Hi guys!

Tonight, I was able to attend one of the most inspiring and fascinating events that I have been to this semester.  I had the privilege of attending a talk entitled “A Life of Innocence and Travesty of Justice” give by none other than Ricky Jackson.  When he was only eighteen years old, Ricky Jackson, along with two of his friends, were kidnapped, taken downtown, and accused of a crime that they knew nothing about.  The police had no physical evidence or witnesses to base their investigation off of and their only testimony came from a thirteen year old boy

Mr. Jackson was released on November 21, 2014 after thirty nine years in prison and two and a half years on death row.  he spent day after day behind a cell, wondering if he was going to die and whether anyone would ever believe his innocence.  When asked about how he survived each day, Mr. Jackson said he just didn’t know.  He said that each day was much different than the other.  He had his routine of course, but thirty nine years is a LONG time.  He focused on writing letters to those on the outside as much as possible and on his faith, which he began to rely on even more and more.

Mr. Jackson said many things in his speech that I viewed to be fascinating, but one captured my attention particularly.  The thought he kept running through his head over the course of the thirty nine years was that he was not a criminal.  He knew he had done nothing wrong and he refused to let being in jail turn him into a criminal.  To be in a situation such as this, with horrific things and terrifying criminals surrounding you, to be able to keep a level head like that is extremely inspiring.

Did you go to the event? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!

Sincerely,

Julia

Hi guys!

I hope everyone’s Halloween weekend was great! This past Saturday night, I was able to attend the second night of the Musicians of Ma’alwyck event and it truly was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  Although not many students attended the event, the show still brought out a full house! The audience consisted of a different type of community, a community that quite obviously was very knowledgeable and experienced in the musical field. The show essentially combined the beauty of chamber music and ballet routines, which were performed by several members of the Loose Change Dance Collective and I was fascinated just by how smooth each part interacted with one another.

Out of all of the wonderful musicians and performers that participated in this event, I was particularly impressed by the vocal talents of Siena College’s own Dr. Tim Reno.  I participated in chorus all throughout middle school and high school, so I have seen a lot of choral and solo performances, but I have not seen any like Dr. Reno’s.  From what I could gather, the difficulty of the piece Dr. Reno performed was very difficult and the sound of his voice among the various instruments was impeccable.

Have you ever been able to see a Musicians of Ma’alwyck performance? Have you participated in one of these performances? Let me know in the comments below!

Julia

Student Intern

Hi guys!

This past Friday, I had the pleasure of attending Vocomotion 2016: NY Hopes, which was an amazing collaboration between the Siena College Choirs and NY State History students.  When I arrived to the Foy Lobby about ten minutes before the show began, I was so excited to see that there was a complete full house! Students, faculty members, and families filled the chairs around the set of risers that lined the back wall of the room and the beautiful baby grand piano was perfectly placed in the center of the room.

The pieces that was selected for the performance was thoroughly (and I mean THOROUGHLY) researched by NY State history students and each one of them had a connection to the state of New York. Before each song was performed by the Siena College Choirs, an NY history student read aloud to the audience the history of the song, and the composer/writer who created it.  I was both surprised and impressed at the intricate collaboration between the two groups, despite the huge difference in subject fields!

The talent that I had the opportunity to see during this performance was impeccable, from all who had a part.  The vocal talents of the Siena College Choirs still never cease to amaze me and Dr. Tim Reno, who was in charge of the entire event, prepared the students very well! By far, my favorite piece during the event was “Home,” performed by the Siena College A Capella club.  This is one of my absolute favorite songs to listen to and the voices of the club members truly did the original peace justice.  Their voices were incredibly powerful and they truly were singing their hearts out, something that is unfortunately not so common in some musical groups.

Did you attend Vocomotion 2016? What did you think of the performances? Let me know in the comments!

Julia

Student Intern

Hello Siena Saints!

I hope you all had a great long weekend, I know I did! As we move further into the month of October, the Siena College Liberal Arts Department is excited to be announcing several upcoming events that will be available to students, one of which I was able to attend tonight.  The Greyfriar Living Literature Series is hosted by the English Department each year and has been honored with the visits of several wonderfully talented authors, including poet Stephanie Ellis Schlaifer.  Stephanie read several of her published poems to a group of students and faculty tonight in the Maloney Great Room and greeted her audience with the utmost kindness and gratitude.

Stephanie grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and holds a BA and BFA from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.  Her work has been featured in various scholarly journals, including the Chicago Review, Colorado Review, and Best New Poets 2015 and her first full length book poems, Cleavemark was just recently published this year.  Cleavemark essentially is a lament to Ellis Schlaifer’s grandmother, who was struck and killed by a drunk semi truck driver when Ellis Schlaifer was only eleven years old.  Her poems depict various details of her grandparents’ house and how the family tries to put the pieces of the house back together again.

Ellis Schlaifer read several poems to the audience, but one of the major aspects of her work that I noticed were the descriptions of the random household objects that she remembers from her grandparents’ house as a child, such as dishes, doors, the attic, and the roof.  These objects may seem quite ordinary and mostly insignificant to the average person, but Ellis Schlaifer describes them in a way that’s very raw and emotional.  Each image is reflected back to her grandmother and her grandmother’s death, giving the reader/listener a sense that the tragedy still remains with Ellis Schlaifer to this day.

To learn more about Stephanie Ellis Schlaifer, check out her blog at https://criticalbonnet.com.

Did you go to the reading? Let me know in the comments!

Julia

Student Intern

,

GUYS.

I just came back from a special screening of the film “SOLD” and it truly was the most amazing and heart wrenching movie I have ever seen.  The film is based off of Patricia McCormick’s acclaimed novel and tells the story of twelve year old Lakshmi, a Nepali girl who is sold into the human/child trafficking industry and has to fight against the odds of horrific physical and verbal abuse, rape, and the loss of her own innocence in order to survive.  Although Lakshmi is a fictional character, her stories aren’t.  While researching the human/child trafficking industry, McCormick travelled to India and Nepal, speaking with many girls who were victims of this industry, girls who had had to go through unimaginable experiences in order to escape.  The portrayal of all the characters in the film by the actors was nothing short of incredible, particularly by Niyar Saikia, who played Lakshmi.  Niyar’s performance truly is something I have never seen before, as the raw emotions she puts into the character is not often seen through the work of such a young actor.

After the film, I had the honor of being able to hear the film’s producer, Jane Charles, speak about her advocacy for ending human/child trafficking across the world. Like Patricia McCormick, Jane Charles spent two and a half years in India and Nepal and met many survivors of this industry, which has unfortunately become a $150 billion industry.  She has worked closely with many charities both nationally and internationally to help these victims and truly shocked me by saying that sex trafficking has even reared its ugly head here in the Albany area.

One of the major points Charles made that stuck with me was her passion for educating young people about the issue.  She said, “The key to solving this problem is education, especially at a younger age.  We need to educate the next generation that it is simply not okay to objectify women.” She also went on to explain that education is even more important in Nepal and India, as the chance of girls being trafficked goes down by a substantial amount if they are in school at least to the age of sixteen.  Charles is working very closely with many international charities to rebuild schools in these countries and to bring this film to its students in order to educate them about the serious issue of sex trafficking.

“SOLD” will be released on iTunes and Netflix in January/February, so if you have the chance to see it, please do! Lakshmi’s story will truly resonate with you, as it has done with me.

Have you read the book/ seen the movie? Let me know in the comments!

Julia Lowney- Student Intern

Hi everyone!

Tonight, I had the amazing privilege of listening to Dr. Daniel W. Crofts, Civil War expert and Professor Emeritus of History at the College of New Jersey deliver his speech, “The Paradoxical Emancipator: Abraham Lincoln and the Other Thirteenth Amendment.”  His work primarily focuses on the North-South sectional crisis that eventually led to the Civil War and his literary work truly captures the essence of the troubles that plagued the United States during the 1860’s.

The aspect of Dr. Croft’s speech that I found to be the most fascinating was his evaluation of President Abraham Lincoln.  President Lincoln is naturally an iconic figure as a result of our basic knowledge of history, but Dr. Croft delved a little bit deeper during his lecture.  He heavily focused on how Lincoln had always heartily opposed the concept of slavery in the United States, even before he became involved in politics.  He examined Lincoln’s relationship with the early Republican party, saying that members of this government party such as Congressmen Joshua R. Giddings actually opposed slavery as well and that the South was highly offended by this opinion.  Dr. Croft demonstrated that aside from the basic facts we already knew, Abraham Lincoln was truly passionate about ending slavery and promoting social justice around the United States, something that we students here at Siena College value very highly.

Were you able to come to Dr. Croft’s presentation? If you did, let me know in the comments what you think! I’ve also listed Dr. Croft’s books and articles below, so go check them out!

Julia Lowney, Student Intern

Reluctant Confederates: Upper South Unionists in the Secession Crisis (1989)

Old Southampton: Politics and Society in a Virginia County (1992)

A Secession Crisis Enigma: William Henry Hurlbert and the Diary of a Public Man (2010)

Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery: The Other Thirteenth Amendment and the Struggle to Save the Union (recent)

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/daniel-w-crofts/?_r=0    Dr. Croft’s articles for the New York Times “Disunion” blog

Hi everyone!

As I sit here writing to you, I have just come back from watching the opening performance of Godspell, presented by Siena’s own Creative Arts students and members of Stage III.  I walked into this performance not quite knowing a lot about the premise of the play, but in a way I’m glad I did, because no amount of research could have prepared me for the amazing performance that took place in the Beaudoin Theater here tonight.

I could go on and on about how amazing the cast was, how well the music was performed, how great the set looked, but there was one major aspect of this performance that stood out to me.  Looking through the program that was handed out at the door, I immediately noticed that everyone who had some kind of a role in this project worked as a team. Professors weren’t separated to positions of higher authority, students were able to have significant roles behind the scenes, and actors were brought in from all over the area, including Audrey Carlton, who graduated Siena in 2014.  It really was incredible to have the privilege to see everyone’s efforts come together in one overall show and you could really see the dynamic that the cast had with one another on stage.  The entire performance ran smoothly and perfectly and I know that there were a few tears in the audience when Siena senior Matt Tenorio (who played Jesus) brought us through the final death scene!

If you have the chance this weekend, you really should try to see Godspell! Admission is completely free and on a first come first serve basis and the talent presented by the entire cast and crew is really something that cannot be accurately described in words.  The cast will be performing Friday, September 30th at 8:00pm, Saturday, October 1st at 8:00pm, and Sunday, October 2nd at 2:00pm.

Again, thanks for reading and don’t be afraid to leave a comment!

Julia

Student Intern, School of Liberal Arts 

Good morning, Saints!

In recent news, Professor Carla Sofka of Siena’s Social Work Department was interviewed by the Times Union in relation to the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Professor Sofka teaches the Death and Dying class here on campus and according to the article, has students that were only three of four at the time of the attacks.  In her interview, she offers a very interesting perspective on the variety of different responses that she has encountered with regards to the anniversary of this terrible tragedy.

“There is a whole spectrum of responses to 9/11, and it’s far less direct for those who didn’t have a loved one who died or were very young when it happened.  I’ve also spoken with victims’ families who hated the term anniversary because the memory is so painful.  They prefer to call it a date of remembrance.  The way we view the event continues to evolve after 15 years.”

The terror attacks of 9/11 were some of the most tragic and horrendous attacks on American soil and even after 15 long years, the mere thought of what happened is still very difficult to deal with.  However, people have dealt with this in a wide variety of different ways and that is what Professor Sofka teaches her students in the Death and Dying class.  She challenges them to look at death and dying and tragedy from every angle so that they will be able to truly see how humans cope, even years and years after losing someone.

Here is the link to the article and the article was written by Times Union reporter Paul Grondahl.

http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/A-soldier-Muslim-and-mother-of-a-son-killed-in-9215235.php

Have a great day!

Julia Lowney, Student Intern

Hi everyone!

In case you weren’t aware, today was Constitution Day and I had the privilege of attending the keynote speech given by Dr. Vincent M. Bonventre, one of Albany Law’s most esteemed educators.  Dr. Len Cutler of our own Political Science Department provided the introductory speech and spoke very highly of Dr. Bonventre, particularly of his teaching methods.  Dr. Bonventre had actually taught the Civil Liberties course two years ago when Dr. Cutler was away on sabbatical and students RAVED about Dr. Bonventre and the ways in which he was able to truly challenge them to think critically.

Dr. Bonvetre elaborated specifically on his elementary school education in his presentation, which was mainly a Catholic upbringing.  He spent 9 years with Catholic charities and to this day, has an enormous sense of respect for the Sisters of Mercy, whom he served with.  It was from them that he was educated in the area of social justice, one of the main concerns that students and faculty at Siena College live by.  Throughout his speech about religious liberty and whether it’s considered to be a fundamental right or a nuisance (his research concluded that religious liberty was both), he gave several instances in which his passion for social justice appeared within his professional career.  Social justice is something that everyone here at Siena considers to be very important and it truly was very inspiring to see firsthand how being educated in social justice can really affect a person’s future in such a positive way.

Did you guys see Professor Bonventre’s speech? What did you think? Let me know!

Julia Lowney

Student Intern

Hello everyone!

You have successfully reached the official blog of the Siena College Liberal Arts office, congratulations! My name is Julia Lowney and I am the new student intern for the Liberal Arts office this semester, so I will primarily be the one who will be posting. I’ll be writing various articles about events occurring on campus and about new and interesting topics going through our wonderful School of Liberal Arts. If you have any questions or suggestions about what you would like to see written about here on bLAb, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or to send me an e-mail.

Thanks for reading!

Julia Lowney jh20lown@siena.edu