Journalism

Sweetie, Purchase My Valentine

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

A short article I wrote in my journalism class at SUNY Purchase on Valentine’s Day 2011.

The total spending for Valentine’s Day is expected to hit $15.7 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation. On average, a person will spend over $116.21 on the holiday.

For SUNY Purchase students, there is quite a range on what they’ll do, and the amount of money they’ll spend on their sweetie, for Valentine’s Day.

“Tonight, my girlfriend and I are making pizza,” said Nick Sciretta, junior drama studies major. “It’s a cheap and fun dinner. We don’t need to go overboard. Spending time together is special enough.”

Phil Gallo, SUNY Purchase alum said, “I’ll probably spend about $75 on gifts for my girlfriend. Maybe a little more.”

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I Learned to Let Go of What I was Used to

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

Below is my essay that was published on This I Believe.

Besides for my stuffed purple chick with one foot and a crooked beak, my brother Eric was my first best friend. My crib became his eleven months later, and eventually we shared a small room together. Our beds were so close, we’d jump from one to the other in our footed pajamas until my mom’s exhausted voice shouted up the stairs to lie in the beds and not jump on them.

Everyone outside of our family assumed that we were twins.  I’d always point out that I was taller. Aside from my longer hair, that was the only difference. We had the same chocolate eyes and the same shade of brown for hair; we’d make the same facial expressions—usually silly ones.

I would moan and complain and curl up on the couch when I had what my parents called “growing pains” in my legs. When it came to Eric, he would giggle, run to the refrigerator, and try to figure out how big the gap was between his head and the freezer door. There was never a reason for it, besides the fact that it excited us, but my father would take out his measuring tape and tell us how many more inches we had to grow until our heads reached the freezer door. I’d chase after my brother just to make sure I still had height on him. Read More

SUNY Purchase: Juice Bar Kickoff

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

The Yoga Health Academy at Purchase College presented their juice bar kickoff last Wednesday. According to students and staff, not only is the juice beneficial to the body, but it is surprisingly cheap.

The kickoff was held in the Dribbles room in the gym. Behind the curved bar in the classroom was a Jack LaLanne juicer, surrounded by a variety of cut up vegetables, including cilantro, celery, cucumbers, ginger, carrots, beets, kale, rosemary, and plenty of sliced red apples to add sweetness to the mix. Set up across two tables next to the bar were colorful fruit and vegetable platters. There were an abundant amount of melons, grapes, pineapples, tomatoes, celery, and broccoli, along with dip and pita chips. Hanging on the wall across from the platters were three poster-sized sheets of paper, all containing the benefits of the ingredients used in the juices.

Julie Broglin, faculty advisor for yoga health, set up the juice bar in order to inform students about their health. In her yoga classes, she always saves time to show films about the importance of choosing nutritional foods and keeping your body healthy. Read More

Raising Cane

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

A feature interview I covered for SUNY Purchase’s literary and arts magazine, The Submission Magazine, in April 2011.

A row of eye-catching canes hanging across the open closet are revealed as the brown apartment door opens. They’re vibrant oranges, blues, purples, and greens, each in different patterns and sizes. From behind the door peeks senior graphic design major, Nicole Wynn, with her hair pulled back and glasses half way down her nose. After shutting the door, she walks by the collection of canes and heads for the living room.

She jokes that she took over the “messy” room as she looks around at the patterned canes and walkers up against the walls. A wheelchair is between the two couches. It was once black, but is now covered in an abstract design of the sun, its rays bursting. In total, there are 40 fashionable medical aids, most of them being canes that Wynn has designed for her senior project, along with a self-published book about her collection titled, Raising Cane.

Raising_Cane

Since birth, Wynn has been living with Multiple Hereditary Exostoses (MHE), a rare genetic condition causing multiple bony lumps and tumors to grow on all of the long bones of her body, most of the bones being irregularly shaped. According to Wynn, one in 100,000 people suffer from the condition, which comes with lots of pain and fatigue.

“The main reason I walk with a cane is because I have no hip sockets,” Wynn says. Instead, she has tumors growing in there. Read More

Disasters in Japan Affect Purchase Students

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

The tsunami that slammed northeastern Japan missed Purchase senior Kevin Cai’s home in Tokyo, but the 8.9 magnitude earthquake did not.

“The earthquake split the house in half and destroyed almost everything inside,” the arts management major said in an email. “It was my mom’s birthday so my dad had taken her out. Thank god they weren’t home.”

Over the last century, Japan has experienced 23 earthquakes that have caused major damage, according to Web-Japan.org. Estimates of magnitude make the earthquake of March 11 the largest earthquake to hit Japan and among the top five largest earthquakes in the world. 

The quake that destroyed northeastern Japan sent shock waves more than 6,000 miles away, as students and faculty at Purchase College dealt with the tragedy in varying degrees. Some, like Cai, lost homes. For others who had lived in Japan, the disaster brought up memories of past earthquakes. Read More

SUNY Purchase: Chess Club

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for The Purchase Independent.

During the Chess Club’s most recent meeting, more students showed than at any other meeting since it started. Twelve students took turns sitting across from each other, filling the two large tables, eyes scanning the chessboard for the next move.

“There are usually eight people who come every week, but there are about 15 members in the club,” said Chess Club president, Julian Norton, junior graphic design major.

Chess’s popularity is rising across the country. According to the U.S. Chess Federation, there are nearly 2,000 USCF-affiliated chess clubs and more than 100,000 chess players that participate in the USCF events every year.

Norton presented the Chess Club idea to Ricky Gunzel, coordinator of Clubs, Organizations and Services, last semester. Chess Club passed the vote and it was given an initial budget of $50. Read More

SUNY Purchase: Gender Neutral Housing Expands

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

Starting next fall, gender neutral housing will be expanded to include all members of the campus community, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. The move seems to have the support of most students and faculty.

“Gender neutral housing provides our students the opportunity to have a housing option that does not require all of the students in the apartment to be of the same legal sex,” said Emily Balcom, associate director of Residence Life.

Gender neutral housing has already been adopted at other SUNY campuses, including Geneseo, Stony Brook, and Potsdam. A number of New York colleges, including Sarah Lawrence, Bard, and Skidmore also offer the housing option.

Students who apply for gender neutral housing must apply in groups of four to fill any four-person apartment. The process is no different than individuals of the same gender applying for an apartment. All students in the group must meet the requirements for the apartments on campus. Like the rest of the campus, each student must have either 36 completed credits or be 21 years of age. Read More

SUNY Purchase: Gamers Club

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

Immersion article, November 2010.

I sat in on SUNY Purchase’s Gamers Club to see what it’s all about, and even joined in on the fun myself.

As I opened the heavy door to SUNY Purchase’s lounge located in The Olde, I was welcomed by a rush of cool air and bright lights. The yellow walls surrounded members of the gamers club, who sat hunched over in sweatshirts on the scattered red, blue, and green armchairs.

The wide eyes of the gamers focused on the 36 inch Toshiba flat screen TV on the wall as their thumbs jabbed buttons on their white Wii controllers. The clicking of the buttons and the jolts of the controllers blended in with the epic music of the club’s most popular game, Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Vice president and junior journalist major, Jason Kuang, sat on a three seated red couch.

“We play Halo sometimes,” Kuang said. He looked up from his laptop and adjusted his glasses. “We once had a ‘Retro Day.’ We played games like GoldenEye, but it just didn’t work out.” He pulled back his sleeves on his red and black striped sweatshirt. He wore an old pair of mismatched gloves—his fingers stuck out of the tops. “We’ve played Street Fighter, Mario Kart. But Super Smash Brothers is the most popular game. Everyone likes it,” he said.

The four gamers who fought at Hyrule Temple, one of the largest stages, that includes a castle and plenty of levels to fight on, all sat on the couch in front of the TV. After an exchange of “That’s what she said” jokes, they told each other to “eat it” and threatened to kill each other. Threats like “Zelda’s a bitch”, “God damn it, Diddy Kong, kill yourself already!” and “No, Mr. Saturn, you piece of crap” bounced off of the walls.

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SUNY Purchase: Campus Food

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

The sun is up and the dining areas on campus have been open for a few hours by the time the average Purchase College student awakes on the weekend. They roll out of bed, grab a few of their friends, and set out across the Great Lawn in yesterday’s clothing. Many find themselves walking aimlessly around the Hub, hoping to find something more than the usual sandwich or oily slice of pizza. Others are unsatisfied as they peer into the pastries that are on display behind the glass at Starbucks.

“I want more variety here,” says Derek Garcia, sophomore film major, as he shakes his head. “I am not happy about Zona Mexicana being closed on the weekends. I’d like my burrito!” He throws his arms into the air. “I also like Terra Ve,” he says. “But, once again, I don’t like that it’s closed on the weekends.”  He shrugs his shoulders beneath his sweatshirt. “It’s close to where I live on campus and normally I don’t mind the walk to the Hub, but it does get annoying, especially when it rains or when it snows. I don’t have much of a choice.”

Nick Mennillo, director of dining services on campus, says that certain dining areas are closed on the weekends due to “lack of participation.”

“We put out so much product, all of those bins of food at Zona Mexicana, and we don’t get enough people to eat it on the weekends.” He smoothes his tie. “There are less students on the weekends, and we wind up throwing a lot of the food away,” he says. “It’s not good to waste food like that, but what are we going to do?” He puts his hands together and intertwines his fingers. “We can’t leave it sitting out there. It looks unappetizing.” Read More

The Buffalo Theory

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

What does it take to get Purchase College students grooving? A soulful and catchy beat that can only be perfected by one of the college’s up and coming bands, The Buffalo Theory.

One stop in the Student Center or in front of Theater X to check out The Buffalo Theory has students hypnotized in its funky movement. It’s normal to see students jiving in the crowd, caught under the rhythmical spell.

The Buffalo Theory is made up of studio composition major, Jared Martin on vocals, arts management major, Joey Doino on drums, studio production major, Dan Berry on guitar, studio production major, Nash Kocur on bass, and jazz/piano performance major, Mike Zeffiro on keys. The horn section includes  jazz/trumpet performance major, Nick Fields on trumpet, jazz performance major, Eric Jellison also on trumpet, saxophone/jazz performance major, John Troy on the saxophone, and jazz performance major, August Cook on bari sax. Read More