(December 6th) Rock For Tots

            On December 6th, 2012 there was a WUML-sponsored event called "Rock For Tots". This took place in Cumnock Hall on UMass Lowell's North Campus from 8:00 pm to 11:30 pm. The bands that played were Raindance, Choke Up, Oh the Humanity!, Old Grey, and A Wilhelm Scream. Before Rock For Tots, Smith Radio (WUML radio show from 4-6 pm on Fridays) always started with a song from A Wilhelm Scream. According to WUML Promotions Director Justin Cole, the event raised around $900 for charity.
            Before I go into the event, I'd like to give some background information on WUML. WUML is UMass Lowell's radio station, FM band 91.5 and completely student-run. They have certain shows scheduled throughout semesters, and Rock For Tots was the last one for Fall 2012's semester. The director's meetings are at 6:00 pm every Wednesday, and I went to one of these -- in this meeting, Justin Cole and other WUML personnel discussed the upcoming Rock For Tots event, and came up with the price of $10 for each ticket to attract people to Rock For Tots. There were many details surrounding why this event was important that I don't want to get into here, but this is the background for WUML and the Rock For Tots event.

            The day before this event I passed the intern test needed to become a WUML DJ for my own radio show. Since I'm a part of WUML, I went earlier to this event. I originally went at around 5:00 pm but the WUML staff looked like they were fine with the people they already had; I just had to bring in a few groceries for the bands that were coming that night and put those groceries in a nice meeting room where they'd all chill and meet together. Later at around 7:15 pm I came back to Cumnock Hall for my position as the person who would check bags and do pat-downs when necessary.

            I didn't need to do my position for bags and pat-downs at the Cumnock Hall entrance for the first half of the show since there were already other WUML interns who were doing it. During this time, I watched the rock bands play. All of them had amazing drummers. The guitar players would walk around the stage, headbanging, and sometimes even jumping. The singers walked around like the guitar players and did some dance moves. These guys were quite enthusiastic. For a while I was watching the guitar players and singer exclusively, but then I went to focusing on the drummers.

            Seeing how the drummers transition to the cymbals after doing incredibly fast bursts of drum rolls is just stunning. The audience was also headbanging and a cheering the bands on. One man next to me was actually trying to "play the drums" by doing certain movements with his arms. The drummer also stood out more because the drums were much louder than the guitars and vocalist. The drummers all looked very composed and calm despite how intense the songs were.

            I don't remember the last time I ever was at a live rock show. This surely felt like the first time I've been to one. The music was loud, and it's a much different experience than when you listen to the studio versions of the songs. I always wondered to myself: "why go to a live performance when you can just listen to the album versions?". Of course showing up to live concerts helps out the bands, but I never knew how powerful the vibrations were in these live performances. I felt myself going along with the music because of how many vibrations I felt. It surely is a way to get yourself pumped up.

            To wrap it up, I was able to meet many WUML directors in this Rock For Tots event, get the powerful experience of a live rock performance, and also chat with some friends I've made at WUML. Many WUML interns were there, some holding certain positions; in my case, I didn't do the bag checks/pat-downs position until the second half of the show. However it wasn't really necessary since from my judgment nobody was bringing anything questionable (booze, alcohol, marijuana, etc.). I also got to see A Wilhelm Scream play live. They were the last band to play, and I always heard songs from them on Smith Radio -- Smith Radio was the radio show I went to as a WUML intern.

(November 28th) Costello Gym: UMass Lowell vs. Stonehill College

                Wednesday, November 28^th was the day UMass Lowell and Stonehill College played a basketball game in Costello Gym. The game went a little overtime, from 5:30 pm to around 7:05 pm. It was a very intense game and neither team was ahead by more than four points throughout the game until the last 29 seconds and earlier in the second half (scores like 49 to 41 and 52 to 45, UML to Stonehill). There were 14 lead changes in this game and 9 times where the score was tied. It was a close game that caused a lot of uncertainty in me in who would turn out winning, because each team kept getting back and forth at each other.

                Boneless chicken wings were provided behind the honors students stand along with free blue T-shirts for the Commonwealth Honors Program. Before the game started, the national anthem “Star Spangled Banner” was sung. After this, the game started. UML had a rough start, being behind 6 points just a few minutes in already. I think the first tie was 27 to 27 when there was around 6 minutes left in the first half. I noticed a band seated in the stands, and this band had the biggest tubas I’d ever seen.

                Most of the stands had a good chunk filled, but there were still noticeably empty seats. I was sitting in the honors seating area where the other honors students were sitting as well. While the rest of the audience watched from a side view, I and other honors students watched from a back view. This picture shows what view we were observing from. It was a bit hard to see what was going on when the teams were at the other side of the court.

                Before I get into specifics about the game itself, I noticed several 3-point shots were made by UMass Lowell but the whistle was blown before these could count towards the scoreboard – it was for fouls, but it still was interesting to me and it made me think of how many “lost points” UMass Lowell had. If these “lost points” were added, UMass Lowell would have had more points than Stonehill at the end of the game. There were many hasty attempts at the hoop that should not have been taken, though. What I noticed is that there were situations where both teams were getting rebounds, but then they tried shooting where they were when the opposing team was blocking and making the shots much more difficult. Many of these shots resulted in more rebounds and failures, giving the ball to the other team. Of course some of these made it in, but they seemed quite inaccurate and impatient. In my opinion, it wasted more time and prevented the teams from optimizing their scores.

                It turns out that Bianca Simmons, a senior at UMass Lowell that’s on the basketball team, matched her career-high of 28 points for the second straight game according to the Go River Hawks website. There was frequent scoring on both teams throughout this game. As previously mentioned, the scoreboard was surprisingly consistent all throughout and each team kept going back and forth with the lead. The later part of the second half was when Stonehill stayed with the lead. While the crowd was lively the entire game (I couldn’t even hear the announcer’s words clearly from how loud it was inside the Costello Gym) they definitely increased the energy in the second half when the scores were nearing in. With 2:29 left on the game clock and 7:00 pm in real time, UML was only 2 points behind Stonehill 73 to 75. This got the crowd pumped, and I was hearing “Go UMass Lowell!” and other shouts like “Defense!” With 0:25 on the game clock, UML was behind 5 points after Stonehill made a 3-point shot. That was unfortunate for UML with such a short amount of time left in the game. In the end, Stonehill won 82 to 75.

                In half time, there were younger children who were playing on the basketball court and the band was playing more music. Then a little before the second half started both teams went back on the court and did some practice shots and runs. At the end of the game, I noticed the band playing on the stands again, but this time I saw little girls doing movements with their arms. I’m not exactly sure what it was, it must have been some rehearsed dance routine. Either way everyone seemed happy about the game, it was full of energy, and I enjoyed how it was close throughout with scoring on both teams occurring frequently.

(November 20th) Tracking Down the Lives of Child Laborers

                On November 20^th in O’Leary 222 South Campus, there was a presentation from Joe Manning about “Tracking Down the Lives of Child Laborers”. Joe Manning is a historian who for seven years has been in the process of identifying child laborers photographed by Lewis Hine in the early 1900s. Along with identifying the photographed child laborers, he told stories about tracking down the descendants and interviewing them. He has identified more than 300 children photographed by Lewis Hine, some of the cases requiring a good dose of luck, and over 5,000 child laborers were photographed by Lewis Hine.

                Joe Manning started with Lewis Hine’s photo of a girl near a big machine, and then asked the audience what they thought when they saw it. Someone noted that she was barefoot, and that the big machine was such a contrast to the little girl looking at the camera. I mentioned that she wasn’t smiling, which Manning then responded to me with how back in that time period things were different when it came to camera shots. Historically speaking, in the early 1900s people didn’t know how to pose for the camera, so it was actually normal to see pictures of people who didn’t smile like in today’s photos. Manning also discussed how Lewis Hine photographed the child laborers. He said that Hine wanted to photograph the child laborers in a way that they looked like normal, everyday children. If the children had expressions of sadness and hopelessness, people would just think that the child had no hope and was doomed. With the children looking like everyones’ children, people would wonder “oh hey, look at this child here! Why is he/she working in the mills?” Hine was an important person in fighting against child labor, and these photos were carefully taken in a way that would allow people to pay attention to these children. At first, they don’t even look like they’d be child laborers, I say Hine did a great job with his photography. It turns out Child labor laws were passed because of a lot of Hine’s photos.

                 Manning shared several stories with us about his search for identifying the children found in these photos. While I don’t remember the specific details of what he shared with the audience, he did mention many techniques that I would have never guessed using. From this event, I learned about the Social Security Death Index. Basically, it’s a database online where your social security number gets registered when you die. However, most people in the United States didn’t have a social security number until World War II. This made it trickier to find information on the child laborers who were photographed earlier in 1900, such as dates like 1910 in the first photograph Manning showed. It also turns out, however, that draft registration cards are very reliable for information on a person. Manning said that throughout his experience, draft registration cards had not been incorrect once in his searches. Someone in the audience asked about people who lied about their age to participate in the military. Manning said that people who lied about their age to get into the military were volunteers, not drafted. Tracking down these descendants and child laborers is tough, because some of them got married more than once, a lot of state records are closed and Manning had to find ways of getting permission to access sources like obituaries, and he also pays for some of the sources he uses for information.

                Manning also showed photos of these child laborers later on in their lives when they were old for a comparison. There was one child laborer in particular who had this type of slanted smile on his face. When Manning showed the picture of him as an old man later, the audience laughed and he said “didn’t change much, did he?” That slant smile was still there, it was rather amusing. Surprisingly, many of these child laborers lived a long life. For instance, the child laborer he showed in the beginning, who he found to be Adeline Lavigne, died at 95 years old. Many others lived to be in their 80s or 90s. None of the grandchildren knew about their grandparents being photographed; this was a repeating pattern amongst the descendants. The emotional responses that resulted from Manning contacting these descendants about their grandparents being historical figures were just incredible. Think about going through your life, many years, not knowing what’s happened to your parents or other family members, and then finally receiving that call when you’re in your middle ages or older. These child laborers also weren’t just laborers, they were unique individuals with lives, were real people, and historical figures. Manning talked about some of these peoples’ contributions to society.

                Overall, this was a great Honors event and I’m glad Steven Courtemanche was able to arrange it. I learned about some sources that could be used to find information on people, also including sites such as ancestry.com and newspaperarchives.com. I didn’t know about Lewis Hine until that day, and his photos gave me the desired effect: showing that these children were being treated cruelly with the backbreaking hours of labor they had to do at such a young age where they’re still short and growing. The conditions in the factories were miserable and detrimental to the development of these children – and there was also the risk of death from dangerous work.

(November 7th) Chancellor Dinner Pictures

Chicken Picatta, Green Beans, Salad, Bread, Pasta. I didn't get the rice pilaf.

Buffet style dinner.

Pictures of the inside of the conference room we ate in

Pictures of the inside of the conference room we ate in

Pictures of the inside of the conference room we ate in

Waiting for the Chancellor.

Another picture of the buffet style dinner.

Group photo with the Chancellor.

(October 10th) Jack Kerouac Literary Festival, Talk and Reading

                On October 10^th, 3:30 PM I was at the talk and reading by Tanya Donelly and Rick Moody. Tanya is a Grammy nominated musician and Rick Moody is a novelist and short story writer. Both of them discussed how they craft songs and talked about their experiences with music and its meaning. Some questions asked in this talk were: Do songs have plot? Can songs be like a narrative like that in writing? How important are lyrics in songs?

                Rick and Tanya both spoke about how music can be a narrative just like writing, how it can have a storyline, and how it can convey a message. They connected Jack Kerouac with this in that Kerouac could write in a musical direction without being encumbered by plot. So basically, they were saying that the best lyrics are worked fast and not overlabored. Too much time trying to come up with lyrics for a deep plot, they argued, takes away from the musical direction of the song, and instead interferes with its flow. With this, it also implies that Kerouac’s writings are able to flow nicely without harping on any conflict or plot too much, giving it a musical feel when thought of abstractly.

                A person from the audience wanted some advice on how to write song lyrics, that she thought too hard and still was at an obstacle for coming up with lyrics. Both Moody and Donelly agreed that the songs don’t come from the instruments, but instead the lyrics are the first step that get thought of at “opportune times” that aren’t expected. So basically they recommended getting the lyrics down first and then doing the melody later, because they said coming up with a melody first limits what you can do for lyrics. For instance, Moody and Donelly played a song they created called “Meteor Shower”. This song piece originated from when Donelly one day woke up at a very early time, I think 4 am, to go to the beach and watch the meteor shower in the sky. With this imagery and his memory, he came up with a song about it, doing the lyrics first to get a clear sense of where the song is headed.

                One could wonder if writers ever feel lonely. Moody, being a novelist and short story writer, admitted that writing life is rather solitary. Moody said he picked up music because playing music with other people created a sense of discovery and creativity. With music, Moody wasn’t just doing things alone like in his writing, and he also thought that music could make you discover yourself and unleash your creativity in a musical form to express to others. He brought up a point about how songs are a short story, being a few minutes in length. Prose, he described, could be seen as a songwriting impulse at great length. Writing is much longer than what you’d see in usual song lyrics, but writing can also be written in a way that is musical; this also goes back to how Donelly and Moody said that Kerouac could write in a musical direction, giving his works flow and not suffering from the weight of too much plot.

                Moody and Donelly played several songs for the audience, a few of them their own creations, and discussed how they remembered the songs. Moody talked about a song that had an odd time signature, and that he didn’t try memorizing the time signature, but rather tried an intuitive approach at “feeling” what the notes would be played as in an attempt to not overcomplicate playing the song. So rather than switching from 7/16 time signature to 4/4 in certain sections, he would “get a feel” and just play the notes and not think too much about it. There were interesting melodies played, and even though the lyrics were hard to understand from the microphone being too loud, I was able to appreciate how they incorporated a story into a song while making the melody match and flow nicely.

                After this reading and talk was done, I consider stories I’ve read that try too hard to delve into plot, and they don’t flow nicely and it winds up not being fun to read. I like stories that you can think into while not harping too much on the plot, and stories that can be understood more clearly with a better flow. A song can be a concise story, and I think stories could be more like songs in the sense that they don’t need to be verbose to get a point across. Considering that these people said Kerouac was able to write in a musical direction and have a flow in his writing without restricting it to plot, I can see this as an admirable trait Kerouac had for his writings.

(October 10th) Boondock Saints Screening

                On October 10^th, 6:30 PM, there was a screening of Boondock Saints in O’Leary 222. Basically this film is about religious vigilantes who go around killing “bad” people whenever they please, such as Russian crime mobsters and other gangs. This film was especially infuriating to me in how this was being done “in the name of God”. I absolutely disagree with what these guys were doing, and they aren’t even tackling the bigger underlying issues that even contribute to these crimes.

                Instead of going after corporations, politicians, bankers, etc. the people that are causing the big problems, these fraternal twins go off just killing these people that they somehow know are part of crime syndicates feeling good about themselves that they can’t solve the financial issues of the United States of America. This film was also set in Boston, and gave a poor impression of it. Whenever these “Saints” were saying prayers and quoting religious phrases before killing, I cringed at the thought of religion being involved. The court scene was possibly the most shocking scene in this entire film. A psychopathic prisoner was released and decided to help these “Saints” in their mission of God to kill anyone that is bad. I mean, they even went and killed some porn-shop customers. REALLY? This prisoner and the “Saints” were able to just go into a courtroom and kill Papa Joe before his trial was even finished just completely destroyed the point of the court system. What if these people are killed from rumors? People would also get the wrong message and start to say that what they’re doing is right because it’s what they think is right or that it’s “in the name of God”.

                However, this film does relate to the violence in Townie and raises the question of when violence is justified. What was incredibly appalling in this movie was how these guys were able to always know about crime bosses and “bad people”, and find their exact location and meeting places. You don’t have religious lunatics determine who’s guilty or not, you have the court system to do that. You only use violence as a last resort. Since these guys always knew about the crime bosses and such, they could have tried reporting them to the authorities, get them to trial, and not stir up a bloodbath involving religious phrases before they kill the last person. At least in Townie Andre Dubus III is not involving God into his actions and repeating religious beliefs over and over again. I am livid when religion is used as justification for violence or bad actions. Dubus III instead uses his own conscience and decides himself, not in the name of God, that he should give some people a taste of their own medicine.

                Andre Dubus III states the idea that cruelty is cruelty and you don’t question it in his memoir Townie. None of Andre Dubus’s actions are done “in the name of God”. It really irritates me that religion can make people fearless and blind of their own lives. Hey, these guys are “Saints” that are killing whoever they please. I’ll just go in, have God with me, and suddenly have information on every bad person in the area and kill whoever I don’t like! If I die, I’ll just go to heaven and be a Saint! It sends a bad message, and I really hope nobody takes the initiative to do whatever was being done in this film. This film wasn’t much more than a lot of violence mixed with crude humor and religious atmospheres that freaked me out. Anything I see that involves religion, I’m likely to be very critical of it, especially in the context of it being connected to violence and “a mission”.

                In Townie, Dubus III has to stand up for himself. He considers his own morals and own thoughts. Dubus III grew up in an environment of cruelty, violence, and drugs. He doesn’t go around finding mafia or suddenly knowing information about people’s meetings like in Boondock Saints. Violence is not something that can just be tossed away like nothing happened. In Boondock Saints, the “Saints” were commended by an FBI agent and were able to continue with their murders. It gives me the fear of how these connections established would lead to more corruption, religious intentions, and other things that would cause more problems for everyone else. Boondock Saints might have had some energetic action scenes, but people could easily create a bad message and also go against the court system for not being perfect.

(September 30th) American Textile Museum Excursion

                On September 30^th, I visited the American Textile Museum. This museum also had an exhibit on the Civil War, and how textiles played a role in communication and expressing emotions. Quilts could be used to express gratitude for soldiers, for instance. There was also information about the materials that were used for clothes back in the mid 1800s, as well as conditions for keeping your job as a mill worker. I also took some pictures as well during my visit here that I can include here.

                Materials used for cloth back in the mid 1800s were from plants or animals. This included wool from a sheep’s fleece, cotton from the hairy seeds of cotton plants, linen from the stalks of flax plants, and silk from cocoons spun by worms. There were also ups and downs for each. Wool helped with warmth, but was bait for moths. Cotton had its versatility of uses but was too damp and unpleasant when wet. Linen was good for presentation, but wrinkled easily. Silk was elegant, but was very expensive. This information was obtained from a plaque: http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad328/DossarLX/textilemuseum/DSC05648_1024x768.jpg

                There was also a section on how cotton was acquired back in this period of time. The labor involved in picking the cotton was ridiculous. This is a picture showing what the cotton pickers had to wear and do: http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad328/DossarLX/textilemuseum/DSC05654_1024x768.jpg. Basically, they had to drag a long bag that could weigh up to a hundred pounds, they had to bend over with this weight against them to reach low plants that were sharp and could cut your fingers. It required a lot of stamina and perseverance, and the black slaves that picked cotton weren’t even getting wages due to being slaves.

                Conditions for mill workers were appalling; I found this section of the museum intriguing. Mill workers worked six days a week for as long as 14 hours a day starting as early as 5 am and end as late as 7 pm. This means a week’s work could average more than 70 hours! Today, people commonly work around 40 hours a week, which is substantially less. The mill workers also had to be punctual because the gates closed at the time they had to be at work, so even being one or two minutes late would lock them out and they’d miss work/not get paid. Mill Workers had to be in their boarding houses by 10 pm. Mill workers had to live in rooms with five to seven other people with only three beds. If the mill workers didn’t attend church every Sunday morning, they would be removed from work. There were also rules establish by the companies which were very stringent on the workers and forced them to be obedient. Any employee who broke the rules or was disobedient could be “dishonorably” discharged, meaning that you’d be blacklisted so no other mill would hire you. There were also signs put around that encouraged people to report anyone taking materials out of the factories, such as this sign that proposed a $25.00 reward to any person caught stealing: http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad328/DossarLX/textilemuseum/DSC05680_1024x768.jpg.

Last but not least, we have the Civil War section of the museum. This was a Union flag presented to Abraham Lincoln a few days before his assassination in April 1865: http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad328/DossarLX/textilemuseum/DSC05703_1024x768.jpg. Because the Civil War increased the demand for textiles and food, people tried to hide their food so it didn’t get seized by the authorities. Also, a surprisingly high number of people who entered the army were unable to write, so for these people instead of putting their signature they would put an “X”. Because of the desperate need for uniforms, even rushed uniforms were accepted in the army. The price for the common people increased quickly and wages were lowered, and the textile industry shifted heavily towards the war effort. Textiles were also made to express gratitude to soldiers and used as a way of communicating emotions; there were several quilts in the Civil War exhibit which showed quilts that expressed sentiments towards the soldiers and the Civil War. Some mill owners thought that the Civil War would not take years to end, and tried selling off their cotton to make quick profits while they could; they expected the Civil War to only last a few months.