The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919
THE HEIGHTS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010
Vol. XCI, No. 40
www.bcheights.com
Finder: ‘Don’t be a bystander’
LOCAL NEWS
Library officials optimistic
Holocaust survivor speaks of childhood
Branches might fight off closing by City
BY ANA T. LOPEZ Heights Editor
She stood scarcely taller than her podium, but the presence and power that Rena Finder exerted over those packed into the Heights Room last Tuesday through the retelling of her “miraculous” biography was, for many, overwhelming. One of rapidly dwindling number of living Holocaust survivors, Finder, who said she owed her life to the determination of Oscar Schindler to protect Jews from the Nazi Party, told the Boston College community that you don’t have to be in the midst of the “most horrific crimes committed against human beings” to act heroically. The event, hosted by the Jenks Leadership Council, BC Hillel, the Mentoring Leadership Program (MLP), and the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP), was particularly emotional this year as Sonia Weitz, the survivor who had spoken at BC in past years, recently passed away. Finder was a close friend to Weitz. Finder told the audience that she had enjoyed an idyllic childhood, “treated as a princess” by her family and growing up in the ancient city of Krakow, Poland, which she described as “magical” with its antiquated castles and winding rivers. “But, overnight, from being a little girl, I became an enemy of the state,” she said. After being forced into a ghetto
See Finder, A4
ELAINE THOMPSON / AP PHOTO
The GOP took the House and are expected to be powerful again in 2012, said Kay Schlozman, a professor in the political science department.
STUDENTS AND POLITICS
Campus goes to the ballot box BY PATRICK GALLAGHER Assoc. News Editor
On Tuesday, dozens of Democratic incumbents were uprooted from both houses of Congress in what turned out to be a defining vote for the Republican Party. Republicans seized the House of Representatives, gaining 60 seats as of Wednesday evening, with 11 races yet to be decided. In the Senate, the Democrats maintained a slim majority, currently holding on to 52 seats with races in two states – Washington and Alaska – yet to be called. So far, Republicans have picked up six Senate posts. Locally, Democrats fared much better, triumphing in each of Massachusetts’
Congressional races, in addition to a resurgent win by Governor Deval Patrick over challenger Charlie Baker. Democrats also took the state elections for attorney general, treasurer, secretary of state, and auditor. Massachusetts residents voted down a ballot question that, if passed, would have repealed the state law allowing the issuance of a single, comprehensive permit to build low- or moderate-income housing, and another that would have reduced the state sales and use tax rates to 3 percent. A ballot question calling for the elimination of a state tax on beer, wine, and liquor was approved. On the national spectrum, the midterm elections represented a return to a relative
equilibrium in Congress, said Kay Schlozman, a professor in the political science department. “What is the equilibrium position in partisan terms? It’s pretty balanced,” she said. Despite that, Schlozman said that Republicans made significant gains in both houses of Congress, noting that the party’s gains in the House of Representatives amount to the biggest such swing since the 1948 election. She said that currently, Republicans are predicted to end up with 65 seats gained in the House, once the remaining tallies are completed. “The fact that Democrats held onto
See Midterms, A4
Pro-Life Club hosts week, re-thinks cemetery spread BCSSH holds organized counter demonstration BY MICHAEL CAPRIO News Editor
SANG LEE / HEIGHTS STAFF
Rena Finder, Holocaust survivor, spoke to an audience in the Heights room on Tuesday.
INSIDE SPORTS
In an effort to steer clear of controversy and promote a more positive message, the Pro-Life Club excluded its annual “Cemetery of the Innocents” display from last week’s Respect for Life Week activities, the club said. The graveyard, which is usually displayed in the Dustbowl, consists of dozens of white crosses, each one representing 10 abortions that are carried out daily. Bill Cody, vice president of the Pro-Life Club and A&S ’11, said the display was discontinued not because of the recent Stokes Hall construction, but because of public relations concerns.
“The cemetery was very controversial, and we wanted to set a more positive tone for the week,” Cody said. Rather than focus on abortion exclusively, last Monday’s demonstration, titled “Celebrate Life Day,” focused on celebrating motherhood and women who choose life, Cody said. “That’s the main mission of the club – to support pregnant women on campus.” Boston College Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH) organized a counter demonstration in support of abortion rights. The demonstrators held signs that displayed crossed-out clothes hangers. They also passed out cupcakes with similar
BEN KIMMERLE / HEIGHTS STAFF
The Pro-Life Club’s Cemetery of the Innocents last year in its traditional venue, the Dustbowl. images on them. Cody said that his club’s mission is not in direct conflict with that of BCSSH. “We don’t focus on what happens before conception,” Cody said. “We concern
See Demonstration, A4
Safety an issue at State of the Heights
A day in the water with the champion sailing team, A10
Admins explain Walsh desk policy
THE SCENE
Heights Editor
The enlightening appeal of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, B1
MARKETPLACE
Republicans take control of House, Democrats hold Senate, B10 Classifieds, A5 Crossword, A5 Editorials, A6 In the News, B10 Police Blotter, A2 TV Close Up, B2 Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down, A7 Forecast on Washington, B8 Weather, A2 Editors’ Pick, B9
BY ANA T. LOPEZ
Last night, as a part of the second installment of this year’s State of the Heights series, students asked administrators about the state of safety at Boston College and how certain measures, such as the Walsh Hall check-in desk and singleentrance access, would affect them. Vice President for Student Affairs Patrick Rombalski; BC Police Chief John King; and George Arey, associate director of the Office of Residential Life (ResLife), each fielded students’ questions. For most students, questions were not regarding their level of safety, but rather, their level of convenience. “A survey regarding student experience has shown that students leaving BC have one of
the highest percentages of feeling safe,” Rombalski said. Residents of Walsh Hall raised questions about the pilot desk program in the Walsh lobby. Residents of Ignacio questioned why access to their building had been narrowed to a single entrance, which some students felt caused more concerns than it solved. In response to the front desk pilot in Walsh, Arey said that the hope for the program was that it would eventually foster a sense of community in the halls, in addition to its main purpose of cutting down on letting “dubious” people in. “Hopefully, this pilot program will help us to determine if this is an effective method,” he said. “But we won’t know that for a while, at least one or two more years.” When asked if the program would extend to other residence halls in the meantime, Rombalski said that a lack of funding would stand as the main obstacle
to such a move. “Right now, we don’t plan to have a desk in each of our residence halls because it’s cost prohibitive,” he said. “But we chose Walsh because we wanted a dorm that was facing downtown Boston in an area of campus we wanted to try
See Security, A4
PHOTO COURTESY OF LIZ SULLIVAN
The Fanueil Branch is being sustained until March 2011, at which time it might close. BY MICHAEL CAPRIO News Editor
Officials from the Boston Public Library recently announced that they would be open to maintaining four local libraries that have been scheduled to close early next year. Amy Ryan, president of the Boston Public Library system, told reporters that if funding becomes available for the libraries, she would be ready to keep the branches open. “If more funding is available for the branches, I’m in favor of keeping all the branches open,’’ Ryan said. “I would make that recommendation to the library Board of Trustees, who I believe would support this option.’’ There will be a meeting tonight at the Faneuil library branch in Brighton’s Oak Square – the second in a series of four meetings held at the branches that have been slated for closure. The other branches are those at Lower Mills in Dorchester, Washington Village in South Boston, and Orient Heights in East Boston. Massachusetts has cut Boston library funding from $8.9 million to $2.4 million in the past two years. The Boston Public Library system faced a $3.6 million budget gap last year. The city increased the library’s budget by $654,000 in June, which would keep the libraries open through March of next year. The libraries would need an additional $372,000 to remain open through the end of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, according to a report by The Allston Brighton Tab. The Boston Public Library system has laid off 31 positions this year at its Copley Square headquarters. Library officials told reporters that the annual costs of maintaining the four libraries will increase in coming years, with projected costs of $1.5 million in 2012 to keep the four library branches open for one year. “Long-term sustainability is something we still need to keep thinking about,’’ Ryan told reporters. “But the additional time is allowing us to work with residents and others on how to keep the branches open.”
LOVE YOUR BODY WEEK BEGINS
KYLIE MONTERO / HEIGHTS STAFF
ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR
BC Police Chief John King (right) was the featured speaker at last night’s State of the Heights address.
Love Your Body Week kicked off last night with an exhibit in O’Neill Library. The week will hold events that deal with sexuality and body image. For more on the events, see Pg. A3.
TopFive
Thursday, November 4, 2010
THE HEIGHTS
things to do on campus this week
Beauty and Body Art
Catholics on Climate Change
The Way We Were
Today Time: 8 a.m. Location: O’Neill Library This photography exhibition, organized by the Women’s Resource Center, will look at BC’s undercover tattoo culture.
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Today Time: 7 p.m. Location: Heights Room
James O’Toole, a professor in the history department, along with two others, will discuss the history of the laity in the Catholic Church from a variety of perspectives.
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Friday Time: 3:30 p.m. Location: Devlin 010
Dan DiLeo of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change will discuss the Church’s message on climate change and environmental stewardship.
FEATURED ON CAMPUS
Caritas merger approved
Carmelite Authors 101
Mozart ‘Requiem’
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Friday Time: 8 p.m. Location: Trinity Chapel
The University Chorale of Boston College, conducted by John Finney, will perform Mozart’s “Requiem” Friday evening on Newton Campus.
Saturday Time: 10 a.m. Location: Stuart House East Wing Join Carmelite writer, lecturer, and retreat leader Daniel Chowning as he speaks about the Carmelite nun who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1984.
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IntheNews
FOUR DAY WEATHER FORECAST TODAY
52° Rain 47°
FRIDAY
51° Showers 36°
SATURDAY
50° Partly Cloudy
University College endowments earn first positive investment return in three years A recent study showed that college endowments earned their first positive investment return in three years, according to a report by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The study, which was conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund, said that returns on endowments rose by an average of 12.6 percent for the fiscal year ending last June. However, the study said that most endowments still have not reached pre-recession levels despite recent gains due to a climbing stock market as of late.
32°
SUNDAY
45° Sunny 31°
SOURCE: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
A Guide to Your Newspaper The Heights Boston College – McElroy 113 140 Commonwealth Ave. Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467 Editor-in-Chief (617) 552-2223
Local News Joint venture between City of Boston, Harvard improves bike lanes
MICHAEL CAPRIO / HEIGHTS EDITOR
The merger between Caritas and Cerberus Capital Management was approved by the Mass. Supreme Court Monday. BY KENDALL BITONTE For The Heights
On Monday, Oct. 29, the merger between Caritas Christi and the New York firm Cerberus Capital Management became finalized with the approval of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Steward Health Care System LLC, a for-profit affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, will now run the six Boston hospitals that were previously a part of Caritas Christi, a non-profit system. Attorney General Martha Coakley recommended the involvement of a new firm because the hospitals under the authority of Caritas Christi had been experiencing severe financial troubles with little anticipation of recovery. The merger has been under investigation for the past five months. The Boston Globe reported on Monday that Associate Justice Francis X. Spina’s memorandum cited Coakley’s diagnosis of Caritas Christi’s “unsustainable financial situation,” which would become “increasingly turbulent” without assistance. Coakley said in a statement that she has a positive
outlook on the introduction next week. Details of the merger inof Cerberus Capital Management into Boston health care clude fully funded pensions and that she would work to for approximately 13,000 ensure protection of merger former and current employees, conditions in its implemen- satisfying Caritas Christi’s outstanding incurred debt and tation. “We are pleased that the spending at least $400 million in capital imCourt approved the transfer of “We are pleased that provements. Ac c o r d i n g the Caritas Systhe Court approved to the attorney tem to Steward the transfer of the ge n e ra l ’s o f Health Care System LLC with Caritas System to fice, this additional spending the additional Steward Health is expected to protections that our office Care System LLC increase emloyment in n e g o t i a t e d ,” with the additional pthe system by Coakley said. “This sale will protections that our 3, 000 - 4, 000 preserve health office negotiated.” jobs. Under the n e go t i a t i o n s care access for of the transfer, the thousands —Martha Coakley, Cerberus may of residents in these communi- Massachusetts Attorney not close one of the hospitals ties and will proGeneral for five years, tect the 12,000 jobs of the employees of these instead of the originally proposed three years. hospitals.” The six hospitals previously The regulatory review process consisted of gaining part of Caritas Christi Health support from the attorney Care were Norwood Hospital, general, state Public Health St. Elizabeth’s Hospital MediCouncil, Boston Archdio- cal Center of Brighton, Carney cese, and the Vatican. Chris Hospital of Dorchester, Good Murphy, chief spokesman for Samaritan Medical Center of Caritas Christi, told report- Brockton, St. Anne’s Hospital ers that the deal is expected in Fall River, and Holy Family to be completed within the Hospital in Methuen.
New bike lanes will be installed along a half-mile stretch of Western Avenue this month, according to a report by The Boston Globe. The project, which is a joint venture between the City of Boston and Harvard University, is a part of a city-wide bike lane initiative aimed at increasing safety and access for cyclists. The lanes will run in both directions from Travis Street to Soldiers Field Road and will include a special 10-foot-wide buffered lane, called a cycle track, and a standard 5-foot bike lane that will run westbound, according to the Globe report.
On Campus BC grad featured in BusinessWeek for his entrepreneurial brewery Christian Amport, GCSOM ’10, was recently featured by BusinessWeek as a “b-school entrepreneur” for a business plan that he created while at Boston College that turned into a brewery. Amport founded Overshores Brewing Co. last year after earning his degree, according to the BusinessWeek report. The plan for the brewery became a reality after Amport and a team of fellow students developed a business plan for a brewery that was selected as a finalist for the BC Venture Competition (BCVC).
National 20 tons of marijuana found near a tunnel connecting the U.S., Mexico SAN DIEGO (AP) - U.S. authorities discovered 20 tons of marijuana near a tunnel connecting warehouses on either side of California’s border with Mexico. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack said Wednesday that the tunnel ran 600 yards under the border near San Diego. It had lighting, ventilation, and a rail system for sending carts of drugs into the U.S. Officials have found 125 tunnels since the early 1990s. Of those, 75 have been found in the past four years, most along the California and Arizona borders with Mexico.
Editorial General (617) 552-2221 Managing Editor (617) 552-4286 News Desk (617) 552-0172 Sports Desk (617) 552-0189 Marketplace Desk (617) 552-3548 Features Desk (617) 552-3548 Arts Desk (617) 552-0515 Photo (617) 552-1022 Fax (617) 552-4823 Business and Operations General Manager (617) 552-0169 Advertising (617) 552-2220 Business and Circulation (617) 552-0547 Classifieds and Collections (617) 552-0364 Fax (617) 552-1753 EDITORIAL RESOURCES News Tips Have a news tip or a good idea for a story? Call Michael Caprio, News Editor, at (617) 552-0172, or e-mail news@bcheights.com. For future events, e-mail, fax, or mail a detailed description of the event and contact information to the News Desk. Sports Scores Want to report the results of a game? Call Zach Wielgus, Sports Editor, at (617) 552-0189, or e-mail sports@bcheights.com. Arts Events The Heights covers a multitude of events both on and off campus – including concerts, movies, theatrical performances, and more. Call Kristen House, Arts and Review Editor, at (617) 552-0515, or e-mail review@ bcheights.com. For future events, e-mail, fax, or mail a detailed description of the event and contact information to the Arts Desk. Clarifications / Corrections The Heights strives to provide its readers with complete, accurate, and balanced information. If you believe we have made a reporting error, have information that requires a clarification or correction, or questions about The Heights standards and practices, you may contact Matthew DeLuca, Editor-in-Chief, at (617) 552-2223, or e-mail editor@ bcheights.com. CUSTOMER SERVICE
Police Blotter 10/29/10 – 10/31/10 Friday, October 29 7:24 p.m. - A report was filed regarding two underage intoxicated parties in Conte Forum. The parties were transported to a medical facility in a police cruiser.
Saturday, October 30 12:41 a.m. - A report was filed regarding an intoxicated party of legal age who was unable to care for himself in Vanderslice Hall. The party was transported to a medical facility by ambulance. 12:59 a.m. - A report was filed regarding several parties who were observed acting in a disorderly manner. The parties were identified and a report will be forwarded to ODSD for review. 1:17 a.m. - A report was filed regarding assistance provided to the Walsh Hall security attendants. A report will be forwarded to Residential Life. 4:26 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a party who was placed under arrest for attempted breaking and entering and disorderly conduct. The party was transported by ambulance to a medical facility for intoxication. He was later transported back to BCPD Headquarters for booking and processing, then bailed.
11:05 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a party who was placed under arrest for an outstanding default warrant in Alumni Stadium. The party was booked and processed at the BCPD operations post, then bailed with a written trespass warning. 11:50 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a party who was engaged in the resale of tickets without being properly licensed. The tickets were confiscated, and the report was forwarded to Athletics. 1:05 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a party who was ejected from Alumni Stadium for possession of an alcoholic beverage. The party was issued a verbal trespass warning barring them from the stadium for the remainder of the day.
Sunday, October 31 1:30 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a party reportedly banging on doors in Walsh Hall. Officers responded to the report and located and identified the subject, who briefly attempted to flee. The party was apprehended and transported to the Primary Care Facility in a police cruiser.
—Source: The Boston College Police Department
Voices from the Dustbowl “What’s the best movie you’ve seen in theaters recently?”
“The Town was by far my favorite.” —Stephen Sullivan, A&S ’13
“Inception.” —Peter Keating, A&S ’14
“Inception. I liked that one.” —Victoria Carney,
CSON ’11
Delivery To have The Heights delivered to your home each week or to report distribution problems on campus, contact John O’Reilly, General Manager at (617) 552-0547. Advertising The Heights is one of the most effective ways to reach the BC community. To submit a classified, display, or online advertisement, call our advertising office at (617) 552-2220 Monday through Friday.
The Heights is produced by BC undergraduates and is published on Mondays and Thursdays during the academic year by The Heights, Inc. (c) 2010. All rights reserved.
CORRECTIONS - In the editorial titled “A different kind of conversation” in the Nov. 1 edition, it was said that the GLC organized an abortion rights demonstration during Respect Life Week. The demonstration was in fact organized by BC Students for Sexual Health.
A3
The Heights
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Students celebrate Love Your Body Week in style
By Breana Marchwinski
For The Heights
Eating disorders, skin color, tattoos, and sexual identity will be explored and celebrated during the Women’s Resource Center’s (WRC) Love Your Body Week from Nov. 3 until Nov. 12. Love Your Body Week is an event run by the WRC with the intent to encourage greater acceptance of different body types. “Love Your Body Week began as a campaign to celebrate body diversity, to target unhealthy attitudes on campus, and to raise awareness of eating disorders,” said Jacqueline Draper, Love Your Body Week coordinator and A&S ’11. “We want to promote the concept that beauty is not a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all mold of a woman or a man,” she said. Events such as the “Love Your Health Luncheon” and “Seeing the Black Body, Loving the Black Body,” will focus on promoting a healthy self-image. Eating disorders are one of the most prevalent body imagerelated issues at Boston College, said Sheila Tucker, a nutritionist and professor in the Lynch School of Education (LSOE). “Our prevalence of eating
disorders as a diagnosis mirrors that of other colleges and populations in the same age group,” she said. According to a poll given by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), nearly 20 percent of American college students reported that they believe they have suffered from some form of an eating disorder at some time. “BC has a very extreme culture,” said Amanda Tjan, CSOM ’11. “Study hard, party hard, go hard at the gym. It’s almost like everyone has to be perfect in every aspect of their life. I feel like we have a very strong desire to excel at BC, and when this isn’t channeled properly, it can be bad.” The pressures to fit in with the BC student body can have devastating effects on students’ self-esteem, Draper said. “Along with rigorous academics, we also see this competition in our body-image culture, which can take the form of an exercise addiction, unhealthy views of one’s body, or an eating disorder,” Draper said. According to a 2006 ranking by Men’s Fitness, BC is the third fittest campus in the United States, which may contribute to anxieties students have about their bodies, students said. “There are so many stereo-
types about BC having a goodlooking student body, and since there are also a lot of people at BC who are perfectionists, they feel that their bodies are inferior when comparing themselves with others on campus,” said Carly Christensen, A&S ’14. The messages surrounding Love Your Body Week pertain to both men and women, organizers said. “We encourage a celebration of a woman and a man’s natural bodies and also the diversity of bodies,” Draper said. “We want to stress that this problem exists among both women and men.” “Guys are under pressure too, actually,” said Brendan Catalano, A&S ’14. “It doesn’t come up as often because everyone considers eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia to be specific to the female demographic,” he said. “BC has a certain reputation that demands a level of athleticism and attractiveness. Obviously, the pressure on guys is a lot less than that which is experienced by girls, but it’s still there.” Eating disorders can have a long-term impact on those affected. Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, as reported by NEDA. As a result, WRC’s Love
Kylie Montero / Heights Staff
Students view the Beauty and Body Art exhibit in the O’Neill Library, which is on display for Love Your Body Week. Your Body Week is intended to prevent eating disorders before they occur. Early prevention is essential in the effort to reduce the prevalence of eating disorders. “Through evidence-based research, we know that improving self-esteem and body image, along with rejecting the societal and media ideal of being underweight, are what has been shown to decrease the risk of eating disorders,” Tucker said.
Issues of race and sexuality are also topics to be covered over the course of the week. “Many students here fail to realize what the word ‘different’ means,” said Gabriella Sehne, CSON ’14. “I feel like in order to create a more interesting and pleasant society, we need individuals of different races and sexualities as well as looks.” Love Your Body Week will address these issues with events such as “Down with the Brown?
A Discussion on Interracial Dating and Cultural Conception of Beauty.” “Each year has a broad focus to cover various topics about body image,” Draper said. “We offer many events in differing mediums to reach out to more people in unique ways. We hope that students re-examine how they treat and think about not only their own bodies but also the bodies of others,” she said. n
Alert system evaluated By Michael Shippie For The Heights
Kylie Montero / Heights Staff
The Beauty and Body Art exhibit is located on the first floor of the O’Neill Library and will be on display until Nov. 12.
Founded in 2008, the Boston College Office of Emergency Planning has dedicated itself to educating students, faculty, and staff in emergency preparedness and the correct way to handle a variety of threatening situations. John Tommaney, director of the Office of Emergency Planning, said that it is important that the University have such an office, especially in light of several severe threats that have occurred in the past decade across the nation. “Events such as the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 have prompted institutions of higher education to put more effort and resources into preparing for emergencies,” Tommaney said. Tommaney’s office reports to Executive Vice President Patrick Keating in the development of plans and procedures for dealing with emergency situations, as well as the education and outreach to prepare the University community for these events, Tommaney said. The department handles con-
tingency planning for winter storms, fires, and flooding, but also oversees several other possible threats, such as earthquakes, hazardous materials accidents, active shooters, terrorism, medical emergencies, and numerous others. “Many of these events are low probability events, but could be high consequence events if they were to occur.” The University’s responses to last year’s water crisis, chemical spill, and record winter storms were overseen by the Office of Emergency Management, which during any crisis, “convenes to assess the situation and take appropriate action to protect the Boston College community,” according to BC’s emergency Web site. To create a culture of preparedness at BC, Tommaney has turned to technology to provide the University community with information. Methods include text messaging, e-mails, Web site updates, Facebook statuses, Twitter messages, and more. “Emergency management is an evolving and maturing field,” Tommaney said, who, before coming to BC, worked for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency for 15 years and dealt with
emergency management at the local, federal, and international level. “My goal at BC is to promote the culture of preparedness, to have our community members armed with enough knowledge and information to know what to do in an emergency and how to take care of themselves in a crisis,” Tommaney said. “Boston College is readily able to communicate with its student body at a given instance and notify them of any situation or emergency that may be taking place,” said James DeMarco, A&S ’13. “The advance in technology has only influenced and sped up the process of the relay of information to the students of Boston College,” DeMarco said. “Everyone these days is attached to their electronic device, so the best way to get in touch with someone is through those devices,” said Pamela Cassiani, A&S ’13. “It’s worked really well.” Tommaney and the Office of Emergency Management are currently working to prepare for another New England winter, and plan to make regular use of social networking sites, text messaging, and e-mails. n
Allston-Brighton Crime Reports 10/20/10 – 10/24/10
Officer’s search of a motor vehicle yields one pound of marijuana On Oct. 20, at 9:09 p.m., an officer observed the operator of a motor vehicle on Commonwealth Avenue smoking what appeared to be a marijuana cigarette. The officer conducted a motor vehicle stop and, upon approaching the suspect’s vehicle, could smell a strong odor of marijuana. When the officer asked the suspect if he was smoking, he admitted that he was and stated that it was indeed marijuana. The suspect said the one joint was all he had, and told the officer, “If you don’t believe me, you can check yourself.” Upon searching the vehicle, the officer found a bag behind the passenger seat allegedly containing one pound of marijuana. The bag was seized, but the suspect was not arrested at that time. Police are still investigating.
iPod stolen after breaking and entering of a motor vehicle An officer responded to a radio call on Oct. 21, at 4:25 p.m., regarding a breaking and entering of a motor vehicle. Upon arrival, the officer spoke to the victim, who said that he heard a loud bang and then observed two unknown male suspects running from his vehicle. The victim’s front window was allegedly smashed with a rock and an iPod Touch was stolen. The suspects fled the scene and were not found by the officer.
Harvard Ave. apartment ransacked, two laptops stolen At 4:27 p.m. on Oct. 23, officers responded to a breaking and entering on Harvard Avenue. Upon arrival, the victims reported that an unknown suspect forced open the rear door of their apartment. The suspect entered the apartment and reportedly stole two MacBook laptops. Police are still investigating the incident.
Brookline taxi driver found to be driving with a suspended license On Oct. 23, at 10:18 p.m., officers observed a Brookline taxi take a right turn onto Commonwealth Avenue without slowing down, nearly resulting in a collision with an oncoming vehicle. The officers initiated a traffic stop and asked the suspect for his driver’s license and registration. Upon producing the documentation, the officers found that the suspect’s license had been suspended for multiple driving violations. The suspect was placed under arrest for operating a vehicle with a suspended license, and the vehicle was towed.
– Courtesy of the Boston Police Department, District 14 Gathered by Taylour Kumpf, Asst. News Editor
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The Heights
A4
Holocaust survivor steps in for an old friend Finder, from A1
with the other Jewish families of Krakow, she said, “I remember looking around my room where I was born and I couldn’t believe I was going to leave it. But my father assured me that everything would be okay when the world found out what is happening to us.” As a small girl, Finder stood witness as her neighbors were shot at point-blank range and as her grandparents were wrenched from the ghetto to their inevitable death. She also watched as the city she loved fell into ruin, overtaken by Nazis intent on subjecting Jews to forced labor or sending them off to concentration camps. After being taken to a concentration camp, her family torn apart, Finder learned of Oscar Schindler, a member of the Nazi Party who was work-
ing from a position within the government to stop the atrocities against Jews in ghettos and camps across Europe. To Finder, Schindler was an absolute hero, every ounce the man that was portrayed by Steven Spielberg in the film Schindler’s List. By opening a factory that produced ammunition critical to the Party and employing primarily Jews, he managed to save over 1,000 people who would otherwise be executed. “Schindler was like my father,” she said. “The things that he did for us at the time were so amazing at a time when nobody showed us any mercy.” Finder said that, whenever recalling that time of her life, she things of the people who stood by. She said that, even while being transported to the “hell
on earth” that was Auschwitz, a journey that spanned hundreds of miles, no one thought to help. “There were trains with cars full of people passing hundreds of towns and farms along the way,” she said. “We were all crying out, but nobody heard us.” Finder said that, though following the war there was a commitment that there would never be another atrocity similar to the Holocaust, mankind is standing as a silent witness to such events once again. “I now see things like the Vietnam War and Darfur – everyone is talking about it, but still, no one is doing anything,” she said. “It is so important to be involved and pay attention. Each and every one of us has the power to affect change. Don’t be a bystander.” n
sang lee / heights staff
Holocaust survivor Rena Finder urged students to be proactive in their fight against injustice in a lecture on Tuesday evening.
Pro-Life club hosts Respect for Life events in the Quad
PHOTOS courtesy of the BC Pro-Life Club
BEN KIMMERLE / HEIGHTS STAFF
Last year’s Cemetery of the Innocents was discontinued this year because of concerns about its reception at BC.
Demonstration, from A1 ourselves with what happens after conception. If members of BCSSH would like to join our organization, we wouldn’t be opposed to it.” Caitlin Moran, spokesperson for BCSSH and A&S ’11, said that this year was the first that the club
had organized the demonstration, which in past years had been organized by a small group of abortion rights students. “I wouldn’t call it a protest,” Moran said. “There is no open public forum at BC. That was our only opportunity to give voice to the issue at BC.” The BCSSH mission statement
does not directly address abortion rights, but Moran said that the two issues are linked. “You can’t talk about sexual health and reproductive health without talking about the other,” she said. “We wanted to promote healthy sexual decision making. Decision making itself implies that there are choices.” n
PHOTOS courtesy of the BC Pro-Life Club
Members of the Boston College Pro-Life Club (above) at this year’s Respect for Life Week celebration in thq Quad.
Midterm election a historic moment, professors say Midterms, from A1
the Senate does not change my view that this was a very good year for Republicans,” Schlozman said. She added that the losses inflicted by Republicans on their Democratic counterparts were not as severe as they could have been because many senators will not be up for reelection until 2012. “Clearly, it’s not good news for Democrats in 2012.” When the new congressmen and senators take their places in January, the questions of unemployment and government spending will not have gone away, said Peter Ireland, a professor in the economics department. “A big part of the problem right now with the weak recovery and tepid job growth seems to stem from the fact that consumers and businesses just don’t know what to expect from the government as far as economic policy is concerned,” Ireland said. Ireland said that he is hopeful that lawmakers may be able to find solutions to cutting the national deficit while still providing for economic growth and job creation, but added that it may mean increasing taxes. “If some compromises can be found that will eliminate some of the huge uncertainties about what future tax and spending policies will be, I think that, by itself, would help enormously,” he said. Students said that jobs were of the utmost importance, even though Massachusetts has done relatively well compared to the rest of the country in the past several years. “The economy was the biggest issue by far,” said Michael Joyce, vice president of the Undergraduate Government of BC Senate
and A&S ’12. “Given that unemployment is almost 10 percent nationally, job creation should be the first priority of our elected officials right now.” For students who campaigned on behalf of the College Democrats of BC (CDBC) and the College Republicans of BC (CRBC). Tuesday marked the end of year-long efforts throughout the state. Kristoffer Munden, president of CDBC and A&S ’11, said that the success of Democratic candidates in statewide elections was in part due to the efforts of college students from across Massachusetts who worked for months on their various campaigns. “Collectively, CDBC has worked well over 800 hours campaigning this election season,” Munden said. “We worked hard to keep [Massachusetts] blue, and I think our efforts paid off.” While youth voter turnout may have been low, Munden said that students still played a major role in the outcomes of Tuesday’s elections. “Especially here in [Massachusetts], hundreds of students from College Democrats chapters across the state formed a strong base of active support for candidates up and down the ticket,” Munden said. Highlighting the victory by underdog Democratic candidate – and now congressman-elect – Bill Keating of the 10th Congressional District of Massachusetts, Munden said that the Republican Party wasn’t the only one that featured a number of upsets. “A few weeks ago, we participated in [the College Democrats of Massachusetts] campaign invasion in Plymouth in the 10th District, where we helped make over 8,000 voter contacts,” he said. “Bill Keating was supposed
to lose that race to the Tea Partybacked candidate, but we won by over 12,000 votes.” For the CRBC, the loss in the 10th District was a disappointing one, said Tomas Castella, club president and A&S ’11. Despite that, he said that Republican Party candidates made major progress in their races. “I think it goes beyond the wins and losses,” he said. “Our real success is that we got many candidates who hadn’t faced public scrutiny to face public scrutiny. I think it was a very good thing for Republicans in the state to challenge the establishment.” Castella said that the CRBC has made major strides throughout the election cycle, and that it will continue to stay active in the lull that separates elections. “I think the BC College Republicans definitely made an impact in this election,” Castella said. “We hosted every major Republican candidate. That was really exciting for us – that was something we’ve never done before.” He said that now, “Even though there are not campaigns, there are still debates to be had,” and he said that CRBC would continue to stay involved in local politics. While Massachusetts voters approached state turnout records for a midterm election, Castella said that he thinks that the student voter base is not representing itself as well as it could in election turnout. “I would really like to see more involvement from the BC community,” he said, adding that he and Munden have their two clubs working together to increase student political awareness. “There’s room for gains … on both sides. Trying to increase political involvement is one of our core missions.” n
alex trautwig / hieghts editor
BC Police Chief John King (left), George Arey, associate dean of ResLife (middle), and VP of Student Affairs Patrick Rombalski.
Students press administrators on issues of safety on campus Security, from A1
out.” Arey said that some of the new security measures have allowed them to catch student infractions. “We have cameras at each of the doors and at the front desk,” he said. “We once indentified a young man who decided it was a good idea to go to the bathroom in the stairwell, which is a huge issue.” Arey said that vandalism in Walsh is down nearly 90 percent from a high last year. Regarding the streamlining of the front desk program in the building, all of the administrators said it was a work in progress – particularly after students complained about how strict the desk staff was about students’ IDs and situations when they were not even able to enter their own residence hall. “It’s not meant to keep BC stu-
dents out of the residence halls, it’s to keep the people that don’t belong there out,” Arey said. For students living in Ignacio, the issue of having only the door facing Robsham Theater accessible was of concern. One student who lives on the middle floors claimed the lack of access added nearly 10 minutes to his commute in and out of the building. Another student said that the single access point, in theory, made it easier for outsiders to enter a building, as people are now going in and out of a central spot with greater frequency. Rombalski said that there were several considerations for the single entrance. “Beyond the safety reasons, another reason for the single entrance is that in some of the older buildings, some of the entrances led right into a hallway, and those residents did not like being in a high traffic entryway for the
building,” he said. To students who live off campus and wantw the option to get into on-campus dorms to evade an assailant, Rombalski said that it might cause more problems than it would fix. “I’d be against that,” he said. “You want to limit your access to a dorm. I would promise you that giving access to those dorms to thousands of more people would cause problems, so it’s definitely something you have to weigh out.” In all of the issues raised by students was the underlying unhappiness that their convenience had been compromised by these safety initiatives – whether it was the inability to prop doors or to enter their building easily. “The sad thing about this is that safety is not necessarily convenient,” Arey said. “But with new technology, we’ll probably be able to make advances in safety as well as convenience,” Rombalski said. n
CLASSIFIEDS
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THE HEIGHTS
Thursday, November 4, 2010
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MISCELLANEOUS Interested in blogging for The Heights? Contact Dara Fang at fangda@bc.edu for more information or to submit a tip. Check out The Heights fan page on Facebook for breaking news updates, blog updates, and more!
ENTREPRENEURSHIP. True Power is a new performance band that improves strength and stability. True
Zak, what happened to your pants? Answers to the Crossword are below the Sudoku
Directions: The Sudoku is played over a 9x9 grid. In each row there are 9 slots, some of which are empty and need to be filled. Each row, column and 3x3 box should contain the numbers 1 to 9. You must follow these rules: · Number can appear only once in each row · Number can appear only once in each column · Number can appear only once in each 3x3 box · The number should appear only once on row, column or area.
Answers below Answers to Crossword and Sudoku
A6
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The Heights
Editorials
No more excuses
There needs to be real discussion about GLBTQ issues and Catholicism if BC is to call itself a premier Catholic institution. Almost a month ago, The Heights published an editorial demonstrating the need for greater discussion on campus of GLBTQ issues in relation to Catholic moral teaching and the Catholic intellectual tradition, calling for the University to no longer brush these issues aside, especially in light of Boston College’s Jesuit-intellectual heritage. So far, we have seen no response. Too often, in this era of the 24-hour news cycle, issues circuit in and out of the public’s consciousness. This issue is too important to fall by the wayside. There are organizations on campus that are designed to deal with issues such as this. The Church in the 21st Century Center (C21) was founded in part to develop an approach to sexuality, mindful of human experience and reflective of Catholic tradition while advancing contemporary reflection on the Catholic intellectual tradition. The Heights would like to see C21 gather views from both inside and outside the BC community, and we invite them to speak in an open forum about the reality of the divide
between the theoretical teaching the Church puts forth and the reality of living as GLBTQ young adults in a Catholic setting. The Heights also suggests that C21 reach out to the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) when planning these events. Although the GLC is not affiliated with and does not represent any particular religious background, it is committed to bettering the quality of life of all who identify themselves as GLBTQ. The students on campus who identify as both GLBTQ and Catholic are facing a particular struggle that can be addressed by these groups during their time at BC. By reaching out to the GLC and other student groups, C21 can take the lead in one of our society’s most difficult theological issues. As we said in October, the time for the discussion of GLBTQ issues and Catholicism is now. The community needs to be proactive, not reactive. BC should strive to live up to its claim to be the premier Catholic institution in the world by working to create some real progress regarding a modern conflict within the Church.
Acting locally
Boston College students should step in to help save local libraries that are under the threat of closure due to budget cuts. In an effort to curtail government spending, the City of Boston plans to cut four branches of the Boston Public Library, including Faneuil Library in Brighton. The need to eliminate unnecessary spending is understandable in the current economic climate, but closing library branches, particularly in neighborhoods like Dorchester and Brighton, is an inadvisable tactic with concern for the future of the children in these areas. In areas of lower income, a library is a beacon of education. Books bring the humanities to the homes of less privileged families, and public libraries offer a unique accessibility to these materials. Furthermore, the programs offered by libraries encourage children to pursue their intellectual curiosities and thereby supplement their education. Weekly story times, fun and informative lectures, and other scheduled programs pique the interest of children and foster a love of reading and learning. The branches in question reside in areas where the average household income
sits at about $50,000. These are the neighborhoods that benefit most from a public library. In 2006, Boston College partnered with St. Columbkille School to keep the parochial school open to the community. Similarly, BC should commit to its stance on liberal arts education and work with its local public library branch, the Faneuil Library, to keep the facility open. Although a supplementary fund is keeping the four branches open, the fund will only last for a year before the library is faced with shutting its doors. Working to finance and improve this institution would be an effective way for the school to serve the Brighton community. Students can also offer their services through reading to children, volunteering hours to check out materials, and protesting the proposed closures. A library offers students an opportunity for success, and as beneficiaries of the education system, we owe it to our community to reflect its positive effect and encourage its pursuit.
House on the hill
The O’Connell House should take advantage of their captive audience on Upper Campus to offer more creative activities and programs. Upper Campus has always been a bit removed from the center of campus life. Not as much as Newton Campus, of course, but now, with the construction in the Dustbowl, it takes a bit more effort to climb up to the freshman residence halls. The sight of freshmen straggling through the Dustbowl back to Medeiros and Gonzaga has been replaced by that of revelers coming up Beacon Street, or down College Road. Last year, there was some talk about directing more funds to the O’Connell House, rethinking how the facility is used, and how it can be better appropriated to the needs of students, freshmen in particular. The O’Connell House is the only building on this campus that can play host to the kind of student programming that is most successful – that devised by students. Often, the O’Connell House coordinates programming with Nights on the Heights (NOTH). However, a calendar of upcoming NOTH events features none that will take place at the O’Connell House. We’ve written about the O’Connell House many times before, and last year we applauded the managers for their
efforts. Our intention now is not to suggest that something isn’t being done, but rather that there are more opportunities to explore. We’d like to think that our observations in regard to the O’Connell House are being overlooked because of their simplicity. But as brevity is the soul of wit, ease is at the heart of every memorable Friday or Saturday night. The O’Connell House should be used to host larger-scale events, such as both student and non-student band performances, as well as impromptu freshman gatherings. If the house was in another location, we’d recommend it as the perfect location for a campus pub, but a coffee house would do just as well. Programming for the O’Connell House should not be difficult. If you make it somewhere that caters to the basic student needs – coffee, the occasional cause of some sort, and companionship – it will be a success. In our minds, the O’Connell House will be living up to its fullest potential when the flow of students is reversed, and upperclassmen start making the trek to Upper Campus.
The Heights The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919 Matthew DeLuca, Editor-in-Chief John O’Reilly, General Manager Darren Ranck, Managing Editor
Contributors: Kevin DiCesare, Diana Nearhos, Mollie Kolosky
Samantha Cohen/ Heights Illustration
Letters to the Editor Opening the dialogue on reproductive health Each of my four years at Boston College, I and other students have stood in the Dustbowl or Quad during Respect Life Week, offering an alternative message that respects every woman’s right to make decisions about her reproductive health. BC students have never been offered a legitimate public forum to express our beliefs or even hear opposing voices discuss the moral, political, and many other issues surrounding abortion, both as a personal decision and a political debate. Abortion rights advocates can only make a small statement on campus by having a presence during the Pro-Life Club’s most visible and well-known event, Respect Life Week. This year, BC Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH) organized students to provide an alternative to the message of Respect Life Week by holding posters and handing out cupcakes. While some have taken offense to our tactics, BCSSH’s mission is to open up dialogue on campus and to engage with the health of the whole person, which includes women’s reproductive health. If a woman becomes pregnant, we hope that she has access to all the support and information she needs to decide whether to have an abortion or continue the pregnancy to term to raise the child or pursue adoption. However, we have no space on campus
in which to voice these concerns for student health. Our presence during Respect Life Week was less a protest and more a statement that pro-choice students can and should have a voice on campus, and that the debate can be respectful and recognize the various sides of the issue. While the Pro-Life Club celebrates only women who do not choose abortion, we respect all women’s decisions. Unfortunately, instead of removing barriers to education and allowing for open conversations about this important moral and political issue, BC has chosen not to allow student groups or events that address abortion rights. BCSSH respects the valuable Jesuit Catholic tradition at BC while recognizing the fundamental health needs of college students and the importance of an honest and supportive environment – especially regarding sexual and reproductive health. I hope that BC will recognize the diversity of student values and experiences, as well as the value of education and debate to student formation, and allow students to continue the conversation about sexual and reproductive health and justice in more public and academic forums. Alicia Johnson A&S ’11, Chair of BC Students for Sexual Health
The Pro-Life Club sets the record straight In its most recent editorial, The Heights discussed the Pro-Life Club’s recent Respect Life Week and the actions of those who protested “Celebrate Life Day” last Thursday. We are grateful for the encouragement from The Heights and for their call for respectful discussion on the oftendivisive issue of abortion. The editorial, however, falsely claims that the protesters were part of an effort “fostering dialogue” and moving toward a “respectful attitude.” Their demonstration, though, consisted of signs such as, “Keep your Rosaries off my ovaries,” and cupcakes with the design of a coat hanger. Besides injecting religion into a non-religious issue, these signs prevent respectful dialogue. While I am grateful for the respectful and cordial discussion I had with two of the protesters, I am disappointed that their signs did not reflect our conversation. More importantly, The Heights editorial included misleading accounts of the Pro-Life Club. I’m perplexed as to why they implied that, before this week, the Pro-Life Club has relied on “religious symbols as the only means of delivering its message.” The white crosses in our former “Cemetery of the Innocents” are a national, not simply a religious, symbol that memorializes the lives touched by abortion every day (the Arlington National Cemetery uses
white crosses). The Pro-Life Club has always sought to engage people on the basis of science and reason, providing the facts about abortion and life in the womb, as shown by our events last week. In addition to our talk and discussion on adoption as a life-affirming alternative to abortion, we held a display of the development of the unborn child in the womb last Monday. Using 3D ultrasound images, the “Consider this” display showed the beauty and reality of the life of the unborn child from a scientific perspective. I am unsure of where The Heights received the idea that the Pro-Life Club’s Respect Life Week has, in the past, involved political and religious “grandstanding” and shouting between demonstrators. In my four years of involvement with the Pro-Life Club, this never happened. Cordial conversation between the two sides has occurred (including last week), but never yelling or “fear-mongering tactics.” The Pro-Life Club always has and always will be committed to “real and respectful conversation.” Most importantly, we will continue to strive to provide aid to any pregnant woman in need. We hope that, instead of displaying false and offensive signs, all others can join us in this endeavor. Billy Cody A&S ’11 and Vice President, Boston College Pro-Life Club
Using campus resources responsibly Rebecca Clark In a shameful abuse of University resources, the sociology department is sponsoring use of the Vanderslice Cabaret Room for a fundraiser at Boston College Nov. 14 for the pet political cause of one of its faculty members. This political fundraiser is for a virulently anti-Israel organization founded by sociology professor Eve Spangler. Her group, which calls itself American Jews for a Just Peace (AJJP), advocates a cultural and economic boycott of Israel and the Israeli people. Other AJJP activities include weekly protests at the Israeli Consulate in Boston and sponsorship of a Gaza flotilla-inspired boat to challenge Israel’s and Egypt’s partial blockade of the Gaza Strip. Regardless of one’s views on the merits of these
activities, there can be no pretext that AJJP is simply a neutral charity, promoting an unobjectionable vision of what justice and peace look like. Professors are free to be political activists of any stripe they please. First and foremost, however, they are obligated to be educators, and to observe basic academic standards in their professional work. This is both an intellectual and an ethical responsibility. The sociology department’s sponsorship of a fundraiser for a faculty member’s personal political crusade erases all distinction between academic affairs and political activism. Unfortunately, this political fundraiser is not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern in the sociology department of abusing the professor’s position of power
The Heights welcomes Letters to the Editor not exceeding 200 words and column submissions that do not exceed 700 words for its op/ed pages. The Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity, accuracy, and to prevent libel. The Heights also reserves the right to write headlines and choose illustrations to accompany pieces
Rebecca Clark is a PhD candidate in the College of Arts and Sciences.
submitted to the newspaper. Submissions must be signed and should include the author’s connection to Boston College, address, and phone number. Letters and columns can be submitted online at www.bcheights.com, by email to editor@bcheights.com, in person, or by mail to Editor, The Heights, 113 McElroy Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.
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in the University to wage political campaigns. This abuse includes Spangler’s extraordinarily partisan course about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, a subject in which she has zero academic training, and about which she disavows any responsibility to treat with scholarly standards. Such abuse of the professor’s position of power in a university makes a mockery of the notion of academic freedom. It is an embarrassment to a university devoted to the highest standards of scholarship and teaching. I know that BC is a far better institution and community than this, but I worry that criticism of misconduct is most uncomfortable precisely when it is most important.
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The Heights
Thursday, November 4, 2010
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Opinions
Thumbs Up Filled in – Rejoice Plexaholics, tennis set category: BC has decided to fill in the basin outside of the outdoor tennis courts, which before served the important task of flooding the courts and Edmond’s entrance with a delicious mix of rainwater, runoff, and sweat. Good job, BC, just in time for outdoor tennis’ main season: Winter! BC to Boston – From comped Wicked tickets to a screening room for Harry Potter (T-minus 15 days and counting) the new UGBC effort to “bring BC to Boston” has been a huge success. Too often, BC students miss out on all that the best city in the United States (we’re putting out that there) has to offer. Kudos for making it that much easier. Ta l e n t – Th e l eave s a re changing, the weather’s getting colder, and all the hard work of on-campus groups, from A cappella to comedy, ballet to big band music, is ready for showcasing. Kicking off this weekend with My Mother’s Fleabag, continuing into the next few weeks before Thanksgiving, every available space on campus will have talent oozing out of it. GOP – Although TU/TD tries to steer clear of the political scene, we feel we must give credit where it’s due, begrudgingly or not. So congratulations to the millions of Tea Partiers out there who finally put their money where their rather large mouth is, you have now guaranteed that this Congress will be even more inefficient. Job well done. Back to the Future – The 25th anniversary edition of this classic was released yesterday, complete with behind-the-scenes featurettes, music videos, and even a never-before-seen scene with Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly. Don’t know who Eric Stoltz is? Exactly. As Doc Brown would say, “Great Scott!”
Thumbs Down Edmond’s – Fire drills, a necessary but slightly irritating test of our fire-safety readiness and eardrums. Several superfluous fire drills in one day? You’re asking for a horrible, self-inflicted accident. Advising – As students are looking at the Spring schedule, awaiting the cruel fate that will befall them when their pick time arrives (end of the second day, of course, because God hates us), they couldn’t imagine how this process could get more tangled. But wait! BC has the answer, in the form of a completely arbitrary advising session. Streamlining is never the name of the game. Oatmeal – As the mornings get chillier, there’s nothing better than a stick-to-yourribs kind of breakfast, and what’s better than this glutinous, yet delicious mess? Well, Dining Services, we’d appreciate it if those who wake up sometime after the crack of dawn have a chance to partake in this delicious and nutritious treat. Prop 19 – Despite the backing of famous political scientists and economists, Bill Maher and Zach Galifianakis, the referendum to legalize marijuana in California did not pass. Somewhere, a Mexican drug lord is dancing like a jumping bean.
The sanity of growing pains by the rally just won’t last. The most serious irony of Stewart’s critique of the media rests on the fact hat he is just as much a product and icon of the 24-hour news cycle as the very pundits whom he makes his paycheck criticizing. The news media today isn’t so much about the dissemiJocelyn Rousey nation of information as the business behind it. More importantly, in recent If a rally’s success can be measured decades, cable TV has learned just by its ability to generate warm fuzzy how profitable personality cults and feelings in the heart of a disenchanted opinion news can be. Though Stewart college student halfway up the eastern mourns the loss of journalistic integseaboard, then sure, Jon Stewart and rity that accompanied this stylistic Stephen Colbert’s Oct. 30 “Rally to shift, there’s no denying that he owes Restore Sanity and / or Fear” on the his influence and pedestal in large part National Mall in Washington, D.C., to the very system he so disdains. was a rousing success. The rally, part Stewart’s message is also underironic protest, part group therapy mined slightly by the simple fact that session for frustrated news consumnot that many people actually watch ers, was primarcable news. As ily a chance for David Carr is quick Stewart to revisit Stewart is right in that the to point out in The and expound upon York Times, system is broken. But aside New one of his favoreven on a good ite themes: The from carrying on as best night, less than 2 absurdity and, percent of the counwe can – calling out the obviously, insanity try’s population sits absurdities and half-truths down to catch the of the 24-hour news cycle. evening news prowhen we hear them and Over the grams. Simply put, trying to read though the years, Stewart people get their has turned his partisan lines – there really news elsewhere, if satiric criticism at all, and cable TV isn’t that much we can do. political pundits are of the media into a veritable brand not, in the end, as name franchise on influential as they The Daily Show. His closing speech at like to think they are. For the most part, Saturday’s rally featured pithy, philothe talking heads of cable news are just sophical one-liners – “If we amplify talking to talk, squabbling away into the everything, we hear nothing” – in darkness of the airways and the echo what was perhaps the clearest articuchambers of online political blogs. So lation yet of his beef with the media, while Stewart makes a valid criticism of namely that the business incentives modern new media, that criticism only of modern day media, coupled with a applies to a very specialized industry toxic partisan atmosphere, are comwith an over-inflated ego. promising journalistic integrity and In the end, Stewart’s plea for sanmaking it more difficult to talk about, ity and reasonableness won’t actually let alone solve, the nation’s many change anything about the media culproblems. ture. Sure, it might inspire a short-lived As spot on as his criticism is, it’s bout of introspection from some of the hard to ignore some of the deep-seated media’s more thoughtful personalities. ironies of Stewart’s critique or the nagBut that introspection will fade, and the ging certainty that the warm fuzzy feelmedia will get distracted by the next ings and intellectual validation inspired big story – you know, midterm elections
and whatnot. Meanwhile, the lessons of Stewart’s rally will continue to embody the discarded mantle of journalistic integrity. And that’s frustrating. Because Stewart is right in that the system is broken. But aside from carrying on as best we can – calling out the absurdities and half-truths when we hear them and trying to read though the partisan lines – there really isn’t that much we can do. Even holding a massive rally in the nation’s capital won’t likely amount to anything more than an interesting anecdote about American cultural history in the early 21st century. The truth of the matter is that the media is currently in an awkward, transitional phase, brought about by technological innovation and changing patterns of news consumption. The media is no longer the print-based champion of journalistic integrity that it once was (or that Stewart thinks it was), but no one is quite sure yet what to make of the strange new hybrid of opinion journalism and online reporting, or what exactly it means for the future of the art. Stewart’s frustration, then, is really just the clearest articulation of what are, essentially, the growing pains of an industry adapting to a new technological age. Stewart is idolizing what journalism used to be, and his call for sanity is at once both nostalgic and reactionary. But as the old adage goes, you can’t un-invent the car. Whatever journalism is today, it will never go back to what it was before. This doesn’t mean that we should throw in the towel on journalistic integrity. But as a buffer against future disenchantment, it’s worth realizing where that frustration originates. While attending rallies and waving cleverly ironic protests signs might make us feel better, it’s only a temporary solution. Ultimately, it’s up to us to decide what the future of journalism should look like and to help it get there rather than mourning the past. Jocelyn Rousey is a staff columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.
The Loko motion Jack Schwada All of us received an e-mail last week from the director of Health Services regarding the famous (actually more infamous) Four Loko. The legendary Four Loko has established its infamy because it is known as one of the quickest and most efficient ways to get plastered, drunk, or whatever you want to call it, use your imagination, and throw in some expletives. The e-mail we were sent warned us about the effects of this beverage on our bodies and the potential longterm negative outcomes of consuming such a potent concoction. However, my response to this e-mail is, thanks for the information, but stay out of our business. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not quite sure that this beverage is exactly the healthiest thing to drink, and Dr. Thomas Nary, director of Health Services, is probably right that we shouldn’t drink Four Lokos. But the decision to drink or not to drink, and the decision to drink Four Lokos, or not to drink Four Lokos is up to the student. The school can encourage us to do certain things, but it is truly up to the student to decide whether to consume the beverage or not. The school, like with so many other things, tries to tell students what they should and should not do. However, if the school actually wants us to do the right thing and become responsible, it should let us make our own decisions. The Four Loko, known in some circles as “liquid cocaine,” has engendered a lot of controversy. Let’s weigh the pros and cons of consuming such a
Party Party Time Time BY BYBEN BEN VADNAL VADNAL
drink. Firstly, we should begin with the pros, or, in my eyes, the singular pro. As someone whp is bewloe the legal drinking age and who has never had a Four Loko, I wouldn’t really know what the effects of such a thing could be. However, I’ve heard from others that it is quite stimulating and a very fun experience. The combination of caffeine and alcohol produces a very satisfying and unique effect. The caffeine, according to those I’ve spoken to, seems to limit the depressive effects of the alcohol. This seems not so bad, I would say, and it appears that the consumer would be getting the best effects of alcohol, without the negative side effects. You might be asking yourself, “Why don’t I just drink Four Lokos all the time?” A valid question, but the answer of course is that despite the short term “awesomeness” that some have attributed to having a Four Loko, this may not outweigh the negative consequences of drinking the beverage. But I’m certainly no preacher, so let me just inform you as to what some of these negatives are. The stimulating effect of the caffeine and alcohol may lead to some reckless behavior. And I’m not just talking about your standard drunken recklessness. The caffeine will delay the setting in of the sensation of the alcohol, causing the determined drinker to “go even harder.” This could lead to overconsumption of alcohol for those who, God forbid, are drinking to get drunk. This may be a short-term effect of the Four Loko, but for all of those who might be testing the many flavored Four Loko waters, if there is one point I’d like to emphasize, it’s that there are definitely long-term negative consequences. In my personal opinion, which perhaps you care about, this is the more disconcetning of the negative consequences of
this beverage. The caffeine-alcohol mixture is liable to cause long-term heart problems if imbibed too often, whatever that may mean. This occurs with any mixing of stimulants and depressants, including marijuana and alcohol. Despite all this information, I should say that if you’re willing to take these risks, then that’s absolutely fine. What might make more sense for the school to do is warn us about the things that we know absolutely have a negative effect not only on consumers, but those who surround the consumers. I’m mostly talking about cigarettes. Where is the email that warns us against smoking? It is disputed whether Four Lokos are that bad for people, but it’s common knowledge and completely accepted even by smokers themselves that smoking is bad for everybody, even those around the smokers. However, again, I’m not here to tell you how to live your lives and what decisions to make. All I can say to smokers is that they should be considerate of those around them. Four Loko has no effect on those near the drinker, but it has been the target of a concerted campaign when there are more serious issues to be addressed. To sum up, Four Lokos are both good and bad at the same time. What’s really important is making the decision for one’s self about whether to drink a Four Loko or not. Naturally, all you underage people out there should stay away from alcohol, but if you do decide to drink a Four Loko, let me just warn you, not coming at all from any sort of personal experience in the least bit, that you should take it slowly. Responsible drinking is the key here, but with all that said, cheers, and if getting “loko” is your thing, then godspeed. Jack Schwada is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.
Halloween changes CJ Gustafson I love Halloween. On college campuses, the holiday is truly a social experiment gone wrong. It’s extended over an entire weekend, and sometimes longer, and it really tells you a lot about people’s deep-rooted issues. For instance, I never knew so many girls yearn to be ’70s go-go dancers. I can only imagine how many of those stupid, half-shoulder cut shirts they have just laying around by now. But as we grow older, the importance of Halloween, and our focus on the holiday, changes costumes, too. For instance, when you were in first grade, Halloween was your one chance to be what you couldn’t be for the other 364 days of the year. As a male, if you wanted to be a lion, you were a lion. And you actually thought, deep down, just for that one day, that you were just as much of a lion as Mufasa. For girls, they probably wanted to be a princess, but never got the white horse to go along with it. Given the handful of Disney princesses out there, they alternated characters every year, but most of the boys thought they were just repeating costumes. Even from a young age, guys think all dresses look the same. Sorry to break it to you, ladies. Growing older, though, Halloween wasn’t as much a chance to be something you dreamed of being as an opportunity to act out. Whether it be against the kid in the low-grade Zoro costume or Old Man Johnson’s mailbox, you were a rebel that night. During middle school and early teenage years, Halloween was one of the first times your parents let you roam the neighborhood at night, and most importantly, without supervision. And even better, you were dressed in a costume, which hindered neighbors from correctly identifying you (or so you thought, until your parents got an angry phone call the next morning informing them that your flaming bag of dog feces was not an appropriate celebration of Halloween festivities). If you wanted to throw that atrocious granola bar back at the house that gave it to you, you did. If you wanted to take the entire bowl of candy that was left on someone’s doorstep, you dumped it into your pillow case and ran (even though no one was chasing you because it obviously meant they weren’t home). If you felt like yelling at passing cars, you did so, and then hid in the woods like a baby as your soccer-mom neighbor unthreateningly rolled on by. Down the road, you finally experience your first Halloween party at college. Guys try to find a costume that requires the least amount of effort possible. Girls put an enormous amount of effort into creating a costume with the least amount of clothes possible. As a guy, if you have an afro wig, you dress as some athlete with an afro and jersey or a drugged-out hippie for all four years (to fit the part some include the drugs, others don’t). If you’re a girl, your costume becomes progressively less made of costume each Halloween. As a guy, you figure if there were a fifth year of college most girls would probably go as nudist colony members. But then you get old. Actually, when you’re really old, I mean anal-retentiveabout-your-lawn-old, you hate Halloween. You attempt to fortify the house from all masked teenage villains. You don’t want to give them good candy, because that flaming bag of dog feces from last year burnt through the staining on the porch, but you’d rather eat the granola bars yourself and splurge for Skittles instead of taking that chance again. The only thing you like about Halloween is how smart the kids think they are, yet how easily identifiable the one kid in the neighborhood dressed as an alien is, and even how easier it is to call his mother. You just hope that last person at 11 p.m. doesn’t ring the doorbell, even though the porch lights are blatantly off and they don’t get the clue. Halloween presents a chance for social interactions to occur that you would never have imagined (or wanted to imagine). I never thought I’d get to play an actual game of “Where’s Waldo” when we lost my roommate dressed as the inconspicuous striped man. I never imagined I’d see Gumbi getting down and dirty on the dance floor with a human Four Loko can. And never, ever (did I say ever?) did I want to see Captain Hook and a Chilean miner … well I don’t want to tell you what they were doing. It dug up and buried alive the Halloween memories of when I dressed up as Captain Hook in the fourth grade. CJ Gustafson is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.
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Thursday, November 4, 2010
The Heights
BOSTON COLLEGE AT WAKE FOREST
When BC runs the ball
Harris has been hot lately, and a match-up against a weak Wake Forest defense points toward another big day. The Demon Deacons have allowed 217.2 yards per game this year, and 17 rushing touchdowns over eight games. Montel should be able to control the tempo all day. Advantage:
When BC passes the ball Slowly but surely, Chase Rettig has been improving his game and limiting his mistakes. The Wake defense has allowed an average of three passing touchdowns per game. Chase only has three touchdowns all year, but this is a perfect opportunity for him to show what he is capable of. Advantage:
When Wake Forest runs the ball Wake’s leading rusher, Josh Harris, has only had one big game this year, a 241-yard effort against Virginia Tech. Other than that, he has only been subpar, and against a tough BC run defense who shut down Andre Ellington last weekend, it’s looking like Harris may have a hard day. Advantage:
When Wake Forest passes the ball It may be hard to believe it, but the Demon Deacons have had more of a struggle in the QB department this year than BC has. Tanner Price, a true freshman, has established himself as the starter, though with inconsistency. Against a beat-up BC secondary, Price may be able to break out. Advantage:
Special teams
ALEX TRAUTWIG / heights editor
Montel Harris was still splitting time with Josh Haden the last time BC played Wake Forest. He will be looking for his third straight 100-yard game this week.
Nate Freese was clutch last weekend for BC, making all three field goals he attempted despite windy conditions. Ryan Quigley has continued to be solid, punting often for the struggling BC offense. Wake’s Jimmy Newman has only missed one field goal all year, but the Eagles still hold the advantage. Advantage:
Fox, from A10
Coaching and intangibles Jim Grobe is in his 10th season at the helm of Wake Forest, and has much more ACC experience than Spaz. The Demon Deacons have lost six straight now after a 2-0 start (sound familiar?), and they have to be hungry. The edge goes to Wake, coming home after two tough away games. Advantage:
football notebook
Winning revitalizes football team after skid By Ian Boynton For The Heights
A week ago, the Boston College football team was in the midst of a five-game losing streak, and hopes of a .500 season, let alone another victory, were quickly fading. “It’s been five weeks since we felt like we got what we deserved,” said defensive tackle Damik Scafe. “Going into the locker room and not with the ‘W’ is the worst feeling because you work so hard during the week. It just takes something out of you. You can’t help it. You don’t want it to. It just does.” It’s incredible how one game can change things. The Eagles (3-5, 1-4 ACC) beat Clemson, 16-10, to get back on track. They need to win three of their last four games to extend their streak of 12 straight bowl appearances. “We needed a win really badly,” said linebacker Mark Herzlich. “Losing five in a row is tough no matter what. One game isn’t going to turn around the season. We’re still 3-5, but we’re not 2-6, and that could have been a possibility.” With four games remaining on the schedule, including two against opponents with worse records, hopes of appearing in a bowl game, and even completing a winning season, remain alive. “[Winning] does give us a chance,” said cornerback Chris Fox. “The only thing ever ruled out for us was the ACC championship. To lose that many games, it’s tough to realize that a lot of your goals are no longer in reach. I know Wes [Davis], when he was still playing had a message to us: Minimize your goals, and just maximize your potential. That stuck with a lot of guys.” Fans may still have their doubts about the Eagles’ potential this season, but the team, even amid the recently ended five-game losing streak, remains as focused as ever. “We are still very much striving to go to a bowl game,” said fullback James McCluskey. “We knew beating Clemson was the first step in making it to a bowl game.”
Fox pays dues, earns starting nod
Rettig returns to the road In Chase Rettig’s road debut, the Eagles fell just short of upsetting No. 16 Florida State in Tallahassee. Against the Seminoles, Rettig went nine of 24 for 95 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, a performance that earned the true freshman quarterback the respect of many of his teammates, even if his stat line wasn’t the most impressive. “It’s amazing,” Scafe said. “It says a lot about his character to be a freshman and go out there, with a crowd like that, and be composed and be able to stick your nose in there and not be scared. That environment, even for me, I still get butterflies, and I’ve been doing it for a couple years now, so I can’t even imagine what he felt.” Now, with two more games under his belt, Rettig looks to lead the Eagles to a second consecutive victory at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are struggling even more than BC, having dropped six straight since starting the season 2-0. Last Saturday against Clemson, Rettig had arguably his most impressive performance of the season, going nine-for16 passing for 136 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Most importantly, though, it was his first collegiate win. “To come out with a win, I definitely don’t want to lose that feeling now,” Rettig said.“So I will do everything I can to get us another win this week.” Odds and ends Backup running back Sterlin Phifer left the team just before the team’s win over Clemson. True freshman Andre Williams has been elevated to the No. 2 back. Cornerback DeLeon Gause has no specific timetable for his return from a knee injury, though it is estimated at two to four weeks. “Hopefully he will be ready for Syracuse,” Fox said. Rich Lapham’s season-ending knee injury opened the door for Emmett Cleary to re-enter the starting lineup. He played at right tackle for the remainder of the Clemson game, and is set to start there again against Wake Forest. n
resumed his original role as cornerback. A week before spring ball ended, though, Fox was moved to running back. “I actually thought I was coming in to play [running back] for the fall,” Fox said. “We weren’t really sure, it was kind of a big question mark. But I ended up at corner, and I actually do love boundary corner. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a little more of a physical position, the corner or defensive back position in general, and I enjoy it, I really do. I like being able to come up and hit guys and being able to cover at the same time. I’m pretty much happy where I am right now.” Although Fox is pleased with the way his career has panned out, he admits the position changes, lack of playing time, and injuries wore on him. “At some point, I think everyone kind of goes through that little stage, anyone that’s not playing after their redshirt year,” Fox said. “But it’s kind of just one of those facts of life things, as you get older you kind of see guys go through the same things, but more or less everyone gets their shot.
“I had mine a couple times. Sometimes injuries kept me down, so that was not the greatest for me. Like I said, it was a little frustrating, but for the most part things tend to work themselves out. In terms of my career, they have so far.” Fox also admits that, while he appreciated his time on special teams, he is ecstatic to be a defensive starter. “Playing special teams is a great role, and it’s an important role with our team, but as much as I did it, I never felt I was making as much of an impact as I was supposed to be doing,” Fox said. “After the game on Saturday, I finally felt that way.” BC’s newest starter was helped through his highs and lows by his father, former New England Patriots player and college AllAmerican free safety at Ohio State, Tim Fox. “I slowly have to come to a realization that you have to put your time in and wait your turn, and I think my dad helped me realize that along the way,” Fox said. It hasn’t been the most predictable path, but Fox has finally found his place in the starting lineup. Chalk that up on the resume. n
ALEX TRAUTWIG / heights editor
Chris Fox has made it to the starting lineup as a cornerback in his final year.
Defense makes a stand against Clemson Defense, from A10
while adjusting to new leaders, new personnel, and new rotations. Add in the loss of cornerback DeLeon Gause to a right knee injury, and the Eagles were without three of their five most veteran players (Mark Herzlich and Damik Scafe being the healthy senior starters). In the face of adversity, the defense
put together their most cohesive performance of the season and completely shut down a wellrounded Clemson attack. The Tigers offense generated just three points on 62 offensive plays. They scored their only touchdown of the day on an interception return on BC’s first drive. Electric running back Andre Ellington, a sophomore in the C.J. Spiller mold, carried
ALEX TRAUTWIG / heights editor
Luke Kuechly and the rest of the defense held Clemson back when it counted.
the ball 14 times for a measly 42 yards. Ellington averages 5.9 yards per carry and has 10 touchdowns, so keeping him in check is a serious accomplishment. Fellow sophomore Kyle Parker was a liability at quarterback, throwing 39 times for 176 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. How did the Eagles do it? They did it with improved coverage and continued, exceptional run defense. Backups Chris Fox and Okechukwu Okoroha filled in for Gause and Davis admirably. Clemson repeatedly targeted Fox’s man. He was up to the challenge, swatting down everything in sight, including a pass for DeAndre Hopkins in the third quarter that would have been a touchdown if it had been caught. At safety, Okoroha was quick to the ball and didn’t make mistakes. He and Jim Noel make a rangy, athletic tandem at the back of the BC secondary. The new guys weren’t the only ones who made their presence felt in coverage, though. Donnie Fletcher had his fourth interception in five games and is becoming a ballhawk at cornerback. The linebackers rebounded from a couple rough games in which their men ran free to lock down the backs coming out in the flats. Ellington and backup running back Jamie Harper combined for 14 yards on three catches.
Herzlich, in particular, read Parker’s eyes well and broke on the ball to deny receivers a few important receptions. Defensive coordinator Bill McGovern forced Parker to attempt more passes by designing a gameplan that forced Clemson to basically abandon the run. The line did its job, clogging holes and occupying blockers so that Luke Kuechly, Kevin Pierre-Louis, and Herzlich could wreak havoc in the backfield. As a unit, they effectively denied Ellington the lanes to the outside that he uses so well to burn slower teams. Harper, a big, bruising back who started over Harris at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, didn’t find much room to run, either, carrying the ball just six times for 21 yards. Now that the Eagles have figured out how to shut down their opponents, they have to do it again against Wake Forest. A win against the Demon Deacons could have a domino effect on the rest of the season, leading to more wins and – gasp – bowl eligibility. As long as the defense keeps playing as well as it did against Clemson, that’s a very real possibility.
Paul Sulzer is the Assistant Sports Editor of The Heights. He can be reached at sports@bcheights.com.
THE HEIGHTS
EDITORS’ PICKS
Thursday, November 4, 2010 The Week Ahead
Standings
Football heads to Wake Forest seeking its fourth win of the year. Men’s hockey hosts UNH, while men’s soccer is at Virginia Tech for the regular-season finale. Field hockey begins ACCs against Wake. Alabama is favored at LSU.
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Zach Wielgus
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Maegan O’Rourke
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Paul Sulzer
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Heights Staff
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Football snapped its five-game losing streak with a win against Clemson. Men’s and women’s hockey split with Merrimack and UConn, respectively. Women’s soccer dropped a game to Florida State. Nebraska shut down Mizzou in the game of the week.
Guest Editor: Hilary Chasse Opinions Editor “Maine-iac at heart.”
Zach Wielgus Sports Editor
This Week’s Games
Maegan O’Rourke Assoc. Sports Editor
Paul Sulzer Asst. Sports Editor
Hilary Chasse Opinions Editor
Football: Boston College at Wake Forest
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Wake Forest
Men’s Hockey: Boston College vs. New Hampshire
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Men’s Soccer: Boston College at Virginia Tech
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Tie
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Field Hockey: Boston College vs. Wake Forest
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Alabama
LSU
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NCAA: LSU vs. Alabama (-6.5)
BCnotes
Recap from Last Week
Women’s Hockey The No. 6 Boston College women’s ice hockey team (7-0-2) defeated cross-town rival Northeastern, 3-1, Wednesday night at the Matthews Arena to pick up its fourth win in Hockey East play. The Eagles improve to 4-0-1 in the Hockey East. The Huskies (6-2-2, 1-1-1 Hockey East), who beat the Eagles 7-4 the last time the two teams played, got on the board first, after sophomore Brittany Esposito knocked in a shot past BC goaltender Molly Schaus at the 15:46 mark in the first period. Fellow sophomore Rachel Llanes assisted on the Huskies’ lone goal of the night. The Eagles responded quickly in the second period, though, as all of BC’s three goals came in the middle frame. Mary Restuccia got the scoring started for the Eagles and tied the game on a power-play goal, assisted by captain Kelli Stack, just 26 seconds into the second period. Taylor Wasylk, who now has seven goals so far this season, gave BC the advantage over the Huskies with another power-play goal at the 2:48 mark. Stack was once again credited with the assist. Freshman Danielle Doherty rounded out the scoring for the Eagles on an even-strength goal assisted by freshman Melissa Bizzari. Schaus recorded 28 total saves in the game for BC. The undefeated Eagles next travel to Vermont for another Hockey East game on Sunday.
Atkinson, Kreider combine to power 5-2 win BY DANIEL POPKO Heights Staff
Despite some tense moments late in the game, the No. 4 Boston College m e n ’s h o c ke y Boston College 5 team prevailed UMass Lowell 2 in a convincing 5-2 win over UMass Lowell Tuesday at Kelley Rink. Two goals apiece from Cam Atkinson and Chris Kreider paced the Eagles attack, as they surpassed their entire scoring total (four goals) from the three games against the River Hawks last season. Atkinson brought his team-leading tally to six goals on the season, while Kreider broke out of an early-season slump to get on the score sheet for the first time. Playing on a line with brothers Kevin and Jimmy Hayes, Kreider had managed to notch just a single assist through the Eagles’ opening six games. “[Atkinson] and [Brian] Gibbons’ line has been dangerous all year, and they were again tonight,” said head coach Jerry York. “Now we added the Hayes’ line. I thought they came of age at this point of the season. Kevin now is feeling much more comfortable playing at this level, and Chris broke out of a drought he’s had with two goals. It was good to see that line
emerge as a really top line.” After a shaky first few minutes, the Hayes line got the scoring started. Defenseman Isaac MacLeod started a breakout, clearing the zone on the right boards and catching the River Hawks in a line change. Kevin Hayes picked up the puck before taking on the defensive pair with a three-on-two. After drawing the pressure, the younger Hayes slipped the puck to his left, where Kreider fired from near the top of the circle, beating netminder Marc Boulanger high stick side. After nearly conceding a few UMass Lowell short-handed opportunities, the Eagles looked less than sure of their one goal-lead until the final minute of the period. Following a long spell of possession in the offensive zone, a facet of the BC game that both coaches praised, the Eagles were able to double their lead going into the intermission. Paul Carey worked the puck from low to high, finding Patch Alber near the top of the right circle. The defenseman slid the puck over to Atkinson in the high slot, where the winger slotted it by Boulanger with 12.9 seconds left in the period. “[Gibbons] got in front of the net and set a good screen. The goalie never saw it,”
Atkinson said. “Getting all the momentum going into the second period was huge, got the morale up in the locker room.” The junior continued his early scoring binge five minutes into the second frame. Gibbons won the draw in the offensive zone and got the puck to Joe Whitney. The senior captain found Atkinson, who beat the goalie stick side from the left circle to give BC a seemingly untouchable 3-0 lead. Jimmy Hayes appeared to put the game out of reach for good after putting in Carey’s rebound with the Eagles shorthanded. Carey forced a turnover in the River Hawks’ zone, only to see his wraparound turned away. The puck only got as far as Hayes, though, who calmly finished the open-net chance. Down 4-0, UMass-Lowell refused to pack it in. Just nine seconds after Hayes found the back of the net, River Hawks forward Derek Arnold scored on the power play at 9:03 in the second. A minute later, Matt Ferreira added a second to make it a two-goal game. The Eagles defense and a few saves from John Muse stopped the River Hawks’ run until Steven Whitney was called for interference with just over five minutes remaining in the third period. Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald
ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Chris Kreider ended his season scoring drought with two goals against UMass Lowell Tuesday. brought Boulanger over to the bench to try and use a six-on-four advantage to bring the game back to a one-goal contest. “We figured 4-3, with a young team, you’re really playing with the house’s money,” MacDonald said. Arnold nearly cashed in on the gamble, seeing a mostly-open net in front of him, but Muse flung his body in front to prevent the goal. “It was a good effort for us defensively,
and John [Muse] played another solid game for us in goal,” York said. With under a minute on the clock, Kreider took away the puck in the neutral zone and handled the puck for a few seconds before calmly putting the puck in the back of the empty net to cap the scoring. “The second line of the Hayes’ and Kreider really stepped up big time and used their bodies,” Atkinson said of his teammates. “They were all power forwards tonight, and that really showed.”
Payne’s goal is all soccer needs to get by Virginia ACC Tournament, from A10
ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Lucy Wallace and Taylor Lutz man a boat during practice drills for the defending national champion coed sailing team.
No holding team at bay Sailing, from A10
to the swarm of boats. Three boats of each color – the numbers are either pink, blue, yellow, or red on each vessel – race three boats of another color, with the goal of finishing the College N course in the best cumulative placing possible. “It’s not about finishing first, it’s about helping your team,” Wilkinson said. “This is different from the other race, the one you may think of with whoever finishes first is the winner. This comes down to math. If you have less than 10 points, you’re going to win.” Because there are six boats racing at one time, the best possible score is six (if all boats finished first, second, and third), and the worst possible is 15 (if all boats finished fourth, fifth, and sixth). If a team has nine or fewer points, it’s mathematically impossible for the other team to win. “In team races, it’s less about worrying about how fast you can finish and more about what your teammate is going to do and how you can both get ahead,” Grosso said. “It’s about unspoken communication, especially at the turns.” As Grosso says this, a blue team boat cuts off a member of the pink team to swing around the buoy sharply, forcing the pink boat to cut the wrong direction to avoid hitting it. If a boat hits another during team races, it is forced to do a 720, or two circles. As the pink team member momentarily veers off course, two blue boats reap the benefits and speed ahead. While the team races incorporate cooperation
among three boats, sailing ultimately comes down to the teamwork of the two members in each boat. Both need to be able to read the wind and understand how that will affect the path it takes to the checkpoint, which rarely allows for a straight line. “The darker the water, the faster the wind is moving there,” Wilkinson explained. “It also helps them see where the wind is coming from.” Sailors also need to know when to utilize certain strategies, such as hiking – putting your feet in straps and leaning far out over the boat to drastically alter the direction – and a roll and tack, which purposefully tips the boat one direction, and the sailors jump to the elevated side, push it down, and swing the sail to catch the wind, giving the boat a burst of speed. As one team race ends, Wilkinson mentally logs away the results and tells them to prepare to go again. In practice, it isn’t about who wins and loses. Instead, it’s about how each boat can improve to win when it actually counts. “It’s not really a competition during practice, it’s more about how we can help each other,” Grosso said. “When a boat manages to pass another, they can tell each other what they did wrong and how they can improve next time. This team is so deep that our top sailors are really, really good. But they are able to help some of the younger members of the team, and that’s how we get better.” That, and a lot of hard work, is also how the sailing teams have strung together back-to-back national championships. And they do it rain or shine.
tion, as their shots kept sailing on them. The Eagles survived the first 10 minutes, and began tightening up their defense. As one of the most dynamic players in the ACC, Victoria DiMartino constantly drew defenders whenever she touched the ball. This pressure frustrated both DiMartino and the Eagles offense, as their passing looked unsure, and they had few opportunities to get out and run with it. The best chance came when DiMartino ran down the middle of the field, cut left, and drew closer to the goal. The tenacious Cavaliers defense, however, got in front of her and thwarted her attempt. Though the Cavaliers managed to fire off six shots in the period, Mastroianni registered just two saves, but one was a fantastic dive to her left just before the 20-minute mark in the first half. Mastroianni registered four saves in the game. After coming out at the half, the Eagles looked like a brand new team, more confident on both sides of the ball. Kristie Mewis, who led the team with four shots, ripped one with 38 minutes left in the second half, but it bounced off the crossbar, as so many shots have this season for the Eagles. As a competitive second half bounced back and
forth, it seemed as if momentum had started to swing the Eagles’ way. BC had chances on free kicks and two corner kicks in the half. Patrice Vittore took a free kick from seven yards outside of the box with 26 minutes left in regulation after Natalie Crutchfield faked the attempt, but Jones skied for it, successfully deflecting the shot. DiMartino took on a double team in the 66th minute, but settled the ball and scanned the middle of the field. She split the two Virginia defenders with a pass, and Bouchelle quickly knocked it over to Payne, who ripped a shot low and to the right. Jones got her fingertips on it, but could not stop the ball from reaching the back of the net for the go-ahead goal. Virginia responded to the goal by pushing the tempo, but the Eagles defense stepped up to the challenge. The Cavaliers’ last real chance came with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game. Virginia found an open player inside the penalty box, but the back line smothered that chance. The final horn sounded, and the Eagles emerged victorious, with revenge for their early-season loss and a second-round berth in their hands. They will take on No. 2 seed Maryland on Friday night in the semifinals.
SPORTS THE HEIGHTS
Thursday, November 4, 2010
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010
WOMEN’S SOCCER
One goal enough for Eagles BY ADAM ROSE For The Heights
The No. 19 Boston College women’s soccer team bounced back from a tough loss to Florida Boston College 1 State in Sun0 Virginia day’s regularseason finale to earn just its secondever ACC tournament win, as it took down No. 5 Virginia, 1-0, Wednesday night. Maddie Payne took a feed from Julia Bouchelle and ripped a shot in the 66th minute, grazing off the fingertips of Virginia goalkeeper Chantel Jones, scoring the match’s only goal. It was BC’s only shot on goal for the match, and the team made it count. Virginia countered with four shots on goal, but Eagles goalkeeper Jillian Mastroianni was up to the task on all of them, preserving the first-round win. The third-seeded Cavaliers came out aggressively and looked more prepared than the Eagles, continuing to feed the ball to open players who lurked just outside the box. What prevented an early Cavaliers lead was poor execu-
See ACC Tournament, A9 ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR
The men’s and women’s sailing teams share practice time on Dorchester Bay four times a week, driving from Boston College’s campus to practice on the water for two and a half hours.
Come Sail Away
The sailing teams travel to Dorchester Bay for each practice. It’s working just fine. BY ZACH WIELGUS Sports Editor
“We’re going to get wet. Give it five or 10 minutes, and those storm clouds are going to be on top of us.” Like clockwork, the remnants of clear blue sky were swept by a dark sheet of ominous clouds. Steady rainfall pelted the once lazy water of Dorchester Bay, and winds whipped the current this way and that. Head coach Greg Wilkinson, visibly ambivalent to his spot-on prediction, sounded the horn on his megaphone, grabbing the attention of the two nearest boats, which started sailing back toward the head coach’s motorboat. Nearly 300 yards away, the other 16 boats on Dorchester Bay started a drill that formed two lines, creating the perfect amount of space between each vessel so each boat could surround the head coach. Like a swarm of sharks, 16 two-person boats and a one-person boat circled around Wilkinson as he serenely relayed instructions for the next drill through the megaphone. The rain and cold wasn’t going to stop the practice. The entire men’s and women’s sailing teams drive 20 minutes to Savin Hill Yacht Club four days a week, where they get a strict two and a half hours each day to run drills and simulate races. Wilkinson moved ahead as planned, starting the three-boat team races, just as he does every Friday. Maybe he would
have to adjust the course – called the College N, for the direction the boats must sail with three specific checkpoint turnarounds – if the rain persisted. But maybe he wouldn’t. “That’s what makes sailing such an interesting sport,” said David Grosso, a member of the sailing team. “A football field is never going to change. But in sailing, our ‘field’ constantly changes.” Recently, there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: The national success of the Boston College sailing team. The coed sailing team won the national championship last year, and the women’s sailing team won the national championship two years ago. Individually, Annie Haeger – the one in the single-person boat during practice – will try to win the ICSA Women’s Singlehanded national championship for the third straight year. Wilkinson, entering his ninth year as head coach, has ushered in a decade of excellence for the sailing teams, and it starts at practice. “Some teams practice races every day, schools like Tufts,” Grosso said. “But we only do that once a week. The other days, we either run drills or team races, so we work on what we need to improve on and apply that to races.” Wilkinson has his troops well-trained. Assistant coaches drive the team off campus at 2 p.m. sharp. When they arrive, they immediately shed their street clothes for a layered uniform of water and wind-resistant gear, a
breastplate life preserver, and a tight spandex jersey that bears the BC logo. The senior leaders assemble the entire squad, and as they get transported to their anchored boats just off the dock, Wilkinson can arrive knowing all is running smoothly. As the team warms up on the bay, Wilkinson, an assistant coach, and Grosso board the motorboat and oversee, making sure to maximize their time on the water. A handful of assistant coaches also serve as the second sailor on boats, providing instant feedback and a model for team members. “I’m not a very good sailor,” Wilkinson admitted with a slight hint of a smile. “The assistant coaches are really good at sailing. I’m a much better coach than a sailor.” The latter statement is especially evident. He straddles the thin line of respected boss and laidback mentor. The team listens to his directions, but they also are quick to crack a joke as they sail by. “Coach, you see that double rainbow?” one sailor remarked as he gathered around the motorboat. “Yes, yes I did,” Wilkinson deadpanned, sneaking another glance at the two rainbows that arced over the bay. Just as quickly as he laughs with his athletes, Wilkinson seamlessly switches gears to stern head coach, announcing the next drill
See Sailing, A9
Praising 11 unsung heroes PAUL SULZER Birthday boy Montel Harris won player of the game, but don’t forget how critical Boston College’s defense was in the team’s 16-10 win over Clemson. Consider the circumstances entering the game. The defense lost its two senior captains to season-ending injuries the previous week against Maryland. Alex Albright, the picture of resilience and can-do attitude, broke his right fibula, ending a frustrating, possibility-filled career that saw him spend as much time on the field as the trainer’s table. Similarly, Wes Davis, one of the classiest and most well-spoken Eagles ever to don the maroon and gold, suffered a career-ending neck injury that required an overnight stay at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Given how much those two meant to this team, the defense could have easily and understandably struggled
See Defense, A8
Fox follows long route to find starting job BY DREW MCKAY For The Heights
Imagine you’re a high school football phenom. Team captain, conference MVP, and Eastern Massachusetts Player of the Year fill out your resume. Now imagine waiting until after you’ve already graduated from college to make your first career collegiate start. That is Chris Fox’s reality. “It takes a lot of patience, lots of dedication, too, to keep grinding away and trying to get better,” Fox said. “It’s tough to put a lot of work in and not see any rewards or benefits from it,
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Live blog on bcheights.com/sports
but you just have to keep grinding, knowing that eventually you’ll get your shot or your time will come.” Fox’s patience came to fruition last Saturday, when he was the Eagles’ defensive star. The fifth-year senior cornerback recorded five tackles and three pass breakups (two of which prevented touchdowns) in Boston College’s 16-10 defeat of the Tigers. “It was great to finally get my chance,” Fox said. “It’s tough to put in so much time and effort over the years and not exactly get what you expected yourself to be doing. But to get my chance to do something along the lines of what I had hoped to be doing is great. To do it pretty well is even better.” The Westwood, Mass., native played receiver, cornerback, and running back in high school, and was a highly sought-after recruit.
I NSIDE SPORTS THIS ISSUE
His collegiate career, however, has been a series of ups and downs, riddled with injuries and position changes. In 2006, Fox came to BC expecting to play right away at corner, but nagging foot blisters forced him to redshirt his freshman year. While playing in the secondary in the 2007 Spring Game, Fox broke his ankle. That season, hampered by his ankle injury, Fox played corner and safety, but only recorded one tackle on the year. The next spring, Fox was moved to receiver, and was designated to special teams in the 2008 season, when he saw limited action on defense and offense. In 2009, Fox assumed a similar sort of role before he went down after seven games with a broken collarbone. He recovered in time for spring practice, and
See Fox, A8
ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Chris Fox broke out in his first start at corner, totaling five tackles and three pass breakups in place of DeLeon Gause.
Hockey jumps on River Hawks
Cam Atkinson and Chris Kreider each score two goals in Tuesday night’s win...............A9
A rejuvenated attitude
Football’s first win in six games has the team revitalized and focused on a bowl appearance....................A8
Editors’ Picks..............................A9 BC Notes.....................................A9
FOOD
MUCH NEEDED MAC & CHEESE
HAD A TOUGH WEEK? TRY THIS COMFORT DISH PAGE B4
BC TUBE
FALL FAILURES
SERIES THAT FAILED TO IMPRESS PAGE B2
FASHION
HALLOWEEN STYLE
THE CAMPUS’ KILLER COSTUMES PAGE B4
Thursday, November 4, 2010
TI M& ERI C TAKEOVE R D
BY Z A K JAS O N | AS S O C. A RTS & R EV I EW E D I T O R
avid Nkrumah Liebe Unger Hart is the sort of man who wears denim from neck to foot and sings about milk and planets with puppets in his hands. For years, he has puppeteered on the Los Angeles public-access program The Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Show, preaching his Christian Science ethics in a violently off-key vibrato. Though he is 55 years old, Liebe Hart remains a daily street performer, bellowing self-written tunes of abstinence and drug abuse and recounting to any hapless passerby how aliens have abducted him twice. Last winter, I saw David Liebe Hart perform in front of a capacity crowd at Boston’s Wilbur Theater. As sweat streamed past his owl-frame glasses, he yelped the inspired couplets, “They stay healthy because they drink milk / That’s why they are happy still / Drink milk / Think milk,” and 400 equally sweaty fans shouted along. It was his fifth performance in as many nights, in the midst of a sold out tour that spanned from Madison, Wis. to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. How did this Southern Californian, alien-abducted, televangelist puppeteer lure in thousands of adoring and animated fans across the country? How does any washed-up wacko build a cult following these days? With the earnest help of two film school failures from rural Pennsylvania. Tim Heidecker and Eric Warheim met at Temple University, two disengaged film students of the ’90s. They are the sort of men who would make short films commending lobsters’ contributions to American cinema. When their professors scoffed that comedy wasn’t “considered a serious form of expression,” they would shoot shorts about cat film festivals, much to the detriment of their transcripts. But in 2004, Bob Odenkirk, the creator of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show, discovered Heidecker and Wareheim and granted them their first show on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, Tom Goes to the Mayor.
Heidecker and Wareheim were quick to take their renegade film school sensibilities to television. Their show featured Heidecker as Tom Peters, a new resident of the fictional Jefferton, eager to jumpstart municipal projects, like erecting a bird sanctuary or a health camp for boys. Wareheim starred as the unnamed mayor, who perpetually converted Tom’s projects into a means to publicly embarrass him. In one episode, Tom and the Mayor organize the noble endeavor of a Jefferton goat-hunting competition to benefit children in need of glass eyes, until the Mayor shoots an arrow into Tom’s eye. Some viewers didn’t take kindly to goat-hunting competitions or any of the surreal, often slow plots. Petitions demanding the show’s termination emerged just five episodes into the series. After two seasons, Adult Swim canceled the show. With the help of Odenkirk, however, Tom Goes to the Mayor featured guest appearances by formerly famous actors like Gary Busey, Paul Reubens, and Judd Hirsch, as well as up-and-coming comedians like SNL’s Fred Armisen, Due Date’s Zach Galifianakis, and Comedy Central’s Michael Ian Black. Thanks to celebrity backing, a cult contingent, and Adult Swim’s admiration of Heidecker and Wareheim’s creative drive, they returned to television just five months later with Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, a show often more polarizing than anything else on television. Five Alan Thickes stand with wicker baskets in their hands amid a greenscreened orchid. “First, the apples are injected with a minor bowel irritant,” Thicke explains, “Then the apples are dipped in a sleeping gel and set in the sun to dry.” You wouldn’t think the former star of Growing Pains would be this sort of man, but here he is advertising the Napple, an apple that induces 15-minute power naps before waking you up with an intestinal emergency. Thicke marks just one of an onslaught of celebrity cameos on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, one of the most off-the-wall, perturbing, and potentially brilliant television programs of our day. See Tim and Eric, B3
MIKE SALDARRIAGA / HEIGHTS PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The Heights
B2
+Editor’s Corner
How to take a suggestion
arts events calendar, oct. 28 – 31
One day in middle school, my friend Sarah was talking about her family tradition of watching It’s A Wonderful Life Kristen House every Christmas Eve. I said I had never seen it. She was dumbfounded, shooting me a glance that suggested I had just shoved a strawberry shortcake popsicle into her hair. “Why haven’t you seen it? You have to watch it. It’s my favorite movie! You’ll love it!” On Dec. 24, I rounded up my family on the couch, with the fireplace crackling and popping in the background, and suggested we watch It’s a Wonderful Life. One hundred and thirty minutes went by, and I became the ghost of Christmas apathy. By the end, I couldn’t have cared less if George Bailey had been born or not. All I knew was that my Christmas Eve was coming to a disappointing close. I hoped Sarah got nothing but balls of yarn on Christmas morning. This is always the risk you run when you listen to earnest recommendations. When I finally saw Sarah after the holiday break, and tried to explain my concerns with the movie, she looked at me like a jar of rat poison. Here’s a tip: Skirt the issue of directly insulting someone’s most beloved films, albums, television shows, or novels. You’re in for a world of heartache, otherwise. Recommendations always illuminate so much about someone’s perceptions of you. What does it mean if your roommate tells you that you would really appreciate A Beautiful Mind? Once you’ve watched the film, perhaps you should question if your roommate is real. In all seriousness, I’ve had someone give me a mixed CD with everything from “Turning Japanese” to “Don’t Fear The Reaper.” How does one make sense of these suggestions? “Oh, I have to thank you for associating me with the prolific work of Blue Oyster Cult.” Not so much. I’m of the mind that recommendations are incredibly tricky to pull off well. To the sir or madam that gives me an entire playlist-worth of songs that I have never heard before, but are utterly enjoyable, I pledge to make a down payment on your first post-grad apartment. It’s a lovely moment when someone aligns perfectly with your taste. It’s not that I never want to hear a recommendation for a television show or movie ever again. No, quite the opposite. I think these exchanges can be illuminating. Without friendly input, I would have never heard 80 percent of the music I listen to. I wouldn’t have heard the new Willow Smith song. These are the moments when bright nuggets are passed, and you find out that your hipster friend harbors an adoration of Rob Thomas’ songbook. I always leave room for the opportunity for people to surprise me. So, not to be presumptuous, but here are a couple of the best recommendations that I’ve ever gotten. All three seasons of Ricky Gervais’ Extras were solid gold, telling the tale of the beleaguered extra Andy Millman, through encounters with every celebrity on the planet, from Kate Winslet to Sir Ian McKellan. A friend of mine made the case for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, despite my misgivings about Jim Carey in a downer role. In the past year I’ve come to adore Vampire Weekend, and was fortunate enough to see them live last April, which was probably the top live music experience I’ve had in my limited concert frame of reference. Indeed, you may have to come to terms with “friends” who suggest you will enjoy Julia Styles in The Prince and Me (trust me, you won’t), or convince you that you’ll love the third installment of Lord of the Rings even if you haven’t seen the first two. But when that happens, you can put them in their place with an abhorrent mix CD, complete with Danielle Staub singles and a little song called “Pizza Hut / Taco Bell.” They’ll get the message.
Kristen House is the Arts & Review Editor for The Heights. She can be reached at houseka@bc.edu.
thursday
friday
An independent frame of mind
saturday
sunday
A Gorey Halloween! Burns Library
Mozart ‘Requiem’ Trinity Chapel, 8 p.m.
A Gorey Halloween! Burns Library
Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven Bapst Library, 4 p.m.
Chile: 1810-2010 Burns Library
My Mother’s Fleabag O’Connell House, 9 p.m.
My Mother’s Fleabag O’Connell House, 10:30 p.m
Literary lives McMullen Museum
Matt and Kim House of Blues, 7 p.m.
Pretty Lights House of Blues, 7 p.m.
Dawes The Royale, 6 p.m.
The Weepies The Royale, 7 p.m.
Blitzen Trapper Paradise Rock Club, 9 p.m.
Rustic overtones Harper’s Ferry, 8 p.m.
The Grip Weeds PA’s Lounge, 6:30 p.m.
The Script House of Blues, 7 p.m.
videos on the verge
Fashion world icons bring snapshots to life
This week, a wave of fashion videos hit the Web, and everyone from editors to bloggers has had a say on the models, clothes, and creative minds behind these short films. To keep up with all the discussion and debate, be sure to check out these three videos, which have been at the center of it all. Though all three were created for distinct purposes — to publicize a Web site, get to know a top face in the business, or mount excitement for the premiere of a collaboration — each one enchants viewers with creativity and beauty so often found in the fashion world, but magnified when captured on video. — Carrie McMahon
photos courtesy of youtube.com
Hedi Slimane’s “I Love USA”
Freja Beha Erichsen on Style.com
Alber Elbaz and H&M
A renowned photographer and designer, formerly of Yves St. Laurent and Dior Homme, Hedi Slimane is known for his romantic view of teenage America. His newest project, a video for the corner. com, provides no exception to this reputation. “I Love USA” is a highly conceptual film that revolves around a wolf mask-wearing cello player and a frail, California-type blonde with an inquisitive expression.
Any chance to catch a behind-the-scenes glimpse at one of today’s foremost models shouldn’t be missed. On Style. com right now, Freja Beha Erichsen talks about tattoos, her first show (Prada), personal style, and much more while shooting a new campaign for Georg Jensen. There is an ease and down-toearth appeal in Erichsen’s mannerisms and speech that shines through as she poses so naturally and comfortably for famed photographer Sebastian Faena.
To promote the collaboration between Lanvin and H&M that hits stores later this month, a short video was recently released to showcase various looks included in the line. From quirky tees to feminine cocktail dresses, complete with ruffles and floral prints, the line is quintessential Lanvin. The video stars designer Alber Elbaz and is the final string in a series of teasers that have been intermittently released to build anticipation for the line.
bc tube
Waiting for a championship season
photos courtesy of lifetime.com
Heavily-anticipated fall shows like ‘The Event,’ ‘$h*! My Dad Says,’ and ‘Running Wilde’ have largely been disappointments this season. It’s not often I delve into the world of sports, but I have found the perfect opportunity to do so. The current television season is quite like the Darren Ranck current season of our dear Boston College football team. While I pat myself on the back for my macho connection, consider the parallel. Every year, the football team conditions, recruits top-notch players, and watches video in preparation for victory (or so I assume). Similarly, television executives furiously write drafts, cast big-name stars and new talent, and watch take after take, hoping to strike gold with critics and audiences. Both are having difficulty in finding their footing this year, and the issue may be mutual – there’s nothing for fans to get excited about. While I may not be the best one to discuss the Eagles’ struggle (you go, Montel), I think the current television season’s pitfalls are easily attributed to a lack of ideas. When I think about the new shows this season, I can’t help but think of other past shows with the exact same premise. For instance, there’s The Event, a show whose tagline is, “If 24 and Lost had a baby.” I don’t know if it’s clever or completely cliche to reference two of television’s more successful serials, especially the year after they both ended their runs. Either way,
I’m still in a post-partem phase as a result of Lost’s ending, and do I really want to invest a similar amount of time into viewing and forum scouting? More than that, however, Lost became iconic television. It’s a hard sell to say The Event could live up to Lost’s narrative genius and engrossing characters. From having watched it, I can say it honestly hasn’t, nor does it seem like it will. Mimicking a show like Lost is obviously a challenge, so it seems that television executives have decided, why adapt an idea when you can just completely copy it? Hence, the new additions to television franchises. I blame C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation for this mess. It’s planning on hosting more locations than The Real World. The franchise spawned two series, C.S.I.: Miami and C.S.I.: New York, and the producers are about to premiere C.S.I: Los Angeles. I have trouble recognizing how these shows differ beside location. Having a brutal murder in the Meatpacking District still yields the same story as a brutal murder on the Walk of Fame. Did solving crimes in Las Vegas suddenly become so droll that they needed to unleash detectives on three major cities? Regardless, stocking the primetime schedule with more of the same product doesn’t draw people in, but leaves them wanting something more. The new comedies aren’t much better. Every sitcom has decided to model itself after Two and a Half Men, the most watched and most widely criticized show on television. The broad
comedy of Chuck Lorre is everywhere. The fact that a large selection of the American public still laughs at lewd bodily function jokes and manly men ironically wearing dresses concerns me. Let’s consider $h*! My Dad Says. Based off a Twitter account of the same name, the show stars William Shatner. That alone tells you it must be awful. Lo and behold, it is, and it’s the typical Chuck Lorre fare of an old man yelling ridiculous, inappropriate comments. Unless you’re Betty White, you can’t get away with that shtick every time. Even the supposedly clever comedies fail, though. Running Wilde came with the pedigree of Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz, his star Will Arnett, and lovely leading lady Keri Russell. Somehow, though, it failed. It’s not humorously awkward, but just slightly uncomfortable and somehow stale. It’s easily the biggest disappointment in a disappointing season. If I could name an exception to this curse, I would, but it appears as though nothing from the current season is trending. Where’s the Glee? Where’s the Modern Family, the American Idol, the Friends? Where’s the show that has everyone talking? Sadly, that show is seemingly absent this season. Just like our football team, though, television can overcome this season and come back strong for a touchdown.
Darren Ranck is a Heights editor. He welcomes comments at ranckd@bc.edu.
Infatuated with Alice
One of the most frequently adapted-forscreen stories is Lewis Carroll’s timeless classic, Alice in Brennan Carley Wonderland. Walt Disney’s animated version of the film remains one of the most whimsical and charming versions. It set the bar high for any other Alice films to be made in the future. I must confess that I’m a bit biased here. I’m quite the Disney purist (ideal vacation? You guessed it: Disney World), and 1951’s Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite movies of all time. I’ve read the book more times than I can count. I used to love playing on the Alice statue in Central Park when I was little. I even wrote a paper on the movie for a class on the Cold War that I took in high school. It remains one of the movies that I can watch over and over again, which is a testament to its staying power. That’s why I was appalled when, a few days ago, a “For Your Consideration” ad promoting Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland appeared. The poster touts the film as worthy of awards such as Best Picture, Best Actor (for Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter), and Best Supporting Actress (for Helena Bonham Carter as
What kind of world do we live in where someone thinks that Avril Lavigne could be considered an Oscar-caliber songwriter? the Queen of Hearts). It’s not like Disney needs more money, or even attention paid to the movie. It was a behemoth hit for the company. Audiences came out in droves to see it in its opening weekend. So why is Disney looking for an awards push? Personally, I went into Burton’s Alice with big expectations. After all, the director is – or used to be – one of the most exciting and creative men in Hollywood. With the help of talent like Depp, Carter, and Anne Hathaway, how could one go wrong? Well, for one thing, Depp’s performance is uneven and disappointing. Take Jack Sparrow, give him a Scottish brogue and a feminine lisp, and bang, you have Depp’s Mad Hatter. Assuredly, Burton sought the audience’s sympathy for the Hatter, but Depp’s performance instead elicits annoyance. The most glaring error in the new Alice was the 3D. Clearly, Disney executives saw how successful Avatar was in 3D and thought to themselves, “Hey, we can pump up the price of ticketing with this!” I was lucky to see it in a free preview screening, but had I paid extra for the 3D “effects,” I would have been majorly peeved. The most the audience sees of the third dimension is the poorly animated Cheshire Cat’s head popping out and the Hatter’s, well, hat flying out at them. Another thing that caught my eye was the inclusion of “Best Original Song” for Avril Lavigne’s “Alice.” What kind of world do we live in where someone thinks that Avril Lavigne could be considered an Oscar-caliber songwriter? Sure, her “Alice” was by no means the worst part of the movie, but the song is shrill and melodramatic. That it might be considered in the same category as the brilliant and poignant “Falling Slowly” from Once makes me shake my head. Finally, the bid for Best Film is a sadly misguided one. The plot is murky and befuddling. Underland? What is that nonsense? I still don’t understand what Burton was trying to do, but I do know that it didn’t work. The only redeeming thing about the movie was Carter’s Queen of Hearts. I appreciate the push for her as Best Supporting Actress. Her part is a hefty one, and Carter played it with a dual fiery disposition and childlike sense of amazement. Her moments on screen were the only ones in which I wasn’t actually hoping that I could throw myself down the nearest rabbit hole.
Brennan Carley is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at review@bcheights.com.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
B3
The Heights
“ Tim and Eric are the sort of men who do what they love, unboxed by a society of do’s and don’ts.”
W
hen it premiered in 2007, Tim and Eric Awesome Show aired on Sunday nights at 12:30 a.m. on Cartoon Network. It’s only an 11-minute program, but its creators manage to cram in an explosive and seemingly unconnected array of (intentionally) poorly-produced, public-access style clips featuring famous Hollywood personalities and musicians, unprofessional actors, and aging men the creators seemed to have plucked from a psych ward. David Liebe Hart has remained a recurrent character throughout the series. As has James Quall, a bowtied bozo who dons lip gloss and impersonates Bill Cosby and Gerald Ford and sings about cars of the future and beach parties. The vast majority of the episodes – there are 50 in total – follow little to no narrative. Many clips are commercials for hopelessly ridiculous items like the Napple or the Facts Machine, which faxes you intriguing facts like, “The captain of the ship is in charge of the ship.” Sometimes clips involve nothing more than actors burping or screaming, or slow-motion shots of Heidecker and Wareheim vomiting, or someone eating a taxidermied fox. Disturbing relationships between fathers and sons marks the most consistent theme of the show. Its creators once described their program to The New York Times as “the nightmare version of television.” The creators of Awesome Show have granted the street performer a spot on a weekly program. But what’s the appeal? Tim and Eric Awesome Show has generated one of the most religious cult crowds this century. How could such a seemingly senseless and extraneous show take its performers across the nation for sold out tours three years in a row, including one that starts this week?
T
hough garnering higher ratings than ever, Heidecker and Warheim opted to end Awesome Show this spring with the conclusion of its fifth season. Like dissecting the brain of a serial killer after he has died, or revisiting the warning signs of an undetected tsunami, we can now salvage some understanding of the anomaly of Tim and Eric.
To an extent, the success of the show rides on its remaining unpopularity with the majority of the population. To an extent, fans of Awesome Show take comfort in the fact that most people don’t actively watch advertisements for cigarette juice, or singalongs about sons sleeping in the same bed as their fathers, or Jeff Goldblum talking about the Jeff GoldBluMan Group. Fans feel like they’re in on something. John Glynn, A&S ’11, said he enjoyed that Awesome Show is “a night owl show, where you get to see this bizarreness you can’t find anywhere else, and you see something most people haven’t discovered.” Moreover, the more obscure the show becomes, the more the fan can identify himself with the show, as it begets an increasingly distinguished identity. If Awesome Show migrated to a primetime slot on CBS, this appeal would shatter. It would be the same feeling fans experience when an obscure band signs on to a major label, or when an independent director agrees to a major studio production with a stock script. It’s more than just the artist selling out to the man. It’s the fan losing part of what distinguishes himself. If the show became universal, the fan could no longer exploit the show to identify himself, because universality can’t be seen. But because it remains in its niche, tucked away in an 11-minute pocket while most of America sleeps or watches the local news or Letterman or Leno, Tim and Eric diehards can be spotted, a compact but luminous Day-Glo star. I first noticed this last year at the Wilbur Theater. Middle-aged men in heavy metal t-shirts and beards and college students with ironic t-shirts and thick-framed glasses screeched and howled the moment Liebe Hart waddled onto the stage. They shouted along every word of songs like “I Sit When I Pee,” as if kindergarteners on a Yo Gabba Gabba! tour. I began watching the show my freshman year of college, when a friend sent me a clip of Wareheim promoting a child clown outlet (which sold the toddlers, not clown paraphernalia). Ever since, I’ve consulted Awesome Show as a go-to escape from obligations. Stuck in an essay, drained from abnormal psychology notes, or caught in the tedium of a robotic schedule, a few Awesome Show sketches wipe the brain. It’s the television equivalent of yoga, or maybe Robitussin. I’ve watched the show loyally throughout its reign. But the Wilbur crowd startled me. For some of the squealing fans, this wasn’t just an escape, this was a confirmation of the self. The show’s unpopularity is also crucial to the creators. Beside the celebrity appearances and the skits featuring themselves, Heidecker and Wareheim predominantly use inexperienced or unprofessional actors. Most of them have no knowledge of the show, and Heidecker and Wareheim spend little to no time familiarizing them with its design, so when you see them promoting thocks (thong-style socks) or explaining business hugs (affective embraces in the office), there’s no irony. It’s just weak actors reading the words on the script as if these were real products and serious sketches. If Awesome Show became a household name, the actors auditioning would know what they were getting into, adding sarcasm to their acting,
and the show’s aesthetic would evaporate. This is the trap Sacha Baron Cohen fell into after the release of Borat, a film with humor that relied on the ignorance of the populace. For Heidecker and Wareheim, as with Baron Cohen, the more their art stays in a small bubble, the less of a chance the populace has at popping that bubble.
B
ut attributing all of Awesome Show’s appeal to its equal repulsion seems a little tepid and incomplete. It’s also not just that the actors are bad. It’s that oftentimes the entire show looks and sounds bad. Silly page wipes, Weather Channel jazz as background music, faulty cuts between shots, early ’90s-style rainbow graphics splattering across the screen – a lot of the show looks less like a national television program of 2010 produced in an L.A. studio and more like home videos edited by a high school junior on Windows Movie Maker. In an age when the biggest literary giants aren’t authors, but machines – the Kindle and the iPad – when the thrust of the film industry is to produce everything in 3D, and when digital file sharing has trumped the record industry and dwindled the quality of sound, Awesome Show remains vehemently anti-technology. When the iPhone was first released, Awesome Show summoned Ed Begley, Jr. (six-time Emmy award-nominated star of St. Elsewhere) to promote the C-Phone, a gargantuan mobile phone with only one button, battery-life for only one phone call, and lacking the ability to receive phone calls. Sketches treat the Internet – without the Innernette as the show refers to it – as if it has just been invented. One sketch featured David Liebe Hart explaining the Innernette as a “world of do’s and don’ts,” proclaiming, “the computer should only be used for education, high morals, and bettering our humanity.” In an interview with The Onion’s AV Club, Heidecker said, “Just because we can shoot something that looks like a movie doesn’t mean we should. Sometimes if something looks too good, it’s not funny.” Technical achievement would beget aesthetic failure for Awesome Show. The often vicious lampooning of a culture obsessed with technology appeals to the Luddite and anyone mildly concerned with their technology consumption. While they might draw an outsider appeal of those against technology, ironically they also draw an insider appeal of some of the masses engulfed in technology, what with their A.D.D.-friendly, 30-second clips and a running time shorter than a sitcom’s collective commercial breaks. Heidecker explained the show to The Boston Globe as “short attention span theater for the criminally insane.” That’s fairly accurate, if by criminally insane he means the average American who spends four hours a day on the computer and an hour a day punching in text messages. Glynn said, “I don’t think I would enjoy a full Tim and Eric movie. It would be an obscene amount of weirdness to take in at once. I like seeing 11 minutes of this world at a time and leaving.” In an accelerated culture of information overload, Awesome Show requires little attention to enjoy. Also, for as much as Awesome Show lambastes the Internet on screen, it exploits the Web to its advantage in a marketing campaign. The Adult Swim Web site grants everyone access to each episode of Awesome Show, broken into individual clips, which viewers can embed in e-mails and on Facebook pages, rendering the viewers into viral marketers. Heidecker and Wareheim also manage timanderic.com, regularly posting clips from the show and hosting Tim and Eric Nite Live, a live streaming talk show, featuring guests like Fred Willard and Rainn Wilson. Within Tim and Eric Nite Live are links to clips from Awesome Show. On the Web, Heidecker and Wareheim cast a wide net. Also, beyond standing against technology on the show, Awesome Show stands against comedy, or at least its popular form. The highly-rated comedies of today, such as Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, The Office, The Colbert Report, Family Guy, and Modern Family, connect with their audiences by poking fun at Washington or Hollywood, or embedding them in exaggerated versions of institutions like the Church, the family, and the workplace. But Awesome Show aggressively eschews anything explicitly c o n nected to reality. Wareheim once said, “We don’t do any overtly political stuff. We don’t touch current events. We don’t do much with celebrities, like Lindsay Lohan jokes. That stuff’s
just not interesting to us at all. We prefer things like tiny hats.” Rather than stir up the political climate, Heidecker and Warheim create faux-commercials advertising tiny berets and baseball helmets and chef hats for dolls. You could argue SNL creates similar commercials, but when you watch the crisp NBC look of SNL with the epileptic editing, unstructured script, and sloppy acting of Awesome Show’s commercials, the comparison erodes. Yet, some fans argue the show’s bizarreness is exactly what connects it with reality. David Machajewski, A&S ’12, who has followed Heidecker and Wareheim since Tom Goes to the Mayor and attended three Awesome Tour live shows, said, “What keeps my interest is that Tim and Eric capture the things you see in real life but don’t talk about. They capture what’s funny about normal life in a bizarre way, and it takes an unbelievably attentive mind to create that.” Products like the C-Phone or the diarrheaphram are really just bizarre versions of what you see in the mainstream. Beneath the show’s look and tactics, however, there’s something closer to the soul that draws in these droves of diehards, giddy to see the show live.
T
wo years ago, Tim’s neighbor stabbed him in the back with a 14-inch-long butcher knife. This wasn’t a clip from an episode. Tim’s neighbor, an intern on the show, was high on PCP. The intern’s mother called Tim over, trusting he could assuage his outburst. Instead, the intern chased Tim down his street and slashed deep gashes in his back.
After a couple of nights in the hospital, Tim returned to the set with two scars on his back, but seemingly no scar on his life. Whenever we hear of a near-death experience, we usually hear of the lifestyle change that follows it. An overdose births a reformed Christian. A fight with cancer spawns a Peace Corps volunteer. A B.A.S.E. jumping accident begets a high school motivational speaker. But Tim brushed off his encounter with death. He told The A.V. Club, “It’s just one of those things that happens that makes you glad you’re not dead. And makes for a good story. Got some pats on the back, not too hard, and some good scars to remember.” Episodes of Awesome Show don’t resemble the work of a near-death survivor. Most survivors don’t go on to film commercials advertising a child clown outlet store or Man Nip, cat nip for men. And why would he change his ways? For one, a late-night stabbing is nothing out of the ordinary in the Awesome Show world. Also, since college, Tim and Eric have established themselves not by intentionally going against standards, but by pursuing what they enjoy and persevering through setbacks. When they shot the cat film festival shorts, they weren’t antagonizing their professors. “We were just doing things that made each other laugh,” Wareheim said. When Cartoon Network canned their first show after fans dubbed it too uncomfortable and odd for television, they returned with a show closer to their college aesthetic, but twice as polarizing to the world. And now, as Awesome Show begins to draw wide appeal, they opt to move on, eager to work on something new for the sake of their own interest and creativity. In August, Tim and Eric released the first Awesome Show spin-off, Check it Out! With Dr. Steve Brule, featuring the Academy Awardnominated John C. Reilly, who played an impish local news “expert” on Awesome Show. They have created a few segments for the new HBO sketch comedy series Funny or Die. They have directed music videos for the likes of Ben Folds, MGMT, and Depeche Mode, and as their cult grows, more artists seek their distinguished aesthetic. They direct a series of new Odor Blocker Old Spice commercials. But other than a mild idea to craft a feature-length film, Tim and Eric have little rationale to retire Awesome Show, other than, “We don’t want to overstay our welcome,” as Eric told The A.V. Club and, “We don’t want a show that’s going to feel dated,” as Tim told The Boston Globe. Spreading a fan base and increasing ratings – the typical objectives that drag comedy shows on for years – don’t motivate them. They merely motivate each other. When Odenkirk offered to give them Tom Goes to the Mayor after watching their absurdist shorts he said, “It occurred to me that they aren’t being influenced by anybody. They’re in their own little world, and that’s why they’ve gotten good at this.” And that is the ultimate appeal of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, two men living in their own world and sharing it with the people. Art’s reception depends 10 percent on the artist and 90 percent on its recipients. Regardless of how good Tim and Eric become at making their show look bad, or how cleverly they lambaste technology and commercialism, or how far they remove themselves from tried and true comedy, they may never gain international acclaim. Some simply won’t give them a chance, some won’t get it, and some will vomit. But unlike art, humanity draws universal appeal. And Tim and Eric are the sort of men who do what they love, unboxed by a society of do’s and don’ts. When asked about the conclusion of the series, Wareheim said, “We matured as men, but I think on the show we’ve reverted to an even more childlike state.” There’s a fine distinction between childish and childlike. Tucker Max is childish. Lugging a sitcom to is death it childish. Tim and Eric have kept a youthful zeal and belief in themselves above all. When those 400 fans belt, “Drink Milk, Think Milk,” they’re cheering for childhood, hailing its spirit so it can remain unsullied by the world. n
mike saldarriaga / heights photo illustration
B4
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The Heights
+Fashion and Food Chronicles of Campus Fashion
Halloween fashionistas
A
By K ailey k r ame r | F o r T he H eights
fter picking up last-minute items at the Garment District and apply the final strokes of face paint, students set . Why is it we love the holiday so much? Certainly not for the candy anymore. Maybe it’s because, for one night, we can be anything or anyone we ever wanted to be. Although in this attempt to sever ourselves from our day-to-day personas, often the costumes actually reflect quirky bits of our personalities. In that context, Halloween is a bit of a paradox, but maybe that, in itself, is what makes the holiday so interesting. Then again, Halloweekend might just be a great excuse to throw a party and smash pumpkins. Students definitely dressed to impress in the costume department this year. Bunnies and cowboys didn’t quite get the chance to trample originality under their stilettos and spurs on Commonwealth, as there was an abundance of creativity around and about campus. Every Halloween, a few pop-culture inspired costumes make abundant appearances. This year, a fleet of “Antoine Dodsons” called BC home for a few nights. In turn, this of course led to choirs of “The Bed Intruder Song” following members of said fleet wherever they ventured. Unfortunately I don’t have any photo evidence, but dressing up as Four Lokos proved to be as viral of a trend as this drink itself – and additionally replaced last year’s “Fanta girls.” So, as we look forward to next year’s festivities, enjoy these students’ costumes from this past weekend!
Kailey kramer / for the heights
Kailey Kramer is a Heights contributor. She can be reached for comment at arts@ bcheights.com.
Clockwise from right: Jack Linehan, A&S ’13, wears a bandana and tank in a fantastic portrayal of auto-tune genius Antoine Dodson. Run and tell that; Megan Pietruszka, A&S ’12, sports top hat and bowtie for her Marlene Dietrich costume; Jennifer Brubaker, A&S ’12, pieced together a spot-on “Strawberry Shortcake” costume with a wig she found in Allston, striped tights and hat from a costume store, and a homemade apron; Siblings Cassidy Clarity and Brendan Fitzgibbons, A&S ’13 and ’11, strike a pose as a bag of leaves and champion, Prefontiane; Mystery man! A&S?! CSOM?! LSOE?! Nobody knows! Well, somebody knows – just not me. Nonetheless, Gumby was indeed a crowd pleaser.
Center: Often spotted reprimanding “youngins,” Matt Keilson, A&S ’13, and Sebas Barreneche of Sarah Lawrence lost themselves in their “fancy old ladies” personas. After leaving all pride at Urban Renewals, the two slipped into their rayon dresses and pinched cheek after cheek.
dorm-cooked macaroni and cheese
Diana C. Nearhos / heights senior staff
By Diana C. Nearhos
the cheese will help it to melt faster. I used white American and white cheddar, so my mac and cheese came out a creamy white color, as We all have those days, or weeks even, that just expected. If you have a preference and want your drag on with one stressful test after another, fol- mac and cheese to be a little more colorful (or like lowed by a paper or two. By the end, you just want the taste better), you can use yellow cheddar and to eat some comfort food and curl up in bed. American. Mac and cheese might be one of the best comfort Once those cheeses melt into the sauce, add the foods. It is warm, cheesy, and gooey (in a good way). easy stuff. The salt, sugar, cottage cheese, and sour It straddles the line between healthy and greasy. cream don’t have to melt as much as incorporate. And it’s very filling. Not many people I know like cottage cheese, and I Making mac and cheese takes some time and agree that it does have a rather unappealing look effort. But when it comes out of the oven, it is to it. Just use it anyway, and when the curds do worth every minute and is miles above a box of not melt nicely into the sauce, don’t worry – they Kraft or Annie’s. will in the oven. My best friend’s mom first made this recipe for While you’re making the sauce, cook up some a party years ago, and when I had a craving for mac pasta. My friend’s mom uses elbows, which is pretty and cheese, I knew where to look. traditional. I like the Cellentani, a small curlicue, The cheese sauce is made of butter, flour, milk, it’s just a little bit bigger and holds the sauce well. American cheese, cheddar cheese, salt, sugar, If you so choose, you could probably use a ziti or cottage cheese, and sour cream. Even if you don’t something like that, too. like one of the ingredients (I am really not a fan of Once the sauce is done and the pasta drained, cottage cheese or even sour cream), use it. Once add them both to a casserole dish. Throw the rest they are all combined, none of the individual tastes of the cheddar over the top of the pasta. If you leave stand out. it on top, it will form a slightly hardened, almost Start by melting butter in a saucepot. Add in the crust-like layer. If you mix it in, it will just be more flour and mix it together. It will become really thick, cheese in the sauce. leaving you to stir until the mixture is smooth. Some people enjoy a layer of breadcrumbs on Next, you want to add the milk, but do it very top of their mac and cheese. You can mix them with slowly. I added the milk too quickly the first time some melted butter, or just sprinkle the straight I tried and it ended up clumpy. Very slowly, pour breadcrumbs over the top. the milk in, stirring it in completely before adding Put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 more. Once the milk is mixed strongly, it will be minutes. It may still be somewhat soupy when pretty thin. Keep stirring over very low heat until you take it out. Let it sit, and cool down, for a it thickens slightly. few minutes and the sauce will cool and become The adding of the milk and the thickening pro- creamier. You can also bake it a little bit longer, cess will take some time, so just be patient and have which will have a similar effect. But the longer you a good conversation with a friend while you stir. bake it and the more you let it sit, the drier it will Next, start adding cheese. Start with Ameri- become, so keep checking it and don’t leave it in can cheese (the original recipe called for cubes of for too long. American, but my friend’s mom said slices would This recipe makes eight servings, and fills a work, and they did). Don’t put all of the American 13x9-inch casserole dish. That is a lot of mac and in at once, or it won’t melt smoothly. cheese. If you have leftovers, you can Instead, add a couple slices at a time, microwave them or put them in the Want to make Diana’s and they’ll melt quickly. oven for tomorrow. It may be a little macaroni yourself? After the American comes the bit dry. If so, just add a little bit of Check out cheddar. That one is my favorite, cheese or milk and stir it in. www.bcheights.com/ which might be why I end up eating Now you have your comfort food, arts for the specific a bunch before it even makes it into just like Mom makes. So settle down recipes featured the sauce. You add about half of the in front of a movie and eat your warm, in this week’s cheddar into the sauce. Shredding gooey mac and cheese. Enjoy! Recipe of the Week. Heights Senior Staff
It’s ad city up in here
THE HEIGHTS
Thursday, November 4, 2010
B5
NEW RELEASES
+Music & notes
Genres clash in Matt & Kim album BY BRENNAN CARLEY
W
KID CUDI MAN ON THE MOON 2
Heights Staff
hile it is abundantly clear that Matt & Kim has musically matured from its Grand days, many of the songs on its new album aren’t much of a departure from its earlier records. Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino try desperately to switch the formula up just the right amount on each song, but as an album, Sidewalks is filled with disappointing cracks. The duo’s spunky, too-slickly produced songs hang on to the prototypical style that has worked for them so well in the past, while seamlessly integrating refreshing ’80s electro influences. They walk a thin line between indie rock and eccentric electro-pop, meshing the two sounds in an incoherent and ultimately disappointing album. It’s no surprise that Ben Allen, who oversaw Gnarls Barkely’s smash hit “Crazy,” produced Sidewalks. The album’s first single, “Cameras,” was a wise choice as an introduction to their new, funkier sound. Half singing, half rapping over a whimsical xylophone and a soulful and funky horn section, Matt gleefully serves up an infectious sequel to the band’s hit song “Daylight.” On this sing-along style smash, the beat is rife with hip hop’s influence and the band emphasizes living in the moment, as Matt howls, “No time for cameras / we’ll use our eyes instead / no time for cameras / we’ll be gone when we’re dead.” The lyrics could be read as profound or goofy, but the song is undeniably fun and memorable. One of the most noticeable things about Matt & Kim is the enthusiasm that so effervescently shines through
SIDEWALKS MATT & KIM
SUSAN BOYLE THE GIFT
PRODUCED BY FADER LABEL RELEASED NOV. 2, 2010 OUR RATING 6.5/10
CHART TOPPERS SINGLES
PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM AND COLLEGEMAGAZINE.COM
Once distinguished by their effortless indie sound, Matt & Kim have fallen to overproduction. on its songs. The pair recently compared the ’80s synthesizer intro and back beat of “Red Paint” as something similar to a “weird, cat-inheat” sound. With the help of blurted sounds and a killer beat, “Paint” is the best song on the album. It incorporates calming flutes as a sort of interlude before leaping back into the playful chorus, “Hands in red paint / let’s make some stains.” The song has typical Matt & Kim silliness and sound, which is what makes it so entertaining. One fact that comes to light quite clearly on Sidewalks is that Matt’s voice is not fantastic. Luckily, it integrates well with most of the group’s peppy and intriguing songs. On “AM/ FM Sound,” Matt innocently sings about having “no time to waste” as a Gorillaz-style synthesizer reverberates
in the background. The verses race and lead into a stirring sing-along chant of a chorus. While some may consider it a copout to stock up the chorus with a series of “oh’s” and “ah’s,” Matt’s unique voice makes it work. His voice is detrimental though, on one of the most intriguing songs on Sidewalks, which coincidentally is also its most disappointing. A radical departure from the rest of the album, “Northeast” is a slow, solemn, and quite boring song about New England. Sleigh bells and a blase drum beat carry Matt’s voice, too quirky for a song of this nature. As much as the band clearly wanted to try something different, the track just doesn’t work. As fans of the band may discover on listening to Sidewalks, Matt & Kim seem to have lost the homegrown appeal that made Grand so likeable.
It’s hard to fault the two of them, who come across so likeable on stage and in interviews, but Sidewalks comes across as inauthentic and (dare I say it) a sellout. As great as Matt & Kim are, the concept grows tired as the album progresses. On their own, the songs sparkle with freshness, but as a whole, Sidewalks quickly gets stale. I found myself growing irritated as I listened to the album from start to finish, a disheartening fact considering that the album is a scant 38 minutes long. It’s obvious that the duo has spent some time listening to the most recent Passion Pit and Tokyo Police Club efforts, but the formula that worked so well for those bands just doesn’t satisfy here. If you like Matt & Kim, give the album a spin. If you’re just a casual fan, check out “Cameras” and leave the rest of Sidewalks in the distance.
1 Like a G6 Far*East Movement 2 Just the Way You Are Bruno Mars 3 Only Girl (In the World) Rihanna 4 Just a Dream Nelly 5 DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love Usher feat. Pitbull COLLEGE ALBUMS
1 Teen Dream Beach House 2 Transference Spoon 3 One Life Stand Hot Chip 4 Contra Vampire Weekend 5 ODD BLOOD Yeasayer Source: Billboard.com & CMJ.com
‘Death’ breathes life into Weezer’s past hits BY TOM LARSSON For The Heights
There was a certain level of intrigue surrounding Weezer’s new album, Death to False Metal. Having just dropped Hurley in mid-September and reissued a deluxe-edition of Pinkerton in October, Rivers Cuomo and Weezer released the EP Death to False Metal on Nov. 2. However, the EP does not feature any songs from the latest album, Hurley. Rather, it includes unreleased songs from its older albums. Such an emphaDEATH TO FALSE METAL WEEZER RELEASED NOV. 2 OUR RATING 9/10
sis on older works reflects the band’s recent interest in returning to its roots and older style. In its upcoming tour, Weezer will focus more on previous albums, specifically Pinkerton, the band’s second album. However, not all songs on Death to False Metal are relics of a past time, as the records span from the band’s inception in 1994 to its Raditude period in 2008. Although the compilation spans Weezer’s 16-year history, the song list of Death to False Metal is similar to many other Weezer albums. It has its fair share of upbeat pop songs, while still being maintaining the
group’s emo theme and sound. With lyrics like, “You say I’m acting like a fool / Hey man, back off, ‘cause you don’t look so cool / With your button down shirt tie smack / Man you’re so wack,” and “We don’t care what you say / We’re turnin’ up the radio,” the song “Turning Up the Radio” very much sounds like the anthems of Red Album and Ratitude, which mix the upbeat pop-sound with individualistic, anti-establishment lyrics so characteristic of the band’s emo roots. Created through Cuomo’s YouTube project “Lets Write a Sawng,” in which he worked and collaborated with his fan base to write a song, “Turning Up the Radio” illustrates the 21st-century Weezer, a little more pop-oriented, yet still loyal to its “angsty” roots of the ’90s. In 2008’s “Autopilot,” Weezer utilizes the increasingly-popular music innovation / torture machine known as auto-tune. Unless the band dramatically alters its style a la Kanye, auto-tune will probably be an extreme rarity for Weezer. Although it doesn’t come close to Cuomo’s signature, always-in-tune yell, the auto-tuning of the lead singer’s voice, combined with the ’80s rhythm, does create a fascinating sound for anyone who is all too familiar with the traditional Weezer style. From the earlier 2000s, presumably left off 2005’s Make Believe, “I’m a Robot” and “Blowin’ My Stack” recall the band’s alternative period. “I’m a Robot,” one of the most unique tracks on the new album, is also one of the highlights of Death to False Metal because it displays Weezer’s ability to stray away from its characteristic (and, yes, sometimes overused) amped guitar and screaming-Cuomo sound. The up-tempo
PHOTO COURTESY OF DONNA LOU MORGAN
Weezer’s ‘Death to False Metal’ proves an all-encompassing look at the band’s depth of versatility. beat and friendly style of both songs may be evidence of the band’s transition from independent, cult-following emo group to alternative, rock powerhouse. Also from the Make Believe era, Weezer’s cover of Toni Braxton’s “Unbreak My Heart” is a must-hear for any cover fanatic who loves rock versions of melodramatic, ’90s ballads. Earlier songs on the new compilation album show the distinct Weezer sound of its Pinkerton period. Most prominently, “Everyone” just screams emo, with the repetition of Cuomo shouting “Everyone” and “I can’t see straight” for most of the track. Just as the lyrics to “Everyone” aren’t significantly profound, the words to “Trampoline,” another apparent Pinkerton leftover, aren’t as involved as other Weezer songs, either (as “Across the Sea” or “Why Bother”). For fans of early, Pinkerton-era Weezer, these songs may bring back memories of the band’s glory days before they were over-exposed to pop influences. However, the songs are not too attractive to the ears, and it is
difficult to listen to “Everyone” and “Trampoline” straight through because of their barbaric repetition and ugly melodies. The first song on Death to False Metal is “Mykel and Carli.” Although the song begins with a potential break from the band’s early loyalty to electric guitar, it eventually escalates into a quintessential, older Weezer song. With rather simple chorus chords and lyrics and the expected (but still powerful) guitar solo in the bridge, “Mykel” is the perfect example of Weezer’s music during its rise to fame in the mid-’90s. Death to False Metal is a necessary purchase for any fan of Weezer and anyone interested in “getting into” the band. Because of the widespread collection (from its earliest beginnings to its most recent albums), the newest album allows the listener to taste all areas of Weezer’s styles. At only 11 tracks, the investment is not a burden at all, but rather an opportunity to experience one of the most influential bands of the past two decades.
A FRAME OUT OF CARDBOARD
Exploring the artfulness of multitasking and attention Like everyone else in my generation, I struggle with doing one thing at a time. I can multi-task like nobody’s business. At any given moment, I have at least KRISTIN CANFIELD 10 windows and tabs open on my computer. Not to mention that I couldn’t write this column without first selecting a playlist to listen to in the background. Starting in middle school, I would listen to the news as I did my homework. It’s as if my ability to focus is rapidly deteriorating with age, and I am not alone. I’m starting to wonder how I get anything done. I read a George Saunders short story last year in which the characters had chips implanted into them so that the advertisements could adjust to their preferences as they walked through
the city. In the real world, there are no chips yet, but it does seem like that is where we are heading. So, as of now, my number one goal is to try to do things one at a time. I even put an actual post-it note on my computer to remind me, so I don’t have to switch between windows to see my goals list. Now that’s personal growth. When I was little and my parents would take me to art museums, I would always notice the people who had set up camp in front of one painting. What were these people looking at for so long? Were they seeing something I wasn’t? And most importantly, how could I grow up to be like them? I’m not quite sure how it happened, but I did. Oftentimes, there are paintings that I could look at in wonderment until I am forcibly removed, and even then I may put up a good fight. I can be pretty scrappy when it comes to my relationship with art. Moreover, museums are made for lingering. Sure, they lack comfy couches and refreshments, but most offer a bench, and are climate-
controlled. Plus, what’s actually hangwere just what I needed. There’s plenty ing on the walls cannot be captured in a to do in Seville, too. One of the things picture or a slide. I doubt I’ll do again, if I ever make it The way I love museums is the way back there, is to go to the Contempothat the general population seems to rary Arts Museum. This museum lies enjoy cheese: Indiscriminately in the not too far from the center of town, largest quantities. and is housed in a nice, The way I like While traveling this Spanish-style building. semester, I have visited museums is the way However, the merits of museums as grand and the museum fade quickly that the general famous as the Louvre, when you get inside. down to tiny museums Something I did not population seems in a few Central Eurorealize was that contemto enjoy cheese: pean cities. It is hard to porary art does not mean pick favorites, but I can modern art. I think I Indiscriminately say that the Stanislaw was expecting a Spanish and as often as Wyspianski museum in version of the Museum of possible. Krakow holds its own Modern Art in Manhatagainst many larger tan. That was my bad. If and better-known places. Generally, I I have learned anything living abroad, have enjoyed every museum I have been it is that if you expect something to to, but of course, there’s the exception. be like it is in the States, then you are Last weekend, I visited a fellow bound to be disappointed. The museum Eagle who is spending the semester in was very contemporary, and relied on Seville. I absolutely loved it there. The mainly film and installations. For me, warm weather, the cold soup, and the it was too busy, and I found I couldn’t company of a good friend from home focus on what I was supposed to be
seeing. It was the opposite of everything that art has become for me since childhood. I longed for the luxury of focusing on only the painting in front of me. I guess what I want to say is that these days, we seem hard-wired to multi-task our way through the world. We read while listening to our iPods and eating dinner, and these habits don’t go away once we leave college. So perhaps, we should try to take small steps toward focusing on the tasks at hand, and a museum could not be a better place to give it a shot. After all, an hour spent with Monet’s “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe” is far from an hour wasted, and you might just find it makes focusing in real life easier, too. Take this column, for example. I wrote it and only checked the news five times instead of the usual 100. Now, that’s progress.
Kristin Canfield is a Heights contributor. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.
THE HEIGHTS
Thursday, November 4, 2010
B6
MIDTERM ELECTIONS Tuesday’s midterm elections witnessed change for the third consecutive election cycle in Congress, as the GOP stormed into com-
mand of the U.S. House and took a large bite out of the Democratic majority in the Senate. In gubernatorial races across the country the tide ran red as well, though in New England, Democrats emerged unscathed by the Republican momentum. J O H N G LY N N | H E I G H TS STA F F C O LU M N I ST
Nevada Senate Race
AP PHOTO/JULIE JACOBSON
Harry Reid (Winner) 50 % Democratic Party Sharron Angle 45 % Republican Party
In a closely watched race, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid keeps his seat after facing stiff competition from Tea Partier Sharron Angle. Angle’s hard drive against the incumbent senator and Senate majority leader brought millions of dollars into her campaign down the stretch, keeping Reid pinned against the ropes. Pundits have speculated that Reid may have lost had he run against a more moderate Republican.
Arkansas Senate Race
AP PHOTO/RUSSELL POWELL
John Boozman (Winner) 58% Republican Party Blanche Lincoln 37% Democratic Party
Here’s a race that few people outside the Razorback State care about, but that should serve as a lesson to all. Democrat incumbent Blanche Lincoln alienated herself from her moderate/ conservative supporters by supporting the bailout and the stimulus. Then she alienated herself from her liberal base by voting against the health care bill. Then she lost her Senate seat by nearly 20 points.
WA State Senate Race
AP PHOTO/ELAINE THOMPSON
Patty Murray 51% Democratic Party Dino Rossi 49% Republican Party
Republican Dino Rossi previously ran twice for governor of Washington, losing by 120 votes in 2004 and another slim margin in 2008. Now he’s back, this time running against incumbent Patti Murray for her Senate seat. She maintains a slim lead in a race too close to call. According to Washington state law, if the margin of victory is less than one half of one percent, there must be a mandatory recount, which is a definite possibility.
Mass. Governor Race
SUSAN WALSH / AP PHOTO MICHAEL SALDARRIAGA / HEIGHTS PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
Colorado Senate Race
Incumbent Deval Patrick won a convincing victory after spending most of the campaign dogged by doubts of how he could win with the national antiincumbent fervor so high. Charlie Baker tried painting Patrick as an ineffective executive, but was unable to win voters over and instead, was plagued by memories of his involvement with the Big Dig. Independent State Treasurer Tim Cahill finished in a distant third place.
Deval Patrick (Winner) 49% Democratic Party Charlie Baker 42% Republican Party
AP PHOTO/BIZUAYEHU TESFAYE
Tim Cahill 8% Independent
Alaska Senate Race
AP PHOTO/MICHAEL DINNEEN
Lisa Murkowski 41% Independent Joe Miller 34% Republican Party
Tea Partier Joe Miller took the Republican Primary from incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski earlier this year, galvanizing her to stage a writein campaign in the general election. The write-ins have piled and she may have won by as much as 7 percent with nearly all votes counted. Write in ballots will not completely tallied until November 18, so Miller has not conceded nor has Murkowski claimed victory.
W. Virginia Senate Race
AP PHOTO/JEFF GENTNER
Joe Manchin (Winner) 54% Democratic Party John Raese 43% Republican Party
This seat wasn’t even up for grabs until its longtime holder, Sen. Robert Byrd, passed away after serving for 48 years. State Democratic officials pulled out all the stops, quickly nominating Governor Joe Manchin, the most popular candidate the party has in the state, to stem the Republican tide that threatened to take the seat for the GOP. Manchin’s popularity throughout the state carried the seat for the Democrats.
AP PHOTO/THE GAZETTE, JERILEE BENNETT
Michael Bennet (Winner) 48% Democratic Party Ken Buck 47% Republican Party
This is a race that of presidential proportions, in that Colorado was a key battleground state that President Obama won by a good-sized margin in 2008. Senator Bennet, a Democrat, won the race by just half of a percentage point after many polls showed him trailing by similarly close margins toward the end of the campaign. He defeated Ken Buck, a District Attorney from Weld County.
Kentucky Senate Race
AP PHOTO/ED REINKE
Rand Paul (Winner) 56% Republican Party Jack Conway 44% Democratic Party
Rand Paul was the winner in Kentucky, defeating State Attorney General Jack Conway by 10 points. The win should come as no surprise, as Paul has been ahead in nearly every poll of late, but many think the fact that Kentucky would send someone with Paul’s “extreme” views, including his questioning certain sections of the Civil Rights Bill, to the Senate is cause for concern. He defeated Conway, his opponent, by twelve points.
Rhode Island Gov. Race
AP PHOTO/JOE GIBLIN
Lincoln Chafee (Winner) 36% Independent John Robitaille 34% Republican Party
Lincoln Chafee, whose roots go deep in the Ocean State, has been elected governor as an Independent. Chafee had been a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island earlier in the decade and was dealt some good luck when Democrat opponent and then front-runner Frank Caprio made an off-color remark about not receiving President Obama’s endorsement. Caprio said Obama could take his endorsement and “shove it.” Good luck to Lincoln.
Republicans win House majority See Election, B10
MICHAEL SALDARRIAGA / HEIGHTS PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
activist Sharron Angle in the Nevada race. Should Angle have won, the balance of the Senate would have tipped further toward the Republican side. With 46 Republican senators poised to assume office in two months, the Democrats are not extraordinarily outnumbered. Although Democrats still control the Senate, GOP members are positive about the future. “[Wednesday] we’ll wake up and we’ll have the possibility of a real change in our nation,” Mike Pom-
peo, Republican representative elect from Kansas, told reporters. Despite the blow to his party, President Obama has already reached across the aisle. The president called incoming speaker John Boehner Tuesday at midnight to congratulate him on his victory. In addition, the White House revealed the president told both Boehner and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell that he looks forward to working with them to “find common ground, move the country forward, and get things done for the American people.”
Thursday, November 4, 2010
THE HEIGHTS
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Thursday, November 4, 2010
THE HEIGHTS
Filibuster hinders dialogue
ON THE flip side
GERARD FARARA
THE ISSUE:
The filibuster has been used in the Senate throughout American history. During the Wilson presidency, a law was passed allowing the Senate to end a filibuster with a cloture vote of 60 senators. However, as long as the minority party has 41 votes, it can filibuster any bill indefinitely with impunity. This ability can force bipartisan compromise, or it can cause gridlock in the Senate. Is the filibuster a detriment to legislation, or an integral feature of the Senate?
Filibuster crucial for minority is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow.” He goes on to argue that without “a certain “The tyranny of the majorportion of order and stability,” ity,” a phrase immortalized the United States cannot have by Alexis de Tocqueville, is a respectable government. a problem that nearly every Furthermore, in Paper No. political thinker from Plato 51, Madison writes of the to James Madison. Although importance of a multiplicathe modern understanding of tion of factions, so that when liberal government practically consensus is reached, it is demands majority rule, all of broad based and represents its proponents are aware that an actual majority of the it carries risks. What if the population, rather than one majority holds a wicked and particularly large and powerself-interested viewpoint? If ful group. In this context, the the majority ultimately rules consensus of 41 senators that all branches of government, an issue needs further debate where does the minority turn? does not seem problematic, In the U.S. Senate, the mi- considering these individunority party has several out- als represent a broad swath lets to assert its rights, the of views. Rather, it suggests most controversial of which is that the issue at hand could the filibuster, which involves be the problem. Undoubtedly, blocking legislative action, one of the most nefarious uses usually through of the filibuster ex te n s ive d e - Rather than throwing occurred in atbate or parliatempts to block out time-honored mentary procecivil rights dures. Though traditions for the sake legislation and t h e f i l i b u s te r anti-lynchof partisanship and ing laws, yet has been used throughout our convenience, senators ultimately they country’s hispassed. Altory, it has come should seek common though it took under increasground. 57 days of filiing scrutiny bebustering to see ginning in the cloture invoked on the Civil 1990s, and especially during Rights Act of 1964, the bill President George W. Bush’s finally passed by a resoundsecond term over its use in ju- ing vote of 71-29. Though the dicial nominations. South fiercely resisted the law The Constitution itself is for years to come, the fact that silent on the filibuster, but a strong majority had passed Article I leaves it to the House the bill gave it all the more vaand Senate to formulate their lidity than if it had passed by rules beyond the ones enumera single vote. It is fair to point ated by the founding docuout that Senate rules, and ment itself. As a result, the even the nature of the Senate Senate provides for unlimitself, made it possible for civil ited debate unless cloture is rights legislation to be delayed invoked, in which three-fifths far too long. As Victor Hugo of senators agree to put the pronounced, “Stronger than matter to vote. Opponents of all the armies is an idea whose the filibuster argue that this time has come.” enables 41 senators to hijack The official Senate Web site the legislative agenda. This notes that this was the first may be so, but law-making time in the 37 years since 1927 is generally not supposed to that the Senate had agreed to be an expeditious process. invoke cloture on any measure. In Federalist Paper No. 62, Hearing that fact one might Madison writes, “It will be of imagine that Congress was at little avail to the people, that a standstill in the interventhe laws are made by men of ing years, but the truth is that their own choice … if they be sweeping legislative change repealed or revised before they occurred in this time, espeare promulgated, or undergo cially during the 1930s with such incessant changes that no the passage of the New Deal. man, who knows what the law Although Americans tend
JANINE HANRAHAN
to believe that “nothing” gets done in Congress as a result of legislative tools like the filibuster, Johnson’s Great Society, Obama’s universal health care bill, and countless other laws have passed. Disregarding one’s own political views on these policies, no one can deny the enormity of them or the effort it took for them to pass. So the p ro b l e m is clearly not the filibuster, but rather the partisan motives for which people use it. When Democrats are in the majority, Republicans filibuster them and vice versa, each party meanwhile dreaming up a scheme to change Senate rules to prevent “obstruction.” Rather than throwing out time-honored traditions for the sake of partisanship and convenience, senators should seek common ground. Though compromise is often messy, it is certainly preferable to bulldozing the rights of the minority. Janine Hanrahan is a guest columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at marketplace@bcheights.
Politics. What a loaded word – especially with the midterm election results fresh in our minds. It has a negative connotation that has seemingly been burned into the American psyche. It is what will forever trail Washington. In fact, at times it is the city’s parasite, stunting its growth. However, there is a positive and quite vital side to politics. It is what stirs debate, forces discussion, and can lead to necessary, uncorrupted bipartisanship, so that we are left with a piece of legislature that focuses on the problem at hand. It is what turns a raw proposal into something that is relevant and effective to the dilemma it is geared toward. But on which side of the coin does the filibuster lie? With the former or the latter interpretation of politics? Think back to March 2010. Ted Kennedy’s passing and the consequent ascension of Scott Brown as the new Senator of Massachusetts officially ended the Democrats’ supermajority. And due to the complete lack of Republican support, the Democrats were left with no choice but to controversially squash a Republican filibuster essentially aimed at the healthcare overhaul. It was an ugly affair that exposed how deep the seeds of “ugly” politics had been planted within Washington, and then allowed to ferment into the antagonistic environment it has now become. Despite the eventual passing of the legislation now dubbed “Obamacare,” or rather although the filibuster
failed to avert the inevitable, it Yes, it is quite understandable highlighted a quite distinct fact. and logical that politicians would While the filibuster can be an rather vote on a bill that was important source of bipartisanakin to their ideals and beliefs. ship, it has now, more than ever, However, does this very example proven to be an obstacle that can not underscore the inability of inhibit the final product from both parties to effectively colfully renovating the very problem laborate on any issue? There will it was originally meant to tackle. always be a party in the majority. One may counter that the But does this have to mean that filibuster is imperative, because it the minority will then do its best provides an outlet for the minor- to block any attempt at legislaity to voice their tion made by the opinion. Such digoverning party? And while the alogue is a necesIf so, bipartisansary component filibuster was meant ship, a necessary to any democracy. to further stimulate component to When a pertinent any democracy, minority has se- such dialogue, it has becomes virturious concerns turned into the very ally impossible to about a specific thing that hinders it. achieve. bill, more time One doesn’t should be taken need to look very to analyze its implications before far to recognize the weight of it passes any House. the current dilemmas that face But when this idea behind the America. From the sluggish filibuster becomes manipulated economy and the stubbornly by the opposition, in an attempt high unemployment rate, to the to fulfill a political agenda, budget deficit, to Afghanistan it brings to light a flaw in the and the environment, few will system. dispute that the decisions made In September, Republicans now will prove extremely influsucceeded in blocking a defense ential in shaping our country’s bill that would repeal “don’t future. Thus, it is imperative to ask, don’t tell” and another that have a government that focuses provided for immigration reform. on these dilemmas and neglects Regardless of what stance you the “childish” politics that has take on these subjects, at face perpetuated the divide between value this exemplifies what a Democrats and Republicans. democracy is all about. It is Regardless of who is in office, or within the opposition’s right to which state is red or blue, the isvoice their beliefs and opinions, sues at hand don’t need superregardless of how critical the ma- fluous political bickering, but jority may view it. However, look a fruitful political debate. And at it from a different perspecwhile the filibuster was meant to tive. Midterm elections were two further stimulate such dialogue, months away, and the Republiit has turned into the very thing can party was projected to make that hinders it. big gains in both Houses. Thus, Thus, on which side of the could it be that the filibuster was coin does the filibuster lie? Well, used in an attempt to prolong while it was originally meant for this bill until the Republican positive politics, it has seemingly base on Capitol Hill grew stronlanded on the opposite side. ger? The Republicans are not Gerard Farara is a guest columnist for the only ones to blame for this. The Heights. He welcomes comments Democrats are at fault as well. at marketplace@bcheights.com.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
Like Mr. Smith in the classic ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,’ senators have and often exercise the filibuster power.
MARKET REPORT
Green energy implementation will create U.S. jobs, cut costs AMEET PADTE While campaigning for the presidency, Barack Obama stated that spending $150 billion over the next decade to increase energy efficiency would create 5 million jobs. These jobs would include household insulation installers who would make houses more energy-efficient, manufacturers of wind turbines that would displace coal-fired electricity, and construction workers who would build “greener” buildings and upgrade our overloaded electrical grid. The argument contends that the substantial costs of investing in alternativeenergy would be gradually offset by savings in reduced fossil-fuel costs. As a relatively emergent industry, clean-energy spending is obviously attractive. Unlike the production of fossil fuels, which has matured and established itself over the decades (and therefore is more difficult to modify and improve), the “green” industry is growing quickly and is just starting to establish basic infrastructures. There are other advantages, as well. Some studies estimate that investment in renewable
energy or energy efficiency would yield up to four times as many jobs as the same investment in oil and gas. Furthermore, these jobs would likely be created in the United States, as opposed to jobs in the oil and gas industry, which are spread around the world, particularly in the Middle East. The elusive goal of energy independence has been a strong motivation for alternative energy investment for many years, but has remained quite elusive. Today, foreigners feed nearly 60 percent of our petroleum habit. However, other countries have managed to allocate funds to green projects without significant detriment. Germany and Japan have installed more rooftop solar arrays than anywhere else, thanks to government subsidies. Though they are not known for abundant sunshine, these nations have strong domestic markets for solar panels, and therefore tens of thousands of “new” jobs. President Obama has cited Spain’s efforts with solar energy as initiatives to be emulated. That being said, it has suffered. A study found that for every individual “green” job created in Spain, 2.2
in other sectors were lost. In addition, Spain’s government spent nearly $800,000 to create each green job and used $36 billion in taxpayer money to invest in wind, solar, and hydro energy. Their unemployment rate currently sits at 20.5 percent. One should bear in mind that it takes time for the ripple-effect to take place. For instance, it doesn’t take that many people to put up a wind turbine. However, a single wind turbine consists of 8,000 manufactured parts and as much steel as 26 cars. It requires extensive component manufacturing and designing, and the full contingent of resources spreads out to a number of different and indirectly related sectors. In early 2009, Congress passed an $814 billion stimulus fund to “jump start” the economy. Around $92 billion of this was allocated to renewable energy projects. Unfortunately, less than half of it has been spent, the slowest disbursement rate of any category of stimulus spending. In addition, the jobs being created in the U.S. are not necessarily desirable. Republican Senator Christopher Bond said that government subsidies are producing many low-wage construction jobs instead of betterpaid manufacturing positions. “Green jobs like solar power are good-paying, middle class-sup-
porting manufacturing jobs,” Bond said in an interview. “Those jobs are in China and Malaysia. Solar companies in Missouri are creating low-wage jobs to install them.” The results are plain to see. Despite being one of the first innovators in this field, the U.S. has drastically fallen behind. China’s labor edge has overpowered Obama’s green jobs initiatives. Even as our president gives more tax breaks to renewable energy companies to create jobs domestically, production is expanding even more quickly overseas. Clean-technology workers comprise only 0.6 percent of the American workforce. More than half of the world’s wind and solar energy equipment are made in Asia, and last year China surpassed the United States in wind-turbine manufacturing and installations. This can be attributed to China’s plethora of cheap labor as well as their government’s generous subsidies. A company pursuing low-cost skilled labor will naturally travel to Asia.
A new report from the Worldwatch Institute indicates that China’s growth in the renewable energy industry is stronger than that of any other nation. This has been achieved through a strong financial position, technological advances, and aggressive policies. In addition, they are succeeding exactly where the U.S. is failing; by implementing ambitious policies and providing the continued investment necessary for success. In an American political system characterized by strife and discord, these types of farreaching, long-term initiatives have trouble
MICHAEL SALDARRIAGA AND MOLLIE KOLOSKY / HEIGHTS PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
ga i n i n g t ra c - tion. Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin emphasized that, “If China keeps on its current pace, it will be the undisputed global leader in clean energy within the next two years.” It is important to note that, since 2000, China’s coal consumption has doubled and its oil consumption has tripled. However, they plan to reduce carbon emissions per unit of economic output by
nearly 50 percent by 2020, a plan that will likely see fruition due to their state-run economy and extensive government oversight. There are a number of steps the U.S. can take to ensure its domestic “green” industry thrives. For one, policymakers can reduce the regulatory red tape that currently hinders alternative energy ventures by making them prohibitively more expensive and discouraging investment and innovation. The government should do more to advocate improved energy efficiency such as painting white roofs, improving insulation, and replacing obsolete HVAC equipment. The same way that the tech boom generated new efficiencies in the way we run our lives, which, in turn, led to cost savings and increased disposable income, energy efficiency can be an indirect job creator. The American government needs to stop betting on particular green technologies that may or may not be successful. For instance, higher environmental standards for products could lead to increased foreign demand, and therefore more domestic production. By pursuing broader goals with greater plausibility, we can ensure our place on the world stage remains intact. Ameet Padte is a staff columnist for The Heights. she welcomes comments at marketplace@bcheights.com
THE HEIGHTS
Thursday, November 4, 2010
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Rubio among Tea Party victors DANNY MARTINEZ
MATT PALAZZOLO
HILARY CHASSE
MAEGAN O’ROURKE
Will the Republican House and Democratic Senate work together?
No, but the onus is on the GOP to do something, putting the pressure on them for the first time in a while.
Of course, they should rally behind common ground, like .... OK, nothing will get passed.
This will be the time! They’ll put aside their differences and have giant slumber parties in the Chamber.
Congress didn’t work together even when both had Democratic majorities.
How significant were the Tea Party gains on election night?
Significant; I was impressed. The loss to Reid in Nevada was disappointing, but good night overall.
Excellent, the witch may have lost, but the aqua buddha will bring peace and calm to the Senate.
Significant enough to make millions of Tea Partiers get out of their Lay-Z-Boys to vote. That’s a feat.
How did the Bull Moose Party work out for Teddy Roosevelt?
Can the Republicans fulfill their promise to repeal Obamacare?
John Boehner would never try that because it would never succeed.
Only if its more popular than aid to 9/11 victims, which was voted down 2 months ago.
It will be hard, with a Democratic Senate and the average Tea Party IQ barely higher than butter.
Only if the freshmen Congressmen can pry Boehner’s tan in a can away from him.
Will Obama be re-elected in 2012 despite his party’s mid-term defeats?
Yes: the economy will be on the upswing and people will be itching for more hope and change by then!
Losing a foreign war? Economy stagnating? He’s copying Bush’s 2004 campaign strategy.
I still believe in you, Barry! If only for your adorably over-sized ears and puppy dog eyes.
Did Christine O’Donnell say she was a witch? Clinton did it in 1996, Obama will be fine.
Marketplace Editor
Asst. Marketplace Editor
Opinions Editor
Assc. Sports Editor
EU implements austerity measures
BY ARJUN GAJULAPALLI Heights Staff
In the fight against the economic recession, several European Union member states have begun a transition into austerity measures, including budget cuts in welfare programs, increased retirement age, and wage and pension cuts. The nations involved include economic leaders like France and Germany, as well as hard hit nations such as Greece and Spain. Greece, for instance, is taking special measures, as its deficit is now 13.6 percent of its GDP. The global economic crisis hit Greece the hardest out of all the EU nations because of huge public spending and widespread tax evasion preceding the crisis.
As a result, due to Greece’s EU membership, 15 EU members, specifically taxpayers, agreed to help pay off Greece’s debt by giving a $145 (104€) billion loan package to help its economy. In return, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou unveiled an austerity program which includes public sector freezes and fuel price hikes. The strong leading nations of the EU have also begun austerity programs. Most recently, on Oct. 23, the French Senate voted to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for full pensions from 65 to 67. The BBC reports that analysts predict the move will save 70 billion euros. The centre-right French government noted that it was impossible to keep paying with
PETROS GIANNAKOURIS / AP PHOTO
Last week, factory workers gathered in Athens to protest the government.
the aging population, which on average spends more years in retirement than any other nation. President Sarkozy added that, “We can’t close our eyes faced with our deficit … Our duty is to act in the general interest.” Germany, still the world’s largest exporter, is leading the way for a more conservative budget. Despite growth in GDP and decline in unemployment, Germany plans to cut welfare spending from 2011 to 2014 by 30 billion euros and cut 15,000 public sector jobs. The greatest example of this move toward austerity is the newly elected David Cameron’s conservative government in the United Kingdom. On Oct. 20, George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, released an outline detailing cuts in government departments as well as social welfare. One such department that is facing a huge cut is Britain’s defense department. The defense department is cutting 7.5 percent of its budget, which includes the layoffs of 37,000 workers and cancellations on new aircraft equipment. The National Health Service, Britain’s government health service, is the only department that is not facing cuts, with budget increases until 2015. The United Kingdom’s situation is different from other EU members in that Britain’s currency is the pound, while EU members who use the euro are referred to as the “Eurozone.” Therefore, their economic recovery is unaffected by the state of the euro except
in the areas of trade. The austerity movements have been met with widespread controversy and protest. Millions of workers, ranging from the civil service to airport staff, are protesting against the new cuts. Greece, in particular, has faced a new wave of anarchy against the government following the release of austerity measures. On Nov. 1, Athens police discovered four parcel bombs, one of which was intended for Sarkozy. It was unclear whether the attacks were motivated in protest against the new hardline economic measures, but Greece’s financial situation has led to widespread public sentiment against the government. France’s proposal to raise the retirement age was also met with widespread protests. The protests were led by union leaders, in which 3.5 million workers were mobilized and protested from Oct. 12-29. Despite the eventual passage of the pension reform law, France’s economic sector was crippled, due in large part to the fuel sector, which left motorists without gas because refineries were closed.
JEFFREY M. BOAN / AP PHOTO
Marco Rubio, senator-elect from Florida, benefitted from Tea Party support.
Tea Party, from B10 gling to balance their budget and stay out of debt at the same time their government spends well beyond their means, a disconnect is inevitable. However, this surge of energy could foreshadow a dangerous future for the party. DeWayne Wickham wrote in the USA Today that, “There’s a good chance the Tea Party will sputter out of existence as quickly as the Know Nothing movement did.” Many commentators have compared the Tea Party to the shortlived Nativist political movement of the 1840s and 1850s.
To many, though, the election of such libertarian, Tea Partyoriented candidates represents a hopeful future for the party itself. If candidates like Paul and Rubio can experience success, it may be reasonable for non-extreme Tea Party candidates to experience similar success in future elections. Whatever the future holds, it is clear many voters were frustrated with the last two years of American politics and turned out en masse to the polls for yet another change, taking refuge in the right-wing response to a Democrat controlled government – the Tea Party.
These strikes could also affect Sarkozy’s reelection bid for the 2012 elections, and some analysts say that the strikes have crippled his chance of getting reelected. Overall, the European movement into austerity measures has already taken into effect. On Oct. 28, the EU nations voted on stricter guidelines on budget deficits and sanctions on nations who fail to meet the guidelines. These new guidelines, dubbed the “EU Crisis Mechanism,” were created to prevent another Greek-like economic crisis. At the conference, the UK’s David Cameron led a battle against an EU budget
increase of 5.9 percent, stating that “Now we agreed that the EU budget must reflect what we are doing in our countries.” The move won backing from Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Sarkozy of France. However, despite the new measures, European citizens feel a lack of hope. When asked if he felt more Greek or more European by The New York Times, Anastassios Haros, a Greek small business owner, replied “The point is not whether I feel more Greek or European … the [Greek] government and the EU owes it to us to explain to us what is waiting around the corner.”
Stewart and Colbert join forces to mock, entertain Rally, from B10
the American people. Perhaps the “Rally to Restore Sanity and / or Fear” could become the Woodstock of our generation. Alas, it was already 1 p.m., and the comedic stars had not yet appeared. Once again, the rally was punctual. Stewart arrived precisely at 1 p.m. to introduce 4Troops, who sang the national anthem. The next 90 minutes played out like an extended, star-studded Daily Show or Colbert Report episode. Colbert dramatically emerged from the stage in an Evel Knieval suit. Stewart and Colbert took cynical swipes at the partisan media, corrupt politicians, and each other. Cat Stevens and Ozzy Osbourne dueled musically before the compromise “Love Train” was performed. Sam Watterson read a satirical poem, and R2D2 made a surprise appearance before accidentally running over Stewart’s foot on the way out. All the Daily Show correspondents made appearances, cumulating with John Oliver prancing onstage in a Peter Pan outfit. The rally so far was witty and entertaining, but not particularly unique. Jokes had been delivered and musical guests had performed, but sanity had not yet been restored. It was time for Jon Stewart’s closing speech. Stewart began by breaking out of character and ensuring the crowd of his sincerity. He criticized the media’s tendency to stereotype people as racists or terrorists, sarcastically adding that this disrespected actual racists and terrorists who
work hard to be discriminatory. He criticized the 24-hournews-cycle stations, which he dubbed the “conflictinator,” for over-blowing crises and partisan disputes. As he eloquently stated, “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.” Stewart utilized the extended metaphor of a merging highway. People highlight their opinions and principles through bumper stickers. However, when they come to the merging lane, they let the person in front of them go first, regardless of conflicting ideology. He tossed aside the traditional labels of Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, and insisted that Americans are rational, reasonable people. He ended with a retort against religion, saying that sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the Promised Land, it is just New Jersey. As soon as his monologue was finished, the celebrity
guests joined Stewart and Colbert onstage for a closing song. It was already 3 p.m. and the rally was over. As I walked with my friends to the nearest Chipotle, hoping the other 200,000 attendees didn’t have the same idea, I reflected on the impact of the event. It had been non-partisan as Stewart had promised, with liberals and conservatives, MSNBC and Fox News alike being mocked. From a broader perspective though, the rally embodied the zeitgeist of today, or spirit of the times. The majority of American citizens are tired of partisan bickering and inflated fear-mongering. They want to be able to engage in rational conversation, as well as enjoy a good laugh. On both fronts, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert delivered. Matt Palazzolo is the Asst. Marketplace Editor for The Heights. He welcomes comments at marketplace@ bcheights.com.
CAROLYN KASTER / AP PHOTO
Eager ralliers swarmed Washington on Saturday, covering the National Mall.
MARKETPLACE THE HEIGHTS
Thursday, November 4, 2010
B10
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010
GOP takes control of House, Dems hold Senate Republicans gain 60 seats, Democrats suffer largest loss since Depression era B Y M ICHELA G ACIOCH Heights Staff
ALEX BRANDON / AP PHOTO
Representative John Boehner (R-Ohio) is now speaker-in-waiting in the wake of Tuesday’s sweeping Republican victory in the House.
My quest to join in restoring sanity and / or fear began on Oct. 30. Through a friend of a friend, I was able to obtain a special guest pass and stood only 100 yards away from the stage. People were upbeat and cheerful. I saw a group of middle-aged women dressed as witches sporting pins that read, “I am you.” I saw couples wearing opposing stickers that said “Team Sanity” and “Team Fear.” There was also an unassuming teen-
See Rally, B9
CAROLYN KASTER / AP PHOTO
IN THE NEWS
Entertainers Colbert and Stewart joined forces at a rally in Washington this past Saturday.
BY DAVID COTE Heights Staff
The Tea Party, a populist movement that has made bedfellows of Libertarians and Republicans, has garnered national interest over the past year. The movement’s numerous goals include an overall lowering of taxes, the limiting of government spending, and the requirement of a balanced federal budget. Proponents often cite constitutional adherence and smaller federal government as effective ways of achieving those goals, policies supported by the majority of the movement’s political candidates. In the words of Tea Party activist and now Kentucky Senator-elect Rand Paul, son of former presidential candidate Ron Paul, “We have come to take our government back.” From the right, the movement’s followers have been exalted as patriots, while the left has branded them as extremists. President Obama himself has criticized the Tea Party for being full of overly critical pundits who fail to provide substantial solutions to the nation’s problems. He accuses them of frequently criticizing government spending, but at the same time being unwilling to accept cuts in other areas of the budget. Regardless of their support, where did the Tea Party come from? What caused such an intense political organization to arise? In a very short time, the grass roots movement has gripped the national media and greatly affected the recent midterm election. In the 2008 election, the Democratic Party asserted control over both houses of Congress and the presidency in the wake of what many viewed to be a failed Republican administration. Since then, the government has passed numerous controversial bills, including the stimulus bill of January 2009 and the health care legislation of this past March. In response to those actions arose the Tea Party, which protested what they perceived to be government interference in the economy and failed management of the taxpayers’ money. Enraged at the government for failing to lower unemployment and planning to refinance mortgages, the Tea Party movement
POLITICS
ECONOMICS
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Major news networks projected Republicans will regain control of the House less than two hours after the first polls closed. The GOP was expected to gain about 50 seats.
Crude oil rose to a six-month high of $84.50 on the stock market. Planned stimulus measures by the Federal Reserve and a drop in the dollar’s value helped cause the price increase.
Facebook and Electronic Arts signed a five-year deal that will restrict users to only buy EA games with Facebook Credits. Electronic Arts will receive 70 percent of revenues in the deal.
The Tea Party received mixed results on Tuesday. Rand Paul won in Kentucky while Christine O’Donnell was defeated in Delaware, both by large margins.
National Inquirer publisher American Media announced on Monday it will file for bankruptcy. The deal will swap debt for equity and provide the company’s bondholders with most shares.
A Turkish court reinstated the ban on YouTube access only days after lifting a previous 30-month ban. The court cited videos of a political opposition leader as the reason for the ban.
I NSIDE MARKE TP L A C E
THIS ISSUE
On the flip side
ED REINKE / AP PHOTO
Tea Party backed Republican candidate Rand Paul handily won his Senate seat in Kentucky. emerged as a series of protests which slowly gained national attention. Typically composed of white, male Christians according to the Bloomberg news poll, the Tea Party has continually grown in support over the past year as the current administration seemingly alienates itself with the political right. In the months preceding last night’s election, the projected effects of Tea Party activists being elected were much debated. On the one hand were writers like MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, whose scathing Oct. 27 article headline read, “If the Tea Party wins, America loses.” Olbermann cited numerous problems many voters may have with Tea Party policy, including repeal of the 17th Amendment (which allows direct election of senators), elimination of the Department of Education, and raising the minimum age to collect Social Security. While some of these views are only supported by a handful of Tea Partiers, they represented, to Olbermann, views that would reverse progress in America. On the other hand were Tea Party proponents like the aforementioned Paul, who disagreed, telling reporters, “The Tea Party movement is about saving our country from a mountain of debt.” To him and many of his sup-
porters, a balanced federal budget and decreased government spending are the only ways to get our nation back on track, and electing Tea Party candidates would do just that. Early last night, with election results pouring in from all corners of the country, the Tea Party achieved two huge victories early on. The aforementioned Paul and Republican candidate Marco Rubio of Florida, both of whom received support from the Tea Party, won Senate seats in their respective states. Rubio’s victory came as a great surprise to national observers, who considered him a relative no-name early in his candidacy. In a similar way, Paul’s quirky and unconventional views (which often align with neither Republicans nor Democrats) were expected to turn many voters away from him. In the end, though, both candidates won relatively handily. The question then becomes: How? Many critics argue that the emergence of such great political energy on the right is due to the struggling economy. The current circumstances are inciting frustration in voters who feel estranged from their government. When a working class family is strug-
See Tea Party, B9
113
Number of Iraqi civilians killed in bombings on Tuesday. The militants attacked Shiite neighborhoods in an attempt to provoke sectarian conflict.
45
Days until elections in Kosovo. The parliament dissolved the government with a no-confidence vote.
This week On the Flip Side will explore both sides of the issue of the filibuster’s use in the Senate............................................................ B8
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IN QUOTES
MATT PALAZZOLO
See Election, B6
Tea Party candidates find success
IN NUMBERS
Rallying to Washington
ager waving a poster that said, “Screw the rally, where is Olivia Munn?” There were no drunken buffoons or obnoxious hecklers, just a large gathering of friendly, reasonable people. The rally began, to my pleasant surprise, exactly at noon. The Roots performed a trio of songs and was joined by John Legend. They played uninterrupted for nearly 45 minutes. Then the Mythbusters took the stage to perform mass experiments. After initiating a wave, the Jumbotrons cut to an overhead view, and I quickly realized the scope of the rally. People were lined up all the way back to the Washington Monument. The National Mall was completely filled with sane ralliers. It dwarfed Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in size and spirit. Remarkably, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert announced the “Rally to Restore Sanity and / or Fear” only 46 days ago, while Beck announced his respective event more than nine months before it began. Clearly the comedic duo had struck a chord with
As midterm election votes were tallied into the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Republican Party claimed the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Simultaneously, Democrats will continue to hold the majority in the Senate, control they have possessed since the midterm elections during President Bush’s final term in 2006. All signs are that the shift of power in Congress spells trouble for President Barack Obama. Come January, 239 members of the GOP will claim their seats in the House. Yet for many, this victory did not come as a surprise. The Democratic Party, which won a less-than-overwhelming 185 seats in the House, has been losing popularity with and support from Independents since Obama took office in 2009. The decline in the rate of “Obama fever” accelerated after the president’s February 2009 stimulus bill failed to positively change the state of the country’s economy. GOP’s win in the House will provide the party with enough seats to set the agenda for the next two years on Capitol Hill. This Republi-
can win comes as a heavy blow to Democrats, a party which currently holds 256 seats in the House. In January, the first female speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, will be forced to pass the position she has held since 2007 to John Boehner (R-OH). “The American people’s voice was heard at the ballot box,” an emotional Boehner said on Tuesday night. “Across the country right now, we are witnessing a repudiation of Washington ... a repudiation of big government ... and a repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the people,” he continued. “We have real work to do, and this is not the time for celebration.” Boehner also stated that having a more balanced Congress will ensure that both sides of an issue are heard before legislation is eventually passed. While Democrats lament over the loss of the House, they can be comforted by their continued majority in the Senate. With 49 Democratic senators elected, the party will maintain its dominance. The GOP is not far behind, though. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid barely escaped defeat by Tea Party
We’ve put a ground halt on all cargo emanating out of Yemen, until they can be inspected.
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–Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, describing response to attempted airline bombings
Market Report.........................................B8 Mid-term Election Coverage....................B6