In an effort to connect with alumni using social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, the Millersville University Alumni Association (MUAA) will be holding a photo contest on their Facebook fan page until May 15, 2010.

Alumni and current students are asked to participate by sending photos of themselves wearing an eye patch.

There are several categories within the competition, including cutest baby marauder, best school pride, most creative, best family of marauders, oldest marauder, most marauders in photo, and marauder wedding photo. Photos can be submitted by simply posting a photo on the fan page wall with the category attached to the photo, the MUAA will then move your photo to the appropriate category.

Once submitted, fans of the alumni page can vote on the best photo. The photo with the most votes wins a $100 gift certificate to the school store.

The winner for each category, as well as the grand prize winner, will have their photo appear in an issue of the Review.

“This contest is an effort to gain more awareness of our Facebook fan page and stir up some marauder pride,” said Marah Harbe, the Assistant to the Director of Alumni Service. “We also want to get more current students involved with the Alumni Association.”

This year, the Alumni Association has created the Technology Committee. This committee is responsible for finding new technologies that can be used to engage alumni with their university.

John Held, the committee chair of the Technology Committee came up with the contest idea while traveling to a wedding with his fellow marauders.

“Weddings are always an opportunity to take some group alumni photos, why not spice it up with an eye patch to show that marauder pride?” Harbe said.

The contest is open to anyone for voting. To vote, comment on the photo that you like. Only one vote per person will count. You can find the alumni fan page by typing Official Millersville University Alumni Page in your Facebook search. “If you don’t submit a photo, at least come and check out the page or become a fan, students are future alumni,” Harbe said.

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And no matter what some may say, it does matter. It matters in love, work, and friendships. Facebook can strain an otherwise sound relationship (Why would he wink at this girl in his comment?!) or sweeten it to a syrupy mess (Because everyone is dying to see your sickening comments to each other all over their news feeds). Professionally, particularly for education students, Facebook can lead to a sort of unsettling paranoia. When you’ve got a drink in your hand, innocent friends with a point-and-shoot can feel more invasive than paparazzi. Not to mention your profile has more privacy locks on it than your bank account.

And how did people even make friends before Facebook? Before you could just look them up after a five minute conversation at a party the night before and forge a bond that lets you see their favorite movies, last summer’s vacation, and 25 things no one ever knew about them. How did we do it?

Facebook also presents problems one is unlikely to find elsewhere in life. For example, there is a certain conundrum that comes with, say, skirting an acquaintance’s request for a lunch date. Facebook notifies you that they left the comment, so you can’t say you missed it. Facebook also notifies all your friends of all your other activities, so unless you stay off Facebook forever, you can’t say you haven’t been on. And unless you’ve had the forethought to hide the status, Facebook can also tell that person if you’re single, so you can’t say “Sorry, I have a boyfriend.”

Heaven forbid we have to tell people the truth that we just don’t want to go and have no desire to see them in person ever again. Forget the lost arts of conversation and long walks. Everyone now needs to learn the art of Facebook.

Nicole DeGuzman, Junior English Education major

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Many of you may be wondering—what kind of story has both young adults and forty-something’s going crazy over fictitious characters and plots?

The answer? The Twilight series by Stephenie Myers.

The Mormon author published the first novel, Twilight in October of 2005, and its popularity has been on the rise ever since.

Fans everywhere display the vampire paraphernalia.

From Facebook bumper stickers to cotton t-shirts, Myers has definitely capitalized on her modern day twist of the Romeo & Juliet love story.

When Summit Entertainment put Myers’ first book onto the big screen in November 2008, the hype intensified.

At this point, I was laughing at my college friends who lined up for the midnight showing of what I thought would be the most ridiculous book turned movie.

A human falls in love with a vampire.

That was all I needed to know to keep me from picking up one of the books.  Nonetheless, Twilight was everywhere.

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who portrayed the main characters of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, were on magazine covers across the country.  And they still are.

New Moon, the second book in the series, has also been turned into a major motion picture and will be released November 20, 2009.

The first film was criticized by some of Myers’ readers, who claimed that the movie did not meet the expectations from the book.

Twilight fans were anxiously waiting to see which actor would live up to the written description of Edward Cullen, and when they found out it was Robert Pattinson, some thought the portrayal fell short.

However, most young girls, and even older women too, have grown fond of this newly successful actor.

If you have not read the book or seen the film, you better jump on the bandwagon.

Men and women both seem to be in awe with the love story that Myers has concocted.  For some readers, it is the way the author describes each character with the utmost intricacy.

For others, it is the complicated relationship that exists between the human (Bella Swan) and the town vampire (Edward Cullen).

Others are fascinated by the love triangle that exists between Bella, Edward, and the werewolf, Jacob Black, who happens to be Bella’s best friend.

No matter what your preferred genre, there is enough mystery, love, suspense, and action in this series to appeal to anyone.

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