The Heights 01/23/2014 by The Heights

UPHILL BATTLE

STAYING ACTIVE

PLAIN WHITE T’S

SPORTS

METRO

SCENE

BC’s 2014 football schedule is a backloaded challenge, A10

BC Alum Hannah Freilich has launched a new app to ecourage collaborative ﬁtness, B10

The Scene interviews lead singer Tom Higgenson before his band’s show in Robsham on Friday, B1

www.bcheights.com

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

Elections Committee seeks to avoid uncontested election

established

1919

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Vol. XCV, No. 2

2014 UGBC elections re-opened

HEIGHTS

THE

UNIVERSITY WEIGHS CAMPUS SCHOOL MOVE

BY JULIE ORENSTEIN Assoc. News Editor Facing the prospect of an uncontested election for UGBC president and vice president for 2014-15, the Elections Committee (EC) has re-opened the applicant pool for candidates and delayed the start of the election season. In an email sent to the student body on Monday, the EC announced that Sunday, Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. will be the new deadline for candidates to apply, extended from the original Jan. 16 deadline. The election season, which was previously scheduled to run from Feb. 3 to Feb. 14, will now be held from Feb. 10 to Feb. 19. The team that was initially running unopposed is made up of Nanci FioreChettiar and Chris Marchese, both A&S ’15. Fiore-Chettiar and Marchese will run for president and executive vice president, respectively. According to Rachel Fagut, co-chair of the EC and CSOM ’14, Fiore-Chettiar and Marchese encouraged the EC to extend the deadline for candidates to apply in order to avoid an uncontested election. “This re-opening of the application is in part due to the urging of the currently committed candidates and a decision made by both the EC and Student Programming Office [SPO],” Fagut said in an emailed statement. “The EC, SPO, and the current candidates feel as if it would be a disservice to the student body to have an election go uncontested without further reaching out to the BC community, so we urge any interested undergraduates to apply.” Joe Citera, graduate assistant for the EC and LGSOE ’17, confirmed in an email Tuesday that more candidates have signed up to run and said an uncontested election is unlikely at this point. The EC will not release the names of the new candidates until after the deadline to enter the race passes on Sunday. Marchese deferred comment until after the additional teams have been officially announced. The email from the EC stated that many potential candidates were hesitant to run due to the recent structuring changes within UGBC and also the changes in the campaign timeline. In recent years, the election season has run from late March through the beginning of April. Fagut emphasized that the application process and intent meetings were conducted in the same manner as past years, yet a simple lack of interest during first semester produced an underwhelming response to the initial application.

See Elections, A4

BY MARY ROSE FISSINGER Heights Editor Seven Campus School parents and the co-presidents of the Campus School Volunteers of Boston College (CSVBC) met with University officials on Thursday, Jan. 16 to voice their concerns about the potential affiliation between the Campus School and the Kennedy Day School (KDS), which would result

in a relocation of the Campus School to KDS’s facilities in the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton. The seven parents, led by chairwoman of the Parent Advisory Committee Kristen Morin, BC ’86, sought to respond to the reasons the University has given for considering the merger, such as the Campus School’s dwindling enrollment and inferior facilities, as well as relate to the University officials the realities of

raising and educating a child with severe disabilities. They hoped to demonstrate that it would be both possible and beneficial to keep the Campus School at its original location in Campion Hall. “I do think it was a very good meeting,” Morin said. “They listened and asked questions.” The proposed merger of these two

See Kennedy Day School, A4

CONNOR FARLEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The Kennedy Day School’s facilities include a heated therapy pool with a height-adjustable floor and underwater camera that projects leg movement onto a screen.

Community gathers for MLK memorial BY DANIEL PEREA-KANE For The Heights Although many now consider Martin Luther King, Jr. a political figure, a civil rights leader, and non-violent activist, he was originally and foremost a preacher and minister—a sentiment reflected by The Office of Campus Ministry during its Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Gathering, whose central question of the night asked “Has the Dream Been Realized?” Speakers at the event included Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholar Phillip McHarris, A&S ’13; peace activist Mel King; and Director of African & African diaspora studies program

Rhonda Frederick. The event began with the performance of the black national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which was first performed in 1900. “This song epitomizes hope during struggle and a refusal to give up even amidst dark times,” said Minister Rashad McPhearson, director of music for the event. Director of Campus Ministry Rev. Anthony Penna delivered the invocation for the event. Before beginning his prayer, Penna described his own experience of Martin Luther King, Jr., hearing King’s voice broadcast to thousands over speakers on Commonwealth Ave. when King spoke at Marsh Chapel at Boston University.

“I have never forgotten his voice,” Penna said. “Sometimes, when I’m invited to speak, I hear his voice before I get up to speak, thinking, ‘If I could come a quarter of coming towards touching the hearts and minds of people as he could do, I think I’d be alright.’” Cinique Weekes, A&S ’14 and president of the Black Student Forum, thanked those in attendance for coming out in support of a wonderful occasion before giving his perspective on whether the dream has been realized. “The accomplishments of this great man need to be recognized,” Weekes said. “The question has been raised, has the dream been

See MLK Memorial, A4

For The Heights

went into Corcoran Commons and put posters up. We paid all of our subjects,” Brasel said. With adequate student participation fueling the research, Gips and Brasel performed three different studies, two of which will appear in the upcoming journal article. Specific factors they studied include differentiations in using tablets versus laptops, effects of using lab-provided devices versus participants’ own, and whether results were amplified for products with touch components. “Overall, the effect is way stronger on a tablet than a laptop or anything else,” Brasel said, pointing to an enhanced degree of interaction garnered through tablets due to large, vivid pictures and direct touch capabilities. He also indicated that there was

Working On Our Future (WOOF) Supplies, LLC is a social entrepreneurship project started by Chris Olmanson, A&S ’14, his brother Alex, and his childhood friend Jack Angell, that aims to provide notebooks and other school supplies to under privileged children. The company recently received a Legacy Grant of $1,100 from Boston College as seed funding for the project to extend its reach. The mission of WOOF is to provide greater educational options to underprivileged students by donating school supplies with the profits from selling notebooks at college bookstores. By the end of the day on Monday, Jan. 13, Olmanson had sold 250 notebooks at his table outside the bookstore in McElroy Hall. “At BC, we’ve sold the most notebooks [of the three locations],” Olmanson said. “The Jesuit culture here definitely plays into this.” For every WOOF notebook the company sells, it donates a standard one-subject, 70-page notebook. The business model for the company follows the One-for-One model set out by other companies such as Toms and Warby Parker. “In reading, we found that if a socially conscious product costs more than a nonsocially conscious product, 40 percent of consumers say they would buy the socially conscious one, but only 4 percent actually do,” Olmanson said. “On the other hand, if the products are the same quality and price, 87 percent of consumers switch to

See Touchscreen, A4

See WOOF, A3

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

On Monday, Jan. 20, speakers and student performance groups commemorated the life and works of the late civil rights activist.

School of Management professors analyze touchscreen technology’s effect on consumers Heights Editor

Carroll School of Management professors James Gips and Stevan Adam Brasel have found that the use of touchscreen interfaces makes consumers subconsciously feel as if they own products, thereby making them more likely to purchase items. Gips, Egan Professor of Information Systems, and Brasel, associate professor of marketing, successfully submitted “Tablets, Touchscreens, and Touchpads: How Varying Touch Interfaces Trigger Psychological Ownership and Endowment” into the Journal of Consumer Psychology and will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal focusing

BC senior co-founds WOOF BY DANIEL PEREA-KANE

CSOM professors publish study on online consumerism BY MUJTABA SYED

SANJAY SETRU / HEIGHTS STAFF

Chris Olmanson, A&S ’14, started a social entrepreneurship dedicated to students.

on sensory marketing. The two began thinking about the role touchscreen interfaces play in consumer behavior in late 2011, when online shopping became particularly popular on tablets and smartphones. Gips and Brasel theorized that the act of using touchscreen tablets or phones was an altogether different shopping experience than clicking through a mouse. “There’s been research that shows that simply touching an object or even imagining touching an object makes you feel like you own it,” Brasel said. “The act of touching a picture of a product on a screen is a direct visual metaphor for touching a product.”

Eventually, Gips and Brasel tied this instinctive feeling to a sensation known as the endowment effect. “The endowment effect is an older psychological phenomenon that has been studied since the 1980s, where we over value things we think we own,” Brasel continued. “Maybe the act of touching the actual pictures of products might trigger the endowment effect. But nobody had explicitly tested it.” Using this as their basis, the two performed the majority of their research during the spring and summer of 2012 on the campus of Boston College, mainly using the undergraduate population as experimental subjects. “We have a lab on the first floor of Fulton that has all of our tech. We recruited BC students through lots of different methods—we used student mailing lists, we used marketing classes, we

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THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 23, 2014

A Guide to Your Newspaper

things to do on campus this week

Spring Involvement Fair

Today Time: 4:30 p.m. Location: The Rat

UGBC’s Board of Student Organizations is hosting this year’s spring involvement fair. Representatives from registered student organizations will have tables set up for interested students.

Irish Music Concert

The Clean House

Today Time: 6:30 p.m. Location: Walsh Function Room

Sponsored by the Center for Irish Programs, the concert is part of the center’s Gaelic Roots program and will feature Paddy Keenan, a Celtic musician, and ﬂautist and part-time faculty member Jimmy Noonan.

Friday Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: Robsham Theatre

An acclaimed off-Broadway play and a 2005 ﬁnalist for the Pulitzer Prize in drama, this romantic comedy has been widely successful across the country. Billy King, A&S ’14, will direct this production.

FEATURED EVENT

Panelists honor Poe with discussion of life, legacy BY JENNIFER SUH Heights Staff English professor Paul Lewis led a panel discussion on Sunday, titled “The Poe Statue Project: Public Art, Creativity, Politics, and the Law,” to honor the 205th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe. Lewis, who is also chairman of the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation and the vice president of the Poe Studies Association, was joined by professional sculptor and Hartwick College associate philosophy professor Stefanie Rocknak, Boston arts lawyer Andrew Epstein, and Boston Art Commission Director Karin Goodfellow. The panelists addressed Poe’s background and legacy, the statuemaking process, the legal issues concerning the statue, and the public arts initiative of the project. The discussion was followed by a question and answer session. Poe was born in Boston in 1809 and returned to the city in 1827. Some of his most famous works of literature include “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Rocknak was selected from three finalists to create and design the statue of Poe. She finished the initial wooden model in 10 weeks. Normally, it takes Rocknak at least 10 months to create a model using wood, she said.

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

English professor Paul Lewis, chair of the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation, led the discussion. “Poe’s relationship to Boston was very complicated. This sculpture is meant to capture that complicated relationship,” Rocknak said. Rocknak described the statue in relation to the direction in which it will face in its future location in Edgar Allan Poe Square at the corner of Boylston Street and Charles Street South. “He’s walking towards the house where he may have been born, or at the very least he spent the early days of his life in, and at the same time, he’s dismissing the Frog Pond, which is behind him,” she said. “Meanwhile, there’s a

very oversized raven coming out of his trunk, and there are papers coming out of the back of the trunk. It’s a very complicated sculpture, but I think it works when you see it all put together.” The statue, called Poe Returning to Boston, will hopefully be installed at its location sometime between May and October, Lewis said. “Unlike some other representations of Poe—maybe most—[the statue] is not morose,” he said. “It’s complex, the feeling. But it’s not like the tragic, doomed, intoxicated, desperate artist. It’s more like he’s returning to Boston, and he’s

POLICE BLOTTER

had this career that’s so productive and creative that it’s literally bursting out of his suitcase. This is his triumphant return to a city where he had lots of quarrels and where that was not where the central creative part of his career was, but a lot of his mind was focused on dealing with Boston through his work. The presence of that heart [in the sculpture] gets to this palpitating vitality and scope.” After Rocknak finished the wood model, it was then shipped to Texas, where it was enlarged to a life-size model of six feet—a little taller than Poe, who was 5-foot-8. The fi nal statue is currently being cast in bronze. Epstein, who practices art law, discussed the laws that concern the Poe statue project. He focused primarily on the Massachusetts Art Preservation Act, which protects fine art, and the Visual Artist Rights Act, which protects works of visual art. He also expanded upon the differences between plop art and site-specific art. The discussion concluded with Goodfellow’s presentation, titled “Love, Hate, and Public Art: How does Boston Come to Terms with Public Art?” The Boston Art Commission asks for comments from the public on art projects, but oftentimes there are not enough. However, there were over 1,500 comments from the public on the Poe statue project. 

1/16/14-1/20/14

Thursday, January 16

stopped on Campanella Way.

2:14 a.m. - A report was filed regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student who was transported to a medical facility.

2:46 a.m. - A report was filed regarding vandalism in Keyes Hall.

1:54 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance in Fenwick Hall.

8:01 a.m. - A report was filed regarding assistance provided to another police agency.

Sunday, January 19 12:06 a.m. - A report was filed regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student in Gonzaga Hall. 2:54 a.m. - A report was filed regarding property found in Corcoran Commons.

The Heights Boston College – McElroy 113 140 Commonwealth Ave. Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467 Editor-in-Chief (617) 552-2223 Editorial General (617) 552-2221 Managing Editor (617) 552-4286 News Desk (617) 552-0172 Sports Desk (617) 552-0189 Metro 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 Connor Farley, News Editor, at (617) 552-0172, or email news@bcheights. com. For future events, email a detailed description of the event and contact information to the News Desk. Sports Scores Want to report the results of a game? Call Connor Mellas, Sports Editor, at (617) 5520189, or email sports@bcheights.com. Arts Events The Heights covers a multitude of events both on and off campus – including concerts, movies, theatrical performances, and more. Call John Wiley, Arts and Review Editor, at (617) 552-0515, or email arts@bcheights.com. For future events, email a detailed description of the event and contact information to the Arts Desk. Clarifications / Corrections The Heights strives to provide its readers with complete, accurate, and balanced information. If you believe we have made a reporting error, have information that requires a clarification or correction, or questions about The Heights standards and practices, you may contact Eleanor Hildebrandt, Editor-in-Chief, at (617) 552-2223, or email eic@bcheights.com. CUSTOMER SERVICE Delivery To have The Heights delivered to your home each week or to report distribution problems on campus, contact Marc Francis, 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.

5:39 p.m. - A report was filed regarding an activated fire alarm at Alumni Stadium.

11:06 p.m. - A report was filed regarding an underage student who was transported to a medical facility by ambulance.

Friday, January 17

Saturday, January 18

3:09 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance at an off-campus location.

CORRECTIONS

12:20 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance at Walsh Hall.

12:11 a.m. - A report was filed regarding property found at Boston College Police Headquarters.

4:30 p.m. - A report was filed regarding the civil possession of marijuana on Upper Campus.

2:34 a.m. - A report was filed regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student who was transported to a medical facility.

1:15 a.m. - A report was filed regarding vandalism to Walsh Hall.

Please send corrections to eic@bcheights.com with ‘correction’ in the subject line.

3:34 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a vehicle

12:44 p.m. - A report was filed regarding larceny in Walsh Hall.

College Corner NEWS FROM UNIVERSITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY BY NATHAN MCGUIRE Asst. News Editor A recent report released by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) found that a majority of U.S. colleges have policies in place that restrict students’ free speech, according to The Huffington Post. Of the 427 schools analyzed by FIRE, 58 percent were rated as severely infringing on the First Amendment rights of students. Schools were rated as either “red light,” “yellow light,” or “green light,” depending on how many policies restricted free speech. “Our research focuses on public universities because … public universities are legally bound to protect students’ right to free speech,” read the report, titled “The State of Free Speech on Our Nation’s Campuses.” Of those schools surveyed, 323 were four-year public institutions and 104 were private institutions.

Boston College, BU, Harvard, Tufts, and Northeastern all received red ratings, which means that at least one university policy at these institutions unambiguously infringes on protected expression. A university ban on offensive language, for example, would earn an institution a red rating. In addition to the red ratings, FIRE issued yellow ratings to 35.6 percent of surveyed schools. A yellow rating indicates that the school has policies that overregulate speech on campus. MIT received a yellow rating, making it the only institution in the greater Boston area not to receive a red rating. Notable green-rated schools included UPenn, University of Virginia, and Dartmouth College. Although FIRE said a red rating is unacceptable, they acknowledged that this year’s ratings are an improvement from six years ago, when 75 percent of surveyed colleges were violating free speech rights. 

Monday, January 20

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

VOICES FROM THE DUSTBOWL “Where is the weirdest place you have woken up on campus?”

“The CTRC [in O’Neill].” —Bill Coyle, A&S ’16

“The ﬂoor of a Roncalli dorm.” —Ronny Flodquist, CSOM ’16

“My bed.” —Ross Taylor, A&S ’15

“My couch.” —Pat Rockwell, CSOM ’15

The Heights

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Krause discusses Syrian civil war

Happy accidents

By Soo Jung Rhee Heights Staff

Alex Gaynor As a child, I always resisted situations that I didn’t have a plan for. I knew what I wanted, I planned out how circumstances would resolve themselves, and I would be intolerant of a situation happening any other way. Looking back on myself from this standpoint, I don’t know if these characteristics have totally changed. I’m still always looking for a strategy, security, or some way to know that everything will work out. However, in the past few years, I’ve had a series of what I like to call “happy accidents” or significant situations where I stood back and let fate or other forces in my life take control for a change. And many times, the outcomes ended up being more positive and transformative than I ever would have imagined. Similarly to many of my peers, this mentality was flipped on its head when I went through one of the most stressful times in many young adults’ lives: the college admission process. Like many of my fellow Boston College students, I was a classic overachiever in high school. I was under the impression—thanks to a few absentminded guidance counselors and an overzealously supportive mother—that I could apply to 12 schools and choose from a large pool of acceptances. Also potentially like many of my fellow students, I was dead wrong about that. When it came down to it, I attended BC almost by accident, or by a variety of factors left outside of my control. Little did I know that this would be the foundation of my “happy accidents” that have occurred since then. Summer comes. Orientation. After two days of anxiety-ridden “group bonding” and “acclimation,” it was time for course registration. Filing up to Lyons with my group, I was not entirely sure of the classes that I was about to register for. I had heard about the PULSE program and was very curious about it, but I was too reserved to ask any further questions about it. However, when the call was made for the PULSE random selection drawing before class registration began, something within prompted me step up to the gathering group to throw my hat in the ring. Not entirely sure why I felt so called to volunteer for this program that I still didn’t know too much about, I nervously waited as the names were drawn. Out of seven other students, I was one of the “chosen ones.” Enter happy accident No. 1 that turned out to be more transformative than I ever could have hoped for. I could give you a laundry list of other instances that have occurred in my life that seemed to have happened by accident or maybe by fate, but I’d rather you think for yourself about some of your most important life experiences and whether or not you had an integral role in making them happen … my guess is that perhaps you haven’t. Sometimes, the more important things in life happen when our backs are turned, and it’s important to be observant of what is occurring so that we don’t miss out on something beautiful. I’ve found over the course of my time at BC that letting accidents happen and learning to grow from them is a fundamental part of being human. If we exert so much energy trying to control everything in our world, what’s the fun of that? We think that we always know what’s right for ourselves but sometimes others know what’s best for you. Whether it’s a religious figure, a parent, a friend, a professor, a friendly grocery store cashier, a homeless man you see everyday on your way to work, a nurse, or a stranger that you meet sitting on a park bench, sometimes it’s better to be open to the opportunities and advice given by others. It’s just about letting go of the wheel for a change, sitting back, enjoying the ride, and appreciating whatever fate—if you believe in that kind of thing—has in store. At least in my case, sometimes these fateful accidents can be surprisingly life changing.

Alex Gaynor is a senior staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at news@bcheights.com.

image courtesy of an office of news and public affairs video

Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers made an appearance in a CSOM international marketing class last Thursday.

NBA star Bryant goes back to school, appears in CSOM class By Nathan McGuire Asst. News Editor

Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant unexpectedly dropped in on an international marketing class last Thursday evening. Bryant was in Boston for a game against the Boston Celtics, but has been sidelined with a fractured left knee since Dec. 17. Nick Nugent, a part-time faculty member in CSOM’s marketing department, had no idea that Bryant would be paying a visit to his classroom. Nugent arrived to campus just minutes before his class was set to begin, and in a rush to the classroom, never had a chance to check his email. Later that night, there were two unread emails in his inbox—one from Bryant’s personal assistant, the other from the dean’s office telling him to expect a special visitor. Just before Bryant walked in a few minutes into the class, Nugent started off his lecture with an example of an organization that is successful in international marketing. “I started off [class] by what I thought would be a compelling example of international marketing, and I used the NBA as an example,” Nugent said in a phone interview. “I asked the class who they thought was the top selling NBA player in the world, outside of the United States, and I said it’s Kobe Bryant. Kobe

Bryant’s jersey is the best selling jersey in the world. So, I finish that example and then the door opens up and Kobe Bryant walks in. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years and that was the most bizarre 5 minutes of my career,” said Nugent, who at first mistook Bryant for a Boston College basketball player. Nugent, who has taught at BC for 27 years, has had famous students in the past, like Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, A&S ’08, and actor Chris O’Donnell, CSOM ’92—although Nugent acknowledged that few could compare to the stardom of Bryant. “I’ve had a lot of famous people in class … and guys who went to the NBA, but this guy is a true rock star,” Nugent said. “He is one of the most famous athletes in the world.” Nugent said Bryant, a five-time NBA champion and 15-time AllStar, wanted to sit in on a class at BC while in Boston, and he decided on his international marketing class because he was most interested in it. He stayed for the whole two and a half hours and even asked a question about cross-border trade. “I did not go to college, but I love to learn and international marketing is something I am interested in,” Bryant told the students. According to Forbes, Bryant makes $32 million a year in endorsement deals from companies like Nike, Coca-Cola, and Mer-

cedes-Benz. Nike, which markets Bryant’s line of basketball shoes, has promoted his image to further its markets in China, where Bryant is immensely popular. He started summer camps there in the late 1990s and has since increased his presence in the country. He is considered a hero by the Chinese and his stardom there is far greater than it is anywhere in the U.S. According to the L.A. Times, Chinese riot police have compared his arrival to that of the Rolling Stones. In 2009, Bryant was honored by the Asia Society, a U.S. nonprofit that focuses on educating the world about Asia, for his work as a “cultural ambassador.” That same year he established the Kobe Bryant China Fund, a foundation that raises money for education and health programs in China. “We had three Japanese exchange students [in the class], and one of them said to me, ‘Who is that?’ And I told them he was a famous basketball player, and then I realized that Kobe is like a rock star in Japan,” Nugent said. “It’s very difficult to lecture in a situation like that, because you have somebody so important in front of you, but it went really well.” As for tonight’s class, Nugent says it will be impossible to surpass the excitement and awe that filled his classroom just last week. n

“Gulf States are pro-U.S., but Turkey is with Gulf States against Assad, yet Turkey is pro-Muslim Brotherhood against General Sisi, and General Sisi is being backed by the Gulf States. Welcome to the Middle East and have a nice day.” A wave of laughter filled Gasson 305 on Tuesday when assistant professor of political science Peter Krause opened his talk with a comically confusing but accurate quote from a letter published in a British newspaper. Acknowledging the confusion behind the frustratingly intertwined relations and conflicts among Arab countries, Krause introduced five key questions regarding the civil war in Syria before he presented an extensive outlook on the ongoing issue of the Syrian crisis. Each dealt with the causes and progress of the civil war, along with the possibilities of U.S. intervention and its impacts. Following the end of World War I, after revolting against the Ottomans, Syria and other Arab countries fell victim to great power politics as France and Britain decided to carve up the Middle East according to their own interests. “In many ways, this was kind of the colonial legacy of the British and French,” Krause said. “The important thing to understand is Syria didn’t become an independent state until pretty well into the 20th century. Under the agreement of the League of Nations at the end of World War I, these states were kind of divided up between the British and French in terms of influence.” Soon enough, an Arab nationalist Ba’ath party was founded and the authoritarian, coupproofed Assad regime took over the country until 2011, when the Syrian uprising began to appear in the political scene as

an organized, peaceful protest movement. “This did not start as a civil war,” Krause said. “In 2011, when there were uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, etc., where is the place this is perhaps unlikely to happen? One of the first places we would have said was Syria, because Syria has been run as a very repressive police state for quite a while.” Despite a prevalent fear of against the government, Syrian protestors pushed for freedom and economic concessions but were tortured and killed as the upheaval intensified. In face of the civil war, the rebel groups shared a goal of fighting against the Assad administration, yet had different ideas about the future of the country after the oppressive leader was dethroned. Fragmentation among the anti-Assad allies and infighting among AlQaeda-affiliated rebel groups led to tortures of the criminals, over two million casualties, refugees and IDPs dispersed throughout the Arab countries including Jordan and Lebanon. In the matter of Syria’s chemical weapons, Syria began to work with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations to attain legitimacy and secure a favorable impression from the international community. In addition, following the recent disinvitation of Iran to Geneva talks, the relationship between the U.S. and Iran has become more uncertain and resulted in a stalemate. “That’s one of the most difficult things about this conflict and why it’s been going on so long,” Krause said. “It’s that neither side has lost but neither side has won, and both sides realize that they can pretty much prevent the other side from winning.” Krause closed his lecture by listing different possibilities for U.S. intervention not only in Syria but also in the Arab region, ranging from complete indifference to forceful demand for a negotiated deal, and predicting both the positive and negative outcomes of each action. n

Ph.D. candidate elected as education non-profit trustee By Julie Orenstein Assoc. News Editor

Cheryl Watson-Harris, a doctoral student at Boston College and a Boston Public Schools administrator, was recently elected to the Board of Trustees for the non-profit organization Discovering Justice. Wat son-Har r is cur rently serves as a network superintendent for Boston Public Schools in Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, and Allston/Brighton, and was previously a principal for schools in Roxbury and Dorchester. She received her bachelor’s degree

from Marymount College and master of education from Harvard University before pursuing her Ph.D. at BC, according to a press release announcing her election to the board. In addition to her formal education, Watson-Harris is a 2012 graduate of the Lynch Leadership Academy at BC, a joint collaboration between the Lynch School of Education and the Carroll School of Management. Established in 2010 through a gift from Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch through the Lynch Foundation, the academy strengthens the leadership skills of early to mid-

career school leaders, according to the University’s website. After participating in a year-long program of coaching sessions and workshops, fellows are intended to return to their respective school districts and enhance the lives of the urban students and families they serve. Boston-based Discovering Justice seeks to provide civic and justice education for elementary and middle school students throughout Massachusetts. Inschool, after-school, and field trip programs combine to engage underserved students with civic responsibilities and facilitate con-

nections with their communities. Since its founding in 1998, the organization has served nearly 100,000 people. “I started using Discovering Justice’s elementary school curriculum, Children Discovering Justice, while I was the principal at the Tobin [School], and I immediately saw the value of the curriculum’s civic content, its valuable resources for literacy, and how it empowered my teachers to really connect with the students and teach civics,” Watson-Harris said in a statement. “Since then I have been a supporter of Discovering Justice, and I am thrilled to now

serve on its board.” The in-school curriculum consists of activities for younger children that impart large ideals such as democracy, rights, and the law, according to the organization’s website. Middle school students are given the chance to work with appellate lawyers to explore the Bill of Rights and individual protections in real courtrooms. Among the Boston law firms that contribute attorneys to the program as volunteers are Ropes & Gray, Goodwin Proctor, Mintz Levin, and Nixon Peabody, as well as the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. n

Student founds social entrepreneurship for school supplies WOOF, from A1 the socially conscious brand.” The Kids in Need Foundation has 32 warehouses with school supplies across the country—locations where teachers can pick up supplies for kids in need. The first semester, WOOF sold notebooks primarily online and delivered them to students’ rooms. Over break, WOOF donated 500 notebooks to the Minneapolis location of the foundation after selling 500 of its own online. “Our hope is to get at least 750 more donated this semester,” Olmanson said. Angell, a student at the University of Wisconsin, handles production. Alex Olmanson, a finance major at the University of Denver, takes care of business and tax issues. He is currently selling notebooks at the University of Denver bookstore while Angell will start up when classes resume at Wisconsin. Olmanson, an international studies major at BC, helps the business run efficiently and appropriately by making sure the notebooks go to the right places.

To keep the business going, Olmanson and his business partners hold weekly conference calls to check on the progress at their respective universities. One big decision by Olmanson and his cofounders in the pursuit of better educational opportunities for kids was to make their company forprofit in order to allow for private investment. “After talking with many mentors and reading articles and books on the pros and cons of each, we decided to be a for-profit company,” he said. “The chief reason is that it allows us to be open to accepting money from investors instead of having to rely on donations or grants.” Still, Olmanson expressed gratitude toward the University for giving a Legacy Grant to the project. The Legacy Grant funds innovative ideas and creative student projects. Olmanson, however, remains hopeful that the company can gain other types of funding. The three partners used their own savings to finance the project, but they are hoping for future

investments from others. “I have found that the for-profit model does not make people more hesitant [about the business] as long as they know why it’s for-profit,” he said. In addition to the Legacy Grant, WOOF also received recognition in BC’s fall Elevator Pitch competition, in which the business won an award on the Social Track. The genesis for the project came from Olmanson’s experience studying abroad in El Salvador, a place where there is a need for greater educational opportunities. “One girl I met had to drop out of school because she couldn’t afford the necessary books and uniform,” he said. Olmanson added that advice from one of his mentors in El Salvador contributed to his decision to co-found WOOF. “In wondering how to continue my experience from El Salvador to the United States, I asked my mentor, Hector, what he would recommend, and he told me to look for need back in my own country and places where I could stand with the poor,” he said. Olmanson also discussed his

motivation for starting the project. “My brother and I have done other fundraisers in the past,” he said. “This is a unique project because it’s not once a year. The aim is to be self-sustainable. A big part of starting WOOF came from the El Salvador experience, and another part came from my brother and I wanting to work together.” In addition to the Kids in Need Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing school supplies to those in need, the business has also partnered with Plant It, a non-profit which plants a tree for every 25 notebooks WOOF sells. For guidance on the project, Olmanson sought out Tiziana Dearing, associate professor of macro practice in the Graduate School of Social Work. “The good decisions and great ideas are his,” Dearing said. “I’m just someone who can help him comb them out a little bit.” Dearing also offered her own thoughts on the project. “What I like about this idea is that it uses quite well ‘the maker instinct’ and

‘flipping the dilemma,’ two concepts we teach in the leadership course here,” she said. “[Olmanson] found a new need and had an idea for using something that already exists to meet it. That’s wonderfully creative.” In the future, Olmanson is interested in working more with the Follett Corporation, which runs college bookstores across the country, including BC’s. If WOOF were to partner with Follett, it would have to share some of their profits with that corporation. “I’d love to see the bookstore take [these notebooks],” Dearing said. According to Olmanson, studies have shown that without basic supplies, kids concentrate and participate less in the classroom and are more likely to drop out altogether. Over 16 million students are below the poverty line in the U.S. “We see education as a force for societal change, and we want to empower underprivileged U.S. students to take a greater hold of their education by providing them with the basic school supplies they need to learn,” Olmanson said. n

The Heights

Thursday, January 23, 2014

University, parents disagree over KDS Kennedy Day School, from A1 special education programs has garnered much attention in the past few months. Many parents, volunteers, faculty, and BC alumni have made clear their opposition to the Campus School’s relocation by writing letters to University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., posting on Facebook, or signing and commenting on the anonymously created petition on Change.org titled “Supporters of Students with Special Needs: Don’t let BC Close the Campus School,” which had over 4,000 signatures at the time of print. “Boston College and the Campus School have a community relationship that benefits all involved and I think that is evident in the passion that the Campus School volunteers have for the school,” said Kimberly Mitchell, a volunteer at the Campus School and LSOE ’14, in an email. “The potential merger makes me nervous because I would hate to see this magic of the Campus School be lost—I don’t think that it could be replicated in the same way in another setting.” According to University Spokesman Jack Dunn, Franciscan Children’s Hospital first approached BC about a potential affiliation in the fall. Both programs are currently undercapacity, and BC agreed to look into merging the Campus School with KDS. Both the Campus School and KDS serve students with special needs from the ages of 3 to 21, mostly drawing from communities within a one-hour commute. They both receive the vast majority of their students from referrals from public school districts, which pay the tuition and transportation fees for those students. They both operate on an 11month school year, with full class days, running about six hours on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and half days—about four hours—on Wednesdays. KDS currently serves about 70 students, while the Campus School serves 38 students. In 2012, thanks in large part to a multimillion dollar donation from New Balance, KDS was able to renovate its facilities completely, resulting in a 20,000 square-foot space on 10 acres of land, all designed specifically to meet the needs of its students. Many of the rooms, including every bathroom and spaces designed for working on mobility, have ceiling lifts to allow the students more independence than would otherwise be possible, according to KDS Program Director Bonnie Lanen. There are 14 classrooms, in addition to several other specialized rooms such as a music center, a library, a health room, a lunchroom, a sensory motor room, and a room devoted to the culinary arts. Every classroom contains a Smart Board, and students with trouble speaking can use devices that craft sentences for them based on which graphics on the screen they press or, if they don’t have the use of their hands, which graphics they look at. KDS also has a therapy pool, with both a floor that can be adjusted to the appropriate depth and act as a treadmill, and underwater cameras that project an image of the student’s legs onto a nearby TV. “There are parents who have gone and visited—they’re very impressed and have stated to the KDS that they’re interested in enrolling their children,” Dunn said. “There are others who have been opposed to the prospect period, and what we’re asking them is to please keep an open mind because universities are good at understanding trends, and clearly the trend in special needs education is for the districts not to refer their special needs students to private programs.” Both Lanen and Director of Marketing for KDS Deanna Dwyer are certain of KDS’s ability to accommodate all of the Campus School’s students and staff. BC has a long-

standing relationship with KDS, sending many students there every year to volunteer, and Lanen has been acquainted with Campus School Director Don Ricciato for a long time. Lanen and Dwyer believe a merger would be an optimal way to continue and expand upon this relationship. “It makes a lot of sense for us to be working together, given our proximity and our shared traditions,” Dwyer said. “Both schools are wonderful, and together we have ‘Wow’ potential.” They admire the strong volunteer presence within the Campus School, speaking highly of the “spirit of the Campus School,” and are enthusiastic about fostering that same spirit within KDS. The administration also hopes to be able to maintain this spirit if the schools were to merge, and BC has committed to providing vans to shuttle students who wish to volunteer at KDS, according to Dunn. To many parents and volunteers, however, the Campus School’s current location is an essential ingredient of that spirit. “I visited KDS before break and I can attest that they do have beautiful facilities, but that is not what makes the Campus School so great,” said Chelsea Beyran, co-president of CSVBC and LSOE ’14. “What makes it beloved by so many is that it is a part of the Boston College community. BC students get the chance to form friendships with students who may be a little bit different from them, but as any volunteer will tell you, the friendships between Boston College and Campus School students are not based on inequality. Our students teach us about perseverance, hope, and most of all love.” Beyran, Morin, and CSVBC co-president Chris Marino, A&S ’14, stressed the importance of the Campus School’s proximity in that it allows volunteers to stop in and say hi to their “buddies” whenever they have a spare moment. “It’s right here on campus, and because of that volunteers really do have a presence in the everyday lives of the students,” Marino said. Morin, Beyran, and Marino are worried about the volunteer organization’s ability to have the same relationship with students who attend a school almost three miles away. Many of the parents have toured KDS and witnessed firsthand its top-rate facilities, but stand by their assertion that the Campus School is the right choice for their children. According to Morin, the volunteer presence is one of the things that distinguishes the Campus School from other special education programs, making the Campus School, and not another program, the right fit for their children. “What KDS has is not what we need,” Morin said. “We’ve never complained about our space. It’s not the most beautiful space, and would we love to have better bathrooms? Sure. Would we love to have more ceiling lifts for the kids? Absolutely. Would we rather have better communication systems for the kids? Yes. Everything else [at the Campus School] has always made you forget about that. There’s something when you walk in the door of the Campus School that just takes you, and you can’t find it anywhere else.” Morin spearheaded the group of parents that met last Thursday with Interim Provost Joseph Quinn, Vice President for Human Resources Leo Sullivan, and Ricciato. She has been active in the debate over the Campus School’s future ever since she attended one of the meetings held in early November for parents to hear more about the affiliation from Ricciato and Dean of the Lynch School of Education Maureen Kenny. It was at this meeting, Morin said, that the meaning of the proposed affiliation became clear. The initial emails sent from the University to parents referred only to a possible “col-

laborative relationship between the Campus School and the Kennedy Day School at FCH that will provide the best educational, therapeutic, and heath care services for our students.” According to Morin, parents were unaware that this would include relocating the Campus School until the following meetings with Ricciato and Kenny. Morin has worked since then to communicate the parents’ views to the University, writing a personal letter to Leahy as well as creating a group letter, which she said was signed by the parents of all 38 students, saying that if the Campus School were to leave Campion Hall, these parents would not send their children to KDS. She and six other parents have also created a sustainability plan for the Campus School to demonstrate that despite dwindling enrollment, the Campus School will remain financially sustainable. The plan, which they presented at the meeting on Thursday, aimed to explain why the Campus School’s current low enrollment should not necessarily be seen as indicative of a continuing trend, and cited ways in which the Campus School could bring in more funds than it has in the past. “From 2007 to 2013 in our program, 18 aged out, 10 passed away, and three could no longer attend due to their health,” Morin said. “Losing 31 kids over the course of six years is unprecedented, and it had never happened before, and it’s unlikely that it would happen again.” She also pointed to the fact that since the summer, the Campus School has received four new students, three of whom are preschool age. In the last week, two students have been referred in from school districts. “The referring districts are still referring kids with complex needs, especially complex health care needs, to the Campus School, because the public schools’ programs are not able to address the needs of the students in that population,” Morin said. “Basically, it’s trending younger, which allows us to stabilize and maintain a solid student base, so our preschool is the highest growth program.” The sustainability plan also includes ways to draw upon the outpouring of support that has surfaced in the past few months from alumni who were affected by the Campus School as students. According to Morin, several alumni have offered to donate large sums of money. In addition, Morin believes that if the Campus School were allowed its own marketing and development offices, instead of leaving those to be handled by BC, it would be able to raise both awareness and funding. Morin is hopeful that this plan will be a positive contribution to the discussions surrounding the potential relocation of the Campus School—discussions that the administration assures are ongoing and not yet definitive. The administration, Lanen, and Dwyer, continue, however, to hope that parents consider the prospect of relocating to KDS with an open mind, and will be receptive to the impact that more space and higher quality facilities can have on a student’s health. “We have a unique opportunity to meld the best of the campus school, its students, its wonderful staff, and the BC volunteers, with the best of the KDS, its students, its wonderful staff and volunteers, and its vastly superior amenities, and it’s an opportunity that we felt compelled to consider,” Dunn said. Dwyer echoed these sentiments, stressing that if a transition were to occur, it would be handled with the utmost care and concern for the students. All parties involved made clear their belief that the interests of the students were paramount, but differing views as to what best supports those interests require persist. n

UGBC attempts to widen presidential race Elections, from A1 The recent split between the advocacy and programming facets of UGBC is likely cause for some diminished interest, according to Matt Alonsozana, executive vice president of UGBC and A&S ’14. “People who would have run primarily on programming platforms are now out of the pool,” Alonsozana said. “That’s part of what has made it difficult to recruit programmers to try to run.” Michael Keefe, UGBC chief of staff and parliamentarian and A&S ’16, said the decision to move the campaigning up by nearly two months was made jointly by numerous players who were mostly concerned with the length of the election season in the past and the toll it takes on candidates. Electing the president and executive vice president earlier in the spring semester also allows more time to transition to next year’s administration. The change, however, potentially prevented candidates from entering the race in the earlier timeframe. “There were a lot of changes to the elections code this year, and if you weren’t plugged into the happenings of the Elections Committee for the duration of the year, you would have no way of knowing about these changes,” Keefe said. UGBC and the Student Assembly (SA) in particular are making efforts in

the coming days to advertise the elections, with the hope of attracting more candidates. Alonsozana specified that the SA especially would especially take advantage of the spring student involvement fair tonight. “It’s our responsibility to let as many people as possible know about these elections,” Keefe said. “I don’t think this campus is apathetic, I think it does take responsibility and ownership and wants to change things. We need to give people the opportunity to do that by publicizing these elections to everyone. “We’ve offered the full resources of UGBC’s outreach capabilities to the Elections Committee if they wish to utilize that to help get the message about the elections out,” Keefe said. Alonsozana said that potential candidates may be intimidated by the team of Fiore-Chettiar and Marchese since they are established members of the SA and have been strategizing and planning for some time. Their experience, though, may work to their benefit or detriment, Alonsozana said. “[There are already] formed opinions for them or against them that are really hard to shake at this point,” Alonsozana said. “New breath breathed into an election by a team from the outside can really make this a competitive election despite appearances. The team that wins is the

team that messages the fundamentals the best.” Fagut stated that the EC did not comment on the election situation until Tuesday out of consideration for the currently registered candidates’ interest. “We have been unable to comment on it because we needed to honor the privacy of potential candidates, as well as the regulations set by administration and are therefore over our head,” Fagut said in the email. Citera said that SPO made the decision to refrain from commenting earlier. “The Student Programs Office didn’t want any information to go out to protect the potential candidates involved,” Citera said. “It would have put immense pressure on the students who decided not to run if their names were released. We did not want them to get bombarded with questions pertaining to their candidacy after they have decided not to run.” Departing from the EC campaigning code that states attendance at all pre-campaign meetings is mandatory in order to run, the email said that interested candidates did not have to attend the informational meeting that was held in December. To submit their candidacy, students must collect 250 signatures and be in good academic and disciplinary standing with the University. n

emily fahey / heights editor

Rev. Anthony Penna delivered the event’s opening invocation and recalled King, Jr.’s legacy.

Commemoration reflects on MLK, Jr.’s ‘dream’ MLK Memorial, from A1 realized and pursued? Dr. King’s dream has been realized, but is for us to pursue.” Matthew Nacier, A&S ’14, then offered his own thoughts on the question, which differed from Weekes’. “More than just racism, Dr. King stood up against injustice everywhere,” he said. “With a long road ahead, Dr. King’s dream still has not been realized. Today as brothers, we are to bring down [the] mountains of poverty, inequality, and discrimination.” Dom DeLeo, associate director for Career Counseling and Graduate Studies at the BC Career Center, then introduced McHarris as the voice of generation three of the Civil Rights Movement. McHarris discussed King’s vision of an America in which people from different races interacted with one another harmoniously. He referred to what sociologist Elija Anderson calls “racial canopies”—urban islands of civility among segregated neighborhoods. “Thus, while many black Americans continue to combat stereotypes, deal with racial profiling, and try to respond productively, there are racial canopies throughout America which suggest that a plethora of communities in America are indeed integrated,” McHarris said. “So, has Dr. King’s dream been fulfilled?” McHarris cited the statistic that since 1968, the black upper middle class has quadrupled while at the same time giving the statistic that 35 percent of all black children still live at or beneath the poverty line, a number similar to the time when Dr. King was killed. “There is obviously no overt racial barrier hindering African-Americans,” McHarris said. “There has been a sedimentation of both wealth and inequality. In short, race has become both overt and interpersonal. Racism today has become largely systematic and institutionalized.” McHarris also discussed the work of social justice. “We must also remember that social justice work requires a great deal of dedication and does not always yield popularity,” he said. “Doing what’s right requires us to listen to the cries from people at the margin—to listen deeply even if it conflicts with accepted beliefs.” “Today, to honor Dr. King, let us engage in the work necessary to actualize his dream,” McHarris said in closing. Jemima Victor, LSOE ’15, then discussed the ways grace is present before singing “Amazing Grace.”

Frederick gave her own take on the day, representing generation two of the Civil Rights Movement. She stated that people of conscience should think and rethink themselves. “Rather than the debate whether the dreams of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were ever realized—they have and they have not—I would like to emphasize and reconnect to something vital in the rhetorical style of his sermons,” she said. Frederick then recounted some of the social history that came after the March on Washington, including King’s transition from civil rights activism to anti-poverty activism in 1965 during the march from Selma to Montgomery. Frederick focused more on King’s use of language to encourage activism rather than his marching and speechmaking. Sexual Chocolate, BC’s all-male step group, then gave a lively performance in tribute to King. Before introducing Mel King, a speaker from generation one of the Civil Rights Movement, Dan Bunch, director of Learning to Live, said that he wanted people to think particularly about how BC has become diverse, with approximately 500 black students on campus—a number that was much smaller before 1967, when Mel King initiated talks with then-University President Rev. Michael Walsh, S.J. In his speech, King discussed this moment in the University’s history: “One thing that’s important for us all [to remember] is that nobody makes anything happen on their own,” King said. “There were people in the community and on campus who made this happen.” In the rest of his speech, King focused more broadly on affirming the humanity of others by listening to them. “Love is the only sustainable energy we all share,” he said. “It’s the only sustainable energy that we can all share.” Students offered up prayers for the oppressed, for peace through justice, and for the interconnectedness of humankind. Rev. Howard McLendon encouraged those in the audience to attend the reception after the event and to meet at least two new people in the spirit of the day. Participants then joined hands and sang the anthem of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, “We Shall Overcome.” The event concluded with Rev. Michael Davidson, S.J. delivering the benediction, which focused on honoring the memory of King. n

Study finds that touchscreen tech impacts online buyers Touchscreen, from A1 a statistically significant increase in participants’ valuations of items they viewed through their own devices. “For some of the studies we had half of the subjects with their own iPads and half of the subjects with our lab iPads,” he said. “The effect was even stronger when they owned the interface.” Seemingly, the original intuition that touchscreen interfaces could link to the endowment effect played out even stronger than expected in the lab. “The results were consistent with what we thought was going to happen,” Brasel said. “We were slightly surprised with the size of the effects. The size of the effects were pretty much almost the same with what you would see with real products.” He indicated that the results when using tablets were so profound that they almost mirrored effects in previous studies of the endowment effect that used physical commodities. In an era of growing e-commerce on mobile devices, marketing devel-

opments appear to be consistent with the study’s findings. Brasel points to restaurants that use tablets as menus, car dealerships that now leave tablets by display cars instead of information packets, and stores that are looking to bolster their online marketplaces on tablet devices. “I think the tablet version of that store should probably work differently than the traditional desktop version of that store,” he said. “Anything that reinforces that metaphor of touching the product itself is probably going to also generate increased levels of ownership.” As the industry continues to adapt, Brasel is quick to point out that his and Gips’ research will not be the last study on the subject of touchscreen technology and consumer behavior. “As marketers, we focus so much on the content, but we really need to pay attention to the interfaces as well,” he said. “We’re working on a lot of different stuff. We do have some follow-up pieces on the role of touch in online consumer behavior.” n

CLASSIFIEDS Thursday, January 23, 2014

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

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: 路 Number can appear only once in each row 路 Number can appear only once in each column 路 Number can appear only once in each 3x3 box 路 The number should appear only once on row, column or area.

Takeout can eat up your savings. Pack your own lunch instead of going out. $6 saved a day x 5 days a week x 10 years x 6% interest = $19,592. That could be money in your pocket. Small changes today. Big bucks tomorrow. Go to feedthepig.org for free savings tips.

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The Heights

Student body will benefit from expanded election

Thursday, January 23, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity. -George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright and Nobel Literature Prize recipient

Lack of student interest in running for UGBC leadership team remains disconcerting There was only one team of candidates running for the positions of UGBC president and executive vice president when the registration period closed last Thursday, according to an email that the Elections Committee (EC) sent out to the entire student body on Monday. This is highly unusual and has not occurred for any election in recent years. The EC has confirmed that at least one other team has registered since the application process reopened, which is a good sign, as an uncontested election would not have been in the best interest of either UGBC or the student body that it serves. In a democratic process, there are several reasons why an uncontested election is problematic. Competition forces teams to stay honest and work harder on developing their platforms. Many times, a platform point that one team develops is adopted by other teams who also like the idea. The elections season is an important facet of student life at BC and, without a real competition, there would be little incentive for the one team in the running to take it seriously. By knocking on countless doors, canvassing numerous students, and partaking in active debates, those running for office get a real sense of the pulse of the University and what concerns today’s student body. The conversation between candidates and the student body is especially important for freshmen,

as it affects how they perceive both BC and its student government. This is particularly important because of each student’s limited time at BC—a poor showing by UGBC during one’s freshmen year can lead to greater apathy towards the organization later, which would only serve to further weaken UGBC down the road. Given that there has already been a response by the student body in the form of at least one more team registering, it is clear that the EC made the right decision to reopen the process. At the same time, however, it is disheartening that they had to extend the deadline in the first place, as it reflects a lack of interest from the student body. In moving up the election season from last year, the EC attempted to correct for the problems that arose last spring when the newly elected team did not have the time to manage the transition before the semester ended. Unfortunately, it looks like the EC may have overcorrected by moving the deadline to declare candidacy to the very beginning of the spring semester. If a potentially interested student was not following UGBC closely last semester, it may have been difficult to organize, as the revised deadline was not widely publicized. In the future, the EC will need to reconsider the timing of both the elections season and the information sessions that they hold in order to encourage greater participation.

Transparency lacking in Campus School decision BC must increase efforts to communicate with parents on potential affiliation with KDS Boston College announced last November that it was considering an affiliation between the Campus School, which educates students with multiple disabilities from ages 3 to 21, and the Kennedy Day School (KDS) at the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton. The Campus School, which was founded in 1970, is currently housed in Campion Hall on BC’s main campus, and serves 38 students. The University has cited the “changing landscape of special needs education” as a reason for considering the affiliation, noting that public schools are referring fewer and fewer students to private institutions each year. Administrators assert that this is a trend that will soon require partnerships of this kind among many of the special education programs in the nation. Should the affiliation go through, KDS’s recently renovated facilities would house the combined schools, giving the Campus School students and staff access to more space and superior equipment. Despite volunteering few details after the announcement, the University initially purported a willingness to converse with the BC community about the potential partnership with KDS. The Nov. 14 press release from the Office of News and Public Affairs emphasized Campus School Director Don Ricciato’s readiness to meet with Campus School parents, and with BC students and volunteers. On Nov. 21, BC’s official Facebook page also posted a link to the same press release on the student-created Facebook page “Support for Boston College Campus School,” stating a desire to reach out directly to the page’s supporters. In a response to a student’s comment on its link, BC further stated that “a joint advisory committee has been formed to lead the review process, and we will provide additional information as it becomes available.” Since then, the University has done little to uphold that promise of transparency: according to chairwoman of the Parent Advisory Committee

Kristen Morin, BC ’86, multiple attempts by parents to meet with administrators and discuss the potential move have been met without much response from the University. Last Thursday, Jan. 16, was the first meeting between administrators, parents, and representatives of the Campus School Volunteers of BC (CSVBC) since the initial informational sessions given by Ricciato in November. The University’s manner of relaying information on its decision process up to this point has created an atmosphere of uncertainty and frustration. This reticence on the part of administrators to respond quickly to parents is obfuscating the real issue: which future scenario will most benefit the students currently enrolled at the Campus School. The ultimate decision on the Campus School’s future does reside with the University’s administration, but the parents, who serve as their children’s advocates, deserve the chance to actively weigh in on the matter and to be thoroughly appraised of the timeline and details of any future changes. The University’s intimations that it is ready to coordinate with the CSVBC should the move become a reality are commendable, but largely miss the point of volunteers’ and parents’ concerns—that a move may not ultimately be in the students’ best interests. Perhaps leaving the Campus School in Campion Hall will best serve its students, or perhaps a move to Kennedy Day School will significantly improve the students’ experience. Regardless, the parents of the Campus School students are the group most qualified to speak on behalf of their childrens’ needs and what scenarios will be most beneficial, and must be included in the process. Despite growing tension surrounding the potential move, it is critical for the proponents of each outcome to put the needs of the Campus School students ahead of all others’—the well-being of the students must remain the foremost concern for all involved.

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The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919 Eleanor Hildebrandt, Editor-in-Chief Marc Francis, General Manager Joseph Castlen, Managing Editor

Editorial

Kayla Famolare, Copy Editor Connor Farley, News Editor Connor Mellas, Sports Editor Kendra Kumor, Features Editor John Wiley, Arts & Review Editor Ryan Towey, Metro Editor Andrew Skaras, Opinions Editor Mary Rose Fissinger, Special Projects Editor Emily Fahey, Photo Editor Maggie Powers, Layout Editor

emily devlin / Heights Illustration

Letters to the Editor Take advantage of the Spring Involvement Fair Every year in the fall semester, the Student Programs Office does its best job to make sure that students have an outlet where their interests can flourish. Student organizations come in droves during this season to field questions from freshmen and upperclassmen alike in order to help students find a way to join clubs and get involved on campus. We know this annual tradition of the Student Involvement Fair as a rite of passage, a life-altering experience where students might begin a commitment to an organization that may last for years. The Student Involvement Fair has the potential to initiate organizational involvement that will flourish into something great. But how many times have we heard the phrase “I missed the Student Involvement Fair, I’ll just get involved next year” or “That organization sounds

awesome, but I don’t know how to get involved”? In the opinion of the Board of Student Organizations in the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC), that phrase has been said too many times. It is something that we are hoping to address. Today, on the 23rd of January, UGBC will be hosting a Spring Involvement Fair from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Lyons Dining Hall (AKA the Rat). We encourage all students to attend in order to learn more about joining the many different organizations of BC that are happy to have new members. Daniel Ibarrola UGBC Senator A&S ’16 And The UGBC Board for Student Organizations

BC should divest from fossil fuels Christiana Figueres, chief of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, recently called on investors to drop their fossil fuel investments in favor of green energy alternatives, echoing similar warnings from the World Bank and HSBC. No longer is this solely an environmental argument, stated Figueres, as “climate change increasingly poses one of the biggest long-term threats to those investments and the wealth of the global economy.” Boston College, as a Jesuit university, has a moral obligation to ensure that its endowment is invested in

a socially responsible manner. However, the administration has remained opposed to any discussions of divestment, ignoring the resolution for divestment passed by the student government last year. Now, BC has the additional pressure to divest from fossil fuel companies to avoid the risk of the carbon bubble and severe financial losses. It’s time to dump fossil fuel holdings and invest in a clean future.

The Heights welcomes Letters to the Editor not exceeding 400 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.

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Christian O’Rourke BC ’12

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The Heights

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Donahue’s time almost up

Stephen Sikora Kobe Bryant - Although it’s old news to anyone who has been on Twitter, Facebook, or really any form of social media, we would like to hand out a courtesy Thumbs Up to Kobe Bryant for coming to campus last Thursday. Despite being worth many millions of dollars as an extremely talented NBA player, he still took the time out of his busy schedule to attend class. So if he can make it to class, really, why can’t you? Warren Buffett - Warren, if you are out there and reading this—or even if you are out there and not reading this—we would like to commend you on offering one billion dollars to anyone who puts together a perfect March Madness bracket. While we at TU/TD know that it is incredibly improbable—in fact, it has been estimated that the odds are over one in nine quintillion—that anyone puts together a perfect bracket, it is a gesture that is sure to keep everyone sweating just a little bit more over putting together their brackets with that remote hope burning in the backs of their minds.

You might not know it, but Boston College used to be a pretty good basketball school. Before Steve Donahue took over in the 2010-11 season, Al Skinner served as our basketball coach for 13 years. In addition to compiling a 247-165 record, he presided over seven of our school’s 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, had 79 more wins than any other BC coach, and of the eight teams in BC’s history in which the Eagles were ranked in the Top 25 at year’s end, he coached four of them. Skinner had replaced Jim O’Brien, who in his 11 years at BC went 168–166. O’Brien kept his job after seasons in which BC lost 17, 18, 19, 19, and 20 games. Yet after Skinner finished 15-16 in the 2009-10 season, the all-time winningest coach in BC history was unceremoniously fired. The move would come to haunt BC. Despite the down year, the Eagles were primed for a solid 2010-11 campaign. As Skinner recently told The Boston Globe, “The goal [for 2011] was ACC Championship or bust … I was really excited about the upcoming year.” BC was well equipped to make a deep run into both the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. The main reason the team dipped below .500 in 2009-10 was the loss of star player Troy Bell, who had averaged 21 and 17 points his junior and senior year seasons. The 2010–11 team was set to return 10 players, including future NBA guard Reggie Jackson, who is currently averaging 13 points a game this season for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But because of the surprise firing—Skinner also told The Boston Globe he “felt blindsided”—the team never had the chance to live up to its potential. In addition to losing the head coach who recruited them, two players set for meaningful roles transferred once the news hit about Skinner’s departure—Rakim

Sanders averaged 17 points a game his first season at Fairfield, and Evan Ravenel played 17 minutes a game for an Ohio State team that made the 2013 Elite Eight. Further hurting the program, recruits Brady Heslip and Kevin Noreen de-committed from BC after Skinner was fired—Heslip is now playing for Baylor and is averaging 11 points a game while shooting 48 percent from three. Despite the losses, Donahue guided the team to a 21-13 record in his first year, largely helped by the stardom of Jackson, who averaged 18 points on 50 percent shooting. With the junior guard leaving early for the NBA, the combination of transfers and graduating seniors made sure the next recruiting class would be BC’s biggest in years. For new coach Donahue, it was the perfect time to lay the groundwork for the BC program that now belonged to him. Yet here we are three years later, and the results are not there. Donahue’s initial seven-man recruiting class made up the youngest team in the nation during the 2011-12 season, and the Eagles finished 9-22. No BC team should ever have a season that poor, but the record was somewhat justifiable due to the extreme youth, but also exciting potential, of the team. The Eagles looked to be on the right track after the 2012-13 season. The team’s record improved to 16-17, which included onepoint losses to No.4 Duke and eventual ACC champion Miami. With stellar performances by freshmen Olivier Hanlan and Joe Rahon adding to a solid, if unspectacular, sophomore class, the common thought was that BC had a strong chance to make the NCAA Tournament in the 2013-14 season. Despite the team’s being a year older and not losing any significant players, though, this season has been an absolute disaster. After Tuesday night’s loss to Georgia Tech—who came into the game with a 1-4 conference record—BC now stands at 5-14 with a 1-5 record in the ACC. While it’s true that the Eagles have played an exceptionally hard schedule—one that ranks fourth in the country—the team has still lost an abundance of winnable games. Sports Reference’s Simple Rating System, which takes into account point differential and

strength of schedule, ranks BC as the 147th best team in the nation. BC’s ranked 134th in ESPN’s version of the Ratings Power Index (RPI), which also includes strength of schedule. Tuesday’s game provided a great example of what’s gone wrong during Donahue’s tenure. The Eagles opened lifeless while Tech jumped out to a 16-5 lead. After the game, Hanlan stated, “We came out with no attitude or really any effort,” and added, “We didn’t play with a lot of passion.” The fact that BC, with a chance to gain an ACC win, and Donahue, with his job on the line, came out flat says all there is to know about the team. Additionally, the game included defensive lapses and a stagnant offense, which was especially egregious in the final minutes. After getting back to within one point with four minutes to go, BC was held without a field goal until the game was already decided, and GTech went on an 11-2 run to assure the victory. So where does the program go from here? Looming in 2015 is a huge recruiting class to fill, as Donahue’s initial recruits will be graduated seniors. Combine that with the likely loss of Hanlan to the NBA after next season, and there could be at least eight scholarships available for the class of 2015. A major decision needs to be made by Athletic Director Brad Bates: will he give Donahue one more year with his guys, hoping that they improve to where keeping the embattled head coach at the Heights is possible? Or will Bates choose to fire Donahue and hire a coach who will look to fill out the 2015 class with quality players of his own? I believe the answer is obvious. Donahue has shown he can neither recruit nor coach at an ACC level. His hiring from Cornell was a mistake, a move based on his team’s making the Sweet 16 in 2010, when instead his 74-117 record to start his career at Cornell should have been examined more closely. Firing Skinner and hiring Donahue set the team back at least five years. It’s time for BC to accept the mistake and begin looking for a new head coach.

Steven Sikora is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at opinions@ bcheights.com.

A diversion for you The weather - It is cold outside. Actually, strike that. It is nerve-endingnumbing-ly, finger-tip-freezing-ly, slowing-the-molecules-in-the-universe-down-to-almost-a-completestop cold. We have gotten wind (a very chilly and icy wind at that) that it is so cold that even the penguins and the polar bears at the zoo are staying inside bundled up in their 10 pound North Face jackets and their fleece-lined Bean boots. The only way one can possibly endure this is by wearing more layers than are remotely comfortable. As of now, we have seen people so bundled up that they are unrecognizable and have increased their girth three times with their garments alone. Oh, what we do to stay warm. Classes - Yesterday, the University was an absolute tease—cancelling only classes before 11 a.m. Really, BC, really? Though it might be debatable as to whether classes should have been cancelled at all, we at TU/TD think that this limited closure really gave us a false sense of hope, as if saying “Yeah, you can celebrate the beautiful snow, but only a little bit and only if you had early morning classes that were cancelled.” Eagle’s Nest - So, we’ve come to terms with the fact that only some of the classes were cancelled—these things happen. However, what we would especially like to Thumbs Down is the fact that Eagle’s Nest was closed today. Look, we still had class from 11 a.m. on, so we still needed to get lunch between classes, but that was seriously hindered by the fact that the prime lunch location on this campus was closed. This left the whole student body that was dining between their classes to resort to the top level of McElroy, which is a subpar alternative to Eagle’s to begin with. But this just turned that dining area into a veritable zoo—the lines snaked around so much that we weren’t sure where one line ended and another began. It was all rather disorienting, but, on the bright side, it did mean that it was easy to find a place to eat on the second floor outside of the closed Eagles’ Nest.

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Victoria Mariconti Faced with the prospect of an ambitious and exciting junior spring, I have recently devoted a fair amount of time to reflecting on why I do what I do, why I have made the choices that have charted the course for my semester. My reflections have consistently retreated to recalled excerpts from Blaise Pascal’s Pensees, a collection of philosophical essays and one-liners that were originally intended to be an apology for Christianity. Most are familiar with Pascal (1623–1662) because of his work in mathematics. During the latter half of his life, however, he made equally significant contributions to philosophy and theology (much to Friedrich Nietzsche’s future chagrin). Although Pascal never finished his Apologie de La Religion Chretienne, the existing fragments were released under the ill-fitting publisher’s title of Pensees (“thoughts”) in 1657 and 1658. Of the hundreds of fragments included in the set, the 136th, listed under “Diversion,” has been a frequent intellectual favorite as of late. For best results, I recommend that you look up Pensee 136 and read the full (very short) essay. For the purposes of this column, Pascal’s essential argument is that we men and women occupy our minds and senses with different means of diversion—the hunt, one of his examples—so that we can avoid the stillness and solitude in which the mind inevitably rambles down the rabbit hole of “the natural unhappiness of our feeble mortal condition.” We do not want the prize but the chase, because the chase distracts us from thinking of what we really are. Translated to our context, Pascal

Lecture Hall

claims that we undergraduates take six courses, work two jobs, enlist to serve, numb out with Netflix, and/or cap off our weeks with exhausting all-night rituals so that we can avoid thinking of our anxieties, our ignorance, our fragility. I recently met with a professor, and during our conversation on this very topic, he reiterated a quote (largely in jest) that he once recited to my freshman-year class: “Sometimes I think that college kids drink so heavily because they get a taste of adulthood and realize that it sucks.” Disclaimer: this is a far too pessimistic paradigm for me and is not what I’m holding up as the fundamental motivation for all that many of us choose to inundate ourselves with. Nor is it my goal to try to list all the potential reasons for why we do what we do and don’t do what we don’t do (as much as we all enjoy a good conversation about sublimation…). Based on my above impromptu list of activities, we can distinguish between two main types of “diversion”: leisure-social and work (maybe three types if we include moral-spiritual). These days I am much more interested in work-diversion. Just this month, Bank of America Merrill Lynch had to command its employees, especially the junior members, to take off at least four days a month, on weekends. Even though this is an “Opinions” column, I’ll keep some of my more colorful reactions to myself … it seems that we are less and less able to appropriately enjoy the leisure time that we work so hard for. The diversion that Pascal spoke of was that of gamblers and kings, the vices and hobbies that men used to fill their free time with. Now, we don’t even allow ourselves free time to fill. To switch back to the academic realm, take the example of a double major or major with multiple minors. What’s wrong with immersing yourself in one field of study? What’s wrong with a limited number of activities? I do hope that you are bursting with

objections and are ready to call me out on my own paradox. Confession: I am a devoted practitioner of the do ever more, excel ever more mentality. Last year I went to the doctor for a routine check-up. The diagnosis: not enough sleep, too much work. I was told to cut back on my workload so that I could budget a full eight hours every night. All I could think to myself was: “Doctor, you are middle-aged, done with your education, established in your private practice, and have a beautiful, growing family … did you take it easy in med school? How can you tell me to do the same?” I couldn’t possibly sketch for you now the entire “why” of my personal philosophy. In a brief gloss, though, I’ll say this much: I believe in having to pay my dues (if nothing else, as an expression of gratitude for the opportunities given me), and I believe that if I was put here, I darn well better do something to improve the place. But what to make of Pascal’s accusation? Do I occupy myself, with work or leisure, to avoid thinking of my wretched human condition? Would it be better to sit down and simply contemplate the final things? Or should I be simply a creature of unpremeditated action? Here is my practical answer: When these (important) questions are dwelt on for too long, I think we get lost in the oscillation between ambition and inhibition, between action and contemplation. No progress whatsoever can be made from that place of paralysis. Only deeply-rooted self-acceptance—the willingness to look at ourselves and declare, “I am enough as I am, here and now”—and an inexhaustible energy of love can return us to a point of equanimity. Now stop reading and do that assignment you’re avoiding.

Victoria Mariconti is a staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

BY PAT HUGHES

The opinions and commentaries of the staff columnists and cartoonists appearing on this page represent the views of the author or artist of that particular piece, and not necessarily the views of The Heights. Any of the columnists and artists for the Opinions section of The Heights can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

Super Bowl preparations Kristy Barnes With just one Sunday to go, it is time to start planning parties, practicing your Hail Mary spiral, and digging out that old favorite jersey. That’s right, folks, Super Bowl Sunday is right around the corner! While the Pats are out of this year’s running (yes, tears were shed in the Barnes household), Seattle and Denver are sure to put on a good game. Denver hasn’t been to the Super Bowl in the last 15 years and Seattle is looking to redeem themselves after their defeat in 2005, so the game promises to be anything but boring. Now, being stuck on campus for the big day can be disappointing, but here are a few tips to make your Super Bowl Sunday party fantastic. If you’re a freshman—or unfortunate sophomore—stuck in a traditional double, the best bet is the common room, which has probably already been reserved by your RA for viewing purposes. If it hasn’t, check out a projector from O’Neill and hook up your Mac. Watching the game projected against a common room wall will make the big plays seem even bigger and maybe even make up for the fact that suite life is still a year away. Don’t forget speakers, though, as common rooms tend to get rather noisy during games. If you are hosting a party, there are three important aspects to making sure it’s a success: food, drinks, and entertainment. While it may seem like the best idea is to outsource food for the big game, BC Dining can actually provide for all your needs. Underclassmen have the upper hand here, but even if you don’t have a meal plan, just invite one of your RA friends and you’re all set. Dining Services have almost anything you could want if you order from their Online Ordering. Everything from appetizers, such as Buffalo wings and veggies, to pizzas and cakes can be ordered—just make sure you do this in advance! Plus, all these goodies can be charged to your dining dollars. If you’re feeling a little adventurous, or have decided to wait until last minute, try filling jugs with soda or buying a few avocados and limes to make homemade guacamole. Using up those meal plans can be hard, especially for the ladies, so here is a great chance to get spending! If you’re off campus, or don’t have a meal plan and want to look elsewhere for food, my first word of advice is to stock up on Velveeta, because believe it or not, there is currently a shortage. That’s right world, Kraft has confirmed the devastating news this past month and has warned Super Bowl watchers to stock up while you can! On a more serious note, catering around Chestnut Hill can be expensive, but Grubhub.com offers coupons to places that deliver in the area. Roggie’s and Charlie’s Pizza are safe bets as well if you are looking for that typical game-day food. If you are adventurous enough to do some cooking on your own, Pinterest has awesome ideas and recipes that’ll make your dishes creative and delicious. If you’re over 21, drinks are vital, so ditch the Natty and get a little creative. The Touchdown or a beer cocktail will surprise and please your guests. As for entertaining your guests, start off by watching the puppy bowl. Yes, it’s a thing, and yes, it’s adorable. Puppy Bowl X is scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. on game day on Animal Planet. The lineup is already on the Discovery Channel’s web site, and while I try not to pick favorites when it comes to adorable dogs, the American Husky Bordy (which is an awfully close name to a certain favorite quarterback of mine) is a fluffball you can’t miss. If puppies are not your thing, then go outside and toss the pigskin around. While the weather is up in the air, if it isn’t terrible, a game of touch (or, as I prefer, tackle) football will get everyone in a good mood. Have some friends over early and play behind your dorm or head over to Brighton before the game and have your own game in the snow. Decorations are key and, with 500 pages of printing, I’m sure a few pages can be spared. Decorating your table to look like a field or printing out logos of the Broncos and Seahawks will transform you signature ugly BC walls into an atmosphere that complements the great game ahead. Whether you’re on BC’s campus or on Foster, the game is going to be great. Since the Pats are out, get on the bandwagon for another team and get the gang together for a great excuse to party on a Sunday. Most importantly, go Seahawks!

Kristy Barnes is a staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 23, 2014

BC vs. Merrimack TOP PERFORMERS BOSTON COLLEGE THATCHER DEMKO

19 SAVES ON 20 SHOTS 60 MINUTES PLAYED

PATRICK BROWN 1 GOAL 1 ASSIST 2 SHOTS ON GOAL +2

MERRIMACK RASMUS TIRRONEN

22 SAVES ON 25 SHOTS 59:12 PLAYED

MIKE COLLINS

1 GOAL 3 SHOTS ON GOAL -1

NUMBERS TO KNOW BOSTON COLLEGE

+10 2 Overall +/-

26 Shots

Penalties

Blocks

MERRIMACK

-11

Overall +/-

Penalties

Shots

Blocks

MEMORABLE PLAY GILMOUR’S DEFLECTION After winning a faceoff in the Merrimack zone, Adam Gilmour tipped in Teddy Doherty’s shot from the point to break the 1-1 deadlock late in the ﬁrst period.

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR AND GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

Easy skating as Eagles cruise over Warriors 4-1 to secure their ninth win in 10 games BY TOM DEVOTTO For The Heights

Before the Merrimack faithful were even able to settle into their seats at the start of the game, Boston College had scored. The nation’s most prolific offense had struck again. The Eagles, powered by their top line of Kevin Hayes, Johnny Gaudreau and Bill Arnold, scored early and often as they dispatched a gritty Merrimack College squad by a score of 4-1. The men’s hockey team has now won three straight games and nine out of the past 10. Coming into the game, BC (17-4-3, 11-1-1 Hockey East) was rewarded with the No. 2 ranking in the nation for its stellar week consisting of wins against Hockey East opponents Boston University and University of Maine. Fresh off an upset of Quinnipiac University, however, the Warriors of Merrimack were primed to take down their second top-five team in the past two games. Freshman goaltender Thatcher Demko received his second straight start from head coach Jerry York after

he anchored a 7-2 win against Maine last Saturday. Just 1:23 into the game, the Eagles received a stroke of luck when Merrimack goalie Rasmus Tirronen made an impressive glove save on a BC shot, but the puck bounced off Merrimack defender Dan Kolomatis and found its way into the net. Forward Kevin Hayes was credited with the goal, his fourth in two games. Johnny Gaudreau received an assist on the play, extending his point streak to 19 games. He now has 48 points on the season, the most in the country. One minute later, the Eagles received a prime opportunity to take an early commanding lead after a Merrimack penalty, but failed to convert on the powerplay. Demko needed to make a save and received help from the post to keep the Warriors from converting a shorthanded chance. Merrimack carried the momentum out of the penalty kill by getting a quick tally off a shot from Mike Collins, assisted by teammates Brian Christie and Jonathan Lashyn. It was Collins’ eighth goal of the season, good for the most

started to open the floodgates early in the second by firing the puck at Demko. They were given a chance to score early in the second after a BC penalty, but were unable to equalize. After an acrobatic save by defenseman Scott Savage to keep the puck in the offensive zone, captain Patrick Brown unleashed a shot past Tirronen, extending the BC lead to two. Savage and freshman Ryan Fitzgerald got the helpers on the goal. In the third period, the Eagles settled back and locked down on defense, taking few shots in the period and focusing on preventing a Merrimack chance. Forward Austin Cangelosi put the nail in the coffin with an empty net goal, capping off a solid effort on each end of the ice for BC. The empty netter was the lone goal of the third period, which largely consisted of back-andforth action but no results to show for either team. The Eagles, who are averaging more than four goals per game, will continue their road trip in Pennsylvania where they will match up with Penn State for the second time this year. The first meeting took place at the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh in December, and ended in a commanding 8-2 win for the Eagles. 

Desire is just not enough

Comeback comes up short again

Column, from A10

Men’s Basketball, from A10 as opposed to driving it inside. While Georgia Tech center Daniel Miller is intimidating in the low post, the Eagles thrived when taking the game to him. But they frequently failed to do so. Hanlan did not get his first score of the night until 10:46 remained in the first half. The sophomore guard drove to the hoop and was fouled, cutting the away team’s lead to nine after knocking down his and-1. BC did not look to the lane enough in the first half, which was puzzling because it won that battle 14-8 in the period, and 26-14 on the night. On the other end, Miller and Kammeon Holsey gave Eddie Odio and Ryan Anderson fits. Holsey was perfect from the field in the first half and made it look simple to maneuver against the Eagles down low. Georgia Tech’s shooting prowess helped it mount a 34-15 advantage, but BC cut its deficit to 10 through a 9-0 run three-fourths of the way through the first half. As the Eagles got some stops and forced turnovers, Donahue and the bench got fired up. Hanlan capped off the spurt by following a missed shot he took after putting Corey Heyward’s ankles in disarray with a simple head fake near the top of the key. After the break, it looked as if BC would begin to take advantage of its opponent’s vulnerabilities down low. Rahon started off the second half by going straight to the rim for a layup. While Georgia Tech was able to find its

on the team. Despite falling into penalty trouble, Merrimack achieved its goal of stifling BC’s dynamic power play, denying it a goal on each of its first four opportunities. The Warriors heavily protected the blue line and forced the Eagles to dump the puck into the corner, taking it off the sticks and away from their skilled players. The fifth time on the power play would be the charm, however, as defenseman Teddy Doherty put a shot on net that was deflected by Adam Gilmour. The puck found its way past Tirronen and put the Eagles back on top, 2-1. It was a deflating goal for the Warriors, as it occurred with 41.6 seconds remaining in the first. That score would hold and the Eagles took a one-goal lead into the intermission. BC led in the shot count 11-2, thanks to its five opportunities with the man advantage. The first chance of the second period belonged to Merrimack, but forward Ben Bahe couldn’t find a way to beat Demko on the breakaway. Demko was solid in his ninth appearance of the season, stopping 19 of the 20 shots he faced on the day. The Warriors struggled in the first period to get scoring chances, but they

GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

Jason Morris’ dunk with 19 seconds remaining put BC’s second half comeback to bed. stroke coming out of the gate, it quickly shut down. The Yellow Jackets were mediocre from the field in the second half, shooting just 32 percent. Despite going down by 18 to start the half, the Eagles found their confidence. Jackson got hot from distance and a follow from Eddie Odio after a miss in transition by Hanlan got the Eagles within 10. Hanlan would complete the 10-0 run and put the Eagles down by just eight points. Then the energy came out defensively. The Eagles began to trap the Yellow Jackets in the lane and under the hoop. In fact, it was a defensive trio of Patrick Heckmann, Jackson and Odio that helped steal the ball on the way to Hanlan’s runfinishing hoop. Throughout the half, the Eagles

crawled their way back. By attacking the rim like Heckmann did to cut the lead to one with a thunderous one-handed slam, BC came close, but remained far away from victory. Jackson forced shots down the stretch and Rahon did the same, looking to tie the game up at 59. After the latter’s miss, Golden would knock a triple down at the other end to all but end the affair, before Jason Morris went down the Eagles’ throats for a dunk that put the tie beyond doubt. The game was just another of the many frustrating match-ups the Eagles have participated in all season, another contest in which an early hole was too deep for BC to crawl out of. “You can’t expect to always try to win a game with a comeback,” Hanlan said. 

.500 in its past campaign, it is highly unlikely the team will reach that mark this year. Part of it is the ambitious schedule Donahue laid out for the team to face. But that schedule was supposed to produce results down the line, and it hasn’t. “Here’s my battle: My battle is I’m gonna stay in the process,” Donahue said after the team suffered a crushing defeat at Harvard. “I’m not gonna stay in short-term results. That’s for everybody else, except me, and I know that’s kind of probably hard to understand, but that’s the only job I’ve got. I’m going hour-to-hour to be positive and build this program the way I want to. I put the schedule out there.” The schedule was hard, but the team did not lose playing good basketball. Defense was a huge problem, and while it has improved since ACC play began, results against teams the Eagles would have hoped knock off, including Maryland, Clemson and Georgia Tech, are disheartening. Donahue’s style of play also requires a lot of determination. He has based the team around 3-point shooting, as opposed to a sound inside game. The spread offense sticks four to five guys around the perimeter with each ready to shoot when given an open look. Three-point shots are low percentage and unreliable, but this team needs to make them to win. The Eagles have won just one game this season when making fewer than eight 3-pointers, the exception being the five required against a lowly Sacred Heart. Shooting from long range provides a bit of suspense. The ball hangs in the

air for a second. The crowd holds its breath before the ball ripples through the twine. While that brought students to their feet against Syracuse, it failed to produce victory in the end. Against Washington and the Orange, the Eagles were lights out from distance, providing exciting basketball. Donahue’s team attacked the Huskies, especially, with quick ball movement. This plan worked for Donahue at Cornell and the system, which can provide a thrilling style of play, could have generated excitement around Conte. But it seems the system is not being loved for its ambition. Donahue’s spread is a far cry from Skinner’s grind-it-out flex offense, which ran pattern after pattern to jam the ball inside the paint. While the flex may not be pretty, those teams were very successful. In the next few months, there is not much the team can do. Reasonably, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament is out of the question. Donahue has put an emphasis on academics at Boston College and said in 2010, “I consider this an Ivy school in the ACC.” But many criticize Donahue for trying to create a basketball utopia and next year’s recruiting nest is empty, according to ESPN. So while Donahue & co. may envision playing beautiful basketball and draining 3-pointers, they’re finding out that it is easy to dream a dream, and harder to live it.

Alex Fairchild is the Asst. Sports Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at sports@bcheights.com.

THE HEIGHTS

EDITORS’ EDITORS’PICKS PICKS

Thursday, January 23, 2014 The Week Ahead

Standings

Erik Johnson’s women’s basketball team heads to Raleigh to play No. 23 North Carolina State. The women’s ice hockey team plays a home-andhome against New Hampshire over the weekend, while men’s ice hockey goes to College Park to play Penn State. Liverpool plays Everton in the year’s ﬁrst Merseyside derby.

Game of the Week

Recap from Last Picks

CONNOR MELLAS

3-1

MARLY MORGUS

3-1

ALEX FAIRCHILD

3-1

HEIGHTS STAFF

2-2

Men’s basketball put up a ﬁght against UNC only to lose, while men’s hockey came out victorious in a 10-goal battle with rival Boston University. The women’s basketball team pulled oﬀ a win in a pivotal ACC matchup with Miami at home. Manchester United was well-beaten by a Samuel Eto’o hat trick away to Chelsea.

Women’s Ice Hockey

Boston College

Guest Editor: Ryan Towey “I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.” CONNOR MELLAS Sports Editor

Women’s Basketball: BC vs. No. 23 NCSU

MARLY MORGUS Assoc. Sports Editor

ALEX FAIRCHILD

RYAN TOWEY

Asst. Sports Editor

Metro Editor

NCSU

Men’s Hockey: No. 2 BC vs. Penn State

Women’s Hockey: No. 7 BC vs. UNH

Will Wichita State lose a game this week?

Yes

UNH

Head coach Katie King Crowley’s women’s ice hockey team hosts New Hampshire before traveling to Durham on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles are on a seven-game unbeaten streak and are ranked No. 7 in the nation, while UNH just split a series with Connecticut. Coming into Conte Forum, the Wildcats find themselves tied for fifth in Hockey East, 13 points out from the top spot which is held by the Eagles. Haley Skarupa leads Boston College in points with 25, having scored 13 goals on the season. Senior forward Nicole Gifford will head the UNH attack. Gifford’s eight goals top her team’s charts.

Metro Editor

This Week’s Games

vs.

Saturday, 2 p.m.

ROUNDUP

BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

Eagles stung by multiple defensive sets Track teams kick into gear BY ALEX STANLEY Heights Staff

After a terrible start on defense, the Eagles were in a hole. Down 13-3 with less than four minutes of play off the clock, things were getting desperate, and fast. In transition, Boston College was a mess. Marcus Georges-Hunt got the rebound on a missed Olivier Hanlan 3-pointer and ran the floor in less than seven seconds finishing with an easy lay-up. Georgia Tech dominated the first half. The defense was in a state of malaise, especially on the perimeter. “I would love to have an answer why,” said head coach Steve Donahue. “We didn’t play with a lot of passion.” Georgia Tech’s dominance came because of its defense, which shut out the Eagles’ shooting. The Yellow Jackets threw off BC on offense, tossing multiple looks at them. The visitors’ head coach Brian Gregory set his team up in a man, zone and matchup zone, which confused the Eagles throughout the game. Donahue gave the Yellow Jackets a taste of their own medicine by changing up his defense as the game went on. “We went zone and we were front in the post,” Donahue said. “I thought we did a great job of not letting them get any touches down there.” The good defense started on the interior, where BC managed to stop numerous opportunities and then score in transition. The Eagles cut the Yellow Jackets’ lead to one point, but ran out of gas. Nonethe-

less, it all boiled down to a problem with the mentality. During the Eagles’ secondhalf comeback, Hanlan stated, “I just felt everybody was more aggressive and playing with a little more attitude.” Cramping Odio Georgia Tech guard Trae Golden drove past one defender and rose for a layup. With a quick sleight of hand, Eagles forward Eddie Odio swatted the ball from Golden’s hands. Hanlan picked up the loose ball and put in a layup at the opposite end of the court. This was one of Odio’s many defensive contributions in a night when he grabbed two blocks, one steal, and three defensive rebounds. He helped hold 6-foot-11 and 275pound center Daniel Miller to four points on the night. Miller had nine points in Georgia Tech’s loss against Miami the game before, and the Yellow Jackets’ offense works best when it runs through their man at the five spot. In the second half, Odio’s playing time was sporadic. At first, Odio appeared to have lower leg problem, awkwardly hitting the court after coming out of the air. Over the course of the game, Odio gradually began clutching his right thigh, and was seen with a trainer doing quadriceps stretches. The forward continued to go in and out of the game, coming out in visible pain. On one foul shot he could not get off of his toes, and he continued to grab his right quad.

Donahue attributed the injury to cramps, and he noted Odio’s absence. “I love the way Eddie comes every day and plays with passion,” Donahue said. “He has got a terrific year and a half ahead of him.” Frantic Fouling Following two made free throws from Ryan Anderson, with 1:12 left, the Eagles found themselves with a four-point deficit. On the ensuing inbound pass, Golden got the ball and was quickly fouled in the corner by Odio. Now two fouls away from going into the bonus, Rahon fouled Bolden while trying to knock the ball out of the sophomore guard’s hands from behind. What looked like a coaching blunder was explained as bad execution on the defensive end. “We were at four fouls with 1:46, so you don’t want to let that one go all the way down, and it’s still a two possession game,” Donahue said. “So, once we got to five [fouls], we weren’t going to foul that next one—sort of play that possession out and get a stop. “When that foul happened—still not the end of the world—still got to get a stop at the end of the clock … Golden is very good going to his right on the flat screen at the top. We didn’t execute it well. He got to his right hand, Eddie was anticipating left. He comes out and they bump.” Golden went to the line knocking down both free throws, giving his team a six-point lead with 42 seconds remaining. 

BY MARLY MORGUS Assoc. Sports Editor

Last Thursday, members of the Boston College women’s track team competed against Boston University, Sacred Heart, and the University of Massachusetts at the BU track and tennis center. While it was not a scored team meet, the athletes had a chance to flex their muscles as they head into the spring schedule. Top performers included sophomore Carly Daniel, who set a personal record of 1:17.16 in the 500-meter dash, enough for second place and to post a New England qualifying time. Freshman Christina Kyristis also had a qualifying time with a third place finish in 1:17.34. In the 400-meter dash, Molly O’Dea finished fourth, followed closely by teammate Robin Gross, who came in fifth. Both met the New England standard time. Emma Sullivan finished second overall in the 800-meter race, and four runners had strong finishes in the 3,000-meter event—Elizabeth Predmore, Danielle Winslow, Amanda Rickert, and Margaret Mullins—taking third through sixth place. The weekend’s work wasn’t over, though, as the women’s track team also competed in the Battle of Beantown, a meet comprised of five local colleges. As a team, the Eagles finished in fourth place, their efforts were led by a first place finish in the 4x880-yard relay, with Madeleine Davidson, Laura Hottenrott, Claudia DiSomma, and Katy O’Keefe finishing with a time of 9:26.66. Another relay team comprised of Daniel, Molly O’Dea, Camila Isern, and Christina Zelenoy took second in the 4x440 yard, and Davidson had the top individual finish for Boston College, finishing first in the mile.

The next-best performance came from DiSomma, who finished second in the 800. The men’s team also competed in the Battle of Beantown, coming in fifth place out of five teams with 38 points. Mitchell McGinty took first place in the high jump and Tim Ferris won the 800, but those individual performances weren’t enough to help BC past its competitors. Other top performers included Patrick Daly, who qualified for the IC4A Championship by finishing third in the 1,000, the 4x440 relay team, which took a fourth place finish, and the 4x880 team, which finished in second. The women’s tennis team was also competing in some early-season local play without team scoring this weekend at BU. Heini Salonen and Sarah Dalton were both 3-0 in singles play, and Jessica Wacnik, Lexi Borr, and Katla Vasilyev dropped one match each. In doubles, the team of Wacnik and Borr went undefeated. The pair is ranked third in the Northeast Region. Finally, the men’s and women’s ski teams participated in their second race of the season at Sugarloaf Mountain in the Colby Carnival. The Giant Slalom event took place on Friday, with the men’s side finishing three skiers, Trevor Lennox taking 27th place, Keith Schuman taking 28th, and Ryan Barney taking 32nd. On the ladies’ side, captain Michelle Solomon paced the Eagles with a 26th place finish, followed by Katie Cutting in 31st and Bug Pech in 33rd. In the next day’s slalom event, the men faced similar challenges with two finishers, Chase Ryan and Schuman finishing in the top 30. For the women, Cutting finished in the top 20, followed by Taylor Burgart in 32nd and Katie Benjamin in 34th place. 

After an easy start, the Eagles’ schedule takes a difﬁcult turn Football, from A10

GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

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After Colorado State—BC’s last outof-conference opponent of the regular season—and an Oct. 4 bye, BC has an Oct. 11 game at NC State. The Wolfpack was the victim of Andre Williams’ 339-yard, 2-touchdown explosion onto the national stage in November, and struggled offensively and defensively as it sputtered to a 3-9 overall, 0-8 ACC record. A week later, the Tigers head north to Chestnut Hill. This past season, the Eagles dove into Death Valley and nearly emerged with a win, falling behind in the fourth quarter to then-No. 3 Clemson and ultimately losing by 10 points. Without senior quarterback Tahj Boyd, senior running back Roderick McDowell, and junior wide receiver Sammy Watkins, the Tigers will look like a different team in 2014 but will likely present a quality opponent. Post-Clemson, BC has Wake Forest on the road on Oct. 25 and then heads to Virginia to play the Hokies on Nov. 1. Despite a great 6-1 start to the season, VTech collapsed down the stretch in 2013 and is graduating senior quarterback Logan Thomas, but possesses solid freshman talent in running back Trey Edmunds—10 touchdowns, 675 yards in 2013. The most difficult part of a climb is the end. Oxygen is low, muscles are shredded, injuries take hold, morale can die, and mistakes are made. Bowl eligibility may be in question, and the worst chunk of opponents for the Eagles is the last. To finish out victorious, reach the top, and maybe clinch bowl eligibility, the young BC players and newcomers will need to play like seasoned

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veterans in the final stretch. On Nov. 8, Louisville comes to Alumni. Although likely a solid team next year, BC may be fortunate to play the 2014 Louisville incarnation rather than the 12-1, 2013 version of Louisville. Change is in the air for the Cardinals as phenomenal junior quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who threw for 3,970 yards and 31 touchdowns this past season, is headed for the draft, and head coach Charlie Strong jumped ship for the Texas job. Replacing him as the new head coach is old head coach, proven winner, and frequently troubled Bobby Petrino. Then, after a Nov. 15 bye, BC heads to hell in Tallahassee, the deepest crevasse, the most brutal stretch of mountain this side of Everest. BC’s most difficult contest will come against reigning National Champion Florida State University in Tallahassee. Back in September, the Eagles played the Seminoles hard at Alumni Stadium but lost their grip on the game following a back-breaking, last second 55-yard touchdown pass from Jameis Winston at the end of the first half. Pummeled by FSU’s offense in the second half, BC fell 48-34 to the undefeated champs. Heisman-winner Winston will be back for his sophomore season in 2014, and barring injury, should only get better with experience. FSU is losing 14-touchdown scoring junior running back Devonta Freeman and 15 touchdown-catching sophomore wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin to the draft, but converted running back Karlos Williams—who ran for 730 yards and 11 touchdowns on 91 carries, an 8.02 yards per carry average—is sticking

63 Boudreau 15 pts 3 reb BC Gilmour 2G 1A BC Moreon 1g 1a Miami 62 Brown 15 pts 9 reb vt chestnut hill, ma 1/21

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hanlan 19 pts 2 ast BC golden 24 pts 3 reb vt

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around. Returning with him is junior tight end Nick O’Leary, who grabbed seven touchdowns this past season, and junior Rashad Greene, who had 1,128 yards, and nine-touchdowns in 2013. Additionally, junior offensive lineman Josue Matias plans to return for his senior season. On paper, FSU appears to be a deadly challenge for BC, but the Eagles will have to keep going. Finally, to cap the regular season—to reach the summit—BC will play Syracuse, this time at Alumni. When Williams went down with an aggravated shoulder injury in the Carrier Dome, Syracuse capitalized, defeating BC 34-31. Sophomore quarterback Terrel Hunt was an absolute scourge against the Eagles, passing for 270 yards and two touchdowns, and rushing for 90 yards and a touchdown. By all accounts, he’ll be back again next season, and the BC defense will need to find a way to contain the duel threat if the Eagles are to end the regular season with a victory at home. All in all, BC’s 2014 schedule is one of must-win games and very little margin for error. The final stretch of the climb is daunting, and if the Eagles aren’t dominant before the going gets tough, multiple wins needed for bowl eligibility may be unachievable toward the end. The new-look offense will need to establish a rhythm quickly and effectively early in the season, and the defense will need to better contain the heavyweights if the Eagles are to be successful. From the bottom, it looks like a six- or seven-win season. But then again, from the valley, it’s hard to see what twists and turns may lie ahead. 

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56 hughes 13 pts 5 reb battle of 73 mcdaniel 16 pts 8 reb boston

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4th place out of 5 56 points

SPORTS THE HEIGHTS

A10

Thursday, January 23, 2014

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

FOOTBALL SCHEDULE RELEASED Aug. 30 UMass

Sept. 5 Pitt

Sept. 13 USC

BY CONNOR MELLAS Sports Editor

The valley of a mountain is rarely too steep. It’s a place where staring up in awe at the peak is possible, but treacherous rock faces, crevasses, sheets of ice, injuries, cliffs, fatigue, and other obstacles and miseries barring climbers from success remain invisible and out of mind. It’s a place where a false sense of security creeps, where the going is easy, and challenges remain conquerable. On Wednesday afternoon, the ACC released its 2014 football schedule. The Boston College football team is starting deep in the valley.

Sept. 20 Maine

Sept. 27 CO State

Oct. 11 NC State

In his second year as head coach, Steve Addazio’s Eagles are primed to play seven home games—Pittsburgh, University of Southern California, Maine, Colorado State, Clemson, Louisville, and Syracuse—and will travel for five away games against UMass, NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, and Florida State. The journey will be easy at first—a five game hike in Massachusetts with one heavy challenger at home. The Aug. 30 matchup at Gillette Stadium marks the gentle slope, a non-conference jaunt against the UMass Minute Men, a football program that suffered through a hapless 1-11 season in 2013. Then, on Sept. 5, the Eagles will open Alumni Stadium and conference play with a Friday night matchup

BY ALEX FAIRCHILD Asst. Sports Editor

When Chris Bolden and Trae Golden touched the ball behind the arc in the first half at Conte Forum, there was little doubt that their shots would fail to light up the scoreboard. Their strokes leading to points was inevitable—a forgone conclusion—just like many of the Boston College men’s basketball team’s games. The Eagles have stacked the odds against themselves throughout the season, whether it be through poor shooting, defense, or attitude in the first half. After the break, Donahue’s team almost always musters the strength to get within distance of snagging the lead, but runs out of gas toward the end, coming up just short. Tuesday night’s 68-60 defeat by Georgia Tech was no different. The Eagles went into the intermission down by 15 points, conceding 42 to the visitors, who shot 73.9 percent from the field while making eight of nine 3-pointers. It was a shooting performance to behold. It could have been stopped with a little bit of energy and intensity. “We didn’t play with a lot of passion,” Donahue said. “I think these guys want to do it. I think they were thinking about the game plan and what I’m telling them, as opposed to first thing is you’ve gotta play really hard. You’ve gotta play with passion.” Until the second half, the team was lethargic. Golden was able to drain triple after triple, and if it was not him

Oct. 18 Oct. 25 Nov. 1 Clemson Wake Forest VA Tech

Nov. 8 Louisville

against Pittsburgh, beginning a streak of four consecutive home games. With wins against Duke, Notre Dame and Syracuse, Pitt went 7-6 last year and will likely be a solid team, but a beatable team. The week after, on Sept. 13, BC will host USC and look to avenge the 2013 Los Angeles beat down. USC will be a tall order for BC. The Eagles played arguably their worst game of the 2013 season against the Trojans, blowing their 2-0 start to the season with a stagnant 35-7 loss, and Addazio’s Eagles will need to put points on the board to avoid a repeat defeat to the Trojans. At this point in the journey, BC could easily be 2-1. Following USC, the Eagles have two out-of-conference matchups—very winnable games against Maine

it was Bolden. The pair combined for all of the Yellow Jackets’ six first-half threes, which was not bad for a team that came into the game shooting a mere 29.2 percent from behind the arc. While part of the visitors’ success undoubtedly came from the attacking duo’s getting hot early, part of it was the Eagles not following through with fundamentals. “We’re not contesting shots, and just like Coach said, we came out with no attitude or really much effort,” said sophomore guard Olivier Hanlan. “It’s not like they’re hitting hard shots. They were just hitting open shots and we didn’t have our hands up.” The last part of his statement is key—the hands were not up. In the team’s victory at Virginia Tech, the hands were up on defense and hustle plays were being made. Against Georgia Tech, though, the hands were down and so was the energy. When the Eagles are defending, it is common to see Donahue in a defensive stance with his hands in an upward position. The defense’s lack of a killer instinct made it vulnerable on several occasions, as it was too easy for the visitors to get the ball back outside to the open shooter. “The inside touches in the first half opened up the outside,” Donahue said. “We collapsed and they made shots.” Bucket after bucket helped the Yellow Jackets build a 16-3 lead less than five minutes into the game. In order to come back, BC relied on its outside game

Nov. 22 FL State

Nov. 23 Syracuse

on Sept. 20 and Colorado State on Sept. 27, Parents’ Weekend. While Maine should be a very easy game for the Eagles, Colorado State presents more of a challenge and an interesting matchup. Kapri Bibbs, Colorado’s sophomore running back responsible for 31 rushing touchdowns and 1741 yards in 2013, is headed for the NFL Draft, but Garret Grayson, a touchdown and interception-prone quarterback that threw for 3696 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 11 picks this past season, looks poised for a senior-year return. Then, the real climb begins, and the Eagles head out on the road.

See Football, A9

ROCK BO OM

See Men’s Basketball, A8

GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

Too ambitious? Eagles have a song that deﬁnes Donahue’s system ALEX FAIRCHILD Chimes from an eerie movie commercial come over the speaker at Conte Forum, and for a moment, everything freezes. The arena is empty except for the players on the floor and some season ticket holders scattered throughout the

lower bowl. Olivier Hanlan is stretching out near half court, and Ryan Anderson is taking jumpers to warmup for the team’s matchup. This scene has occurred at multiple home games throughout the season and sometimes, the team is not on the floor to hear Wale’s “Ambition.” “The time is now, on everything,” rapper Wale Folarin says. Those lyrics are supposed to remind the team that the time to win is, well—now. Winning cannot be put aside for the team’s next game, whether it is against Virginia Tech, Syracuse, or North Carolina. But the home games keep slip-

I NSIDE SPORTS THIS ISSUE

ping away, and patience is running out among fans at Conte Forum. Many on social media have called for head coach Steve Donahue to be fired. The losses are piling up and some regard the Eagles as the nation’s most disappointing team. As Meek Mill would say, for Boston College men’s basketball, times are harder than a cellar floor. The Eagles are not only in the basement of the ACC, but also stuck in a miserable group. Of the 83 teams in the seven major basketball conferences formerly known as the Power Six before the split of the Big East, the Eagles are one of eight teams carrying a losing

Unbeaten Streak Reaches 10

Men’s hockey’s four-goal performance built its status as Hockey East top dog...A8

record. At 5-14, BC’s is the worst. Donahue told The Heights in 2011 that each team he has aims to qualify for the Big Dance. “It’s pretty simple,” Donahue said. “Rather than a goal, I always say to my team that the destination here is the NCAA tournament.” The problem is that the program has only managed to make it as far as the second round of the NIT under Donahue, which occurred in his first season. The 2010 edition of the team was dependent not on Donahue’s recruits, but on a team Al Skinner left behind, which was fueled by Oklahoma City Thunder

Game Of The Week: BC vs. UNH

No. 7 women’s hockey plays UNH at Conte on Saturday in first leg of series...A9

point guard Reggie Jackson. It was no small feat to take a team of players barely known to Donahue to postseason play. The second season was a throwaway, and last season, Joe Rahon and Hanlan were brought in to improve the team’s backcourt. The freshman combination thrived, especially later in the season, as they gelled with an elder frontcourt. In 2013-14, the Eagles were supposed to take the ACC by storm. But they have not. After nearly breaking

See Column, A8

Editors’ Picks........................A9 Scoreboard...........................A9

A2FASHION FORWARD

‘ONE SIZE FITS MOST’ BRANDY MELVILLE’S SIZING ‘FITS MOST,’ EXCLUDES MANY, PAGE B5 SCENE STYLE

BC WORKWEAR

STUDENTS PUT BEST FOOT FORWARD FOR INTERNSHIP FAIR, PAGE B5

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 17, 2013

ALBUM REVIEW

DAMIEN JURADO

‘BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE SUN’ CHALLENGES SOUND OF POPULAR FOLK MUSIC WITH PSYCHEDELIC PROJECT, B4

SCENE THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

THE

Hey There HigGenson ‘The Scene’ sits down with Tom Higgenson, lead singer of Plain White T’s WORDS: ARIANA IGNERI, ASSOC. ARTS & REVIEW EDITOR PHOTOS: JOHN WILEY, ARTS & REVIEW EDITOR

Tom Higgenson, lead singer of Plain White T’s, has been busy writing and recording new music for his band’s upcoming album, ‘American Nights.’ Before setting out on a full-fledged tour to promote the record, the group made a stop at Robsham Theatre on Friday night, playing an intimate, acoustic show for Boston College students. Higgenson took some time to sit down with ‘The Heights’ prior to the concert for an exclusive interview. He spoke about the band’s evolving sound, what life is like on the road, the success of “Hey There Delilah,” and the possibility of teaming up with One Direction, among other things. SEE RHYTHM OF LOVE, B3

THE HEIGHTS

OUTSIDE THE LINES

Innocence and guilty pleasures

Thursday, January 23, 2014

SCENE AND HEARD

BY: HARRY MITCHELL

MICHELLE TOMASSI I recently experienced a musical epiphany with the help of two very different sources: my father and One Direction. It happened over winter break, when my dad was driving and I was responsible (as always) for choosing a radio station that would please him for the next five minutes, until he decided that he prefers silence to Top 40 music. I was flipping through Ke$ha and OneRepublic, until he shouted, “Wait! Go back. I like that one.” My guess was Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”—timeless and appropriate for all ages. Wrong. It was “Story of My Life” by One Direction. I’m not a 1D-hater by any means—boy bands will always have a special place in my heart. But there was something so strange about my father feeling such a strong attachment to one of its songs, and even more surprising that he recognized it as one of the band’s newer hits. As I listened to his very off-key rendition of the chorus, I started to feel immense pride for my dad—not only for embracing One Direction, but also for not being afraid to admit it. Music sometimes seems to be divided into two categories—“good music” and “guilty pleasures.” While the former varies depending on the person, most people can agree on the latter—there’s always that one song that came out over the summer that everyone pretends to hate but will secretly sing along to when no one’s around. There’s this sense that we’ll be judged for enjoying certain types of music, and that we should feel guilty for listening to songs by certain artists. There is also a third category of music: songs and artists that you just shouldn’t listen to under any circumstances. Nickelback immediately comes to mind, although I probably wouldn’t have come to that conclusion were it not for the band’s frequent condemnation from peers and an onslaught of Buzzfeed articles on the matter. I tend to have an open mind when it comes to music, until someone comes along telling me that I should reconsider my taste. Case in point: my childhood devotion to Linkin Park. I acquired Hybrid Theory, my first Linkin Park album, when I was a second grader, and I proceeded to play the album over and over again on my Walkman throughout elementary school, until my light blue iPod mini took its place. I would bob my head up and down and mutter the lyrics under my breath whenever someone would approach me, thinking I was the coolest kid around. To be honest, it was my older brother who inspired my Linkin love—he started listening to the alternative rock group, and I wanted to be like him, so by default I decided Linkin Park was my favorite band in the entire world. The more I listened to its music, the more I decided that Linkin Park actually wasn’t that bad—although Chester Bennington’s signature screams are slightly unsettling after a while, the majority of the band’s songs satisfied my pseudo-angsty childhood self. I can admit that Linkin Park’s sound hasn’t improved much in recent years, and I can somewhat understand why people give me looks of shock or disappointment or mere confusion when I tell them about my former obsession. Linkin Park has become somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me—whenever I’m feeling nostalgic, I play “Runaway” or “Place for My Head,” and I smile because in a strange way, these songs make me think about my brother, and the moments that we shared listening to these songs in our youth. In the same way, I’ll never be able to hear One Direction again without thinking of my dad, and his innocent appreciation of “Story of My Life.” What was so beautiful about that moment in the car with my dad was that he was able to enjoy a song purely because of the sound itself—not because of what people said about it, or because of the artist’s popular image (I’m pretty sure he doesn’t actually know who One Direction is). In the same way, I used to listen to Linkin Park without feeling ashamed or guilty, because I heard the band’s music in isolation from critical or popular opinions. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to abandon the “guilty pleasure” notion, but maybe it’s possible to feel a little less guilty about who and what we listen to, and just allow a song to be itself. If you think One Direction is the greatest boy band of all time, or you feel that Nickelback deserves more appreciation, you will probably be judged. But hey, maybe it’s time to put that judgment aside and be proud of who you listen to. I’ll start: I like Linkin Park, and I don’t care who knows.

Michelle Tomassi is the Assistant Arts & Review Editor for The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

1. BAD CASE OF ‘ROD’ RAGE

Darren Prince, agent of former basketball star and all-around crazy person Dennis Rodman, announced Rodman’s plans to check into rehab later this month, but declined to reveal which facility will treat him. After having an image-damaging meltdown on CNN while in North Korea this past December, Rodman formally apologized, saying he had been drinking and was under pressure. No reports in yet as to why Dennis Rodman is so popular with the totalitarian regime.

2. RETURN OF THE LOHAN Last Monday, 27-year-old Lindsay Lohan announced her plans to produce and star in an independent film called Inconceivable. No, the film is not about her “inconceivable” return to sanity, but rather a woman who goes on a journey to “reclaim something she’s lost”—and we’re not quite sure what that means. Lohan says she “would die” if Jessica Lange would consider a role in the film.

ALEXANDER F. YUAN / AP PHOTO

4. FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

Longtime friends and neighbors Sting and Paul Simon are currently preparing for an upcoming tour together, which begins Feb. 8 in Houston, Texas . 72-year-old Simon and 62-year-old Sting promise a stellar show and plan to take turns singing each other’s hits. Prune juice and multivitamins are a likely sell at intermission.

CATE HELLMAN PHOTOGRAPHY / AP PHOTO

CASEY RODGERS / AP PHOTO

3. ZAMATA JOINS ‘SNL’ CAST

5. DOGS AND DOS EQUIS

Sasheer Zamata, a 27-year-old comedian and improv performer, made her Saturday Night Live debut last weekend as the first black female SNL actress to appear as a regular on the show since 2007. Zamata was hired earlier this month during the peak of the criticism concerning SNL’s lack of ethnic diversity. Zamata is one of just four black women cast members in the show’s 39-season history.

Actor and dog-lover Jonathon Goldsmith, more commonly known as “the most interesting man in the world,” announced his support for the Morris Animal Foundation, hoping to raise funds to fight cancer in dogs. While PETA members across the globe have yet to rush to their local liquor store to purchase a case of Dos Equis, Goldsmith’s latest move is most interesting indeed.

ANTONIO CALANNI / AP PHOTO

THE CRITICAL CURMUDGEON

Televised tunes: pros and cons of commercialized music MATT MAZZARI

I’ve decided to make this column about the modern TV soundtrack phenomenon in pop music. I want to talk about why you might have discovered one of your current “Most Played” songs in a car commercial, or why the No. 1 hit of last summer was an Icona Pop single from 2012, or why the only reason anyone knows Imogen Heap is because her song “Hide and Seek” appeared in the 2006 O.C. finale. If you downloaded the song “Too Close” without knowing Alex Clare because you heard it in an IE9 commercial, this is the column for you. The television and music industries have reached a point at which the mediums are almost as one. Songs and bands that enter the pop mainstream often start (or get revived) as catchy background tracks in commercials, trailers, and shows. Just think of the first time you heard “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers, “Everybody Talks” by Neon Trees, or “Daylight” by Matt & Kim. Some bands would have likely remained in relative obscurity if it wasn’t for song placement in popular ads (i.e. Fun., Biz Markie, Passion

Pit), and others would never have even had their 15 minutes (i.e. Yael Naim, Dirty Vegas, Jet). The Icona Pop song I mentioned before was “I Love It,” and hardly anyone had heard of it until it appeared in an episode of Girls last year and then topped the U.K. charts over a year post-release. You might compare the modern relationship between TV and radio to that of inseparable Siamese twins, but it’s really more akin to one of those creepy situations where one twin absorbs the other one in the womb and then finds a tooth in his shoulder at age 6. The music industry has been rendered so weak by the iTunes monopoly, online alternatives, independent groups deviating for a larger share of their royalties (think Macklemore & Ryan Lewis), and the steep decline of radio patronage that it’s been essentially consumed by the monolithic commercial presence of television. That isn’t to say that no good music is being made—it’s just reaching your ears in very different ways, whether that means you find music on pitchfork.com or in a Kia ad. Some labels have already embraced the change. Marmoset Music, a small record agency in Portland, programmed a website

in 2013 to help ad corporations find songs for their commercials and mediate agreements with the artists for the rights. The site’s co-founder, Ryan Wines, has joked that its unofficial tagline should be “helping artists sell out.” Innovation like that of Marmoset Music, though, gives us a larger variety of sources from which to hear music, and therefore a more eclectic/creative mainstream. That’s a good thing, right? Well, the issue here comes when you consider the complicated concept of artistic integrity. That’s the nagging little voice that whines in your ear when Zeppelin’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” became the official spokes-song for Cadillac, or when the riff from “Blister in the Sun” by the Violent Femmes ends up in a Wendy’s commercial. The human embodiment of this voice of integrity is Steve Albini, an immensely prolific music producer who’s worked with Nirvana, the Pixies, Flogging Molly, and a tremendous list of others that no one has ever heard of. The man is too principled to function. Albini has insisted, in an ongoing series of impassioned and explicit rants, that bands are responsible for preserving the soul of their art, which he believes is desecrated by frivolous licensing

and phony marketing ploys. Albini refuses to work with bands who let their songs appear in advertisements, and he disowns any indie musician who turns to soundtrack options as a way of making a quick buck. Is he right? In my opinion, yes and no. Yes, I believe that art is sacred and needs to exist for some reason other than the money. I think that artists who let their entire image become product placement for Pepsi and The Voice deserve all the flack they get—Stephen Tyler can go tongue-punch a circuit breaker, for all I care. That said, I think we give independent artists too hard a time for wanting to make some money on the side of their careers: letting your song appear in one Budweiser ad doesn’t have to change your artistic direction. So perhaps we should say that, having a song get popular from a TV commercial is relatively benign, so long as you don’t let it completely change the way you make music. We’ll leave it at that for now. And remember, drink Sprite!

Matt Mazzari is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

THIS WEEKEND in arts

BY: ARIANA IGNERI | ASSOCIATE ARTS & REVIEW EDITOR

CHORDUROY MOD CONCERT (THURSDAY 1/23, 9 P.M.)

ROSIE O’DONNELL (FRIDAY 1/24, 7:30 P.M.)

IRISH MUSIC ON UILLEANN PIPES, FLUTE, WHISTLE (THURSDAY 1/23, 6:30 P.M.)

‘I, FRANKENSTEIN’ (FRIDAY, 1/24 OPENING)

Chorduroy, a Boston College music organization, is hosting student artist Times New Roman as the first act in their Mod Concert Series. The free show will be at 9 p.m. in Mod 37B.

The quick-witted, former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell is taking the stage at the Wilbur Theatre for a stand up comedy show. Tickets start at $45.70 through ticketmaster.com.

The fantasy-action flick I, Frankenstein, is a film about a terrifying creature, a centuries-old war, and the fate of humanity. The film stars Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy and opens Friday.

The Center for Irish Programs is sponsoring a concert by legendary Irish piper Paddy Keenan, and Boston flute player Jimmy Noonan. The event is free and will take place in the Walsh Hall Function Room.

‘THE CLEAN HOUSE’ (THURSDAY, 1/23 TO SATURDAY 1/25, 7:30 P.M.)

Directed by BC senior Billy McEntee, The Clean House is a whimsical, funny play about a Brazilian cleaning woman who dreams of being a comedian. The show will run through the weekend in Robsham Theatre. Tickets are $10 with a BC ID.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SECRETLY CANADIAN

DAMIEN JURADO CONCERT (THURSDAY 1/23, 9 P.M.)

After releasing his new album Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son this week, indie-rock singer-songwriter Damien Jurado is performing at the Brighton Music Hall. General admission tickets are $15.50 through ticketmaster.com.

2014 WHEELS PROJECT (FRIDAY, 1/24 7 P.M.)

Featuring a collection of photographs and screenprints from various contributors—including BC professor Karl Baden—Lincoln Arts Project’s 2014 Wheels Project is an exhibit exploring our “wheelsbased culture.” The display will run through Feb. 22 at the LAP gallery in Waltham, Mass., with an opening reception on Friday evening.

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Rhythm of Love Life in the studio and on the road for the Plain White T’s

To break into things, tell me about the band name—where did “Plain White T’s” come from? There’s a great story—not really. Back in 1997, when the band started, we kind of just needed a name. A lot of our songs were oldies-influenced, and they still are, for sure. So just thinking about that, I had a list of names, and Plain White T’s was one of the names on the list. We thought it was a pretty cool name, going with the ’50s vibe and everything. And we happened to see when were looking at names that in other bands’ CD booklets, in the photos, there was somebody in every CD that we loved, wearing a plain white tee. And so we took it as a sign and went with it.

Giving Tree,” and the new album’s on its way. Do you want to talk about that? Absolutely. It’s called American Nights. We finished recording it last year. And I love the album. It was a hard album to make in the sense that everybody had their own opinions on what the songs should be, how they should come about, and that kind of thing. I feel like more than on any other album, there was a lot more of people having different opinions, which sort of sucked, because it was a harder album to make since we were arguing. But listening to the finished album, I think most of the right choices were made. As hard as it was to make, I think it reflects a great record that we’re all proud of.

Were there other contenders on that list that you were glad you didn’t go with? The next contender was Bank Billy, which was literally a note I had written myself—that I had to go to the bank, and I had to call Billy. So looking at the paper, I was just like, “Bank,” “Billy.” Pretty stupid. Glad we didn’t go with that. And then another one was Where’s Arnie, from the movie What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. That was a kind of a cool name, but I’m glad we went with Plain White T’s—more fitting to the music.

Well, after that, what’s up next for the band? Another album? Tours? A 3D movie, maybe? Oh yeah. We’re going to pair up with One Direction. Well, you know that kid, Louis Tomlinson, he did sing “Hey There Delilah” for his audition, so we’re thinking about hitting him up and trying to do a duet or something … I’m totally kidding, of course. But yeah, we’re still writing, obviously, for after we put this new album out. Then tour, tour, tour—a stop in Boston for sure. Then end of 2014, maybe 2015, get back in the studio again and record the next batch of songs.

When did you know you wanted to be in a band? Was there a defining moment, when you woke up and said, “Hey, music is what I want to do with my life?” Yeah, well, my parents split up when I was 15, and I was always a smart kid, honors classes and things like that. So I was just going with the flow, doing well in school, thinking I was going to go to college. And after my parents’ split, for the first time, things got shook up in my life, and I had to think a lot about what I loved. I knew I loved music, and at that time, I was already writing songs. So I decided to take some more art classes and lay off the honors classes. And from then on, I made up my mind that I just wanted to make music. How would you describe your music for someone who hasn’t heard it? I would describe it as very melodic with honest lyrics—honest lyrics mixed with catchy melodies that will get stuck in your head. But the kind of music you don’t have to feel bad about having stuck in your head. You’ve been making music for more than a decade. Do you think your sound has changed from its beginning to now? Well, actually, Tim, one of our guitar players, started writing songs. And he’s been singing the ones that he’s written, so I think that’s the biggest change in the band’s sound. You know, getting a different voice in there. But I also think it helps add a fresh dynamic to the band that obviously we didn’t have before. But other than that, the song writing is the same. Still, we never try to write the same song twice, and even on any of our albums, none of the songs sound too much alike. What would you say generally inspires your music? Where do you go for musical inspiration? Life. A lot of the songs are about girls, relationships—wanting one and not getting one. Just being happy with somebody. But really, just life. Like on our new album, the title track, “American Nights,” it’s just about where we’re at in life. Just going out, and trying to make the most of the night, which I think a lot of people can relate to. And what do you hope listeners will take from it? Hopefully they just find a piece of themselves in it. The best art, for me, is when I see something, and I can feel what the singer is singing about. Or if it’s a movie, what the characters are going through. That’s usually the best stuff to me. I feel obligated to talk about “Hey There Delilah,” since it was such a huge hit—Grammy nominations and everything. What do you think it was about that song that fans fell in love with? I don’t know. Right when I wrote it, I knew it was a great song. I didn’t think it was going to be a big hit because it’s so the opposite of a hit. It’s so small, stripped down and everything. But I was very proud of it—love the lyrics. And I think the story of me singing a song to a girl who wasn’t there that lived far away, in the end, was just a very relatable concept. Like I said, I think all the songs we write are relatable because they’re all personal, but that song had a lot of details and a lot of specific things. And as I was writing it, I wasn’t sure if that would make people relate to it more or less. Because in reality, I thought only girls named Delilah that lived in New York would feel like they were a part of the song. Obviously, though, that wasn’t the case. So do you think the success of that song changed the way you write your music, look at it, or approach it? I’d say yes and no. I feel like I still write the same way—trying to be honest about life. But if anything, I feel like it changed the way we put a song together. Like a lot of the songs on the new record, even the more upbeat songs, kind of have a little of an acoustic guitar thing going on—not to copy “Delilah”—but I think we just realized what our strengths are and what people attach to. So even though we don’t write the songs any differently, maybe the way we present them is now more in the style or in the vein of what I think people are hoping to hear from the Plain White T’s. You and the band released the Should’ve Gone To Bed EP last year, you just completed a music video for “The

Does touring, recording, and everything get monotonous? How do you keep the whole experience fresh every day? Right now, I’m actually renting a place in Malibu, California. That, and time off, and the ability to just do our own things… I mean, we all have our own lives and split apart when we have time off for things that are important—family, friends, relaxing. And I think that’s what makes it all fun. Because then, it’s like “Oh, we haven’t played a show in a couple weeks, now I’m excited to play tonight.” And plus, we’ll be touring with this new album for about a year or more. But when that’s done, we’re going to be excited to get back in the studio and record a bunch of new stuff, and then it’s exciting to go and play those songs live and share them with everybody. It’s a nice cycle that never really gets too dull. How would you describe a day in the life? Today’s a bad example, since it was a pretty easy day. We didn’t have to get out of our hotel ‘till four in the afternoon. But normally, we’d go ride on the bus, wake up early morning, go sing some songs on a radio station, get to the venue, sound check, do a couple interviews there, do a meet and greet with fans, maybe have an hour or so, and go and play the show, kind of unwind after a little, then go to sleep on the bus … then do it all over again. That’s life on the road. But in the studio, we roll out of bed at noon, have lunch, get to the studio, and just make some good music. Just for kicks—if you weren’t a musician, what do you think you’d be doing? I always had a big respect for teachers. I love teachers. There were definitely a few I had that inspired me, artistically and musically. The teachers that were a little bit cooler and less lame than the other teachers, those were the ones that I could relate to and really made a difference for me. So it would be cool to be someone like that for kids coming up. What’s your guilty pleasure song on the radio right now? I don’t know if it’s on the radio, but “Drunk in Love” by Beyonce. It’s so good. I put it on every day. It’s not even a guilty pleasure. Weirdest gift you’ve ever gotten from a fan? It’s not totally weird, but we got these dolls that were so intricately detailed of each of us, with our guitars that we were playing on that tour. It was really cool actually. And I still have them in the studio in my basement, propped up in the studio. Strangest place you’ve played a show? We played at a—I don’t know if it was at a strip club, but it was like attached to one. So where the dressing room was, strippers had to walk through our dressing room, basically naked, when they got off stage. It was awesome. We need to play there again. The last movie you watched? Oh, I just saw Wolf of Wall Street. Crazy. Epic. Insane. Great movie. And I saw that movie Her, it was so relevant. It was done so well, too. I like how it’s the future, but no one’s wearing silver outfits—it was more realistic. It’s like a love story. It’s nice. But I saw Her after Wolf of Wall Street, so that was probably the last thing I’ve seen. If you were a Disney character who would it be? Well, I mean, I’m a big Disney fan. And, you know, Mickey Mouse is almost the most irrelevant Disney character because there was never a big movie with him or anything. But yeah, it’s interesting because I would probably say Mickey Mouse, since he’s like the face of Disney. And I will say there is something magical about him, about whatever it is he represents. It’s not even about his character—it’s about everything behind it. There’s a lot of magic there. Okay, last question—a celebrity you haven’t met but wish you could meet? Paul McCartney would be pretty awesome. Because with The Beatles, with everything they did back then, they were always trying to push things forward, to try new things. And really quick, I will say, I did meet Sacha Baron Cohen, and to me, he’s the top of the top. I’m a big fan. 

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Jurado’s latest is a smart, often odd, investigation of folk genre BY JOHN WILEY

Arts & Review Editor Folk revivalist Damien Jurado isn’t going anywhere. The Seattle singersongwriter is 11 studio records into a career spanning nearly two decades with little to show for it. Aside from a humble following and lengthy discography, Jurado has almost nothing to show in the way of commercial success—this seems entirely irrelevant to Jurado, who continues making gloriously unmarketable music. Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun, his latest project and the sequel to his 2012 concept album Maraqopa, tells the story of a man caught somewhere between life and death, perhaps a subtle reflection on the career of an aging artist. The 34-minute album is a welcome break from today’s commercial folk scene—a richly layered, psychedelic record faithful to the genre’s traditions of storytelling, cryptic and complex in its orchestration. The album begins where the last record leaves off—a man leaves his life behind in search of the utopian city Maraqopa, but crashes his car in the desert along the road there. He wanders off from the wreckage and happens upon a mysterious town in the barren, desert landscape. The brothers and sisters of the Eternal Sun are a religious cult in the village, worshipping a mysterious space deity and waiting on the “metallic clouds” to descend upon the town (“metallic

clouds” is an alternative phrase Jurado uses to describe UFOs). This central conceit of the album is decidedly an odd one—it’s a hallucinatory tale of Christian import, liberally imagining the second coming. Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun sounds something of a mix between Pink Floyd and Neil Young, heavy on the reverb, and ultimately, an unconventionally pleasant work. The album is Jurado’s third produced with Richard Swift of The Shins, and the relationship between the record and Swift’s own work is perhaps one of the more convincing comparisons to be made here. It’s an industrially infected folk sound. The entire album was recorded in three days, and there’s definitely a feeling of rawness throughout. Most tracks on Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun could imaginably have been recorded in a single take, save for the electric layering of it all. There’s a definite ruggedness to it all that gives the album a certain backwoods folk authenticity. Jurado is an experimental folk artist, operating far differently from Mumford & Sons and other pop folk musicians. He employs an artistic technique called found sound on “Silver Donna” and “Suns in our Mind,” which involves the modification of everyday objects to create instruments. This is very much in the vein of what Jurado set out to do with Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun—the record

TOP SINGLES

1 Timber Pitbull feat. Ke$ha 2 Dark Horse Katy Perry feat. Juicy J 3 Counting Stars One Republic 4 Say Something A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera 5 Monster Eminem feat. Rihana 6 Let Her Go Passenger 7 Royals Lorde 8 Team Lorde

BROTHER AND SISTERS OF THE ETERNAL SUN DAMIEN JURADO PRODUCED BY SECRETLY CANADIAN RELEASED JAN. 21, 2014 OUR RATING

PHOTO COURTESY OF SECRETLY CANADIAN

‘Brothers and Sisters’ is a dicey, poetic work, broadly inaccessible, but rewarding for those open to its strangeness. is an unconventional reimagining of traditional folk styles. Swift and Jurado set out to create something so uncommercial in its appeal that at moments it can feel a bit forcibly manipulated and unnaturally orchestrated. The album’s most powerful moments come near the end, when this more experimental, hefty layering is cut away. “Silver Katherine” and “Silver Joy” operate on little more than a few soft lines of harmony and guitar. Exposed, Jurado’s shy voice is devastatingly brilliant, small and almost childlike in tone. Jurado

takes up a tone of vulnerability, reminiscent of Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, in these calm, relatively unaffected moments. So what is to be said of Jurado, a poetic voice in Seattle, aging and unknown? Well, there’s an uncommon sense of importance in Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun. Unlike the common folk music of the day, Jurado’s work seldom feels gratuitous or wanting of sophistication. Jurado has a gift of complex storytelling—he’s a mature artist willing to work on a very intellectual level.

While modern folk is accessible, popular in its appeal, Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun seems to pride itself on being cryptic and somewhat unattractive for those unwilling to spend a fair deal of time with the music. There aren’t many “ah-hah!” occasions on the album, but plenty of “huh?” lyrics along the way, and ultimately, this sense of mysterious feels apropos of the folk genre. Folk revivalist Jurado isn’t going anywhere—and for the ambitious listener, he’s certainly worth spending some time with. 

‘Mind Over Matter’ hovers between indie and mainstream BY MAGDALENA LACHOWICZ For The Heights

Sophomore efforts can make or break a musician. Oftentimes, a band will get caught in the abyss commonly known as “sophomore slump,” never to be heard from again—at least not at the same volume as they came roaring in at. Young the Giant can be said to have established a nice niche in the in-

die/alternative rock community, with its singles being played on national radio and breaking into the Billboard Charts. With Mind Over Matter, the band is not necessarily making any innovative moves, but instead is edging its way into a more mainstream wavelength. Overall, the album strays from the indie sound of the band’s selftitled debut, the songs packing a

significantly distinct anthem punch. Each track is highly relatable, with tales of uncertainty in life and love—a consistent theme of the record. It’s not a huge change from Young the Giant’s first album, but the style here is what separates the two. Each song flirts with optimism, every chorus invites singalongs, and the intermittent sweeping strings come together to pull far away from the melancholy present in their

MIND OVER MATTER YOUNG THE GIANT PRODUCED BY FUELED BY RAMEN RELEASED JAN. 21, 2014 OUR RATING

PHOTO COURTESY OF FUELED BY RAMEN

While Young The Giant’s more radio-friendly sound is appealing on ‘Mind Over Matter,’ it’s also average and formulaic.

previous work. This more mainstream sound, however, hurts Young the Giant just as much as it propels them into a wider audience. Although there is nothing wrong with being generic, Mind Over Matter falls into that pool over and over again. The string sections, however beautiful in their own right, feel contrived and forced. The lyrics are mediocre and lose the storytelling element that helped carry the previous album. The production is spot-on (having Justin MeldalJohnsen as a producer definitely aids in that area), and the band’s sound is refined and professional. Often, however, it feels like Young the Giant traded in its ratty jeans and band t-shirts for Armani suits—the group seems polished and ready to take on the big arenas, but has Young the Giant really matured into this new sound, or was it a premature development that came for want of commercial appeal? The eponymous lead single, “Mind Over Matter,” tackles the trials and tribulations of either long distance love or the girl that got away, however one wishes to interpret it. It is a catchy, toe-tapping anthem for the throes of missing someone, with violins to pull at the listener’s heart strings. Just recently released was the second single from the album, “Crystalized,” another love song about making home where one’s lover

is. The formula is the same here: toetapping beat, catchy tune and lyrics, with hopeful electronic keyboard as an accent. Further, as someone listening to these songs on the radio would go on to find out, the formula doesn’t change much. To speak individually of each song would be a rehashing of the one before it, maybe with a subtle change to the instrumentation or the fact that one is a ballad versus a true anthem. The variety here is lacking, though there is not anything intrinsically wrong with any one song. Mind Over Matter as a whole, however, is heavily formulaic. Young the Giant definitely played it safe, preferring to stick to something that works instead of taking chances with its sound. To say that Mind Over Matter is a bad album would be doing it an injustice. The band did, however, have the opportunity to really push ahead from its previous work, only instead to fall into the trap of mainstream glory. The spirit of previous singles such as “My Body” or “Cough Syrup” is still in here, just smothered under the weight of the desire to “make it.” The album works, its intent is clear, and the songs are uplifting and will make superb radio singles. Nevertheless, Young the Giant has effectively removed itself from the scene of indie musicianship and lost a bit of its character along the way. 

‘A Great Big’ ﬂop: a wasted debut from the indie-pop duo BY DAN LYLE For the Heights A Great Big World does not hide its intentions on its debut album Is There Anybody Out There?—every track is either a proud “Yes!” to the question posed in the title, or a solemn “I think so.” While the duo has noble ambitions, its intense positivity often comes across as naive. Taking on the nerd-pop sound championed by Fun. in previous years, A Great Big World does more to date Fun.’s sound than regenerate it. Many of the tracks on Is There Anybody Out There? are piano-driven, soft-rock tunes that are bouncy and kind of amusing, but as the album goes on, every track sounds more or less the same. The message is clearly positive, but oversimplified. “Rockstar,” the first track on the album, shows this from the outset. The song is about a boy and girl who wish to be (you guessed it) rockstars. The bouncing piano instrumental, the second grade-friendly lyrics, and the ad-libbing all combine into a song best suited for children. “I Really Want It” and “Shorty Don’t Wait” are also big-time abusers of this childish quality, and this goes beyond the lyricism. The musicality can feel oversimplified, as well.

A Great Big World has something of an ear for obvious repetition of piano chords, but when it combines this with upbeat music, the outcome is boring and uninventive. “This Is The New Year” the first single off the album, is unfortunately the biggest proponent of this bad habit. “Land of Opportunity,” a track complete with a tambourine, a New Orleans jazz breakdown, and something of an explosion toward the end of the track, is one of the more tolerable songs on the record, because of the different musical avenues explored with it. As the record’s second track, it is probably the most entertaining cut on the album. That isn’t saying much, however, when most of the tracks sound like they would fit perfectly in a horrible “coming-of-age” movie. A Great Big World shines on tracks that show off a deeper understanding of the album’s central concept—moments that focus on the vulnerability posed in the record’s title question, “Is there anybody out there?” It’s a question that doesn’t need to be answered directly. “Say Something” is the most popular song on the album, and rightly so, but it typically isn’t a great sign when a single can outshine an entire album. This song alone almost disproves any criticism of the duo’s repetitive

CHART TOPPERS

piano rhythms—the piano on this track does not change at all. The other instruments are essentially restricted, subtle. This soundscape is perfect for the lyrics of the song, which allude to more complicated emotion. It is a ballad about the feeling of wanting to leave someone, and also wanting that person to give you a reason not to go. The lyrics are gripping in a way otherwise unachieved on the

album, more in the vein of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know,” or in The Fray’s “Never Say Never” than the silly pop anthems dominating the rest of the record. “I Don’t Wanna Love Somebody Else” seems to serve as an expansion of feelings alluded to in “Say Something.” A better album would have had more tracks like these—not necessarily somber music like that of The

Fray, but tracks that lyrically are more willing to explore complex emotions. Songs like “Say Something” prove that A Great Big World is capable of creating this kind of meaningful art. The duo is obviously talented with a great ear for songs, construction, and arrangement. Hopefully A Great Big World’s fan base will demand more tracks that they can actually feel a little more grown up listening to. 

IS THERE ANYBOBY OUT THERE? A GREAT BIG WORLD PRODUCED BY EPIC RECORDS RELEASED JAN. 21, 2014 OUR RATING

PHOTO COURTESY OF EPIC RECORDS

Despite its strong single ‘Say Something,’ ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ is predictable and childish in its sound.

TOP ALBUMS

1 High Hopes Bruce Springsteen 2 Frozen Soundtrack Various Artists 3 Kidz Bop 25 Various Artists 4 Beyonce Beyonce 5 That Girl Jennifer Nettles Source: Billboard.com

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK BY RYAN DOWD

“GIVE ME BACK MY HOMETOWN” ERIC CHURCH

After the release and subsequent CMA performance of Eric Church’s single “The Outsiders,” anticipation for his upcoming album The Outsiders rose among not only country music fans but music fans in general. Folks are excited about a country singer who surrounds himself with a raging brigade of guitars. With the album set to be released Feb. 11, Church debuted “Give Me Back My Hometown,” the second single and first music video. “Give Me Back My Hometown” is softer fare than “The Outsiders.” The video, directed by Peter Zavadil, is a stylized introduction of the characters Church will examine in the album. It cuts between scenes of a wasteland funeral, a conniving blonde lady threatening, “You’re gonna do this my way,” and an Aviator -clad Church rolling through an underpass, traveling through the wasteland. It’s all very confusing. While the winding tone of the song matches the video’s style of cross-cutting, the lyrics are often hard to place within the workings of the video. More of the story still needs to be told. “Give Me Back My Hometown” has a similar nostalgic feel to his summer anthem “Springsteen.” While “Springsteen” is mostly wistful, though, “Give Me Back My Hometown” has more of a pleading edge to it. At the two minute mark, Church turns to camera and hammers home the refrain, demanding that they or we “give [him] back [his] hometown.” Church is an interesting country star. He doesn’t wear a cowboy hat. He wears Aviators. He doesn’t make a big deal out of drinking beer. He admits that Jack Daniel’s often kicks his ass. His biggest hit is named after a rock star (“Springsteen”). Maybe “Give Me” is dark and confusing, but unlike the music of his frolicking Florida Georgia Line counterparts, it’s confusing in a lot of the right ways. 

SINGLE REVIEWS BY LUIZA JUSTUS MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA “Top Notch” Angsty vocals and polluted guitars are the main components of the ﬂaming ball of energy “Top Notch.” The layers of distorted guitars give the song a powerful beginning, continuing into a quiet verse to build to an explosion of sound during the chorus. Warning: listening to this song too loudly on your headphones may cause permanent ringing in your ears.

TIMEFLIES “All The Way”

TREY SONGZ “Na Na” Listening to this weak piece of music is an unfortunate experience. It sounds like this genre-less duo attempted to use a pop song formula when creating this ﬁasco of a tune, with low-quality techno melodies reminiscent of Avicii’s new pop-country style (except not in a good way), and vocals that sound a little too much like One Direction for anyone’s good.

Following his usual style of singsong hiphop, Trey Songz delivers a catchy new tune. Although most of the lyrics consist of “oh na na na,” we give him a pass because the melody is quite easy on the ears. Heavily autotuned (who’s surprised?) but with a smooth rhythm, this song won’t be a hit but is a decent addition to his repertoire.

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 23, 2014

WILEY’S FOLLIES

SCENE Style Retouched beauty: Students balance style and sophistication for intern fair changing bodies INTERVIEWS BY: MICHELLE TOMASSI | ASST. ARTS EDITOR PHOTOS BY: EMILY SADEGHIAN | HEIGHTS EDITOR

and saving face

Style: Clean and understated. “I don’t try to wear anything too flashy. You can be obnoxious if you dress with a super nice suit and bright colors.” Store of choice: Brooks Brothers Advice on dressing professionally: “Make sure everything fits well.”

JOHN WILEY

EARNESTIENA CHENG, CSOM ’15 Style: Business casual Stores of choice: Banana Republic, Ann Taylor. “They have really good sales. I got this dress for like 12 bucks!” Balancing work and play: “I like business casual because you can get more color and play with more patterns and designs. Business professional is more simple, with blacks and whites, but you can’t have as much fun with that style.”

KRISTIN RAYBURN, A&S ’15

RILEY COLEMAN, CSOM ’15

Style: Comfortable prep. “During my summer internship, I wore what was most comfortable, because it’s important for an eight-hour workday. It should be comfy, cute, and appropriate for the workplace.” Store of choice: J.Crew Advice on dressing for an internship: “Dress conservatively. Even if you have a great personal style, if you’re wearing low-cut shirts or short skirts, it’s just not appropriate.”

Style: Professional with a slim fit Store of choice: Theory (for suits) Most important tip to remember: “Just try to look neat, and don’t forget your blazer.”

OLIVIA CIARDI, A&S ’14

ABIGAIL DIAMOND, LSOE ’15

Style: Classic with an edge. “I like to have a pop of color, or a stud—something to make it stand out and a little different.” Stores of choice: Gap for pants and tops, along with department stores like Bloomingdale’s and Lord and Taylor Advice on dressing for an interview: “Dress confidently. Don’t wear something you’re not comfortable in, because it will show.”

JOHN LEE, CSOM ’15

Style: Relaxed with a hint of color. “I try to do color, like my shoes right now, but I try to be a little more neutral for the job.” Stores of choice: J.Crew, Banana Republic, Madewell How she incorporates her style into professional wear: “Since I’m in teaching, it’s not as structured as some other businesses. I like to wear dresses, and I do a lot of stripes and polka dots.”

FASHION FORWARD

‘One Size Fits Most’ is an inherently exclusionary policy Brandy Melville’s sizing system, or lack thereof, is discouraging to women who don’t want to ‘fit in’

THERESE TULLY For many of us, the glorious days of high school meant a lot of concerted effort focused on fitting in. Although not true across the board, the pressure to conform and be validated by our peers was strong. I like to believe that as we age, many of us are slowly but surely growing out of this habit and moving away from this impossible need. Even if this desire to fit in does not entirely dissipate as we grow up, it can be helpful to simply distinguish the difference between “fitting in” and being accepted exactly as you are. Unfortunately, there are some members of the fashion industry who are hell-bent on keeping us forever 13 and seeking to fit in, in more ways than one. One such brand is Brandy Melville. Let me start by saying that I have only recently begun to explore this brand. A snowy downtown adventure to Newbury Street revealed that this brand had a new store in town. After hearing about the clothes for years now, I figured it was time to see what all the fuss was about. Boston’s store displayed lots of crop tops, oversized chunky knit sweaters, fabulously cheap accessories, incredibly soft tees, and a shocking lack of size tags. A friend let me know that this was pretty typical “Brandy,” which runs with a “One Size Fits Most” policy. While many of the styles were loose-fitting and would be able to accommodate a variety of shapes, I was completely baffled by the concept. Why remove sizes? Even

if one size fits most, this doesn’t mean that it is flattering on most. We are all built differently, and offering a variety of sizes, even if merely from small to extra large, allows a shopper to find the most flattering piece for herself. It was intriguing to hear the phrasing of Brandy’s sizing scheme, “One Size Fits Most.” It seems we have moved in a direction of political correctness away from “One Size Fits All,” but still, simply why? This is rarely, if ever, true, even when it comes to accessories. I personally have a huge head and those one size fits all hats do not accommodate my aforementioned head plus crazy curly hair. But this is not the problem. Yes, the phrasing has become more politically correct, but that doesn’t make it actually okay. “Most” excludes more of the population in this case than people would like to admit. There is no way those crop tops would fit my generally average-sized body the way they would a much smaller girl. And this is only one example. One size fits most is simply not how the world works. The girls wandering this store were mostly in their teens and 20s. According to statistics compiled by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), “91 percent of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting.” Women in this country have a notoriously tense relationship with their bodies and their physical appearances, and we don’t need any statistics to tell us this. We all struggle in some way, and battles with weight are so incredibly common that it seems insane not to support each other, and demand that the fashion industry support us as well. Why must a line of maxi skirts and plaid shirts make us all feel just a little bit worse about ourselves? The moral of the story is this: the

clothes at Brandy Melville are generally pretty cute if you are into that sort of look, and they are reasonably priced for what they are. The clothes are trendy, fun, and young. But they are also, ultimately, exclusionary. The rules our mothers taught us on the playground are still valid—it’s nice to include everyone. I know it sounds incredibly naive to say, but what is the point of making someone feel lousy while she tries to buy a t-shirt? Even on a practical level, why would a company choose to limit its customer base to such an extent? People who cannot comfortably fit in Brandy Melville one size fits most styles—as well as those opposed to the ideals that the company is hold-

ing up—will, in time, come to walk out the door even in the face of a fabulous floppy maroon hat that they may really want (just saying). At age 22, I am tired of proving to the world that I want to fit in—whether it is into Brandy Melville’s styles or in any other way. I don’t want to fit in, and I shouldn’t have to. I will continue to shop at stores that cater to all women, no matter what the small printed number on the tiny label on the inside of their clothes says. Don’t give me the size that fits most: give me the size I need.

Therese Tully is a senior staff columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRANDY MELVILLE WESTWOOD VILLAGE

Brandy Melville’s clothes are trendy, yet restrict customers in conforming to a single size.

Starting this spring, women shopping at Aerie, American Eagle’s intimate division, will be interacting with the new face—or perhaps more accurately, new body—of the brand. The Aerie Real campaign marks a shift in the brand’s philosophy, away from the airbrushing practices which have become a broad standard of fashion industry. “No more retouching our girls and no more supermodels,” states one ad. “Because there is no reason to retouch beauty. The real you is sexy.” The Aerie Real campaign reflects a trend in retail toward advertising with models that more closely represent the people walking into stores. In many cases, customers are becoming more sophisticated advocates for themselves and rejecting brands that come across as mean-spirited, the prime example here being Abercrombie & Fitch, the largest competitor to American Eagle. Oddly, Abercrombie has recently been receiving an onslaught of bad publicity for comments made by CEO Mike Jeffries in 2006—the height of the brand’s appeal—about its practice of marketing “to cool, good-looking people.” Public backlash over social media, surrounding the company’s exclusionary marketing tactics, could arguably be a cause in last year’s dramatic decline in Abercrombie stock, which dropped 28 percent in value over 12 months. To tie Abercrombie’s poor performance to the controversial remarks of its CEO, however, is a very nearsighted view of the retail industry. The decline of “aesthetic” brands has been the reality of retail over the last decade—put simply, fashion is no longer about keeping up with the cool kids. The rise of highly responsive brands like Zara—which use technology to keep up with whoever happens into their stores—means the success of fashion lines now has less to do with forecasting and preserving a certain image and more to do with relating to customers, polling them for opinions, and presenting what seems like an ethical brand. Aerie Real isn’t just an ethical decision for American Eagle—it’s smart business. Retail, however, necessarily tends to be the more loving arm of the fashion industry. High fashion, on the other hand, is by definition an art of exclusionary. The content of women’s magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan has long been the fodder for feminist critics, who have seen in the extreme photoshopping practices of these magazines a war on female anatomy. Recently, feminist blog Jezebel offered a $10,000 reward for anyone who could produce the non-photoshopped versions of images of Lena Dunham featured in Vogue. The website racked up over a million views with the alternate images of the Girls actress, but ultimately, it saw the incident turn into negative press for Jezebel—the move was widely received as a bullying tactic that targeted Dunham, rather than Vogue. The outcome of the Dunham incident presents an important insight into public attitudes toward photoshopping in magazines—by and large, it’s something readers are still willing to look past. Fashion magazines and runways have long served as a source of fantasy, and though they maintain a scant illusion of it, the avenues of high fashion are not catalogues. The more the runway looks like Main Street, the less we see reason for it to exist. It’s difficult to imagine high fashion existing without its destructive practices, like airbrushing and dehydrating models, and while the culture of the industry has seen some reform over the past few years, the visual language of the art is synonymous with the absurdity of it all. Dress it up however you like, but high fashion’s obsession with impossible standards is a fatal love affair. Runway fashion isn’t just unhealthy, it’s dying. If the popularity of Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” and alternate sources of style like Humans of New York indicate anything, it’s that the fashion bubble is bound to pop. Movements such as Aerie Real are doing something more than just cleaning up the ethics of modeling practices—they’re refocusing fashion on the individual. Modeling, as we know it, is a dated practice. The new face of fashion is less a mannequin and more a mirror. It’s less Abercrombie’s marketing strategy to target the “cool, good-looking people,” and something more to the tune of Aerie’s new catchphrase, “The real you is sexy.” The retouchers of the human body will continue to make profits while they can, but at the end of the day, they’re riding a dinosaur to extinction.

John Wiley is the Arts & Review Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

The Heights

Email opinions@bcheights.com

Thursday, January 23, 2014

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THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 23, 2014

THIS WEEK IN... BY KELLY COLEMAN | FOR THE HEIGHTS

GETTIN’ DOMESTIC

EDUCATION

MUSIC

LADIES

CUISINE

Hack Harvard and Harvard College Venture Partners are working in collaboration to bring the people of Boston a two-day crash course in entrepreneurship, entitled Winter Xcelerate. Taught by Harvard alumni who have succeeded in their entrepreneurial pursuits, the class will cover everything from how to write one’s own business plan to venture capitalism. The lectors will discuss how the alumni began their businesses, how they have expanded, and how far they have come since. The second day’s lessons include “Why Entrepreneurship?” delivered by Mike Salguero and Seth Rosen, CEO and CFO of CustomMade, respectively. Professor David Ager, a professor at Harvard Business School, will follow presenting “Innovation Process Case Discussion.” Allan Telio of the Startup Institute of Boston will lecture on “Sales for Early Stage Startups” and Abby Fichtner, author of The Hacker Chick, will discuss “Discovering the Right Product for Your Startup.”

The Echo Nest, a website for music discovery technology, recently announced its newest technology, Music Popcorn. Like Pandora, Music Popcorn allows users to browse for new music based on genre and to explore songs similar to ones they have selected. Echo Nest, however, is taking it a step further—with today’s music industry containing far more genres than the standard “classical” or “rock,” Music Popcorn allows users to search through over 800 sub-genres of the broad categories to which users are accustomed. According to an article highlighting the new technology on Bostinno.com, “Each genre includes its own name, bio, keyword search, and a trio of radio presets–Core, Rotation and Emerging–that allows you to listen to the songs that best represent that genre, the songs currently played the most frequently from that genre, and the up-and-coming songs within that genre, respectively.”

The Lady Project is a non-profit organization that “connects, inspires, and showcases awesome women doing amazing things” in their community “through membership, events, and community engagement,” according to the project’s official website. The Boston branch, the BOS Lady Project, will host its first event on Thursday, Jan. 22, at Workbar Cambridge from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. There will be three female inspirational speakers who will share their stories in three minutes each. The women come from diverse backgrounds, career levels, and industries. The events will be held monthly at different locations throughout Boston so women can interact and get inspired by other women in their local community. Each event benefits a local charity that is either run by a woman or benefits women in need. The Lady Project was born in Providence, R.I., but has since expanded to Boston and New Haven, Conn.

An exciting new eatery, Aurum, had its grand opening Saturday, Jan.18. Replacing Kennedy Fried Chicken, Aurum is located on 377A Centre Street in Jamaica Plain. The Lebanese menu was inspired by owner Matthew Virzi and manager Andrea Belangers’ childhood meals. The pair “couldn’t think of a better idea than adopting that memory evoking dough and adding fillings with fresh and wholesome ingredients,” according to Boston.com. The restaurant menu includes “homemade baked goods … and nourishing, healthy meals.” The staple of the restaurant’s menu is the homemade pies made with “pita-inspired dough” that are stuffed with various fillings. The duo has high hopes that their restaurant will not only be a place to consume delectable eats, but will also serve as a community in which music can be played and the walls can be decorated with local artwork.

BOSTON POLICE BLOTTER

This upcoming weekend, the Boston Home Show will be held at Cruiseport Boston, located at 1 Black Falcon Ave. The Home Show is an annual event in which industry experts display hundreds of home improvement products and ser vices—ever ything from kitchen and bathroom appliances to windows and siding . Homeowners can wander around and investigate the newest ways to improve their homes. There will be an estimated $40,000 in giveaways as well. The Home Show will take place on Saturday, Jan. 25 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Jan. 26 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is free admission and free parking on a first come first serve basis. In past years, companies such as South Shore Dream Bath, Atlantic Soapstone Creations, and Cutting Edge Homes have had booths at the show.

BOSTON FOODIE

Popular juice and smoothie bar opens a second location

January 14 Suspect Climbs in Through Kitchen Window and Bolts Front Door Breaking & Entering - About 7:23 p.m. Officers received a radio call to Radcliffe Road. Officers spoke to victim who stated she came home to find her front door dead bolted. Victim entered through the rear door and found that her apartment had been broken into. Computer and iPhone reported stolen. January 15 Masked - Armed Suspects Demand Money. Attempted Robbery-firearm - About 7:56 p.m. Officers received a radio call to Rogers Park Avenue for a robbery in progress. Officers met with victims who stated that while they were walking through Rogers Park, two unknown males wearing all black, with masks, approached them and screamed, “Give me your money.” Suspects produced a firearm and screamed again, “Give me your money.” Victims fled from the park. Nothing was taken from the victims. Suspect Loses Cool and Throws Hot Coffee. Investigate property - About 11:14 a.m. Officers were flagged down at Washington Street by the victim who stated he was at the Sunoco Gas Station when the suspect approached the victim and yelled, “You just cut me off!” and proceeded to threaten the victim and members of his family. The suspect threw a cup of coffee inside the victim’s car and fled.

Source – The Boston Police Department

HOUSE AD

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOSTON MAGAZINE

Overcoming personal struggle, owner sees eatery as source of healing B Y M AGGIE P OWERS Heights Editor

A name like Nourish Your Soul truly speaks to the larger mission behind Susan Cabana’s juice and smoothie bars. With a second location that only opened a week ago in South Boston, Cabana is certainly busy conveying this passion to her customers. Cabana opened the original Nourish Your Soul location in Medford, Mass. after a string of personal difficulties. At age 37, Cabana lost her husband suddenly. “When I lost my husband, I started eating healthier when I decided I really wanted to live again for my kids,” she explained. Then, in 2009, she lost her long-term job with Putnam Investments. This was the catalyst she needed to transform her passion for health into a career. “When I lost my job in ’09 I wanted to work towards something meaningful,” she said. After studying at NYC’s wholistic Institute for Integrative Nutrition, completing the Prana teaching-training program, and gaining her certification through yoga alliance, Cabana is well versed in all aspects of the health-focused lifestyle she preaches at her stores. While the menu boasts tempting offerings such as the ppm juice (pineapple, pear, and mint) or the chocolate-covered berry smoothie, each one has an intentional nutritional benefit. Each juice or smoothie comes with an explanation of the health benefits. For example, listed next to the beet blend, made of beets, pear, lemon, and cucumber, there is a simple explanation: “rich in nutrients, beets increase circulation for improved focus while vitamin-rich pear, cleansing lemon, and cooling cucumber add flavor and nutrients.” The idea for her business grew out of a need for the product. “When I started with clients

they were saying it [juicing] was difficult to keep up with,” Cabana said. Juicing requires large amounts of produce, she explained. Thus, the idea of making the juices for her clients was born. Nourish Your Soul’s most popular option is green juice, made of kale, romaine, parsley, spinach, cucumber, lemon, and apple. “I’m really passionate about the juices,” she continued. “I worked really hard to make them appealing on a broad level.” She makes sure all the juices both taste good and provide health benefits. The opening of the new South Boston location has made Cabana busier than ever. “I love the Boston location, but there’s still some education that needs to happen,” she said. “There’s a higher price point, but it’s so worth spending your money on health.” While this trend seems to be prevalent in other parts of the country, such as California, Cabana recognizes that there is a way to go in Boston. “I love that I’m on the beginning part of that

LOCATION: South Boston CUISINE: Juice and Smoothies SIGNATURE DISH: Green Juice trend,” she said. “I hope to provide something that isn’t already there.” Nourish Your Soul focuses on a comprehensive mission that offers yoga, juices, smoothies, and cleanse products. It even offers an online store. “It’s more about the store front,” Cabana said. “We do deliver to homes and yoga studios, but we don’t ship.” She explains that she likes that she can remain connected to yoga studios and clients this way. Cabana’s overwhelming sense of strength and passion drive her business forward. “I’ve been through this kind of difficult journey … right now I can actually offer a really healthy product that makes it convenient,” she said. “I feel every time I do that I heal a little further.”

The Heights

Bennet’s Banter

Insatiable thirst for technology Bennet Johnson When I was a kid, I had a predilection for electronics. I had almost every electronic device known to a 12-year-old boy. These ranged from the Nintendo Gameboy to the Xbox 360, and much more recently, the iPad. When young pre-teen boys hang out together, there is no controversy over what will be on the docket for the evening’s festivities. The first step was always to find something to eat. We rummaged through the snack cabinets around midnight in order to find whatever cookies, popcorn, or soda we could find. My parents would look at us disapprovingly—they knew that we should all be in bed, or doing something better with our time. But I think they understood that boys will be boys, as we all scurried down to the basement. We poured each other a glass of Coke, stuck our hands into the bag of popcorn, and turned on the TV. We would then engage in as many different types of video games as possible until one of us fell asleep. We were all so young. With no homework or college apps to think about, no parties to go to, and no girls to worry about, our biggest concerns were our stats in Xbox or computer games. Although I have matured from my childish days of sitting in front of the television screen with my buddies until the wee hours of the morning, I still have not lost my love for technology. In my senior year of high school, I was accepted into my school’s Advanced Math Research Program. My goal was to take my passion for helping disabled kids and incorporate it into my interest in technology and math. Throughout the year, I researched how the iPad could improve communication with autistic children. By the end of my research, I could see direct improvement with the children’s verbal skills. Most importantly, I was able to determine a few apps that were successful and recommend those to autistic families. The iPad worked wonders for these children, and it poses numerous opportunities for educational advancements for them in the future. There’s no doubt that technology plays a huge role in our society. We see it everywhere we go. It has escalated to the point where people will stand in line for hours just to get their hands on the latest iPhone or iPad. The trend has spread across the world, and our obsession with technology looks like it will only continue to grow in the future. According to a study by Forrester Research, there will be 82.1 million tablet users in the United States by 2015. Tablet computer users are also spending their money on millions of different apps. On average, each owner spends $34 on apps for his or her tablet. The allure of such things? They are extremely useful. This week, I had the opportunity to interview a Boston College alum who is the co-founder of a fitness app called BeActiveTogether. Hannah Freilich graduated BC and then went on to become a teacher for Boston Public Schools. It wasn’t until this year that she made the transition into entrepreneurship. With the help of her cofounder Mai Tang, BC ’09, the two created BeActiveTogether—an app designed to pair fitness-minded users and encourage a healthy lifestyle. What’s unique about this app is that it’s off to a miraculous start. Since opening on Jan. 1, BeActiveTogether already has 350 users, and it is looking to expand to college campuses and gyms across the state of Massachusetts. People will take advantage of Freilich’s app because of our intrinsic nature as modern Americans. We all love our tech devices, and if we can combine them with something that we are also interested in—like exercise—this will create something that is both useful and entertaining. It doesn’t matter if you are using your latest gadget for entertainment, tackling issues with autism, or pursuing your fitness goals for the new year. The numerous benefits of these devices prove they are crucial to almost every aspect of our daily lives. If there is a trend for our technology use in the future, it is clear: We are not going to stop.

Bennet Johnson is the Asst. Metro Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at metro@bcheights.com.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

BU Methodists send letters to the imprisoned MLK, from B10 life-giving.” Cushman said. “We hoped to learn from the difficulty of their situation, as the LGBTQ community faces a whole different set of struggles in addition to the normal struggles of being incarcerated.” In reviving community service on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the students sought to look back on the social progress that society has made and look ahead to the work that is yet to be done. “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was originally intended as a day of service for the community, and that has oftentimes been forgotten,” Cushman said. “We wanted to do something that was not destructive, but rather something constructive that visibly shows our willingness to work with and support the LGBTQ population.” With founders who served as members of the United Methodist Church, the STH’s support of the GLBTQ population is a progressive step for both communities. With many students preparing to work in ministry, to become pastors, or to be involved with the United Methodist Church in other ways, the relationship between these two parties is especially relevant. “In the spectrum of the BU community, and specifically within the Methodist population, this is an issue dear to our hearts,” Cushman said. “We have a community of LGBTQ students in the School of Theology who feel they are called to do ministry in the Methodist Church. Thus, this affected us very deeply.”

The students’ intentional focus on the GLBTQ community stemmed from their dissatisfaction with church trials. Last November, controversy arose from the church trial of Rev. Frank Schaefer. Schaefer, a Methodist pastor from Pennsylvania, was brought on church trial for officiating the gay marriage of his son. He was found guilty, and was forced to either recant his support of gay marriage or voluntarily surrender his credentials. He refused to do either, and as a result was defrocked. In response, students gathered to show their disapproval of the Schaefer trial, and, on a larger scale, their disapproval of all church trials. “Even though the Frank Schaefer trial was a catalyst, it is the culture and the climate of church trials that is really problematic,” Cushman said. “It is not merely an issue in the past that we are trying to protest, but rather an entire culture and way of doing things that we think is toxic, and does not line up with what the Gospel calls us to do.” By openly supporting Black and Pink , the Methodist students were challenging the strained relationship between the Methodist Church and the GLBTQ community. “We wanted to communicate that we, the future pastors and future ministers of the Methodist Church, are still very committed to the Methodist Church, but we are no longer allowing this intolerance to go on,” Cushman said. “That relationship has to change, as it is putting the ministry in jeopardy—for both those that are gay,

Photo Courtesy of Colin Cushman

The group partnered with Black and Pink, a group that supports incarcerated GLBTQ individuals. lesbian, or queer, and for those that are straight who will be called to perform gay marriages in the future.” However, complete tolerance within the Methodist Church is yet to be achieved, as support for the GLBTQ community is still very much divided geographically. “In more conservative regions, such as the Southern ‘Bible Belt,’ there is a lot of resistance to inclusion,” Cushman said. “In other, more liberal regions, such as the Pacific Northwest, there is a greater move towards acceptance between the two communities.” Ultimately, the students’ day of service with Black and Pink was intended to provide hope and reassurance to inmates affected by the problematic prison environment. “We wanted to communicate to the

incarcerated LGBTQ population that there are people in this world that care about them, who know their humanity, and who want to recognize it,” Cushman said. This progressive effort also communicated a larger goal—an improved relationship between the Church and the GLBTQ population. “We hope that we communicate strongly that the United Methodist Church is not just made up of hateful, intolerant people, but there are a lot of people within the church that feel passionately about this issue,” Cushman said. “We wanted to communicate that the Gospel is not an exclusionary, oppressive message, but rather a life-giving, liberating force that communicates God’s love for the world.” n

BeActiveTogether app helps maintain fitness BeActiveTogether, from B10

Photo Courtesy of Northeastern University’s Entrepreneurs Club

A crowd gathered to hear the founder of Reddit speak at an event the club hosted.

InnoWeekend will prepare students to build companies InnoWeekend, from B10 the Entrepreneurs Club not only raises interest in entrepreneurship, but also touts the message that potentially lucrative ventures are not only for business majors. Their push for involvement has garnered results. According to Winton, the Entrepreneurs Club is one of the largest on Northeastern’s campus. Just four years ago, she said, there were typically only around 10 people at the club’s weekly meetings. Now, club president Casey Hogan leads the club’s 23 board members, and, just last week, 500 students gathered at an event the club sponsored, where Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian encouraged students to try out their own ventures. InnoWeekend strives to help students do just that. The event takes students through the steps required to start a company. On Saturday morning, for example, the students will focus on customer development, the process of determining whether or not there is a market for their service. For Winton, a love of innovation has helped her to compile an impressive resume. She is the director of business development at Greenhorn Connect, which is an online resource for Boston’s startup community, and a technical sales intern at Yesware, a startup that provides an email productivity service for salespeople. When she arrived at Northeastern for her freshman year, she said that she tried out the usual gamut of school organizations until she landed at the Entrepreneurs Club. “That was actually the only one that stuck,” she said. The daughter of two entrepreneurs, Winton grew up surrounded by innovation. Her mother, Jeanette Winton, started Market Pro Shows, a computer trade show business. After taking several years off to raise her daughter, she starte d Market Pro Homes , a company that flips houses. Her father, Greg Winton, was involved in interior design trade shows—which sold everything from carpets to furniture. Most recently, he founded the Aviation Law Firm.

Following in her parents’ footsteps, Winton is at the heart of Boston’s startup community at Greenhorn Connect. “Greenhorn Connect is a hub for students and startup enthusiasts in Boston to find out about events and resources that have to do with entrepreneurship in the Boston startup community,” Winton said. Greenhorn Connect’s web platform documents what is currently happening in the city’s startup community for those that wish to keep track, and the organization hosts several events throughout the year for those interested in entrepreneurship, such as an event called Greenhorn Summit, a one-day conference for students from several colleges. Prominent members of the city’s startup community give lectures advising students on how to begin and develop entrepreneurial ventures. Currently, Greenhorn Connect is working on having students build valuable connections with startup owners. Instead of having speakers at a distance on a stage, the leaders of Greenhorn Connect are hoping for students and startup owners to gather at an event where they can directly mingle. Winton said that startups are eager to hire students in the Boston area. Many people she has met through her work in the startup community excitedly build connections and offer to provide her with assistance. “The startup ecosystem here is extremely welcoming,” she said. “Everyone is very open to helping other people get involved.” Winton said that Boston startups are aware of the benefit of hiring energetic students fresh out of college. Therefore, Winton said that students should not wait until they are older to become involved in entrepreneurship. In fact, she said, getting involved in the startup community when one is young, without families and other prominent responsibilities, may be a wise decision. Now, Winton said, is the time to get started. “You can start a company when you’re 19 and people aren’t going to think you’re stupid, and if they do, they’re wrong,” she said. n

found it difficult to meet with her friends, due to their varied and busy schedules. Rather than allowing this to stymie her fitness pursuits, Freilich chose to create BeActiveTogether in hopes of connecting fitness-minded individuals, while also filling the void left by her friends. “Rather than making my friends do it with me, I thought it would be cool to find people who were interested in the same activities,” Freilich said. “I was also interested in getting involved in some new fitness activities that have emerged, like Zumba and boxing.” As a math teacher for secondary education, Freilich lacked some of the key skills needed to make her idea a reality. Her big break came when she reconnected with Tang. Freilich described Tang, who has a background in finance and accounting, as a natural businesswoman, which made her the perfect person to provide the technical skills needed to launch an app. BeActiveTogether launched on Jan. 1, and it currently has about 350 users scattered across the Boston area. Freilich’s long-term goal is to have hundreds of thousands of users and to offer specific activities ranging from basketball to yoga. BeActiveTogether currently offers a wide variety of features to individuals. The app has a search tool through which individuals can search for people by zip code, college, or immediate location. Users can also input their workout schedules directly into the app, so they can sync their schedules with those of other users. Another key feature is a list of 30 activities, which includes ideas such as golf and snowboarding. Users can also create a custom profile, which allows them to search for a workout buddy by gender, specific network, or level of experience. Freilich credits much of her early success to her BC education. “Even though my education was based in

teaching, I took a wide variety of classes,” she said. “My education prepared me to learn more about different areas like finance, marketing, and advertising as I go.” The app is ea sily accessible to college students throughout Massachusetts, according to Freilich. While the app is currently only available for iPhones, Freilich and Tang’s goal is to expand to the Android market in the near future. “Our overall target audience is anyone who likes to stay active and be healthy,” Freilich said. “Our two main audiences are college-aged kids, and then young professionals transitioning into the workplace and new homes.” Freilich hopes that the app will offer college students a way to meet one another, while also staying active. Freilich was not a fitness fanatic during her college years, but she now realizes the potential of her app on the marketplace. “I myself was not a regular Plexgoer,” she said. “I know staying in shape can be an obstacle with other distractions like going out, or spending late nights eating, but I feel like college is a great time to meet people, and this app offers another way to meet people while getting active.” Aside from reaching out to local colleges and gyms, BeActiveTogether is sponsoring different events to bring attention to the app. On Feb. 2, the app will sponsor two individuals in the Fight For Air Climb. This event is a vertical race up one of Boston’s skyscrapers to benefit the American Lung Association. Freilich hopes to raise awareness about social fitness by building a presence on Facebook and Twitter, as well as by traveling to different schools and gyms in the upcoming months. For any future students looking to get involved in entrepreneurship, Freilich offered a piece of advice. “Just got for it,” she said. “Jump in and take your idea as far as it can go. You never know what will happen.” n

Bennet Johnson / Asst. Metro Editor

Hannah Freilich, BC ’09, launched a new app called BeActiveTogether this month.

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Snow storm leads to delays and school closures Snow, from B10 tration I did not want to be having a press conference about snow, but here we are,” Walsh told journalists in the lobby outside his office in City Hall on Tuesday. The parking ban was lifted at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning. Governor Deval Patrick was scheduled to deliver his final State of the Commonwealth address from City Hall on Tuesday evening. Due to the severity of Tuesday night’s weather conditions, however, Patrick postponed the address and sent state employees home early, urging private employers to do the same. “I’m worried about folks being on the road,” Patrick said to The Boston Globe. “It’s probably not a good idea to have people ski or snowshoe to the State of the Commonwealth.” Patrick has declared that the address will be next Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. Other cancellations included a meeting of the State House to vote on a transportation bond bill, as well as a presentation by MGM Springfield to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Both events have been rescheduled for Wednesday and Thursday mornings, respectively. The governor was constitutionally required to file his state budget with the House clerk on Wednesday morning, which he did without delay. Up to 10 to 14 inches were fore-

years, when, in 1956, the Chinatown library branch was torn down. Residents have been outspoken about a need for a new library since. Ten years ago, the CPA youth program began a campaign to bring a library to Chinatown, arguing that a library would, according to Kim, “provide access to books and computers to those who otherwise might not have them, as well as serve as a place for classes and a community center where the people of Chinatown can interact.” This issue has reached the public’s attention due to continued efforts by the CPA and, most recently, a protest by the children at the Young Achievers School. The Young Achievers School is a social

Chinatown deserves its library SARAH MOORE

KEN KOONS / AP PHOTO

Snowfall this week dumped inches of snow not only in the Northeast and the Midatlantic, but also in the Midwest, as pictured above in Iowa. casted for parts of Boston and its surrounding areas, yet the city only received 4.2 inches from Janus’ snowfall. The season total has now reached 33.4 inches, which is 14.1 inches above average. This time last year, the city had received only 7.4 inches total. The high amount of powder has taken a toll on the Transportation Department’s finances: the agency re-

ported spending $38 million on snow removal thus far, which nears their allotted budget for the entire season. The transportation department reportedly had 4,000 pieces of equipment working to clear the streets the past 48 hours. Flight schedules at Logan Airport have also taken a hit—one third of all flights were cancelled on Tuesday, as well as a quarter of Wednesday flights.

Due to the manageable amount of snow, many universities delayed opening or cancelled Wednesday’s morning classes instead of shutting down for the day. Boston University, Harvard University, and Boston College all opened Wednesday at 11 a.m. Northeastern University cancelled all classes after 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday and reopened at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. 

For over ﬁfty years, Chinatown has lacked a library Library, from B10

T FOR TWO

justice school located in Mattapan. Students had been focusing on literacy and access to literature when they learned that Chinatown did not have a library. The students then contacted the CPA and were interested in staging a protest for this issue as part of a service day in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The CPA, according to Kim, opted to call it an advocacy walk designed to raise awareness about the issue, rather than a protest. “The advocacy walk allowed young students to engage with the Chinatown community and gain experience being agents of change,” Situ said. “Their service goes along with what they’re learning about in school and even allows them to take action on the things

they’re learning about, which is something very special.” On Friday afternoon, The Boston Globe reported, the children of the Young Achievers School marched from the Chinatown gate to City Hall chanting, “We want justice. We want it now!” Along with their march and chant, the children read poems, sang songs, gave speeches, and handed out pamphlets detailing the importance of public libraries and establishing one in Chinatown. The march ended directly in front of City Hall, where the children met with city officials, according to the Globe. The officials, including Councilor Michelle Wu, promised to engage talks with Mayor Martin J. Walsh, WCAS ’09, in order to provide Chinatown with

the resources, and perhaps the library, it lacks. “Mayor Walsh had the issue brought to his attention and was very responsive,” Situ said. “Walsh pledged to bring back the library to the community that so desperately wants it.” Although the advocacy walk was done to gain the attention of the mayor and city officials, there was another intended audience. The children marched through the streets of Boston in lieu of just protesting outside of City Hall. The symbolic walk strove to bring the need for a library in Chinatown to the attention of average Bostonians. “Everyone can participate in this effort,” Situ said. “Everyone can play a part.” 

COLLEGIATE ROUND-UP BY MAGGIE MARETZ | HEIGHTS STAFF

BOSTON UNIVERSITY

BU innovators strive to build Amazon delivery drones Last month, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that the online shopping company would begin to offer delivery by drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to clients within a 10-mile radius of distribution centers. In theory, this has been viewed as a bright and innovative future for consumers who are trying their goods, but Amazon still faces many obstacles before this idea becomes a reality, including approval of its flight plans by the Federal Aviation Administration. Many innovators, including those at Boston University, have sought out the opportunity to design the UAVs like the ones in Amazon’s plan and learn more about the technology, recognizing the potential for expansion in what is a promising field. One 30-member organization of engineering majors divided into smaller groups last semester, with more senior members working with newcomers in order to

HARVARD Harvard University’s undergraduate drama troupe, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, announced on Friday that it would award their title of “Woman of the Year” to Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren. The Hasty Pudding Theatricals is one of the oldest undergraduate drama organizations in the country, originating in the late 18th century. It traditionally names one man and one woman of the year, honoring these individuals for their remarkable achievements and contributions to the field of entertainment. In the past, the award has gone to prominent actors and actresses such as Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, and Robert DeNiro. On Jan. 30, Helen Mirren, like the many recipients that have come before her, will be honored with a parade, a roast, and a ceremonial pudding pot. The winner of the “Man of the Year” will be announced at a later date.

build four-rotor UAVs that can be flown safely and without glitches. On Tuesday, the members successfully flew a series of UAVs that they researched, designed, and developed in a park near campus. “Seeing them in flight changes everything,” said John Aleman, vice president of the group, according to BU Today. Now that the UAVs operate properly, the team has turned its attention to competitions and sponsorship. Its plan is to enter the International Aerial Robotics Competition as well as the Wildlife Conservation UAV Challenge, and it is also hoping to partner with aerospace companies that can provide the team with funds. Although the team currently consists of only engineering majors, Aleman says the organization is open to anyone with an interest in the field, regardless of his or her experience or academic background.

MIT MIT researchers may have devised a way to enhance treatment for victims of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This psychological condition is caused by extremely traumatic events such as battle or violent attack, and it is characterized by extreme anxiety and depression in its victims. A common form of psychotherapy that is used for PTSD is to help patients re-experience the trauma within a now-safe environment, allowing them to make better sense of what happened to them. This can be problematic, because victims often subconsciously block the memory or are not treated until it is too far in the past to recall properly. MIT has discovered, however, that administering a drug called an HDAC2 inhibitor to mice makes the brains of mice—and therefore their memories—more malleable, according to The Boston Globe. This could mean that the university has discovered a way to increase the ability of a human suffering from PTSD to override old, fearful memories and form new, better ones in their place.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA

EMERSON Starting last Thursday, Emerson’s Huret and Spector Gallery will host the art exhibition Oppositional Realities, according to Emerson’s official website. Curated by students, the exposition will feature a series of pieces that explore the connection between artistic works, space, and culture. The exposition is free and open to the public, and it will be held in the Huret and Spector Gallery through Feb. 28. Those interested in finding the gallery can find it in the Tufte Performance and Production Center, located on the sixth floor of 10 Boylston Place in Boston. The exhibition, which was developed by Emerson students as a part of a class offered at the colleged called “What is Contemporary Art?” will also feature submissions from the Boston University of Fine Arts, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

If you take the Green Line from Boston College, make a few transfers at Park Street and Downtown Crossing, and ride an extra three minutes to Chinatown, you will find some of the best Boston has to offer. A neighborhood overflowing with culture, in this area nestled between Downtown Crossing and the South End you can find a lively Main Street, some of the city’s best food, a rich history—but no public library. That’s right, a neighborhood with a population density of almost double Boston’s average doesn’t have that epicenter of knowledge—of which BC has seven, mind you— and hasn’t had one for 58 years. The idea that a very much lived-in area hasn’t had a library for a few generations of students scares me. This might just be the thoughts of an anxious, firstyear English major, but it could be said that this neighborhood saw a highway as more important than something I will spend the next four years studying, as the previous public library was torn down during turnpike construction. While the importance of books, reading, and literacy seems like it should be an ingrained foundation of every educated person, more and more the necessity of a good book (and the ability to read that good book, for that matter) slips away into the special place where our brain keeps the once-learned skills of long division and how to write the letter “F” in cursive. The thought is there but never makes its way past calculus homework or Monday night football, to stay forever plastered on the walls of every second grade classroom in America, in bold letters, and under a washed-out celebrity holding his or her book of choice. Read. Some of us are forced to think it, the wonderful plight of an English major, but most don’t think it enough. And there is a much better chance of people remembering to read if their neighborhood has a library. Obviously, Chinatown’s missing library doesn’t mean that the neighborhood is void of all forms of print, rather that the residents don’t have the chance to experience the beautiful borrowing system that motivates people to remember to read. From age 4 to 9 I almost lived at the library, an allowance my physicist father and engineer mother most likely regret in hindsight, but even today as I iron out my next few years to consist of Joyce and Wordsworth, they never cease to stress the importance of reading in any course of study. The significance of reading goes beyond my excitement for the classics, extending to the trashiest of romance novels and even this paper. Not only is reading by nature fun or informative, according to the University of Sussex, Rush University, and the National Academy of Sciences, but also, getting lost in a good book can help one overcome stress, sleep better, and even prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Try to get those benefits out of an iPad, I dare you. Most of my reading, and that of my peers, currently consists of dry, equation-heavy, or translated pages which seem impossible to get through, but we couldn’t have reached, or found success in, the lovely arena that is collegiate-level text if we hadn’t thoroughly analyzed every rhyming word of Dr. Seuss at some point—a book that the children of Chinatown currently cannot easily borrow. Of course kids read in school, but that annoying classmate who always aced his spelling tests and was reading the third Harry Potter book before the rest of the class could get through Junie B. Jones was probably an avid librarygoer and, I would like to think, is better off wherever he is now because of it. The silver lining on my reading rant is beginning to shine through, however, as those spelling experts and Harry Potter-toting 8-year-olds are starting to do something about Chinatown’s literary loss. You could even—and should even—read about it a few hundred words across this page.

Sarah Moore is an editor for The Heights. She can be reached at metro@ bcheights.com.

METRO THE HEIGHTS

B10

Thursday, January 23, 2014

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

EDGE OF TOWN

Taking the long way RYAN TOWEY I fear that I may be one of the few people on this planet nerdy enough to draw parallels between a ride on the T and some larger lesson, but that does not mean I am not going to do it. For those who do not know, to reach the MFA, one has to travel inbound on the Green Line to Arlington and then travel outbound on the E Line. It is a common mistake for people to switch over at the Copley stop, because the MBTA map would suggest that this makes the most sense—it looks shorter. But as anyone who is not a first semester freshman knows, one actually has to go above ground at the Copley stop in order to switch from inbound to outbound, costing misinformed riders another $2.50 if they do not have a Charlie Card. Moral of the story? Sometimes it pays to go the long way, even if it looks like there is a shorter way. I am not someone accustomed to the short way. When I was a little kid, doing school projects was an absolute nightmare. Not because I minded doing the work very much, but because I knew I was in for it. I am, after all, the son of a perfectionist. Making a poster for class was never just a creative venture, because my dad broke out a ruler to make sure the lines I drew were straight. A diorama was not an easy A, but it was a chance for my father to show me how much one really can do with such a small creative space. Handwriting had to be neat—not too small or too large. College essays were never done, but continually revised until the deadline. You get the picture. No shortcuts, no excuses. I wish that I could say that I always took my father’s perfectionism in stride, that his constructive criticism was always received with a smile and grateful obedience, that I never yelled or became angry, but this is simply not the case. Especially when I was very little, I met unwanted constructive criticism with such a wrath that you could hear my anger as loudly as you could hear those weird recorded cheers coming from Alumni Stadium during football season. I wanted the shorter way. I was in no mood to wait for the Arlington stop, but wanted to hop off right at Copley. (Lord, this is cheesy. Readers, forgive me. Dad, no editing.) Now, I look back on my father’s perfectionism with begrudging fondness—I can still feel the genuine anger I felt when I was young, but I also recognize the indelibly positive impact it had on my character. My father’s determination to make me take the long way is made clear when I enter the MFA and take my time, pausing before various works of art. Even with my limited knowledge of the visual arts, I appreciate the brush strokes, the mastery of sculpting, and I read the captions. There’s no need to sprint through the museum all in one day. That way, one does not see anything at all. Better to take the long way, thoroughly enjoy a portion of the museum, and come back another day to finish the job right. It is said that the best way to endorse the way one was raised is to bring one’s children up the same way. This I know: when my child pulls out a piece of poster paper for a school project, I’ll pull out a ruler to help him make his lines straight. And if he ever follows in my footsteps to earn a degree at Boston College, he might call me up when he is on his way to the MFA for an art history class. I will tell him to switch over at the Arlington stop. If he stubbornly asks me why, I’ll smile and let him learn the lesson on his own.

Ryan Towey is the Metro Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at metro@bcheights.com.

City deals with second major snowfall of the season B Y T RICIA T IEDT Heights Editor B oston is currently re covering from its second major snowstorm of the season, marked with frigid temperatures and a bitter cold that had the potential to shut the city down. Winter Storm Janus began midmorning Tuesday, stretching from Kentucky to New England, hitting hardest along the interstate between Philadelphia and Boston. The National Weather Service declared a Winter Warning for the city of Boston from 1 p.m. Tuesday through 1p.m. Wednesday. As reported by the

National Weather Service on Wednesday morning , the highest snowfall rates were found in southea stern Massachusetts: Norwell received 18.3 inches, Hanover, 18.0, and Duxbury, 17.0. Philadelphia received 14 inches of snow. New York reported similar numbers. While the city of Boston was spared from the worst, Mayor Walsh preemptively closed Boston Public Schools for Wednesday and placed a parking ban on the city beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday night. “Twelve days into my adminisCHARLES KRUPA / AP PHOTO

See Snow, B9

Snow fell on Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning and resulted in school closures.

FITNESS WITH FRIENDS BC alum Hannah Freilich launches an application designed to match people based on their workouts BY BENNET JOHNSON Asst. Metro Editor “They say entrepreneurs are rule-breakers,” said Hannah Freilich, BC ’09. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been one to push the limits.” Freilich graduated from Boston College with a degree in elementary education and human development, with the hopes of becoming a teacher. It wasn’t until this past year, however, that Freilich embarked on a different path and became an entrepreneur. Freilich created the free app BeActiveTogether, which seeks to connect fitnessinspired individuals and encourage a healthy lifestyle. “My education was definitely directed towards teaching and I recently made the transition to entrepreneurship now,” Freilich said. Freilich met Mai Tang, the co-founder of BeActiveTogether, in her senior year at BC. The two friends did not begin a partnership until years later. Instead, they parted ways after graduation to pursue jobs. While Freilich said that it was difficult to find a job after graduation, she was hired

as a substitute teacher for Boston Public Schools, where she worked for two years. She then moved on to a full-time teaching position in Medford. Specifically, she works as a math teacher for children in Medford’s special education department. “I loved my experience with teaching, but I wanted to do something different,” Freilich said. “A bulb recently went off to make a switch.” The idea came while Freilich was pursuing her passion for exercise. “I came up with the idea while I was at the gym one day,” Freilich explained. “I wished I had someone to go with, who was also interested in the same activities as me.” After graduation, many of Freilich’s friends moved away to pursue their jobs. Even in Boston, she found it difficult to meet with her friends, due to their varied and busy schedules. Rather than allowing this to stymie her fitness pursuits, Freilich chose to create BeActiveTogether in hopes of connecting fitness-minded individuals, while also filling the void left by her friends. “Rather than making my friends do it with me, I thought it would be cool to find people who were interested in the same activities,” Freilich said. “I was also

See BeActiveTogether, B8

BU students gather on MLK Day

Activists call for library in Chinatown

Theology students support GLBTQ organization for holiday

BY ADRIANA OLAYA For the Heights

which offers a series of boot camps to improve their ventures and a $5,000 prize for the winner of the challenge. Ar iel Winton, a sophomore at Northeastern and the director of InnoWeekend, is dedicated to providing opportunities for students to innovate. “I think it’s really important for students to be exposed to entrepreneurship, even if they don’t think they’re interested,” Winton said, adding that

Libraries are a luxury most people may take for granted. This is not the case in Chinatown. When thinking of public libraries in Boston, the grandeur and expansiveness of the main branch on Boylston comes to mind, but there are 25 other branches strewn throughout the city and its neighborhoods, with only one exception—Chinatown. The Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) is doing what it can to change that, with a little bit of help. The CPA’s mission, according to Kim Situ, youth coordinator at the CPA, includes “making sure Chinatown is a place where working-class Chinese immigrants, who see this place as a gateway to the American dream, can also see Chinatown as a place with resources and a place that helps them strive in the community.” The CPA advocates for workers’ rights, helps with tenant organization, and strives to stabilize the bustling community through its many programs, including youth initiatives that introduce the young members of Chinatown to the community’s issues. The absence of a library has been an issue in the community for over 50

See InnoWeekend, B8

See Library, B9

B Y A RIELLE C EDENO Heights Editor In conjunction with the federal holiday commemorating his birth, Boston University hosted a multitude of events on Monday in honor of civil rights leader and BU alumnus Martin Luther King, Jr. A group of Methodist students from the School of Theology (STH) organized a day of community service in remembrance of his legacy of service to society. The students, led by event organizer Colin Cushman, STH ’15, volunteered with Boston-based organization Black and Pink , which seeks to support the incarcerated GLBTQ community through advocacy, education, service, and special programs. The students helped out with the Prisoner Pen Pal section of the organization, a letter-exchange program that connects inmates with pen pals. “For all inmates, especially those in solitary confinement, these letters are

See MLK, B8

I NSIDE METRO THIS ISSUE

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY ENTREPRENEURS CLUB

Casey Hogan, president of Northeastern’s Entrepreneurs Club, speaks at a club event.

Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club to host InnoWeekend BY RYAN TOWEY Metro Editor Northeastern University’s Entrepreneurs Club will host InnoWeekend, a weekend-long event from Jan. 24 to Jan. 26. The event is designed to bring together students from across all of Northeastern’s colleges to design companies with the help of mentors. The student teams will compete for $1,000 in funding, and they will be encouraged to enter into the Husky Startup Challenge,

Collegiate Round-up

Highlights from other universities and colleges in the greater Boston area ................................................................................................................B9

Boston Foodie: Nourish Your Soul...................................................................B7 This Week In...........................................................................................................B7