The Waltonian

There aren’t many places where four Eastern alumni all work together, except for maybe Eastern itself. I am sure that many of you have never heard of Harriton High, but this high school currently has four Eastern alumni working on their spring production of “Pippin”. Eastern graduate and current graduate student, Robb Reiner is currently the director of the production. Olesia Gordinskaya (’14) is the music director of this production and she teaches classes at Harriton. Jake Miller (’99) has known Reiner for years and is now choreographing for this production. Andrew Whitehead (’14) is the set designer for this show and this is his third time designing a production, but his first time not designing at Eastern. These two generations of Eastern students have been collaborating for a few months to be able to put on this production.

While the knowledge from these Eastern alumni is essential for the students at Harriton, in order for the students to be able to be eligible to win the Cappie 80 percent of the work done on a production must be done by the students. They are not competing in the competition this year, but they are working alongside the Eastern alumni, learning from them in order to be able to do more of the work independently next year when they will hopefully compete in the Cappies.

Whitehead mentioned that he has thoroughly enjoyed working with the students at Harriton because they really want to learn about all the elements of theatre and they are willing to do their own research. As the set designer, Whitehead has been working closely with the behind-the-scenes kids, teaching them the things he has learned while heavily involved in Eastern’s theatre department. Even though Eastern does not have a theatre major, the students that are involved in theatre are able to experience every facet of it. This gives them a wider range of knowledge, as opposed to someone who may have gone to a school with a larger theatre program who only knows about one element.

Harriton High has a very large budget for their productions and they have an excellent space to make theatre in. The sky is the limit for their productions, and they are taking “Pippin” to a new level. They have decided to set “Pippin” on a television set, complete with working green screens.

With only a few weeks left until the production goes up, the cast and crew are currently in crunch mode. The set is being built, the lines are being memorized and the dances are being learned. The only thing left to do is put it all together. The show opens on April 23, so be sure to go see “Pippin” for a performance you won’t forget.

Spring may have just begun, but summer is just around the corner. And with summer comes outdoor movies! That is right, free outdoor movies like they used to do back in the day. These outdoor movie screenings come in all different varieties: some take place in an open grassy field, while others take place in an outdoor arena complete with seating. Wherever you prefer to watch your movies, keep in mind that they are all free, and they encourage you to bring your own food as long as you clean up your garbage. It really doesn’t get any better than that.

On top of all this free goodness, Penn’s Landing offers free activities to do beforehand that corresponds with the movie that is being shown that night.

All movies begin at dusk, which changes throughout the summer, but you will want to get there early to get a good spot.

One of the movie series that is offered is The Awesome Fest Film Series at Drexel Park: Thursdays, June 20-August 15. It is free. Drexel Park hosts a score of ’80s movies for the annual Awesome Fest. The series begins with Revenge of the Nerds on June 20, and in the following weeks other ’80s favorites fill the giant, outdoor movie screen. Look for Adventures in Babysitting, Die Hard and Batman, just to name a few.

If you are in the Philadelphia area this summer, be sure to check out these free outdoor movies for some frugal Philly fun.

Penn’s Landing

July 3: The Goonies
July 10: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
July 17: Gravity
July 24: Ride Along
Aug. 7: Jaws
Aug. 14: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Aug. 21: Frozen
Aug. 28: The Lego Movie

Moonlit Movies in Mt. Airy

Friday, June 20 (Lovett Park): Frozen
Saturday, June 21 (Trolley Car Diner): Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Friday, June 27 (Lovett Park): Beetlejuice
Saturday, June 28 (Trolley Car Diner): Now You See Me
Friday, July 11 (Lovett Park): Despicable Me 2
Saturday, July 12 (Trolley Car Diner): The Incredibles
Friday, July 18 (Lovett Park): Moonstruck
Saturday, July 19 (Trolley Car Diner): Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Friday, July 25 (Lovett Park): Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Saturday, July 26 (Trolley Car Diner): October Sky
Friday, Aug. 1 (Lovett Park): Rear Window
Saturday, Aug. 2 (Trolley Car Diner): Pitch Perfect

Walking to your car only to discover that it is not the way you left it is probably not your idea of a good time. You at least hope that the person who hit your car left a courtesy note, but unfortunately on Eastern’s campus this has not always been the case. For Junior Hannah Day, her car has been unlucky this year. She says, “My car has been backed into on campus. It has also been side swiped and banged into with other people’s doors. However, I was never around or in my car when the damaged occurred and I never received any note of apology from anyone so I don’t know who did anything. It was really disappointing that I didn’t hear anything from the person who backed into my car, it cracked the front headlight and severely dented the drivers side panel by the hood.”

Director of Security Jim Magee provided the following statement about when a car on campus is hit by another car on campus: “When an accident is discovered and one of the parties involved requests Security to respond, the officer will take personal information from all parties involved such as drivers license, registration and insurance information. Security officers will also examine the area for debris to determine where the accident occurred. Officers will record what they see and prepare a report. Security officers will not determine who was at fault in an accident. Any one of the parties can request that the Radnor Police investigate.”

Angie Kochen's car — [/media-credit] Angie Kochen’s car

There has been a positive case in the midst of all the negativity. Senior Angela Kochen’s car was hit by a snow plow last year and she was emailed that morning about the damage. The person who was plowing admitted to hitting her car and Eastern paid for the damage. While this has not been the case for all, Kochen was pleased with how Eastern handled the situation with her car last year.

In the future if you are in a situation where you accidentally hit a car with yours, leave a note with your contact information. Leaving a note is the right thing to do, and it usually does not come out of your pocket to fix the other person’s car depending on your insurance policy. Do the right thing, and hopefully others will follow the trend.

A dusty stage, manmade hills and waves of burlap set the stage for this original production of “The Dangerous House of Pretty Mbane.” This show is a beautiful story that surrounds the heart wrenching issue of corrective rape in South Africa. “South Africa is seen as a fairly progressive country because they were one of the first countries to allow same sex marriage”, says one of the main characters, Noxolo to an English reporter. In this play, many people did not know about the issue of corrective rape going on, which was intended to turn non-heterosexual women straight. The people in the country do not speak up about it because they have seen that when you do speak out about it, one’s life is in danger. Noxolo tells the reporter this in the hopes that he will write an article about it to get the word out about the atrocities that are happening in her country.

There were so many things that this production did right: the set, the accents, the acting. But in my opinion the writing was the most powerful. They handled this difficult subject matter in such a delicate and honest way. The show started with the character, Pretty Mbane, speaking to the audience and telling us that she was dead, which made me a little apprehensive. I was not sure what I was in for when the title character is speaking from the grave, but it was so much more than that and so much better than I could have imagined.

InterAct Theatre Company, where this play was produced, is a company that specializes in performing original plays. I would highly recommend checking out some of the other plays from InterAct, which is located in Center City Philadelphia on Sampson Street. Also, they offer discounts to students, so go check them out!

It is a sad time in the world of television. The beloved television program, “Parks and Recreation” is in its final days. While all good things have to come to an end, this show seems to be coming to a racing halt. The final season started on Jan. 13 and ended on Feb. 10. In a little over a month, this beloved piece of television will be over. Forever. While I appreciate not having to wait three months to see the series finale, it seems to be happening too quickly. In this age of binge watching, we as viewers have a need to watch shows one after the other, which is part of the reason for “Parks and Recreation” showing two episodes every week. But part of me also wishes that we could go back to the days when we had to watch shows live without internet streaming and DVR.

Over the years “Parks and Recreation” has put us all through an emotional journey. We followed the relationship of Ben and Leslie go from hatred to love, the blossoming of Leslie and Anne’s friendship and the heartache when she moved away, watching the strange but wonderful relationship between April and Andy grow, and of course, Ron Swanson the meat-loving government-hater. This show almost did not make it in the beginning, but it has grown exponentially both in character development and plot.

The final season takes place in the future, the year 2017, and a new internet company named Gryzzl has essentially taken over the town of Pawnee. This company has built up the town, but they are getting in the way of Leslie’s plan of creating a national park. The season follows their journey and the Parks and Rec crew get back together to take down Gryzzl.

Although the ending of this show is a sad thing, I do believe that they ended it at a good time in the series rather than waiting for the show to go downhill and watching it painfully die. These characters will be greatly missed, but thankfully most of these characters already have different projects in the works. Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson) is doing stand-up, now available on Netflix, Chris Pratt (Andy Dwyre) is now in every blockbuster movie ever but is the star of the upcoming Jurassic Park movie, Amy Poehler (Leslie Knope) is working on a new movie with her comedy soulmate, Tina Fey, Aziz Ansari (Tom Haverford) is a stand-up comedian and I am sure that Aubrey Plaza (April Ludgate) will soon be working on some obscure and hilarious project. All things have to come to an end, but we will see these actors again. At least now we have Tina Fey’s new show coming to Netflix in February to look forward to. Pawnee will live on forever; don’t be sad, just talk to some waffles about it and enjoy Galentine’s day with some of your favorite gal pals.

A Raucous Ride Through Space and Time

You may have seen a large group of children singing and laughing somewhere in McInnis lately and thought to yourself, “what is going on?” These children, from the theater group Yes! And…? Collaborative Arts that was started by Eastern alum, have been practicing at Eastern for their show since the beginning of January. But their rehearsal process begins even earlier than that, starting intensive rehearsals in the beginning of November for their Jan. 29 show. You could say that these kids are dedicated, but that would be an understatement.

“It’s About Time” is about more than just time. It has seamstresses in charge of weaving time together, a talking bird, a one eyed villain, a duck hunter, and… Oh! The future has been kidnapped and now time is stuck in a loop. “It’s About Time” is a revamp of this show that Yes! And…?did a few years ago. A few of the cast members were actually in the original show and have been able to see the show’s progress over the years.

Cast member Clarissa Frye came to see Yes! And…’s shows as a child and now she is a cast member. “It has been a surreal experience, being a fan to being in the cast. I actually saw the first version of ‘It’s About Time!’ and it was definitely my favorite one to watch, and now I get to be in it!” Shoshi Greenberg, who is playing Gordon, Father Time’s Cuckoo, was in the original production of the show. She says, “Being in this show has been so cool because the first time I remember looking up to the adult cast members, especially Zach who played Gordon, the part I have now. It is so weird realizing that I am the big kid in the cast and other kids are looking up to me now”.

Yes! And… Collaborative Arts’ mission is to equip children and young people with the tools to be better learners, to believe in themselves and to realize their dreams through the work of creating collaboratively with peers and professional artists. They work with children and youth from across Philadelphia in the collaborative and imaginative arts through Summer Theatre Camps, after school programs, SHADOW Company high school leadership and arts training, and (with Eastern University Theatre) the Winter Sort of Thing.

Sometimes things can’t be left up to Fate. Sometimes you find yourself locked in an invisible prison by an evil lunch lady and her silent sidekick. Sometimes you find out that Father Time’s son (the future) has been kidnapped and now the world is stuck in a loop tearing the fabric of time. Sometimes a rag-tag team of ordinary kids have to follow a giant talking bird behind the veil of time to save the worlds. Sometimes heroes are made out of the least likely people. Sometimes anything can happen, and it does in this years Winter Sort of Thing, “It’s About Time!”

This show runs from Jan. 29- Feb. 1 and tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for children and seniors, and $5 with a student ID. For more information or to buy your tickets, visit www.yesandcamp.org/AWSOT.

[/media-credit] The Housekeeping Staff was honored during appreciation chapel this fall.

Over the past few weeks the Eastern University community has been much more involved in the lives of our housekeeping staff than normal. This has been due to the change in vendor that Eastern will use for their housekeeping staff. Some students are upset with the way that the whole situation came about, and would like answers. That is why students have been sitting outside of the dining commons for days on end, asking people to sign the three petitions having to do with the housekeeping staff. These three petitions regard paying the housekeeping staff a living wage, transparency between students and administration about decisions like this and a petition that went to the new company saying that we as the students think that they should try to hire as many of the current housekeeping staff as possible.

The organizational leader of these events, Allison Cox, read Shane Claiborne’s book The Irresistible Revolution over this summer and was intrigued when it was mentioned that the YACHT club had put together an Arthur Jackson(the housekeeping staff) Appreciation day. During their event the students had taken the jobs of the housekeeping staff in order to give them a paid day off. She loved this idea, so with the help of Megan Acedo, she has been working this semester to make this happen. While many people on campus do appreciate the housekeeping staff, she wanted to give the whole campus a chance to really consider all the work that they do for us day in and day out.

At chapel on Nov. 5, the housekeeping staff was recognized for their service and given vouchers for a paid day-off of their choosing. This day was filled with mixed emotions because the housekeeping staff recently found out that Eastern has terminated the contract with the current housekeeping services, Arthur Jackson Company, after 20 years of working together. This means that many of the housekeeping staff will be out of a job come mid-December: a difficult time for anyone to lose their job. There is a silver lining to this situation; the housekeeping staff had an opportunity to reapply through this new company and keep their jobs here at Eastern. Many of the staff members have been working at Eastern for a number of years and feel as though it is their second home, as many of us do.

Jose Rivera is the director of environmental services here at Eastern, and has been working in the housekeeping business for over 40 years. He has been at Eastern for 15 of those years, and when he was offered a promotion with Arthur Jackson, he turned it down in order to stay at Eastern, the community he loved so much. Rivera is optimistic about the change in company and hopes that many of his staff are able to stay at Eastern. While this change came at an unfortunate time, there is hope that things will improve for the housekeeping staff.

Cox has been talking to faculty members in different departments at Eastern and has found that many have this same issue on their hearts. “I really want this event not to be a one and done activity, but for it to get us thinking about the bigger issues related to justice when it comes to how the housekeeping staff is paid and their working environment,” Cox said. The day was a great success if based on numbers alone: over 200 students signed up to vacuum a residence hall, sweep a stairwell or empty the trash in a classroom. By presenting this day of appreciation, Cox hopes to help students understand that justice is the essence of Eastern, and how important it is that we return to that.

There has been much more in the works for the housekeeping staff. There have been three different petitions regarding the housekeeping issues happening on campus. One petition that was given to GCA services, the new company hired by Eastern, had to do with the current housekeeping staff being able to continue to work at Eastern. By signing the petition, signees voiced that the current staff members did a good job and therefore should be rehired here at Eastern. Over 330 students signed this petition when it was given to GCA services. Some bilingual Eastern students were also able to translate for the housekeeping staff at their interviews.

In honor of appreciating those individuals who labor tirelessly on a daily basis, many students here at Eastern University have been actively working to continuously find new ways to voice the university’s appreciation. If you have any ideas on how you would like to continue to find ways to appreciate the housekeeping staff, please contact Allison Cox at acox1@eastern.edu.

Eastern hosts blood drive

On Monday, Nov. 17, Eastern University hosted a blood drive through the American Red Cross. Many students signed up to give to this worthy cause, but this is a much more personal donation than money.

Giving blood is so important because it is always in demand; someone in the United States needs blood every two seconds. One donor, in her story on the American Red Cross’s website, explains, “My mother contracted a blood disease…when she was in her 70s. Because of this, she needed a blood transfusion requiring two pints of blood every three weeks for the last four years of her life. With the generosity and donations of…people I have never met, my mom was kept alive all those years for me to love.”

Donating is such an easy way to save a life; in fact, one donation can provide enough blood to save as many as three lives. Another donor shares, “I love donating blood. The thought of being able to help save three people’s lives every time I go makes me feel like a better person.”
For these reasons, anyone who is able to give blood should, along with the 9.2 million others who will donate this year in the United States.

According to the American Red Cross, there are four different types of donations:

1. Whole blood, which is the most common. The donor gives approximately one pint of blood. This can be done every 56 days.

2. Platelet. An apheresis machine takes platelets and plasma. Platelets are important for cancer and organ transplant treatments, since they work to prevent blood loss. A single donation can provide for one or more transfusions. The donation takes approximately 1½ to 2½ hours.

3. Plasma. This is done at the same time as a platelet donation at select American Red Cross Donation Centers. The donation takes approximately one hour and 15 minutes.

4. Double red cell. An apheresis machine gathers red cells. Donors must meet additional hemoglobin, height and weight requirements and can give every 112 days.

If you are unsure whether you are eligible, you can go on the American Red Cross’s website and see if you fulfill the requirements or just go on the day of the donation and see if you pass the mini-physical they will give you. Even if you have a fear of needles, fear not, because the people administering the donations are highly skilled, and most of them have been doing this for a very long time. They will make the experience as enjoyable and painless as possible.

So the next time there is a blood drive in your area, stop by and donate, because your blood could save three lives.

Source: RedCrossBlood.org

A creative writing piece

Dear Parents of a Bald Baby,

Let’s face it, your baby is bald. Hats and headbands with giant flowers will not hide this fact. It will, however, help people to differentiate whether your baby is a boy or girl, but your child will still be bald. The days will turn to weeks, which turn to months, which turn to years, and you will still have a mostly bald baby. Yes, the only hair atop your sweet baby girl’s head at age three are white blonde wisps with a strange Mrs. Brady flip action happening in the back. Even though she has very little hair, you will still give her a haircut just to put that little swatch of hair in the baby book to be over and done with it because all the normal babies have had their first haircut a long time ago. But no, you got the bald baby, the baby that will grow up to think that babies born with a full head of hair are freaks and the only cute babies are bald ones.

Dear Lover of “The Parent Trap,”

I know you really like those side bangs that one of Lindsay Lohan’s cyber twins was rocking (spoiler alert: she was only one person), but please don’t cut them yourself. Your inspiration for this new hairdo was birthed out of an unhealthy obsession with “The Parent Trap,” which you watched almost every day for about a year. At least you never attempted to pierce your own ears with an ice cube, an apple and a sewing needle, which was also done in the movie, and for that I thank you.

Hacking off an uneven chunk of your hair hidden underneath your parents’ bed, then stashing the handful of hair further underneath the bed never to be found again, is probably not the best idea you have ever had. You could have just as easily locked yourself in the bathroom or your bedroom where there is this great thing called a mirror. Watching yourself cut your hair just below your eyebrow from your hair parted down the middle might actually have deterred you from making this mistake. Wasn’t the whole point of hiding under a bed to keep you from being found by your parents? Then why did you do it under their bed; did it have something to do with keeping your enemies close? Literally anywhere else in your house would have been a better place for this.

Another tip for you, don’t use kitchen scissors; those things are used for all sorts of different things that you do not want near your face. The effort it took to pry those scissor blades apart should have been an indicator that those scissors were not the cleanest things in the world. I know that your plastic safety scissors just do not work on your hair, but please, no kitchen scissors.

If you think that you can fool your mom by wearing your hair back in this awkward clip while you are home, then letting those awesome locks fly free at school, you are wrong. She will find out. Mothers know all.

“Heather, can you come in here for a minute?” (Never a good sign.)

You shuffle into the living room unaware of the fate that awaits you.

“Take out that clip.”

You reply, “Why?” (Never ask why.)

“Just do it.” (Just do it.)

“Why would you do that to yourself? Where did you get scissors?” You sheepishly point to the kitchen.

“Alright, well, this is how you wanted it, so this is how your hair is going to stay.”

The passive aggressiveness of this comment is almost too much to handle; you are five and do not understand passive aggression. So dear lover of The Parent Trap, please leave the hair cutting to the professionals.

People Watching (verb): An activity where one individual watches another individual for amusement. The individual being watched usually does not know that they are being looked at. No connection to stalking.

There are some people who sit in a spot in a fairly public area and watch people. But not just watch them, watch them trip and fall. No? You don’t do this? I’m the only terrible person who does this? Good to know you are all moral elitists. Well, since I’m the only one who does this, I’ll use myself as the example.

I sit in this one spot outside quite a bit. Cafe tables all around with a bunch of seats, but everyone is sitting alone. So, I’m sitting there alone and notice that this one spot in the ground dips a little, then goes back up sharply, unapologetically. I notice this because I have tripped on this exact spot too many times to count. I know it is there, but every time without fail, I stumble. And this is not a graceful sort of tripping in any way: this is more like a baby giraffe learning to walk.

The amount of time between when you can be a hero, and the time in which you realize that you are a terrible person, feels like it could go on forever.

I sit there, watch people approach the dreaded spot, think about saying something, consider the volume that my voice has to be at for the person about to trip to hear me, think about the energy that it would take to reach that volume and determine if I have it in me or not, decide that I don’t want to cause a scene, change my mind again and think about how good it will feel if I saved them from momentary embarrassment, think about if they died in front of me, think about if I am the fight or flight type (I’m probably the flight type), decide again that I don’t want to cause a scene and before I know it my chance for heroic triumph and a parade being thrown in my honor is gone.

They fall, I laugh because I’m a sucker for some classic physical comedy, intended or not. I look to see if they are dead or not; they are alive and continue on their way, seemingly unaffected. I realize that I just wasted a ton of time thinking about a person that didn’t even know that I was sitting there. In my defense I was mostly thinking about myself, but it was surrounding the idea of another person.

If I can leave you, dear reader, with one final thought, it would be to act quickly and fall gracefully because people are most likely watching you.