"Go to class, stay for dinner. "
Food, second maybe to sex, is one of the most important things that enters a student's mind on a daily basis.
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Food, second maybe to sex, is one of the most important things that enters a student's mind on a daily basis.
Combine 200,000 gallons of water from Lake LaSalle, a dirt-filled field and 128 teams of volleyball players, and the muddy mayhem of Oozfest is created.
Some say a picture is worth a thousand words. However, sometimes a picture can leave you speechless.
Eighteen people will die today waiting for an organ transplant. University at Buffalo students enrolled in the COM 441 Advanced Public Relations course are hosting a special carnival-themed event in the Student Union Wednesday, in hopes of changing this number. "The goal is twofold," said Karen Swierski, the course professor and executive director of the Western New York Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. "The first is to create more awareness of the need for organ and tissue donation, and the second is to sign people up for the NYS Organ and Tissue Donation Registry." The students from the COM 441 class will be partnering with Upstate New York Transplant Services today in hosting the carnival, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Swierski, who has taught COM 441 for the past seven years, believes that having her students organize a real public relations campaign, where they have an actual budget, deadlines and a clearly defined goal, teaches them in a way that supersedes what they could learn in the classroom. "[The students] get to experience what working in public relations in ‘the real world' is like," Swierski said. "It helps them define their career objectives more clearly." Danielle Keller, a Donate Life Education Coordinator for UNYTS, discussed with the students the importance of their assistance to her organization. "I would like to encourage them to think about the waiting list that has over 106,000 people who need an organ," Keller said. "And on the blood side, knowing that one out three people will need a blood transfusion at some point in their life reminds us all that blood donation is crucial." Keller also introduced the class to her daughter, Lexi, a young lady who was given a second chance at life because of an organ donation. Lexi was born with a congenital heart defect and has struggled with this life threatening condition since she was born. Lexi was in a medically induced coma when her family finally got the news that they had been praying for – the doctors had found her a heart. She received the heart transplant in 2004, and woke up from her coma less than two weeks before her fifth birthday. Now in fifth grade at St. Peter's Lutheran School in Sanborn, Lexi is a happy, healthy and vibrant example of the power of organ donation. Inspired by stories about the thousands of people who are waiting for a transplant, Swierski's students used their promotional skills learned in class to increase awareness about a worthwhile cause, and they have found that the experience has been truly rewarding. Rebecca Hoy, a member of the campaign's special events team, encourages all students to stop by the carnival. "It's a fun day we have planned for everyone," Hoy said. "But while you're having fun, you can also help a good cause. Who doesn't love a bouncy castle? The COM 441 course will try to persuade students to commit to organ donation through their slogan, "If I Only Had a Heart," which Keller believes is an appropriate name for the campaign. "I am so inspired by the work and dedication from Karen and her students," Keller said. "It is so moving to see young people embracing our mission and helping to raise awareness. As a mom of a transplant recipient, I am personally touched by these campaigns." E-mail: features@ubspectrum.com
Playoff fever is back in the Queen City. It's been three years since Buffalonians felt the whirlwind of emotions that playoff hockey brings, but finally, the Stanley Cup playoffs are back at the HSBC Arena. As Northeast division champions, the Buffalo Sabres clinched the third seed in the Eastern Conference and assured a chance of hosting up to four home games in the first round of the postseason. As fans rushed the ticket office and flooded online purchasing outlets, the arena's near 20,000 available seats were not nearly enough to satiate passionate Sabres fans. To celebrate game one of the Conference Quarterfinals against the Boston Bruins, Sabres fans without a ticket to the game can make their way downtown and take part in the Party in the Plaza on Thursday evening. Located on the plaza directly outside the HSBC Arena doors, the admission-free event starts two hours before each home game and will feature live music by The Strictly Hip prior to the 7 p.m. puck drop. The game will then be broadcasted on a projection television screen for spectators in attendance. Mike Gilbert, a Sabres' spokesperson, is excited about the return of playoff hockey and anticipates fans to be out in full force at the plaza come Thursday. "We are expecting a few thousand people to show up," Gilbert said. "This is an event for all Sabres fans in general and is a good chance to enjoy the atmosphere of the game." For Kasim Sallaj, a sophomore biology major and lifelong Sabres fan, the Party in the Plaza is about more than just the food and music. "I go because of the atmosphere of playoff hockey. Everyone is ready for the game [and] everyone is excited. It's a great time," Sallaj said. "If I didn't go, I'd be watching it at home on my couch. Everyone is there going crazy in ridiculous outfits [and] watching the big screen TV together." In past years, bad weather has often cancelled the even or prevented plaza-goers from making the trek downtown for the evening. To ensure the party will go on as planned, the Sabres have added the luxury of a 40' x 120' tent to cover the plaza if needed. "I'm excited that there will be a tent," said Kelsey Digiovancarlo, a sophomore communications major. "If [the weather is bad] or it's raining, I can still see the game." For the city of Buffalo, hockey is more than just a sport. It is a community event that brings Western New Yorkers together to proudly dawn the blue and gold. Kinsey Davidson, a senior political science major, has been attending the parties since 2006 and can attest to the feeling of unity that the party-goers share. "It's a real community for people who don't want to go to the game or don't pay for tickets," Davidson said. Individual playoff tickets for round one range from $58 to $173, making it rather costly for many fans that want to cheer on the Sabres. "The tickets always go fast and if you aren't prepared to pay excessive amounts of money on the day of the game you wont get them," Digiovancarlo said. Davidson feels like events like these are emblematic of the team spirit that the City of Good Neighbors is known for. "It's a perfect celebration of what Buffalo loves: hockey," Davidson said. E-mail: features@ubspectrum.com
Remember before Facebook, Twitter, Formspring and blogging, when people had these things made of paper where they wrote about their feelings? And then after they wrote in them, they hid these paper things that they used to call journals or diaries, and then no one else ever had to hear about or see them? Well, I miss those days. I never had a journal per se, although every now and then I would pull out a diary someone had bought me and scribble down something pathetic, emotional or sappy, and then hurriedly put the diary back in its hiding place, relieved that I had gotten whatever it was off my chest. I feel that this was a rather harmless habit, since I was able to express what I was feeling, no matter how trivial or embarrassing, without forcing anyone else to know about it. Gone are those days. Gone are the days where if you were having a bad day, you kept it to yourself or your immediate circle of friends. The new outlet appears to be a sort of cyber therapy – like group therapy, except none of us are actually willing to participate. I don't exactly remember what the first Facebook looked like, since it has undergone more facelifts than Heidi Montag. But I do remember when statuses were all formatted something like: "Amanda Jonas is…" and then you would usually add something trivial like "going for ice cream" or "doing homework." I also remember the days when you wrote on someone's wall to invite him or her to hangout, or wish a happy birthday. That was when Facebook was friendlier, less obnoxious and less of a confessional. I am so sick of people using Facebook as an outlet for every emotion that they have ever felt in their entire lives. Yeah, I am guilty of n "FML" status and maybe I will occasionally post something sentimental. But I am talking about the big time offenders, the people we all know who use Facebook as a means of pouring out their souls to hundreds of people who really don't care. I am friends with this one girl who graduated a year after I did from my high school. Every day, my newsfeed is ravaged by countless statuses about how she has no friends, is always screwed over by boys and how she is never going to meet a boy who truly sees how great she is. I wish I could tell her to take that Leona Lewis "Bleeding Love" crap and stick it where the sun don't shine. My friend and I will sometimes look at her wall-to-walls with various people where she, in a public forum open to all her Facebook friends, complains about every facet of her life in grave detail – names, dates and painful paragraphs. This girl is not alone. I also judge people who throw significant others under the bus with pointed statuses, people who participate in those idiotic surveys like, "Who was the last person you cuddled?" (no one cares), and people who write sappy crap on each other's walls: "My dear sweet noble knight, how I love thee! Sincerely, lowly maiden," (actual wall post that made me want to vomit). If you have a lot of feelings, that's great – just keep them to yourself. Tell your mom or instant message your best friend, because the rest of us, honestly, couldn't care less. Plain and simple. E-mail: asjonas@buffalo.edu
To the editor, I would like to start off by congratulating the Student Alliance on their near sweep of the recent SA election. I know that each and every one of the candidates and supporters worked with the utmost diligence and dedication to secure the victory that they are celebrating today. I would also like to take this chance to thank all the members of the ONE Party, all our supporters and all family and friends that helped us give this election our best shot. Without all your undying support, reassurance and assistance what we accomplished would not have been possible. It was reported in The Spectrum that I was unsure about how to handle my election. It is no surprise to anyone that this election was clouded in controversy, tainted with personal attacks and frustrated with many incidents of immaturity. As someone who has run in two previous SA elections, for both SA Senate and SA Delegate, I can say without the slightest hesitation that this was the most difficult election I have ever participated in. No one runs in an election expecting to have ones reputation called into question, have friends turn into adversaries or to have to deal with a system where personal attacks trump political debate. Given the nature of this election, and the fact that I feel the new election rules were not without flaw, I feel that no one can blame my initial lack of enthusiasm over my election in light of my parties loss. While I refuse to ascribe blame to any particular body, party or governing entity, I feel that the SA election process needs to be reassessed to guarantee ultimate equality and fairness in elections. Yet regardless of the results, I still stand behind my friends and running mates and maintain their strong qualifications for the positions they ran for. However, despite all of this, I was elected by the student body as a SUNY Delegate to represent the students at UB to whom I feel I owe a responsibility that supersedes party lines. I care too deeply about the student's interests and rights to be dissuaded from serving them to my fullest potential. I called my father after the election results were announced, and he told me that his daughter is not a quitter. And indeed I am not. That is why, I wish to thank all those that voted in this election and extend my earnest desire to the new SA executive board that we can work together in the upcoming school year to improve the lives of students and hopefully mend the divisions that this election caused. I told The Spectrum during endorsements that in the end it's simply about the students and I stand by that today. I intend to hold this position with as must enthusiasm and passion as I held it this year and I promise to, no matter what other office or capacity I serve in, to always consider the students at UB at the top of my priorities Sincerely, Amanda Jonas SUNY Delegate asjonas@buffalo.edu
We've all been there. Its 1 a.m. on a Friday night, you're at a friend's house and everyone seems to have had one too many to drink. Flip cup, beer bong, Never Have I Ever and Kings have lost their appeal and everyone is a little bored. That is, until that guy shouts, "Hey, lets go on Chatroulette!" When my best friend posted the link to Chatroulette on my Facebook wall with the comment "It's the new fad ... check it out," I thought she had lost it. Who in their right mind would want to log onto this site and talk to random people from God knows where about God knows what? It was over a month ago that I was first introduced to Chatroulette. I can say with the utmost certainty that my opinion of this site has not changed one bit. I have a problem with the idea of Chatroulette for many reasons. The concept of Chatroulette according to Andrey Ternovskiy, the 17-year-old from Moscow who invented the site, is to be able to chat randomly with people from all over the world. This ideal is essentially flawed because no one actually chats with random people, but rather "cruises" until they find a very specific type of person they want to talk to. Guys I know usually next, or search for different webcam users until they find a hot girl – or any girl for that matter – who looks desperate enough to show her breasts. Girls are no better. They will next through dozens of screens until they find a hot guy or at least the of appearance of one – depending on how poor the participant's webcam is. This Web site feels a lot like speed dating for the world's most socially inept people. Which would probably be fine if not for my second problem with the site – the creeps. It is nearly impossible to spend any amount of time on Chatroulette without coming across at least one guy engaging in self-pleasure. Exhibitionism is a fetish, but if you get off from having a roomful of drunken guys die of laughter while you satisfy yourself, then maybe you should get some treatment for that. Then there are the hoards of old men – some who haven't used technology since the 8-track tape – who cruise the cyber highways looking for underage girls or boys to talk to. Add to that the promiscuous tween girls in push up bras, psychotic users hanging from ceilings, having sex with stuffed animals and slapping themselves, the clowns, people dressed up like horses, cats and superheroes, and you've got yourself an accurate sampling of the bizarre encounters one can have on this site. I think webcams, when used to keep in touch with people you actually know, are great. They are one of the reasons why I got a Mac with one built right in. But when it comes to a site like Chatroulette, which I feel has the same social acceptability as sitting alone on a Friday night in your dorm room watching porn, I prefer to say let's not. I have better things to do than watch some guy force himself on a stuffed raccoon.