SUNY Purchase

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

Leila

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

Every few weeks you can find a crowd of Purchase College students in the Food Co-Op waiting to sing along with singer-songwriter, Leila Hegazy.

The sophomore majoring in studio composition from Staten Island says she chose to come to Purchase instead of her number one choice, Berklee College of Music, because it was the smartest financial decision. She says that it’s great because the campus is friendly and she gets to do what she loves.

Hegazy’s singing began when she was a child. “I enjoyed singing as a kid. I made up songs in the shower.” She smiles. “I sang about glue and crayons and teddy bears. I also enjoyed singing in front of people.” Read More

The Purchase Independent

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for my journalism class in February 2010.

Students on the Purchase College campus have recently noticed a change in their weekly newspaper, The Purchase Independent. It hasn’t been as satisfying to them as many of the previous issues have been.

From the seniors who have been flipping through The Purchase Independent every Thursday to the curious crowds of freshmen, their talk about the beloved college publication is the same: The Indy is lacking material to write about.

Editor-in-chief, Mariel Loveland, a senior Creative Writing major from New Jersey says that it isn’t only The Purchase Independent that is struggling for stories to cover, but the college’s online news source, The Brick, also does not have much to write about. She says it’s because many Purchase students do not want to be involved in campus activities, and therefore, nothing much happens on campus.

“There also aren’t many people who are interested in writing for the newspapers here. Everybody would rather be drinking and partying,” Loveland says. “The Purchase Independent is like a community, we’re all really close and very accepting. People don’t understand that you don’t have to write.” She says that there are also layout positions, and that you don’t have to be a part of the newspaper to submit your articles, comics, or anything else that is considered intriguing to the student body. Read More

Illuminated Stripes

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An interview I covered for The Submission Magazine in December 2009.

See pictures at http://www.TheSubmission.net, Issue 26.

Ding! The doors rumble as they slide open and I follow Jeff Gardner into the elevator of the Neuberger Museum. I’ve heard about his design, Illuminated Stripes, but was not expecting such vivid color. Jeff, in his heavy jacket, smiles as my eyes explore the flashy column of colors on the back wall. Deep blue rests on yellows, oranges, reds, and purples that are stacked on bright green. Similar colors race up the dark panels as streaks of light. Jeff looks amused as the gray doors clash together, forming in large, white, vertical print: Neuberger Museum of Art.

Neuberger_Museum_Elevator.jpg

The $3,800 project began with pulling the measurements from all of the wall panels, in order to install the vibrant ones. Jeff jokes that if Oxford Color, the vinyl printing company, didn’t hang the panels, it wouldn’t have looked as good because he wasn’t sure how to do it.  He focuses on the humming lights above us and points. He and some classmates deconstructed them, cleaned the dusty glass panels in the ceiling, and by himself, set up the lighting exactly the way he had it planned out.  I am mind-boggled as he explains the technicalities of the plexiglass strips that are dazzling the walls with color.

“They are 2.5 inches by 95 inches.” He presses a hand on the wall while still making eye contact and explains, “the reason for the dimensions are because behind the strips are little indents that are all separate panels, it’s not a continuous wall.”  He goes on to say that the lighting strips he used are paper-thin strips of LED lighting that he ordered from China. They were $4.45 per linear foot there, which is much cheaper than Port Chester’s $17.00 per strip. After receiving the lights, he figured out the amperage to effectively brighten up the elevator. Each strip needs only one amp of power, and the lights put out 12 volts of energy.

Jeff takes a step back and inspects the floor, his palms face upward as he outstretches his arms. The floor was never in the original budget, but his design wouldn’t be complete without vinyl flooring.  He, along with some help, put the hickory vinyl plank flooring together. “One of the interns that work at the museum and I were in here for four and a half hours on our knees, peeling and sticking,” he says, imitating the movements of peeling and sticking with his hands.

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