COMING SOON

June 26, 2008

7:00 p.m.

Scibelli Hall Theatre

Sad Day for Neo Fans

Our library fish, Neo, died this morning.

We won't forget his grace and beauty and are thankful for the enjoyment he gave us.

So long, pal...

Did you know that there is a program called Cell Phones for Soldiers which accomplishes two purposes: it recycles your old cell phones and helps troops call home. From the Cell Phones for Soldiers Web site:

"The Cell Phones for Soldiers program was started in April 2004 by 13-year-old Brittany Bergquist and her 12-year-old brother Robbie of Norwell, Massachusetts. Robbie and Brittany's goal is to help our soldiers serving overseas call home. They hope to provide as many soldiers as possible with prepaid calling cards. Through generous donations and the recycling of used cell phones, Robbie and Brittany have already distributed thousands of calling cards to soldiers around the globe."

The phones are sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone – enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad. “Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year,” says Mike Newman, vice president of ReCellular, “with the majority of phones either discarded or stuffed in a drawer. Most people don’t realize that the small sacrifice of donating their unwanted phones can have a tremendous benefit for a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers.”


AT&T is one of the sponsors of this effort, having donated more than $500,000 in prepaid phone cards to the project. Through July, 2008, you can drop off your used phone at all 1,800 company-owned AT&T wireless store locations. Or, you may notice plastic bags around campus that are pre-addressed and also prepaid making the donation just about effortless. It seems like ReCellular must be benefiting from this effort but if the alternative use for your old cell phone is to lie in a dark drawer, why not? Also, if you are concerned about erasing your personal information from the phone, and you should be, there are instructions for how to do that for all model phones on the Web site.

May is National Bike Month, and Bay State (as in Massachusetts) Bike Week is May 12th through May 18th. To find out what events are scheduled to celebrate in our area, go to the Pioneer Valley Bike Week page sponsored by Massbike.org. That site has a long list of events and discounts available if you have a helmet with you, including breakfast at the Springfield YMCA from 7-9 on Tuesday, May 13th. With gas prices predicted to reach $4 a gallon, bicycles are beginning to look very attractive.

What's this "random books from my library" on the lower left?

This part of our blog gives information on a selection of books from the STCC library using LibraryThing, which is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. STCC library is using LibraryThing to highlight some of its newer books. Clicking on one of the book titles will bring you to LibraryThing's page on that book, which provides ratings, member added tags and reviews, and recommendations of other books based on Library thing data.

If you'd like, you can go to LibraryThing's website and join it to catalog your own books, or use it to find interesting books or like-minded readers.

We got this question last week....

Graduates may pick up their caps and gowns on Thursday, 5/22 from 9 a.m to 7 p.m., on Friday, May 23rd from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Tuesdsay, May 27th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the lobby of building 17 NEXT TO THE Student Activities office. AND...these gowns are available to our graduating students free of charge.

AND....the word REGALIA, which is what we call the robes graduates and faculty wear at graduations, commencements, etc. is defined in Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) as: n 1: paraphernalia indicative of royalty (or other high office) 2: especially fine or decorative clothing [syn: array, finery, raiment]

Sorry we didn't have more notice of this but this seems important enough to post:

Today (Wednesday, April 30th) from 9:00 - 1:00 Health Services (20/320) will be hosting free and confidential HIV testing to all who are interested. Results in 20 minutes. Cheek swab, no needles. Free T-shirts and pizza. For more information call 755-4230.

Check it out.

Quick Reminder

The semester is drawing to a close, and it's time to remember a few library responsibilities. Bring back items you have borrowed, so you can get your grades! Pay any fines, too. Remember to update your library bar code after May 31, so you can use your library's databases during the summer.

Also, it's a good idea to have a public library card as well as your STCC card.

Other upcoming events:

Why not end the semester with a great theater performance? Under the direction of Professor Dennison G. Rice, the Gallery Players will be peforming "Ethan Frome" by Gary Blackwood, adapted from the novel by Edith Wharton, on the following dates and times:

Thursday, May 1 @ 8 pm
Friday, May 2 @ 8 pm
Saturday, May 3 @ 8 pm
Sunday, May 4 @ 2 pm

Tickets are $6 for students and seniors; $10 for general admission. You can purchase tickets from Professor Rice, from any of the cast members, or from the office of the Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in Building 13 Room 101. Tickets are also available at the door.

For those of you who want to spend some time outdoors in what we hope will again be beautiful spring weather, there will be several opportunities.

This Thursday May 1 is SPRING FLING, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Campus Green outside building 2. There will be a BBQ, with meal tickets on sale for $2.00, as well as activities and music.

Then Monday May 5 is CINCO DE MAYO, when another outdoor festival will be held outside building 2. There will be ice cream, Mexican food, as well as live music.

In between the festivals, on Saturday morning May 3, you have the chance to be part of STCC's team to Keep Springfield Beautiful. The group will gather in front of Garvey Hall and will work from 8:30 to noon, . There will be STCC tee shirts, and the KSB group will provide water, gloves, and trash bags. The group will walk down Pearl Street and State Street, picking up litter and leaving the filled bags for pickup by the city. A van will be on call all morning, to pick up anyone who needs a ride back to campus, drop off more supplies, etc.

Events at STCC on Wednesday April 30:

The semester is drawing to a close, and it is a busy time of year for everyone, but there are some events coming up at STCC on Wednesday that you may want to know about:

- The Graphic Arts Technology Department presents the 11th Annual Senior Portfolio Presentation this Wednesday, April 30th, 2008, in Building 2, Auditorium, at 11:30am sharp! Refreshments will be served following the presentation.

- Also on April 30: Tapestry Health will provide FREE HIV testing to students from 9:00am to 1:00pm. This will be a rapid test (20 min) oral swab (no needles) in Bldg. 20 room 320.

- And, in order to help you learn skill to cope with this busy time, there will be a Stress Management workshop at the Student Success Center, from 12:15-1:15pm on April 30.
"Did you know that STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS? Chocolate is one way to deal with stress. Learn how to get and stay organized so as to be more effective in reaching your goals. Walk-ins are welcome at this workshop."

STCC Celebrates Earth Day 2008!

What a beautiful day to Celebrate Earth Day! Today on the campus green outside of Bldg. 2 there will be an Earth Day Ice Cream Social and live music from 11:00 - 1:30 pm, from the band Barefoot Truth.

Go Green T-shirts are for sale for $5.00 and ice cream for $1.00. There will be a raffle for a Solar Backpack Gift pack (raffle ticket free with the purchase of ice cream). The backpack can be used to charge a laptop, ipod, etc.

In addition, the Student Activities Office will be showing the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" as part of the Earth Day Celebration. The film will be shown in the Bldg. 2/Scibelli Hall Theater at 12:30 p.m. The movie has been described as a presentation of Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide. "Intertwining simple but harrowing statistics with personal reflections, Gore explains that the tools and methods to reverse the damage we have done are at hand and that the economic consequences of tackling the problem are positive rather than negative."

Information about other Earth Day programs and environmental campaigns can be found on the website of Earth Day Network, the Earth Day Network's Partner Pages, and the U. S. government's Earth Day site.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!

Our 'blog contest is over. National Library Week has been celebrated. The cake has been eaten. We are so pleased that the winners are:

Brittani Wood - our third place winner, gets SODEXHO coffee cards!
Funto Aina - our second place winner, gets the gift certificate to the bookstore!
Yosef Sahler - our first place winner, gets the Barnes and Noble Gift card!

Thanks to everyone who entered. Watch this space! You never know what kinds of interesting information you will find here.

And...national poetry month is still going on. Don't forget to come and re-arrange our magnetic words! You only have a week before it goes away till next year.