Photo by Carter Kegelman

After a rough start, it appears that the Lady Saints have turned a corner and hit their stride. Now, 3-1-1 in their last five games, the Saints have climbed back into contention and are now ranked 10th in the nation. Assistant captain Brittony Chartier ’12 spoke about why the Saints have now begun to turn things around: “It was just persistence, we kept pushing forward and realized we were doing some good things. We just tried to build off of those and looked to improve every week.” On Friday night the Saints defeated Princeton 3-1 and tied Quinnipiac 2-2 on Saturday, both at Appleton Arena.

In the first period versus Princeton, the Saints jumped to the lead as Kayla Sullivan ’13 opened the scoring off of some fancy passing set up by Assistant Captain Britni Smith ’10 and Michelle Ng ’13. The Saints would not score again until the third, however, as Ng scored a goal assisted by Ally Bero ’12 and assistant captain Courtney Sawchuk ’10.

The Saints would cap their scoring with another goal by Sullivan that was once again assisted by Smith. On Saturday, the Saints fought to a tie against a resilient Quinnipiac team. Of the many aspects of the team, Chartier went on to say, “I think that the defense is underrated to be honest. They do a great job of containing players and keeping people to the outside and away from the net. It definitely makes my job a lot easier.” It was the defense who helped contain Quinnipiac and hold them to only two goals, despite their 28 shots on net.

Scoring for the Saints in the first frame was Vanessa Emond ’12 who scored her team leading 11th goal of the season. Assisting on the goal was Josee Belanger ’12 and captain Tara Akstull ’10. Despite having the lead going into intermission the Saints were not able to hold off Quinnipiac, who managed to get ahead on two unanswered goals in the second period.

Their lead would be short-lived, however, as Jamie Goldsmith ’13 would tie the game less than 5 minutes into the period with her fifth goal of the year. Assisting on the goal were Ally Bero and Vanessa Emond.

The Saints will play top-ranked Mercyhurst this weekend in a pivotal series. Stay tuned for games against Rensselaer and Union over break.

Photo by Carter Kegelman

On what is perhaps the biggest weekend of the year, the men’s skating Saints played some of their best hockey this season. Co-captain Travis Vermeulen ’10 perhaps put it best: “That was really big for us, to play that well versus Clarkson. We just did what we had to and came up big when needed. We definitely have more confidence coming out of last weekend.”

On Friday night, the Saints took on Clarkson at Appleton Arena in front of 2,850 fans. Despite many great opportunities and controlling much of the game, the Saints were unable to earn the victory and had to settle for a 3-3 tie. Scoring for the Saints in the first period was assistant captain Aaron Bogosian ’11, assisted by co-captain Derek Keller ’10 and Rick Carden ’12.

In the second frame, it was Peter Child ’12 scoring his fifth goal, assisted by George Hughes ’13 and assistant captain Mike McKenzie ’10. Following Child’s goal, Vermeulen scored for St. Lawrence again assisted upon by Hughes and Brandon Bollig ’12.

On Saturday night, the Saints went to Cheel Arena and beat Clarkson 4-3, their first victory in Potsdam in over two years. Vermeulen spoke about the victory in Potsdam. “Again, that was big. To be able to win in Cheel was huge for us. Our defense stood up to the test and was a big part of the game. They added a whole new dimension to the game and had a huge impact on the game.”

Scoring for the Saints in the first period were Jacob Drewiske ’12, who scored his first career goal in the game, assisted by Aaron Bogosian and Rick Carden ’12, and Brandon Bollig, assisted by George Hughes ’13 and Matt Raley ’12. In the second period it was Drewiske scoring his second goal, assisted by Carden and Matt Dyer ’13.

In the third period assistant captain Alex Curran ’10 scored the game-winning goal with less than two minutes remaining in the game. His goal was scored on a power play and was assisted by Hughes and Travis Vermeulen.

The Saints will be in action again this weekend at UVM, and over the break in Denver and Niagara.

I had planned on this making me incredibly popular. That didn’t happen. The only people who liked the column were my friends. And you know what? (I like that phrase) It just doesn’t feel the same when you have to pay people to tell you that you’re funny. God, I was so dumb. I should have realized that this isn’t the way to get famous. Of course you can be a kind, genuinely funny person, or you can do what I’m going to. I’m going to just buy a whole bunch of booze for everyone.

I’m going to Thailand next semester, and I’m pretty cool with that, but it feels like all my hard work up until now was a waste. I tried. I tried to incite some response, to excite some emotions, but all my efforts were in vain. I’ve been thinking about going out with a bang, a whimper, even a large outrageous party, but that won’t work. I know now that I must simply stalk people.

You who leave your Facebook settings open so I can look at your photos without friending you. You who don’t shred your paper documents, or leave your computer in the library without signing out. You who show your face in public, thereby giving me the right to photograph you. You know who you are. You might not be able to put a beautiful, sexy face to my name, but you will feel my friendship wrath.

Deal with it.

So this week, I’m going to dedicate my column to movies that remember what Christmas is really about: Jesus’s birthday. More broadly, it’s about actually being nice to people for a month. Sharing and loving and doing all those things that decent human beings are supposed to do all the time, but that we sometimes forget about when faced with the immense, suffocating pressure that is life. It’s about salvaging that little bit of good that’s inside all of us and briefly making the world a better place.

Anyway, in honor of all that, here’s some Christmas movies that actually get it right.

3 Godfathers (1948):

John Ford directed a Christmas movie with John Wayne. Sadly, not many people know that. 3 Godfathers is beautifully shot, with a solid script and nuanced performances. John Wayne is a very underrated actor, and I think that might have something to do with the fact that most audiences tend to overlook subtlety. People don’t like having to think, and so actors like Wayne and movies like this tend to go overlooked.

The film is about three bank robbers — John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, and Harry Carrey Jr. — on the run from the law across a bleak and inhospitable desert. On their journey, they encounter a dying woman and her baby. Not being completely heartless, they promise to take the baby to safety, even at the risk of their own freedom.

That’s a pretty sparse synopsis, so you’ll have to actually watch the movie if you want to know what happens. I highly recommend it, not just as a well-directed film, but as a Christmas movie that gets at the heart of the holiday. The characters, though outlaws, are basically decent human beings. As they cross the desert with the baby, their rough exteriors are slowly stripped away to reveal the fundamental goodness underneath.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992):

Muppets + Michael Caine = greatness. If you are somehow unfamiliar with the plot of A Christmas Carol, then here it is in a nutshell: Ebenezer Scrooge is miserly and bitter. On Christmas Eve, the mean old man is shown the error of his ways by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.

The Muppet version follows this story pretty closely, with the added bonus of good music and, well, Muppets. It’s funny, heartwarming, and sometimes a little creepy, which suits the material perfectly. This movie, like the other two that I’ve reviewed, is about redemption. Who better to remind us that there’s even something good inside the Scrooges of this world than the Muppets? The fact that someone who isn’t quite a puppet or a frog and is married to a pig can remain optimistic in the face of overwhelming odds makes me feel really optimistic about the world.

So what do these movies have in common? Well, if you haven’t already noticed, they remind people that there’s far more to Christmas than buying people stuff. There’s some serious themes going on here, like redemption. That applies to everybody. We all slip a little over the course of the year. I mean, nobody’s perfect. But that doesn’t mean that nobody can be better than they are now. And* that, ladies and gentlemen, is what Christmas is all about. It’s looking inside ourselves and realizing that even if we’re not perfect we can still be good. It’s about trying to be a better person, even if it’s just for a month, or even a day. Sometimes, we need to be reminded that there’s good in humanity. Have a Merry Christmas and a pleasant vacation. See you next year.

One more thing: I didn’t have time to review it, but I highly recommend the film The Bishop’s Wife (1947). It’s got Cary Grant and David Niven, and it fits in with the whole “redemption thing.” It’s about an angel who comes to help a work-obsessed bishop reconnect with his family and his humanity.

Send me a recipe for pizza-cake, if such a thing exists: jmelv08stlawuedu . Look stuff up: www.imdb.com

*Note: this column was written by a somewhat experienced professional, trained in the art of beginning sentences with “and.” Kids, don’t try it at home. Or in papers. That path just leads to the dark side.

Only 90 minutes away exists one of the most colossal collections of history of this region, not to mention that it harbors some of the richest aspects of the culture in its artwork. Prints as well as stone and woodwork belonging to that of the Inuit tribe in northern Canada are significant in that they exist in a The Canadian Museum of Civilization and express the turmoil and cultural upheaval experienced by many during the 1950s and 1960s. Overlooked by mainstream society, the beautiful traditions of the Inuit people are fading fast in a world that is rapidly becoming digitized, globalized, and “consumerized.”

In the 50s and 60s the tribe was encouraged by the Canadian government to abandon their traditional nomadic lifestyle of hunting, trapping and fishing and settle into communities that fed the cash economy. The fledgling communities suffered long periods of trauma caused by starvation and deprivation in a society that was ill-fitted to their way of life, but soon discovered that one way to survive in an industrial society was to utilize a talent to create native art from natural materials.

Creating beautiful art quickly became one of the most prevalent ways of preserving Inuit heritage and through several shows with the Canadian Guild of Crafts in Montreal, marked the dawn of contemporary Inuit art in Western culture. Sculpture and printing as art forms allows us to view this vein of pride from the Inuit people, and it also allows pieces of their heritage to bleed into ours. A stenciled print by artist Ekidluak Amartuk and printer Josea Maniapik that is part of St. Lawrence’s permanate collection depicts this relationship between The Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Inuit people’s precious preserved pieces of history. The image of the igloo as the namesake of the museum is perhaps the artist’s idea of one of the few places that emphasizes the importance of the preservation of the delicate and ancient traditions that have been otherwise forgotten or whitewashed over in a conglomerate of instant gratification of commercial mainstream media and Anglo art. The pride of these native people lives on in this creative tradition, and boasts an overwhelming possibility of becoming stronger through instilling knowledge of these traditions into current culture and lifestyle. So, if you ever find yourself with time to spare take a quick trip over to the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Quebec and experience the spirit of the Inuit tradition.

Many students and community members are familiar with Willow Island on Main Street. According to Town Supervisor David Button,this is the former site of a closed down gas station and hotel with severe contamination issues. Now it is a pristine park were families can have picnics or take their dog for a walk.

According to Peter Van De Water, the President of Grasse River Heritage Corporation (GRHC), this clean-up of “what, essentially was a toxic spill,” of petroleum cost over one million dollars. The GRHC organized the clean-up and many other projects. The clean-up was funded by the federal Brownfield Fund and overseen by the Department of Environmental Conservation, said Van De water.

GRHC is a small not-for-profit community based, redevelopment organization, and was the organizing force behind this environmental clean up Said Button. GRHC is comprised of a local board and their main focus is to clean-up and redevelop the waterfront sector in Canton, said Button.

“We are trying to remake the waterfront in Canton. We are doing it for aesthetic reasons, recreational reasons, and economic reasons,” said Van De Water.

Another major project of the GRHC was the clean-up of the Heritage Islands across Main Street from Willow island.

“Out on those islands before they got started there were a number of blighted buildings including a restaurant, lumber yard, gas station and Tauny’s old office,” said Ben Dixon, Coordinator of Regional Development and Sustainability at SLU.

Three grants; a New York Department of Transportation Grant, New York Parks and Recreation grant, and a grant from Sen. Wright for the preservation of the historic King steel truss bridge, said Dixon funded the clean-up. St. Lawrence assisted with the efforts by donating land as well as loaning $140,000 dollars to the project.

A walk around the island now features the nine historic sites that are preserved, left over from the turn of the century, said Van De Water.

“The Heritage Islands were the industrial heart of Canton at the turn of the century,” said Van De Water.

Another feature of the Heritage Island clean-up was the restoration of the King bowstring truss bridge. Zenas King was a bridge builder who was born and raised in St. Lawrence County and moved to Cleveland where he started his company. The bridge was picked up off of its foundation by a crane, restored, and then placed back for the opening of the park.

A third project the GRHC is working on involves the Village of Canton, SLU administration, and a private developer on the restoration of the Rushton Place (See cover story on Nov. 20, 2009).

Van De Water could not comment on the specifics of future plans for the GRHC, however it is in their bylaws that they can work anywhere along the Grasse River within the town of Canton. This could lead to great conservation efforts of the river as it flows through the town of Canton.

“We are always looking for volunteers to assist with clean-up and preservation projects,” said Van De Water, this would be a great opportunity for SLU students to get involved and have an impact on the Canton community.

The restaurant is located on 25 Court Street. The building was once a men’s club with billiard tables and bowling allies in the basement. However, a few restaurants have been in and out since then. The St. Lawrence Inn also used to be located across the street before it was torn down in order to expand the bank. “The Club will serve the clientele that went there and wider,” said FitzRandolph.

Although the other restaurants were unsuccessful, Cassara has the ability to make The Club thrive. “Rick understands the business. He truly is a restaurant owner/ inn keeper/ host. He understands the local market; that he has to have great food, be welcoming, and have a great bar, but not so upscale and expensive as to drive people away,” said FitzRandolph.

Cassara also has a lot of experience because he owns Phoebe’s and operated the Tick Tock as a restaurant before it became a drinking establishment. “The Tick Tock had great Italian food, was warm and comfortable,” said FitzRandolph.

Cassara wants The Club to be a gathering place for everyone in the community. “All people are welcome. College people, local people, young people, old people. Hopefully people will go and feel comfortable, like the food, and come back again.”

The Club will have “straightforward American food,” said Cassara. The prices will also be affordable for students.

Canton Ambassador Alex Showerman ‘10 also thinks The Club will be a great addition to Canton. “I feel that this new restaurant has the opportunity to have a very positive impact on the community. Based on what I have heard, the atmosphere of The Club will be such that both SLU students and community members will be able to hang out and enjoy. There will also be theme nights and various specials that will attract customers throughout the week. I think that if done right, this is a great opportunity to provide a restaurant/bar that this community desperately needs and will keep money from leaving Canton and going to Potsdam.”

FitzRandolph agrees. “It won’t take business away from other Canton restaurants, but may from Potsdam. In general, students go to Potsdam. [The Club] will fill a really important gap.”

The Club could also encourage other businesses to come to Canton. “[I] hope that with multiple successful restaurants, and the many redevelopment projects the village is working on in Canton, that entrepreneurs will begin to see Canton as a community worth investing in and spur even further economic development that both the community and SLU students will benefit from. That being said, some of the responsibility falls on the SLU community to support downtown,” said Showerman.

“I am ecstatic. The community desperately needs what The Club will be,” said FitzRandolph. The Club will open to the public after the first of the year for students and community members to eat, drink, and socialize.

He usually grows a beard for hunting season, but this year only maintained a mustache. After coming up deer-less again last weekend, he reflected on his bad luck. One theory was his failure to grow enough facial hair before this year’s season. Ellie, Paul’s wife and hunting partner of 24 years, bagged a deer earlier in the season, so the couple still has “meat in the freezer.”

Paul has been the Noble Center cleaner for the last 7 months. He works Monday through Friday 5am to 1:30pm. Sykes, Augsbury, the science complex, and Dean Eaton have all seen his congenial face in the last ten years. Before St. Lawrence, he worked as a lab technician and supervisor and grew to “hate management jobs.”

Besides hunting, Paul is a motorcyclist. On a nice weekend he likes to ride his 6-cylinder Honda Valkyrie over 100 miles in one sitting.

At SLU, Paul knows a ton of people, and even more by face. Some of his best memories from the school have been meeting the hockey players. He still keeps in touch with Mike McKenna, who graduated a few years ago and now plays for the Lowell Devils in Massachusetts. Paul tries to make it to all the St. Lawrence home games. Last year he promised Alex Petizian that if the hockey team made it to the ECAC playoffs, he would watch the game in Albany. He kept the promise, taking two days off from work to fulfull it. Concerning more recent news he said, “It was nice to hear SLU beat Clarkson at Cheel last Saturday.”

Growing up in Norwood, NY, Paul’s parents knew the family of his future wife, Ellie. When Paul was 16, he became Ellie’s first boyfriend. However, their teen romance was short-lived as he joined the Marine Corps in 1975. By June 1979, the two had drifted apart. Paul was out of the Marines and married. Ellie was also hitched. In the 1980s, after both marriages ended, he came back upstate to visit friends and unexpectedly rekindled his relationship with Ellie. Now, he said, they get along great and never argue—“Because someone is always right.”

They have a son at SUNY Canton and a daughter living in Ohio. Besides work, Paul is remodeling his house before he puts it on the market. He takes care of his mother-in-law and her property and also does odd jobs. Paul takes pride in his work and says, “If you are going to do something, do it to the best of your ability.” And Clarkson still sucks.

Photo by Carter Kegelman

On Wednesday night in the Winston Room, Chris Finch, a government major, presented his first documentary, “My Generation,” about his inspirational experience during the 2008 Obama campaign, where he encouraged young people to vote and learned the importance of speaking up.

Extensive networking during his spring 2008 semester in Washington D.C., landed Chris a job in Denver during the summer. During his D.C. semester and time in Denver, Chris became increasingly passionate about politics and the Obama campaign. During the summer, Chris began applying for various positions in the campaign. However, in August, as school was approaching and a job had yet to be secured, Chris faced a difficult decision. In the end, he took the plunge. Chris recalled, “I kept calling people and calling people until I got a job.”

After a job in Florida fell through, Chris continued until he found a job based in Appleton, Wisconsin as a Youth Vote Coordinator for the Obama Campaign. Chris explained that Appleton is the 5th largest city in Wisconsin, a swing state, and that his job focused on the campaigns of three Democrats. At 21, Chris was the youngest campaigner, the oldest being 31. Based at Lawrence University, a small college of liberal arts and science as well as a music conservatory, Chris worked with his peers. Noting the irony of working at Lawrence University in Appleton, Chris promised that St. Lawrence “one-ups” Lawrence in almost everything.

While Chris was able to work with students his age and made many new friends at Lawrence, the job was exhausting. Waking up at 7:00 A.M. and making phone calls by 8:00 every morning, Chris registered students to vote, organized events with senators and congressmen, met with the Lawrence Democrats and Lawrence for Obama organizations and was “constantly recruiting people to vote.” Chris added, “I didn’t leave until eleven o’clock at night, sometimes not until twelve when we had a busy day.”

In addition to the lack of sleep, “there was a lot of stress, a lot of coffee, and no exercise.” To his relief, when he got to Wisconsin, Chris said that “half the work was already done” because Obama had attracted so much attention from young voters. Chris found it inspiring to work with so many people for a “common cause.”

Additionally, Chris enjoyed many memorable moments, including a particularly unforgettable election night. His campaign efforts led to the overwhelming success of three democratic candidates, President Obama, Congressman Steve Kagen, and State Representative Penny Bernard Schaber, in a traditionally conservative district. The election of these three democrats was particularly noteworthy because one was black, one was Jewish, and one was a woman; the first democratic woman to represent that district in 95 years.

Because he developed such a great relationship with the students, Chris recalled that on election night he turned down an invitation to a staff party and went to the student union instead. On campus, Chris and his co-campaigner, Emily, earned the respective nicknames “Chris Obama” and “Emily Obama.” Chris remembered, “When we walked in, everybody started cheering for us and then everyone sang the national anthem.”

Chris’ interest in politics is deeply rooted as he “grew up on the campaign trail.” His father, a long time politician, is currently mayor of Chris’ Connecticut hometown, Bridgeport. The documentation of his experience, however, was inspired by his brother, a film-maker. “I combined my two greatest passions,” Chris explained. With a small Panasonic camera, Chris started filming in late August of 2008, during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where he was amazed by the parades and crowds of people. Chris said, “I had to get it on tape. It was the most people I’ve ever seen.” Taking his brother’s advice to “document everything,” Chris captured inspiring moments from the DNC, including a short clip of an interview with NBC reporter Chris Matthews, as well as his experiences in Appleton and interviews with students and teachers at Lawrence.

SLU professor Dr. Joe Kling was impressed that Chris “delayed his life for an entire semester” and dedicated his time to politics. But Chris doesn’t consider it a delay, saying “It was the most amazing experience of my life.” Chris’s experience was not only educational, but also eye opening. In fact, during his campaigning, Chris met students from Occidental College of California, where a campaign semester is offered. The college offers funding for students’ food and housing during the semester, where they actively participate in political campaigns in a learning experience. Chris said, “I think this is something St. Lawrence should consider.”

After watching the film on Wednesday night, Britne Tyler ’11 said, “It was really good and really nice to see someone our age do something for the Democratic National Convention. It was inspiring and I thought the film looked really professional.” Britne explained that she was in a filmmaking class and said she got some good ideas from the documentary.

The filmmaking process was not easy. Chris compiled a 35 minute documentary out of about 8 hours of footage. “It is my first movie and I made a lot of mistakes, lots of footage was lost while editing. But it’s important and I’d rather show it than not show it.” Keeping his young audience in mind, Chris combined interviews with Chris Matthews, two professors and president Obama with “music that inspires” and a fast pace to keep people’s attention.

Chris also noted that the period of Obama’s campaign was exceptional because “Obama as a candidate inspired a great turnout and young voter involvement, which is something that hasn’t been seen since the 60’s.” Chris feels that young voter involvement is so valuable because college provides the ideal environment to establish oneself as a voter. “Being able to talk to others is one of the best aspects of the college environment. But it’s important to do so without making prejudgments and being open-minded to others.” Enthused by campaigners as young as high school students, Chris encourages all young people to get involved and with faith in Obama, Chris hopes, “With Obama as president, young people’s voice can be considered.”

Pavlus proved herself throughout the season, and it was noticed by many. St. Lawrence Cross Country head coach, Mike Howard said, “Wendy enjoyed an outstanding season this fall and had an absolutely unforgettable run on Saturday at the NCAA Championship race. I am so excited and proud to see that she is receiving this recognition as it is very well-deserved.”

She finished first out of 73 in the Ronald C. Hoffman Invitational and 31st out of 363 total runners in the Paul Short Invitational. Of the 59 competitors at the Plattsburg Cardinal Meet, Pavlus finished in second place. At the 2009 Liberty League Championships, Pavlus followed closely behind two St. Lawrence teammates, coming in third in the 6k course with a time of 22:44. Her success continued at the NYSCTC Cross Country Championships, earning the second place spot with a 5k time of 18:06. From there Pavlus made her way into the NCAA Cross Country Nationals with first place spots in the Saratoga Invitational and the NCAA Atlantic Regional.

Pavlus was named the 2009 NCAA Division III Cross Country champion on Saturday, November 21st. She completed the course in 21:28, giving her not only a winning time but a new course record. Pavlus smoked the competition, finishing 17 seconds ahead of the next contender.

This nomination builds on the success Pavlus has been experiencing as she was also named the 2009 USTFCCCA Women’s Athlete of the Year. She also received her first, well-earned and much deserved, All-America status this year. The Tupper Lake, NY native comments on the season, “This season has been very exciting! Running at nationals last year motivated me for this year.” In addition to her excellence in cross country, we can continue to be amazed by her modesty and appreciation for others around her.

Pavlus attributes much of her success to her team and coaching staff, “Our team was amazing this year. Everything that has been accomplished is due to the fact that we can all depend on each other for help when it is needed. I have had so many people help me, our coach Mike Howard always listens to my concerns and the team has created such an eventful season along with so many others.”

Pavlus stated, “Amy Farrell, my high school coach, gave me the inspiration I needed to use today and I owe my success to her.”

After all of these accomplishments, we congratulate Wendy and look forward to what she does next year.