Students Uninterested in Midterm Elections

As many as 48.5 percent of millennials turned out to elect Barack Obama to presidency twice, but during the 2010 midterm elections, that number was reduced to only about 15 percent in Pennsylvania.

This drop in participation propelled conservatives to the governorship and U.S. senators seats.

That is why Point Park’s College Democrats are meeting with the University of Pittsburgh’s College Democrats to work on the Get Out and Vote campaign.

They are attemptiong to register as many voters as possible this year to get people to vote in the elections because control of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office and Congress will certainly be decided by 18-to-24 year olds.

“It’s important for both parties to know their stance; we’ve had Gov. Corbett for a while and there have been some issues especially with students, like the Pell Grant being threatened to be taken away,” Rachel Wyatt, president of the Point Park’s College Democrats, said in a phone interview.

In 2010, just two years after President Obama’s first victory in the presidential election, Republicans Pat Toomey and Tom Corbett were elected to the senate and governor’s chair, respectively.

They have since voted against women’s rights, gay rights, raising the minimum wage and have both participated in slashing the education budget.

The College Democrats are involved with the Tom Wolf campaign to get people registered to vote.

“We are asked, as citizens, who we want to represent us in the government. We don’t get our own personal voices heard most of the time, so we have to get our voices out through politicians that run for governor, senator, congress or state representative. We have to make sure we have the right people for our voices to be heard,” Wyatt said.

Wolf is leading Corbett, according to four independent polls, the Franklin & Marshall College, Muhlenberg College, Quinnipiac University and Yougov.

Pennsylvania is not the only state with upcoming elections.

“The important races are L.A., N.H., [and] N.C.. The Republicans may do well, but then again they may not. Some of the races are very close—really close—so attention is paid closely because they’re important,” Nathan Firestone, a political science professor at Point Park, said.

Many students come from outside the states and are familiar with the candidates of another state or city. Julian Ransome is from Washington, D.C., and he is following the hometown election.

“I’m focused on the mayoral race [of Washington, D.C.]. The current mayor, Vincent Gray, is running for reelection, and I plan on going back home just to vote [to re-elect Gray],” Ransome, freshman Mass Communications major, said.

Voting is important for college students and young voters, but Pennsylvania ranked forty-fifth out of fifty states in 18-to-24 year olds voting.

“A lot people don’t vote because they are not very educated on the political stances, and what’s happening in the government. They are focused on their career and schooling. A lot of people seem not to care to vote because they feel their voices won’t be heard anyway,” Wyatt said.

Many people believe their vote matters, despite their vote being the one of several.

Paul Fields, sophomore broadcast reporting major, has an interesting take on votes mattering.

“In truth and in terms of hopeless optimism…our country was founded upon democracy of getting out and voting. However, it’s up to the elected officials to do their jobs well and live up to the ideas that voters believe,” Fields said.

Voting is essential in a democracy that is for the people, but if the people don’t indicate who they want to take office and take action, then the system of democracy crashes. Millennials, 18-to-24 year old, tend not to align themselves with a political party, Republican or Democrat.

“The party system does not satisfy their political concerns, despite the changes over time to the parties, a lot of the negative commentary about politics comes from talk radio,” Firestone said.

Some students such as Annalise Bezri, sophomore Advertising and Public Relations major, don’t really know much about this year’s governor’s office candidates due to schoolwork, but has registered to vote.

“Yeah, it’s most likely [because of school], but when I turned 18, I registered to vote. It was an election year for the presidents. That was the only thing I voted for,” Bezri said.

Oct. 6 was the last day to register to vote, but the deadline to request for an absentee ballot in Pennsylvania is Oct. 28 and the return date for absentee ballots is Oct. 31. The general election day in P.A. is Nov. 4.

This story was published in Point Park University’s The Globe.

Pittsburgh Walk to Bring Awareness to Alzheimer’s

Aileen Lovett was four years old when her grandfather, Charles Robinson, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and she watched the memory-loss affliction ravage him most of her life.

“When you’re young, you don’t understand what that means. As I got older, I started to understand more and more [about Alzheimer’s],” Lovett, a staff member at the Alzheimer’s Association, said.

Lovett, who is so committed to stopping the disease that ended her grandfather’s life, earned a minor in gerontology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and worked in the field for two years.

That is why she will participate in the 2014 Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Oct. 11 on the North Shore near Heinz field.

“My goal is to make sure no family has to go through the stress of Alzheimer’s,” Lovett said.

Registration begins at 8 a.m., with pre-event festivities such as Zumba. Radio station BOB FM will be broadcasting live at the event, and Representative Mike Doyle will talk about his support of Alzheimer’s legislation.

Melissa Roberts, the event coordinator for the walk, is working the event for the third straight year and her favorite part of it is the Promise Garden ceremony.

“It’s an opportunity for people to honor those who are living with the disease, and remember those who have passed from [it],” Roberts said.

Each person who comes to the walk gets to select a pinwheel flower of four colors: blue represents those who have Alzheimer’s, purple is for someone who has lost a loved one to the disease, yellow represents someone who is currently supporting or caring for someone with the disease, and orange is for everyone who supports the cause and vision of a world without disease.

Suzanne Weessies, a family services coordinator for the Alzheimer’s Association, is working the Walk for the first time and believes it brings awareness to the cause.

“Most of the people who walk are people who are directly affected [by Alzheimer’s. They] spend months, even the whole year between walks raising money and awareness in their communities. It’s almost a celebration on the day of the event,” Weessies said.

The walk officially begins at 10 a.m. There are two routes used for the walk; a route that is a full mile and another route that is two and a half miles.

Point Park registered a walking team in last year’s Walk to End Alzheimers. No word was reached on whether students or alumni are walking in this year’s event.

“The routes do start together. We want to make sure people of all abilities are able to participate in our walk, and we made a shorter route for those who can’t complete the full two-and-a-half miles,” Roberts said.

There will be a live concert by the Blues Devils, a classic rock and blues band. Bob Sebastian, who plays lead guitar and does vocals for the band says the group was created for one reason.

“We’ve been together for four years and we got together with playing [music] to raise money for charities, and we play as many events as we can,” Sebastian said in a phone interview

The main symptom of Alzheimer’s is memory loss. In 2010 the disease played some role in the deaths of 500,000 Americans, and in 2014 an estimated 700,000 will die from the disease.

Of Americans aged 65 and older, one in nine has Alzheimer’s. One in three people aged 85 and older has the disease.

The people who work at the Alzheimer’s Association have their reasons to eliminate the disease.

“My reason to end Alzheimer’s is for the future,” Roberts said.

Weessies has worked personally with many families by caring for those with Alzheimer’s.

“It’s a vicious, horrible disease that should be gone so no one you love has to go through this,” Weessies said.

To learn more about the event, give donations or volunteer, log on to act.alz.org

This story was published in Point Park University’s The Globe.

Local Artists Celebrate and Bring Awareness to The Importance of Eye Health

Most Wanted Fine Art’s Nina Sauer and Caitlin Northup have worked together on previous silent art auction projects, but last year’s silent auction was miniscule compared to this one. In fact, they are certain that this is the biggest one yet.

“I’m really excited. Hopefully it will get bigger and bigger, help more people and grow every year,” said Northup, the creative director of Penn Avenue Eyewear.

On Sept. 12, Most Wanted Art Gallery and Penn Avenue Eyewear held their second annual Artistic Vision Exhibit and silent auction at the former Quiet Storm restaurant in Garfield.

There were art pieces from 32 different artists on sale from the silent auction, including 15 pairs of custom handmade wooden sunglass frames.

Ten items were sold in the silent auction and numerous others were bought before the auction commenced.

“This event is just looking to build community, and getting opportunities to provide resources and funding towards a good cause. So it’s a win-win for everyone,” said D.S. Kinsel, one of the artists auctioning their work to the people.

The proceeds were split between the artists and the two charities: The Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation that is working on redeveloping the communities of Bloomfield, Garfield, and Friendship neighborhoods and Healthy Artists, a corporation that fights to fix the broken health system and support the artists that are affected.

It showcased artwork like Kinsel’s painting called “Eye” and encompassed the great talent of all of the artists and performers. The mood of the room was upbeat, loud and very welcoming.

The event was hosted by comedian Davon Magwood, who performed a comical set that night with his opinions ranging from the Ray Rice scandal, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Floyd Mayweather’s reading level.

“I’m hosting and performing, but nobody wants anything I touch with paint. They’ll ask ‘Did a child do this?’” Magwood joked. “I did everyone a favor by not painting anything.”

Anqwenique Wingfield and pianist Joe Sheehan, who are two parts of the six piece band Kinetic, covered a variety of songs and debuted two original songs, “Show Me” and “World of Wonder” from the band’s self titled debut album due to be released in late November.

Wingfield, classical singer who wears glasses, explained the importance of vision in music.

“It’s important in the writing process, but your sight helps you connect with everything around you. Whether it’s reading music from a lyrics stand or trying to connect with my audience, [it] makes my glasses crucial” Wingfield said.

The artists who contributed work also received a free pair of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses from the online eyewear store.

“This is special because we were able to commission some works of art, and give back something [the artists] really needed,” Northup said.

Artists typically work non-traditional, freelance jobs that do not give healthcare benefits, leaving them to fend for themselves.

Julie Sokolow, the head artist at Healthy Artists, has seen some people who have struggled to find care. It is not just painters struggling; it is musicians, comedians, and actors who are also having trouble.

“I go into their homes and interview them about being un-insured because they lack access to health care because [the United States] is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have universal healthcare it’s a very bad situation,” Sokolow said.

A common theme of the night was the importance of vision to all forms of art, whether it was painting or other forms. At least 100 people attended the event at the spacious former restaurant.

Jason Sauer is the owner of Most Wanted Art Gallery, one of the coordinators of the event, and a visual artist himself, believes art is having forethought to the future.

“It’s the key to the job of an artist. Their job is to foreshadow the future and describe solutions, because if there are questions, then there’s a problem. It’s the artist’s role to realize the questions, problems and solutions,” Sauer said.

Rich Jackley, who co-coordinated the event, believes the visual arts are essential for vision.

“You have to see what you are doing because without your sight, you cannot create effective art,” Jackley said.

Zena Ruiz is a printmaker, who put her work “Oh Mother, Oh Father” up for auction, believes vision is important to her sculptures and printmaking.

“Being an artist you rely a lot on color, and not having vision puts you in a two dimensional world when you’re supposed to be in a three dimensional world,” Ruiz said.

But she still believes artists would be able to work.

“Maybe we would be making more powerful work, about the loss of vision,” Ruiz said.

Sue Kerr is a blogger at Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents and believes vision in blogging is having a big picture view on things.

“Vision should encompass the forest and the trees, so you need to pay attention to the details and make sure you’re looking at the whole landscape as well. One of the reasons why my blog is political is because…being a lesbian in society is political. It requires a lot of consciousness to topics,” Kerr said.

There are a lot of common perceptions on people who wear glasses..

Joe Wos, a cartoonist and a self-described ‘geek’ who created a 3D monster sculpture believes ‘geek’ is in.

“Everybody wants to be a geek nowadays.. I see all types…who run around with glasses as a fashion statement, and it’s very funny that geek is chic,” Wos said.

Holly Hood who is a hip-hop artist and teacher at The Art Institute echoed Wos’s statement.

“People now wear glasses because it’s cool and trendy. A lot of people wear glasses that don’t need them because it’s makes them a’ hipster’,” Hood said.

The event raised awareness on eye health for the other artists like Dante Lombardi, who does not wear eye glasses.

“I didn’t realize exactly how much glasses cost and what a pain it is when they break.. It brought a lot into focus for me,” Lombardi said.

Ricardo Iammuri, a former film and journalism major from the University, debuted his silent film “Mars is Underwater” with a live score performance from himself.

“I wanted to add another element [to art and film]. We’re living in a time that’s very audio and visual amongst social networking, so you should put everything into it,” Iammuri said.

The people who attended the gallery were very socially conscious and are artists in many different ways.

Vision is needed to succeed as an artist, musician, comedian, blogger and many other forms of work.

This story was published in Point Park University’s The Globe.

Charities Join Together for a Spectacle Event

A year ago, arts planner Nina Sauer of Most Wanted Fine Art met the socially conscious owners of Penn Avenue Eyewear at an event at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont. They began to explore ways that the eyewear company could help starving artists build collections and find health care.

A year later, they are joining together with the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, an organization uniting to rebuild the Bloomfield, Garfield and Friendship neighborhoods by energizing the members of the community and Healthy Artists, a corporation that supports artists’ health and fights to fix the broken health care system.

They created an event where artists will showcase and sell their work, some of which are wooden eyeglass frames.

“Some [glasses] are paint splattered and some are like graffiti,” Sauer said. “It is really interesting to see what artists can do with glasses as a canvas,” Sauer said.

All proceeds are split between the artists, the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation and Healthy Artists charities. The artists will receive a free pair of eyeglasses from Penn Avenue Eyewear for prescription or non-prescription eyeglasses.

“We love working with them and we believe they do a lot of good for the community,” said Penn Avenue Eyewear creative director Caitlin Northup regarding the staff of Most Wanted Fine Art during a telephone interview.

All of the glasses will be sold in a silent auction during the Penn Avenue Eyewear Art Exhibit at 5430 Penn Ave., the site of the former Quiet Storm Restaurant, beginning at 6 p.m. and continuing until 10 p.m.

One of their artists in residence, Tara Sherry-Torres, has taken over the building for her Café con Leche project that builds, connects and promotes the Latino culture in Pittsburgh.

The location of the event was originally inside the former Pittsburgh Burger Company in Homestead, but the venue changed with the plans to shut down the former restaurant for the winter.

Jason Sauer, who owns Most Wanted with Sauer, said he believes the location change will work out for the better.

“It helps Tara gain awareness for the restaurant she’s creating and lets others know it will be open officially next week…It works well for Penn Avenue to have a restaurant and some artistic identity,” Nina Sauer said.

This unique event will provide a confluence of art and entertainment.

Comedian Davon Magwood will host the event and will feature musical performances by resident hip-hop artist Holly Hood, and classical artists Anqwenique Wingfield and Joe Sheehan.

Ricardo Iamuuri will present a silent film he directed, “Mars is Underwater,” while also giving a live score performance.

“Davon has hosted and performed a few comedy shows here, and I’ve only seen a few snippets of Ricardo’s silent film, but I know it will be great,” Nina Sauer said.

Nina and Jason Sauer’s gallery, which showcases work by 32 other artists, has garnered them numerous awards. The primary goal isn’t to sell art as much as it is to build community and help as many people as they can.

“We joke that we are a community service organization disguised as an art gallery,” Sauer said. “We work hard to help people get jobs and grants. Our goal is to be good people.”

This story was published in Point Park University’s The Globe.

Avid Baseball Fan Snags Free World Series Ticket

Erik Jabs is a Spanish teacher at Steel Valley High School. Photo submitted by Eric Jabs.

Erik Jabs has caught 2,887 baseballs in 17 different stadiums since 2007.

Recently, luck was on the 33-year-old’s side again, but this time instead of a baseball, he landed a ticket to Game 1 of the World Series in Boston for free.

Jabs, a Spanish teacher at Steel Valley High School, started looking for tickets on StubHub after the Boston Red Sox won the American League Championship. On Oct. 21, he saw a ticket listed for $6 and quickly bought it before anyone else could. A Pittsburgh Pirates fan and Jefferson Hills native, Jabs wanted to see the St. Louis Cardinals lose.

“I thought somebody made a mistake in listing it,” Jabs said. “Looking at the price, I thought the seller was extremely generous and wanted to give the ticket away for almost nothing.”

After getting an email confirmation from StubHub, Jabs printed out the ticket and posted a photo of his winnings on Twitter.

Media outlets, such as Deadspin, caught wind of the purchase and posted stories about the purchase of the ticket that night. Jabs’ story quickly went viral.

But hours after his purchase, Jabs received an email and voicemail saying the seller committed fraud on the price of the ticket. He was going to get his $6 back thanks to StubHub’s Fan Protect Guarantee.

Jabs called StubHub’s customer service hoping to get a ticket of comparable value, but no tickets in Fenway Park costs $6. He got a $50 account credit from them.

The next day his story went national, and StubHub caved from the pressure of negative publicity for its ticket service. It decided to give him the chance to sit anywhere in the ballpark for Game 1.

For the second time in his life, Erik Jabs was going to the World Series. He went to Game 4 of last year’s World Series and watched the San Francisco Giants defeat the Detroit Tigers in four games.

“He shouldn’t have fell for the fraudulent tickets,” said Alex Mitro, a former student in his Spanish class. “However, that lucky mistake ended up being a lifetime experience, so I’m happy for him.”

When he bought the ticket, his original seat was Section 97 Row WW. Jabs decided that it would be greedy to go somewhere else in the ballpark and decided to stay in the same section and move up to Row CC. His seats were located just past first base.

“If the story had never gone public, I probably would have never gone to the game,” said Jabs.

He flew out to Boston on the day of the game and made it in time for the St. Louis Cardinals batting practice.

He wanted to see if he could get any baseballs, so he started searching for them in the crowded center field bleachers. Jabs later moved to the left field stands because there were fewer people there.

Dressed like a Cardinals fan, Jabs tried for 20 minutes to get a ball from a Cardinals player.

He got one from Tyler Lyons, a player who didn’t make the Cardinals postseason roster.

Later, Jabs changed into the team’s colors of the Boston Red Sox, the team he was cheering for that night. Finally, when the Cardinals hit a ground-rule double, he got his second ball of the game.

“I only got two [baseballs] that night because there was a sell-out crowd. It’s well below my average of 6.7 balls per game,” he said.

Jabs is a “ballhawk,” or someone who goes to MLB games to collect as many baseballs as possible. He’s been doing this since 2007, amassing a total of 2,887 baseballs, including 731 this year. He collected a majority of them at PNC Park, home of his favorite baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“His hobby is unique,” said Jamie Fleck, Jab’s friend and a former Spanish teacher at Steel Valley. “He’s the best at it, and believe it or not, there are other people who do the same thing.”

Jabs knows where a left or right handed batter’s power side is and makes sure he has at least one row to his left and his right empty, so his range is not affected by people standing around him. He dresses like the fan of the home or visiting team so the team throws baseballs at him.

 “It really works when a team from the West Coast comes to play the Pirates at home,” Jabs said. “It would be hard for fans in a city like San Diego, to fly 3,000 miles to watch them play baseball.”

His antics sparked a friendship with Pirates bullpen coach Euclides Rojas and bullpen catcher Heberto Andrade. They throw him baseballs, whenever they see him, whether on the road or in Pittsburgh.

Brandon Kintzler, a relief pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers saw through his tricks last summer and teased him when he came to town. They shook hands and Kintzler said to him, “It was fun messing with you all summer.”

“It’s nice having relationships with players and coaches,” Jabs said.

Jabs visited 17 major league stadiums and hopes to visit all 30 stadiums within the next two or three years with his wife Amy and two children, Olivia, 2, and EJ, his 6-month-old son.

He went to 108 games this year. In addition to attending games at PNC Park, he  visited Comerica Park in Detroit, Progressive Field in Cleveland, Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Marlins Park in Miami, and Safeco Field in Seattle.

He has also been to other playoff games than the World Series. He attended every Pirates home playoff game this year, as well as this year’s American League wildcard game in Cleveland, one game of the American League championship series in Detroit and the 2010 National League division series in Cincinnati.

 Jabs plans to use his baseballs for batting practice with his kids.

“My family loves to travel,” he said. “In fact, we are quite bored now that it’s the offseason.”

Jabs claims the reason he manages to catch so many baseballs is because he follows the wisdom of the famous president of the Brooklyn Dodgers Branch Rickey who once said, “Luck is the residue of design.”