There was once a time when black people could not join the military. There was also once a time when women could not join the military.
Fortunately, legislation passed in 1866 and 1942 , respectively, changed all of that and got the ball rolling on fighting discrimination in America.
Since the very beginning of our nation’s history, certain Americans have been chipping away at the foundation of prejudice and inequality in order to make a more democratic and equal United States – and we’ve come a long way.
Despite our progress over the years, however, there remains a group of people who still can’t choice to one of the most honorable things possible – serve their country in battle.
The people I am referring to here are homosexuals.
For years young men and women looking to join the military had to identify their sexual orientation on their enlistment form. And if they admitted to being gay, they were rejected.
Then in 1993 President Bill Clinton took the biggest leap in history for gay rights in the military when he signed the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. Basically, the bill said the government wouldn’t ask an enlisting private if he/she were gay as long as he/she didn’t say they were gay.
It was a compromise between banning homosexuals entirely and allowing them to serve while being open about their sexuality.
But the policy is not exactly justice.
As soon as a soldier admits to his/her sexual orientation, he/she is discharged.
This is the one of best examples of the lack of acceptance that has plagued this country since its earlier hour.
Whether or not a soldier is gay is nobody’s damn business. A soldier enlists in the military because he/she wants to serve the country and rejecting an aspiring private simply because of what he/she likes in bed is as discriminatory as anything I’ve ever heard.
But, good news might be on the horizon for homosexual patriots.
Representative Marty Meehan (D-Mass) has reintroduced a bill that would repeal the military’s policy on barring gays. It would allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve while open about their homosexuality.
Meehan proposed the bill last year with 122 co-sponsors, but it got squashed in the Republican-lead Congress. But this year the Dems have control and, thus, the bill has a better chance of passing.
According to Meehan, the bill now has more than 100 co-sponsors and seven freshmen.
It even has the support of three Republicans – one of which is Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida.
She says she is in favor of the bill because her husband, Dexter, was cared for by a lesbian nurse when he was wounded in combat in Vietnam.
But even with the increasing support, this whole thing is still pretty embarrassing.
Every member of the US Congress should be trying to get this bill passed. That is, at least, if they consider themselves real Americans.
The United States is supposed to be the land of equality and freedom. Whites, blacks, Orientals, gays/lesbians, fat people, short people, tall people should all be treated equal by the law.
Every time someone is treated differently because of who they are, it spits in the face of everything America is meant to be.
The US in supposed to the ‘home of the free’ and whenever a group of people that are a little different than the norm are discriminated against it is like someone wiping their mouth with the American flag.
Since the policy was signed into law, 11,000 soldiers – almost the amount as one army division – have been kicked out of the armed forces simply for coming out of the closet. Of those 11,000, 38 have been Arabic translators.
The people who sent us into Iraq and are now scrounging for more military recruits are the same people booting soldiers out because of what they like to do in their bedrooms.
Attention politicians: If you want to keep gays and lesbians out of the armed services, you are not real Americans. You are pseudo-American bigots and a disgrace to this nation.
Any citizen that is willing to take up arms to defend his/her country should be praised – not discriminated against when discovering what they like in the sheets.
Who the hell is writing the military protocol anyway? Tim Hardaway?
It’s certainly not the American troops – that’s for sure.
According to a survey conducted by both combat and non-combat units, 73 percent of US military members say they would feel comfortable serving with openly gay and lesbian comrades. And more than one in five soldiers polled said they already know for certain that someone in their unit is homosexual and that they are fine with it.
So don’t even try suggesting those pinheads that are opposed to gays and lesbians being in the military are trying to keep the best interest of the troops in mind. The soldiers say they’re fine with it. It is merely a bunch of idiotic, homophobic numbskulls that want discriminate against people to keep their own ‘ideal’ America intact.
Well, morons, enough is enough.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Mills always finds a way
She is a towering 6-foot-1. She is described by UMass coach Marnie Dacko as being the squad’s go-to player. She is also hands-down the best interview on the team. This she to whom I am referring is junior captain Kate Mills and – to this sportswriter – she has been the Massachusetts women’s basketball team’s Most Valuable Player this season.
The 21-year-old powerhouse is, more often than not, the biggest thing out there on the court. She has the strength of a bull and the touch of an angel. She uses her grit and strong build to outmuscle opponents under the basket, but stills maintains the poise and grace to throw the ball through the nylon. Rare it is that one sees her type of vigor cocktailed with such polished style and finesse. And if you think I’m exaggerating her dominance, just take a look at the stats.
She has amassed a total of 468 points in the regular season’s 29 games – an average of 16.1 per game (both marks are team-highs). And she doesn’t let her overwhelming altitude goes to waste, as she is second on the Maroon and White in rebounding, pulling down 194 total boards so far.
Impressed yet? Yeah, so am I – but I’ve just scratched the surface.
Mills manages to possess the qualities of two of the most polar-opposite players (in terms of height) in NBA history – she has the selflessness and passing ability of 5-foot-3 Muggsy Bogues and the impenetrable forcefield aspect of 7-foot-7 Manute Bol.
Third on the team with 70 assists, she doesn’t hesitate to shovel the ball off to a more-open teammate. And, having batted down an unprecedented 63 shots (a UMass single season record), she has a mind-boggling 56 blocks more than the team’s runner-up, senior forward Tamara Tatham.
It was, in fact, Tatham who Dacko expected to carry the team on her back, but it seems as though Mills has picked up that job.
She has been the high-scorer is a team-leading 14 games and has pulled down the most rebounds in nine of the season’s contests, second most on the Minutewomen.
Freshman guard Kim Benton started off her collegiate career the way every basketball player dreams of – she began draining threes left and right. When she’s on her game she gives the ball and the net a type of relationship that is nothing sort of romantic. But, on the extremely atypical night when the jump shot of the 5-foot-5 guard (this should give you a idea of exactly how small Mr. Bogues actually is) can’t seem to find its mark, Mills is always there to pick up the slack. You can rely on her to be moving around near the baseline looking for room to work with – and getting just enough of it to do her thing.
It’s just never a bad idea to dish it to #41 when she’s near the basket. She is shooting .539 from the floor and .821 from the free-throw line. She always uses her raw strength and natural ability to employ, what I have dubbed, the four steps of the official Kate Mills Style of Execution: 1.) Receive pass, 2.) Get one’s bearings and look for an option, 3.) Elevate, 4.) Use a little backboard and a lot of touch to deposit a 2-pointer.
And never did Mills use this seemingly-flawless method better than in UMass’ game versus Dayton University on Feb. 22.
She registered a career-high 28 points in the 66-58 win over the Flyers that temporarily put the Minutewomen in a four-way tie with Dayton, La Salle and Richmond for sixth place in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. (They are now the seventh seed.)
And this was no fluke, either.
It was actually the second straight game in which the Elkton, Md., native established a career-high in the points category.
The game before Dayton, a 75-67 loss to Xavier on the 18th, Mills racked up 25 points, passing her old personal record of 24. The 12 rebounds that she added in the losing effort allowed for her second consecutive double-double.
Last week, the A-10 finally recognized Mills’ excellence by naming her a third-team All-Conference selection.
Dacko says she is disappointed that UMass wasn’t represented by more players in the voting, which is conducted by the league’s coaches. But that should not take away from the honor bestowed upon Mills, who was a second-team All-Conference selection last season.
There are over 150 women’s basketball players in the A-10 and our Kate Mills has been placed among some of the finest.
First-team, second-team, third-team – it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that a panel of A-10 coaches has decided that one of our beloved Minutewomen is one of the top 15 players in the conference. Though, I’ll admit, she almost definitely should have been placed even higher.
The Maroon and White are leaving today for their first game in the ‘one-n’ you’re-done’ A-10 Tournament – a matchup against St. Bonaventure on Friday.
Though an immaculate trip to the tournament’s championship is unlikely, any success the Minutewomen have will stem from the performance of Mills.
Check this same exact page on Monday and if UMass is triumphant and Mills is not the main factor – color me surprised.
Either way, no matter what this weekend holds, next December take a seat in the Mullins Center for a women’s basketball game and when you ask yourself, “Who is that lofting player dominating under the hoop?” you’ll remember that it is one Kate Mills, unofficial MVP of the UMass women’s basketball team.
The 21-year-old powerhouse is, more often than not, the biggest thing out there on the court. She has the strength of a bull and the touch of an angel. She uses her grit and strong build to outmuscle opponents under the basket, but stills maintains the poise and grace to throw the ball through the nylon. Rare it is that one sees her type of vigor cocktailed with such polished style and finesse. And if you think I’m exaggerating her dominance, just take a look at the stats.
She has amassed a total of 468 points in the regular season’s 29 games – an average of 16.1 per game (both marks are team-highs). And she doesn’t let her overwhelming altitude goes to waste, as she is second on the Maroon and White in rebounding, pulling down 194 total boards so far.
Impressed yet? Yeah, so am I – but I’ve just scratched the surface.
Mills manages to possess the qualities of two of the most polar-opposite players (in terms of height) in NBA history – she has the selflessness and passing ability of 5-foot-3 Muggsy Bogues and the impenetrable forcefield aspect of 7-foot-7 Manute Bol.
Third on the team with 70 assists, she doesn’t hesitate to shovel the ball off to a more-open teammate. And, having batted down an unprecedented 63 shots (a UMass single season record), she has a mind-boggling 56 blocks more than the team’s runner-up, senior forward Tamara Tatham.
It was, in fact, Tatham who Dacko expected to carry the team on her back, but it seems as though Mills has picked up that job.
She has been the high-scorer is a team-leading 14 games and has pulled down the most rebounds in nine of the season’s contests, second most on the Minutewomen.
Freshman guard Kim Benton started off her collegiate career the way every basketball player dreams of – she began draining threes left and right. When she’s on her game she gives the ball and the net a type of relationship that is nothing sort of romantic. But, on the extremely atypical night when the jump shot of the 5-foot-5 guard (this should give you a idea of exactly how small Mr. Bogues actually is) can’t seem to find its mark, Mills is always there to pick up the slack. You can rely on her to be moving around near the baseline looking for room to work with – and getting just enough of it to do her thing.
It’s just never a bad idea to dish it to #41 when she’s near the basket. She is shooting .539 from the floor and .821 from the free-throw line. She always uses her raw strength and natural ability to employ, what I have dubbed, the four steps of the official Kate Mills Style of Execution: 1.) Receive pass, 2.) Get one’s bearings and look for an option, 3.) Elevate, 4.) Use a little backboard and a lot of touch to deposit a 2-pointer.
And never did Mills use this seemingly-flawless method better than in UMass’ game versus Dayton University on Feb. 22.
She registered a career-high 28 points in the 66-58 win over the Flyers that temporarily put the Minutewomen in a four-way tie with Dayton, La Salle and Richmond for sixth place in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. (They are now the seventh seed.)
And this was no fluke, either.
It was actually the second straight game in which the Elkton, Md., native established a career-high in the points category.
The game before Dayton, a 75-67 loss to Xavier on the 18th, Mills racked up 25 points, passing her old personal record of 24. The 12 rebounds that she added in the losing effort allowed for her second consecutive double-double.
Last week, the A-10 finally recognized Mills’ excellence by naming her a third-team All-Conference selection.
Dacko says she is disappointed that UMass wasn’t represented by more players in the voting, which is conducted by the league’s coaches. But that should not take away from the honor bestowed upon Mills, who was a second-team All-Conference selection last season.
There are over 150 women’s basketball players in the A-10 and our Kate Mills has been placed among some of the finest.
First-team, second-team, third-team – it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that a panel of A-10 coaches has decided that one of our beloved Minutewomen is one of the top 15 players in the conference. Though, I’ll admit, she almost definitely should have been placed even higher.
The Maroon and White are leaving today for their first game in the ‘one-n’ you’re-done’ A-10 Tournament – a matchup against St. Bonaventure on Friday.
Though an immaculate trip to the tournament’s championship is unlikely, any success the Minutewomen have will stem from the performance of Mills.
Check this same exact page on Monday and if UMass is triumphant and Mills is not the main factor – color me surprised.
Either way, no matter what this weekend holds, next December take a seat in the Mullins Center for a women’s basketball game and when you ask yourself, “Who is that lofting player dominating under the hoop?” you’ll remember that it is one Kate Mills, unofficial MVP of the UMass women’s basketball team.
The Dynamic Duo
Senior Stephanie Barrett remembers when she met Nadia Villarroel as if it was yesterday.
It was at Bertucci’s for the team’s first preseason meal back in the summer of 2003 and Barrett sat timidly at the table looking out at her fellow members of the Massachusetts women’s soccer team. Then, someone grabbed her attention. A petite, outgoing young lady was making her way around the table shaking everyone’s hand and introducing herself.
Barrett, a shy 17-year old freshman from Katonah, N.Y., sat twiddling her thumbs, waiting for this one-person welcome wagon to mozy on over towards her.
“She was crazy,” Barrett recalls. “She introduced herself right away and shaking all our hands and I actually thought she was already a veteran on the team.”
As it would turn out, this girl was no veteran at all. She was, in fact, fellow-freshman Nadia Villarroel.
“I didn’t know anyone coming in. I didn’t look up my freshman class; I didn’t look up the team at all. I came in really oblivious,” Barrett said. “While Nadia looked us all up and what we looked like. She introduced herself right away and was shaking all our hands. I didn’t know she was a freshman. And I didn’t even know if I would click with this girl. I thought she was crazy.”
It’s been four years since they met in that quaint Italian restaurant on East Pleasant Street, and Barrett and Villarroel have turned that little meet-and-greet into a partnership – and a friendship – that has grown as much as they have.
The two were accompanied to UMass by goalkeeper Kristin Walker (who would be redshirted her first year) and midfielder Elizabeth Weinsten. The quartet came as a breath of fresh air to UMass coach Jim Rudy as well as the entire Massachusetts women’s soccer program.
The Maroon and White had suffered a season of hard-knocks in 2002, starting with the untimely death of Stephanie Santos.
Santos had been one of UMass’ best players the season prior, her freshman year, recording a team-high seven goals and five assists for 19 total points.
She was killed tragically on June 9 of that year when the car she was riding in crashed into a utility pole in Granby, Mass.
Rudy immediately began phoning Santos’ teammates scattered throughout the country to inform them of the horrible tragedy.
“Everybody came back for the funeral and the wake. It was an emotional experience that you don’t want to have to many of,” Rudy said. “Some kids went back and they didn’t train all summer and some kids did train, but when they came back the memory was refreshed. We had a few players that never really recovered from that because she was such a great kid. That team really went down the tubes.”
The Minutewomen ended their ’02 season ended with a 6-11 record. The rare losing season did not sit well with Rudy and he began looking for new blood that would provide some sort of spark to his ailing squad –and that’s where Barrett and Villarroel came in.
“They’ve been part of a process where they came in when we were on the low end and now they’re going out and we’ve made a definite climb back to respectability. And [Villarroel, Barrett and Weinsten] have helped us achieve that.”
Rudy was first turned on to Barrett by the coach of her club team, the Yorktown Jaguars, Whitney Stark. Rudy had recruited one of Stark’s players years earlier in Heidi Kocher, who became an All-American attacking defender.
“I felt like in terms of evaluations, we speak the same language,” Rudy mentioned.
All the hype drove Rudy and his UMass recruiters to a few of Barrett’s club – where the teenage star did not disappoint.
Barrett also racked up impressive credentials at John Jay high school. She was a four-year letterwinner and helped lead the Indians to a share of the League II-A title her senior year. A three-time All-league player, she amassed a career total of 30 assists and 54 goals, a school record.
Villarroel was first discovered by Rudy’s assistant coach Rebecca Myers, now the coach of boys soccer at Northampton High School, when Villarroel was playing for the Massachusetts Stars of the MAPLE [Massachusetts Premier League] League.
“Myers did the initial evaluation and got a chance to see her play in outside competitions and liked her,” Rudy said. “We had to overcome recruiting by other schools to land her here.”
Villarroel was also a four-year letterwinner. As a member of the Belmont High School Marauders, she was a two-time Middlesex League All-Star and first-team Eastern Massachusetts All-Star. She won the Eastern Massachusetts MVP award in both 2001 and 2002 and was a first team All-State selection in 2002. Upon graduating, she became fourth on Belmont’s all-time points list with 49 goals and 58 assists for 107 total points.
The pair might be a close-knit twosome that shares inside-jokes and finishes each other’s sentences now, but if you had suggested that at the beginning of freshman year, they would have called you nuts.
“We have completely opposite personalities and at first we kind of clashed a little bit and we had completely different best friends,” Villarroel recalls. “It really wasn’t until the end of our freshman year, beginning of sophomore year when we actually became close and kind of understood each other’s personalities better actually became quite best friends.”
“It was clear that we had different personalities,” Barrett added. “But after we figured out that we could actually click because of our differences, we actually became really good friends and really tight.”
Despite any differences in personality the two may have had, that didn’t prevent them from teaming up well on the soccer field.
They combined for 6 total points their freshman year as Villarroel recorded four assists and Barrett tallied a goal, as the Minutewomen finished the season with a disheartening 4-12-1 record. Senior forward/midfielder Adair Blyler was UMass’ leading scorer with six goals and three assists for 15 points.
“I thought I was pretty much prepared for it,” Villarroel said. “I tried to just stay in shape, really get at my best level. It was kind of intimidating at first because you have all these older girls and we were used to being somebody and really high up there, like that big senior role and you have to start fresh and prove yourself again. I mean, I was up for the challenge, but it was different.”
“It was very competitive. I came in shape, so that fine,” Barrett said. “And Nadia was a real competitor of mine, actually, because we were both freshmen that were trying to compete, not only for team positions, but starting and all that. In our senior class there were a couple of tough girls that really wanted the best out of you, so they demanded it. I had to prove myself a lot and that was good. I think everyone should have their freshman year.
“We loved our senior class when we were freshmen. They were great,” she continued. “They were tough, but they loved us and clicked well with them. And then over the years, you just become closer with every class.”
Sophomore year was more merciful to the duo, now seasoned veterans in the art of collegiate soccer.
“It was a familiar feeling,” Villarroel recounts. “When you come a month early in the preseason and you know the girls and everybody knows you and everybody’s excited to see you and you don’t have to worry about making friends or what people think of you or first impressions it’s so much easier. At that time I was trying to focus on helping the new girls.”
“I guess I was a lot more confident. I had a really good spring and I ended up playing defense then,” Barrett commented. “I guess it was intimidating, especially to the newbies because I was not only just a sophomore that was playing a lot, I’m just a very vocal person and they know that. I just had a lot more confidence and my team had a lot more confidence in me so it was easier playing and directing and the defensive thing that I had to do.”
The 2005 season their junior year was a breakthrough season for the Maroon and White juggernauts, as they posted the best statistics of their college careers up to that point. Villarroel registered a goal and four assists, while Barrett tallied two goals. The two combined for a total of 10 points on the season.
“I think it was a lot easier than this year because the pressure’s not all on you. You have people to look up to and you have people who are going to take responsibilities when things aren’t going right,” Villarroel said. “It was really different. Now, it’s more like if things aren’t going right, [I] have to fix it, you have to have a leadership role.”
The duet has done its best to pick up where captains Lindsey Bellini and Amy Maffucci left off last year and their teammates haven’t had any complaints.
“They’re really good captains. They’re supportive and they keep the team together. They’re both great leaders on the field,” junior forward Britt Canfield said. “They’re really good captains. They’re supportive and they keep the team together. They’re both great leaders on the field.”
“Nadia and Steph are true-born leaders. They stepped up this year. Everything reflects off of them and they do a great job,” sophomore forward Vanessa Patry echoed. “On the field and off the field they really represent what UMass is about, so we’re really going to miss them. I’m really going to miss them, personally, a lot too.”
Over the last four years, the two have taken all newcomers under their wings and have proven to have a peanut butter and jelly-like relationship – both are great individually, but even greater put together.
“We have a great relationship,” Barrett said. “Nadia never stops. She’ll just keep going after you and after you and just set an example. We click on the field. She can always go to people one-on-one and mediate things and it just balances. I’m more intense and vocal in certain ways and she’s more behind-the-scenes.
“As a friend, she’s always there,” Barrett went on to say. “She will listen to anyone and anything on the team. She isn’t biased. She will just listen and help you out and is very supportive.”
“I have a great time with Stephanie,” Villarroel said. “On the field she’s great. She’s solid. I can always count on her. And, off the field, it’s the same thing. She’s takes more of a vocal role in the leadership type of thing and that’s really handy.
“I think we’ve done a pretty successful job in our roles. I think because we’re so different we really balance each other out,” she continued. “That was one of the advantages we had over some captains that have come here and I think our record shows that we have been successful in it.”
“They’re good. They talk to each other,” Rudy commented. “If they have issues that they agree upon they usually present them to me, you know, ‘Can we do this, can we do that? Can we make a change here?’” They’re responsible.
“They just don’t sit back and accept their captaincy as something that’s just a title,” Rudy continued. “They lead.”
Well, that leadership certainly paid off as the Minutewomen enjoyed an 11-6, 5-4 A-10 season in 2006.
Villarroel pocketed four goals and two assists for 10 total points, while Barrett recorded a goal and three assists for five points.
Since their freshman season, this dynamic duo has combined for a sum of 36 career points.
Graduation always leaves one lingering question for all departing seniors: “What’s next?”
Barrett is a marketing major and is looking to get into the marketing and licensing end of the fashion industry. Villarroel, on the other hand, is a BDIC major with a concentration in forensic science. She is thinking about attending medical school to specialize in forensic pathology, but has expressed enormous interest in traveling abroad first.
“I want to go abroad and go to Spain or some Spanish-speaking country because I’ve taken a lot of Spanish and my family’s Spanish, so I want to actually use it and apply and be able to speak it very much fluently,” Villarroel mentioned. “And if I go to Spain, I would love to play on a team there.”
It’s often said that you tell a lot about a person by the way they act on a sports field. If that’s the case, Rudy isn’t the least bit concerned about what’s in store for his captains’ futures.
“They’re very strong women with great personality. And I think that when they get done here they’re going to survive very well out there,” he said. “I don’t see them sitting back and accepting what comes their ways. They’re going to make their own way.”
It was at Bertucci’s for the team’s first preseason meal back in the summer of 2003 and Barrett sat timidly at the table looking out at her fellow members of the Massachusetts women’s soccer team. Then, someone grabbed her attention. A petite, outgoing young lady was making her way around the table shaking everyone’s hand and introducing herself.
Barrett, a shy 17-year old freshman from Katonah, N.Y., sat twiddling her thumbs, waiting for this one-person welcome wagon to mozy on over towards her.
“She was crazy,” Barrett recalls. “She introduced herself right away and shaking all our hands and I actually thought she was already a veteran on the team.”
As it would turn out, this girl was no veteran at all. She was, in fact, fellow-freshman Nadia Villarroel.
“I didn’t know anyone coming in. I didn’t look up my freshman class; I didn’t look up the team at all. I came in really oblivious,” Barrett said. “While Nadia looked us all up and what we looked like. She introduced herself right away and was shaking all our hands. I didn’t know she was a freshman. And I didn’t even know if I would click with this girl. I thought she was crazy.”
It’s been four years since they met in that quaint Italian restaurant on East Pleasant Street, and Barrett and Villarroel have turned that little meet-and-greet into a partnership – and a friendship – that has grown as much as they have.
The two were accompanied to UMass by goalkeeper Kristin Walker (who would be redshirted her first year) and midfielder Elizabeth Weinsten. The quartet came as a breath of fresh air to UMass coach Jim Rudy as well as the entire Massachusetts women’s soccer program.
The Maroon and White had suffered a season of hard-knocks in 2002, starting with the untimely death of Stephanie Santos.
Santos had been one of UMass’ best players the season prior, her freshman year, recording a team-high seven goals and five assists for 19 total points.
She was killed tragically on June 9 of that year when the car she was riding in crashed into a utility pole in Granby, Mass.
Rudy immediately began phoning Santos’ teammates scattered throughout the country to inform them of the horrible tragedy.
“Everybody came back for the funeral and the wake. It was an emotional experience that you don’t want to have to many of,” Rudy said. “Some kids went back and they didn’t train all summer and some kids did train, but when they came back the memory was refreshed. We had a few players that never really recovered from that because she was such a great kid. That team really went down the tubes.”
The Minutewomen ended their ’02 season ended with a 6-11 record. The rare losing season did not sit well with Rudy and he began looking for new blood that would provide some sort of spark to his ailing squad –and that’s where Barrett and Villarroel came in.
“They’ve been part of a process where they came in when we were on the low end and now they’re going out and we’ve made a definite climb back to respectability. And [Villarroel, Barrett and Weinsten] have helped us achieve that.”
Rudy was first turned on to Barrett by the coach of her club team, the Yorktown Jaguars, Whitney Stark. Rudy had recruited one of Stark’s players years earlier in Heidi Kocher, who became an All-American attacking defender.
“I felt like in terms of evaluations, we speak the same language,” Rudy mentioned.
All the hype drove Rudy and his UMass recruiters to a few of Barrett’s club – where the teenage star did not disappoint.
Barrett also racked up impressive credentials at John Jay high school. She was a four-year letterwinner and helped lead the Indians to a share of the League II-A title her senior year. A three-time All-league player, she amassed a career total of 30 assists and 54 goals, a school record.
Villarroel was first discovered by Rudy’s assistant coach Rebecca Myers, now the coach of boys soccer at Northampton High School, when Villarroel was playing for the Massachusetts Stars of the MAPLE [Massachusetts Premier League] League.
“Myers did the initial evaluation and got a chance to see her play in outside competitions and liked her,” Rudy said. “We had to overcome recruiting by other schools to land her here.”
Villarroel was also a four-year letterwinner. As a member of the Belmont High School Marauders, she was a two-time Middlesex League All-Star and first-team Eastern Massachusetts All-Star. She won the Eastern Massachusetts MVP award in both 2001 and 2002 and was a first team All-State selection in 2002. Upon graduating, she became fourth on Belmont’s all-time points list with 49 goals and 58 assists for 107 total points.
The pair might be a close-knit twosome that shares inside-jokes and finishes each other’s sentences now, but if you had suggested that at the beginning of freshman year, they would have called you nuts.
“We have completely opposite personalities and at first we kind of clashed a little bit and we had completely different best friends,” Villarroel recalls. “It really wasn’t until the end of our freshman year, beginning of sophomore year when we actually became close and kind of understood each other’s personalities better actually became quite best friends.”
“It was clear that we had different personalities,” Barrett added. “But after we figured out that we could actually click because of our differences, we actually became really good friends and really tight.”
Despite any differences in personality the two may have had, that didn’t prevent them from teaming up well on the soccer field.
They combined for 6 total points their freshman year as Villarroel recorded four assists and Barrett tallied a goal, as the Minutewomen finished the season with a disheartening 4-12-1 record. Senior forward/midfielder Adair Blyler was UMass’ leading scorer with six goals and three assists for 15 points.
“I thought I was pretty much prepared for it,” Villarroel said. “I tried to just stay in shape, really get at my best level. It was kind of intimidating at first because you have all these older girls and we were used to being somebody and really high up there, like that big senior role and you have to start fresh and prove yourself again. I mean, I was up for the challenge, but it was different.”
“It was very competitive. I came in shape, so that fine,” Barrett said. “And Nadia was a real competitor of mine, actually, because we were both freshmen that were trying to compete, not only for team positions, but starting and all that. In our senior class there were a couple of tough girls that really wanted the best out of you, so they demanded it. I had to prove myself a lot and that was good. I think everyone should have their freshman year.
“We loved our senior class when we were freshmen. They were great,” she continued. “They were tough, but they loved us and clicked well with them. And then over the years, you just become closer with every class.”
Sophomore year was more merciful to the duo, now seasoned veterans in the art of collegiate soccer.
“It was a familiar feeling,” Villarroel recounts. “When you come a month early in the preseason and you know the girls and everybody knows you and everybody’s excited to see you and you don’t have to worry about making friends or what people think of you or first impressions it’s so much easier. At that time I was trying to focus on helping the new girls.”
“I guess I was a lot more confident. I had a really good spring and I ended up playing defense then,” Barrett commented. “I guess it was intimidating, especially to the newbies because I was not only just a sophomore that was playing a lot, I’m just a very vocal person and they know that. I just had a lot more confidence and my team had a lot more confidence in me so it was easier playing and directing and the defensive thing that I had to do.”
The 2005 season their junior year was a breakthrough season for the Maroon and White juggernauts, as they posted the best statistics of their college careers up to that point. Villarroel registered a goal and four assists, while Barrett tallied two goals. The two combined for a total of 10 points on the season.
“I think it was a lot easier than this year because the pressure’s not all on you. You have people to look up to and you have people who are going to take responsibilities when things aren’t going right,” Villarroel said. “It was really different. Now, it’s more like if things aren’t going right, [I] have to fix it, you have to have a leadership role.”
The duet has done its best to pick up where captains Lindsey Bellini and Amy Maffucci left off last year and their teammates haven’t had any complaints.
“They’re really good captains. They’re supportive and they keep the team together. They’re both great leaders on the field,” junior forward Britt Canfield said. “They’re really good captains. They’re supportive and they keep the team together. They’re both great leaders on the field.”
“Nadia and Steph are true-born leaders. They stepped up this year. Everything reflects off of them and they do a great job,” sophomore forward Vanessa Patry echoed. “On the field and off the field they really represent what UMass is about, so we’re really going to miss them. I’m really going to miss them, personally, a lot too.”
Over the last four years, the two have taken all newcomers under their wings and have proven to have a peanut butter and jelly-like relationship – both are great individually, but even greater put together.
“We have a great relationship,” Barrett said. “Nadia never stops. She’ll just keep going after you and after you and just set an example. We click on the field. She can always go to people one-on-one and mediate things and it just balances. I’m more intense and vocal in certain ways and she’s more behind-the-scenes.
“As a friend, she’s always there,” Barrett went on to say. “She will listen to anyone and anything on the team. She isn’t biased. She will just listen and help you out and is very supportive.”
“I have a great time with Stephanie,” Villarroel said. “On the field she’s great. She’s solid. I can always count on her. And, off the field, it’s the same thing. She’s takes more of a vocal role in the leadership type of thing and that’s really handy.
“I think we’ve done a pretty successful job in our roles. I think because we’re so different we really balance each other out,” she continued. “That was one of the advantages we had over some captains that have come here and I think our record shows that we have been successful in it.”
“They’re good. They talk to each other,” Rudy commented. “If they have issues that they agree upon they usually present them to me, you know, ‘Can we do this, can we do that? Can we make a change here?’” They’re responsible.
“They just don’t sit back and accept their captaincy as something that’s just a title,” Rudy continued. “They lead.”
Well, that leadership certainly paid off as the Minutewomen enjoyed an 11-6, 5-4 A-10 season in 2006.
Villarroel pocketed four goals and two assists for 10 total points, while Barrett recorded a goal and three assists for five points.
Since their freshman season, this dynamic duo has combined for a sum of 36 career points.
Graduation always leaves one lingering question for all departing seniors: “What’s next?”
Barrett is a marketing major and is looking to get into the marketing and licensing end of the fashion industry. Villarroel, on the other hand, is a BDIC major with a concentration in forensic science. She is thinking about attending medical school to specialize in forensic pathology, but has expressed enormous interest in traveling abroad first.
“I want to go abroad and go to Spain or some Spanish-speaking country because I’ve taken a lot of Spanish and my family’s Spanish, so I want to actually use it and apply and be able to speak it very much fluently,” Villarroel mentioned. “And if I go to Spain, I would love to play on a team there.”
It’s often said that you tell a lot about a person by the way they act on a sports field. If that’s the case, Rudy isn’t the least bit concerned about what’s in store for his captains’ futures.
“They’re very strong women with great personality. And I think that when they get done here they’re going to survive very well out there,” he said. “I don’t see them sitting back and accepting what comes their ways. They’re going to make their own way.”
Dacko a queen of hoops
Robert (Cal) Hubbard, having been a Major League umpire and umpire-in-chief of the American League as well as a top-notch NFL lineman, holds the distinction of being the only person inducted into both the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the National Football Hall of Fame. Jim Thorpe, an athletic jack-of-all-trades, is in both the college and pro football Halls of Fame.
What may surprise you, however, is that UMass women’s basketball coach, Marnie Dacko, has them both beat. She is a member of three halls of fame: The Trumbull (Connecticut) High School, the Southern Connecticut State University and the New England Basketball Halls of Fame.
But she didn’t get there by luck. Her success is the result of an entire life dedicated to knowing and studying the intricacies and fibers of what makes up the game of basketball.
In 1971, a 16-year old Marnie Dacko moved with her family from Chamblee, Georgia, to the town of Trumbull, Connecticut, when her father, who worked for General Electric, was transferred. The young Dacko entered Trumbull High School for the first time her junior year and looked to make an impression with its basketball program.
Well, she did that and then some, winning the school’s first state basketball title in the Eagles’ history in 1974, her senior year.
“I think I was the biggest player they’ve seen,” Dacko recounted. “Coming into an environment and having basketball as a common thread, it was a great opportunity for me. We put Trumbull on the map. Our men’s team, at the time, was state runners-up and the women’s team won it [the championship title].”
Her dominance and passion on the high school court proved to Dacko that basketball was something that would follow her throughout her life – including college.
And if you had thoughts about collegiate basketball or physical education back in 1974, only one school came to your mind: Southern Connecticut State University.
Dacko played on the softball team, too, as a pitcher and first-base-player in addition to earning immense respect for her work on the floor.
“I played post, but I was a post player that could hit the outside shot before the three-point shot was even introduced – which is a scary thing,” Dacko joked. “We were the UConn of my generation. We ran a fast-breaking team, we ran a lot. Our rivals back then were Texas, Penn State, UMass was a rival and Springfield College was a rival way back then.”
Four years of hard work and solid performances finally earned her a spot among the most honored and revered members of the Owls’ family when she was elected into the SCSU Basketball Hall of Fame.
“It’s a great honor simply because Southern has had so many talented and great women’s basketball players,” Dacko said. “The tradition started way back in the early ‘70s and they’ve always produced some amazing basketball team.
“[It’s] great to be associated with so many of my teammates that are incredible athletes, as well as human beings.”
Dacko would graduate in 1978 will a bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education.
Before breaking onto the UMass scene, Dacko started her successful coaching career right after graduation. She received an offer from St. John’s (N.Y.) University and pounced on the golden opportunity.
By the time her tenure as the Red Storm’s assistant coach ended in 1984, she had accumulated an overall record of 118-43, including a school record 27 wins in 1982-83, and two Big East Conference Tournament titles. She also won 102 games during her last four seasons when the team made four consecutive trips to the postseason, three of which were to the AIAW or NCAA tournaments.
Dacko then migrated a little further west to Evanston, Ill., where she would spend the next 11 years of her life as the assistant coach of the Northwestern University Wildcats. As the team’s second-in-command, she obtained a record of 189-122, coached a total of 25 All-Big10 players and paid a visit to four NCAA tournaments from 1987-93.
“We produced some great teams within the Big-10 and still a lot of [the players] are either my colleagues today and my friends today and I’m still in touch with them. It was a tremendous experience,” Dacko commented.
Dacko’s coaching career would take one more pit-stop before rolling into UMass – this time at Cornell University.
As a rookie head coach she finished her first season at 12-14 and won Ivy League Coach of the Year honors. She would later become the all-time winningest women’s basketball coach in school history with 80 total victories, all the while coaching the Big Red to its only two winning seasons it has ever had in the Ivy League, during her final two years.
“I was there for seven years. [When I came in] they were the worst team in the league. I left there after seven years and they were one of the best teams in the league,” Dacko said. “It was a great experience for me – recruiting top-quality student-athletes, the kids worked extremely hard, there was never any established program already there, no history for women’s basketball, so I feel we really got it going from the fan-standpoint and a player-standpoint and it was a great university to work for.”
In 2002 she finally decided to take over the reins of the UMass women’s basketball wagon and she says she has never looked back.
“It was a great experience. It was a great opportunity for me to come in and have seven seniors, one of whom was Jen Butler [who would later be drafted into the WNBA],” Dacko said of her first season at UMass. “The second game in the A-10 season at Dayton, Katie Nelson blew out her knee and I think we won about three games after that. So, it was disappointing for the seniors, it was disappointing for somebody like Jen Butler, who had so much potential and we had so much of an upside as a team.”
The Minutewomen finished the 2002-03 season with a .500 record, going 14-14 overall. The injury to Nelson gave UMass a setback that was hard to come back from, as they ended the 2003-04 season with a 6-22 record.
“We really didn’t [recover]. Katie was out that year [too],” Dacko explained. “We were asking our players to do a lot with so few numbers, that starting the building process.”
That building process took the Maroon and White through 2004-05 ( in which they finished 14-15), as well as last season.
“Last year was a good year,” Dacko said. “I thought we underachieved non-conference. There were games that we lost at the buzzer where I thought we should have won. I think, lacking leadership – the leadership that I think we needed to have – we came out flat in games, we dug ourselves in a hole where we would turn the ball over. We would go through scoring droughts, at the same time turn the ball over and really not play defense. So, we didn’t make good decisions and that even dug us further in a hole.”
The team finished a disappointing 11-17. Pam Rosanio, Kate Mills and Tamara Tatham were UMass’ leading scorers with 350, 436 and 279 points, respectively.
“Off the court, she’s like a mom to me,” Rosanio, a junior guard, said. “And on the court she’s good. She’ll tell you when you’re really doing horribly and then she’ll tell you when you’re doing the right things. So, it’s good to hear both sides of it.”
“I think she’s more passionate about winning [then most coaches],” Tatham, a senior forward, commented. “She really wants to win. She’s not one of those coaches that is going to yell at you and make you do a whole bunch of sprints, because that’s not going to get us to do what we need to do.”
Dacko knows that she has a great group of players that will always have her back and she is anxious to see what the rest of the 2006-07 season is going to bring.
“Our kids, in the preseason last year, did a seven and a half week conditioning program that was very, very vigorous,” Dacko mentioned. “We just wanted to really impress upon [the players] that we don’t want to be in that situation this year.
“I look forward to getting on the floor with this team – a team that finished a strong year a year ago,” she continued. “We won eight out of our last 11 games, so I’m just looking forward to seeing if we can pick up where we left off, without skipping a beat.”
Basketball has brought Dacko all over the globe – from New England to the Ivy League to middle America and even to Australia and New Zealand when she was the assistant coach for a Big 10 All-Star Team – but she has made it abundantly clear that she does not want to pack her suitcases any time soon. She’s still got big plans for UMass women’s basketball in the immediate future as well as upcoming years.
“You know, I’d like to bring an A-10 winner here,” Dacca said. “I’d certainly like to build and establish a program where the best athletes in the state want to come here, the best athletes in New England want to come here and it’s the school in the East where you want to come. You’re looking at UConn and you’re looking at Boston College and everybody should be looking at UMass the same way.”
What may surprise you, however, is that UMass women’s basketball coach, Marnie Dacko, has them both beat. She is a member of three halls of fame: The Trumbull (Connecticut) High School, the Southern Connecticut State University and the New England Basketball Halls of Fame.
But she didn’t get there by luck. Her success is the result of an entire life dedicated to knowing and studying the intricacies and fibers of what makes up the game of basketball.
In 1971, a 16-year old Marnie Dacko moved with her family from Chamblee, Georgia, to the town of Trumbull, Connecticut, when her father, who worked for General Electric, was transferred. The young Dacko entered Trumbull High School for the first time her junior year and looked to make an impression with its basketball program.
Well, she did that and then some, winning the school’s first state basketball title in the Eagles’ history in 1974, her senior year.
“I think I was the biggest player they’ve seen,” Dacko recounted. “Coming into an environment and having basketball as a common thread, it was a great opportunity for me. We put Trumbull on the map. Our men’s team, at the time, was state runners-up and the women’s team won it [the championship title].”
Her dominance and passion on the high school court proved to Dacko that basketball was something that would follow her throughout her life – including college.
And if you had thoughts about collegiate basketball or physical education back in 1974, only one school came to your mind: Southern Connecticut State University.
Dacko played on the softball team, too, as a pitcher and first-base-player in addition to earning immense respect for her work on the floor.
“I played post, but I was a post player that could hit the outside shot before the three-point shot was even introduced – which is a scary thing,” Dacko joked. “We were the UConn of my generation. We ran a fast-breaking team, we ran a lot. Our rivals back then were Texas, Penn State, UMass was a rival and Springfield College was a rival way back then.”
Four years of hard work and solid performances finally earned her a spot among the most honored and revered members of the Owls’ family when she was elected into the SCSU Basketball Hall of Fame.
“It’s a great honor simply because Southern has had so many talented and great women’s basketball players,” Dacko said. “The tradition started way back in the early ‘70s and they’ve always produced some amazing basketball team.
“[It’s] great to be associated with so many of my teammates that are incredible athletes, as well as human beings.”
Dacko would graduate in 1978 will a bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education.
Before breaking onto the UMass scene, Dacko started her successful coaching career right after graduation. She received an offer from St. John’s (N.Y.) University and pounced on the golden opportunity.
By the time her tenure as the Red Storm’s assistant coach ended in 1984, she had accumulated an overall record of 118-43, including a school record 27 wins in 1982-83, and two Big East Conference Tournament titles. She also won 102 games during her last four seasons when the team made four consecutive trips to the postseason, three of which were to the AIAW or NCAA tournaments.
Dacko then migrated a little further west to Evanston, Ill., where she would spend the next 11 years of her life as the assistant coach of the Northwestern University Wildcats. As the team’s second-in-command, she obtained a record of 189-122, coached a total of 25 All-Big10 players and paid a visit to four NCAA tournaments from 1987-93.
“We produced some great teams within the Big-10 and still a lot of [the players] are either my colleagues today and my friends today and I’m still in touch with them. It was a tremendous experience,” Dacko commented.
Dacko’s coaching career would take one more pit-stop before rolling into UMass – this time at Cornell University.
As a rookie head coach she finished her first season at 12-14 and won Ivy League Coach of the Year honors. She would later become the all-time winningest women’s basketball coach in school history with 80 total victories, all the while coaching the Big Red to its only two winning seasons it has ever had in the Ivy League, during her final two years.
“I was there for seven years. [When I came in] they were the worst team in the league. I left there after seven years and they were one of the best teams in the league,” Dacko said. “It was a great experience for me – recruiting top-quality student-athletes, the kids worked extremely hard, there was never any established program already there, no history for women’s basketball, so I feel we really got it going from the fan-standpoint and a player-standpoint and it was a great university to work for.”
In 2002 she finally decided to take over the reins of the UMass women’s basketball wagon and she says she has never looked back.
“It was a great experience. It was a great opportunity for me to come in and have seven seniors, one of whom was Jen Butler [who would later be drafted into the WNBA],” Dacko said of her first season at UMass. “The second game in the A-10 season at Dayton, Katie Nelson blew out her knee and I think we won about three games after that. So, it was disappointing for the seniors, it was disappointing for somebody like Jen Butler, who had so much potential and we had so much of an upside as a team.”
The Minutewomen finished the 2002-03 season with a .500 record, going 14-14 overall. The injury to Nelson gave UMass a setback that was hard to come back from, as they ended the 2003-04 season with a 6-22 record.
“We really didn’t [recover]. Katie was out that year [too],” Dacko explained. “We were asking our players to do a lot with so few numbers, that starting the building process.”
That building process took the Maroon and White through 2004-05 ( in which they finished 14-15), as well as last season.
“Last year was a good year,” Dacko said. “I thought we underachieved non-conference. There were games that we lost at the buzzer where I thought we should have won. I think, lacking leadership – the leadership that I think we needed to have – we came out flat in games, we dug ourselves in a hole where we would turn the ball over. We would go through scoring droughts, at the same time turn the ball over and really not play defense. So, we didn’t make good decisions and that even dug us further in a hole.”
The team finished a disappointing 11-17. Pam Rosanio, Kate Mills and Tamara Tatham were UMass’ leading scorers with 350, 436 and 279 points, respectively.
“Off the court, she’s like a mom to me,” Rosanio, a junior guard, said. “And on the court she’s good. She’ll tell you when you’re really doing horribly and then she’ll tell you when you’re doing the right things. So, it’s good to hear both sides of it.”
“I think she’s more passionate about winning [then most coaches],” Tatham, a senior forward, commented. “She really wants to win. She’s not one of those coaches that is going to yell at you and make you do a whole bunch of sprints, because that’s not going to get us to do what we need to do.”
Dacko knows that she has a great group of players that will always have her back and she is anxious to see what the rest of the 2006-07 season is going to bring.
“Our kids, in the preseason last year, did a seven and a half week conditioning program that was very, very vigorous,” Dacko mentioned. “We just wanted to really impress upon [the players] that we don’t want to be in that situation this year.
“I look forward to getting on the floor with this team – a team that finished a strong year a year ago,” she continued. “We won eight out of our last 11 games, so I’m just looking forward to seeing if we can pick up where we left off, without skipping a beat.”
Basketball has brought Dacko all over the globe – from New England to the Ivy League to middle America and even to Australia and New Zealand when she was the assistant coach for a Big 10 All-Star Team – but she has made it abundantly clear that she does not want to pack her suitcases any time soon. She’s still got big plans for UMass women’s basketball in the immediate future as well as upcoming years.
“You know, I’d like to bring an A-10 winner here,” Dacca said. “I’d certainly like to build and establish a program where the best athletes in the state want to come here, the best athletes in New England want to come here and it’s the school in the East where you want to come. You’re looking at UConn and you’re looking at Boston College and everybody should be looking at UMass the same way.”
Sunday, March 4, 2007
A global perspective
My beautiful girlfriend is studying abroad in Italy right now and I miss her terribly. Even more disheartening than not having seen her in over two months is hearing of the problems she’s facing over there simply because she is an American.
Let me elaborate.
About a month ago she was walking through the tight, stereotypically-Italian streets of Siena - where she is staying - when she and a friend she was with stepped into a coffee shop so that her could buy a snack. After going a few minutes without receiving help from the employees behind the counter, the friend was about to ask for some service when one of the Italian workers gave with a snooty, Mediterranean ‘No.’ When my girlfriend and her friend asked why, the employee responded (in accented English), “Because you come from a country where George Bush is your president.”
Stunned, my girlfriend just said, “Buona giornata (Have a good day),” and she and her friend turned around and left.
The aforementioned story was not exaggerated or made up – it really happened. And she said it wasn’t a one-time thing.
In fact, more and more often American citizens are experiencing this kind of hostility when touring throughout the world (especially Europe) and it seems most of it stems from the actions of our commander in chief, i.e. his decision to invade Iraq.
In March of 2003, President Bush tried to gain international support for the invasion, but came up a little short of his goal. France neglected to send troops, Canada neglected to send troops, Germany neglected to send troops. Even Egypt and Israel (arguably our two greatest allies in the Middle East) refused to support the war against Saddam Hussein.
These nations, and others that did not send support, said Saddam did not have the weapons of mass destruction [WMDs] Bush claimed were there and invading Iraq would distract us from the real war on terror as well as from countries like Iran and North Korea – both of which were reportedly making greater strides toward dangerous WMDs.
And the 30 countries that did send aid (the coalition of the willing) did so with much reluctance and protest from their respective governments’ political rivals and numerous citizens and activists.
The coalition of the willing included allies such as the UK, Poland, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and…you guessed it: Italy.
In March of 2003, against strong domestic opposition, then-Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, sent 3,000 Italian troops to Iraq – the fourth most after the US, UK and South Korea – in order to assist the nation he said “is the best friend of my country.”
The war now reaches its fourth anniversary later this month – and not a lot of progress has been made - Just look at the facts.
Just look at the facts.
The WMDs found by military forces proved too old to be used as designed (according to the US Department of Defense, the administration’s own inspectors and Charles Duelfer, the chief weapons inspector) and 16 different US spy agencies say that the war has made terrorism worse because it has fueled another generation of Islamic extremists.
Since the invasion, the land of my ancestors has amassed the third highest number of soldier casualties (33) of any coalition nation stationed in Iraq.
It is for these reasons (and others) that Americans are facing resentment when touring foreign countries.
The mistakes our administration makes here are affecting the wellbeing of Americans elsewhere. The Italians are sick and tired of our establishment’s faulty decisions resulting in the deaths of their soldiers – and, quite frankly, I don’t blame. But how is it the fault of my girlfriend – or any other American, for that matter?
Newsflash Europe: many US tourists hate President Bush and his policies. And even if they don’t, the unpopular decisions of a nation’s government cannot be blamed on the citizens of that nation. It’s just like how Italians/Italian-Americans were not responsible for the atrocities of Benito Mussolini during World War II.
The carnage that this mess has caused is being blamed on innocent Americans like my girlfriend and it’s just not right.
I know that are no Italians or other foreign nationals reading this, but I feel obligated to try to protect all of my fellow citizens.
Americans tour the world probably more than any other group of people in it (in fact most countries’ economies flourish because of it) and it’s not fair that they get harassed because of our president.
So, to any foreigners out there who might hold a grudge against Americans, not every loud tourist with red, white and blue on their lips likes President Bush.
The consistent harassment our citizens endure has lead to many of them placing Canadian flags on their bags in an effort to avoid a tongue-lashing.
I’ll be visiting my girlfriend over Spring Break and I won’t exactly be shouting the National Anthem in the middle of a piazza. But if someone approaches me if I come from the US I will say, “Yes I am – and I’m not ashamed of it either."
Let me elaborate.
About a month ago she was walking through the tight, stereotypically-Italian streets of Siena - where she is staying - when she and a friend she was with stepped into a coffee shop so that her could buy a snack. After going a few minutes without receiving help from the employees behind the counter, the friend was about to ask for some service when one of the Italian workers gave with a snooty, Mediterranean ‘No.’ When my girlfriend and her friend asked why, the employee responded (in accented English), “Because you come from a country where George Bush is your president.”
Stunned, my girlfriend just said, “Buona giornata (Have a good day),” and she and her friend turned around and left.
The aforementioned story was not exaggerated or made up – it really happened. And she said it wasn’t a one-time thing.
In fact, more and more often American citizens are experiencing this kind of hostility when touring throughout the world (especially Europe) and it seems most of it stems from the actions of our commander in chief, i.e. his decision to invade Iraq.
In March of 2003, President Bush tried to gain international support for the invasion, but came up a little short of his goal. France neglected to send troops, Canada neglected to send troops, Germany neglected to send troops. Even Egypt and Israel (arguably our two greatest allies in the Middle East) refused to support the war against Saddam Hussein.
These nations, and others that did not send support, said Saddam did not have the weapons of mass destruction [WMDs] Bush claimed were there and invading Iraq would distract us from the real war on terror as well as from countries like Iran and North Korea – both of which were reportedly making greater strides toward dangerous WMDs.
And the 30 countries that did send aid (the coalition of the willing) did so with much reluctance and protest from their respective governments’ political rivals and numerous citizens and activists.
The coalition of the willing included allies such as the UK, Poland, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and…you guessed it: Italy.
In March of 2003, against strong domestic opposition, then-Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, sent 3,000 Italian troops to Iraq – the fourth most after the US, UK and South Korea – in order to assist the nation he said “is the best friend of my country.”
The war now reaches its fourth anniversary later this month – and not a lot of progress has been made - Just look at the facts.
Just look at the facts.
The WMDs found by military forces proved too old to be used as designed (according to the US Department of Defense, the administration’s own inspectors and Charles Duelfer, the chief weapons inspector) and 16 different US spy agencies say that the war has made terrorism worse because it has fueled another generation of Islamic extremists.
Since the invasion, the land of my ancestors has amassed the third highest number of soldier casualties (33) of any coalition nation stationed in Iraq.
It is for these reasons (and others) that Americans are facing resentment when touring foreign countries.
The mistakes our administration makes here are affecting the wellbeing of Americans elsewhere. The Italians are sick and tired of our establishment’s faulty decisions resulting in the deaths of their soldiers – and, quite frankly, I don’t blame. But how is it the fault of my girlfriend – or any other American, for that matter?
Newsflash Europe: many US tourists hate President Bush and his policies. And even if they don’t, the unpopular decisions of a nation’s government cannot be blamed on the citizens of that nation. It’s just like how Italians/Italian-Americans were not responsible for the atrocities of Benito Mussolini during World War II.
The carnage that this mess has caused is being blamed on innocent Americans like my girlfriend and it’s just not right.
I know that are no Italians or other foreign nationals reading this, but I feel obligated to try to protect all of my fellow citizens.
Americans tour the world probably more than any other group of people in it (in fact most countries’ economies flourish because of it) and it’s not fair that they get harassed because of our president.
So, to any foreigners out there who might hold a grudge against Americans, not every loud tourist with red, white and blue on their lips likes President Bush.
The consistent harassment our citizens endure has lead to many of them placing Canadian flags on their bags in an effort to avoid a tongue-lashing.
I’ll be visiting my girlfriend over Spring Break and I won’t exactly be shouting the National Anthem in the middle of a piazza. But if someone approaches me if I come from the US I will say, “Yes I am – and I’m not ashamed of it either."
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