Maria NeCastro

For The Maine Campus

The Manzoni family is like a lot of American families — a strong father, loving mother, two kids, and a loyal dog — but there is something that sets them apart from everyone in their town. Giovanni Manzoni, played by Robert De Niro, is a former mob boss who became an informant to the F.B.I. and now lives under the close watch of the witness protection program.

The film, based on the novel “Malavita” by French author Tonino Benacquista, begins with the Manzoni family moving to Normandy, France and becoming the Blake family. In their new surroundings, the Blakes attempt to assimilate, but when they don’t get what they want, they hilariously seek revenge. A perfect example of this is when mother and wife Maggie, played by Michelle Pfieffer, sets a local grocery store on fire after receiving less than satisfactory customer service.

The family dynamic is perfect with “Glee’s” Dianna Agron as the charming and fearless 17-year-old daughter, Belle, and John D’Leo as the brilliant and manipulative 14-year-old son, Warren.

Belle’s storyline is where the quintessential love story of the movie comes into play. While she is a total badass who can stand up for herself — and she certainly does when she knocks out a boy who tries to make a sexual advance toward her — she also has a soft and loving side, displayed when she falls for her math tutor.

D’Leo is unforgettable as Warren, who appears in the start of the film to be the social wallflower type. By the end of the film, however, the kid runs his school. The casting of the Manzoni/Blake children is spectacular, as both young actors prove their ability to portray characters that have been brought up in a mafia family.

Though it may seem a bit unbelievable for the now 70-year-old De Niro to be playing the father of teenagers, his portrayal as the head of the Manzoni/Blake family proves to be the best possible casting for the role. It may seem unoriginal for De Niro to play the lead in a mob movie, but the actor has the typecast role down to a science.

While leading lady Michelle Pfeiffer, 55, makes for a convincing wife and mother, she seems to be the weakest link in terms of acting as someone who once had close ties with the mob. Her “mob wife” accent ranges from offensive to awful to undetectable.

Along those same lines of senior actors, Tommy Lee Jones, 67, portrays a surly F.B.I. agent on the Manzoni case in a way that is unmatchable by the up-and-coming stars of Hollywood. Case in point, his monotone delivery of this gem that sums up his relationship with the Manzonis: “Welcome to France. Try to fit in — I’m getting tired of finding you a new place to live every 90 days.”

This movie is billed as being action, comedy and crime, but it might be easier to call it a “dramedy” spiced-up with some well-integrated violence. Either way, what makes this dark comedy worth watching happens to be the way the family behaves in the time warp-esque town in Normandy.

Despite the fact that some smaller storylines in the Sept. 13 release are left unfinished, the overall plot of the story is entertaining with its ironic humor and honest performances.

Grade: B+

The Kingman’s Saturday Night concert series kicked off on Saturday with Line of Force, a funk-rock outfit from Portland. The doors opened at 9 p.m. and Line of Force took the stage at 10 p.m.

Located at 283 Main St. in Old Town, Kingman’s is a bar and concert venue that has featured live entertainment for some time. Over the past year, owner Tim Taylor has been aiming to move his business away from being a bar and more toward being a concert venue. With the Kingman’s Saturday night concert series, Taylor hopes to have a new band in every Saturday, which will further establish Kingman’s as a concert venue rather than just a bar.

“I wanted to get something going that was going to be consistent,” Taylor said. “In the past we would try to […] pack too much into a weekend, trying to get a live band every night. It’s hard to pack the place every night. We’re trying to be consistent with Saturdays so people know that every Saturday there’s going to be live music.”

The series began on Sept. 14 with The 220s, a progressive rock trio out of Belfast, Maine. In keeping with his goal of having an upbeat funky sound in the bar, Taylor brought in Line of Force for the show on Oct. 5. Line of Force have played at the venue before and were happy to return. The band consists of Adam Montminy on bass, Chuck Prinn on drums, Mat Leighton on the sax, Kyle Friday on keyboards and Frank Hopkins on lead guitar and vocals. Hopkins also acts as the band’s songwriter.

“We had a very interesting gig [at Kingman’s] last time […] it’s probably not something I should go into,” Hopkins joked. “We’re friends first, we just like to hang out and play music. We let the music do the talking.”

The band launched into the night with their signature funky groove. Hopkins’ grungy vocals fit with the sound, which mixed elements of funk and jazz for an upbeat sound that is very conducive to dancing.

Taylor is looking to sign bands with this sort of upbeat sound. Although many of the bands he gets are local, Taylor is also looking to bring talent in from out of state.

“There’s a lot of talented musicians in the state and New England. We’re going to try and reach further and pick up bands who are on tour and start to work with Port City and the State Theatre to piggyback shows,” Taylor said. “For [Line of Force] it’s only Portland, but if we get somebody from Connecticut or Boston, they can go to Portland and play a show, then come up here and play a show. It splits the cost of traveling and works out better for everybody.

“Bigger bands book [shows] further out so we’re trying to plan out next semester now,” Taylor said.

Taylor also runs the infamous Rage Bus, which can be rented out by parties for a safe and fun way to travel between various party destinations.

“I started that after I started [Kingman’s] as a good way to bring people out here,” Taylor said.

As a venue, Kingman’s does very well. The bar features good deals and open mic nights as well as other events keep things fresh. The stage also now features a large graffiti mural painted by Kenny Hess, an artist and friend of Taylor’s who also goes by the name “Yedi Fresh.” The design features a colorful band of extravagantly designed animals that act as a good backdrop for whoever happens to be playing.

“It’s fun to operate as a bar, but I want to push the loud music in here,” Taylor said. “I want people to come here because there’s something going on, there’s a show tonight.”

The next concert in the series will be Roots, Rhythm, & Dub, a fusion-reggae act from Portsmouth, N.H. on Nov. 9. Kingman’s will also host the FatZon PromoZ Electronic Resin Ball on Halloween night with a costume contest and free prizes. Doors open at 9 p.m. and all patrons must be 21 year or older.

Joshua Quinit

Josh Deakin

For The Maine Campus

Snoop Lion — formerly Snoop Dogg — is no stranger to the film industry, having appeared in films like “Soul Plane” and “Starsky & Hutch.” One film that has made its way into most five-dollar movie bins is “Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror.”

The movie is an anthology horror film that was released in 2006. It began its run at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to be shown as a special sneak peek at the 8 Films to Die For film festival. It was eventually released in theaters worldwide in the spring of 2007.

The movie begins with an animated clip depicting a car chase riddled with gunfire. During this scene, the opening credits are displayed, revealing some big names in this straight-to-DVD feature. These names include Danny Trejo, Billy Dee Williams, Ernie Hudson and, of course, Snoop Dogg himself. The animated short depicts the story of Devon, voiced by Snoop Dogg. When Devon accidentally shoots his little sister, he sells his soul to bring her back from the dead. What follows are three live action shorts which Devon narrates, frequently breaking the fourth wall throughout.

The first segment tells the tale of a woman tagger, named Posie, who is given the power to kill through graffiti. A hellhound, played by Danny Trejo, gives her a power that lets her kill fellow taggers just by placing a red “X” over their graffiti. The segment is an interesting, original concept that plays out exactly how one would expect it to. A high point in the short is that it features acting talents of Billy Dee Williams as a preacher.

The next segment is at heart a story of a father and son. After the death of a father, his son is given the opportunity to gain his inheritance. Before he can reap the benefits of the inheritance, he must first live with some Vietnam War veterans. Sound simple enough, right? Well, the son and his girlfriend begin to take advantage of the men. They put them to work and announce that they owe a ridiculous sum of money in back rent. This is by far the strongest segment in the anthology. It features the greatest line of the movie delivered by Snoop Dogg after he is revealed to be a new landlord for the veterans: “Absolutely no dogs allowed, present company excluded.”

The final segment is the weakest short in the film. It tells the story of a famous rapper, named SOD, who is visited by a woman by the name of Clara during a party. Clara has a talk with SOD about his deceased friend Quon who used to look after him when he was just getting started. Quon returns from the dead to seek revenge on SOD for being involved in his death. Anyone who is familiar with rap rivalries will find this story to be unoriginal, for the most part. At its core, all the story is is a tale of a rap feud. World Championship Wrestling fans would be happy to know that Diamond Dallas Page makes an appearance as SOD’s manager, Jersey.

The anthology concludes with a mix of animation and live action that shows the main characters in all three stories arriving in Hell. Snoop Dogg then starts to rap as the end credits roll. It’s of no surprise that the film features Snoop’s music quite a bit. The film is not terrible but some segments could have definitely have been done better.

Molly Ayotte

For The Maine Campus

Sergio Afonso

Forty students and professors gathered in the new Innovative Media Research and Communications Center in Stewart Hall last Tuesday night to catch of glimpse of award-winning video performance artist Alix Pearlstein.

Pearlstein started off her presentation with a video she directed in 2012 called “Moves in the Field.” Set in a white and seamless room, various performers and actors had been previously instructed to walk around the space, look at each other, and look at the steady camera. There was no narration or musical accompaniment. Pearlstein spoke over the video, divulging her “desire to activate effective space between the actor and the camera.” She achieved this post-modern status by letting the performers speak for themselves and develop their own on-screen relationships.

Pearlstein said her main objectives when directing include a minimalistic point of view, a unique take on humanism, explorations of framed space and internal conflict. She believes that even though there is no audible dialogue in most of her videos, the viewer is still able to see a main protagonist emerge. Pearlstein described this technique as, “performing, but not acting.” Her style of directing allows for narrative to creep between the cracks.

Pearlstein described her research process prior to shooting a video as “making connections.” She spends several months online researching, writing and watching numerous films. Her goal is always to find something that inspires her and “intentionally reworking the original.” Some of her biggest influences include Michael Snow and Béla Tarr.

Some of Pearlstein’s video titled “Talent” pays homage to “A Chorus Line.” The idea of placing performers in front of mirrored walls and in front of a camera mimics the effect of having an audience. Pearlstein wants to evoke certain feelings in her performers that portray feelings of “Look at me! Feel me! Care about me!” Many of the actors she uses in her videos are friends of hers and popular performers in her home of New York City.

During the Q-and-A portion of the presentation, a member of the audience asked Pearlstein why she uses professional actors instead of pedestrians if her work is so minimalist. She explained her work is more about “stripping down.” According to Pearlstein, it is really challenging for professional actors to perform without any script or blocking. Pearlstein said that it really shows “what they can do when there is nothing to do.” She allows them to bring their own presence on screen and decide how much attention they think they need. She also said she is very open and values suggestions from her performers, although Pearlstein made it very clear that her work has room for interpretation but not improvisation.

Pearlstein was born, raised and currently lives in New York City. She acquired her bachelor’s degree at Cornell University, and later her master’s degree from the Purchase College of the State University of New York. Over the years, her work has been featured in many solo exhibitions and performances all across the nation, with a few group exhibitions overseas. Pearlstein has participated in several critiques and has served on the Alumni Artist’s Panel at Cornell. She was awarded the Grants to Artists Award in 2011 by the Foundation of Contemporary Arts.

The University of Maine’s Fall Artist Lecture Series is hosting painter Dudley Zopp on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in 104 IMRC Stewart Hall. For a complete list of the series, please visit intermediamfa.org. All events are free and open to the public.

9/27

Smokeout

8:01 p.m. : Douglas Vanbuskirk, 19, was given a summons for possession of a usable amount of marijuana after he and his friends were found smoking in the woods on the perimeter of campus. An officer on patrol noticed Vanbuskirk and three other 19-year-old males walking to the edge of the woods near the Hilltop parking lot. The officer caught up with them in the woods and found them smoking marijuana. The other three were referred to Judicial Affairs.

Dorm party #265,875

9:11 p.m. : Four males between the ages of 18 and 19 were found drinking and referred to Judicial Affairs for possession of liquor by a minor. An RA in Oxford Hall called in to complain about a loud party going on in one of the dorm rooms. Officers arrived on the scene and stopped the party. No alcohol was recovered.

Busted bulb buddy

11:15 p.m. : Stanley Prophet, 22, was arrested after he was found driving with a suspended license. The Newport native was driving down Rangeley Road on campus when he was stopped by a patrolling officer for driving with a broken headlight. Upon looking into his history, the officer found that Prophet’s license was suspended. Prophet was subsequently arrested and sent to Penobscot County Jail.

9/28

Dorm party #265,876

2:19 a.m. Vincent Caccese, 18, was handed a summons for possession of liquor by a minor as well as a referral to Judicial Affairs. An RA in Gannett Hall reported a party on the third floor. Officers arrived at Caccese’s room and spotted open containers of alcohol through the open door. Aside from Caccese’s summons and referral, two other males and one female were also referred for the same offense. Officers recovered a bottle of Smirnoff, rum and Bud Light cans.

9/29

Just one beer

12:30 a.m. : Brandon Hall, 22, of Old Town was charged with operating under the influence as he was attempting to leave a party. Officers on patrol near the Beta Lot were drawn to Hall when a female started shouting that he was too drunk to drive. When officers confronted him, Hall admitted to having one beer. Hall was then given a sobriety test that he failed. Hall was subsequently brought to Penobscot County Jail. His blood alcohol content was .20.

9/30

Tree Tugger

5:39 p.m. : A female jogger reported a male who was exposing himself on the bike path behind the Hilltop Lot. Several joggers noticed the man, who was publicly masturbating near a tree just to the side of the trail. Police are actively looking for the culprit.

DESCRIPTION: White male, 22-23 years of age, average height and weight, wearing all black shorts and shirt. He had slicked-back black hair with plucked or trimmed eyebrows and a feminine appearance.

If you know who this is or have any information regarding the matter, call the UMaine Police Department at 207-581-4027

Danielle Walczak

Danielle Walczak

Staff Writer

Participants of Take Back the Night raised the “I love you” hand gesture as survivors of rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence took turns telling their stories on Thursday night in the North Pod of the Union.

Take Back the Night is a global tradition to help promote non-violence and raise awareness about sexual assault, domestic violence, sexual harassment and other abuse against women, children and their families. The Student Women’s Association and The Women’s Resource Center have been putting on the event since the 1980s.

The “I love you” hand gesture was a suggestion from Sen. Emily Cain, who spoke at the event and said she has attended every year since her time at the University of Maine.

“Half of the murders in the state of Maine are a result of domestic violence,” Cain said, later saying, “Tonight is about the strength we share and the strength to listen.”

Other support groups spoke during the rally including Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center, Rape Response Services, the Counseling Center and Spruce Run.

UMaine’s Athletes for Sexual Responsibility and Male Athletes Against Violence also had speakers.

Jeff Falvey, a former UMaine football player and now graduate assistant in charge of ASR, and Spencer Wood, leader of MAAV, are committed to changing a stereotype about male athletes.

“Males are usually the rapists,” Falvey said. “We want to change those stereotypes.”

Every year over 7,000 Maine women are physically or sexually assaulted by an intimate partner, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control.

Speakers echoed there are resources for these people.

The event concluded with a candlelight vigil and “March Against Violence.” Participants chanted “yes means yes” and “no means no” as they marched with candles down the mall following a police vehicle.

“People don’t realize that it is an issue here; I think it is important to create a campus community that is supportive of it [and] to make people aware of their resources, because it does happen and primarily to women,” said Casey Weed, co-chair of the Student Women’s Organization and event organizer.

The event, held during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, began with a performance from Renaissance, an all-female a cappella group on campus. After Renaissance sang a Mumford and Sons song followed by a Fleet Foxes song, the Sophomore Eagles and All Maine Women performed a poem about standing strong.

Take Back the Night began in San Francisco in the early 1980s and has since grown.

The Counseling Center held a regrouping session on Friday. Victims of sexual assault are encouraged to come visit the Counseling Center any day of the week.

The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Danielle Walczak

Staff Writer

Danielle Walczak

On a warm fall Friday afternoon, small chatter and the sound of scissors drifted from beyond the fence surrounding UMaine Greens, a student-run farming operation located behind the Keyo Building at the University of Maine.

It has been a year since the program began. Six volunteers are spending their afternoon harvesting salad greens, which were grown on compost made right next to the facility and, by Saturday, will end up in your salad at the Union. It’s a closed loop, sustainable system and it’s all on campus.

A year ago, UMaine Greens was just a plot of land off Rangeley Road, a $12,000 unified fee proposal from the university and a plan from a weed ecology and management and sustainable agriculture professor Eric Gallandt. Now the program is supplying upwards of 50 pounds of greens to the Union per week.

UMaine Greens is a student-run enterprise housing a hoop-style greenhouse, 26 feet by 96 feet. Hoop houses, or high tunnels, help extend the growing season, which in Maine is often shortened by colder temperatures and dimmer light. Come December, spinach will be growing in a comfortable 80-degree space.

“It’s the first in recent history that is for students, by students, right here on campus during the school semester,” said Margaret McCollough, a third-year sustainable agriculture student who has become the face and manager of UMaine Greens.

The facility, which grows salad greens, kale, spinach and more, gives students an opportunity to volunteer and get their hands dirty for a few hours and still be able to make it to class on time.

“Giving people that opportunity and experience and making people aware of these issues and different ways of tackling agriculture or growing food, it’s pretty cool to show people that. That really keeps it going,” McCollough said.

The past year has included the construction of the hoop house, the organization of volunteers and — the most challenging — finding a system that works.

“We’ve got this great tool. Then it’s like, ‘How do we use this to the best of our ability?’” McCollough said.

The first obstacle was three diseases specific to spinach, which wiped out a large majority of the initial crop.

Dining Services has been a healthy partner to the program by buying the greens as often as possible and selling them in the salad bar at the Union. For the first time, Dining Services has sold only on-campus greens for three weeks straight.

“Even if we end up messing up — missing a harvest or missing a planting — they’re fine with it. They’re happy to get the greens whenever we can supply it,” said Gallandt, the faculty advisor for UMaine Greens.

“It’s a good deal for them, and it’s a great deal for us. So it’s this cool symbiotic relationship that’s happening,” McCollough said.

Dining Services has been making the shift toward local food in recent years, now buying $100,000 to $125,000 of local food each year, according to Glenn Taylor, co-director of Culinary Services at UMaine. For Dining Services, greens from less than half a mile away, grown by students, seemed like a perfect fit.

The program is receiving fair-market value for their product with $2.44 per pound.

“It’s a really great price for local organic greens, especially in the winter because those prices skyrocket if you go to the farmer’s market or buy from a local farm,” McCollough said.

The product, however, extends beyond its dollar amount, according to Al McAvoy, Dining Services manager at the Bear’s Den.

“It’s a superior product,” he said. “If you’ve seen it and compare what we get on campus to what we buy from our wholesalers, there’s a huge, huge difference. The greens are better looking; they’re fresher; they’re crisper; they’re more beautiful to look at. It’s an amazing product,” McAvoy said.

According to Taylor, many people don’t realize how far their food travels before it gets to their plates. According to Clemson Cooperative Extension, food travels an average of around 1,500 miles before it gets to most Americans’ mouths.

“It’s amazing, you know, we don’t realize the greens we buy are probably coming from California, and we get them here and I don’t know how long they’ve been in a warehouse,” Taylor said. “A week later, [UMaine greens are] still crisp. They’re just so awesome.”

Sustainability has come into focus in recent years. People are beginning to ask, “Who is making my food?” and “Where is it coming from?”

“It’s inspiring,” said McAovy, who has been in the food system his whole life. “Everything always comes off a truck from who knows where, and you’re paying who knows what depending on the time of the year, the weather, the price of gas, the price of the refrigeration units on the trucks to move it across the country. I mean, that’s our idea of institutional feeding or food. That’s where it comes from: who knows where. This is actually a product that’s grown right here on campus and I think that’s pretty amazing,” he said.

For Gallandt, education has been another boon of the project. He thinks it’s important to have a place to see “basic plant production on through what does sustainability look like when it comes to our food system.”

McCollough said because Maine’s growing season is so short there aren’t many hands-on experiences for those in agriculture programs during school semesters. UMaine Greens provides an opportunity at a Land-Grant university where you can be out on the land.

Gallandt brings his students up to the hoop house to show them about UMaine Greens in hopes they will feel invested in their food system.

“We had 60 people; probably half of them had never even planted something before,” Gallandt said. “They’re going back and having lunch at the Union and saying, ‘Hey, those are the greens we harvested today.’ I think it’s really important to have it right here where it’s convenient. If you’re always showing people slides or videos, it’s just not that real connection,” he said.

McCollough finds school a challenging format to learn in.

“Being inside a lot and on my computer a lot, writing papers a lot, is really hard,” she said. “Yet spending a few hours a week digging in the dirt can help. That community out there is really cool, especially when it’s snowing and it’s 80 degrees inside the high tunnel.”

McCollough and Gallandt have begun a constant improvement process on the year-old UMaine Greens: last winter, despite challenges with disease, Auxiliary Services offered to buy a second hoop house to expand the enterprise.

All there is left to do is expand the committed core of volunteers, which McCollough and Gallandt say has been the biggest challenge they’ve begun to tackle thus far.

“As soon as I’m convinced we have a sustainable model set up with what we have, then we’ll be able to expand, which is really fantastic,” Gallandt said.

The group now sends weekly emails about volunteer times and uses a Doodle page to schedule volunteers. Yet, according to McCollough, promotion and education is the best way to glean more volunteers.

“I’d love to see the volunteer involvement go up and make people feel like they have ownership over this really cool project that’s going on,” McCollough said.

Besides volunteers, Gallandt hopes to eventually have power, water, bathrooms, a heated shop area for packing or storing and a better snow removal system.

People interested in volunteering or learning more about UMaine Greens are encouraged to email Margaret McCollough on FirstClass.

For those sick and tired of the dinosaur that is the FirstClass email system, a new hope has arrived.

OrgSync, an online community management system aimed at higher education, may be coming to the University of Maine to replace the ailing FirstClass system, whose contract with the university expires within the next couple of years.

On Thursday, Sept. 26, a sign-up and information event was held at The Wade Center in the Memorial Union to make students aware of the benefits of OrgSync as well as to create accounts for them. The event was organized by the University of Maine Student Government and featured a raffle with prizes such as gift cards to Buffalo Wild Wings to get students interested. Sixty non-student government participants attended the event and signed up for the program.

Kimberly Dao is the current president of UMSG and is very excited about the possibilities that OrgSync brings to the table. “We’re hoping that students will see the benefits themselves,” Dao said. “It’s a better program than FirstClass [which] has its glitches.”

While many students have had trouble with using FirstClass, the main reason for the switch would be the ease of use for student organizations. Rather than renewing files, many newly elected heads of student organizations simply create new folders instead of contacting IT for permission to re-create their respective organization folders. This makes for a cluttered and inefficient interface which, combined with the constant glitches and unexpected shut-downs, has led to a general dislike among the student population.

OrgSync’s interface takes a social media approach to student communication and organization. “It’s intricate, sort of like Facebook,” Dao said. “And so it’s really easy to navigate. That will draw students in.”

Dallas, Texas-based OrgSync was founded in 2007 and has been implemented at a number of college campuses across the nation as a primary source of communication among students, faculty and campus organizations. Former UMSG Vice President Sarah Porter and former UMSG President Christopher Protzmann initiated discussions with OrgSync after a UMaine alum who was working at Syracuse University contacted them about the program, which was being used there.

The University of Maine has since signed a one-year trial deal with OrgSync to gauge student interest in the program as a possible replacement for FirstClass. This contract was signed in January, with representatives from the company arriving in April to train students on how to use the program. Student Government and Student Life have since teamed up to spread the word about the program and generate interest among students.

“With OrgSync [there is] great customer service. They have training twice a week online [via webinar]. It’s a great support system for students,” Dao said of OrgSync’s customer support programs. “It’s something we’ve been looking for.”

If implemented, all students would be able to sign in using their respective MaineStreet login information and would be logged in as “black bears” under the black bear umbrella. The website would also feature separate umbrellas for Student Government and Student Life with their various respective organizations and subsets.

This, along with Blackboard and the student Gmail program, would be the ideal campus communications setup, according to Dao. All of the feedback from students will be collected in November and a decision will then be made as to whether or not to implement the program fully.

“A lot of students [look at Student Government] as a fiscal body and we give money to clubs, but they don’t see the other services that we provide — for instance, legal services, [which allows students] to get advice from a lawyer. We offer scholarships that students can sign up for. Sometimes people forget the connection between Student Government and Student Entertainment as well. We’re hoping that with OrgSync we can get everybody together,” Dao said. “I think there’s a lot of promise in this program.”

9/19

Oxford Hall high

9:18 p.m. Benjamin Bowie, 18, was summonsed for possession of a usable amount of marijuana. RAs in Oxford Hall called police to report an odor of marijuana. Officers arrived and found the source of the odor to be Bowie’s room on the 4th floor. Officers proceeded to confront Bowie, who complied and handed over his marijuana. Bowie was also referred to Judicial Affairs for the incident.

9/20

Ride the lightning

7:59 p.m. Erik Paredes, 19, was arrested and charged for two counts of assault and one count of criminal trespassing. The heavily intoxicated Marlborough, Mass. native was caught trying to gain entry to the Pretty Lights concert without paying. Officers attempted to escort Paredes away from the concert — he then proceeded to put up a fight and was subsequently tazed and arrested by officers of the Old Town police department.

Fool me once …

9:12 p.m. Gavin Lee, 22, was arrested at the Pretty Lights concert and charged for trespassing. Lee had already been escorted out of the concert due to not having a ticket. Somehow he had re-gained entry to the concert and was again escorted out. After refusing to leave, Lee was arrested for trespassing.

9/21

Dead giveaway

12:59 a.m. Benjamin Farber, 22, has been given a summons for operating under the influence after being stopped by officers for driving at night without his headlights. Farber failed a field sobriety test with a .22 blood alcohol content and was subsequently arrested.

Boozed brawlers

1:59 a.m. Two male students were summonsed for illegal possession of alcohol by a minor. Michael Brooks, 19, and Shaub Naji, 18, were intoxicated and having a fight in Naji’s room on the 4th floor of Cumberland Hall. Officers arrived to stop the brawl and summonsed both of the individuals. Naji was compliant with the officers but Brooks refused to sign his summons and was subsequently arrested. Brooks was also handed an assault charge in the incident.

9/22

Busted burn-cruise

12:55 a.m. After being pulled over for speeding, two individuals were found by officers to be in possession of marijuana. The juvenile male driver was given a summons for illegal transport of drugs by a minor after the officer smelled marijuana coming from the car. The passenger, 20-year-old Joshua Devereaux, was arrested for being in violation of release conditions due to being in possession of marijuana.

9/23

Farber’s fateful flaw

7:40 p.m. Benjamin Farber was arrested once again, this time for being under the influence of marijuana. Officers went to his home at Lown House in the DTAV complex to serve him his summons for the OUI he had received that saturday and found him high on marijuana, a violation of his bail conditions.

Of the 50 states, Maine ranks at a mere 47th in the per capita production of engineers.

This saddening statistic is a major reason for Maine’s current dire state of affairs. With a slow economy and aging population, more engineering talent must come from the state in order to find ways to better utilize Maine’s resources and bring the state to a more median ranking.

Maine is not alone in facing these issues. In fact, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology are behind a nationwide push to produce more engineers and start teaching the necessary material earlier in students’ academic careers. To help with figuring out this problem, a group of 26 states have come together to form the Next Generation Science Standards committee with the intention of integrating more project-based engineering education into K-12 classrooms.

Mohamad Musavi is the associate dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Maine, and he is fully on board with integration at the K-12 level.

“STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” Musavi said. “When I became the associate dean two years ago, I looked at those four letters, and with my glasses on, I [didn’t] see any ‘T’ and ‘E’ in high schools,” Musavi said. “That was my motivation to get involved.”

To help achieve these standards, the University of Maine has been awarded a grant for over $735,000 from the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research for a research project that will involve students in several high schools collecting water from rivers to measure the effects of storm water on the river’s makeup. The program is called “Engineering Innovative Solutions to Storm Water Problems through Diverse Community Participation.”

The goal of this program is twofold: Firstly, it allows students at a high school level to get hands-on experience with science and engineering technologies through project-based research. Secondly, it provides an opportunity for certain minorities who do not usually participate in engineering to get involved through water quality research, a subject that could interest them more due to its emphasis on human resources.

“Water is the most significant [substance] on Earth. Without it we can’t live. [Water quality] is a topic that is of interest to females and minorities,” Musavi said. “Right now in the engineering and technology workforce, only 18 percent of our students are female, which is not sufficient.”

The three-year project will begin in January 2014 and will involve 180 students and 45 teachers from several high schools in Maine. First, the participants will attend a five-day Storm Water Institute at the university to learn about the environmental problems caused by stormwater as well as the possible engineering methods that could be used to solve them.

These teachers will then be provided with highly advanced stationary water sensors that will wirelessly transmit water quality data in real time to the university. Students will also go out and take samples from the various rivers near their respective high schools to measure the contents as well as factors that the sensors cannot measure. All of this data can then be placed on Google Maps to give people an insight into how clean certain rivers in Maine are.

“In this project, not only do we have the teachers and students involved, but we also have government agencies like the city of Bangor and agencies involved in environmental causes,” Musavi said. “Our plan is involvement of the students in Bangor, the Portland area and the Lewiston/Auburn area.”

“Other states can do this. It is sustainable,” Musavi said.

One high school that is perhaps the closest thing to a perfect STEM model in Maine is Bangor High School. Bangor’s science program has benefitted immensely from being in such close proximity to UMaine and with an articulation agreement similar to UMaine’s agreement with Thornton Academy, Bangor’s pedigree will soon be top-notch within the state.

What sets Bangor apart from other high schools is its Transformative Apprentice Research program in which students get paired with an engineering or science professional to conduct research in a university or laboratory setting, depending on the goals and interests of the particular student.

Cary James, Bangor High School’s director of science, is extremely proud of the program, which is now in its second official year.

“There [are] three ways of teaching: There’s the lecture where someone stands in front of you and tells you everything from the book. Then there’s what I call the electrician’s model — you go and you work with someone in the field. The electrician is your mentor and you’re the apprentice. […] The third one is complete chaos where it’s just completely open, unguided exploration,” James said. “That middle model is what we do.”

Bangor is the only school in the state with this sort of program. Although James had been helping students get apprenticeships before, it wasn’t until Musavi jumped on board that the TAR STEM program was made official.

“Previously, on a big year it would be five kids. Now we’ve got 40,” James said. “The kids that are in the [TAR STEM] program … stand out like sore thumbs now. They’re seeing what can be done and now they’ll make the next logical step: Go to school, get a great education and a job in a STEM-related field.”

“Other high schools have been in contact with Bangor High School to follow their models,” Musavi said. “There is a great interest. [UMaine] will work with [schools] to tell them what an ideal STEM academy looks like.”