Mirror - Vol. 16, No. 18 - February 27, 1992

              The
FairfieldMIRRORS Volume 16 No. 18 Thursday, February 27, 1992 The Image of Fairfield
Jamie Cantwell Remembered for
His Laughter and Friendship
Christina Hennessy
Editor-in-Chief
As the quick-witted Jester
on the Jester and JD show on
WVOF, Jamie Cantwell, '92, made
people laugh and poked fun at the
comicality of human life. Last
Wednesday, however, he created
tears among his friends and the
members of the University com-munity
as they mourned his death
due to complications with diabe-tes.
Jamie died early Wednes-day
morning.
" I believe Jamie left
behind the legacy of having the
ability to make people laugh," said
Paul Peluso (JD), '92, who met
Jamie freshman year. Peluso has
been a friend and radio partner
since that meeting.
"Whenever things have
become sad or somebody has be-come
upset these past weeks, all
somebody had to do was bring up
a story about Jamie and one of his
antics and people started to laugh,"
Peluso added.
This ability to bring hap-piness
to others was a central part
of Jamie's life, according to those
he knew. During his time at Fair-field,
he used this ability in such
varied and demanding activities,
as Resident Advisor for Regis IV,
Peer Counselor, Freshman Facili-tator
and member of Alpha Sigma
Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society.
While he spent many
hours at his many activities his
involvement with the Regis RA
program was a very strong com-mitment.
"I think the most special
thing about Jamie was his work as
an RA," said Rev. Paul Holland,
S.J., assistant University Chaplin
and one of his close friends. "He
had a profound interest in each
person within the resident hall and
he served them beyond the call of
duty."
Fr. Holland added that he
was "great at making connections
with many people," and always
found a way of helping somebody.
This quality served him
well as he served as an RA for a
freshman floor for two consecu-tive
years. That period of adjust-ment
from home to college was
made smoother by Jamie's pres-ence,
according to the students on
his hall.
"Jamie was very easy
going and always was willing and
wanted to listen when you needed
to talk to somebody," said Pete
Pitucco, '95, a member of the hall.
"His programs and efforts
attempted to bring the floor to-gether,"
he said.
The students have put up
a bulletin board honoring Jamie
with poems, prayers and quotes.
"Jamie helped in adjust-ing
to the school as he not only was
a good listener, but he also was a
really good friend and somebody
you could trust," said another hall
resident, Kevin Garofoli, '95.
Jamie's dedication was
not only witnessed by the mem-bers
of his hall, but the other
members of the Regis Hall staff.
"He had such an open
mind to help people. He would
never give up in the face of a chal-lenge,"
said Mike Connolly, head
resident of Regis Hall.
"And his humor and
crazy antics made him approach-able
to all people, as he had the
tendency to break down barriers
while talking with others," he
added.
All these activities and
commitment to serve others, not
only made him a good student
leader, but a terrific friend to the
many who knew him.
"Jamie was a great guy to
be around and didn't have a mean
bone in his body," said Tom De-
Crescenzo, a senior, who had met
Jamie in his freshman year. "My
life would not have been as pro-ductive
and successful if it weren't
for Jamfe."
He had a quick smile for
everybody, said DeCrescenzo.
Adds Peluso, "He always
showed an incredible bravery to
stand up for his convictions. He
was strong in what he felt was right
and what was wrong."
Jamie had the ability to
inspire others to look out for others
and to find out what was really
important in the world and in each
other, according to those who knew
him best.
But all these qualities may
not have been as recognizable or
distinguishable as his laugh. When
mentioned to the floormates it is
called "distinguishable," and Fr.
Holland has described Jamie's
laugh as "infectious."
His ability to make people
laugh, look inward to what makes
oneself important and his desire to
help others, either through humor
or good advice, touched many as
was evident in the Memorial Mass
for Jamie that was celebrated the
Wednesday he died. The place
was overflowing with supporters,
friends and classmates.
"He was a man of com-passion,
wisdom and insight," said
Fr. Holland. "He will be greatly
missed."
As for Jamie, he told a
Mirror reporter this February for a
story on Jester and JD," It's good
to have dreams, that's why we open
all our shows with Gabriel's (Peter
Gabriel's, "On the Air") song, he
sings we make dreams come true."
Giovanni Lectures on Today's Youth
and Black Consciousness
Carrie Brown
Staff Writer
"It's better to take a chance
and be wrong than to be safe and
dull."
These words by Nikki Gio-vanni,
a poet and social commen-tator,
set the tone for her February
18 lecture, sponsored by the Visit-ing
Black Scholars Program.
With humorous anecdotes
and meaningful pieces of advice,
Giovanni had the soldout crowd at
the Quick Center laughing, clap-ping,
and cheering.
She voiced opinions on many
recent events such as the trial of
Mike Tyson, the Clarence Thomas
hearings, and the death of Alex
Haley.
Giovanni commented on
being a Visiting Black Scholar by
saying, "You either visit or you do
black."
"It's important that you find
a voice," she advised those who
wanted to become writers. "You
have to start at the beginning, go to
the middle, and end when you are
through."
"Most of you will want to
write, but you won't write. You're
afraid someone will laugh. If you
go through life without someone
laughing at you, you're doing
something terribly stupid," Gio-vanni
added, arousing much ap-plause
and laughter from the audi-ence.
One of her main messages
was directed to young people. "All
you can do with your life is the best
you can do. We will not accept
less." Giovanni feels it is the re-sponsibility
of young people to
change the future.
Labeling youth as a "really
pissy period," Giovanni said, "I
highly recommend the forties.
There's a lot to look forward to.
The only reason you're young is to
put the time in so you can enjoy
your old age."
She sees the young genera-tion
as the most intelligent and
knowledgeable generation on
earth.
"Life is not a game," she
said. "There are no winners and no
losers."
Giovanni believes a person
cannot be an observer in his own
life, but a participant. "You won't
have a whole lot to do with your
death, but you have a lot to do with
your life."
Giovanni has written 17
books which serve as a voice to
reach today's younger generation.
Currently an English professor at
Virginia Tech, she was the fea-tured
poet at the 1991 Holland
International Poetry Festival and
an Honors Week Visiting Profes-sor
of Humanities at Texas Chrsi-
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Nikki Giovanni photo: K. Guterl
tian University at Fort Worth.
She was also elected to the
Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in
1985 and has received the keys to
cities such as Dallas, New York,
Cincinnati, Savannah, and Miami.
Not only did Giovanni dis-cuss
life in general, but the achieve-ments
of blacks in society also.
"We need to celebrate what
black people have meant to Amer-ica,"
shesaid. "I come from a people
that are compassionate. Weremem-ber
pain. We who have suffered
don't inflict that suffering."
She described Alex Haley, a
former black author who died re-cently,
as a good writer and a
wonderful human being, a man
who gave much of his life and
money to help further the educa-tion
of young men and women.
Giovanni concluded her
program with a series of poems
about black childhoods, winter
love, and confused love, offering a
last poignant piece of advice. "If
anything is illogical, it's for Ameri-cans
to be mean. We can step into
a brave new world."
Coalition
Aims to
Help
Haitian
Refugees
Emily Okenquist
News Editor
Due to the violence and op-pression
facing Haiti after the Sep-tember
30 coup, residents fled the
country seeking safe custody in
the United States, but are now being
sent back, after the January 31 Su-preme
Court decision.
With Congress debating on
whether to allow them to remain,
concerned students are taking ac-tion
to stop this forced repatiation.
The Student Coalition for
Haitian Refugees, formed by six
students who served as Mission
Volunteers to Haiti last May, en-courage
members of the Univer-sity
to call and write to their Sena-tors,
Representatives, President
Bush, and Secretary ofState James
Baker to allow Temporary Protec-tive
Status (TPS) for Haitians until
their country's crisis is resolved.
"We might not change the
situation, but we can help it,"said
Doug Perlitz '92, a member of the
Coalition and one of the 1991 Hai-tian
Mission Volunteers. "We are
in a position to change their lives."
Perlitz and the five other Mis-sion
Volunteers, Mike Bonelli '92,
Joe Conti '92, Sue Jacavanco '93,
Colleen Leavitt '92, and Alison
O'Shea '93, have spoken to classes
and residence halls and gone to the
townhouses with petitions.
"This petition is to stop
Congress from deporting the Hai-tians
and allow them to have TPS,"
said Bonelli.
The Coalition also estab-lished
a hotline connected to the
offices of Senators and Congress-men
for students to voice their
opinions. With the Senate and
House close to voting on a deci-sion,
the more people who call and
write will put pressure on them to
allow the refugees to stay in Cuba.
The phone is available in the
Mulit-Purpose Room in the Ar-rupe
Center Monday through Fri-day
and will remain there as long
as it is effective.
Approximately 15,000 Hai-tian
refugees are in Cuba, but since
the first week of February, they
have been sent back to their home-land
at a rate of 250 a day. Upon
arrival, they are tortured, put in
prisons, and then many are killed.
"They're only seeking a bet-ter
life," said Perlitz. "If awareness
is created, that's an achievement."
In addition to the discussions,
petitions, and phone-ins, the Coa-lition
hopes to make other campus
organizations aware and invite
local Haitians to speak on campus.
"It's the least we can do,"
said Bonelli. "We want to help the
people who were so kind to us
when we were there last year."