Aimee Dodge
February 26, 2010
Job Cuts in Bangor, Who’s Next?
The unemployment rate in Bangor is 7.10%, just lower than the national average, and jobs in the area have decreased by 0.60%. Although the unemployment rate is below average, it is still a major area of concern for local people out of work and looking for jobs.
The Bangor area has been hit hard since the recession came to Maine. One of the largest employers in the area, Easter Maine Medical Center, has already cut 24 filled positions and eliminated another 52 unfilled ones. The medical center told the Bangor Daily News that the measure was “essential to ‘getting EMMC back on track.’” They may be planning another round of cuts in the near future. Eastern Maine Medical Center is not the only major employer in the area that is folding under the recession pressure. Penobscot Bay Medical Center announced recently that they too will cut positions. They plan to cut ten positions and reduce hours for several others. They may be cutting more positions in the near future as well. Movie Gallery, a movie rental franchise, recently filed chapter eleven. They are in the process of shutting down not only the six stores in Maine, which includes two stores in Bangor, but eight hundred stores across the country. Movie gallery stores employ between ten and twenty workers on average. Other local businesses, including music clubs and restaurants, have also started cutting positions or have closed down completely. Club Ice, which recently opened, is now closed, to many people’s surprise.
The recession is far from over so the question is who will be next to cut positions. Wal-Mart is a large employer in the Bangor area as well at St. Joseph Hospital, who has worked very hard in recent months to cut cost within the hospital. Will these major employers be cutting next?
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
News Release
Aimee Dodge
February 19, 2010
News Release
For Immediate Release
Awarding-Winning “Cats” Coming to the Collins Center for the Arts
Orono, ME – Sir Andrew Lloyd Webbers award-winning master piece “Cats” is coming to the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus in April. This is the first time that “Cats” has come to the CCA. The production will be playing for one night only on Thursday the 22nd of April at seven o’clock in the main theater.
“Cats” is one of the longest running stage productions of all time, starting in 1981 in London’s West End. It then moved to Broadway a year later. It played for over 20 years in London and over 18 years on Broadway. It has been performed all over the world and in over 20 different languages. The musical has even been made into a motion picture for television.
“Cats” is based on T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”, which was a childhood favorite of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Webber later turned in the book of children’s poems into the masterpiece that we all know and love today. The musical is made up almost entirely of T.S. Eliot poems set to music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. “Memory”, the most famous composition from the musical, is one of the few exceptions, having been written by Trevor Nunn. The musical encompasses a wide variety of musical genres, from pop to jazz and from rock to classical compositions, making it a somewhat unconventional musical.
For more information about “Cats” you can visit the official website: www.reallyuseful.com
If you would like more information about the show or if you would like inquire about purchasing tickets you can call: 1 800 622 TIXX or log on to: www.collinscenterforthearts.com
February 19, 2010
News Release
For Immediate Release
Awarding-Winning “Cats” Coming to the Collins Center for the Arts
Orono, ME – Sir Andrew Lloyd Webbers award-winning master piece “Cats” is coming to the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus in April. This is the first time that “Cats” has come to the CCA. The production will be playing for one night only on Thursday the 22nd of April at seven o’clock in the main theater.
“Cats” is one of the longest running stage productions of all time, starting in 1981 in London’s West End. It then moved to Broadway a year later. It played for over 20 years in London and over 18 years on Broadway. It has been performed all over the world and in over 20 different languages. The musical has even been made into a motion picture for television.
“Cats” is based on T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”, which was a childhood favorite of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Webber later turned in the book of children’s poems into the masterpiece that we all know and love today. The musical is made up almost entirely of T.S. Eliot poems set to music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. “Memory”, the most famous composition from the musical, is one of the few exceptions, having been written by Trevor Nunn. The musical encompasses a wide variety of musical genres, from pop to jazz and from rock to classical compositions, making it a somewhat unconventional musical.
For more information about “Cats” you can visit the official website: www.reallyuseful.com
If you would like more information about the show or if you would like inquire about purchasing tickets you can call: 1 800 622 TIXX or log on to: www.collinscenterforthearts.com
Friday, February 12, 2010
Profile Who?
Aimee Dodge
February 12, 2010
Student Profile: The Hard Working Student
Dylan Cayer meets me in the Memorial Union after a day of lectures and photocopying. From his expression it looks like it’s been a long day. As we search for a quieter place to settle down for the interview, he strikes up idle conversation. He’s a bit nervous, not having done many interviews, but he quickly gets down to business.
I first noticed Dylan in my Shakespeare class. He has an air about him that makes you curious to know him and once you talk to him you start to understand why. As a senior in the English department, he is taking on the challenge of a more than full course load, trying to complete his capstone requirements and putting in hours at the International Department. He admits that his schedule is stressful, “[it] takes a big toll on you.” His days are long, some starting mid-morning and ending somewhere around ten o’clock in the evening and leave very little time for rest or relaxation. Dylan isn’t unaccustomed to hard work; he grew up in a mill town and came to realize early in life that you have to work for what you want.
Not everything is stressful for Dylan though, in his junior year he applied for a year abroad and found himself in England and fulfilling his life-long desire to go abroad. There he took courses and immersed himself in the English culture. He talked to me about the differences between the culture he was used to and the English culture that he was exposed to and found that the social environment was more interesting and agreeable than the one he left behind. "In England, you sit down at a pub with four or five of your friends and you all get drinks,” Dylan told me as he talked about the differences between the social cultures, “but it’s all about the social aspect.” He also talked about how polite and interested the locals are in visitors, “they’ll start asking you legitimate, intelligent questions.” He also talk about the chance to experience football or soccer the way that is was meant to be experienced, "being with seventy thousand people chanting."
At the end of his current term Dylan will be graduating and though his plans after undergraduate school have changed recently, he would really like to return to England and study for his master’s degree, “I really enjoyed education there.”
February 12, 2010
Student Profile: The Hard Working Student
Dylan Cayer meets me in the Memorial Union after a day of lectures and photocopying. From his expression it looks like it’s been a long day. As we search for a quieter place to settle down for the interview, he strikes up idle conversation. He’s a bit nervous, not having done many interviews, but he quickly gets down to business.
I first noticed Dylan in my Shakespeare class. He has an air about him that makes you curious to know him and once you talk to him you start to understand why. As a senior in the English department, he is taking on the challenge of a more than full course load, trying to complete his capstone requirements and putting in hours at the International Department. He admits that his schedule is stressful, “[it] takes a big toll on you.” His days are long, some starting mid-morning and ending somewhere around ten o’clock in the evening and leave very little time for rest or relaxation. Dylan isn’t unaccustomed to hard work; he grew up in a mill town and came to realize early in life that you have to work for what you want.
Not everything is stressful for Dylan though, in his junior year he applied for a year abroad and found himself in England and fulfilling his life-long desire to go abroad. There he took courses and immersed himself in the English culture. He talked to me about the differences between the culture he was used to and the English culture that he was exposed to and found that the social environment was more interesting and agreeable than the one he left behind. "In England, you sit down at a pub with four or five of your friends and you all get drinks,” Dylan told me as he talked about the differences between the social cultures, “but it’s all about the social aspect.” He also talked about how polite and interested the locals are in visitors, “they’ll start asking you legitimate, intelligent questions.” He also talk about the chance to experience football or soccer the way that is was meant to be experienced, "being with seventy thousand people chanting."
At the end of his current term Dylan will be graduating and though his plans after undergraduate school have changed recently, he would really like to return to England and study for his master’s degree, “I really enjoyed education there.”
Friday, February 5, 2010
What would you do?
I went on to the BBC News website for this week’s assignment and streamed the one minute news segment. The point of doing the previous was to watch and learn, paying careful attention to word usage and other interesting and note worthy things.
The BBC delivers the news with clean and concise professionalism. Always briefly and politely introducing themselves, they get into the news right away. The news casters keep good eye contact with their audience and speak clearly and conversationally, even with their British dialect. They expertly use present tenses and active verbs for events that have happened in the past 24 hours, like the incredible amount of snow that has fallen on Washington D.C. Topics like Haiti are written in past tense but only because it happened weeks ago and not because the writer thinks it’s less important. The one minute news segment used a lot of footage clips which helped along the talked about news topics and saved us all from the having to view elderly bloke covering the news desk. The news caster also keeps an unbiased and/or unemotional tone when talking about controversial and upsetting news stories, such as Haiti or bombings in the Middle East that result in deaths. I have also noticed in my many years of watching the BBC World News that the writers never seem to lean one way or another politically, which makes it an excellent source of unbiased political news.
The BBC always delivers the news well. They never have distracting backgrounds or annoying tickers running along the bottom of their screen. They keep things clean and simple, which allow people to concentrate more on the news.
I wouldn’t change anything in the news script. I think that it was well written and delivered perfectly and professionally. Check out the BBC World News for yourself at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/
The BBC delivers the news with clean and concise professionalism. Always briefly and politely introducing themselves, they get into the news right away. The news casters keep good eye contact with their audience and speak clearly and conversationally, even with their British dialect. They expertly use present tenses and active verbs for events that have happened in the past 24 hours, like the incredible amount of snow that has fallen on Washington D.C. Topics like Haiti are written in past tense but only because it happened weeks ago and not because the writer thinks it’s less important. The one minute news segment used a lot of footage clips which helped along the talked about news topics and saved us all from the having to view elderly bloke covering the news desk. The news caster also keeps an unbiased and/or unemotional tone when talking about controversial and upsetting news stories, such as Haiti or bombings in the Middle East that result in deaths. I have also noticed in my many years of watching the BBC World News that the writers never seem to lean one way or another politically, which makes it an excellent source of unbiased political news.
The BBC always delivers the news well. They never have distracting backgrounds or annoying tickers running along the bottom of their screen. They keep things clean and simple, which allow people to concentrate more on the news.
I wouldn’t change anything in the news script. I think that it was well written and delivered perfectly and professionally. Check out the BBC World News for yourself at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/
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