Life After Abbey

God Bless America. The fact that any person with a video camera can make people squirm or not.  I’m waiting for the next volley. Maybe the Beckett Fund’ll do something jazzier with more pops and whistles. If I get that one, I’ll post it here too.

It gives folks more insight into the heads of students and employees from the 3-year ordeal. Even if it was a little flimsy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1zrJ9l4e5U

What does Fairfield University and Belmont Abbey College have in common? They’re both two private Catholic schools in the eastern United States. Both have their controversies, but Fairfield’s caught up over a student columnist’s take on the ‘Walk of Shame.’ (By the way, I’m not talking about anything having to do with the stations of the cross.)

Parents, if you don’t know what that is or don’t remember, maybe you shouldn’t read this.

First, get some background here. It was a stupid, pointless column. What is it about Connecticut college students anyway (check here) and their penchant for testing people and stirring up stuff? Back to the column.  It was something that could’ve gone without being published. But, it’s protected by free speech. And now, a war is in full force. The university’s harrassment policy has been brought up and throws the whole idea of a student newspaper out of wack. Look at what the article says the policy could do:

“Under the Fairfield code, a student who writes a pro-life opinion piece that characterizes pro-choice supporters as “baby killers” could face charges if a reader claims the language is demeaning, Simon said. Under Pellegrino’s ruling, The Mirror could be sanctioned for allowing such student debate to take place, he added.”

What the heck. Fairfield has a communication history. At first glance (yeah, Wikipedia, oh well), it has several publications and a media building. A founding member of MSNBC, a WH correspondent, a newspaper publisher (Conn. Post)…all went there.

The university has this history and the students there are doing their best to get the newspaper taken away. What the heck.

It makes me think of the Abbey Crusader (don’t go to the Web site, it’s been broken for awhile.)

When I first worked with the Belmont Abbey College newspaper, it only had one-two issues my freshman year. Vividly, I remember asked a student admission recruiter on a phone call if the college had a newspaper back in 1995. She said, “Uh, we don’t have a newspaper.” Yes, they did (one issue that year), but the student interest wasn’t there. From that explanation by folks at the time, I think I developed a small paranoia that if the college didn’t have an embarrassing college newspaper to hand out, it was helping admissions, etc. It made me think of a former admissions counselor who told me that if gave Saturday morning tours through the dorms he would have to run his route an hour before so he could pick up all the beer cans, etc.

But, back to the point…

After three years, editors Christopher Iwancio and Clarence Courseault had it going great. We had some PR stories, we had some controversial stories and political cartoons, we had some layout skills, we had a great staff, we had opposing viewpoints, we had SHIRTS! We almost had a real college newspaper.  And, by saying that, I don’t mean to demean. I mean, we were effective and made an impact on our readers.

If you’re on a college newspaper staff, don’t shirk from controversy (even if your publication is free and paid by the college or university and you don’t want to get them angry), but at the same time, don’t be an idiot and get your free speech taken away. The administration will respect you if you don’t act like an idiot.

What if I was banned from Belmont Abbey College campus grounds for blogging? No more delicious coffee from Holy Grounds! Darn. I really don’t want to think about it, but look at the case of one blogging mother in Florida and her blog with news on a Catholic university.

Good ol’ Ave Maria University is in the news again and it’s not about Dominos pizza or the 250-foot crucifix (reportedly bigger than the Statue of Liberty) that it wanted to construct at one point. Dominos pizza chain founder Tom Monaghan helped start up the exclusive, super Catholic university in Florida if you’re not aware.

This is the first time I’ve heard of Marielena Montesino de Stuart, but if you claim your publication is being read by the pope, then I guess you’ve got some things going for you.

Check out the story here and her account here.

I came across this story in the Naples News via Poynter.org this morning. At first, her account seems overly hyped up and dramatic. But with any private school you’ve got to wonder about things.

Can it be interpreted that ‘anything critical’ of a college or university deems bannation? (the decision to ban).

In this case, the actions of the university are strange: de Stuart reported that the school is getting a large chunk of change from this man. She is also stating that Blase Golisano has ties to pro-abortion efforts . In my quick research, it seems Golisano has given money to other Catholic schools. She points out that Golisano’s ties and the Ave Maria University mission are in conflict.

I wonder what anyone Belmont Abbey College would say about this Ave Maria University situation. Hypothetically, (just like with the question of shutting down the school over the EEOC decision) I guess Belmont Abbey College wouldn’t take money from this man if it was true he was a pro-abortion kind of guy.

But then I haven’t gone through the public records on who has donated to the school.

Check out the video

Why I, a 31-year-old man, thinks a horror movie from 1979 with is one of the scariest movies of all time, I don’t know. Phantasm was one of my first horror movies.

Maybe it was the time and the place. The soundtrack music. The late night watching as a kid. The fact that little metallic spheres could fly around on their own and kill people was a pretty scary. However, the young kids and their penchant for having sex in cemeteries… that’s a little weird to me. But all of it, combined, made for a creepy movie for me. Alice, Sweet Alice and The Shining also had the same effect on me.

But I think it was those movies that opening up my viewing habits, making it easier to watch more garbage or creative expression. You make your own assumptions.

But the last few years have been scary in both the movies and in real life.

The movie Saw came along a few years ago and has been made into six sequels while creating a new genre. Torture porn, I think they call it.

Now there’s a new morbid movie making the rounds and I don’t know what to think of it. The movie’s called Deadgirl. It involves zombies and men taking advantage of a helpless woman.

How it got made, I don’t know.  I’m starting to squirm in real life.

But it’s timing concurs with the brutal gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in Richmond, Calif. As the community comes to grips with the fact that many stood and watched instead of calling for help or the police, one has to wonder if we put ourselves in this position.

Are movies becoming real life or are they just taking real life and putting it into a movie format?

I would like to meet Rabbi Yaakov Menken.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/faith/2009/10/yaakov_menken_belmont_abbey.html

Word is getting around on the non-Catholic Web sites about Belmont Abbey College’s EEOC saga. Shoot, even a rabbi weighed in on the whole thing. His ‘take’ led to a public rebuttal (smackdown, even) that if you’re an alum, professor, employee or student, you better see it. Put down your religious material for a few minutes and take a look.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/faith/2009/10/guest_post_another_view_on_bel.html

I’ll admit I’ve been a little quiet lately, but there’s many things going on right now. But I’ll share a couple of thoughts while I can.

*RIP, Fr. John. I’ve still got the card you sent me for my graduation nine years ago. Such a classy man and fervent monk. I’ll always remember World Literature with you, your great sermons during mass, your smile and laugh. Your comments. “Ha. Ha. Ha is not an answer Mr. Memrick.” and “Time will pass, But will you.” It was fitting that your funeral was on Tuesday. It was such a nice day. I look forward to visiting your gravesite and saying a little prayer when I can.

*People. This EEOC thing is getting out of hand…especially by people WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT’S GOING ON. I’m talking to you, Rick Santorum.

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columnists_blogs/story/139865.html

Give it a rest. Don’t read only Catholic publications, students and outsiders! If I did that when I was in high school and college, my view of the world would be very warped! Don’t go telling Chicago mayors to go to Belmont Abbey College. Just don’t do it. It’s stupid.

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/091013

* Belmont Abbey women’s soccer team runs up the score on a winless Coker College team last week. I don’t know what to think about that. Maybe it was needed or justified or something.

More to come…..

Homecoming. It’s almost here and soon enough they’ll be able to take down the announcement on the billboard. Not the Got Monks one, but the electronic one near the South Fork.

I hope it’s fun. I hope that it’s enlightening. I hope that I can put my feelings of contempt, controversy and maybe, pettiness, aside and maybe see a few folks that I haven’t seen in nine years or so. I’m bringing my wife for the first time. Maybe we can have some fun for a few hours.

I remember as a freshman doing a fundraising call-a-thon and asking an alum about coming to that year’s homecoming. She responded that she quit drinking and couldn’t come anymore because of it. Then she hung up on me. Obviously, that memory is still with me today.

I’ve never really enjoyed a Saturday afternoon homecoming since my first in 1996. I’ve probably been to a few (more as a student and less as an alumni).  Let me clarify that. I’ve either covered the Abbey soccer games as a ‘reporter’ or just dropped by for an hour before going to work. I realize there are other stuff events that older alums go to, but I’m not really interested in all that. When I was attending college and as a alum years after that, I had to see the event as both a fundraising event or/a drinking party.

It might be a crucial event for me to see first hand. Not only will it give birth to more blog entries but it will shape my feelings about what the college was and what the college has become.

Every now and then, I have an internet conversation that I shouldn’t have. Keep your emails short and don’t let them get complex. Don’t do it. When emotions are heated, having instant access to a person over the internet is not a good thing for me. I don’t handle it well. When  I can’t see/hear a friend or acquaintance correctly and I often take short comments out of context.

Let’s say you don’t talk to a friend over a period of time and that grinds you. You make a simple facebook comment. You get a response that you don’t know how to take and you jump to a conclusion or just fire off a snide comment. That comment could either be a joke or a serious statement. The friend gets cheezed off and then the battle begins. And when it’s over, you don’t know what to think. Apology? Heck no. Give it some time? That’s what got your friend into trouble in the first place.

Talking on the phone is ideal, but talking to a person face-to-face should be what you want to do. But then, it’s easy to get a fist to the face. But humans have been doing that stuff for years.

You just got to not get into those one-D conversations. Stay away from them at all costs.