Video wrap-up: A Day at the DCSPCA

After working for the last two and a half weeks to complete this project, I can confidently say that it was a great experience, but a challenging one.  Actually getting permission from the Dutchess County SPCA to make this video was a much more difficult process than I had imagined, because in the past, people have had ulterior motives for coming in to film the shelter.  However, with some help from Zolz, I was able to visit the shelter for a day last week and shadow some of the volunteers there.

Another challenge that I faced while working on this project and filming at the DCSPCA was trying to figure out how much b-roll footage I wanted and how much interview footage I wanted. I ended up going with more b-roll footage because I wanted to focus on showing the beautiful facilities that the DCSPCA has just recently been able to build (the new adoption/education center was finished in 2011) and show the dogs, cats and volunteers doing what they do everyday.

It was awesome to see the work that goes in to making dogs who are abandoned or surrendered to the shelter adoptable and ready to go home with families.  Even though it’s tough work, I could tell from the volunteers and staff that I met that working at the shelter is incredibly rewarding, worthwhile work.  Overall, I had an awesome time completing this project, and I got to meet some really cute dogs and cats, so it was a win all around.

Premiere of “A Day at the Dutchess County SPCA”

Hey everybody!  Thank you all so much for following along with the promotional campaign for my short film A Day at the Dutchess County SPCA!  Here is the full film, enjoy, and if you’re looking for a new pet, head over to the DCSPCA!

My Future: Amy Lavigne

“A Day at the Dutchess County SPCA” Premieres Tomorrow!!!

Do you love cute animals?  Are you a dog person, a cat person, or a little bit of both?  Do you want to learn more about one of the oldest animal shelters in the country?  Then look no further!  The world premiere of my short film “A Day at the Dutchess County SPCA” is tomorrow right here on my blog!

Last week I visited the Dutchess County SPCA to get a first hand look at what the shelter is like and what the volunteers do on a daily basis, and filmed it all so I could share how awesome the DCSPCA is!  After getting a tour from the DCSPCA’s communications director, I shadowed a couple of dog volunteers as they walked and trained with two dogs named Coco and Pluto, and visited with some cats!

Even though I had a ton of fun visiting at the DCSPCA and getting to meet all of the awesome animals, staff and volunteers, the real purpose of “A Day at the Dutchess County SPCA” is to bring attention to the shelter so they are able to find many more animals forever homes!  So, get ready for the premiere tomorrow, and spread the word about the DCSPCA.  Promotions have been going on over that past week on twitter and facebook, so head over and check out the trailers for the video.

My new favorite restaurant: Pangea

Over this past weekend, my sister came to visit at Marist for the first time and we decided to go to the Culinary Institute for dinner on Saturday.  However, because we left reservations to the last minute, the only restaurant we could get a reservation for was Pangea, a C.I.A. restaurant that I had never heard of.  We arrived at the restaurant with low expectations, because usually restaurants at the Culinary Institute are booked months in reservations for weekend dinners, but we were pleasantly surprised!

The dining room at Pangea

The dining room was beautiful, and the waitstaff were all extremely attentive (our waitress literally refilled our water glasses every time one of us took a sip), but the most impressive thing about Pangea was the unique food and it’s gorgeous presentation.  My sister took pictures of everything we got to send to my mom, and when we looked around, all of the other diners were doing the same thing.  Most of the things on the menu we had never really heard of (seriously, when we first looked I had trouble finding anything that I had ever eaten before) but everything we tried was awesome!

The restaurant’s homemade bread and flatbreads

For dinner, you choose from a menu of sweet and savory options, and pick four courses.  Appetizers were also provided, we were able to try deep fried chickpeas and crickets (not as bad as they sound) and also had the restaurants homemade bread, crackers and flatbreads (pictured above).  I had the Roast Rutabaga, Thyme, Bacon for my first course, the Goat Cheese, Wine Braised Carrot, Chestnut for my second, the Cast Iron Cornish Game Hen, Pan Juices for my third and the Constructed Lemon Meringue, Shortbread, Raspberry for my dessert course.  The goat cheese with carrot and chestnut was my absolute favorite, but everything else was amazing too, especially the constructed lemon meringue, which our server prepared at the table in front of us!  Overall, although our expectations weren’t very high going in, my sister and I had a great experience at Pangea and we will definitely be going back the next time she comes to visit!

 

Interview with Caroline Withers

Interview of Caroline Withers by Amy Lavigne for Com 243.

90 Second Accident Report – News Channel 243

By Amy Lavigne, Kat Fano, Jake Kratzenberg, and Tim McGrath

Lavigne, Group 4 – The Intricate European Economy

The economy of Europe is incredibly complex.  It consists of 48 countries, comprises of more that 731 million people, and 25 different currencies: euro, lek, dram, manat, Belarusian ruble, konvertibilna marka, lev, kuna, koruna, Danish krone, lari, forint, króna, denar, Moldovan leu, Norwegian Krone, złoty, Romanian leu, Russian ruble, dinar, Swedish krona, Swiss Franc, lira, hryvnia, and the pound sterling.

The most common of these currencies is the the euro, which is the official currency of the European Union, a result of the end of World War II which made Europe the wealthiest and largest economy in the world.  Today, the EU is thriving, and has external trade agreements with China, Mercosur and the United States.  Countries that enter into the EU need to meet certain criteria, are expected to become a part of the eurozone, and use the euro as their official currency, however, the United Kingdom and Denmark have formally “opted out” of using the euro and continue to use the pound sterling and the Danish krone respectively.

In addition to being home to the European Union and home to thriving manufacturing, agricultural and banking sectors, the economy of Europe also contains six countries whose economies rank in the top 15 in the world, accounting for half of the ten wealthiest economies.  Europe’s largest economy is that of Germany (ranks fourth globally in nominal GDP), followed by the United Kingdom (fifth), France (sixth), Italy (seventh), Russia (tenth) and Spain (thirteenth).  Additionally, 161 of the 500 largest corporations (measured by revenue) make their homes in the European Union, and an extra 23 of those 500 have their headquarters in the economy but outside of the EU (in Switzerland, Russia, Turkey and Norway).

Although the European economy remains a powerful global force today, it has faced significant challenges during the Global Financial Crisis (triggered by the 2008 housing market collapse in the United States) and the subsequent Eurozone debt crisis in the 2010’s, which was much more problematic.  The debt crisis threatened to collapse powerful economies in the south of Europe, specifically Italy, Portugal and Spain, however, Ireland and Greece were also hit hard.

Today, the Eurozone as a whole has recovered and is much more stable, but the slow pace of recovery in Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as continued issues in Greece continue to limit the growth of the euro.  Even with ongoing problems, however, the future of the European economy looks bright, and positive growth is expected throughout the Eurozone in the near future.

A Renegades Legacy: Rookie, Rene and Rascal

There aren’t many available lines of work for a six-foot-tall raccoon like Rookie the Renegade. Therefore, when the Hudson Valley Renegades offered him the mascot position back in 1994, he jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the team. Over his years with the Renegades, Rookie has experienced many life-changing events right here in Dutchess Stadium; beginning the year he first joined the team.

During the 1994 season, Rookie was lucky enough to meet Rene Gade, another six-foot-tall raccoon, in the stadium. Soon, he was head-over-heels in love with her charming smile and love for the Renegades. The happy couple’s first date was a romantic candlelit dinner at the Raccoon Saloon in Marlboro on July 14, 1994. Just two short years later, on September 1, 1996, Rookie proposed to Rene.

After a plane circled the stadium with a banner reading “Rene marry me! – Rookie,” Rene accepted Rookie’s proposal (once she had kept him waiting for a few innings), and their wedding was in Dutchess Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd on Sunday, July 20, 1997.  After a few years of marriage, Rookie and Rene had a child. Rascal, the Renegades’ third mascot, was born on August 27, 2000.

Rookie’s family became complete in 2004 when Roofus, Rookie’s dad, moved into Dutchess Stadium to live with his son’s family, and the Renegades became the minor league baseball team with the most mascots. To this day, Rookie and his family are a huge part of the fun and spectator participation that are so important to the team’s home games.

After being a part of the Renegades family for almost 16 years, Rascal has grown up to be the face of the team, and the official Renegades mascot.  Although he “can be a petulant teenager at times” as Rick Zolzer, Vice President of the Hudson Valley Renegades said, Rascal has completely taken over for his dad and does a great job.  When the team got a complete makeover in 2013, Rascal made his way onto the uniforms and logo of the team with his blue eyes, pointy ears and bushy tail all featured in the new logo.  With Rascal as mascot for the Renegades, Rookie and Rene now spend the winter (and most of the summer) in sunny Boca Raton, Florida, but they do make the trip back to Dutchess Stadium a few times every season to visit their son and the Renegades’ fans.

Today, Rascal is also the face of Rascal’s Kids Club. Every Monday and Tuesday is Kids Club day at Dutchess Stadium, and members of Rascal’s Kids Club get free admission and the opportunity to run the bases after the game! Over the coming years, Rascal, his parents and the rest of his raccoon family will continue to represent the Renegades with pride and will make baseball fun for generations to come.

SOURCES:

http://www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-Magazine/June-2013/Hudson-Valley-Renegades-20th-Anniversary-20-Years-20-Great-Moments-in-Renegades-Baseball-History/

http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?sid=t537&ymd=20100514&content_id=10036570&vkey=team5

http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?ymd=20130311&content_id=42593388&sid=t537&vkey=team3

Rick Zolzer, Vice President of the Renegades

IMAGES:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/e5/ec/2f/e5ec2fe58e104f22333104816bdefc5e.jpg

http://www.recordonline.com/storyimage/TH/20150809/NEWS/150819973/AR/0/AR-150819973.jpg

Spring at Marist: the Most Stressful Time of the Year

As the weather is getting warmer and the grass is getting greener, the students of Marist College are starting the slow descent into the madness that is the end of the spring semester.  With housing selection day and the class registration period rapidly approaching, and professors starting to assign final projects, the students on campus (myself included) are starting to get that panicked look in their eyes that says “how am I going to get everything done?”  Personally, I know I am already ridiculously stressed out and we’ve only just passed the halfway point.

In addition to final projects, housing and class selection, most people on campus are also starting to get pretty tired of the people they’ve been living in close quarters with for the better part of a year.  After being cooped up together through the long winter months, this the time of year when people start getting tired of writing passive aggressive notes about washing the dishes and start smashing the dishes instead (okay, maybe dishes aren’t getting broken just yet, but there were some heated words being exchanged in my kitchen this morning over the state of the dish-filled sink).

However, though spring is definitely the most stressful time at Marist, it is also one of the most beautiful times.  Our campus is absolutely gorgeous, and even though it may be difficult to remember that when we’re nearly being blown away by the freezing wind off the river in the winter, spring definitely is a reminder.  When all the flowers and leaves return, the groundhogs emerge from hibernation and the grass on Marist Beach is back to its beautiful green self, then we can see just how lucky we are to live at Marist, even if we are too stressed to enjoy it until after all our work is done.