Ursinus College Women's Rugby Meeting to Vote on New Officers

On Dec. 13, 2009, in Olin classroom 008 at 9pm, The Ursinus College Women’s Rugby Team met to discuss who the torch would be passed down to and who would step up and take on the role of team captains and club officer positions. The meeting was fun and exciting and no one was sure what the outcome of the voting would be.
To open up the meeting the present captains stood in front of the room and listed all the positions that were going to be voted on at the meeting. Sophomore, captain Emma “Ya Ya” Cave, started out the meeting with saying, “Girls, you really need to take your votes seriously. Vote for who you think will do the best job. These positions are really important.” Listed behind Cave on the board were a series of categories ranging from team captain to club president all the way to equipment manager and social chair for after those rough games. Junior Captain Emily “Baby Em” Feldmose said, “Don’t nominate people as a joke. Alright, let’s do this.”
The team was unsure of how to do the voting in an anonymous way but still be able to know the vote immediately. The captains posted up on the board what category was being voted for at that certain time which was not anonymous. The two standing captains decided to opt out and the team voted by putting their heads down and putting their hand up when their nominee of choice for a certain category was called upon while the captains counted. Some girls from the team mentioned, “It’s almost like we’re back in grade school playing heads up seven up.”
Feldmose will be traveling to Amsterdam to study abroad next semester so it was crucial that her position was filled with a suitable replacement. As they asked for nominees for the first captain it was without question going to be Kira Personette. The team made no mistake about who they wanted as Feldmose asked for a nomination and almost in sync the team yelled out “KIRA!” Freshman, Maria Krowlikowksi said, “Kira is going to be an awesome captain. She is really dedicated and always offering positive feedback to new players on and off the field.” The second captain position was about to be voted on and the team quietly talked amongst themselves without that captains being able to hear the conversation. One girl stood up and said, “We’re not voting YaYa out of her spot. We want to keep her as the second captain.” A little taken back by this nice gesture or gratitude and appreciation Cave started to blush and said, “Aw, guys, wow. Thanks so much.”
Now that the two major roles of the team, the team captains were filled the girls seemed to start getting a little anxious. The next round of positions was filled immediately so the team could get back to studying for finals. Team president is Feldmose, vice president, junior Sarah Muscella, equipment manager, Sophomore Amanda McBride, social chair, sophomore Julia Bull and Treasurer, sophomore Samantha McIllwain.

Kicking for Kids: Kickball Tournament

Ursinus College students for Mr. Stephen Bowers Business and Economics Management class, BE 230, are putting together events to help a cause. Students, Maria Mastoris, Samuel Weiser, Anthony Giovanozzo, Jason Gihorski, and Katie Hunt, put together a kickball tournament on Oct. 25 that was a great success. The charity they are lending a helping hand to is the Make-a-Wish Foundation. They thought of many different ideas such as a brew fest and a festival, but their final decision was a kickball tournament an food festival to follow at Waterworks Park in Trappe, PA which they called “Kicking for Kids” to bring the campus community together.
The charity they chose, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, has been granting the wishes of children with life threatening conditions since 1980. Suzanne DiCicco who is a volunteer for the Make-a-Wish Foundation came to speak to us about what the foundation does and a little bit about what the volunteers do. She did a quick question and answer that was very informative. She told us, “The foundations purpose is to give them hope, strength and joy. We grant the wishes of children who want to be a certain professions for a day, go on special vacations, or meeting professional actors and actresses and athletes.” Not surprising, she told us, “The children’s most popular wish is a trip to Disney World with their families.”
The group chose this charity because Ursinus College Junior, Maria Mastoris’s aunt works on the board at the Philadelphia Susquehanna chapter. Mastoris told me, “It was easy to get a contact and what the Make-a-Wish does for children makes [them] feel good as well.” The young child this group was assigned to help grant a wish for is four year old Mehki from Philadelphia, PA. Although the family chose to keep his condition private to the public, the group of Ursinus students still had no regrets about helping this young boy fulfill his dream. His wish is to go on a trip to Disney World this December with his family.
To prepare, Mastoris shared that they had to first consider how many people they would draw. They had to contact and visit restaurants and get donations for the food fest. They also had to contact groups on campus such as athletes and Greek life to get kickball teams together. In order to try and get the community involved they got in touch with the Collegeville Main Street Program and a member on the Trappe Borough and to reserve space and time at the park. Mastoris said, “It took a lot of time and frustration to get all the pieces together but in the end it all went well because of it. The community and campus were both aware of the event and it was a huge promotional market success and the people who came out to the tournament and food fest seemed to have had a good time.”
Ursinus senior, Anthony Giovanozzo said, “The tournament was very successful. There were five teams that ranged from six to eighteen players, but the Ursinus baseball team came out on top and was tournament champions.” He laughed and also mentioned maybe it was unfair that the baseball team won, but it was all for fun and to help out a child in need. Other Ursinus varsity teams that were involved in the tournament were the men and women’s basketball teams. On top of all the tournament participants about twenty five more came out for the food festival and all together there were about eighty to ninety people that came out to show their support.
Many donations were also received just for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. They also held a raffle at the food festival for a Philadelphia Eagles DeSean Jackson signed jersey that was arrange by Giovanozzo and will continue until the end of the semester and they will be around campus selling raffle tickets. They also had games such as how many M&Ms are in the jar and guess the weight of the pumpkin, and winners received gift certificates to local restaurants. Mastoris said, “We did hope to draw more teams and have more people for the food, but it was a great turnout. All in all it was a great day, sunny and nice and the event went smoothly.” Ursinus Junior, Samuel Weiser said, “It was nice that we were able to throw an event that people enjoyed and also benefitted a good charity.”

Italy: Where One Woman's Dream Came True

Her experience in Italy was something unlike anything she had experience before. It was a new country, with all new people, a whole new language, and a whole you way of life. Even though knowing it was going to be a difficult adjustment she knew even more it would be a great opportunity. She went to Italy to receive her Master’s Degree in Italian, but came out with much more than that.
With a smile on her face, her hair pulled back, in an all black outfit, Professor Nicola Maria Ventresca shared her fondest memories of her five years living abroad in what she referred to as, “One of the most beautiful places [I’ve] ever been,” Florence, Italy. Professor Ventresca dug for details and tried to find a way to fully express the joy she felt while living in Italy as she sat with her hands folded at her desk in her office on the second floor of Olin after teaching a section of Italian 101.
Professor Ventresca knew that her life would change when she went abroad, but in what way, she was not certain. She said, “The whole program of school over there was so different for me, and I knew it would be going in to it,” but she knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
When her plane landed in Italy she did some wondering, tried to figure out where she was, and hopefully get an idea of what she was doing there. Little did she know, sooner than expected, someone would come in to her life that would change her forever. She told me, “I knewing it was going to be a hard experience without having my best girlfriends by my side for late night chats and advice, I was still planning to make the absolute best of my time there.” Her third night living in Florence, she went out to dinner with some other students in her program. They went out to a local restaurant. She laughed and started to blush and said, “There were some Italian men there at the dinner, but one in particular that caught my attention.” With a never ending smile on her face she told me, “That’s when I met Marco.”
Her time in Florence was incomparable to anything she had ever done. The adventures she took were unforgettable. She went all over Italy, she went to Venice, Rome, Milan, and Pompeii just to name a few, but that is not even half of the places she traveled to. Laughing she said, “Most of the time, I never knew where I was. We went all over, and every time I got there I would ask, ‘Now where am I?’” And, as she showed off her pictures of one of the most beautiful countries in the world her face brightened and she stopped for a second to think about the happiest time she ever had in Italy.
She and her new cliché of an Italian boyfriend, Marco, were inseparable after the night they met at dinner. They did everything together. They went to astonishing places and she learned so much from him. He even helped to improve her Italian. Often times when they were fighting, “He would make me so mad. While we were fighting, he would actually have the nerve to correct my Italian!” She said laughing almost hysterically with her hand on her hip, “But really he made my trip wonderful.” She began to fall in love with this adorable Italian man from Verona, Italy and knew that it was more than a little crush she was going to have to tell her friends about when she returned home. This was going to be the man she spent the rest of her life with. While walking through Venice at Christmas time, the mood was set, they were happier than ever. They saw a couple getting married on the bridge and they decided it was time to get married. Knowing the process was going to be a difficult one with all the paper work because they were international, all they really had on their minds was the love they shared and they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. Now, the question was, where? How? Could family be there? Was this really happening? It was more perfect than she had hoped.
On a trip home to Marco’s hometown in Verona, they went to see the ever famous Romeo and Juliet balcony. It was beautiful. While they were there wondering around they looked around and said, “Let’s just get married.” So, they picked a date and at the romantic balcony at Juliet’s tomb they said their I dos, and just “Got married.” It was, “Random and refreshing.”
A year later, she returned home, and with all her family and friends, and even some of Marco’s family from Italy, and some of her students she taught abroad, they had the typical, fun, big, Italian American wedding.
She knew Italy would change her life forever, but the experience she had and the love that she found were more than she had expected to come away with. Marco changed her life, she fell in love and as a cliché romantic story would end, she lived happily ever after.

Lamb: The Gospel According the Christ's BFF?

Laughter can come from many different places. It is often times the best medicine on a bad day. We can find laughter in movie, a comedy club, and maybe even a book. Author Christopher Moore’s “Lamb: The Gospel According the Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal”, is a comical book that can provide that dose of medicine we need for a study break or on a bad day.

Christopher Moore is the author of eleven novels including three international best sellers. His fictional style of writing is absurd and comical. His characters are fun and witty and usually have to overcome some sort of unseen ridiculous conflict or unexpected experience. His talent didn’t come until later in life. He decided his good humor could be put to work in making others feel good in writing a book. He sold his first book, “Practical Demonkeeping,” to Disney in 1992 and immediately had a group of followers who did not want to have to wait for his next book, so he immediately went to work on his next genius piece of writing and he wrote, “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.”

In “Lamb,” Christopher Moore uses some actual Bible characters and events and puts his own spin on the idea of Christ’s life. In many ways it is sick and twisted, but the comical value of the book makes it worth it. There is a disclaimer on the title page that reads, “This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actually events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.” In this book Moore takes you on the journey of the middle thirty years of Christ’s life that is left out in the Bible and he takes along his best friend, Biff, who has been resurrected to tell the world of Christ’s real story. Biff’s story is filled with events that are controversial to the teaching of the Bible which give it the extra comical edge to make it enjoyable for readers. The story switches back and forth from modern times when Biff was resurrected to the time of Jesus to make it sound as if he is really telling you the story. Characters such as Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, and the promiscuous Mary of Magdala (Maggie) are used to make the novel an interesting read. It uses a combination of sex and disobedience which were clearly not seen from Jesus in the Bible to make it twisted and somewhat controversial.

On christophermoore.com, author Gregory Maguire calls “Lamb,” “hysterical, sexy, and really deeply moving,” and On BookBrowse.com The Philadelphia Inquirer says, “Moore’s storytelling style is reminiscent of Vonnegut,” and USA Today says, "Lamb is...a great idea, and a funny story. So, if you’re a Christopher Moore fan, go out and buy this book." Douglas Adams.” One reader told me, “It’s the funniest book I’ve ever read!”

So if you’re looking for a great read or something to brighten up your mood while studying check out Christopher Moore’s “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff”, or also check out his website, christophermoore.com or some of his other best sellers,“A Dirty Job,” “You Suck,” and his newest novel, “Fool.”