Religion, as we know, exists as an important part of society. What some may not know is that there is an institute in Rochester that fosters religious learning and growth. The Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, located on top of a hill off of Highland Avenue, is situated in a way that makes it seem like this school is watching over the community. Katie Jo Vasquez, a Roberts Wesleyan alumna attends Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinty School and first became interested in religion at the age of 15.   “I started getting involved in the local churches, I grew up in Syracuse,” said Vasquez. “They really were like a family to me, they just sort of took me in and made me feel so special, like I had a purpose.”   Vasquez admired that those who belonged to the church existed as equals, no matter how much money you had or what race you were.   “I was like ‘this is what being human is all about’,” said Vasquez. “They actually care about the people around them. It was really a life changing experience from a selfish pre-teen who is like ‘I am just trying to figure life out to I am grown up and I care about people and I can be mature enough to talk about religion, even though it’s a touchy subject.’”   Vasquez believes that becoming active in the church when she was young made her a better person. Although she became interested in religious activities at a young age, she wasn’t necessarily surrounded by spirituality at home.   “I didn’t grow up in any sort of religious environment at all,” said Vasquez. “We kind of went to church every once in a while. We never prayed at dinner or anything. It was always kind of looked at like religion is weird, it’s what weird people do when they don’t know what else to do with life. When they can’t handle themselves they just pray.”   Religion is not something a person pursues when they run out of options, according to Vasquez.   “Its not just a thing for weak people,” said Vasquez. “For me, religion, it’s a cultural staple. It’s something that people go to when they know exactly what to do, but they need a little bit more strength behind them.”   Because there are so many different religions that exist across the world, Vasquez decided to get her masters in religious history and have knowledge about all forms.   “Its been a part of culture forever and ever, and I think learning about it helps us, it’s kind of like if psychology is the study of the mind of one individual, religion is the study of the mind of an entire culture,” said Vasquez. “You can really learn about what the Chinese are like by learning about Buddhism, and what goes through the American mind when you look at Evangelical Protestantism.” Vasquez used to think she wanted to be a pastor, then after failing out of ordination classes at churches [on purpose], she decided that maybe it wasn’t the right route for her.   “You don’t have to be a pastor to make a contribution to the religious life of a city,” said Vasquez. “There’s really a very important place for scholars and people who want to contribute to the religious knowledge of a city.”   Now her future plans include teaching undergraduates’s about the importance of religion and its origins.   “People have within themselves the amazing ability to be creative, to change the world,” said Vasquez. “Anybody you meet can change everything that is around us at any time, we all have that ability. It’s just drawing that out of people and helping them to see it in themselves. It’s my little contribution to human society.” More...

Upon walking through the door of the Method Machine space at 650 South Avenue, also labeled ‘Method Lab,’ your voice echoes against the bright, almost blinding, white walls. To the outside world, the words printed in red that read ‘Method Lab’ may cause some suspicion, maybe even curiosity as to what this place actually is. Marcy Savastano, a Nazareth College graduate, is one of the founders of Method Machine and participates in many of their performances.  “The definition of Method Machine is an artistic playground to put forth creative illuminating works of art,” said Savastano. “That would probably be the one-second definition.”  Method Machine started last year by three friends from high school, Savastano included.  “We said ‘why don’t we try this and see what happens?,’ said Savastano. “So we got back together and talked about it for a while.”  All three were interested in pursuing art, performance and directing. Inside the actual space on South Avenue, they host art shows and photo galleries, have improv shows and they have musicians perform as well. They have theatrical performances in the ‘Method Lab’ and also take them on the road. “Our first theatre show was in February,” said Savastano. “We performed at Lux, we performed at a Fusion Salon on Park Avenue, so we kind of had a traveling show. It was very interesting. “It was fun to do in the middle of winter, to break down the set and take it to different places everyday,” she added sarcastically. So far the plays that have been performed are already published, but they will continue to explore other possibilities as well.  “Its part of our mission to do new pieces,” said Savastano. “We’ve also talked to some established authors about doing some of their works that haven’t been produced yet. We also want to do local shows. We’re working on a one act right now that was written by a local playwright that will go up at the end of this month.”  According to Savastano, Method Machine works to do a little bit of everything. Although Method Machine strives to be professional, they also have a pretty laid back atmosphere when it comes to various artists rehearsing for shows.  “Its not high maintenance,” said Savastano. “We just say ‘hey when you want to come rehearse, we will make sure that we are there.’”  A lot of thought went into the creation of the name Method Machine. Method acting is an acting technique created by a Russian man named Stanislavski, therefore the first word of the name was derived from that. “Basically what he created was an approach to acting, which was really diving into the psychology of the character,” said Savastano. “Working on the way they walk, the way they think, the way they talk. So before that, acting was very external and he made it a more internal process.”  And for the part of the name ‘Machine…’  “We thought that we’re this well-oiled, cooperative, working together to create these works of art,” said Savastano. “So we don’t think of a machine as necessarily like bits and pieces put together kind of thing, it’s more like all three of us working together in tandem to create the art that we put forth.”  For Savastano, although art can create an escape from regular life, there is much more to it than that.  “It’s to broaden your mind, to be creative, to have an outlet to educate, to entertain, to express views that can’t normally be expressed, for experimentation, for people to derive joy out of it,” said Savastano. “There are so many levels of the importance of art, especially when there is so much going on in society. People need an outlet to express themselves, to educate, to teach people and to learn from others.”   More...