Author Archives | Tim Rizzo

Has the university lost their mind?

Is the University of Hartford serious? Like…really? With all the complaints the school gets on a daily basis about their parking issues, poor housing situations and their food service; they decided to, yet again, make a move that is questionable and affects future students.

I don’t know if Hartford is trying to retain their student body or if they want to keep pushing away students, forcing them to transfer to another university that actually cares about their needs.

A press release was announced that will change it so that the Gengras Student Union will not be having their meals count towards the meal plan anymore. To clarify, all of the Gengras meals can only be paid with cash, dining dollars and Hawk Cash; no longer giving students the option to swipe their cards for the standard meal.

Since the University is going through a renovating process with the rebuilding of Hawks Nest and Commons in the spring and throughout the summer, food will count as meals only in those two areas and at Konover at night for their sandwiches.

Not only is this decision ridiculous, asinine and unwarranted, but also it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the university.

Tutition for the 2014-2015 academic year is going up, yet again, by around three to four percent and Hartford already has the reputation as a university where students come for a semester or two, find a school that is more affordable and caters to their needs and they transfer. A reliable source reports that the University of Hartford’s four-year retention rate is around 46 percent. That’s pitiful and one of the lowest in the state of Connecticut.

Hey Hartford, wonder why student decide to leave after a semester here? Well, look no further than the decisions you make that better the overall visual appeal of the university, but fundamentally don’t make any damn sense.

Gengras is absolutely flooded with students throughout the morning and afternoon on a daily basis and if you’re on the academic side of campus and need to stop and eat quickly, Gengras is your place to go. Now Gengras is just the place to go to burn through Dining Dollars faster than Commons goes through the student body. Nasty, but true.

So, students who don’t feel like spending their Dining Dollars will have to trek across campus to Commons to grab food in the afternoon and wait in the long food lines that are already incredibly long to begin with.

Nice job, Hartford. This school should write a book called “How to lose students in 60 days,” it’d be a best seller since it comes from a decades worth of experience.

 

 

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Veterans Day everyday: Show your loved ones you care more than once a year

Elizabeth Kramer | The Informer

Elizabeth Kramer | The Informer

With Veterans Day occurring this past weekend, instead of sitting on the Internet and mobile devices, most individuals across the nation spent time with their family and friends.

Frolicking at picnics in the park, asking grandpa to tell you stories of when he was younger and just being thankful for those around you is what the holiday means to me year after year.

Others who aren’t able to spend time with their families try to stay in touch and feel like they’re a part of the festivities, even when proximity wise, that may not be the case.

What I was unfortunately seeing when I got back from being with my family for the day was a heck of a lot of Facebook statuses about the holiday itself. Most were the generic “Happy Veterans Day,” but some confused me a little bit as far as the message they were trying to send.

One of them wrote, and it’s not worth naming the individual, “Today is the day to celebrate for those who have fallen in battle, sacrificed their lives for your rights and put their country ahead of themselves.” Hmm, although that’s all very true and a legitimate Facebook status celebrating this universal holiday, I do find a flaw with it, which sums up Veterans Day as a whole.

You shouldn’t only think and thank your veterans for one day out of the year. They spent days, months and years out on the battlefield doing what they love for the country that they love and we only give them one day to show our appreciation?

Nah, that doesn’t sit too well with me. Our country is, in large part, the way it is today because of those veterans who gave their lives defending our rights and liberties that we take for granted today, myself very much included. Why not celebrate their excellence every day of the year, instead of limiting it to one day a year when it’s expected?

I’m sure your father, uncle, aunt, grandpa, grandma, or whoever you know has served in the war effort would appreciate more than anything a call or visit from you, thanking them for their service.

Knowing that you went out of your way to show your appreciation, instead of on a day where it’s culturally expected, would mean a great deal to them, I assume. You shouldn’t limit your affection to one day, forget about it for the next 364, then start all over again by giving thanks.

Don’t have any family members or friends who have served in the military? Then just do what you can to be as patriotic and positive as possible. Spend time with your family anyways and be thankful that you’re able to have the relationship with them that you do.

Could you even imagine a world in which these individuals didn’t stand up for what they believed in and just stepped aside to the enemy forces?

We’d either all be one big British colony sipping on our morning tea and crumpets or under German control by now. It’s scary when you think about, but it could have been a harsh realization had these men and women not stepped up to the plate against opposing forces.

Stop reading this column right here. Pick up your phone. Call someone who you know who has served in the armed forces and thank them. Right now. Did you do it? Okay, good. I’ll bet they thanked you a great deal and so do I.

Always remember to thank those around you and keep in mind that just because there is one day out of the calendar year that is designated to thank war veterans, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it every day.

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Have a chat with Yolonzo Moore II

Yolonzo Moore II shows vocal leadership on and off the court. Courtesy of HartfordHawks.com

Yolonzo Moore II shows vocal leadership on and off the court. Courtesy of HartfordHawks.com

 

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: “I was born in (Washington DC), lived the majority of my life in Austin, Texas, probably since I was probably four years old and have been there from then on out.”

 

Q: Have any siblings?

A: “I have five, I’m the oldest of six.”

 

Q: What’s it like being the biggest brother of the group?

A: “It’s a lot of responsibility, they look up to me, so everything I do has to be positive. I can’t let them see any negative coming from me or else they’ll think it’s okay. Important to be a positive role model.”

 

Q: How active are you in their lives?

A: “I’m real active in their lives. I have three sisters with my dad and a brother and a sister with my mom.”

“My mom is a single mom and it’s really me that gets them going in the right direction on my mom’s side, since they don’t really have a father figure, as opposed to my dad’s side.”

 

Q: Was it hard at all trying to balance time with both families?

A: “I would try my best to balance my time with the both of them, trying to not play favorites with either one, so I was there equally with both. I have four sisters and one brother, so that one brother isn’t my favorite, but he’s that special one because he’s my one brother, so he’s the one I can relate to.”

 

Q: What was it like growing up in a house full of girls?

A: “It’s ridiculous, now that they’re getting older, they’re getting to that age where they go on Facebook and Twitter, so I tell them to stay straight and keep their business off of the internet.”

“I don’t have a Facebook, Twitter or none of that stuff, I keep my business to myself.”

 

Q: Is that how you go about your business on the basketball court? 

A: “My teammates will tell you. Some of them don’t even like me on the court. I’m just all business, so on the court I have to do what I got to do, but in the locker room they’re all my boys, my family, so I’m all business on the court.”

 

Q: I’ve seen you in press conferences before using sign language where did that come from?

A: “Well, when you grow up in a house with a mother who’s deaf and a father who’s hard of hearing you just grow up with it.”

“I mean, that’s the only way I communicated with my mom, she’s never heard me talk, so it’s something that I picked up and it was kind of like my first language. I learned the sign language than the English meaning behind it verbally.”

 

Q: That seems very normal to you, but it’s so hard for someone who’s never experienced that before to understand what that’s like. 

A: “It’s tough for someone looking from the outside, but I’ve had a lot of friends whose parents are deaf also, so to us it’s kind of normal. Where from the outside looking in, it’s not this crazy situation, it’s just how we communicate.”

 

Q: How does being so far from home effect your relationship with your mom?

A: “Basically, our conversations are through texts. She can’t just pick up the phone and talk to me, so it’s a lot of texting going on and we have our Skype sessions too. It’s a little different, but I talk to my mom all the time.”

 

Q: Have you tried teaching your teammates any sign language at all?

A: “[laughs] I try and teach them some stuff here and there, but not too much. It’s not very useful for them.”

 

Q: So, where did basketball come into play?

A: “I was just an athlete growing up. My dad was an All-American football player at Gallaudet University in DC, so growing up with a father who’s an athlete, he just puts you in everything. I found basketball, that’s what I wanted to do, so I just played it.”

 

Q: Did he push you at all to play football because it’s what he knew?

A: “Not really. I mean, football is my favorite sport, I love it more than basketball. It just so happens that I came out to be a basketball player, my frame and size didn’t go well with football, so basketball it is. He drove me into sports and I kind of did whatever I wanted to do from there.”

 

Q: How did basketball pan out in high school?

A: “Going into my sophomore year of high school, I wanted to play football and I did along with basketball. I talked to my (basketball) coach and he said ‘you’re a Division I basketball player at this age right now, there’s no looking back,’ so I had to become a basketball player.”

 

Q: Was it disheartening at all leaving the sport you loved?

A: “It was rough. I didn’t want to quit playing football, but the question around school was whether I was going to play football or basketball and it was too tough during the off season watching my teammates play, so I had enough and joined halfway through the football season.

Once the football season was over I knew this was enough, I need to focus on basketball and let football go. It sucked because I couldn’t play my favorite my sport, but I was a basketball player.”

 

Q: What was your dad able to pass down to you from his sports background that you took with you?

A: “He was all about ‘if you’re going to do something, do it 100 percent. If you’re going to do it, then do it.”

 

Q: What brought you from Texas all the way to the University of Hartford?

A: “I wanted to try something new, I lived in Texas almost all my life and Texas was Texas, so I had the choice to come out to the East Coast and my dad came out here for school.”

“He told me he became a better person as a result and I think I have become a better person being more independent and figuring out more things on my own.”

 

Q: What else attributed to you attending UHa?

A: “I wanted to be a part of a turnaround within the program.

We weren’t really anything before I came here, the program has struggled and I wanted to be a part of changing the program into a powerhouse.”

 

Q: How have you done thus far?

A: “We’re heading in the right direction. I mean, we’re not there yet, but I’m also not done yet playing basketball, so only time will tell.”

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Cracking the female mind: Genetics explain why guys do not “get” girls

When Man was first created, God descended from Heaven and asked the first Man, “Hello, would you rather have a male genitalia or understand the female mind?” we made a decision that thousands of years later, we’re still paying for.

While I’m not sure how factually correct that opening sentence is, or if the conversation went exactly that way, but the results are 100 percent true.

The female mind is a deep, dark, complicated Rubik’s-cube-like contraption that God created to see how the male generation would evolve over the years to see if they could crack the combination that even he couldn’t. Are girls an advanced species whose mind acts in a far-superior way to us guys that we’re not educated enough to comprehend? Or is the female race just absolutely ridiculous and even they don’t understand why they think what they think sometimes? I think it’s the ladder.

I’m sorry, but girls can’t get mad at us dudes when we don’t understand what they’re talking about or don’t care about what their friend did over the weekend while drunk, we’re just not programmed to care.

It’s nothing personal, but while you’re talking in some female foreign language us guys are just nodding our heads and smiling, hoping that a piano falls from the sky like in the Looney Tunes and crushes us to get us out of the conversation.

Guys are very straightforward with their conversations, some may call us “simple” but that’s just how the male race communicates, in a structured way.

What’s the purpose of this conversation? Where is it going and how can I help you? That’s how guys are programmed, not at all in the manner that females are, which is okay. Girls can talk about anything for hours, days or weeks before they realize that the guy hasn’t been listening the entire time, they just love talking.

This is an easily avoidable issue for us guys because we can pretend to care of a few minutes, they say we have something to go “do” and just leave the conversation as a whole. An incredible issue lies once a relationship occurs between a guy and a girl and we, as guys, are stuck listening about whatever it is that girls find important to talk about, which is hell.

We have to care too, or at least make it look like we do because we’re dating you too! Imagine how horrible that is for guys, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the female race and they contribute an immeasurable amount to our society, but the male race isn’t meant to understand you. I can, however, help you girls out so you know when a guy is having a tough time following along with your conversation.

What’s a good way to know if a guy actually is caring about what you (a girl) is saying? Alright, I’ll give you some tips. 1) He doesn’t care. There you go that’s literally it. We as guys don’t want to be rude, so we may ask you questions about your story, be actively engaged in the discussion itself or even help contribute to the story, but deep down, we want to find the nearest busy highway, pray it’s rush hour, and make our leap.

Man, I probably sound like a cynical person who hates girls, but it’s just that we don’t understand how your mind works as a whole. Why are you asking us what you are? Why do you do things in the way you do? We’ll never know, only you will, or maybe you don’t sometimes, I’m lost.

In a Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication class this semester, our Professor went into a discussion how men and women communicate differently, with separate intentions in mind.

Girls like to be more social, strike conversations to feel accepted and to share emotions with one another. Guys on the other hand talk to be purposeful and achieve a certain objective, we view conversations as a way to solve problems.

So you see ladies, we’re not intentionally rude to you or don’t give a hoot what you have to say about your car smelling like Iced Tea after your new air freshener, it’s just how were born.

Now kindly respect us and please keep the stories of your puppy to yourself.

 

Note: The views expressed and materials presented represent the personal views of individual members and do not represent the opinion of the The Informer as a whole.

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Feed me, please: University ripping students off with poor meal plans

Elizabeth Kramer | The Informer

Elizabeth Kramer | The Informer

The college myth of the “Freshman 15” where in the first year of school alone freshman gain an average of 15 pounds due to the increasingly poor diet and freedom that comes with being in college doesn’t really exist here at the University of Hartford.

Not that the food here is healthy enough to where students aren’t physically able of gaining weight, it’s that this school doesn’t feel like feeding students on some days.

At the beginning of every semester, students go ahead and select one meal plan they have to use for the rest of the semester with only a few options being presented to them.

An interesting dynamic occurs when one goes about selecting a meal plan for the upcoming year: do they go more dining dollar heavy or meal heavy?

Unfortunately, there really is only one correct answer for this dilemma that I found out in my senior year, great time to figure this out. Going dining dollar heavy is a very poor decision because of the way the University of Hartford decides to go about their pricing of the products around campus.

The Konover market may be the biggest rip off this side of the Mississippi River with the prices being astronomical compared to the retail costs for the items themselves that they’re purchasing.

I understand that it’s a business and they need to create a decent profit margin so they can consistently stay in business, but some of the mark-ups from what they pay to what the students are paying, is disgusting.

Under no circumstances should half the items in Konover cost what they do and the University knows that.

They also know that you have dining dollars to spend, see where I’m getting at?

With only 50, 200, 250 or 450 dining dollars being available to you in a given semester, that money starts to fly by because you need to make up for the lack of meals that this campus offers and where do you spend your dining dollars? Boom, Konover.

I’m sorry, but I chose seven meals a week and 450 dining dollars and it was just…a horrible mistake that I made. I blew through the dining dollars like they were tissues and am now left with seven meals a week for the rest of the semester, god bless me. Seven meals a week doesn’t work for anyone. Not you, not me, not anyone.

What’s disturbing about this entire process is when I am not sure how many meals I have left for the week I go try buying food and when the cashier says “Sorry, out of meals,” on a Tuesday, I’m left with nothing to eat for the next 36 hours until the meal week resets.

It’s absolutely no fault of the employees themselves who have to deny us students food when we don’t have enough meals, but the concept that this school is more than willing to deny students food is mind-blowing.

Forget the “Freshman 15,” I can’t even eat food on this damn campus because of the poor meal plans available and me being trapped in the position that I am, out of dining dollars.

Not everyone has a car on campus or money readily available to buy food out-of-pocket when they run out of meals or dining dollars, so they have to struggle to even find food to hold them off.

I’m sorry, but if I’m spending 45,000 dollars to attend a university, I’m making damn sure that I’m getting fed on a consistent basis.

No worries though ladies and gentleman, the school will just sit back and count their money they’re bringing in from their meal plans because changes won’t be had and we will continue to be hungry.

Wonder why people steal from Konover? Because the meal plans on campus make us steal when we’re out of meals for the week.  We’re just not going to sit back and pass up our opportunity to eat each day, so we do something about it.

It’s unsettling to me that we even have to be having this conversation about whether or not I will be able to eat today, but that’s the University of Hartford for you, rather make a dollar than put food in our bellies.

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Cracking the female mind: Genetics explain why guys do not “get” girls

Elizabeth Kramer | The Informer

Elizabeth Kramer | The Informer

When Man was first created, God descended from Heaven and asked him, “Hello, would you rather have a male genitalia or understand the female mind?” we made a decision that thousands of years later, we’re still paying for.

While I’m not sure how factually correct that opening sentence is, or if the conversation went exactly that way, but the results are 100 percent true.

The female mind is a deep, dark, complicated Rubik’s-cube-like contraption that God created just to see how the male generation would evolve over the years to see if they could crack the combination that even he couldn’t. Are girls an advanced species whose minds act in a far-superior way to us guys that we’re not educated enough to comprehend? Or is the female race just absolutely ridiculous and even they don’t understand what they think sometimes? I think it’s the latter.

I’m sorry, but girls can’t get mad at us dudes when we don’t understand what they’re talking about or don’t care about what their friend did over the weekend while drunk, we’re just not programmed to care.

It’s nothing personal, but while you’re talking in some female foreign language us guys are just nodding our heads and smiling, hoping that a piano falls from the sky like in Looney Tunes and crushes us.

Guys are very straightforward with their conversations, some may call us “simple” but that’s just how the male race communicates, in a short and sweet way.

What’s the purpose of this conversation? Where is it going and how can I help you? That’s how guys are programmed, not at all in the manner that females are, which is okay. Girls can talk about anything for hours, days or weeks before they realize that the guy hasn’t been listening the entire time, they just love talking.

This is an easily avoidable issue for us guys because we can pretend to care of a few minutes, then say we have something to go “do” and just leave the conversation as a whole. An incredible issue lies once a relationship occurs between a guy and a girl and we, as guys, are stuck listening about whatever it is that girl find important to talk about, which is hell.

We have to care too, or at least make it look like we do because we’re dating you too! Imagine how horrible that is for guys, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the female race and they contribute an immeasurable amount to our society, but the male race isn’t meant to understand you. I can, however, help you girls out so you know when a guy is having a tough time following along with your conversation.

What’s a good way to know if a guy actually is caring about what you (a girl) is saying?

Alright, I’ll give you some tips. 1) He doesn’t care.

There you go, that’s literally it. We as guys don’t want to be rude, so we may ask you questions about your story, be actively engaged in the discussion itself or even help contribute to the story, but deep down, we want to find the nearest busy highway, pray it’s rush hour, and make our leap into traffic.

Man, I probably sound like a cynical person who hates girls, but it’s just that we don’t understand how your mind works as a whole. Why are you asking us what you are? Why do you do things in the way you do? We’ll never know, only you will, or maybe you don’t sometimes, I’m lost.

In a Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication class this semester, our Professor went into a discussion how men and women communicate differently, with separate intentions in mind.

Girls like to be more social, strike conversations to feel accepted and to share emotions with one another. Guys on the other hand talk to be purposeful and achieve a certain objective, we view conversations as a way to solve problems.

So you see ladies, we’re not intentionally rude to you or don’t give a hoot what you have to say about your car smelling like Iced Tea after your new air freshener, it’s just how were born.

Now kindly respect us and please keep the stories of your puppy to yourself.

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Living a lifeless life: Are we truly experiencing what life is about?

We only live once. Literally, one time and that’s it. We as college students will maybe inhabit this earth for another 60 years to live until we’re around 80 years old and then die, continuing the circle of life.

Lets put some perspective into that depressing opening remark that will hopefully change your outlook on the world we’re living in.

Think about this: the world has been around for millions and millions of years, we’re around to witness maybe 80 of it, then we will be gone and the world will continue spinning for millions of years longer, or at least until the Decepticons land on Planet Earth and destroy it in an intergalactic war with Optimus Prime.

As 18, 19, 20, 21 (or older) year old students here at the University of Hartford, we’ve already spent, in theory, one-fourth or 25 percent of our lives on this planet; I know, that’s incredibly scary to think of.

What kind of impression have you left to where when you leave this earth people will remember you by? It’s a legitimate thought that you should all think of as you’re reading this and going on with your monotonous lives that slowly start becoming everyday cycles.

200 years down the road, I’m hoping that something that I am able to do with my life will be remembered to where people can look back at me and their lives are changes as a result.

People still talk about George Washington, Paul Revere, Abraham Lincoln and many others that lived hundreds of years ago, I want to leave that type of impression on the world.

You don’t hear about the barber who cut Lincoln’s hair, he didn’t leave impression on the world and his lifetime was spent leaving an impact that is no longer remembered or appreciated.

Do you ever just have days that you “go-through-the-motions”? As in: just wake up, eat food, go to class, do homework, hangout with friends and start all over the next day.

I literally have those all the time and it’s starting to concern me that I’m really not living much of my life to the fullest considering my current position in life where I should be able to do so.

We are, arguably, in the prime of our physical existence to where our bodies and minds might never be stronger than they are right now and we have to take advantage of that.

Get your buns off the couch, turn off Breaking Bad (after you’ve finished watching the episode, of course) and let’s do something with our lives.

When you hit 60, you’re not going to remember the little moments that made up your life when you were 21 or the drunken nights you shared with your buddies at the bar, you need to do something worth having be remembered.

Whether it is trying to do some community service around town, try helping others as much as possible, or going out and making a difference in the world, you owe it to yourself to try living a bit.

While I’m no philosopher who has the answers that you’re seeking, it’s imperative that you go out and get that rush that living provides you.

No, I’m not saying go do drugs with your buddies or “YOLO” it up at the club because you’ll only live once and you should do dumb crap while you can. Make a difference in this world.

My outlet for trying to make a difference is to have you all read something that I’ve put my heart into writing because I want you all to succeed.

The world has been filled with nothing but depression, a crappy economy and our own damn government being shutdown that any pride ray of light would be very needed.

I’m going to include a list of things to do in the near future that might not seem logical or uncomfortable to you, but just try it.

Everything I’m talking about is an experience that will make you feel “alive” on the inside, instead of this robot who just goes through their daily motions as they were programmed to.

Go out and live a little bit. Go climb up a mountain trail with your friends to overlook the city at night, lay back and stare at the stars at night, stop for a second and just take a deep breathe through your nose and feel the air course through your body.

We take those little things for granted on a daily basis, but it’s during those moments of silence are where you can truly live and be at inner peace.

End the cycle that is your life and go out and make a difference.

How do you want to be remembered?

Do you even want to be remembered in 100 years?

Now is the time to make a change, not in 20 years before it’s too late.

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Socially Handicapped: Technology is hindering the way we interact with others

I’m pretty sure that more people should have a Handicapped Sticker hanging on their rearview mirror for the world to see, including myself.

A new form of being handicapped is sweeping the campus and the United States, as being “Socially Handicapped” has become a plague that is traveling from coast to coast.

No, I don’t actually consider this an actual handicap that is worthy of a sticker or in the same conversation of other handicaps, but for comedic purposes and this column, I’m going to, so relax.

We live in a world where children are going to be born with their heads facing downwards to genetically assist them with staring down at their tablets and smart phones, as Darwin said, “survival of the fittest.” It’s pretty sad in all honesty.

With the integration of social media into people’s lives, they are finding ways to carry on with conversations online that they would never think of having in real daily situations.

I’m completely guilty of this as well, and as a journalist, sometimes I do have to think to myself, “Would I really say this to someone’s face?” when I’m writing an opinionated article on a weekly basis.

Sitting behind a computer adds confidence to someone who generally lacks it and they are much more likely to speak out online than if approached in a social situation.

A good example is Facebook, where everyone feels entitled to give their two-cents, even if they’re “saying” it to someone they wouldn’t dare provide eye-contact with walking across campus.

You see numerous Facebook posts where dozens of people start chiming in, giving their feedback and somehow insulting one another in extremely personal ways.

Would any of those people say their incredibly hurtful insults to the face of the person if they were to meet in real life?

Definitely not, but some are as ignorant on the internet as they are in real life.

Another instance of the disease known as “Socially Handicapped” is how some guys/girls have the confidence to flirt with someone online when in person, they will never, ever have the guts to talk to them.

I mean, it does make some sense; girls are indeed intimidating creatures, but that doesn’t mean flirting with them online should substitute for the real thing in person.

Also, you’ll have to talk with them in person eventually if you are interested in pursuing a relationship or even a friendship, so just go talk to them!

Elizabeth Kramer | The Informer

Elizabeth Kramer | The Informer

It’s weird because I do that with some of my close friends, which is even more deserving of that “Socially Handicapped” label that I stick on myself.

I can hold a conversation with a buddy on Facebook, Twitter or texting about any random thing that comes to mind, but in person, I don’t have anything.

No train of thought, nearly no acknowledgement is made between one another, it’s the oddest thing and concerning as hell to me.

In theory, I should be able to talk to my buddies just as easily in person as I can through my computer or iPhone, but nope, it’s pathetic.

I’m curious how many other individuals on campus are also in the same boat as me when it comes to this social awkwardness in real life that they don’t feel online?

There’s this social and moral wall that writing something on a computer or phone screen provides that allows people to act much differently than they do in other social situations.

I would tell you to put down your darn phones and go talk to your friends in person, or the girl you’ve been crushing on…but I’d much rather sit here on my computer and tell you.

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Creating her own Stark

Courtesy from Chelsea Starks

Courtesy from Chelsea Starks

 

Meet Chelsea Starks, the senior Marketing Major here at the University of Hartford who is doing everything she can to create her own image, instead of living under her father’s shadow.

Oh, by the way, her father is ex-NBA All-Star John Starks, who played in the National Basketball Association for over a decade, including a tenure with the New York Knicks, where he grew in popularity.

Yeah, he was the guy who dunked over Michael Jordan and had a glorious on-the-court relationship with Indiana Pacers Reggie Miller, but enough of that, Chelsea has something she wants to say.

“If you hung out with me for one day, you wouldn’t even know who my dad was and you’d come to like me for my personality and nothing else,” Starks said, who comes from a humbled family that values hard work.

It’s tough to imagine growing up in a family where your father is on the road so much playing professional basketball, but that’s just life in the Stark’s household. The standard family structure where the father works a 9-to-5 and comes home to spend time with the wife and children didn’t really exist in Chelsea’s life, it’s all she knew, however.

“I traveled a lot growing up. I was born in New York and moved around as my dad moved from team to team, so I went to different schools growing up,” said Starks, “It was tough because I made and lost a lot of friends, but it was a great experience seeing my dad play basketball every night and see his intensity on the court.”

Growing up in the middle of older brother, John Jr. and younger sister, Tiara, Chelsea was able to witness eight years of her father’s professional basketball career, including in his prime with the Knicks.

The general impression one might get about someone who grew up in a family with wealth, a lavish lifestyle and a father in the public eye is that they’d be stuck up, conceited and walk around with their $10,000 designer handbag, but nope, not Chelsea.

“I’ve had so many random jobs in my life, like Blockbusters and California Pizza Kitchen because I don’t like being given things in life, I get a rush out of working for everything I own,” said Starks.

Famous for his intensity on the court, father John has rubbed off on her daughter as she pursues a career in business, looking to use some connections she has to work her way up the food chain.

“That’s probably the coolest thing about my dad is that he has so many connections in the corporate world that I can use if I work hard enough to help me succeed in the future,” said Starks.

Really? The coolest thing about your father being a notable ex-professional basketball player is that he has some great connections in the working world? Yeah, she’s that kind of person who appreciates the little things in life and doesn’t get caught up in the limelight.

Granted, being able meet people like Kobe Bryant in China, hang out at Hall of Fame basketball player Julis Erving’s house and casually take pictures with Waka Flocka at basketball games might make some people a little star struck, but not Chelsea, who grew up in that lifestyle.

“To me they’re just people. I have seen a lot of celebrities in my life, but after you get to know them, they’re just normal people,” said Starks.

Starks’ life has been anything but normal in her 21years on this planet earth, but that’s all she wants to be seen as when it all comes down to it, just a normal girl trying to make her way in this world.

“At the end of the day, I’m just me, trying to get through my senior year of college and see what life has for me on the other side,” said Starks.

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Drop and give me twenty!

Members of the men’s and women’s team took part in this five-day experience. Courtesy of Ryan Ginty

Members of the men’s and women’s team took part in this five-day experience. Courtesy of Ryan Ginty

 

 

When the phrase “University of Hartford rugby team” comes to mind, some might think of those wearing the red and black jackets around campus, the heavy consumers of alcohol on the weekends or the school team that isn’t the first to come to mind when you think of athletics.

Not anymore.

Instead, they refer to themselves as “savages” on and off the field, as the near-hundred men and women across campus represent the Hartford rugby team headed in the right direction on campus.

That was the past and this is the present, where old stigma’s die and new one’s are born. Under a new heading-coaching regime, the rugby program is turning over a new leaf and is looking to make their mark, not only on campus, but across the nation as a national championship is a “realistic expectation” says some of the players.

This off-season, to prepare for such a run at glory, they took their talents not to the rugby field, but to a military training base to take their conditioning to another level.

Under head coach, Ryan Ginty, who spent four years in the military, the men’s and women’s rugby program spent five days at a military facility in Niantic, Connecticut, to test their physical skill and teamwork in unique situations.

“I knew it wouldn’t be an easy experience, but I was ready for it, as were the rest of the guys who went into the camp,” said Chris Sullivan, a senior captain.

Along with 20 of the players on the men’s rugby team, nine of the women’s rugby players went as well to take on the difficult tasks at-hand to be the best in the nation.

“No one else is doing this,” said junior captain Raven Walker, “this was a huge opportunity for us and it will put us into that national championship spot this year, I’m very confident in our team this year.”

Once all of the players arrived in Niantic on Monday, Aug. 26, they checked in and instead of resting after a long day of traveling, they had to run three miles through the woods just to get to the obstacle course where they would be starting their training at the obstacle course.

“We had to do walk over rope bridges, tight rope walk, walk over moving logs, climb suspended nets, it was intense and we had to do the entire course twice and run three miles back to our base,” said senior captain Elizabeth Sauer.

“They all performed exactly as I expected throughout the week,” said head coach Ryan Ginty, “I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they were all strong enough as a team to overcome any obstacle in their path.”

Some might find this military training excursion a bit excessive for a collegiate club Division III program to go through, but some say it was exactly what the doctor ordered from both a conditioning and teambuilding standpoint.

“We went through this whole experience together as a team and are absolutely stronger as a result. We’re more disciplined as a team now that Ginty is here and are more disciplined as a result compared to year’s past,” said junior Robbie Pohida.

As the Hartford team looks to turn over a new reputation on campus, it all starts with their new coach who is coaching the men’s team for the first time this year and the women’s for the second year in a row.

“I bring to the table a lot of knowledge and experience about the sport itself, so I can teach the guys how to actually play rugby, instead of just playing hard and not rugby,” said Ginty.

The biggest obstacle for the rugby team however is changing the common misconceptions across campus that all they do is party and occasionally play rugby on the side.

“We’re a lot more than that, we take the game itself extremely seriously and work our (butts) off day-in and day-out, but we can still have responsible fun off the field too,” said junior Dana Earle.

Coach Ginty’s players stressed that his very disciplined military background has changed the team a lot in the past year and through their boot camp experience, hopefully it will translate into a national championship when the season is over.

“We were ranked ninth in the country last year, not many teams can say that and as long as we stay focused on the goal as a team, we will win it all this year,” said Sauer.

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