Great Mason Dates: Students Weigh in On Their Favorite Date Ideas

atmospheres4 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:24:16 +0000

This list contains the top 10 affordable ($30 or less) date ideas accessible by George Mason University transportation, which were received by Sexual Assault Services during Healthy Relationships Week.

1. For lunch, walk to University Mall to Otani Japanese Steak House and get the hibachi ($7 each, or less if you use a 10 percent off coupon found in the Mason coupon pamphlet book). Next, see a movie at the University Mall theaters ($2 each on Tuesdays). Then take the Mason shuttle to the Vienna Metro and go to Ibiza nightclub for a night of dancing (free if you go before 11 p.m.). [Bri Green]

2. Take the Mason shuttle to the Vienna metro and ride it down to U-Street to eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl (cheap food, historical location) and enjoy a walk downtown. The U-Street district is beautiful and full of D.C. culture. [Melissa Edwards]

3. Here’s a great idea for a ‘home date’: get some arts and crafts supplies from a craftstore (like Michael’s), a pizza and make fun crafts for each other in the comfort of your own home. [Nicholas Brightwell]

4. Go to Fat Tuesday’s at University Mall across the street. Two shrimp po’ boys cost $22, and then see a movie at the theater for $2-3 each. [Isi Amenkhienan]

5. Take the Gunston-Go-Bus to Fair Oaks Mall and see who can buy the most items for $30. [Priscilla Switzer]

6. For a spring date to D.C. when the cherry blossoms are in bloom: Pack a lunch with a blanket, take the Mason shuttle to the metro, metro to the Mall in D.C., have a picnic and enjoy the cherry blossoms. [Giovanna Maya]

7. Take a bike ride from Rosslyn to Georgetown. Have ice cream and hang out at the water taxi dock and water fountain. Watch the sunset together before heading home. [Ngoc Tran]

8. For those who just want to dance: go to a free salsa club session with a date, and rent a movie afterwards with some cheap champagne. [Jaclynn Foster-Wittig]

9. Take the Gunston-Go-Bus to Fair City Mall, walk to Trader Joe’s across the street, buy some yummy organic food and some flowers and make dinner for your date. [Alison Jones]

10. Take the Gunston-Go-Bus to Fair Oaks mall, go to the Apple store, play loud music and try to create a musical right there in the store. [Randall Parrish]

Your Body is a Wonderland: Love Your Body Week Promotes Healthy Body Images

atmospheres4 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:04:21 +0000

Last week, George Mason University celebrated Love Your Body Week. The week, which was hosted by the Eating Disorders and Positive Body Image Awareness Taskforce, aimed to encourage students to love themselves no matter what they look like.

“Formerly known as Positive Body Image Awareness Week, Love Your Body Week coincides with National Eating Disorders Awareness Week,” said Assistant Director of the Office of Alcohol, Drug and Health Education Danielle Lapierre. “The taskforce decided to take a more positive approach to the week, encouraging students to love their bodies, love themselves and recognize that all bodies are beautiful.”

“From a very young age, both boys and girls are exposed to negative body images and body expectations from the media, and these images can create unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for their own body ideals,” said Lapierre. “[Our] popular culture is permeated with unrealistic expectations,” said Ruthie O’Donnell, a junior economics major.

According to O’Donnell, these unattainable expectations promote unhealthy body images in many people. During Love Your Body Week, students were able to visit kiosks in the Johnson Center where they could learn about having a better body image.

According to the OADHE website, “Students can express their own feelings and thoughts about their own bodies by writing messages on paper jeans that are hung at the kiosk, shred negative media messages and have an opportunity to play our positive body image version of Magnetic Poetry.”

Students were also invited to attend events such as a presentation by Jessica Costeines, the author of beYOUtiful, a book in which, according to the OADHE website, students can learn to love their bodies the way they are. “The presentation by author Jessica Costeines was inspiring and really encouraged students to love themselves and be confident just as they are,” said Lapierre.

“She spoke about her experiences with body image issues, [which] are illustrated so wonderfully in her book beYOUtiful.” Students were also encouraged to participate in “Operation Beautiful.” “This year, we took part in a new project called ‘Operation Beautiful,’” said Lapierre.

“Students were invited to write inspiring positive body image messages on post-it notes. “Some examples included, ‘Your eyes are gorgeous’ and Damn, you’re hot!’ The notes were then placed in random locations on campus, like bathroom mirrors and bulletin boards.” To some students, the week was a success.

“I think that the media [promotes unhealthy body images] especially in the film and fashion industries,” said sophomore psychology major Inderdeep Dhillon. “All you see on the covers of magazines are skinny celebrities or models, and the same in films. “Also, when an actress loses weight you see her getting more film and television deals than before . . . I think that [Love Your Body Week] does help students feel better about themselves and the way they look [in a society such as ours].”

Other students, however, only partially agreed with Dhillon. “I think it’s wonderful that Mason is encouraging people to view themselves in a loving way,” said O’Donnell. “But I think it calls out to a deeper issue: Why should we ‘love ourselves?’ “Because we all have an inherent dignity and worth.

“I wish Mason and the Office of Alcohol, Drug and Health Education would point to that, instead of telling women to love themselves simply because they are beautiful. They are beautiful, but they are also so much more.”

A Dirty Word No More: Confidence on Display at This Year’s Vagina Monologues

atmospheres4 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:57:57 +0000

“Vagina” — the word is taboo, yet when used in the right context, so intriguing. For most people, it’s an evil-sounding word. It’s unsettling, upsetting and inappropriate. Heck, one might even wince at the sound of it. Despite this social bias, the women in last weekend’s performance of The Vagina Monologues at George Mason University broke through that awkward shell and put on a spectacular show.

I walked in about 15 minutes prior to the show to a nearly full theater. Immediately realizing I was only one of a few male attendees, I took a seat in the third row, and waited for the monologues to begin. After an emotional introductory video focusing on the struggle of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the show began as three ladies entered the stage and performed a monologue concerning the general perception of the word “vagina.”

The idea that the word “vagina” is such a hard word to say casually because of its negative connotation is introduced in this monologue, and done so with quite some humor. “It sounds like an infection at best, maybe a medical instrument. ‘Hurry, nurse, bring me the vagina.’” After this ice breaker, various students performed different monologues throughout the night, evoking a range of emotions from the audience ranging from tears of sorrow to tears of laughter.

One of the best and certainly most impressive monologues of the night was “The Vagina Workshop,” performed by theater major Miranda Rawson. Recalling an experience she had at a workshop designed to help women ‘find their clitoris,’ Rawson’s character expressed her evolving feelings toward her vagina, which exemplified her sense of self as a woman. It was phenomenally executed. “My Angry Vagina,” performed by health science major Chelsea Ashby garnered a room full of hysterical laughter.

Discussing her views on her “angry vagina” represented her fury towards the oppression of women in the most empowering, yet comedic, way possible. Another favorite of the night was “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy,” performed by communication major Khadija Rahim. This monologue was unique to say the least.

The audience had lost the ability to control their laughter when Rahim closed the performance by going through a laundry list of all the different kinds of moans women make during an orgasm, acting every single one out. Confidence was an overbearing theme that night, and the cast did not show a single breach of that confidence throughout the whole night.

If the rest of the audience was as blown away as I was, I’d say there is litle doubt that this year’s Vagina Monologues performance was a success.

Students Win Big in Economics Video Contest

Kevin Loker — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:00:24 +0000

Two students submitted the above video into a national video contest and received top honors. It is embedded here with their permission. To watch the video in full quality, click here.
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For two young economics pupils, "Sarah" provided an important answer. George Mason University students Mark Meranta and Terra Strong won the Fraser Institute’s 2009 Student Video Contest by answering the topic question “What is the most appropriate role of government in the economy?” through a three-minute video entitled My Friend Sarah.

The film took the top prize by shortly chronicling the ideological shift of main character Sarah’s economic opinions.

“It is a political mockumentary about a girl who used to be the president of her college’s ‘Progressive FDR’ club, but took an economics class and became a libertarian who believed in personal and economic freedom,” said Meranta.

After finding out about the contest and topic through an online database for student opportunities such as these, Meranta and Strong set out to make a different kind of informative film that would kept an audience’s interest by using humor.

“We didn’t want another film that just lectures the viewer; I rarely make it through those films and they fail to hold the average student’s interest,” said Strong. “Using humor, we expressed basic libertarian ideals in a documentary style similar to shows like The Real World and The Office.”

Meranta and Strong created the short film, which features Mason students and a cameo from economics Professor Thomas Rustici, after many afternoons of scripting.

“The three minute time limit was probably one of the most difficult obstacles — it really made me want to see how far we could go making a film with a larger time frame,” said Strong.

“We tried to make the dialogue witty and full of humor to keep our audience’s attention,” said Meranta. “We also tried to leave out as much economic jargon as possible and tried to use real world examples to push our ideas. We are basically trying to show the hypocrisies that political advocates show all too often.”

Student Wins $123,000 Scholarship from Dr Pepper

Kevin Loker — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:35:18 +0000

Rodick, above, was a fan of Dr Pepper growing up. After competing in a scholarship contest, the company is now contributing to her education. (Photo by Lindsey Denny)

Unbeknownst to Carley Rodick, her Facebook, cell phone and e-mail inboxes began filling up just moments after being handed a check for $123,000. While many offered enthusiastic congratulations, some messages were hate mail sent by complete strangers.

“I guess they felt as though I had just been lucky in winning or that the prize should have been divided between more people,” said Rodick.

As one of six children in her family, the burden of paying for college had fallen upon Rodick. With the university’s financial aid cut and her denial from a federal work-study program, the scholarship couldn’t have come at a better time.

Dr Pepper had always been a staple in the refrigerator of the sophomore nursing major’s home in Fredericksburg, Va. That is why when the company offered an instant-win game requiring entering codes online that were printed on the inside of lids, Rodick’s mother zealously saved bottle caps and encouraged her daughter to enter.

“I never win anything,” said the nursing major. “That’s why I wasn’t initially motivated to do it.” But what happened next would more than make up for Rodick’s previous unlucky streak.

When none of the codes turned out to be instant winners, Rodick decided to apply for a scholarship that coincided with the promotional contest. A week passed, and Rodick said she forgot about the scholarship until she began receiving frequent calls from an unknown number.

“I ignored the calls, thinking it was a scam,” said Rodick. When she finally answered, it was Dr Pepper, calling to inform her that she had won a trip to the Big 12 college football championship game where she would compete in a halftime contest for the scholarship.

Rodick, along with her boyfriend Blake Merrill, flew to Arlington, Texas to attend the Texas-Nebraska football game on Dec. 5, 2009. During halftime, Rodick competed against another girl in the Dr Pepper “Throw for Scholarship Dough” contest. From the five-yard line, she was able to throw three footballs into a large Dr Pepper can on the goal line. This was enough to beat her opponent and walk away with a check for $123,000.

“Winning was just such a huge relief for both me and my parents,” said Rodick.

Homecoming 'Spirit' 2010: Fans, Beads and Pie Eating

Kevin Loker — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:14:31 +0000

Saturday was gameday at Mason, and pre-game festivities were in full Mardi Gras swing outside the Patriot Center. Armed with a camera and mic, C2M/MCN Video Adviser David Miller and C2M Executive Editor Kevin Loker prowled the homecoming parade and block party.

They snagged some big interviews, including President Alan Merten, a grade-school Patriots fan, and the Cookie Monster.

Click to above to see the 'craziness.'

In Bed with Billy: The Life Lessons of Commitment

atmospheres4 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:23:21 +0000

In life we are constantly challenged — challenged to do the right thing, to keep moving forward, to continue to better ourselves. Yet through all of this, we remain steadfast, we remain adamant and we remain committed to our goals as well as to ourselves. We remain committed to the truth, our truth, whatever that may be.

When most people think of the word commitment, they think marriage, but we surround ourselves with commitment every day. A driving force of determination and persistence that perpetuates the dilapidation of ignorance with every passing day, our level of commitment is essentially what shapes who we become, or more importantly, who we wish to become.

And one of the best ways to better ourselves is through education. This semester didn’t seem very promising for the classes I selected, and the fact that this is my last full semester only added to my trepidation towards putting in as much effort as I should — God love senioritis.

There was one professor in particular that made me doubt I would learn anything important in his class. Last night, he proved me wrong and put me in my place. After debating whether I should attend the last hour and a half of my creative nonfiction class, this professor managed to blow my mind, and relinquish years of ignorant hatred I had for the author Ernest Hemingway.

He explained that most people didn’t understand the many works of Hemingway because they didn’t know he had an extensive background in the European art movements like cubism and pointillism that majorly influenced his works. The moment he said this, it was as though a curtain had been lifted from my eyes, and I could finally see what had kept me from loving such a insightful author for over 10 years.

If I had never been as committed to my education and growth and had skipped this class, I would have never learned that I really loved an author I had hated for my own ignorance. This professor’s level of commitment to his students is one of the many reasons I decided I wanted to learn more about everything. In just one hour, this man managed to completely change my perspective on two items: Hemingway, and the belief that you can be wrong about a professor.

I can certainly say that it was one of the most profound moments of my college career. After this experience, I started thinking about not just my level of commitment to my education, but my dedication to the pursuit of finding a genuine person in this world to be happy with.

After yet another failed relationship, and a long history of repeated offenses against my commitment, I was still willing to learn from my mistakes and continue to go out and search for a person to truly make me happy. Going out on blind dates and taking every opportunity to meet someone new was accompanied with the learned knowledge of either a quality I desired in a future partner, or one that would make me head for the mountains faster than the gold rushers of the 1800s.

Then there is the type of commitment that you are forced into, the kind that makes you either break, or shows you your true strength in times of great strife. If my name still stands as the gay Carrie Bradshaw, then one of my best friends of over nine years would definitely be my Miranda. So we will just refer to her that way.

Miranda and I had been through way too much together; crazy nights of drunken crying on the bathroom floor during parties, years of important memories long forgotten but still left a prominent imprint on each other’s hearts. We were so inseparable that even my father believed that we were destined to marry each other and have a tumultuous love affair until our deathbeds.

While my father’s premonition about our imminent marriage was just as absurd as the 10-foot snowdrifts currently overtaking our parking lots, I loved her as though she were my own family. When phone calls became scarce, I decided to contact her through Facebook and received a phone call from her in return later that evening. After little delay, with courage and strength in her tone, she informed me that she had been diagnosed with cancer, an aggressive form that had already metastasized in her lungs.

My concern was immediately elevated, despite my reaction and Miranda’s full understanding of the severity of this situation. She remained committed to the belief that she was going to get better and displayed a strength rarely seen , but one that retains a blow more forceful than one from Arnold Schwarzenegger to the face. Her courage and optimism towards her disease made me realize how truly strong she is, not to mention how much she meant to me.

Her level of commitment was a powerful force to be reckoned with. These challenges, these tests of faith and stature, are the moments that bring us closer to accepting the fact that life is full of choices. Your level of commitment in everything you do will decide the outcome and your fate.

No matter what, remember that your mind can always grow, that your heart can always heal and that the will to survive can be the most important commitment you will ever have. We create guidelines that map out all of the places and things we wish to see and do in our lives, and although sometimes life alters these plans without our acknowledgement or permission, with courage and determination, the commitments we wish to make in this world can become reality.

New Century College to Hold Conference

atmospheres4 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:10:21 +0000

George Mason University’s Center of Consciousness Transformation, in conjunction with MasonLEADS, will host a Leadership and Positive Psychology Conference in SUB II on March 19.

The conference is being organized by New Century College students taking NCLC 295, an events management class, and while it is “geared mainly for Mason’s undergrads,” anyone may attend. The students said the function’s main purpose was to give attendees tools to “improve . . . leadership effectiveness” and “grow . . . workplace satisfaction.”

Participants will hear from keynote speakers on positive psychology and leadership skills and will take part in panel discussions on the same subjects. Among the presenters are faculty members Jim Harter and Shane Lopez, who work with the Gallup Organization, and Todd Kashdan and Tojo Thatchenkery, who have written books related to the conference topics.

Undergraduate students will be charged $15 to take part, while graduate students will pay $25 and non-students will pay $50.

Workshop in Philosophy, Politics and Economics

atmospheres4 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:08:46 +0000

George Mason University philosophy professors want to show students the different connections between politics, philosophy and economics. Dr. Peter Boettke, an economics professor at Mason, said the school’s weekly seminar touching on all three areas will integrate the topics. “Increased specialization in these subjects has isolated them from what they were in the past,” said Boettke, who hopes to bring the fields closer together.

Boettke obtained his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University, has taught economics for 12 years and is a winner of the Gold Dozen Teaching Award from New York University. His open discussion on politics, philosophy, and economics occurs weekly during the school year. Boettke wants to make students realize the potential and criticism of the fields, and then use the knowledge to help write their theses.

The main guest speaker for last week’s session was Dr. Tara Smith, a professor from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been teaching for 21 years and expresses to students the deeper value of philosphy. “Most of the students are writing papers for their theses, so this interaction gives them a second-hand perspective,” said Boettke.

Students interact with Smith and other teachers to develop and present their own ideas. An updated schedule for the meetings can be found at: http://www.gmu.edu/depts/economics/pboettke/workshop/workshop_s10.html

Mason Majesty Showcases Spirit: Competition Becomes Fierce as Students Battle for Title

atmospheres4 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:03:21 +0000

Homecoming Week began on Monday with a heavy dose of George Mason University spirit. The celebration coincided with Mardi Gras and Michelle Davis, event coordinator and assistant director for programming from the Office of Student Activities, was there to bring a little New Orleans flavor to the Fairfax campus.

One of the highlights of the week-long event was the Homecoming Pageant. Traditionally, homecoming pageants have a king and a queen. However, this year’s host, Reann Ballslee, the drag queen who represented Mason as 2009’s homecoming queen, inaugurated a new tradition by naming a gender-neutral “Mason Majesty.”

Four students were up to bat in a competition that combined an overview of each contestant’s contributions to Mason, a trivia session, a talent show and a round of personal questions conducted by the Office of Student Activities at Ballslee’s discretion. The students who participated were Peter Danjczek, Lee Warner, Thomas Lee and Meredith Cutchin. All are accomplished members of Mason’s student community.

The trivia session was loaded with questions about Mason life, history and random tidbits about the man George Mason himself. For instance, who knew that rubbing Mason’s foot brought good luck, or what the four original buildings of the Fairfax campus were? The talent show offered another look into the personalities of the contestants.

Danjczek broke the ice by playing “Wonderwall” by Oasis, followed by Warner and his rendition of “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. Lee wowed the crowd with his fresh break dancing to “Love Story” by Taylor Swift, while Cutchin finished up the talent portion of the contest by singing “Part of Your World” from the film The Little Mermaid.

The last session involved personal questions asked by the events committee and Ballslee. Queries ranged from the mundane “What did you learn most during your time at George Mason?” to the embarrassing “Who do you Facebook-stalk the most?” Seniors Warner and Danjczek said that they had given much to Mason and felt that participating in the pageant was the best way to end their years here.

“I will vote for whoever is going to represent Mason the best,” said Natalie Jacobsen, a government and international politics major. She added that she was looking for someone who is “upbeat and proud to be a Mason student.” Davis said turnout was “good” but down slightly from last year, likely due to the weather.