Creative collaboration of music and words hits Mason

Ethos new music society and writer’s ring performed Thursday evening in Mason Hall. –Sarah Sadler/Assistant Photo Editor

CHELSEA DRAKE
Assistant Reverb Editor

Sometimes a little creativity can generate something entirely unique; never heard by the ear or seen by the eye. The creative juices were flowing in 1051 Mason Hall on Thursday as the Ethos Society and the Writer’s Ring assembled for a night of pure creation. Junior composition major and member of Ethos, Scott Miller, introduced the night to a welcoming and quiet audience. His shallow voice echoed through the carefully crafted music room as he told the audience about the collaboration and how the idea of joining music and words came to the two student associations. Miller made sure to highlight how neither the poem nor the music came first. Each piece was of its own creation, and inspiration was the true culprit in explaining how the finished piece came to be.
Miller’s words were not so much believed as they were embraced when the audience began to understand and see what he was saying. Throughout the night, pieces would start with a poem, read aloud with the accompaniment of no other voices or sound. It took a meticulous tongue to read a poem aloud without stumbling, especially one that was not the work of the reader. The voices of all of the narrators were clear and projected even when the music began. The sounds created by multiple instruments and sometimes voices complimented the poems and illustrated how the poem would have sounded if it were a piece of music.
For other pieces it was the music that came first and for some, it was both at the same time. It was the perfect dance between two art forms that kept a quiet audience as young, talented musicians, poets and narrators felt their work come alive. Sophomore English major Thomas Dean wrote a poem titled “Pale Thighs and Blue Eyes.” The audience snickered and listened curiously to the poem that delicately described a raunchy, probably familiar, scene of sex. “It’s about the death of innocence,” said Dean. “Just coming to college and seeing all the bad decisions the people I care about make on a regular basis and how it really depresses me so I thought I’d put it in a porno … in a poem.”
Dean had his poem read by a narrator. “It was surreal,” he said. He explained how great it was to have the opportunity to have his words set to music because it had always been something he admired and wished he got the chance to do. “That poem I did in about a week … I didn’t know what kind of looks I was going to get.”
“They weren’t being physically spoken or sang during the performance,” said sophomore English and psychology double major Peter Mason while explaining his role as a narrator for the performance. He practiced maybe four or five times before actually going up and reading the poems and was calm before and after the event. Mason, partner in orchestrating the evening performance said, “I started getting plans together last year … things started to come together fall of this [academic] year and then probably at the end of the fall semester are when things started to go.”
By February all the pieces were composed and all the poems were handed in to composers. In March, things were looking in tip-top shape for the authors and composers to share their talent and passion for what they do best.
Refreshing? Maybe. Hearing and learning about the things that go on in a college student’s life, or more importantly, how they interpret and express it, is what art is all about. For those who cannot put words into music, write and those who cannot put it down on paper, sing, compose and play. It was the art of expression that housed 1051 Mason Hall. With a relatively small crowd, the message was still clear: creativity is alive and well at Fredonia.

Lust, love and the in between: Open Relationships

BRITTANY NEDDO/Reverb Editor
SHANYN RUBINSTEIN/Lampoon Editor
Opinion

Consider this situation: you meet someone you really like and begin talking to them. Then you start to get physically intimate, but here’s the catch. Summer break is just a week away, what should you do? Do you continue this relationship exclusively over the summer or do you begin what can be referred to as an open relationship?
While this may be a sensitive topic for some and avoided at all costs, others may have found themselves cornered in this situation. So let’s weigh out the pros and cons.
In making an open relationship work, trust becomes a vital element in ensuring the success. So ask yourself this, is the level of trust in your relationship high or low? If high, then this might work for you, if things came down to this situation.
If you find yourself liking another individual, but have problems with committing fully or not being able to give them enough attention, then starting an open relationship supplies you with the option of being with that person but not carrying that bolded status of “in a relationship.” Some feel that college is a time to experiment and have fun so why be tied down to one single person? There are plenty of people out there so why limit yourself to just one? Instead of claiming yourself to one person you have the opportunity to meet many unique people and be exposed to new and different situations. Instead of looking at an open relationship as something that one does when they are unable to settle down, see it from the perspective of a young adventurous college student.
College is also an extremely stressful time. Besides school, clubs and a possible job, a relationship may be too much to handle. Relationships require a person to devote time that they may not be able to afford, but open relationships ease this stress.
Let’s face it. We are young. We love fun and some of us hate being tied down. Even with that said, some of us still may be looking for someone, but not something serious. Having an open relationship loosens those shackles that committed relationships normally tighten. Being in an open relationship allows for more friend time, if you’re a guy that means more time with your bros and if you’re woman that means more time with your girlfriends.
Taylor Schultz is currently in a long distance relationship but explained that before his present girlfriend, he has tried out two different open relationships between his high school days and now.
“One girl had good intentions, offering to give me some space and to see if she was the right girl for me,” explained Schultz. “When I found out she was sleeping around first, it was game over.” His second one took place while he was in college where him and a friend were hooking up and just having your typical college fun. She did not want to be exclusive but everything hit the fan a month later when she confessed her feelings to him while intoxicated. There’s always going to be the good, the bad and in the case of Schultz, the intoxicated.
Being in an open relationship can at times eliminate jealousy. That freedom allows you to look at who you want and hang out with who you want without any type of repercussions. But this is where a con falls into place; would you really want to allow the person you like go off with someone else? Having the opportunity to go out and explore what’s out in that big blue sea of other men or women could cause unexpected feelings to arise. You may find yourself losing interest quickly in your present boyfriend/girlfriend if you’re given that chance to be with someone else. Who really needs that esteem destroyer?
Why start an open relationship? Is it because your significant other is not fully satisfied with you anymore? Why do this to yourself by permitting extensive freedom? We are not saying that all open relationships are bad. Some may even help a relationship, but some may just cause the problem to worsen.
Now this con may be really going out of the ball field, but picture yourself like this: you’re hooking up with your present boyfriend/girlfriend, someone you have complete trust with and know where he or she has been. Then you guys decide on trying out an open relationship and you start hooking up with someone else. Isn’t there always that possibility of sexually transmitted diseases to be passed from one another? It’s a bit far-fetched but it could happen.

Machine Take Over of the Universe

Rich Polley
Special to The Leader
Opinion

My throat began to pulsate as a roar ripped through the crowd. My ear drum was pounding in a dark rhythmic beat, it felt as if a metallic hand reached out, penetrated my flesh and gripped my trachea while shaking and vibrating it violently. My pants, lungs, shirt, throat: anything that held air switched to vibrate.
In the dark thunderous room an electrical storm of color phased out in the shape of an “X.” The celebrated dubstep artist Excision emerged from his gigantic crystalized platform of light.
Excision headlined at Buffalo’s Town Ballroom Monday, April 2, with Liquid Stranger and Lucky Date. These three artists are only a few among many who are now a part of the dubstep revolution.
Dubstep, like other underground dance music, was single-oriented, it emerged from FWD>>, an East London night club. Dubstep is different from artist to artist, but it is mainly constructed from “largely drum and bass and 2-step garage, with grime and more reggae influenced dub as the icing,” said Phil Mcdonald, writer for Venere Travel Blog. U.K. labels such as Tempa, Techonic, Hessle Audio, Immerse and Kode9’s Hyper dub all picked up the dubstep sound at its start from FWD>>.
Thomas Bingham is a musicology professor at SUNY Fredonia and was a music journalist for 30 years, writing for over 100 publications. Bingham said, “If dubstep does become the ‘next big thing,’ as ‘everyone’ seems to think it will be, (or perhaps already is, according to some observers) yes, you will no doubt find a lot of established artists jumping on the bandwagon, hoping to extend their careers by latching on to whatever is popular at the moment.”
According to Bingham’s theory, perhaps dubstep is the next big thing, and with recent announcing of Cypress Hill teaming up with dubstep artist, Rusko, this appears to be true. Cypress Hill frontman Sen Dog said, “I just want people to still remember that Cypress Hill has been risk takers our whole career, always walking that fine line where you could fall off and look dumb or you can be pretty successful and look the smartest cat in the world, and we were ready for another challenge.”
Cypress Hill is clearly embracing the dubstep revolution with Rusko; its project is called Cypress X Rusko. It will release an EP later in the month. Rusko isn’t the only one getting hit up for projects. SBTRKT’s (pronounced subtract) phone is ringing off the hook from high profile artists such as Radiohead, M.I.A., Basement Jaxx, and Modeselektor has already asked him for his remix services, said Jose Duran, writer for Miami New Times.
Dubstep has a unique sound and is best described by allmusic.com as a “tense, almost oppressively dark sound [that] was built on tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals, which ranged from toasting, to MC’ing, to ‘proper’ R&B-oriented singing.”
It’s no doubt that Skrillex, aka Sonny Moore, has dominated the dubstep genre. Moore, previous to his Skrillex project, was vocalist for a band called From First to Last. There is no doubt that the money that was left over from the previous band and knowledge of the music industry helped put Skrillex on top of the dubstep map.
LA Weekly writer Liz Ohanesian said, “he’s already become a dance-floor god, regularly performing at festivals and nightclubs across North America and Europe to hordes of fans.” Skrillex was awarded three Grammys this year for best dance recording, best remixed recording and non-classical cinema. He even made it in Rolling Stone, announcing that Skrillex and Bassnectar along with the Disco Biscuits will be headlining the Camp Bisco festival near Albany, N.Y. The camp was founded by the Disco Biscuits in 1999 with the goal to merge live improvisational rock with electronic dance music (dubbed by the Disco Biscuits as “trance-fusion”). The next step is dubstep.
The sound of dubstep is getting closer and closer to mainstreaming every day. On the day drive commute it can be heard occasionally on the radio. Stations like BBC radio have helped deliver dubstep across the UK. Cypress Hill’s other frontman, B-Real, said, “I DJ from time to time, on our live streams that we do on breal.tv and someone asked me why we don’t spin dubstep music. I said of the electronic music growing in popularity, I don’t have a dubstep library, so I asked fans to send me a list of songs they’d like me to spin.” The next day B-Real had over 500 songs to look at, which is how Cypress Hill found Rusko. Rinse FM and pirate radio station have also helped advertise the genre.
With over 250 million people using Facebook, everyone has glanced at Facebook’s sponsored column, where dubstep has been noticed gaining tour support across the World Wide Web. On Twitter, members can simply follow their favorite dubstep artist with a snap of the fingers.
Movie producers are seeing the evolving human interest in dubstep, thus they are incorporating the genre into their promotional trailers. Producers pull in the dubstep demographic, while further pushing dubstep toward mainstream. The movie Red Tails (2012) and multiple Samsung commercials have incorporated dubstep in their promotions as well.
YouTube is being flooded like Noah’s Ark with dubstep. You can type any song into Youtube’s search bar and a dubstep remix will show up as an option; you might even find a video. You’ll also find that online radio stations like Pandora and Spotify have accommodated the dubstep demographic as well.
Even Fredonia, N.Y., has seen dubstep at local bars like Live at Doons (once The Hairy Lemon) hosting dubstep DJs. House parties have taken on the dubstep sound, and even the SUNY Fredonia stadium can be heard broadcasting Skrillex. Creek goer Avi Afek can be heard a mile away with his portable speakers, advertising the dubstep sound on his woodland adventures. Afek said, “every time I hear dubstep I have a mini-rave in my head.”
When Bingham was asked if dubstep is taking over the music industry, he said, “Not yet, though I’d say we are due for a change. The pop music that has been around for the past several years has grown stale. I find even most of my students claim to be sick and tired of it. So, maybe dubstep will be the answer, once people know what exactly it is. But since a number of my students likewise profess to hate the music being promoted as dubstep, who knows?” It looks like all we can do is wait, and see.

Editor’s Picks: Hot New Bands

La Sera
With her latest album drop, Sees The Lights, La Sera has managed to excel in the musical world with her fun-friendly indie pop harmonies and untiring, soft-sung vocals. Each track promises something different than the last from slower ballads to stronger electrified rifts, exhibiting a unique sound. If you find yourself digging the musical style of Zooey Deschanel or Lily Allen, then La Sera is sure to capture your attention and suck you into each of her songs, making it hard not to sing along.

Races
There’s not much to say about these guys other than be prepared to have your mind-blown. Nazzly vocals, catchy riffs and some soft humming all come tightly packaged in their latest debut, Year of the Witch. As the album progresses, the sound of each track transitions while the vocals remain consistent. Listeners can expect something uniquely different in each guitar hook. The instrumentals are quite vital in their latest album and are what set them apart from any other band of their kind. To all Band of Horses and Kevin Devine fans: this album is guaranteed to rev up some excitement for you.

Vacationer
Falling under the pop-indie genre, this band promises listeners with an infused blend of playful harmonies, synth counterpoints, ear-grabbing hooks and a sound that is sure to keep your attention for two hours at a time. This band is great for fans of Vampire Weekend and Toro Y Moi.

Said The Whale
“Sheer perfection” is the only way to describe this band. It’s not every day when you can turn on an album and not put it down for days, but that is what Said the Whale will do to you: completely hypnotize you with their heart-warming, fun harmonies and high energy instilled in each hook that helps push the smooth rhythm of their latest album, Little Mountain, forward.

Heartless Bastards
This list could not have enough females and here is a prime example of what great female talent can do. With a serene blend of 90s female alt. rock to the more familiar female indie styling of musicians such as Jenny Owen Youngs, Heartless Bastards brings their eclectic style to the table. Seeking to fill that female void in your life? Then this is the band for you. What to expect: if Linda Perry and Adele were to mate, Heartless Bastards would be the end result.

Avengers vs. X-Men heats up!

 

KYLE STERN
Staff Writer

Some of the most insane hypothetical battles in comic book history are finally coming to the pages of Marvel Comics. The usual “who would win in a fight?” questions tend to come down to Wolverine vs. Hulk and Thor vs. Hulk but Marvel is stretching this spectrum in ways that readers would have never of guessed in this summer’s event, Avengers vs. X-Men. Those familiar with the mythos of both groups could possibly wonder why these two groups may collide in an all-out war, considering that they are both well-known good guys who have teamed up together many times in the past to save the world/galaxy. It is all summed up in three simple words: The Phoenix Force.
Marvel has been working tirelessly to pump out mini and maxi-series to set up this pivotal event. These events have included: Avengers: Children’s Crusade which returned the Scarlet Witch, X-Men: Schism which has split the X-Men into two factions (Team Wolverine and Team Cyclops) and the most recent Avengers: X-Sanction which could possibly be released this summer.
Another question is also created with the implication of the title. What will come of the members of the X-Men who are also members of the Avengers? And what sides of the fence will Wolverine’s school stand on during the war? Being as hush-hush as Marvel is, there has been no true reveal for any of these teams. Of the fights that have been revealed, some seem to come straight out of left field, while others held no suprises: Juggernaut Colossus vs. Spider-Man, Gambit vs. Captain America, Namor vs. The Thing and Iron Man vs. Magneto.
Now considering the power of The Phoenix Force which is the pure power of destruction and rebirth, it’s easy to understand the controversy of The Phoenix Force possibly coming to take over the newest red-head on the block, Hope Summers. Cyclops, the near militant leader of the X-Men, sees the power as a possibility to restart the mutant evolution process. Captain America and Iron Man, on the other hand, remember how everything went down with Jean Grey (seen in Chris Claremont’s run of Uncanny X-Men in the 1970s). They are not fond of the idea of this force coming to destroy all life on Earth along with the planet itself.
This event is so massive that it will take at least six months to tell and needs a team of writers and artists the likes of which haven’t been seen since the 1960s. The architects of Marvel have all been brought out of the bullpen to work on this intensive project. The writers involved are: Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers and New Avengers), Matt Fraction (Mighty Thor and Invincible Iron Man), Ed Brubaker (Captain America), Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four and FF) and Jason Aaron (Wolverine and Wolverine and The X-Men). These writers clearly make for an all-star team. But what about the artists involved? The main three who will be taking turns four issues at a time are: John Romita Jr. (Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man), Oliver Coipel (Mighty Thor and House of M) and Adam Kubert (Ultimate Fallout and Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine).
The question now posed is simple: What side are YOU on?

Blue Devils Trio take SUNYAC awards

Anne Wasik, pictured above, is one of the three Fredonia Athletes that won SUNYAC awards. Other SUNYAC winners include Casey Chiesa and Broncho Rollins –Courtesy of Anne Wasik

CHELSEA KRAMER
Special to the Leader

Three Fredonia State athletes earned SUNYAC awards this week. Women’s lacrosse player and solo goalie, Casey Chiesa, men’s track and field pole-vaulter, Broncho Rollins, and softball outfielder, Anne Wasik.
Rollins is pleased with his awards but what matters to him is achieving his own personal accomplishments.
“Receiving SUNYAC athlete of the week is an honor,” said Broncho. “For me, it shows that my hard work is paying off. I don’t actually know how many honors I’ve received. I don’t really keep track of things like that. I could receive all the awards in the world, but when it comes down to it, all I care about is if I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and whether I think it’s good enough.”
Fredonia will miss Rollins’ talent as he is finishing his last season as a pole vaulter. This past week, he earned SUNYAC Men’s track and field athlete of the week and won his event at the Buckneil Bison Outdoor Classic. He beat 25 other vaulters from the three NCAA divisions by clearing 4.95 meters. Not only did he win the event, but he also beat his previous school record which is now 16’2”. Rollins will surely be a difficult athlete to replace and it will be hard to see him go.
The athletic career may not stop here for Rollins as he has dreams of pursuing vaulting after college. He would love a chance to take his practices to a higher level and really focus on a few core aspects. He also would like to start coaching.
Although the star athlete is sad about his departure, he leaves us with his greatest memory as a track and field athlete.
“My best memory was at last year’s outdoor SUNYACS,” Rollins said. “Some people would think that Nationals would be, but Nats was missing a few key things. Our outdoor SUNYAC meet was where I qualified for Nationals for the first time. What made it special was having my friends there with me when I cleared 15’ 11” for the first time. My mother was also there which made the memory even more special. It was a point of vaulting that I only dreamed about and it was the first step to reaching a new level in vaulting.”
Chiesa is honored she received her award but her main goals have to do with the team’s success as a whole.
“It’s an honorable award but I’m not sure if it’s the most important,” Chiesa said. “My goals are to win the SUNYAC championships next Saturday, May 5, and for us to make it on to the NCAA tournament.”
This is Chiesa’s third year playing for Fredonia and holding the position of starting goalie. She has earned her second straight SUNYAC goalie of the week honor after bringing the Blue Devils to a successful week of 2-0 with a .533 save percentage.
When the game is close, Chiesa certainly doesn’t freeze under pressure. She stopped 12 shots contributing to the 15-11 win against rivals Buffalo State.
“I would probably think of Casey as one of the smartest players on the team,” said teammate Lisa Hinterberger. “She always pulls through for us when we need a big save.”
Chiesa has become more confident as the years have gone by, proving that when the team does well, she does well. Chiesa is certainly a goalie that isn’t afraid to move out of her comfort zone. She comes out of the crease when needed to guard the open man, allowing her to pick up three ground balls against Potsdam. That isn’t all she got out of that game. Chiesa had 12 saves, nine of which were in the second half, bringing the girls to a 19-10 win.
“Whenever we need a big save she gets us one,” said teammate Leah Palmer. “She keeps us in a lot of games and she’s really good at reading and being smart in tight game situations.”
Last, but not least, Wasik earned her second softball player of the week award being one of the Blue Devils’ star players this season. She hit .632 (12-of-19) during the Women’s 4-1 week and had three wins during league play. Not to mention, she had four RBIs and four extra-base hits for a .842 slugging percentage.
Wasik contributed to the 9-2 win over Medaille by hitting a single in the fifth inning. When the doubleheader at Oneonta came around, Wasik meant business. She combined 5-for-7 with two doubles and three runs scored. Lastly, she finished the New Paltz twin bill with six hits. Who knows what Wasik has up her sleeve for her senior year? If she continues to move at this rate, it will certainly be a season Fredonia won’t want to miss.

Succeeding at all endeavors, Chiesa earns SUNYAC Award

Junior women’s lacrosse player, Casey Chiesa, was named SUNYAC Goalie of the Week. –Sarah Sadler/Assistant Photo Editor

SEAN LAWLER
Assistant Reverb Editor

For Casey Chiesa there is definitely no ‘I’ in ‘Team’. Her skills on the lacrosse field are matched by her respect and devotion to the women’s lacrosse team.
On April 17 the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) announced that Chiesa had been selected as the mid-Atlantic defensive player of the week. The annoucement came after being named SUNYAC Goalie of the Week two weeks in a row. Along with an ECAC award last season, this makes Chiesa a four-time award winning goalie.
She is however, rather nonplussed by the accolades, “I guess they’re nice, I don’t really think that it’s a big deal,” said Chiesa. The great part, she says, is the undeniable boost of confidence they bring, not only to her, but to the team as well.
Head coach Chris Case expressed his satisfaction with where Chiesa and the team are at as 2012 is shaping up to be the team’s best season in program history. Her abilities in the goal, Case said, while rocky at the start, have since been a tremendous confidence builder for the team defense. Having a goalie in the net he said, that can “step up and make a big save for you” adds that jolt of confidence.
Case, in observing Chiesa, sees her active and aggressive goaltending as a huge strength. If she lets a soft goal in early it can shake her up a bit but once she makes that big save, Chiesa is on her game.
“She believes that she is going to make the save and the result is that she does,” Case said.
Chiesa is a team player to the max. While she had little to say about how or why she got the awards, she believes it says a lot about the team as a whole.
“I think I got them because we won both games in those two weeks and they were really big games,” Chiesa said. “If there was a team of the week I think that would be cool.”
At the games for which she received the SUNYAC awards, the Blue Devils went up against Buffalo State and Potsdam where Chiesa made 24 saves with a .533 save percentage. Since mid-March the team had a record nine straight wins broken only by the number one seed in the league, SUNY Cortland on April 21. But they bounced back five days later to crush Elmira 16-5 breaking the seasonal win record of 13-3.
Semi-finals are to be held this Friday where the third and fourth seeds will be selected and then it’s on to Cortland to decide who will go home as champions.
It’s no surprise Chiesa has garnered so much attention with an athletic career going back to second grade where she began playing soccer. While in fifth grade, her coach and best friend’s dad encouraged her to join the club lacrosse team.
Playing high school lacrosse gave Chiesa an early taste of victory that will with any hope, be reflected in this week’s tournament. West Genesee was having a dream run as they were an undefeated team for 52 games which equates to three years. Chiesa’s senior year she and the Baldwinsville Bees knocked West Genny off their throne with a 9-8 victory with Chiesa making 14 saves.
When going off to college Chiesa had to make a choice between soccer and lacrosse because she did not want to juggle both. Chiesa decided that her skills in the latter were more honed and entered Fredonia University as an exercise science major. Now it is a balancing act, keeping up with class work and staying focused for the upcoming tournament.
School work gets done either on the bus or in the hotel which, especially during finals, can get pretty hectic. Chiesa’s grades don’t suffer, they actually thrive during the season because she keeps so organized.
Case and Chiesa share a positive yet level headed outlook for the rest of the season.
“I think the biggest thing for us is we stay down to earth and just keep doing the things we’ve been doing, and playing hard,” Case said.
Chiesa wants to see the team get the respect they have fought so hard for. “We work really hard and we are very good,” Chiesa said, “I think this last season has proved [that]-come watch our games-it’ll be exciting.”

Rising track star sprints to the top at Fredonia State

MELANIE CISSE
Special to The Leader

At the indoor track in Steele Hall, Webster Thomas stretches his legs before running.
The large room makes the 6-foot-3 track star appear much smaller than he actually is. It is the day before a track meet, and his coach, Justin McQuality stands a few feet away recording him as he sprints to the other side of the track. Before running, coach McQuality instructs him to do three “jump tucks,” which he does with ease. Thomas gets into formation, his feet resting on a starting block to stabilize himself. At the signal of his coach, he takes off. He repeats this process multiple times, preparing his body for the approaching race.
This is the daily life of senior Webster Thomas, a sprinter on the Fredonia track and field team. As of now, Thomas is the only male sprinter in the track and field program, making his working sessions a little more difficult without a partner to train with. The life of a track runner is not an easy one. Thomas trains for about two hours, seven days a week. His dedication to the sport is evident in the way he performs.
“He is definitely one of the most positive people that I know on the team,” said Alexis Perez, a sophomore sprinter. “He is extremely hard working and dedicated, and I personally love watching him run because I can see that he’s focused in everything that he does.”
Thomas has been breaking records since his arrival at Fredonia. He was recently athlete of the week and in 2010, as a sophomore transfer student, Thomas broke the Fredonia State men’s 55-meter record, completing it in only 6.44 seconds. The record before that was held for 20 years. At a Rochester meet in early April, Thomas won the 100 meter with a time of 10.92 seconds, as well as the 200 meter, which he completed in 22.25 seconds. His abilities have qualified him for the SUNYAC championship, and he also meets qualifications for the NCAA championship. Despite his many successes, Thomas remains humble and constantly strives to achieve more.
When he is not training he is studying, painting or working on animation. Thomas is an animation major at Fredonia and has been for the past three years since he transferred from a school in Kingston, Jamaica. A stark difference from the tropical island he hails from, it took some time for Thomas to get used to life in upstate New York. He came to SUNY Fredonia because of two of his passions: track and animation. He somehow manages to balance academics and sports, a challenging feat for many in college.
It wasn’t until his father saw him running at the age of 13 that Webster discovered he had talent. He had wanted to play soccer, but was told by his father that he would perform better at track because of his speed. Track and field in Jamaica is vastly different Thomas explained, “It’s a lot more speed work right away, but here it’s all about developing slowly into speed work. It’s different, but it gets the job done.”
While the changes in track and field head coaches in the past several years may have affected some athletes at Fredonia, Thomas does not believe that it has affected him negatively. Instead, he has tried to see the positives in the situation and has used the change in coaches to help better himself, rather than seeing it as a detriment.
“It doesn’t matter who coaches you, it just matters what you want to achieve,” Thomas said. “If it takes a weekly coach to come and do the job, I’m down for it. I just want to succeed.”
This is assistant coach Justin McQuality’s second year coaching the track team at SUNY Fredonia. McQuality has helped to develop Webster’s technique over the past two years, “Webster has changed a lot. When I first came in, Webster was a little Jamaican-style. He was on his own time schedule. He’s really adapted, and made himself into what we feel is one of the top athletes in the country at his events.”
Thomas feels he is still in the developing stages in terms of his abilities, and hopes to continue to improve his skills.
“Before, his discipline wasn’t really there. I think that’s the biggest difference between now, and when I first stepped in,” McQuality said. “He’s much more focused, and much more disciplined. And the drive to be a better a better athlete and a better person is there now.”
This determination reflects in Webster’s academic and athletic life. After graduation in May, Webster Thomas plans to continue with animation and track, and hopefully do both professionally in the future.

A pitcher’s nightmare ends, Gascon gets back in the game

Josh Gascon pitches during a game during a Fredonia State baseball game. –Courtesy of Matt Palisin

TYLER HOWELL
Staff Writer
Warming up, Josh Gascon felt a bit of pain. But hey, what pitcher can say they’ve never come across a little pain here and there?
The first batter comes to the plate but sits right back down in the dugout after a quick three pitch strikeout. The following batter gives more of a battle, fighting off some pitches until the umpire calls strike three as he got caught looking on a pitch inside.
Up next comes the three hitter, the best pure hitter on the opposite team.  Simply put, Gascon’s feeling untouchable, a great way to start a season. The first two batters go down easy in the first game of the year. Gascon winds up and hears, “pop-pop,” two small crackling sounds that come from his elbow while letting go of the ball. Instant shooting pain is coming from the inner part of his elbow.
To waste time Gascon walks off the mound apparently cleaning the ball off but in actuality biding time to see if the pain will vacate from his elbow.
Despite the pain being seemingly unbearable, Gascon takes his spot on the mound. He throws three straight pitches that are all off target and the batter throws his bat in the direction of his team’s dugout and walks to first shaking his head.
With pain still aggravating Gascon’s elbow, he attempts to ignore it. His first two pitches to the fourth hitter in the opposing team’s lineup are fastballs for strikes. Neither of them close to what Gascon’s usual high 80’s, occasional low 90’s fastball can get to. Taking the mound, Gascon gets set and “fires” a fastball clocked at 45 mph and the hitter jumps out of his shoes swinging for strike three and the inning is over.
On March 17, 2008, Josh Gascon experienced a pitcher’s worst nightmare.
“I went behind the dugout, popped about 5 or 6 ibuprofen and just stayed back there the entire half inning because I felt like I was going to barf,” said Gascon, then a student-athlete at FLCC. “I went back out, tried to just keep going and gut it out. But after my first warm up pitch went about 25, 26 feet I knew I’d only be hurting myself and more importantly the team if I kept going.”
After the game he was taken to the hospital right away and sure enough, he found out that he had in fact torn his MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament) in his right elbow.
“Right when the doctor told me I needed surgery, I kind of broke down a little bit, because I really never thought I’d be able to come back from the injury,” Gascon said.
The surgery he had to get was the infamous Tommy John Surgery. Tommy John was a pitcher in the major leagues for 26 seasons but in 1974 he sustained an injury to his elbow. For the procedure of the surgery, a tendon is taken usually from the forearm and then used to attach the part of MCL that was torn.
Before Tommy John had the surgery, the injury ended pitcher’s careers. Since then, thousands of athletes from amateurs to professionals have taken on the surgery and successfully continued their baseball careers.
Gascon had a respectable high school career in Livonia, N.Y. He was a four year varsity player, three time all-star and during his senior year he led all Livingston County pitchers in strikeouts (100 plus), wins (9) and he was second in ERA (2.30).
“When I was a freshman in high school I remember seeing him pitch in Livonia and he was throwing 90[mph],” said Adam Szczupakowski, a former teammate of Gascon at FLCC. “I remember thinking he was a beast.”
Gascon only played one season and that one inning at FLCC, before transferring to Fredonia State this past fall.
He didn’t make the move to Fredonia alone though. Junior, shortstop John Bennett, a friend of Gascon’s chose to transfer to Fredonia State at the same time as Gascon.
“Gascon has been like a brother to me, even here,” Bennett said. “Coach Palisin talked to us both at the same time after a game at FLCC. Definitely one of the best friends I’ve ever had. We didn’t plan on transferring together, however him being here is one of my favorite parts of this college.”
Gascon’s surgery caused him to miss almost three years because of the rehabilitation process. This process is usually expected to take about 12 to 18 months now with proper methods. But it can be quite expensive to rehab from such an injury for an amateur athlete who is not getting paid to play. The amount the surgery costs alone can be staggering and that doesn’t even include the rehabilitation process, which is supposed to be three times a week.
Despite the time Gascon missed playing baseball, he’s made an impact on some of the people that now know him the best, but may have never had the opportunity to do so if it wasn’t for his injury.
“I’ve known Josh for little over a year now,” said Chris Fazio, also a former teammate at FLCC. “One of my closest friends I met at Finger Lakes. He is one of the hardest working individuals I have ever met. I faced Josh only once [in practice]. I worked the count but I popped up against him.”
Gascon had the surgery on April 24, 2009, just over a year after his injury. Without baseball Gascon decided he’d take up something he was successful at in high school: soccer.  He only played soccer his senior year in high school but he still managed to be named a county all-star as well as a member of the exceptional senior game.
In Gascon’s second year at FLCC he was named to the all-conference team as a stopper. He admitted that he doesn’t have many foot skills, normally the main gift any soccer player has, but he did say what he did well was leaping up and getting headers. It wasn’t baseball but the main thing he loved about soccer was the slide tackling.
Baseball was gone, but not completely. During Gascon’s rehabilitation process, he taught himself how to do something many people can’t do.
“I actually learned to throw left handed so I could continue to be around the game as much as I possibly could,” Gascon said. “It took a lot of practice but I can play a good game of catch. I actually clocked my left arm at 64 [mph] one day, but I don’t have any pitching control with my left arm.”
Throwing lefty at 64 mph as a righty? There are people that can’t even throw that with their dominant hand. While 64 mph may fool a batter once in a while, it wouldn’t be enough to maintain consistency at the division III level.
Gascon obviously knew that his left arm wasn’t going to allow him to play competitively, but he did know one thing.
“After about a week [after the surgery] I knew I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t work at being able to play once again,” Gascon said.
Gascon has appeared in six games while starting two. His record is 2-0.
While Gascon and the Blue Devils baseball team haven’t had their ideal season, Gascon has worked extremely hard to get back to playing baseball. Even though he admits that he is only able to throw around 84 mph now, he’s allowed to play the game he couldn’t live without.

NBA playoff preview: Is it time for the king to get his crown?

JARED KRACKER
Assistant Sports Editor

Just a few months ago, basketball fans everywhere feared there would be no NBA season in 2012. The lockout did shorten the regular season by 16 games, but in the end fans got what they wanted. The playoffs are finally upon us and we are two months away from crowning the next NBA champion.
The Eastern Conference has shaped up exactly how many people saw it coming into the season. Chicago and Miami are sitting atop the conference and are the favorites to represent the east in the NBA Finals. The Bulls are truly a fascinating story because they were without last year’s MVP Derrick Rose for the majority of the season. Tom Thibodeau has to be the favorite to win coach of the year with the amazing job he has done in Chicago. The Bulls play solid fundamental basketball and went through the season without a true star leading the team. Their story is even more unbelievable seeing as how they finished ahead of Miami for the second straight year.
Miami finished second in the Eastern Conference last season and still advanced to the finals. This year they were lackadaisical at some points in the season, but that was to be expected. This is a team that is constantly reminded that nothing they do matters until the finals. Therefore, it was not easy for this team to get up for every regular season game. I do believe that when this team is completely healthy they are the best team in the league without question. They will need to turn on the switch heading into the postseason because they are not exactly on fire heading into the playoffs.
The east is top heavy, but there is room for a few surprises. Indiana has coasted through the year sitting in the three seed playing outstanding basketball. They have a great starting five led by Danny Granger and Roy Hibbert and are one of the deepest teams in the league. Boston is another team with finals experience that I could see making a serious run. They have a veteran group who has a championship pedigree and an outstanding head coach in Doc Rivers. You cannot count the Celtics out and I would not rule out Indiana either.
Atlanta and Philadelphia are talented teams, but will exit in the first round. The Orlando Magic have absolutely no chance to advance now that Dwight Howard is lost for the season and will likely be swept by Indiana in round one. Lastly, the New York Knicks are an extremely dangerous lower seed, but will ultimately lose in the first round to one of the top powerhouses. The Knicks are a year away from being serious contenders in the East, but this year they will just gain some playoff experience and exit in round one. I am sticking with Miami and taking the Heat over the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Final.
The Western Conference is much more wide open.  The San Antonio Spurs veteran group is at it yet again when everyone counted them out. They are followed by the Oklahoma City Thunder who may have the best team in the conference. The Los Angeles Lakers can never be counted out as long as Kobe Bryant is on the court. The Clippers and Grizzlies are also full of talent and are two teams that could make a deep run this postseason. It would also be a crime to count out the defending champion Dallas Mavericks who no one expected to win it all last season. The Nuggets and Jazz have bright futures with their young talented rosters, but they are at least a few years away from contending in the West.
With this in mind, I think it comes down to the Thunder and Spurs in the West. It will be a battle of youth versus experience to determine who plays in the finals. I think it is Oklahoma City’s year to take that next step and get to the promised land. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are the most dynamic young tandem in the league. Their speed and athleticism will weigh down this older Spurs roster in a six or seven game series. I think it will be a battle of the two seeds with Miami and Oklahoma City facing off for the NBA crown.
Who will win their first title, Durant or James? What MVP candidate will step up and dominate for his team? In my opinion, I see the Miami Heat getting over the hump in their second year with Bosh, James and Wade and winning it all. This will be a seven game series that comes down to the wire, but it is time for LeBron to get over the hump and quiet the naysayers. This would be a great NBA Finals matchup and I think it would be one for the ages.