Avery Wilson, Vocalist and Contestant on NBC’s The Voice
Wilson is an R&B artist, born and raised in Hamden. He is best known for his appearance on the NBC television program, “The Voice.” Wilson, just 16 years old at the time, was a member of team Cee-Lo, where he was eliminated after the “knockout rounds.” He was then signed with notable producer Clive Davis to RCA Records. In October 2018, Avery released his first EP “FYI” which included his singles “Do You” and “Dollar Bill.”
There’s a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and in many ways it’s true. Parents and guardians rely heavily on teachers, coaches and other caretakers to pick up the slack and provide a protective environment for their kids outside of the home.
Families depend on people like Laura Ramos and Christopher Merchant. Monday through Friday parents counted on Ramos, a young mother herself, to safeguard their students as a special education teacher at Central High School in Bridgeport. On the weekends, Merchant was trusted to instruct and encourage dozens of young athletes as the vice president of Plainfield’s Little League baseball team. It’s people like Ramos and Merchant, young professionals who have dedicated their careers to children, that bring parents peace of mind, give young people a role model and allow a community to thrive.
We can trust them, right?
In January, Ramos was sentenced to 10 years after pleading no-contest on two counts of second-degree sexual assault. Days later, Merchant was arrested after he allegedly used the internet to solicit sex from a 14-year-old boy. Child pornography was later found on his iPhone.
In addition to serving time, Ramos is also required to register as a sex offender. Should Merchant be found guilty, he’ll do the same. But even as the Connecticut sex offender registry list grows longer, the assaults persist. Is the registry the solution to sexual violence or just an outdated system?
As controversy around the registry mounts and calls for its reform are made, the question remains: Is the registry today doing what it’s intended to do?
Many would argue yes. Proponents of the registry assert that communities, and victims especially, deserve access to this kind of information in order to protect themselves, and that perpetrators surrendered their right the privacy the moment they committed their crime. Others disagree, arguing that the severe restrictions that come with being on the registry inhibit reintegration, rendering it counterproductive.
The idea of a sexual registry as a legally mandated database dates back to the late 80s. In 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered in his small town of St. Joseph, Minn. Five years later, 7-year-old Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbor in New Jersey. These two heinous cases of violence against children are credited with sparking a national outrage that led to the passage of extensive legislation with the express purpose of penalizing individuals convicted of sex crimes.
The Jacob Wetterling Act of 1993 required any person convicted of a state offense against a minor to make their address known to law enforcement for 10 years after their release. Megan’s Law, enacted just one year later, required that convicts not only make their personal information available to law enforcement, but that the community be notified as well.
“We respect people’s rights, but there is no right greater than a parent’s right to raise a child in safety.” said then-President Clinton during a 1996 radio address. “That’s why the law should follow those who prey on America’s children wherever they go, state to state, town to town.”
This legislation was groundbreaking, as well as remarkably liberal in terms of expanding governmental power. The federal government was now able to deprive convicted sexual predators of their right to privacy, among other uniquely American prerogatives. The registry’s broad scope and invasive nature are at the center of why it’s controversial today, but 20 years ago public opinion was overwhelmingly favorable.
In 1998, The Washington Post profiled the Doyles, a young family in suburban Philadelphia. Each state was to decide for itself the manner and fashion in which to publicize a convict’s information. Pennsylvania opted for an especially radical approach: sending Virginia Doyle’s 6-year-old home from school with a “sex offender release notice” in his backpack.
A long, careful discussion about Megan Kanka followed between the Doyles and their children that afternoon. “I feel more comfortable, knowing they’ll be aware,” Doyle said.
“So much has changed since I was a child,” a New Jersey mother told the Washington Post. “You never locked doors; now you lock every door. Maybe this is just something else we have to learn to live with.”
Widespread support for the registry was anticipated by lawmakers. During this period the media inundated audiences with startlingly high figures for recidivism. A fear of “stranger danger” was drilled into the minds of children across the nation. Parents were told to rest assured – the government was diligently compiling the names of all of these perverted individuals onto a neat list.
In the decades since the laws were first enacted, much of what was considered fact at the time has been debunked. Recidivism rates have been revealed to be generally lower for sexual offenses than other crimes, and we know now that strangers are often the least of our worries.
“I was a kid who grew up through this in the 80s when ‘stranger danger’ started, I heard the stories and watched the news.” Beth Hamilton, associate director at the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, said. “It’s much easier to move through the world worrying about a stranger, instead of every single person you come in contact with.”
But that’s just not reality, Hamilton argues. Among its many objectives, the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, or simply the Alliance, seeks to change the common perception of who a sex offender is, especially among kids.
“We go into classrooms and say ‘close your eyes and imagine that a sex offender just walked through the door’ and when we name the traits of this person, [kids say] ‘white, overweight, drives a white van’ and then we have conversations about why that mythology is so harmful,” Hamilton explained.
The registry has not evolved alongside our understanding of sex crimes and their perpetrators. The Connecticut registry, with its nearly 5,500 offenders, has remained largely stagnant in structure and function since its last major reform 1998. Across the state, many people are calling for a total overhaul.
“The sex offender registry came about because of a heightened sense of stranger danger,” attorney Christine Rapillo, chief public defender for Connecticut, said. “All it does is identify everybody. [It] doesn’t determine how actually dangerous anybody is, it just puts every one of statutorily designated crimes on a list.”
Rapillo is a vocal critic of the registry as it exists today. She argues that not only does it lull people into a false sense of security, but it’s actually counter-productive. The harsh sanctions imposed on registered sex offenders often leave them unemployed or homeless, impeding their reintegration.
For many advocacy groups, reintegration is a primary concern, considered to be a key factor in preventing future instances of violence.
“We really understand the impacts that sexual violence has on individuals…but we also have to think sensibly about the larger, system-based responses that we have,” Hamilton said. “We fully support offenders having what they need to be reintegrated into society and successful. Ultimately what we know for offenders to be successful and not recidivate is access to support systems, jobs, safe and stable housing, education.”
Amanda Devan, a police sergeant with the Naugatuck police department, has dedicated much of her career to victim advocacy and the investigation of sex crimes. In addition to serving in law enforcement, Devan is also on the board of the victim advocacy nonprofit Jane Doe No More. She argues that the registry is not only theoretically flawed, but simply nonviable. She calls Connecticut’s registry underfunded and ineffective. With only a handful of state officers assigned to the unit tasked with managing thousands of offenders, she argues, it’s impossible to ensure compliance.
“There’s no way to track people. There’s no checks and balances to ensure these people are living where they’re supposed to,” Devan said. “Go ask Bridgeport how many people are noncompliant, go ask how many in New Haven, how many in Waterbury, in Hartford and New London. The police departments don’t have the resources to do it and the state police are far understaffed to keep up with it.”
However, there are some that see value in a public, readily accessible registry and harsh penalties for convicts. Donna Palomba, founder of Jane Doe No More and herself a survivor of sexual violence, argues that these things are critical to avoiding revictimization.
“I do think that it’s so important to keep the community safe from the core offenders of sexual violence,” Palomba said.“We know that they repeat, and so it’s important that we do everything we can.”
Sandra Wilson, a criminal justice program manager at Post University and board member at Jane Doe No More, shares Palomba’s sentiment.
“Just because you’re on the registry that doesn’t equate to you being a pedophile or a violent person…[People who partake in sex in public or peeing in public] end up on the list too,” Wilson said. “So I do think that reform may be necessary, but not abolition. Ultimately [it’s] not perfect, but I do believe we have a moral obligation to keep our public safe.”
Few contest the notion that it’s time for the registry to be reexamined. It’s how this re-examination takes place and what any resulting reforms might entail, that’s been hotly debated in recent years.
In 2015, the Connecticut sentencing commission began to reexamine the state’s treatment of sex offenders, questioning the “system of assessment, management, treatment, and sentencing.” The commission proposed the development of a risk-based registry, which would be divided in two parts. The first would be a public registry divulging the names of those determined to be a risk to public safety. The second list, which would be available to law enforcement only, would include everyone else.
The commission developed their proposal into a bill in 2017, but it failed to pass. Regardless, the commission continues its push for the registry’s complete overhaul.
“I think it’s very solid policy,” said Rapillo, who serves on the commission’s board. “It doesn’t at this point take people off the registry, but it does give people the opportunity to reintegrate back into society by making it less public, and I think that’s an excellent first step.”
Nina Vazquez, Lucy Nolan, April Embelton and Beth Hamilton of the Alliance
Although the legislation being proposed by the commission has the full endorsement of the Alliance, the organization wants to be clear that it only supports registry reform that is rooted in “victim-based decisions.”
“I think the changes in the registry are good. But we don’t want to go back in time, we only want the changes to go forward….we don’t want people already on the registry asking to be taken off or moved to the law enforcement only registry, we don’t want to let victims down,” Lucy Nolan, director of policy and public relations with the Alliance, said. “All of the legislation we work on is always about the victim.”
Although the Alliance and Jane Doe No More are alike in their dedication to serving victims, Palomba still favors a more conservative approach than the one the commission and its proponents are advocating.
“There is a difference between a perpetrator who violates another person versus peeing in public or things that don’t involve another person,” Palomba said. “But that’s a slippery slope, and I do think that registry serves a big purpose. We just need to do everything that we can to ensure the safety of our community and also to not re-victimize.”
For others, like Amanda Devan, the idea of implementing a risk-based registry is appalling.
“That’s a completely ludicrous idea, a sex offense is a sex offense,” she said. “If you’re on the registry you had to have done something that was enough of a crime to put you there. Ask a victim what a medium risk sex offender is… If I was a victim I would say absolutely not because what makes what happened to me any less affecting than what happened to somebody else?”
Many look back on the government’s behavior during the mid-nineties as rash, short-sighted and even reactionary. The sex offender registry was conceived and adopted with such fervor that its potential limitations and effects were largely overlooked. As a result, we’re left with the task of settling the registry’s inherent flaws, like the inept letter system.
In spite of debate and differing perspectives, there is one point on which all advocates agree; the vital role of education in both serving victims today and preventing sexual violence tomorrow.
These crimes continues to be heavily stigmatized, and some suggest that erasing the sense of shame commonly felt by victims is the first step in addressing the issue.
“Education is required. We need to talk about the fact that over 70 percent of victims know their rapist, whether it be acquaintance rape, date rape or child sexual abuse,” Palomba said. “Most importantly we need to dispel the myth that the perpetrator is the creepy guy in the alley…but I think that comes with education not so much related to the registry.”
Hamilton of the Alliance agrees, saying that the importance of early, continuous education cannot be emphasized enough.
“We believe education should start basically from birth and never end,” Hamilton said. “We focus less on stranger danger and a lot more on consent, healthy boundaries, bodily autonomy. My 2-year-old right now can tell you ‘my body, my choice.’ Those are the kind of prevention models we want to have for our kids. We don’t just want to say ‘don’t take the candy from the man in the van’ because it’s so unlikely that’s going to be their experience.”
“If we actually want to move towards keeping our children safe and having no new perpetrators of sexual violence, that’s what you focus on.”
Wake up. Check phone. Stand up. Check phone. Eat breakfast. Check phone.
No, this isn’t a weird remix to Kendrick Lamar’s “Swimming Pools (Drank).” This is what a normal morning looks like for me, according to the Screen Time feature on my iPhone.
The latest iPhone update for iOS 12 gives you access to Apple’s Screen Time suite, designed to give you a better idea of how much time you’re spending on your phone and giving you the option to limit time spent on certain apps.
The feature lurks quietly in the background while you’re scrolling through your Instagram feed or checking your emails on Outlook, silently adding minutes to your end of the week report.
“Your screen time was up 15% last week,” it tells me, and I automatically feel… shame?
I’ve become painfully aware of my social media addiction, but with a 24/7 media barrage of politics, pop culture and sports, it’s hard to look away. All I need to know, it seems, is in the palm of my hand.
Checking our phones has become second nature, like scratching an itch or touching our hair.
According to the Pew Research Center, 44% of teenagers in the United States say they check their phones as soon as they wake up. 18% of them say they feel obligated to respond to messages or notifications immediately.
The charts below depict the percentage of U.S. teens who say they…
Source: Pew Research Center
Source: Pew Research Center
Source: Pew Research Center
People are quick to blame millennials for social media dependency, but that same study suggests 60% of parents also feel compelled to respond to messages right away.
Check out the parents who say they…
Source: Pew Research Center
Source: Pew Research Center
Source: Pew Research Center
In a sense, our digital relationships are starting to take priority over our real life ones.
Though social media has many great assets: making communication easier, galvanizing human capital and spreading news and information in a quick and effective way, our dependence on it is starting to affect our lives off the screen.
How many times have you sat in a meeting or in a class where nearly everyone is consumed by what’s on their laptops or smartphones instead of what’s going on in front of them?
According to a 2015 study by Microsoft Corp., people generally lose concentration after eight seconds due to an increasingly digitalized lifestyle on the brain.
“Heavy multi-screeners find it difficult to filter out irrelevant stimuli,” the report reads. “They’re more easily distracted by multiple streams of media.”
Multi-screening is more common than you might think: look around next time you’re watching television with someone. Odds are, they’re juggling whatever you’re watching with whatever’s on their smartphone.
Audrey Rowe, a senior at Quinnipiac University, says she and her roommates oftentimes balance social media with whatever’s on their television.
“A lot of times when I’m watching shows, I’ll find myself on my phone,” Rowe said. “My roommates will do that, too. We’ll be watching something, like sitting on the couch, and we’re on our phones. What’s on the TV is just background noise and I’m looking through Instagram or Snapchat stories.”
Why?
“I don’t know,” she continued. “It’s so stupid. I want to watch the show, but I’m on my phone because it’s right there. You’re on it so much that it feels natural to be on it even when you’re watching something else. I want to be in touch with what’s going on, I guess.”
I spoke with Adam Alter, a social psychologist and professor at New York University and the author of “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping us Hooked.” In his book, Alter explores the affects of social media addiction and how we can combat it.
We discussed Twitter and how a lot of people can’t physically get themselves to read more than a headline or a short tweet anymore, thanks to our 280-character attention spans.
“I think it’s easier than every to develop a short attention span,” he said. “Because so few experiences demand more than bite-sized chunks of attention. They’re designed that way because their creators know they’re competing with lots of other experiences that are just as likely to capture our time and attention.”
Social media helps brands go further, faster, cheaper and deeper than any other technology. In the social media landscape, brands are able to hook consumers with ads on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Because everyone is already on it, it’s easy for businesses to plant ads in celebrity posts or partner with brands because people are seeing the posts anyway. It’s become one of our generation’s most effective business tools.
For Will Pustari, a video producer, social media is strictly business.
Working at Barstool Sports, a sports and pop culture blog with a heavy presence on Twitter, social media became a major part of his job.
“It’s the only factor in all of the work I’ve done there,” he said. “Keeping up and especially capitalizing on every trend is extremely important. Because anyone can join the social media platform, many topics become oversaturated and diluted, making it all the more difficult to stay on top of what the masses are into at that point in time.”
Because he was always scouring the ‘Net for work-related news, his personal accounts got put on the back burner.
“I was constantly on the prowl for new content and staying on top of trends,” he explained. “So my own social media profiles became inactive for some time, but it didn’t bother me so much since it helped my work life significantly.”
How do we find a balance between social media in our work lives and our personal lives? Can we find a balance between our screen time and our real experiences?
Alter says the key is to relearn how to focus.
“The only way [to relearn to focus] is to be mindful about the issue—to train yourself to avoid a quick fix and to read longform articles and books; to close your browser as you undertake longer tasks; and to take time away from tech and screens to immerse yourself in deeper work and thought.”
Check out my podcast, The Goldfish Effect, to hear more stories about social media distraction.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what are your pictures saying about you?
Today’s generation lives revolve around social media. People posts about our friends, family, pets, adventures, food, the list is endless. However, are these social media posts causing more harm than they are good when it comes to future career opportunities?
The way this generation presents themselves online says a lot about the type of people they are. It shows who they hang out with, how they spend our time, what their likes and dislikes are, and even what others say about them. With access to so much information about a person just by a simple Google search, it’s important to be aware of what you’re posting, because some companies take social media accounts into consideration when looking to hire someone for a job or internship.
Kristina Rosa, a producer for the show LA Daily on SiriusXM, says looking at social media accounts are important to her because it shows a person’s ability to be creative with a limited amount of characters.
“I look to see if the person is active daily or at least a few times a week, how the interaction is with articles or direct tweets, if the person only complains, or gives insightful feedback on articles or about a tweet,” Rosa said.
Twitter is one social medium that could be used to either help or hurt a potential job candidate depending on how they use it. Lila Carney, the Director for Advising and Student Development in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University, believes Twitter can be very effective if used wisely.
“Twitter has a lot of potential for students in career development. It’s a great resource for looking for jobs,” Carney said. “You can tweet at a company and a lot of times somebody will tweet back at you. If a company is highly competitive, showing that you follow them on Twitter, that you liked their articles, that maybe you’ve written your own stuff and that you’ve tweeted that at a company, I think goes a long way. There’s a lot of ways that students can help themselves stand out to employers on social media that goes beyond sending in a cover letter and resume.”
Carney also believes there are more beneficial ways to positively represent yourself on social media.
“Using LinkedIn effectively is probably the best social media for students in terms of just kind of putting out there what their professional social media presence will be,” Carney said. “Whether that’s sharing articles, reacting to things, commenting on other people’s posts, following people that they’re interested in, connecting with people that they’re interested in networking with. I think LinkedIn is a great social media for students.”
According to research done by CareerBuilder, most employers aren’t trying to find anything negative on social media to prevent you from getting the job. Sixty percent are actually just looking to find that the candidate has the qualifications they’re looking for.
In an anonymous survey of over 20 Quinnipiac University students, 43.5 percent said they prefer Twitter over any other form of social media. Instagram tied with Twitter also bringing in 43.5 percent of students.
Created by Kayla Hevey on Google Forums
But when asked Do you consider what future employers will think when you’re posting on social media? 4.3 percent said no, they don’t even think of it.
Created by Kayla Hevey on Google Forums
When looking on social media, employers are looking for a few different things. According to USNews.com, they’re looking for information that supports that candidates qualifications for the job, the professionalism of the persons online persona, and what others are posting about them.
Sam Morales, a sophomore at Quinnipiac University said she doesn’t consider what she posts because she knows it’s nothing bad. However, she’s always aware of how others are portraying her.
“Other people can post pictures of you and it can be seen on your account,” Morales said. “I’ve been tagged in pictures with my friends who are over 21 that had drinks in them but I just make sure I untag myself so it’s not associated with me through my account.”
What others are posting about you could also be something to consider. You may have a clean social media reputation, but it doesn’t mean your friends do. It’s important to be cautious of what you’re being tagged in, because that’s also something employers can see.
Rosa believes that posting the wrong content on social media can definitely negatively affect the way you look towards an employer.
“It can hurt if they are applying for a tech internship or job if their social media doesn’t show anything about that. Also it can hurt if they only post about partying or only post about relationships but they are not applying for a job that fits that,” Rosa said.
“I think that employers know that this generation is known for posting things that could be inappropriate and companies don’t want the liability of taking on someone that may be posting things that are terrible or embarrassing to the company,” Carney added. She believes that if you’re posting something, make sure it’s something you wouldn’t mind your grandma seeing.
With the negative connotation that’s around social media these days, some people think this generation is addicted to it, it’s a distraction, or people can’t live without it. Now, this may be true for some, but social media can also be very beneficial when it comes to branding and promoting one’s self.
Paul Caracciolo, a graduate student at Quinnipiac University, sees social media in a different light now that he’s taking graduate classes in public relations and social media.
“It’s a distraction and addiction to look at your phone as much as people do. I for one have a big Twitter addiction,” Caracciolo said. “But, to me Twitter is more branding than it is social media because of how brands interact with people and how people brand themselves.”
In addition to Caracciolo, Mikey Zukswert graduated from the Quinnipiac University School of Communications in 2018. He also agrees that social media sites like Twitter and Instagram can be used to promote what one has to offer.
“I definitely use social media, Instagram specifically, to showcase my work and what I can create. Being in the film industry, this is really important,” Zukswert said. “Because Instagram’s purpose is to share videos and photos, I like to use it to do exactly that. I’m able to show who I am as a creator and what skills I have to offer and Instagram is a public platform to do so.”
Based on student’s responses, they’re frequently posting on social media. It’s the times we live in nowadays, many say it’s hard to remember life before Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and the many other sites that are offered to us.
When Rosa gives advice to her interns, she suggests “to stick with a theme for social media and figure out your passion. If it’s about dogs and helping animals, post about that, but if you really want a job about entertainment then post about topics that are pop culture related.”
Sticking with what you’re passionate about can show your dedication and knowledge of your career goals.
In terms of if that’s a good or bad thing, “I personally think there is so much more beneficial stuff out there in terms of careers or resources for me and students when it comes to social media,” Carney said. “I think it far outweighs the bad stuff.”
HEART 9/11, an organization that rebuilds infrastructure in hard-hit areas, chose a local Hamden family to help out.
Ryan Dostie and her husband both served overseas in the National Guard, and due to PTSD and financial struggles, could no longer afford to maintain their starter home.
That is when HEART 9/11 stepped in.
According to its website, HEART 9/11 is an organization that strives to respond to natural and man-made disasters, rebuild infrastructure in hard-hit areas and build resiliency for individuals, families and communities.
The renovation on the Dosties home started Friday, March 8. The family had to move out of the home and into Dostie’s mother’s home.
The trouble started when Dostie came home after serving for five years, she and her husband bought a small starter home in Hamden.
What they thought would be a starter home turned into their family home, and the family is still living there with their young daughter.
Dostie said that when she returned from serving, she had symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and depression. Her doctor recommended that she stay home from work and focus on her mental health.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ended up giving me 70 percent disability for my PTSD alone,” she said. “Once we had our daughter in 2015, it didn’t make sense to work part-time, because we’d just be paying for daycare. So everything financial fell on my husband, and that was really hard for him and for me.”
Ultimately, the financial pressure forced the family to postpone maintenance on the home.
Dostie said that the roof needed to be redone, the water heater had broken recently and there was an inch of water accumulating in their basement.
They needed help.
Erik Trinidad, who works with the VA, contacted Dostie and suggested that the family put their name in for a grant that provides cash to help veterans in need complete home renovations.
Laurie Harkness is the founder and former director of VA Connecticut’s Errera Community Care Center. She has been in contact with Dostie throughout the entire process.
Dostie said that Harkness understands how to work with veterans and understands veterans who are trying to overcome part of their trauma.
“She’s very kind,” Dostie said. “She’s the one who calmed me down and said ‘You deserve this, we want to do this, you should accept this.’”
According to Dostie, she met Harkness when she found out their family was going to receive the grant.
“(Trinidad) comes back to me and says ‘I think you’re gonna get the grant,’” Dostie said. “They want to come in and meet you.’ So I went and I met Laurie. It went from getting our roof fixed to these huge massive renovations that they’re doing now.”
Dostie never thought that the renovation would be as big as it has become.
“I think if I had known it was gonna be this big, I probably never would have applied,” she said. “Because I think there are probably more deserving veterans out there. I said to them ‘Are you sure there’s not someone else?’ but they wanted to do it for us.”
According to the New Haven Register, Harkness was struck by the fact that Dostie did not feel deserving.
“What struck me was (Ryan Dostie) felt like she wasn’t deserving and most people who struggle with trauma feel that way,” Harkness said. “Even after fighting for her country taking bullets, she comes back carrying the invisible wounds and still doesn’t feel like she deserves anything.”
“The moving from my house to my mother’s house, getting stuff out and moving it into a new environment had put me in a tailspin of anxiety and depression,” Dostie said. “I joked I was like a cat, you can’t move me without me freaking out.”
Dostie said that although she is not exactly sure what will be done to the house, she knows they will be getting a lot more space and the mortgage will remain affordable for them.
“It will be nice to have a house that we can maybe have more children in and stay in our neighborhood and have more stability,” she said.
Not only does this organization help people in need, but the volunteers who work on the house say that it benefits them as well.
Dostie said that the thing that keeps her from backing out of the project is that she knows it helps the volunteers work through their own PTSD as well.
“The HEART 9/11 people have emphasized for them that it’s therapeutic,” she said. “ It’s helpful for them to give back now, and that helps them with their PTSD process. So to know that they’re getting something out of this, and it’s not just about me, that it’s for them I guess lets me accept all that they’re giving to us – which is a lot.”
Dostie also said that the volunteers and construction workers have never made her feel undeserving.
“I just can’t get over how kind everyone has been,” she said. “Never once have I felt like I’m a burden or that what they’re doing is too much. I never feel looked down on in any way. I’ve never felt like they pity me either. They treat me with kindness and respect and like an equal, which is really cool considering what they’re doing and what they’ve been through, which is considerable.”
Although the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team didn’t qualify to make an appearance in this year’s tournament with their regular season performance, the staff at the People’s United Center is gearing up to make this year’s Frozen Four one for the books.
Quinnipiac is one of only four collegiate institutions to ever host the Women’s Frozen Four according to Assistant Director for Athletic Communication Maggie Pruitt. The other three hosting institutions are the University of Minnesota, Boston University and the University of Minnesota Duluth.
“They could’ve asked anybody to host this championship and we were fortunate enough to be able to have the opportunity, the privilege and the honor of hosting it,” said Mary Alice Limperopulos, assistant director for marketing and fan engagement.
“We want fans, teams, administrators, media to leave saying ‘Wow, Quinnipiac did such a great job’ and I think especially since we’ve hosted previously… the expectation, the standard we’ve hit, we want to exceed what we did for ourselves before,” she said.
Quinnipiac athletic department officials began the process of becoming a host facility about five years ago, Pruitt said. She also said when it comes to deciding where the tournament will take place, having an arena that is the right size is key.
“It’s a bidding process, you have to have a certain number of seats available in your arena,” she said. “The aesthetic part of it is you want an arena thats big enough, but it can’t be too big. Just because you want to appeal to the audience of women’s hockey and a 15,000 seat arena is too big.”
The Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena at the People’s United Center comes in at the perfect size with the ability to hold a maximum of 3,386 spectators. Though Quinnipiac is used to holding high-profile games, such as the famous “Yale game” (that features the rivalry of Quinnipiac and Yale University), the Frozen Four brings a new level of prestige.
“(This is) definitely bigger than the Yale game–it’s a national stage. These are the four best teams that have come through the ECAC and the WCHA (Western Collegiate Hockey Association)… this is like the grand finale of the entire season,” Pruitt said.
Though the NCAA dictates most of the operations and branding of the tournament, bobcat fans can still expect to see their favorite in-game events such as minigames in between periods and the infamous dance-cam.
The marketing department in conjunction with NCAA will also feature official “fan zones” in the arena. These zones will feature brackets, photo props, past tournament winners and even give fans the opportunity to see and take pictures with the championship trophy.
“We want it to be the best product it can be and when people come here and they see Quinnipiac, see the People’s United Center, we want them to leave having a great experience, having a great game experience whether that’s fans, teams, athletes, media,” said Pruitt.
The tournament will take place March 22 through 24 at the People’s United Center located on the York Hill Campus of Quinnipiac University. The semifinal round March 22 will feature a faceoff between top ranked Wisconsin and No. 4 Clarkson as well as No. 6 Cornell against No. 2 Minnesota. The winners of the semifinal round will then advance to the championship March 24, at 2 p.m. EST.
HQ Press sits down with QU grad David Rabinowitz as he reflects on his Oscar win and looks down the line for his next job.
Kevin Wilmott, David Rabinowitz, Spike Lee and Charles Wachtel with Brie Larson pose backstage with the Oscar® for adapted screenplay during the live ABC Telecast of The 91st Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 24, 2019.
Ten years ago, David Rabinowitz was just an ordinary Bobcat. Like most Quinnipiac seniors, he was finishing his last months of college – walking the Quad, eating Chartwells in the café while physically and mentally preparing himself for the “real world” after graduation.
The ‘09 graduate had no idea what the “real world” had in store for him.
A decade later, Rabinowitz became the first Quinnipiac University alumnus to win an Oscar on Feb. 24, 2019. Rabinowitz co-wrote the nominated film for Best Adapted Screenplay, “BlacKkKlansman,” with his longtime friend and writing partner, Charlie Wachtel. The film, directed by Spike Lee, follows the true story of the first African-American detective to serve on the Colorado Spring Police Department as he goes undercover as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
“When they mentioned our names (at the 91st annual Oscars ceremony), I think I blacked out a little bit,” Rabinowitz said. “I sort of remember walking to the stage, going up and standing up there. I didn’t really want the responsibility of having to say something on this live telecast that’s going out to millions of people around the world.”
Hollywood is known for bringing people up from all walks of life, then placing them on a grand stage in front of millions to acknowledge and celebrate their successes. But, Hollywood is also known to make people pay their dues to get there – working their way up the ladder rung by rung into the spotlight. Rabinowitz never imagined in the mere six and half years he spent climbing that ladder that success would happen so quickly for him.
“It’s been pretty crazy over the past year,” he said reflecting on how, in a year’s time, he went from struggling screenwriter to award nominee and Oscar winner. “A year ago, I was in the middle of this process of meeting people, being full time, but not having a job technically.”
Many aspiring writers, directors, actors and actresses make the move to Los Angeles to begin their careers, yet Rabinowitz’s started in New Jersey, creating content with Wachtel in high school. He continued his passion for media production in Connecticut at Quinnipiac before making the transition to the Big Apple after graduation. Working as a multimedia producer for The Wall Street Journal, Rabinowitz couldn’t resist the allure of the industry out west.
“I had a number of friends who had already moved out to LA [Los Angeles] before me, including Charlie and so, at a certain point you just feel like it’s your time to leave – I reached that time,” Rabinowitz said. “There was stuff coming out of LA – the LA bureau, about entertainment, and I’d rather be the one doing the thing, not covering it.”
Ambition flew Rabinowitz to the Golden State, but came quickly to a halt upon arriving when the reality of breaking into the industry wasn’t as easy as in the movies. He had experience in news, however entertainment was an entirely new beast. Rabinowitz freelanced motion graphic projects and corporate videos to keep active and continue honing his skills after the initial move. It wasn’t until he reunited with Wachtel, who had connections as an assistant for WME [William Morris Endeavor] that they got the ball rolling.
“Up until that point, my writing partner and I had day jobs, and when we sold (the script) we were able to quit the day jobs,” Rabinowitz said. “We were simultaneously full-time screenwriters, but we were also unemployed. It’s such a long process, especially when you’re starting out and you end up doing so much work for free before getting any sort of job.”
Being an aspiring scriptwriter isn’t easy, Rabinowitz said. It requires time, patience and endless repetition. At one point the writing duo pitched their work to 35 different production companies over the span of three weeks, five or so a day, hoping that someone would option (a temporary contract for an exclusive right to purchase a screenplay) or buy their script. Even still, this pitching process alone is not enough to get many writers in the door and definitely not enough to pay the bills.
“In order to get the job, typically, if you’re a new writer, they want you to go off and basically work out the entire movie: first act, second act, third act, all the beats there and then come in or over the phone pitch it to them,” Rabinowitz said. “You’re not getting paid for that. It’s basically an audition to get the job.”
For six and a half years, Rabinowitz struggled with the insurmountable hurdles of getting a job and getting out of the free-labor business. But, in due time, their persistence did pay off.
“Handing the final draft off to him to edit that was a crazy moment,” Rabinowitz said. “I was just sitting in my kitchen, checking the formatting and the style, being super self-conscious about this thing I was going to send to Spike Lee.”
Rabinowitz, Wachtel, Lee and Kevin Willmott accepting their Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay on stage with presenters Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson.
Photo courtesy of 91st Oscars® Press Kits.
The duo adapted the novel, hoping that they were developing a story that would one day be directed by Spike Lee. Over a year later, they joined Lee onstage as they all accepted their first Oscars from presenters Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson.
“[Brie Larson] was giving me advice like ‘This isn’t going to make sense for a long time so just try and enjoy it,’” Rabinowitz recalled after receiving his award and heading backstage. “I’m just looking around and it’s just like Sam L. Jackson, Frances McDormand, Guillermo and next to him is Amy Adams and Charlize Theron and then James McAvoy and Michael Keaton and Sam Rockwell and Michael B. Jordan and it’s just very overwhelming.”
Rabinowitz admitted that a win on the biggest night in Hollywood does have its perks. The shiny statue may literally and metaphorically have some weight within the industry, but it doesn’t guarantee any future handouts.
“When you have a movie come out and things are good it doesn’t mean that automatically you’re going to be offered jobs,” Rabinowitz said. “But it does mean that the process is easier and faster.”
Despite the attention Rabinowitz has been getting recently, Stephen Bisaccia, a senior film, television and media arts major who met Rabinowitz while studying with the QU in LA program, praised the writer for taking the time to help guide him onto the right career path.
> “I think that when people find success it can be easy for their ego to inflate and become a person that only talks and doesn’t listen,” Bisaccia said. “David listened when I tried talking to him about my own ideas or goals, and it wasn’t self-aggrandizing. That shows in ‘BlacKkKlansman,’ too. He’s just a good guy and a true artist.”
Even before the nominations, Quinnipiac worked aspects of the film into its own curriculum. Professor Raymond Foery of the film, television and media (FTM) arts department teaches the course, “Spike Lee’s America,” highlighting some of the director’s best work. With the critical acclaim and success of Lee’s new movie, Foery intends to use “BlacKkKlansman” as an example for future students to look up to.
“I am delighted and thrilled for both Mr. Lee and our very own alum,” Foery said. “When the course is next offered (perhaps spring 2020), I will include ‘BlacKkKlansman’ as one of the films to be shown.”
Left to right: Rabinowitz, Wachtel and Willmott with their awards.
Photo courtesy of 91st Oscars® Press Kits.
The big win at the Oscars might have been a landmark for Rabinowitz and his future career, but the win also underscored his educational roots. While the major may have been called “Media Production” during his time at QU, Rabinowitz’s path to the big screen has set a precedent for future FTM students to follow.
“I think the QU film program’s success is very dependent on the students and their willingness to push themselves,” Bisaccia said. “The staff is knowledgeable, creative and open; it’s just a matter of being willing to make the most of that opportunity. Hopefully David’s win can inspire myself and my classmates to continue to push ourselves and fulfill similar heights of achievement.”
To future film students, as well as anyone else with a pen, paper and a dream, Rabinowitz’s biggest advice is simply to accept criticism and continue writing.
“Show your stuff to people, to friends, to people you respect, show it to people whose opinions you don’t respect, listen to their feedback very seriously, embrace their feedback and don’t keep writing the same project over and over and over again,” Rabinowitz said. “Keep writing – quantity reads to quality.”
In the wake of their big break, Rabinowitz and Wachtel have kept themselves busy writing. The duo currently has two feature scripts at different stages of production and are set to develop a drama series titled “Madness.” “Madness” is the first piece the two ever wrote together about the world of college basketball. They are also working on a spy series in development with a French production company.
> “Simultaneously, all of this stuff is right in front of us and then you have to be looking, three, six months down the line trying to get your next job,” Rabinowitz explained of the endless process. ”
While their work on “BlacKkKlansman” may have been finished after submitting their final draft, Rabinowitz described that the road to continuous work and success is never-ending.
“I kind of describe it as Whack-a-Mole. You have all of these projects, but you’re not necessarily working on all of them at the same time,” Rabinowitz said. “Every project has a start, stop mechanism. At the same time, I could get an email right now from the producer with notes and suddenly that starts up again and I have to whack that mole.”
Rabinowitz may keep his golden statue tucked away in his closet for now until he claims he can find a more suitable spot, but that does not mean he will be closing the door on his writing career anytime soon. While he jokes that his success is “all downhill from here,” he knows he hasn’t quite yet reached his peak.
“I don’t see success as getting an award necessarily,” Rabinowitz said. “Yes, that’s a marker, but not necessarily for me. Success is career longevity and being able to do this for a living. So, the fact that the award helps that, that’s the good thing. If I never make it back to the Oscars, but I end up having a long career, I’ll be just fine.”
Corinne Terrone resigned from her position as a clerk in the Central Office of the Hamden school district following the release of a video in which she called a man the N-word and spit on him in an East Haven supermarket, according to the New Haven Register.
East Haven Police Lt. Joseph Murgo said in a statement that the department “is aware of this disturbing video and the hate speech contained in it,” according to the Register.
Hamden mayor Curt Leng also denounced Terrone’s actions in a statement, per the Register.
“What I saw was vile and shocking,” Leng stated. “While I am disgusted and disheartened seeing such hateful behavior, wildly unacceptable anywhere, I am thankful for the swift and effective actions taken by our school system to address this head on and make clear that hate and violence will not be tolerated.”
There is currently no known motive for Terrone’s actions. She faces a number of potential charges, including breach of peace and assault.
Dominic “Nick” Yoia, a long-time member of the Quinnipiac community, died on Tuesday, Feb. 26. He was 55.
Yoia served as associate vice president and director of financial aid in his time at Quinnipiac since his hire in 1999. He died overnight at his home in Wallingford.
Many students and faculty alike are devastated by the news.
“He would really do anything for anyone,” junior Phil Akre said, who worked with Yoia in the financial aid office. “I really hope that people know the kind of guy he was.”
Quinnipiac President Judy Olian sent an email to students on Wednesday morning offering support services to students, faculty and staff.
In his 20-plus years at Quinnipiac, Yoia was often spotted supporting Quinnipiac Athletics.
“He and Marcia often attended basketball and hockey games at the People’s United Center and volleyball matches on Lender Court,” Olian said in her email.
Coaches and fans alike took to social media to honor Yoia as the regular seasons came to a close.
Proud of the commitment of our players. All year long — selfless. Our character and culture came through. I lost a good friend this week. Quinnipiac lost a friend. #RIP Nick Yoia. We share this with you. https://t.co/YCTnHzBF5V
Thanks to all who supported us our last few games at home – sorry we couldn’t pay you back with a W to finish the year! Credit a gritty performance by Manhattan. RIP Nick Yoia – wish we could have gotten it for you. Hope to see Bobcat Nation in Albany! #ATTITUDE
Yoia received a Center of Excellence award last year for his contribution to helping students on campus.
University officials have since created a scholarship fund — The Dominic Yoia Endowed Scholarship Fund — in his honor.
“He was passionate about all things Quinnipiac,” said Joan Mohr, former vice president for admissions and financial aid. “I think it’s a great tribute to have his name as part of Quinnipiac University.”
Yoia leaves behind his wife Marcia and two daughters Lindsay and Lauren, who both attended Quinnipiac.
