The Waltonian

The most effective recruiting symbol of World War II was the I Want You for the U.S. Army poster which showcased Uncle Sam wearing a top hat and trousers decorated in the nation’s colors. The ad was meant to install patriotism to the men who voluntarily signed up, ensuring them that they were doing right by their country by helping to stop Hitler and his army from gaining control of Europe. The ad left out the parts that weren’t seen in propaganda videos: Soldiers suffering from PTSD (it was called battle fatigue then), those who had missing limbs, and minds forever scarred from what they had witnessed. From the end of World War II, I believe that every war America aggressively inserted itself into, was done solely for the rich war profiteers and later, oil companies.

The book, Johnny Got his Gun, by Dalton Trumbo tells the story of Joe Bonham, a World War I soldier who has his arms, legs and face blown off by artillery shell. He is essentially a prisoner in his own body. Throughout the novel’s stream of consciousness writing style, Joe slowly comes to grip with his reality. He relives to the reader his past, his childhood, what he was like growing up and, because of this, the reader identifies with his plight and what has been forced upon him by a cruel stroke of cosmic luck. The copy of the book that I have at home and have read twice begins with an introduction by a woman who lost her son, Casey in the Iraqi war on April 4th, 2004. The introduction by Cindy Sheehan paints a defeating loss for any mother or parent: A child killed in action in war. She writes on page six:

“In the days and weeks before George Bush’s insane invasion of Iraq, I knew it was wrong, but I never did anything to protest or voice my disgust. After Casey was killed, though, I knew I had to do something…I firmly believe that there are two books that every American should read as soon as they are able to understand: Johnny Got His Gun and Major General Smedley Butler’s equally intense and informative work War Is a Racket. Trumbo’s work tells of the human wreckage of war and Butler’s work outlines the evil intentions of the war profiteers.” (Johnny Got his Gun, Sheehan, 6, 14).

Reading the book, I often asked myself that, when the top military officials, saw the remains of Joe: What were they really afraid of? That what they had put him through was beyond cruel of any human? Or, and this seems more likely from my perspective, that if word got out of Joe and what “The Great War” had reduced him to. The war coffers funding would dry up, that they would have no little guys to fight and die and bleed for them while they sat at home, counting their money bags and planning the next fictional assault on another country for “democracy” or as it’s now known as “Oil.”

(I apologize for being so cyclical but if the little guys are going, how come the fat Wall Street broker’s aren’t the ones shelling out money for compensation to all the damaged veterans who come back with PTSD?). Bottom line: If a government of elected official, tells you to go to war, read this book and be aware of what you’re giving to the war mongers and their puppets in Congress.

If you are interested in sports, there is a likely chance that you heard of D1 and D3 schools. In terms of athletics in college, there are three main programs that give out scholarships to prospering athletic schools and these are: the NCAA (National College Association), the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) and the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association). Of the three, the NJCAA is considered the smallest as it only caters to two year community colleges, as opposed to the other two organizations that work with four year universities and colleges.

Getting a spot onto these teams is very sought-after, and with three scholarships available for the NCAA, the competition becomes pretty fierce. Some of the most famous D1 schools are the notable Notre Dame and the University of Florida. D1 schools tend to offer an average of few thousand dollars to full ride scholarships, depending on academics and skill level. Being involved with a D1 sports team takes a lot of work and effort, and is considered by many, both those on and off the field, to be a full-time job in of itself. That is not to say there are perks to joining a D1 team – snazzy uniforms and TV coverage are included, along with 59 percent of D1 athletics receiving financial aid for being on a team – but you would be expected to show up to practices even when the season games are finished.

In terms of where Eastern falls, Eastern is a D3 school and does not offer financial rewards to athletes. Within the athletic programs, D3 school athletes are still expected to train, but not to the intensity that D1 athletes have to perform. With over 450 schools participating in the NCAA Division III, there are about 190,000 students competing. They travel regionally rather than nationally. Another example that would factor into picking a D1 or D3 is the academic side of college and how athletics balance their school life alongside their studies. D3 athletes focus more on academics than athletics.

Source: NCAA.com

Originally, Easter was a celebration of the Vernal Equinox and was based on the German pagan goddess, Eostre. Her animal was a rabbit and her symbol was an egg. Eostre was seen as the goddesses of rebirth and new beginnings, so it would make sense that the arrival of Spring in full bloom would have a divine intervention in it. The pagan holiday changed with the arrival of Christian missionaries, with the celebration changing to the holiday, Easter, that we are familiar with today. From gathering colored eggs in a basket, to going to church, Eastern students take on many forms of celebrating Easter.

For me personally, my Easter celebration would involve meeting up with my grandparents at our farm in Tewksbury N.J., where we would have a giant Easter egg hunt. Besides that, I do not do much when it comes to celebrating Easter. Honestly I am more of a Halloween and Christmas person, but there are other forms of celebrating the holiday that are unique to other people. These are their stories.

I interviewed Jenni Monkman, a Senior, about her Easter traditions and what they represent for her family. “I have an Easter tradition,” Monkman stated. “My family and I always go to church on Easter Sunday in the morning to celebrate the holiday.. After church, my family and I go back to my parent’s house and we eat a home-cooked meal” she added. “We spend a lot of time in each other’s company, by simply telling stories and celebrating the holiday. We also have another holiday tradition where my parents, siblings and I exchange Easter basket gifts. In these baskets, are a few small sentimental gifts and some chocolate, or Easter themed gummy candies. Ever since my nephew, Brayden, and niece, Brooklyn, were born,we also create Easter baskets filled with toys and candies that they enjoy. The biggest Easter tradition for me is just simply spending time with my family.”

Another Senior I interviewed, Will Walenda, shared with me what he and his family before the holiday. “I go to church with my family, and then go to brunch. Afterwords, we usually go back to my house or my aunt’s house to spend quality time together, share stories, and play games. After that, we usually have an Easter egg hunt for my younger cousins and family friends.” Walenda stated. I also asked Alex Lee about his Easter traditions. He said that he did not have any particular family traditions. Instead, each year his family does something different. However, changing activities may also be a tradition in itself, which is nice too! Maggie Lauer has a similar experience, where every year is different. “My favorite thing about Easter is spending time with my siblings, who I do not always see. We get to catch up and laugh together” Lauer stated.

In conclusion, many people at Eastern partake in different ways of expressing the holiday whether it’s going to an Easter egg hunt at a farm, exchanging small sentimental gifts or swapping locations every year. Easter for Eastern students is always unique and diverse, which makes it a great community to live in.

I interviewed Professor Lucas Stromberg on what he did during Spring Break. He went up to Schenectady, New York, where his twin brother Matt is the rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church. He arrived in New York with his wife, Laura and his mother to visit Matt and his family, which includes his wife, April, and their children: a daughter named Helen and a son named Isaac. After the service on Sunday, Lucas took his niece and nephew to the Riverside Maple Farm so that they all could learn about making maple syrup. On the previous night, he and his family saw the comedian Jim Gaffigan perform at the Palace Theatre in Albany. Unfortunately, he had to cut the trip short as he had to teach classes at La Salle University on Tuesday and Thursday.

After the service on Sunday, Lucas took his niece and nephew to the Riverside Maple Farm so that they all could learn about making maple syrup. On the previous night, he and his family saw the comedian Jim Gaffigan perform at the Palace Theatre in Albany. Unfortunately, he had to cut the trip short as he had to teach classes at La Salle University on Tuesday and Thursday.

The famous transgender and African-American soul-singer of the 1960s, Jackie Shane, passed away on Feb 22 of this year, 2019. Her passing not only robs the world of an extraordinary musician, but an icon to the transgender community as well.

Jackie Shane was born on May 15, 1940 in Nashville, Tennessee in the segregated Jim Crow South. During later interviews, she stated the reason that she moved to Canada was because she witnessed a group of white men go after a black man. She knew that she had to get out of where she was born and go to someplace where she would be safe. Also, at the age of five, Jackie identified as more of a girl than a boy.

This was done in part by her accessorizing with makeup, sporting high-heels and having a handbag. Because of this, she was often ridiculed and mocked by her classmates, particularly a schoolyard bully who hit her with her a rock while she was passing by. In retaliation, she went after him- and the teacher who tried to separate the two- with a jump rope. Even at such a young age, she proved to the world that she was not going to be bossed around.

In 1960, at age twenty, she moved to Montreal, Canada on the invitation of Herbert Whitaker, a famous saxophonist, to watch Frank Motley and his Motley crew perform. She was invited to perform a set piece where she sang songs by popular artists at the time, which included the likes of Ray Charles and Bobby Bland. Following the performance, her fame quickly grew in popularity and it wasn’t long before she released a cover of singles among them was, “Any Other Way.” This take on a classic song helped launch her career to a wider mainstream audience.

The reason that this song helped her gain notoriety was that she puts her own spin on the lyrics. One song that she covered had the lyrics, “I am gay,” which, to the outside world, meant that she was happy, in the LGBT world meant that she was transgender.

She managed to accomplish all this while still staying true to the music; but what made her popular was her unique vocal range in which she was able to produce such deep notes and still sound elegant at the same time (If you have not listened to her music before and would like a recommendation as to what song you should listen to, I would choose this one).

She also released a slew of other popular songs, each one of them a cover of the original. The titles are, “Comin Down,” “I’ve Really Got the Blues,” and even a recording of “You Are My Sunshine.” She even managed to get booked onto the Ed Sullivan Show, but turned the offer down stating that she would not perform without her makeup.

The Ed Sullivan Show, which ran from June 20, 1941 to June 6, 1971 and was hosted by Ed Sullivan, was a famous day-time television show that hosted such acts as The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Walt Disney. Basically, getting on that show was an achievement of its own and for her to turn it down like that showed how dedicated she was to her music and her identity, and was not willing to bend over backwards just to please certain people.

In conclusion, Jackie Shane was both a transgender activist and a popular jazz musician who put a spin on classic hits and showed extraordinary bravery in aversion to a world that would not acknowledge how she expressed herself. She was also a pioneer in transgender rights by not allowing society to dictate what she could do and living her life voraciously and with ferocity.

Sources: papermag.com, Wikipedia, The Guardian, The New York Times

From Jack-o-lanterns to hoping that your dead relatives stop by, Halloween has gone through a major change throughout the centuries. This major change is especially true in America from trick-or-treating to egging houses on Mischief Night. For college students, Halloween involves streaming movies on Netflix, decorating houses, and creating costumes. This is prevalent at a college like Eastern University, where the residents of Wayne, are known to give out full sized candy bars.

Halloween in America is traditionally marked with the rise of costume sales, the endless television commercials for Party City, and the almost non-stop repeat of Michael Jackson’s hit song “Thriller”. One holiday tradition involves going to Haunted houses, where friends compete to see who can hold in their screams, trying not to admit they’re scared. One of the most extreme haunted houses in the U.S. is Mckamey Manor. Located San Diego, California, this house promises a full eight hours of vomit, confinement in small spaces and having physical encounters. This is where the waiver comes in handy.

Participants must consent to have all the items described above done to them if they wish to participate. Despite all this, many people are still eager to try it as there is quite a long waiting list. If you are looking for a more Christian-version of a haunted house than try Hell Houses. These houses, while controversial, attempt to use the scare tactics when dealing with modern-day issues to make people turn to God. I would not recommend visiting one, but there are plenty of clips on YouTube that feature over-the-top acting and bad special effects. From trick-or-treating to haunted houses, America has made Halloween all its own. Just remember to bob for apples and carve some jack-o-lanterns to relish the spooky holiday.

On Monday, September 24, I attended a presentation by Dr. Carveth, a communication specialist who discussed the new Nike ad. The Nike ad involves the tagline, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything,” which premiered on the 30th anniversary of the brand’s iconic line of “Just Do It.” The ad features a voice over describing that if people say your dreams are crazy, it is not an insult, but a compliment. Various imagines of athletics with handicaps are shown overcoming their obstacles and achieving their dreams.

The ad, while inspirational, has drawn controversy to it, especially with the ad’s particular use of former NFL star, Colin Kapernick, as a spokesperson. Kapernick, who has been in some hot water with the NFL since 2011, has not been signed to any major league football teams because of him being the first player to take a knee during the National Anthem. For him, the phrase “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything “ really sticks out in recent events especially with the way world events are turning at a turmoils rate.

Back in 2011, to increase eagerness among the armed services and to promote patriotism, the Department of Defense paid the NFL $12.5 million dollars if they played the National Anthem at the start of every kick-off game. The strategy worked for a while, at least until one tape-over of a game revealed that one player was kneeling down during the flag song. That player was none other than Colin Kapernick himself. He was kneeling down in protest against the police who were not acquitted for shooting unarmed young African-American men.

This act led a spur of debates on both sides of the political spectrum he Democrats said that he had every right to express his views as an American citizen. While on the other hand, the Republicans loudly exclaimed that what he was doing was un-American and that he had not sacrificed anything for his country unlike those that put their lives on the line. Regardless of your own personal views on the matter, the bottom line was that by the end of the 2016 season, Kapernick was out on the streets and out of a job as football star.

In regards to what Dr. Carveth said about the ad, it was quite thought-provoking. One of my personal favorite facts from him was, “Nike’s international market is made up of 60% of Europe and only 40% of the United States, and from a marketing standpoint, the move to have him as a spokesperson was a massive risk.” I agree with Dr. Carveth’s statement, because the day before the ad premiered Nike’s stock on the stock market was worth $79.01 a share; following the ad’s release, the stock rose again to $83.75.

Now, that is not to say some people were outright supportive of Nike’s publicity stunt. Videos and pictures of people setting their sports paraphernalia on fire and cutting out the famous swish logo, soon made rounds on the internet and social media sites. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I believe that destroying your home in a fire (in all the cases that people burned their sneakers), is a little bit on the extreme side.

For many of us, the TV show after school was a daily ritual. We would rush home from school, dump our backpacks on the ground and crowd around in front of the TV. As a kid, my favorite show was “The Marvelous Mis-adventures of Flapjack”. I still watch the show on Hulu, and I am still amazed at the weird and wonderful strangeness of it all.

Firstly, the setting was what drew me to the show whilst I was flipping through the channels. Usually, most other shows would take place on a street corner or have some giant base overlooking the city (“Teen Titan” reference in case you didn’t know. If you’re a fan of superhero cartoons, I would highly recommend it for your next Netflix binge). Just the idea of a show taking place in a dock and harbor town was ingenious. Imagine all the avenues a show could take with that setting alone. In fact there is one episode where FlapJack and Knuckles explore an underground submarine and find out that someone lives down there.The Submarine is called the M.U.S.C.L.E (a clear parody of Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”).

Secondly, the characters were so awesome and hilarious that looking back now, it seems only more relatable. My favorite character besides Flapjack would have to be Bubbie, the oh-so-sassy whale whose mouth Knuckles and Flapjack live in (now that I think about it, that does sound perverted when you give it some thought). She was always yelling at Knuckles— whom I can best describe as the Jock in high school who, after graduating, drinks too much and recounts his glory days as a star quarterback.

Finally, I like how every episode is its own stand-alone story. When it comes to Flapjack, you never know what you are going to get. Whether it is Knuckles’ visit to the Candy Barrel, or Bubbie yelling at Knuckles. You are going to have a blast viewing this uniquely insane show with all it’s strangeness jam-packed into a single episode. Go check it out.