DELEGATE DANA STEIN IS LOOKING FOR LEGISLATIVE INTERNS

APPLY by Friday, 12/15 via UMBCworks, position 9295922

RESPONSIBILITIES

Delegate Stein is Vice Chair of the Environment and Transportation Committee and Chair of the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Open Space subcommittee. Delegate Stein also introduces 8-12 bills per session. Therefore, there are lot of opportunities to learn state environmental and transportation policy, interact with advocates, and understand the legislative process.

We are seeking an intern who can work Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 to 5, but schedules can be flexible as needed for class and travel. The stipend is $850.

In addition to the responsibilities described in the MGA Intern Program Overview, Delegate Stein’s interns also have the responsibilities listed below. They report to Delegate Stein’s Legislative Director, Margie Brassil.

We are especially interested in an intern with a strong interest in environmental issues, including Chesapeake Bay, climate change, and environmental public health issues.

1.    Answer office phone 
•    Respond to constituent calls,
•    Take messages for Delegate Stein or his Legislative Director when they are not available

2.    Constituent Contact
•    Reply to Constituent issue advocacy calls, letters, and emails
•    Add constituents names to a database

3.    Newsletter and social media contact with Constituents
•    Help write and email newsletters every other week
•    Post legislative updates on Facebook
•    Update webpage with legislative information

4.    Scholarship Applications
These begin to come to the office in late January through the deadline on March 31. Intern has primary responsibility for keeping track of all applications.
•    Create Google Spreadsheet log with Applicants’ information as applications are received
•    Help prepare and send letters to previous year’s applicants reminding them of the need to re-apply
•    Work with Legislative Director and others to assess applications.
•    Respond to phone and email questions about applications

5.    Research and Writing
•    As needed, research information on Delegate Stein’s legislation to prepare testimony or on bills before the Committee
•    Help draft Delegate Stein’s bill testimony
•    Help contact advocates to support bills
•    Help maintain schedule of bill hearings
6.    Environment and Transportation Committee Duties
•    Help prepare Committee Testimony files for Delegate Stein each day before hearings
•    Help Committee staff as needed to prepare for hearings

Interns will also be given the opportunity to attend any Committee hearings, advocates’ receptions and lunches, as well as any other networking and educational opportunities available during the 90-Day Session.

William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” is known for withstanding time and continuing to dazzle and perplex generation after generation with its overlapping plots involving sorrow, revenge and love. Director Eve Muson’s take on the play remains true to the subject matter, but includes a few pleasurable deviations.

“Twelfth Night” follows the story of Viola, a girl who, after losing her twin brother Sebastian at sea, washes up onto the Illyrian shores. She then poses as a man in order to serve the duke whom she hopelessly falls in love with. Unfortunately, the duke is in love with a countess named Olivia and hires Viola to send Olivia his acts of love. Following this trail of misfortune, Olivia falls in love with Viola.

Although the original Shakespearean play is set in Illyria, Muson places these beloved characters and their stories in eighteenth century Russia during the Christmas season. With this setting change came Russian songs and traditions, and Muson’s change of scenery was a very enjoyable, entertaining touch. Other than the setting, the plot is accurately followed.

It is a tale that warns of how truly messy love can be, but in a comical, satirical manner. The chances that such events occur in and of themselves are hilarious, but this UMBC production put its own little twist on the Shakespearean play that makes it all the more hilarious. The play’s actors are extraordinary. Their expressions and use of tone made the typically difficult-to-understand Shakespearean prose appealing and comprehensible. They delivered their lines beautifully, and the crowd couldn’t help but applaud in the midst of the play because the performances were so great.

This comedy drew endless laughs from the crowd who couldn’t help but laud the actors’ jovial manners. The simplest actions such as the decorating of a Christmas tree or hiding from another character on stage were performed in a comical manner, keeping the audience’s attention in focus, not wanting to miss even a second of hilarity.

Actress Kathrin Bizzarro portrayed Malvolia, the female equivalent to the original male Malvolio. She characterized this known cruel antagonist with humor and self-degradation in a way that inspired empathy and admiration from the audience. Her performance turned one of the most hated characters in literature into a crowd favorite.

Costume designer, Eric Abele, showcased phenomenal work in this play. The costumes added to the characters. For example, when in mourning, Olivia, played by Talyiah Dickens, was dressed head to toe in a black, extravagant gown laced in dark embroidery. Feste, the jester, played by Shubhangi Kuchibhotla, wore a dress embracing numerous bright colors topped with a green hat in order to visually show her comical presence.

Anyone who adores the Shakespearean play would love to see this hilarious, entertaining interpretation. Those who have never read the original text are sure to fall in love with the story and pure hilarity it shares after watching this UMBC production. Overall, UMBC’s presentation and interpretation of William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” was a huge success. It will be performed from Nov. 9 to the 19th in the Proscenium Theatre in the Performing Arts and Humanities building. Every student is encouraged to come and join these kooky characters for a crazy play and night full of laughs.

The Department of Africana Studies hosted its 39th annual W. E. B. Du Bois Distinguished Lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 8. This year, the university welcomed Dr. Toyin Falola as the distinguished lecturer. President Freeman Hrabowski started off the event, speaking on international diversity at UMBC. He encouraged women in the audience to look to Shirley Graham, the wife of the iconic activist Du Bois, for inspiration and recalled his studies in Egypt where he once met her for tea.

The hopeful tone of the event was set by the UMBC Jubilee singers, who accompanied the talk and performed an enthralling rendition of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Soon following, Dr. Falola took the stage. A distinguished professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, Falola has authored, co-authored and edited over 160 books. In addition, he is the recipient of seven honorary doctoral degrees and has served in several dignified positions, including his roles as president of both the African Studies and Nigerian Studies Association.

Dr. Falola’s lecture, titled “African Immigrant Communities in the United States,” focused on the enculturation of African immigrants in America and the work being done to broaden the fields of Black and Africana Studies. Dr. Falola believes that a new field of academia will help to better understand issues of identity. He claims that there is a third wave of black culture that is often eliminated: the diaspora of colonization.

Dr. Falola conducted a study that examined the crossroads of African and American identities of around one-thousand African migrants over the past fifty years. The study was conducted mostly in the areas of Austin and Houston, which are two of the most popular cities for African immigrants, along with Baltimore and Washington, D.C. His data shows that an overwhelming majority of participants self-identify as both African and American and then identify their U.S born children as African. However, nearly all children self-identified as solely American.

The data also revealed that many African immigrants — about 43 percent — are unhappy with their current occupations. Dr. Falola hopes that exploring and widening the fields of Africana and Black studies will allow experts to solve some of these occupation related issues, which are often rooted in prejudice. “The trajectory of this country was to become a predominantly black population,” Falola emphasized during his lecture. Because of Africa’s doubling population, he asserted that America needs to adjust and adapt to the influx of African immigrants.

A new field of academics is only one of many steps in the process of accommodating immigrants who are direct products of over-colonization. A list of Dr. Falola’s publications is available on his website, http://www.toyinfalola.com.

While widely considered “feminine,” writing occupies a traditionally masculine space within our society. Dating back to the seventeenth century, many women have used male pen names in order to be published and sell more copies of their work. Writing has become increasingly gendered and racialized, and in a modern society, it is disheartening to many burgeoning women writers to feel as if they do not have a place at the table.

Aiming to change this, the Women’s Center hosted one of their monthly fall roundtable sessions that focuses on the role of women in specific fields where they are minorities. Entitled “Women in Writing,” the roundtable session offered three UMBC-affiliated writers – Johanna Alonso, Missy Smith and Dr. Tanya Olson – to share their thoughts on their own place in the writing industry, and how their identities shape their understanding of that role.

In an effort to give women writers on campus a voice and shut down the masculinization of art, Alonso, a sophomore English major and Writing Center intern, compiled a group of writing from women writers around campus last semester, featured in a zine called “My Name is Wisdom: A Celebration of UMBC’s Women Writers,” which is available at the Women’s Center.

She began the discussion by reflecting on her middle school reading experiences. Assigned “The Hunger Games” for a school project, Alonso remembers the boys in her class being unenthusiastic to read the novel because Katniss wasn’t “interesting.” “The Hunger Games” is just one of many stories with a female lead, and while, as Alonso says, “There’s nothing innately feminine about these stories…boys are [still] more reluctant to read them.”

Smith, a Women’s Center coordinator and singer/songwriter by the stage name of QueenEarth, uses her songwriting to overcome challenges in her life. She explained that the music industry doesn’t think about the audience women represent and about how their own unique experiences contribute to their writing and performance style. Producers often shut women down in different stages of the creative process and can turn their songs into something completely different.

As such, it can feel incredibly difficult for women to become “successful” within the arts, but often, success is self-defined. For Smith, “failure is if we stop writing.” Writing for herself first has always been crucial to her, and the strides she is making as a self-made woman in the entertainment and writing industries are just as important – and often overlap – with those she is making in the social justice and arts education realm.

Dr. Olson, a UMBC faculty member and poet, echoes Smith’s idea of success in her own reflection on success as a never-ending period of growth and change. However, within the poetry industry, Dr. Olson argues there is no growth or change. There is a “fetishization” of youth within the industry that prevents anyone middle-aged or older from becoming recognized, and this silence bars older perspectives from being heard.

She urges those within the writing community to “remember [they’re] not the first” to break down the barriers that discourage other perspectives. “There’s more than one way to break into a house,” she says, comparing the writing industry to a house that won’t let women in through the front door. And, sometimes, you have to go through a window.

“Women in Writing” was the last roundtable discussion of the semester. More Women’s Center events can be found on their website and on myUMBC.

This past weekend, UMBC’s Musical Theatre Club presented Daddy Long Legs in the Skylight Room in the Commons building. Inspired by a book written by Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs is a tale not many people know of. The Musical Theatre Club’s performance was a small yet strongly influential play that made an unheard of play unforgettable.

Daddy Long Legs follows the story of an orphan, Jerusha Abbott, who, although approaching the age of adulthood, finds herself mentally caged and physically limited in the John Grier Home, an orphan asylum. One day, a philanthropist, Jervis Pendleton, anonymously grants Jerusha an enrollment in college, all expenses paid.

Jervis requests that Jerusha write him one letter a month updating him on her life to which he would neglect to reply, he warned. Jerusha graciously accepted the offer, and began to write letters to a man whom she called Daddy Long Legs, yet did not know at all, a man who was slowly falling in love with her. And so, Jervis ends up debating who is doing the charity for who.

This play was none like I had ever seen before; it was different in many aspects. To begin, the entire play consisted of only two actors: Emma Gilligan and Sean Custer. Their portrayals of their characters were phenomenal, so much so that it was easy to forget the absence of other roles.

An audience member would probably expect a play to feel empty or unfinished without a large cast of actors. However, the Musical Theatre Club’s production of Daddy Long Legs fulfilled no such expectation. The two actors performed with just as much emotion, heart, vocal integrity and genuine empathy for their individual characters as a cast of 60 parts could have.

The play was performed in the Skylight Room which was a fairly odd, unexpected choice of location. The performance itself had a very small set, equally divided between the lives of Jerusha and Jervis. The set consisted of two desks, a couple of bookshelves, a clothesline of letters and a couple of boxes used for multiple purposes.

This, however, left much room for imagination and forced the actors to abandon dependence on background and set. They used acting as a tool to change the scenery. For example, throughout the play, Jerusha went on many trips. She went to a farm, to Manhattan, and even to Boston. The set never changed, but somehow the audience felt like they had followed Jerusha to all these places.

One reason why this was so effectively executed was because of sound. From a knock on the door to a rainstorm, every sound hung off every one of the actors’ lines seamlessly. Sound designer Aiden Teter did a great job using sounds as cues for change in mood, tone and scenery.

Above all, the most striking, impressive contributor to this play was the pit orchestra. Each member came together to create a beautiful outcome. The orchestra’s music really set the mood of each scene. The music hinted whether a character was angry, sad, happy or even jealous. What’s a musical without music? Unarguabley, the music in Daddy Long Legs was exceptional. Overall, UMBC Musical Theatre Club’s production of Daddy Long Legs was grand. Director Julia Arbutus did a great job at putting together a memorable play unlike any other, here at UMBC.

For decades, prom has been considered by American teenagers to be a high school rite of passage.The concept of a queer prom is to take that rite of passage and make it open and accessible for the LGBTQ community.

The LGBTQ Student Union is an organization described as “established for the purpose of advocating for the interests of the LGBTQ at UMBC and in surrounding regions and providing support thereof for any initiatives that the body shall deem fit.”

They host several well-received events throughout the school year, including the popular formal dance formerly known as Queer Prom, as well as panels such as UMBC’s annual drag show and a variety of informative student-led panels.

Although Queer Prom is the name that’s been associated with the previous dances held in early winter, John Platter, president of LSU explained that they were uncomfortable using queer in the name of the event, as “there are people who haven’t reclaimed that word and may feel alienated by [LSU’s] use.” What was formally known as “Queer Prom” was renamed this year to Winter Formal, which better suits the season while preserving the formality of the dance.

The event was open to the entire UMBC community, rather than being exclusive to the LSU’s members. Catering was provided by the Baltimore-based bookstore and coffeehouse, Red Emma’s. The evening’s selection was a Greek ensemble featuring pita, falafel, hummus and tzatziki sauce.

The theme of the organization’s event was space and astrology, due to the widespread interest of LSU members. To match the theme, the UC Ballroom was outfitted with black and gold table toppers, blue balloons and cool (both definitions of the word fit here) colored lights.

The ballroom was set up in true fashion of a prom or formal: an open dance floor, refreshments to the side, and a slew of banquet tables for partygoers to sit, relax and socialize. A photographer was present to take photos of blissful guests.

Students were encouraged to wear whatever fit within their comfort zone. Many were dressed to impress in their best outfits ranging from typical prom-style formal wear to homecoming-style dress casual.

The traditional prom royalty competition was replaced by a system that superseded the binary of king and queen. Tens of contestants lined up on stage where the audience was asked to vote for royalty with cheers and applause.

Audience members were asked to join and participate in the contest if they felt confident and beautiful in their outfits, and the size of the crowd that formed on stage was a telling sign of the confidence that the event forged in the attitudes of its attendees.

Foregoing the assumed competition for a king and a queen was a kind gesture that helped create an air of openness during the formal. Psychology and gender and women’s study major Armani Tinnin expressed feeling content towards the event, saying, “It was a very comfortable and open environment. No matter how anxious I might’ve walked in, I walked out feeling accepted.”

After doling out equal amounts of applause, members of the audience requested that everyone on stage won. Though the competition lacked a physical crown to be given to a single victor, the joy emanating from both contestants and audience alike was strong and heartfelt.

Overall, LSU’s winter formal felt like a comfortable party filled with happy faces and warm, accepting vibes. The combination of the event’s aesthetically pleasing display, nostalgia-evoking prom decor, and the fun set of people that made up the crowd created an enjoyable evening

Shakespeare seems to be taking the Baltimore area by storm this season, and Center Stage is no exception from that trend. “Shakespeare in Love,” based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, is currently charming theatregoers at the fourth floor Head Theater. A celebration of the creativity and newness that often accompanies the theatre, “Shakespeare in Love” tells the fictional story of the creation of “Romeo and Juliet.”

The play begins with William Shakespeare (Nicholas Carriere) as he tries to write another play while in the middle of a spirit-crushing case of writer’s block. He puts singular lines of a play together before being forced to conduct auditions, during which he meets Viola (Emily Trask), who, disguised as a man, has come to audition for Shakespeare’s new play. Viola has previously seen Shakespeare’s plays performed at court, and she has fallen in love with the language and the poetry of his work.

Shakespeare casts her as Romeo after she performs a monologue from “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” and, as rehearsals begin and her identity is revealed, the two begin a love affair that helps fuel the remainder of the play. She is promised to another, however, and as Shakespeare comes to terms with her departure from his life, he promises to immortalize her forever in a new play called “Twelfth Night.”

The show is punctuated with wit — wit that is smart, quick, physical and mental. As Shakespeare’s cast of actors take up their mantle, they are often met with a humor most agreeable to the time period as well as to the enjoyment of the audience. Actors Richard Buchanan (Sam) and Taha Mandiviwala (Peter) shine especially with their comedic timing and do not distract from the show.

While Carriere’s and Trask’s chemistry together was certainly palpable, Carriere’s portrayal of Shakespeare was missing an element of potency in his softer and more exposed moments onstage, which often detracted from the overall vulnerability of the moment. During intermission, several audience members expressed Carriere’s performance being less like the movie than they had hoped, a choice that distinguishes Carriere’s portrayal of Shakespeare and makes him his own.

The costumes, designed by Kathleen Geldard, were absolutely exquisite, but none more exquisite than those worn by Naomi Jacobsen as Queen Elizabeth I. The dresses truly take one’s breath away. The two-level set, designed by Tim Mackabee, was equally innovative, and the multiple levels left room for increased shenanigans between cast members and, of course, a balcony scene for Shakespeare and Viola.

Director Blake Robison’s commitment to diversity throughout casting was especially refreshing considering the limited number of female-presenting roles within this play. Perhaps the star of the show, however, was the delightful Chihuahua, Meatball, played by a real-life Chihuahua named Spot. He made his acting debut in “Shakespeare in Love” and certainly managed to impress the queen, so this good boy will surely be offered many more parts in future productions.

Tickets to “Shakespeare in Love” are available on their website and sold between $20 and $74. The show runs until November 26, and Center Stage is located at 700 North Calvert Street.