Photographer captures life on ‘The Rez’

By Shara Sarnelli

The College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) continues its 2007-2008 exhibition season with a photo exhibition entitled “A View From the Rez.” This solo exhibition features recent work by visiting artist John Willis. Willis’s work explores black-and-white photography, documenting the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, tribal home of the Oglala Lakota Sioux People.

John Willis graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1986 where he received an MFA in photography. His photographic work has been viewed in exhibitions throughout both the country and internationally. It has been included in several private and public collections such as The Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Harvard University.

Today, Willis spends his days as a professor of photography at Marlboro College located in Vermont. Other than that, he is appreciated as the co-founder and board president for the In-Sight Photography Project, a non profit organization that has offered free photography classes to children in Southern Vermont since 1992.

Upon entering the exhibition, “A View From the Rez,” which is located in the CVPA Campus Gallery, a number of black-and-white photographs come to view. Once closer up, the photographs display a melancholic beauty. Though a majority of Willis’s photographs were taken in South Dakota, viewers are able to get on a personal level with the images and the photographed people through the intense emotion captured in each piece.

The exhibition is on view until February 14. This exhibition will offer a gallery talk on Thursday, February 14 from 4 to 5 p.m. with a reception following.

Regular gallery hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by appointment. This exhibition is free to the public.

Activist Hurt goes beyond hip-hop beats

Documentary filmmaker, activist and writer Byron Hurt will come to UMD on Wednesday, February 6 to present and discuss, free of charge, his film “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes,” which touches upon today’s hip-hop culture.

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass.— Documentary filmmaker, writer, and anti-sexist activist, Byron Hurt will present “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes,” based upon his award-winning documentary of the same name on Wednesday, February 6 at 7 p.m. in the Main Auditorium.

This is a free community event sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs Programming Committee.

Byron Hurt & hip-hop: beyond beats & rhymes

“Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” is a riveting documentary that examines representations of gender roles in hip-hop and rap music. Conceived as a “loving critique” from a self-proclaimed “hip-hop head,” Hurt examines issues of masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today’s hip-hop culture. Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was later broadcast nationally on the Emmy award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, drawing an audience of more than 1.3 million viewers.  To date, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes has been selected to appear in more than 40 film festivals worldwide.

Hurt also directed and produced I AM A MAN:  Black Masculinity in America, a 60-minute award-winning documentary that captures the thoughts and feelings of African-American men and women from over fifteen cities across America. In this award-winning film, Hurt challenges audiences to interrogate the damaging effects of patriarchy, racism and sexism in American culture.

More than a filmmaker, Hurt is a former Northeastern University football quarterback and a long-time gender violence prevention educator. He is a founding member of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, the leading college-based rape and domestic violence prevention initiative for college and professional athletics. He is also the former associate director of the first gender violence prevention program in the United States Marine Corps.

Hurt has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Boston Globe, The L.A. Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer; O, The Oprah Magazine; The Source Magazine, Vibe Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Mother Jones, Entertainment Weekly, Variety Magazine, allhiphop.com, and vibe.com. Comments and reviews of his film can be found all over the internet and blogosphere. He has also appeared on The Montel Williams Show, CNN, Access Hollywood, MTV, BET, ABC World News Tonight, the Michael Baisden Show, and the Michael Eric Dyson Show.

Over the last 15 years, Hurt has lectured at hundreds of campuses, presented at numerous professional conferences, and trained thousands of young men and women on issues related to gender, race, sex, violence, music and visual media.

His websites are www.bhut.com, and www.myspace.com/beyondbeatsandrhymes.

If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact Beth-Anne Vieira, Coordinator of Health Education & Promotion, at 508-910-6965 or bveira@umassd.edu.

Preview the film, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes, in its entirety on:

Tuesday, February 5 @ 12 noon – Frederick Douglass Unity House.

The film will also play Monday, February 4 through Sunday, February 10 every hour on the hour on Channel 77 (accessible on campus cable).

UMass Dartmouth gets a taste of ‘The Daily Show’

By Shara Sarnelli

Comedian and “Political Commentator” John Oliver will perform on Saturday, February 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the main auditorium. Doors open at 7 p.m.and ticket prices are $10 for UMass Dartmouth students (with a UMass Pass) and $20 for non-students. Tickets can be purchased at the UMass Pass Office located in the Campus Center. Non-Student tickets are also available at all FYE locations throughout New England.

John Oliver is from “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and was born and raised in England, Great Britain in 1977. Oliver has worked as a stand-up comedian in the UK for the last 7 years. Audiences have been equally annoyed and entertained by his performances.

Oliver wrote and starred in three series of “The Department” for BBC Radio 4 with his collaborator Andy Zaltzman. The weekly topic of the series was ways to solve the problems of the world. The two also wrote and presented “Political Animal,” which linked satirical stand-up methods with sketches and drawings.

Throughout his career, Oliver has received a total of zero well-known awards; however, he did receive a letter of complaint from the Buckingham Palace.

Thankfully “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” gave Oliver an opportunity to become part of the show. It is exciting for this British comedian to be performing in this country.

Opening for John Oliver on February 9 will be comedian Rory Albanese. Albanese is an Emmy winning Co-Executive Producer at “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and has been part of the show for over eight years now.

Albanese also happens to be a stand-up comedian who has performed in Lewis Black’s “Red White and Screwed” tour, which toured all across the country during the summer of 2006. Other than expressing his comedic side on “The Daily Show,” he has been headlining his own shows at colleges throughout the North East and has been featured on VH1.

This event is sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs Programming Committee. For more information please contact the Student Activities, Involvement & Leadership Office at 508-999-8127.

book review

A ‘golden’ fantasy adventure

By Shara Sarnelli

Fly along side clans of witches. Battle next to armored bears. Travel through the cold north. Experience the magic come to life of acclaimed author Philip Pullman’s adventure series entitled, “His Dark Materials.” Book I of this series is “The Golden Compass,” which is now a major motion picture that was released on December 5 of 2007.

Pullman is an Oxford graduate who has written several pieces focused on fantasy for both children and young adults. Some of his other well-known works include “The Scarecrow and His Servant.”

“His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass” was published by Yearling in 1995. It is the winter of the Carnegie Medal (England), a “Horn Book” Fanfare Honor Book, a “Bulletin” Blue Ribbon Book, a “Publisher’s Weekly” Best Book of the Year, a “Booklist” Editor’s Choice (Top of the List), A Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection and a 1997 Children’s ABBY Honor Book.

Book I of Pullman’s fantastical, parallel world is complete with 23 chapters and three parts, spanning nearly 400 pages. The story is set in a universe both similar to and vastly different from ours. In this world, each person has a dæmon, which is a shape-shifting animal outside of the body, resembling a person’s soul.

Main character Lyra Belacqua is a young orphan girl who lives amongst the scholars of Jordan College in Oxford, part of a territory controlled by the Magisterium, which is an authoritarian organization that imposes its own beliefs while restricting freedoms of its citizens. But Lyra is not alone in this land.

Lyra has her good friend Roger, the kitchen boy, and her dæmon Pantalaimon by her side during her many adventures. Lyra, Roger and Pan explore the college, but they must be more cautious when they hear of the Gobblers, who are said to kidnap children and conduct experiments on them and maybe even kill them. But Lyra’s life-altering adventure begins with her uncle, Lord Asriel, who is fearsome and powerful. What she witnesses leads to a great struggle of a journey, nothing like her childish games with Roger on the rooftops of Jordan College.

Once Lord Asriel departs from the college to set off on an expedition of some kind, Lyra is invited to head north as an assistant of a charming woman named Mrs. Coulter. Lyra is commended with an alethiometer before she leaves the college. This compass-like device becomes the guide to much of Lyra’s adventure: she, unaided, is destined to win, or lose, an otherworldly battle.

Pullman writes at a readability level that is ideal for a younger audience, but the themes and allusions within the book can be appreciated by adults. When Pullman’s children characters are caught up in dialogues with others, the language reflects that of a child realistically. The children, and even some adults, do not speak with absolute proper English; they speak exactly how they would during everyday life. This method turns a fantastical story into more of a fantastically realistic story.

Older audiences can relate to the themes such as the nature of the soul, where the soul resides, corruption of power and the uncompromisingly stern ways of a powerful church. The vivid descriptions, concrete sensory details and illustrative settings take readers into the story and place them right next to Lyra, unable to leaver her side throughout the entirety of her adventure.

One passage of “The Golden Compass” that appears a little over half way through the story reads, “The little boy was huddled against the wood drying rack where hung row upon row of gutted fish, all as stiff as boards. He was clutching a piece of fish to him as Lyra was clutching Pantalaimon, with her left hand, hard, against her heart; but that was all he had, a piece of dried fish; because he has no dæmon at all” (Pullman 213).

“His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass” deserves a golden star and is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys reading, fantasies, adventures or the themes behind the fantastical world. Book II, “The Subtle Knife” begins in a world just like this one. Book III, “The Amber Spyglass” travels between both universes.

THE BEER BARON

Keep the cold out with Storm King Stout

By Gary Albert

Winter is the time of year where the strong, dark beers taste extra warm and delicious. Victory Storm King Imperial Stout is just that: a strong, dark beer, which is excellent for winter.

From Victory Brewing Company in Pennsylvania, Storm King is a Russian Imperial Stout style beer. Russian Imperial Stouts are higher than average in alcohol content, with very strong, malty flavors. Without a doubt, Storm King is one of the best Russian Imperial Stouts out there.

One small point that should be made is that my stout reviews are always biased because I can never get enough stout. It is my favorite style beer, as my past reviews have shown this, and I try to space them out the best I can.

Believe it or not, I picked up Storm King at the recommendation of a Sam Adams worker who was taste testing two of their own brews at a store back in October. He said that it was “the beer to try.” So naturally, I purchased a bottle.

Storm King pours near black with a medium light tan head. Emerging from the glass are coffee, caramel, molasses and roasted malt smells, which is quite nice. The taste is a strong coffee with molasses.

There are hints of chocolate, but it resembles taking a great coffee and putting it on ice with this beer. It has an earthy taste to it with hints of licorice as well, and there is a definite bitterness to balance the sweet, malty goodness. By the way, the aftertaste consists of dashes of coffee.

There is a light carbonation on the mouth, very much indicative of the style and stronger beers. In the mouth it feels heavy but smooth, almost coffee-like in texture to add to its coffee flavors. Even those who are not big fans of coffee can be fans of this beer.

Even though it is rather heavy, it is still extremely drinkable and tasty. The 9.1% alcohol is not even close to noticeable in the taste, or the drinkability. Also, the bottle says that this one is good until 2012…so it definitely would age well.

Appearance: 4.75/5

Smell: 4.25/5

Taste: 4.75/5

Mouthfeel: 4.5/5

Drinkability: 4.25/5

Overall: 4.75/5

Very good stout, however, it is not my favorite (the honor of that goes to Rogue Chocolate Stout, featured in the November 15 issue), but a close second. I would definitely recommend it.

If you have a recommendation for a beer for me to review (anything goes), want to comment on or criticize my review, or just have questions regarding beer, send me an email at UMDBeerBaron@gmail.com

‘Idol’izing the not-so-talented: Season 7

By Shara Sarnelli

On January 15, one of television’s most popular shows returned for its seventh season on Fox. “American Idol” inspires tens of thousands of people to sing their hearts out for a chance at moving onto the next stage at musical stardom.

Although infamous judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell decide which contestants move onto Hollywood, it is up to viewers to determine who inherits the title of the next American Idol.

The show continues to be hosted by Ryan Seacrest, who has encountered some of the most extraordinary people during the first few weeks of the show’s season, which mostly focus on auditions.

The first episode of the seventh season explored the talents and peculiarity of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “Idol” fans from across the world traveled to Philly in hopes of getting a golden ticket to Hollywood or act out enough to end up on television. Twenty-nine contestants total from the Pennsylvania auditions showed enough talent to fly to Hollywood. However, viewers had the opportunity to see only about 3 auditions of those possible “Idol” contenders. This season, “American Idol” proved to be more wrapped up in terrible, outrageous auditions along with backgrounds of contestants than in any previous season.

Dallas, Texas, home of former “Idol” Kelly Clarkson, was the next city to step up to the mic . Dallas showcased “demonic” performances and Janice Joplin wannabe’s, yet little talent was found in comparison to the very first season of “Idol.”

San Diego and Charleston auditions were featured during the second week of the show’s seventh season. For the first half hour of a Wednesday episode, contestants sang overdramatically, theatrically and angrily. The judges made such discouraging comments as to compare one audition to a “1970’s cruise ship cabaret” and called another “a horrible audition.”

Charleston was showing little success until, finally, some talent presented itself. Sixteen year old Amy, a high school student and abstinence advocate made it through to Hollywood with her rendition of “Reflection” by Christina Aguilera. Her performance was pure and innocent, promising a great deal of potential.

The next talented contestant from South Carolina, a woman named London, sang “Good Morning Heartache.” She had a nice, engaging tone. Simon advised that while it was a good audition, there are thousands of similar female vocalists, so London must find a way to stand out in Hollywood.

One contestant, Aretha, argued that her voice was more than beautiful, but the judges disagreed and Simon claimed she murdered the Whitney Houston song that she performed. Joshua Boson, who put his heart and soul into his performance, clearly lacked vocal training. Boson told the camera crew that the “show is fake and rigged.”

Twenty three contestants total from South Carolina impressed the judges enough to be sent to Hollywood. Before commercial breaks, the camera focused on happy contestants hopping away waving their golden tickets, but viewers were blind to these auditions.

As “American Idol” works its way across America, searching for musical talent, it seems that the series is keen on showing as much of the bad and the ugly, rather than the good, as possible.

“This is a singing competition,” as stated numerous times by Simon Cowell. However. the producers seem more intent on showcasing lunacy and terrible auditions rather than letting audiences become acquainted with potential new “Idols.”