The Internet: An Idea that Grew to Span the World

By Erin McCarthy

The Internet has transformed the communications world like nothing else has ever before. The Internet is a worldwide mechanism for information broadcasting, and a medium for partnership and interaction between individuals and their computers. The Internet stands for one of the world’s most beneficial ways to research and develop information. The government and the industry have been partners in creating this amazing feature within technology.

This extensive information system is due to of what is called the National Information Infrastructure. The history behind the Internet is extremely complicated and involves many features. These features consist of technological, community and organizational characteristics. The technical fields of computer communications made the influence that the Internet has possible. 

What became the Internet was projected in a series of memos that were the first recorded descriptions of social interactions through computer networking. J.C.R. Licklider, who worked on developing information technology at MIT, wrote these memos in April 1963. In his memos he imagined a globally organized set of computers through which everyone could quickly access data and programs from any site.

This concept was very much like the Internet we have today. He was the head of the computer program at what became the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). While working at this job he convinced his fellow workers abut the importance of this networking system.

The Internet has changed so much over the two decades in which it came into existence for every day use. The Internet was conceived in an era or time-sharing on massive machines and continued to survive into the era of personnel computers. The most important fact is that the Internet started as a creation of a small band of dedicated researchers. The Internet has since grown to be a commercial success with billions of dollars of yearly revenue.
       
For more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._R._Licklider


Erin McCarthy is a freshman at St. Thomas Aquinas College majoring in Communication Arts. A member of STAC’s softball team, she is extremely interested in sports media.

Lady Spartans Sweep Softball Double-Header

By Erin McCarthy

 The Lady Spartans softball team swept Dowling College with two wins on April 14. To start the game for STAC, Samantha McDonald, the first batter, hit a single to right field. This was a great start to the beginning of the game. After the first inning the score was 0-0. Continuing into the top of the third inning, it was still a scoreless game.   

Then in the third inning McDonald hit a single to left field, scoring the team’s first RBI of the day. The score was now 1-0 and the Lady Spartans had the lead. Brittany Malloy then hit a single to right field and the Lady’s scored again. This was just the beginning of a very successful first game that day for the St. Thomas Aquinas softball team, which won 7-1.

In total for the first game, Samantha McDonald went 3 for 4 with a run and a RBI. Erin McCarthy went 2 for 4 with a run and a RBI also.  Julie Sosnicki earned the win on the mound with 5 strikeouts while going 2-for-1 with 2 RBI.

In the second game of the day, Brittany Mangan's RBI sacrifice fly scored McCarthy to tie the game at 1-up in the top of the fifth inning. Next, Colleen Pagnani walked to lead off the 6th and McDonald homered in the next at bat to give STAC a 3-2 lead. McCarthy added an RBI single to advance the lead. Pitcher Brittany Malloy finished the game with a 4-3 win over Dowling College.

STAC Track Takes 4th in ECC Championship Meet; Winslow Dorsainvil Set Record in 100 Meter Dash

By Dylan Bestler

On April 17, all seven East Coast Conference teams gathered at Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, New York to compete in the championship track and field meet. The seven teams (both men and women) are Daemen College, University of District of Columbia (women only), LIU Post University, Molloy College, Queens College, Roberts Wesleyan University, and St. Thomas Aquinas College.

For STAC and several other teams, it was a more than five hour bus ride to Rochester; this is why the teams arrived a day early. The actual meet was the day after, on April 18.

Roberts Wesleyan took the ECC championship on both the men and women’s side. The men’s team scored 233 points, trouncing all of the other teams. Second place went to last year’s champions, Queens College with 161 points. The women’s team for Roberts Wesleyan scored 187 points, outscoring District of Columbia, which came in second with 139 points.

In a dramatic improvement from indoor track standings, STAC’s men and women’s teams placed 4th in the outdoor event.

Here are the standings from the meet:

Men’s                            
1.  Roberts Wesleyan               
2.  Queens               
3.  Molloy                   
4.  St. Thomas Aquinas           
5.  LIU Post               
6.  Daemen

Women’s
1.  Roberts Wesleyan
2.  District of Columbia
3.  Molloy
4.  St. Thomas Aquinas
5.  Queens
6.  Daemen
7.  LIU Post

Roberts Wesleyan men were led by Gabe Rivera, who was the ECC indoor athlete of the year this past season. He gave the team 36 points just by himself, winning in the high jump, coming in second in both the 100 meter dash and 200 meter dash, third in long jump and fourth in pole vault. He was also on the 4x100 meter relay and the 4x400 meter relay, coming in fourth and second respectively, giving him a total of 48 points.

Daemen College as a whole scored 48 points. Other big performers for Roberts Wesleyan were Thomas Rodger who won the 800 and 1500 meter run, Kevin Brown won the 5k, Justin Bender won the 3,000 meter steeplechase, Malcom Shaw won the javelin throw, and Aaron Mcginnis won the long and triple jump and got third in high jump and pole vault.

On the women’s side for Roberts Wesleyan the top performers were Rachel Brush and Katy Perry. Brush won the 3,000 meter steeplechase, got second in the 800 meter run, third in the 1500 and was on both the 4x400 meter relay and the 4x800 meter relay, coming in third in both. Katy Perry scored in all the throwing events, winning the discus, second in the hammer, third in the shot put and sixth in the javelin. Other winners for Roberts Wesleyan were April Sablan who won the 5k, Brianna Calderon who won the 400 meter hurdles, Kasey Semmler won the pole vault and Victoria Houser won the hammer throw.

Spartan Runners Won Several Events

The men and women teams for the Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas improved from the indoor season, when the men’s team was last place and women were second to last. Outdoors, both teams got fourth place; men scoring 61 points and the women scoring 88.

The STAC men were led by Winslow Dorsainvil, who won all of his events and set school and meet records in them. He won the 100 meter dash with a time of 10.52, which is a new meet record and a new school record. He then won the 200 meter dash with a time of 21.94. He was also the second leg in his 4x100 meter relay team that placed first. That team consisted of Travis Volpe, Dorsainvil, Ricardo Reid and Lloyd Smalling.  Reid also placed fourth in the 400 meter dash and helped the 4x400 meter team get fourth place.

Other top performers for the men were Dylan Bestler, Tristan Holmgen and Jamer Linares. Bestler won the 400 meter hurdles and was on the 4x400 meter relay team. Holmgen, who was competing in his first meet of the season due to injury, placed second in the high jump. Linares placed fourth in the 10k and sixth in the 5k.

The Lady Spartans had a lot of top performers. Kristen Boriello and Katie O’Grady won their events, the 1500 meter and 10k, respectively. Kelsey Barnes, Gabby Sloezen, Gina Funaro and Sam Gabriel had good days as well. Barnes placed third in the discus and fifth in the shot put. Sloezen placed third in the 400 meter dash, sixth in the 200 meter dash and helped both of her relays (4x100 and 4x400) place fourth. Funaro, only having run the event one other time, placed second in the 400 meter hurdles and was also on the 4x400 meter team. Gabriel placed fourth in the triple jump and sixth in long jump.

The 4x800 meter team of Meaghan Ventarola, Kristen Boriello, Patricia Nersten and Allison Boriello placed second. Ventarola also placed second in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and A. Boriello placed fourth in the open 800.Other Spartans who contributed to the meet were Cecilia Pfleging and Tara Hansen. Pfleging placed third in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and Hansen placed fifth in the 100 meter hurdles.

Although the Spartans did not win the meet, they have to be proud of the progress they have made throughout the season. They also had many first and second team all-conference runners.

1st Team All-Conference               
Winslow Dorsainvil     100, 200, 4x100       
Dylan Bestler         400 Hurdles           
Lloyd Smalling               4x100               
Ricardo Reid                  4x100               
Travis Volpe                   4x100               
Tristan Holmgen     High Jump           
Kristen Borriello           1500               
Gina Funaro         400 Hurdles           
Katie O'Grady               10,000               
Meaghan Ventarola    3,000 Steeplechase       

2nd Team All-Conference
Ricardo Reid        400
Jamer Linares         10,000
Gabby Sloezen        400
Allison Boriello    800
Cecelia Pfleging    3,000 Steeplechase
Meaghan Ventarola    4x800
Patricia Nersten    4x800
Kristen Boriello    4x800
Kelsey Barnes        Discus
Sam Gabriel        High Jump, Long Jump

The Spartans are looking forward to the future with a number of recruits coming in. With more bodies and hard work, the Spartans will have their eyes set on gaining an ECC championship next year.


Dylan Bestler is a freshman at St. Thomas Aquinas College. He is from Williston Park, New York in Nassau County, Long Island. He went to Mineola High School and he is majoring in Communications/Journalism. He is on the STAC track team and wants to be a sports writer/anchor in the future.

Snapchat: Fun, Fast and Sometimes Too Revealing

By Dylan Bestler

In today’s age, there are many ways of getting in contact with people even when you’re not around them. You can call them, text message, face time, Skype, direct message on social media, and since 2011, Snapchat has become a big source of contacting people.

Snapchat was started by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown, who were then students at Stanford University. The app, originally called “Picaboo,” can be used to send pictures, videos, text and drawings to other people. These pictures/videos/etc. are known as “snaps” and the person receiving it can only view it for a maximum of ten seconds. This got pretty big and as of May 2014, over 700 million snaps were being sent per day.

Since the app was created, a lot of new features have been added to it. In October 2013, Snapchat added “Snapchat Stories.” These “stories” can be viewed by all of the user’s contacts for 24 hours before disappearing. Since May 2014, users can now chat with each other through text. Like snapchats, the texts can only be seen for a limited time. The second you leave the chat screen, the text goes away.

In November 2014, Snapchat launched its new feature, “Snapcash,” which allows users to send money to their contacts if they setup Snapchat with their debit/credit card number. On January 27, Snapchat added a “Discover” page. If you swipe all the way to the right on the app, you can view videos from channels such as Comedy Central, ESPN, food network, People magazine, CNN, Yahoo and some other channels.

With this update, Snapchat deleted its “Best Friends” feature. Before this update, users could view their contact’s “best friends” or the three people they snapchat the most. It was removed because it was a problem for some relationships. If a girl saw that her boyfriend was snapchatting another girl more than her, it has caused problems, which is why they removed that feature. A user can still see their own best friends listed but it is no longer open to the public.

The last added feature to snapchat was the “emoji update,” which was added on April 6. Now there are emojis (or digital icons used to express an idea or emotion) next to your contact’s names and each emoji means something. A heart emoji means that both contacts are each other’s number one best friend; a smirking face means that person is on your best friends list but you are not on theirs; a smiley face means that both you and that contact are “best friends” (in the top seven most snapchatted); a grimace face means that both contacts have the same number one best friend (they both snap the same person the most); a face with sunglasses means that one of their best friends is also one of your best friends; and the fire emoji means that you have snapchatted the person multiple days in a row and the number next to it will increase.

Although Snapchat has many great features to it, the app has gotten many complaints. Snapchat has gotten in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission due to privacy standards.

Snapchat was meant so the user can control how long he/she wants his/her image to be seen by his/her contacts, but there is a way to view that image longer; it’s called the screenshot. A screenshot is when a user takes a picture of what’s on his/her screen, which means the picture can be saved forever. This has led to problems in the field of “sexting” or sending people sexual pictures or messages via cell phone. When girls or boys send these pictures and the others screenshot them, the person who took a screenshot can blackmail the other person because that picture can go viral and embarrass the one who sent it.

There isn’t as much privacy on Snapchat as most people think. Snapchat will notify the sender when someone took a screenshot of their photo, but you still have to be very careful sending out pictures on Snapchat.  

Despite the few negative effects of this app, Snapchat is an easy and fun way of communicating and sharing your experience with your friends. As long as you are careful, Snapchat is an app that everyone should download.

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapchat

Instagram: Way to Go

By Kristin McGrath

There are tons of different types of social media in today’s world. One social media site that is fairly new within the past couple of years is Instagram. What is Instagram? What is its importance?

Instagram is an app that lets you post pictures and videos. There are millions of users posting pictures of everything from everywhere in the world. Fascinating, right?

Say you have never been to the Grand Canyon, but you would like to see pictures of it other than what you get on Google Images. You can type in instagram #grandcanyon, and thousands of people’s personal pictures from their adventure at the Grand Canyon will show up! This idea of looking up any where in the world is an amazing one.

Posting pictures is fun too; they offer a bunch of different editing settings. Black and White, Amaro, and Mayfair are some of the different filters to choose from. You can adjust the lighting, shadows, and sharpness of a photo, as well. Basically, you can make a regular looking picture look like a professional took it!

There are many different types of accounts on Instagram: Workout guide accounts, healthy eating accounts, home decoration accounts, traveling accounts, and many more! Instagram has opened my eyes to the idea of traveling more often. I’ve been traveling since before I could even walk, but now thanks to Instagram I know of more interesting places to visit than I ever could imagine!

Instagram is great for anyone, and it’s very simple to set up your own account. If I could recommend any social media site, Instagram is the way to go.

YouTube Puts Lots of Eyes on the World

By Linda Thomas   

YouTube is a video-sharing website. What I love to watch on YouTube are different music videos, behind the scenes and documentaries of different music artists. I also watch beauty gurus and makeup/hair tutorials. I watch different YouTube personalities who share their lives and do comedy, which makes me laugh and brightens up my day.

YouTube was created in 2005 by three former PayPal employees. In 2006, Google bought it for 1.65 billion dollars. The site allows users to upload, view, and share videos, and it makes use of Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology to display a wide variety of user-generated and corporate media video. Available content includes video clips, TV clips, music videos, video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, but media corporations including CBS, the BBC, Vevo, Hulu, etc. offer some of their material on YouTube, as part of the YouTube partnership program.

If you register for an account, you can subscribe to channels, comment and like videos; if you have a Gmail account you automatically have an account with YouTube. Some people on YouTube get paid to make and upload videos on YouTube and have made it their career and many have had countless opportunities in the real world because of networking on YouTube. For example, some users host events, have concerts and tours, get to meet and work with important people; a lot of music careers start on YouTube.

Many countries have blocked access to YouTube for various reasons. Some of these countries are: Iran, Thailand, China, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Libya, Egypt, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Russia, and Sudan. YouTube often plays live events like: CNN-YouTube presidential debates, YouTube Awards, YouTube Instant, YouTube Live, YouTube Multi Channel Network, YouTube Symphony Orchestra, etc.

YouTube has many personalities, so many events happen in order to bring people with various interests  together.  YouTube has become a huge phenomenon where it brings many people together and it does not just share videos but it creates opportunities for many around the world. 

For more information:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube


Linda Thomas is a student at St. Thomas Aquinas College majoring in Psychology and minoring in Communication Arts. Linda aspires to change people's lives either through music, as a therapist and/or psychologist, or doing something in television.

Bob Marley: The High Life

By Michael DeMartino

Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley was born on February 6, 1945 in Jamaica on a farm where his family lived. Bob grew up in Kingston, Jamaica where the economy is considered to be poor. As a young boy, he worked for his father and loved playing football, as soccer is called in Jamaica, with his friends.

Every day after working, his father would allow him to go to the center of the town where there was a football field. Bob and his friends would stay at this small broken down field for hours and play football. Bob never had any negative vibes while he was growing up and it continued into his adult years. He had such an amazing spirit inside of him that all of the older people in the village knew he was going to be special. He helped out his neighbors whenever possible, and always was reaching out to help others in need.

Tragedy struck him at a young age.  Bob lost his father at the age of ten, which affected his feelings. He began writing music at the age of eighteen. After the passing of his father, Bob was more motivated by music.

Bob became one of the fastest growing names in the reggae music industry when he realized he had great talents. He began his own band, which consisted of close friends and family members who Bob played football and music with. The band was called The Wailers, which was one of many music groups he would perform with to create some of the world’s best music.

Bob Marley was such a great individual, always keeping his spirits high no matter what the situation he was in. He never turned to violence in his life and believed that every man and women no matter what color are a family.

Bob Marley was recording with some of the biggest reggae recording companies in the entertainment business. He had several brothers and sisters in the house growing up; eventually he moved to make a better life for himself. When he left his home town for the first time for a meeting with an entertainment company, everyone knew that he was going to be a success.

Bob had such a musical talent which he loved and it had come in a natural state to him. This made the music that he was creating feel as if it was a part of his life.  Bob was now on the road to being one of the greatest figures in life that individuals would look up to for many of reasons. His high spirits encouraged thousands of people to continue in life even if there were some conflicts. He knew how to use music in order to change the way he had felt about life and was able to help others explain the true meaning of life.

He was such a peaceful man with no negative attention towards life; he didn’t see money as a form of happiness.  He did not see positions as being rich, he once said that his richness in life is eternal happiness. He was all about the earth and being natural to the world, where everyone gets along with no violence.

After years went by, Bob developed a very bad foot infection from playing football while a child. He would play with no shoes and his feet got cut up on the dirt he played on. He was such a man who lived by nature that he did not want to get his foot checked out by a doctor.  The infection began to travel from his big toe to his feet which became cancerous. He lived many years in a struggle fighting the infection by himself but after time the disease took a toll on his body.

The greatest reggae singer to live died on May 11, 1981 at age 36 from brain cancer which had come from his foot infection. His music is legendary, which will allow it to be passed on from generation to generation, keeping the peace and love throughout all races.

For more information:
www.bobmarley.com/history/

Wrestlemania 31 Slams Big Time

By Alex Henning

World Wrestling Entertainment’s flagship event, Wrestlemania, has come and gone again.  The 31st Wrestlemania held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on March 31 broke box office and attendance records with $12.6 million earned and an astounding 76,976 people in attendance.  As with most of the live pay-per-view shows, Wrestlemania 31 continued ongoing story lines and led several to a conclusion for the time being. 

There were over 30 WWE superstars at this event, and some were probably used better than others.  The event was a big success though and WWE has made some ground back after the big fall they took after the last Royal Rumble event.  This event made ground with some good matches, surprise returns, and unexpected match endings.

Seven-Man Ladder Free for All

Wrestlemania 31 kicked of proper with a seven-men ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship belt.  Wade “Bad News” Barrett would defend his title against Daniel Bryan, R-Truth, Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler, and Stardust.  The match was paced well and several different wrestlers attempted to get the belt at some point or another, the other stars always knocking the ladder over and preventing it.  R-Truth and Luke Harper came close to it, but the defending Barrett went after R-Truth seeking revenge for Truth’s previous action of stealing the belt from him and then giving back a fake one.  Harper sent Dean Ambrose packing after sending him out of the ring towards ladders, which collapsed on him. 

In the end, the match was down to fan favorite Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler battling it out on the ladder under the belt.  Ziggler and Bryan exchanged headbutts on the top rungs of the ladder until Dolph finally fell off and Bryan became the new Intercontinental Champion, to the delight of the fans but less so to former champion Barrett.  The match had good action and a good pace, and if any problems were to be seen it would be that some stars in the match were taken out of the picture too early.

Rollins-Orton Rumble

Next up on the card was a one-on-one match between Money in the Bank winner Seth Rollins and Randy Orton. The two went back and forth, lashing out at each other.  Rollins attempted to get revenge on Orton for betraying both his trust and the trust of the power faction in WWE currently, The Authority.  Randy just wanted an excuse to attack Rollins.  The two exchanged many finishing moves, each time seeing the opponent break free of their pin attempt. 

Finally, the match ended in spectacular style when Seth set Randy up for his signature Curb Stop finisher again and ran towards him.  Then, in what might have been the second greatest moment of the night, Randy got up and hefted a surprised Rollins into the air and caught him in the air with his finishing move that the announcers have now called a “Wrestlemania RKO.”  Rollins couldn’t escape this time and Randy got the victory for the match.  This match was amazing from start to finish.  The tension was there via a good story, the two went at each other and put on a good match, and Randy Orton ended it in an amazing fashion.

Triple H Takes on Sting

The third match was a pinfall and submission only match between the chief operating officer and leader of The Authority, Triple H, and the last remaining warrior of former competing brand WCW, Sting.  The announcers oddly decided to neglect mentioning Sting’s many title reigns or accolades to focus instead on how he was the last remnant of WCW that was never defeated by WWE and how this is the first time he has ever stepped in a WWE ring. 

Triple H got a good crowd reaction during his entrance while helping promote the new Terminator movie, “Terminator: Genisys,” as he wore a silver skull mask with a red targeting reticle and carried smaller silver skulls in his hands.  The match was a standard offering, made better by the appearances of team stables from both WCW and WWE. 

Sting started off strong and got Triple H in his signature Scorpion Death Lock midway through the match.  Sting’s luck faded however as he was pushed away from his opponent by the WWE stable of D-Generation X, Triple H’s former stable and teammates.  Sting wouldn’t be alone for long however, as the three original members of WCW, consisting of Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash, came down to the ring and evened up the numbers.  Sting managed to get in a few good hits on Triple H with his signature bat, but Triple H ultimately won and the match ended as Sting and Triple H shook hands with each other.

WWE Hall of Fall Class of 2015

After a relatively lackluster Divas match that saw AJ Lee and Paige defeat the Bella Twins Nikki and Brie, the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015 was introduced.  Inductees included the tag team of The Bushwhackers, Larry Zbysko, Alundra Blaze, Tatsumi Fujinami, Rikishi, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Nash, the deceased “Macho Man’ Randy Savage, and a deceased 8 year old fan named Connor “The Crusher” Michalek.  Randy Savage was represented by his brother “Leaping” Lanny Poffo, and Connor was represented by his father. 

This event led into the next match of the night, John Cena against Rusev for the United States Championship.  The match went in Rusev’s favor until Cena pulled of a surprise Stone Cold Stunner and Rusev charged him and missed, hitting his manager Lana instead.  This temporarily stunned Rusev, allowing Cena to hit his signature Attitude Adjustment finisher and pin Rusev for the belt.

After a small segment between The Authority leaders Triple H and his wife Stephanie McMahon and The Rock accompanied by UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey teased a possible future team up match, a match between Bray Wyatt and a newly returning Undertaker began.  Both men moved slowly during the match, Undertaker due to age and Wyatt due to a legitimate ankle injury. 

Undertaker used many old moves such as Old School, Snake Eyes, and The Big Boot.  Both men kicked out of finishers at least once, Undertaker escaping Wyatt’s pin attempt after a Sister Abigail, and Wyatt escaping a pin attempt after Undertaker’s famous Tombstone Piledriver.  Wyatt taunted a prone Undertaker with his signature Spider Walk, but crumbled when Undertaker responded doing his “zombie” sit up and just glared at him.  Wyatt attempted to end it with another Sister Abigail, but Undertaker managed to reverse it and end his first match since Wrestlemania 30 last year in victory with a second Tombstone Piledriver.  This was another contender for moment of the night because both men gave it everything they could, and because Undertaker’s return was amazing.

The Main Event: Lesner vs. Reigns Crashed by Rollins

The last match was the main event,  the World Heavyweight Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns.  Lesnar went in as champion and, after an initial attack from Reigns bloodied him, proceeded to dominate the match with his finisher, the F-5, and multiple German suplexes. It was this match where Lesnar coined the now infamous phrase, “Welcome to Suplex City.”  As Reigns continued to take punishment and continue on, getting in hits here and there against Lesnar, Seth Rollins rushed in and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract as Lesnar lay recovering outside the ring.  With no Dean Ambrose to stop him, Rollins managed to get his contract to the referee and pinned a tired out Reigns for the title.

In the end, Wrestlemania 31 was a huge success for WWE.  They made up for some of the terrible choices they made during the Royal Rumble.  Reigns failing to get the title only for Seth to get it is a questionable choice, but might make for interesting storylines and feuds since he has so many enemies.  The Divas match was an okay offering but nothing too special, especially considering one of the contestants, AJ Lee, retired shortly after the event.  The Intercontinental match was fun, if short.  It pleased many that Daniel Bryan won the Ladder Match.  The event broke previous Wrestlemania records and succeeded on a large scale.

For more information:
www.sbnation.com/wrestling/2015/3/29/8309055/wrestlemania-2015-results-live-coverage-card-wwe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_31


Alex Henning is a junior at St. Thomas Aquinas College, with a major in Creative Writing and a minor in Religious Studies.  “Really, the myths and background legends are the most interesting thing about religion for me; they can be very eye opening, if you look at it the right way.”  Alex hopes to secure a job with game company Netherrealm Studios in the future.

#OriginalityChallenge

By Nicolette Danzy

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who’s insta pic is the best of them all? As the years continue to go by, new social media apps are being invented every day. But with the increase of social media comes the increase of image shaping. It’s 2015, and people still care more about which Instagram picture looks better or how “turnt” their Snapchat story makes them look, compared to what they look like on a day to day basis, or if they are actually enjoying themselves. We are the generation of “what looks better to you?” versus “what makes me different from the rest?”

It’s almost safe to say we have forgotten who we really are. Image is a top priority of many people these days. With social media outlets such as Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr, and now Snapchat, the goal of many young people is to simply be noticed and be labeled “cool.” You can be “insta famous” based on how many likes you get from people by simply posting pictures of yourself from a good angle. Many of these “insta famous” people put an excess focus on what they look like. Whether it be the way they contoured their face in makeup or the outfits they wear, the goal at the end of the day is to get as many likes and new followers as possible.

Yes, this could be used as a good platform to set off a career, I mean look at Kylie Jenner, she doesn’t go to school or have a job besides being the little sister (an almost spitting image) of social media selfie expert, Kim Kardashian, and still has made a following of 21.6 million on Instagram. But for us less fortunate folk that have older sisters that are struggling grad students, with only a following of 3 including me and the two cats, we look at this as easy, quick money for simply doing, well, nothing. 

So what do we do, we copy. Yes we are the carbon copies of normal people who we sensationalize through social media based on how they look and dress. We see them and how famous they got off of it, so we try the same thing. If you don’t believe it, just look up the hashtag #KylieJennerChallenge and you will see preteens with swollen lips trying to look like the 17-year-old social media mogul. But even she had to get her ideas from someone, such as Heather Sanders, owner of boutique, SoSorella.

Down to the makeup and pose, we find someone who we believe has the perfect style and we try it for ourselves. We shape our images to ones we think look better and will make us more popular. This isn’t only seen on Instagram but also on other social media blogging platforms such as Tumblr.

With a variety of images to copy from, as you use Tumblr over the years you start to notice more and more how much everyone is beginning to look alike. What started out as great platform to start a career in writing or photography, or simply a way to self-express, Tumblr has seemed to do a backwards spiral and create an army of clones, instead of helping generate the idea of individuality. As a user going on now five years, it is safe to say that I know of the many categories that “Tumblr people” fit in just by seeing a few pictures that they reblog.

There are the “stoner druggy kids” with dyed hair who reblog pictures of illegal substances, and take dark dingy pictures in creepy basements that praise Lil B. The “90’s nostalgia kids,” who filter their pictures to make it look like an old VHS video. The “hippy kids” who reblog VSCO filtered pictures of themselves in crochet tops on a beach, in god only knows where. The “extreme girly girls” with pink backgrounds and pictures of couples and old love quotes. The “street model wannabes” who take pictures in random spots of SoHo in expensive name brand clothes, most commonly BAPE and Stussy.

And then there are the kids who reblog pictures of cats, coffee, and pizza, which seems to be all of Tumblr’s favorite food. While there are many different groups, they are groups of a bunch of kids who seemingly are all exactly alike, in clothing, music, and activities. So sorry, if you’re reading this list and I just described you down to the T, but hey maybe you needed the revelation that you could be part of the cliché. There is a big difference in following the trend of a group and being an individual who just prefers people of similar interest.

Even though I see the army of clones on my dashboard every day, I still believe the idea of individuality is something a lot of people care about. They just don’t know how to fully execute it, hence why they take to social media to find inspiration but that quickly turns into copying. It’s all a part of finding yourself. Which can be hard these days when even some careers come with image requirements.

The myth goes, people that want to work in certain industries are more likely to get noticed if they dress like their job. For example, a person who would want to be a sports journalist is most likely going to walk around in some type of active gear and maybe spice it up with a high fashion piece. Like the common outfit of running spandex with a pair of Nike Roshe’s shoes, and a leather jacket to make it cool. Or an Under Armor top with joggers and a pair of Jordans, matched with Ray Ban sunglasses, for the high fashion athletic aesthetic. But running shoes are definitely the requirement, so they say.

Anyway, there is technically no rule saying you have to dress a certain way for people to take you seriously about what you want to do in life. It is just the common idea in our generation of, if your image doesn’t fit, neither do you.

We thrive on the feeling of knowing people care about what we do and what we look like, and that isn’t a problem. I was once guilty of that too. But it has now come down to enhancing bodies, wearing hair a certain way, buying clothes that are just like someone else’s or a celebrity’s, even slicing our lips open from sucking on bottles to get that Angelina pout, just so we can get a lot of views and followers. We start to lose the idea of who we really are.

We all want to be different, but try so hard we end up being the same. If there are too many followers, who will be the leader? So brace yourselves, because I am going to challenge you to something that may be harder than you thought. I dare you to try a new challenge, the #OrginalityChallenge.


Nicolette Danzy is a Communication Arts major and Journalism minor student at St. Thomas Aquinas College. She is working her way up to becoming a columnist and feature article writer, as well as a screenplay and script writer.

Facebook: The New Frontier

By Lyndsay Borko

According to Facebook's Q3 Earnings Report released in October 2014, 1.35 billion people log on to Facebook at least once a month. This is roughly equivalent to the population of China, and also about 1 seventh of the entire population of earth.

Especially in the United States, Facebook has become a popular site for picture posting, friend-making, and live updating. Upon its launch in 2004, the social networking site quickly surpassed its predecessor, MySpace, which has shifted from a social media site to a music marketing and promotion page.

Facebook is an excellent media outlet for many reasons. The primary reason is social networking. Facebook allows users to connect in various ways and makes it simple to keep in touch with people who would have otherwise been difficult to keep in constant contact with. Facebook offers many services, such as messaging, text posting, picture posting, and video posting. Additionally, a user can “share” someone else's post with their own friends, or click a button that signifies they “like” a  post.

However, I do not like Facebook solely for the “fun” of constantly being in contact with friends. I find one of its most convenient uses is the instantaneous updating of breaking news. I am constantly checking Facebook for updates, and it is my primary source of information for anything from road closings to gun fire.  Sometimes, this comes simply in the form of friends posting their own comments about a situation. Other times, it's a headline from a news outlet.

For example, on Facebook I clicked “like” on the pages for many radio stations and news stations, which means that updates from their pages show up in my news feed. I follow stations like Fox News, the Journal News, the New York Post, 100.7 WHUD, and News 12, amongst others.

The thing I find most useful about this kind of distribution of information is that I can access any article for free. Many news websites, such as the Journal News, only allow a reader to view a certain number of articles before they have to purchase a subscription. When accessing news articles through their respective websites, this limit applies. When I click into an article, it says, “You have reached your limit for this month. Please subscribe to enjoy more articles.”

When I click into the same article through the Facebook link they provided, I am able to circumvent this “limit,” and read any article I want without having to pay. In this way, I am able to stay informed more easily than if I had to purchase a paper every day, or subscribe to access their online archive. My mom is constantly complaining about her loss of access to local news, whereas I never have that problem.

Overall, Facebook is a great tool in today's modern society. It allows people to stay connected and easily distribute information in real time. It is a platform where people can express themselves, share their ideas and beliefs, and share things of importance to them. It has greatly changed the way information is disseminated and has forever altered the way humans interact with one another. I'm sure Facebook will continue to flourish as long as the digital age remains in control.  


Lyndsay Borko is a sophomore at St. Thomas Aquinas College, pursing a degree in Communications and minoring in Business and Performing Arts. 

Instagram: Popular Picture Posts, Booming Business

By Jessica Mizzi

Instagram is a type of social media that has become very popular in the lives of many people in today’s society.  As a picture-sharing network, Instagram allows users to instantly upload a picture for their followers to see.  This allows for easy communication and interaction between users, and since 2010, the company has grown tremendously.

Instagram happens to be my favorite social media because I feel that the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true, and Instagram allows users to do exactly that: express themselves through the pictures that they post.

The layout of the screen is very simple to understand and the app is easy to use.  The five icons on the bottom of the screen allow for fast navigation from the home screen/news feed to the explore tab, notifications, and the user’s profile.  I personally use Instagram to share my music with others, as well as different aspects of my personal life.  With the addition of video uploading and direct messaging, Instagram is an even better way to stay connected.

Instagram was a nearly immediate success.  Just two months after it launched in October of 2010, Instagram had already obtained around one million registered users, and it has continued growing dramatically ever since.  By adding new features regularly, such as Direct Messaging and video uploading capabilities, Instagram has surely kept up with competition from other social media, and has become a special thing that many people enjoy.

Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in October 2010.  The development of Instagram began in San Francisco, when Systrom and Krieger made the decision to focus their company, Burbn, on mobile photography.  The name “Instagram” was a combination of the words “instant camera” and “telegram,” because not only could pictures be uploaded in a matter of seconds, but descriptions of the picture as well, sending a message to the public.

In January of the next year, Instagram created “hashtags,” an innovative way to make it easier for users to find each other, and create trends.  By tagging specific and relevant information in a picture upload, other “like-minded users” are able to discover one another.  By August 2011, it was reported that there already were 150 million picture uploads to this thriving social media.

Several other new features were introduced in September 2011, when version 2.0 of the app was released in the App Store.  These features included new and live filters, instant tilt–shift, high resolution photographs, optional borders, one click rotation, and an updated icon.  Filters on uploaded pictures has become a trademark of Instagram, with many to choose from.  By September 26, 2011, Instagram had ten million users, and in December, it was rated the number one app for iPhone users.

On April 3, 2012, Instagram was released for Android phones, which greatly increased the use of the app because in only one day, Instagram for Android was downloaded more than one million times.  The value of Instagram as a company grew from $25 million to $500 million by opening up the market to non-iPhone users.  Instagram was also achieving extremely high numbers of ratings on Google Play, being the fifth ever app to reach one million ratings.  By July 26, 2012, Instagram had grown dramatically, reaching a total of eighty million users.

As of April 2013, it was rated nearly 4 million times.  In the same month of April, Instagram was bought by Facebook for 1 billion dollars, and the focus became to build and grow the business independently.

On December 12, 2013, Instagram added Direct, a feature that allows users to send photos to specific people directly from the app, with messages attached to them. Instagram's primary intention with the Direct feature is to compete against messaging services, including Snapchat.

Instagram is constantly updating, and today it has 150 million active users--a number that is always growing. Sixteen billion photos have been shared thus far, and on average, there are 1.2 billion likes being given per day, along with 55 million photos being uploaded.  Instagram has definitely come a long way since it’s beginning, and without a doubt, will continue to grow.


Jessica Mizzi is a 20 year old sophomore at St. Thomas Aquinas College majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Journalism.  “I am involved in many clubs on campus, including Alpha Phi Omega, STAC Singers, House Band, Spartan Volunteers, Literary Journal, and WSTK Radio Station.  My hobbies include music performance, whether it be singing or playing saxophone, writing creative nonfiction, reading, and drinking coffee.”  

Sources:
Geoff. "The Complete History of Instagram." WeRSM We Are Social Media. N.p., 03 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
"Instagram." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

Thailand's Festival of Lights

By Ashley Liporace

The Loi Krathong festival lights up the night and water ways each year with beautiful lanterns. It has been a tradition for thousands of years in Thailand, a celebration of the end of the rainy season.  The Loi Krathong or Yee Peng  festival of lights takes place every year during the full moon on the twelfth month in the Thai Lunar Calendar. Parades, beauty contests, food, fireworks, and, of course, lanterns are all part of the festival that takes place from one to three days every November. 

Origin

The Loi Krathong festival was originally an ancient Brahmanic festival. People would pay respects to their gods, Phra I-Suan (Shiva), Phra Narai (Vishnu) and Phra Phrom (Brahma).  Lanterns made out of candles and paper were displayed in the homes of royalty,  the wealthy class, or high ranking officials. About 150 years ago, King Mongkut or Rama IV of Thailand, declared the festival be adopted as a Buddhist ceremony in honor of the Buddha.  Since then, many different types of lanterns have been created for different purposes with different meanings behind them. 

Festive Lanterns

In northern Thailand, lanterns are known as Khom.  Most lanterns are made from paper with a bamboo cylinder inside to protect it from the heat of the candle. There are four different types of lanterns. The first type, called Khom Theua or carrying lantern, are brought to the parade and from there carried to the temples for decoration.  Another type is the Khom Kwaen or hanging lantern, which is offered to the Buddha. The hanging lantern comes in four different shapes; star, alms bowl, basket, and wheel.  The third type of lantern is placed inside the temple gates; it is circular in shape normally featuring the twelve signs of the horoscope. At the temple, prayers are offered mostly that one’s wishes and hopes for the future will be fulfilled. Finally, there is the Khom Loi, the lantern that floats up into the sky. The Khom Loi is a cylinder of paper braced with wire circles. At the bottom, there is a tray that has cotton soaked in kerosene. Once lit, it is released into the air.

The Khom Loi is one of a few lanterns that have specific meaning.  It is believed that as you launch the Khom Loi into the sky you are sending your bad luck and misfortune away to the Buddha. If it catches on fire before it disappears into the night then it is a plus. Many people attach their address to these lanterns so that if someone finds it and returns them to the owner, they will get a reward. They do this to share the good fortune. In the northern city Chiang Mai, thousands of these balloon lanterns are released into the air every festival year.

In the water, Krathong or floating lights are release down river to honor the water goddess Phra Mae Kong Ka. Just like the Khom Loi, the Krathong are a symbol for letting go of bad luck and misfortune. Traditionally, the floating lights are about 20 centimeters and are made from both the leaves and wood of a banana tree. They are decorated with flowers, a candle and joss sticks (incense). Some people will leave coins, locks of hair or even nail clippings in the lanterns. According to legend, in the fourteenth century one of the Kings of Sukothai had a Brahmin priest. The priest had a daughter; she made the first Krathong out of banana leaves, shaped it like a lotus flower, added a candle and incense sticks. She then presented it to the king. He lit the candle and incense stick and released it into the river to float away.  Ever since then Krathong have been floating down rivers each November.

Chiang Mai

In the ancient city of Chiang Mai, releasing Krathongs did not become popular until 1909, when Queen Dara Rasami, the wife of King Rama V, released a Krathong on the Ping River. Since then, more than one thousand Krathongs are released during the Loi Krathong festival in Chiang Mai. Past and present governors have made Yee Peng festival even more popular to promote tourism in Chiang Mai. The festival has become more than spiritual with the addition of a beauty contest and the Kratong Parade to attract more tourists. On Loi Krathong Yai, the night of the full moon, Khom Loi and Krathongs are released into the air and water. Thousands of lights light up the sky and river, mirroring each other. 

Whether one is a native of Thailand or a visitor from another country, everyone takes part in this breath-taking tradition. 


Ashley Liporace is a junior at St. Thomas Aquinas College, majoring in Graphic Design with a minor in Marketing. She loves to study different cultures and would like to visit Thailand during the Yee Peng festival.

For more information:
chiangmaibest.com/loy-krathong-yee-peng/
www.thaizer.com/festivals/yi-peng-lantern-festival-chiang-mai/
www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/travel/thailand-loi-krathong-festival/

Alive! In Concert: Singing and Dancing Along

By Karina Maldonado

I am fortunate enough to say that I have been to many concerts/live events throughout my lifetime.  All of them were memorable experiences but there was one concert that topped the rest.  The concert I am proud to say I experienced was the ‘’On the Run’’ tour with Beyonce and Jay-Z. 

The tour happened last summer around July.  It was my 21st birthday and my mom was gracious enough to give me tickets for my godsister and me.  The concert was at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey. Everyone who knows me knows I am a huge fan of Beyonce.  It was my first time seeing her live and I definitely was not disappointed.  When I went to the stadium, I was surprised to find out that we had exclusive seating at the venue.  We had access to unlimited food and beverages at the concert.  I knew before the concert even started that this was going to be a memorable experience.

At the venue, the performance did not start until and hour and a half after I have arrived.  Even though I did not enjoy waiting for so long, I knew the performers were going to make up for it.  Finally the show had started.  Beyonce and Jay-Z both came out singing one of their old hit singles called ‘’ Bonnie and Clyde.” I know all of their songs so immediately I started singing along. 

Beyonce and Jay took turns singing their own hit singles.  Jay performed all of his best-known rap songs and Beyonce graced the stage with her dance moves and pop ballads.  They both had the same amount of stage time, giving the audience the best of both worlds.  Throughout the whole performance, I was singing and dancing.  At that moment, I’ve never felt so alive.  Whenever I go to a concert, I have the opportunity to forget all my problems and worries and focus on that moment.  It is simply an incredible feeling.

At the end of the show both Jay and Beyonce were on stage and they asked the audience to take out the lights on our cell phones and put it up in the air.  To see all the lights illuminate the night was simply a spectacle. I was surrounded by thousands of strangers but I felt connected with each one of them.  It is difficult to describe.  I do not know any of these strangers but we all have one thing in common.  We all love Beyonce and Jay’s music.  It is funny how much music can bring thousands of people together.
   
When the final note was sung, I was sad the show finished.  The show took approximately two-and-a-half hours but it felt like 30 minutes.  Time does go by faster when having a good time.  Live performances are a great way to escape reality.  I will highly suggest anyone to spend a little bit of money to see your favorite performer live.  You will definitely not be disappointed.

Sports and the Media

By Samantha Burden

Sports are more than just games, teams, players and coaches. Sports, all sports, provide outlets to people all over the world; they remind us that anything can happen with hard work, perseverance and determination. Sports give us something to cheer for, follow, and believe in. Some people care more about “their” beloved teams than anything else; they buy thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia, tickets, and television programs to ensure that they will never miss a game.

And so, due to this clear importance of sports in our culture, it is imperative that there is a medium that allows us to be connected with them at all times. The media has been such medium for people in modern society.

Media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat along with many others cover sporting events and news. This allows us to keep up with our favorite teams and players easily. With our lives getting busier and busier, social media has allowed us to keep up with sports without sitting in front of the television. Live updates of games on social media keep us connected to the game; and, additionally, some accounts on Twitter, for example, such as ESPN, will upload short highlight clips for their followers to watch so that they can view some of the game. This is similar to features on Instagram and Snapchat.

The NCAA men and women’s basketball final games provide examples of how the media covers sports. Pre-game coverage and interviews were not only shown on television, but they were also shown on social media. Sports analysts and broadcasters gave fans an insight of the festivities by tweeting live during them.

Some players such as Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson of the UConn Huskies, took to Instagram moments before the championship game, posting a quote from legendary coach John Wooden, “Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.” This allowed us to get into the minds of players right before they played! Their followers knew exactly what she was feeling and thinking before the game.

This insight that we now get as fans was never possible before social media; interviews were the closest thing we had and now we are able to dive even deeper. Athletes and the fans are connected more tightly than ever before and we have the media to thank for that.


Samantha Burden is a sophomore at St. Thomas Aquinas College, majoring in Marketing and minoring in Communication Arts. She is also a member and co-captain of the women’s basketball team.

Music Copyright Concerns Force Change in Color Guard Championship Videos

By Erin Colgan

Winter Guard International Sport of the Arts Fan Network was a media subscription service that allowed users to see and hear rich digital media showing events across the span of the music education genre, including color guard, indoor drum line and percussion, and winds. Members paid an annual fee for the ability to watch videos of past and present color guard and indoor percussion regional and championship performances through the WGI circuit, as well as instructional videos for educators. 

On December 1, 2014 WGI released a statement that all subscriptions had expired effective immediately.  WGI claimed that the Fan Network was on “temporary hold while the system is undergoing some changes for the upcoming year.” Throughout the color guard and indoor percussion communities, it was widely rumored and believed that WGI could no longer offer the Fan Network due to copyright restrictions.  WGI has always had a “Restricted Music List,” which listed all music banned from performance use due to copyright laws, though competing units in both color guard and indoor percussion could pay a fine in order to obtain permission to use a song on the “Restricted Music List.” 

According to WGI, they are currently “reevaluating the use of ‘restricted music lists’ in the issuance of music licensing.”  The Fan Network has in past years allowed members and non-members the ability to stream a live webcast of WGI Championships in Dayton, Ohio for both color guard and percussion, but this year the live webcast was powered by Drum Corps International (DCI) so that fans could continue to cheer on and support their organization without having to make the trip to Dayton, Ohio in person. 

Here are examples of outstanding performances in Dayton earlier this month:

West Orange High School, New Jersey (Scholastic World Class) performed their show “Find Your Voice.”  The ladies team began their show hiding behind a wall of boxes stacked to create a backdrop as a projector plays a video describing the Civil Rights Movement.  As the video and soundtrack progresses, boxes are removed and used to create layering that several performers stand on while doing various rifle tosses and tricks.  Capturing the raw emotions of fighting for civil rights, the performers toss their equipment into the air and cover their mouths before catching, to show the struggles of not being heard. When most of the boxes have been removed the projector displays one last image, which reads “Silence is the residue of fear,” in which a brief silence occurs as the performance continues.

Shenendehowa High School, Clifton Park, NY (Scholastic Open Class) performed their show “Master of Suspense,” which paid homage to film director Alfred Hitchcock. A number of props were used, which included a director’s chair, shower curtain backdrops, and a piece of scaffolding.  The soundtrack came from a number of Hitchcock’s films, including "Psycho." An amazing rifle feature takes place as various members hang and dangle from the scaffolding.  After a silence interrupted only by bird noises, the flag ensemble enters, which had the audience on their feet in an instant.

As of March 30, WGI announced that WGI Zone will provide “a new streaming digital destination designed to captivate and connect viewers with performances they love from past WGI Color Guard and Percussion World Championships. Winds Championship performances will be added to the platform after their inaugural event in April. ” Unlike the Fan Network, WGI Zone is free, and also reaches to broader audiences.  WGI Zone is available and compatible to watch on smartphones, tablets, and computers, as well as being integrated into the WGI App for iOS and Android.

“Since watching historical video is such a huge part of the indoor marching arts education, history, and culture, we are thrilled to offer this free service.While there is a significant financial investment required by WGI to provide WGI Zone to our customers, this is another step in our quest for full copyright compliance,” Bart Woodley, WGI Director of Organizations, said in a statement on WGI.org.

WGI Zone works in collaboration with YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing website.

For more information:
wgi.org/news/04222015-The-New-Way-to-Watch.html


Erin Colgan is a sophomore Graphic Design student at St. Thomas Aquinas College. Color Guard has been a part of her life for about eight years and she is currently active with the instructional staff at Pegasus Too Winter Guard.

When Will It End? Trains, Cars and Collisions

In light of yet another train crash involving a car on the tracks, travelers on New Jersey Transit and Metro-North are left wondering what can be done to prevent these crashes.

By Lyndsay Borko

Luckily, no one was killed. This time.

On Sunday April 19 at about 1 a.m., a car was hit by a north-bound New Jersey Transit train at Midland Avenue in Elmwood Park, N.J. The driver and her husband survived with what can be considered relatively minor injuries: 55-year-old Randa Sayegh hurt her neck and back, but was otherwise unscathed. Her husband, 58-year-old Bassam Sayegh, was thrown 30 feet and knocked unconscious, and needed 50 stitches in his leg, according to US Today.

This is just another in a string of train collisions with vehicles this year in the lower Hudson Valley. In January, a woman narrowly escaped when a south-bound train on the Port Jervis line in Tuxedo, NY struck the front of her car. In March, a Westchester woman avoided tragedy by breaking through the gates that came down on the back of her car at the crossing of the Harlem line and Roaring Brook Road. In February, six people were killed in a collision at Commerce Road in Valhalla, when a Harlem Line train struck Ellen Brody's SUV, which was trapped on the tracks. 

A Long History of Incidents

These 2015 incidents aren't the first to happen on Metro North and New Jersey Transit operated tracks. These train lines have a long history of accidents.

The Metro-North accident that still haunts commuters the most is the derailment near the Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx. Until the February 3 collision, this was the deadliest wreck to take place in Metro-North history, killing 4 people and injuring numerous others. It is believed that speed was a factor in the December 2013 derailment, in which the train sped off the tracks and landed in the brush on the banks of the Hudson River.

In 2008, two cars became trapped on the tracks in Bedford Hills two months apart. Neither of the collisions caused injuries, with the drivers abandoning their vehicles before being hit. Two people were killed in a crash between a train and car in Redding, CT in 2012. Another incident in recent memory include the collision of two trains near the Bridgeport-Fairfield border in Connecticut, where an eastbound train derailed and hit a westbound train, injuring 70 people. It is also important to note a 1984 collision eerily similar to the February 3 disaster in Valhalla. Also at the Commerce Street crossing, a man died when his Chevy was hit by an oncoming passenger train. It is estimated that 1-5 accidents occur every year on Metro-North since 2004,

New Jersey Transit, which operates west of the Hudson, also has a lengthy track record. In February 1996, two trains collided at a junction outside of Hoboken when one train operator did not heed a red light. Both engineers and a passenger were killed, among 162 injured. At the time, it was the worst commuter train accident in the New York Metro area since 1958.

In November 2013, a police vehicle was struck as it sat near the tracks in Bridgewater, N.J on the Raritan Valley Line. The police officer was investigating a trespasser on the tracks when the empty passenger train struck the left side of his car. He was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. As recently as January of 2015, a three year old child was killed and seven people injured when a train on the Riverside line barreled into a car trying to beat the gate. Specifically at the Midland Avenue crossing, ranked by the Federal Railroad Administration as the riskiest railroad crossing in the metropolitan New York area, there have been 30 accidents, including two deaths and six injuries since 1976.

What Can Be Done?

These collisions span decades of Metro-North and New Jersey Transit's history. With crashes seeming to become more and more common, commuters are lobbying for change. Some people argue for better warning signals, such as brighter lights and louder sirens, to prevent drivers from crossing into the path of oncoming trains. Others suggest the warning signs and crossing arms be moved farther away from the tracks, allowing ample room for cars to back up if they find themselves trapped between the arms.

At the Valhalla crossing where six people perished, upgrades had just recently been installed, including brighter lights and new traffic signal control devices. However, $128,000 were set aside in 2009 to install a third set of warning lights 100 feet back to give drivers more warning time. The money went back into the agency's general coffers last year for an unknown reason. When The Associated Press asked state Transportation Department spokesman Beau Duffy if these extra warning lights could have made a difference in the horrific crash, he replied, “There’s a lot of unknowns here. It’s way too early to be guessing about what could have or couldn’t have made a difference.” His questionable reply was received poorly by commuters.

In New Jersey, a similar outcry is taking place. People are asking why, in all these years, are train crashes still so common on the commuter rails. At the time of the 1996 crash, Union leader Donald Abbott, the representative for about 300 NJ Transit engineers, claimed that signals had been faulty on the line for up to a year before the crash, while a representative from NJ Transit said that “The engineer may have ignored the signal or didn't see it.”

NJ Transit has a reputation for deflecting blame from itself, most recently with  the April 19 collision in Elmwood Park. NJ Transit ticketed the couple who were hit, saying that the engineer saw the driver try to maneuver around the gates. Nancy Snyder, a spokeswoman for NJ Transit said “NJ Transit urges everyone to obey all grade crossing warning systems at and near the railroad grade crossing at all times and not to engage in dangerous behavior by trying to drive around downed grade crossing gates.”

The driver involved asserts that there is no truth to the rail company's version, and that they are trying to protect themselves from liability by accusing her of deliberately driving around the gates.

The most common idea to prevent future accidents is to take any intersection of cars and trains out of the equation. People are suggesting that tunnels or bridges be built so that trains and cars could never possibly come into contact with each other. This would cost train lines a large sum of money, but in the end it would prevent accidents and the accompanying lawsuits.

In Rockland, special four-quadrant gates are being installed on CSX lines to prevent crashes. Other suggestions include installing a train control system that could take over a train at critical moments. Some have pointed out that installing sensors that would indicate to an engineer if a car was on the track could greatly reduce accidents. Another idea is installing spike strips that pop up when a train is coming, which would prevent drivers from driving onto the tracks, but would allow trapped drivers to move their vehicles out of danger.

Will Metro-North and New Jersey Transit Finally Take Action?

With all the collisions that have taken place on these two train lines, it is clear that something must be done to prevent them in the future. With so many suggestions about what can be done to prevent these tragedies, it is up to the rail lines to decide what will be best. For the sake of commuters, let's hope that these improvements are made soon, before more innocent lives are lost to preventable disasters. 


Lyndsay Borko is a commuter and a sophomore at St. Thomas Aquinas College, pursing a degree in Communications and minoring in Business and Performing Arts.

Paula Scher: Eclectic Designer--from Record Covers to Swatch, Public Theater to Microsoft

By Christopher Silva

In 2012, Microsoft revealed to the public its new operating system, Windows 8. To go with their updated operating system they also showed a new logo that harkened back to their older logos appearing as actual windows. This logo gained a decent amount of attention from the public and for good reason: it was created by Paula Scher, industry veteran and the first woman principal at the design studio Pentagram.

"Paula Scher Poster" by Christopher Silva

Earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1970 from the Tyler School of Art in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, she began working for CBS Records and then for a competitor, Atlantic Records. Here she became the art director, designing her first album covers. One of her most famous covers was for the band Boston’s eponymous debut album.

She would end up leaving Atlantic Records to work on her own. During this period she developed a typographic solution based on Art deco and Russian constructivism, which incorporated outmoded typefaces into her work. However, she didn't copy the early constructivist style but used its vocabulary of form. In 1984 she co-founded Koppel & Scher with fellow graduate Terry Koppel. During this period, she created a poster that would become famous for the Swatch brand, based on the previous work by Swiss designer Herbert Matter.

In 1991, Koppel took the position of Creative Director at Esquire magazine and Scher began consulting with Pentagram Studios, eventually joining them and becoming the first woman principal.

Some of her most attention grabbing and interesting work was done in 1994 when she began working with the New York City-based Public Theater to create a new identity and promotional graphics system. Trying to appeal to a more diverse crowd and bring more public awareness and attendance to the theater, the style she created reflected street typography and graffiti-like juxtaposition. To this day, they still use the graphic style that she created with only slight alterations, as well as she’s still working closely with the theater to keep a cohesive and attention getting style.

In Scher’s own words “I was inspired by Rob Ray Kelly’s American Wood Types and the Victorian theater's poster when I created the cacophony of disparate wood typefaces, silhouetted photographs and bright flat colors.”

At age 66, her influence and work is still growing and being felt throughout the design industry. I have no doubt that her work will continue to be studied by students throughout the world. To give an example, only last semester I took a course called History of Graphic Design where we studied her.

My interest in her work goes beyond just viewing; as I work on pieces of my own, I am influenced by the principles that she used and the way she used hierarchy. After studying her accomplishments and her works, I created a poster based on her style that she used for the posters created for The Public Theater.

For more information:
www.aiga.org/medalist-paulascher/


Chistopher Silva is a junior at Saint Thomas Aquinas College, studying Graphic Design. "My interest in this field started in my second year of high school when I took a class on the subject. Ever since then, I have been studying the works of past designers to learn the techniques and hierarchy that they utilized to create effective designs."

Sports Media Spans the World

By Michael Dalton

Sports Media is a global powerhouse.  Since the beginning of sports, people have talked about sports events, which in essence was the beginning of sports media.  Sports media on a larger scale began with newspapers.  After sporting events, stories would be published informing the public of what had occurred.  From there, sports media began appearing on radios.  People often listened to sports live on the radio.  Even today, people still listen to live events, as well as sports radio talk shows. 

Television brought a whole new dimension of sports media.  People could now watch sporting events live.  Also sports networks and shows began to develop.  Networks such as ESPN provide sports media 24/7.    In the early 2000s, websites began to explode.   Now sports media can be found with one click onto the Internet.  Live up-to-the-minute news can be found there.  Also the newest form of sports media can be found through social media and smart phone applications.  Now sports fans have unlimited access to the world of sports right on their phones.  News can be broke in a variety of ways such as on twitter, espn.com, tv, etc. 

Sports media is found in every corner of the globe for almost every sport, and impacts sports fans’ everyday lives.  Sports media has evolved over the years to what it is today.  It has gradually provided more professions and opportunities for sports analysts, journalists, and other types of experts as well as the fans. Up to the minute stats for sports can even be accessed through various sites and applications.  This is utilized through the increasingly popular Fantasy sports, which has brought sports media to a whole new level.

Sports media will continue to evolve and expand as technological advancements are continued to be made.  Unfortunately for many athletes, any misstep is captured by some form of sports media.

I regularly watch a wide range of sports.  I constantly follow ESPN.COM, and watch the ESPN sports network any chance I get.  I also follow Irish sports media.  I monitor their sports network, RTE sports, as well as watch their sports news by streaming it online.  I also participate in the new up and coming form of sports media, Fantasy Sports. 

For the last three years, I have participated in Fantasy Football.  My friends and I created a 12 team league through the site Yahoo.com/fantasyfootball.  Yahoo allows us to draft our teams, monitor weekly match ups, and feature a playoff system.  This past year I won my first Fantasy Football Championship.  This is a big deal, in that many of my friends consider themselves very knowledgeable on fantasy football and because there was a fairly big winnings.  To enter our league it is $20 a person and winner takes all.  

Football stadiums around the nation are beginning to adapt their facilities to accommodate the increasingly popular fantasy football.  They provide fantasy numbers across their score boards, and some facilities even open up fantasy football areas for fans to check their teams.  Fantasy sports has opened the door to a new form of sports media.

Sports media will continue to adapt over time.  In its history, it has gone from word of mouth to newspapers and now to smart phone devices, and is available at the click of a button.  Sports media is one of the biggest forms of media in the world, and is constantly expanding.   ESPN, in particular, seems to be dominating the sports media world but other networks will continue to compete.  The future of sports media is bright.


Michael Dalton is a senior at St. Thomas Aquinas College, intending on graduating this May.  “I am a history major, with a minor in marketing.  After college, I intend to work full time as a Construction Estimator for Bluehill Construction, Inc.  I have a strong interest in sports, including both Irish and American sports.  I also enjoy writing about sports, and have written up reports on Irish sporting events in the past.”

Lights, Music, Action! Students Perform "Rent" on Campus Stage

By Emily Kopac

There are many different types of media but one popular type is live media, like sporting events, TV shows, speakers, and theater. Theater is a live event that our own school offers. This year our school musical was “Rent.” I attended the “Rent” dress rehearsal and being a fan of Broadway and of the show “Rent,” I was excited to see students put on this production.

“Rent” is a show that follows a group of people, some of whom are sick with AIDS. They are poor and can’t afford to pay their rent. “Rent” also shows many different types of people and relationships, having a transgender person, a gay couple, a lesbian couple and a straight couple. The story of “Rent” shows and talks about things that everyone can relate to and the audience can feel for the characters and the struggles they have to overcome. They are trying not to get evicted and the show follows the story of their life and the problems they have to overcome.

I did not know what to expect going into the show, having only seen the Broadway production. I wasn’t sure if the school had to change anything because it would be considered inappropriate or if they would be allowed to keep everything. I was also excited to see the staging and the costumes. Because I went to the dress rehearsal, I thought that the cast would not be their best because they were still practicing, but from start to end the whole cast did everything perfectly and they seemed like they were having a lot of fun while doing the show.

The students performing in the show all seemed like they really cared about what they were doing, and being in the audience you could see how much they all cared about what they were doing. The audience was also able to see how much fun they had during this production and you could see how close they all were; which I think is an important part of being in a show, you want the audience to really be able to see and feel that the actors are all friends and that they want to be there doing what they are doing. If actors acted like they didn’t want to be onstage performing, then the audience wouldn’t feel for their characters and in this production every single actor made it obvious that they wanted to be there, they were having fun, and they were proud of all their hard work.

Being a fan of musical theater and not so much a sports fan, I think it is great that our school puts on plays and musicals as an event that others can attend that isn’t a sporting event. This was the first show I attended at STAC and it didn’t disappoint. I enjoyed every second of this performance and I enjoyed seeing how much fun the students had putting on this production.
   

Emily Kopac is a communication arts student at St. Thomas Aquinas College with a goal of working at a television studio after graduation.

Summer Jam with Hot 97 in the Meadowlands

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Jasmin Robertson

Summer Jam with Hot 97

The hottest party every hip-hop fan talks about is about to take over the stage at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, on Sunday, June 7 at 6:30 p.m. That’s right, its time for Summer Jam with Hot 97 again! The hottest artists in hip-hop will take over two stages and help kick off the summer right. Enjoy performances from B.o.B, Joy Bada$$, DeJ Loaf, Travi$ Scott, and Teyana Taylor! This is only the beginning of what is going to be a “larger than life” show! Stay tuned to Hot 97 with Ebro in the morning to get the scoop on surprise performances.

Although the show is going to be the talk of the summer until the next big summer jam concert, there will be tons of things to do as well. There will be sneaker shining, video game truck, and plenty of tailgating. Some other activities include a chance to showcase your talent during karaoke and graffiti painting.

Presale tickets went on sale on March 19, and sales opened to the public on March 26. Tickets are selling fast. Join Ebro, Funk Flex, Nessa and the whole Hot 97 crew at the “official summer kickoff party” on June 7, 2015. End classes, and start the summer with what is going to be the most epic party of the season! Hurry now while tickets are still out for sale!

For more information and ticket sales: www.hot97.com/summerjam

Subway Series Resumes: Mets vs. Yankees on Friday

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Nick Lemoncelli

Yankees vs. Mets “Subway Series” Rivalry Resumes 

Lemoncelli's Lowdown:

This weekend, one of baseball’s classic rivalries continues. The New York Yankees will be hosting the New York Mets in this years’ first edition of the Subway Series. It is the battle of New York City and there is a never a dull moment between these two teams. There has been a lot of talk around this match up all year as to who is going to come out on top. The Yankees have been New York’s team since the beginning of the 1970’s when George Steinbrenner took over as manager and the World Series titles began pouring in. Ever since, the Mets have had to live in the shadows of their older brother and watch them celebrate. The Mets haven’t made the World Series since 2000 when they played the Yankees. As most New Yorkers know the Yankees took that series 4-1 and brought the title home to The Bronx for the 26th time.

Every year, this rivalry renews itself with one series at Yankee Stadium and one at Citi Field. This year, however, is a little bit different than previous years. Mets fans have had to watch their team live in the shadow of the big, bad Yankees for too long now. They are sick of listening to people criticize their team. So this year they have started the season with a bold statement. The Mets are in the midst of an eight-game winning streak right now and they look like they’re ready to compete in that harsh NL East (National League East), with teams like the Washington Nationals, who have what seems like it could be the most dominant starting pitching rotation in all of baseball. At the beginning of the year, the Nationals were given the highest odds of winning the World Series this year.

Although it is early in the season, the Mets have shown that they have come to play, and that they are going to play with a vengeance. They haven’t been able to make the playoffs since 2006, but they believe that this could be their year. One of the main reasons they are in the conversation for a playoff spot is because they also have a pretty solid pitching rotation. Of course that rotation wouldn’t be what it is had they not gotten Matt Harvey back. Matt Harvey, who hadn’t pitched in a year and a half (torn UCL in pitching arm), is finally back on the mound this season and is picking up right where he left off. He will pitch on the Saturday game against C.C. Sabathia in a must see pitching match up.

While the Mets have made themselves a better team, the Yankees on the other hand are one of the biggest question marks in all of baseball. The first five game of this season, the team had a combined batting average of under .200, the lowest to start a season since 1968. Since those first five games, though the Yankees offense seems to have a found a little spark, and that spark just missed a whole year of baseball. That’s right, Alex Rodriguez is the Yankee leader in all offensive categories. He has been a huge help to this team’s offense.

A-rod, coming off of a yearlong suspension, is taking the league by storm. Four home runs so far, and one of them is the longest homer in baseball so far this season (477 feet). With the AL East (American League East) so unpredictable this year, The Yankees are looking like they could have a shot at competing. It will all depend on a whether or not that pitching rotation will be able to stay healthy. Masahiro Tanaka is the biggest question mark of any pitcher in the league. Last year before the all-star break, his possible Cy Young and Rookie of the Year season was cut short due to injury. An MRI showed a partially torn UCL in his pitching arm. It sidelined him for the rest of the season and he did not receive any surgery on it. He is back on the mound this year and he says there is no pain in his arm, but everybody knows it is just a matter of time until his arm gives out completely.

If the Yankees want to compete for a playoff spot, the pitching staff must stay healthy and offense needs to keep up what they have done the last few games. The Mets, on the other hand, are looking like they could give everybody in the NL East a run for their money. We will see how these two teams stack up against each other for real on Friday, April, 24 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. One team trying to cling to their past glory and the other trying to take it from them. It is going to be a well-fought series, and either way, about half of New York will be going home happy.

Excitement, Drama, Treasures: A Bridal Shower

By Kristin McGrath

Getting married is such an exciting time in a girl’s life. These days, there’s much more than just a wedding that goes on. Now there is an engagement party, bridal shower, bachelorette party, followed by the wedding. This past weekend I attended my cousin's bridal shower, about 40 women all waiting in a restaurant for her to walk in.

We were all sitting around talking, drinking wine and sangria, enjoying each others' company. My cousin's fiance told her they were going to his friend’s birthday party, to throw her off. When she walked in she was so surprised: white balloons filled the room, the pile of presents, the color themes of silver and pink. Her sister brought a dress for her to change into and beautiful minlo heels.

As we all enjoyed lunch, we sat around her as she opened her gifts. She got tons of stuff for her new life as a wife. A china set, knife set, coffee pot, pots and pans, towels, everything you could imagine for your home. Following this was dessert. A cake with a picture of her and her fiance on it! The waiters gave us all a piece, than out came a plate filled with Italian desserts Yumm! Cannolis, sfogliatelle, cream puffs, you name it.

The day was so much fun, this time in her life is special. Her father passed away when she was just a little girl, and the fact that he won’t be able to walk her down the aisle is heartbreaking. Her big day, coming up in June, is going to be bittersweet for her.  The fact that she has a loving family to support her and bring her happiness and joy is a beautiful thing.

Gaelic Football Season Kicks Off

By Michael Dalton

Sunday, April 7, at Gaelic Park in the Bronx, the start of the 2015 Gaelic Football season kicked off with the first round featuring two contenders, Westmeath versus Longford, both teams expecting to win the championship. 

Westmeath was coming off a long winter after losing in heart-breaking fashion in the 2014 Final.  Longford, coming into the match, was fully expecting to start off the season with a convincing win.  The ball was thrown in at approximately 1:30 p.m. in front of a rather larger crowd than expected considering the Easter holidays. 

The first half of the game was closely played, with hard hitting, nice ball movement, and some great scores.  Both back lines (defenders) were put under intense pressure throughout the first half.  By the end of the first half of the game, Westmeath was holding onto a narrow lead. 

Team manager and player Vinny gave a great half time speech, inspiring the players to relax and have fun.  Westmeath came out of the gates in the second half on fire, scoring several points and adding to their goal total.  With about 8 minutes left in the game, Westmeath expanded their lead to 9 points, essentially pulling away from the hard fighting Longford side. Westmeath began playing possession football in the last few minutes, letting the clock run out.  Westmeath took the convincing win of 2-18 to 1-11 (winning by 10 points). 

Westmeath star Keith Scaly played his last match for Westmeath, as he is taking a year off to travel the world.  Westmeath won convincingly despite have no substitutes on the bench and throwing the team roster together minutes before the throw in.  Westmeath players are looking forward to their next contest against Donegal, as well as the rest of the season.  It will be a long, hard fought season, but Westmeath hopes to get back to the Final and get a better result.  As a member of the Westmeath club, I feel this will be done!

Elaine Borko, Homemaker, Yankees Fan

By Lyndsay Borko

Elaine Borko, 81, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on November 13, 2009 after a brief battle with lymphoma. At the time of her passing, she was the matriarch of the Borko clan, being called “Auntie” by many relatives, as well as going by “Mom” and “Nana.”

She was born in Brooklyn to Frances and Morris Bubly, and had an older sister named Shirley, whom she was very close to. As a child and teenager, she moved around frequently until settling in Emerson, NJ with her husband Leonard, whom she married in November 1948, and was her rock and the light of her life. The pair was blessed with a daughter, Sheila, in March 1952. She lived as a homemaker, spending time being a wife and a mother, which she loved to do, as well as caring for her sister’s children, who lived close by. When she was not spending time with her family, she could be found at the beauty parlor, playing Mahjong, crocheting blankets, or watching her favorite baseball team, the New York Yankees.

She is predeceased by her husband, who passed away in 1985. Upon his death, she relocated from Emerson, NJ to Pomona, NY to be closer to her daughter. For the last six years of her life, she lived with her daughter and granddaughter, both whom she adored. Elaine was always a good sport, and attended any and all events her daughter and granddaughter invited her to.

From wearing pink hot pants, to jumping on stage to sing karaoke, to dancing while taking out the garbage, you never knew what to expect from her. She is survived by her devoted daughter Sheila, and her beloved granddaughter Lyndsay. She will be missed by all who knew her. In lieu of flowers, her family asks that donations be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Connecticut/Westchester Hudson Valley Region.

A Memorable Side Trip

By Nick Lemoncelli

I interviewed my dad to find out one of his memorable stories. He told me about a recent memory of when he and I went to the Denver Broncos playoff game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. We were already going on a ski trip two hours away from the stadium. A week before the ski trip the NFL Playoffs had begun. My friend, who was also going on the trip, and I had seen that the Broncos would be playing the Colts while we were there.

I started looking for relatively cheap tickets all over the Internet. Finally, after about two days of searching every ticket website I could find, I found the cheapest tickets that I could. Once my friend told me he still wanted to go I bought three tickets.

While interviewing my dad, he said he still can barely believe that I bought those tickets. When he found out, it took quite a while to convince him it was true. When we got to the stadium there was quite a bit of walking we had to do. We had to park half a mile away and we were in the upper-deck. We sat in the true definition of nose-bleed seats, sitting in the upper-deck at the highest altitude stadium in the country. After about a half hour of walking we finally made it to our seats.

Even though the seats were so high up, the view was very good. When the national anthem was sung and the fighter jet flew over the stadium, we were the closest people to the jet. The Broncos ended up losing a heart breaking loss. They played very poorly offensively and they didn’t play well enough to survive another week.

The reason my dad thinks this is one of his most memorable moments is because he couldn’t believe that I bought those tickets. We had been looking for something we could’ve done on a day off, and that solved our problem. It was a great experience as well to see one of the best NFL stadiums in the league.

Goalie Cam Talbot Takes Charge in Rangers vs. Islanders Clash

By Alex Romanelli

It was a cold and rainy Tuesday night, the air was thick, and the snow was melting, and in Uniondale, New York, two of the National Hockey League’s top two teams began to face off in what was probably the most important game of the year for either team.

The New York Rangers and New York Islanders have been rivals since the Islanders were founded in 1972, and since then both teams have gone through success streaks, the Islanders in the 1980’s, and the Rangers in the early 90’s and throughout the last 10 years. But rarely have they ever been in a battle with each other for a top playoff spot, until this year. The Islanders came into the March 10 game just a few points ahead of the Rangers for first place in the National Hockey League’s Metropolitan Division.

There was no denying that the Islanders had control of the season series, with the Islanders winning the first three but the Rangers winning the previous match up. But this Ranger team was different, both are teams to beat in the NHL, and Tuesday’s clash was one for the history books. A number of story lines had taken place before the game. The Islanders got one of their top forwards, Kyle Okposo, back into action after he had missed 20+ games with an eye injury. While the Rangers, who have arguably the best goaltender in the world, who was not able to play due to a sprained blood vessel in his neck, found all the pressure to win this game was on their surprisingly consistent back up goaltender, Cam Talbot.

Both Fan bases knew how important this game was for bragging rights and positioning in the standings. With the crowd split at 50/50 between Ranger fans and Islander fans, the puck dropped and these two bitter rivals clashed for what might be the last time at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, as the Islanders are scheduled to move to a new home, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, next year. The Rangers had been sloppy in the first periods against the Islanders this year. And at the 9:45 mark of the first period, the Islanders struck first, forward Anders Lee scored and gave the Islanders the first goal. With the crowd behind them they continued to surge, but thanks to Talbot, it remained 1-0 after the first period.

There was still 40 minutes left in this game, plenty of time for the Rangers to make a comeback; they controlled the play in the second period, a complete turnaround from their first period, and then with about 8:25 left in the second, Rangers forward Kevin Hayes used his strength to go to the Islander net and slammed in a shot that beat Islander goaltender Jaroslav Halak—tie game.

With about a minute left in the second, and the Rangers taking charge, something happened that changed the entire complexion of the game, Islander forward Josh Bailey had a one on one breakaway against Talbot, this could’ve given the Islanders the lead again, but it was stopped by the Ranger goalie, keeping it tied at 1 going into the final period.

The third period, the Rangers started with some control, but had no results until the Rangers’ leading scorer, forward Rick Nash, took a far shot that hit off an Islander skate and deflected in! 2-1 Rangers. The rest of the third was the Rangers defending this lead while the Islanders kept coming strong, hitting a few very good chances, but Talbot was sensational. The goal by Nash was the most important, because it was the game winner. The final score: New York Rangers 2, the New York Islanders 1, with Talbot stopping 29 of 30 Islander shots.

Talbot put his team one point behind first place, making the next month all the more interesting. With Ranger fans jumping for joy and Islander fans stunned, this was a match up that had been awaited for a long time. If these teams keep playing the way they are now, we could see a new match up sometime in the spring.