Equinox Staff

As a special treat for what will be my final comic review as a Keene State Student, I thought I would share with you my favorite single comic book issue of all time. Sure there are story arcs and books as a whole that I like better, but this is an issue that did everything perfectly. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Amazing Spiderman #500. From the J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr. run on the book, this masterpiece is actually the last issue in a trilogy but still stands alone very well.

Background:

I think most of you are at least vaguely familiar with the back story of Spiderman. Young Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive Spider and gains amazing powers, but when his uncle is killed, he decides it is his responsibility to use these powers for good. At this point in time, New York City is under attack by an army of creatures called mindless ones causing Reed Richards, the leader of the Fantastic Four and various Marvel heroes to inadvertently revive the dread Dormammu in an attempt to banish them. Doctor Strange, a powerful sorcerer and ally of the Marvel heroes, shows up to confront The inderdimensional monster and Spidey gets caught in the crossfire of spells. This causes Spidey to start start bouncing around his own timeline, simultaneously witnessing the day he got bitten by the Radioactive Spider and a dark future where he’s an old man about to be killed by the police for unknown reason (Future Pete has also upgraded his spider costume to a classy trenchcoat).

Story:

We start properly in the future timeline where the cops are pleading with future Spidey to give himself up for manslaughter charges. Spidey says it is too late and fights the cops near the grave of Aunt May, but not before telling his past self that it is better this way and when it is his turn to face his death with dignity and go down fighting. He reassures him that Mary Jane never stopped loving him and will be okay after he’s gone. Then we witness what could very well be Spiderman’s final moment as he’s gunned down by the FBI. It’s a heart-wrenching scene for both the characters and the readers. Then Spidey shifts back to the past and sees an opportunity to stop himself from ever becoming Spiderman. He almost does it but decides he must not because to many things would change, and too many people may die. Then Doctor Strange shows up to cast a spell on Peter that will send him forward through time to before the heroes revived Dormammu so he can convince them not to Revive the monster. The only drawback, Spidey has to re-experience various points throughout his own timeline to get there. What follows is a gauntlet of Spidey’s various battles with classic foes such as Sandman, Vulture, Lizard, Electro, Mysterio and even The Hulk. Along the way he is also forced to relive his various failures, each one taking it’s tole. When he is forced to relive the death of his former lover, Gwen Stacy, Peter has had enough. Strange however, tells him that the greatest gift we can receive is to have at least one chance to make a difference and Spidey has recieved enough gifts for hundreds of lifetimes. This gives Spidey his second wind and we get an absolutely glorious two page spread of Spidey fighting every single one of his foes, never giving up for an instant until finally finding himself in the right point in time. He warns the heroes and while at first they’re skeptical they do believe him. Spiderman is reassured by this, seeing it as a sign that he’s truly gained the trust of the super hero community. Strange shows up and banishes the mindless ones, ensuring Dormammu will never be resurrected. Afterwards, Spiderman explains what has happened to past Strange. Strange says that he has found a small gold box in his pocket and feels he should give it to Peter because he has reason to believe it is a special day. Spidey, suddenly remembering it’s his birthday rushes home to find MJ and Aunt May throwing him a surprise party. After the party, Peter goes outside for some fresh air and opens the gold box to find a piece of paper that reads “You have five minutes, spend them as you wish.” Peter turns around and is shocked to find his Uncle Ben standing behind him. The two have a touching reunion and Ben asks Peter one important question: Is he happy? Peter mulls it over for a bit and much to his own surprise, he realizes that despite all the crap that he’s dealt with in his life, he is happy. He has people who love him and all in all he’s got a damn good life. Ben says that that’s all that matters and the two share an embrace before Ben fades away. And so we end with Peter and Mary Jane getting in to bed and Mj wishing him a happy Birthday.

You know it’s funny. They say it’s easier to talk about a comic that you hate than one you like, but with this there’s no limit to the good things I can say. Everything I want out of Spiderman and more is in this issue, action, humor, touching moments, great character moments and much more. If the story of Spiderman was ever to come to an end, this would have been a great way to do it. A great story that pushes Spidey to his limits and end with him realizing that despite everything, he has a great life.

Rating:

5/5 Stars

This comic is a damn near perfect comic and a must read for every true fan of Spiderman. I hope you’ve all enjoyed my review of my favorite single issue of all time and all of those that came before.

Wes Serafine can be contacted at

wserafine@keene-equinox.com

Equinox Staff

The drug and alcohol scene exploded in the music industry during and after the Woodstock music festival in 1969. From Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” in 1967 to Kanye West’s “Mercy” in 2012, drugs have seemingly become more and more prominent in lyric writing.

Musicians today such as West, Wiz Khalifa, Lil’ Wayne and many others have jumped to stardom with their most popular songs referencing drugs and alcohol.

The term “Yolo – You Only Live Once” was coined in Drake’s song “The Motto,” featuring Lil’ Wayne, and we all saw how much that term resonated with teenagers and young adults in the country.

Emma Contic / Graphics Editor

In the song, Drake references smoking weed and drinking heavily. With more and more of these references popping up in rap and R&B songs today, the youth of the country may be taking in the wrong message.

With “Yolo,” teenagers are using it as an excuse to party and get wasted. ‘You only live once, so why not live it up in the moment’ they would say.

I’m not in the minds of the artists who are writing these lyrics, so I may be wrong, but what it looks like is that they are giving off the greatest impressions to the demographic that are meant to listen to it.

There could be a deeper meaning behind all of the drinking and drug use references, but on the surface, it is basically saying to go out and party and have a good time like the artists are.

So, the question becomes, is the younger generation taking these songs too literally and using them as inspiration to live life to the “fullest?”

“Those guys are perceived as cool in a lot of cultures,” said Alex Conway, a performance major at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. “If they are talking about doing a lot of drugs, you are going to want to do drugs.”

Underage drinking and teenage drug use has been somewhat of a problem in the United States. Whether it’s sixteen or seventeen-year-olds looking to have a good Friday night, or college students doing it to “be cool,” music today is pushing them in the wrong direction.

At Keene State, we see the ambulance all too often rushing onto campus to pick up a student with alcohol poisoning. You can look at the Campus Safety log here in the Equinox and see a good amount of marijuana use violations every single week.

The main listenership of these artists are at the age where they rely on role models and influential people in their lives to steer their them in the right direction, and artists and musicians are usually sitting at the top of the list.

I admit, I have relied on a band to help me get through rough times in my life, but sometimes they may the wrong person to listen to.

Middle and high schoolers are at the age where they are all about finding identity, and these kids are looking to people such as Lil’ Wayne and Wiz Khalifa to spark who they think they should be.

“I think that drugs and alcohol have become a gimmick for the typical mainstream artist to abuse in order to hit a familiar chord with their fans,” said sophomore and communications major Dan Aune.

“It’s detrimental not only to the state of modern music, but to the youth that look up to these people too.”

Some artists out there, though, utilize their own personal struggles with drugs and alcohol to send a positive message to their fans.

Bands such as Sleeping with Sirens and Memphis May Fire use their personal hardships with these substances in a way to tell their fans to stay away.

Granted, these bands are seen in the punk or hardcore area of music, but the fans of those genres take those lyrics to heart as inspiration.

So, in the end, half of the struggle with drugs and alcohol being referenced in today’s music is about the message that these artists are trying to convey.

To reiterate, the other half is how the fans and the listeners take away the message.

It is ultimately up to us to decide what we want to do with our lives and maybe taking some of the songs of these artists as inspirational is not the right idea.

Michael Woothworth can be contacted at 

mwoodworth@keene-equinox.com

Opinions Editor Emeritus

As our generation begins to show the older generations how accepting and understanding we are of all types of people, I see a change where more people start to give rap by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning individuals a listen. I say someday because there are still people who I can imagine would look at African-American rapper Mykki Blanco as just a confused guy trying to rap. At first, we see him as a tall slender man, then later on in his music video for Wavvy, we see him in a wig and fierce makeup with just some lingerie on. The only feeling this gives me is jealousy. I mean this guy has fierce rap game but can still look stunning in women’s clothing. Although I may not know why he makes these choices or prefers to be called a female, I say we respect his wishes and just enjoy his music, which reaches over 500,000 views online.

It’s a little surprising at first when you do give his music a listen because he’s not rapping about being a transgendered person, a transvestite, or advocating for the LGBTQ community. He’s actually just rapping about going to the club and partying with friends and his rap lifestyle in general. Lyrically it is catchy and will not make you gasp, but the overall attack of the vocals and music is intense and very intriguing. It seems to me that if you can look and talk like a girl as well as a guy, there is generally more available for you as an artist to embody.

One rapper who is in the LGBTQ community and does advocate for other women and LGBTQ individuals, is female bisexual rapper Brooke Candy. Candy’s songs address her issue with girls not being able to really speak their mind and do what they want without being judged. In her lyrics she discusses for example how if a guy sleeps with three girls, people say that he’s the man, but if she sleeps with two girls, people would say she’s a slut (one example from her music). She describes the word ‘slut’ as an attractive female who is confident and in control. Having such a young voice (she’s only twenty-three years-old surprisingly) encouraging contemporary women to ignore the opinion of privileged men who believe that women cannot behave the same way as men, is a necessary thing. There is still rap being produced by male rappers in this day and age who continue to talk down to women. I think it is important for women to know there are artists out there who are willing to stand up for them and inspire confidence. Candy is also part of a harmless mob of young gay individuals called Fagmob who create art, collaborate and sometimes rap with each other. She is trying to be a vessel for other gay and LGBTQ people can come through and continue to share their art and be open with who they really are. Other rappers who are friendly with Candy include rappers Kreayshawn and Dj Lil Debbie. Both are twenty-three and bisexual, and rap about anything from hanging with their girls to simply speaking their mind. The three have been known to collaborate and all have grown in popularity over the last several years with social media and blogging. I think it is important to at least reflect on how significant it is that talented people can finally be open and create art, and people will appreciate it no matter what. I admire the strength and confidence needed to achieve such popularity when society’s view of different sexualities is still so misunderstood. I encourage anyone reading to take a listen. I know that every time I plan Mykki’s single Wavvy for someone, they always get intrigued.

Lindsey Arceci can be contacted at

larceci@keene-equinox.com

Equinox Staff

With his first Long Play due out this fall, Zach Benton acknowledges it’s time to actively market his music. An unknown commodity in a music scene is just that— unknown. If he wants them to “fall in”, it’s all on him.

“No one’s going to hear it if you’re not talking about and getting it played,” he said.

Zach Benton, 24, has been playing and recording music since 2002. The Alexandria, New Hampshire native released his first Extended Play “Mister Roberts’ Epiphany” in 2012 and will release his first full-length album “Fall In” this September. “Right now mainly I’m a studio guy,” he said, “But I’m trying to get out more with a full band setup.” The Keene State College Class of 2010 graduate is not only involved in recording and writing his own music, but has also hosted “Acoustic Thursday’s” at Fritz the Place to Eat in Keene since November 2012. Also interesting to note is that Benson’s degree is in American Studies, not music.

Portrait by Emily Fedorko / Photo Editor Emeritus
Zach Benton hosts Acoustic Thursdays at Fritz the Place to Eat in downtown Keene.

It was the juxtaposition of what he was being taught in music theory classes and what he saw being played during faculty concerts that turned him off from the music program. “I actually started doing a music minor [at KSC] and I felt like it was going to be too constricting,” Benton said.

The college does lay some claim, albeit minor, for where Benton is musically. Two friends he met while at KSC have guest appearances on his album slated for release in September: Sam Vendt, who has known Benton since they were both freshman, is featured playing drums on the album, and Alyson Ryder, who sang with Benton in the KSC Chamber Singers, lends her voice to a track on this album

“Zach is extremely dedicated to his craft,” Vendt said, “Some musicians you see kind of haphazardly try but Zach will always try to do exactly what Zach wants to do. I think he’s a superb musician.”  He added, “[Zach’s] got a very unique sound, a very unique voice.”

Benton said he first started playing drums when he was ten, but didn’t pick up the guitar until he was thirteen. Over a decade later, Benton now plays every instrument when he records including bass, guitar, keyboards and drums as well as doing his own vocals. Other things have progressed since these formative years of his musical experience. When he was starting out, he was mostly interested in music from ’50s rock to The Beatles and Bob Dylan. “I was a folky guy for a good part of it,” he said. A few years ago, his music tastes shifted, and with it, so did the music he played.

He started listening to old Stax and Motown label records. This soulful, rhythm and blues style began to permeate his original music. He described actually internalizing the influence, rather than just listening to the music of the Stevie Wonder. “I always liked him but I hadn’t really pulled it in as an influence. I just was like ‘Hey, I like it, it sounds great.’ Now I’m thinking this is a niche that I would fit into.” This shift in music style was accentuated by another event in his life. Benton said a sinus operation shifted his baritone voice up a few octaves to R&B style he now has. One song that fits this profile on his upcoming album is “By the Fire”, a jazz duet he performed with Ryder. “It’s one of his originals. It’s more of a smoky tune,” she said.

Aside from Smoky, Benton said he strives to make his music upbeat, recalling a quote from Bob Marley as he says, “I believe that you can put positive force out there even if it’s a small thing.”

Benton said he recorded the 10-track “Fall In” at Loud Sun Studio in Jaffrey, New Hampshire for around $900. He has learned a lot about marketing from his past EP. Promoting this album—along with taking advantage of social media and other networking opportunities—means playing as many shows as he can. “That’s the cheapest marketing you can do and cheap in terms of money not in terms of quality.”  Benton said he will be playing at the Purple Pit Jazz and Blues Club in Concord, New Hampshire on May 11.

Currently however, many of his public performances are accidents. He often fills in the abandoned time slot at Fritz on Thursdays. “There’s usually one no-show a week,” he said, laughing. Benton said he’s open to anyone playing at the acoustic shows. A couple of Thursdays ago, April 25, a trio that featured two teenagers performed.

Like most musicians, he said he would love to make a living off playing. But, he knows to stay grounded. It’s his own music or the music of others, Benton follows this one mantra. “I just want people to hear the music. That’s mainly what I do it for.”

Jake Williams can be contacted at

jwilliams@keene-equinox.com

A&E Editor Emeritus

For many of us, it is not enough to just listen to music; sometimes we want to embody it. In present day society, music has served not only as an outlet for some, but it has also contributed to an unofficial dress code that we see on a daily basis by being a source of inspiration for the way we dress.

It is not just the genre of music that has an influence over fashion, but rather the celebrities that are wearing the clothes.

They also have a role in dictating the trends among the fashion industry.

It all started with funk in the 1960s with James Brown. According to the book, “100 Ideas That Changed Fashion,” by Harriet Worsley, “The roots of funk dressing lie in the black ghettoes of America, where the successful wore highly flamboyant clothes to advertise their riches in their own way—one that did not conform to white society’s values.”

This James Brown-sense of attire inspired the close-fitting shirts; flared pants, hats with gold chain bands and gold jewelry—and some of these trends are still alive even after the ’60s.

“The funk dress code was all about sex and money,” Worsley explains, “For the girls, the funk look was about showing off a body both beautiful and provocative in high platform shoes and slinky dresses or flares.”

But while this look was more popular among urban African-Americans during the ’60s, the platform shoes and slinky dresses are still present in history today—showing that the power of music is more than just a beat to strum your fingers to.

However, music such as funk not only inspired fashion trends, but also inspired the fashion choices of other infamous musicians, particularly David Bowie and Gary Glitter.

“Funk, together with the psychedelic movement, went on to inspire the glam looks adopted by David Bowie and Gary Glitter at the end of the decade,” Worsley states.

This style that we now refer to as “glam” was a chance for the men to adopt similar fashion staples of women.

It was the one place where gender didn’t determine what you could and could not wear—it helped society redefine what it meant to be “masculine.”

“In the 1970s glam rock gave men a chance to dress up like women and flaunt their finery and feathers. With its glitter suits, make-up, and heels, this was one of the few times during the twentieth century that fashion challenged preconceived notions of masculinity,” Worsley said.

David Bowie and Mick Jagger were at the forefront of developing this change in fashion.

During his performance in London’s Hyde Park in 1969, Jagger took the stage in a leather choker embellished with studs, a frilled tunic top and white flared pants, while David Bowie dyed his hair in bright colors and was known for his eccentric stage make-up.

“These gender-based glam kids were paving the way for the pinks and the New Romantics, and glam-metal bands such as Poison and Twisted Sister, who were to continue the party by celebrating artifice, make-up, and dressing up for both sexes,” Worsley explains.

But not all of these fashion trends set by music are still prominent in our society— some of them are reflective of who we once were.

“Punk was a surprisingly short-lived cultural phenomenon but it had a major impact, particularly in Britain, and spread to New York, Sydney, and around the world.

When punk first exploded onto the streets in the 1970s, many people were shocked by the appearance of these disaffected youths. Who were these kids with their heavy make-up, tattered clothes, and offensive slogans?”

This fashion trend included leather, rubber, PVC, and slashed, painted, studded, and chained clothing.

But even though this punk trend is not present among society, it helped challenge stereotypes and define gender and beauty—like Jagger and Bowie once did through the clothing they chose to wear.

Even though music inspired fashion trends during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s—it is the celebrities who wear the clothes now that inspire what we wear today.

Our obsession with who is wearing what is reflective in our culture as we try to emulate our favorite pop star’s sense of style. Maybe this is because we are constantly exposed to what they are wearing through tabloids and magazines—or maybe celebrities have taken music’s place as the main source of inspiration for fashion because they are the ones now making the clothes.

But even though the trends found during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s may not be popular among modern-day society, our current fashion is reminiscent of the funk, glam and punk styles.

“Post-1990s hip hop stars such as Lil’ Kim have popularized a high-glam look, and numerous hip hop performers have launched their own fashion brands, notably Kimora Lee Simmons with Baby Phat, Sean ‘Puff Daddy’ Combs with designer label Sean John, and Russell Simmons with Phat Farm,” Worsley explains.

But celebrities presence among the fashion world does not stop with hip hop-inspired labels.

“When the pop diva Mariah Carey cut the waistband off of her jeans, millions of adoring fans followed—what better way to show off a trim midriff and bejeweled navel?

Pop princess Gwen Stefani became known for her kookie image, and went further than most by launching her own high-fashion label L.A.M.B. in 2003,” Worsley said.  No matter what the inspiration—whether it be funk, glam, punk, hip hop or even pop—music’s influence over the fashion world can still be seen today through the clothes we decide to wear and will continue to wear.

While this music fashion trend started with funk, it has grown into an entity of its own today and will continue to grow and influence society.

Sam Norton can be contacted at:

snorton@keene-equinox.com

A&E Editor

The music scene seems to be an ever-changing phenomenon. From jazz to pop, from rock to R&B and from hip-hop to electronic, the music industry has seen a countless amount of genres and styles that people from all over the world have come to know and love.

A different type of music production, commonly known as “mash-ups” has taken flight and soared through the air in the past decade.

A mash-up is most recognized as the composition of two or more pre-recorded songs. What makes mash-ups special is that the sound of multiple tracks is well blended so that the ear picks it up as one song. Mash-up artist Gregg Gillis, popularly known as Girl Talk (who performed at Keene State College’s  Spring 2011 concert), has shown through his great success the possibilities of who he used to be—the man behind the laptop.

Technology’s advancements have played a big part in the emerging mash-up craze. There are various types of software that are purposefully made for its users to mix and match songs to create a masterpiece of their own.

“You find an instrumental type of the song to use for the background, find the key and beats per minute and then you find the song you want to mash it up with,” said Chris Hill, senior and Business major at KSC. To Hill, it’s all in good fun but there is more than just the selection of good songs to the mash-up process.

“You want the songs to be in the same key so they don’t mess up when you mix them,” he said, “You find sections where the core percussions match up and throw them over one another.”

Hill said his software program makes music mixing really accessible. One problem with such convenience is that more people have the ability to get a lot more creative, but, “There are also the talentless people mashing songs up together and it sounds awful,” he said.

In a slightly different direction, junior and Graphic Design major Aaron Testa DJs in his spare time and creates mash-ups as well.

What differentiates Testa and Hill is that Testa makes his mash-ups live on the DJ scene.

“Just like instruments, you have to practice what goes well together,” Testa said, “So when I DJ live I like to already have a good idea of what will work and what won’t.”

Testa said it’s a lot of beat matching, especially as a live DJ. Between instrumentals and acapellas, he matches the tempos. Two songs are playing at the same time but the timing is fundamental to the success of a true mash-up.

If timing is off, the two songs do not fit together as one, and could very well create a DJ disaster.

Luckily, the accuracy of Testa’s Serato DJ Software is usually on point to determine the tempo of songs. However, certain tempos may look similar on the computer screen but do not sound nearly as similar. In this case, “You have to have an ear for it, not everyone can do it,” Testa said.

Dr. Craig Sylvern, Coordinator of Music Technology and composition professor at KSC  said he sees the entertainment value in mash-ups. “In one form or another, mash-ups have been around for decades,” he said, “Medleys are very similar, it’s sort of the live performance version of a mash-up.”

In another case, though, at-home produced mash-ups lead Sylvern toward concern. From the perspective of a professional performer and composer, Sylvern questions the issue of legality with song mixing.

“They’re [mash-up artists] taking bits and pieces of copy written stuff, not changing it, and giving no credit, so it’s a copyright issue,” he said.

But, Hill said that in his own mash-up posts to YouTube, he inserts a disclaimer to the artists of songs he uses to prove they are not his productions, that he simply mixed existing songs together as one. Not only that, but YouTube also has a screening software that removes the video if the user infringed on a copyright.

In live DJ mash-ups, copyright issues do not stand strict as it does to at-home mash-up artists. While making mash-ups at home is for listening entertainment, Sylvern said the DJ mash-ups serve as dancing purposes rather than listening.

As a live DJ, Testa said one of the hardships is to read the crowd and continue to produce mixes that they do not get sick of.

“The easiest part [about live mixing] is having fun, but the hardest part is also having fun,” Testa said, “It’s easy to have fun and get lost in the music but it’s hard to have fun and get the songs on point … but I also have to make sure that everyone else enjoys it and is having a good time.” Testa said his biggest inspiration is Adam Goldstein, otherwise known as DJ AM. “The industry is constantly changing, and music is becoming more readily available with sound packages,” Testa said, “It’s all about trying to find your sound.” Finding and sticking to “your own sound” seems to be difficult in the fast-paced music industry,  and that is exactly why Testa looks up to DJ AM’s work.

“He stuck to his sound, he stuck to who he was as a DJ and he let his DJing speak more than his productions. He wasn’t afraid to play what he liked,” Testa said.

Inspirations like Skrillex, Tiesto and Girl Talk started over a decade ago in the same place as Testa and Hill. Mash-up artists are leading the music industry in a whole different direction.

Famous music producer, Avicii, has continuously been raising the bar by mashing-up his own produced songs over one another to create a true musical treasure. Take a listen to the song “Fade Into Darkness.” Initially it sounds like one hit song. But, give the ear a second listen and see it is actually a mix of several compositions.

Who knows- perhaps the future of the mash-up music  genre lies right in your laptop.

Rebecca Farr can be contacted at rfarr@keene-equinox.com

Equinox Staff

This past weekend Keene State College held the Annual Film Festival, a chance for Keene State College’s Film students to show off their hard work, as well as have the student population see their final projects, be they three-minute trailers, documentaries, or even feature length films.

Throughout the weekend, several students had the opportunity to show their stuff.

Contributed Photo / Tom Jorgensen
A still from the feature-length film St. Osmund’s. The KSC student-produced film debuted on Saturday May 4, 2013 in the Mabel Brown Room. Following the premiere of all short films and advanced productions, students conducted a Q&A panel for the audience.

First was a trailer for an upcoming film project from a group of juniors called Annex.

The film looked to be an interesting mystery/thriller surrounding a young man discovering the fact that his deceased brother, who was involved in something of a much bigger picture that he did not fully understand.

Observing the trailer, one can see that the production quality was completely indistinguishable from a big budget Hollywood trailer.

The second film was a documentary about police officers here in Keene called Behind the Badge, a solo project by KSC student Alex Rinaldi. The documentary detailed the exploits of three police officers.

One detailed the hardships of working undercover and the anxiety that comes along with such great responsibility. Another, a woman, detailed some of the difficulties she was faced with as a woman in a profession in which there are so many men.

Finally, one police officer shared a time in which he was dealing with a hostage situation and due to unfortunate circumstances, the officer was forced to take a life in the line of duty and how that incident changed him for the rest of his life.

Rinaldi said in the Q&A conclusion of the film that he spent nearly thirty-six hours with these officers, getting all of the footage he possibly could.

Even someone with a small degree of experience can appreciate the difficulty and time it takes to capture such a tremendous amount of footage and edit it down to only twenty-five minutes.

The time and the stories Rinaldi exchanged with the officers were very personal, even to the point where, outside of the shown footage, two of the cops broke down and cried in front of him. Rinaldi humorously assured the audience that it was not the ‘lady cop’ who cried.

In order to get the officers to open up to him, Rinaldi said that he shared a personal story with them to make them feel more comfortable. As the director of the film, Rinaldi also said how the experience of filming this documentary changed him in some ways.

When he was young, there was a time that he once thought it was cool to be a cop and shoot people, sighting his love of action movies like the “Die Hard” trilogy as an example.

Contributed Photo / Tom Jorgensen
Above is a still from the feature-length film about an abandoned insane asylum, St. Osmund’s.

Now, through this project Rinaldi has seen the profound effects such an event can have on a persons life.

The final project of the afternoon was a feature length found footage film called St. Osmunds.

The film is centered around a documentary film crew who are trying to chronicle why St. Osmund’s, the fictional insane asylum credited as the most advanced mental institution of its time, closed down under mysterious circumstances.

Ben, the head of the crew’s fascination with mental illness stems from his own personal experience with his own mentally unstable father.

As Ben, his cameraman, best friend and their intern, enter the now abandoned asylum, they find far more than they bargained for.

Some mysterious occurrences begin to happen and they encounter what are either ghosts… or perhaps mental patients that never left the Asylum. As they trek deeper into the asylum, it seems that these strange occurrences are connected with Ben himself.

It seemed to be an excellent film that kept the audience on the edge of their seat the entire time.

Some might argue that the film’s quality is even rivaling most of Hollywood’s found footage films.

The crew of the film, during their own Q & A, stated that the sheer scope of their project was overwhelming.

They had to shoot in up to seven different buildings over twenty-two long days of shooting. The crew mentioned that they all were overcome with a universal feeling of, “Wow we did it!”, at least for now.

Tom Jorgensen, the writer and director of the project said that he drew inspirations from films like Cloverfield and The Last Exorcism for this film but wanted to add something new to the found footage genre at the same time.

Overall, these students did an excellent job with their films, as well as provided and proved themselves to be competent filmmakers. Those of the group who are going into the industry certainly have a bright future.

Wes Serafine can be contacted at

wserafine@keene-equinox.com

My entire life I had never dreamed I would travel here, never mind live here, and now I can’t imagine leaving.

My beloved city of Cape Town, South Africa has been home to me for almost five months now, and the thought of packing my suitcase and heading out to catch a plane back to the United States is surreal.

The calendar doesn’t lie, though, as I sit here and watch the days quickly slip through my fingers. The country I love is flashing by in each cab ride or bus ride I take, soon to come to a halt as I’m dropped off at the airport in June.

brittany ballantyne / Contributed PHoto
Keene State College junior Brittany Ballantyne poses with a child from an orphanage in South Africa where she is studying for the spring semester.

The school work and grades are piling up, leading to our quickly approaching final exams. It is surprisingly getting “colder” as winter (similar to our autumn in Keene) is upon us. Alas, no more bathing suits at the beach!

Unlike most abroad students, I haven’t been able to even see the familiar faces of my friends and family via Skype (unlimited internet is non-existent and data bundles aren’t efficient). I was blessed to enjoy a visit from my mother, and her frustrations with the differences here echoed how I felt upon my arrival.

Since my plane touchdown in January, I’ve become accustomed to the slower lifestyle of South Africa. Slower, meaning in order to get somewhere, expect delays. You can’t expect anything to be on time aside from the trains.

Electricity and “airtime,” or phone minutes, are usually bought at the store on a weekly basis. What was once unimaginable to me has become my routine. Though I’m ecstatic to return home and not deal with these many inconveniences, I’m much sadder about what I’m leaving behind.

Abaphumeleli Safety House, the orphanage that I spend my time at outside of school if I’m not doing school work, has become my favorite place to be. The thought of leaving the children of the orphanage, whom I nearly consider as my own, is heartbreaking.

I feel like I’m abandoning them–as if they need more abandonment. Some of the children were dropped off at the orphanage just days old; unfortunately, some were old enough to remember the day they were left to the care of strangers. As children pile into my lap and rest their heads on my chest, it’s unbelievable to me that someone could give them up.

Of course, the orphanage is a better and safer home for many of them. However, I can’t help but think it’s simply the irresponsibility factor to blame, as the family of the baby lying in my arms stops in for a mere three minutes to talk to the caregivers and takes another minute to say hello to their child.

How could I leave these babies, these children, these teenagers as well? Surely it’s better to do something for a short period of time than nothing at all, but these children deserve more than what I’ve been able to offer. To think of them growing up and myself missing out on those beautifully hectic days of change is a thought I can’t fully grasp.

Yet there they are, tugging my shirt, grabbing my hands and jumping on my back to catch me off-guard, quite literally knocking me out of my daze. They are used to people leaving. Some programs come in to volunteer once a week for an hour, others just a day. They know that people come and go. It’s safe to say that I will have a much harder time leaving them than they will watching me go.

“Pitt-any! Pitt-any,” half of them shout, as my name is a challenge for them to pronounce. They even sing and make up dances to the songs composed solely of my name. They are spastic and use a collaborative effort to force open the gate upon my arrival.

The days I am there to greet them when they arrive from school, they run into the orphanage in their uniforms, dropping their bags to give me hugs. I sit in my University of Cape Town classes, impatiently waiting for the clock to turn so I can head out of the busy, built up city back to the township where the orphanage is located.

I truly believe meeting these children and young adults was my purpose in South Africa.

Though I set out to be a journalist here, I also became wrapped up in these children’s lives. I came to South Africa at an interesting point of change in my life, and I couldn’t be more thankful this nation was the place that embraced me and those shifts.

In many ways, I have changed as a person since I first wrote for The Equinox in February, when I explained I no longer look at life through a first-world lense.

Not only has this place shown me a different point of view through the lifestyle differences, but it has also made me more independent with a thicker layer of skin. The city of Cape Town and surrounding townships have shown me that this world is a tough place with even tougher people.

If you let fear consume you, it will either destroy you or you will not fully live your life. As Keene State College English professor Anne-Marie Mallon once said to me, “This is the world and you can either hide from it and deny it, or you can learn from it.”

I can only hope for my feet to land on this African soil once more, to continue the fight for these underprivileged, miraculous children and teenagers.

I can only hope to stand just feet away from giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, elephants and rhinos once more. My biggest hope, though, is that somehow “my babies,” as I call the orphanage children, and teenagers (I wouldn’t dare call them babies) live a safe life at the very least.

It would be selfish of me to hope they remember me for the rest of their lives, but I will undoubtedly remember them in years to come, when I tell my own children about my favorite little people from South Africa.

The shape of South Africa has already formed in my heart, and I will carry pieces of this country wherever my footsteps take me in life.

The perspectives of reality have been contemplated and debated by philosophers since almost the beginning of civilization. For instance, Hegel maintained the notion of idealism; arguing that the universe is throughout the work of reason and the mind. In other words, physical existence is dependent on some sort of mental, or metaphysical, reality.

I feel as though this corresponds with empathy in the sense that within this philosophy, no particular can be understood on its own—for everything is merely an aspect of a whole. However, this conflicts with the idea of materialism, which defines reality as made up of tangible atoms that are always in constant motion, and therefore, susceptible to change.

Then again, there is the philosophy of realism, or representative realism as coined by John Locke, which states that the mind is directly acquainted only with its own ideas. However, these ideas are caused by and represent objects external to the mind.

There is no denying that the infinite ways one may depict reality and life itself is simply whacky. Nietzsche believed that the overall chaos of the world is made manageable by perspectives. There are so many meanings that can be interpreted from everything that it is hard to comprehend why one perspective, dare I say opinion, can hold value while others are oppressed. For example, how is it possible to disrespect an individual just because they do or do not believe in a God?

Nietzsche also felt that because everything is seen from one perspective or another (and that this is unavoidable), and since facts are merely interpretations, that there is no truth. Perhaps it is impossible, but I would like to think that humans can attempt to combat this by opening up their minds and trying to take on multiple perspectives, and by finding truth within other beings.

Like I said before, being able to grasp the concept of empathy is essential to gaining a universal perspective.

That being said, what exactly is valuable about viewing the world and life from all angles? Someone who has the ability to recognize multiple perspectives will most likely be more successful when it comes to making decisions.

John Dewey believes that ideas are the basis for organizing future observations and experiences. This is a very pragmatic way of thinking. However, as those graduating may soon learn, pragmatics are very relevant to the working world.

One way to understand this philosophy is to look at it from a means/ends viewpoint. Ideas are tools for getting a job done and are only beneficial if they can be successfully applied to work. It is the future consequences that determine the validity, truth, and meaning in an idea. With a strong sense of empathy and therefore universal perspective, one is more inclined to think and make decisions that have a more positive outcome for more beings.

Though still appreciating many opinions, I personally think it is silly to not want to enter the workforce as a citizen attempting to better the world.

That being said, reality and perspectives alike should not simply be evaluated on how useful they are for accomplishing our purposes.

I believe it is equally important to also take into consideration an idea’s aesthetics and beauty. Not everyone leaving college is headed for an office desk. It is the duty of artists to create in an attempt to grab society’s attention and provide new outlooks on life. As Nietzsche would say, where ideas do not have utility, they may still be an expression of intellectual play and impulse.

Therefore, it is important to try and view all things from different perspectives. This will without a doubt give you more insight while figuring out which decisions to make, based off their consequences.

Imagine if our lives were on a different scale and you were the size of an ant. How much different would a dandelion look? Empathy is the key to true understanding, and with it, one can certainly expect to be a more well rounded individual ready to take on the world.

Elissa Fredeen can be contacted at

 efredeen@keene-equinox.com