Once in a while, in the midst of all the pizza and wings that frequent the typical college student’s diet, it’s nice to have a change of pace. Amanouz Café, located at 44 Main St., Northampton, Mass., offers just that. With an eclectic mix of both Mediterranean and Moroccan classics, and an award for “Best Mediterranean Restaurant” by the Valley Advocate Readers’ Poll in 2007, diners can be sure that their meal will be anything but ordinary.

Art on the wall from local artists

The restaurant is small and usually tightly-packed with patrons ready to embark on a cultural culinary adventure. The walls are always displayed with the work of local artists, which patrons can buy if they so choose. One week it might be hand-painted pottery in a slew of vibrant colors; the next, framed photography. Either way, the décor is always eclectic and ever changing.

The atmosphere is lively and exotic, with ethnic music playing in the background, staff delivering food to customer’s tables, fresh pastries on display at the front counter, and the constant warm aroma of herbal tea lingering in the air. The main blackboard over the counter displays all of the regular menu items. The wall to its right showcases breakfast items, soups, pasta dishes and other specialties and acts as a colorful backdrop for the coffee station, with each item on its own vibrant rectangle of paper.

Specials wall and coffee bar

After ordering at the counter, diners can grab forks, knives and napkins and get settled into an open table (if there are any), and after a few minutes the staff will deliver the food right to the table. Start with a pot of freshly-brewed Moroccan green tea with fresh mint ($1.25) and you’re off to a great start. It’s really that simple. The six women sitting across from my sister and me were raving about how delicious their food looked as the staff brought out the plates one by one, and after tasting everything, they were even happier. The words, “Oh my goodness! This is delicious!” seemed to be on repeat while they ate. And keeping with the traditions of Moroccan and Mediterranean cuisine, they enjoyed a family-style meal, enjoying bites from one another’s plates and sharing great conversation and laughs all the while.

Pastries at the counter

A classic Middle Eastern dish that is fantastic at Amanouz (and my favorite) is the falafel. For the vegetarian falafel sandwich ($5.25), three falafel balls are served in either a pita or on lavash bread with fresh romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and slices of cucumber. The whole thing is topped with a generous pour of homemade sesame tahini sauce and sprinkled with fresh parsley. The falafel are about the size of a pool ball, and are cooked perfectly. Instead of the heavy fried version, these are baked to perfection, so that the outside is crispy and the inside stays moist with the flavors of the ground chickpeas and fresh herbs coming through. The tahini is cool and creamy and makes for the perfect accompaniment to the warm falafel.

Falafel sandwich and side of babaghannoush

The musaka sandwich ($5.25), which my younger sister ordered, is also a great option from the vegetarian sandwich menu. Musaka is a Greek classic made with eggplant, so the sandwich is filled with just that: sautéed eggplant that has been seasoned with a variety of spices, as well as zucchini, green peppers, fresh veggies, tahini, and fresh parsley. This sandwich is also served in a pita or on lavash and has fantastic flavor. Even my sister, who is a picky eater, loved this sandwich saying, “It’s really good, and that means a lot coming from me, because I never eat food like this.”

Inside of the falafel balls

Other options are the chicken kebab sandwich ($5.95), with marinated, charbroiled chicken, broiled tomatoes, fresh veggies and tahini, or the traditional Moroccan tagines ($9.75-$9.95) of either fish, chicken, seasoned, ground beef known as kefta, or lamb sausage called merquez. These tagine meals are served with rice in the beautiful terracotta tagine pots that they’re cooked in and are full of rich flavor.
The babaghannoush ($2.95) is one of the best sides at Amanouz. It’s a puree of eggplant, garlic and other spices and comes with fresh veggies, a drizzle of tahini and four pita points. This in itself could make a perfectly fine and filling meal, but there are just too many great items to pass up. The homemade hummus ($2.95) is also delicious with its punchy garlic undertones and it pairs perfectly with any of the sandwiches as either a filling or just a simple side with pita and veggies.

The food at Amanouz is fresh, flavorful and boasts the flavors of places much more exotic than Northampton, Mass. So, if you’re looking for a change from the usual bar food and sandwiches, this tiny café is a sure thing.

Photos by Alex Tillotson

Here are their answers.

By: Jeffrey Larnard, Caroline Scannell, and Angela Chen

For many students at the University of Massachusetts, the idea of staying healthy and eating right may seem like a challenge as students often have a hard time staying healthy while balancing work and play.

The transition into college life can give rise to a phenomenon better known as the “Freshman 15” resulting from students’ newfound freedom to make their own diet and exercise decisions. Though the idea of the “Freshmen 15” has recently been dispelled, UMass Dining Services has undertaken a healthy eating initiative to make a number of food options available.

A recent article published this year by the Journal for American College Health by Rachel A. Vella-Zard, M.A. and Frank J. Elgar, Ph.D, as well as research done by UMass Dining Services’ dietician Diane Sutherland, suggest that despite some general weight gain, the actual weight amount is far below 15 pounds placing the average somewhere around five to seven pounds.

Nonetheless, weight fluctuations are still important health issues for college students. University Health Service’s dietician Caren Weiner weighs in on the situation reflecting on the reasons weight fluctuates for college students. In her opinion, these include adapting to a new environment and changes in diet due to eating and ordering out and an increase in alcohol intake.

Dealing with and fixing these issues is one part of being more healthy, hence, Sutherland and Weiner can both agree that it is important for students to realize that now is the time to focus on staying healthy. “It’s important for students to set goals for themselves and try to eat healthy and maintain their exercise regime, so when they do get older, this will be more of a habit rather than a forced issue,” said Sutherland.

“Food is nourishment. If you don’t eat, you’re not going to be able to think, you’re not going to be able to focus, you’re not going to be able to do your schoolwork,” said Weiner. “It goes hand-in-hand with being a good student. The healthier you are, the better you probably are going to do in school.”

In addition, research has shown that those who eat breakfast are therefore more successful. “People who tend to eat breakfast are more energetic, more creative and do better in their studies than those that don’t,” said Sutherland.

When it comes to promoting healthy eating, both Weiner and Sutherland have many ideas about what the University can do for students and what students can do for themselves.

The UMass Dining Services have made many changes behind the scenes including adjusting menu items to include healthier choices and more organic ingredients, as well as smaller portions of food and going tray-less to reduce food intake. “Students don’t even realize that we are making these healthier choices for them,” said Sutherland.

When it comes to food labeling, Dining Services makes nutrition information available for health conscious students if they seek to modify their diet in any way. But Weiner explains that she’s “glad it’s not right out written in front of the food because I think that would make people nuts if they saw all the calories right on the items.” Dining Services leaves the health decision making to the students. Their primary goal is to provide students with the options and necessary information to make healthy choices, not to force the issue.

Weiner suggests that instead of getting caught up in counting the calories of food items, students ought to just go about “feeling when you’re satisfied and eating what you want to eat and eating what looks good,” said Weiner.

“We’re doing our part, but it is also up to the students to do their part,” said Sutherland on the topic of student choice. “If they want to stay healthy and fit, they have to eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, and drink less alcohol.”

In addition, according to Sutherland, students can also log onto mypyramid.gov and insert their height, weight and activity level and receive a breakdown of how many of each food group they should consume to help them stay on track with their eating habits.

Ultimately, Weiner recommends students give in to their cravings to a certain extent and listen to what their bodies want. “If it matters to you and you want to eat healthy and two things look equally good, pick the one that is healthier,” she said. “But if you really want that something else, then get that something else or you’re never going to be happy.”

While Sutherland has helped to spearhead many of the healthy menu and preparation practices, she maintains that “you can’t really pinpoint a specific healthy food because all the food can be healthy, just in moderation.” For college students looking to stay healthy, just remember the words of Sutherland: “moderation and variety are key.”

By: Mary Kate Alfieri, Elizabeth Murphy, Andrew Smith

With the recent debate over health care reform, high premiums and inefficient care, many Americans are trying a new approach by taking their health into their own hands.

For some, this is as simple as taking a daily vitamin, eating a more balanced diet and hitting the gym regularly, while others are resorting to pay-out-of-pocket services like acupuncture and yoga to keep their immune systems healthy and to reduce their chances of needing medical attention. Even some insurance companies, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield, are giving discounts to those members that join a fitness center- all in an effort to stay healthy.

The New York Times reports that about half of adults take a daily multivitamin. “Sales over the last decade had been growing by about 4 percent annually. But this year… sales are expected to grow by 8 percent to a total of $9.2 billion, according to Nutrition Business Journal,” added the article.

Christina Pirello of the Huffington Post argues that “real health care reform begins in the kitchen.” In a recent article on the website, Pirello says that by being healthy and fit, one can lower the chances of getting involved in the unstable health care system. “We must choose food that serves the purpose of our lives and supports health, not steals it,” said Pirello.

According to Pirello’s article, 75 percent of all health care costs are spent on ‘lifestyle diseases,’ such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers, which adds up to over $2.1 trillion spent annually to treat these diseases. Research has shown that many of these concerns could be eliminated or reduced with the assistance of a proper diet and exercise.

The EPIC Study, which stands for the European Prospective Investigation in Cancer and Nutrition, discovered that people who eat a diet rich in grains, beans, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and low in animal food, while also exercising regularly and not smoking reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes by 93 percent, heart attack by 81 percent and strokes by 50 percent.

Some insurance plans have begun to realize the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota offer discounts to local fitness centers with their insurance plans. So far, studies have shown that the discounts are working.

According to a study by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, people who use the fitness center at least eight times per month are more likely to have lower health care costs compared to those who don’t participate in the program.

The distance between a person’s home and the fitness center also plays a big factor.
In a study of 74,000 members eligible for Blue Cross’ BluePrint for Health™ Fitness Center Discount program, “63.3 percent of all members who have signed up for the discount program live within two miles of a participating fitness center. Those who didn’t sign up for the discount program were, on average, at least 3.5 miles from a fitness center.”

Shawn Patterson, Blue Cross marketing vice president, recognizes the importance of choosing fitness centers that are convenient to a large number of people.
“This study shows that its important to have convenient locations for fitness centers because proximity to a health club has a pretty direct relationship to whether or not people use their fitness discount benefit,” he said. Blue Cross has worked hard to develop the state’s largest network of fitness centers, to increase the number of people using this incentive.

Click here for their audio interview.

Those people who used the fitness center at least eight times a month for at least nine months had claim costs 17.8 percent lower than non-participants, the study shows. These people also had 38.7 percent less visits to the emergency room and were admitted to the hospital 41.4 percent less often than non-participants in the one-year study.

According to Patterson, the study suggests that by increasing the amount of time you spend exercising, the more likely you are to have less health claims. Having a health club close to home makes it more likely you will exercise regularly, he said.

“Based on this study alone, we can’t say there is an absolute cause-and-effect relationship yet between fitness center discounts and health care costs, but we believe that incentive programs like these could ultimately help people live healthier and need fewer health care services,” Patterson said.

Besides just going to the gym, many people are also improving their overall health and immune systems by doing yoga. In an online article, Jen Acquire, who owns her own personal training studio in the San Francisco Bay Area, said that many people are finding themselves unemployed and without company-paid benefits, such as health insurance. As a result, she said, “it is imperative that we seek more preventative measures to keep potential health issues at bay to avoid massive hospital bills in the future.”

Acquire said that incorporating yoga into your daily life provides immediate results such as reducing chronic pain, high blood pressure, depression and high cholesterol. “It also creates more efficient lymphatic function, which in turn, boosts immunity,” she said.

The UMass polo team defeated the Kemptville Koyotes of Ontario, Canada 5-2 on Oct. 31, winning its second home game of the season.

Elise McHugh, a junior, scored all five goals for UMass – or “Boo! Mass,” as the players’ handmade Halloween-themed uniforms read – at Stone Pony Farm in Leverett.

WORKING WELL TOGETHER

“She was a real superstar,” said McHugh’s teammate, senior Amy Dolan. Dolan and McHugh started in the game along with the team’s third varsity player, junior Tanya Chesnell.Though stating that she was excited by the win, McHugh was not eager to take all the credit for UMass’ five goals, two of which she scored on penalty shots.

“There was a lot of passing involved,” said McHugh. “I just happened to be closest to the goal.”
Dolan also said that the three starters worked well together.

“As a team, we had a lot of good passes,” said Dolan. “Sometimes I would back [the ball] and [McHugh] would pick up my back shot and make a goal. … We all made plays and she finished them.”
Also playing in their first game were UMass junior varsity players Mindy Lucas, a junior, and Heather Sliney, a senior.

‘IT WAS AWESOME’

After UMass ended the first of three 5-minute chukkers – periods in polo – with a 3-1 lead over the Koyotes, assistant coach C.B. Blyth rotated in Lucas for Chesnell in the second.

Despite some nervous feelings before stepping into an arena with a few dozen spectators looking on, Lucas said after her first match: “It was awesome. It was really exciting.”

Sliney, who came in for Lucas in the third chukker, said her first match was “a lot of fun.” Though, she said she had some bumps and bruises as a result of one of the Koyotes players who “had a really hard bump,” which is a common play in the equestrian game.

The varsity players enjoyed having the junior varsity players in the game, “I’m glad that Heather and Mindy got to play and they played really well,” said Chesnell, though adding that she was a bit disappointed she didn’t get to play in the whole game. “I’m spoiled,” she said with a laugh. “I usually get to play all three chukkers.”

The Koyotes girls weren’t too disappointed about their loss, despite coming off their first team win the night before against Vassar College.

‘WE KNEW WE HAD A CHALLENGE’

“We just watched [UMass] play last year,” said Koyotes captain Jen Shumilak. “We saw what a strong team they were. We knew we had a challenge, especially since this is only our second year we’ve been playing together.”

Koyotes coach George Bezak said stamina may have also been an issue for the team. “They were tired,” said Bezak of his players after the Halloween match. He noted that the arena at Stone Pony Farm was regulation size, or 300 feet by 150 feet – five times larger than the arena they practice in back home at the Augusta Polo Club.

Both teams, which compete under the United States Polo Association’s Northeast intercollegiate division, are hoping to schedule a rematch after the new year, this time on the Koyotes’ territory. Today at 2 p.m., UMass will be looking to repeat its Halloween victory in a match against Skidmore College. Today’s game will also take place at Stone Pony Farm, 147 Long Plain Road in Leverett.

“People have regrets over their lifetime, but I understand who I was,” said Pat Levasseur, a defendant in the 1989 trial, to a swarm of reporters in an impromptu press conference while protestors, supporters, students and faculty waited outside the Isenberg School of Management auditorium.

The University initially requested Raymond Luc Levasseur to speak at the UMass W.E.B. Dubois Library’s 5th Annual Colloquium for Social Change about the sedition trial, where he, ex-wife Pat Levasseur, and associate Richard Williams were tried and acquitted of charges of seditious conspiracy, violation of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (substantive RICO), and racketeering conspiracy.

Raymond Luc Levasseur is the founder of the United Freedom Front (UFF), and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for his connection with a series of bombings on government and military facilities between 1976 and 1979 in protest of U.S. backing of Central American death squads and the South African Apartheid government. After 20 years, Levasseur was paroled in 2004 from Florence, Colorado federal penitentiary, ADX, also called the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.”

After the university invited Levasseur to speak, a number of people (including Donna Lamonaco, widow of a New Jersey police officer killed by the UFF) protested Levasseur’s trip to UMass and the invitation was revoked. After this decision, the University came under fire again as many wrote letters complaining that it was unfair to bar Levasseur from speaking. Faculty of the University as well as student groups on campus asked for Levasseur to speak at the University, but he was ultimately denied the right to travel to Massachusetts by his parole board.

Instead, a panel of defense lawyers and jurors from the 1989 trial along with Pat Levasseur reunited in front of a packed auditorium in the Isenberg School of Management. Donna Lamonaco was invited to speak, but declined.

“When censorship prevails we all lose…The principals on which America stands are shredded to some degree and that’s happened here to some degree,” said director of Western Massachusetts’ ACLU office, Bill Newman, who gave introductory remarks. “On the other hand, the attempt to censor Ray Levasseur has failed and you are the proof of that. The newspaper and media coverage, the radio and television coverage has multiplied 100 times because of the attempts at censorship, and I think that speaks to principals for which I hope most people stand, which is in a country of freedom free speech matters! Opinions matter! Debate matters! What we say to each other matters! History matters! Our view of the world and our sharing it with each other, that all matters!”

Pat Levasseur’s world view was very much shaped by her parents’ opposition against racism in the 50’s and the Vietnam War in the 60’s.
“We grew up in a unique family given where we lived and that meant that from the time that I was a little kid in school I was different…I believed in peace and that we were all the same on the inside,” said Levasseur in a soft spoken voice.

Levasseur described her family as “very patriotic,” with a father in the army, a brother who served in World War II and a brother who died from exposure to Agent Orange after serving in the Vietnam War.
“But part of being patriotic is believing in the Constitution and I remember being bored one summer day and my mother said, ‘Go to the library and start reading,’ and it was a really teeny tiny library…but there were some good books there and I did get turned on reading things,” said Levasseur. “I learned about the rights of man. I really believed in change.”

When she was 17, Levasseur went to California to protest against the Vietnam War. She was hit by a car there, and when she woke up in the hospital Levasseur learned that Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. Two months later, Bobby Kennedy was killed, and upon her return east, the Kent State massacre occurred. “All of these things I felt very deeply, and they motivated me, and I knew that whatever I did, I wasn’t going to sit here and type bills in this medical office anymore.”

Levasseur met Raymond Luc Levasseur in the Statewide Correctional Alliance for Reform (SCAR), an organization opposing the use of prisons as places to “control people and provide jobs so there would be a steady group of disenfranchised colored and poor people,” said Levasseur. “They radicalized me.”

Ray Levasseur, Pat Levasseur, and the other five associates accused of attempting to overthrow the U.S. government were arrested and originally prosecuted by the head of the FBI at the time Robert S. Mullin. Aided by two tanks, helicopters and planes, the Hostage Rescue Squad and all 50 members of the FBI, Mullin had the Levasseur’s home surrounded, said defense lawyer Elizabeth Fink.

“And you know what he [Mullin] forgot? A search warrant,” said Fink “All he had to do was go to any judge and say, ‘Oh well I just found out where Ray Levsseur is. We’ve been looking for him for 10 years,’ and any judge—any judge would have given him a search warrant. But he didn’t think he needed one because he was the government, and the constitution didn’t exist for him. Just like the constitution didn’t exist for Cheney and [Jay] Bibby and [David] Addington. Because it’s the same issue here. It’s if you don’t put your government to the task, if you don’t make them follow the constitution then you get what we just got, which is eight years of our constitution being used as toilet paper and this is what happened in this case.”

Even though Levasseur himself could not attend the event, a number of protesters still gathered outside Isenberg School of Management in support of Massachusetts police officers and the fallen New Jersey officer. They stood in the dark, holding candles and signs reading “shame on UMass” and “UMass supports terrorism recruitment.”

One protester, representing the Massachusetts Police Association, Robert Frydryk explained why he and other protesters were present that night. “We support freedom of speech, we support the academic freedom, but we don’t support terrorists coming to campus… we think there are other ways to find out about the topic of terrorism without bringing terrorists to the campus.”

Protester Denise Baran said she didn’t see the value in having Levasseur speak. “I think it is appalling that UMass even thought to bring him here. What does he have to contribute?” she asked. Standing beside Baran, David Chamberlain added that he believed some things are worth discussing, but because of his criminal past, Levasseur forfeited his right to speak. “Some topics, it’s healthy to hear both sides, but this particular subject is not because he’s murdered people,” he said.

During a question and answer session following the panel presentation, Attorney Elizabeth Fink made a distinction between the crimes or which Ray Levasseur was tried and a terrorist attack.

“The definition of terrorism is politically motivated random acts of violence against a civilian population. The 11 bombings for which they were charged in Brooklyn in which they were convicted of some of them, none of them were against civilian populations and none of them resulted in any harm to anyone,” said Fink. “You can support these bombings, you can think they’re stupid, they’re wrong whatever. But in terms of what terrorism means, which is civilian random acts of violence, these were not acts of terrorism; they were acts of sabotage.”

For Attorney Fink, there is an important message to be taken from all of this.

“Violence doesn’t work. It doesn’t. People made a lot of mistakes about thinking it did, but it doesn’t,” says Fink. “I think that after being a lawyer for 35 years and representing people who have used violence I have to tell you, it doesn’t work, and that is the true story here.”

Kimya Hedayat-Zadeh contributed to this report.

The UMass English department sponsored the Oct. 29 event as well as a weekend of Poe events to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of one of New England’s most influential authors in 1809. The readings were an introduction to the weekend’s events where the guest authors would be present along with Poe inspired music and art and, a Poe impersonator.

photo credit Hollis Smith/Amherst Wire

Science fiction writer and Conway resident, John Crowley, explains that Poe’s work remains important because of its timelessness. “The reason to talk about him [Poe] and read his works is because they are deathless,” he says. Novelist, Elizabeth Hand, believes that Poe’s influence can be found in a lot of modern writing. “Things that you wouldn’t think of having been influenced by Poe, if you trace all the way back you’ll find him there,” Hand explains. For poet, Martín Espada, Poe’s work represents a window into the workings of humanity. For this, he will always remain relevant. “I think any writer who connects us with what it means to be a human is relevant,” says Espada. “I read Poe today, not just because it reminds me of what it means to be human today, but also because it gives me a glimpse into the mind of a 19th century man, who also happened to be a genius, who did something that had never been done before, and, in some ways, has never been done since.”

For Hand, Crowley, and Espada, their personal introductions to Poe’s work all came at a young age. Crowley says it is important to read Poe as a child to fully appreciate his work at an older age. “He is actually always the eternal adolescent. If you don’t read Poe when you’re an adolescent you aren’t going to enjoy him that much later on” he explains. “I started reading Poe when I was 8, 9, 10, 11 years old and Martín’s reading of the Cask of Amontillado is just great because it brought instantly back the feelings I had when I first read that story.”

photo credit Hollis Smith/Amherst Wire

For Espada, being exposed to Poe’s works helped to change him from a failing English student to a successful poet and English professor. “I flunked English in the 8th grade, and today I am a professor of English, which shows you something about the direction in which your life can go,” says Espada. “There were a number of turning points in my life where I heard something or read something that would give me a jolt, a bump in the right direction…When I was in high school, busy flunking English, I heard one day, in school, a recording of Basil Rathbone reading an Edgar Allan Poe story called The Cask of Amontillado… I had no idea that anybody could animate Edgar Allan Poe, or any writer, the way that he did. Listening to that story set me in the direction of reading Edgar Allan Poe. I loved it.”

The story that Hand tells of her first encounter with Poe’s works is almost stranger than fiction. “One day when we [Hand and her family] were camping somewhere, I kind of wandered off and I met a girl who was exactly my age, and she looked very much like me,” Hand recalls. “We sat down on a log and she began telling me this story. It was the most amazing scary story that I’d ever heard in my life.” After this meeting, she never saw the girl again. She later discovered that the story the girl told was actually Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum. Hand says that even to this day, that girl’s retelling is the scariest she has ever heard.

Since their first exposures, the works of Edgar Allan Poe has meant something different to each author. From the moment she first heard The Pit and the Pendulum, Elizabeth Hand was set on her path as a horror writer. “I really did get jump-started when I was a kid by hearing somebody tell a ghost story that turned out years later, I learned, was The Pit and the Pendulum. And I just thought that the girl telling it was such a genius that she made up this great story,” says Hand. For her, being inspired by Poe’s work is nothing new. “I think he’s sort of in the DNA of anyone writing. Even what we now call ‘magic realism,” explains Hand.

photo credit Hollis Smith/Amherst Wire

John Crowley says he and Poe are very different writers. “I can’t say that Poe influenced anything that I’ve actually written,” claims Crowley. However, as a science fiction writer, it is interesting that Crowley is most fond of an aspect of Poe’s writing that is generally overlooked when it is read strictly for literary value. “The most interesting thing about Poe to me now, which wasn’t as interesting when I was reading him as a kid…was how he used what was then cutting edge science to make points in his story,” says Crowley.

This celebration of the 200th birthday of Edgar Allen Poe speaks not of the times, but rather how far his literacy influence has spread. As this event shows, Poe’s works are still worth talking about centuries later because they still have the ability to inspire and frighten us in a time when most thrilling entertainment is overly sensationalist. Hand, Espada, and Crowley demonstrate that the power of Poe’s writing is universal and has the ability to inspire modern day poets and science fiction writers alike.

While the first two descriptors were enough to carry the production, the latter was in jeopardy of throwing a wrench into the performance. Teetering on three hours in length, the scale of the performance seemed, at times, too much for the undermanned cast to handle. But in the end, the top billers were able to outshine the lulls to deliver a memorable take on the oft-replicated tale.

Senior Ben Sharton completely owned his role as the eponymous main character. Whether crooning his long lost barber’s blade upon return from his journey to sea on “My Friends” or lambasting the human race in tyrannical rants directed toward the audience on “Epiphany,” Sharton held the Concert Hall at full attention. At times, when the ensemble would take center stage and he would be flanked off to the side, I found myself transfixed on Sharton’s Todd, gleefully anticipating his next outburst.

Sam Mandeville, portraying Todd’s maniacal compatriot Mrs. Lovett, excels in the context of a musical that is so based on interaction between the characters; the pitch perfect Bonnie to Sharton’s Clyde. Never one to condone cannibalism, the two had me considering it as an acceptable alternative during their hysterical back-and-forth banter on “A Little Priest.”

Also shining in the collaborative department were Gwendolyn Coburn and Kevin Cunningham as the forsaken lovers Johanna and Anthony. Never as effective apart as when they shared the spotlight, the two displayed the strongest vocal capacities of the night and provide the highlights of the show in their duets, particularly shining on “Kiss Me.”

On the other end of the tag-team spectrum is Pirelli and Toby. It is truly unfortunate that in a production with such impeccable costume design, the fraudulent Italian alchemist Pirelli had to tarnish it by appearing as if he was dressed in a bargain bin conquistador outfit that was leftover from the Halloween season.

Gregory Boover as Toby, took a misstep on his “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixer,” seemingly not able to keep up with the accompanying music and dropping all his punch lines that would have otherwise killed. He is able to rebound to some degree in the second act when he jumps sides to Todd’s team, effectively shifting his temperament from happy-go-lucky to destructively delirious.

Just as important to the final product was the set design team led by Imani Denson-Pittman, who intricately crafted an imaginative two-story set piece with enough compartments to allow the story to flow. A reoccurring technical glitch arose throughout the performance that sounded like scratchy feedback from the microphones whenever the characters bumped into one another and it was quite distracting. Hopefully they can get it cleared up for the remaining three performances.

The symphony was equally as distracting to open the performance, overpowering the ensemble members who were not equipped with microphones. They eventually caught on, toned down, and finished the performance on a strong note, complementing, rather than detracting.

The Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Center was less than a third full tonight – with the core audience potentially driven away by the other two performing arts acts under the same roof. Hopefully, the campus will be able to spread the word and people will attend the tale to see the UMass Theatre Guild and their thorough yet masterful take on a classic.

Every semester the UMass Theatre Guild selects one play and one musical to perform. This fall they will tackle Sweeney Todd as their musical of choice. There will be four shows over the three days, one each night at 8 p.m. and a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m.

For those not familiar with the story, it centers around a barber, Sweeney Todd (played in the UMTG production by senior Ben Sharton), who returns from a prison sentence to find that his wife has committed suicide and his daughter, Johanna (Gwendolyn Coburn), is being held captive at the hands of his nemesis, Judge Turpin (Christian Hoots). Todd and Mrs. Lovett (Sam Mandeville) align to open a pie bakery and barber shop where he carries out gruesome deeds in order to extract revenge against those that have taken his family.

The musical has been performed in a number of incarnations throughout it’s history, including a 1979 Tony Award winning Broadway production by Stephen Sondheim and most notably a 2007 film adaption of the musical, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp.

As the group nears opening night, the practice schedule has grown increasingly burdensome. They have recently added a Saturday practice, meaning they now prep six days a week, nearly four hours a day.

But this tale of Sweeney Todd actually began last spring when it was nominated for the fall musical, up against the likes of Rent and Anything Goes, before being selected by vote by the guild.

“It was funny. When I heard we were going to do it I was like ‘I don’t know if I trust anyone else to direct this. I want to try,’” says artistic director Sophie Kaner, who participated in both of the guild’s plays last year as a freshman. “So I took a few days to figure out the direction I would like to go with it, then presented it to the executive board, and they picked me.”

“I happened to know the show very well. I’ve seen four versions of it and I think the music is incredible, I think the story is very powerful, so I was already very invested in it,” says Kaner.

Now a sophomore, Kaner spent much of the summer deciding how to approach her first role as director and drew much of her perspective from what she has learned in her major.

“Its been interesting for me because as an English major I almost approach this the same way I would when I’m writing an essay, like with literature, analyzing what I see. I’m in a sense taking a text and drawing from that and trying to come up with my own ideas and translate that back onto the stage.”

The production boasts a cast of 25 and a creative team of 32. The Theatre Guild is the oldest registered student organization at UMass and membership is open to anyone that would like to lend a hand with the productions.

Tickets for the four performances are currently available online at AttendTheTale.com and will be available at the door for $10 for the general public or $6 for students and senior citizens.

In its strategy against H1N1 and seasonal flu’s, UHS has focused its efforts on preventative measures, said communications and marketing manager Karen Dunbar Scully. In addition to flyers encouraging general hygienic habits, like hand-washing and ‘coughing etiquette,’ UHS is offering seasonal flu vaccines every Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. through December 17 on its third floor. “Our goal is to get as many people as possible vaccinated,” said Scully.

While students line up for seasonal flu vaccines every Thursday, there is still a considerable portion of the student population not planning on getting vaccinated.

“I’m not sure yet [whether I will get vaccinated],” said freshman Alex Connors. “I’ve always tended to be skeptical about vaccinations in general, like side effects and safety.”

According to an article in The New Yorker, “Vaccines do cause side effects, and, in rare instances, the side effects can be serious. In particular, people who are already ill with another infection should avoid vaccines. But the odds that a flu vaccine would cause more harm than the illness itself are practically zero.”

The Town of Amherst and UMass have received a limited supply of H1N1 flu vaccine. An H1N1 flu clinic for at-risk groups is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 11 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Amherst Regional Middle School, 170 Chestnut St. Vaccinations will be limited to people under 17, pregnant women and infants younger than 6 months. Registration and screening forms for participants are available on the UHS website at www.umass.edu/uhs/services/publichealth/.

Thirty-two thousand UHS doses of H1N1 vaccine have been ordered by UHS on behalf of the Five College Consortium, but the state will determine the actual amount of doses healthcare providers will receive, said UHS public health nurse Ann Becker. The vaccine will be distributed by UHS based on the size of the student/employee population on each campus.

As for seasonal flu vaccine, the UHS clinic offers both an injectable form of the vaccine as well as flu mist vaccines, which are administered through a quick burst of vaccine inhaled up each nostril. The flu mist vaccine is only given to healthy people ages 2 to 49 who are not pregnant and do not have chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease. UHS’ supply of injectable seasonal flu vaccine is limited said Scully, and will only be given to those with critical symptoms of sickness. More injectable vaccine is anticipated, but the quantity and turntable for availability is still not known.

“In general seasonal flu vaccination seems to have supply and demand issues. Right now we are able to offer flu mist in weekly walk-in [flu vaccination clinics].” said Scully. “We’re trying to match the right product to the right patient. So for someone who isn’t acceptable for the injectable vaccine we give the flu mist.”
UMass students have expressed concern about UHS’ preparedness to deal with patients having flu symptoms. Freshman Michelle Williams, who went to UHS with a 103 degree fever her second week at UMass, said she waited three hours to see a doctor.

“It was terrible. They [UHS staff] didn’t know what was wrong with me so they tested me for mono…” said Williams. “I was just like passing out in the waiting room and I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I had to call them [later] and ask if I was sick. And they said no, it was just a virus I had, and they gave me this little flu kit with tea bags in it.”

Connors also went to UHS with flu-like symptoms.

“I guess they were helpful but they just kind of told me what I already know. They were like, ‘You have a viral infection,’ and gave me a pamphlet and told me to come back if I got worse.”

Sophomore Tiffany Tai, who has gone to UHS with friends for non-emergency purposes, said, “They’re effective when they know what they’re dealing with, but I have heard a lot about them not being able to diagnose your symptoms.”

Although these students indicated that UHS’ protocol in responding to health concerns could be improved, students felt the medical community’s initial reaction to H1N1 was extreme.

“Personally I don’t think swine flu’s that bad,” said freshman Camila Barrera. “I think it’s like any other flu and we shouldn’t be going crazy over it. A bunch of people die with regular [seasonal] flu.”

The perceived extremeness of the medical community could be understandable however, since H1N1 is a new strain of the flu. Although Scully does not see any reason for panic “disproportionate to the situation” at UMass, the large population of students and faculty in close contact puts everyone on campus at a higher risk for H1N1, she said.

“As opposed to the seasonal flu, which is more of a concern for older adults, H1N1 is known to affect younger people, pregnant women and children…” said Scully. “We’re interested for people not to take it [H1N1] too lightly but not to panic.”

A walk-in seasonal flu clinic will be offered by Maxim Health Systems, an outside healthcare provider, on Monday, Nov. 16 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. in the Campus Center auditorium, and is open to the entire community ages nine and up who do not have a severe cold, fever, acute illness, or an allergy to eggs or the preservative Thimerosal. The cost, $30, will be billed to insurance plans under contract with Maxim Health Systems, which are listed on the UHS website.

“If you’re covered under the contracted plans and it pays for seasonal flu vaccine there may not be any out of pocket cost to you,” said Scully.

For students treated at UHS, their insurance is billed for the visit.

“Massachusetts requires full time students to state their primary health insurance plan, whether you are covered through one of your parents’ plans or coverage might come from a state sponsored plan (like the Commonwealth Choice Plan) or the school sponsored health plan (Student Health Insurance Plan),” said Scully. “Depending on each person’s plan their insurance dictates what charges are the responsibility of the patient.”

People with flu symptoms can either consult their private healthcare provider or the UHS Triage Advice Nurse at (413) 577-5229 for guidance. UHS advises students infected with H1N1 or seasonal flu to go home by private car. Those who cannot go home are to practice self-isolation, wearing a disposable mask provided in UHS’ flu self-care kits when it is necessary to leave their dormitory. A thermometer, a leaflet with general information on the flu, teabags, a packet of honey and a packet of instant chicken broth are also included in the flu kits. ‘Flu buddies, ’or healthy residents, should pick up ‘sick meals’ offered by Dining Services for residents sick with the flu.