Hernandez is from Southlake, Texas. A second-year student, he road trips to the University of Maine every August and back to his hometown, near Dallas and Fort Worth, every May.

“It really clears the mind,” he says, driving his Honda Civic to Old Town from his Orono apartment. The route he’s taking this evening is a 12-mile loop – a blip on the odometer compared to his trek from the Pine Tree State to the Lone Star State.

He spends three days on the journey; more than 30 hours on a road winding through 14 states. He recites them in order, in both directions, from memory.

The end of this semester will mark Hernandez’s sixth trip. He calls it therapeutic. He loves music, and his car speakers are one of his favorite outlets for listening. He’s always accompanied by a family member – his father, Roland, drove with him the past four times.

“Just my dad and I, two guys, for three days, doing nothing but driving – got no place to be except for the hotel that night,” Hernandez says.

Hernandez and his father plan the route and the nightly stops, splitting it into thirds. Detours along the way are impromptu – Hernandez recalls Graceland, the home-slash-museum of Elvis Presley, as a fun stop.

“My dad has an atlas,” Hernandez says, motioning behind the passenger seat. “He just busts it out and is like, ‘Let’s go this way.’” Hernandez can’t decipher routes on a map – he uses his iPhone as a GPS.

“It’s really cool seeing how regions change, how from state to state, the people change,” he says. “One second you’ll be in Nashville, and one second you’ll be in back-town Virginia, where you’re in the hills and you get out and there are people speaking a language that you don’t know if it’s English or not.”

Many Mainers attend their state university and endure no more than a few hours of anticipation during their first drive to UMaine. Hernandez had a three-day lead-up.

“I tried not to think about it, because I didn’t want to freak myself out,” he says. “I didn’t want to think about how alone I was going to be until I met some friends.”

Hernandez calls coming to college in Orono a “legacy” – his father was born in Cuba, moved to Maine in his early teenage years and eventually attended– UMaine.

It’s a legacy that demands a car.

“In Maine, where I’m kind of disconnected from everything, I felt it necessary to be around my car,” Hernandez said. “I knew I’d want to go to Boston, I’d want to go to Portland, I’d want to rely on myself to get groceries.” The requisite college carload of supplies and dorm room decor wouldn’t have translated well to a trip by flight; Hernandez calls driving to school “a practicality.”

Simply getting from point A to point B, driving primarily on highways, can dull the experience – Hernandez has trouble staying awake at the wheel after two or three hours – but reflection tends to sweeten the experience.

He considers himself a good driver. He’s gotten one speeding ticket. Tonight, on his drive through Old Town, he keeps both his hands on the wheel and leans forward, alert. He keeps the music from his iPod at a reasonable volume.

He talks about his most memorable trip – the first one, the one where his car got wrecked.

Hernandez, 18 years old at the time, was in Abingdon, Va., 1,000 miles into the inaugural Texas-to-Maine excursion, accompanied by his 20-year-old brother, Alexys. A miscommunication between the two over whether to enter traffic ended catastrophically.

“A truck came out of nowhere and just nailed us,” Hernandez says. There was $6,500 of damage to his car and the nearest “big town” was two hours away.

“We ended up with all of my stuff going into my dorm just sprawled out right off the highway,” he says. In a stop-and-go trip that took them via train and rental car to New York, Boston and eventually Orono, Hernandez’s possessions were packed and unpacked a handful more times.

“It was a huge load of stress,” Hernandez says. “But a few months later you look back at it and you think, ‘Damn, that was so much fun.’ Because I’ll have stories to tell, like, I jumped in a car, and I was exhausted and wanted to fall asleep right then, and we still had to drive six hours. And then we ended up in New York, having a blast.”

- – -

Hernandez’s Texas license plate can’t boast Orono’s furthest pilgrimage – those rights belong to the Alaska plates of Chantrelle Cousins and Cari Gill.

Cousins drove from Maine to her native Homer, Alaska with her boyfriend Mike in the summer of 2007. They covered 18,000 miles round-trip in her new Subaru Outback, purchased in accordance with the expedition. One dog, Dasie, a malamute golden retriever, rode with them for the first leg, and another, Jada, an American bulldog-husky mix joined them for the ride back.

The trip took Chantrelle and Mike through 26 states with plenty of sightseeing detours. Her longest shift behind the wheel without changing passed the drive with an audio book.

“We’ve done it . jeez, I can’t even count it on my hand,” Cousins said of the trip from Maine to Alaska; she has family in both states. Without constraints like time and money, Cousins would opt to drive to and from school every time, she said.

“I prefer to see things rather than fly over them,” she said. She loves traveling and echoes T.S. Elliot’s idea that it is the journey, not the destination that matters.

Second-year student Cari Gill flew to UMaine her first year, but road tripped to Orono last summer. She purchased a 2005 Volkswagen Jetta in Everett, Wash., fearing her truck would not last the trip from her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. A UMaine soccer player, Gill needed to arrive in Orono early for preseason.

“I started planning it out a month in advance. My dad was like, ‘What are you doing? Just get an old map and we’ll go wherever the road takes us,’” Gill said. She threw away her Google Maps printouts after the first day of their 3,300-mile voyage. They visited the site of Custer’s Last Stand, Mt. Rushmore and Gettysburg.

“I’ve always loved driving,” she said. She and her father took turns, driving three to four hours each. “You sit in a car long enough with the same person, you get to know them.”

“We were pretty leisurely about our time,” she said. They drove four-and-a-half days. One of her favorite memories is discovering in North Dakota that antelope exist in the U.S.

“I think it was one of those lifetime experiences that you wouldn’t give up for anything,” she said of the trip.

Her license plate is a talking point in Maine.

“You’re just sitting in your car and you see people walking by going, ‘Look, that girl’s from Alaska!’” An acquaintance of Gill’s at an Old Town diner knows her only as “Alaska.”

Gill is unsure when she’ll drive the full trip to Alaska, guessing next summer or after college.

There is another change revolutionizing the information business – the Obama administration.

As I drove to Thriftway to pick up a pack of cigars – Black and Mild wines, criticize as you will – I heard it on “All Things Considered.” I’d read it in The New York Times and several other papers. I knew it would happen, the storm was on the horizon and I spotted it the day I learned of what was, at the time, the president-elect’s podcast. “According to Obama’s weekly podcast.” There it was. The attribution.

Our president embraces technology. Subscribers to the president’s podcast can watch or listen to his pre-scripted addresses weekly. This can be great for citizens, as they feel informed and perhaps a more direct connection to the executive. The problem is how this PR affects all other information. It is not reporting.

To use something scripted that a public official says is against all good reporter instincts, in my book. It isn’t that reporters should not cover press conferences. That is silly. But by parroting what the script says and presenting it as news rejects real reporting that nails officials to the wall when necessary and asks the tough questions to best inform the public. It’s laziness.

When it comes to television news, Obama frequently asks for airtime. And networks give it to him. Mind you, sometimes this is in the form of Q-and-A with reporters, but for the most part it is press conferences. Pre-packaged information he can spit out.

Sarah Palin, who took a drastically different approach with the press, made a good argument at the vice-presidential candidate’s debate: “I like being able to answer these tough questions without the filter, even, of the mainstream media kind of telling viewers what they’ve just heard. I’d rather be able to just speak to the American people.”

The trouble with this is that there is a filter, Sarah. The filter is your speech writer and team of PR people who chose your words weeks, if not months, before.

America needs its press – if only for its fact-checking abilities. We know public officials are prone to fibbing, and newspapers hold those officials to what they say. Where informal bloggers and your uncle Frank will tell you how much of a liar a candidate is, it is the media’s job to be watchdogs and, attempting to have no political bias, tell you what is going wrong – where the blips are in the status quo.

I enjoy the transparency under this presidency, as it allows me to do better reporting by easily finding public records that may have required me to file Freedom of Information Act requests before. The problem is lazy journalism. In a world where a reporter must take on 10 or more assignments a week it is tough to make call after call to the president’s office – especially when he already addressed the issues in his podcast. It comes down to the necessity for not just any information, but good information that requires asking tough questions and holding Obama – and any public official for that matter responsible for his or her promises.

Heather Steeves is news editor for The Maine Campus.

Student Government President Owen McCarthy proposed a rough plan the first week in February. Now Kenda Scheele, senior associate dean for students, predicts the Union will be open 24-7 before the end of the semester.

“We have about four different options,” said Scheele about dividing up the union.

The Marketplace will not be open, nor the computer cluster, which requires a small staff.

Administrators, along with Facilities Management and the fire marshal are working together to determine the best way to give students access to some food and study tables while minimizing costs.

Scheele predicted that Public Safety and security measurements will not need to be heightened, but security cameras may need to be added to the spaces.

Plans so far include keeping parts of the upstairs, such as the Commuter Lounge open, but fire and handicap accessibility regulations dictate that part of the downstairs must be open too, for bathroom accessibility.

“It’s really the only place we can do it,” Scheele said. “This is a lot easier to integrate, the way it is set up.”

McCarthy said the space will work as a place for students to study on campus.

“It allows you to have food and drink and allows you to take advantage of a lounge,” Scheele said. “It’s conducive to people who want to practice plays, to people who want to study.”

When asked about the importance of the project, McCarthy said, “Whether it’s necessary or not, it’s not going to cost any money, and we will find out if it is necessary.”

Residence Life employees of Edith Patch Hall suspected underage drinking in a second-floor room and called police at 12:32 a.m. March 22 when the residents became uncooperative. Officers found five underage students in the room. They all admitted to drinking. Through the doorway, an officer saw an unopened liter of Jack Daniel’s. The resident, Daniel Curtis, 20, denied the officer permission to search the room. The students wouldn’t tell officers where they had been drinking, but the resident assistant said they had recently left a party that had been broken up at the DTAV Complex. Curtis was charged for possession of liquor by a minor. The other students, Mathew Shannon, 20, Orono; Tyler McCaslin, 19, Orono; George Bragdon, 20, Orono, and Christopher Dubois, 19, Orono; were charged with possession of liquor by a minor by consumption.

An untimely declaration

In response to a report of an alcohol offense, officers knocked on the door of a fourth-floor room of Knox Hall and were immediately answered by a female who yelled, “I’m drunk!” at 1:45 a.m. March 21. The female, Megan Aydelott, 18, sat on the floor with four people. Around them were bottles of liquor: Captain Morgan’s, Kahlua, Baileys Irish Creme and Bacardi Lemon. Aydelott was charged with possession of liquor by a minor.

Liquor is quicker

An officer approached a second-floor room of Knox Hall to address a noise complaint and heard several loud voices yelling, “Give her more vodka!” at 1:06 a.m. March 21. The officer was allowed into the room and found resident, Allison Ahern, 20, to be extremely intoxicated. The bottle of vodka in question was actually filled with water. People were trying to trick her into drinking it by convincing her it was vodka. When questioned, she said she’d had three, four or five drinks at Orchard Trails. She was charged with possession of liquor by a minor by consumption.

The scarlet liter

Residence Life staff reported underage drinking and uncooperative residents on the first floor of Knox Hall at 12:39 a.m. March 21. Police found the door of the room open with two males standing in the doorway. Officers looked into the room and saw a table with red cups placed on it in the formation of a well-known drinking game. Inside were three more people. Officers found two open cans of beer near the door, one under the bed, two on a desk and two on the table. Resident Thomas Errico, 19, was charged with furnishing a place for minors to consume. Imre Kormendy, 19, Orono; Nicholas Ceffalo, 18, Orono; Rachel Franklin, 18, Kingston, RI; and Sarah Humphrey, 19, Kingston, RI, were charged with possession of liquor by a minor.

A mysterious apparition

An Estabrooke Hall RA saw a bottle of liquor inside a room of underage residents and called police at 10:13 p.m. March 20. A male answered the door and officers could see a six-pack of beer on the floor inside the room. The officer met the two female residents and looked around the room to find a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila, a Smirnoff martini mix on the bookshelf and several half-filled bottles of vodka in the closet. Residents Autumn Landry, 19, Orono, and Vivienne Cyr, 19, Orono, stated they didn’t know where the alcohol came from. Both were charged with possession of liquor by a minor.

Floored

Police responded to a report of an intoxicated female in the fourth-floor study lounge of Hart Hall at 3:10 a.m. March 22. A resident saw her lying on the floor when she left her room to use the bathroom. Officers identified her as Sara Breau, 19, Orono, and issued her a summons for possession of liquor by a minor. An ambulance transported her to the hospital.

Out of state, out of mind

Police responded to the third floor of Knox Hall to report of an intoxicated female in need of medical attention at 3:10 a.m. March 21. Because of her level of intoxication, officers had a difficult time identifying her. Eventually they learned that she was 18 years old and a student at an out-of-state university. Officers located the friend she was staying with and transported her to the hospital for treatment.

Where there’s smoking.

An officer responded to the report of a trashcan on fire outside Hauck Auditorium near the bus stop at 3 p.m. March 20. He found a cigarette receptacle on fire and put it out with a fire extinguisher. Orono Fire responded and determined the fire was caused by a discarded cigarette.

A commons dilemma

Police were called to Hilltop Commons at 7:23 p.m. March 23 to confront a man who had previously received a letter from the Dean of Students Office stating he wasn’t allowed in campus residence halls or dining halls. The man, Bradley Yates, 20, Nobleboro, was located eating on a countertop in the dining hall and was charged for criminal trespass.

Duffle, shuffled

A student using the Student Recreation and Fitness Center had his duffle bag stolen from the men’s locker room at 7:44 p.m. March 21. Inside the bag was his wallet with ID cards, $18 in cash and a Sugarloaf ski pass. The bag also contained a Nokia 5263 phone, a set of keys, an American Eagle spring jacket, jeans, two white shirts, a blue towel and tan swim shorts. Total estimated value is $373. The case is under investigation.

The better team prevailed in the decisive third game of the Hockey East quarterfinal series with a 6-2 win and advanced, but not without a renewed sense of the reputation UMaine hockey carries.

“We were very pleased with how our players competed on the weekend,” coach Tim Whitehead said. “We were able to earn some respect and really build some momentum, build some excitement towards next season.”

After winning just two games in the second half of the season, the Black Bears clung to the final Hockey East playoff spot and drew the number one seed as their first round opponent. Anyone who walked off the street into the arena Friday night who was unfamiliar with the playoff picture could have easily been convinced it was a 4-5 matchup.

The Black Bears struck first in Game 1 with a power-play goal, only to have the Terriers squelch their upset aspirations with two goals of their own, the second coming with just 2:56 remaining in the third period.

UMaine returned the following night and allowed a shorthanded goal in the first period, leaving them with a 3-1 deficit to overcome, and BU fans a chance to leave their seats and purchase tickets to the semifinals.

The offense that averaged just over two goals per game in the regular season not only tied the game at three in one 30-second burst before intermission, they went on to score three more after that without a response from their opponent and won 6-3 to force a third game. It was the first time BU had allowed three goals in a period and more than five goals in a game all season.

The Black Bears finished the year at 13-22-4 (7-17-3 Hockey East), after opening the season going 10-5-1. It was their second straight 13-win season.

“Unfortunately, your record in sports is pretty much where you’re at, from the outside looking in,” Whitehead said. “But within the locker room, our players and coaches do feel that we were very close to putting together a very strong season, but unfortunately it didn’t happen that way.”

Preseason expectations were defined for the fifth-youngest team in the country. The Alfond faithful expected nothing short of a twelfth trip to the Frozen Four from the roster filled by 19 underclassmen. By the end of the season, the questions of what could have been returned for those remembering Ben Bishop, Teddy Purcell and Andrew Sweetland, who all left UMaine early to turn pro.

“Obviously life isn’t always fair, and we’ll never know just how good we could have been this year with Purcell, Sweetland, Bishop, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we would have been pretty darn good,” Whitehead said.

“We have to forge ahead, and control what we can control, and that’s our effort, and our focus, and our rebuilding process. We’re going to continue to do that, and we’re excited about the direction we feel our team is going to be going next year.”

Anticipation builds as the Black Bears enter the offseason. There is reason for optimism as UMaine graduates four seniors. Matt Duffy’s blistering slapshot and 6-foot-7 Simon Danis-Pepin’s reach will be missed on the blue line, as will the aggressive presence of forwards Chris Hahn and Jeff Marshall, but the top scoring line of freshmen wingers Gustav Nyquist and Brian Flynn and sophomore center Tanner House will return along with a stingy defensive core.

Nyquist was the team’s leading scorer with 32 points on 13 goals and 19 assists and was selected to the Hockey East Pro Ambitions All-Rookie Team. Flynn and House followed with 25 and 24 points respectively.

Jeff Dimmen (6 goals, 9 assists) and Mike Banwell (2 and 6) are expected to lead the defensemen as juniors, along with soon-to-be sophomores Will O’Neill (4 and 12) and Ryan Hegarty (0 and 3). Hegarty is recovering from a neck injury that kept him off the ice for the playoff series.

Brett Carriere (2 and 0) will be among four seniors. He and O’Neill showed versatility by playing in both offense and defense positions this season.

The goaltending tandem of Dave Wilson and Scott Darling will have behind them a year of experience, in which both saw significant playing time. Darling saw the bulk, though, when Wilson was injured in the final month. Darling was 10-14-3 with a 2.76 goals against average and three shutouts in 27 games in his freshman campaign. Wilson played in 10 games after backing up Bishop in his first two seasons. He compiled a 3-8-1 record and a 2.82 GAA.

Special teams was the consistent backbone for UMaine’s ability to stay in games. At one point the penalty kill was ranked as high as sixth best in NCAA Division 1. Close games often failed to end in their favor though, as they lost 11 one-goal games.

“There were a lot of positives, and that’s what we’re going to focus on now, in addition to working on improving our weaknesses as we head into next season,” Whitehead said.

A highly-touted recruiting class is expected to make an immediate contribution to the anemic offense. Among incoming freshmen are forwards Joey Diamond (top scorer for Ontario Junior A Hamilton) Manchester Junior Monarch’s Kelen Corkum (Son of UMaine Associate Head Coach Bob Corkum), Adam Shemansky and Matt Mangene, and Notre Dame Transfer Robin Bergman.

“We’re looking forward to another strong recruiting class coming in next year. We certainly believe they can help us right away, and that will be a big plus,” Whitehead said.

The Black Bears will meet with fans one last time before parting for the offseason. The annual Awards Banquet will be held on Friday, May 8 at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer. Information is available on the UMaine Athletics Web site.

It is with great dismay that I read Heather Steeves’ article of March 22, in which it was reported that Chancellor Pattenaude is announcing likely layoffs.

Of course, and this is difficult to say, it was reported that financial aid to students “is currently the hardest hit.”

As an alumnus (M.A. in Economics, 1996) I am relieved to know the chancellor need not worry about his job. We all know that a university can function without students, without faculty, and even without heat.

But a chancellor and his staff constitute the heart of a university system. After all, would UMS look as prestigious if it didn’t model itself after Wall Street? Please, keep the chancellor’s office!

- Kevin M. McCaron

Washington, D.C.

Web Comments: Change we can believe in

RE: Reinforcing the Obama Brand

Obama brand is going to be a 3.6 trillion dollar budget with a 1.55 trillion dollar budget deficit. Change you can believe in.

- Mike

Emily Fortin kneeled on the floor gluing pictures of important people in her life to a cloud-colored posterboard. Her flowing handwriting mingled with her pictures, leaving quotes of inspiration for viewers.

“Being creative can make you feel beautiful,” she said.

Fortin sat among seven other women gathered on the floor and couches of Fernald 102 – the Women’s Resource Center.

The women, all members of the Student Women’s Association, or closely affiliated with it, were holding an art night to create displays for their upcoming event, The Beautiful Project.

SWA is a self-described “progressive, feminist student organization, open to all women . and offers opportunities for political as well as social activities,” according to its Web site.

From a mound of clippings and art supplies, the women were creating their ideas of beauty. Their completed artwork will hang in Memorial Union on April 25 during the all-day event.

“Art is one of the best ways to portray that [beauty],” said Amy Marchessault, a member of SWA.

The project will bring women’s resources and advice to the union. Speakers are set to speak from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a small break for lunch. Topics include midwifery, “fat liberation” and sexuality.

University of Maine officials will be taking part as well as outside lecturers. Sisters Supporting Sisters, an ethnic women’s group on campus, and Sandy Caron – a professor best-known for her human sexuality course – will both speak.

Starting at 10 a.m., sorority tables, art displays, women athlete, tables, books geared toward women, and information on alternate feminine hygiene products will be available to the public.

“Men are invited too,” Fortin was quick to add while explaining the event. The other women chimed in while fast at work with scissors, paint and magazines.

The Beautiful Project will end the day with entertainment from Renaissance, the Steiners and Euphony.

“It’s all about reinforcing rights of women,” Fortin said.

The event will be held the same day as the HOPE Festival, a peace celebration sponsored by the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine. The 15th annual event will be held at the Student Recreation and Fitness Center.

The Beautiful Project has been missing from the scene since 2003, but they hope to collaborate with the HOPE Festival during its comeback. Current members of SWA ran across the idea of the project while searching archives and decided it was time to breathe new life into the endeavor.

The women began planning the project shortly after Take Back the Night last fall and have been working on it since. Taking a short break to produce and act in “The Vagina Monologues,” the women meet once a week for a SWA meeting, which has now blended into a planning committee for The Beautiful Project.

As the women chatted about the beauty of old women, being in love, pro-life demonstrations, climate change and National Public Radio, it was evident they were a close-knit group. The time commitment to the group was clear.

Abbie Strout, a leader of SWA, placed a small round mirror in the center of her art project. Fellow leader, Hannah Pennington, teased her quickly, and Strout laughed.

“It’s our idea of beauty,” she said.

“I wish I had more pictures of older members of my family, because I think they’re really elegant and beautiful,” said Alissa Brown, a first-year member of SWA.

She glued pictures of her relatives and friends to her poster as the group continued to chat.

At 10 a.m., VP for Administration and Finance Janet Waldron will give a presentation on the university budget, both in the past and future. Following the presentation a three-member panel, including Waldron and President Robert Kennedy, will answer questions.

The Maine Campus will also be tweeting the discussion and Q-and-A session on Twitter (Twitter.com/TheMaineCampus), and users will be able to ask questions via Twitter or e-mail (web@mainecampus.com).

The stream will start at 9 a.m. in anticipation for the discussion at 10 a.m. Visit mainecampus.com to learn how to watch. Please note: You must have Quicktime installed on your computer to watch. You can download it for free at Apple.com/Quicktime.

A little background info, courtesy of the interwebs. The Imperial Orgy is a cross-media art and activism project founded by Caeser Pink, lead songwriter and vocalist on the album.

The band’s Web site says, “Whether musically or socially, the Imperial Orgy excludes the prejudiced. The music fan who limits their tastes to a particular style of rock and roll, or who are uncomfortable with a socially open environment, will surely find some aspect of the Imperial Orgy offensive. But for those who have no restraints to hold them back from savoring the feast … the Imperial Orgy is waiting.”

That sums it up better than I ever could. With that in mind, let’s move on to the review portion of our programming.

Upon looking at the cover, which features a dinosaur, Mickey Mouse with a Nazi armband and a rather peeved-looking black child with an assault rifle, I thought I was in for lo-fi outsider music or post-punk insanity. Checking out the song lyrics before listening to the album only further supported my assumption. “All God’s Children” includes lines such as “Goddamn, I don’t understand / How your religion makes you kill a man / Jesus Christ, it just doesn’t seem right / All God’s children wanna fuss and fight / Holy s— ain’t it time to quit / If that’s your religion don’t believe in it.”

Boy, was I wrong in speculating the sound about to hit my ears.

The first track, “Mickey Mouse World,” exposes Caeser Pink’s old-timey rock ‘n’ roll stylings. Caesar’s voice is reasonably melodic, and the music is genuine danceable fun rock. There are even sultry female back-up vocals and “woo-ooohs.”

All three songs – yes, three, it rings in just under 12 minutes – after the first track follow suit. Catchy pop-rock hooks, surf beats and homage to classic rock icons like Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith fill out this surprisingly fun do-it-yourself album.

The best song, by far, is “Dinosaurs (A True Story),” which may or may not be about a one-night stand with Robert Plant. Enough said.

Of all the words I could choose to describe Caeser Pink & The Imperial Orgy, I would choose “fun.” Surprisingly, this album has gotten stuck in my head more than any other album I’ve listened to for a while. The thinly-veiled political messages aren’t anything groundbreaking or shattering, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t have me tapping my foot and singing “My baby’s in love with Robert Plant” at the top of my lungs.

Grade: B