This article was last updated at 2:01 pm on February 13. “We wanted to have this activation … to play with the idea of work in progress and not having only final presentations where a lot of the work is perceived as completed, finalized,” Lucia Cuba Oroza explained, the Donna Karan co-director of the MFA Fashion Design and Society . “This is an invitation for both the viewers and the students to really reflect upon what work in progress means in the context of fashion.” A playfulness emerged at this event, with some designers embracing storytelling as a central element of their work. Caity Briare, a first-year MFA student, created garments that function as interactive worlds, drawing inspiration from children’s books like Where’s Waldo? and Busy Town. Briare imagined tiny embroidered characters not just as decorative elements but as active participants in the design. “I would call my fashion wearable art … the construction you look at, but it’s more like what is going on with the characters,” Briare shared. Some figures appeared to sew garments together, while others mowed the lawn around a dress or lived within its fabric, transforming clothing into a story-filled landscape. Other garments pushed the surreal into satire. Lillian Tuttle, a second-year MFA student, approached the idea of clowning not as an aesthetic but as a practice rooted in vulnerability, presence, and genuine human expression. Influenced by a clowning class at the New School’s College of Performing Arts, she explored the philosophy behind the art form and soon recognized its relevance beyond the stage. Other collections turned inward, using fashion to process memory and loss. First-year MFA student and designer Robinson Brown presented a collection entitled 2009 which reflects on his childhood. He incorporates built-in insulation in his pieces to create a physical and emotional barrier between the wearer and the world. For Brown, fashion is as much about mindset as it is about design.  Sewn onto his garment tags is the phrase “fortune favors the fearless” — a motto he adopted when he first started his brand at just 17 years old. “You have to have this overwhelming knowledge that you’re gonna succeed. You have to believe in yourself before anybody else does,” he said, in reference to starting his company at such a young age. “If this is the theme of my brand, then I have to just always embody it.” For some designers, heritage and cultural context shaped their approach to fashion. Karina Nasywa Bakri, a second-year MFA student from Jakarta, Indonesia, showcased her growth as a designer through two garments representing different stages of her journey. “It’s my first project ever and my most recent project, so it’s like seeing how far I’ve come,” Bakri said. Her first project, a red re-imagined trench coat, hung on a mannequin placed on top of a table. It was composed of waterproof fabric and included a built-in flotation device — blending humor with social commentary on the flooding-prone, tropical climate of her hometown. Similarly, Abel Martirosyan, also a MFA second-year student, explored his Armenian heritage by drawing inspiration from traditional women’s attire, such as bridal and nun’s garments. “I try to incorporate visual references, shapes, and cuts into more modern silhouettes and wearable garments,” he shared. The designs on display marked the first time Martirosyan had used his cultural identity as a foundation for his work. The process consisted of blending archival research with contemporary fashion, using his heritage to inform the materials and other design choices. Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed Lucia Cuba Oroza as director of the Fashion Design and Society MFA program. Her correct title is co-director of the Fashion Design and Society MFA program. The article has since been changed. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Every fashion enthusiast knows that Fifth Avenue is one of the… What happens after graduation? The inevitable, daunting, and often intimidating job… Fur is back, but hopefully not to stay. In the past… Step into Office Hours, a monthly series where Lang student Luna… What have you accomplished in the last 24 hours? For Mother… Love, Lucy is the New School Free Press’ weekly advice column,… 2024UCG/Getty ImagesAll products are independently selected by our editors and she is pursuing a career in fashion with the goal of making others feel more included that specifically supports disabled students in attaining a fashion degree and entering the industry Philip—who took Teen Vogue along on her prom GRWM adventure in 2019—has now appeared on the runway for major brands including Moschino and Collina Strada. Ellie Goldstein the industry has a long way to go as very few fashion brands make disabled consumers a priority or are fronted by disabled designers Parsons is hoping to change the fashion industry's failure to not only recognize disabled people as consumers and wearers but also as creatives with its new initiative which is set to launch this fall and will support three fashion students to start had been appointed the dean of fashion at Parsons “I went to try to find him on Instagram and DMed him and said We're both invested in transforming fashion the duo began meeting monthly and thinking about how they could change systems and create a legacy within the industry Burke says they realized that "building muscle memory within the fashion institution—that can only be done by having disabled designers in the room." In order for that to happen Burke and Barry had to work backwards and build a program and a pathway to it that was accessible through the lens of disability justice and intersectionality a brand making gender non-conforming wearables and accessories for queer and trans disabled folks of all sizes and ages “I’m excited to be a mentor,” Cubacub says “I can’t wait to work with the disabled students and hope that this program will be awesome enough that the students can really flourish and not have to do a lot of unlearning of the terrible industry standards and mainstream beauty standards that are racist and that demand conformity to the gender binary.” “The disability scholarship program at Parsons is so important because it allows for a new generation of disabled talent to have access to opportunities in fashion design and the fashion industry overall like never before,” Philip says “In an industry that has been so exclusive towards disabled people and in understanding what our community is capable of this program is majorly helpful in giving a platform to brilliant people with brilliant ideas whose efforts normally just go under the radar who lives with a nonverbal learning disability aspires to be a “fashion disruptor,” and now as a soon-to-be student in Parsons’ new disabled fashion program “Not only do I have learning disabilities and a chronic health condition [I'm] extremely petite—so I'm 4'11"—and I have an idea for creating a completely different type of petite clothing line and also making it accessible to people with disabilities.” Stanford tells Teen Vogue she’s struggled to make new friends and adapt to new environments “I have trouble understanding social cues [and] certain social situations,” she says Though she’s nervous about what moving to New York City and starting fashion school might mean for her she’s excited to experience different internships Stanford says she’s had many conversations with the dean about her disabilities and the accommodations she needs “He's made it pretty clear that they would like to have me there and that’s huge because I struggle with acceptance.” In addition to receiving academic accommodations who deals with chronic pain as a result of lupus and arthritis and can't always walk long distances says the school has been making it a priority that her residence hall is accessible “I have often avoided asking for accommodation because of how difficult and exhausting the conversation is to explain myself,” says Ace Yin the third and final incoming student in Parsons’ new program “I have been masking and convincing myself that I can keep going like that for so long that I am only just starting to realize how much of myself has been neglected and exhausted.” “Clear communication of tasks and patient understanding seem like obvious solutions but I don’t think people realize how much of an impact it makes,” Yin says Though Briare doesn’t know exactly what she wants to do after the program whether that’s making costumes for movie sets designing red carpet dresses or something else entirely she knows she will always prioritize her outlook as a disabled designer and focus on inclusion I would make sure to put an accessibility statement like I do have now or try to make clothing that would be able to fit somebody with dwarfism as well.” Parsons’ new program hopes to pave the way for a more inclusive fashion industry Where Did All The Tween Fashion Go? All the Beauty Products We Spotted at the 2024 Olympics 9 Sunscreens Teen Vogue Editors Swear By for Year-Round Protection From Rose Water to Eyeliner, An Ode to Middle Eastern & North African Beauty I Dressed Like Bella Hadid for a Week to Find the Best Plus-Size Alternatives These Trendy Backpacks Will Elevate All Your School 'Fits What Is Underconsumption Core? Experts Explain the Trend Putting Dirty Shoes All Over Your Feed After being talked into buying lunch for her junior sister Natalie freshman Caity Briare walks across the quad to The Commons she and Natalie go into the bathroom to wash their hands before heading to join the lines of hungry Pilots.  Natalie pumps a dollop of soap into her hand and then plops it into Caity’s hand This small gesture saved Caity the usual leap she has to do to reach the soap dispenser.  This is an example of the many times freshman Caity Biare has to get a little extra help to navigate a world that wasn’t built for her Briare was born with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism Having dwarfism means having a shorter stature due to a genetic or medical condition; usually it refers to people with height under 4 feet 10 inches.  Briare is not the only one at UP whose stature has impacted the way they interact with the world. When senior Miranda Reyes was three years old, she was diagnosed with hypochondroplasia, another form of dwarfism It wasn’t until her toddler years that doctors began to see her slip off the growth chart and increased bowing in her legs a common trait of people with dwarfism.  Both know all too well the feeling of eyes staring at them By now they have gotten used to the second glances and extended looks They realize that most people don’t have ill-will but instead the looks often come from a sense of curiosity But that doesn’t mean life for them is always simple.  they have always known that they are different Adjustments and extra assistance are normal parts of their day Briare and Reyes had fairly normal childhoods and faced the same struggles most kids do like bullying making friends and balancing extracurriculars with homework But having dwarfism presented some extra challenges I couldn’t run as fast as other people and wasn’t really great at shooting free throws,” Briare said with a laugh.  Both Reyes and Briare grew up going to Catholic school with pretty much the same group of kids all the way through high school graduation Both of them said growing up in this type of bubble was helpful because they never really had to explain themselves Briare said the most common thing she deals with is little kids pointing or asking their parents why she looks the way she does She said it doesn’t bother her very much because she knows kids are just curious but she wishes more parents wouldn’t brush off their kids’ questions.  “I appreciate when parents explain it to their kids instead of being like ‘oh let’s go,’” Briare said.  which she said is why she isn’t as fast as those with straight limbs While she hasn’t dealt with the joint pain that many with bowed legs experience that doesn’t mean it is without challenges.  would give high school freshman Briare a little bit of nerves to begin with.  “I would always be a little self conscious because I knew when I run my legs look different than someone with straight legs They kind-of go out to the sides,” Briare said I went to the bathroom and when I came out I saw these girls mocking how I would run and it kinda made me feel bad...Well The fact that it was people she knew made it even worse for Briare.  but I thought we were buddies,” Briare said.  Briare said even though she had experienced people making fun of her before it was a six-year-old girl with dwarfism who changed her perspective.  Growing up, Briare didn't have a ton of interaction with others in the little people community. But when she was young, she attended a few Little People of America events The organization aims to providing support resources and community for those of short stature she attended a dinner for the Portland chapter and went outside to play with one of the little girls also attending the event.  “We were on a play structure and this other girl who didn’t have dwarfism came up to her and said “Then the little girl (with dwarfism) turned to me and said ‘she’s not nice she doesn't know what she’s talking about.’ To experience from a different lens what I’ve experienced before was weird.” Seeing this little girl react with such confidence struck Briare and reminded her of the times people had treated her with a lack of empathy Briare said with tears in her eyes that the six-year-old girl allowed her to see things from another perspective Reyes said she counts herself lucky to have not faced much of the discrimination many people with dwarfism often do “I have led a pretty privileged life comparatively to a lot of other people in the little people community,” Reyes said “(Due to my type of dwarfism) I’m a little bit less affected than a lot of other people in the community I tend to be a little bit taller than others.”  Reyes said it wasn’t until she encountered new people outside of the school setting that she felt like she stood out a little bit more There were more questions and more teasing.  “Kids pick up a lot of words from their parents and the outside community,” Reyes said “That’s when the word ‘midget’ would come up.”  She said her experiences allowed her to better understand where people were coming from and helped her develop a thicker skin.  “I know kids are curious and genuinely they mean no harm by it at all Throughout Reyes’s childhood and still today she still gets questions from kids about why she looks the way she does She approaches it by explaining that just like some people are born with blonde hair Reyes said it isn’t always kids she has to deal with She will sometimes see adults staring at her when she is out “I remember when I was a kid my mom used to get very protective and angry,” Reyes said I remember tugging on her shirt being like ‘it’s fine’ and trying to calm her down.” Reyes said the second glances or the prolonged stares are just something she lives with She still believes that most are not accompanied with bad intentions most people are just curious about something that is unfamiliar to them.  Most people wouldn’t think twice about daily tasks like brushing their teeth or filling up their water bottle these tasks can require an extra step or two.  Reyes has had to make several adjustments in her life including putting pedal attachments in her car so she can reach the gas and the brakes She thinks there are large gaps in accessibility for many people including those with dwarfism “Growing up and living in a world that is not exactly built for you is something I’ve had to deal with my whole life,” Reyes said “My life involves a whole lot of stools and a whole lot of adjustments.” stools are an everyday item in their lives.  At Briare’s grade school and high school there were stools placed next to every drinking fountain so she could get a sip of water without having to ask for help.  everything from the height of the desks to the counters got bigger and there are plenty of challenges the freshman has found on The Bluff too.  “I use a stool to hang up my clothes and I do have to bring stools to the sink to see myself in the mirror,” Briare said the soap dispensers are far away and I have to launch myself across the sink.”  who says she is “49 inches and counting,” doesn’t mind asking people for help and often asks strangers to lend her a hand.  “The silverware in The Commons are so far back I can barely reach them so I have to wait for somebody to come by and be like ‘excuse me if they could put that a little closer (to the edge of the counter) that would be cool.” Stools and pedal attachments aren’t the only adjustments that Reyes and Briare have had to make Both students agreed that finding clothes that fit them can present significant challenges.  “I remember struggling a lot to fit in to the clothes that were catered to my age group,” Reyes said “It’s a lot of adjusting to the world around you It’s very evident when there are things built without you in mind.”   Reyes has a fairly average size torso so she can buy most extra-small or small tops and jackets and just roll up the sleeves “I buy regular women’s pants and I hem things,” Reyes said “It’s not the hardest thing but it’s an extra step Reyes can make almost anything fit with some alterations but she remembers struggling when her friends were growing out of the kids sizes They all started wearing adult clothes and she couldn’t.  Briare loves fashion and has a unique sense of style shopping and getting dressed can be a challenge and usually requires a pair of scissors.  “The only difference is when I get a pair of pants I also get my scissors out of the drawer and chop it in half,” Briare said “When I was cleaning out my closet to get ready for college I found this huge drawer of halves of jean pants.”  Style is very important to Briare because it allows her to express herself She said she is appreciative of how her family has helped her make the trickier items fit.  She often has to alter her clothes to make sure they fit correctly helps me with my prom dress and stuff like that “She’s done both my prom dresses and sometimes if there are pants I need taken in she’s like ‘oh yes!’ and she loves doing it Briare said she gets her clothes at the same stores everyone else does which is where she finds some of her most unique pieces one of the biggest challenge in fashion is finding shoes that fit.  it’s hard to find shoes sometimes because typically someone who is a (size) one is a toddler who likes pink and light up which is nice but not really what I wear.”  Even though Briare is getting into the swing of college academics she said there are things she wishes she could do that the design of the classrooms doesn’t allow.  “When the teacher asks if people can volunteer to write on the board I can’t really volunteer because the chalk ledge is at my eye,” Briare said “If they did have a stool in there maybe I could but that’s okay.” Briare thought people would be more mature in college but there have been incidents that really upset her Briare was looking for a study spot at the library when she realized some students were making fun of her but they were on the basketball team,” Briare said “This dude saw me walking towards him and said something to his friend and the girl they were with was like ‘oh stop it’ to them.” When Briare told her older sisters about the situation they were outraged and ready to stand up for her it’s like I just don’t want to deal with that again,” Briare said Briare said that even though situations like that hurt in the moment new friends and her family with three older sisters and two younger brothers.  Reyes considers herself lucky to have not experienced too much hurtful discrimination while at UP But one of her biggest challenges in college has been accessibility as a Division 1 athlete on campus.  Reyes is a senior coxswain on the women's rowing team.  Reyes is very busy with early morning practices on the Willamette (she gets up before 6 a.m sometimes the most frustrating part of her day is not a rough practice but rather the facilities the team uses.  “I just have a plastic stool in the shower to reach it but before that I’d have one of my friends run in and turn it on before I got in.” Reyes said whenever she encounters things like that She knows that she is a lot less affected than some other little people.  “I am fairly tall for a little person,” Reyes said “If this isn’t accessible for me this wouldn’t be accessible to most other people in the (little people) community.” Reyes thinks that height is often not thought of as an accessibility issue which is something she would like to see improved.  “Places are getting better at making places more accessible for the diverse population (but) height is not usually what they think of first,” Reyes said “All the accessibility changes are super necessary and needed but people don’t always think of height.” like switching lockers with her so she can have the lower locker or have the lower shelf in the dorm.  “It’s the fact that you have to ask in the first place,” Reyes said but it’s one of the things I’ve gotten used to.”  Despite the challenges and adjustments that dwarfism has them make Reyes and Briare do not let allow their height define them They have passions that range from rowing to coaching to collaging to fashion to jewelry making.  They live with people who may occasionally make fun of them with media that portrays them inaccurately or not at all with alterations and adjustments they have to make in most aspects of their life they are just like any other college student trying to find their place.  Delaney Vetter is the opinions editor at The Beacon The Student Voice Of The University of Portland Since 1935 The Student Voice of the University of Portland Since 1935 Use this tool to quickly find a resource or task Splash pads at city parks are closed until May 1 Splash pads are open May 1 through Labor Day weekend daily from 10 a.m The water used in these areas is recycled the same way as water from our homes; it goes down the drain, to the treatment plant winds up in Lake Mead and then comes back through the pipes.  it is most likely managed by another local government agency or HOA You can check with them directly for hours and locations.  Alyn Beck Memorial Park – 9220 Brent Lane Estelle Neal Park – 6075 Rebecca Road Gilcrease Brothers – 10011 Gilcrease Ave Leavitt and Jaycee Community Park – 2100 E Kianga Isoke Palacio Park at Doolittle Complex – 951 W Polly Gonzalez Memorial Park – 5425 Corbett St Raptor Play Park in Thunderbird Family Sports Complex – 6075 N Sunny Springs Park – 7620 Golden Talon Ave Trigono Hills  Park - 3805 Cliff Shadows Parkway West Charleston Lions/Essex Circle Park – 600 Essex Circle Woofter Family Park -  1600 Rock Springs Drive   The victims been identified by as Sacramento residents Mike B according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office The crash occurred amid dense fog and high winds in rugged terrain but officials have not determined what role the weather conditions played in the crash The cause of the crash is under investigation Kit-built planes are described by the FAA as those “assembled without the supervision and quality control of the production certificate holder,” the report said According to flight records data taken from a device that transmits a plane’s location and movement the plane looped over the Golden Gate Bridge twice before crashing into a ridge near Slackers Hill The crash occurred Friday at around 12:09 p.m., 40 minutes after plane took off from Sacramento Executive Airport The airplane's emergency beacon was reportedly activated at approximately 12:11 The downed aircraft was located on a steep hillside north of Conzelman Road away The NTSB has moved the plane to Sacramento where it will be investigated The Golden Gate National Park Service tweeted a photo of the NTSB airlifting the plane from the Marin Headlands on Sunday Read more at KCRA Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A new state-of-the=art workout spot is available for free for outdoors lovers in Las Vegas An outdoor gym was unveiled on Tuesday at Bill Briare Park near Washington Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard Las Vegas Fitness Court has a number of features to help with cardio and strength building Mascots from the Las Vegas Lights Football Club and the Aces were at the unveiling to test out the new equipment A free fitness class app is available for download in the Apple App Store and on Google Play to use while at the gym To learn more about the National Fitness Campaign, a partner with the City of Las Vegas for the new gym, visit NationalFitnessCampaign.com. Report a typo There’s something familiar about the North Portland band Maybe you’ve already been to one of their shows or even know some of their members from the University of Portland “Montgomery Park,” brings something entirely new to the table for their listeners: punk “We’re indie rock but we play a lot in the Portland punk scene,” Gabriel Briare are recent UP alums who worked on the band’s music as a duo until Briare and their drummer “Montgomery Park” is the first EP they’ve worked on together The EP was recorded last summer in a make-shift studio by their drummer “We have a little practice space and it was probably an eight-by-eight wood box that we played in,” Briare said “Montgomery Park” takes Saint Rémy towards a playing field they’ve only previously brushed across The band is popular within both indie and punk spaces “Sous l’eau,” cements Saint Rémy as one of the more adventurous bands coming out of the Portland DIY scene “Sous l’eau” both lyrically and sonically crosses into hardcore territory while still keeping up with the band’s traditional indie sound Indie-punk is an alternative subgenre which flourishes within DIY spaces where audiences are often unfixed and tumultuous Making music for a cross-genre audience is not without its difficulties “It’s been a learning curve to learn all that these different styles of guitar,” Briare said “I’d never been a punk guitarist or done any of the punk stuff before joining this band The band no doubt took notes from other hardcore groups in the EP’s creation Briare cites Turnstile’s genre-defying album “Glow On,” as one of the band’s main inspirations features the band’s well-known indie acoustics The song is one of the band’s most popular as well as Briare’s favorite on the EP range and pace as the bass and drums enter about a fifth of the way into the song carrying listeners throughout its entirety without rest The false lead emphasizes the music’s playful nature “Robbers” also retains a sense of youthfulness through its lyrics: “How you been my friend my god it’s been awhile/ I won’t run and hide/ I think I love you tonight.” Briare discussed his appreciation for the second track “Yukon,” finding it the most fun to play on the EP “Yukon” plays into the indie sound arguably less well than the first track The song begins with a lot of force and retains the same intensity throughout with little room for depth Listeners follow the progression of strings and drums as they culminate towards the repeating phrase the instrumentals exhibit some flexibility They carry Connor’s voice over a large sonic wave and safely to the other side The repetitive lyricism cements the second track as the catchiest of the three “Sous l’eau” is somewhat of an anomaly to the band’s discography It initially features the same calm instrumentals like those found within the first track — I could easily imagine myself listening to this on a sunny day But this gentle introduction is quickly contrasted by a metal-quality on all fronts takes a range that is seen more in pop-punk than angsty and tortured indie rock The lyrics are far more grating and the assertive instrumentals display the band’s musical power far better than any of their songs have in the past unpredictable and had me on the edge of my seat It wasn’t until the song’s familiar and peaceful conclusion that I let my body relax once more my roommate dances along to the music while brushing her teeth While the EP certainly has its moments of indie fun it is most remarkable in how it manages to push the limits of indie rock towards punk I’d like to see Saint Rémy continue down the road which “Sous l’eau” has paved I hope the band continues making music which is harder I find myself contemplating things like highschool friendships as I listen to the opening notes of “Robbers” and “Sous l’eau.” The EP’s cover art of Montgomery Park The image perfectly invokes some of the EP’s greatest themes: nostalgia reconnection and acceptance of the impermanent Camille Kuroiwa-Lewis is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at kuroiwal26@up.edu Guide: Where to have a “cafecito con chisme” in Portland Society for Mexican American Philosophy set to host first biannual Summer Institute at UP Letter from the Editor: The future of DEI at The Beacon remains bright Often students think of their friends on campus as a second family but there are actual families on campus that have made UP their second home Several members of such families shared what it’s like to learn work and live with one’s family at the University of Portland Many mothers and daughters bond over their shared love for pedicures or “The Breakfast Club,” and while these things may also be true junior Grace Powell and mother Jamie Powell are able to bond over their shared experiences at UP’s Salzburg study abroad program Jamie went on the Salzburg trip when she was a student at UP and brought her daughter Grace with her to Salzburg reunions from a young age Grace went on the Salzburg program as a sophomore and now she and her mother will attend this summer’s reunion together as Salzburg alumni While Salzburg connects both Grace and Jamie Grace said that it also provided her with “the independence from having my parents.” In addition to knowing about Salzburg from an early age Grace also grew up attending University of Portland basketball games with her older brother While Grace considered attending other universities she and Jamie both agreed that choosing UP “I think I see my mother more than any other college student It’s nice to get to stop in and just have a conversation,” Grace said Grace and Jamie get to see two different sides of events or issues that occur on campus she’ll hear one thing that’s happening with the employees and I’ll hear it from the students,” Grace said the Powell women have good things to say about being on campus together “She really embraces so much of college life,” Jamie said Attending University of Portland was a natural option for sophomore Raina Briare because of her family history of studying and working at UP “We’ve just always been in the neighborhood and it’s all I’ve ever known and my mom works here so of course there are benefits to that,”  Raina said alumna and Associate Director for Music and Campus Ministry Maureen Briare Kuffner works as the assistant vice president for Community Relations for the university and this year marks his 30th as an employee and four of his five children followed in his footsteps by becoming Pilots assistant director for media relations at UP Maureen and Raina have all experienced perks of having family on campus like chance run-ins and the feeling of a shared experience They don’t feel there are downsides because “you can be as close or as far apart as you want,” Raina said Kuffner explained the pride that comes from having his family so intertwined with UP there’s a deep sense of pride in the sense that I know how rigorous the academic requirements are here,” Kuffner said LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — For the past year, Las Vegans have been hearing that the XpressWest train between Las Vegas and Victorville operated by Brightline would break ground by the of 2020. Last month, that idea was put on hold due to poor bond sales during the pandemic Shelving high-speed rail plans is not exactly new here There have been variations going back three and a half decades Annotations are provided for an original story which News 3's Donna Cline reported on Dec "You're looking at a super speed train(1) similar to one that as early as 1992(2) could connect Las Vegas with cities in Southern California," Cline(3) told viewers "While Las Vegas is the first city in the country to receive more than one-million federal dollars to study bringing such a train here Nevada Congressman Harry Reid(4) hopes the idea catches on nationwide as the ground transportation of the future." VIDEO VAULT | A Las Vegas train hub makes way for the 'Union Plaza' hotel "We have scheduled on January 9th in the city of Las Vegas a congressional hearing that will be chaired by George Brown from California," Reid told the assembled press corps "To convince Congress and Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole to support such a project the city of Las Vegas needs to hear favorable results from a $1.25 million study," continued Cline "Mayor Bill Briare(5) is already convinced that economically and environmentally Las Vegas needs a super-speed train." "We will probably know for sure within the next four months whether or not this transportation system of the future can be built," said Briare(6) "The city of Las Vegas began studying the feasibility of a high-speed train project five years ago out of this office," said Cline from a room with the placard "Super Speed Train Development"(7) city officials will take their findings before a house subcommittee right here at City Hall But with national problems like balanced budgets and defense spending it would seem Nevada has a lot of convincing to do to gain support for a high-speed train project." Before the pandemic and its economic fallout both Nevada and California had been giving full support to tax-exempt bonds for the train to Victorville with the thought that future extensions will boost ridership It has parallels to the concept behind the Las Vegas Monorail which was never extended and is now in its second bankruptcy now dubbed “Brightline West," would be more than 10 times the cost VIDEO VAULT | All aboard the original Las Vegas monorail Will the Brightline West ever be completed -- or even break ground (1) Video showed the French Railway System SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français) (2) The current proposal would provide high-speed rail from Las Vegas to Los Angeles - with a transfer in Palmdale - in 2029 under the most optimistic scenario (3) Reporter Donna Cline worked at Channel 3 in the mid-1980s and while there won the "Miss Wheelchair USA" competition (4) Harry Reid was elected to the House of Representatives in 1982 and the U.S where he eventually rose to the rank of Senate Majority Leader He is now retired but still keeps active in Nevada politics (5) Bill Briare served as mayor of Las Vegas from 1975 to 1987 (6) Briare and Reid became stalwart supporters of a MagLev (Magnetically Levitated) train to Anaheim until Reid switched tracks for the XPressWest to Victorville in 2009 (7) SuperSpeed Train Development gave way to the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission and was later replaced by the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority Take yourself back to your highschool years: homecoming From prom to the stress of finals all ending with a bittersweet feeling associated with graduating — highschool is a huge period of growth for many people Imagine those four years of highschool were spent on zoom connecting with friends and teachers through a screen The COVID-19 experience is unique for the class of 2027 as all four years of their high school experience were impacted by the pandemic their first year of highschool was cut short due to shutdowns and the remaining three years were marked by a shift to online learning this experience has significantly shaped their social and academic readiness as they transition from high school to college “I am seeing a change in the interaction and involvement of students,” Assistant Director for First Year Experience Brenagh Sanford said first-year students are struggling in their classes there are concerns about how students are interacting and engaging with their coursework both in and out of class “There's just a lot more absences than we used to have and I think that students are not quite sure how to engage in what to do,” biology professor Amy Beadles-Bohling said This perspective is not rare; students and professors alike are seeing and experiencing this change So much so that professors are actively changing their curriculum and styles of teaching to better accommodate students during this transition For professor and faculty lead for first-year students Maureen Briare it's almost as if she is having to teach students how to engage and interact in a classroom we've integrated a self evaluation assignment to ask students to reflect on Am I surfing to other websites?’” Briare said “This reflection is important because the brains of today are so used to having interruptions and they get distracted easily and the attention span is less.”  First-year students are also recognizing the need to reflect For first-year biology major Olivia Herning the COVID-19 pandemic hindered her from experiencing the complete personal and academic development that high school typically facilitates “We weren't really given the chance to grow and find out what exactly we wanted to do because of having basically two and a half years of solitude,” Herning said “I feel like I just didn't have enough real-world experience to really know what I wanted I feel like there is a general lack of readiness responsibility and also an understanding of financial readiness for college.” Navigating the shift between high school and college has always been challenging The lack of a typical high school experience has essentially left first-year students underprepared — and not just academically students haven't had the same opportunities to not only meet people but then go through those trials and tribulations of friendships in the same way,” Sanford said being responsible for basic necessities — all without the support of parents – is a lot to juggle especially for students who have spent the past four years using their bedroom as a classroom nobody calls my parents,” first-year Willow Rodriguez said It is very relieving to have that sense of responsibility because it allows me to change my schedule around it makes it a little hard to be like ‘Well It's not just up to students to figure out how to adapt to college Briare and other professors have recognized what it takes to be a college student and how difficult the first-year transition can be I have become far more sensitive to mental health issues for students,” Beadles-Bohling said “I recognize that there are days when you just can't come to class.” COVID-19 triggered a 25% increase in mental health issues it has become imperative to incorporate inclusive mental health practices into their curriculum Students have also observed this shift; Herning highlighted the growing trend among professors to provide Zoom classes and offer extensions on assignments “I've been talking to some other students too about this increase in recognition of mental health,” Herning said “Providing Zoom links to join classes if you are sick or things like that — just giving a little bit more leniency I think that's something that definitely stemmed from COVID in our classes Now we are getting more of a firsthand perspective of professors really being well rounded on that.” The increased flexibility reflects a more understanding and supportive approach fostering a healthier learning environment Professors are recognizing the addition of mental health practices into their curriculum as the solution to this learning crisis “As faculty in the School of Nursing we need to meet students where they're at,” Briare said “We need nurses and not just that — we need future nurses who can take care of themselves.” it's not that the class of 2027 is less motivated than past classes It's that they have not been given the same tools needed to succeed the system hasn't totally evolved to the next because we don't need to go back to how we were doing things,” Sanford said “We need to be aware of what's going on and how we are going to move forward.” the lack of resources has inspired them to work harder and take advantage of the opportunities to grow at UP Despite the unique circumstances of the class of 2027 professors and faculty still want to see them succeed and are adapting to support their needs “I didn't realize how important education and going to school was until everything shut down and development in my own personal life was stunted," Herning said take great classes and have great professors I really want to get this done and get it done well.” Netty Jurriaans is the Community Engagement Editor for The Beacon “Mongeville,” is not the name of its town it refers to retired judge Antoine Mongeville (Francis Perrin) who for one reason or another winds up unofficially assisting the local homicide bureau in each week’s murder In the first of two three-episode seasons being released together he helps Detective Axelle Ferrano (Marie Moute) greatly to the consternation of her department’s head who deeply resents any input from that particular source Ferrano is replaced by Valentine Duteil (Gaelle Bona) who remains for the rest of the series’ 26 episodes despite Mongeville’s growing track record of consistently providing valuable help The tenor of the series changes significantly with the arrival of the new co-star the crimes share running time with the backstories and personal issues of the two leads Mongeville is haunted by the disappearance of his adult daughter a few years earlier continuing his search by whatever means he finds Ferrano is emotionally wounded by a recent affair that ended badly and creating serious trust issues in all aspects of her life But the two work well together in solving her assigned cases while working on their respective collateral problems The first trio of episodes begin with an apparent suicide the two find more suspicious than everyone else does The other crimes taking about 90 minutes to solve start with more obvious murders but require delving into a mare’s nests of old crimes and evil-doings providing complicated scenarios as we build relationships with the protagonists who takes the a**hole boss trope to new levels of a**hol-lery and just might turn out to be as corrupt as he is a**hol-ish by nature While the first three are rather serious in tone The scripts continue to contain interesting sets of facts and players to be unraveled with the principals’ personal issues occupying less of the stage Another useful levity addition comes from Mongeville’s enlisting the special skills of a charming old burglar he’d befriended during his years on the bench whenever investigative tactics are required and warrants are not obtainable Mongeville is a character to admire and get comfortable with the cast is less glamorous and the stories unfold with less violence than our typical prime-time domestic fare The first six end without major cliffhangers but leave me eager for the next round of releases “Mongeville,” Seasons One and Two The Beacon talked to 13 pairs of siblings at UP to find out what it's like to go to college with your sibling the advantages and disadvantages and what they like to do together Moving away from home for the first time can be a difficult transition for many college students It’s hard to be away from your family and completely start over in a new environment But some students have a little piece of home right here on The Bluff The Beacon talked to 13 pairs of siblings at UP who shared the advantages and disadvantages of going to school with your brother or sister.  Kilin (junior) and Kila (freshman) Ung have been going through their breakups at the same time Kilin mentioned that they even matched on Tinder after their breakups and both laughed at the memory Q: What’s it like going to the same school together?  Kilin: We get to expand our friend circles and we get to know each other’s friends where we just kind of blended our friends and everyone just kind of met everyone Kila: We also have the type of relationship that never changes we won’t hang out for a while and we’ll be doing our own thing and be super busy and then we’ll just watch a show together and it’s just normal Q: How would you guys describe your relationship?  Q: What’s the greatest advantage to having your sibling go to the same school as you?  She’s got her freshman things going on and I know how that is.  which is nice because it’s a lot with college Erica Lavik (senior) thinks of Lars Lavik (freshman) as her "blood brother." (Left to right: Erica Lavik Lars: It’s nice because it’s a support system it’s been really awesome because I’ve been away from home for so long and didn’t really get to experience Lars in high school I feel like now that he is at that age where I remember being that age I feel like we have a lot of relatability and we are becoming — obviously he’s my brother — but we’re like best friends now It’s a really cool relationship that we have now.  Q: What is one advantage and one disadvantage to having your sibling on campus?  Lars: I don’t want her reputation to be what I’m known as that’s Erica’s brother.” I want to have my own name But the advantage is I always have that person to talk to and she’s always there for me.  Erica: My biggest worry was just him coming into this school and him being known as “Oh that’s Erica’s brother,” instead of just his own person I have a few of my friends who still live in Villa and that’s the way they recognize him and I think that’s kind of a disadvantage for both of us But the advantage is that I’ve gotten so much closer to him because he’s here he’s the one person I know I can really trust.  I saw her there and it was kind of cool because I’m cool with her friends and we’re all friends Sisters Caity (freshman) and Natalie (junior) Briare love to create together and share their art with the UP and the St Q: What’s special about your relationship?  Caity: We shared a room for our whole life.  Natalie: This is the first year I’ve had my own room which is kind of crazy but most of the years was spent sharing a room with Caity and it was just the two of us because we’re in the middle (middle children) and that just brought us closer.  Caity: Disadvantage — when I see that she has one of my shirts or pieces of clothing I guess sometimes you want to not be known as “Oh you’re blah-blah-blah’s sister,” but that’s fine.  Natalie: I think a cool advantage is that often in college you know your friend but you don’t know much about their family people live near by us so you can meet their parents We get to share our family dynamic with our friends and our friends really like seeing that because it’s a peek into our lives more.  Sometimes we have good radio shows and then we decided to do a radio show together not only because it would be a fun but also because Caity is going to Salzburg next year so this is our only year on campus together we’re just trying to take advantage of that time because I’m graduating and then Caity will be gone We gotta take advantage of that time because it’s kind of a unique situation to have your sibling on campus with you and there’s only three weeks left.  One of Grace Ann (freshman) and Aileen (freshman) Converse's favorite memories together at UP so far was dressing up as the twins from The Shining for Halloween Q: What’s it like going to the same school together Aileen: I’ve met several people just by having them walk up to me and saying “Oh no you don’t.” One time I actually met a friend of both of ours because she went on a business retreat with Grace and in the middle of the commons she waved to me and said “Hey sure!” And in my head I was thinking “Where do I know you from?” And it was actually honest to God 45 minutes before she said “Oh how’ve you been since the business retreat?” And I was like “Uh...the what?” So...that’s how that happened I’ve met many people Grace knows and vice versa.  her degree advisor straight up walked up to me and started asking me about my degree plan in Shiley...so that was an adventure.  Aileen: I would say the clear advantage is we were able to shock our entire dorm floor by dressing up as “The Shining” twins for Halloween obviously the coolest campus student group — the Swords and Sorcery RPG club Grace Ann: It’s going to be us keeping it alive next year so UP people who are listening to this Q: What is your favorite memory together on UP campus so far?  Aileen: I met Grace’s Calc 1 professor when she came around to the dorms and we just opened the door and she had never met me before Grace Ann: It’s especially nice because “The Shining” twins is the kind of costume where kids just assume you’re two identical Alice in Wonderlands or something and just move on with their lives But adults will absolutely have nightmares about you for several nights.  Monica (junior) and Andrea (freshman) Millett love getting brunch together on weekends she makes it feel more like home rather than being in a whole new place and it’s nice just randomly running into her on campus especially with our busy nursing schedule And it’s fun to just kind of run into each other while we’re both doing our own things and it’s fun we can get lunch and catch up.  Monica: Our favorite thing is going to brunch on the weekends.  Monica: Advantage is the meal points.  Andrea: I would say getting to use her car.  Mary (freshman) and Ana (junior) Clyde sing and play music together whether it's in the school choir or just randomly on the floor of one of their rooms in Kenna Ana’s always been a really big role model for me I just run over to her room and bother her.  Ana: I know the advantage of having me.  many administrative people...when I meet them they’re always like “Oh are you Ana’s sister?” And I’m like “Yeah” and suddenly I feel like I have to live up to her standards I don’t find myself to be as smart or anything as Ana—  when that happens I get kind of nervous because I don’t do as well as Ana.  Ana: Advantage for me is always having a backup when my friends can’t have dinner I’m like “Okay that I can just go and talk to her about my issues And I can’t think of a disadvantage of having Mary here.  We order food from La Arepa and then we’ll watch “Jane the Virgin” together There’s some times she grabs her guitar and I’ll grab my ukulele and we’ll be playing the same song and obviously it’ll sound different and then we’ll do harmonies and stuff And that’s something we can always do together.  Ana: Randomly one of us will start a song and the other one will jump in with a harmony That’s probably the thing we do most together Family is very important to brothers Miguel (junior) and Sam (freshman) De Leon Although they go to school far from their home in Sacramento they still strive to be good role models for their two younger sisters Q: How would you describe your relationship in one or two words?  We’ve never been very affectionate towards each other A lot of the time we just mess with each other more than “Hey you look beautiful today.” It’s more “Why do you do the things that you do?”  especially as the two older brothers to the two younger sisters we felt more compelled to be the role models and And so if he caught me doing something wrong it’s almost like a call each other out kind of move we do have our vulnerable moments because it’s important to show that to show our younger sisters as well that it’s okay to show your emotions.  Q: It sounds like family is important to you.  Miguel: I think especially about our sisters Everything we do revolves around us siblings All of us as siblings have never been the very affectionate types I still call my sisters at least once a week and I still call my mom multiple times a week...because she’ll get mad Family has always been what’s held us together.  Sam: Definitely had some rough times growing up both parents getting sick at different points in our lives One parent would be sick in the hospital and the other one would be there at their bedside and that would mean either Miguel or I would have to step up and drive the younger ones to soccer practice or even to school where there was a lot of struggle and fear We have a sibling group chat on Snapchat and we’ll always send funny memories that we have with each other It’s even that dynamic that keeps us pretty close.  Mom didn’t call anyone for me when I needed something but he comes up here and needs like a watch and she’s like “I need you to take him to the store and do this and this and make sure he’s okay the disadvantage of that is that I get yelled at by him and then my mom yells at me to make sure that he’s doing what she’s yelling at him for Miguel: I think I’m just appreciative to have my brother up here now I always talked about how important my family was the first two years and how it’s been my driving factor for everything that I do and the reason that I do ROTC stuff Having my brother here is the living image of the reason why I do the things that I do.  Going to University of Portland together has allowed Hanna Leonard (junior) easier access her sister Q: How would you describe your relationship?  Just someone to do fun stuff with and to talk to.  Emma: Originally I wanted to go somewhere else because it’s always like “Hanna’s sister,” but I’m glad I came here because I’m glad I have someone.  Hanna: High school...in our last two years we got close because we were on the same sports team so we definitely spent a lot of time together But middle school...we were not that close Hanna: We kind of gossip about everything that’s going on in our lives.  Hanna: And then we kind of make fun of each other… Emma: Maybe her coming over and deciding how many clothes she’s going to take out of my closet.  we’ll always know we’re here for each other and have someone here.  go the same school as him has helped Ben Lively (senior) get through several injuries throughout their four years at UP Q: What’s it like going to the same school as your twin?  Dan: I think it’s a really great experience just because I mean we’ve lived together our whole lives and we don’t really know where we’re going to end up afterwards I think it’s been great as far as getting to take classes together It doesn’t feel like we’re grouped together like I think it did in high school just because campus and college life is so different And getting to work together in certain classes and stuff has been really helpful Ben: It’s good to hear him say that because I kind of followed him here my thought process was “Take four more years together where we know we’re going to be close and enjoy it.” It’s been a lot of fun.  Q: Are you guys going to miss each other if you end up apart?  we shared a room up all the way through high school and now we’ve been living together off campus for three years Especially because neither of us are looking at staying in Portland right now so...it’s going to be spread out.  Dan: Neither of us really know where we’re going to be so that’s really some uncertainty and I think the longest time we’ve spent apart was last summer for an internship in Portland and he was home That was a couple months so...it’ll definitely be a drastic change and I’ll miss this guy.  Q: What has been your favorite memory together at UP so far Dan: I think one thing that happened this year for us is UP started up a club basketball team and we’re really passionate about basketball and got to do that all growing up going through that competitive atmosphere and being on a team together again just really added another really cool element to the end of the college life and that was really fun getting to do that together.  I’ve had a lot of injury stuff going on as far as while I’ve been in college being at a small campus really helped me get through that as far as not falling behind in classes…(Dan) was like my personal assistant at times I ended my sophomore year with a concussion right during finals and he helped me a lot as far as talking to my profs and helping me manage my workload as far as day-to-day stuff I also had a back surgery this last summer and having classes with him to start the next year when I couldn’t really sit through an entire three-hour class we might have had together was very helpful It’s someone you can always go to with anything to go through all that stuff and having him here made it a lot easier Twins Jonelle (junior) and Jonae (junior) Sayama have enjoyed experiencing the seasons together at UP remembering fondly their first snow their freshman year Having a piece of home in each other has helped them transition from life in Guam to life in Portland we didn’t realize that people thought of it as something different or something surprising to them I just feel like we always have each other and that’s the most important thing That’s always someone to support you or someone to help you when college is just a little bit rough and you just need a friend there.  Jonae: It was really important to be with each other especially moving so far from home because we’re from Guam and just having each other to help with culture shock and knowing that we’d have someone there someone who could also help us do something someone who was also going through the same things…having a little bit of home Joane: I know sometimes I would get her emails and she would get my emails Jonelle: Miscommunication with a lot of stuff I wish you didn’t go here” or “My life would be easier if you didn’t go here.” I never felt like we got in each other’s way or felt like if you were here I can’t be my own person because we just found ourselves…being with each other is the best way But I know a lot of people don’t think that Jonelle: We’ve lived in the same room most of our lives we’ve always been in the same friend groups so when we hear about people being like “No I can’t be in the same school as my twin,” we don’t really experience that I think the advantage of being together is when I’m stressed or confused about something There’s just a lot of things where it’s really nice knowing you have someone so close to you that you trust just to give you some advice and help you push through like finals and everything that comes with that Q: How would you describe your relationship Jonae: I feel like a positive thing is the “It takes two” phrase Both of us together are always doing everything together But we’re also complicated just as every other sibling goes Jonelle: I would say we’re stronger as a pair but I feel like we complement each other really well and we also support each other really well as much as we’re really identical — like in a lot of our personality we like the same foods…I would say stronger together is something I would use to describe us Jonae: I definitely think school would be a lot different if we weren’t here together but it would be different in a way that I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed as much Dagan (senior) and Dawson (freshman) Kay share in good conversation when they hang out whether over coffee or dinner One of their favorite memories at UP together was hanging out and listening to music together on their radio show Q: What’s it like having your sibling go to the same school as you we’ve pretty much gone to the same school always it’s just a really nice thing to have — a resource to have this close to campus but we’re just far enough apart in age that but it’s different when you’re living at home because we’re carpooling together to school and stuff like that the Kay brothers are taking over.” But yeah it was our choice to hang out and be good brothers Q: How would you guys describe your relationship Q: What’s your favorite memory together at UP so far?  Dagan: We hosted a radio show together all of fall semester I would say that’s the coolest thing we’ve done together so far at UP I got to sort of relive freshman year a little bit Riding the high of the first month of school meeting tons of new people is super exciting I remember just feeling proud and stoked that Dawson found a good group of people.  Dawson: We’ve always had similar tastes in music We would ride together every day so I would just listen to the same music Adam (freshman) and Curtis (freshman) Jones would describe themselves as teammates Curtis: We’ve had the same friends our whole lives it’s kind of an easy transition because we still have the same group of friends We have a lot of the same homework and classes.  Curtis: I would describe us as more teammates than anything.  we can work on homework together and study together Disadvantage is he’s in my room all the time so that’s not fun all the time.  Q: What do you guys like to do together?  Emily (junior) and Elizabeth (freshman) Diaz-Gunning describe the things they do in their time together as "old people stuff." They enjoy farmers markets and nights in watching Riverdale Q: What’s it like going to the same school?  Going to college and being such a homebody Especially since I got to go to college with a little piece of home it made that transition a little easier for me It’s interesting because she’s not old enough to go out and do stuff yet...most of the stuff since I’m twenty-one and she’s eighteen — JK because that way I always have a person here when my friends go out and do their thing I’m like “No Kind of like old people stuff we do together.  Q: What has been your favorite memory together at UP so far?  I’ve work in the Dean’s suite for almost two years now and she’s literally copying me in everything that I do and I’m just happy somebody’s following me in my footsteps It’s just nice because it brought us closer together even more we had unpacked the whole room and we brought up two cars of stuff because I’m a freshman and I have all of my stuff we unpacked everything and the room is full and Emily goes “Okay we need to go to the trunk room!” where she has eleven more boxes of stuff to get That’s probably my favorite memory of moving in together.  Elizabeth: I definitely think it is worth it to go to college with your sibling if you have the opportunity it’s really a great experience to grow as a person and to grow into an adult with one of the people I’m closest to it’s definitely this great life moment that we’re kind of living through right now for a majority of the time.  Annika Gordon is the multimedia editor for The Beacon “Flatten yourself against the wall if a car comes,” Invader told me. “You always get some crazy plants, with all the carbon dioxide from the cars,” he said. “It’s like a bank robbery,” he had said a few minutes before. “I know exactly how everything needs to go.” it has never been my intention to cause you pain.”Cartoon by Victoria RobertsCopy link to cartoonCopy link to cartoonLink copied At any given moment, millions of people around the world are attending Invader’s expositions, knowingly or not. Around three hundred and fifty thousand participate in FlashInvaders, a mobile reality game in which players compete to find and then photograph, or “flash,” his mosaics. Some invaders are riffs on the four characters—crab, squid, octopus, and U.F.O.—of Space Invaders the video game created by Tomohiro Nishikado in 1978 passersby encounter a duckwalking Chuck Berry You can even find one of his pieces in an unexpected cranny of the Eiffel Tower Perched on the eleventh rung, he took a level out of his pocket and held it against the pillar. Then he stuck a panel to the surface and pounded the tiles with a fist. Mr. Blue—an old friend, a computer programmer by day—handed him more segments. Was that a pincer taking shape? Suddenly, it wasn’t as dark as it had been. Just above Invader, on the overpass, one could make out three glowing points—police flashlights, shining in his face. Earlier in the summer, after weeks of trying, I finally set a date to meet Invader. The night before, I had received a text from Julie, who manages his affairs and also happens to be his partner. “Hi Lauren,” she wrote. “Would you agree to meet me at a café near Bastille, and then I can cover up your eyes and take you to the studio?” She continued, “If you can’t because you are claustrophobic, we’ll find another solution.” Cartoon by Seth FleishmanCopy link to cartoonCopy link to cartoonLink copied and Julie told me that I could remove the blindfold A couple of assistants were working quietly to low jazz music she would slip and use his real first name but I give them points for committing to the bit.) I was surprised to see that his face was uncovered He and Julie have a school-age child (she knows that her dad is Invader but has been sworn to secrecy) and I could easily imagine him blending in at drop-off Invader was eager to show me some mosaics he was preparing for a solo show at the Over the Influence gallery The tiles were arranged to create a sort of camouflage allowing his creatures to hide not only in their urban environments but also within the frames he was making a series of landscapes created entirely from Rubik’s Cubes a three-dimensional pointillism that he calls Rubikcubism Invader has made Rubikcubist versions of Old Master paintings and of Warhol’s icons The Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappé commissioned a Rubik’s Cube portrait of Pelé and then Mbappé’s mother ordered one of her son Invader spent hours scouring secondhand toy stores for materials; now the company supplies him directly boxes of key-chain-size Rubik’s Cubes were piled ten feet high “We have twenty thousand of them,” he said where he showed me how he uses Photoshop to translate his designs into squares “The main point of my work is that I give physical materiality to the pixel,” he said Invader completed a master’s degree at the Sorbonne and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts there are other people who are already doing it,’ ” he recalled you can bring something new.’ ” The form requires him to abide by strict geometries but he has found these constraints to be productive A quote attributed to the Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio became a touchstone: “Mosaic is painting for eternity.” Ghirlandaio was making Bible scenes for the Pope; Invader was interested in digital culture for the masses He had spent long hours playing Space Invaders as a kid one of what Martin Amis called the “proletarian triffids” addicted to the “radar and wow of friendly robots.” Invader was also thinking about “The Invaders,” the nineteen-sixties TV series with its Technicolor graphics and indelible voice-over about alien beings from a dying planet His work transposes these generationally primordial references from the screen to the street merging geek aesthetics with urban heroics “Invader’s first innovation was in not writing letters,” the gallerist and curator Magda Danysz told me “Let’s run away and make a new life for ourselves filled with completely different problems.”Cartoon by Suerynn LeeCopy link to cartoonCopy link to cartoonLink copied Laurent Le Bon, the president of the Centre Pompidou, associates Invader with the Parisian archetype of the promeneur. “I’m thinking of Georges Perec and other extremely important figures,” he said he qualifies as one of the philosopher Guy Debord’s psychogeographers people who “turn the whole of life into an exciting game.” Invader has said His creations are landmarks for the metropolis like that of an old lamppost or a Guimard Métro entrance,” Libération wrote Sometimes the joy of finding an invader is incidental You’re on your way to the dentist and you spot a sly critter on a pediment as though the streetscape has rolled up its sleeve and displayed an unexpected tattoo many feel pleasantly accompanied on their journeys and trips,” Dimitri Salmon They even influence the way that Parisians move and you kind of instinctively assume there will be one.” such as the individual who recently erected a large Queen Elizabeth II mosaic on the Rue Saint-Honoré (An Invader alien that happens to occupy the same wall looks away with seeming disdain.) These derivative pieces lack the graphic punch and immediate legibility of Invader’s work like documents that have been through the copy machine one too many times To the street-art impresario Steve Lazarides Invader is a purist in a milieu awash in easy money and obvious gags “Which is very different from the kind of person who hires a cherry picker and paints an eighty-foot photorealistic mural of a fucking Chihuahua.” (He was referring to an actual work by an East London duo known as Irony and Boe.) Lately Paris has become so cluttered with street art that Invader can hardly find an appealing wall because now there are four or five copycats doing the same thing,” he admitted One day not long after my visit to the atelier I encountered a ceramic mouse pasted to the front of a recently opened toy store but I opened the FlashInvaders app and snapped a photograph anyway A message filled the screen: “WORKS BETTER IF YOU AIM AT A REAL Space INVADER.” It took Invader only a year to develop imperial ambitions he ventured out of Paris for the first time putting a yellow alien on the leg of a bench in Antwerp where he managed to plant an invader on the Hollywood sign surreptitiously patting a sticker onto his lapel as he worked the crowd at an art fair “The basic premise of modern graffiti is that the winner is whoever’s up the most,” Magda Danysz said “Invader managed to get a sticker on the President of France.” On two occasions he used a homemade weather balloon; the second time he used the astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.) The highest invaders are situated forty-three hundred metres above sea level in Potosí and the lowest one resides on an underwater sculpture off the coast of Cancún (You can flash it if you scuba dive twenty-six feet.) There are invaders on passageways in Varanasi and there is a pixelated cheeseburger above the Waverly Diner Invader spent the night in jail and slapped a mosaic onto a police-station desk as he left the next morning makes him unhappy: “I realize that there are lots of places where I’m not.” A full-scale invasion takes about twenty days Invader uses Google Maps to scout his targets in advance (His record is eight.) Then he documents the work “Some of the photos look cooler years later,” he told me and you can see changes in the architecture.” Invader acknowledges that his choice of placement is “highly subjective.” In “Chasseur d’Invader: Comment des Mosaïques Ont Changé Ma Vision du Monde” (“Invader Hunter: How Mosaics Changed My View of the World”) the graphic novelist Nicolas Kéramidas observes that there are invariably “one or two borderline depressing” sites in every locale Invader is mindful to cover as much terrain as possible creating the sense that he’s everywhere at once “There have to be little dots all over the city because I think that goes with the concept,” he told me I asked whether he’d ever considered the colonialist connotations of his work “I don’t want to go in like a conquistador,” he said aesthetic.” His imagery can occasionally seem reductive: pretzels and beers in Munich; magic carpets “They look like the first page of a Google search,” the Moroccan muralist Mehdi Annassi (a.k.a “Like an Orientalist who doesn’t know much about Morocco I think he’s not just doing it for the locals so he’s doing things that are recognizable and iconography that can be easily connected to Morocco.” Invader likens his process to “urban acupuncture,” saying “I need to find the neuralgic points of the cities I visit.” He has executed more than four thousand mosaics in a hundred and seventy-two cities in Paris.Photograph courtesy InvaderIn rare cases if a site seems sensitive—a synagogue in Djerba where Invader sought to install a menorah mosaic—he will ask before making a move Invader travelled to Bhutan with a handful of pieces on a wall at the historic Chagri Dorjeden monastery where he has more than seven hundred thousand followers Invader says that the chief monk authorized his work Are you doing graffiti in a country that is not yours because he was telling me not to do something in a country that wasn’t mine—but it wasn’t his either.” The fight soon spilled over onto social media “You are an incredible narcissist,” one commenter wrote “You should do the Grotte de Lascaux next since you’re such a brave irreverent artist the Bhutanese government removed the mosaics (Neither the chief monk nor the Bhutanese government could be reached for comment.) Invader remains stung by the incident because it was completely ridiculous,” he said describing his antagonist as an American interloper—“the tourist didn’t want Bhutan to change,” Julie told me “He wanted to go there and find a Disneyland.” and he allows that his parents were “normal people,” members of the mercantile middle class He failed the baccalaureate the first time and decided to be an artist even though he felt stupid saying “I’m an artist!” outright of high tech and “bits of string,” and of contrarianism within community were important to him even before he became Invader When World Cup mania seized France in 1998 he helped launch an “anti-foot” association that organized a slate of activities—pétanque a “mini techno festival”—for fellow soccer dissidents like-minded souls were reportedly invited to hurl deflated soccer balls at an effigy of Footix For a while, Invader pursued a project he called VNARC. It involved a computer virus personified as a man in a hat and a mask, and the acronym stood for Vous n’allez rien comprendre (You’re not going to understand anything). In 1999, he and Zevs, an artist who was making a name for himself in graffiti, formed a collective called @nonymous. Inspired in part by the avant-garde situationists they roamed the city seeking le détournement—diversion in the sense both of causing a scene and of having fun but what we loved most was anti-art,” Zevs told me they rush into a subway car and start to scream The gag seems more terrifying than funny now but the passengers of the day appear to have seen them as mere weirdos “We bombed it with our voices instead of aerosols,” Zevs recalled They fancied themselves hackers of the city urban pirates “creating dysfunctions and disrupting the everyday.” Invader got to know other graffiti artists who were active in the Bastille neighborhood “It was a social network before social networks,” he recalled The nineties were a propitious moment for French street artists (initially derided by one prominent pundit as “retards who schmear their shit on the walls”) “I prepared maybe fifteen mosaics and nobody bought anything,” he remembered “Nothing.” No one knew quite what to make of him “People saw the mosaics and thought it was some kind of cult or a sign that someone had come to rob their house,” he recalled evolving his work through repetition and iteration and the theoretical dimensions of his project impressed the cognoscenti “Referencing domains typically removed from urban art—from the video game to the history of ancient art and even cartography—he brings the discipline into a more conceptual phase and represents the renewal of the movement,” Magda Danysz wrote in a monograph that accompanied “Capitale(s): Sixty Years of Urban Art in Paris,” a show at the Paris city hall which recently enjoyed so much success that its run was extended by several months Invader came up with the idea to literally zoom out if you plot them on a map and connect the dots One of Invader’s highest-concept invasions took place in Florida in the summer of 2012 with a hurricane brewing and crates of supplies stuck in customs He put a mosaic on the staircase of the Miami apartment building where the chainsaw scene in “Scarface” takes place he set out for a sugarcane field in the Everglades According to a Miami Herald reporter who accompanied him he was wearing “a white plasticized jumpsuit and a cloth mask that made him look like a cleanup worker at a biochemical spill or maybe just Woody Allen dressed like a sperm in ‘Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex.’ ” and then—pop!—plunges back toward human civilization before crashing through a canopy of leaves and coming to rest in a grassy field “I’d always thought his work was a bit too simple,” the artist Damien Hirst told me “The thing that sort of made me take notice was when he used that weather balloon to put a piece into space the levels.” Hirst told me that he was equally beguiled by Invader’s fervent following on Discord and by his “reactivators,” self-appointed guardians who reconstruct invaders that have been damaged or have disappeared but with Invader the idea is everything,” Hirst said “He’s created this community of people who care about his works enough that they can’t be destroyed.” Reactivators operate independently but they submit their handiwork to Invader’s atelier to be validated before reinstallation in the wild (and reinstatement in FlashInvaders) Hirst sent Invader an e-mail asking if he wanted to collaborate on a series of N.F.T.s “He started sending me some images when he was out putting things up in Paris at night,” Hirst explained millions of people around the world are attending Invader’s expositions Around three hundred and fifty thousand people participate in FlashInvaders a mobile reality game in which players compete to find mosaics like MARS_73 in Marseilles.Photograph courtesy InvaderThe art market has also come around to Invader he began creating “aliases”—“unique doubles” of his street mosaics meant to be sold in galleries rather than enjoyed outdoors for free Each alias comes with an “identity card,” or certificate of authenticity that slides into the Perspex box upon which the mosaic is mounted the alias of TK_119—a likeness of the manga character Astro Boy that Invader had installed above a pedestrian tunnel in Tokyo—sold on the secondary market at Sotheby’s for more than a million dollars Pieces from his Rubikcubism series have also fetched high prices: four hundred and eighty thousand euros for a “Mona Lisa” made out of the plastic toy As the value of Invader’s works has increased so have efforts to procure them without paying a pair of men posing as city workers propped a ladder against a wall in the Sixth Arrondissement and The men helped themselves to more than a dozen pieces around the city Onlookers took pictures and posted them on social media calling the men “greedy thieves.” He argued that his work had no value outside its original context and that without a certificate of authenticity it was “barely worth the cost of the tiles used.” But the thieves continued their spree until their ladder broke by complicating notions of authenticity and authorship have succeeded in largely shutting down the illicit market for Invader’s work the New York street artist who has steadfastly refused recognition and remuneration it becomes a fraudulent activity.” But Invader says that he is perfectly comfortable He has designed a wine-bottle label and sneakers (their tread leaves behind an alien-shaped footprint); recently he worked with Comme des Garçons PLAY on a collaboration that included a five-hundred-dollar cardigan “I lived the first part of my life like van Gogh,” he told me “Now I’m starting to live more like Picasso.” He admitted that “I think Damien has been a bad influence on me because he keeps telling me I have to produce more,” he said Invader showed me around the premises of a deserted building where he will mount his largest-scale exhibition to date served as Libération’s headquarters from 1987 to 2015 the new landlord called Invader and offered him carte blanche to invade the thirty-seven-thousand-square-foot space before it undergoes renovation “It’s going to be called Invader’s Space Station because the building will be like a mother ship a starship.” We hiked up a ramp that leads to a showstopping rooftop terrace Godard puffed a cigar while contemplating the city noticing that the terrace floor was made of square-shaped cement tiles had painted it with a red-white-and-black invader designed to be visible from the sky freshly mounted on the roof of an apartment building Part of the appeal is that the game is simultaneously mass culture and a niche entertainment No matter how many thousands of people are playing at a given moment My kids introduced me to FlashInvaders after hearing about it at school can you download this app?” does not typically lead to countless hours of intergenerational harmony we use the game as an invitation to explore the city I met a seventysomething mother and her adult son who get together for weekly flashing walks.) It forces you to pay close attention to your surroundings noticing not only the places that Invader favors but also the shops and parks that surround them—the arcade of everyday life You get your dopamine hit—doo doo da lee doo +30 POINTS!—but you can’t stay glued to your screen My kids love scrolling through the game’s gallery feature which displays their invaders by order of encounter It’s a repository of memories—they can recite the exact circumstances under which we flashed each one “I love that someone decided to devote his life to giving other people that experience,” an American friend remarked after spending the better part of her Paris vacation chasing aliens A pair of strangers got to talking in front of the Pink Panther mosaic in the Impasse Delaunay but Invader offered it to us,” the wife told a reporter A live feature allows you to follow along as fellow-fans play around the world Just before lunchtime on a recent Monday morning one player was flashing a skull-and-crossbones-themed invader in Rennes Another spotted a cobalt-colored cephalopod in Rotterdam and in Djerba someone captured a pair of fish pasted onto the chimney of a traditional house The pictures are a mesmerizing sliver of someone’s day—an open window A shot of a yellow creature in Amsterdam doubled as an accidental candid of an elegant mother in a gray coat and her small Hard-core flashers demonstrate an enthusiasm that borders on compulsion or a reactivation team puts an invader back in play they will drop everything to rack up points 1 player is said to be a French airline pilot who schedules his routes so that he can snap invaders in far-flung locales but you need to have one crazy thing in your life,” one player a telecommunications engineer who goes by the handle R4Y but this year he managed to flash in Switzerland travelling to Eilat for less than twenty-four hours in pursuit of two mosaics Another enthusiast recently created a sort of open-air flasher’s hall of fame in Paris installing mosaics of players in the vicinities of their apartment buildings The highest invaders are situated forty-three hundred metres above sea level and the lowest one resides on an underwater sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor (You can flash it if you scuba dive twenty-six feet.)Photograph courtesy InvaderAnother flasher I met a retired midwife who uses the name Illanéo talked about the pleasure she takes in mapping out her flashing itineraries “I spend hours and hours on Google Maps.” She and her husband who ran a driver’s-ed school and is now a psychologist are respectively ranked as the tenth and eleventh most accomplished flashers in the world because we have a common project—now we make plans to travel Her Instagram page features pictures of the couple against various backdrops—Bangkok Potosí—often accompanied by a Teddy bear in a sweater that matches whatever Invader piece they’ve just found Some people consider flashing by proxy a travesty while others guiltlessly partake in crafty schemes such as one that recently sent a player trudging to the top of the Eiffel Tower with a backpack full of other people’s phones who doesn’t eat animals for ethical and environmental reasons if he still believed it was tenable to go chasing aliens around a burning planet “It’s something that I think about a lot,” he said He was considering removing the game’s Top 100 list five Parisians embarked on what they called a “road trip for crazy people.” They were mostly strangers to one another and their plan sounded like the setup for a joke: a location manager and a retired legal secretary heading off together on a weeklong safari that would require more than fifty hours of driving and take them from Paris to Valmorel Their ages ranged from twenty-eight to sixty-seven listening to Invader-themed podcasts as they drove and by nine we were seated at a table on the terrace of a Slovenian restaurant “We left Paris at midnight on Sunday and saw the sun on the mountains at Valmorel,” Ghislain “We didn’t eat until Bern on Monday night.” They settled on an eight-thirty call time for the next morning The mission was to flash all forty of Ljubljana’s extant mosaics in the six hours they’d allotted breathing out a red alien in a speech bubble The team formed a semicircle in front of the mosaic and decided to allow themselves a flasher’s amuse-bouche to the next day’s feast The plan was to get the outlying mosaics first then work our way back into the city center Harold had mapped out the whole thing two years earlier during one of France’s strict pandemic lockdowns once the stragglers had finished their coffee The group flashed a mosaic that looked like an extraterrestrial mosquito sweeping through a former squatters’ village a residential district with kitchen gardens full of cabbage and roses and a mid-rise housing project where Invader had left a fruit mosaic on the façade of a ground-floor supermarket they flashed a “ghost,” aiming their phones at a building wrapped in nylon construction sheets and they’d be awarded points for having already flashed its geolocation this is crazy—you’re going all the way to Bosnia with a bunch of strangers?’ ” Martine and now I want to get in the top two hundred.” Ghislain bent down to remove a rock from his shoe It was a gorgeous day in a picturesque city I’d already logged around twenty-five thousand steps on my phone’s pedometer indicating an ivy-covered bridge spanning a river the color of olive oil there was a blue invader peeking out from under the leaves Jeanne announced that she needed to get something from the pharmacy “Some are here more as dilettantes,” Harold remarked LJU_35 was supposed to be somewhere nearby Harold took off running down a cobblestone lane Someone had put Invader stickers on a nearby lamppost suggesting that the mosaic was close at hand Harold resorted to searching Google Images for a photo that would provide some context a bashful white creature set into a speckled wall “That’s gonna be annoying with the shadow,” Ghislain said He blocked the dappled light with his hand so that the group could flash confirmed that the group had located all forty mosaics They got right back into the car and started driving to Grude On the night I accompanied Invader to install his mosaics he continued putting up tiles even as the police flashlights shone down on him from the overpass Invader scampered down from the ladder with a satisfied look “I don’t think they’re waiting for us,” he said “I think they understood that it was street art.” Instead of punching his destination into the G.P.S. we pulled up to the corner of the Avenue de l’Opéra and the Rue Thérèse to park the van with the late hour and with many people having left town for the Fourteenth of July holiday Invader began creating “aliases”—“unique doubles” of his mosaics the alias of TK_119—a likeness of the manga character Astro Boy that Invader had installed in Tokyo—sold on the secondary market for more than a million dollars.Photograph courtesy InvaderInvader’s original idea for the night’s second mosaic had involved the upper half of the smiley-face-with-sunglasses emoji He’d wanted to install it so that it emerged from a street sign that was missing the semicircle on top but another artist had got to the butchered sign first The new site was more exposed than he liked He assessed the scene: “It’ll take three minutes to put it up but if someone happens to drive by you’re dead.” He was aiming for a high corner of a Haussmannian building He used a comb-like device to apply cement to the mosaic’s back side Then he picked it up by a plastic handle that was affixed to the frame and dangled it like a Christmas ornament ascending past a blue alien with a triangular chin and red eyes He kept going until he was flush with the second-floor balcony Then he drubbed the emoji onto the wall and scooted down “I was hoping to get it a little higher,” he said I assumed that Invader would be ready to call it a night; it was almost three o’clock he was headed back to the atelier to archive the two new creations to be known henceforth as PA_1486 and PA_1487 “I’m going to put them in the database,” he explained “I love the night—it’s another city,” he said A long-ago crime, suddenly remembered A limousine driver watches her passengers transform The day Muhammad Ali punched me What is it like to be keenly intelligent but deeply alienated from simple emotions? Temple Grandin knows The harsh realm of “gentle parenting.”  Retirement the Margaritaville way Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Thank You for the Light.”  Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker. – Find a hidden sculpture and win a full term's tuition at Clackamas Community College and a laptop computer The contest with the theme "Art Mystery" celebrates the opening this week of the Outdoor Sculpture Exposition at Clackamas Community College Sculptures created by 30 Northwest sculptors are displayed around the campus The treasure hunt includes three polished metal medallions and a grand prize medallion which is located within 20 feet of the missing sculpture All medallions and the missing sculpture are on the campus and no structure needs to be disturbed or climbed to find them The contest has a social media component: the rules and clues can be found on the college Facebook page at And additional clues are available to those who follow the college on Twitter "These clues will reveal the nature of the hunt," said contest organizer Bill Briare who serves as dean of arts and sciences at the college sculptures everywhereAnd only missing one?Prizes prizes here and thereIt's time to have some fun #LostArt Winners will be announced at a reception for the sculptors in the campus commons outside the Community Center The runner-up will win an arts and plants package that includes original art and literature written by students and faculty contest sponsors and their families are not eligible to participate Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices Dear Reader,Unfortunately our comment platform isn\'t available at the moment due to issues with our paywall and authentication vendor The Santa Rosa Junior College women?s basketball team showed up for its biggest game of the season Tuesday night with a big problem: The Bear Cubs weren?t ready to play With a chance at a Big 8 Conference title still a possibility SRJC snoozed through the game?s opening minutes roared back from a 17-point deficit and finally finished its uneven performance with a whimper en route to an 84-71 loss to second-place Sierra College at Haehl Pavilion 8-3) entered on a five-game winning streak and had the schedule set up perfectly with home games against Sierra (20-9 10-1) and first-place San Joaquin Delta on Thursday didn?t get the memo: Maximum effort would be required Bear Cubs freshman forward Charlene Popoff said ?We didn?t come out with the right mindset. SRJC coach Lacey Campbell twice called timeouts in the first half in an attempt to wake her team from its slumber the usually mild-mannered Campbell could be heard from the stands they?re doing all the things you should be doing. Campbell shook her head with a mixture of frustration and bewilderment but she knows better than most that teenagers are impossible to predict ?We can?t blame it on anything but ourselves We just weren?t ready to play and weren?t focused SRJC finished the first half on a 14-3 run and trailed 40-34 at halftime They maintained their momentum in the second half and led 51-48 when Popoff was fouled while making a basket underneath and made the ensuing free throw 10 rebounds) and freshman forward Jeanette DeWitt (20 points 7 rebounds) were dominating inside and the Bear Cubs appeared to have taken control took a 62-61 lead with seven minutes left and slowly pulled away down the stretch Sierra?s 84 points were the most SRJC has allowed in 11 conference games and the second-most all season Sierra?s big point total hinted at her team?s biggest problem Tuesday night: The Bear Cubs weren?t ready to play ?Defense has been our thing all year and we gave up 80-something points to these guys, ?That is not the team that I want to be coaching. You can reach Staff Writer Eric Branch at 521-5268 or eric.branch@pressdemocrat.com Renoites might be considering a trip to Las Vegas but don't want to compromise their fitness goals while traveling there are multiple places in and around the Las Vegas metropolitan area where you can exercise for free Here are eight places you can exercise for free in Las Vegas The Charlie Kellogg and Joe Zaher Sports Complex a tennis center and a multi-use 2.44-mile track that's perfect for a quick practice or run before exploring Las Vegas the park also has three dog runs and two playgrounds Long-distance runners and walkers will feel right at home at Bill Briare Park The 10-acre facility features open space with a walking and jogging path that connects to Kellogg Zaher Park If you're looking to add more than cardio to your workout you can also hit one of the park's four pickleball courts Kids can also enjoy the park's playground and water area perfect for cooling off during Southern Nevada's hot days Palo Verde High School football fieldOne long-time Las Vegan told the RGJ that many locals run the steps of the Palo Verde High School football field for an intense workout The field is located at 333 Pavilion Center Drive in Summerlin For people looking for a stroll rather than an intense workout check out the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve at 350 E The 80-acre specialized habitat is home to more than 270 bird species There are also Americans with Disabilities Act accessible trails that weave through the preserve's multiple ponds The last entry is 30 minutes prior to closing Silverado Ranch Community Center, located at 9855 Gilespie St., not only has a wide variety of classes but also has free amenities for people looking to exercise indoors The one-tenth-of-a-mile indoor track is free to use and located inside perfect for Northern Nevada visitors who may not be used to the Las Vegas heat but still want to get a run in The community center also offers a free open gym for anyone 55 and older It also has a free toddler gym for kids younger than 5 If you want to escape to the wilderness without leaving the city Pueblo Park offers an easy 3.1-mile trail system that is teeming with wildlife and winds up to Rampart Boulevard in Summerlin There are also various stops along the trail that include benches playgrounds and exercise equipment for people looking to add more than cardio to their workout or need a break along the way Buffalo Drive is home to sand volleyball courts a jogging and walking path and plenty of other open space It also has a dog park for people traveling with their four-legged friends that may need some exercise after a long day in the car Cornerstone ParkLocated at 1600 Wigwam Parkway this park has opportunities to play basketball and volleyball Cornerstone Park also has an exercise course exercise stairs and a path around the park's lake for running or walking .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Anna BriareRepublican file photoAttorney Ross Anenberg speak to the press outside Eastern Hampshire District Court where they appeared before the Clerk Magistrate on counter bulling charges.ABOUT THIS STORY » A team of UMass journalism students spent the fall of 2010 reporting on approaches to curbing bullying in South Hadley and beyond as part of an investigative journalism class One year after the tragic suicide of Phoebe Prince MassLive.com is publishing a group of final projects from the class As the Phoebe Prince bullying trials approach Massachusetts attorney Abigail Williams believes that the state’s new bullying law fails to hold school officials accountable for their actions in the case holding officials responsible is very hard to do,” says Williams Williams represented Beth Coushaine, the mother of a South Hadley student who was allegedly bullied at the South Hadley Middle School. The case went to court last summer after South Hadley school officials advised her to press charges against the student Williams said the father of the accused student threatening to pursue charges against her son if she continued with the case Coushaine decided to drop the charges against the student Williams could not comment on whether Coushaine plans to pursue charges against the school district for failure to intervene in her son’s bullying The case addresses obstacles that face victims seeking justice for bullying The issue of who holds responsibility for bullying poses a problem for prosecutors and lawmakers who must balance proper punishment with proper accusations about involvement in bullying incidents “Teachers are offered a lot of protection by the state if they are working for a public school,” says Williams “And in order to successfully hold a teacher individually responsible they would have to do something so outrageous and so outside the bounds of their job to make it as close as possible to criminal.” Now, with bullying stealing the spotlight in headlines, Williams finds herself surrounded by questions of legality and responsibility. Massachusetts enacted its anti-bullying law in May four months after 15-year-old Phoebe Prince killed herself after enduring harassment from classmates at school and online though igniting a movement to halt bullying everywhere has caused controversy over who is responsible for stopping bullying: students an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in Massachusetts is concerned with the potential the bullying law creates for law enforcement to get involved in situations that schools parents and the kids themselves could handle constructively “A lot of bullying situations are not addressed well in criminal court,” says Newman “The best response to bullying is to prevent it through education " It is hard to sue school districts because they are part of the state You can't sue a teacher for failing to act because of municipal immunity individuals have tried suing school districts “It is hard to sue school districts because they are part of the state,” says Williams “You can't sue a teacher for failing to act because of municipal immunity.” Williams explained that to hold a school system liable one needs to prove that the action of the school system or a teacher employed by them was so negligent as to be the original cause of the injury to a kid if a teacher knows a student is being bullied and threatened then one could argue that the teacher is the original cause and hold the school system responsible But the Phoebe Prince case has taken bullying charges to a new level Sean Mulveyhill and Austin Renaud are facing charges varying from stalking and criminal harassment to statutory rape and civil rights violation The defense is trying to persuade the courts to dismiss the charges and has requested that Prince’s mental history be taken into account when considering the dismissal Phoebe Prince case drew journalists from all over the world E.J. Fleming, writer with Western Mass. roots, set to publish book on Phoebe Prince bullying case Strategic Planning Initiative for Families and Youth working to combat bullying in South Hadley With column on Phoebe Prince, The Boston Globe's Kevin Cullen helped spark worldwide coverage of bullying Alex Parker, South Hadley High School senior, was compelled by death of Phoebe Prince to join Anti-Bullying Task Force Video: Darby O'Brien and Luke Gelinas on speaking out about the Phoebe Prince Case More stories » and more friendship- not less,” says Williams it is embarrassing to hear that the defense is trying to use Phoebe's mental health against her in a case about bullying It is offensive and outrageous and totally inappropriate to blame the victim.” which involve discrimination or hurtful behavior based on race part of the reason why students are facing these violations is because they called Prince an “Irish slut” on a constant basis which can be viewed as an attack on both her gender and her Irish nationality The charges have raised points that many forms of bullying could also fall under federal civil rights laws The Department of Education recently reminded schools that they have a responsibility to take bullying incidents with discriminatory bases to the legal level “Some student misconduct that falls under a school’s anti-bullying policy also may trigger responsibilities under one or more of the federal anti-discrimination laws enforced by the Department’s Office for Civil Rights,” says Russlynn Ali Williams started the non-profit corporation “Step Up and Stop It: The Commonsense Solution to Bullying,” which focuses on stopping harassment on all levels who strongly supported bullying prevention Kaufman was an attorney at Williams' law firm and taught at schools throughout Worcester County “Bullying didn’t start with Phoebe Prince,” says Williams I taught kids to have good communication skills The reason why is because bullying is a huge issue and if you learn good habits when you are younger then you’re not going to be a bully as a teenager or an adult But when she heard about the Phoebe Prince case “It seemed that it started a domino effect of other children going through similar experiences or at least finally feeling like it was okay for them to discuss suicide,” says Williams “I started looking at it from a legal perspective and dedicated my time to helping these people in the legal system when the schools or the community wouldn’t.” Williams feels there will not be justice for Phoebe Prince “To suggest that justice will be served for Phoebe would mean that Phoebe would be able to go to school and not be bullied,” says Williams this case would be about the conduct of the bullies and not about the frailties of the victim.” Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us) Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site Ad Choices Garner sprinted to victory after a tricky finish into Briare on the race's second day Britain's Lucy Garner (Liv-Plantur) took her first career victory in the La Route de France stage race on Monday sprinting to victory on stage one of the 2015 edition into Briare La Canal It's a second day of success for the Liv-Plantur team after Garner's teammate Amy Pieters took victory and the leader's jersey in the opening prologue on Sunday Despite having to protect the leader's jersey through the 127.1km stage from Avon the 20-year-old was able to utilise her team to lead her out to victory in the finale sprinting ahead of Annette Edmondson (Wiggle-Honda) and Roxanne Fournier (Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.86) "I'm really happy to have won today - it has been a hard few months with a lot of crashes for me but the team have always believed in me," Garner said after the race "The girls had trust that I could finish it off today and get the win "They worked hard for me in the final and then Amy finished it off perfectly by bringing me to the finish after fighting for position in the in the last kilometres "After Amy's win yesterday it is nice to keep the win within the team today as well I thought I had it but then as we came over the line I wasn't so sure Tuesday's stage two sees the race head to Bourges from Villemandeur on a 118km route with the conclusion taking place in Guebwiller on Saturday Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 *Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 Richard is digital editor of Cycling Weekly Richard became editor of the website in 2014 and coordinates site content and strategy leading the news team in coverage of the world's biggest races and working with the tech editor to deliver comprehensive buying guides Richard spends most of his time preparing for long-distance touring rides these days or getting out to the Surrey Hills on the weekend on his Specialized Tarmac SL6 (with an obligatory pub stop of course).