkling cider, cheese and crackers, and popsicles.

So if you want to take advantage of these opportunities when you get to McDaniel just work really hard during your freshman year and get those good grades. Then it is pizza, popsicles, and s’mores galore until you graduate!

smARTies

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Luke Schmidt

Tonight was the big unveiling for graduating studio art majors at the Honors Art Exhibition in the Rice Gallery in Peter Hall tonight. The theme: smARTies – they are clever students! I sure enjoyed the large bowl of smarties up for grabs.

Six seniors were in the spotlight and showing of their wonderful pieces of art ranging from embroidery on cotton to nails and string on wood. They included: Danika Allen, Elyse Hyle, Dara Dinisio, Claire Woolley, Caitlin Bennett, and Kira Young.

The overwhelming number of guests politely weaved in and out of corners to get their opportunity to admire each and every piece. Friends, family, professors, and President Roger Casey and his wife Robyn were all in attendance. After about half an hour of appreciating what the artists had to offer, it was time for them to speak about their exhibit individually, one by one. This created a great opportunity to make their work more comprehendible to the audience and add more depth to the focus of their exhibit. We learned about holding onto our childhood, creating multiple homes across the country, learning when to let loose and when to take control, how we seek security when fearful of attention, underestimating the complexity of high fashion and how it relates to individuals, and creating honest conversation about masturbation and sexual fantasies. The themes were definitely an interesting meld and as a result conversation ran wild all through the night.

A Proud Woman

Posted on March 26, 2013 by cwb003

This week, surprisingly, there are many women events going on. As a women’s studies minor I have had many opportunities to participate in women themed events. I performed in two shows about female sexuality. Not only that but we have a women’s issues group on campus as well.

This week there are two events going on. The first was being nominated as a phenomenal woman. Here at McDaniel every year we honor phenomenal women of the campus. Anyone can be nominated, and this year a stranger nominated me! It probably is not a stranger but it is no one who I have asked about so far.

The second exciting event is sponsored by the white house. They are hosting a women’s history event that I will be attending. I am mostly excited for this because it is being held in a historic building. I am looking forward to seeing the movie and meeting the panel of people involved in the event.

Overall it is a great end to women’s history month!

Early Spring Snow Day

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Kat

So, it was really pretty outside today; however, not with the beginnings of Spring as everyone might have expected on our first day back from Spring Break. We got a lovely snowfall throughout the day and the campus was really pretty. I went outside a few different times during the day just to enjoy the snow, especially since I know my chance for snow for a while will probably become limited soon. Nevertheless, on our first day back to classes from Spring Break, we ended up with a very nice snow day. Plus, there were a bunch of snowmen scattered around campus and lots of signs that I am not the only one who enjoyed one last chance to get a nice snowfall before we welcome spring. It is also just really pretty when the campus is covered in shiny white snow.

During the day to day, I worked on some of my homework that is due later in the week since I know how busy I am going to be with the con coming this weekend. I also have a few smaller papers coming due in the near future that I wanted to get a jump on. I did, however, also spend a large chunk of time just chilling with friends, enjoying the snow, and relaxing – what are snow days for after all. We played guild wars, watched a movie, and just chilled after dinner and normally we do not have time for that during the week.

It was a really nice day and a great chance to just enjoy being back on campus before classes will resume tomorrow morning.I will be glad to get back to classes though, I am really excited for the convention and keeping myself busy will help everything leading up to the convention go more quickly. Also, it will be nice not to worry about midterms anymore and to move into the steady flow that the second half of the semester normally takes.

McDaniel appears on Buzzfeed!

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Annie Brown

Like many, I love the internet. I love social networks, goofy videos, Tumblr, and memes of all sorts. (I even wrote a paper analyzing the rhetoric and genre of Advice Animals for my Approaches to Everyday Discourse class last semester. It was a fun experience–I got to spend gobs of time on the internet while writing a paper at the same time, without all the shame of spending all that time online while writing a paper not about the internet.)

So as an internet aficionado, I was thrilled tonight when I found out that McDaniel’s South Park and Contemporary Issues class was mentioned in an article, “15 Geeky College Courses You Won’t Believe Actually Exist,” which was published on Buzzfeed a few weeks back. The course is a sophomore interdisciplinary studies class about South Park and how the show deals with controversial social issues, and you should definitely read more about it here.

I love it when McDaniel gets national exposure, and to see the College get mentioned on a website so accessible and interesting to young people (and one that I really like) is exciting! Buzzfeed is amusing and even thought-provoking, and working there is my dream internship. Perhaps if I get to apply, I can tell them about my awesome college and our super cool South Park class.

And speaking of cool college courses, McDaniel has a lot of them. Check out our course catalog to decide for yourself which ones are the coolest.

Prepping for the Real World

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Kaitlyn Vadenais

Although real world preparation is not something that I have just started, it is something that I am getting more serious about as the end of the school year, and my undergraduate career, approaches.

Thankfully, McDaniel does a great job of preparing their students for life after college. The first step is gaining experience while in school. This can be achieved through the multiple opportunities for community service and leadership on campus. It can also happen by landing an internship and gaining experience related to your major.

The Center for Opportunity and Experience (CEO) can not only get you connected with local businesses for jobs and internships, but they also hold job and internship fairs each semester and bring recruiters to campus. There will also be a variety of networking events to meet alumni and students.

The CEO can also help with everything in between. They will help you out with interview preparation, giving helpful pointers and practicing with you. They will also read over and review your resume and work with you individually to put your best foot forward.

The best part? If you are unemployed anywhere down the line after graduation, you can always go back and McDaniel will help you out. This definitely gives me a positive feeling for my future.

Local lunches

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Amber Slater

It seems, when catching up with friends, that protocol is to go out to lunch. I did a lot of catching up over the break, so I bought a fair amount of lunches. I’m also a local student, so I was reminded how many good places to eat are right in town! Here are a few that are on Main Street, within walking distance from campus:

J Café

What I like most about going here is the element of comfort. The walls are a bright green and the benches are strewn with pillows. The menu offers a great variety of fare, and I’m always impressed with the freshness of the food. If you go here, it is absolutely necessary that you get a cupcake. Some of their flavors include chocolate coconut, key lime pie, and sweet potato with a caramel icing.

Raphael’s

While you should be prepared to pay a little more here, the food is excellent and I’ve always had great service. One of my favorite options is to do tapas here with friends. When the weather is nice outside, they have a back deck where you can eat. Dining out there always makes me feel like I’m at the beach!

Thai Classic

You’re guaranteed to get delicious food fast when you go to here. The staff is incredibly friendly and attentive. Though I’m obsessed with their vegetable Pad Thai, everyone I’ve ever gone with has loved their choices as well. I also recommend getting a Thai iced tea if you pop in.

Besides these, Main Street offers a ton of great dining locations worth checking out! Eating out is a great way to shake up your normal dining routine and explore town if you’re not from the area.

Free Press archives online

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Amber Slater

For my job at the Writing Center I am putting together a presentation about our student newspaper, The Free Press, as a promotional tool to recruit new staff members. My boss made the suggestion that part of this presentation should be a section highlighting past staff members who have gone on to have prominent careers in journalism.

My immediate thought was to scour the Internet and see if Wendy Ruderman, alum of ’91 and Pulitzer Prize winner, had ever written for the Free Press. Ruderman came to McDaniel to speak when I was a freshman, and she told us both about her time at McDaniel (well, then Western Maryland) and her award-winning investigative series “Tainted Justice.” She is currently working on a book about the process of writing the series.

My search immediately led me to the archives of the Free Press, which are compiled on our library’s website. I found that in 1990 Ruderman was a staff reporter, and some additional browsing led me to a profile about her after she wrote a play which was performed at school. In the profile, she said that after her graduation she wanted to be a writer in San Francisco. “I am willing to write for a tampon box,” she said. “You have to start somewhere.”

Since then, I’ve been thinking about the contexts in which the archives can be useful to students. For other Free Press writers, it would be interesting to browse them in order to recycle story ideas. In a broader sense, anyone interested in notable alums could see if anything was written about or by them when they attended McDaniel. Finally, it’s hilarious just to browse through old editions and look at the ridiculous mullets and perms everyone had. Our archives give us a sense of what McDaniel was like for students before us, a sense of history that is not often tangible.

What to do on a snow day?

Posted on March 25, 2013 by cwb003

There are two routes one can take when deciding what to do with a snow day. This is the second snow day given this year, but the first one with enough snow to have all the snow day options. In past years snow has cancelled an entire week of class. Snow days are one thing that does not have to end in college. So what are the two options? Indoor day or outdoor day.

I am a fan of indoor day. One can catch up on sleep, homework, reading, really anything. It is also the perfect time to make a cup of hot chocolate and look out the window. Usually outside I see the types of people who are having what I would call an outdoor snow day.

At McDaniel a snow day outdoors can be fun. Not only is there plenty of space for building snowmen and snow forts, but we have a golf course that has great hills for sledding. It is not unusual to see people trudging past, wet from sledding and running about in the storm. From my window I enjoy watching people having a good time with my steaming mugs of cocoa and tea.

If it sounds pretty much like a snow day at home, that’s because it is. Only instead of being snowed in with your family, it’s with all of your friends! Definitely not a bad way to come back from spring break.

Relax with Sherlock….and do lots of homework

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Mara Seibert

Since my brief trip to NYC was my real vacation during spring break, now I’m back home and getting down to business on what seems to be increasingly large amounts of homework. Having a break really is wonderful though- it’s nice simply getting proper amounts of sleep each night for example and taking some time to hang out with my family and friends that are also home on break.

One of my family’s characteristic relaxing activities is just reading a good book, and I’ll admit I’m a complete nerd when it comes to reading. I love reading new books and old favorites, and every single member of my family, including myself has the habit of getting so absorbed in what we’re reading that hours fly by before we realize it! Since I’ve been home my family got the second Sherlock Holmes movie to watch, which made me realize that I’ve never actually read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic books. I felt a sudden burst of inspiration to read Sherlock Holmes. Handily, his complete works of Sherlock Holmes were sitting in a thick book on our bookshelf. Why not? This was my relaxing at home part- getting to read some Sherlock Holmes mysteries on how he first came to meet Doctor Watson, who is continuously amazing by his friend’s powers of deduction. They’re fun, relatively short stories to read, and it’s a classic I never got around to.

Mixed in to those food breaks of reading however, was a lot of solid work on preparing my Honors Colloquium presentation and French compositions. Honors Colloquium is essentially a class you take spring semester of senior year if you’re in the honors program and everyone presents on one significant work (like their senior seminar or honors thesis) or academic idea they’ve found really interesting and learn in college. I had a hard time choosing what to present on since my honors translation for French isn’t done yet, and ended up with some Communication classes I’ve taken.

I didn’t have time to do a second major or minor in communication, but every class I’ve taken has fascinated me and challenged what I thought I knew about people, the media and the world. What better thing to tell my friends about? So I created a jazzy powerpoint, and jumped into a lot of old Comm. notes to figure out what I wanted to talk about and how. The idea I ran with was essentially: Global News and Edited Reality, how both we, and especially those powers who choose and create our news define our reality and often how we see the world and events going on in it. Hopefully my class will enjoy it and learn something! We’re also making them chocolate-chip cookies so they’ll be happy either way….

Stories from the Hill

Monthly Archives: March 2013