It might just be a number to you, but to me it’s so much more.
School has been a struggle for me since I can remember, but when I used the new graduation audit using DegreeWorks and saw that I was 75 percent toward getting my degree, my goal suddenly became so much more tangible.
My parents never graduated college, as they were from a different country and got drafted out of high school. My brother attempted college, but took another path and found success through teaching yoga. I hadn’t realized that no one in my family had graduated college until recently, which is when I also realized that I am slowly on my way to becoming the first among us to do so.
When I say school has been a struggle, I mean since first grade. I have this hazy memory of my mother being pulled aside after class, and even at such a young age I knew something wasn’t right. They spoke about holding me back, but my mother refused the idea.
I’ll never know if that was the best idea, not holding me back. In retrospect, I think I could have used the extra year of math, the one subject I struggle with to this day.
Memories of high school are riddled with hiding my semester grades and notes home from my parents. I knew I wasn’t a bad kid, but I just couldn’t handle the pressures, the classwork, the tests and everything in between.
If there is a phobia of classrooms, I must have it. Bad grade after bad grade and the fear of asking for help. Mental blocks. I saw failing grades as normal and delayed dealing with them until the administration was forced to deal with me.
It was a close call, but I miraculously graduated high school on time. While all my friends were off to college, I needed a break.
I put off enrolling, telling myself I don’t know what I want to study and it’d be a waste to take classes I wouldn’t need. I basically used any and all excuses to delay going to class again.
To pass the time I got a job and watched as my friends progressed through their college experience. It was when I was attending their graduations four years later that I realized I had just held myself back, and I would regret the time wasted.
I enrolled into my local community college in Southern California, and tried. The time off from a classroom setting made me less inclined to stick to the schedule, and once again I was failing. I told myself that maybe I’m just not right for school; maybe I need to do something else.
It has been six years since I graduated high school. I have barely anything to show for that time except some job experience. When I moved to Michigan, I dropped everything, moved as close as I possibly could to campus and devoted myself to trying this one last time.
So, here I am at 75 percent completed and 25 percent remaining until I go to a four-year university. Just 2 ½ more years until I can truly say I conquered my nemesis.
It might just be a number, that 75 percent, but it’s a number I cannot and will not take for granted.
The total economic impact of Washtenaw Community College is estimated at $379.6 million within the region it serves, according to an analysis presented to the college’s Board of Trustees at its recent bi-annual retreat.
That number represents 2.1 percent of the total regional economy and roughly 7,100 “average-wage jobs,” according to Michelle Mueller, associate vice president of Economic and Community Development,
The comprehensive analysis was created with the help of Economic Modeling Specialists International using two types of analyses, an investment analysis and an economic growth analysis.
“The investment analysis looked at education funding as an investment, in which they view it from the perspective of students, tax payers and society in general,” Mueller said. “An economic growth analysis measures added income in the region due to college operations, spending and accumulated skills of past and present students in the workforce.”
To conduct the study, the economic impact is calculated based off of the school’s tax-paying district.
“Our constituents have to see a return on their investment,” Mueller said.
Courtesy Illustration Washtenaw Community College
According to the report, higher earnings of WCC students and associated increases in state income expand the tax base in Michigan by about $58.6 million each year. Michigan will also see avoided social costs amounting to $3.7 million per year due to improved health, reduced crime, welfare and unemployment.
WCC served 34,095 students in the 2011-12 reporting year, and the college estimates that the average income at the career midpoint of someone with an associate’s degree in the WCC service area is $49,400.
Mueller expressed that for her personally, these stats matter.
“As a parent, I want to have my child get a job locally. The economic impact here creates an opportunity for job creation.”
This is why Mueller and Board Chair Ann Williams agree that this information needs to be well-advertised by the college.
“I think we should share this information with the students,” Williams said. “It really shows the benefits of staying in college and receiving an associate degree, not only to the student, but to the economy.”
Williams suggested that if students could see the effect of attending college at WCC, it would further motivate them to obtain a degree.
“By choosing to go to school, it’s helping the community,” Williams said. “This is the overall result of the economic impact. This is going to make a difference.”
Some of Mueller’s stats showed student spending effects, indicating that about 33 percent of WCC students come from outside the region. Expenditures of the college’s non-local students generate roughly $5.6 million in added income in its service area each year, she said.
Reaching for relief: A custom Gamers Outreach Xbox 360 controller made by Envy Controllers, a company that specializes in making custom gaming peripherals. Envy Controllers gave 20 percent of all proceeds to the Gamers Outreach Foundation during the event.
The cavalry: ROTC recruits volunteered as security for the Gamers for Giving event. Gamers Outreach Foundation started the ‘Fun For Our Troops’ project that supplies care packages to troops serving overseas.
Cash money: Players participating in the Halo 4 tournament for a chance to win the $1,500 first-place prize.
Old pros: David ‘Walshy’ Walsh, left, and Mike ‘Hastr0’ Rufail, both former professional players, together at the annual Gamers for Giving event at Eastern Michigan University.
Whoever said, “if at first you don’t succeed” might have had Zach Wigal in mind.
Wigal’s first attempt to turn his passion for gaming into something unique and fun was thwarted by a disgruntled police officer when he was 17 years old. He didn’t quit, and turned an unfortunate event into something far more fortunate – for others.
What resulted was far greater than he could have ever imagined. Despite the setback, Wigal persevered, and “Gamers for Giving” was born.
At a recent event in February at Eastern Michigan University, the video game tournament raised over $15,000 for Wigal’s Gamers Outreach charity organization.
Wigal, a former Washtenaw Community College student, reminisced on the canceled 2007 event, “I got a call from the superintendent and was told my permit was canceled.
“People who signed up were very upset, but that’s how it all began. That’s when we had the idea to make it a charity event.”
A meddling cop who didn’t like the idea of a bunch of kids congregating would have a hard time stopping that, Wigal figured. And he was right.
The first official Gamers for Giving event was held in 2008. More than 500 gamers participated, and the event raised $4,000 for the Autism Society of America. The event became the masthead for Gamers Outreach Foundation.
Zach Wigal
“I started exploring conceptually what I could do to give back through gaming. Could video games be used for charity?” Wigal asked. “I wanted there to be a connecting point for everyone in the community in the same way walkathons and marathons have, but with video games.”
Wigal began brainstorming ideas for charity projects after learning about Child’s Play, a separate charity that organizes toy drives for children’s hospitals.
“I took a tour of a hospital in Ann Arbor and started thinking about the mobility aspect. There was no solution to transporting games to kids that can’t yet leave their beds,” Wigal said. “There was a play room, but the kids in there were, more often than not, the ones that are about to head home.”
As a result, Gamers Outreach started project GO Kart. GO Karts are video game setups on wheels, designed with ease of use and mobility in mind. Each GO Kart can be easily moved between rooms, allowing hospital staff and volunteers to bring the games directly to the children.
Wigal is 23 now, and his events have raised thousands of dollars for numerous charitable causes, but he is careful to remember the underlying goals.
“People say it’s just for making a better name for [video] games. I’ve become careful about it being just about gaming and our names,” he said. “We actually really care about the initiatives.”
Despite his humble intentions, others have recognized his great accomplishments.
Wigal has won four of Microsoft’s MVP Awards in recognition of his “exceptional technical expertise, willingness to help others make the most of their technology and for making a significant and positive impact on communities.”
David Walsh
David Walsh and Mike Rufail, both former professional gamers and well-known personalities within the gaming community, reached out to Wigal to help with the organization.
“After seeing what Zach had going on, I wanted to be there to help with anything,” Walsh said. “It’s rewarding doing this, and it’s so easy. I get to do gaming, which is my passion and hobby, and it goes to a purpose.”
Walsh, known by his in-game alias “Walshy,” raised more than $3,800 through his live stream channels on YouTube and Twitch.tv in support of Gamers Outreach’s efforts. The funds went toward a GO Kart for Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital of Grand Rapids, Walsh’s hometown.
For Rufail, also known as “hastr0,” the mission of Gamers Outreach touched him on a personal level.
“I’ve had to spend time in the hospital for family and know that it’s really hard to keep moral up and stay happy,” Rufail said. “The kart program was genius and it helps a lot of people through the day.”
Rufail aided in the construction of a GO Kart for hospitalized veterans at the Dallas VA Medical Center in Texas.
“It means a lot to me as an American to be able to help those guys,” Rufail said. “Our soldiers love to play games and need entertainment just as much as everybody else.”
In addition to the GO Kart program, Gamers Outreach also runs “Fun For Our Troops,” which supplies video game care packages to soldiers serving overseas.
Rufail urges others to get involved in the charity, even if that means just spreading the word.
“It doesn’t take a lot,” he said. “Just donating even $10 or showing up to the events or tuning in to the live stream and telling others about it is helping out in a very big way.”
In its triumphant debut to serial TV, Netflix’s “House of Cards” crashes the halls of Congress, exposing how merciless a spiteful politician can be with wielding power that can make or break careers in politics, the press and the presidential Oval Office.
Netflix introduced the series on Feb. 1, when it released all 13 episodes featuring Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey and director David Fincher. From the beginning, the show follows its own rules, with no set running time per episode, no commercials – and absolutely no dull moments.
Genre: Drama, Political thriller
Distributor: Netflix
With Fincher, who directed such films as “The Social Network” and “Fight Club,” the show looks better than some feature films. The 13-episode “season” is fairly common of the kind of cable dramas it’s emulating. Each episode is roughly 50-minutes long and sticks to the traditional serialized episodic storytelling.
This puts ‘Houses of Cards’ in an awkward middle ground. It’s neither TV nor HBO, but that doesn’t mean its content suffers – or lacks viewers.
Each performance is exceptional and the plot increasingly enticing as the series progresses. All episodes were released simultaneously, making it difficult to stop watching.
Season One focuses on the ruthless and ambitious Democratic Congressman Francis (Frank) Underwood after being informed by Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez (Sakina Jaffrey) that the promise the newly elected president made to appoint him Secretary of State would not be kept. Underwood takes the news with an optimistic façade – and begins plotting his vengeance. Soon, he’s waging political war against the President of the United States, Garrett Walker (Michael Gill).
Underwood manipulates a few pawns along the way, including a troubled Congressman, Peter Russo (Corey Stoll), a young political reporter for the fictional Washington Herald newspaper, Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) and even his own wife, Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), an environmental activist who is just as cold-blooded as her husband.
Often between dramatic scenes and dark, comedic moments, Spacey’s character breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the camera, giving an intimate first-person narrative from deep within Underwood’s diabolical mind – an interesting perspective into the character’s methods and motives.
It remains to be seen how long Underwood will be able to keep this house of cards standing – but it will certainly be worth watching.
The episodic drama has opened to wide, critical acclaim, and only shows promise for its second season, which is already in the works, making Netflix a serious game-changing player in dramatic TV.
University of Toronto student Shane Hu, 19, sets up his laptop after plugging in with an extension cord supporting multiple devices. Most Hackathon teams maintained the same work area at Palmer Commons for the entire 36-hour event.
A group of students discuss project ideas in a large conference room early Saturday morning. Tables and chairs were set up in hallways and offices on three floors to accommodate the large number of participants.
Rutgers public health and policy major Madeline Halpern, 19, came to the event to see her boyfriend, University of Michigan computer science major, Jason Berlinsky, 20. (right)
A sponsor hands out free Red Bull energy drinks to participants early Saturday morning. U-M’s MHacks provided students with food and beverages at intervals throughout the 36-hour event.
A competitor takes a drink from a Red Bull early Saturday morning at the 36-hour event.
MHacks director David Fontenot (left) and Kyle Summers send out an email to Hackathon participants to explain the availability of the university’s Wi-Fi. Summers and Fontenot are computer science majors at the University of Michigan.
U-M graduate student Michael Senkow solders leads onto an MMA7361 Accelerometer for an Arduino project. Senkow’s team worked on an electronic device that tracks workout programs by counting reps and recording weight information.
A student sleeps in a lounge chair early Saturday morning near an empty case of Red Bull energy drinks. Most students took turns with team members napping in between coding and building their hacks.
U-M student Adnan Tahir, 20, works in Forum Hall on a program he was writing to enable electronic devices to share screens.
Several students took advantage of a mostly empty auditorium late Saturday night to get some sleep before finishing their projects.
Computer science and engineering students Jon Poczatek (left), 19, and Damian Wieczorek, 18, work on their project early Sunday morning, just a few hours before the final deadline.
One student from each team was allowed to set up their project for display in a large conference room at Palmer Commons Sunday morning. The designated team member made elevator style pitches to sponsor judges and other participants before the final judging. The event was open to the public.
MHacks director David Fontenot listens to a headset walkie-talkie during the final event. The Hackathon is a first for the University of Michigan though similar events are held at universities across the country.
Purdue University computer science major Chris Cole, 22, shows off his team’s project to a visitor. The helmet has two cameras to track movement of the wearer’s iris and what is in their field of vision. The second camera records text and uploads it to the Web when it detects the wearer is reading.
A participant shakes hands with a judge at the final presentation Sunday morning. The event was attended by a number of corporate sponsors, including Facebook and Barracuda Networks of Ann Arbor.
Purdue University computer science major Margarita Lee, 20, shows off her team’s project, “Little Lamb”, a side scrolling game that plays “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and requires the player to stay ahead of the notes.
University of Waterloo systems design engineering major Victor Vucicevich, 20, reacts to a group of tweets sent by students at the final judging event Sunday, Feb 3.
U-M computer science major Otto Sipe, 21, makes a presentation to Hackathon participants at the final judging, Sunday Feb. 3. Sipe and his teammate Matt Kneiser placed in the top ten for their program that allows students to collaborate when writing notes for a large class.
A few weary Hackathon participants watch the final presentations at the U-M Chemistry Building. The event began at 7pm Friday night and ended around noon on Sunday.
With his laptop ready and energy drinks at hand, Ahmed Saleh began setting up his work area at the end of a row of tables. Saleh and his four teammates gathered inside the University of Michigan’s Palmer Commons for what would be a grueling 36 hours of brainstorming, coding and very little sleep.
“We already have an idea,” Saleh said as he was unpacking his things, among which included three iPhones and various power cords.
Saleh’s team was joined by more than 500 students from across North America.
Earlier that evening, a brigade of buses lined North University Street, shuttling eager hackers from various universities, all ready to code apps and programs for the inaugural U-M MHack hackathon.
Walking around the six floors of Palmer Commons were sponsors from various companies such as Facebook and Google.
While other students were still setting up, Saleh and his team had already begun writing down their plan on a whiteboard.
“We’re creating a social app,” said Saleh, a 20-year-old U-M student from Ann Arbor.
The idea, called Social Beacon, is an app for sending a message to any number of friends within a close proximity to come join you if you’re out for dinner or coffee.
“It’s to help encourage socializing. People are more inclined to meet-up if they’re already close to each other,” Saleh said.
Two floors above Saleh, Andrew Copp and his team had begun setting up their work area.
Last fall, Copp and Saleh worked together during the U-M Mobile Apps Challenge. They created an app that allows iPhone users to self-administer an eye-exam using the front-facing camera to measure the distance from your face to your phone.
“Saleh and I aren’t working together this event,” Copp said. “I like the idea of working with different people every time. I like working on different challenges.”
Copp and his team began developing an app that required hardware work as well. The app would allow users to “bump” their phone on gym equipment and it would begin recording all workout data and log it so users can keep track of their workouts without manual input.
Will Barnett, a university recruiter for Facebook, flew in from California for the event.
“I love coming to Ann Arbor; there’s a great hacker culture growing here,” Barnett said. “We have people here from the New York office and California.”
The Facebook team had set-up a room filled with goody-bags and items to give away to hackers attending the event.
“Facebook sponsors these types of events all around the country and the world,” Barnett said. “Hacking is really critical to our culture.”
Facebook sponsors its own corporate hackathons five to six times a year in order to inspire new product ideas.
“At these events, we don’t have an agenda. We’re here supporting something we feel passionately about,” Barnett said. “We want people to work on what they’re excited about.”
Baris Yuksel, a software engineer at Google’s New York office, shares that sentiment.
“It’s not about scouting, it’s about the creative energy,” Yuksel said. “This is an amazing scene. You can walk around and see some of the projects here are so big, you can’t do them in two days. They are dreaming big and that’s wonderful. Everybody is so proud and I can see their excitement on their faces.”
Organizing the event was no easy task, according to David Fontenot, a U-M student from South Florida and the director of MHack.
“I have been having nightmares for a week imagining those buses turning up empty,” Fontenot said. “A few months ago I went to PennApps with 25 Michigan hackers. It was so amazing I thought we should have one here, at Michigan.”
PennApps is another hackathon held bi-annually at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Two months ago we got the backing of two organizations on campus, Michigan Hackers and the Center for Entrepreneurship,” Fontenot said. “There are only five of us organizers, and when we finally got the venue, we started trying to decide what direction to take this hackathon.”
Fontenot visited various universities on his weekends to gauge interest of students from other schools and hacker groups to see if they would attend a Michigan-hosted hackathon.
“The enthusiasm was overwhelming, and more sponsors gave their support,” Fontenot said. “These last few weeks we have been booking buses and finally on Friday night, more than 550 hackers came through the door.”
Sunday morning, all teams had to present their projects with little to no sleep.
“We got our system up and running, but a problem came up right as we were demo-ing,” Copp said. “My laptop couldn’t connect to the same router as our prototyping software. We couldn’t demo all of our hard work.”
For Copp’s team, it was an unfortunate end to the tiring weekend.
“It would have been great to show off all of our work, but we were ultimately OK with it because we know what we accomplished and how hard we worked,” Copp said.
Saleh’s team succeeded in demo-ing its app, but didn’t place in top 10. Then it was bedtime.
“I just plan to sleep a lot after this. We’re all exhausted but glad we got to work on this project together,” Saleh said. “Hackers define themselves as people who know how things work and get around barriers.
“I think it’s more about taking every-day things and turning them into something completely different. That’s what we do.”
Auto industry professionals and car enthusiasts geared up once again for the annual North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The event, which lasted from Jan. 14-27, showcased all that Detroit and international auto makers had in store for the coming year and beyond. Among the cars showcased was the 2014 Corvette Stingray, which marks the return of the Stingray name and a new generation of Corvette.
For many Detroiters, the auto show is personally significant, General Motors’ headquarters is just a block away, and Ford and Chrysler also call the city home. For Detroit itself, the auto show is its crowning achievement, a sign of hope and fortitude in a struggling city.
The opening ceremony of DreamHack is marked with switching off the venue’s lights and an epic laser and fireworks show.
Adam Tensta, a Swedish rapper, performs on the main stage at DreamHack in Hall D, the main hall filled with the thousands of gamers who brought their own computers to the event.
A gaming enthusiast plays on his system, adorned with neon lights.
JÖNKÖPING, Sweden – The gaming world can be a confusing and a seemingly juvenile place for an outsider. But over the years, gaming as a culture has grown and developed into a massive business, filled with sponsorship deals, professional players, teams and large scale tournaments that can rival any professional major league sport.
Esports (electronic sports) has exploded in the United States over the past few years. Professional gamers gather every few months to play for huge sums of money at events run by organizations like Major League Gaming, IGN Pro League and North American Star League.
These prizes aren’t in the thousands; they’re in the tens of thousands. Professional gamers travel the world, have huge fan bases and make a living doing not only their hobby, but something they love dearly.
Every six months in the small town of Jönköping, Sweden, more than 15,000 gamers gather for a “Bring Your Own Computer” event for what is the largest LAN (Local Area Network) party on the planet.
Gamers from all over the world gather in the main hall to set up their computers and monitors to play non-stop, all weekend, along with thousands of other gamers.
DreamHack Winter and DreamHack Summer attendance has been increasing every year. Large airplane hangar-like halls are filled with rows and rows of tables where gamers can setup their computers and play for three days straight while live Hardstyle and Electronic DJ’s perform on stage.
Players from across Europe, Latin America, Asia and the U.S. fly in for the eSports aspect of the event. Games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Quake Live, League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition are taken to competitive heights as pro-players and teams fight for first place.
It’s massive casual gaming, interlaced within a highly competitive arena, all while a 24-hour-long party is taking place in the midst of it all. Organized, gaming-nerd chaos that many may not understand, but it’s an emerging culture that just keeps growing.
DreamHack is the serious gamer’s ultimate fantasy.
Author Kelly Bracha, a veteran eSports journalist, traveled to Sweden to photograph the event for S2 Games, a Kalamazoo-based video-game developer.
Some unprepared students on campus are hoping the college can pull some strings to get the dispensers back in the women’s restrooms.(CHARLES MANLEY PHOTO ILLUSTRATION)
Gentlemen, you might want to avert your eyes for this one. This one’s for the ladies.
We’re here to talk about periods, and periods suck. Especially when they arrive in the middle of class – when a girl is least prepared.
And around Washtenaw’s campus, that can be a problem these days, since all those nifty dispensers in the women’s bathrooms have disappeared. So the not-so-prepared girl on the go is left to fend for herself, often digging deep into backpacks and purses hoping to find an errant tampon or sanitary napkin.
When that fails, other female classmates become the safest bet, but that’s not always a success, either.
So where did the dispensers go and why are they gone? That’s what Christina Burts, 23, a liberal arts major from Ypsilanti, wants to know.
“It’s just one of those things you forget to take with you sometimes,” Burts said. “In the middle of a three-hour class is the worst. You can either start asking girls around you for tampons – or panic.”
Got a quarter? Never mind.
Women’s bathrooms located in all buildings throughout the college are missing the rectangular wall-mounted, coin-operated boxes that dispense products women need. The last sighting of a gray, quarter-fed machine was within the lower level of the Gunder Myran building near the photo lab inside a unisex restroom.
“I remember seeing one of the dispensers there, but it was gone midway through the semester,” said Katy Heuser, a 19-year-old communications major from Ann Arbor. “I only noticed when I needed it for an emergency. I was surprised to see it was gone and had to resort to asking around.”
Periods suck.
Barry Wilkins, recycle operations manager, explained why the dispensers have gone missing.
“Based on my knowledge and what I understand, it’s because of damage and abuse,” Barry said. “People were breaking into them, literally ripping the doors off of them to take the money out.”
Damon Flowers, vice president of Facilities Development and Operations, says there are still a limited number of the dispensers on campus, but they are merely there because they haven’t been vandalized yet.
“If there was a huge demand and not so much vandalism, we’d still have them,” Flowers said. “They became a very difficult issue to maintain. There wasn’t a compelling reason to have them. We would buy the products and have female custodians fill them, but the machines were always poorly made and kept eating money.”
With the absence of the dispensers, Wilkins believes the college should let female students be more aware of where they can purchase the feminine products.
“If the college is not going to provide that, they need to let everyone know to bring their own,” Wilkins said.
The Student Center book store carries a variety of feminine products that students can purchase in case of emergency, but nothing beats carrying them with us in backpacks and purses. It’s the best way to never have to endure the ever-so-awkward desperate whispering in the middle of class.
And even that can be embarrassing for some.
“I always carry my own in my backpack, but it’s also pretty awkward taking it out of my bag in the middle of class and hiding it up my sleeve or pocket,” said Kathrine Headlee, 20, liberal arts major from South Lyon. “I’d rather be able to just buy one in the bathroom.”
“I run out of my backpack reserve sometimes because other girls ask me for one. Either way, having them only in the book store is not exactly convenient.”
Have we mentioned that periods suck?
Although according to both Wilkins and Flowers there isn’t much of a demand for the dispensers, the consensus among several female students interviewed for this story is that they would prefer to have the dispensers.
But until they are made more resistant to vandalism, it’s best to bring your own. And if that runs out, a mildly awkward checkout at the bookstore counter may be your best option.
Voice Staff Writer Anna Elias contributed to this report.
Fans of the Halo franchise have been engrossed in the series since the release of “Halo: Combat Evolved”in 2001. “Halo 4” marks the rebirth of Microsoft’s blockbuster franchise, and damn, it looks good.
It’s the first game not developed by the franchise creator Bungie, but 343 Industries has managed to maintain the feel and the gripping gameplay the original games had.
At the end of “Halo 3,” Master Chief and his A.I. confidant Cortana are essentially left floating through space aboard the derelict UNSC (United Nations Space Command) frigate.
Halo 4 picks up right where “3” left off. Chief and Cortana find themselves on Requiem, an artificial planet created by an ancient alien race – the Forerunners. They quickly find the Covenant and a new enemy awaiting them – the Forerunners themselves.
The return of the Forerunners marks a pivotal moment in the series, as they were long thought to be extinct. They have played a huge role within the Halo universe, as they are the ones responsible for building the Halos throughout the galaxy.
Along with playing a central role in the Halo storyline, they are a hugely welcomed part of the game and series. After fighting the Covenant and Flood enemies repeatedly, the Forerunners are a whole different creature.
Dog-like crawlers, armored teleporting knights and small, flying units are just a few of the new enemies players will face. With the Forerunners in play, their technologies and weapons come in as well.
While all the new guns fit into the standard archetypes: sniper rifle, rocket launcher, shotgun, and battle rifle. They’re different enough that players will want to use them instead of the old familiar weapons.
“Halo 4” has two campaign modes. The first is a standard story-driven campaign, running like an adventurous movie. The second, called Spartan Ops, features a squad of UNSC Spartans who arrive on Requiem, and missions play out as 20-minute combat challenges with objectives ending at an extraction point.
The competitive multiplayer aspect of “Halo 4” has the classic game modes like Slayer, Capture the Flag and Oddball, but also features Infection mode with an update that has players become the Flood, a sort of “zombies mode” for Halo.
Basic gameplay in multiplayer has the core mechanics from the original Halo games, but it has borrowed elements from “Call of Duty,” such as sprint and load-out customization, but the party system is overly complex and inefficient. There is currently no competitive ranking system in place, which was been a staple in previous Halo games.
The visuals are undeniably gorgeous. Requiem has every type of environment imaginable and they all are shown in such great detail, even with the console’s dated graphics capabilities.
Although 343 Industries has left a majority of Bungie’s Halo untouched, with a new developer comes a new direction.
Walk around the graphics and photography departments in the lower level of the GM building long enough and it will be difficult to not hear mention of Toko Shiiki-Santos or Martin Thoburn, both part-timers at Washtenaw Community College and both locally renowned artists.
The two are among 10 selected artists to be featured in Chelsea River Gallery’s second major competition: “10 Under 40.” The gallery sent out a regional call for entries from artists younger than 40 in an effort to identify and promote emerging talent and exhibit mid-career visual artists.
For Shiiki-Santos, this opportunity was a bit nerve-racking.
“The work I submitted was very personal to me,” Shiiki-Santos said. “It was some old work made for myself. I have never shown it to anybody.”
Shiiki-Santos presented a series of self-portraits that recalled a very difficult childhood memory. Using a plastic toy Holga camera, Shiiki-Santos created double-exposure like images, capturing what she felt to be a self-portrait of herself both as an adult and child.
The square black and white images are meant to evoke memories of someone’s past still lingering in their mind. In Shiiki-Santos’ mind.
“This is my internal journey with my little self, to reconcile my present with my past, something I’ve neglected for a long time,” Shiiki-Santos said. “The theme of the work was ‘Time’.”
On Nov. 10, Chelsea River Gallery held an opening for the artists. Shiiki-Santos was taken aback by the large audience gazing at her work.
“It was scary seeing all these people look at these deeply personal photographs. I felt very naked at the moment,” she said. “But I’m proud of myself. It was such a great experience… it was very meaningful.”
Also exhibited at the gallery was Chris Sandon and Thoburn’s “Exquisite Motion Corpse,” a series of interactive video installations based on an old surrealist parlor game.
Thoburn had previously displayed his installment during the 50th Ann Arbor Film Festival inside the Michigan Theater.
Thoburn describes his work as, “a 21st-century update of an exquisite corpse. It combines loop-based music with figure assembly. The bodies created have elements of both humor and horror.”
Using a touch-screen iPad controller, users can create combinations of body parts displayed on four vertically stacked CRT televisions, all set to rhythmic timing and accompanied by correlating sound effects and beats.
The installation has also been featured in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
“We are porting the project into an app for the iPad and iPhone and have launched a Kickstarter to get that off the ground,” Thoburn said.
On Aug. 9, the Kickstarter successfully raised its funding goal of $8,000 with just 104 backers.
“The app is going to be called ‘Bodies and Beats.’ We intend to produce tons of new audio and video content specifically for this application,” Thoburn said.
Julia Gleich, WCC’s production center assistant, is very proud of the two artists.
“Everyone worked hard to make this event happen and it shows,” Gleich said. “The gallery will help provide a terrific learning experience as these artists navigate their way through the often ‘daunting’ task of promoting and selling their art.”
As an artist herself, Gleich says she understands the advantage it is to have professional artists guiding young artists.
“I encourage people to drive over to Chelsea and see this great, collaborative effort,” Gleich said.
Shiiki-Santos’s photographs and Thoburn’s installation will be on display in the Chelsea River Gallery until Dec. 22.
The River Gallery selected and awarded first, second and third place prizes to the 10 artists judged at the opening of the gallery. Thoburn was awarded first place, earning him a cash prize of $1000.
