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October 2,2009 f 111
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SHANNON EHRIN many of the renovations that
staff writer have taken place in the Reed
— Union Building, there were ta-
The balcony outside of bles situated on the second
Bruno’s is the prime hangout floor.
spot for a well-known group of Some of the tables that were
students known as “the Bal- previously near the balcony
conites." Even though this so- were placed downstairs, where
cial group has been at Behrend the computers used to be, and
for years, many students are the rest of the tables were posi
probabiy unaware of them. tioned in different areas
Matthew Barsody, a senior around the campus,
majoring in electrical engineer- Now, there are only a few
ing major and president of the small benches for people to sit
Gamers Club, says that he has on and those benches cannot
known of the Balconites for exactly fit more than two peo
about twelve or thirteen years, pie at a time. Considering that
A lot of individuals make up The Balconites are not a small
this group, all with common in- group, this leaves several is
terests. sues.
They are chemistry majors, Many of The Balconites ei
engineering majors, English ther have to stand or resort to
majors, History majors, etc. sitting on the floor and making
The Balconites discuss any- use of the benches as tabletops,
thing from movies to video One student went as far as to
games, and move a chair
tutoring ses- “[The balcony] is not [oo™°™'!!]'
££ wh„ r designed for people JfS.iT £
"fec'eni.,. to hang out there...l £ w clpl use
outside of OOfl t 566 WHy th©y Kris Motta
Bruno’s have u 1 .1 . »» Torok, Director
drawn many WOUIU GO 11131... of Student Ac
more students tivities, asked
to the balcony KRIS TOROK The Balconites
area. Many of Director of Student Activities to move down-
The Bal- stairs because
conites do not find this to be a they are “obstructing walk
problem and enjoy having the ways,” says Kyle Murdock, a
computers in close proximity. junior majoring in political sci-
However, some Balconites ence.
are not so enthused. Before the “[The balcony] is not de
computers, and even before signed for people to hang out
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
A student's passion for the arts
AARON MORELLI
stall writer
Allison Maino’s life is much
more than academics; with a
deep passion for singing,
Maino is a member of Concert
Choir and Chamber Singers at
Behrend. As a senior, this is
Maino’s fourth year in Concert
Choir and her second in Cham
ber Singers.
“Choir has been a form of
stress relief since 1 have been at
Behrend,” says Maino.
In High School, Maino per
formed at the Carnegie Hall
with her high school choir. In
May, after Behrend’s Concert
Choir received a $50,000 grant
from a donor, Maino will be re
turning with Penn State
Behrend’s Concert Choir to
New York to perform at the
Carnegie Hall.
Maino is an English literature
major. To her, choir is an ex
tracurricular activity and she
plans her schedule around it.
After college, Maino plans
on becoming an English Litera
ture college professor and
hopes to express her belief that
“English is about human emo
tion and spirit, and that’s some
thing everyone can relate to
regardless of their major,
whether it be mathematics, sci
ence, or history.”
She would also like to join
the local philharmonic of the
city that she decides to live in.
Other activities and groups
that Maino participates in are
Tae Kwon Do, Fantasy Gamers
Club, Outdoors Club, and the
Matchbox Players. Maino has
achieved the red belt in Tae
Kwon Do. Maino also works
as a Spanish and Writing Tutor
in the Learning and Resource
Dan Smith / The Behrend Beacon
Singing has been a part of Maino's life since the sixth grade.
Center. To Maino, her students, ular and well known,
studies, and choir are the three One of Maino’s most memo
things she values the most at rable moments from Behrend’s
Behrend. One of the choir’s Concert Choir was last year in
main focuses is the Young Peo- New York City. While sitting at
pie’s Choir of Erie. YPC is a a Bubba Gump Restaurant,
group dedicated to helping and their waitress asked them to
teaching children choir from perform for the restaurant, and
around ages eight to seventeen all four choral sections were
represented, they all sang “In
the Still of the Night.”
“Through our determination,
Dr. Bishop, and support from
our peers, we are able to suc
cessfully create beautiful
music,” Maino says.
choir.
“On all of Dr. Bishop’s syl
labi he puts, ‘Excellence is a
habit.’ And I try to apply that to
all my classes, tutoring, and ex
tracurricular activities,” says
Maino.
Through the course of four
years, the choir program at
Behrend has become more pop-
Jon Klein / The Behrend Beacon
The new balcony computers are intended to be accesible to all students as a readily available source to print papers or check email.
there...l don’t see why they
would do that because there is
no space,” Torok says.
“Those tables that were out
there were additional seating
for Bruno’s...we felt there were
plenty of seats inside Bruno’s
and that area wasn’t being used
as additional seating for
Bruno’s all the time.”
Another reason the tables
were removed is “to have [the
walkway] open for flow” for
students going to the Academic
and Career Planning Center,
Torok says.
Torok also notes that the
benches are for short-term use
only, not long-term lounge seat
ing.
Although Torok encourages
people to use the tables down
stairs as a temporary hangout,
there are still not enough tables
and seats for a large group of
people to congregate. What is
also problematic is the poor
cell phone reception down
stairs and lack of outlets to
plug in laptops.
When the tables were up
stairs, they not only allowed
easier access to many outlets
and better cell phone service,
but they were also more useful
for students who commute.
Sydonia Ulmer, a sophomore
creative writing major and
president of the Anime Club,
commutes to and from
Behrend and feels that the ta
bles had given her a place to go
in between classes.
“[l] can’t go to the library be
cause it’s quiet there, you can’t
talk,” says Ulmer. “Down there
is off from everything else and
up here, everything is right
here. This is the best place to
be.”
Torok explains, though, that
the lack of a lounge area has
come to the attention of the Of
fice of Student Activities. Plans
THE PLAYLIST
Indie-rock goes mai
NATHAN CARTER
staff writer
“No recent US alternative
rock band has delved quite so
deeply into the world of British
folk as the Decemberists, os
tensibly an acclaimed indie
rock quartet big on wry, book
ish narrative songs,” says
Alexis Petridis from The
Guardian.
The Decemberists work in
narrative lyricism, so they
thought that it was great how
her album focuses on three
main characters: Margaret, her
shape-shifting lover William,
and a rake with ever-increasing
human qualities.
They’ve released three full al
bums through Kill Rock Stars
Records [Castaways and
Cutouts (2002), Her Majesty
The Decemberists played at Lollapalooza this past summer along
side the headlining performance, Snoop Dogg.
for a new and improved lounge
area have been made and ren
ovations are set to begin next
May, with it opening in time for
the Fall 2010 semester. This
lounge will be on the first floor
in the back
near the
vending ma
chines, the
computers'
previous site,
and the cur
rent location
of the WPSE
radio station
will be the
new game
room
“We’re not the
Balconites anymore
cause we’ve got no
balcony.”
KYLE MURDOCK
junior political science major
There will be six tables and While students like the new
about 96 seats available, all renovations, many prefer the
within reach of outlets, and location where the computers
three televisions for group or used to be. The lack of space
individual video game use. lead the Balconites to agree.
While this proposal finally “We’re not the Balconites
gives The Balconites, as well as anymore cause we’ve got no
any Behrend student, a future balcony,” says Murdock.
(2003), and Picaresque (2005)]
before hitting it big in Oct. 2006
with the release of The Crane
Wife.
The band really turned the
page toward indie/folk stardom
with the song “O Valencia!” The
Crane Wife was released on
Oct. 3, 2006, and that same
night, the band performed on
Late Night with Conan O’Brien
- choosing “O, Valencia!” as
their set song.
Many of the people who
watched wanted to immedi
ately voice their opinion on the
new band performance, so they
went to National Public Radio
(NPR).
Their albums were pur
chased and their songs listened
to, and at the end of 2006, NPR
listeners voted The Crane Wife
best album of 2006.
Free • Confidential
STD TESTING - WALK IN CLINIC
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606 West Second Street
(Comer of West 2nd & Cherry Streets)
Monday 9:ooam -11:00am
Wednesday l:00pm-3:00pm
Thursday 3:oopm-s:oopm
Questions? Call 451-6700
ture
place to relax with friends,
there are still so many months
in between now and the time
when reconstruction will begin.
Matthew Ritz, a senior envi
ronmental studies major, says,
“1 do not see
how they think
the Reed Union
Building would
not turn into a
hangout spot.
It’s the only
building that
has food, seat
ing, and space
for many people
in a central loca-
nstream
The band rose to media star
dom, reaching an appearance
on The Colbert Report to settle
a debate on their “O, Valencia!”
music video.
Colbert claimed that he was
the first to come up with the
idea for that type of video, and
the guitarist (Chris Funk)
wanted to settle it with a guitar
duel. Comically, Colbert
feigned a hand injury and he
ordered a substitution from
Peter Frampton on camera,
who took over and easily won
the crowd’s vote.
Later, following an orchestra
accompanied tour through the
U.S. under Capitol Records and
playing in support of Obama in
their hometown of Portland,
Oregon the five-some sat down
to record.
Their 2009 release, The Haz
ards of Love, holds an interest
ing story of its own. The album
is a tribute to Anne Briggs and
a remake of her 1966 EP of the
same name
The Decemberists were
formed by singer and song
writer Colin Meloy in Portland.
After leaving his band Tarkio,
Meloy moved to Portland, Ore
gon, and once there, met the
rest of the band around town
within the first month: Jenny
Conlee (backup vocals, key
boards), Chris Funk (guitar),
Nate Query (bass guitar), and
John Moen (drums).
Interestingly enough, the
band adds a song in four parts
called “The Hazards of Love”
because there wasn’t one on
Briggs’ album. This new release
brings a little bit of a southern
twist to The Decemberists you
may be used to, but remains an
amazingly “original” CD.