e h t the PPretrIeverretrIever wweeklyeekly UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER 007.14.097.14.09 PRETRIEVER ISSUE 1 retrieverweekly.com UMBC based website rides online learning trend Alethea Paul EDITORIAL STAFF Static textbooks are on the way out. Today, students are more in- terested in interactive learning that they can access at the click of a mouse pad rather than at the turn of a page. With the Internet offering a wide variety of supplemental information for schools, online courses and even CHARLIE RUBENSTEIN—TRW online colleges and high schools, it > Rubenstein’s “Power Forward Baltimore” basketball league poses. According to Bond of the helping out mission, the league “pres- is clear that the online presence in ents a competitive atmosphere that many men thrive in.” student eduaction is growing over- all. With more schools than ever em- A class that creates change: Senior ploying internet-based information in their curriculums, UMBC’s US- Democrazy.net hopes to be used as creates basketball league for recovering a forum for conversation on current events for high school students and above. addicts with help from UMBC course The site includes a map of the United States which displays po- litical factoids with regards to each Andrea Thomson I found basketball, a relatively inex- Director, described the men, “They land, Jaree Colbert and Jennifer Kent, state’s politics, a video with “Uncle EDITORIAL STAFF pensive sport, a good place to start,” are men of all races, creeds and social he worked on much of the last stages Sam” explaining the Electoral Col- Rubenstein said of his goal. backgrounds. They share a common of the project on his own. “You have to lege, and the soon-to-be centerpiece Not many college students can say Rubenstein got his idea for the thread in that they struggle with a realize that other people aren’t going of the site: a blog informing readers they’ve founded a basketball team for league while watching E:6O on ESPN. chronic and progressive disease – ad- to be as passionate about it as you and of politcal events. For the past eight recovering addicts. Charlie Ruben- The sports television news magazine diction.” Bond himself is a recovering that you’re going to have to do a lot months a team of UMBC student stein, a UMBC senior and American ran a story on a homeless basketball addict. He uses his experience to help of stuff on your own. You need a lot bloggers has been contributing posts Stuides major has always felt a connec- league operating in California which the men cope with theirs, and hopes of self encouragement,” Rubenstein five times a week to explain promi- tion to the city of Baltimore and hoped improved participants’ physical health to create a “big family” environment at explained. nent news in a digestible format. to apply team athletics to reduce the and self-esteem while teaching the im- the Mission. Rubenstein’s self encouragement Kevin Kallaugher, UMBC’s Art- city’s homless population which is portance of discipline and teamwork. More diffi cult than coming up with appears to have served him well. His ist in Residence, explained that the approximately 3-4,00. His desire was Rubenstein decided to create a similar his idea for change was making it a re- basketball team is thriving and now is site’s goal is to inform citizens with put into action while he was enrolled team of approximately seventeen Balti- ality. Logistical scheduling and fi nding entirely run by the men who play in humor. Kallaugher has combined in a UMBC course designed to equip more men. The team, a pilot program, a place to play proved to be most dif- it. Not long after it was set up, men on his roles as an Editorial Cartoonist students to initiate positive change in was composed of men from the Help- fi cult. Although Rubenstein worked the team stepped up as coaches and and UMBC’s Artist-in-Residence, as their communities. “When addressing ing Up Mission in Baltimore City. on the beginning stages of his project organizers. Bond has seen a change well as the talents of others at UMBC Baltimore’s problem of homelessness, Tom Bond, a Helping Up Program with three other students: Alex Hy- > see CLASS [5] > see WEBSITE [6] NEWS 01 OPINION 08 ARTS 12 SPORTS 20 ONLINE e How to save Summer Reality TV Athletes sign Professor d I cash on costly classes revisited professionally Emeritus Starr s textbooks scrutinized passes away n I InsIde 2 News 07.14.09 The RetrIever Weekly foreign desk A castle in Rothenthurn Melanie Bryant chosen through the woods heading in castle (including its very own chapel) FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT the general direction of up, and a road and a brief overview of its 1000-year running along the side of the moun- history (incidentally, the castle is the One could hardly call the train stop tain. Anna started heading right, as reason there is a train stop here at all, in Rothenthurn, Austria a station. It I turned left, and a brief discussion thanks to Georg’s grandfather). was more of a tiny concrete platform; followed on the exact location of the Our room had a fantastic view of the if you didn’t get off the train from one castle. countryside: cows dotted across the of the center cars you had to walk in After at least one wrong turn, we grassy slopes, tall thin pines crowd- the gravel along the track until you found the correct path and wound up ing rising peaks. Besides the view, the came upon a slab of concrete raised beside a pond with a single fountain room also boasted the softest sheets one foot off the ground. That lone of water in the center, the castle be- and mattresses to be found anywhere, slab of concrete and the quiet, low fore us. To be honest, we didn’t think I’m sure, and a television with, get brick building behind it were the very much of the castle at fi rst glance, this, channels in English! For me at only indications that this was, indeed, in terms of castles, but it was heaven least, this was another luxury not ex- Rothenthurn. Little hinted that this to our sweat-soaked and sore bodies, perienced in fi ve months. place could even be worth a spot on a haven with soft beds and our very We were soon introduced to a map: several houses, a single one- own room. Georg’s wife, who also spoke English lane road. We ambled up, not quite sure fairly well. Apparently that is their MELANIE BRYANT —TRW I traveled with two good friends, where the main entrance was, or real- language of communication since it’s >Bryant stands before a lake in the the Austrian countryside. Anna and Sarah. We met up in Bar- ly what kind of a place we were stay- the only one they have in common; The lake is an hour bike ride from the castle where she spent celona, where Anna had just fi nished ing in. Luckily, a few moments later she speaks Italian and he speaks the night. studying, at the end of both of our a man appeared in what I imagine is German. Apparently they had a very study abroad semesters, Sarah join- the most stereotypical Austrian outfi t, interesting courtship involving not an hour to arrive, and once there we the most relaxing of all my travels, and ing us for four weeks of travel around complete with loafers, leather shorts just a few dictionaries. She doted on couldn’t resist the temptation that yielded some of the most picturesque Europe. We fl ew fi rst to Milan, Italy, with big buttons in front, knee-high us and gave us free reign in the extra presented itself in the form of a blue landscapes I’ve ever seen. I walked the and took trains from then on, fi rst to socks, and suspenders. This man was downstairs kitchen (probably a rival paddleboat bobbing at a small pier. paths my mother walked some forty Florence, then Venice, and then Roth- Georg, a one-time acquaintance of my in size to several UMBC dorm rooms) We took some time to locate the own- years ago when she, too, visited Roth- enthurn. family’s through a path slightly too where for two nights we established ers of said paddleboat, the lake being enthurn (back before it was converted We descended the train, bags in complicated to follow, and the owner ourselves comfortably for dinner. fairly deserted, but eventually got an into a chalet-like place to rent rooms). tow, both admiring the view and hat- of the castle before us. Our days were spent exploring hour out on the lake for fi ve euro. I got to know Georg and his wife, who ing it for the steep slope we would “Are you not here by car? Where and relaxing, enjoying the view and We were dry by the time we got went well above and beyond what have to climb to reach Schloss Roth- you walk from? Oh mamma mia I the peace and quiet. We caught a back to the castle that evening, and anyone could expect from hosts. I enthurn, our destination. With no could have drive at the station and ride with two other guests to the next after the bike ride certainly not shiv- swam in a frigid mountain lake in the map, no address, and only the hint of pick you up if you call!” Go fi gure.