Free tax preparation workshops at Alexandria and Woodbridge can help students save the money of a tax preparer.

Tax season is rapidly approaching, and with it the stress of complicated tax laws. However, with free tax preparation workshops at NOVA and special tax credits for students, there are many ways to make the season easier.

There are several tax provisions that are designed to help students. One is the Hope Credit which can provide $2,500 for education expenses; the other is the Lifetime Learning Credit that affords a broad range of tax refunds for educational expenses.

The Hope Credit is available to students completing their first two years of college, who are working on a degree, and who are enrolled at least half time. Even though the tax is called a credit, it is not refundable. In other words, if the credit is more than the amount paid in taxes no extra money will be granted.

The Lifetime Learning Credit pays 20 percent of the first $10,000 spent on educational expenses. The Lifetime Learning Credit also can be used by more students, including those pursuing graduate and professional goals.

NOVA, in partnership with the Northern Virginia Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope Campaign, holds tax workshops from January to mid-April to help low income, and those with low English proficiency file taxes.

Volunteers are trained in tax preparation basics and in special tax credits. They can also assist in free electronic filing of taxes. The campaign is part of a broader initiative run by the IRS, which trains and certifies volunteer tax preparers.

Tax preparation is held by appointment only at the Alexandria and Woodbridge campuses. An appointment at the Alexandria campus can be scheduled by calling 703-845-6222. To make an appointment at the Woodbridge campus, call 703-878-5684. More locations throughout the Northern Virginia area for these tax workshops can be found at nvacash.org

Harvey Jacobson holds up a portrait of Scott Joplin.

On a dull rainy day the sounds of Scot Joplin lit up the Alexandria’s campus library. In honor of Black History Month, Professor Harvey Jacobson played the sounds of that famous African-American composer and pianist.

Around 100 students gathered in the lobby of the library to hear the music on Feb. 23. “This was the first time a concert had been held in the library” according to Dr. Jimmie McClellan. While not the first time NOVA’s Alexandria campus has had a concert, the library seemed a fitting place for the late 19^th century musical genius.

“Many of you have not heard ragtime,” McClellan said while introducing the pianist. Biomedical student and piano player Diego de la Torre said he didn’t know what ragtime was and stopped by just because he “wanted to hear it.”

Several Joplin pieces including the Entertainer, Weeping Willow Rag and the Maple Leaf Rag were played as surprised students walked through an ordinarily much more subdued place. Many students interrupted their study at the library in order to be part of the standing room audience.

The half hour of music was nearly perfect and several students could be scene smiling as the intricacies of these rags filled the library. The rags were not played in the upbeat manner that some play ragtime. Jacobson does not believe in playing ragtime like Dixieland, he says that the beauty is “spoiled” when this happens.

While the concert introduced many students to the sounds of Joplin, Jacobson also hoped to let students know NOVA has a music program. With most Alexandria students enrolled in a science oriented program Jacobson wanted students “to share technology and arts.”

Joplin composed over 44 rags and one of his pieces, the Maple Leaf Rag, became the first ragtime hit. While his turn of the century music had a profound impact it was not until the 1970s that Joplin’s work became widely admired again. Joshua Rifkin recorded his pieces, selling over a million albums. Shortly after that the movie The Sting was released, featuring several of Joplin’s compositions.

Harvey Jacobson teaches and tutors piano study at the Alexandria campus. He has also performed at places such as the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Harvard University. He holds three degrees in music, and one certificate from George Mason for community college education.

An African American History II class on the Alexandria campus recently had a special guest speaker, the co-founder and CEO Dr. Ayize Sabater of Mentors of Minorities in Education’s Total Learning Cis-Tem – also known as M.O.M.I.E’s TLC. Dr. Joseph Windham introduced Sabater, a former student of his at Morehouse College. Sabater spoke about how his non-profit organization is using progressive history to nurture at risk children of color and help them achieve positive educational outcomes in the District of Columbia.

Sabater was raised in Brooklyn, NY, referred to as “Crooklyn” or “Brooknam” by his childhood friends. In his day, a soldier was “more likely to survive Vietnam than a black man was to survive to adulthood in Brooklyn.”

Walking the fine line between a strict mother’s requirement of academic excellence and his peers’ standards of underachievement, Sabater was a solid B minus / C plus student. “In the hood it’s cool to be a fool,” he mused to a spellbound audience as he burst into a jovial, high-pitched laughter that was infectious. High school history teacher Dr. Garofalo made all the difference. She made history come alive for Sabater. Garofalo saw through the juggling act and believed in him.

In turn, a passion for history was born in Sabater. Garofalo encouraged him to look into Morehouse College in Atlanta. Morehouse, established in 1867, is the only black men’s college in the nation which promotes academic excellence and community service as its core values. Sabater followed through.

While attending Morehouse, Sabater hungered for the American dream and decided to become an entrepreneur. He chose business as his major until a professor of one of his classes informed him that there was more to life than making a lot of money. The professor posed a question to him, what did he really love? History, Sabater answered.

Sabater felt that he had a debt to pay to society because of all that his teachers had given him by investing in him as a human being. “Each one has to reach one,” Garofalo had told him back in high school. After reading Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s Mis-Education of the Negro Sabater convictions only strengthened.

Before that Sabater argued with Dr. Becker, his Constitutional Law professor at Morehouse, that racism did not exist today. However, numbers do not lie. “How can 15% of the population occupy 50% of the prisons? Why is the number of incarcerated black men higher than the college enrollment of black men? Why is the unemployment rate of black men 20% while the total unemployment rate 10%? And in some areas of D.C. the unemployment rate is 75%.” With statistics like that it is clear that the political, social, educational and economic systems in this country are failing the African American male population, according to Sabater.

It was in his History classes that the individual stories of history’s heroes came alive in vivid color and where the early model for M.O.M.I.E’s TLC began to come together. In those History classes, Sabater studied the lives of Phyllis Wheatley, Booker T. Washington, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and Irene Sendler. They are the same figures that M.O.M.I.E’s clientele learn about today. “Great people have lived before you, great people are living right now, and you are great too,” Sabater says to them. Then he questions them as to what can they do about global warming, working with senior citizens, and other social issues.

The Children’s Black History Museum, a mobile interactive art exhibit showcases the work of the children, is an important component of M.O.M.I.E. Each year, the museum exhibits the work for one week at a fixed location. The museum attracts an estimated 500 patrons during its exhibit from Feb. The art exhibit includes the drawings of historical figures such as Robert Clemente, Abraham Lincoln, and Nina Simone.

M.O.M.I.E’s is raising money to purchase a vacant row house on Georgia Avenue across the street from Howard University. The goal is to renovate the structure from a 1500 square foot building into an eco-friendly 5800 square foot facility out of which M.O.M.I.E’s will operate and where the children’s artwork will be on display permanently.

Recently M.O.M.I.E’s children learned about Aung San Suu Kyi, the prime minister of Burma, who has been under house arrest 14 out of the past 20 years according to Newsweek Magazine. They were so moved that they decided to write to the Burmese Embassy to demand her release. They “are getting it…nurture the genius in children,” Dr. Sabater said to the NOVA students and went on to say, in the words of Gandhi, “It is up to each individual to be the change we hope will come to pass.”

You can learn more about M.O.M.I.E’s TLC online at www.momiestlc.com.

Jonathan Sprinkles gives a motivational speech to a group of NOVA students at the Annandale campus.

If one needed encouragement to counter balance the negative daily news regarding the employment and the economic downturn, the Ernst Cultural Center Theater on the Annandale campus was the place to be on Wednesday, Feb. 24. Author, entrepreneur and public speaker Jonathan Sprinkles was the special guest speaker on that afternoon.

Still a believer that the United States is the land of opportunity, Sprinkles said that he loves visiting this part of the country. One can talk to someone expecting one thing and get something completely different, the answer could come in any language under the sun.

This was evident during the course of conversation with one taxi driver from Ghana. Sprinkles asked the man why he had come so far to pursue his education. “In my country if you’re born poor you die poor,” the man replied. “Here no matter where you start out, you can choose where you finish.”

In America more money is spent on trash bags annually than all accumulated goods purchased yearly in some of the world’s poorest nations. “Somewhere in the world someone is praying for your problems,” Sprinkles asserted. According to him, immigrants to the United States are four times more likely to become millionaires than natural born citizens because of one word – choice.

Though many have experienced pain and disappointment and may ask, “Why me?” the motivational speaker turned the question on its head asking, “Why not me?” Obstacles shape us into the people we will become. Once one has suffered, that person is less likely to judge someone else in the same situation and more likely to help solve problems.

Eight years ago Sprinkles walked away from an $82,500 salary as a sales representative at Dell, Inc. to embrace an unknown future pursuing his passion, public speaking. A couple of years ago that same company hired him to speak at an event on leadership.

People may discourage noble endeavors, asking “Have you finished that associates? How is that business going? Have you gotten rid of that credit card debt?” Sprinkles told his audience to reply, “Stay tuned, it’s coming. The end is better than the beginning. Don’t let an underachiever determine what you can or can’t do. You were born an original – don’t be a copy.” If we accept the best and worst things that happen to us happen for a reason, then it is easer to take chances in life. As Sprinkles told his audience, “Why live a good life when you can live a great one?”

You can learn more about Jonathan Sprinkles at www.jsprinkles.com.

Many questions still remain on the effectiveness of the stimulus act.

As the US inches closer to being in default many are wondering if the multibillion dollar stimulus worked. That answer seems to depend on which side of the political spectrum one is on. Ask Obama and he’ll say yes, ask the congressional Republican leadership and surely you’ll get a no. However, there are clear facts that sort out the political claims.

First, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, colloquially known as the stimulus, must be evaluated for what it was created for. It was designed to save and create jobs. It was also written to create economic growth and increase accountability and transparency in government spending. Lastly, the stimulus was designed to be a multiyear spending package, designed to reduce the likelihood of a double dip recession.

The act has already created two million jobs, while in the year that the law has been in place two million jobs have been lost. The stimulus act did not create new net jobs. However, it kept two million workers off the unemployment rolls, and it helped to remove the economy from the worst of the recession.

Accountability has also been present. The bill required the creation of Recovery.gov, a website that enables citizens to track and for data geeks to more deeply analyze data that can shine new light on spending.

The multiyear stimulus is still in progress. Many of the infrastructure projects will start this summer, providing more construction related jobs. The stimulus money is less than half spent, leaving plenty of opportunity for more help to a hurting economy.

There is also confusion over what the stimulus did. The stimulus money never went to banks. A January CNN poll found there was much confusion about the bank bailout and the stimulus. Over half of Americans believe the stimulus money went to “bankers and investors.” In fact the only institutional bailout in the stimulus was towards cash strapped states.

The so called bank bailout, which is technically known as the Targeted Asset Relief Program was a separate piece of legislation, initiated by the Bush administration, and cost about $700 billion. Most would think spending money on infrastructure projects, which creates many jobs for the working class, is good. Handing billions to irresponsible bankers? Not so popular. No wonder politicians like Sarah Palin have said the stimulus was loaded with “corporate giveaways,” linking it with the highly unpopular bank bailout.

The stimulus has succeeded in creating and saving jobs. Billions have gone to state and local governments, allowing them to preserve jobs, such as teaching, that otherwise would have been axed as local governments deal with income problems of their own.

However, despite the bill’s successes Republican opposition has been strong. Former presidential candidate Ron Paul criticized the bill for “accomplishing exactly what it was intended to accomplish – grow the government.” While there has been growth in the government to properly oversee the disbursement of the funds, most of this money has gone directly to states and private contractors working on a myriad of projects. The goal of the stimulus act was not to create a super government, with the populace dependent on government jobs. Its end result has not been that either.

Even more outlandish is the claim made by groups such as Americans for Tax Reform who say the stimulus has increased unemployment. This is simply untrue. Even without counting the private sector jobs created, thousands at the state level have been saved by increased funding in areas such as education.

The basis for ATR’s belief that the stimulus has only stimulated the government is a Congressional Budget Office report that said 80 percent of ARRA dollars went to programs like student aid, unemployment benefits and social security. This money in no way “stimulated” the government but transferred it to people that were likely to put the money immediately back into the economy. Students, the unemployed seeking work and the social security dependent likely spent the vast majority of their money. It went back to businesses, and that is how an economy grows.

Being just a year into the multi-year stimulus makes it too early to judge its fruits, but the stimulus so far looks successful. Two million jobs have been saved, government spending is more accountable and transparent and last quarter the economy grew nearly six percentage points. That sounds like a law that is meeting its goals.

NOVA midfielder Dustin Hennessy in action in the team’s first game on Thursday, February 25 against Mercyhurst North East College.

In their first ever game, NOVA’s men’s lacrosse team fell to Mercyhurst North East College on Thursday at Old Redskins Park in Herndon, 12-6.

After a quick opening goal by Mercyhurst, NOVA’s attackman Mitch Brown responded, scoring the team’s first goal to knot the game at one apiece.  Both defenses held strong as neither team managed a goal for the remainder of the opening quarter.  In the second quarter, the Saints tallied six unanswered goals to enter halftime leading 7-1.

In the third quarter, NOVA rallied with back-to-back goals by Mitch Brown and Simon Yi to cut into the deficit.   NOVA outscored the Saints 4-1 in the third quarter to stay within striking distance heading into the game’s final period.

Mercyhurst held off any additional late game heroics by NOVA scoring four goals in the fourth quarter.

“For our first game ever as a team we made some great strides and I am very proud of what we achieved,” said head coach Matt Blamey, making his debut as a college coach as well. “However, we know we have some work to do to continue to build this young team.”

Brown totaled three goals on the day to pace NOVA’s offense. Other contributors consisted of midfielder Landon Jones with two goals and one assist and Yi finished with one goal.  CJ Ward had a tremendous second half for NOVA in goal, notching 8 saves.

By Brian Anweiler

Police provided a photo of Jason Michael Hamilton, the suspect in the NOVA Woodbridge shootings.

Northern Virginia Community College students probably won’t see metal detectors installed anytime soon, but college officials are re-assessing security following a December shooting at the Woodbridge campus.

The college recently launched its Presidential Commission on Safety and Security and gave it until April 30 to review the adequacy of emergency resources put in place following the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre—the worst school shooting in the nation’s history.

“When your mind is focused like this, because of [the shootings], you’ve got that opportunity for not just a routine assessment, but one that’s really motivated by saying ‘look, that can’t happen here [NVCC], but it did happen here [NVCC],’” said college Vice President John Dever. “While looking at what did we do well—and there are many things that we did well—we’ll ask: “Are there any things that we should improve?’ ”

Police said that on Dec. 8, Dale City resident Jason Hamilton, 20, walked into a math class at the Woodbridge campus and managed to fire two round from a high-powered rifle at his professor before the gun jammed. The teacher hid behind a desk and no one was hurt.

Hamilton then placed the gun on the floor and was taken into custody by campus police. He’s now in jail on an attempted murder charge. A court date is set for March 15.

Investigators said Hamilton was unhappy with the professor and had low marks in the course. When shots rang out, students and teachers hid in classrooms behind locked doors as friends and family waited anxiously outside for police to secure the scene.

When the spring semester began last month at Woodbridge, students said professors talked briefly about the shootings, discussed safety procedures and urged students to report suspicious behavior.

“Some sarcastically said, ‘If you don’t like me or the way I teach, then please come and tell me,’ ” said 20-year-old student, Kelsea Williams.
Other Woodbridge campus students said professors are locking doors at the start of classes, something they are allowed to do following the shootings, Dever said.

After the Virginia Tech shootings, NVCC invested in technology that allows officials to send text messages and e-mails to students and staff.
The school also created offices of Emergency Planning and of Student Mental Health and Behavior. Dever said the emergency planning staff was key in teaching college officials how to manage emergency situations. After the December shootings, the staff injected clarity into a sea of confusion, keeping staff and students informed, he said.

In addition to armed gunman, or “active shooter” situations, Dever’s board of 22 members—made up of professors, department heads and the Woodbridge campus student body president—will also make sure the college is prepared to handle problems that could arise from severe weather, hazardous materials situations and any other public health or safety issues.

When finished, Dever said, the board’s recommendations should not change the overall feel of the campuses.

“We want very much to preserve the traditional setting and the openness of our campus communities, and for instance, I don’t expect metal detectors to be one of the recommendations that emerge. There are many ways to come onto our campus and into our buildings and into our classes, that is the way a collegiate institution is set up,” said Dever.

Thomas Blot, an IT student, said he’s noticed an increased security presence, but said he still feels safe on campus. “Just because one terrible thing happens doesn’t mean that this college is not a safe place,” he said.

This article first appeared in the News & Messenger on Feb. 25.

Dr. Joseph Windham talks to students and fellow professors about the historical stereotypes of black abolitionists.

During the summer of 2009, Dr. Joseph Windham, Professor of History at the Alexandria campus, attended a Yale University seminar, Passages to Freedom: Abolition and the Underground Railroad. The course was taught by Professors James and Lois Horton, graduates of George Washington University and George Mason University. The seminar series offered at The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History was designed to help teachers bring new life into teaching history. On Wednesday, Feb. 18, Windham led a lecture in the Bisdorf Building, sharing what he learned with NOVA students.

The Abolition Movement in the United States was one of the most intricate, successful grass roots movements in history. Over time, the profile of the individual abolitionist has been fictionalized by stereotypes such as being defined as that of religious pious and zealots. In reality, the movement was comprised of mostly working class, some middle class, and few upper class people. Politicians, milk men, Quakers, slaves, and African seamen all participated.

Abolition began with the slaves. “Slaves saw themselves as human beings. Something maintained that in their condition that made them resist,” Windham addressed his audience. The difference between anti-slave beliefs and abolitionists was that abolitionists put their belief into action. Slavery was the law of the land, and every man, woman and child had to enforce that law at the peril of their livelihood and freedom. The law penalized subverters with incarceration, property seizure, and death. Furthermore, if a runaway slave crossed paths with and went unnoticed by a white person, that white person could be imprisoned for it.

From the beginning, Africans were outnumbered, out-armed and faced disease caused by the wretched conditions of capture. These Africans were captured by rival clans and merchants in the interior of the continent then brought to the shores where most of the prepping and  sales actually took place. Suffering from abuse and physical trauma, the captured men and women faced a future of indefinite ownership and torture strengthened by their cultural memory, heritage, religion, and faith that things would get better one day.

Many slaves could communicate amongst themselves in the New World because many were captured from the same locales and transported together. Of all the Africans transported from their homelands, 90% went to Latin America. Of the remaining people, they did not come to America as slaves at first, but rather as indentured servants.

The first colonists did not believe in slavery. In The Infortunate: the Voyage and Adventures of William Moraley, ad Indentured Servant, an indentured servant was described as, “A laborer under contract to an employer for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for their transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities.” Poor Irish, Scottish, English and Africans were all indentured servants for the first 50 years of the colonies.

The eventual dehumanization of Africans in the 1660s changed the descriptions of Africans from Ashanti, Ebol and Bariba to Negro. Before this transition to a color-coded slavery system, people were never black, red or white.

Slaves fought for their own freedom since the Revolutionary War, on both sides. The first to offer freedom as an incentive were the British. “Lord Dunmore put up posters inciting slaves who ran away from their masters to fight for the British in exchange for their freedom,” Windham said. The ploy worked, and soon the colonists were making similar promises. The British were going to abolish slavery. However, after the war, most of the slaves who were promised their freedom were duped out of it.

Instead, many were taken north to Nova Scotia and Halifax, Canada. In the North, quasi-free Negro slaves were hired out and apprenticed, so they had marginally greater freedom of movement. They could not vote, participate in politics or hold any form of employment that competed with “white employment,” so from the beginning “Blacks were not allowed to have legitimate gainful employment. Employment was [racialized].”

It is a misconception that the Civil War was about anything other than racism and slavery. Some historians like to say it was about personal freedom versus tyranny. However, in truth, slavery isn’t incidental. “Go read Jefferson Davis…the confederate leaders say it [white supremacist ideology] clearly in their writings. They make Hitler sound like a boy scout,” Windham lectured as he explained codified racism.

The first laws written in the United States were segregation laws, which dictated that poor whites and poor blacks could not congregate in saloons, churches, stores, etc. unless the elite delegated it. “Humans are pragmatic though and are more humane than that. They understood that they needed each other. They were trying to improve their lives and they did what they needed to do.” Windham said that some in the late 1700s wanted to deal with slavery, to abolish it. It was an expensive system both economically and socially. Yet, the lure of free labor was too much for rich planters.

So when the Revolutionary War failed to address slavery, it came as no shock that the Constitution was written as a slave document. It included the 3/5 compromise which stated that for political purposes each slave would represent 3/5 of a person. This fateful decision was feared to be the only way to agree to the union of the northern and southern colonies into one nation strong enough to gain freedom from England. It delivered political power into the hands of the rich southern planters. We need only to look at who the first presidents of the United States were. Of the first ten presidents of the United States, only John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams did not own slaves.

Some of the abolitionists that made huge contributions to the morale of enslaved African Americans included Benjamin Banneker, Rev. Richard Allen and Olaudah Equiano. Benjamin Banneker was the free African American surveyor, author, farmer, mathematician and astronomer of Baltimore, MD who helped engineer L’Enfant Plaza in Washington.

Reverend Richard Allen founded the first African American United Methodist congregation and was elected its first bishop. He and Absalom Jones founded the Free African Society. When slaves would run away to Philadelphia, they would seat them in their church in the center of the congregation. “In that way the congregation would see them and would take responsibility for them as a community,” Windham spoke as he looked into the eyes of a NOVA student.

Olaudah Equiano was born off of the Niger River and was kidnapped off of the coast and sold into slavery at the age of 11. At first he was treated well, but later he was sold to European slave traders and was taken aboard a slave ship where he witnessed the gruesomeness of the slave trade up close, and of which he gives an account in his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. As an adult, he acquired his freedom and became an abolitionist.  Windham told of his contribution to other slaves while he worked as a cabin boy on a slave ship was to give news to family members in Africa about their captured relatives back home.

During Black History Month, we cannot help but learn more about the American heroes who have done so much to build this country. Black abolitionists are as much a part of our past as slavery. As much as slavery and racism is a shameful and atrocious part of our history in this nation, when we accept the whole truth of it we move forward and treat each other with mutual respect, appreciating the strength in our diversity as a nation. “As much as we need to remember slavery, we need to understand that we abolished slavery and celebrate that,” Windham encouraged.

Students enjoying time off from studying in the Annandale Campus Gaming Club Lounge.

What’s better than playing video games at home, with all the lights off, just you and 5 million other people all connected by headsets? Playing with friends at school, that’s what. Video games have become more of a social past time than ever.

Let’s take a look at the past few years. Games like Halo 3, Gears of War 2, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and a multitude of other games have involved less single-player and more glorious, fragging multi-player action.

With such a drastic leap toward social gaming, why are some gamers still insisting on sitting alone in front of their consoles day after day, playing against opponents they don’t even know?

Truth be told, we probably all do it. It’s easy, convenient and how college kids roll. But, what if it was just as convenient, just as easy, and even more fun to play games at school?

A gaming room recently opened at NOVA’s Annandale campus. During the school day, it is not uncommon, when walking through the CF building toward the cafeteria, to hear cries of victory, the rat-tat-tat of gunfire, and John Madden saying, “Now here’s a guy who, when he runs, he goes faster!” Players of all shapes, sizes and skill levels line up to beat each other up, shoot each other in the feet and jump on each other’s heads.

The room itself is unassuming: four walls, five or six HDTV’s and all the latest gaming systems and games. What does it cost to use? Just the temporary loss of your NOVA ID and a lot of time. As expected, there are time limits for playing so that everybody gets to play. But fear not, you can stick around and play the winner of the next game.

Every game picked is there to be played by multiple players. You won’t see all the latest and greatest in single-player RPGs, or single-player anything, for that matter. After all, how much fun is it to watch the ending of a game that you have sitting at home, waiting to be finished, played by someone who isn’t you?

Sorry, PC gamers, nothing for you here. But why not head down to the cafeteria and see if you can’t get a mini-LAN party started up?

But you don’t have to go all the way to Annandale just to play a game of New Super Mario Brothers because there is a new gaming room coming to the Alexandria campus. According to Haroon Ismail, president of the Alexandria Student Government Association, it will open sometime around the week after spring break. Located in the Bisdorf Building’s international café – which is across from the cafeteria – it will be the center of the gaming community at Alexandria. It will also be the meeting place of the brand-new Gaming Interest Group, led by Cody Hart.

While still in the stages leading up to becoming a full-fledged club, it definitely has some followers. How often do you see students sitting around campus, playing a game of some kind to pass time between classes, who are more than likely running late? Chances are, they have signed up for, or are thinking of signing up for, the Gaming Interest Group.

Organizers are currently in the late stages of hiring and training students to work there.

It should be open soon, so keep your eyes out for signs. If you don’t find any, take a good listen. If you hear someone scream, “Ha! I beat you!” chances are it is open.

The finished lifecast of Chris Pilcher's face, made with a plaster-gypsum mix, and with a faux-metallic finish.

There I sat, my face covered in goop, my hair wadded up in a rubber bald cap and my chest covered in a barber’s drape. No, this wasn’t the result of a wild night out gone horribly awry, but art in progress. Lifecasting is an art form. It is also a lot of fun. The premise is simple: take a mold of someone’s face, hand or other body part using a substance called alginate, pour some plaster into the mold, and voilà! You have art!

In practice, it actually takes years of experience to do correctly, as something as simple as the wrong water temperature when making the alginate can result in a problem. And, of course, you cannot just take a cast of someone’s belly, stick it on a wooden board, and say, “Here you go, that’ll be 50 bucks.

Many lifecasts are painted after they finish drying.

But, you may ask, who practices such an art? Lots of people. There is a world-wide community of artists, called the Association of Lifecasters International, or ALI for short. Members range from part-time hobbyists to professional lifecasters. And, as chance would have it, NOVA is graced with the presence of one such member, NOVA Fortnightly’s own Kama Storie.

Based out of Fairfax, Storie has been lifecasting for 10 years, and the experience definitely shows. It isn’t easy, keeping the alginate out of a person’s airways, while simultaneously trying to spread it to the entire face before it starts to dry. Storie did a spectacular job of keeping one of my most basic and needed functions working. The whole process took about 30 minutes, including the time it took to mix the alginate and cut the plaster bandages.

So what exactly is the process?

It starts with a bald cap, keeping hair out of the face and therefore out of the path of the alginate. Then comes the relaxing cholesterol conditioning, which covers any and all facial hair so that it, too, does not stick to the alginate. After this is done, the alginate is spread all over the face, even over the eyes and the lips, but keeping the nostrils clear. Once this layer sets a little, another layer of alginate goes on, which is promptly covered with a plaster bandage, so that the mold will keep its shape.

From there, the mold is pulled off the face, and the person can take a nice, deep breath through his mouth. But that isn’t all. After the mold is completely dried and ready for casting, the artist mixes together a plaster made of gypsum and subsequently pours it into the mold.

Once the plaster has dried, the mold is cut away, revealing in stunning detail a replica of the subject’s face. From here on out, it is all down to creativity. The artist may paint pictures on the cast or coat it in a metallic paint, making it look like metal, or even simply leave it the way it is.

Many different body parts can be cast. The material used for the mold is the same material used by dentists to take molds of teeth and is therefore non-toxic. Many people have their children’s hands or feet lifecasted. Some people even have casts taken of babies before the babies are even born. These are called pregnant belly masks, and are usually decorated with pictures, writing or a mold of the mother’s arms holding the mask.

There are also many casts of adults holding hands with their children or spouses. Newlyweds often get a cast made of their hands sporting their wedding rings, and in some cases, the wedding rings themselves are even added to the finished mold, so that they never lose the ring.

Molds have been taken of animals: dogs, cats, lizards, snakes. You name it, they have probably had a cast taken of it. This is a good way for someone to remember a pet, even long after the pet has passed on.

Lifecasting is fun. It is different. And it looks very cool. If you want more information, or are interested in having it done to your own face, you can check out Storie’s web site at Body-soul.biz. More information is available on ALI at Lifecasting.org.