Students, faculty, staff – anyone really – are encouraged to vote for all their favorites from a number of 50 categories, including; Best Wings, Best Pizza, Best ATM Location, Best Place for School Supplies, Best Place to Work, Best Romantic Spot and so many more.

Ballots are located inside October 8 and October 15 issues of The Voice. Ballot boxes are located in the Andruss Library, Student Services Center, Bakeless and the Kehr Union.

Staff members of The Voice will also be outside the Husky Lounge on Thursday, October 15 (rain location inside the Kehr Union), and in front of the Student Services Center Tuesday, October 20 (rain location inside the new wing of McCormick). Here, there will be copies of The Voice, as well as paper ballots and a ballot box. Members of The Voice staff will be at these locations from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.

There is no limit to the amount of times one can vote. Also, it is not required to vote for every category on the ballot.

The second round of voting will include several of the top choices in each category in a more simple multiple choice survey. Further details of this process and the competition are soon to follow.

Check out the new version of The Voice online at www.buvoice.com and become a fan of The Voice on Facebook or follow them on Twitter at twitter.com/buvoice.

I understand how ridiculous this assignment is.  Believe me; the silliness is not lost on me. That is why I loved doing it.  After months of meetings,  hearings, wristbands, permits, warnings, regulations, alerts, and reminders, we finally got to enjoy the day for what it is – a party.

So here is my Block Party experience.  The good and the bad, the immature and the reckless, the hilarious and the embarrassing.

I understand at times this format might be a bit confusing.  Remember that throughout this process, not only was I consuming alcohol, but I was right in the thick of the Block Party events.  You can only imagine what my notes looked like the next day.   What you see in bold represents text that has been written just as it was in the original notebook I carried with me to jot down my notes.   All the times are as accurate as possible.  At times, my peers will hijack the notebook and add their thoughts.   So good luck and welcome to Block Party 2009.

9:15-  Just like Christmas morning.  Yeah, it is cliché, but that is really the only way to describe the feeling.  My alarm wouldn’t go off for another 10 minutes, but my excitement wouldn’t allow me to go back to sleep. At the same time, the late Friday night I enjoyed just hours ago found me now struggling to get out of bed. It’s kind of like Christina Aguilera sang: My heart is saying lets go, but my bodies saying no no.

9:25- Showtime.

9:30- Hop in the shower and find an empty beer can where the shampoo should be.  The similarities to Christmas morning end here.

9:35- Playing some Jimmy Buffett on my lap top to get myself mentally prepared.

9:45- Ran outside to grab something out of my car and knew instantly we were in for a special day.  I’ve been at Bloomsburg for four year now and have seen maybe 12 nice days… Saturday was just gorgeous.  The weather gods finally threw us a bone.

9:48- Just received word that my friends saved me a parking spot in town.  The stars are aligning.

Don’t let the day fool you. This is how I normally dress for work.

10:08- Finished packing my backpack.  The contents: notebook, two pens, camera, ping-pong balls, and a last minute but crucial addition of an gold wig.

10:09- Ready to go.  Decided to go with jeans and flip-flops.  Questionable decision on my part.  The long pants won’t gel well with the expected heat and sandals probably aren’t the safest option for Block Party.  I choose to go with my “Bloomsburg Dad shirt”.  It is by far the ace of my t-shirt rotation.  Always good for a laugh and also a great conversation piece.  At the same time, I’ve been wearing it a lot this semester and I’m worried about over using it.   Still, just like in baseball, sometimes you have to use your staff ace on short rest when the games get bigger, and there is no bigger game in town than Block Party.

10:12-  Declined the parking space. Who knows how the police situation is gonna be and I’m not looking to collect parking tickets or be towed.  So I’ll be hoofing it from upper campus to town.  Honoring our Block Party ancestors.

10:13 - Already regret walking.  Thinking about hitchhiking.  I am clearly not at 100 percent at this point after the Friday night adventures.  (Some think going out Friday night was a bad move.  Conventional wisdom says to rest the day before Block Party.   Me? I say practice makes perfect.  You don’t want to get rusty. How many times have we seen a football team rest its starters after securing a playoff spot, only to lose after playing a sloppy game in the postseason.  I’ll gladly trade a few bumps and bruises to carry some positive momentum into Block Party)

10:30- On Light Street.  Made good time.

Just some Bloomsburg students displaying the creativity and problem solving skills they’ve picked up at this fine institution.

10:31- Come across some friends hanging a 20-foot beer bong. They are clearly not engineering majors as they are struggling.

10:39- Stop by Christie and Kristen’s house to beat the heat for a few minutes.  They are eating eggs, which reminds me that I am starving and late for a BBQ.  Time to hit the rode.

10:41- Must be a fire or something because the alarm is blaring throughout town.  Either that or that sound is a warning to all Bloomsburg families that Block Party is about to start.

10:45- Arrive at baseball house, which is empty except for two guests, Tony and Jesse.  Tony tells me that we were left a to-do list, which included mixing the Long Island Ice Tea.  Unfortunately, Google only found directions for making a single drink, where as we wanted a butt-load (precisely four gallons).  So we BS-ed it and hoped for the best.

10:55- Arrive at the first party/BBQ.  Not a bad set-up.  Looking at a 40-person crowd, corn hole, beer pong, two kegs and a weird country CD playing.

11:15- “I want to see biddies!”- drunk stranger entering party.     There is a guy who knows what he wants in life.

11:20- Jesse tells me we will be facebook friends by the end of the afternoon.  I tell him he will be unconscious by lunch.

11:21-  My first beer.  I tried to wait as long as I could before getting started knowing that I’d have to pace myself to make it through this entire journal.  Those good intentions didn’t last too long.

11:22- First vomit.   No, not me.  Some guy just lost control in or around my backpack.

Don’t let his size fool you. This man knows how to cook unhealthy food.

11:28-  Erik Woll gives me a man hug and asks me to put his name in the paper.  There you go big guy.

11:30- Jason Vonanda begins to prepare the hamburgers.   As he works with the beef, someone shouts out, “Von, I don’t want anyone’s hands handling my meat but yours.”   That’s the most romantic thing I’ll hear all day.

11:40- Throughout the day, I will be profiling “Block Party heroes.” These are men and women who I’ll come across throughout the day who have a story or experience that truly captures what this day is all about.   The first Block Party hero I found was Adam.   Adam will turn 21 in two weeks, and has managed to survive his entire college career without receiving an underage violation.  Now, he could keep a low profile, stay inside, maybe call it an early night and stay safe. No one could really blame the kid.  Not Adam though, he was in the backyard living the dream.   He really became an inspiration for the entire day.  It is kind of like in Home Alone when Kevin gathers the courage to go outside and confront the creepy on man.  “Hey BU Police,  I’m not afraid anymore!  You here that?  I’m not afraid!”

11:45-  And now we have our first “Block Party villain.” A buddy’s dad is a state trooper and has been called in to monitor Block Party.  He just sent a text informing our friend that if he spots him in town, he will give him a public drunkenness without hesitation.

11:54-   Five-straight wins in flip-cup without a single blemish on my record. I am going to retire right now.  Leave on top. That is called sending a message

11:59- A stranger just informs me that the “snozz-berries taste like snozz-berries”.  Something tells me that he could easily tell me what the keg’s contents taste like too.

Noon- Austin Launikonis compares Block Party to Christmas, only Grandmom isn’t drunk.  I have no clue what to make of that, but we are officially back to Christmas references.

12:01- We have another “Block Party hero.” My friend Joanna Schmolk has been enjoying some adult beverages all morning in spite of the fact that she has to sing at a church at 3 p.m.  Her family will be attending the performance.  WWJD?  Well he did turn water into wine, so my gut tells me he would respect this decision.

12:10- I came out of flip-cup retirement. I lost.  Terrible choice.

12:15- Just experienced “Dizzy Bat” for the first time.  For those unfamiliar with the game, you take a wiffleball bat, fill it with beer, drink out of it, and then spin around 10 times before trying to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher.  On the first pitch I took a pretty embarrassing tumble before the ball even arrived.  I looked like John Kruk facing Randy Johnson in the 1993 All-Star Game.  However, with two strikes on me I choked up and put the ball in play.  Like Matt Stairs, I am a professional hitter.

While playing “Dizzy Bat“, Steve Martz takes off for firstbase… before hitting the ball

12:16-  Something tells me I might be having a bit too much fun at this point. My notes are getting sloppier and someone just told me “You are Block Party!” as I attempt to climb a hill still dizzy from my at-bat.  One of the top rules in journalism however is to never become the story, and I don’t want to lose all of my journalistic integrity today (coming from the guy drinking out of a wiffleball bat and wearing an gold clown wig.)  Anyway, I should probably slow down.

12:34- I just sent a successful text message.  Scratch that last entry.  Clearly I am not drunk enough yet.  I’m back in the game!

12:45- For those keeping score at home, I was just asked for the 400th time “what is with that notebook you are carrying around.”  I’ve just started telling people it’s my Block Party yearbook and asking them if they want to sign it.

12:50- Some of these entries simply deserve to be written just as they appeared in their original form.  This is one of them.  Von burger? Von dog!  All the same at this point fellas! This gives me an idea.  Now that Husky Chow is no longer around, The Voice should run a new feature based around a drunk food critic.  Who would be more honest than a hammered college student?   You wouldn’t look forward to reading that every week?

1:05-  Just a terrible performance in beer pong.  Even the BU basketball team would be disappointment by my shooting percentage.   To be fair, the wind was a big factor.  As Sidney Rice explained in White Men Can’t Jump, “This is outdoor ball. It’s different than your country club crap. When you shoot, you adjust for the wind. Out at the beach, the wind can push the ball To inches. You wouldn’t know about that.“ I should have known better.

In my defense, the field conditions for beer pong were simply horrible.

1:13- If I could go back and change one thing, I would have worn a belt.  If I could change two things, I would have bought a voice recorder because my handwriting is almost unrecognizable and we are only five hours in.

1:15-  Again, this should run in its original form:  coke issue. ALL RUM!! Apparently I finished the rum and coke that I was carrying in my flask and asked Tony and Jesse to go back home and refill it.  Only problem was we ran out of coke (soda), so the flask now held only rum.  I’m not sure by this entry if I was upset or excited by this prospect.

1:16-  This represents the first time my notebook was hijacked.   Here is what the guest writer had to say.  Orange haired man (me) asked girl in black dress on a date, she said OK. Next to that sentence, I wrote success!! and then proceeded to list the places we would go for our date (pizza hut. Ruby tues. Appleees!) but neglected to write down her number or last name.  So Christine, if you are still up for a magical evening on route 11, let me know.

1:23-  For those outsiders who may be reading this, my next entry should be a reminder that you shouldn’t rush to judge us Bloomsburg students.   When you least expect it we can really surprise you. Take Block Party for example.  We know the reputation.  Drunk idiots peeing and fighting all over the place.   But at 1:23, let the record show that several of my colleagues sat down to discuss the psychological elements of ABC’s Lost.   Through intense debate, we agreed that Hurley represented the Ego where as the ID and Super Ego could be interpreted in different ways. Also it became clear through discussion that… wait. One second…

1:26- Keg Kicked.

Lost? So were we.

1:30-  That Jack represents a clear Christ-like figure.   I could fill you in on this talk for hours, or you could just join Eric Woll and Jared Vivaqua in our now weekly Lost discussion group.

1:50- Andrew Wakelee arrives and takes over the notebook for a few minutes.   His best report?  2:01- Joe is walking around with his wig inside his pants.

2:13- So the gang has somehow made our way to the Bloomsburg baseball game.  I ran into Rebecca Hall, The Voice’s new managing editor.  I stammered and slurred just long enough to create some real doubt in her mind that I could handle being Editor-in-chief next Fall.   Nothing inspires confidence in a staff like witnessing their captain struggle to stand upright.

2:14- Another original entry:  10-3 bad guys, Winds are NE at 17 mph, number of laughs from condescending adults = four.

2:19- Thank God I was sober enough to truly appreciate the following moment.  Just days after writing an April Fools story insinuating that President Soltz’s brother is the Heat Miser, I bump into President Soltz while wearing a flaming wig that makes me look like the heat miser.   Unfortunately, I was sober enough not to take full advantage of this hilarious opportunity.

2:45- A defining moment in my heckling career. After a terrible call on a double play that ended Bloomsburg’s threat in the 6th, I shouted,  “It looks like the umpires want to leave early and go to Block Party too!”  The plate ump then turns, glares at me, and snaps, “Yeah, we do.”   He is either terrible at comebacks or very honest.

2:50- At this point we are worried that I might attract some unwanted attention through my loud mouth and annoying antics.  Rebecca texts to warn us that a cop was driving towards us on a moped.  I question where the cops got a moped from before reasoning that they paid for it with my parking tickets.  I then proceeded to yell that since I paid for the moped, I should get a free ride.   That is my thought process at this time

2:51- It is so damn hot, Rum was a poor choice.

3:40-  Original:  Tony Reporting in… I LOST JOE!!!

4:10- I’m back, and I found another  “Block Party hero.” The location is now East Third Street and I ran into a guy named Kyle.  Kyle is visiting from Penn State and in his words, “saved a girls life.”   As the story goes, the girl had a broken leg and he found her struggling to climb Spruce Street on crutches.  So Kyle threw the girl over his shoulders and carried her safely up the mountain.  A witness described the event to be like when Samwise Gamgee carried Frodo to Mt. Doom.  Very touching and very nerdy.

4:11- Suddenly, I feel like being a real journalist again.  I start to interview people..  Penn State Kyle says that Block Party is amazing and that it is “much better than Blue and White.”  Good for us!

4:26- Now I am interviewing a girl named Sam.  Either she couldn’t piece sentences together or my brain ceased having the ability to take notes.  Here, once again, is the original entry.   Sam- “Awesome.  People in grade who perfect time to blow off steam before finals.”

4:41-  Our hero Kyle once again steps in to save the day by warning me never to pet the police horses.  “That is how they know if you are drunk. The minute you reach out to touch that horse, they snap the cuffs on you.  It is a sick trap!”

4:45- I pet a horse and lived to tell about it.  Shhh, don’t tell Kyle.

Some people say Block Party is a zoo. Yeah, maybe a petting zoo.

4:53- The crowd simply loves the band right now and “Don’t Stop Believing” has the students going wild. Very corny and cliché, but this was an awesome moment to be a part of.  Again, Block Party carries a terrible reputation, but watching hundreds of your classmates and peers shoulder-to-shoulder singing together with huge smiles on their face on a beautiful day makes you realize why the day is so special to begin with.

5:00- And sure enough, we have a fight break out.  The rest of the students reacted perfectly to these two morons, shoving them out of the area while chanting exactly what those guys were (it rhymes with smasshole).   The band’s lead singer really rose to the occasion too. “ Alight guys, how about you just leave, walk around the corner and you can compare penises in private.”  Well played.

5:14-  Dan Musser- “Block Party ‘09, greatest Block Party ever!”  I’m going to stop interviewing people right now, because I’m kind of sure Dan summed up everyone else’s thoughts at this point.

5:15- Tony just went up to a girl and told her he liked her outfit.  She stared at him and walked away.  I’m going to name her a Block Party villain.

5:20- We finally have a goat sighting.   I came across this goat last year and it blew my mind, but only no body believed me when I came home to tell the story.  Everyone just assumed I had too much to drink and mistook a dog for a farm animal or something.  I felt like Randy Quaid’s character in Independence Day.  I knew what I saw, but everyone else just said I was crazy.   This year I am finally justified.  The goat’s name is stinky.  This was his 8th straight block party (he is going for his doctorate). His owner’s name is Tower.   Send your apologies to jmarleth@bloomu.edu .

Now I’m gonna pet a goat!

5:25- Ventured into the porta-potty for the first time.  Not as bad as I expected. Still, not planning on making a return trip anytime soon.

5:29-  A moron just smashed a bottle at a police officer’s feet.  Go home.  There is no place for you at our Block Party.

5:30- “A little piece of advice. If you are going to wear a dress, don’t stand on the roof.  We can see everything”.  That little nugget was delivered by the band’s lead singer.  My father told me the same thing the day I left for college.

5:45- I know I promised to stop grabbing interviews, but there is a guy walking around sporting a flashy suit and double fisting beers.  I asked him about the reasoning behind his outfit. He told me that he is wearing the suit because he has “43,000 myspace hits for being awesome.”  He also told me his name was Trent Steele, who I am 97% sure was a character from the Simpson’s episode when Homer changed his name to Max Powers.   No more interviews.  I promise.

6:00- Just bought a grilled-cheese sandwich from an adorable little girl on the way home.  Awesome idea.  Good for her.

6:13- Safely back home. Going through my text messages and missed calls and don’t recognize a single number.  I’m not even sure if this is my phone.

6:28- The glorious return of Jesse! We have no clue where he has been for the last four hours, but he just barged through the front door shirt-less and off-balance.  I assure all the girls that he is harmless.  My friend Tali responds, “harmless or homeless?”

6:44- A commotion is coming from out front so I run to check out the scene.  Apparently, someone next door was shutout in beer pong and is now running around the outside of the house naked. Great to see that some people still respect the game and follow the rules.  Terrible to see that guy naked.  On Block Party, you take the good with the bad.

6:46- My buddy Ward comes home from the baseball game and is clearly in a bad mood.  The team didn’t fare so well against West Chester and I can sense some visible tension between him and me. Not sure if he is mad that they lost, or that we were all enjoying Block Party while they had to play ball.  Either way, I’m taking a walk.

Better than any meal I’ve ever had at the commons.

7:06- Ward cracks his first beer.  All is right with the world.

7:47- Haven’t updated in a while.   We’ve been in a series of intense negotiations involving our plans tonight.   Everything is up for debate.  How much beer? What kind of beer?  Cups? Mixers? Food? Discussions with North Korea are more constructive then this.

7:48- Original- “Let’s go meet some long ladies.” If anyone knows what I meant by that, give me a heads up.

8:00-  Warning.  Things are going to get pretty crazy from now on.  We are within an hour of the great Joe Arleth blackout.  I’ve been sent on a quest to Uni-mart with Tony to buy some orange juice for Lunch Boxes (Beer + Amaretto + Orange Juice = Crazy Delicious).   We’ve become sidetracked, and are now partying on light street.

8:15- Inside my friend Ben’s house, we meet up with Tony’s cousin.  He insists that we help him finish a bottle of Vladdy before we leave.  This is the beginning of the end.

8:16- Mid-shot, my friend Joanna pants (shanks, caddy shacks, etc) me.  My pants come completely down. Two hours ago, I would have been very embarrassed.

8:30- The police have arrived on the scene and everyone is confused.  The party was relatively calm, but we now have 18 police officers surrounding the lawn. We are forced onto the porch.  Ben comes outside and tried to talk to the cops.  Now, I first want to commend the police on the fantastic job they did all day keeping everyone safe.  With that being said, this incident wasn’t handled very well.   Ben asks the guy who appeared to be in charge if he “had the right to be on his lawn until 10 p.m.”  The officer replied, “Son, there are a lot of things within your rights but what is reality right now?”  Ben was respectfully asking a question and the response he received was ignorant. A lesser man may have caused a scene.  Ben thought twice and responded, “So can I ride one of the horses?”   Block Party Hero.

8:52-  The party goers break out into song, serenading the police with a drunken rendition of “I love college.”  The police look very uncomfortable right now. I’d say it’s a combination of having 50 people rapping in their direction, and the ridiculous looking shorts they wear as part of the uniform.  Between those shorts and the goofy bike helmets, it is really sometimes hard to take them seriously.  I think 95% of the Block Party problems could be addressed if the Police just went on “What not to wear.”

8:55- Hi-jacked notebook original-   Joe has hat hair from wearing a foolish wig all day

9:00-   Black Out.

9:01- I am told that from this point on, I returned to the baseball house and proceeded to sit cross-legged on the floor making Lunch Boxes for all in attendance.   I also repeatedly slammed my head on a table after Brad Lidge blew a save.  I stopped recognizing old friends and lost my backpack.  This hour represents the turning point in the night. I will either be left behind and sent to bed, or will pull myself together and carry on.

10:22- original-  Wakelee takes control over log writing. Joe is rendered incoherent from too much sun, alcohol and wig exposure.  He had banged his head on the table 3 times.  I am concerned for his health, but also for his fun.

10:32- original- Flask Confiscated by Wakelee

Like Samson’s hair, once my flask is gone I lose all my powers. So the journal ended here. The night raged on for hours though. Remember this is Block Party we are talking about!
The gang eventually reached the bars where the rest of the town had already started to continue the party. There was crazy dancing, friends buying each other drinks, and fond Block Party memories being shared. And then there was me, cut off from beer and sitting in the corner. Good times!
Around 5 a.m. things finally settled down. One friend finally gave up calling escort services and retreated to bed. Thankfully, someone wisely took my phone away so I’d stop texting every girl I know. The night was over and so was Block Party.

Sunday 9:15 am- Mike Griggs- “Someone pooped on my floor…”.

Until next year. Happy Block Party

Episode One: Relationships from a dude’s perspective…
This isn’t the high-class grandeur steeped scene of Manhattan, this is Bloomsburg, where deer outnumber people. One thing remains constant no matter where you live, or where anyone lives for that matter, and that is relationships.

We have as many types of relationships as we do flavors of skittles. We have all of the Facebook basics like: in a relationship (or dating), engaged, married, it’s complicated, and open-relationship and we can’t forget the most abundant- friendships. Navigating through the vast ocean of relationships can be tedious; each type has its own identity and a textbook-sized fictitious “rules and regulations” manual, which can read like a calculus book at times.

Dating Relationships: This is hands-down the untouchable frontrunner for the most confusing relationship award. I feel pretty safe saying that guys and girls will never understand each other, hence the conflict and confusion. This is in most peoples’ minds, the most rewarding relationship. Finding your complement is a bittersweet symphony, and I say this for two reasons. One, it’s comparable to a flawlessly performed symphony in the sense that usually it can yield the most gratifying happiness, and can create a bond like a snowflake- each one is unique. Two, it’s bittersweet because as guys and girls so often do, they disagree. The TV remote can ignite WW3 when football wants precedence over One Tree Hill. If you Sparknote the aforementioned manual, the gist is simple; to avoid confusion and catastrophe, she always wins.

It’s Complicated: This is a whole new bear to wrestle, this product of Facebook is an enigma to many. This pseudo-relationship wanna-be thing (best possible explanation) is a blazoning signal flare for a relationship in turmoil, but it is still kinda-sorta a relationship. The best way to avoid the complicated “it’s complicated” would be to figure out what’s so complicated in the first place! Then fix it.

Friendship: The most fun, most important, and by far the simplest of the Brady Bunch family of relationships. Everyone needs friends, you know, the people who are there for you through thick and thin? Through “it’s complicated” and “engaged?” Friends are the backbones on the skeleton of our being, and without any friends at all, it would be fair to assume that life would be comparable to a heaping bucket of raw sewage…with anchovies and mushrooms on top. Anyway, friends are the people who are by your side for the moments that take your breath away, for all of the memorable times in your life, to bail you out of jail if need be, and the people who you’ll stay in contact with forever. This is also the easiest type of relationship to start and the easiest to maintain. Some quick advice: start by saying “Hey!”

The Open-Relationship: There’s no better way to say “I’m into you but… I’m not willing to commit to you” then by settling for an open-relationship. I hate to be “that guy” and say it but there is zero good that is going to come out of a mutual agreement to do this. It’s really the bad egg of the family’ it’s the sibling who finds joy in tipping old ladies in wheelchairs and taking candy from babies. It would be more worthwhile to stay together, and cheat on each other here and there. Isn’t it the same thing?

The relationship family, or ocean of relationship, whichever metaphor you like better, are full of unpredictable scenarios. One minute everything is smooth sailing, next, Moby Dick has mistaken your vessel for a Twinkie, and is threatening to sink everything in a blink of an eye.

Heading back to the basis of this column, Sex and the City and relationships, or according to Wikipedia.com, the “travels of life and love” as well as “romance and sex”… Well like relationships, I’m going to start out slow, ease into it and hope it doesn’t get “complicated.”

(photos courtesy of Google Image Search)

While most Bloomsburg University students were putting the finishing touches on their spring break, the university’s wrestling team competed at the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) Championships on March 7th. The team finished third with 88.5 points, trailing only West Virginia (95.5) and Edinboro (126.5). The third place finish was the best for the team since 1993, when they claimed the title. Coach Stutzman felt the team “wrestled really well and competed really hard.”

Three Huskies finished high enough in the tournament to earn automatic berths to the NCAA Division I Championships in St. Louis, March 19-21. These three were Matt Moley (1st), George Hickman (2nd), and Ian Moser (3rd). Moley began the day by pinning Lock Haven’s Ollie Underwood in the first period, and then earned a tough decision over Clarion’s Hadley Harrison by a 3-1 score. The win over Harrison earned Moley his third trip to nationals and advanced him to the finals, where he once again met Edinboro’s top-ranked Gregor Gillespie. Going into the match, Moley had a career record of 0-9 against Gillespie, but you never would have guessed it. Moley said, “I knew that this could have been the last time that I got to wrestle him, so before the match I had it set in my mind that I was not going to lose a tenth time to the same kid. I felt no pressure going into the match, and planned on attacking early and often, and it worked for me.”

Matt Moley

Moley came out on fire, scoring a takedown just seconds into the 157-pound match, and adding another one later in the period for a 4-2 lead heading into the second. In the second period, Moley was able to counter a shot by Gillespie and pick up another takedown. In the third, Gillespie was able to escape, but Moley had already accumulated 1:54 of riding time. Gillespie answered back, taking Moley down to cut his lead to one point, but a Moley escape and point for riding time earned him the 8-5 victory. The win also earned him the honor of being named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler. Stutzman pronounced, “I think it was a huge win for him,” mentioning, “Moley doesn’t get the respect he deserves.”

After the win, Moley remarked, “It was definitely a confidence booster being that he is ranked number one in the nation, and it just shows that I have the potential to accomplish my goal to be a national champ.”

George Hickman

In the 149-pound bracket, Hickman earned a bye into the semi-finals where he beat Greg Lewis of Clarion by a 6-1 score, setting up a rematch with Matt Fittery of Lock Haven. Hickman pinned Fittery in their last meeting, but the Bald Eagle got the best of him this time, winning by a score of 4-2. The second place finish earned Hickman his first trip to nationals, a berth the senior has been working for his entire college career. He stated, “It feels good to qualify for nationals after all the hard work, and my expectations are to be an All-American.”
After dropping a 5-2 decision to Clarion’s Jay Ivanco, Moser bounced back with a 3-1 win over Pitt’s Chris Albright and a 16-8 major decision of Lock Haven’s Nick Hyatt. The third place finish was enough to automatically qualify Moser for his first trip to nationals. Also placing for the Huskies were Nate Graham (3rd), Jason Guffey, Rick Donald, and Jesse Hasseman (4th), Ricky Schmelyun and Zac Walsh (5th).

Stutzman was happy, but not satisfied with the team’s third place finish. He stated, “For us to get to the next level, I want to win the tournament,” adding, “I think we’re going in the right direction.”

As far as preparing his guys for the National Championships, there isn’t much Stutzman can do at this point. His philosophy is to train the team real hard early in the year so he can back off of them in the post-season. It’s his responsibility to keep them healthy and fresh mentally at this point. When it comes to the mindset needed to be successful at nationals, he stressed competitiveness and confidence. Stutzman announced, “We’re going out there to win,” and believes “a true competitor wants to win.”

Nobody likes the blue lot.  No one.  It’s the best option available to many students, so we take it, but we don’t love it.  It’s like the guy in your hallway who’s annoying, but you still deal with him because its easier than trying to tell him off or avoiding him.

The Blue Lot is a catch-22; it’s the inevitable headache of living on campus and bringing a vehicle along for the ride.  We all have beefs with the shuttle service, and I’ll beat that dead horse later.

First and foremost, we all know that no one likes parking at the end of the world, but why do so many people insist on making it even more miserable than it needs to be?  I think it’s pretty fair to assume that if we all pay the same amount to park there, then maybe we all get one parking space at a time.  Some people might think that their shiny ’98 Cavalier deserves more spaces than my dirty ’92 Cherokee, but that’s a pretty selfish assumption on their part. They might think that parking like that is going to protect their car from getting damaged by other careless drivers opening their doors, but parking like that is much more likely to get your car keyed by someone who could’ve parked there if you weren’t being so self-centered. 

I love my car just as much as the next person, and I wish I had a safe place to park where no one would dent her, but I refuse to take more than one parking spot.  Most people in the Blue Lot, I’m sure, feel the same way, and they only take one spot.  There are a handful of people who seem to subscribe to the outlook on life which promotes coloring outside the lines, and perhaps they think that this applies to parking lots as well, but I think parking lots may be one of the places where lines truly serve a purpose.   Be considerate, take one spot.  If you have trouble maneuvering your hefty car into one spot, I suggest you drive something that you can handle.  

Don’t get me wrong.  I sometimes struggle to park perfectly.  I think we all might park a little crooked from time to time, or that we might be too close to a vehicle on either side of us.  Some of us have even gotten notes on our windshield because of our inability to park our cars.  Most of us, however, do not blatantly take multiple spaces. Perhaps an issue is that people cannot always see the lines drawn on the dust that is the Blue Lot.  This can be easily remedied by parking next to another car, and giving yourself and the other vehicle the standard amount of space. 

I believe that one of the biggest causes of the mayhem in the Blue Lot is that people are in such a hurry to park so that they can catch the shuttle.  I know the shuttle drivers have a pretty tough job, and that they are all remarkably cheery, considering what they do on a daily basis.  I appreciate that.  Good job, Drivers.  The problem is that there often aren’t enough shuttles running at any given time, so the driver can’t wait in the Blue Lot for people to park perfectly straight, and certainly no one wants to miss the shuttle.  This causes people to careen into the first available space, kill the engine, and bolt for the bus, whether or not they have parked straight.

The solution requires several different groups to help out.  The university could either make the Blue Lot shack warmer, or run more shuttles so that we don’t catch frostbite on the tundra.  University Police could ticket selfish parkers, rather than watching meters by the library and the Recreation Center.  Finally, people who have licenses and cars could act as if they earned both of them and know how to handle their vehicle.  Until then, the 95 percent of people who park in the Blue Lot and follow the rules, are going to be unfairly punished for those who can’t remember how to get their cars between the lines.

The men's tennis team... This season, will they cause a ruckus with their raquets? (Sports Information photo)

By: Ryan Knarr/The Voice

Take a glance at the Bloomsburg men’s tennis team’s roster this season, and you probably won’t recognize many names. But come the end of the season, you may very well see the Huskies hoisting yet another PSAC championship trophy and competing for the national title in Orlando, Florida.

Following a season which led to a trip to the Sweet 16 at Nationals last year, veteran Head Coach Marty Coyne was faced with the task of replacing four of his six starters, including one of the most polished players in program history - Dan Gal.

What Coach Coyne did was bring in a new trio of players that promises to contribute to the Huskies lineup for years to come. In the fall season, freshmen Mark Schoerder was added into the mix. The biggest addition, however, for Bloomsburg was the mid-season addition of two freshmen Division I transfers, Carlos Reyes and Lee Wexler, both three-star recruits on tennisrecruiting.net.

The addition of these three players to an already strong lineup will mean great depth for the Huskies, but it won’t come without a learning curve for a very young Bloomsburg squad.

“It’s a very talented group we have in place right now, but there will be some growing pains with such a young team,” said Huskies head coach Marty Coyne.
For Reyes, a native of Weston Florida, the road to Bloomsburg went through Northern Illinois University, where he started a year before transferring. For Wexler, from Layette Hill, Pa, it took a semester at George Mason University before deciding he was a Husky.

Add these three freshmen in a lineup with two returning top-of-the-lineup starters in Fernando Perez and Jeff Nuhfer, and the Huskies are very much a favorite to repeat as Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Champions.
“Winning the conference is always at the top of our list along with the goal of making it the final 16 at nationals,” said Coach Coyne.

The Huskies will benefit from senior leadership in Ryan Glubo, who has been in certain situations on the court over the years that should help mentor the young squad.

“Ryan’s our captain,” said Coyne. “He’s been around, he’s heard it, he’s filled a lot of different roles for us and has seen some of the best players here at Bloomsburg, so he can pass that experience on to the next generation.”

“I want to show our young guys that if we stick together as a team nobody can stop us,” said Glubo. “This young group is some of the best guys I could ask for.”

Returning sophomore Alan Hummel will be another key impact player for Bloomsburg, adding some key depth to the lineup as he is both a singles and doubles player.

One team that looks to be an early season rival for the Huskies in the PSAC is Kutztown, who consistently fields a competitive team comprised of international players from all over the globe behind head coach Suresh Ramamurthi. The Golden Bears have added three promising freshmen from India to a lineup that will be very competitive in conference play.

“Historically, they have guys who come in as very talented players, but we are usually able to catch up to them with our work ethic,” said Coach Coyne.
Another twist to this year’s PSAC conference title race will be the addition of a new team, Mercyhurst. The Lakers bring a solid lineup into the conference and could be a challenge to the rest of the PSAC throughout the year.

“Kutztown and Mercyhurst are going to be tough competitors – no question,” said Glubo. “I feel all three of us [teams] have great players, but the thing that will separate us is our work ethic, and how hard we all work on and off the court, and in the end we shall prevail.”

The Huskies will be able to use their annual spring break trip to Hilton Head, SC as a time to work on certain aspects of their games, including solidifying their play in doubles from top to bottom as all three doubles points are crucial in setting the tone early in each and every match.

“This year we are learning how to play doubles,” said Coach Coyne, “It’s an interesting transition.”

The storied tradition and rich history of the Huskies tennis team which continues to this day can be traced directly to coach Marty Coyne who recently picked up his 200th career win as men’s coach with a win in the season opener versus West Liberty State at Oxford Racket Club. Before becoming coach at Bloomsburg, Coyne played for the Huskies and was an eight-time conference champion and All-American selection in 1983. In his years as Head Coach of both the men’s and women’s teams, Coach Coyne has garnered numerous coaching awards at the conference, regional, and national level.

“Coach is one of a kind, said Glubo. “He’s turned me into not only a better player but a better individual and he relates everything to real life situations which prepares us for not only tennis matches, but for the real world. He cares about his players more than any coach does.”

Looking at the upcoming season, the new Husky roster is sure to become household names as Bloomsburg looks to return to the national tournament for yet another year, as well as a spot on top the PSAC podium for the 22nd title in the team’s decorated record.

Director of this office, Alison Stone-Briggs, explains how the newly renovated office helps students with their search for internships. In the past, each of the four colleges were in charge of their student’s internships, each with their own policies. It was not until last year that the university created a separate office to cover all areas.

The department of Science and Technology had formed a website for students, and it has been the job of director, Stone-Briggs, to make the website for the entire school. “It has been developed to further reflect concerns of students,” she says. “The homepage was redesigned to be user friendly.”

The website, www.internships.bloomu.edu, was split into three main target areas for students, faculty, and organizations. It has developed easy to follow steps for students on the process of choosing their internship. First and foremost, seeing their advisor is recommended before consulting the website or the office for help. Not all students are required to do an internship, and others have certain procedures that are worth knowing.

Latest news is another feature of the homepage, as well as success stories and must reads for the inquirer. Links to other websites and a searchable database make the site user friendly, and simple to find the information that is needed. The “latest news” section is regularly updated and will post the dates for job fairs and internship expos.

At the bottom of the page is a section dedicated to instructional videos for students. Not to be overlooked, these videos help with everything from dilemmas like what to wear to an interview, how to have a good interview, how to answer the infamous “salary” question, and advice from recent graduates.

The office often supports company recruit meetings, like the one held for business majors on Monday, Feb. 16. About 30 students met with six representatives for many companies around the area.

These companies came in search of summer interns, as well as to give advice on how to get an internship.

These companies were in search interns in areas from marketing and public relations, to human resources, management positions, finance, and accounting. Along with looking for summer interns, they offered their opinions on what looks good to an employer.

Maria Zangardi, employment manager for Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, said, “Skills are important, but I’m looking for someone who is willing to work hard and help out. Also a personality counts, always show personality in your interviews.”

Agreeing with Zangardi, Matthew Vincent, accounting executive for Paper Mart Inc., said, “A lot of people have the exact same GPA, it’s personality and enthusiasm that stands out.

Others are looking for someone to keep after the internship is over. Jason Kyle, CED (Consolidated Electrical Distributors) PC manager, commented that he was looking for an intern to be turned into an employee. “Someone I can trust,” Kyle stated, “Someone to do sales and run the business.”

Trust is a big issue to employers, it is important to keep their trust that the job will be done correctly and on time. “Being competent and confident is important,” Dan Moon of Vintage Tub and Bath said. “Express that you want the job by thinking outside the box.”

Knowing the job and being prepared are important in interviews. Dana Gorby, a marketing specialist from Geisinger, said to “learn the standards (of Geisinger), and have an interest in what you interview for.” Chris Connelly, director of sales from Pinpoint Strategies, said, “Having good questions prepared sets yourself apart.”

Internships are an important part of the college learning experience. Information is everywhere, and the Office of Academic Internships and Community Outreach is there to help answer questions and find the right internship.