Holi Festival Provides Splashes of Color and a Popular Event
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The Delphian May 9, 2016 The Voice of the Students Volume 71, Issue 11 Holi Festival Provides Splashes of Color and a Popular Event (Top) Navindra Tajeshwar and (Below) Professor Rakesh Gupta partake in the Holi festival by participating in the coloring and eating some cultural foods. Photo provided by Tony Halsteindal BY TONY HALSTEINDAL On May 4 Adelphi’s Of- fice of International Student Services, in fire ceremony in the evening and also mu- after 30 minutes, it was very well received by association with AU Bhangra, AU Sapna sic, dance and colors. In India the colors the Adelphi community and I think we can do Bollywood Fusion Dance Team, the In- are celebrated by people splashing them- it bigger,” said junior, Navindra Tajeshwar, terfaith Center Muslim Students Associa- selves and others with colored dry pow- who is also of Indian decent. “It also shows tion, Newman Club and Sikhs United held der. that we are all open to different cultural ideas a Holi Festival on the Levermore Lawn. “I have not had the chance to cel- since they were just amazed by this new ex- The Holi Festival, also known as the festi- ebrate Holi publicly in the 50 years since perience as opposed to experiencing culture val of colors, is an ancient Hindu festival I left India,” Prof. Gupta said. “So I have shock.” that celebrates the arrival of spring, and it been looking forward to this a lot.” In previous years Holi has been cel- has grown to be popular with many non- After Prof. Gupta’s opening remarks the ebrated on a much smaller scale by individual Hindus in many parts of South Asia as attendees had the pleasure of viewing an clubs such as the International Student Society well as with people of other communities Indian styled dance performance, which and the South Asian Student Association. This outside of Asia. Egyptians had a harvest festival, the Incas was quickly followed by the ancient tradi- year the wish to make a bigger Holi festival The festival itself started with a and the Aztec both had similar traditions, tion of splashing one and another with col- was brought to the attention of Wendy Badala, few opening remarks from Prof. Rakesh and even in Swaziland there is a tradition ored powder in which both many students the Director of International Student Services, Gupta, which informed the attendees of known as Umhlanga. They all revolve and professors cheerfully participated. All who then reached out to the International Men- the origins of this festival that dates back around spring and there are also common through the festival, the attendees had the tors and several other clubs and offices. In the over a thousand years and occurs every themes that can be found in all of them; opportunity to have a taste of traditional end the festival ended up as a big collaboration spring. However, the notion of celebrat- they all usually take place around the Indian food, such as kebabs. between these organizations. ing the arrival of spring is a tradition that equinox. It tends to happen during a full “Now that we are post-event, I “And it went really well, so hopefully can be found all around the world. The moon, they tend to be celebrated with a see that, since we ran out of powder only we will keep on doing it,” Badala said. 2 • May 9, 2016 NEWS The Delphian A Word from the Editor It’s crazy to believe the semester is nearing its conclusion and summer will soon be upon us. It’s been an amazing year and serving as editor-in-chief has been an incred- ibly rewarding experience, and I’m excited to say I will be back next year for a second term at the helm. Although there are some wonderful people on our staff that could fill in Editor-in-Chief Volume 71 the position, they will have one more year to hone their skills even further. It’s also my Bryan Grilli Issue 11 hope that you won’t mind putting up with me for an additional year! News Editor Earle Hall Media Center Although it’s that time of year when we’re all just running on pure adrenaline Jess Cooper One South Avenue and burning our last reserves to get through it all, The Delphian staff wanted to deliver Garden City, NY 11530 one final issue to inform and entertain during the last couple of weeks.The campus has Editorials Editor certainly kept busy in the recent weeks and we wanted to make sure to keep up. Jonathan Sclar HOW TO REACH US Main Office: 516-877-6935 In the last issue, I was thrilled to announce the Press Club of Long Island named Features Editor E-mail: [email protected] The Delphian as the Best Collegiate Newspaper. I’d also like to report the Press Club also Alexandra Wurglics announced the individual award finalists, and majority of our editorial staff was listed, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR including: Alexandra Wurglics, Danielle McDougall, Fallon McCarthy and myself. These Entertainment Editor Letters to the editor must be less than honors only prove the hard work put into this newspaper over the past year. Gabrielle Deonath & 400 words and include the author’s Danielle McDougall name, as well as affiliation to the I feel conflicting emotions transitioning to the next portion of this note because although I’m excited to see what two of my editors will accomplish after graduation, they college. Letters may be edited for the will be sorely missed. Our features editor, Alexandra Wurglics, has served on the edito- Sports Editor purposes of space and clarity. rial staff of The Delphian for longer than even I have. As a freshman and new staff writer Fallon McCarthy Letters should be sent to to paper, I often found myself sending my features to Alex for review. In the subsequent [email protected] years, I worked closely with her and she has always proven to be invaluable, and I’m dis- Production Artists appointed to see her go, but I’m sure she’ll be met with nothing but success in her career. Meghan Cody, Miguel Guerra ORIGINAL ART We will also be losing Jonathan Sclar, our editorials editor, who stepped right into the mix Original drawings, photographs, this year and delivered quality editorials and proved to be extremely reliable. He got the Treasurer and political cartoons can be sent to job done time in and time out and I’ll miss him as well. Michael Parchinsky [email protected]. Please attach name and affiliation to the college. As disappointing as it is that Alex and Jon are moving on, I am still very opti- Staff Writers mistic and have every bit of faith their replacements will rise to the occasion and fill the Tony Halsteindal, Pietro Pisciotta and ADVERTISING void thoroughly. First, I’d like to congratulate Brian Jennings on being selected as the Kaitlyn Rasiak For advertising rates, email us at new editorials editor. He’s been a consistent contributor to the paper throughout his time [email protected]. at Adelphi and his interest in on- and off-campus issues will surely maintain the quality of Guest Contributors the section. Brian is actually the only newcomer, but there will be some section shifts. Ga- Sierra Clark, Francesca Giammanco, SOCIAL MEDIA brielle Deonath will be transitioning from co-entertainment editor to news editor. Also, the Leeann Mello and Megan Safina Twitter: @the_Delphian beloved “feature-tainment” section will be revived and under the care of Jessica Cooper Facebook: The Delphian and Danielle McDougall. Finally, rounding out our staff, Fallon McCarthy will return as Delphian Advisor adelphi-delphian.blogspot.com the sports editor for next year. Liza N. Burby Instagram: @the_delphian I’d also like to take the opportunity to congratulate all the seniors graduating in the coming weeks. You’ve truly earned it and best of luck with your future endeavors. Hang in there, we’re almost there! -Bryan Grilli Editor-in-Chief Outdoor Class During a Warm April Day Did you want to join our staff, but didn’t get the chance? There’s always next On a warm spring afternoon in April, many Adelphi classes were held outside, including this stage combat class led by Professor Ray Rodriguez (foreground) from the Performing Arts Department. year! photo provided by Liza Burby The Delphian NEWS May 9, 2016 • 3 Adelphi Unites, Fights: Taking a Stand Against Sexual Violence here on campus.” After the Speak Out, attendees “I tend to think, and this is my BY JESS COOPER were given chant pamphlets and glow- mindset: The more noise you create, the sticks and led out onto the campus for a more people are going to become aware,” march in the name of fighting back and Sookdeo said, “the more they’re going to taking a stand against sexual violence. want to know what’s happening. So after “We have the power/we have listening to everyone’s story, it doesn’t the right/the streets are ours/take back the stop there. We have so much work to do night!” and one of the most important things as “Join together/free our lives/we will not victims, as people who stand with vic- be victimized!” tims, is to tell people that the end is the “Adelphi unite/take back the end.” night!” Our school’s community banded These were some of the compel- together to prove that while sexual vio- ling chants that rang through Adelphi’s lence is an epidemic in colleges across campus that night, at least 100 voices the country, Adelphi refuses to tolerate it, strong.