SUNY Purchase

Lisa

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

A feature article I wrote in September 2010 on a journalist I attended SUNY Purchase College with.

Junior journalism major Lisa Eadicicco always had an interest in writing. Her adoration for making stories from the written word stems from her childhood.

“In third grade I’d love when we had to write stories with our vocabulary words for the week,” she said as she flipped her long hair behind her shoulder. “I took a creative writing class in my senior year of high school and I absolutely loved it. It was so much fun,” she said. “We wrote fiction, screen writing, bits of everything.”

She said her interest in music has also been a big inspiration for her writing.

“I played the drums in a band in junior high and I played the guitar as a freshman in high school,” she said with a smile, eyes squinted beneath brown bangs. “I was into magazines like Spin, Rolling Stone, Alternative Press.  I’d love to write for them,” she said. “Now that I’m really into journalism, I’d write for any publication.”

Eadicicco said when she first got into journalism, she wasn’t sure what to expect, but decided to major in it because she liked to write. “In journalism, it’s all about the hard facts and to me that’s interesting,” she said.

Read More

Mikey

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

A feature article I wrote in September 2010 on a musician I attended SUNY Purchase College with.

Singer-songwriter, Mikey Ballou, a junior composition major from Westchester, looks up in thought. His bleached blonde hair dangles over his eyebrows.

“Flexibility is important,” he says. “The music conservatory here offers more flexibility than most programs in other colleges. I don’t want to be limited to playing one instrument. I want to be in the studio and I want to record every instrument.”

He shakes his head and the hair over his eyes moves to one side. “I can network here. It’s nice to be in an environment where there aren’t 800 other musicians. Competition isn’t magnified as much.”

Ballou says he was exposed to music since he was a baby. He gives credit to his father, a professional musician, who he says he got his ears from. He considers himself independent from his father but it wasn’t always that way.

“My dad forced music on me ever since I was a kid and it sucked for the first few years. I wasn’t interested.” Read More

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.”

Read More

It Was Always There (Scenes)

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

Watch the video of a scene I directed (for the first time – it’s obvious) from my short story, It Was Always There, here: 

It’s so bad, it’s good!

Starring Matt Riegler as Jake and Mateo Morel as Damien. Shot by Tommy Roach.

Below are two scenes from It Was Always There (including the scene above) in screenplay form.

FADE IN:

INT.  MEG’S HOUSE – DAY  ARRIVAL

MEG and JAKE are on each side of Meg’s window, waiting for DAMIEN to leave the property.

DAMIEN

Meg?

DAMIEN taps the window’s screen twice

DAMIEN

(laughs)

Meg? It’s me. DamYou00.

JAKE

What?

MEG rolls her eyes.

MEG

His stupid screen name.

DAMIEN

Are you ladies in there?

JAKE scrunches up his face.

MEG

He knows I’m not alone, remember? He probably thinks you’re a girl.

JAKE

That piece of shit. 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

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.

Read More