Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Sunday, September 20, 2009
TechCrunch50 conference
Have you ever wanted to be at the top of the next wave in technology? What if you could go to a conference where the top 150 "next-big-things" in Internet were all in one place? This place exists, and it is called TechCrunch50.
This past week, three Hampshire students went to the third-annual TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco. Jose Fuentes (2005), Madeleine Hahn (2008), and Fred Concklin (2008) received funding from the school to help subsidize their trip and defray admission cost.
"It was a giant internet pitch-off," claims Madeleine. She found the experience to be both rewarding and interesting. These Hampshire students were among the hundreds of attendees not including the representatives from the 150 Internet startups. 50 comanies were featured above the rest, being able to present all the information you would want to know about them in a large auditorium. These presentations went on for one to two hours at a time, with breaks in between. When an attendee got board of the presentations he or she could go to the "Demo Pit."
The Demo Pit was where the other 100 companies were to be found. These companies had boothes set up in an exhibition hall, and a person could wander up and down the rows, stopping to look at interesting or shiny things. Also, with this format, attendees could ask questions of the companies' representatives. Says Madeleine Hahn, "My favorite part of the conference was wandering the Demo Pit. You got to interact with real people, and ask all the questons you had."
Attendees could vote on their favorite Demo Pit companies, and the winner for the day would get to present on stage in the auditorium. The 50 presentations were judged by a panel of experts that included some big names in Internet fields such as: Dick Costolo, the COO of Twitter; Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn; and Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. The winner would receive $50,000.
The chief requirement for these startups to be involved in TechCrunch50 is that they must have already launched. For many companies, this means that their products or services are still in the testing phases, to be available to the end-user "sometime soon."
So who won? A company called Red Beacon now commands $50,000 that they did not have a week ago. Red Beacon is a sort of automated classified service. A local business will list all of their products and services, sort of like a classified ad. However, the big difference is that a consumer can do a local search for a product or service, and Red Beacon alerts all companies who had listed such things as the customer searched for. Theoretically then, there would be hyper-local competition over a customer's purchasing power.
While people who come to such an event to network, learn about the next-big-thing, become early adopters, brag to their friends about an awesome conference, it is not perfect. The generel admission fee is on the order of thousands of dollars, and you do not necessarily get what you paid for. For such a cost, one would expect some excellent food and facilities. Unfortunately, neither was the case. While the students felt that the food was not bad per se, it certinly was not up to par with the associated cost. Madeleine Hahn had some insight here as well, "TechCrunch wants to promote all of these startups, but their own product needs work. They should have a look at their own business plan. I imagine with proper thought, they could cut the price by half."
To read about the company TechCrunch, check out www.techcruch.com. For more informtion about the conference please check out www.techcrunch50.com.
This past week, three Hampshire students went to the third-annual TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco. Jose Fuentes (2005), Madeleine Hahn (2008), and Fred Concklin (2008) received funding from the school to help subsidize their trip and defray admission cost.
"It was a giant internet pitch-off," claims Madeleine. She found the experience to be both rewarding and interesting. These Hampshire students were among the hundreds of attendees not including the representatives from the 150 Internet startups. 50 comanies were featured above the rest, being able to present all the information you would want to know about them in a large auditorium. These presentations went on for one to two hours at a time, with breaks in between. When an attendee got board of the presentations he or she could go to the "Demo Pit."
The Demo Pit was where the other 100 companies were to be found. These companies had boothes set up in an exhibition hall, and a person could wander up and down the rows, stopping to look at interesting or shiny things. Also, with this format, attendees could ask questions of the companies' representatives. Says Madeleine Hahn, "My favorite part of the conference was wandering the Demo Pit. You got to interact with real people, and ask all the questons you had."
Attendees could vote on their favorite Demo Pit companies, and the winner for the day would get to present on stage in the auditorium. The 50 presentations were judged by a panel of experts that included some big names in Internet fields such as: Dick Costolo, the COO of Twitter; Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn; and Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. The winner would receive $50,000.
The chief requirement for these startups to be involved in TechCrunch50 is that they must have already launched. For many companies, this means that their products or services are still in the testing phases, to be available to the end-user "sometime soon."
So who won? A company called Red Beacon now commands $50,000 that they did not have a week ago. Red Beacon is a sort of automated classified service. A local business will list all of their products and services, sort of like a classified ad. However, the big difference is that a consumer can do a local search for a product or service, and Red Beacon alerts all companies who had listed such things as the customer searched for. Theoretically then, there would be hyper-local competition over a customer's purchasing power.
While people who come to such an event to network, learn about the next-big-thing, become early adopters, brag to their friends about an awesome conference, it is not perfect. The generel admission fee is on the order of thousands of dollars, and you do not necessarily get what you paid for. For such a cost, one would expect some excellent food and facilities. Unfortunately, neither was the case. While the students felt that the food was not bad per se, it certinly was not up to par with the associated cost. Madeleine Hahn had some insight here as well, "TechCrunch wants to promote all of these startups, but their own product needs work. They should have a look at their own business plan. I imagine with proper thought, they could cut the price by half."
To read about the company TechCrunch, check out www.techcruch.com. For more informtion about the conference please check out www.techcrunch50.com.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Dissenting at Hampshire: do you agree? rev. 2.0
This is the rewritten, published version of the earlier post.
Have you ever held an opinion at Hampshire and felt that you could not express it? You would be ridiculed for having such a different opinion. You are sure however, that if you went into the real world, it would not be any more outlandish than others. You are not alone.
It turns out that a number of students here have felt at one time or another that their opinions, no matter how banal, could not be given because they did not agree with the majority voice. This is particularly true with issues on which it seems the whole campus agrees with one view. People feel this way because they think that they will be verbally assaulted for disagreeing. In Hampshire tradition, though, it is important to have dialog and to learn for yourself. Do not blindly accept what people tell you, but do your own research and make your own view. Moreover, express that view. Mind you, there are some students here who do not think that it is difficult to express themselves in any way. If you are of these people, give the other side a chance every once in a while. Your opposer does not have quite the temerity as you. He or she is scared of negative response.
If there are enough people who feel that they can not express their opinions, there may also be many people who agree with them. A minority of one sucks, but when you start to have people agreeing with you, even if it is just one more, you can feel much more comfortable expressing yourself. The problem is that you can not know whether others agree unless you go out on a limb and express your opinions. It can be terrifying.
You may have guessed that this piece is actually a front for writing about Gaza. This is true, but it applies in all cases. I am going to go out on a limb and let you know what I think. I think this recent conflict in Gaza was just what Hamas wanted. Hamas is a terrorist organization that controls the “government” of Gaza. It seems that they are more bent on the destruction Israel than supplying the people that they represent (the Palestinians) with much needed social services or infrastructure. They poked Israel in the ribs for a very long time by shooting rockets at her. Each individual rocket did not do much damage, but they added up. Over the last eight years, the Israeli city of Sderot has borne the brunt of these attacks. While less than 20 people have been murdered in this way, hundreds have been injured, requiring hospitalization. Infrastructure has been destroyed. Children have not been able to play outdoors because of their parents' well-justified fear. This conflict was antagonized by Hamas. It then comes as no surprise to me when Israel finally retaliated and did so with “disproportionate response.” Hamas wanted the world community to catch Israel in the act. The problem here is that Israel does not care about world opinion very much. Not only did Israel retaliate, but polls indicate that around 80% of Israelis approved of the conflict. To me their frustration is understandable.
Before you call me cold and heartless, please know that I do feel for the Palestinians. The situation is difficult. There is a historical context that must be considered, and there are not only two sides to the issue; it is multi-faceted. I do not think that one side is right and the other wrong. I know that there have been faults on both sides. There you go, I did it. I gave a minority opinion. It is your turn. If you disagree with anything on campus, do your research, and tell others. Speak up, speak out.
Resources for further information:
www.warincontext.org
www.fair.org
Have you ever held an opinion at Hampshire and felt that you could not express it? You would be ridiculed for having such a different opinion. You are sure however, that if you went into the real world, it would not be any more outlandish than others. You are not alone.
It turns out that a number of students here have felt at one time or another that their opinions, no matter how banal, could not be given because they did not agree with the majority voice. This is particularly true with issues on which it seems the whole campus agrees with one view. People feel this way because they think that they will be verbally assaulted for disagreeing. In Hampshire tradition, though, it is important to have dialog and to learn for yourself. Do not blindly accept what people tell you, but do your own research and make your own view. Moreover, express that view. Mind you, there are some students here who do not think that it is difficult to express themselves in any way. If you are of these people, give the other side a chance every once in a while. Your opposer does not have quite the temerity as you. He or she is scared of negative response.
If there are enough people who feel that they can not express their opinions, there may also be many people who agree with them. A minority of one sucks, but when you start to have people agreeing with you, even if it is just one more, you can feel much more comfortable expressing yourself. The problem is that you can not know whether others agree unless you go out on a limb and express your opinions. It can be terrifying.
You may have guessed that this piece is actually a front for writing about Gaza. This is true, but it applies in all cases. I am going to go out on a limb and let you know what I think. I think this recent conflict in Gaza was just what Hamas wanted. Hamas is a terrorist organization that controls the “government” of Gaza. It seems that they are more bent on the destruction Israel than supplying the people that they represent (the Palestinians) with much needed social services or infrastructure. They poked Israel in the ribs for a very long time by shooting rockets at her. Each individual rocket did not do much damage, but they added up. Over the last eight years, the Israeli city of Sderot has borne the brunt of these attacks. While less than 20 people have been murdered in this way, hundreds have been injured, requiring hospitalization. Infrastructure has been destroyed. Children have not been able to play outdoors because of their parents' well-justified fear. This conflict was antagonized by Hamas. It then comes as no surprise to me when Israel finally retaliated and did so with “disproportionate response.” Hamas wanted the world community to catch Israel in the act. The problem here is that Israel does not care about world opinion very much. Not only did Israel retaliate, but polls indicate that around 80% of Israelis approved of the conflict. To me their frustration is understandable.
Before you call me cold and heartless, please know that I do feel for the Palestinians. The situation is difficult. There is a historical context that must be considered, and there are not only two sides to the issue; it is multi-faceted. I do not think that one side is right and the other wrong. I know that there have been faults on both sides. There you go, I did it. I gave a minority opinion. It is your turn. If you disagree with anything on campus, do your research, and tell others. Speak up, speak out.
Resources for further information:
www.warincontext.org
www.fair.org
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Dissenting at Hampshire: do you agree?
Have you ever held an opinion at Hampshire and felt that you could not express it? You would be ridiculed for having such a different opinion. You are sure however, that if you went into the real world, it would not be any more outlandish than others. You are not alone.
It turns out that a number of students here have felt at one time or another that their opinions, no matter how banal, could not be given because they did not agree with the majority voice. This is particularly true with issues on which it seems the whole campus agrees with one view. Here is the problem with that idea: it is anti-Hampshire. Right on the Hampshire website, under academic philosophy, it says, “Students learn to be producers and creators of knowledge, rather than passive consumers of information.” Basically what this is saying is that, generally, Hampshire students are not sheep.
This means that you do your own research, create your knowledge, and make your own opinion. Not only these, but non satis scire. It is not enough to know. Once you know, you have to do something about it. In particular, if your opinion is against the majority, speak out! Let people know what you think so that they can make their own opinions and let the cycle repeat ad infinitum. This is the greatest favor you can do for your fellow students. They are here, like you, to learn. Teach them, if you know. But when you are learning, do not accept anything blindly.
Sarah Danson, a third-year student here, expressed her thoughts about dissenting at Hampshire. She states, “I'm moderate here, but when I go out into the real world, I am so far left.” She feels that the minority voices are not usually vocal. She has had dissenting opinions here on a number of occasions, but could only talk about them with here friends, and in private conversation. Usually, the response of friends in this private discourse is rational. Why then are dissenters often shot-down in public? It's hard to know.
Alex Cachinero-Gorman disagrees. He does not think that this dichotomy exists. He thinks that people here are free to give their own opinions, no risk of being “shot-down.” For those of you who think this way, be respectful of others. Hear them out. They might be able to sway your opinions.
Here is the thing, though. If there are so many people who feel that they can not express their opinions, there may also be many people who agree with them. A minority of one sucks, but when you start to have people agreeing with you, even if it is just one more, you can feel much more comfortable expressing yourself. The problem is that you can not know whether others agree unless you go out on a limb and express your opinions. It can be terrifying.
You may have guessed that this piece is actually a front for writing about Gaza. This is true, but it applies in all cases. I am going to go out on a limb and let you know what I think. I think this recent conflict in Gaza was just what Hamas wanted. They poked Israel in the ribs for a very long time by shooting rockets at her. Each time did not do much damage, but each time added up. It then comes as no surprise when Israel finally retaliates and does so with “disproportionate response.” This is like “I'm not touching you,” said over and over again to your older sibling. When he or she punches you, you yell for mommy. The same is true in this case, except that Hamas wanted the world community to catch Israel in the act. The problem here is that Israel does not care about world opinion very much. Not only did Israel retaliate, but polls indicate that around 80% of Israelis approved of the conflict. To me their frustration is understandable.
Before you call me cold and heartless, know that I do feel for the Palestinians. The situation is all around a downer. But I do not think that one side is right and the other wrong. I know that there have been faults on both sides. I just wish that people at Hampshire would be more willing to discuss the multi-facets of any given issue. Speak up, speak out.
Resources for further information:
www.warincontext.org
www.fair.org
It turns out that a number of students here have felt at one time or another that their opinions, no matter how banal, could not be given because they did not agree with the majority voice. This is particularly true with issues on which it seems the whole campus agrees with one view. Here is the problem with that idea: it is anti-Hampshire. Right on the Hampshire website, under academic philosophy, it says, “Students learn to be producers and creators of knowledge, rather than passive consumers of information.” Basically what this is saying is that, generally, Hampshire students are not sheep.
This means that you do your own research, create your knowledge, and make your own opinion. Not only these, but non satis scire. It is not enough to know. Once you know, you have to do something about it. In particular, if your opinion is against the majority, speak out! Let people know what you think so that they can make their own opinions and let the cycle repeat ad infinitum. This is the greatest favor you can do for your fellow students. They are here, like you, to learn. Teach them, if you know. But when you are learning, do not accept anything blindly.
Sarah Danson, a third-year student here, expressed her thoughts about dissenting at Hampshire. She states, “I'm moderate here, but when I go out into the real world, I am so far left.” She feels that the minority voices are not usually vocal. She has had dissenting opinions here on a number of occasions, but could only talk about them with here friends, and in private conversation. Usually, the response of friends in this private discourse is rational. Why then are dissenters often shot-down in public? It's hard to know.
Alex Cachinero-Gorman disagrees. He does not think that this dichotomy exists. He thinks that people here are free to give their own opinions, no risk of being “shot-down.” For those of you who think this way, be respectful of others. Hear them out. They might be able to sway your opinions.
Here is the thing, though. If there are so many people who feel that they can not express their opinions, there may also be many people who agree with them. A minority of one sucks, but when you start to have people agreeing with you, even if it is just one more, you can feel much more comfortable expressing yourself. The problem is that you can not know whether others agree unless you go out on a limb and express your opinions. It can be terrifying.
You may have guessed that this piece is actually a front for writing about Gaza. This is true, but it applies in all cases. I am going to go out on a limb and let you know what I think. I think this recent conflict in Gaza was just what Hamas wanted. They poked Israel in the ribs for a very long time by shooting rockets at her. Each time did not do much damage, but each time added up. It then comes as no surprise when Israel finally retaliates and does so with “disproportionate response.” This is like “I'm not touching you,” said over and over again to your older sibling. When he or she punches you, you yell for mommy. The same is true in this case, except that Hamas wanted the world community to catch Israel in the act. The problem here is that Israel does not care about world opinion very much. Not only did Israel retaliate, but polls indicate that around 80% of Israelis approved of the conflict. To me their frustration is understandable.
Before you call me cold and heartless, know that I do feel for the Palestinians. The situation is all around a downer. But I do not think that one side is right and the other wrong. I know that there have been faults on both sides. I just wish that people at Hampshire would be more willing to discuss the multi-facets of any given issue. Speak up, speak out.
Resources for further information:
www.warincontext.org
www.fair.org
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Yiddush Book Center Expands
Sorry, I have not been at this for a while. I think I'll start up again if you don't mind...
This is dated December 3, 2008
You might have noticed the huge amount of construction going on behind the Yiddish Book Center. You are not alone. We were curious to know what is going on back there, and now you can learn too!
The new building (built with the same materials and in the same style as the old one) is going to be home to a huge book repository, a performance hall, a number of classrooms, and a kosher kitchen among other things.
The concept that became the Yiddish Book Center was functional in 1980, but the building that we know and love was opened in 1997. Since its inception, they have collected over a million volumes, many of which have been redistributed to libraries around the world. There are somewhere between thirteen and 15,000 diverse titles in the collection. Most of the books needing to be rescued and recovered from North America have been already, but shipments are still coming in. The rescue operation is practically over, but the education is just beginning.
One of the main purposes of the new space is to educate. There is a Yiddish revival movement happening now both in academia and among those Jews who might be as many as four generations removed from their Yiddish-speaking eastern European fore-bearers. The Yiddish Book Center plans to house adult education, college programs, and intensive Yiddish-language-learning programs in the new building. These classes will be taught by on-site and visiting faculty. Nancy Sherman, vice-president at the Center, stated, “We see this as a school for Jewish culture. There is a whole world of Jewish secular knowledge and information [for us to teach here].”
One of the most important additions of the new building will be the book repository. This is going to be a huge temperature and humidity controlled space to house about 300,000 volumes on site. Currently, the center only houses about 90,000 books in the present building. The rest are stored off-site in a storage facility. The space that the books are currently in will become an exhibition space. There will be educational information about authors, printing materials, and discoveries in the field, as well as a replica of an eastern European reading library.
Along with building expansions, there will also be program expansions. The Book Center plans on expanding the successful summer internship program. They will also be offering online courses credited through UMASS in Yiddish language and literature. Another plan for the not-so-distant future is making the text of 13,000 scanned volumes available for free online through the Open Content Alliance.
The Yiddish Book Center wants to see more student interest and attendance. There is a free newsletter, programs every, and most importantly, free admission. As Nancy Sherman says, “It's all about students from here on in.” You can find out more at www.yiddishbookcenter.org.
This is dated December 3, 2008
You might have noticed the huge amount of construction going on behind the Yiddish Book Center. You are not alone. We were curious to know what is going on back there, and now you can learn too!
The new building (built with the same materials and in the same style as the old one) is going to be home to a huge book repository, a performance hall, a number of classrooms, and a kosher kitchen among other things.
The concept that became the Yiddish Book Center was functional in 1980, but the building that we know and love was opened in 1997. Since its inception, they have collected over a million volumes, many of which have been redistributed to libraries around the world. There are somewhere between thirteen and 15,000 diverse titles in the collection. Most of the books needing to be rescued and recovered from North America have been already, but shipments are still coming in. The rescue operation is practically over, but the education is just beginning.
One of the main purposes of the new space is to educate. There is a Yiddish revival movement happening now both in academia and among those Jews who might be as many as four generations removed from their Yiddish-speaking eastern European fore-bearers. The Yiddish Book Center plans to house adult education, college programs, and intensive Yiddish-language-learning programs in the new building. These classes will be taught by on-site and visiting faculty. Nancy Sherman, vice-president at the Center, stated, “We see this as a school for Jewish culture. There is a whole world of Jewish secular knowledge and information [for us to teach here].”
One of the most important additions of the new building will be the book repository. This is going to be a huge temperature and humidity controlled space to house about 300,000 volumes on site. Currently, the center only houses about 90,000 books in the present building. The rest are stored off-site in a storage facility. The space that the books are currently in will become an exhibition space. There will be educational information about authors, printing materials, and discoveries in the field, as well as a replica of an eastern European reading library.
Along with building expansions, there will also be program expansions. The Book Center plans on expanding the successful summer internship program. They will also be offering online courses credited through UMASS in Yiddish language and literature. Another plan for the not-so-distant future is making the text of 13,000 scanned volumes available for free online through the Open Content Alliance.
The Yiddish Book Center wants to see more student interest and attendance. There is a free newsletter, programs every, and most importantly, free admission. As Nancy Sherman says, “It's all about students from here on in.” You can find out more at www.yiddishbookcenter.org.
Hampshire's New Dean
This is dated November 3, 2008
If you were unaware, we have a new Dean of Student Services this year. Her name is Dawn Ellinwood. What does the Dean of Student Services do, you might ask. She is the director of out-of-classroom support and programs for students. This means that Health Services, Residence Life, Food Services, Public Safety, Campus Leadership and Activities, the cultural programs, Student Council, CORC, and OPRA report directly to her. However, there is plenty of collaboration between Student Services and CASA, Spiritual Life, and the Community Health Collaborative. Basically, everything out of classroom has something to do with Dawn.
Her biggest goal is to foster a sense of community. She says, “I feel part of Hampshire, but what do I feel a part of?” This is a difficult question to answer, but she is willing to hear out any student who wants to talk about community. She wants to be a resource on campus; all you have to do is make the first move. “There are a lot more of you than there are of me,” she claims. This should not be a deterrent, but rather an invitation to make yourself known to Dawn. She wants to participate as much as possible in the student experience, and therefore has an open door policy for suggestions and comments. In spite of this, she says, “I love going into a room and not being known, because I get to meet people in a different way. I want people to get to know me not the title.” She wants people to invite her to events and actually to get to know her. She just wants a bit of notice because she has a young child and would have to arrange child care. Her personality really is just as open and welcoming as she claims.
When asked about organization and processes (bureaucracy) at Hampshire. Dawn stated, “As a new set of eyes coming in, I can help others to see in a different way.” She knows that there are certain areas of disorganization that need to be worked on, but also realizes that some of the disorganization defines Hampshire's personality. For example, the lack of clear definition to Community Council's processes allows the students to have more control over their governance.
Dean Ellinwood, has been at this for a long time. She has spent most of her career in support positions on college campuses. This is her fifth such position, and she spent 12 years at Elms College in a very similar job as what she is doing here, now. She does not take lightly the fact that she spent a long time in one place and is now here. In fact, she feels that she really wants to be here, why else would she have left such a secure position. If you would like to chat with her, go to the office of Student Services, upstairs of the Merrill living room, you could also shoot her an email at DMEsa@hampshire.edu.
If you were unaware, we have a new Dean of Student Services this year. Her name is Dawn Ellinwood. What does the Dean of Student Services do, you might ask. She is the director of out-of-classroom support and programs for students. This means that Health Services, Residence Life, Food Services, Public Safety, Campus Leadership and Activities, the cultural programs, Student Council, CORC, and OPRA report directly to her. However, there is plenty of collaboration between Student Services and CASA, Spiritual Life, and the Community Health Collaborative. Basically, everything out of classroom has something to do with Dawn.
Her biggest goal is to foster a sense of community. She says, “I feel part of Hampshire, but what do I feel a part of?” This is a difficult question to answer, but she is willing to hear out any student who wants to talk about community. She wants to be a resource on campus; all you have to do is make the first move. “There are a lot more of you than there are of me,” she claims. This should not be a deterrent, but rather an invitation to make yourself known to Dawn. She wants to participate as much as possible in the student experience, and therefore has an open door policy for suggestions and comments. In spite of this, she says, “I love going into a room and not being known, because I get to meet people in a different way. I want people to get to know me not the title.” She wants people to invite her to events and actually to get to know her. She just wants a bit of notice because she has a young child and would have to arrange child care. Her personality really is just as open and welcoming as she claims.
When asked about organization and processes (bureaucracy) at Hampshire. Dawn stated, “As a new set of eyes coming in, I can help others to see in a different way.” She knows that there are certain areas of disorganization that need to be worked on, but also realizes that some of the disorganization defines Hampshire's personality. For example, the lack of clear definition to Community Council's processes allows the students to have more control over their governance.
Dean Ellinwood, has been at this for a long time. She has spent most of her career in support positions on college campuses. This is her fifth such position, and she spent 12 years at Elms College in a very similar job as what she is doing here, now. She does not take lightly the fact that she spent a long time in one place and is now here. In fact, she feels that she really wants to be here, why else would she have left such a secure position. If you would like to chat with her, go to the office of Student Services, upstairs of the Merrill living room, you could also shoot her an email at DMEsa@hampshire.edu.
Deathfest Fun with Excalibur
Unfortunately, I have no idea when this is from. I am guessing it was April or thereabouts 2008.
I died a horrible death. A bomb exploded, and I was engulfed by a fireball. My reflexes simply were not good enough.
Deathfest, like usual, was a great success. There was somewhere between 80 and 100 participants, nearly all of whom expected to die. They did not die in real life, of course. Deathfest is a huge roleplaying event that happens every semester. The rules are similar to Dungeons and Dragons, but even if you never played that before, you could catch on quickly. The event is broken down into three tiers, or levels. For the first tier, one was supposed to choose an option by its number, go to the place in the Main Lecture Hall that was labeled with that number, and meet the group that accumulated there. Some of the options were, “Around the River Bendis,” “Lambda the Ultimate,” and “Library of Congress B.S.”
I joined up with “Around the River Bendis.” My dungeon master (or DM for short) was Mike Rozycky. He led us to the East Lecture Hall and started writing on the white-board there. He wrote down a number of comic/graphic-novel names like Superman, Batman, The Green Lantern, Leonitis, and Maus. We all rolled our D20 (a die with 20 sides, used a lot in table-top role-playing games) to see who would be first in choosing a character. Whoever had the highest roll got to choose their character first. I chose “The ?”, an obscure comic book hero whose comic I have actually read (one of the few). I was given a “character sheet” which had my character's attributes, abilities, and items. Some of these items had “modifiers,” which means that if I were to roll a D20 to see how successful a given skill was, it would add on (or take away) a certain number of points toward that skill.
It turned out that our tier 1 (or the world that we were to role-play for tier 1) was a scary comic-book world gone bad. We all found ourselves in a place called Metropolis (Superman's home city), but very few of our characters would have been aware of such a place; in fact, the Superman character was not even chosen. There were explosions in the distance, and a horde of zombies marched up one of the side-streets near us. We found Arkham Asylum (an asylum from Batman), and it sounded like people were being tortured and raped inside. Being comprised mostly of heroes, our group naturally went inside. There was a big, fairly empty room and in it, the Joker. Joker, the arch nemesis of Batman called on Carnage and Venom (villains from Spiderman) to help him defeat us. This epic battle went on for a long time and we had almost killed the Joker, but the others were made of hardier stuff. The Joker, in a last attempt to take out as many of his enemies in one go, staggered toward us holding a cartoon bomb, fuse and everything. The Green Lantern, with quick thinking, made a bubble around the bomb so as to save us. The bubble was strong, but not invincible. It lessened the power of the ensuing explosion, but did not totally nullify the bomb. We were told to make reflex saves. We all rolled our D20, and needed a 10 or more to be safe from the bomb. I rolled a 3 plus my modifier for reflex, 4. A seven. I was engulfed in flame, and died.
Being dead really is not so bad. I followed the bright light to a room filled with tasty food-stuffs. There were chips, soda, Twizzlers, and various other wonders. New arrivals were told to sign their name on the white-board to join a “dead game.” A dead game would be instead of being in tier 2. Whoever survives the dead game, gets to rejoin the main game and be in tier 3. The goal of each tier is to kill of as many players as possible. This may or may not end with a final survivor at the end of tier 3. Surviving is not really the point at deathfest. There are a number of other prizes issued at the end. These include a prize for leadership, where the player somehow convinced their party to agree with them to some end; a prize for the Ultimate Badass, whosoever demonstrated overall excellence in that category; and a prize for “creative morality,” whosoever does something completely outrageous according to our normal morality compass, but who could justify it completely. Deathfest is run by Excalibur, a student group that has movie viewings and other events with sci-fi/fantasy relevancy. The next deathfest is next semester, look out for info on how to get involved.
I died a horrible death. A bomb exploded, and I was engulfed by a fireball. My reflexes simply were not good enough.
Deathfest, like usual, was a great success. There was somewhere between 80 and 100 participants, nearly all of whom expected to die. They did not die in real life, of course. Deathfest is a huge roleplaying event that happens every semester. The rules are similar to Dungeons and Dragons, but even if you never played that before, you could catch on quickly. The event is broken down into three tiers, or levels. For the first tier, one was supposed to choose an option by its number, go to the place in the Main Lecture Hall that was labeled with that number, and meet the group that accumulated there. Some of the options were, “Around the River Bendis,” “Lambda the Ultimate,” and “Library of Congress B.S.”
I joined up with “Around the River Bendis.” My dungeon master (or DM for short) was Mike Rozycky. He led us to the East Lecture Hall and started writing on the white-board there. He wrote down a number of comic/graphic-novel names like Superman, Batman, The Green Lantern, Leonitis, and Maus. We all rolled our D20 (a die with 20 sides, used a lot in table-top role-playing games) to see who would be first in choosing a character. Whoever had the highest roll got to choose their character first. I chose “The ?”, an obscure comic book hero whose comic I have actually read (one of the few). I was given a “character sheet” which had my character's attributes, abilities, and items. Some of these items had “modifiers,” which means that if I were to roll a D20 to see how successful a given skill was, it would add on (or take away) a certain number of points toward that skill.
It turned out that our tier 1 (or the world that we were to role-play for tier 1) was a scary comic-book world gone bad. We all found ourselves in a place called Metropolis (Superman's home city), but very few of our characters would have been aware of such a place; in fact, the Superman character was not even chosen. There were explosions in the distance, and a horde of zombies marched up one of the side-streets near us. We found Arkham Asylum (an asylum from Batman), and it sounded like people were being tortured and raped inside. Being comprised mostly of heroes, our group naturally went inside. There was a big, fairly empty room and in it, the Joker. Joker, the arch nemesis of Batman called on Carnage and Venom (villains from Spiderman) to help him defeat us. This epic battle went on for a long time and we had almost killed the Joker, but the others were made of hardier stuff. The Joker, in a last attempt to take out as many of his enemies in one go, staggered toward us holding a cartoon bomb, fuse and everything. The Green Lantern, with quick thinking, made a bubble around the bomb so as to save us. The bubble was strong, but not invincible. It lessened the power of the ensuing explosion, but did not totally nullify the bomb. We were told to make reflex saves. We all rolled our D20, and needed a 10 or more to be safe from the bomb. I rolled a 3 plus my modifier for reflex, 4. A seven. I was engulfed in flame, and died.
Being dead really is not so bad. I followed the bright light to a room filled with tasty food-stuffs. There were chips, soda, Twizzlers, and various other wonders. New arrivals were told to sign their name on the white-board to join a “dead game.” A dead game would be instead of being in tier 2. Whoever survives the dead game, gets to rejoin the main game and be in tier 3. The goal of each tier is to kill of as many players as possible. This may or may not end with a final survivor at the end of tier 3. Surviving is not really the point at deathfest. There are a number of other prizes issued at the end. These include a prize for leadership, where the player somehow convinced their party to agree with them to some end; a prize for the Ultimate Badass, whosoever demonstrated overall excellence in that category; and a prize for “creative morality,” whosoever does something completely outrageous according to our normal morality compass, but who could justify it completely. Deathfest is run by Excalibur, a student group that has movie viewings and other events with sci-fi/fantasy relevancy. The next deathfest is next semester, look out for info on how to get involved.
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