Month: December 2015

Chatham unites for annual Thanksgiving dinner

chathamcommunique

Laughter and smiles filled the AFC gym on Wednesday, November 18, as hundreds of Chatham faculty, staff, students, and community members sat around tables for the annual Thanksgiving Dinner.

The dinner is one of the many traditions that the Chatham community looks forward to around the holiday season.

The event kicked off with Hunter Milroy, President of the Class of 2016, and Sarah Jugovic, CSG Executive President, welcoming everyone to the festivities. Milroy also explained that there were a number of seniors walking around the gym selling 50/50 raffles tickets benefitting the senior class gift.

After the initial welcome, Jugovic invited President Esther Barazzone to the stage. Barazzone also welcomed attendees, as well as recognized members of the Board of Trustees and extended a special welcome to international students experiencing their first American Thanksgiving.

President Barazzone kept her speech brief — saying that she didn’t want to keep anyone from the fabulous Parkhurst food that was being held behind a large black curtain near the back of the gym.

There was a general sigh of relief when the food began to circulate — guests waited nearly an hour after the event began to actually begin filling their plates. Servers brought out large plates of turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, and sweet potatoes to each table. The dishes were served family-style.

After everyone seemed to be finished with the main meal, servers cleared the tables and brought out dozens of apple and pumpkin pies. The sweet treats brought a collective smile to the gym.

As a whole, many students felt the food to be a bit disappointing.

“I was slightly disappointed with the food, but the pie was great,” said Junior Corrin Walker.

Parkhurst did provide a vegetarian options for those students with dietary restrictions.

“I am vegetarian and lactose intolerant, so I was able to get the vegetarian plate as well as the meal everyone else was eating,” said sophomore Teri Bradford. “The vegetarian plate wasn’t warm which wasn’t great…I think that it’s awesome that they even tried.”

Bradford also saw the potential for other issues regarding dietary restrictions.

“When I was give the vegetarian plate, they didn’t tell me what it was or what was in it which could be bad if I had another allergy,” she said.

Regardless of the food, attendees were in high spirits because of the nature of the event itself.

“I loved the atmosphere and being with all of [my friends],” Walker said.

Bradford agreed.

“I thought that Thanksgiving dinner at Chatham was great,” she said. “It’s more about the friends and family than it is about the food.”

Review: “Hunger Games” final installment doesn’t disappoint

chathamcommunique

Excitement buzzed in the seats of the Cinemark Monroeville as Chatham University students waited impatiently for the final installment of the “Hunger Games” series.

“Mockingjay Part 2” follows Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) on her journey to overthrow the Capitol. The film included the favorite characters from past films, such as Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), and Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin).

The film even included Plutarch Heavensbee, played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Mockingjay Part 2 was the last film Hoffman made before he passed away.

Director Francis Lawrence produced another visually intriguing piece. The film often played with lighting, throwing a character’s face into shadow to increase drama or showing a character in silhouette for a similar effect. Lawrence directed the last three installments of the series.

Jennifer Lawrence did not disappoint with her final portrayal of Katniss. She utilized her acting chops to show a reluctant leader whose life seems to be crumbling around her.

Similarly, Josh Hutcherson characterized Peeta — who is still being rehabilitated after being brainwashed by the Capitol to believe that Katniss is evil — as unsure and vulnerable.

Two surprising standouts were Jena Malone (who played Johanna Mason) and Sam Claflin (who played Finnick Odair). The character of Johanna gave the audience most of the limited moments comic relief, which Malone played carefully, never too over-the-top. Claflin portrayed the role of Finnick with all the grace and kindness that fans adored from the books.

The film overall had nearly everyone in the theater on the edge of their seats. The suspense that we grew to love in the last three movies is certainly not missing in Mockingjay Part 2 — if anything, viewers can expect even more tension and jump-out-and-scare-you moments than any of the films before.

As a lover of the books myself, I was completely satisfied with the film. It followed the storyline of the book very closely, and all of the characters were, as usual, very good portrayals of much-loved characters from the book.

To be perfectly honest, I could find very little that I didn’t like about the film. The one exception to this is the final scene in the film. Those familiar with the book series will likely recall the polarizing epilogue; while some felt it was a nice wrap-up to the series, others felt dissatisfied with Suzanne Collins’ choice to tell the reader how the world changed rather than let them make up their own minds.

Regardless of my personal feelings toward the epilogue in the books, I felt the epilogue in the film was heavy-handed — the wonderful characterization we got throughout the film was stripped away in favor of two-dimensional versions of the characters many years later.

4.5/5 stars