Filed under: entertainment, theater | Tags: Comedy, Improv, Ithaca, theater
By Monica Watson
A geologist, a romance novelist and a Catholic schoolteacher walk into a dance club. No, this isn’t the start of a lame joke, but instead the start of Wing Space Theater’s holiday improv show held at the Oasis dance club in Ithaca on the 13th.
Lauren Cahoon Roberts is a writer from the Ithaca area who performs with the troupe. She said that the area has a lot of great venues for different kinds of art, but is lacking when it comes to comedy. She said she likes that people are able to have another venue to experience a different form of art.
“Ithaca’s a great place for all sorts of artistic productions,” Roberts said. “I think we have a lot of great music, and I think we have a lot of great theater. I don’t think we have as much comedy stuff and it’s really important to have that part too. I’m not saying that we’re incredible and filling that niche completely, but I think people like having a third option.”
Deirdre Levine is a New York Times bestselling author who lives in the Ithaca area and performs with the group. She got into improvisational comedy by being an audience member first. She said that the group is important for the community to help them laugh more and loosen up.
“People need to get out and lose themselves,” Levine said. “I think it’s fun to just get out and see people be funny. And I also think it frees people up. I remember the first time I saw improv and I wasn’t doing it. I thought, ‘That looks like a lot of fun,’ and it is a lot of fun. So, I don’t know, I think it’s fun for people to watch and for people to do.”
Kristin Sad is a local performer who came to watch Wing Space’s performance on Sunday and had seen the group perform a few times previously. She said she is amazed by how funny people can be on the spot and likes that it is another outlet for artists to perform.
“My personal reaction has been one of amazement that people can actually improv like this,” she said. “It’s just delightful. Especially, sometimes when they go wrong it’s really funny. Also, it gives local talent the place to strut his or her stuff, and that’s always important. And for another, it’s just a good way to spend an evening. As an audience member it’s so much fun to come here and really see people freak out and do what they’re good at. The fact that it’s unstructured is so fun.”
Director Nicholas Clarey said that the theater brings together people who have a love for improv but don’t want to pursue it for a career.
“We are a group of people who have a passion for the craft,” Clarey said. “Most of us have not chosen this as a occupation or something we’re going to do for a career. But it is something we all love, so we come together as a group.
Levine said that it provides her with a chance to interact and work with people since she spends a lot of time working by herself as a writer.
“I’m a writer, so I work all by myself all day,” Levine said. “So, the thing about Wing Space is that I get to interact with other people. And I get to improvise with other people and bounce ideas off of other people whereas when I’m working it’s me and my own head.”
The troupe enjoys having people from all different walks of life perform. Roberts said that it has affected them positively by bringing in all different kinds of humor to performances.
“It’s really helpful to have people from different backgrounds and different ages,” Roberts said. “We’ve got a guy in his 60s and we’ve got a girl in her 20s, and they’re going to bring different things to the table. I think this is the most diverse group we’ve had so far and I think it’s our funniest group. So I think the diversity really adds to the humor.”
Audience members agree and can also see how the diversity within the ensemble enhances the performances.
“It brings all sorts of different color to the performances,” Sad said. “There are some older people with academic backgrounds and the younger kids. It shows in what they bring to the improv, their background is a major part of that, and so that makes it even more exciting because you have the variety.”
Filed under: Uncategorized
By: Tori McClurg
Sara Clarke, a junior at Ithaca College, dresses in her Army reserves officers training corp. uniform for her lab training and preparation for the Army, as she does every Tuesday. The number of college students dressing in their Army attire as a result of their enrollment in the ROTC program has recently seen a significant increase.
With the economic state on a continuous downhill turn a number of students are thankful to have their ROTC scholarship.
The ROTC provides many incoming freshmen and current students with scholarships that pay all tuition and fees, as well as $1,200 a year for books, a monthly stipend and usually includes full room and board.
Jon Connell, a senior Cadet Major, said, “I have seen the program grow every year since I’ve started.”
Kirby Huber, a physical therapy major at Ithaca College has helped to contribute to the growth of the program. She joined in her senior year of college, which is unusual for the program, but Huber said,
“I always thought about being in the Army. Once I got more involved with physical therapy department here I knew I wanted to be a civilian in the Army. I wanted to do it because it’s the demographic of patients that I’m interested in- they’re young, fit and motivated. There is a lot more freedom.”
Huber had considered being in the Army in high school but continued to debate the subject with herself she said.
“The kick in the pants to actually get started was the money,” said Huber.
Meghan Taglang is in charge of recruiting, finance and public affairs with ROTC. She said that ROTC is making more of an effort to inform people on the opportunities that the program offers. They recruit at anytime possible, by utilizing open houses, school events, and college tours. Taglang works with students at Cornell, Binghampton, and Elmira to further the recruitment in ROTC.
Taglang said they have seen a 25 percent to 35 percent increase in enrollment since 2007.
“A lot of the freshman coming in, I think, are really looking for the program because they hear that it’s a scholarship opportunity, so they look into it more,” Taglang said.
Taglang admits that when she was a freshman the main reason she looked into the program was because of the scholarship the Army offers.
“ I never thought I’d do anything involved in the Army ever in my lifetime,” said Taglang when asked to describe her reasons for getting involved with ROTC,
“The money was the main reason I looked at it but then once I got in the program and started doing stuff I loved it,” Taglang said.
“Hearing hey, you can get four years of school paid for people are normally like, oh really? How?” Taglang.
Taglang said that the program sometimes finds they lose people in the beginning of the semester who realize ROTC isn’t something they want to do. She said that the Army, “doesn’t want people in it who don’t want to actually do it.”
You can be in ROTC without a scholarship but very few people choose that route, Taglang said. You need a 2.5 GPA to get the scholarship and then you need to keep above a 2.0 GPA. Continuing to pass the psychical training test the Army gives each semester is another requirement for keeping the scholarship.
There are long-term benefits to membership in the program. Students who graduate from college and complete an ROTC program are able to start off at a management level, or an officer in some cases, when they enter the military.
Despite the economy, the Army ROTC have yet to experience any serious budget cuts for scholarships.
Ithaca College and Cornell University are two of many schools around the nation seeing ROTC enrollment increases.
“Given the current economic times, offering full scholarships, free books, a stipend, and large low-interest loans are all enticing to young men and women,” said Aaron Furtner a senior Cadet Major with ROTC.
“Although many people enter ROTC for the economic benefit, most who actually complete the program find that they couldn't imagine themselves not in ROTC” said Furtner.
The scholarship is a significant amount of money but Army pride for our nation is something you simply cannot buy.
The scholarship is a significant amount of money but Army pride for our nation is something you simply cannot buy.
The scholarship is a significant amount of money but Army pride for our nation is something you simply cannot buy.
“I know I’m going to get deployed and that’s okay with me because I think if other soldiers have to get deployed I should too. And I’ll be working with people who deserve it the most” said Huber.
Katie Quinn-Jacobs and the rest of the 162 members of IthaCan have mad a “life style choice” that will save them money while reducing their carbon footprints.
Jacobs has create a social networking website to assists people who preserve their own food or are wishing to start preserving their own food.
“The goal of the Web site is to make more connections between the consumers and farmers,” said Jacobs. “When you start making these connections you realize that food perseveration is a really important link between those two. In this community we don’t have any way of processing food unless we do it in our home. We don’t have any commercial base dedicated to doing that.”
The IthaCan website is a spin-off the Web site Prepared Tompkins, which Jacob created years before this site.
“There was a local food preservers group in town where we would get together and preserve in each others home. It was such a positive networking experience, but then we wanted to expand to a larger community. People wanted to join the group but when it gets to big it stops working. So I came up with the social network Web site. Part of it is to share information and the other part is to get together in each other’s home to show each other how to do things,” said Jacob.
On the site there are a variety of groups such as fermentation, canning, or cellaring that provide an area of discussion in regards to the topic. When people are faced with problems related to a certain topic they can look to find ways to solve their problems. If they have had great success persevering their own food they can also share videos and tips to the rest of the community.
“IthaCan has inspired me to try new things because I know I have the resources to follow through on it,” said Marlo Capoccia , an IthaCan member. “I also have people to ask questions when I panic, which is often. I know that a generation or two ago I would have seen a lot more canning sessions and would have had much more confidence doing it alone. Feeling that, having people to answer my specific questions keeps me canning when I might otherwise be afraid and quit.”
There are several benefits of preserving your food versus purchasing your food from the local grocery store.
“Say you process apples that were locally grown but not organically locally grown and made apple sauce out of it. It will actually taste better than the stuff you buy at Aldi’s and Wegmans. The flavors will be better. Will it be cheaper, no. But if you do it with organically grown apples, get a bushel and you process them yourself even with the added cost with the fresh apples it’s still cheaper than buying off the shelf organic applesauce and it tastes better. It’s a freshness thing that happens when you do it in your own home. I don’t know what they do in the big processing plants but they do something and it changes it.
Although food preservation has been more common in the past, during this economic hardship it has become more of a common practice. According to a survey done in 2007 by the National Center for Home Food Preservation about one in five households can their own food. According to this same survey, when asked where the subjects got their information 59 percent said their families or friends, which makes this Web site a great tool to further collect information.
The IthacCan website has planned several different activities to help all the food preserving novices. In February they will be holding a butchering workshop hosted by a local butcher who is an active member of the Web site.
“Ithaca still has a lot of people who can turn summer bounty into winter survival,” said Capoccia, “Even if it never happens, it’s a nice thing to know.”
If interested in Pig Butchering 101 Course hosted by Timothy J Haws it will take place on February 4, 2010 from 6-8 p.m. in Romulus, N.Y
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Filed under: Uncategorized
By Casey Musarra
Ithaca College senior Nate Tao, a music major, belts out a solo during Ithacapella’s concert last year. His parents sit front row center, but they don’t hear his melodious voice take hold of the rest of the audience.
Anni and Mark Tao are both deaf. They were born in Taiwan where they received a small pox vaccine that left both of them with hearing loss. While neither of Nate Tao’s parents can hear, he said they have still played a major part in his music career.
“My parents haven’t directly influenced me in the way that when they hear my music they say, ‘Oh, I liked that’ or ‘I didn’t like this,’” Nate Tao said. “It’s more like they encouraged us to really get involved early.”
Nate Tao said his parents’ condition has not greatly affected the way he communicates with his parents. He learned American Sign Language at a young age and uses that when he’s with them. When he’s away from home, he said it’s not much different than any other college student — he uses text messaging, e-mail and other virtual ways to talk to his parents.
“That’s just all I’ve ever known so I’m just used to that,” he said.
Nate Tao has combined his knowledge of American Sign Language and his singing abilities to his advantage when performing.
“It’s kind of hard, but it definitely works,” he said. “It’s a great way to connect two worlds, so to speak.”
Anni and Mark Tao said though they are unable to actually hear, they enjoy attending concerts and seeing Nate Tao on stage. They said they often feel an emotional reaction to the vibrations as well.
“Singing isn’t just about hearing,” Mark Tao said. “It’s about feeling too.”
Nate Tao began singing when he was in middle school, but even before that, his grandmother pushed him and his siblings to play the piano.
“My older brother and sister both started playing the piano when I was like 5 or 6 and I said, ‘I want to do that too.’ I started taking lessons for about seven years then after a while something wasn’t clicking, so I decided to stop.”
Nate Tao originally came to the college as a vocal performance major, but decided to switch, which allowed him to graduate a full year early in May 2010 instead of May 2011.
“[Vocal performance is] very operatic and it wasn’t really my thing, so I switched,” Nate Tao said. “I’m still a music major, but just not performance-wise. I decided to do that because I kind of want to get out and do music.”
Nate Tao gave up the opportunity to appear on NBC’s hit new show, The Sing Off, in order to stay in school and finish his degree.
“I would actually not be here right now,” Nate Tao said. “It would’ve been from Thanksgiving until winter break taping in Los Angeles. One of my teachers wasn’t very excited about it so I decided to just stay and finish school.”
Mark and Anni Tao both said they were glad their son decided to stay in school.
“As much as we’d like to see [Nate] succeed in his music career, it’s always good to have something to fall back on,” Mark Tao said. “I definitely have a lot of confidence in his ability as a performer, but education is still our primary concern.”
Anni Tao said when she can’t make it to Nate Tao’s concerts, she likes to watch his YouTube videos and blast the music.
“There are definitely times that I wish I could hear his voice, especially when I see how much the audience loves him,” Anni Tao said. “It’s something I think about now more than ever because of how real his music career is turning out to be.”
Nate Tao said there have been times during his performances when he wished his parents could hear, but he said that’s not the most important thing.
“There’s kind of a lost connection because you want to tell them, ‘Oh, I sang this high note’ or ‘I sang this solo,’” he said. “They don’t really understand it because they can’t hear it, so it’s kind of lost in translation. But we’re all happy and we’re really lucky.”
