THEATRE: Part One.

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Hello friends! I know it can be a bit overwhelming deciding what to do when there are so many events and goings on around campus. That’s why I’m here to talk to you about the best thing that UMass Lowell does ever, and that is THEATRE.



OBP is one of the oldest clubs on campus, it’s over 150 years old!!! It’s also part of “The Big Seven”; the main seven organizations funded directly through Student Activities. The others are SGA, The Connector, WUML, CAPA, Marching Band, and Greek Council.
OBP has been producing two to four shows every year for basically forever. Some awesome shows they’ve done recently include columbinus (2012), RENT (2011), and The Laramie Project (2010). 

columbinus (March 2012)


OBP’s mission in life is to provide entertainment for the community in the form of theatrical productions as well as educate our students through hands-on involvement. UMass Lowell students, faculty, staff, and alumni can be involved in any part of the production process: acting, designing, managing, directing, building, and working backstage or front of house. OBP also works to hire professionals in the field for directing or designing. As a club on campus, OBP is managed by an executive board of five students as well as a faculty advisor. This year’s board consists of…
President: Kate Munoz, junior Philosophy major
Vice President: Trudy Umstead, junior Liberal Arts major
Secretary: Sam Lovewell, sophomore Music major
Treasurer: Steve Whitten, junior Chemical Engineering major
Technical Officer: Steve Rotondi, senior History major
Faculty Advisor: Shelley Barish, Theatrical Design faculty

OBP isn’t just “that club that puts on shows.” They also hold monthly general meetings open to anyone interested in being a general member. You don’t need to be involved in a production to be a member! At these meetings, there’s food (of course), theatre games, announcements regarding theatre in the community, and discussion about upcoming workshops, events, and productions. It’s a student-run club, so they cater to what students want to do!

Club Fair 2011

SO WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS YEAR?!
This week OBP’s fall production of Almost, Maine is opening. The performance dates and times are as follows:
Thursday November 15th @ 7:30pm
Friday November 16th @ 7:30pm
Saturday November 17th @ 2:00pm & 7:30pm
Sunday November 18th @ 2:00pm
Tickets can be purchased at the door, at the McGauvran SIC, or reserved by calling the OBP office at 978-934-5024. OBP always has a $1 student ticket special on opening night! Otherwise, student tickets are $5 and adult tickets are $10.

For the spring, OBP is bringing in a guest director from New York (!!!) to host a musical theatre workshop and direct a showcase of new works from Boston and New York playwrights.

If you’re interested in helping out with anything OBP is doing, send them an email at umloffbroadwayplayers@gmail.com to get on their email list! 

Hope to see you at the show this weekend!!!

YOU’RE ALL CHAMPIONS.

-Trudy

Procrastination. What a BIG no no!

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  • False Security: You look at your syllabus, and you see an 8-page paper due in six weeks. You’ve got plenty of time. It won’t hurt to go out with friends and unwind before doing work. 
  •  Laziness: YEY Free time! Oh, I have this assignment I forgot. Fine, let me start this and get it over with. Right after I take my nap and catch up on Revenge episodes =) 
  • Excuses: “I’ve been busy! I deserve a break from your work. I mean, I had a crazy weekend, and today I have classes all day plus an exam. I really deserve to take a few days off from thinking about any schoolwork whatsoever”. 
  • Denial: 8-page paper? No big deal, I work best under pressure anyways! I’ve got tons of time. Classes end at 3pm today, and it’s not due until 9am tomorrow. That’s a total of 18 hours. What assignment in the history of college has ever taken 18 hours? I don’t need sleep, that’s what coffee is for! I GOT THIS! 
  • Crisis: (It’s 7:45 am): OH NO! HOW DID I LET THIS HAPPEN? I HATE MYSELF, I HATE THIS CLASS, AND I HATE MY TEACHER. NEVER AGAIN. I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON.
           The 6th stage is simple: REPEAT! 
Oh us college students, the funny yet tragic ways we screw ourselves over……
UNDERSTANDING PROCRASTINATION
You do the stuff that makes you feel good now, even though you know it’ll affect you negatively in the future. You ever wonder why doing laundry, cleaning your room or writing a piece on procrastination all seem to become so much more interesting than that thing you should be doing? Gratification, that’s why! Why feel good later when you can feel good now! The thing is, your brain isn’t very good at planning ahead, it’s really only concerned about the ‘you’ in the here and now, even though we all know they’re both the same person. Confusing I know, but sometimes you really are your own worst enemy….
One of the best ways to beat procrastination is to understand it; knowledge is power and all that.
How to beat it
  1. Get up and move 
  2. Setup reminders 
  3. Get a motivation buddy 
  4. Make yourself accountable 
  5. Create something everyday (anything that gets you into a creative mood and gets you working) 
  6. Wake up early 
  7. Go to sleep early 
  8. Clean and clear as you go 
  9. Cut the cable 
  10. Just do it (no excuses) 
  11. Schedule time blocks 
  12. Follow a task list 
  13. Have a system 
  14. Don’t check email (check it after your done working) 
  15. Destroy social networks 
  16. Time yourself 
  17. Track yourself 
  18. Computerize when you can 
  19. Create a playlist 
  20. Identify and face your fear 
  21. Realize it will never be perfect 
  22. Become mindful 
  23. Set “goals” for the day 
  24. Give yourself a break 
  25. Stick with tools 
  26. Entertain yourself 
  27. Work less 
  28. Have some quiet time every day 
  29. Don’t settle
Remember these quotes the next time you intend to procrastinate:
“Nothing is as fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” ~William James
“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” ~Don Marquis
“Every duty which is bidden to wait returns with seven fresh duties at its back.” ~Charles Kingsley
“If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.” ~Olin Miller
“There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back.” ~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
<3 Giselle

 

Pay your Respects

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On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 an armistice between Germany and the Allied nations came into effect. On November 11, 1919, Armistice Day was commemorated for the first time. In 1926, the United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I and declared that the anniversary of the armistice should be commemorated with prayer and thanksgiving. The Congress also requested that the president should “issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.”

An Act was approved on May 13, 1938, which made November 11 in each year a legal holiday, known as Armistice Day. This day was originally intended to honor veterans of World War I. A few years later, World War II required the largest mobilization of service men in the history of the United States and the American forces fought in Korea. In 1954, the veterans service organizations urged Congress to change the word “Armistice” to “Veterans”. Congress approved this change and on June 1, 1954, November 11 became a day to honor ALL American veterans, WHERE EVER and WHENEVER they had served. 


What is UMass Lowell Doing?

Veterans’ Day Celebration & Flag Raising
Thursday, November 8th 11:30am to 12:30pm
UMass Lowell’s Office of Veteran Services and the Student Veterans Organization will be acknowledging our Student Veterans, Veterans Hall of Fame Inductees, and local Veterans and honoring their service to our country. Chancellor Meehan, will be speaking. Join us for UMass Lowell’s first F-15 Flyover at 11:30 a.m. A reception will be held directly following the ceremony under the trees in front of Cumnock, inside Cumnock Hall in case of inclement weather. 

Military Appreciation Night at Tsongas
Saturday, November 10th 07:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Hockey fans will support the troops as the UMass Lowell River Hawks and University of Maine Black Bears square off in Division I Hockey East play. U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Sean Germain, who recently returned from Afghanistan, will do a ceremonial puck drop. The first 1,000 fans to arrive will receive River Hawk dog tags, courtesy of Eastern Bank, which is also sponsoring this night out for military members stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford. Tickets for any military member with ID will be $5.

Then Monday the 12th NO SCHOOL guys!! Get enough rest, I sure need it. 

<3 Giselle =)

 

iSiS: Wait..What Am I Doing?

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Hello everyone! Trudy here, your new Ambassador. For my first blog post I’ll be writing about the super exciting topic of iSiS and registration, YEAH.
Enrollment dates are coming up, and I’m sure all of you have met with or will meet with your advisors real soon! But once you get advised on what classes to take, what do you do next? Come along, and I’ll show you!

STEP ONE. Log on to iSiS. Head on over to isis.uml.edu, click on “Student Self-Service Login” and log on with your student email (ie. Seymour_Butts@student.uml.edu) and your student email password (ie. OMGiloveisis2012). Also make sure you choose “Lowell” as the campus. Don’t be sneaky and try to log on to the President’s Office to find out the secrets of the universe. Doesn’t work. I may have tried.

STEP TWO. You should end up at your Student Center! But..

WELP that’s what I’m here for! Have a picture.

STEP THREE. If you followed the advice of the six-pointed star up there you should be on your way to registering. Choose which term you would like to register for (hint: next semester is Spring 2013, you can also register for Winter classes but they cost extra money! and you can’t register for Fall 2012 classes anymore. Sorry.) THEN CLICK CONTINUE YEAH.

STEP FOUR. Hopefully after meeting with your advisor you have a nice list of all the course numbers for the classes you will be taking. An example would be for College Writing II, the course number is 42.102. If your advisor gave you a random assortment of numbers without any decimal points or anything, they gave you the class number which is different and confuses lots of people. Class numbers are entered on the shopping cart page on the left under “Enter Class Nbr“. Course numbers are entered by checking the “Class Search” bubble and clicking “Search“. HERE HAVE ANOTHER PICTURE



In the above example I put College Writing II for the course number, since everyone needs to take that someday. Some of the additional search criteria can be used whether or not you know the course number. A lot of these things are super useful, but most people overlook them!

STEP FIVE. Once you click search you’ll get a whole bunch of classes and times and professors and fun stuff. Pick the perfect class–or the one that fits into your schedule..ish–and click “select class”. BOOM ROASTED it’s in your shopping cart! Repeat all that fun stuff for all the classes you want to take and then impatiently await your registration date. 7am on that magical morning, you can finally “Proceed To Step 2 Of 3” and “Finish Enrolling” in your classes! You should get a bunch of green happy check marks, but if your page looks like this there might be a problem.



Well..if your page looks exactly like this the only problems would be that you are trying to enroll before your enrollment date and also why are you taking the exact same classes as I am? But if you do get a bunch of WOMP Xes read the error messages! Some common problems include the class being full or closed, not having the pre- or co-requisites, and a time conflict with another class. SO fix those things and you’ll be well on your way to SUCCESS and HAPPINESS and FREEDOM and JUSTICE and all that good stuff.

Hopefully this refresher was helpful to you! If you’re super stuck and still have questions, you can ask your advisor, FYRE, RA, contact the help desk at 978-934-4357, or post on Facebook/Twitter and tag me or the Ambassador page or a random friend who is good with iSiS, or send a carrier pigeon to Trudy Umstead, room 103B Sheehy Hall, 6 Solomont Way, Lowell, MA 01854 and I will get back to you as soon as the pigeon figures out how to sneak into the building without being signed in.

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY FRIENDS, YOU’RE ALL CHAMPIONS.

-Trudy

Everyone’s favorite kind of videos, Viral Videos

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I am almost certain that at some point on the past four months you have witnessed the latest sensation in Viral Videos, Gangnam Style. While PSY definitely did gain a lot of fame from his video he is certainly not the first person to be thrust into the spotlight after posting a video to Youtube. 

For those of you who have not yet witnessed this ludicrous music video, you’re welcome

I have read the Korean to English translation of the lyrics, I advise against this. It would be similar to Nena doing an English translation of their German hit “99 Luftballons” 
What 99 red balloons triggering a nuclear war looks like


A viral video does not need to be a catchy song with a fun dance it could also be a video taken by a father of his then seven year old son recovering from oral surgery and still being rather loopy. 
I got my wisdom teeth out once, I didn’t have quite the same reaction. I was more afraid of the pink elephants on parade


The scene from Dumbo that caused me to have nightmares every night for five years and what I thought was happening after my surgery

If there is two things that I have learned from researching for this blog post it is that Disney had a temporary mental lapse when they included the pink elephants scene in Dumbo, it was poor judgement on their part. Oh and the other thing is that if you too want to have a viral video you should do one of two things, either video tape everything that happens in your life and eventually something very interesting will happen or come up with a catchy song and dance. You think I am wrong about this? Check out these two videos. 
This dude ended up on Ellen and she did his dance

This kid cried and had shirts made because of it

So as you can see my logic in how to make your own viral video is flawless and should be attempted by everyone. Video tape everything. This lesson was also imparted on me from the Paranormal Activity series due to the fears of being demonized by an invisible demon. 

-Brady


Election Tuesday!

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Tuesday, November 6, 2012 is:
Election Day!!!

Alright, Tim here, and since it is my area of expertise (because I am a political science major), we are going to talk a little bit about VOTING!!!
Here are the presidential candidates:
Left: Barack Obama Right: Mitt Romney
And these are the vice presidential candidates: 

 
Left: Joe Biden Right: Paul Ryan

Time for a quick Q & A:
Q: Okay cool, but where do I vote and how do I know if I am even registered???
A: Well, here is a handy dandy website that can solve those complicated questions. Just type in your information and you’ll be good to go (hopefully). 
Heres the link: http://www.canivote.org/

Q: Why should I even vote? Isn’t it a total waste of time? 

A: Because it is one of the most sacred public duties there are! The United States is thankfully a democracy, which simply means, the powers of change are in the peoples hands. You can fulfill your role of public duty by casting a vote. This is your chance to shine!

Q: I don’t even know anything about the candidates, how do I learn more about them?
A: Well, I’ll post both candidates websites, here we go:
Mitt:  http://www.mittromney.com/
Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/
Q: Is there an easy way to find out about their stances on information that is relevant to me? I am so confused!!!!!! 

A: Sure is!! The website I like to use is called: http://www.ontheissues.org/Issues.htm
Although it does not have the lovely html and fancy pants as the candidates personal websites. This website talks about the real deal. No tomfoolery, no run-arounds, just facts and direct quotes. It also historically outlines each issue in case of you are confused about it. This is real good stuff. 

Well I hope you guys found some of this information relevant and useful. Have a happy election Tuesday everyone and don’t forget to cast your vote!

Keep it TRU, 
-Tim


 




South Campus Advancements

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The Final Installment

Today is the last installment of the epic 3 part series I have been working on. Here are the changes and projects occurring to South Campus. South campus has made many strides in the past years involving the new O’Leary Library renovation, the renovations to the Comley Lane Theater, and last but not least the installment of Starbucks, Subway, and The Hawk’s Nest. All of those improvements to South campus have proven to be great but now it’s time to focus on the big projects! Here we go!


 The Health and Social Sciences Building

 Say hello to the first new building on south campus in over 30 years! This new building will be the home to health, criminal justice, psychology majors. This new building will ready for the Spring academic semester. The UML website describes this building as:

” The new Health and Social Sciences building will be four stories high and span 69,000 gross square feet. It will house seven classrooms, 16 seminar/project rooms, eight conference rooms and 72 faculty offices. The four-story atrium lobby space with skylights is built in response to requests from members of the University community for space that promotes student and faculty interactions.”

Fun Fact:  75 percent of regularly occupied spaces receive natural light. 40 percent of construction materials manufactured within 500 miles. 75 percent of construction debris recycled. Lastly, although you can’t see it now, there is going to be a very attractive green space area outside of the building. 

Riverview Suites

Although this project won’t be finished for quite some time.  It will be located on South Campus on Marginal Street. It will however have convenient access to South campus. So don’t be afraid. According to the UML website: 
“Riverview Suites, a six-story, 173,000-square-foot residence hall near South Campus will feature suites with two or three double-occupancy bedrooms, a kitchen and a common area. The two-bedroom suites will include one full bathroom, while the three-bedroom suites will have two full bathrooms. “
Fun Fact: Rumor has it there will be a fully functional rec center in this new building.
  


South Campus Garage

The new South campus garage that is being constructed is part of the University’s solution to what was once a parking problem. This is the second garage the University has built in one year. This parking garage is a little bit bigger than its relatives on north and east campus. The University website describes this garage as:

“The South Campus garage will provide parking spaces for 762 cars on South Campus. Tucked between Mahoney Hall and Riverview Parking Lot, the garage will be conveniently located to all South Campus facilities. The six-and-one-half level open-parking facility is a 191,000-square-foot structure that will provide pedestrian access via a large, glass-enclosed stairway located at the north end of the building.”

Fun Fact: There will still be a parking lot outside from this garage. I remember teaching one of my friends how to drive in this parking lot this summer during one of the evenings. She nearly crashed my car…

Well, that’s all folks. Those are the publicly released projects and developments of the University. Beware, rumors are circulating around the fate of and renovations of many more buildings on campus. Be careful what you believe, but bear in mind that if you know someone (perhaps even me) with insider information to listen carefully. By 2020 Lowell and the UML campus will look astonishingly different than how it looks today. I hope you are as excited as me!

In case you missed the other installments here they are:

East Campus: http://www.umlorientationambassadors.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-changing-east-campus.html

North Campus: http://www.umlorientationambassadors.blogspot.com/2012/10/umass-lowell-progressive-change.html


-Tim Brown 






 

AHHH whats coming up this week?!!

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Welcome to a beautiful week to come. Such beautiful weather, isn’t it? =D YEY US!
Here are a couple of events happening this week….
Career Fair is THIS Wednesday the 24th
at the Campus Recreation center
from 1pm-4pm


Over 145 employers are expected at UMass Lowell’s Fall 2012 Career Fair!
This is an unequaled opportunity for students and alumni to meet with over 145 employers in many professional fields to discuss opportunities for internships, co-ops, part-time, summer and full-time permanent jobs.
Dress professionally and to bring resumes! Also, guys you should take an opportunity to review the list of companies registered to attend by accessing a list filterable by major(https://www.myinterfase.com/uml/event_view.aspx?token=PZpz2WDX6GV6m5DJj1e1GQ%3d%3d), and to research companies of interest to help in engaging in meaningful and fruitful conversations with our guest recruiters.
Sighs, was that Career Fair filled with important information; you’re kind of overwhelmed right? But you know you did the RIGHT THING in going. Now it’s time to blow off some steam at UML’s HALLOWEEN BASH this FRIDAY the 26th!
It would be a shame if you missed ANY of this…..
<3 Giselle =D 

Minors! They can be fun!

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Interested in declaring a minor? 
 Here’s some information to put you on the right track!
Here’s a list of undergraduate minors:

Another way to find out more about minors is by using CLASS aka the Centers for Learning!
Once you’ve thought about a minor you’d like to declare, talk to that department. It’s always nice to pop into their department office to get information from them.
To declare your new minor head over to the Registrars Office. Grab a Declaration of Minor form and have the department head fill it out. Sometimes the department has these forms, so that should be the first place you try!

Unfortunately this will be my last blog so I hope you all enjoyed the information! See you around!

–Craig

A Changing East Campus

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Welcome Back Everybody! 


Here is part two of the three part series emphasizing the changes that are coming to the University. This week we will be focusing on the three new construction projects located on the lovely:

East Campus
University Suites

Welcome to what is going to be the most luxurious residential building yet. This brand new building opens up in the Fall of 2013. I am very excited for this to open up and I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to sneak a spot into one of these suites. The UML website emphasizes: 

 “The residence hall will provide housing for 472 students in four and six bed suites. There will be a ground-floor common area with café and multi-purpose room open to the Umass Lowell community. Each residential floor will have two common kitchen/lounge areas, two quiet study rooms and a group study room.”

Fun Fact: This residence hall will be the home to students in the honors program as well as other students.

View from Salem & Pawtuckets Streets.
 University Crossing

This new project will be ready by Fall 2014. It will be the pride and joy of campus life  and will hopefully be finished on time and before I graduate. The UML website describes it as:

” Situated at the center of the Umass Lowell campus, University Crossing will serve as a hub of student activity with a large new bookstore, food court and event spaces, as well as some administrative offices. University Crossing will provide an important connection between the University’s three campuses and the downtown business and cultural district, all located within walking distance.”

Fun Fact: This property, which was originally a hospital, was acquired by the University for $6.3 million dollars. The University also intends to renovate this buildings with millions more. 

The New University Avenue Bridge

Last on the list is the new University Ave bridge. As you can see, construction on this bridge is already under way. This bridge will help connect the future University Crossing, East campus, and North campus. Currently, the bridge we have is a little bit packed and creates an awkward intersection for vehicles. The new bridge hopes to fix all of those issues.

Fun Fact: The fate of the current bridge, formally referred to as the Lowell Memorial Textile Bridge, is up in the air. There is currently a debate as to whether or not to keep the bridge as a walking bridge or to destroy it altogether. 

Well I hope you enjoyed my blog this week. Don’t forget to come back next week for the final blog of this three part series that will focus on South Campus. 

Also if you missed part 1 of this series here is a link to it: http://www.umlorientationambassadors.blogspot.com/2012/10/umass-lowell-progressive-change.html

-Tim