Hey folks, and hope that the weather wherever you are is better than it is here! We had rain earlier this week, and now the usual New England wind is whipping across campus, but I'm still seeing plenty of smiles across campus. People are getting geared up for Halloween, and I of course have a great costume planned (but you'll have to read here next Monday to find out what it is!)

So every Tuesday I head over to the Slavin facility to one of my favorite places on campus--the WDOM station. When you walk into the station, the first thing you notice is a room with wall to wall shelves of CD's, adjacent to a hallway adorned with numerous yinyl records and another room with the usual lumpy couches and half-assembled puzzle (this semester it's a Beatles album cover.) And, of course, the radio station itself, with boom mics, turntables, CD-players, and everything else I (or any other student who applies of course) needs to put on a great show. There's of course some personality required--monikers and On-Air personas are always great, and show names really let you get creative (case in point: my show is called Nailor @ Noon!)

Here's a quick photo a friend of mine took during my show last week:

I'm sure that a picture like that has got a lot of you asking "How can I get my own Radio Show?!?" Well, it's a surprisingly easy process--you pick up an application from the station, fill it out and hand it in at an interview with the Executive Board of the show, which includes Upperclassmen in charge of Publicity, all of our Adds (more on those later), PSA's, and of course positions like Program Director and Events Coordinator. Then, later that week if they like your proposal and have the room they give you a call and work out when you'll be having a show. Then you just come in, talk some, play some music, really whatever you want within reason of course. In addition, on each 2 hour show, each DJ is required to play/read at least 4 public service announcements, announce 2 Providence College events, announce the stations name and legal ID several times, and play 10 Adds. Adds come off albums by both big and little time artists and bands that are sent in to WDOM in order to reach more people on both PC campus and around the area. I've played everything from Flight of the Conchords to Brett Dennen, from bands like The Silver Jews to Wave by Wave. As for the rest of the content for the show, it is almost completely up to the DJ! This Tuesday I did a Halloween themed show, but I usually play both classic and contemporary Rock, while other shows do sports chatter, political call-ins, Rap/Hip-Hop, and everything in between! WDOM provides yet another chance on PC's campus for students to express themselves, and since it reaches across the Providence area it gives the school a lot of great exposure. We're hoping to get all the shows streaming online within the next few weeks, so if you find yourself with some free time, definitely listen in, and if you're in the Providence area, 91.3 FM carries our shows.
Remember, Nailor @ Noon on Tuesdays from 12 to 2 pm!

Enjoy the weekend everybody! Here's another picture of me in the station for you to enjoy!

Posted by Thomas Nailor at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey folks, of course, my deepest apologies for such a lack of entries! These past few weeks I went between being very sick (I'm all better now) to midterms here at PC (I'm through all of those) and basically, got swamped with stuff to do! However, I'm back on track now, and hopefully can get back into regular postings. For my first time back, I figured I'd talk about something new I've discovered here at Providence that showed me it was still possible for me to try and find new things to do--it's called "Zumba" and it was described to me as a dance-aerobics workout that was open to both sexes. Needless to say, when I came for my first class and was surrounded by young woman, I felt a little self conscious, but I've never been one to back down. After an hour of popping my hips, doing squats, and learning at least a few new dance moves, I was sweating profusely, in desperate need of a water bottle, and smiling ear to ear! I of course returned to class the next day, and the next, and along the way convinced at least a few of my buddies to tag along. Not all of them loved it as much as I had, but they all agreed that it was a tough workout and that they weren't allowed to tease me about taking the class anymore.

I realized with my Zumba class that although I am busy here at PC, I still do have the time to try new things if I'm willing to make the effort. I can admit that I ran myself ragged in high school trying to get involved, but I have to tell any readers I might have retained that you will be trying new things in college! Don't let yourself become so set in what you are already doing that you miss out on oppurtunities like this. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be doing anything too new besides having a show on the WDOM PC Radio Station here, but a free class in Concannon Fitness Center later, I can definitely say I'm a certified "Zumbi" as we like to call ourselves, and I have enjoyed every moment of it! In addition, of course, to the health benefits of the class as well as the fun new dance moves I'm learning (or at least attempting to learn,) I've made new friends, and realized a lot of new confidence I never knew I had. People will be telling you to try a lot of new things in college, and I highly reccomend that--but to take it a step further, try something you would have never dreamed of doing! You'll realize that even if something might not be your forte, it often helps you to learn a lot, and you'll probably end up enjoying it if you let go of your inhibitions. I'm not much of a dancer, and I'm also not a huge fan of aerobic workouts, but the combination of friendly people, and a good beat, has made sure that I go to Zumba class every day that I can!

Posted by Thomas Nailor at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey readers, hope you all had a great weekend! As for me, any of you that read my fellow freshman Hannah Moriggi's blog know that the two of us were on our PC Connections Retreat this past weekend. If you haven't gotten the chance to read about the first part of our great weekend, check out Hannah's blog here

After our photo scavenger hunt, the weekend continued with our 3rd delicious meal provided by the retreat center, and then another talk from one of our sophomore retreat leaders, Kelly, entitled "Freshman Year Hurdles." The talk centered around problems and difficulties she had faced during her freshman year at PC, and after we broke up into our small groups we discussed what we had seen as challenges thus far. My small group, the Awesome Armadillos as we called ourselves, discussed how oftentimes the biggest hurdle one has to face in college is yourself, that is the idea that we sometimes talk ourselves out of being who we really are and shooting for what we really want.
Following our great discussion and some Q&A with some of the adults in charge of Campus Ministry here at Providence, our leaders distributed to each team a Yellow pages ad which we had to act out in skit form--my group ended up with an ad for a Hair salon in the Providence area called "Matilda's Hair Extensions and Beauty Supplies" but I'll leave it up to the reader to guess who was cast as Matilda...well who am I kidding--it was me. After watching every group get up and perform (some highlights included our retreat leader Tim doing Zumba aerobics in short shorts and the general teasing of our Retreat Director Nate's mannerisms,) we trooped out for a wonderful campfire, in which we all joined in to sing plenty of classics from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," to "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. Here's an image of yours truly during one such song, backed up by several of my new friends and of course earning confused stares from at least of them as well:

After a very early wake up, which my cabin-mates and I were unfortunate enough to miss, we had one of our final talks from the Senior Steve, entitled "Running the Race, Keeping the Faith." Steve, and our small group afterwards, talked about how even though it's tough when it comes to our faith, we need to ask a lot of tough questions, and even if we don't always find all the answers, we at least lead ourselves to ask BETTER questions. We also did affirmations for our small groupmates, which if you've never done them is when each member of the group takes a large piece of paper or a journal, writes their name at the top, and passes it down to each member of the group who writes whatever they think most appropriate as an affirmation, a challenge, words of gratitude or just best wishes. My affirmations are hanging on my Dorm Room wall as I'm typing this, although my camera cord is MIA at the moment, so I can't show everyone, and it's a fantastic way to sum up the weekend. Following this up with a last team Brunch, punctuated by some new games I had never played (including a group game called "Crocodili, Crocodili" which my leader Claire had to teach me,) kept our spirits high.

As the morning waned and the sun rose higher in the sky, we trooped into the main room of the Retreat center for our final talk, given by one of my group leaders Katie called "Victory Lap." It was about how even though freshman year is a huge part of our college experience, we do have 3 and a half more years to figure out what's going on with us, and to find our niche at PC. We then decorated paper "runners" to tape up to a huge paper "racetrack" our leaders had made for us, during which we all did our best to sum up the weekend, gave our thanks, and came up with some things we knew we would work on when we got back to campus. With that, we finished cleaning up, packing those few stray socks that had slipped under our temporary beds, and trouped back to campus. But our retreat wasn't over just yet--last night we, as a group, went to 10:30 PM mass in the St. Dominic Chapel, which if you have the chance to come for is something I highly recommend. Even as we parted ways with hugs and good cheer, we all could feel the connections we had made over the weekend.

As our retreat leader Nate said, though we good naturedly teased him over his phrasing, "Great friends don't just fall into your lap." The point of this weekend, in my opinion, was friendship, as well as the idea that we would need to be proactive if we wanted to find what we were missing about home and high school here at PC. The best part about it, though, is that the college offers so many amazing chances to do things like that, and it definitely starts with retreats like Transformations and Connections. If I had known that at the start of the weekend, this group of people dressed up for Olympic Games,

would become some of the best friends I'd made at school so far, I would have laughed. But in the end, we all connected as was the intent, and I am ever grateful to PC for giving me that opportunity.
Until next time readers, remember to keep on connecting, and realize that PC will make it easy for you to do so here if you're willing to open up with the people around you. And some face-paint doesn't hurt either!

Posted by Thomas Nailor at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome back to my blog readers, I hope everyone is doing well as we draw closer to Friday--it's great that now I can say TGIF tomorrow, whereas at Canterbury all I had to look forward to was class on Saturday! I figured since I am just finishing up my homework that tonight would be a great chance for me to make a post about one aspect of PC that makes the school what it is for the academic in all of us. I am talking of course, about the required course for all PC freshman and sophomores, Development of Western Civilization.

Anywhere you go on PC's campus, you'll find some inkling of Western Civ's presence--whether it is the Juniors and Seniors wearing the famous "Done with Civ" shirts, or listening to most of us freshman being able to reference epics like Gilgamesh and The Odyssey with ease, it certainly makes a big impact for all of us. In case you haven't taken the time to look into what Civ is, here's a basic rundown: it's a required class, like I mentioned, and unlike most college courses, it meets every single day. Four professors run each section from four different departments: history, theology, literature, and philosophy. Each day, one of these teachers will lecture on their personal subject and how it relates to the section of study--for example, on Monday I had a lecture about Sophocles' play "Antigone", Wednesday I had a lecture on the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars and the rise of Athenian imperialism, today we discussed Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" and finally, tomorrow, my philosophy professor is lecturing on the Sophists, along with an overview of Socrates and Plato's work concerning him, "The Apology." In addition, once every week you will have your seminar class, in which a smaller group of students assigned to one of the four professors will discuss things in more depth. This week, my seminar with my theology professor Father Keegan involved us dwelling more on several important topics in "Antigone," and trust me, if you've never seen a Dominican Friar teach a group of sleepy eyed freshman at 8:30 in the morning, it's quite an experience!

There are other elements to Western Civ, of course, but you'll have to research more on your own for that--I heartily recommend checking it out on the other parts of the PC website, or better yet, ask your tour guide when you come visit! Every upperclassman I've met has great things to say about Civ, and it's clear that they have taken a great deal out of it, especially when they still reference it in class up to 2 years later!

I believe that Civ, more than anything else, shows Providence for what it is--a place where yes, students do choose a major and a focus of study, but more importantly, they learn to bring information from very different disciplines together. Not a class goes by that one of my professors doesn't reference something that another has said in the past, and there is nothing better when one of them decides to chime in on a lecture, especially in the wee hours of the morning when I get to enjoy Western Civ. In addition, when all of us take Western Civ, even with different teachers and slightly different materials (ex. some of us read the entirety of Homer's "The Iliad" while others concentrate more heartily on "The Odyssey,") we are all drawn together by the shared experience. No matter whether you are one of the vast majority who falls in Civ, or of the minority that might not enjoy it as much, it is a great experience, and I believe it draws together the class of 2012 than we might be otherwise. It provides a great question to start a conversation, and I can't tell you how many friends I've made when I'm strolling around campus and someone I bump into turns out to be in my class, or working out in the Concannon fitness center the person who's spotting me on the bench press decides to ask me about the "Epic of Gilgamesh." Especially now, when all of us are still getting our feet wet, I think that this shared experience draws all of the Freshman class together in a way that will continue to develop over the years.

Almost all of the upperclassmen I have talked with about Western Civ have said that they miss it--many say that it adds a certain amount of centrality to their schedule, while others miss seeing the same people every day for an entire year. Still others reminisce about how close they were with seminar professors they may have met on the first day, and still others still have funny stories to tell from class. I recommend to any of you who have yet to stay on campus for any classes to see what Western Civ is all about--it is certainly a vital part to the Providence College experience, and if I can say that after only a few weeks, I can only hope it gets even better!

Posted by Thomas Nailor at 9:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)