Heights 03-22-10

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919

THE HEIGHTS MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010

Vol. XCI, No. 15

www.bcheights.com

GLC holds second Gala Boston Center for the Arts hosts 150 students for second Gala event

BY JOSEPH PASQUINELLI For The Heights

The GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) sponsored their second Gala on Saturday at the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA). The theme of the event was Lady GaGa. Approximately 150 students attended the event.

When asked why she was attending the Gala, Siobohn McKenna, LSOE ’11, who said she does not identify as GLBTQ, said, “My roommate last semester is in GLC, and I went last year. I am here to both support the community and have a good time.”

The event began with dinner and was followed by presentations that described the trials and triumphs of the GLC and GLBTQ community at BC. Kelsey Gasseling, president of the GLC and A&S ’11, and Larissa Belcic, vice president of the GLC and A&S ’10, welcomed and thanked everyone for attending the event, and offered a special thanks to the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC), other culture

clubs in attendance, and Mark Miceli, assistant dean of student development.

“Without him the night would not have been possible,” Gasseling said of Miceli.

The pair also mentioned GLC-sponsored events and programming, including National Coming Out Week (NCOW), Queer Peers, and the GLC Mentoring Program.

Erika Hernandez, vice president of the ALC and A&S ’11, spoke next and expressed her support, as well as the support of the ALC, for the event. “The second year shows progress in acceptance and diversification [at BC],” she said.

Colleen Olphert, assistant director of the Center for Corporate Citizenship and a nine-year member of the BC community, spoke about her role as a mentor in the GLC Mentoring Program. “My homosexuality is tolerated at other events, but the point of being involved [in this event] is having my homosexuality embraced,” she said.

Next to speak was John McDargh, associate professor in the theology department and a 30-year member of the

BC community, who identifies himself as GLBTQ. He described the Gala as a “most extraordinary accomplishment.”

He then quoted Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “The arc of history bends slowly but bends towards justice.” He passed along a figure of the Greek letter Lambda, a symbol of resistance, to Gasseling, who will pass the structure to the future presidents of the GLC. The final speaker of the evening was Natalie Isaksson, GLC vice presidentelect and A&S ’11.

She told the audience that the GLC will continue to produce the resource packet and to collaborate with culture clubs and the UGBC. Gasseling then introduced a slide show that highlighted the overcoming of setbacks by the GLC and GLBTQ community at BC. Gasseling spoke of the success of being able to put on the night’s event.

The slide show showed articles from the Boston College Chronicle and The Heights

See Gala, A3

COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Stokes Commons, shown on the left, will be built on the current McElroy parking lot site.

Stokes will leave call for student union unanswered

BY TAYLOUR KUMPF Asst. News Editor

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Committee Member Mary Kate McAdams, A&S’12

KEVIN HOU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Commitee Member Yuriy Pavlish, A&S ’12

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Committee Member Ben Stroud, CSOM ’12

SOFC manages student funds The Student Organization Funding Committee budgets $500,000 to clubs while balancing internal relations and working with University News Feature

BY DAN MORRISON For The Heights

AND MICHAEL CAPRIO News Editor

The Student Organization Funding Committee (SOFC) is a committee of students that allocates approximately $500,000 in funds to student organizations and clubs at Boston College.

The committee, which is composed of 15 undergraduates, receives budget proposals from clubs approved by the Student Programs Office (SPO). The

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SOFC then allocates funds to those organizations for the impending year.

“Our guidelines are based on precedent and change for the current times,” said Ben Stroud, vice chairman of the SOFC and CSOM ’12.

“When we are making funding decisions, we look at what clubs have done in the past, how successful they are in bringing events to campus which add value, and which bring something more to the campus.” The committee funds club events that it believes have the potential to achieve the largest turnout from the student body, Stroud said.

The extent of the SOFC’s funding

capability is determined by the amount of the student activities fee. The SOFC and the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) split equally the total collection of the undergraduate student activities fee. “From [the fee], we have allocations to groups,” Stroud said.

The amount of the fee has kept pace with increases in tuition. During the 2005-2006 academic year the fee was $126, and by 2007-2008 the fee increased to $134.

In response to the administration’s

See SOFC, A3

Student activities fee to increase for next year

Despite the University’s need for a student center, the University has no intention of addressing this issue through Stokes Commons, administrators said. “[Stokes Commons] will not be a student union nor will it be a place for clubs and organizations,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Patrick Rombalski in an e-mail. “The purpose of the building will be primarily to support the academic needs of students through classes, other support space, and academic departments.”

Many of the academic departments currently located in 21 Campanella Way will move to the new building, he said.

Rombalski is a member of a committee of administrators and Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) members that meets to analyze space and capacity issues on campus.

Some student leaders said the need for a student center is greater now than before. “Twenty years ago, there was still a need for a student union. It’s not a new idea,” said Derek Lo, university affairs liaison for the UGBC Senate and A&S ’12. “At that time, BC was just emerging from its shell as a commuter school and becoming more residential. Now we’re a much more established residential community, and there’s an even greater need, yet we still lack a student center.

Academic needs override any other need on campus,” Lo said.

Stokes Commons was originally intended to be used either as a student center or an extension of the offices in 21

Campanella Way. Initially, the plan was to replace McElroy Commons, but now the parking lot next to the building may be replaced and used for office space.

“McElroy was supposed to be demolished a few years ago,” Lo said. “The city of Newton told them no, and BC took them to court and eventually won, but by that time, the money wasn’t there and the plans were outdated.”

Lo, who is also a member of the committee, said that a lack of student cohesion as well as a lack of resources are two of the biggest issues. He also added that the University needs better student programming.

Lo said the layout of the campus is one aspect that affects student cohesion.

“Our University is very different,” Lo said.

“These are physical attributes we can’t really change.”

He said that with the physical challenge, unfortunately, there are also challenges among the student body, mainly concerning diversity and the drinking culture. “We have diversity on campus,” Lo said, “but no diverse relationships.

Students want to go to a place and feel the ‘pulse’ on campus, but we lack a physical space to point to and say, ‘This is BC.’” Lo said that there is a “huge alcohol problem on campus, one that speaks to BC’s geographical layout.”

With the numerous clubs, organizations, and culture groups on campus, students have a tendency to only interact with those people with whom they share a common interest, Lo said. “There are isolated pockets of students and no

See Stokes, A4

WEATHER DRAWS OUT CLASSES

Fee increase is second in 3-year plan to increase funds for student clubs and organizations

BY LUCAS HARTY For The Heights

For the second year in a row, the University will increase the student activities fee by $54 as part of a 3-year program designed to improve the quality of student activities.

The student activities fee, which is included in tuition is the main fund for Boston College’s various student groups and organizations. Vice President of Student Affiars Patrick Rombalski said the increase in the fee was a result of meetings conducted with various student groups during the 2008-2009 school year.

“We sat down with different student groups and focus groups to discuss the needs of the student organizations and on-campus programming, as well as discuss possible improvements for programs already in place,” he said.

The result was a program that increases the student activities fee for three consecutive years, starting with the 2009-2010 school year.

After a small increase last year, the student activities fee for the 2010-2011 year will increase from $190 per student to $244 per student, up $54. The 2011-2012 school year will also see a significant increase to complete the 3year program.

Rombalski also said that BC’s programming funds compared to other

universities are lower and cited this as a reason for the fee increase. “BC’s student programs are relatively underfunded compared to other universities,” he said.

“We want to drive up the quality of on campus activities.”

Many student groups and organizations will see some increased funding as a result of this fee increase, but one of the main benefactors will be late-night programming.

“One thing we wanted to focus on was increasing late-night programming as well as improving the quality of latenight programming, and to try to breathe some life into campus on weekends,” Rombalski said.

Beyond this, the fee will contribute to the expansion of student groups on and off campus. “We really want to support new groups on campus as well, such as the proposed BC Outdoors Club,” he said.

In a continuing effort to ensure high quality and well-supported student groups, the results of changes in latenight programs and other on-campus activities will be closely monitored, Rombalski said. Students will be given the opportunity to voice their opinion about new programs through satisfaction surveys that will measure the student response to various program changes.

The Office of Student Affairs will work to adjust programming policy, taking into account the student feedback on these changes. 

MICHAEL CAPRIO / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Thomas Kaplan Maxfield, a professor in the English department, took his class outside Friday afternoon to take advantage of last weekend’s temperate weather.

TopFive

Monday, March 22, 2010

THE HEIGHTS

things to do on campus this week

Clough Colloquium Series

1

Telling Her Story: BC Women

Today Time: 4:30 p.m.

Location: Gasson 100

David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times and a regular analyst on National Public Radio (NPR), will give a talk sponsored by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics.

2

Tuesday Time: 12 p.m.

Location: McElroy 141

T h e Wo men’s Resource Center at BC will host a discussion about the experiences and history of women at BC as a part of Women’s History Month. Lunch will be served.

The Hook-Up Culture

3

Last Lecture Series

DNA Debacle

Tuesday Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Cushing 001

Rev. Paul McNellis, S.J., professor in the philosophy department, will offer his views on the hook-up culture at BC and how males should be expected to respond.

FEATURED ON CAMPUS

Students support foundation

Wednesday Time: 4 p.m.

Location: Robsham Theater Arts Center The forensic nursing program at BC will look into the limitations of DNA evidence in sexual assaults, highlighting a case involving identical twin brothers featured on NBC’s Dateline.

4

5

Wednesday Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: Devlin 008

Rev. Jim Fleming, S.J., director of mission planning and assessment in the office of University Mission and Ministry, will give his hypothetical last lecture as a part of a series.

IntheNews

FOUR DAY WEATHER FORECAST TODAY

59° Showers 44°

TUESDAY

48° Rain 40°

WEDNESDAY

53° Partly Cloudy

University Proposed student-loan legislation gives $36 billion to Pell Grants On Thursday, Congressional Democrats met with President Obama and his advisors to outline the final agreement on the overhaul of the current student-loan legislation, according to a report by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The proposed legislation would end the bankbased system of distributing federally subsidized student loans, with the Education Department instead giving loan money directly to colleges to distribute to their students.

Under the plan, $36 billion will be directed at increasing the maximum federal Pell Grant, currently at $5,550.

38°

THURSDAY

52° Partly Cloudy 37°

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 Mass. tops in H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccinations for residents

COURTESY OF HOOPS FOR HOPE COMMITTEE

The sixth annual Hoops for Hope charity basketball tournament, featuring 3-on-3 play, was held at the Plex on Saturday.

BY TAYLOUR KUMPF

experiences to me.”

The first Hoops for Hope event at BC took place in 2004.

On Saturday, the sixth an- The tournament was founded nual Hoops for Hope char- by Haven Perkins, a former BC ity basketball tournament, football player. Over the six organized by the Boston Col- years, BC has raised $35,000.

“Ninety-nine percent of the lege Hoops for Hope committee, was held in the Plex. The proceeds go directly to cancer event, which raises money to research, and the rest goes benefit the Jimmy V. Foun- towards running the Foundadation for Cancer Research, tion,” Hughes said.

The Jimmy V. Foundation, raised approximately $7,000 to wh i c h t h e this year, with proceeds from $4,000 raised the event go, on the day of the The event, which was founded and tournament. raises money to named after Jim One of the co-coordinabenefit the Jimmy Valvano, former t o rs f o r t h e V. Foundation for NC State basketball coach and 2010 Hoops for Cancer Research, award-winning Hope was Luke Hughes, A&S raised approximately b r o a d c a s t e r, during his bat’10. In 2006, the $7,000 this year. tle with cancer.

3-on-3 tournaThe Foundation, ment was dediwhich started 17 cated to Hughes’ family in memory of his father years ago, has already raised Edward M. Hughes, who had over $90 million for cancer relost his battle with cancer search and has awarded cancer earlier that year. Hughes was research grants in 38 states.

The Foundations motto, a senior in high school at the time, but his brother was al- coined by Valvano, reflects his attitude towards cancer: “Don’t ready at BC. “My brother was part of the give up. Don’t ever give up.”

Each team had to raise $120 original group that started the organization, and I’ve tried through fundraising. Abbie to take it off the ground from Kieffer, co-coordinator of the there,” Hughes said. “This is event and A&S ’10, said, “We something I was passionate had a good turnout, and there about. I really wanted to get were a number of teams that involved and give back to those went above and beyond with people who have had similar fundraising.”

Asst. News Editor

“About 35 teams participated in the tournament,” Hughes said. “The team that raised the most money for the cause gave $550.”

Both Kieffer and Hughes said they have been committee members for four years. “I first got involved because I liked the idea of something completely student-run and that had leadership available to freshmen,” Kieffer said.

“This is my fourth year playing, and I’ve done it all four years because both research and finding a cure for cancer are important to me,” said Joe Thomason, CSOM ’10, whose team raised around $500 for the cause. “My grandmother died of cancer, and three of my aunts had breast cancer and survived.”

Hoops for Hope is a new organization that strives for growth, Kieffer said. “We’re still growing and there are lots of things to improve on.”

This year, along with having a “Hot Shot” tournament, March Madness programs were projected onto the wall, there were additional prizes, and the volunteer involvement was increased, she said. “Each year we can add a few more things as the event gets bigger.”

“People come out, even if they’re not playing, to volunteer,” said Thomason. “It shows a lot about the kind of kids at BC.” 

Massachusetts was tops in the United States when it came to vaccinating residents against both the swine flu, also known as H1N1, and the seasonal flu during the fall and winter, according to a report by the Boston Globe. Thirty-two flu-related deaths had been confirmed in Massachusetts as of March 18. Roughly 36 percent of residents were vaccinated against the swine flu, compared with 21 percent nationally, and seasonal flu vaccines were distributed to 57 percent of the state’s population, according to the Globe report.

On Campus Study finds that media coverage hurts hedge fund performance Ronnie Sadka, professor of finance in the Carroll School of Management (CSOM), along with Gideon Ozik, of the EDHEC Business School in Nice, France, co-authored a report that suggests media coverage negatively impacts the success of hedge funds. Sadka and Ozik studied the overall performances of 978 hedge funds from 1999 to 2008, according to Businessweek. “We document that hedge funds with media coverage underperform no-coverage funds by 3.5 percent annually over 1999-2008,” they concluded in the study.

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.

House votes 219-212 to approve health care overhaul legislation

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.

The House of Representatives approved its version of the health care legislation by a margin of 219-212 on Sunday evening. The vote, which all but guarantees that President Obama’s sought-after health care legislation will become law, came after hours of open the debate in the House over the bill and a package of changes to the initial health care bill passed by the Senate in December that will now be sent back to the Senate for approval, according to a report by the New York Times. The victory was made possible by an executive order, stating that federal funds will not be used for abortion services if the legislation passes.

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.

National

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Police Blotter 3/15/10 – 3/17/10 Monday, March 15

filling out a Massachusetts RMV accident report form.

7:40 a.m. - A report was filed regarding an individual in need of medical assistance at the Plex. The party was transported to a medical facility by ambulance for further medical treatment.

12:45 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a party feeling ill in Cushing Hall. The party was transported by ambulance to a medical facility.

9:23 a.m. - A report was filed regarding an underage intoxicated party at the Plex.

The party was transported to a medical facility by ambulance.

3:57 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a past assault and battery that occured off campus. A BC detective is investigating along with the Boston Police.

10:28 p.m. - A report was filed regarding an injured party at a 110 St. Thomas More Drive residence. The party was transported to a medical facility in a police cruiser.

Tuesday, March 16 5:24 a.m. - A report was filed regarding damage to McGuinn Hall due to weather issues. Facilites was notified to respond and repair the damage.

12:37 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a motor vehicle accident. An officer assisted both parties in exchanging paperwork and

2:17 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a traffic violation near Main Gate. The suspect was identified.

4:14 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a moped that was damaged in the Commonwealth garage.

6:44 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance in the St. Ignacious lot. Several parties were identified.

9:02 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a fire-alarm activation in Edmonds Hall. The alarm was triggered due to bad cooking.

Voices from the Dustbowl “What is your favorite ice cream flavor?”

“Chocolate chip cookie dough.”

—Brandon Poindexter, CSOM ’12 “Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.”

—Tony Meyer, CSOM ’12

“Neapolitan - you get the best of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.”

—Mike McGowan, CSOM ’13

Wednesday, March 17 3:20 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a motor vehicle that was towed due to having an unauthorized parking permit in the Commuter lot.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

“Moose Tracks.”

—Ashton Lokar, CSON ’13 “Cookies ‘N Cream.”

—Janice Tam, CSOM ’13

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 article titled “Cuban American association protests for human rights in Quad” in the March 18 issues, Marlena Papavaritis’ name was mispelled as “Papavaratis” on second and third references

A3

The Heights

Monday, March 22, 2010

GLC Gala draws 150, seeks to expand in coming years Gala, from A1 that described the abrupt cancellation of the on-campus GLC Dance that was planned for 2005, the Gala that was hosted last year, and the significance of holding the Gala for a second year in a row.

Vice President for Student Affairs Patrick Rombalski said that events such as this one help students. “I think there’s a

component of making students feel comfortable and making them feel welcome as part of our community.”

“The necessity of the event arose from the desire of the members of the GLC,” Miceli said.

When Darrell Peterson, director of the Student Programs Office, was asked if there were any potential conflicts between the occurrence of this event and

the Jesuit-Catholic values of the University, he said, “I think it’s one of the situations where you want to be welcoming. With the diversity of the community, there are different points of view that don’t always align.” “[The Gala is] much more than a dance,” Miceli said. “It’s about community. I think as [the Gala] becomes ingrained in the culture of BC, it will grow.” n

Joseph Pasquinelli / Heights Staff

150 students crowded into the downtown Boston Center for the Arts Saturday night for the second GLC Gala.

SOFC distributes club funds, works with lack of resources SOFC, from A1 plans to further support from late-night programming using activity fee funds next year, Kevin Twomey, SOFC chairman and CSOM ’11, said that his organization does support some late-night venues and will support them based on their added value to the University. “We do fund events put on by student clubs that take place in Robsham, Lyons, and other venues on campus that take place at night,” he said in an e-mail. “I believe that any student run event that adds value to the Boston College community is deserving of student activities fee monies.”

Twomey said that while the committee does not disclose its finances during the spring financing cycle, its budget is set at around $500,000 for next year. Twomey said that the committee funds blindly, allowing only the chairman and treasurer access to the total budget. “We want to focus on the merits of each event, and not be biased by how much money we have available to fund at any given moment,” he said. “This is in an effort to ensure equity and fairness to all clubs.’

Stroud’s responsibility on the committee originated from his involvement with SOFC during his

freshman year. “You join in the fall of either your freshman or sophomore year and you have about a three-month mentee period, where you come in, learn, sit on the committee, but don’t vote,” he said. “You see how allocations work, how the process works.” Everyone on the committee has a two-year term as a voting member. “This brings some turnover and fresh perspectives,” Stroud said. Typically, there are 80 to 100 students who apply for the seven to eight committee spots, Stroud said.

From time to time, club leaders have raised complaints about a lack of transparency in SOFC’s decision making procedures. “Myself and the chair [of the committee] are working on several initiatives,” Stroud said. “Basically, we are going to publish guidelines so that people see how we do things.”

“We are not sure about how transparent to become,” said Mary Kate McAdams, SOFC member and A&S ’12. “We are thinking about having open meetings, so any student could come and watch. We don’t want to seem secret or closed-door.”

The committee publishes a report each spring with the allocations given to each club. During the 2007-2008 academic year, the clubs with the largest allocations, not including the O’Connell

House’s $32,500, were: the Asian Caucus, with $30,746; the Black Student Forum, with $27,675; the Korean Student Association, with $25,010; the College Democrats, with $30,335; and the College Republicans, with $28,561.

SOFC is careful to ensure that members of the committee do not have a vote for funding a club of which they are a member. Both McAdams and Stroud reported their own involvement with clubs and organizations that appeal for funding from the SOFC. McAdams’s membership in the St. Thomas More Society and Stroud’s memberships in the Investment Club and Finance Academy disqualify their votes to fund the respective clubs. “When you are part of a club or are personally tied to it, like if your friends are in it, you have to abstain from the vote,” McAdams said. While the committee demands impartiality, it has no intention of restricting its members’ ties with other clubs. “They encourage involvement with other clubs; you can talk about the club, but you must be objective,” McAdams said.

Yuriy Pavlish, SOFC committee member and A&S ’12, is a member of Sexual Chocolate and participates in research studies for the psychology department. Pavlish said that, despite his involvement in University life, he has found it easy to

separate his SOFC responsibilities from his club memberships.

Still, he said, members of the SOFC need to be able to deal with ethical concerns. “When making a decision, you have to ask yourself, ‘Is this a fair thing to do based on goals of the student body and the University?’” he said. “Sometimes we have to go against the guidelines. We’re there to make the ethical decisions.”

While the club currently employs “town hall meetings” to foster dialogue with club treasurers, Stroud and McAdams recognized areas of improvement for SOFC. “With the town hall meetings, we bring in all the clubs and give them information on what we’re doing, and any changes for the year,” Stroud said.

Apart from continuing town hall meetings, McAdams and Stroud agreed that committee members should attend more club events and assess each event’s performance and attendance as measures of appropriate allocation. In addition, Stroud cited the need to update and resolve technical difficulties with the SOFC Web site. “We need to have a greater dialogue with the students and with the clubs specifically,” McAdams said. “I think we are planning on going to more club events and maybe becoming representatives of clubs on the committee.” n

“We’re trying to normalize the presence of condoms on campus.”

— Scott Jelinek, President, BC Students for Sexual Health and A&S ’10

Sexual health advocacy group steps up efforts on campus

By Michael Caprio News Editor

Alex Trautwig / Heights editor

The Office of International Programs, located in the Hovey House, said students are often late in handling applications.

Students voice complaints over study abroad applications

By Daniel Tonkovich For The Heights

And Michael Caprio News Editor

When Jake Burg, A&S ’12, received his application materials for a study abroad program earlier this month, he was taken aback. The materials required included two copies of his passport, two copies of his birth certificate, and one teacher recommendation. His deadline was less than one week away.

The recent process for study abroad applications has drawn sharp criticism from some students applying to study abroad next year.

The principle complaint from students has been regarding unfeasible deadlines established by the Office of International Programs (OIP).

Applicants have complained that application materials for study abroad applications were distributed last Monday and expected to be completed and returned to the OIP by last Friday, complete with faculty recommendations.

“Much of the problem is that students wait until the last minute to work on their applications, said Laura Saylor, office manager for the OIP. “It is really an issue of student time management.”

The process for applying to study abroad involves multiple steps. It includes a meeting

with a study abroad adviser, to find the scholarship offerreceiving approval for various ing she was looking for through programs, and a student appli- the OIP. “In order to get their cation process which includes scholarship packages, you have the requirement for students to either qualify for BC or federal to obtain recommendations to financial aid,” Chmielewski, who programs from faculty mem- plans on studying in China next bers. year, said. “I wish they had a Saylor said that the applica- better offering of other scholartion materials, with all deadlines ships.” for steps in the process clearly The Hovey House, however, indentified, were distributed said they do everything possible more than three weeks ago. to streamline the application “The office continually strives process for students. to maintain a delicate balance in “International Programs is a the process to allow student-driven of“The idea that fice,” Saylor said. students to receive the application mawe would ever “The idea that we terials three weeks would ever make the prior to meeting with make the process process intentiontheir academic adintentionally ally unfeasible for viser,” Saylor said. is simply unfeasible for students When students not true.” students is wait until deadlines Burg, however, are too close to comsaid that he thinks simply not true.” the office could displete certain steps, such as meeting close the applica— Laura Saylor, tion requirements with a study abroad adviser, it creates a earlier in the proOffice Manager, backlog for the office cess. “They didn’t Office of that results in stumake clear just how International dents being delayed much the process Programs in their movement entailed,” he said. to another step in “It was poorly hanthe application process. “When dled. They didn’t at all prepare students fail to meet with their you for the fact that you needed study abroad adviser in a timely an extensive list of things.” manner, it sets the whole process Burg, who received his apback,” Saylor said. plication on March 12, said that, Not all complaints are re- in retrospect, he could not congarding the application process, ceive how he managed to turn however. Taylor Chmielewski, in all of his materials. “It was a A&S ’12, said she was not able miracle,” he said. n

Scott Jelinek stood outside McElroy Commons Friday afternoon distributing flyers to passersby with a smile and a “Have a safe weekend.” On the back of each flyer was a Trojan condom.

Frequent condom distribution is one of a series of moves to increase sexual health conversation on campus this semester, Jelinek, president of BC Students for Sexual Health (SSH) and A&S ’10,

said. “We’re trying to normalize the presence of condoms on campus.”

Jelinek said the group seeks to hold one or two condom distributions a month on the Newton sidewalk along College Road, just outside the University’s jurisdiction.

Last semester SSH launched its “safe site,” establishing hubs for condom distribution in University dorm rooms.

“For every condom distribution, we focus on a different initiative,” Jelinek said. Last week’s initiative was promoting

the club’s spring events, which are numerous.

One goal of SSH this semester is to work with the administration and other clubs on campus to promote sexual health.

On April 15, the organization will hold a movie showing and follow-up panel titled For the Bible Tells Me So: Intersection of Homosexuality and Christianity, co-sponsored by the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC), Office of the Dean for Student Development (ODSD), and the Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC) Senate. n

KEvin Hou / Heights editor

Members of BC Students for Sexual Health distributed condoms to students along College Road on Friday afternoon.

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Monday, March 22, 2010

THE HEIGHTS

Deportation, immigration discussed by faculty panel

BY DANIEL MORRISON For The Heights

The Boston College Center for Human Rights & International Justice sponsored its third interdisciplinary conference on “Deportation, Migration, and Human Rights Interdisciplinary Theory and Practice” Thursday night in the Yawkey Center.

The conference featured a fourperson panel, including Brinton Lykes, professor in the Lynch School of Education and associate director of the BC Center for Human Rights & International Justice; Daniel Kanstroom, professor at BC Law School and associate director of the BC Center for Human Rights & International Justice; Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum; and Dora Schriro, commissioner of the New York City Department of Corrections.

The conference, which attracted an audience composed for local and regional advocates of immigration policy reform, was organized to create a dialogue on immigration reform as a response to forced migrations that are thought to emerge in the U.S. government’s management of non-citizens residing in the

United States.

Kanstroom addressed the issue of deportation law and its role in immigration policy reform. “The deportation system exists as a kind of terrible Sword of Damocles that hangs over the heads of tens of millions of non-citizens and their families who live and work in this country,” he said.

The deportation system is the underbelly of the American constitutional system, said Kanstroom. “Since 1978, the number of encounters, the number of times an individual non-citizen has been caught by U.S. government agents and ordered to leave the U.S … has exceeded 34 million events,” he said. “Actual removals, including so-called voluntary departures, now run to more than 1 million per year.”

Kanstroom described the gray areas that exist in the legal treatment of non-citizens living in the United States “Deportation is largely exempt from a lot of the most important protections of the U.S. rule of law and other human rights norms,” he said. “Deportees, for example, don’t have the right to a jury trial. They don’t have the right to counsel. They don’t have a right to bail. They don’t have a

clear right not to be transferred to remote detentions centers, and they don’t have a right against ex post facto laws.”

Noorani and Schriro delivered keynote addresses that presented approaches to achieving immigration policy reform and improvement in the treatment of detained non-citizens. “The state of affairs does not allow for a small solution,” Noorani said. The reforms to the immigration system cannot narrow their focus on a single constituency. “Immigration reform is in the interest of America, not just in the interest of the immigrant community,” she said.

With such appeal, Noorani acknowledged the political difficulty of gaining ground in immigration policy reform. “The pure theatre of D.C. politics is everything they say it is,” Noorani said. Surmounting this political division requires broadening support for immigration reform by building a set of allies in the labor community and other communities affected by immigration, she said.

Lykes said she is concerned by the University curriculum’s representation of these issues.

“Although we have a Latin-American studies program at the under-

Comedians practice craft at campus venue

BY DIVYA PRAKASH For The Heights

On Thursday night at the BCwide Rooftop Comedy Competition, eight students were chosen by the audience to proceed to the regional stage of the stand up competition.

Julian Kiani, A&S ’10, who opened for comedian Rob Riggle in the fall, was one of the eight BC comedians selected to participate in the regional Rooftop Comedy Competition next month.

Seven others picked by the audience will move onto the regional competition at BU. They are: Joey Quiros, A&S ’10; John Blakeslee, A&S ’12; Donald Chang, A&S ’12; John Scola, CSOM ’11; Michael Wolf, A&S ’12; Joe McDonald, A&S ’11; and Meg Showalter, LSOE ’13.

Kiani, who has participated in comedy on campus since his first competition freshman year, spent the summer interning at the Tonight Show, and has performed at L.A. comedy clubs such as the Improv Comedy Club and the Comedy Store.

The comedians whose material ranged from the observational to the absurdist, said that they often draw on their own lives, as well as Santa

Claus, lazy sweat pants wearers, and Glenn Beck, for inspiration.

Kiani said he thinks that the way one cracks jokes is influenced by “what you are conditioned to think is funny” and the environment from which you pull jokes. Julian’s family is Iranian and Peruvian, and he uses his parents and his cultural background for creative inspiration. He said that shock value and making obscene jokes is only effective comedy for so long before the environment gets too awkward.

Rooftop Comedy is a way for rising stand-up comedians to gain recognition. Another competition winner and a member of sketch comedy group Hello…

Shovelhead!, Showalter said she had not done stand-up before and sees the competition as a way to start. As the only female entrant to the competition, Showalter has a unique perspective on the way comedy works today.

“It’s easy to fall into the trap of using sexual humor, and stand-up comedians can be pretty demeaning,” she said. However, she said, “there many things that don’t fall into the “anti-feminist trap.”

Showalter said she thinks aspiring female comedians should look to women like Tina Fey, who

are creative enough not to revert to sexual and graphic “blue comedy.”

Showalter said her fellow Shovelhead members’ witty and selfdeprecating style of comedy serves as another exampes. “You can always make fun of yourself and not offend others.” She said she takes her inspiration from everyday situations.

Showalter said that Shovelhead has been a formative experience at BC. Not only does she get the opportunity to make people laugh and to write comedy, but she also got to “meet a group of like the funniest, smartest, most supportive people.”

Showalter said that the group is so close that they refer to each other as family. As a freshman in Shovelhead, Showalter said that the older members are “endearingly protective.”

Showalter said she keeps a “funny list” of things from which to draw inspiration. The list includes slam poetry, sparkly party-tops, the North Face store on Newbury Street, 48-Hours remembrance twines, hipsters, McElroy Commons on a Sunday morning, and animals that look like their owners. 

ANDREW POWELL / HEIGHTS STAFF

Panelists addressed issues of deportation and immigration laws at a discussion last Thursday night in the Yawkey Center. graduate level, we don’t have a program at the graduate level, and we don’t have a lot of offerings,” Lykes said. Lykes and colleagues have observed and responded to student interest in subjects relating to the conference, she said.

“We are offering a number of courses at the undergraduate level with a focus on human rights and

international justice,” Lykes said.

“I think the International Studies program is a great move in this direction.”

The collaboration between the psychology and sociology departments, the BC Law School, and national and state immigrant advocacy organizations represents the interdisciplinary approach

the Center believes is necessary to developing solutions effecting immigration policy reform. “The Center hopes to develop increasingly interdisciplinary responses to human rights violations and to the needs of those marginalized from access to power and resources around the world,” Lykes said. 

“What our school needs is a larger, more encompassing program that is not specified to a specific group.”

— Derek Lo, UGBC Senator, A&S ’12

Lack of student space a topic of concern for UGBC Stokes, from A1

mingling between them. Generations of students are getting used to this mentality that when you join a particular club, that becomes your social circle,” he said.

The culture shows, dances, and concerts that are included in annual programming are great, Lo said, but they usually attract people that already have a connection to that group. “What our school needs is a larger, more encompassing program that is not specified to a specific group,” he said.

“Finding a good, quality meeting space is difficult,” Lo said. Classrooms and other spaces that are currently available can be prohibitive.

One example Lo brought up was the difficulty groups have finding practice space. “Dance groups have to compete for space just to practice for a few hours,” he said. Some groups have had to resort to using the lobby of Robsham Theater.

The closing of Gasson Hall next year poses additional space issues. Although work was done on Gasson last year, this will be the first time all the classrooms will be closed.

Lo said that when this prime space is taken away, “Traditional spaces will have to be used for non-traditional events.”

Although Rombalski said Stokes will not be used as a student center, Lo said he hopes the UGBC will launch a survey asking how students would like the space divvied up. 

Women’s History Month celebrated with events

BY MOLLY LAPOINT Heights Staff

This year for the first time, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) is sponsoring events for Women’s History Month. The nine events are organized by various student clubs and organizations, as well as the Women’s Studies Department and the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), and are aimed specifically at raising student awareness of the issues faced by women of color.

“The purpose of this month is to commemorate the experiences and achievements of women of all backgrounds,” said Sayoko Kumamaru, co-director of women’s issues for the UGBC and CSOM ’12.

Kumamaru originally was planning only a single event. “It’s my first year being co-director [of women’s issues], and one of my goals was that I wanted to do an event about women of color and gender roles,” she said.

Kumamaru reached out to the Asian Caucus during first semester and began working with Jessica Chau, political and educational programming director for Asian Caucus and A&S ’11. “[Kumamaru] called me to see if I wanted to collaborate on an Asian-American women event,” Chau said.

However, the two soon realized that March was Women’s History Month, and decided to reach out to other culture clubs and departments to see if they wanted to plan multiple events that would span the whole month. “We’re more like facilitators,” Chau said. “We’re in charge of marketing, but other clubs are contributing equally to creating the events. We’re not coming up with the ideas ourselves. It’s a collaborative effort.”

Some clubs had difficulty par-

ticipating. “It’s our first year celebrating Women’s History Month, so no club has a budget for it, and there’s no planning committee,” Chau said. “We reached out to a bunch of clubs, and it was a slow response, but we got a lot of them in the end.”

Feminism is often not as associated with women of color as it is with white, middle class women, Chau and Kumamaru said. This led them to focus on minority women.

“When we think of feminist movements, we think of white, middleclass women fighting for their rights,” Kumamaru said. “We’ve never seen anything collective for women of color.”

Looking at the experiences of women of color creates a different perspective on feminist movements, Chau said. “You learn in feminist talks about middle-class women and everybody’s looking at their fights and struggles, but women of color are integral in the movement and often have very different theories.”

The events so far have gone well, Chau said. “So far every event has had pretty good turnout. They are very informative. Some are quite depressing, but at the same time it’s empowering. A lot of the speakers have given proactive steps – now that you’re informed, what can you do?”

Reaching out to culture clubs helped expand the audience of the events. “We collaborated with culture clubs to reach out to more people,” Kumamaru said. “[Their involvement] shows a lot of clubs do care about the issue.”

The WRC is hosting an event titled “Telling Her Story” March 23 in the WRC, in which the experiences of women at BC will be examined. “We’re really excited that these events have been planned,

and we’re looking forward to next year,” said Helida Silva, WRC staff member and A&S ’10.

The WRC has been helping with advertising the events. The center has been advertising Women’s History Month events during Cookie Monday, in which the center offers free cookies while advertising an event. “If there’s a program that’s coming up, we help with advertising and handing out flyers,” Silva said.

Kumamaru and Chau said they are trying to make the celebration annual, and hope planning will go more smoothly next year. “In terms of management, it’s been a really difficult communicating,” Chau said. “A lot of clubs have different schedules and it’s hard to get meetings face-to-face, or even communicate by e-mail.”

The duo has proposed the creation of a committee to plan the event, which would act as a separate entity from the various clubs and organizations that have participated and would have its own budget. “We don’t have money, and clubs are short money, too, so we couldn’t really get the stuff do everything we needed – getting a banner, throwing a kickoff event,” Chau said. “That was a difficult piece, the financial strain. Hopefully we’ll have a budget for next year so we can have more events.”

In addition to the WRC’s event, there are three more events planned for this week: “Reproductive Justice” on March 24 at 7 p.m. in the Cabaret Room, “How They Did It: Women of Color Share Their Experiences of Academic Success” on March 25 at 6:30 p.m. in Higgins 310, and “Moving to the Backseat: Male Superiority in Cape Verdean Society” on March 30 at 7 p.m. in Higgins 263. 

CLASSIFIEDS

A5

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, March 22, 2010

COMMUNITY HELP WANTED BARTENDERS NEEDED!! No experience necessary. Earn $250 per day.

Contact at 627-849-8074.

BABYSITTER NEEDED. A family residing in Chestnut Hill/BC area is looking for responsible babysitter with a car. We need a babysitter on two afternoons (any 2 days of Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday) to pick up children (6 and 9 years old) from a neighborhood school, drive them home for a snack, and then drive them to after-school activities. 6-7 hours per week. Please send an e-mail to nashideti@yahoo.com.

BABYSITTING JOB. Need fun-loving babysitter. Weekends and/or weekday evenings for our daughter (10) and son (8). We live close

to BC’s Shea Field. If interested, call Laurette at (617)-733-3309.

FEMALE VOLUNTEERS: Who are currently anorexic or have recovered from past symptoms of anorexia nervosa in stable medical health are sought for a study of behavioral ratings and blood hormone levels.

Eligible participants will receive up to $550 for a total of four outpatient visits and two overnight stays at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Canter. More info: Michael Mckenery 617-552-2758 mckenery@bc.edu PARTICIPANTS NEEDED. The Neurodevelopment Center in Cambridge, MA, is seeking individuals aged 12-21 with depressive symptoms for a free drug-free treatment study. Contact http://www.youthmood.com or (401)351-7779 for more information.

REAL ESTATE TOWN ESTATE.10 minute walk from BC. Starts Sept. 1. NO FEE. Modern 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 parking spots, swimming pool, AC, heated, $2,500 by owner, 617-256-3306.

OFF-CAMPUS HOUSING. Looking for a place to live during the 2011 spring semester? AWESOME house at a great location on Foster.

Top floor, 4 bedrooms. We will be living there in the fall, and are looking for subletters for the spring semester! For more information e-mail brownyv@bc.edu.

His sister is thirteen and pregnant? That’s so sad.

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

The Heights

Editorials

Quote of the DAY

Programs organized by students work best

Monday, March 22, 2010

“In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against nature not to go out and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.”

— John Milton

Late-night programming mandated by administators will never see the success of student-created events, such as Middlemarch.

This Friday, students dressed as wizards and witches will gather in O’Connell House to celebrate the Harry Potter-themed Middlemarch Ball. Though the night is always one of the O’Connell House’s most visible and well-attended events, the student managers of the House develop programs throughout the year that they put on every Friday and Saturday night. We would like to encourage the student managers in their efforts, and push the University to place more funds for student programming in student hands. Programming put on by students, for students will always be more successful than late-night activities mandated by University administrators.

Every week, students receive an e-mail from Nights on the Heights, the University’s weekend event program that often uses O’Connell House as a venue for its programs.

Advertising events such as “Super Bingo,” “Cookie Decorating,” and “Game Night,” Nights on the Heights presents itself as an alternative to student parties and alcohol-related events. However, if the University is attempting to cater to students seeking substance-free weekend events, its efforts are in vain, as the majority of Nights on the Heights events are poorly attended. That Nights on the Heights generates such little interest is no surprise, since events are perceived by students to be unexciting. In the past two years, the student managers of the O’Connell House have received increased funding matched with raised expectations for the frequency and quality of their programs. The students have responded positively, demonstrating that when administrators suspend

their belief that students are apathetic, they find quite the opposite condition to be true.

Many programs that fall under the Nights on the Heights label, such as bingo and trivia, occur multiple times each semester, despite perennially poor attendance. Rather than hoping more students will show up at events, programming directors need to make better use of their resources by hosting shows and activities that students will want to attend. Students seeking weekend stimulation will not make the trek to Upper Campus unless there is an event that they and their friends can agree is a viable alternative to other weekend activities.

The Heights feels that student programming under a certain model wastes University funds and promote sthe misguided idea that students on campus are apathetic. Certain pockets, like that demonstrated by the students who put in substantial time and effort to put on worthwhile events at the O’Connell House, should serve as paradigms for the University as a whole. Events such as Middlemarch and the F- Buttons Halloween concert have proven more effective than pumpkin carving and video games in gathering student interest, and students and administrators who are interested in expanding programming should work with what has already proven successful. By cutting back on small weekly programs that have done little to attract student attention and instead redirecting funding and effort toward student-developed programs, the O’Connell House can continue to grow as a center for student life and activity, providing an example for similar efforts.

Second GLC Gala marks progress

Although the GLC still faces many obstacles, the Gala is one of many successful events, with more to come in the future.

The GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) held its second annual Gala on Saturday at the Boston Center for the Arts. Aside from its success this year and last, the holding of the Gala carries great significance for the GLC. The event marks the second time that the GLC has been allowed to hold such an event in its history, after years of fighting for the right to have an event of this sort that would be supported by the University. Though open to all members of the Boston College community, whether GLBTQ or not, the Gala represents an acceptance of the GLBTQ community by the University and serves as a testament to all of the work that the GLC has done and the progress they have made.

Recently, the GLC presented a 10-year plan to the University that underlined the council’s short and long-term goals, including an institutionalization of the student-run Queer Peers and GLBTQ mentorship programs, the spurring of an increase in public support for GLC initiatives, and the establishment of a physical GLTBQ resource center.

Although we would like to see these goals accomplished, whether they come into fruition in their planned form or not will not reflect upon what the GLC has already done. The fact that the council is visibly showing its desire for the future is something that deserves recognition. This year, it has been putting on better, more successful events that have drawn in large crowds, as seen through, for

example, National Coming Out Week.

With tangible goals in mind for next year, the potential for this success to continue is great.

Despite these accomplishments, there are still challenges that the GLC must face. Though the GLC has seen an increase in support for tackling issues that affect the GLBTQ community, visible support from the administration and students is still lacking. The Gala serves as a symbol both of how much progress has been made and how many problems still exist. After all, the GLC was not allowed to have the event on campus, and they couldn’t officially call it a dance. In order to garner more support, the GLC should continue to do what it has done this year and focus on collaborating with other groups who have its best interests at heart and want to see it succeed, namely the Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC) and the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC).

We commend the GLC for its second holding of the Gala and encourage it to continue to be such an active force in the BC community. GLBTQ issues constantly need to be addressed, and the GLC has taken a very positive lead in working to get them recognized and cared about. Judging from where the GLC was and where it is at now, it is clear that tremendous work has been done. We hope that the members of the GLC in the future will work as hard as possible to adhere to the goals of the 10-year plan in order to ensure that all the progress that has been made will not go to waste.

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: Molly Lapointe, Allie Bowman, Krysia Wazny

Samantha Cohen / Heights Illustration

Letters to the Editor The library offers the most reliable sources for students To the Editor,

I was surprised to read that students might be turning to Facebook and their Facebook friends for schoolrelated research (“Facebook: diversion or resource?”

March 18). But I was equally surprised to see Google – and only Google – presented as the alternative for academic research.

Facebook and Google certainly have roles to play (I’m a big fan and frequent user of both.) But relying solely on Google to do research for a paper would be as unwise as simply posting a plea for information in your Facebook status. Yes, a Google search can bring up solid information sources, but it brings up a lot of junk, too.

(Search for Martin Luther King, for instance, and one of the first sites that comes up is “Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination” – a white supremacist

site.) Plus, you’ll be missing out on many of the most useful resources available to you.

Boston College students have access to an incredible range of online information tools (and more in print) that you won’t get by simply typing a term into Google.

If you can’t find them, there are research experts in the BC libraries who can show you the best sources and how to use them. Take advantage of Google (and the advice of your friends), but don’t cut yourself short: Check out the tools and support that BC provides for you, too. And tell your friends (Facebook and otherwise).

Ken Liss Communication Librarian Boston College Libraries

The Online buzz Printing reader comments from www.bcheights.com, The Online Buzz draws on the online community to contribute to the ongoing discussion.

In response to “No more excuses for poor attendance at Kelley Rink” by Hilary Chasse: “Hilary, thank you for a dynamite article that really hits home and captures the spirit of what Boston College hockey is all about, whether it is a men’s or women’s game! Where are all the Eagle fans?

It is extremely disappointing to think that all the students are all off studying, spending quiet time in the Chapel, or doing laundry instead of watching one of the most dynamic and exciting teams in all of college sports. Even the Alumni who are within commuting distance of the Heights should stop checking their portfolios, clipping their coupons, and fighting with the kids over access to the TV, and put a little excitement and quality time in their lives by taking the spouse or the children to see a fast-paced hockey game, in a great venue with a lot of friendly Eagle fans. At $10 per seat with free parking, a ticket to see Jerry and the lads go at it with BU, UNH, UMass, or any other extremely competitive Hockey East team is by far the best sports value in Boston, or the country for that matter. What an investment in yourself!

Even if the team does not come out on top at every contest, the evening in Conte Forum is worth it to spend quality time with family, friends, and some Superfans ... to experience the quest in pursuit of the national championship. Why is it that all of our competing schools can fill their houses for Hockey East games and BC has trouble getting half a house? Isn’t this the perfect environment for that “date assignment” for Professor Cronin?

Yes, I’m prejudiced ... maybe even terminally insane about the sport of hockey at Boston College. My folks with six children had four seasons tickets to McHugh Forum from the day it opened until the day it closed. My wife and I with eight children have had four seasons’ tickets to Kelley Rink from the day it opened until the present ... and the Good Lord willing, for many more years to come.

Whether it was Martin, Daley, Hogan, Leetch, Sheehy, Janey, Mullen, Gionta, Scuderri, Orpick, Gerbe, or one of the many other players who learned life’s lessons on the ice, the action at Kelley Rink has always been the best in college hockey. We have a proud tradition here at Boston College of supporting our team and being there for them. What has happened to that spirit?

There is no question that Jerry York will have the team ready for the journey to Detroit, but they certainly could use some support from current students and alumni of all ages.

Whether they win or not, this is a “team for others” who will give it their all for the BC community ... Why can’t we show them that we are loyal fans and supporters for them on their quest … Ever to Excel ... at Kelley Rink ... on the journey to the national championship.

So please take the time to support Boston College Hockey ... broaden your horizons ... and treat yourself to some action packed enjoyment at Kelley Rink.”

Section LL, Row 19, Seat 20 “Unfortunately, I can only remember it being this way for BC hockey. As a 2008 graduate, there were minimal students present as Gerbe scored an incredible penalty-shot goal two years ago this same weekend, in the Hockey East quarterfinals. (Definitely look it up on YouTube if you haven’t seen it.)

I was appalled at the attendance because tickets were just as cheap. It was even a struggle to get my friends to attend, minus the few who were regulars with me. They won the national championship that year, without even close to as much excitement as was present on campus when Matt Ryan led the comeback in a regular season football game against VT a few months earlier. It is a shame that BC hockey isn’t more appreciated, given the fact that they put a competitive team on the ice every year, one that plays hard each and every night. This cannot be said for many other sports. I hope your article makes the students realize that the hockey team needs their support, and that I will see a strong Superfan section there when I attend the games this weekend!”

Anonymous In response to “Proposed diversity class unnecessary”

by The Heights Editorial Board: “I support the student groups pushing for a new diversity course. I graduated in ’06, and these conversations (unless you are very interested or study these fields) are not “organic” at all among the student population. I currently work for the United Nations and I have lived abroad since I graduated. Most U.S. citizens who live abroad feel awkward when we go “back home” where students / society doesn’t see some broader issues dealing with diversity. We cannot change society quickly, but as we educate our students, and students graduate, work, and raise families, we can change society.”

Anonymous

Readers Note: 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

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.

Business and Operations

Editorial Kaleigh Polimeno, Copy Editor Michael Caprio, News Editor Zach Wielgus, Sports Editor Jacquelyn Herder, Features Editor Kristen House, Arts & Review Editor Daniel Martinez, Marketplace Editor Hilary Chassé, Opinions Editor Ana Lopez, Special Projects Editor Alex Trautwig, Photo Editor Karolina Cyburt, Layout Editor

Michael Saldarriaga, Graphics Editor Christina Quinn, Online Manager Laura Campedelli, Multimedia Coodinator Brooke Schneider, Assoc. Copy Editor DJ Adams, Asst. Copy Editor Patrick Gallagher, Assoc. News Editor Taylour Kumpf, Asst. News Editor Maegan O’Rourke, Assoc. Sports Editor Paul Sulzer, Asst. Sports Editor Kristopher Robinson, Asst. Features Editor

Zachary Jason, Assoc. Arts & Review Editor Allison Therrien, Asst. Arts & Review Editor Patricia Harris, Asst. Marketplace Editor Kevin Hou, Asst. Photo Editor Margaret Tseng, Asst. Layout Editor Rachel Gregorio, Asst. Graphics Carrie McMahon, Editorial Assistant Zachary Halpern, Executive Assistant

Joelle Formato, Business Manager David Givler, Advertising Manager Brynne Lee, Outreach Coordinator Brendan Quinn, Systems Manager Madeline Demoulas, Local Sales Manager Daniel Ottaunick, Collections Manager James Gu, Asst. Ads Manager Dara Fang, Business Assistant

The Heights

Monday, March 22, 2010

A7

Opinions

A word about the word

Thumbs Up Champs – Victory is sweet!

The Eagles fought a tough match against the Maine Black Bears and emerged the Hockey East Champions. The game, which went into nailbiting overtime, ended with a triumphant seventh goal by senior Matt Lombardi. You’ve done TU/ TD proud, boys (tear).

Stand-up – Fifteen BC funnymen took to the podium in Devlin 008 to compete for a spot in the 2010 Rooftop Comedy Festival. After many hilarious and some more colorful routines, eight comedians advanced to the next round after being vetted and then selected by the BC crowd.

Bravo, gents!

Nudity – In a clever (read: obvious) attempt to fill seats and create buzz, the Art Club hosted a drawing marathon on Friday night complete with live models minus clothing. They even threw in free pizza and Chris Farley movies! All TU/TD can say is that the arts on this campus have taken off in an odd, yet fantastic, new direction.

Yellow / Red Men – This weekend’s games at TD Banknorth were thankfully not missing everyone’s favorite Superfans: body sock guys! These unmissable supporters have been a staple at Kelley Rink all season and have added some much needed color to the sometimes drab fan section.

Taqueria – For those who might be craving something a little more authentic than BC Dining can offer, look no farther than … right across the street. El Pelon Taqueria, the former Fenway-area joint, has set up shop right next to the B line stop and with lines out the door on its opening night, it’s sure to find itself fast at home.

Thumbs Down Sunburns – Although TU/TD hates to criticize the glorious weather of late for fear of tempting the weather gods, it’s been hard to miss the sudden influx of crustacean colored students after this weekend (Lobsters, people! Come on!). As the only unfortunate side effect of skirt season, this is a very halfhearted Thumbs Down.

Chatroulette – At first, this online chat site seemed to be just harmless fun (with a healthy dose of perversion). However, now that every media outlet on the planet has decided to feature it on endless news segments, some of the magic is gone. There’s only so many times one can watch Diane Saywer stumble across a flasher.

Glenn Beck – As much as TU/TD tries to stay above the partisan fray, the conservative talk show host crossed a Rubicon this past week when he slighted the Catholic Church’s commitment to social justice. He even went as far as to liken service to both communism and Nazism. On the other hand, there’s probably nothing better for the Catholic Church’s image than Glenn Beck’s stamp of disapproval.

William Mooney Sloneker In his 1987 work, The Boys Next Door, playwright Tom Giffin depicts a communal New England residence of four mentally handicapped gentlemen supported by a young, yet frustrated, social worker named Jack. The play addresses the latent prejudices many people hold against the mentally handicapped, then moves to erase these preconceptions, and strives to humanize a frequently “otherized” population. One character, Lucien P. Smith, a mentally retarded middle-aged man with the “mind of a 5-year-old,” momentarily steps out of character and delivers an eloquent monologue in Act II about his purpose, saying, “I am here to remind the species of the species.”

Recent events suggest that it’s high time for a revival of this play.

Lately, politicians and pundits have blithely demonstrated the very callousness Griffin and others have tried to eliminate. Rahm Emanuel, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh have all recently offended the mentally handicapped with their explicit or implicit speech.

Unfortunately, the problem exists beyond just those in the public eye.

I have personally heard the word “retard(ed)” tossed around improperly too often on campus, and I cannot help but cringe a little every time I hear it misappropriated. The erroneous usage most likely stems from an ignorance of the implications of speech or a failure to cultivate sensitivity to the issue.

“Retard,” and its various conjugations, have applications in numerous subjects, including time, physics, and psychology. The slang usage draws primarily from the psychological definition – “characterized by learning

difficulties” – but, in popular culture, refers to the “foolish” or “pathetic” (according to the Oxford English Dictionary). The offense derives from the representation of doltishness and disablement through a common word.

The slang usage linked the term more closely to the asinine and inane while ignoring scores of inoffensive synonyms. Consequently, a word which originally bore serious, scientific connotations now flirts with silliness.

In social contexts, the misuse of “retard(ed)” slanders an entire demographic group by associating members to other people or behaviors better characterized as oafish, blockheaded, etc. The word shares similarities with ethnic and sexual slurs in its intent to affront others, and ideally, it would share a consciousness that taboos such words.

“Retard(ed),” however, differs in that it is a misuse of a word rather than a term created for offensive purposes, and that it remains without a de facto ban.

Still, other aspects enhance the pejorative potential of the word, namely the defenselessness of some people to whom it refers. Mentally handicapped people, depending on the condition, might be inherently incapable of grasping these semantics and thus incapable of calling out any offenders. In this regard, to misappropriate “retard(ed)” is to disregard not only one’s fellow man, but one’s own decency, too.

With that all in mind, it simply requires awareness and discipline to ensure that one does not abuse the term “retard(ed).” Using the word in its proper context seems pretty simple, until one considers the next element of the semantic dilemma.

Some feel that the negative connotations attached to “retard(ed)” have rendered it slightly offensive.

The initial concern for preserving the integrity of language runs into the politically correct concern for not offending anybody. “People affected by disabilities” has been coined as the properly innocuous new term for the mentally handicapped, empha-

sizing humanity first and handicap second. Does such choppy phrasing actually diminish understanding that might be more effectively acquired by raised awareness for the original language, though?

“People affected by disabilities” might initiate a problematic, slippery slope that strives to emphasize personhood before any other adjective – people with albino features, people with amputations, etc.

Furthermore, the phraseology widens the demographic from the diagnosed to the diagnosed and their friends and family by virtue of the word “affected.” Are we better served by this neutral yet awkward wording, or a movement to cultivate sensitivity and scale back offensive misuse of “retard(ed)?”

At the very least, everyone can rally around “Spread the Word to End the Word,l” a public awareness program sponsored by the Special Olympics and Best Buddies organizations that aims to eliminate the derogatory use of the word “retard(ed)” and essentially “remind the species of the species.”

A BC chapter of the movement has recently been founded by Meghan Cave, LSOE ’12. The budding organization plans on hosting pledge drives, lectures, and other events in its pursuit to celebrate the achievements and potential of special needs people. Anybody wishing to join the cause is encouraged to e-mail the founder at cavem@bc.edu.

Eventually, we can only hope for the best. Hundreds have advocated this very cause for decades, but the recent slew of public misuses questions its potential for success. We should remember Lucien P. Smith, who, in finishing his monologue, declares, “Without me, without my shattered crippled brain, you will never again be frightened by what you might have become. Or indeed, by what your future might make you.”

Willaim Mooney Sloneker is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.

Reconciliation: ‘I’m Just a Bill 2’

Tim O’Connor Man, do I wish that I owned the rights to Schoolhouse Rock right now.

The sequel to the classic Saturday morning jingle “I’m Just a Bill” is a summer blockbuster waiting to happen.

Reagan Eisenhower McLincoln (played

by Glenn Beck) would star as the classic American hero: a down-on-his-luck veteran of the Iraq War who decides that he’s as mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore. One man, no longer able to tolerate the tyranny of President Hussein (Barack Obama), who stole the election with the help of the evil ACORN, will stand against the health care bill that Hussein is using to enact a terrorist plot to kill American freedom. If I could get in contact with 20th Century Fox or Disney, I could be looking at a serious payday here.

Setting my plans to try and pay off my BC tuition aside, if you’ve been watching the debate over health care unfold over the past few months, you’d understand that my unwritten summer blockbuster is actually what is happening in Congress right now. Fox News is saying that Pelosi, Reed, and Obama are trying to use “the nuclear option” – budget reconciliation – to jam socialism down America’s throat, while MSNBC is saying that Boehner, McConnel, and McCain are killing the single bill that could save America from medical and economic ruin. If you happen to be working for CNN, you think “the truth is somewhere in the middle.”

I’m here to dispel the myths. In order

to understand what’s actually going on, one must read through the media pomp and circumstances in order to try and grasp the complex series of legislative processes that are currently unfolding.

As of this article’s deadline, the House of Representatives voted on health care yesterday. On March 20, Speaker Pelosi stated her intentions to vote on a self-executing rule. Simply put, the self-executing rule allows the House to pass the Senate bill, but prevents the bill from going into law until the Senate passes the changes put forth in the house. Assuming everything has gone without a hitch, the House will have passed the self-executing rule as of last night, and the ball will be back in the Senate’s court.

Enter Scott Brown. On the campaign trail during the Massachusetts Special Election, Brown promised to be the 41st to “kill health care.” Putting forth the changes proposed by the House as a new bill would allow for a Republican filibuster. Rather than enacting the reforms that a “majority of Americans believe … will benefit those who lack health insurance and lowerincome families,” according to a March 19 Gallup poll, introducing a new bill would just hit the reset button on the entire legislative process, forcing us to endure another year or so of political kabuki.

The Senate has instead opted to use a process called budget reconciliation, that allows the Senate to pass a bill pertaining to the federal budget with a simple majority. The reconciliation process has been used 21 times since it was created in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. During the George W. Bush administration, Congress used budget reconciliation to approve three large tax cuts, despite Democratic opposition and the Congressional Budget Office’s prediction that the cuts

FROM HERE TO RESERVOIR

BY SAL CIPRIANO

would substantially increase the federal deficit. The latest estimates from the CBO predict that the proposed health reform will reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion by 2019.

Politics has been overly complicated and contrived for quite some time, so it’s not surprising that most Americans don’t understand exactly how Congress does its job. What are new, however, are the repeated attempts of pundits and politicians to defeat worthwhile legislation by demonizing the political process simply because it is controlled by “the other side.” The options the Democrats are enacting in order to pass the health care bill have absolutely no bearing in the bill’s worth, and, instead of hysterically screaming about whatever buzzword the media is obsessing over on a particular day, Americans should be debating the content of the bill. We need legislation that will lower health care costs and give coverage to the citizens who need it most, and this bill will help accomplish both of these goals.

In the spirit of March Madness, I’ll end with a few predictions of my own.

Congress will pass a bill before the end of the month, overcoming lock-step Republican obstructionism. The frenzied right will continue to deplore it as a harbinger of socialism and harp over the doom of America until Congress starts working on another bill to combat.

Finally, a year from now, when the provisions of the bill have started lowering the costs of health care while providing greater accessibility, the Republicans will be shaking hands and kissing babies, telling the voters who are thrilled with their new coverage how the GOP fought for them every step of the way.

Tim O’Connor is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.

Career counciling abounds

Pooja Shah Before you continue reading the rest of this column, do me a favor and close your eyes and ponder where the rest of your future lies. Does darkness blanket your sight, or do you see yourself dressed from head to toe in a nurse’s white and blue scrub or standing in front of a fifth grade class teaching elementary algebra? Scratch that – are you walking down the chaotic streets of New York City’s 5th Avenue, one hand clutching a leather briefcase and the other gripping a tall Starbucks latte, or are you painting your way toward becoming the next Picasso, whose works of art are featured in galleries nationwide? Whatever it may be, many futures remain unwritten and often unexplored due to people’s lack of knowledge surrounding the multitude of career options available in the real world.

“So, what’s your major?” At a party or any other type of social gathering, how many times have you or your friends came across this trite question, the start to multiple conversations? Too often to count, right? For many students, their most daunting nightmares revolve around the idea of choosing the “perfect” major, one that reflects their potential and benefits them monetarily.

A majority of undergraduates in colleges and universities worldwide change their major at least once in their college careers until they have narrowed down their focus to a few areas they can investigate with greater depth. Boston College’s Career Center strives to offer many opportunities in the form of internships, jobs, and interviews to all students to aid them in planning their futures. In addition to the wonderful resources the Career Center provides, Learning to Learn Leadership Council (LTL) is hosting an event called “Career Conversations” that enhances the goals of the Career Center in a casual setting.

So what is the LTL House, and why should I go to this event? Located on 50 College Road, the house’s primary mission is to guide first-generation students or those who are academically challenged or financially needy by providing them with opportunities to successfully assimilate into the BC community. These services range from academic assistance to group counseling and financial aid advisement, enabling students to implement effective strategies for improved performance and develop lifelong learning skills in all aspects of life, regardless of any barriers (i.e. racial, social, or economic).

The LTL Council specializes in planning events that promote and encourage students to excel. One of the most popular events sponsored by the LTL is “Career Conversations,” an annual event that gives all undergraduates the opportunity to mingle with professionals in an intimate, informal environment. Over the past three years, it has proven to be successful in informing and inspiring students to ease their growing anxieties about the career selection process. Come celebrate the fourth annual event Wednesday, April 21, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. I know, I know, many of you are probably thinking, “Ugh, another career fair where I have to dress to impress. And why are they always during dinnertime?” The most important thing to remember about this event is that it is intended to be extremely casual and is purposely set in a laidback environment to create a comfortable zone for students to ask questions and learn more about areas of study that they may not have previously considered.

A sample of possible professionals that will be visiting include BC graduates of the Connell School of Nursing, the Boston Police Department, attorneys from the Sheff Law Office, an agent from the Boston Red Sox, and an accountant from Liberty Mutual Bank. Clearly, our professions have branched outside of typical lines of study. So mark your calendars, remind yourself on Facebook, or write a note to self on your iPhone, and be sure to drop by the McGuinn 3rd Floor Lounge on April 21, when it’s convenient for you between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., to get a head start on the rest of your life.

Pooja Shah is a staff columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.

A8

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, March 22, 2010

Aniston and Butler mesh in ‘Bounty Hunter’

BY KRYSIA WAZNY Heights Staff

If any pair could pull off a combination of action, mystery, and romantic-comedy, it would probably be Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. In The Bounty Hunter, they almost manage the impossible – a satisfying date movie for audiences of any taste. Almost, THE BOUNTY HUNTER but not quite.

Andy Tennant This f lick Sony Pictures abounds with laughs, thrills, and emotions, all of which were uncomfortably squashed together into a plot that could be called mildly intriguing at best, but more than likely falls into the category of absurdly random. The screenplay lacked both substance and flow, but nevertheless kept audiences entertained throughout.

The title, The Bounty Hunter, refers to the profession of Milo (Butler), an ex-cop who now spends his days chasing wanted criminals who have skipped bail. An enticing opportunity arises when a warrant for his journalist ex-wife, Nicole (Aniston), surfaces. Milo eagerly takes on the mis-

sion, anticipating a quick and painless victory. Unfortunately, the situation becomes infinitely more complex, as Nicole refuses to give herself up and simultaneously finds herself embroiled in the suspicious circumstances of a story she has been researching. With $5,000 and an excess of pride on the line, the two struggle to accomplish their goals without getting killed, stepping on each other’s toes all the while.

The problem with this film was not simply that it couldn’t decide what genre it wanted to be, but rather that it attempted to incorporate these several different genres by loosely linking together several stories with entirely different themes. Even more baffling was the manner in which each story developed. One small element of the plot was expounded upon in great depth only to snap quickly into a different tangent. The romance never felt as deep as the one truly touching scene hoped to make it appear. Despite car chases, kidnappings, and henchmen, the audience never felt the suspense that such danger might have evoked if more convincingly manipulated.

On the whole, only comedy prevailed, and it seemed silly to continue an attempt

to bring in more action or suspense.

The eclectic mix of storylines is made even more ridiculous by the triteness of each situation. It seems the writers hoped to make an original story by combining several plots that have already been overdone.

Each time you think you finally understand where the story is going and have labeled it as “one of those films,” you find the label no longer applies because suddenly, there’s guns and strippers and a guy named Boner.

Luckily, the randomness that pervades the entire film never becomes frustrating.

It continues to entertain even as it grows in absurdity. The acting is good, and, while rife with cliches, the dialogue never stoops to such corny lows as were common in Love Happens, another romantic comedy in which Aniston also recently starred.

Whether the result of a joke or the next moment of insanity, the audience will keep laughing throughout and never grow bored.

Despite the grandeur, and sheer sexiness, promised by a film starring Aniston and Butler, the actors playing lesser roles provided some of the best entertainment.

From Nicole’s obsessive fellow reporter, Stewart (Jason Sudeikis), to the sultry

‘Repo Men’ gets lost in gore

BY WILL WATKINS For The Heights

The one commonality among almost all movies is that they involve a main character that has a problem. The audience is drawn to the movie to see if the main character will succeed in overcoming the conflict. In the case of Repo Men, directed

by Michael Sapochnik and starring Jude Law, the movie runs into serious problems when it makes REPO MEN Michael Sapochnik the viewer unsure Inosan Production of who to root for, thus confusing its plot and message.

In Repo Men, Remy (Jude Law) plays a repossession agent for The Union, a company that manufactures artificial organs. The Union never intends to make money from actually selling the organs, but rather uses predatory lending (who is more vulnerable than someone in dire need of a heart?) to make its profits. When people cannot pay for their artificial organs, which is almost always the case, it is Remy’s job to track them down, knock them unconscious, and reclaim the property, which, in many cases, is a vital organ, a heart or liver. Remy and Jake (Forest Whitaker) are the two stars of The Union’s repossession wing, a job in which they earn

much praise and the promise of promotion from their boss, Frank (Liev Shreiber).

In short, the main character makes a living by killing people who cannot pay their medical bills in order to make money for a company. He does this against the wishes of his wife, leading to the end of his marriage (but he quickly moves on to another woman). Given his moral vapidity, it is very hard to root for Remy in this movie, especially when he is in a fight scene against a person fighting (literally) for their heart. When the movie throws a moral dilemma at its main character, a heart transplant that causes him to become indebted to The Union himself, it is only what Remy deserves, leaving the audience feeling ambiguous about his fate. It is even particularly fitting, but perhaps contrived, that Remy needs the heart transplant because of an injury he sustains taking an artificial heart.

This character problem was the central flaw in an otherwise decent movie. It may be justified if a repo man from The Union kills Remy, but it is still more fun to watch a fight scene and root for the guy who is going to come out on top than to sit back and not care. There were numerous action scenes in this movie, all of which were entertaining, but none that were particularly memorable in any way. The movie did go

over the top with gore, something that was perhaps necessitated by the fact that organs have to be cut out for the plot to go forward, but the blood and guts were nevertheless played to excess. At times, it felt more like a surgery documentary than a feature film, and the shock effect the filmmakers were going for wore off quickly.

One success of the film was the spooky, modern city that the filmmakers created. The skies are always grey, and the urban landscape is bleak and in decay.

Law also gives a good performance as Remy, and displays enough humanity through the role to almost compensate for his character’s inherent flaws. There were clear parallels drawn between the business model of The Union and the predatory, subprime lending that led to the housing crisis, and the filmmakers succeeded in inserting this message without beating the audience over the head with it. There was also, of course, a message about the right to health care that basically felt like John Q on steroids. In other words, everybody should get health care, even if that means brutally killing people via stylized action sequences.

Repo Men is a blend of science-fiction and action that has a very interesting premise, but an undercooked script and repetitive gore make the film fall very flat. 

OVERTURE FILMS / AP PHOTO

‘The Bounty Hunter’ manages to provide sure, though generally vapid, entertainment. bail bond secretary, Teresa (Siobhan Fallon), these members of the cast provided most of the longest laughs. The villains are impressive in their abilities to play each stereotype perfectly, be it dirty cop, thug, or tattoo artist. Every character was over the top, and, as a result, a strange carnival-like atmosphere pervaded much of the action.

Title

If the brains behind The Bounty Hunter hoped only to produce a film of multiple genres, they succeeded. They also managed to share hilarious moments, despite fewer jaw-dropping thrills. Male and female movie goers alike will enjoy the simple pleasure of watching Aniston and Butler interact, both as incredibly beautiful people and talented actors. 

Box Office Report Weekend Gross

Weeks in release

1. Alice in Wonderland

62.7

2

2. Green Zone

14.3

1

3. She’s Out of My League 9. 8

1

4. Shutter Island

8.1

4

5. Remember Me

8.1

1

6. Our Family Wedding

7.6

1

7. Avatar

6.5

13

8. Brooklyn’s Finest

4.5

2

9. Cop Out

4.3

3

10. Crazies

3.7

3 *WEEKEND GROSS FIGURES IN MILLIONS

Bestsellers of Hardcover Fiction 1. House Rules, Jodi Picoult 2. The Help, Kathryn Stockett 3. Fantasy in Death, J.D. Robb 4. Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, S.G. Smith 5. Big Girl, Danielle Steel 6. Worst Case, James Patterson 7. Black Magic Sanction, Kim Harrison 8. Split Image, Robert B. Parker 9. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown

ACCORDING TO PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY

PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLMOVIEPHOTO.COM

Jude Law and Forrest Whittaker star in the gritty thriller ‘Repo Men,’ in which they reposess innocent men for their body parts.

Eerie but original, ‘Dragon Tattoo’ captivates

BY BRENNAN CARLEY For The Heights

Gloomy and mysterious, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo successfully breaks free from the typical “conspiracy film” conventions thanks to THE GIRL WITH THE the artistic vision DRAGON TATOO of director Niels Jim Field Smith Alden Oplev. He DreamWorks expertly throws his audience off the trail in this elaborate mystery by tossing stellar characters, shadowy scenery, and action-packed intrigue into the mix.

The film quickly establishes the plot: Mikael Blomkvist is a journalist for Millennium Magazine in Sweden, and has recently been declared guilty in a slander trial against a wealthy businessman. Outside the courthouse, a girl lies in wait, paid to follow and investigate Blomkvist. The girl, Lisbeth Salander, is an unconventional heroine, decked out in all black, complete with nose rings and a spiky collar. She has been hired by Henrik Vanger, an elderly man trying to solve the mystery of his niece Harriet’s disappearance 40 years ago.

The actors take the fresh, captivating material they are given and manage to make it even more exciting. The most successful of the bunch is Noomi Rapace, whose performance as Lisbeth is absolutely sensational. We are given little insight into her background save for a flashback where she is seen setting an unknown man on fire. That immundation aside, Rapace has a fiery disposition, bringing passion and ferocity to the character. When confronted by thugs in a subway station, it’s easy to sense the anger and intensity that she feels as she fights back. When her caretaker sexually assaults her, the look of anguish on her face is heartbreaking, and when she exacts her revenge later in the movie, her eyes glitter with terrifying rage.

Michael Nyqvist, a perfectly adequate actor, plays her counterpart, Blomkvist.

His individual scenes are nothing to write home about, but whenever Oplev puts the two of them together, the screen brightens.

Their chemistry is fantastic, and, unlike other “buddy pictures” out there, there are no cliches or divides between the two.

They play off each other with poise and fervor.

The most intriguing part of the film is

the setting itself. Oplev filmed Finland in its worst possible lighting. The whole film frames the country as a barren, unforgiving wasteland with nothing but dead trees and fog. This technique expertly reflects the theme of the film, emphasizing the loneliness and emptiness that surrounds all of the main characters. All the scenes filmed on the Vanger estate are stunning – the massive lake, the towering trees, and the mansions all add to the mystery swirling around the puzzling family. The only scene that falls flat is a chase scene between one of the Vangers and Lisbeth, which is unintentionally hilarious due to its similarities with the recent Tiger Woods scandal. It features Lisbeth chaotically chasing her target, swinging at his car and shattering the windows with a golf club. It garners a few chuckles, but Oplev masterfully and quickly sets the movie back on the rails as it heads for a gripping conclusion. The film adeptly sets up the possibility of a sequel, one that has already been filmed and is on the fast track to being released in the United States. Start lining up now, because when word spreads about this magnificent film, the sequel is sure to be a huge draw. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLMOVIEPHOTO.COM

‘Dragon Tattoo’ captures dark intrigue in both character and landscape.

Monday, March 22, 2010

THE HEIGHTS

iEdit Sports

A9

The Music Behind the Man

Now playing on Paul Sulzer’s iPod Are You In? – Incubus Superstar – Lupe Fiasco Get Back – Ludacris The New Workout Plan – Kanye West Out Here Grindin’ – DJ Khaled Ignition – R. Kelly While My Guitar Gently Weeps – The Beatles Snow (Hey Oh) – RHCP I’ll Be in the Sky – B.O.B. Call On Me – Eric Prydz

When asked what song defined Boston College men’s basketball team this season, Paul Sulzer responded with a question of his own, “Is it okay to say Nelly’s ‘Tip Drill?’”

For a man who has edited for the sports section of The Heights for the past two years and served as an editorial assistant at The Boston Globe, it’s kosher to trust Sulzer’s judgment. A communication major in the honors program, Sulzer initially strived to become a journalist, but now he’s considering PR. But for the most part, Sulzer lives in the moment, attending a BC sports event virtually every other day, playing FIFA with his roommates, and pretending to play FIFA with his intramural soccer team.

Above all, Sulzer identifies himself most with Bob Marley.

– ZAK JASON

DE takes crowd from the ’80s to ‘Chicago’ ‘Beneath,’ from A10

to the soulful song by Amos Lee, was a vision of soft chiffon dresses and extraordinarily controlled attitude turns.

Beneath was not completely bereft of eccentric pieces, however. One of the show’s best numbers was the quirky “The Night of the Dancing Flame” in Act I, choreographed by Lauren Conroy, CSON ’11. Conroy’s piece had a draped black bed in the back of the stage, and, as a solo dancer fell asleep, a chorus of 12 dancers prowled onto the stage, taking on the guise of the Earth’s first visitors from Saturn. They were a corps of green and black tight wonders, dancing to Roisin Murphy’s entrancing techno-backed ditty. Needless to say, with the unique movement and colorful costumes, the audience was captivated by Conroy’s eerie nightmare between aliens and people.

Act I finished up with a fierce firestorm of tap with Madelaine O’Connell’s, CSOM ’12, “What You Got” (choreographed to the song by Colby O’Donis and Akon).

The four dancers kept a fast-paced sprint of a piece impressively interconnected.

Shannon Mcauliffe’s piece “Sugar,” danced to Def Leopard’s infamous ’80s hit “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” featured a bevy of ladies in a high-energy piece, who at one point thrusted themselves from a pirouette into a straddle split, defying all preconceptions of flexibility.

Act II picked up with one of the

COLLEEN O’CONNOR / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Dance Ensemble showed off their impressive flexibility and skill in their spring show Beneath. highest energy responses of the night in Chicago’s “Cell Block Tango,” which was a jazz-based number with six women telling the stories of the vengeful femme fatales trapped in the women’s prison.

Each tackled the various parts of the story with just enough vengeance and mean, extending developpes to get the point across.

Next came “O’Saya,” choreographed to the song of the same name by A.R. Rabman and M.I.A. by Kristin Sedgwick,

A&S ’10. The women of “O’Saya” wore skirts with bronze chimes that glittered and shook. Again, the women defied the laws of flexibility with their high-velocity pirouette-into-splits technique.

Alanna Romano’s, A&S ’12, “My Discarded Men,” sung by Eartha Kitt, was a female romp around the stage which gleefully did what the title purported it would do: discard their men without a second thought. At one point, the dancers created a human staircase, ascended

by one of the girls, and launched into a handstand in a captivating leap of faith.

One of the most poignant dances in the entire show was a piece choreographed to Coldplay’s “Fix You,” by Becky Mitchell, A&S ’10. The girls, in fresh, white sundresses, had spot-on diagonal formations and extraordinarily precise spins, doing an already fantastic song justice. Later, Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel,” choreographed by Jessica Ollhoff, LSOE ’12, was fraught with pizzazz with fun top hats and an exuberant circle formation, with the dancers twirling and leaping to the classic tune. It’s difficult to forget the Center Stage version of “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and all the excitement that accompanies it.

The senior piece capitalized on Glee fever with their final number, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” (the Glee cast recording, of course), paying tribute to all the girls in DE that are moving on from not only the group, but also BC in just a few months.

Although the show was not as “beneath” the radar of popular music and style as the show’s name might have suggested, Beneath was still a solid show with energizing numbers, showcasing immense flexibility and core strength.

Congratulations to the women of Dance Ensemble for finishing out the second of their two official shows so well. Their dedication and training left them in no danger of being “beneath” the level of greatness. 

SLAM open mic SLAM Fashion, from A10 ’11. Defying the order of the universe, The Green Line even composed a saxdriven rendition of Outkast’s classic “So Fresh, So Clean,” featuring a solo from Travis Brooks, A&S ’11.

After 15 minutes of tabulating and deliberating, Chang announced the three winners: Rich Hoyt, A&S ’12, won third place, Chudzik took second, and Matt McKlusky, A&S ’10, earned the top notch with his explosive and moving poems of longing and loss, including a poem of his response to a Feminisms class dicussion on rape. Chang concluded the night, congratulating the winners, the performers, and the patrons, who all mustered the energy to take time out of barbecuing and basking in the sun to attend the event. As Chang noted, “All of us are here together because we love art.”

On April 30, SLAM Fashionation will convert O’Neill Plaza into a mammoth catwalk, soundstage, and poetry forum. Hoyt, Chudzik, and McKlusky will be the three lucky poets slamming to guide the models. Come check out the poets, the models, and the music next month. 

COURTESY OF LAIST.COM

Hilary Hahn attracted a younger, hipper crowd to the usually older audience at Boston’s Symphony Hall this weekend.

BSO rejuvenates with medley of fresh scores BSO, from A10

time for her to exemplify, she did not miss a note.

Hahn continues to challenge herself as a musician by stretching across genre borders and into collaborations with names such as folk-rock artist Josh Ritter, the alternative band You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, or the soundtrack of M. Night Shamalyan’s The Village. Clearly, there is no room for uncharted territory.

In an interview with the Boston Phoenix, Hahn noted, “Just because I play classical music doesn’t mean I am classical music.

I’m not against crossover.” Not only is she yearning to progress within classical music, but she is willing to be educated on the singer-songwriter or indie-folk perspective and beyond. Searching for musical expeditions, this classically trained artist has little understanding for the statement “it cannot be done.” At the young age of 30, who knows how this approach will garnish the world of music.

Hahn’s most modern facet is her ability to be a model of inspiration to wider audiences.

Usually hosting an older spectrum

of ages, Symphony Hall saw a younger, student following. She is not only relatable through her music, but through the character that is easily read from her presence and flawless execution. She has an air of confidence, unmoving focus, and the exterior facade to show it. Dressed in an elegant gown and every so often making direct and stern eye contact with the audience, Hahn has a casual, cool appearance on stage that says “I don’t mess around.”.This James Dean attitude coupled with classical music makes it hard to avert the attentions of ears, and eyes. It is no mystery that her versatility took her from Late Night with Conan O’Brien to Time Magazine’s “Best Musician” in classical music.

Other pieces featured were under the direction of a full orchestra and the guest conductor De Burgos, the artistic director and chief conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic in Germany. De Burgos took aggressive leadership in leading Albeniz’s “Cordoba,” “Granada,” and “El Corpus en Sevilla,” two of which have been orchestrated by him. Originally from Spain, De Burgo’s adaption of Isaac Albeniz’s piano music is an appropriate feat. The orchestra

answered to De Burgo’s animated gestures, voices obediently coordinating to make the Spanish product vibrant and fluid.

The last featured piece highlighted solo violinist Malcolm Lowe, who, like Hahn, showed notable dedication to his work.

Playing Russian composer Rimsky Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” Symphonic Suite, the piece incorporates musical themes from Russia and the East, basing itself upon the book 1001 Arabian Nights. The inclusion of various instruments and motifs is necessary as it strives to portray the narratives of the Orient. Lowe showed endurance as the piece, almost as lengthy as the story, reflected diverse characters, expressed flawlessly through his instrument.

Symphony Hall’s hosting of this array of musicians and repertoire is not to be overlooked.

Continuing to prove itself as a premiere music hall of the purest acoustics, every musical experience is different from the last.

Recently, the BSO won ‘Best Orchestral Performance’ at the Grammy’s for their rendition of Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe.”

Tickets for college students are only $20. 

to a painting.

In between batches of poets, the sixpiece band, The Green Line, buzzed the crowd with sprightly jazz. All dressed in black and most donning ties, The Green Line featured varied talents, including sultry saxophone duets, bombastic drumming from Ben Shanbrom, A&S ’11 (who ingeniously mounted a microwave in front of his bass drum to prevent it from skidding), and a raucous guitar solo from Dan Ruemenapp, A&S ’11. Defying the order of the universe, The Green Line even composed a sax-driven rendition of Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean.”

After 15 minutes of tabulating and deliberating, Chang announced the three winners. Rich Hoyt, A&S ’12, won third

place, Chudzik took second, and Matt McKlusky, A&S ’10, earned the top notch.

Chang concluded the night, congratulating the winners, the performers, and the patrons, who all mustered the energy to take time out of barbecuing and basking in the sun to attend the event. As Chang noted, “All of us are here together because we love art.”

On April 30, SLAM Fashionation will convert O’Neill Plaza into a mammoth catwalk, soundstage, and poetry forum.

Come check out the poets, the models, and the music next month.

ARTS&REVIEW

A10

MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010

NOTES ON A SCANDAL

The ‘Old Maid’ card ALLISON THERRIEN I remember that when I was little I would distinguish people’s houses by the toys within them. Emma had the mermaid Barbie doll. Angela had all the pretend telephones. Kristina had the Playskool cash register. When I think about my grandparents’ house, many toys of interest come to mind, all old favorites of my mother and her siblings. There were the 20-something stuffed animals that I used to place evenly around me in a circle, the three harmonicas of varying sizes, the music box that played the theme from Babes in Toyland, and finally, “Old Maid.” If you’ve never played Old Maid, let me enlighten you: It is essentially a game of cards in which the objective is to make as many matches as possible, and, most importantly, not to get the Old Maid card, which has no match.

It’s a play on the fact that historically, an old maid, also called a spinster, was a single woman of unmarriageable age, or, in other words, a woman without a “match.”

I love to reminisce – which is why you’ll often find me revisiting Disney and Mary-Kate and Ashley movies or in deep conversation with my roommates about our childhood American Girl doll of choice – so when Old Maid randomly popped into my head recently, I went on Wikipedia to remind myself how to play. When I entered it into the search bar, though, I was brought to the page for the word “spinster.” It wasn’t what I was looking for, but out of interest, I scrolled. I hadn’t been aware of the fact that the words were considered interchangeable. In fact, both terms are rarely used anymore, since within the last 50 years they have been replaced by the more neutral “bachelorette.” Still, when I think about the way in which some of the most famous unmarried women in the entertainment world – Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, Jessica Simpson, even Susan Boyle – are portrayed, I can’t help but wonder if more than a few of us are still holding the Old Maid card.

People like Perez Hilton probably play a significant role in this, since, for whatever reason, he has explicitly equated being mature, single, and female with being desperate and lonely.

He likes to call Aniston “MANiston,” Jessica Simpson “the Simpleton,” and the newly-single Jennifer Love Hewitt “Jennifer Love Desperate.” Interestingly, he doesn’t bring such famously single women as Oprah and Martha Stewart into his nicknaming game, which would seem to suggest that it is only acceptable for women to be single if they are doing something extraordinary to make up for it. In other words, if you aren’t actually married, it must be because you are married to your work, and maybe that’s okay.

In a recent Perez post, in which he publicized quotes from a post-breakup Hewitt, one of the first comments the celeb blogger has is that she is “the saddest woman in the world.”

All Hewitt says is that she is indeed a person who would like to find love, that she wants to “be an independent woman who falls in love, finds a great partner for her lifetime, has kids and kind of does it all.” None of this screams “desperation” in the least, and yet Perez’s comment scoffs: “Who else thinks that she, the Simpleton, and MANiston need to form a knitting circle?” Again, we are back to the image of single women equaling spinsters, and thus equaling old maids.

Call me crazy, but if I were any of the aforementioned females and could say that I had starred on one of television’s most successful shows, had at least one chart-topping musical hit, or been in even just one hit movie, I would say that my life was pretty flipping magnificent. If we’re going to feel sorry for these ladies, let’s do it for better reasons. I don’t see them moping, do you?

Allison Therrien is the Assistant Arts & Review editor of The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com

Ensemble rises from ‘Beneath’

BY KRISTEN HOUSE

Arts & Review Editor Advertisements for the Boston College Dance Ensemble’s spring show Beneath were violet-hued silhouettes of dancers, entwined beneath the ground level of a cityscape. The title Beneath suggested an aura of an eerie subculture, evoking Lady GaGa at this year’s Grammy Awards throwing herself down into a furnace, proclaiming, “I don’t want to be a star!”

The women of DE were not in the business of eerie

or offbeat. Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister,” Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance,” and Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition” streamed into the boisterous crowd’s ears before the show opener. Perhaps this was not going to be the GaGa otherworldliness that I expected.

One of the show’s opening pieces, “Mommy Complex,” choreographed by Brittni Iturralde, A&S ’11, was a saucy jazz number with pink shirts and black booty shorts. Next came “First Train Home,” choreographed by Sarah McCaskey, CSON ’12, to the song

by Imogen Heap. McCaskey, at least on Friday night, had an entire fan zone in attendance, contributing to

the raucous, fun loving crowd experience typical of dance shows all over the University. The dance told the tale of reunited friends with languid developpes and flowery, contemporary movement.

Also in Act I was the “Great DJ” piece, choreographed by Hannah Camilleri, LSOE ’13, and Julie Krieg, A&S ’13. The girls, with bright blue tanks and silver-sequined belts, were right on top of their game, complete with a fantastic fouette sequence. “Arms of a Woman,” choreographed by Anna Gary, A&S ’10,

See Beneath, A9

SANG LEE / HEIGHTS STAFF

The Boston College Dance Ensemble performed its spring showcase Beneath, featuring innovative choreography to modern top 40 singles, this weekend in Robsham Theater.

Poets slam, jazz band swings in Caberet Room

BY ZAK JASON

Assoc. Arts & Review Editor As it turns out, art has not died on this campus. Despite freakishly immaculate weather

and the Hockey East semifinal, students still filled the Vanderslice Cabaret Room on Friday for an evening of slam poetry and live music. For the second year in a row, SLAM Fashion-

SANG LEE / HEIGHTS STAFF

Paul Yang, A&S ’10, was one of many students to perform at open mic night.

ation hosted an open mic night, complete with performances from a dozen student poets, the jazz-driven student band The Green Line, and turn-table stylings from student DJs. This year’s event coordinator, Kathie Chang, A&S ’10 hosted an open mic night, beginning with an explanation of the event’s premise. Just like last year’s SLAM Fashionation, the showcase this year will feature models in student-designed ensembles strutting down the runway to the cadences of student poets. On Friday, a panel of two professors and two students rated each poet on creativity, delivery, and flow to determine the three students who would spit their verses at SLAM Fashionation.

Earlier this year, SLAM Fashionation’s organizers announced the theme of “Elements: earth, water, fire, air.” At the open mic night, a few students spoke of the theme, but most revealed deeply personal poetry on a broad spectrum of styles. Michael Wolf, A&S ’12 first delivered a poem about struggling with his cancerstricken dog, and then recited his he aptly-titled “Springtime Poem,” about the sudden sun emerging last week.

Wolf ended with the elusive line, “If faking can feel like

SHARPS CROON ON KEY

ANNIE BUDNICK / FOR THE HEIGHTS

A cappella troupe BC Sharps sung a sprightly medly this weekend. love, is there true happiness in spring?” Kevin Hall, A&S ’12, orated revelatory poems about struggles with women, reciting the lines, “Tonight I clench in my pockets hopes, dreams, and a Trojan condom.” A winner from last year, Paul Yang, A&S ’10, sported a mysterious white gangster hat and whispered dark verses into the mic.

Andrea Chudzik, A&S ’12 read the ironically-titled “Do You Think I’m Self-Centered?” in which she compared her body to a painting.

In between batches of poets, the six-piece band, The Green Line, buzzed the crowd with sprightly jazz. All dressed in black and most donning ties, The Green Line featured varied talents, including sultry saxophone duets, bombastic drumming from Ben Shanbrom, A&S ’11 (who ingeniously mounted a microwave in front of his bass drum to prevent it from skidding), and a raucous guitar solo from Dan Ruemenapp, A&S

See Slam Fashion, A9

Hilary Hahn enchants Symphony Hall

BY MEGGIE SULLIVAN For The Heights

COURTESY OF MICHAEL J. LUTCH

Hilary Hahn captives with both flawless precision and sheer grace.

I NSIDE ARTS THIS ISSUE

Butler & Aniston flow in Bounty Hunter

In this action-packed comedy-thriller, Butler and Aniston shine amidst a jumbled, chaotic plot, A8

On March 16, the prodigious violinist Hilary Hahn made an impressive visit to Boston Symphony Hall. Bringing an attitude of effervescence and enough accolades to gladly retire, Hahn played with the accompaniment of the orchestra and leadership of conductor Rafael Fruhbeck De Burgos. The piece of choice was the demanding Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto in D Major, composed of three movements: “Andantino,” a slow movement; “Scherzo: Vivacissimo,” a “lively,” playful movement; and “Moderato – Allegro,” a moderately paced movement. The piece, was composed by Ukrainian composer Sergei Prokofiev during one of his richly successful years. The piece calls for attention to detail, as slow and momentous passages emerge alternately. Hahn was equal to the titanic chal-

lenge asked of her, playing with mathematical seamlessness.

Hahn’s popularity is not solely justified by her talent and skill, but also by her sharp attitude toward performance. She stands upon the stage dignified and in constant communication with her accompaniments, the orchestra and conductor alike. As the piece sometimes called for her playing to pause, she never ceased to be uninvolved. Turning to the violinists or conductor, her head nodded in appreciation of their energy. Her active role was not only a reflection of her dedication to the piece but an acknowledgement of everyone else’s efforts.

Hahn is a performer that brings attention to her own playing, yet does not hesitate to share the spotlight with the diligence of her fellow stage compatriots. Needless to say, when it came

Dragon Tattoo exudes dark intrigue

Stieg Larsson’s bestselling novel is artfully realized in this darkly gripping film, A8

See BSO, A9

i Ed i t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A 9 Box Office Report........................A10

SPORTS The Maine Answer THE HEIGHTS

Monday, March 22, 2010

Section

B

MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010

Matt Lombardi was all over the ice in Saturday’s Hockey East championship win over Maine. The assistant captain recorded the first multi-point game of his career, scoring a hat trick, including the game-winning goal in overtime, and adding an assist to push BC over Maine. See B3.

Vermont stood no chance against a dominant John Muse in Friday’s semifinal game. The junior goaltender made 30 saves in the Eagles’ 3-0 win to propel them into the Hockey East finals. Muse also blanked the Catamounts in BC’s 2008 Hockey East championship victory. See B4.

BY ZACH WIELGUS Sports Editor

BOSTON — For much of Saturday night’s Hockey East championship game, it was impossible for Boston College to maintain a lead, let alone enjoy one. Three different times, as the announcer at TD Garden bellowed through the loudspeaker which Eagles were responsible for BC’s most recent goal, fourth-seeded Boston College 7 Maine cut him off with a score of its own.

6 Maine Three of BC’s goals, including the first two of the game, were answered by a Black Bear strike in 36 seconds or less, killing any semblance of momentum and eventually leading to overtime after 12 goals were scored in regulation.

Yet, in a game of constant quick replies, it was the second-seeded Eagles who answered the loudest, with assistant captain Matt Lombardi stuffing the puck past Maine goaltender Dave Wilson 5:25 into the overtime period, to silence the Black Bears’ furious rally and hand BC a thrilling 7-6 win and the Hockey East championship.

“I never thought the game would be a 7-6 type of game coming off [Friday] night, when we played really well defensively,” said head coach Jerry York. “Maine was dynamic. They were explosive on offense. Both teams were extremely resilient. We thought we had Maine down, and they came back, and then they looked like they had us on the ropes, and we came back.”

See Answering the Call, B3

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BC erupted in celebration after Matt Lombardi stuffed the puck past goaltender Dave Wilson to give the Eagles a 7-6 overtime win in the Hockey East championship.

BASEBALL

No. 1 Cavaliers take out brooms for BC

BY DANIEL POPKO Heights Staff

Boston College baseball has only compounded its early season struggles after being swept by Virginia over a weekend series, giving the team five losses in six ACC contests.

11 Virginia While there Boston College 1 is little shame in coming up short against the top-ranked team in the country, the Eagles’ arms were ineffective, and the bats were almost entirely absent for much of the series in which they were outscored 22-5 over a three-game sweep at the hands of the Cavs.

With the exception of a Mickey Wiswall solo home run in the fourth inning of the series finale – a shot that came while BC was already down 8-0 – BC was unable to get the bats going before the seventh inning.

Another solo shot by John Spatola was all the Eagles had to show for their efforts in their first game in Charlottesville.

A ninth inning rally almost evened the series in Saturday’s game, as freshman Matt Watson plated three with his bases-clearing double to bring the Eagles within a single run at 4-3. UVA closer Kevin Arico ended the rally and the game with a strikeout of pinch hitter Matt McGovern.

The scoreboard never favored the visitors in the series, with BC only holding onto the precious 0-0 scoreline for three innings over the three games, and never once did the Cavaliers let BC get off the mound in the third still deadlocked.

On the BC side, the starters got hit early and often by the Cavaliers. Mike Dennhardt contributed the shining pitching performance of the series for the Eagles, throwing 6.1 innings on Saturday and allowing three earned. Nate Bayuk and Dave Laufer kept the Cavaliers at bay for the next inning and two-thirds, with Bayuk allowing the only two baserunners.

The rest of the Eagles staff was less than stellar. With usual weekend ace Pat Dean not pitching in the series, Kevin Moran was given the Friday start. Moran, who came out of the bullpen for last year’s tournament team, faced 17 batters, allowing eight hits and walking two more on his way to six earned runs in 2.1 innings.

Chris Kowalski was much better in long relief, letting just one additional run cross the plate in his 4.2 innings.

Moran was given a shot at redemption in the series finale, getting what was essentially mop-up duty thanks to the Eagles’

See Baseball, B4

I NSIDE SPORTS THIS ISSUE

The line of Cam Atkinson, Brian Gibbons, and Joe Whitney has received plenty of press for its scoring ability, but a new offensive threat emerged against Vermont. Jimmy Hayes, Chris Kreider, and Ben Smith combined to score all three goals in the win. See B4.

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

BC nothing like the Jayhawks ZACH WIELGUS

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Quarterback Chase Rettig opted to enter Boston College early, arriving on campus in January to participate in spring practice, which began Thursday.

Lacrosse edged by Maryland

Boston College nearly knocked off the No. 2 Terrapins Saturday in College Park...............B2

A new line carries BC by Vermont

The line of Ben Smith, Chris Kreider, and Jimmy Hayes had a hand in all three goals in Friday’s win.................B4

Every intangible, invisible, and therefore incredibly important force was working against them last night. The Eagles, favored to take down the Black Bears of Maine and capture their ninth Lamoriello Trophy, could fight against a scrappy Maine team able to score with the flick of a hockey stick and likely match them goal for goal. Bring in other clairvoyant powers, however, and Boston College didn’t seem to stand a chance.

Before the first period of play ended, the best team in March Madness was shocked by the University of Northern Iowa. The Panthers call Cedar Falls, Iowa, home, and have not one recognizable (or pronounceable – Ali Farokhmanesh, I am talking to you)

See External Forces, B4

Numbers to Know.........................B2 Outside the Locker Room................B2

B2

Monday, March 22, 2010

THE HEIGHTS

March Madness is worth the price of admission

BY TIM JABLONSKI Immediately after arriving at my dorm on Saturday night, having just depleted my bank account on four NCAA tournament games over three days, I started bragging to my friends about how amazing each game was.

To my surprise, they were less than impressed.

Sure, they thought it was pretty cool that I saw Omar Samhan almost single-handedly take down Villanova and Ohio knock off Georgetown. But they felt they were able to get almost as much out of the games while just sitting at home. They argued that they could watch every game at once, never missing a single buzzer beater or upset. And when I told them how much I spent on the tickets, they all laughed in my face.

Those tickets weren’t just for the games, though. They were for the emotion and excitement that come along with every March Madness game. It’s one thing to hear announcers talk about the higher level of intensity on display in these elimination games. It’s another thing altogether to see it in person. The difference between two mediocre ACC teams going through the motions on a Tuesday night in January and, say, San Diego State and Tennessee battling on every possession in a do-or-die game is startling. These players are some of the most athletic young men in the country, and watching them unleash their immense physical gifts with passion rarely seen during the college basketball regular season (and virtually never witnessed in any non-playoff NBA game) is amazing.

Just as you get more out of watching these players live, you can learn so much more about how coaches and players think and interact. While I didn’t shell out for courtside seats, my sister and I were able to take advantage of some ’Nova fans who left skid marks while fleeing the Dunkin Donuts center after the first game. Somehow, we ended up in the second row right behind the Ohio bench. For the next two hours, we eavesdropped on every Ohio timeout, listening intently as head coach John Groce virtually gave us a lecture in basketball 101, breaking down Tennessee’s offense in a fashion far more succinct and informed than any color commentator. It was certainly a better way to spend a media

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

ELISE AMENDOLA / AP PHOTO

St. Mary’s, from the West Coast Conference, shocked Villanova in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Providence. This year’s upsets prove the games are worth the ticket prices. timeout than watching the Ivan brothers star in a Capital One commercial.

If that wasn’t enough, just 50 feet away was Bruce Pearl, only one of the most entertaining figures in sports.

Pearl is constantly bantering with everyone from the officials to the ball boys, and media members to Tennessee fans sporting hideous orange sport coats in the stands. His level of energy matches that of the players, and after listening to him work with the officials for two hours, you can’t help but think that Pearl swings at least a couple of borderline calls the Volunteers’ way each game.

This brings up an even larger problem with watching games at home.

We often forget that the players on the screen aren’t actors, but are just as human as the rest of us. It’s easy to forget that not all teammates are compatible with one another until you hear them bickering during timeouts, throwing around blame faster than you can say Farokhmanesh, and complaining about touches to a beleaguered coach. Listening to players interact makes it much easier to understand some of the decisions being made during these games. It’s a lot more clear why a player just threw up a 30-

At the other end of the spectrum, watching Samhan jump into a crowd of delirious St. Mary’s supporters illuminates the joy that comes with every win for these kids. A ticket to these games gives you a chance to take a ride along with the emotions, to surrender your own will and live through the incredible highs and lows of these games that mean everything to these players. I’d say that’s worth the price of admission any day.

foot brick with 25 seconds left in the shot clock after you’ve been listening to him whine about touches in the huddle.

Just as the players come to life in person, so do the emotions of the game and the tournament. We’ve all heard the cliches about how every player really believes their team can win it all, but that idea comes to life after seeing the dejectedness in Ohio players well after the game as they limped onto the bus, crushed by a loss, when many people were saying they should have known it was coming in the first place.

Tim Jablonski is a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at sports@bcheights.com.

Tennis reaches highest ranking in program history

BY ALEX PETROSSIAN

the first time this year.

Junior Erik Kreutzer, who plays fourth singles and first doubles for the Eagles, After nearly two weeks without said the positive atmosphere at the match play, the Boston College men’s match contributed to the easy victory.

“The tennis court Mods were having tennis team returned to its home court Wednesday afternoon to face off nearby fun watching the matches, and we got a pretty good turnout to watch, which Brandeis University. always helps,” The Eagles (7-7, said.

0-4 ACC) have had “This year’s team is the best Kreutzer The Eagles’ a tumultuous season team we’ve had since I’ve v i c to ry wa s a thus far, with a pair of two-game winning been here. We have good balanced effort.

The team’s top streaks upon which the team has been unable leadership with our seniors singles player, to build. and a very deep team, so if Thomas Nolan, easily won his During spring break, the Eagles won back-to- one person has a bad day, match, while the back matches against there’s always another to n e w l y - ra n ke d Akash Muddipi UNC-Wilmington and step it up.”

(No. 119) defeatCoastal Carolina. BC ed his secondmanaged to upset No. singles oppo48 UNC-Wilmington, -Erik Kreutzer, nent. BC swept narrowly taking the Men’s Tennis all six singles match, 4-3. matches.

The Eagles were unBC also gained points at first and able to uphold the momentum in their match against the College of Charleston, third doubles. The first doubles team of though, losing 5-2 in a disappointing set Nolan and Kreutzer, which is currently ranked No. 47 in the NCAA, won its sixth of matches.

The Eagles then used their two-week consecutive match without even drophiatus before Wednesday to their benefit, ping a game. Kreutzer, who has been as they convincingly defeated Brandeis, playing with Nolan since his freshman 7-0. The weather finally permitted the year, said that their experience and wellEagles to utilize their outdoor courts for rounded repertoire set them apart from

SPORTS in SHORT

For The Heights

Outside the Locker Room Rob Ankner Sophomore, Tennis

What is your favorite thing about tennis?

The team aspect. High school tennis is more of an individual sport. I like how close our team is at the college level, and I really like my coaches.

Do you like singles or doubles better?

I like doubles a lot more than singles because I like the team aspect of sports.

What are your expectations for this season?

The Heights caught up with sophomore tennis player Rob Ankner to discuss how he started playing, his expectations for this season, and life after BC. How did you get into tennis?

I started playing tennis when I was 6 years old. Both of my parents were tennis players, so I just kind of grew up with a racket in my hand.

Our team got ranked No. 67 last week, which is the highest BC has ever been ranked.

What do you want to do after college?

There are a lot of other options besides the ATP tour, like playing in Europe. If I don’t continue with tennis, I’ll probably go to graduate school.

their opponents.

“We have a good mixture of power and finesse, which so far has helped us be pretty successful,” Kreutzer said.

“We’ve played together since the end of my freshman year, so experience is definitely a key factor of our success. We had some good success at the All-American tournament last semester, so hopefully we can keep it up and make the NCAA doubles tournament.”

Although Kreutzer said the team has had a number of “ups and downs” throughout the season, the Eagles recently achieved their highest national ranking in the program’s history. The new rankings, released on March 9, place the Eagles at No. 67, four spots higher than their previous best. Kreutzer believes that the team’s success this year is due to a few important factors.

“This year’s team is the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Kreutzer said. “We have good leadership with our seniors and a very deep team, so if one person has a bad day, there’s always another to step it up.”

In the next few weeks, the Eagles will take on several ACC teams that are ranked within the top 30 in the nation, including No. 1 Wake Forest. BC’s depth and senior leadership will undoubtedly be tested during this stretch. BC will next take on Brown in Providence this upcoming Saturday. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIK KREUTZER

BC’s first doubles team of Erik Kreutzer and Thomas Nolan is ranked No. 47 in the NCAA.

Numbers to Know

4

Game to Watch Men’s Hockey

Postseason goals scored by hockey player Matt Lombardi after the forward only recorded two goals in the regular season.

22

Runs allowed by the baseball team in its three losses to Virginia this weekend. The Eagles scored only five runs.

46

Combined goals scored by lacrosse’s Brooke Blue and Lauren Costello in the team’s first seven games.

Alaska

vs.

Boston College

After a thrilling 7-6 overtime victory against Maine in the Hockey East championship game, the No. 4 Eagles clinched a top seed in the NCAA national tournament. They will pack their bags for a short bus ride to Worcester in order to play the Alaska Nanooks in the opening regional round. The Nanooks come from the CCHA, arguably the best conference this season, so they should put the Eagles to the test.

Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, March 22, 2010

B3

Lombardi crowned unlikely hero with hat trick

BY DAVID AMSTUTZ Heights Senior Staff

BOSTON — There are times when the hockey gods look more favorably upon certain people, and on Saturday night, they sure were smiling on Matt Lombardi.

The senior forward, who entered the Hockey East championship game having scored seven goals in 140 career games, lit the lamp three times and scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lead Boston College past Maine for its ninth Hockey East tournament title. It was Lombardi’s first career multi-goal game, and he finished the four-game tournament with as many goals scored (four) as he had in his first three seasons combined.

With the game tied at 6-6 in overtime, the tournament MVP collected the puck from linemate Matt Price in the offensive zone and cut to his right toward Maine goaltender Dave Wilson.

Despite being defended by two Black Bear players, Lombardi found a way to stuff the puck on net, and it trickled past the goal line for the victory. Mayhem ensued as the BC bench erupted onto the ice and mobbed Lombardi in the far corner.

“You never know who’s going to score the game-winning goal,” Lombardi said.

“But when you get it and the guys rush out on the ice and you celebrate with them, that’s the best feeling.”

“The winning goal was gritty, kind of a 1-yard touchdown run,” said BC head coach Jerry York. “Matt just whacked the puck beyond the goal line. But it’s great to see that. We got good performances out of everybody, but this is really something special. I’ve had players like that score one goal before, but to come up with three goals like this is the first time in my coaching career.”

Lombardi’s other two goals were scored in a similar, grind-it-out fashion.

He gave BC a 2-1 lead in the first period when he found a loose puck off the stick of teammate Chris Kreider, who was sandwiched between two Maine defend-

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

With only three goals on the season, Matt Lombardi surprised Maine with a game-winning hat trick, earning him the tournament MVP award. ers, and banged the puck home.

Then, in the second period, he capitalized on an out-of-position Wilson for a 4-2 advantage. As Wilson slid to his left to block a Barry Almeida rebound attempt following a Matt Price shot, the puck took an odd bounce off the goaltender and to the stick of Lombardi on the other side of the crease. He ripped

an off-balance wrister into the open net for the two-goal advantage.

At that point, BC’s lead looked relatively safe, but Maine fought back from three separate two-goal deficits, including the game-tying goal with 27 seconds remaining, to set the stage for Lombardi’s dramatic game-winning hat trick goal.

“It’s a different feeling,” Lombardi said, struggling to hold back a grin. “I guess I haven’t experienced it before.

I was joking around with Price and everybody’s jumping over us, and I go, ‘Pricey, I don’t think this has happened to me before.’”

It certainly hadn’t happened anytime recently. In the postgame press confer-

ence, one reporter asked Lombardi if he remembered the last time he scored a hat trick. After taking a few seconds to think, Lombardi recalled an instance during high school.

“It was in my senior year at the Governor’s Academy,” he said. “I don’t even remember who it was against, but it was a long time ago. It was like a 7-4 game, so it wasn’t as special as this.”

Outside the locker room after the game, it was tough to tell who was happiest for the Eagles’ assistant captain.

York beamed like a proud father as he walked by Lombardi and a group of reporters, while Price, the team captain, and other BC players talked about how special of a night it was not only for the team but also for the assistant captain.

“Linemate, teammate, roommate, the works,” Price said. “Matt is one of my best friends, and tonight couldn’t have happened to a better guy. He has worked so hard, so it was great to see that smile on his face after he scored the hat trick because he absolutely deserved it. But you know he was happier that he could help the team win the game than getting the hat trick.”

“I just think the best part is being able to share it with the guys,” Lombardi said. “I don’t really look at myself as the hero of the game. It was just a timely game to have a hat trick.

“The guys, they show a little more joy for the players who don’t normally wind up in that situation, so I’m just lucky to be in that situation and to share that with them.”

York and the Eagles certainly benefited as well, though the head coach was just as happy for his assistant captain.

“Sometimes the hero jumps out of obscurity to become the MVP or the difference maker,” York said. “I’m certainly excited because Matt has worked so hard for four years. And to get rewarded like that is pretty special.” 

For more photos from BC’s thrilling win over Maine, see bcheights.com/sports

Eagles deliver final response in frantic overtime Answering the Call, from B1

From the beginning of the game, the Black Bears showed they could bounce back from an initial setback. In the first period, goals by Carl Sneep and Matt Lombardi to give BC a slight edge were met with matching scores by Gustav Nyquist, the Hockey East leader in points, and Joey Diamond just 24 and 36 seconds after, respectively.

The Black Bears’ resiliency is also what brought them back from three twogoal deficits, including one with less than six minutes to play. With 5:37 remaining in the game, Barry Almeida pushed BC’s lead to 6-4. Bothered by a defender in his hip pocket, Lombardi batted the puck across the ice to the streaking Almeida.

Although a Maine defender lurked between the BC linemates, he couldn’t carrol the puck, and Almeida flipped it over Wilson’s pad.

No lead, however, was big enough against the prolific Maine offense, which ranked third in Hockey East play with 95 goals scored during the regular season, in Saturday night’s championship game.

Only 36 seconds after Almeida’s

eighth goal of the year, Maine’s Spencer Abbott sniped a wrister through traffic and past a bewildered John Muse, who followed his Friday night shutout with a serviceable, albeit unspectacular 26-save performance.

The Black Bears won a faceoff in BC’s zone following an icing call, and Abbott immediately fired a shot a few feet in front of the blue line to light the lamp and pull Maine within a goal with five minutes to play.

Maine’s final answer appeared to be a backbreaker for BC, which had effectively killed three minutes off the clock with crisp passes and fantastic puck movement to hush the referees’ exhausted whistles. After the Black Bears finally gained possession, they forced a faceoff in the Eagle zone and took a timeout.

With just 27 ticks on the clock, Maine turned in a thunderous response. With a scrum in front of Muse, assistant captain Ben Smith was unable to clear the puck out of the middle of the ice with Tanner House breathing down his neck.

House snatched the puck from Smith and dished it to his left, where Diamond was waiting. Facing Eagle defenseman Brian Dumoulin, Diamond drilled a shot

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR AND MICHAEL SALDARRIAGA & RACHEL GREGORIO / HEIGHTS PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

straight at the net. The puck ramped off Dumoulin’s stick and over the shoulder of a screened Muse, tying the game and sending the Black Bear faithful into pandemonium.

The Eagles, however, regrouped in the locker room before overtime and, with the help of captain Matt Price’s words and Lombardi’s hot stick (a hat trick in Saturday’s win), crafted the most convincing answer of all.

“Not a lot was said,” Lombardi said.

“Right before we went out, Matt Price brought us up and we all knew what had to be done and led the way with what he said in the locker room. We wanted to keep playing our game, and just because it was overtime, we couldn’t change what we were doing.”

“We knew we had been in this situation before,” Price said. “I told them, ‘We don’t have to worry about what just happened. We know we are a good team, we know what we are capable of.’

“We just had to focus on that and play our game and everything would take care of itself. I thought the guys did a good job of that and didn’t get caught up with anything else, and you saw what happened.” 

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

There was heavy traffic in front of both goaltenders through all three periods and overtime.

B4

Monday, March 22, 2010

THE HEIGHTS

New line dictates offense for Eagles

BY JAKE BURG Heights Staff

BOSTON — This late into the college hockey season, a team without depth won’t last long. In the Hockey East semifinal match-up between No. 4 Boston College and No. 14 Vermont Friday, the Eagles proved with a 3-0 victory that they have the depth it takes to stick around in the postseason.

“When you get to the playoffs, you need people to step up each and every game, and I think it’s shown how much depth we have over the past three games in the playoffs,” said BC goaltender John Muse. “It’s been a different line each night that’s been leading the way.”

“All the good teams that win on a consistent basis have depth,” said BC head coach Jerry York.

For much of the season, the offensive output came from the line composed of Joe Whitney, Brian Gibbons, and Cam Atkinson. On March 13, though, with a Hockey East quarterfinal victory over the University of Massachusetts, the script flipped. The line of captain Matt Price, Barry Almeida, and assistant captain Matt Lombardi stepped up and singlehandedly launched the Eagles into the semifinals.

Friday night, the storyline changed yet again, as the line of Chris Kreider, Jimmy Hayes, and assistant captain Ben Smith made its presence known.

“Benny Smith’s line led the way for us,” York said. “They cycled pucks really well and used their size and their strength.”

The line was so dominant, in fact, that they were the only skaters able to score against Vermont goaltender Rob Madore. He entered Friday night’s contest, after shutting out the University of New Hampshire twice in a row, as one of only three goalies in Hockey Easy history to post back-to-back shutouts in the tournament.

Kreider was the first to break the 00 tie for the Eagles, breaking Madore’s

scoreless streak. With just over four minutes left in the first period, Hayes rifled a shot that ricocheted off a Vermont skate right to the tape on Kreider’s stick. Kreider then ripped the puck past Madore’s glove, giving BC the 1-0 lead.

The goal was Kreider’s second of the Hockey East tournament, and his 14th of the season.

“The kid just flies,” Smith said about Kreider. “He creates a lot of offense and a lot of opportunities and a lot of ice for everyone else. It’s been a lot of fun playing with him.”

Thanks to Madore’s play in net, many of the chances that Kreider, Smith, and Hayes created were denied. Then, with seven seconds left in the second period, thanks to a great save by Muse and a great show of hustle from Smith, the game reached a tipping point.

Smith, who is the active all-time leading scorer in the Hockey East tournament, skated down the right side of the ice as defenseman Philip Samuelsson worked the puck up the left. In spite of time winding down, Samuelsson showed patience, waiting for Smith to beat his man and get open. Samuelsson fired a pass across the ice, and Smith capitalized with a score to put the Eagles ahead, 2-0.

“It was a huge goal momentum-wise,” Smith said. “I just tried to beat my guy to the back door, and [Samuelsson] put it right on my tape. I just got a piece of it and it snuck through Madore’s legs.”

Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon recognized the magnitude of Smith’s goal.

“The real turning point was the goal with seven seconds left to go,” Sneddon said.

Even up 2-0, Kreider, Smith, and Hayes did not take their foot off the gas. They continued to outmuscle and outmaneuver Catamount skaters, which enabled them to create chance after chance.

“Ben [Smith’s] line has big, strong kids, and they cycle pucks low really

BC avoids KU-like collapse External Forces, from B1

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Chris Kreider (above), with Ben Smith and Jimmy Hayes, stepped up as a line against UVM. well,” York said.

After a few failed tries early in the third period, Hayes and Kreider teamed up again for their second strike of the night. This time, it was Hayes on the score and Kreider with the assist.

Just over three minutes into the period, Kreider took control of the puck in the neutral zone and used his speed to break away from a cluster of skaters. Freshman forward Pat Mullane and Hayes kept up with Kreider down the ice. Kreider dished it off to Mullane, who plunked a shot off the far post. The shot forced Madore to turn around and knocked him out of position. Hayes, already down the ice, gathered the rebound and took advantage of Madore’s confusion, pushing the puck through the five-hole for the goal.

The goal gave BC a 3-0 lead over the Catamounts, which was more than enough for the Eagles to capture the win and advance to the Hockey East finals against the University of Maine.

Even when UVM made one final push toward the end, Smith, Kreider, and Hayes showed their versatility with some nice defensive stops. Smith, in particular, with 3:30 left to play, helped prevent a possible goal, preserving Muse’s shutout.

He camped out near the crease by Muse, and when Muse was forced out of position by a shot that deflected off his pads, Smith was there to swipe the puck out of the crease, forcing the Catamounts to reset their offense.

“Ben Smith’s line was our impetus up front,” York said. “They were really a dominant line for us in the game.” 

Muse shuts out Vermont in semifinals

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

John Muse shut down Vermont’s offense on Friday night, leading the Eagles to a 3-0 win.

BY DJ ADAMS Heights Editor

BOSTON — In his first two years, John Muse started every game between the pipes for the Boston College men’s hockey team. Toward the end of last year, though, the goaltender felt a pain in his groin that would eventually be identified as a torn labrum in his hip. Major surgery took place in the offseason, with experts claiming he wouldn’t play every game this year, and even when he did take the ice, he wouldn’t be the same.

In the Hockey East tournament semifinal match between BC and Vermont, in which Muse recorded 30 saves to help the Eagles to a 3-0 shutout victory and their 14th Hockey East tournament finals

appearance, the goaltender silenced his critics and had one of the most electric performances of his career.

“I thought John’s play was superb from the start to the finish of the game,” said BC head coach Jerry York.

It was during the middle of the contest where Muse had to be spectacular.

Three power-play opportunities for the Catamounts gave Vermont sustained pressure, as it registered 13 shots on net in the period, with many more chances just skipping wide of the posts. Muse stayed strong by sending several slap shots aside and lunging upon scrambling pucks within the crease.

With a slim 1-0 lead, it would take one simple mistake for the game to break open in Vermont’s favor. That error almost took

place in the form of a turnover near the blue line of BC’s offensive zone by Carl Sneep. Vermont’s Brian Roloff snatched the loose puck and fired a rainbow across the neutral zone ahead to his teammate Colin Vock, who only had to beat Muse to knot the score at one. But Muse saw the senior forward’s move coming and let the strike nestle in the cozy confines of his chest to preserve the BC lead.

“He came in and tried to go forehandbackhand, and luckily I was able to push over and stay with him,” Muse said. “It stayed right in my chest for me.”

Less than a minute later, then, the Eagles streaked down the ice and scored with seven seconds left in the period to make it a 2-0 game.

“I thought that one of the real turning points of the game was John’s breakaway save to keep it 1-0, and also allow us then to score a late goal by Benny Smith that sent us into the locker room with a 2-0 lead,” York said. “That’s an amazing turn of events. If the player is able to beat John, it’s now 1-1, and who knows if we have the capability to score with less than seven seconds to go in the period.”

Despite his superb play, Friday night’s contest was one that Muse didn’t exactly know he would start. Due to Muse’s injury, BC’s freshman goalie Parker Milner has split time with the veteran to help him recover more efficiently. After posting a 4-0-0 record with a 0.93 goals-againstaverage and a .963 save percentage in February, Milner was given the Hockey East Goaltender of the Month award and the nod to begin the postseason between the pipes for the Eagles. For a junior who had taken BC to a national championship two years prior, it was a shocking decision. Milner was no longer just a fill-in, and his success willed Muse to become a

better player.

“Obviously I want to play every game, but it’s great having Parker around,” Muse said. “He pushes me, and I push him. We get along great.”

“The ability for John to sit back and watch some games helped his process to get back to where he is now,” York said.

“The competitive nature of it helped him work a little harder. I think his work ethic is better this year, so there are a lot of plusses that Parker brought to our program that enabled John to not get a big workload early.

“I think the competition stirred him.

He must have thought ‘Hey, when my chance comes, I better play pretty well because I’ve got great competition here.’”

That chance arrived when the rookie struggled against UMass in the quarterfinals. Muse entered the starting role the next game, allowed just two goals to the Minutemen, and followed that performance with his shutout on Friday.

Finally, it seems the job is Muse’s to lose. The only question remaining is whether his hip can hold up along the grueling stretch to Ford Field in Detroit.

“My hip wasn’t bothering me,” Muse said. “I had a few aches and pains here and there because I hadn’t played in so long, but for the most part, I felt good physically. It was just difficult getting my timing back, getting back into the swing of things.”

Now that he is back into the swing of things, it is apparent the skeptics were actually correct. John Muse isn’t the same player of old. He is just better. 

For more photos from BC’s win over Vermont, visit bcheights.com/sports

Virginia sweeps BC in weekend series Baseball, from B1

STEVEN STUTS / MIAMI HURRICANE

BC needs to regroup after being swept by the No. 1 Cavaliers.

stagnant bats. With BC already trailing by eight runs in the seventh, Moran took the final wind out of the Eagles’ sails, allowing two runs in his only inning.

While Moran performed poorly twice in the series, he was not to blame for the large deficit that BC faced on Sunday. Freshman Hunter Gordon, given his first start after allowing just one run in 10.2 innings, was no match for the bats of Virginia and lasted just one-plus inning on his way to six earned runs, despite scattering four hits.

Although Gordon and Moran were less than spectacular in Virginia, BC wasn’t winning any 12-11 slugfests, either.

Spatola, who had a hit in each game, including a 3-for-4 showing in the finale, was the lone offensive bright spot for BC. Wiswall also recorded a hit in each game, but was only 3-12, even though he went deep off Cody Winiarski.

Virginia’s starters, Danny Hultzen (eight innings, three hits, one run), Robert Morey (seven innings, four hits, zero runs), and Winiarski (six innings, three hits, one run) stymied any chance BC had at early momentum, as the only pitcher the Eagles could touch-up at all was Arico in his inning of work.

Even with subpar performances across the board, the Eagles had a chance to take a game away from the best team in the country. Dennhardt’s best performance since the season-opening series against Tulane kept BC within striking distance, but even then, little things were working against the Eagles.

Robbie Anston and Andrew Lawrence, both players who saw significant action last season, committed errors on Saturday, leading to an unearned run being charged to Dennhardt. Even though the Eagles’ attack looked unable to mount a three-run comeback, they managed to rally in the final frame and come up one run short – one run that should never have crossed the plate in the first place. 

player on their team. Yet down went the untouchable Jayhawks, and down went my bracket. As if Bill Self’s most recent attempt to suck every bit of happiness out of my soul, like the dementor that he is, wasn’t telling enough, two-seed Villanova couldn’t hang with St. Mary’s, while three-seed, 29-4 New Mexico stood no chance against the Pac-10 and Washington.

As the greatest head coach of all time, Vince Lombardi, eloquently stated, “What the hell’s goin’ on out there?”

Up was down, left was right, and the most stressful hockey game I have ever seen was unfolding in front of me. As soon as BC smoked a shot past Maine’s Dave Wilson, the Black Bears had no issue following suit and fooling John Muse. It was like a twisted game of HORSE … except both teams quickly realized they would need more than five goals to walk out of the Garden with an automatic berth to the Frozen Four tournament.

Order was somewhat restored when Barry Almeida stumbled upon a loose puck in front of the net and flipped it over Wilson’s pad to give the Eagles a 6-4 lead with just over five minutes to go. Buckle down on defense, play some keep-away, and maybe stop a few shots, and BC leisurely skates off with a twogoal win.

Saturday night wasn’t one of those nights, though.

Spencer Abbott capitalized on a BC defense that must have been still celebrating a two-goal buffer, rifling a wrister past Muse off a faceoff a mere 36 seconds after Almeida’s. Then with the Eagles able to smell the sweet aroma of victory, the Black Bears did what everyone knew they would: score with under 30 seconds to go.

With a man-advantage after Maine pulled the goaltender, the puck somehow coasted toward the center of the ice after a practical draw on the faceoff.

Following a now-you-see-it, now-youdon’t fight for the puck between Ben Smith and Tanner House, Joey Diamond (who wins the award for name most likely to appear in an episode of Miami Vice) tied the game at six.

And with every interesting tidbit and fun fact the press box received about where this game rated on the bizarre scale, BC’s chances seemed to dwindle as regulation mercifully ended. Maine already had unbelievable momentum and a raucous crowd. What more could help them shock the Eagles and sneak their way into the playoffs?

Let’s start with the last time the Hockey East championship game entered overtime. In 2006, BU bid BC adieu with a 2-1 overtime stunner.

Not satisfied? With the game-deciding goal during the overtime period, this year’s championship game would tie for the most goals scored in the Hockey East finals with 13. In 1986, BU dominated BC en route to a 9-4 thrashing.

Throw in that the Black Bears were fighting for their playoff lives, and it became clear, as the intermission before overtime came to an end, that the Eagles had nothing going for them. The favored teams couldn’t win in basketball, and the favored team sure didn’t look like it would win this one.

Maine fired at will to open overtime, and if any of the shots had been even slightly accurate, the seventh goal would have gone to the boys from the Pine Tree State. But, somehow, they almost all went wide. It took an improbable hat trick from the unlikeliest of Eagles to put the Black Bears down for good, and though still mystifying 24 hours later, it cut down every bad vibe coming at BC. The best team in college basketball had nothing going for it at the end of its game to UNI, and Kansas succumbed to defeat. Thankfully, the Eagles are nothing like the Jayhawks.

Zach Wielgus is the sports editor for The Heights. He can be reached at sports@ bcheights.com.

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, March 22, 2010

B5

Terrapins hand Eagles first loss Softball snaps six-game skid

BY JOSEPH BILOTTO For The Heights

The Boston College women’s lacrosse team entered its game a ga i n st 7 Maryland the No. Boston College 6 2 Maryland Terrapins having won all six of its contests thus far in the season. That changed Saturday, though, when the Terps, who also entered the game unbeaten, defeated the Eagles, 7-6, in College Park, Md. Maryland gained a quick edge, vaulting to a 3-0 lead early in the opening half before the Eagles were able to cut the deficit on a goal by Jill Rekart at the 5:53 mark of the first half.

Senior Lauren Costello, who registered three goals and an assist in the game, set up Rekart’s goal. The Terrapins added two more tallies before the half, and despite a goal from junior Kristin Igoe, the Eagles trailed 5-2 at the break.

The two teams split the next four goals of the game, with Costello recording both of BC’s scores. Despite Costello’s strong offensive effort, the Eagles still trailed 7-4 at the 13-minute mark of the second half. They were able to inch even closer when sophomore Brittany Wilton converted a free position shot to cut the score to 7-5 with just over three minutes left in the game.

Costello stepped up again and made the game a one-goal affair when she found the net at the 1:45 mark of the second half.

Although the Eagles kept pressuring Maryland for the remainder of the game, there would be no more scoring, and the Eagles fell, 7-6.

Although her team was defeated in the closely-contested affair, BC head coach Bowen Holden was happy with her team’s effort.

“I’m very proud of the way that they were able to execute the game plan and how hard they fought, especially after they fell behind by three goals just five

BY PAUL SULZER

Asst. Sports Editor

COURTESY OF JOHN QUACKENBOS

Lauren Costello kept BC in the game against Maryland with three goals and an assist, but it wasn’t enough to win. minutes into the game,” Holden said.

Costello’s strong effort on Saturday was not lost on her coach, who called the senior “the quarterback of our team who has led us day in and day out.”

Another strong effort for the Eagles came from junior goalie Sheila Serafino, who stopped

14 shots in a game in which the Terrapins severely outshot the Eagles. BC managed just nine shots during the game. Without Serafino’s stalwart performance in goal, the Terrapins and their high-powered offensive attack could have hit the back of the net many more times.

Just a season ago, BC stood

The greatest invention ever JOSEPH DEMAIO Thursday made one thing abundantly clear: There is no longer any debate over the greatest invention since sliced bread. It may have even outdone fire and the wheel. Yes, the CBS live stream technology is that good.

Sure, the quality may not be up to that of high definition television, and they somehow manage to fit more commercials into the same game than on television, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. The ability to watch whatever game you want, no matter where you are?

Genius. The fact that you don’t have to pay a dime? Priceless.

Take the early slate of games on Thursday. I watched Villanova play terrible basketball at the end of my 12 p.m. class, do its best to lie down through the second half of my 1:30, and finally win the game thanks to a bunch of horrible calls at the start of my 3. All the while, I was keeping track of the end of regulation for BYU against Florida, as well as both overtimes.

Quick tangent while we’re on the subject: Why do we still have class on the first and second days of the tournament? No one wants to be there, classes are already half empty, and the few students filling the seats are on their computers watching the game. How much learning does the University actually expect to happen? How did my history professor expect me to actually be able to concentrate for my midterm at noon? Can we start a movement or something?

How hard is it to get a national holiday declared?

As I write this sentence, CBS is steadfastly refusing to switch the game from Missouri vs.

Clemson, a seven-point game with 12 minutes to go, to Siena against Purdue, a game separated by three points with 50 seconds to go. Even the eventual switch missed out on the 13-0 run that Siena just went on to bring the game close. How do I know this? Live stream.

The ability to actually pick the games you want to watch completely fixes the biggest problem in March Madness – the choices that the television stations make on which games they are going to show are just plain awful.

The game CBS chose for the Northeast on Thursday night?

Kansas against Lehigh, a 16 against a one-seed (things got much more interesting when the Jayhawks couldn’t handle the nine-seed). Who wants to watch on national television what can only be described as a mugging when even a sports idiot could tell that the other games on that night, an eight-nine and a six against an 11, were going to be better games by far?

The problem is that we have let CBS get away with this for too long. We have given the network the opinion that as long as it shows the last minute of a close game, the public will be happy. So the station continues to nationally broadcast unspectacular games and switch back and forth, somehow managing to miss every exciting basket at the same time.

The true joy of tournament basketball, however, is the buildup to the big shot. Sure, a buzzer beater is pretty cool to see, but it’s nothing compared to seeing the back-and-forth of two teams battling it out for 39 minutes, or seeing a lower seed go on an improbable run to bring the game close. This is when the buzzer beater takes on

a life of its own.

The best part of the live stream, however, might be the opportunity it offers for those fans who are displaced from their teams, unable to watch their team even though it’s playing in the so-called “national game.”

For example, in the old days, my buddy Trey, a lifelong Wake Forest fan, would have been stuck watching Kansas dismantle the 16-seed while being forced to watch the scoreboard at the top of the TV screen for scoring updates.

Instead, thanks to the power of the Internet, we were able to crowd around laptops and watch Wake and Texas compete in the ugliest game of basketball ever played. Trey was able to watch his team play the game, with all of the emotions that come with being a diehard fan – the horror of watching as Wake threw away a chance to win in regulation by committing a turnover on an inbounds play, the crushing disappointment of falling behind by six early in overtime, and the sheer and utter joy of watching a buzzer-beating jumper fall through the net to give Wake Forest the victory.

Would he have been excited about the play if he were only able to see three minutes of the game? Probably. Would he have run around his house, screaming like a maniac and jumping up and down on furniture if he wasn’t able to see all 45 minutes of hard-fought basketball that led to the victory? Probably not.

That’s why live streams of March Madness may just be the greatest invention since that of basketball itself.

Joseph DeMaio is a guest columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at sports@bcheights.com.

no chance against Maryland, losing 10-2. Transitioning to a tight loss has the team disappointed, but not depressed. Holden is not worried about her players getting back on track.

“The team is very focused and has great leadership, as well as a tremendous work ethic,” Holden said. 

After scoring just eight runs during their six-game losing streak, Boston College 5 the Boston Col2 Maine lege Eagles exploded for 13 runs in two victories Saturday at the Bryant Softball Complex in Smithfield, R.I. The Eagles (9-10) beat Bryant (2-13), 8-0, in five innings before defeating Maine (10-18), 5-2, in the nightcap. In both games BC scored first, improving its record to 9-3 when it puts the first run on the board.

“We changed our philosophy a little bit,” said BC head coach Jennifer Finley. “We tried to keep it simple. It helped that we had contributions from all throughout the lineup, too.

“We play so well with a lead because we keep attacking. Then, we give ourselves some breathing room in case we make a mistake.”

With a five-run first inning, BC took control of the game against Bryant immediately. The Eagles pounded out five hits in the inning, including RBI singles

by Brittany Wilkins and Taylor Peyton.

“We got a little more offense from hit-and-runs,” Finley said.

“Our goal was to make the other team think on their feet. I think we did a good job of protecting runners. We forced them to make decisions on the fly.”

Dani Weir added an insurance run in the top of the second inning when she drove in Rene Delagrammaticas on a single. Weir also accounted for the final two runs of the game with a home run in the fourth inning. The homer was the 22nd of her career, moving her into sole possession of fifth place on the BC career home run list.

On the mound, Peyton had

her best start of the season. She pitched five shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out three.

In the second game, Blair Destito gave the Eagles an early lead over the Black Bears with a twoout solo home run in the bottom of the second inning.

Maine evened up the game in the fourth inning with a run off four hits against BC starter Allison Gage. Gage gave up just the one run on seven hits in four innings of work. She finished with a no-decision.

The Eagles took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Maria Pandolfo led off the inning with a double to center before Lizzy Ploen singled and stole second base. Delagrammaticas came through with a clutch single to drive them both in with one out.

Pandolfo padded the BC lead with an RBI double in the sixth inning, giving BC a 4-2 lead.

Peyton (4-6) picked up her second win of the day, conceding one run on three hits in 1.2 innings. Nicole D’Argento took over with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and retired four of the five batters she faced for her first career collegiate save.

“Taylor kept the ball on the ground, which was huge,” Finley said. “She let the defense play behind her. We’ve been working all week on defense because we’ve been losing games in the sixth and seventh innings with mistakes.

The three pitchers [Peyton, Gage and D’Argento] worked together really well.”

Finley credits teamwork for BC’s resurgence heading into Wednesday’s home opener against Central Connecticut.

“When we played in the UCF tournament, it seemed like we were a bunch of individuals, not a team,” Finley said. “We’ve done a great job of playing together and not worrying about stats since then.” 

B6

By Sam Prendergast For The Heights

It’s 3 a.m., and I feel the bass moving my body, smell the smoke rising from the floor, and see the DJ leading the crowd into a journey of musical ecstasy. My only wish is that this dream did not have to end in five hours.

Many of my friends said it was bound to happen, and I have no regrets when I say they are correct: London has fostered my love for techno music and raving.

For years, I have had a liking for loud music and strobe lights.

My rave costume for Halloween and collection of blacklights at BC can attest to this. What was once a hobby, however, has now become an obsession. Many people tend to have an aversion to dance clubs, either because of their dress codes, long lines, or high price tags. However, I consider these mere stepping stones towards gaining entry into a cavernous hall dominated by body-thumping beats. Also, the clubs I like the most have a

The Heights

reverse dress code, which gives preference to the t-shirt clad over the well-dressed – take that “smart jeans” and leather shoes.

Outside of class (I swear, Mom), dance clubs are my favorite London destination. To the visually inclined, some clubs’ lightshows could easily rival a 4th of July fireworks display.

Lasers and colored lights precisely tuned to the beat have occasionally blown my mind past the point of dancing. Speaker and subwoofer arrays coating the walls ensure that one will not simply hear the music, but also feel it throughout their entire body. Add in smoke and/or foam, and my brain can no longer comprehend this sensory assault.

My favorite club in London is the Ministry of Sound. Different rooms feature various DJs and distinctive genres of techno, which provide for a choice of music throughout the night. This venue is often open until 8 a.m., for those who wish to ride the Tube back home to the envy of

morning commuters. However, no matter when a group decides to exit this musical barrage, 24-hour buses provide rapid transit throughout the city. The most epic nights in London have always ended with my falling asleep to the hum left in my eardrums from a trembling 4-foot subwoofer and the morning sun shining in through the window.

Although electronic dance music has its deepest roots in Detroit and Chicago, London is now a major player in the electronic game. It is arguably the new world capital of techno, or at least the leading innovator of this art. While many clubs in the United States are still dominated by simple house music (the type most people associate with the word “techno”), London has taken the reins of the electronic music scene and added several genres to the mix. DJs and mix artists around London have formed a following around their own unique and creative tracks, making older techno sound like a joke. The most popular and interesting form of electronic music in London has been dubstep, which is characterized by a slower beat and long basslines fused with one-of-a-kind electronic sounds. Although the vast majority of the noises used in dubstep are unlike anything used in the United States, many performers have begun using loops from popular American songs, successfully infusing some top40 goodness into the mix. Even Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance” contains underlying basslines originating from a smaller techno band, The Bloody Beetroots.

The United States simply does not have the proper breeding ground for DJs that London does. I personally know a friend from high school who is now a DJ in several London clubs because he cannot get the same following in the U.S. In London, people go to venues to see many of their favorite DJs live. In the U.S., ravers merely go to nightclubs to hear generic basslines or the most popular DJs via an iMac. To Americans, a “DJ” is

Monday, March 22, 2010

one who presses the play button. To Brits, however, a DJ is an entertainer, visually mixing the auditory feast right before their eyes. Electronic music is so popular in London that it is often played during primetime on Britain’s main radio station, BBC1. Maybe the radio isn’t dead after all.

Perhaps my love for bass and techno was instilled in me from a young age, when at 16 years old, I installed a trunk-filling subwoofer array in my Jeep Grand Cherokee. It has been many years since then, yet my love for techno music has not waned. London has successfully brought me back to those glory days of nostalgic, heart-thumping sounds. My journey into the bass has fortunately led me to some of the best clubs in London and stomping grounds of some of the world’s most famous DJs. Now, I’m off to Barcelona to experience the allnight discotecas, then Berlin to encounter the melt-my-face-off basslines of German grunge.

courtesy of Sam Prendergast

Monday, March 22, 2010

THE HEIGHTS

B7

B8

Monday, March 22, 2010

The Heights

How-To

Humor

An Irishman’s South African St. Patrick’s Day experience How-To: Sean Fitzgerald Greetings, awe, and howzit from Africa – the land of The Lion King, apartheid, great white sharks, Nelson Mandela, the second highest murder rate per capita, and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All that said, it is easy to see this is a pretty crazy up-and-down place. The continent constantly reminds you of the surrounding surrealism, from the still - standing apartheid riot-lights watching over the township at night to the rhythmic beating of enormous freestanding djembe drums that boom all over town on Friday afternoons.

The bizarre even begins to infect your subconscious.

First, you start ending sentences with the phrase “iz it” to express your dubiousness, wondering what the hell you even meant by that phrase. Next, you lose the ability to keep appointments or walk with a pace to any specific destination, let alone in the most efficient path of a straight line. Finally, come the

dreams. I would like to preface this by saying none of my fellow ex-patriots or I have a history of LSD abuse, are on malaria medication, or have a cultural obligation to ingest peyote. Not only that, but none of us frequently dream at home (yeah, yeah, I know we all dream, just some don’t remember them, but seriously if you don’t remember it, then it doesn’t count … in fact, that is a great motto for visiting countries with great beer and a better exchange rate in general, but I digress). These dreams are intense, vivid, and, most importantly, insane. Take Kanye West’s video for “Love Lockdown” and make it have a baby with Salvador Dali, and have that baby raised by Hunter S. Thompson on adrenochrome. Pretty weird, eh? Yeah, you’re almost there. While disgruntling all around, I didn’t think much of it.

It must be some weird flower pollen in the air, or more likely the water (which along with arsenic, heavy metal, and E. coli, finding mescaline coming from the faucet wouldn’t be such a stretch).

However, taking a class in South African anthropology has me believing

otherwise.

The Xhosa and Zulu peoples of South Eastern Africa have a strong tribal belief in ancestors of the village guiding the living. Those most strongly influenced by this guidance are the sangoma (think the benevolent equivalent of a witch doctor), who are called to become diviners through their dreams and animal signs. My teacher has been trained to be a sangoma and was more than willing to share her experiences, although more reticent to share the secrets of her favorite herbal blends.

Describing in detail secret waterfalls protected by the mermaid goddess of fertility that must be reached, but can only be approached by children of pure heart, she put all of our dreams to shame. She told of animal signs sent to her entire family when she was initiated as a sangoma – 10-meter long pythons slithering up the window of her brother’s Zimbabwean farmhouse while another snake curled on her sister’s pillow – all of which are seen as blessings of good faith from the ancestors. I personally would not like to be visited

by an enormous snake as a pat on the back, but I hope my ancestors know me better than that.

Personally, as an Irishman, I am proud of St. Patrick and what he did. So proud, in fact, that I introduced several good-natured local gentlemen to my own form of voodoo sorcery known as the mystical Irish car bomb. Chemistry is a magical science. Yes, St. Paddy’s traditional feast of barley malt and hops shines through to the far tip of the Dark Continent. Even if it is where all the snakes he chased out chose to relocate.

For all the ups and downs of this place, it is reassuring that the displays of liver-destroying debauchery and shame are a constant factor among the young with no direction living on their own for the first time. It is a great feat of unity to be reveling in humiliation with several hundred other human beings, several thousand miles from normal.

Sean Fitzgerald is a columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at features@bcheights.com

“I am a sophomore, but my boyfriend is a senior and will be graduating in a few months. I’m not sure how this is going to impact our relationship, and I’m wondering if breaking it off might be the healthier option. What should I do?”

—Commencement Worries

Alex Says:

Meghan Responds:

This is an issue that a lot of people face with graduation, and there is no anThe first thing you need to do is talk to your boyfriend in an open and frank swer that will work for everyone. That being said, I think there are some big things manner. It may be difficult, but you need to determine what you both want out to think about that can hopefully help you come to a decision. The first thing of the relationship and whether there is a future for you two beyond May 24. to do is take a serious look at your relationship. Do you see this as a long-term First, you need to consider where you are in your relationship. If you aren’t relationship? How committed are you to making it work? How long have you been very serious about him or can’t picture yourself with him in the long-term, together? then you need to decide what you want out of the relationship in the final few If this is a new relationship, it could be really difficult to make this work. But if months. You both can decide to enjoy the time you have left while acknowledgyou’ve been together for a while, you’ve most likely overcome some hurdles already ing that your relationship has an expiration date. If you are in a more serious in your relationship and can try to work this out. You also have to be practical. relationship, where he will be living next year may be of some relevance. If you Where is your boyfriend going to be living? What kind of post-graduation plans both know you don’t want a long-distance does he have? It is crucial to have these relationship, you can break up amicably and discussions with each other to get a sense of “The first thing to do is take a serious look at your relationship. leave things open in case circumstances should what his plans are, and most importantly, to Do you see this as a long-term relationship? How committed change. If you care for him and are not opposed see if he has factored you into those plans. are you to making it work? ” to long-distance relationships, however, I see If you’ve had a discussion about it, and – Alex, on what to ask yourself no reason why you shouldn’t try it. agree that you’re both in a committed relaYou should note that even if he will be living tionship, I say absolutely give it a shot. in Boston, your relationship may change. This I think it will be a lot easier for both of is not a reason to preemptively break up with him, but do understand that his you if the geography works out, but even if it’s not ideal, you owe it to each other post-BC life will be quite different from your life at BC. That said, you have to to give it a chance. However, if at any point you feel that it isn’t working out, you do what feels right for both of you. If you want to be with him in the present moneed to convey that to him because the absolute worst thing you can do is let it ment, I see no reason why you shouldn’t continue as you are until your feelings drag on when you’re not into the relationship. It isn’t fair to him, and it could limit change. Graduation isn’t a death sentence for a relationship. There are a lot of your own possibilities. I’m not saying that you need to break it off the first second things that you both need to consider. Is he going to be living in Boston in the you feel unsure about it, but if this does become a problem, you both need to make coming years? If not, you have to evaluate how you both feel about long-distance a serious effort to make time for one another. relationships. Uou can approach this in a couple of ways. I wish I could tell you All this being said, don’t rush the last months of his senior year. Enjoy the time what to do, but you have to do what feels right for the both of you at this time. together, regardless of what you choose.

Alex Trautwig is an editor for The Heights. He welcomes comments at features@ bcheights.com.

Meghan Michael is a senior staff columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at features@bcheights.com.

“He Said/She Said” welcomes questions for future columns as well as comments about this week’s responses.

All printed questions remain anonymous. Send any comments to the editor at features@bcheights.com.

College Connections

Single-sex to co-ed, and how it all evens out in the end

Michelle Kaczmarek Curly yet overgrown hair, cleanshaven face, and a wide grin. He hides it so well. High-cut boots and pearl earrings, how does she make everything match? The fact that she wore a uniform blazer and pleated skirt down to her knees (regulation length) for four years is a surprise.

The difference is never anything tangible. No, it is something that resides deep within the soul. Four years post single-sex education, I can still feel the burn. Cross town mixers with the all-boy high school leave a mark.

Like any high school graduate, we all changed upon entering college. Whether or not we were at a true disadvantage freshman year from our co-ed classmates depends on the person. However, there are several reactions, or single-sex diseases that float around postexposure, or, rather, post-lack of exposure. Healing time may vary from patient to patient.

1. A Bout of Buck Wild Buck, here, once suffered from cabin fever in high school. During this time it often manifested itself in crushes on any boy in sight. Now in college, Buckaroo has gone wild.

The opposite sex lives down the it. After the first week of college, hall, they are in class, at dinhe /s he called her best friend ner, and it is possible to talk to from home to brag about the them regularly. However, he / amount of female/male friends she still obsessively talks about they had. He / she may have boys / girls as if they are distant friends of the opposite sex, but and mystical prizes, and every nothing more. interaction is analyzed. It is all a 4. Near-sighted game, but Bucky has now devoted Fails to see a good thing when every ounce of time to it and has there is one. Cute and lovable, eva trophy case to prove it. eryone else wonders why he / she 2. Chronic Speechjust hasn’t met that “The difference is lessness perfect someone. He / Logical sentence she actually has, he / never anything formations paired with she has met multiple tangible. No, it is proper body signals perfect someone’s, something that escape speechlessresides deep within they just don’t know ness when he / she is it, and he / she still the soul ... Like in the presence of the wouldn’t know it if you any high school opposite sex. Maybe hit them over the head graduate, we all you shouldn’t have with one. changed upon put your head on her 5. Slightly unbalentering college. shoulder during calcuanced Whether or not lus, and maybe if you This example will we were at a true had known that, you be demonstrated from disadvantage wouldn’t have asked the female point of freshman year from her out by e-mail. She view. She gets along our co-ed classmates said no, and that was with boys great. Durdepends on the the first rejection. For ing the daylight she person. some reason, profuse has loyal male friends, sweating or blushing just friends. During always accompanies a the night, she answers discourse with the opposite sex, phone calls at 2 a.m. and sneaks and that is without looking him over to the room of Boy D. Just or her in the eye. like A, B, and C, D isn’t going to 3. Friendinitis take her out to lunch any time In high school, Friendless soon. She is now a senior who could count the true number of still hasn’t gone on a proper date opposite sex friends he / she or celebrated a one-month anhad on one finger if he / she was niversary. lucky. Every night out was a boy’s Is it possible to ever over/ girl’s night out, but he/she loved come these symptoms once they

manifest themselves within your college experience? Yes, I’m sure that it is, as humans are capable of change. In high school, my group of friends fell into the category of a girl’s night out every Friday night. One time, caught in the grocery store with baguettes in hand and berets on head, we were asked, “What occasion?” The quick response was of course, “We go to an all-girls high school.” It was as easy as that, and we never cared. Now, seniors in college, we all initially reacted differently, although I am pretty sure that the first Christmas back for all of us was just a long list of comparisons of interactions with the opposite sex. Who had the most friends, who had the most lovers, and if any of this was a surprise.

We just hope to be called “well adjusted” at this point, even if there is a relapse from time to time. Most of us can at least look a boy in the eye even if, okay, some of us have still never had a proper boyfriend. One of us is now pregnant, and one is now a lesbian. One of us, though, has been in a rather healthy relationship for three years with what looks like an engagement on the way. See, totally normal.

Michelle Kaczmarek is a staff columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at features@bcheights.com.

navigate March Madness

Jacquelyn Herder Once March rolls around, college basketball becomes a whole new beast. Social events are planned around which team is playing which, and brackets are made with as great of care as a term paper is written.

There is joy, there are tears, and there is just a whole lot of fun to be had.

However, for the basketball illiterate, what are you supposed to do? Wait a minute, what in the world is March Madness even all about? Never fear, my friends – here are a few tips and facts to get you through the rest of the month.

1) Know what March Madness is: this is a key concept to understand.

March Madness is a single-elimination tournament hosted every year for D-1 schools by the NCAA. The Final Four are, well, the last four teams standing in this tournament that has become one of the most widely watched sporting events of the year.

2) Choosing a bracket: This is the most important part of surviving March Madness. It’s really not as complicated as you might think.

Some may be under the impression that you actually have to know about the different teams that are in the tournament, but any March Madness aficionado will tell you that the beauty of this tournament is that anything can happen, a distinctive quality that allows anyone and everyone to take part in this yearly event. When it comes to choosing your bracket, everyone has a slightly different tactic. Everything from choosing teams based on their team colors (as in Clemson … really?

Orange and purple? Ew. But Richmond, red and blue is so in. I choose you) to favorite players, to favorite mascots. Mascots! Now that’s a fun way to choose a bracket. You could go fierce, such as the Blue Devils (although it could be argued that a Blue Devil bears a strong resemblance to a Smurf) or the Gators, or you can go cute and choose Syracuse’s Orange, or the Huskies (because everybody loves huskies). Believe it or not, some people actually know what they are talking about, and choose their teams based on win / loss records, statistics, and how the teams play together and under pressure. Zach Wielgus, sports editor for The Heights, simply advises potential March Madness viewers to choose your bracket in whatever way you want because, the way this year has been going, “You probably aren’t going to do well, anyways.” Bottom line? Just have fun!

3) Viewing Parties: All right, now that you know what March Madness is and you have your brackets all set to go, it’s time to actually watch the games. This is something best done among your friends with plenty of food (preferably finger foods such as chips, nachos, etc.) and the option of beer (if you are over 21, of course).

Now, you need to be prepared for one of two outcomes. If a team that many people have in their brackets does well, be ready for a rather startling outpouring of joy. Yelling, tears, high-fives, and fist-bumps will all occur, and will be a reoccurring theme throughout the day. Conversely, if a team loses, get ready. Again, there will be yelling and tears, but with the addition of swearing, stomping, and some of the saddest faces you have ever seen. Those who have chosen the losing team will recover, so don’t you worry about them.

March Madness is a longstanding tradition that began in 1939. Although its official name is the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship, it has been informally called March Madness for as long as anyone can remember due to the fact that it is usually held in March (bet you didn’t see that one coming). When the tournament first began, there were only eight teams, but it has grown to include 65 teams, with the opening round used to determine if the 64th or the 65th team will be able to compete in the tournament. College basketball teams and fans alike look forward to this tournament every year, and it is as much an honor to make it to the Sweet Sixteen or Final Four for the fans as it is for the teams. It’s a fun thing to participate in and, now that you are armed with a basic knowledge of what to do and how to do it, you, too, can join in the fun. Good luck!

Jacquelyn Herder is the Features editor for The Heights. She welcomes comments at features@bcheights.com.

B9

The Heights

Monday, March 22, 2010

Professor Profile

Biology professor takes it to the extreme in and out of the lab

By Paul McCabe For The Heights

Joseph Burdo is not your typical lab rat. A self-proclaimed “adrenaline-junkie,” Burdo celebrated his 35th birthday by jumping out of an airplane. To clear his mind of all thoughts of neurodegenerative diseases and flavonoids, Burdo regularly enjoys spending his afternoons burning around corners and scorching down straightaways on his road-racing motorcycle.

While many people might not consider racing on a motorcycle at high speeds very relaxing, Burdo finds his hobby to be incredibly therapeutic. “As you’re blasting down the track at 150 miles per hour, there’s no room in your brain for anything else,” he says. A Division III baseball player in college, Burdo picked up roller hockey while living in California, and, upon moving to Massachusetts, has made the transition from defenseman to goalie for his local men’s ice hockey team, crediting his success between the pipes to his baseball playing days. To put it simply, Burdo may be the least nerdy neuroscientist in history.

Married in 2002, Burdo and his wife decided to move back east with their daughter, Olivia, to be closer to his parent-in-laws in western Massachusetts.

Burdo attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan, for

one year before transferring to Western Michigan University, where he received his B.S. in biology. After his undergrad years, Burdo received his Ph. D. in neuroscience from the Penn State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

For his postdoctoral research, Burdo then moved on to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, where he focused on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and how one’s diet can help protect brain cells from damage.

Burdo explains that his decision to pursue a career in biology was really kindled while at college, saying that at Western he “really caught the biology bug.”

Burdo’s interest in biology was also triggered by the death of a close friend at Western who died tragically of Ewing’s Sarcoma, the same cancer that Boston College football player Mark Herzlich was diagnosed with last year. Concerning his friend, Burdo explains that, “Kevin got sick and that peaked my interest.” He was also inspired by the fact that there still remains so much left to explore and discover in the field of biology. For this reason, Burdo was particularly interested in specializing in neuroscience, because, “So much was still unknown about the brain, and we still didn’t know a lot of the basics.” From his early undergraduate years through his doctorate and post

Friends and parents?

Family, from B10 them for free, which is never a bad thing. Plus, I like the clothes she picks. ” “I go shopping with my mom every weekend,” says Paul Yi, CSOM ’10. Taking vacations together, similar to what college students do over spring break, for instance, is another common activity of choice. Yi once took his mother on a trip to France for a week. “The trip was really fun,” he says. “My mom’s very Catholic, so I spent a lot of time there with her just praying, but we did other stuff, too.

I showed her a lot of the sights that she wanted to see, and that made her happy.” Wang also takes vacations with her parents whenever they all have time.

Forming these unique relationships required a bit more than just vacationing and shopping, however. Wang says her relationship with her parents, especially her mom, wasn’t always the way it is now. “Our relationship definitely got better over time,” she says. “There used to be this huge disconnect when I was in high school. I was kind of trying to discover my own identity, and I felt like my parents were holding me back.”

One late night of work changed that. “I was working on a huge project during my senior year, and I was up really late,” she says. “My mom kept telling me to go to sleep, but I couldn’t because I needed to get the work done. Eventually, I just completely broke down and started crying. Once that happened, me and my mom talked, and we came to an understanding. Ever since then, she’s been a lot more lenient.”

Unfortunately, not every student is as lucky as Wang when it comes to their parents and schoolwork. Roma Estandian, LSOE ’11, has also noticed a change in her relationship with her parents, but one that’s a little different from Wang’s. “I used to have a cooler relationship with my parents before I immigrated to America,” Estandian says. “Now that we came here, they’re a lot stricter.

They’re all about work, work, work.” Estandian’s parents’ strictness isn’t only limited to her schoolwork, however. “I have a really early curfew,” she says. “It used to be 9 p.m., and I negotiated with them to get it to 10 p.m. It sucks because when I go out here, I don’t have

any restrictions at all, and then when I go home, I can only stay out until 10.”

Being at college helped Wang get closer to her parents.

“The college application process helped me talk to them more,” she says. “I knew it was important to have those conversations with them. They let me know that they were going to be there to help me through it. Now that I’m in college, I’ve grown closer to them in spite of the distance, and it’s helped me a lot.”

Like any good friendship, Hines says her relationship with her mom, at times, can be bittersweet. “She still gets on my nerves when she tells me what to do, but we laugh together all the time.”

Is there such a thing as being too cool with your parents? Well, it depends. “Different parents have different parenting styles,” Estandian notes. “There could be the authoritative parent or the friendly parent or some other way. It can differ because of several factors, such as race.”

Yi also believes that it’s contingent upon the situation.

“Everyone’s different I guess.

In general, I think you need someone to look up to, and not necessarily as an equal.”

Wang believes that there should be a little bit of both. “There need to be boundaries,” she says.

“You can’t be all buddy buddy with your children, because then they won’t respect you. There should be a good mix of the two, like a balance.”

While others might think it’s weird or “uncool” to hang out with their parents, Wang, Himes, and Yi have no reservations about spending a little time with the people that made their lives possible. “My brother used to go shopping with us on Sundays, but as he got older, he didn’t think it was a cool thing to do anymore, so he stopped going,” Wang explains. “I still do it though, and I love it.”

“I would spend a day with my mom,” Yi adds. “We just have a very, very close relationship.”

Himes thinks students don’t spend enough time with their parents. “I don’t think it’s weird at all that my mom and I are like best friends,” she says. “I think people need to spend more time with their parents to show them how much they appreciate them.

Sometimes, a card and flowers on Mother’s Day isn’t enough.

Time is the most precious of all gifts.” n

Courtesy of Joseph Burdo

Burdo, BC professor, spends his free time participating in extreme sports. doctorate years, and now here at BC, Burdo has continued to carry his passion for discovery and research in the field of biology.

Burdo is primarily interested in neurodegenerative diseases and the possibility of curing such diseases with the help of antioxidants called flavonoids.

Flavonoids are the compounds found in fruits and vegetables responsible for giving them their bright colors. Burdo hopes that his research will help us better understand how altering

our diet may in turn help protect brain cells against cellular damage. A major component of his research involves the use of cultures to model specific neurodegenerative diseases and to then record the response of these cultures to specific flavonoid compounds. For example, Burdo can recreate the effects of a stroke on brain cells by treating neurons in a subculture dish with glutamate, which causes neurons to die off. He then can add various arrangements of flavonoids and see the extent to

which the neurons are protected from glutamate damage.

In particular, Burdo has been working with a flavonoid called Fisetin, found in strawberries, which has recently been attracting attention in the medical community because of studies done by researchers such as Pamela Maher of the Salk Institute that proved there was a statistically significant increase in the functioning of the memories of different mice when they ingested the flavonoid. Burdo hopes that his research will one day allow flavonoids to be used as “potential, drug-like components” that could be administered to patients as a preventative measure to treat a range of diseases from strokes to Alzheimer’s. Having worked on flavonoids at the Salk Institute for four years with the help of students, Burdo is now continuing his research here at BC using new, never-before-tested flavonoids.

Burdo readily admits that biology from a textbook can be somewhat dull and drab.

Instead, he believes that the most interesting and important aspect of science is “getting into the lab and reading the primary literature.” He feels “that’s what really piques people’s interest - when they get into a research project and contribute to the general body of biology, and potentially make a difference in someone’s life

someday.” Burdo is quick to encourage students, including undergraduates, to get involved with these types of studies because it allows students to see the exciting aspects of biology and science while continuously expanding the database of knowledge. He asks students to get involved. “See what interests you and if you can fit in with our research. If there is a general fit, you can let students go off on their own and develop their own projects.”

“In general, students should follow their passion,” he says.

“If you work on something you’re really interested in and passionate about, the money will come. Because 20 years down the line, that big salary won’t mean anything.” Even for those students who have always known what they wanted to be since first grade, Burdo suggests taking “a class totally outside of your realm and see if it interests you because you never know until you try.” He encourages his students to not “let other peoples’ expectations define who you are,” and instead strive to truly discover “the areas in which they are passionate.”

Whether he is racing his motorcycle down the track at 150 miles per hour or treating subcultures in the lab with a never-before-tested flavonoid, Burdo is one example of a professor at BC who definitely lives his life with passion. n

Skating is growing BC pastime

AP Photo / Felipe Dana

Skateboarding is an activity that is slowly growing in popularity on BC’s campus and becoming more mainstream.

By Allie Bowman For The Heights

Vineyard Vines cardigan, or Sector 9 longboard?

Questions like these don’t typically cross the minds of Boston College students. In fact, most have probably not even heard of the brand Sector 9. To a small group of students, however, this name is key. It’s the brand that’s there for them when they wake up too late to walk to class from Walsh, or want to beat the bus back to Newton. Though the skateboarding community isn’t large in number, it is certainly a presence around campus, especially on those warm days that remind us that summer is right around the corner.

Since its beginning, “skater” culture is something that has fascinated people of all ages, socioeconomic levels, genders, and geographic derivations.

Skateboarding became something that people could practice within the comforts of their own streets or driveways. It doesn’t require much equipment or extensive training. People can just take out their boards and practice to relieve stress, or use it purely as a means to get from point A to point B without having to rely on a car, public transportation, or spend a large amount of money on gas.

This makes skateboarding a perfect hobby for college students. On days with nice weather, it’s much easier and more fun to just hop on a board to go to class – not to mention that it saves both time and money.

Oversleep your alarm clock by about 10 minutes? No problem!

Just hop on your board – you’ll

probably still even beat the rest of your friends to class. Nick Hardy, A&S ’12, says, “It’s just way more efficient than walking. I can leave Walsh like five minutes before class and get there early.”

In addition to saving time and money, skateboarding works as an outlet for stress. Johnny Bellamente, A&S ’11, like many skaters at BC, started in high school and continued as a freshman on Newton Campus in the parking lots. “It’s a great way to get places, and something to do in your free time to break stress and energize,” Bellamente says. “By just cruising around, you can relax after you get out of a class, or go out for a 3 a.m. study break.”

It might be hard to believe that an activity involving wheels and a great deal of balance could be found on a campus that sits on a hill. Think about the landscape of BC’s campus. There are stairs, cobblestones, and stampedes of students scurrying from class to class. As a whole, it is not at all conducive to skateboarding. This makes those who do choose to use this as a means of transportation on campus all the more dedicated.

Skateboarding on BC’s campus takes a significant amount of creativity, meaning that sometimes you may have to pick up your board and actually walk it to your destination. Peter John Augustinos, A&S ’13, says, “You find fun areas to skate – the parking garage is fun, as well as the brick path that goes by the statue of St. Ignatius. Places to skate are definitely there if you look for them.”

“Because it is hilly, you can

find sections that you can just bomb,” says Matt Misbin, A&S’ 12. The residential nature of the surrounding area makes it much easier to find quiet, uncrowded places in which to cruise.

So what’s the biggest skateboard secret at BC? “One day I was riding the bus and I realized that the trip back to Newton Campus is all downhill,” Augustinos says. “So, technically skateboarding takes about the same amount of travel time as the bus, but you don’t have to wait or worry about catching it.” Mike Wellington, Augustino’s roommate and CSOM ’13, clocked his best time from Main Gate to Duchesne at seven minutes. As a freshman, having a skateboard is certainly a nice alternative to being constrained by the bus schedule.

For some like Bellamente, skating around campus is not enough. He sees having his skateboard as an incentive to explore the greater Boston area.

Because of the nature of the BC campus and because the majority of BC boarders choose to use it only as a means of transportation, Bellamente likes to go into the Boston Commons some days and practice tricks. He, along with the extreme sports organization Shred White and Blue, goes into the city to explore fun, cool new places to skate. This group has sparked much more interest than it may appear in skating in the area. It shows that people are fascinated by this sport and really do want to learn how to do it.

Despite all the benefits and the growing interest in skateboarding, the community is still a very small one and, because of this,

boarders tend to stand out. “I’ve actually met kids and they go, ‘Oh, you’re that guy who rides that skateboard everywhere’,” Hardy says. Alternatively, he says that when you do find someone else who skates, it’s something to instantly bond over, making the skater community a bit of an informal subculture.

“Within our group of friends we all skate,” Misbin says. “It’s just common interests and common personalities.” Some, like Wellington, who didn’t skate in high school, even pick it up when they come to college.

From this subculture flows the “skater stereotype.” Most people identify this as a certain way of speaking, dressing, or acting, but, as with any stereotype, not all will seamlessly fall into these categories.“Whenever I meet someone new, they always ask me what part of California I’m from. I’m from New York,” Hardy says. Though a sport commonly associated with the West Coast, skateboarding is extremely popular throughout the country. In addition, most would agree that skateboarding appeals more to male audiences than female ones. While many girls do skateboard, within the BC community especially, it is only rarely that you see a girl riding a board to class.

In general, the BC community has been accepting of skateboarding on campus. Bellamente and Augustinos both say that they have had trouble with the cops when skating in their hometowns, but never at BC. “Cops definitely eye me when I ride by,” Hardy says, “but they never actually say anything.” If anything, those that ride skateboards are more inclined to run into trouble than longboarders, purely because it is more likely to cause vandalism. This, however, doesn’t mean that people should be rushing out to buy “skateboarding is not a crime” shirts. The relationship that these skaters have with the rest of the campus is one of respect.

They respect fellow pedestrians as they skate through the Dustbowl, and hope they will receive the same respect back as they pass by.

Skateboarding isn’t an activity that people would first associate with BC, or J.Crew U, but it is definitely something that people enjoy seeing in these months leading up to summer. It is always refreshing to see fellow students taking advantage of the nice weather and being active around the campus. n

B4

FEATURES

Monday, March 22, 2010

THE HEIGHTS

B10

MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010

Nice guys finish last

Family Matters

Before I say anything, let me make this perfectly clear: I’m no expert on relationships. I’ve only been in one “serious” relationship my entire life and even that one wasn’t much to write home about – she and I broke up after two months due to a mutually perceived lack of progress – so I’m essentially basing everything I’m about to say off my observations, experiences with people I know, friends, and various (reality) television shows and books. Try not to get offended and, instead, attempt to see where I’m coming from. I hope this resonates with at least one person reading this.

I had an interesting conversation at a party last night, one that I’ve had many times before and yet never ceases to amaze me each time. Basically, my conversation partner and I came to the conclusion that a lot of girls don’t like nice guys. Not all girls, but a good number. I’d say the majority. Allow me to elaborate. When seeking a mate, some girls tend to look for, for lack of a better term, a “bad boy.” You know, the type of dude that they just know is going to break their heart, but they want him anyway because … wait. I don’t even have a reason to put there. They just want him. The nice guy, by default, is pushed to the side because he’s too nice. He does too much. He pays attention when she talks or he chooses to smile at her and actually wants to get to know her before engaging in physical activity. He’s not even considered in her selection process. He is, and forever will be, just a friend.

Also, when I say “nice,” I don’t mean “let anyone and everyone walk over me” kind of nice, but rather, “I’m a genuinely good guy who cares and likes to treat women the way they should be treated.”

Yes, I know there are several factors that make someone attractive or not attractive, but I would assume how nice someone is to be pretty high up on that list. Obviously, for some women, it’s the opposite. If a guy treats them poorly, that makes the man all the more attractive. I’ve tried on numerous occasions to make sense of it, but I’ve failed each time. I’ve heard girls try to justify it, and the explanations just really don’t do it for me, except for one, which has a legitimately sad reasoning behind it. Again, allow me to explain.

For a few girls that I’ve heard from, it’s really a self-confidence issue. They don’t think enough of themselves to believe that they deserve a guy who’s going to treat them like they should be treated – with love, care, and respect. Because of this, they purposely put themselves in situations with guys who they know aren’t going to be good for them. This tendency stems from negative relationships they’ve had in the past and continues in what can only be described as this unfortunate cycle of mistreatment.

So, what’s to be done? Coming from someone who knows how it feels to be the guy in the corner with a crush on a girl who seems to only want anything to do with guys who could care less, I know how a lot of you guys out there feel. You’re thinking, “Maybe I should stop being so nice and start being a jerk.” Gentlemen, trust me. That’s not the way to go. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a genuinely nice guy. Keep being yourself. One day, you’re going to find a girl who appreciates you for who you are.

To the glutton-for-punishment ladies, if you keep looking for trouble, you’re going to get it. Honestly, complaining about your boyfriend, your soon-to-be boyfriend or your ex-boyfriend who lies, cheats, and steals when you knew what you were getting into from the start, is not doing you or anybody else any good. We don’t want to hear it, and neither does anybody else.

Please be smart. Leave the bad ones alone.

There are plenty of good ones out there.

You just have to look. Hey, Mr. Right just might be right in front of you.

To the ladies dealing with self-confidence issues, you’re not alone. Even the people who make it seem like everything in their lives is perfect have problems. You deserve better. Know this and get out of the relationship that’s bringing you down.

A man should not be making you feel bad about yourself, and if he is, he’s not the right man for you.

To all the guys out there who think being “bad” is cool, just quit while you’re ahead. You’re making the rest of us look bad and, frankly, that’s the last thing the male sex needs. It’s hard enough for good guys to catch the attention of a nice girl nowadays.

That’s just my two cents.

Kris Robinson is the Assistant Features Editor for The Heights. He welcomes comments at features@bcheights.com.

RACHEL GREGORIO / HEIGHTS GRAHPIC

KRIS ROBINSON

By Kris Robinson Asst. Features Editor There’s a new generation of parents among us. They would rather text their children and ask if they want to see a movie than make them do their laundry.

Punishment? Not even a word in their vocabulary. Let’s go out tonight! That’s more like it. Concealed as they are by suits, ties, aprons, lab coats, and other professional attire, the majority of us are clueless as to their existence. We may see them, but never in the same light as their sons and daughters do.

To us, they are your typical, albeit courageous adults who have taken on the responsibility of having children. To their offspring, however, they are much more than that – they’re equals, they’re confidants, they’re … friends. They fit the definition of what it means to be a cool parent.

Television shows such as Gilmore Girls exemplify the existence of the cool parent. In the series, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, mother and daughter, respectively, tackle the struggles of life and romance together in a manner in which

I NSIDE FEATUR E S THIS ISSUE

The World Record

you wouldn’t ordinarily expect a parent and child to adopt. With only a slight age difference between them and their shared young, attractive appearances, the two are depicted more as best friends than mother and daughter. Rory and Lorelai are fictional characters, however, which brings up the question of whether relationships like these actually exist. Are “cool parents” merely myths generated by television writers, or are they out there somewhere, challenging the stereotypical image of a parent in their own way? Some BC students would go with the latter.

“My mom and I are biffles,” says Kimberly Hines, A&S ’12. “We go shopping mostly, but sometimes we watch television and movies together.”

The activities that students participate in with their parents vary, but shopping seems to be one of the more popular things to do. “I go shopping with my parents every Sunday,” says Joyce Wang, LGSOE ’11. “It’s been like a ritual from when I was younger. My mom still picks out my clothes for me and I get

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