The Heights 11/15/2012

Football senior day

nshs Controversy iconic videos

sports

metro

scene

The senior Eagles prepare to play their last game in Alumni Stadium, B1

Claims of anti-semitism are brought against a Newton High School, B10

The Scene analyzes five sure-to-be timeless videos, A10

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Vol. XCIII, No. 44

Love Your Body Week promotes healthy living, self-confidence

By Brigid Wright Heights Staff

This week, the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) is sponsoring the annual Love Your Body Week. The week consists of a variety of events, including lectures on body image, weight loss, and healthy eating, as well as dance workshops and even a theatrical performance. The WRC partnered with Boston College Recreation, the UGBC, University Counseling Services, faculty, and many more organizations to provide thoughtful and compelling events to inspire positive body image on the BC campus.

Nicole Laniado, Love Your Body Week Coordinator and CSOM ’13, explained that the goal of the events featured during this week is to motivate students to develop strategies for healthier living and to evaluate which aspects of daily life may act as obstacles.

“Love Your Body Week’s mission is to have students be able to recognize what characterizes healthy and unhealthy relationships with one’s body,” Laniado said. “These goals align with our center’s mission to support, educate, and empower students to take action and make BC a better community for each other.”

Laniado offered insight on body image

at BC and commented on the realities of the unhealthy habits many students find themselves struggling to escape.

“We see this issue in a myriad of ways: our exercising culture … the pressure to embody the often stereotyped cookie-cutter image of a BC male or female, which at times leads to socioeconomic pressures to dress with particular brands,” Laniado said. “We also see it within our nightlife and the insecurities and dangers of binge drinking and overeating on the weekends.

This week is truly a wakeup call for all of us to realize that beauty is within us all and that it is more than just having the perfect body.”

Monday featured two events. In the late afternoon, Hilary De Vries, assistant director of fitness and wellness, gave a lecture titled “Exercise Caution (Overexercising: How to Help a Friend),” and discussed signs and symptoms of overexercising and how to intervene with a friend who is suffering from this condition. On Monday night, Christina Kwan, a life solutions coach, educated students on where society’s perceptions of beauty come from and how to channel inner confidence in her talk “Thinking Ourselves Thin: The Power of Our Inner Voice.”

Tuesday and Wednesday offered a variety of events as well, from Bonnie

Rudner of the English department offering her opinions on how Disney princesses have altered body image in young girls, to dance workshops offered at the Plex by different dances groups on campus.

Juliana Shulman of Corporate Accountability International and Michael Cermak, GSAS ’13, founder of Real Food BC, also offered a talk on the food environment and how our society views food and different eating habits.

Today, the Office of Health Promotion and the Connell School of Nursing will partner with the WRC to present a

See Love Your Body, A4

BC expands veterans honored on burns lawn Community reacts to letter sexual assault Harrington calls for better support of returning troops on Question 2 resources

By Mary Rose Fissinger

By Qian Deng

For The Heights

Heights Editor

“The statistics on sexual violence are both deeply troubling and a call to action for the nation,” reads the Dear Colleague letter issued on April 4, 2011, by the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights regarding the application of Title IX laws to issues of sexual assault.

This letter set in motion a widespread examination on the part of colleges of their current procedures for dealing with sexual assault. At the time, Boston College was already in the midst of reviewing its protocols, policies, and resources regarding sexual violence.

“In fact, we were in very good shape, with respect to [the Dear Colleague letter],” said Dean of Students Paul Chebator “We had to make very minimal changes.

Some schools had to make major changes in their system, in terms of how they both supported and then followed through on allegations of sexual assault.”

A committee, co-chaired by Director of the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) Katie Dalton and Angela Amar, former faculty member in the Connell School of Nursing, considered several recommendations for how BC could improve upon the current state of their resources.

“One of the recommendations was, we need to do a better job of communicating to students about resources, important

A crowd of nearly 200 men and women, many in military attire, gathered on the Burns Library lawn the morning of Monday, Nov. 12 for the 12th annual Veteran’s Day Ceremony. Veterans of various wars as well as students in the Army ROTC program gathered near the University’s veteran’s memorial to honor the nation’s fallen.

Although the day was sunny, the atmosphere at the event was grim as attendees maintained upright postures and spoke in generally hushed tones. As the bells tolled for 11 a.m., the gravity of the ceremony was highlighted by a designated moment of silence in honor of all those who served their country.

After an opening by Cadet Kathryne Bauchspies, A&S ’13, the featured speaker, Lieutenant Colonel

See Veterans’ Day, A4

Alex gaynor / heights staff

See Sexual Assaults, A4

By David Cote News Editor

On Nov. 1, five days before Election Day, University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. sent an email to Boston College alumni in Massachusetts concerning Question 2, a ballot measure that would have permitted physician-assisted suicide. The letter enclosed in the email, co-written by various educators in Catholic institutions of higher education throughout Massachusetts, posed arguments against Question 2.

“On November 6, Massachusetts voters will decide Ballot Question 2, which would allow physicians to prescribe a lethal drug enabling individuals to commit suicide,” the letter read. “We write as educators in Catholic institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth to express strong objections to this measure.”

The letter went on to claim that legalizing physician-assisted suicide “would cast aside moral and ethical principles long held in our society and in the medical profession about the sanctity of life and of physicians not doing harm.”

After listing several arguments against Question 2, including perceived inadequate restrictions on its application and potential abuse, the letter concluded with a statement against the ballot measure.

“Life is so central and precious to us as human beings, and any legislation that would allow physicians to prescribe lethal drugs for the purpose of suicide calls

See Leahy Letter, A4

CIA agent debates legitimacy of the ‘Global War on Terror’

By Andrew Skaras Heights Staff

joseph castlen / heights graphic

Med school officials support MCAT changes

By Gabby Tarini For The Heights

Last year, 145 Boston College students applied to medical school. Few universities in the country produce more medical school applicants than BC. Significant changes to the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), however, may affect the course plan of many aspiring doctors at the University. The current form of the MCAT has been in place since the 1990s, but changes in the fields of science

and medicine have led the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to completely revamp the exam.

While the MCAT has in the past required a strong background in the natural sciences, the new exam will be broader in scope and place a greater emphasis on psychology, sociology, and biology.

Starting in 2015, the MCAT will include several new sections in these areas. It will also feature two natural science sections and will eliminate the writing section.

Owen Farcy, Kaplan Test Prep’s direc-

tor of pre-health programs, says that the addition of psychology and sociology reflects the changing role of the modern American doctor.

“Doctors need to relate to their patients better. They need to understand what is causing the patient to do what they do,” Farcy said. “For instance, if a patient gets a triple bypass surgery, and then goes and eats three double cheeseburgers from McDonald’s, doctors need to be able to

See MCAT, A4

“What are the threats to the Homeland?” Glenn Carle asked. “What is the nature of al-Qaeda? What are the capabilities of al-Qaeda? Why did al-Qaeda exist?” These are the questions that Carle sought to answer Wednesday evening at the “Update on the ‘War on Terror,’” sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life.

Having served 23 years in the Clandestine Services of the CIA, Carle worked in many different posts over four continents.

Since the 1980s, he has worked especially in the Balkans, Central America, and Europe, focusing on terrorism as well as political and economic concerns. He last served on the National Intelligence Council, working on Transnational Threats. In this position, he was responsible for analyzing terrorism, international organized crime, and narcotics. He also authored the book The Interrogator, which tells the story of his undercover work and interrogation of a high-profile al-Qaeda detainee.

When looking at the events and actions of the United States in the years since Sept. 11, Carle described the stances of the U.S. government and the “Global War on Terror” as a collective delusion.

While recognizing that there was a threat to the U.S., he claimed that it was not, as it was often described, an existential problem for American society.

“Al-Qaeda was thought to be present and active in 80 countries,” Carle said.

“The real figure is six countries. At its

See War on Terror, A4

graham beck / heights editor

As a member of the CIA, Glenn Carle (above) served on the National Intelligence Council.

TopTHREE

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

things to do on campus this week

..

1

Eagles Football vs. VT Saturday Time: 12:30 p.m.

Location: Alumni Stadium

The Eagles are looking to bounce back from their loss to Notre Dame last weekend with a win against Virginia Tech. The Hokies need to win the last two games of their season in order to reach a bowl game. Boston College needs to win the last two games of its season in order to tie last year’s 4-8 record.

‘The Arabian Nights’

2

Today Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: Robsham Theater

Come see BC students perform in Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of the ancient Arabic tales. Tickets are $15 for the public or $10 for students.

Anthony Grafton Lecture

3

Thursday Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Devlin Hall 101 Anthony Grafton, the Henry Putnam University Professor of History at Princeton, will speak as part of the Lowell Humanities Series.

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University

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University of California and Yale University select new presidents

On Campus New study from BC Center for Retirement Research challenges old spending methods The Boston College Center for Retirement Research has recently released a study that challenges the accepted model of yearly retirement spending.

Anthony Webb, a research economist at the center, along with his colleague Wei Sun, adapted rules released by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that dictate required yearly withdrawals from retirement accounts into a new model for retirement withdrawals. This model is beneficial for retirees during periods of time when the value of their retirement investments goes down. The conventional method of retirement spending is to withdraw 4 percent of a retirement account each year, adding only yearly inflation to this value. During a year where the value of a retiree’s investments goes down, taking out the same 4 percent as the year before may be a dangerously large sum. Webb’s method requires retirees to take a percentage of their fund out every year, which protects against dangerously large withdrawals during down years. This percentage increases slightly each year, mirroring the IRS numbers.

The University of California at Berkeley and Yale University both announced their new presidents last week. The University of California has selected Nicholas B. Dirks, Columbia University’s executive vice president and dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences. Yale has selected Peter Salovey, the University’s current provost and a professor of psychology. Dirks, a professor of anthropology and history, will take over on June 1. Salovey will start his presidency on June 30, taking over for Richard C. Levin, who has been serving as president for over 20 years.

Local News Young bicyclist involved in Allston accident was pronounced dead A 21-year-old bicyclist who was struck by a motor vehicle in Allston on Monday has been pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital. Boston Police are investigating the possibilitiy that the bicyclist was struck by an MBTA bus. The accident occured at 6:36 p.m. at the intersection of Brighton Avenue and Harvard Avenue. The Boston Police have yet to release the victim’s name. A spokesman from Boston University has said that the University believes the victim was a BU student.

Arts career night creates intimate networking atmosphere

By Andrew Millette Assoc. News Editor

Alex Gaynor / Heights staff

Career Night for the Arts gave students the opportunity to meet with alumni who have successful careers in the arts. and a section for other visual arts.

Students who attended the event were given a map of the museum that included all of these sections and which alumni were standing in each of them. The alumni in attendance did not make formal presentations. Students were expected to walk up to them and start conversations, a task that was not overwhelming for many students.

“I really enjoyed the setup of the evening,” said Matt Consalvo, A&S ’15. “Everyone was so approachable. I felt like I already knew these people even though I hadn’t met them. The alumni were very open. I think that says a lot about the sense of BC camaraderie.”

Notable alumni who attended the event included Chuck Hogan, BC ’89, a New York Times bestselling author who has written several critically acclaimed novels, including Prince of Thieves, which was awarded the Hammett Prize for “literary excellence in the field of crime writing,” and was adapted into the 2010 film The Town. Notable alumni representing the performing arts section included Tim Davis, BC ’02, CEO of The Boston New Music Initiative, a non-profit organization that maintains an “international network of composers, performers, conductors, directors, and champions of music in order to generate new music concerts,

compositions, collaborations, and commissions.”

Event organizers strongly stressed the importance of a distinct Career Night for the Arts. “It is absolutely crucial that we have a Career Night for the Arts,” said Janet Costa Bates, associate director of the BC Career Center, an office that co-sponsored the event. “BC plans science, marketing, communications, and arts career nights.

Of all of those, arts is the most crucial because students pursuing a career in the arts are choosing a non-traditional career path. Many alumni that work in the arts are self-employed. If you are going on this search on your own you need

guidance. Our alumni are our students’ GPS here.”

Many students who attended the event were grateful for the chance to receive guidance from alumni who had been successful in non-traditional career paths.

“The Career Night for the Arts was very helpful because I was able to talk to someone who had graduated from BC and followed my dream career path and could give me advice on how to get there,” said Alexandra McKenzie, A&S ’15.

The formula for this year’s Career Night for the Arts, according to event organizers, was to keep what has been working since 1999, but add some small changes.

“We’re always looking for ways to improve, but the simplicity is what makes this event so great,” McDermott said. “This year we have added an online drop box that students can look at that includes the participating alumni’s resumes and portfolios, as well as any advice they might have.”

The real key to the event, McDermott believes, is the alumni.

“They love it,” she said. “Some have come back for seven, eight, or 12 years. They understand what it feels like to not know how to proceed, and they are always willing to help out.” n

Police Blotter

Voices from the Dustbowl

11/09/12-11/10/12

“If you could rename The Heights, what would you call it?”

Friday, November 9 10:44 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding providing medical assistance to a student at Roncalli Hall who was transported to a medical facility by an ambulance.

7:29 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a larceny from the Plex.

Saturday, November 10 12:01 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding the arrest of a non-BC affiliate at Roncalli Hall.

2:07 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding vandalism to Rubenstein Hall.

2:57 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a student on the Upper roadways who reported that he was the victim of an assault and battery and verbal threats.

3:41 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a general harassment complaint at Keyes Hall.

12:08 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a traffic accident in the Beacon Street Garage.

regarding the arrest of non-BC affiliate at Alumni Stadium for disorderly donduct.

9:08 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding providing medical assistance to an intoxicated student at Alumni Stadium.

“Gasson Tower.”

—Helen Yu, CSOM ’14

“The Daily Journal.”

—Jemima Victor, LSOE ’15

10:27 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding an alcohol related event ejection from Alumni Stadium.

10:57 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding providing medical assistance to a subject in the Beacon Street Garage who was transported to a medical facility by an ambulance.

“The Sleazy Eagle.”

—Roberto Martinez,

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

A&S ’15

45° Partly Cloudy 35°

Friday

48° Partly Cloudy 32°

Saturday

48° Sunny 35° 47° Mostly Cloudy 40°

Source: National Weather Service

A Guide to Your Newspaper The Heights Boston College – McElroy 113 140 Commonwealth Ave. Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467 Editor-in-Chief (617) 552-2223 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 David Cote, News Editor, at (617) 552-0172, or e-mail news@ bcheights.com. For future events, e-mail, fax, or mail a detailed description of the event and contact information to the News Desk.

Sports Scores Want to report the results of a game? Call Greg Joyce, Sports Editor, at (617) 552-0189, or e-mail sports@bcheights.com.

Arts Events The Heights covers a multitude of events both on and off campus – including concerts, movies, theatrical performances, and more. Call Brennan Carley, Arts and Review Editor, at (617) 552-0515, or e-mail arts@ bcheights.com. For future events, e-mail, fax, or mail a detailed description of the event and contact information to the Arts Desk.

Clarifications / Corrections The Heights strives to provide its readers with complete, accurate, and balanced information. If you believe we have made a reporting error, have information that requires a clarification or correction, or questions about The Heights standards and practices, you may contact Taylour Kumpf, Editor-in-Chief, at (617) 552-2223, or e-mail editor@ bcheights.com.

CUSTOMER SERVICE Delivery To have The Heights delivered to your home each week or to report distribution problems on campus, contact Dan Ottaunick, General Manager at (617) 552-0547.

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The Heights is produced by BC undergraduates and is published on Mondays and Thursdays during the academic year by The Heights, Inc. (c) 2012. All rights reserved.

10:12 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding providing medical assistance to a student at Alumni Stadium who was transported to a medical facility by an ambulance.

5:55 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding placing a subject into protective custody at Campanella Way. 8:10 p.m. - An officer filed a report

“I think the name is pretty fitting.”

—Shannon Louie, A&S ’15

8:54 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding providing medical assistance to a BC alumnus at the Lower Lots who was transported to a medical facility by an ambulance.

9:14 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding an alcohol related event ejection from Alumni Stadium.

Today

Sunday

featured story

Another iteration of Career Night for the Arts, an event that has taken place annually since 1999, was held in the McMullen Museum on Tuesday night.

Unlike the larger Boston College Career Fair that many students are familiar with, the Career Night for the Arts brings in around 20 alumni who have found success in the arts each year to speak with students about their careers in a more intimate setting.

“The event is more intimate so students feel more comfortable approaching the alumni,” said Sarah McDermott, program director of the BC Arts Council, the organization that planned the event. “A high comfort level is important because students need to have these conversations. These conversations allow students who understand the arts in an academic sense to learn about the arts in a professional sense.”

This year, the McMullen Museum was split into a number of sections based on the professions of the alumni. There was a section for alumni who worked in the literary arts, a section for dance, a section for the performing arts, a section for museums and galleries,

Four Day Weather Forecast

CORRECTIONS In the Nov. 12 issue, the article titled “Late Night conduct deteriorating” wrongly attributed the quote on page A4 which begins “We see it as a service...” to Director of Public Safety John King. The quote should have been attributed to Helen Wechsler, director of dining services.

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

A3

BCSSH talks body image at BC Time to ignite class registration Brigid Wright Heights Staff

Matt Palazzolo The middle of November is defined by change. Students throw away their Halloween costumes, tentatively start playing Christmas music, and make plans for Thanksgiving break. Hovering ominously over these cheerful holiday activities, though, is the specter of course registration.

I could easily write a multipage paper exhaustively detailing flaws in the course selection process at BC. My first issue is the actual UIS web application. It will freeze or shut down without warning. It will erase all of your meticulously selected courses if you don’t manually type in Save frequently.

Lastly, the UIS system is visually repulsive. The interface resembles a Cold War-era supercomputer, with its bland backgrounds, nauseating bright colors, and shocking lack of a backspace function. At the risk of sounding petty and pretentious, the aesthetic unpleasantness of UIS vaguely irritates me every time I pick courses.

Seriously BC, you can’t divert a fraction of our exorbitant tuition fees toward improving the course selection application? I can only hope that the obsolete UIS system isn’t as “temporary” as the Mods.

Moving past my artistic quibbles, the actual course selection process is tragically flawed.

Pick times are assigned completely arbitrarily. Everyone has that one annoying friend who always gets an early-morning pick time, or the poor soul who always gets a second-day afternoon one. Moreover, sophomores and especially freshmen can be completely doomed no matter how early their pick time. I remember drowsily logging onto Agora in my pajamas one freshman morning and discovering to my horror that my first, second, third, and even fourth choices in political science classes were already filled.

BC justifies its tuition protection racket by highlighting the exceptional academic program.

This academic excellence is useless, however, if students spend multiple semesters grudgingly taking personally unappealing classes due to a poor pick time. BC course selection desperately needs reform.

Despite its many unforgivable flaws, BC course selection does have built-in safeguards. Some classes are restricted to one year of students, such as the Capstone program. Others are major- restricted, in order to protect students who depend on these courses to fulfill major requirements. There is, however, vast room for improvement. Georgetown, in addition to underachieving in basketball, snobbishly eschewing the Common App, and rejecting me four years ago, has devised an exemplary system.

Students rank their course selections in order of preference. So if a senior picks on Monday and lists a course as his fifth choice, and a freshman picks on Friday and lists the same course as his first choice, the freshman gets the spot, despite his lowly pick time.

I have found that of my five selections, I covet one or two above the others due to an exemplary professor or fascinating course material. My other selections are haphazardly chosen at the last second, either to fulfill core requirements or place the last jigsaw piece into the intricate non-Friday, nona.m. schedule. The Georgetown system would immensely benefit underclassmen who desperately desire the one or two courses that I chose half-heartedly. More importantly, it would eliminate the frustrating randomness of course selection and give students, rather than an algorithm, the power to select. As a senior thoroughly disillusioned with the course selection process, I humbly request that the BC higher powers consider their Jesuit brethren’s system. It’s difficult to set the world aflame when you don’t have the power to choose your own torch.

Matt Palazzolo is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at news@bcheights.com.

In the spirit of Love Your Body Week, Boston College Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH) conducted a panel titled “Let’s Talk About Loving Your Body.”

Students discussed body image as it pertains to sexual responsibility. The panel of five students spoke on a variety of subjects, including being comfortable in relationships, pornography, and even offering a male perspective on issues that are primarily female-focused.

BCSSH is a student organization that works to promote sexual education awareness and health on campus. Their mission is to inspire the whole person, mind and body, to make healthy and responsible choices, and also create a resource for students on campus for sexual health.

The goal of the panel was to foster discussion on a wide range of debatable topics, and to create a safe space for students to offer

opinions about their experiences with body image on BC’s campus. The discussion was led by panelists describing the topics they felt most passionately about, and listeners could ask questions by passing forward notecards to preserve privacy.

Jessika Parry, A&S ’14, led her discussion by asking students to consider questions about how they feel about their body image in the relationships they have. She asked students to examine how they felt while in a romantic relationship, but also about what being single does to a person’s body image.

She also spoke about the hook-up culture, and how drinking alcohol fuels and encourages hook-ups.

She finally asked students to consider their own comfort levels.

“BC puts a huge pressure on people to hook up when they go out,” Parry said. “You have to know how to communicate what you’re comfortable with.”

Chelsea Lennox, A&S ’14, fostered a conversation about how pornography impacts relation-

ships and body image, as it often creates insecurities in both men and women about how someone should act or not act based on what they see. Responding to Parry’s question, Lennox also emphasized the importance of the lines of communication in romantic relationships.

Erika Bjerklie, A&S ’14, and Don Orr, A&S ’14, offered opinions on how the media can affect body image in terms of consumerist attitudes and the male perspective of body image. Bjerklie spoke about how individuality is often split at BC by saying that one is encouraged to “be herself,” while also feeling the need to fit in with the norm. Orr offered a male perspective to body image, by explaining that self-consciousness is something men experience as well. He explained that there is an “invisible vulnerability” that men experience. Orr said that it is often difficult for males to find a safe outlet to explain their feelings because it is considered something men shouldn’t discuss.

Kylie Montero / Heights Staff

Students discussed the problem of body image during a BCSSH panel.

These introductions by the panelists inspired several lengthy questions to be considered by students, and discussions were led by Lizzie Jekanowski, BCSSH president and A&S ’13. The panel’s overall message coincided

with Love Your Body Week’s goal of celebrating rather than comparing individual differences, and allowed students to safely offer their opinions and perspectives on topics that frequently get overlooked. n

BC represented at Jesuit Teach-In

By Sara Doyle For The Heights

This weekend, Boston College will be sending 18 undergraduates to Washington, D.C. for the 15th annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. The event will feature speakers discussing issues of social justice. More than 1,000 people are expected to attend.

“The theme this year is called ‘Imagination Reform: Moving Beyond the Margins,’” said Rev. Don MacMillan, S.J. “We’ve been doing it for years, but this year, we thought ‘Maybe we’ll push people to think even bigger . How would you imagine the world to be better?’”

The event is held in memory of the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador, six Jesuit priests and two companions who were murdered on November 16, 1989, for their work advocating for the poor in El Salvador.

“Part of the reason to have it in November is because of those who were assassinated,” said Matt Dolan, A&S ’13, who has been to the TeachIns for the past three years. “This is a special time to keep their memories alive. These were people who were peace-loving, justice-loving people, assassinated by soldiers who were

trained in the U.S.” Jillian Baker, A&S ’13, has also attended the past three Teach-Ins. “I’ve wanted to get involved with it because of teachers I’ve had in the past who’ve sparked my interest in social justice,” Baker said. “I’ve formed great relationships with the people who’ve gone in the past as well. Having that community, it’s a given that we’re going to go year after year. It’s great to welcome in new people as well.”

Nick Denari, A&S ’16, attended past Teach-Ins with his high school.

“The reason I continue to go is that when you gather such a large group of people, the things you want to accomplish seem a lot more possible,” he said. “You see the extent of what other people have done in the past, and you know it’s possible to make the same kind of contribution.”

Issues that will be covered are domestic poverty, immigration reform, and environmental justice, as well as the first annual Advocacy Month, which will be held this February. Last year, the Teach-In advocated for the DREAM Act and against the School of the Americas.

The Teach-In will also focus largely on Central America.

“They’re our neighbors,” Mac-

Millan said. “They’re connected to us. We don’t want to lose sight on the global picture. There are problems in Africa, in Indonesia, and Afghanistan, and all the Asian counties, but our focus right now is on our immediate neighbors, who tend to be the victims and have been for years.”

He stressed the importance of advocacy, saying, “With all the rights we have, there’s a responsibility that goes along with them.”

Twenty-eight Jesuit universities, over 25 Jesuit high schools, and Jesuit parishes, Jesuit volunteer communities, and other Catholic institutions and organizations will be represented at the Teach-In. Students who wish to get involved can contact MacMillan or other students involved in the Teach-In. MacMillan also encouraged students to get involved in works on campus and in the community.

“Justice is not just feeding the homeless and the hungry,” he said. “It certainly is that, but we also have the Campus School and the Green Club, and they’re all important. We’re alerting people to the little things they can do in their lives to make other people’s lives better.” n

Course offers taste of law school

By Brandon Stone Heights Staff

A great number of Boston College students have undoubtedly given much thought to enrolling in law school after graduation. Although law school opens the door to a career that many find challenging and rewarding, choosing to attend law school is an enormous commitment, both in terms of time and finances. Before making such a commitment, undergraduates generally have few opportunities to determine for themselves what law school entails. Next semester, however, BC will be offering undergraduates a chance to experience a typical law school course. Environmental Law and Policy (UN 256) is described in the course catalog as introducing “students to the structure, doctrines, and logic of environmental law and of the American legal system.”

The course, which is offered each spring, is taught by third-year law students. Four of the law students study here at BC Law School, one at Boston University Law School, and one at Harvard University Law School. The law students are overseen and trained by Zygmunt Plater, a BC Law professor. The course offers the students a chance

to teach, which many are considering as a career.

Michael Reer, one of the BC law students who will be teaching the course, said that Environmental Law and Policy “will expose undergraduates to the basic principles of the

“Environmental law is so diverse that studying it allows you to understand the guiding legal principles at work.”

-Michael Reer, Student teacher of Environmental Law and Policy legal system … to court cases, as well as specific laws and regulations.” He emphasized how useful the course is for undergraduates considering law school. “[Law school] is a more than $100,000 commitment, and many students don’t know what it’s like when they apply,” he said.

Teachers will offer the top students in the course the chance to enroll in a course at BC Law School next fall alongside full time law students. This rare opportunity is appealing to undergraduates certain that they wish to attend law school, and students who have taken the opportunity in the past have generally done well in their law course.

Students who enroll in Environmental Law and Policy will be offered an opportunity to study specific legislation as well as relevant court cases. They will learn about “environmental protection issues of air and water pollution, toxics, parks, wildlife, energy, natural resources, historic preservation, environmental justice, and other timely issues.”

Additionally, the course will cover nearly all elements of the legal system, including basic common law lawsuits, constitutional litigation, and ethics and policy issues. According to Reer, “environmental law is so diverse that studying it allows you to understand the guiding legal principles at work.” In terms of workload, Reer says that the course does not aim to weigh students down with too many technical details, but it will still mimic an actual law school course, so as to fully expose students to the realities of law school. n

A Greener Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is an American holiday built on traditions like football, parades, and eating a whole lot of food. So why not add one more tradition to your holiday and make this Thanksgiving green and ecofriendly from start to finish?

After all, doing something that can benefit the earth and the environment is something that everyone can be thankful for.

Here are some tips to help make this Thanksgiving a little greener.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle While shopping, try to only buy as much as you need and try to buy things that are packaged using recyclable materials. Use reusable grocery bags at the store and use cloth napkins during dinner that can be washed and used over and over again.

Compost All of the prep for dinner can generate a lot of waste. If you don’t already compost at your home, Thanksgiving would be a good time to start. All of those fruits and veggies will make for good mulch for your garden next spring.

Buy and eat locally grown foods Locally grown food is good for your health, your table, and for the environment. It tastes better, is fresher, and requires less fuel to reach the store shelves. Buying from farmer’s markets also supports the local economy.

Travel smart Thanksgiving is perhaps the holiday involving the most travel in the United States.

If your holiday plans involve traveling this year, travel smart by carpooling. Use less fuel and lower your emissions by making sure your car is in good shape and your tires are properly inflated.

Make eco-friendly decorations With a few simple supplies, you can make great eco-friendly Thanksgiving decorations and have a lot of fun in the process.

Colored construction paper can be cut or folded into simple decorations. Later, the paper can be recycled. Try gathering fallen branches and leaves from your backyard and combining them in a bowl or vase with flowers or gourds for a fall centerpiece.

The Heights

A4

Monday, November 15, 2012

Committee consolidates sexual assault resources

MCATs add content and length

Sexual Assaults, from A1

MCAT, from A1 figure out the reasoning behind the patient’s unwise decision.”

As a result of the revisions, the exam will also test students’ endurance. The new MCAT will be over an hour longer than it is now, going from the current five and a half hours to about seven hours.

Despite the substantial content increase, the new MCAT has the strong support of the medical education community, according to Kaplan Test Prep’s 2012 survey of medical school admissions officers.

Nearly 87 percent of medical school admissions officers support the changes to the MCAT. Similarly, 74 percent of admissions officers say that the new exam will better prepare aspiring doctors for medical school.

While admissions officers agree that changes in the MCAT are necessary to bring students up to date with the medicine currently being practiced many also believe that the road to medical school will become more intense.

Forty percent of medical admissions officers say that premeds’ course loads will increase because of the additional content they will have to learn as undergraduates.

“This year’s freshman class will be most affected by the change, since they will be the first to take the new MCAT,” Farcy said. “Freshmen and subsequent classes of students will need to think more seriously earlier about a career in medicine. They will need to carefully plan all their classes from the get-go.”

Many pre-med programs are in the process of revising their curriculum. Farcy explains that each undergraduate institution is taking its own approach to implement reforms in pre-med curriculum to prepare students for the new MCAT. “I think that BC, as a well-established institution with a large and reputable pre-med program, will have an easy time adapting to the changes,” Farcy said. “It will definitely have an easier time than some of the smaller liberal arts schools who may be scrambling, at this point, to adjust their program.”

The path to medical school will undoubtedly be a more challenging one, since pre-med students will need to learn significantly more material in the same amount of time.

Nonetheless, Ajmed Saffarini, the vice president of graduate programs at Kaplan, thinks that the new exam is “a potentially daunting, but achievable hurdle for a group of highly motivated students.”

The pre-med office at BC was contacted but was unavailable for comment. n

alex manta / heights graphic

Alums accuse Leahy of electioneering Leahy Letter, from A1 for special scrutiny and careful consideration,” the letter read. “In our analysis, Ballot Question 2 is profoundly flawed and should be rejected.”

The letter was signed by Leahy, as well as Susan Gennaro, dean of the Connell School of Nursing; the presidents of Emmanuel College, Holy Cross, Anna Maria College, Regis College, and Stonehill College; and the chair of the nursing department at Emmanuel.

The exact language of the ballot referendum read, “A YES VOTE would enact the proposed law allowing a physician licensed in Massachusetts to prescribe medication, at the request of a terminally-ill patient meeting certain conditions, to end that person’s life.” The ballot referendum was defeated 51 percent to 49 percent by the citizens of Massachusetts on Election Day. Many alumni and current students have expressed displeasure at Leahy’s letter, claiming that it was an abuse of his position as University president and infringed on personal beliefs.

“I don’t think it was BC’s place to try to influence how their Mass. alumni voted,” said Kristina Cotter, BC ’11. “Death with Dignity is an incredibly controversial issue, and it is my BC education that has given me the skills to ration through and understand the pros and cons of such a proposition.”

Cotter said that she had coinci-

dentally attended a debate on Question 2 before receiving the letter.

“Therefore, returning to my desk and finding a fairly one-sided email from my beloved alma mater was truly disheartening,” Cotter said. “I understand why people supported Prop 2 and why some were against it, and I respect those whose opinions do not line up with mine. I learned the importance of seeing all sides of an issue from BC, and I was very disappointed by their attempt to influence my opinion for the first time in my five years as a member of the BC community.”

Some current students felt similarly.

“Regardless of one’s opinion on Question 2, I am absolutely appalled by this letter,” said Lizzie Jekanowski, A&S ’13. “It is an intrusion upon the personal beliefs of alumni and faculty, and it has no place within an education institution that values critical thinking and free thought.”

Jekanowski went on to say that although the troubling aspects of the letter were not typical of her BC experience, they remained disconcerting to her as a student.

“Throughout my BC experience, I have been impressed by how the personal beliefs—religious, political, and others—of professors and administrators have largely remained just that: personal beliefs,” she said. “They have been kept out of the classroom and meeting room. One’s job and one’s alma mater cannot seek to influence one’s personal political vote: it ex-

ploits and manipulates the power relationship between an employee and employer.”

University Spokesman Jack Dunn stated that Leahy and the other administrators merely wanted to bring the attention of their respective alumni to the ballot question, in light of Catholic social teaching and the related controversy.

“The presidents made their decision in light of the referendum’s direct conflict with Catholic social teaching, which proclaims the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of the human person,” Dunn said. “The presidents understood that alumni would make their own choices. They simply asked them to carefully consider this referendum, in light of its flaws, prior to voting.”

Kevin Thompson, a Massachusetts native and A&S ’14, had no problem with Leahy expressing his own opinion on the topic, but felt that he should not have forced it on alumni so aggressively.

“I think it is good that Father Leahy makes his opinion known about issues like this, because his opinion reflects upon the University, but I believe he shouldn’t try to encourage alumni to vote one way or another,” Thompson said. “I think it is BC’s job to instill upon us Jesuit beliefs and ways of thought while we are here. Once we graduate, though, we should be considered mature enough to make informed decisions, while simultaneously using what we learned at BC to influence us.” n

services, protocols, how to report on these kinds of things,” Chebator said.

The committee decided to compile a webpage, www.bc.edu/ sar, which would list in one location all of the resources for a victim of sexual assault. The goal is to facilitate and increase awareness of such resources, and the website is now up and running.

“Health Services, Counseling Services, Campus Ministry, the Dean’s Office, Sexual Assault Network, Women’s Resource Center are all things that have been in place for a number of years, and specifically have been involved in conversation over the years about responding to the needs of sexual assault survivors,” Chebator said.

“It’s not so much new resources as it is trying to put all that information in one place.”

In addition, by the end of the week, You Are Not Alone, a print brochure outlining these same resources, will be available at certain locations around campus including the Dean of Students Office, the WRC, and the Office of Residential Life.

The opening page of the brochure reads, “You Are Not Alone is written for survivors of sexual assault to provide important information about what conduct is prohibited, resources available on and off campus, how to file a complaint, and to assist survivors in the recovery process and in their efforts to heal from this devastating form of violence.”

In addition to increasing awareness of the available resources, there is also a push toward enacting greater preventative measures, specifically through the existing Bystander Education program.

“The biggest emphasis right now in prevention is expand-

Carle discusses al-Qaeda, bin Laden War on Terror, from A1

graham beck / heights editor

Carle (above) wrote a book about his interrogation of an al-Qaeda member.

apex, let’s say September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda consisted of four to six hundred individuals, of whom 30 to 50 were of the officer cadre. The others were idealistic young men with AK-47s.”

Describing the potential of alQaeda, Carle explored the question of their nuclear capabilities, which were hotly debated by him and his colleagues investigating the organization. They looked at the two possibilities, developing the technology or stealing it. Comparing the development prospects to the money and manpower that the U.S. spent on the Manhattan Project, he regarded that possibility as nearly impossible. Looking at the probability that they could steal the technology from the Russians, Carle stated that over-

coming the security and getting the equipment past the many eyes that were watching them would have been extraordinarily difficult as well.

Analyzing the organization itself, Carle attempted to answer the fundamental question of its existence.

“Al-Qaeda is a symptom, not a cause,” Carle explained. “There is a continued social disintegration of traditional Islamic societies from Morocco to Indonesia. Islamic societies, until my lifetime, were largely insolated from the changes in the West. All change is disruptive. Serious change is revolutionary. Globalization and an increase in global trade, the impact is catastrophic in a society that has slavery. People start to challenge the traditional authorities and values. Al-Qaeda itself is representative of a revolution that

Young and old gather to honor vets Veterans’ Day, from A1 George J. Harrington, BC ’80, brought some warmth into the day with a succinct yet eloquent speech. Harrington is the recipient of a Bronze Star Medal and has been deployed to Bosnia, Guantanamo, and Afghanistan, but chose to speak little of his own experiences.

Instead, Harrington called attention to “a different group of warriors, those currently serving, who came from all over the country and from many different socioeconomic backgrounds.”

“What brings them together is that 100 percent of them joined the armed forces, reenlisted, and stayed on duty during a time of war,” he said. He praised their strength and noted the bleak realities of their return.

Har r ing ton de scr ib e d an environment that was hardly reminiscent of a hero’s welcome, including a record 9.7 percent unemployment rate for post Sept. 11 veterans—19.9 percent for females.

Although the Department of Defense, the Obama Administration, and companies such as JP Morgan have taken measures toward helping veterans return to civilian life, Harrington said that these efforts are not enough.

ing the Bystander Education program, because I think a lot of what can be accomplished in prevention is through peer to peer influence,” Chebator said. “We’re in the process of expanding that to greater populations over the next year. Hopefully by the end of the year or so, something will be in place so that every member of the freshman class will be exposed to bystander training.”

According to the Dear Colleague letter, “One in 5 women are victims of completed or attempted sexual assault while in college …

6.1 percent of males were victims of completed or attempted sexual assault during college.”

It is difficult to ascertain how those numbers compare to sexual assault statistics at BC, largely due to the fact that so many attacks go unreported. Chebator remarked that this could possibly be a result of the close-knit student community at BC, where it can seem that everybody knows everybody.

“Sometimes it’s really difficult for survivors to report, because often, if they don’t know the guy, someone they know knows him, or he’s part of the same social circle,” Chebator said. “I’ve heard women tell me that they’ve gotten pressure from their own female friends not to file a report because, ‘Oh, he was drunk, he didn’t mean it, you’re going to ruin his life, he’s a good guy,’ all those kinds of things. So I think it makes it difficult.”

The Office of Student Affairs is currently working on a health-related survey, which they hope will include questions that uncover to some extent how frequent and widespread issues of sexual assault are on BC’s campus.

“One of the difficulties in asking a question about sexual assault is making sure that we’re all talking about the same thing,” Chebator said. “But it’s information we do need to gather here.” n

As a successful executive at MetLife, Harrington himself does not need the assistance that he calls for. It was not self-interest that prompted him to extol the merits of the veteran in the workplace. “The experience builds a commitment to excellence,” he

“Somewhere in the world, right now, American sons and daughters are on point, in harm’s way. They depend on the soldiers on the left and right to cover their flanks, but they should also be able to count on those back home to cover their backs.”

-George J. Harrington Lieutenant Colonel and BC ’80 said. “Veterans are creative, resilient, and determined.”

He proposed many ways those at home could aid their transition, including “helping translate those qualities into language that

civilian hiring managers could understand.”

Finally, Harrington described the “point man,” a product of the tactic of “always using the smallest possible force to face the enemy.”

“Somewhere in the world, right now, American sons and daughters are on point, in harm’s way,” Harrington said. “They depend on the soldiers on the left and right to cover their flanks, but they should also be able to count on those back home to cover their backs.”

As if a reminder of the devastating consequences of being in harm’s way, two cadets proceeded with a symbolic roll call for 209 Boston College alumni who never returned home from their service in the World Wars, Vietnam, Korea, or the Iraq War. For each conflict, a veteran rose to “stand for those who gave their lives.”

Attendees were invited to view the Veterans Memorial, a 68-foot -long low granite wall featuring the names of those deceased.

The ceremony closed with the playing of “Taps” and the singing of “America the Beautiful.”

Bringing together several generations of current and future veterans, the event served to strengthen their connection and ensure that their legacy will be preserved far into the future. n

is happening in Islam. Bin Ladin is not a trained cleric, and yet he dares to challenge the assessments of Al-Azhar University. He is a product of the revolution racing through all of Islamic society, the very changes he opposes. He is the product of the doom he seeks to forestall.”

Looking to the future, Carle also assessed what has happened to al-Qaeda since Sept. 11 and what was left of the organization. Agreeing with the Obama and Bush Administrations, he said that the leadership has been decimated.

“Al-Qaeda is dramatically less powerful that it was,” Carle said.

“There is now turmoil in the Muslim world, but with an opportunity now for progress. The Global War on Terror died a deserved death, because it never really existed except in the minds of others.” n

WRC urges healthy self-image Love Your Body, from A1

alex gaynor / heights editor

Veterans, students, and families gathered on Monday to honor U.S. veterans.

lecture by Susan Kelly-Weeder and Sheila Tucker, executive dietitian, titled “Metabolic Mix-up: Weekend Edition.” The talk will offer insight on the binge-drinking culture and how it can negatively impact students’ bodies. Pepper Schwartz from the University of Washington, Seattle, will also offer a talk about the challenges men and women face in creating healthy relationships.

Friday night will showcase a performance of The Good Body Show, where students offer monologues about women and their bodies.

“The impact [of this week], however, I believe not only remains within the context of our events, but also within the buzz and conversations that students on campus are starting to have amongst their friends, roommates, and teachers,” Laniado said. “Although this is a week-long awareness project, we make a sustainable impact within our campus and start changing the discourse on body image.” n

CLASSIFIEDS

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

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Community

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three to seven bedrooms. These are all-exclusive listings that can’t be seen anywhere else. Some of the finest off-campus housing in the entire BC area! Please call Keith at 617-899-8475 or email me at keith@athomere.com. Hurry!

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Willing to accommodate specific color theme or spell words in balloons. Hourly rate upon request, at least two days’ notice required.

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Directions: The Sudoku is played over a 9x9 grid. In each row there are 9 slots, some of which are empty and need to be filled.

Each row, column and 3x3 box should contain the numbers 1 to 9. You must follow these rules: · Number can appear only once in each row · Number can appear only once in each column · Number can appear only once in each 3x3 box · The number should appear only once on row, column or area.

A5

A6

The Heights

Editorials

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Leahy email infringes on alum’s freedom of choice

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

-Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), author of Sherlock Holmes series

By stating only their own opinion, Leahy and other college officials overstep boundaries of liberal arts education On Nov. 1, a letter was sent out via email to Boston College in-state alumni regarding Ballot Question 2. In the letter, University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. and other educators at Catholic universities in Massachusetts put forth numerous arguments against the ballot measure, including a lack of regulation and the potential misuse of the powers it would confer. The question, which would allow physicians to prescribe a lethal drug enabling individuals to commit suicide, did not pass. Despite this, The Heights is uneasy with the letter and the extent to which its contents infringe upon freedom of choice and an unbiased education.

It is important to first clarify that Leahy and the other authors of the letter did not tell recipients how to vote—they merely asked voters to consider their personal analysis and conclusions on the question—namely, that the measure was flawed and should be voted down. While this distinction is in some ways semantic, and it is quite apparent what Leahy would have liked readers to do, it is also important because it shows that, at the very least, the

authors of the letter realized that recipients should be free to choose how to vote on their own.

With that being said, the letter still made many students and alumni uncomfortable, and rightfully so. BC is an institution dedicated to education, critical thinking, and the right to make up one’s own mind.

The president of the University should similarly be dedicated to these pursuits, and The Heights believes that he is. But whether or not it was his intention, Leahy’s letter sounded preachy rather than educational—pushing recipients to vote one way rather than educating them equally on both sides of the issue.

If the goal of the letter was to bring Question 2, admittedly a controversial and polarizing question, to the attention of recipients, The Heights believes a more appropriate approach to the problem would have been doing just that—rather than presenting only one side of the argument, the letter should have outlined the measure and all of its potential effects, positive and negative, leaving the decision up to recipients whether or not it should be passed.

Strong focus on student well-being commendable The Heights applauds the University Love Your Body Week and revamping sexual assault resources In an email to students dated Nov. 6, the Dean of Students (DOS) Office introduced new resources concerning sexual violence, including a website for students affected by sexual assault, and a print publication called You are Not Alone. These innovations are the product of a year and a half long review by the Division of Student Affairs, the BCPD, and the Office of General Counsel.

The Heights would like to commend BC for undertaking such a review and constructing beneficial resources for the entire community. One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while at college, a troubling statistic that BC is not exempt from. We believe that by making sure students are aware of the resources available, BC is ensuring that an individual who has been abused will receive the assistance and

support that he or she needs.

We urge those students affected by sexual violence to seek solace in these resources, in addition to the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), University Counseling Services, and BCPD. We know that seeking help can be immensely difficult, but doing so could be a vital step in recovery.

These changes also coincide with Love Your Body Week, a series of programs organized by the WRC that aim to instill positive body images in the BC student body. With both these initiatives in mind, we would like to acknowledge the University’s commitment to supporting their students’ physical as well as mental health. A safer and healthier campus is a happy campus, and we thank BC for all its efforts to ensure this goal.

Support our teams through thick and thin Regardless of the success rates of our athletic teams, strong Superfan presence at games will boost morale The men’s basketball team’s home schedule is underway, as the season opener at Conte Forum was squeezed into last weekend’s jam-packed sports weekend.

Boston College won 84-70, displaying its new squad with more experience than it had last season. The women’s basketball team kicks off its home schedule tonight against BYU under Erik Johnson, the new head coach, who brings an energy and excitement to the program. While both programs have struggled in recent years, they have the potential to become something special. The student section at these games has not been packed unless BC is facing a top-25 opponent. The Heights reminds students that they have an opportunity to change that.

Just three years ago, student attendance at men’s hockey games wasn’t great, but two National Championships later, most games are sold out as Superfans fill Conte Forum to the brim. The support for the team has been tremendous, but it wasn’t always that way. The wins brought in the fans due to the team’s own success.

The Heights believes, though, that there’s something special about support-

ing a team through thick and thin. It’s easy to say you’re a fan when your team is enjoying great success, but it’s even better to say you were a fan when the team was struggling through tough seasons. That is the definition of a true fan.

These teams aren’t just composed of athletes. They’re composed of our own classmates, friends, and peers. These student-athletes put in hours of tireless work each week, just like all of us do in our own clubs and activities. It’s tough when people only support you when your finished product is the best it can possibly be.

The Heights believes that students support their classmates in all sports, win or lose. The student-athletes set a great example by attending other teams’ games and other classmates’ events outside of athletics. Don’t let a team’s record keep you from going to a game. Go because your classmate is playing point guard, or a girl who lives in your dorm is playing center. Go to show support for your fellow Eagles and to bolster our community.

They will appreciate it more than you know.

The Heights The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919 Taylour Kumpf, Editor-in-Chief Daniel Ottaunick, General Manager Lindsay Grossman, Managing Editor

jULIETA bIEGNETER/ Heights Illustration

Letter to the Editor BCSSH states 2012-2013 goals and asks for petition signatures We, the members of Boston College Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH), are running a petition campaign, asking the administration to take a more reasonable approach to sexual health on campus, one that is applicable to all BC students, not solely those who prescribe to the traditional Catholic teachings. Thus, we call for a comprehensive and evidence-based model providing students with the resources, information, services, and counseling necessary for safe sexual decision-making—in whatever form people consensually choose. Sexual health is a medical and public health issue, not a religious one.

BC’s Jesuit identity has been rationalized as the biggest obstacle to reform. BCSSH fundamentally values BC’s unique religious identity, but student health and religion are not mutually exclusive. We have never advocated for any type of sexual decisions, except those that are consensual, medically safe, and empowered by one’s personal beliefs. BC students are legally adults, and they need to be provided with the information, resources, and support to grow into individuals who are confident in this realm of their lives.

This is the first step of a long campaign for these demands to be realized: that the health of every student be prioritized, not just that of a single group. Our petition calls for students to realize the lack of sexual health information and resources on campus, and to demand that changes be made. We intend to present the petition at the end of the 2012-2013 academic year to the administration. Thus, we ask you, students, faculty, alumni, and administrators to sign this petition. Change is never

easy but it is possible. Look to the creation of GLC, which challenged BC to change and reevaluate the meaning of its religious identity to be inclusive of all people.

These issues matter are of the utmost importance as they concern the safety and well-being of every student at BC. Our BC is better than this and we hope you agree.

Please sign our petition.

Boston College Students for Sexual Health

The Heights welcomes Letters to the Editor not exceeding 200 words and column submissions that do not exceed 700 words for its op/ed pages.

The Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity, accuracy, and to prevent libel. The Heights also reserves the right to write headlines and choose illustrations to accompany pieces submitted

to the newspaper.

Submissions must be signed and should include the author’s connection to Boston College, address, and phone number. Letters and columns can be submitted online at www.bcheights.com, by e-mail to editor@bcheights.com, in person, or by mail to Editor, The Heights, 113 McElroy Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.

Petition of BCSSH: We, the members of Boston College Students for Sexual Health and the following signatories - all of whom are students, alumni, faculty, staff, and members of the Boston College community - demand that Boston College take a more realistic, pragmatic, and responsible approach to the sexual and reproductive health of its students. We demand an on-campus Sexual Health Resource Center, either as an extension of the Office of Health Promotion or through Health Services that will provide: 1) Access to contraceptives, birth control, and emergency contraception on campus.

2) Free STI testing through Health Services.

3) Comprehensive and inclusive sexual health information.

4) Positive sexual decision-making programming.

We also demand that all of these are implemented in a transparent and expedient manner, including student representation in every step of the process, by the start of the 2013-2014 academic year.

Business and Operations

Editorial Eleanor Hildebrandt, Copy Editor David Cote, News Editor Greg Joyce, Sports Editor Therese Tully, Features Editor Brennan Carley, Arts & Review Editor Charlotte Parish, Metro Editor Elise Taylor, Opinions Editor Molly Lapoint, Special Projects Editor Jae Hyung (Daniel) Lee, Photo Editor Maggie Burdge, Layout Editor

Contributors: Jono Keedy, Meaghan Callahan, Marly Morgus, Maggie Powers, Sean Keeley

Alex Manta, Graphics Editor Katie McClurg, Online Manager Michelle Tomassi, Assoc. Copy Editor Chris Grimaldi, Asst. Copy Editor Andrew Millette, Assoc. News Editor Sam Costanzo, Asst. News Editor Chris Marino, Assoc. Sports Editor Austin Tedesco, Asst. Sports Editor Alexandra Schaeffer, Asst. Features Editor Taylor Cavallo, Assoc. Arts & Review Editor

Dan Siering, Asst. Arts & Review Editor Marc Francis, Asst. Metro Editor Graham Beck, Asst. Photo Editor Mary Rose Fissinger, Asst. Layout Editor Joseph Castlen, Asst. Graphics Editor Devon Sanford, Editorial Assistant Cathryn Woodruff, Executive Assistant

Jamie Ciocon, Business Manager James Gu, Advertising Manager Adriana Mariella, Outreach Coordinator Donny Wang, Systems Manager Amy Hachigian, National Sales Manager Daniel Arnold, Local Sales Manager Natasha Ettensberger, Collections Manager DJ Terceiro, Asst. Local Sales Manager Christina Quinn, Project Coordinator

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

A7

Opinions

It’s that season again

Thumbs Up The New Lincoln – It’s about time we forgot all about Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer and headed to the theaters to see a film pay due respect to America’s greatest president. We can ignore the fact that the 2.5-hour-long Lincoln cast British actor Daniel Day-Lewis to play Honest Abe … let’s just hope that his American accent is better than Emma Watson’s.

Gigapixel pictures – Last weekend, Boston College Athletics took panoramic, 360degree pictures of both the Holy War games. We spent a good 20 minutes on their website trying to find ourselves in the picture of the crowd at the football game, with little success—if only we had better memories of last Saturday night. Maybe we’ll have more success searching for the guy in the nun hat who we’re pretty sure was standing near us.

Senate cattyness- We have previously given a Thumbs Up to Hank, a cat from Virginia that was running for Senate.

Now that all the hoopla is over, the “dark-cat” candidate Hank came in third with 6,000 votes. In this intense and heated election cycle, it’s nice to see humor still has a place.

Thumbs Down Secession Petitions- Currently, 34 states have petitions to the White House to withdraw from the United States and form their own new nations. Some states only have a couple hundred signatures, but others have tens of thousands. We have to admit, we support the exercise of free speech, a wonderful right given to us by our constitution that assures we cannot be harmed by the government for speaking our minds. It also gives us the right to tell those who signed to call the whambulance where hopefully they can give you a pair of cojones. We are sorry that your candidate did not win and that you do not agree with our president. We are sorry that our country has problems, just like every country in the world, even though we are better off than most. But remember what Aesop taught us: united we stand, divided we fall. America will not improve with dissonance and quitting attitudes, but rather with genuine dedication to fix the cracks in our country.

Can’t handle standing by your country which has given more to you than you have given to it? Pay your states’ share of the national debt caused by the earmarks from your representatives, then move to Canada like you said on Facebook. Don’t forget to send us a Snapchat of your face when you realize they have universal health care and legalized gay marriage.

E-sex- With a week full of Spy Stalkers and Tickle-me-notthere Elmo, can we all agree that sending sexually explicit emails are a universal no-no?

We don’t want to know about your sex life, so stop leaving electronic trails of your trysts that a third grader could find.

Speaking of which, General Petraeus, we are disappointed in your spy skills. Carmen from Spy Kids can fight an army of 500 child robots and you can’t even permanently delete your Gmail drafts.

Someone needs to go back to spy school.

Like Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down? Follow us @BCTUTD

Patrick Angiolillo No, I don’t mean Christmas—which Nordstrom is now so kindly reminding us doesn’t come until after Thanksgiving.

And no, I don’t mean this latter holiday, either. I mean “cold season.” That time of year when it’s becoming frostier outside, people’s immune systems seem to be growing weaker and, as it appears, bacteria and viruses are getting peskier.

It’s a natural, yet strange, phenomenon. Those familiar with or native to the Northeast expect its coming. We repeat it every year, however much we may dislike it—O! ‘Twere it like the westerly coast, so beautiful, so golden … so free of microbial infections that leave you hacking up a lung and wiping a constantly runny nose.

But it’s not. Just as peoples and civilizations past prepared for the coming winter months, knowing they would not be able to harvest crop and would have to make do with what they had reaped already, so we today prepare as well, not for a lack of subsistence (it’s easy enough to run over to City Convenience, even in zero degree weather), but for the pervasive colds and flus and illnesses that will plague the student body. Just as these civilizations past celebrated their survival and the arrival of spring with bounteous feasts and over-indulgent brouhahas, so should we celebrate our survival. Maybe that’s a little bit of a stretch, but the analogy sticks, if you see where I’m going.

During these months of bitter cold and copious tissues, we lock ourselves in hot-box rooms, windows fastened tightly, heat pumping, the same air circulating about us. We can create something of a Petri dish for the little buggers who cause the slew of sickness that run up and down

Boston College’s campus. Just walk into Gasson after the first of October and you feel like you are stepping into a sauna.

Then there is going to class during this season. Some students skip class when they wake up with a little headache (“Oh, man, this has to be influenza-induced dehydration, which has certainly caused this marginally uncomfortable headache.

I should take it easy today.”). These are likely the same individuals who ran the thermometer under hot water as children to trick Mom into letting them stay home for the day. Then there are the heroictype students who rip themselves from needed rest and drag themselves to class (“I’m alright. Besides, I really need to go.

If I don’t, I miss the class notes, and if I miss the class notes, I fail the test, and if I fail the test, I kill my GPA, and if I kill my GPA, I don’t get a job. I need a job after college! I have to go.”). These are likely the overachieving students, perhaps untrusting of other students’ notes, or maybe just unaware there actually are other students in their classes.

Both kinds of students are good people, but both have their quirks about health. As such, students are often, if not always, playing the game of finding where the line between too sick and sick-butstill-well-enough should be drawn. The best I can muster in response is this: if you are too-sick, stay home, stay in bed, get rest. If you are sick-but-still-wellenough, be precautious about how you go about your day. No one likes the guy in the back of the class who is coughing up phlegm and constantly blowing his nose. I know, I’ve been that guy. And to the point where I blew my nose so much and so ferociously (not a hyperbolic word for a literary sake) that my nose began to gush blood—not trickle. That was not a fun class. But we learn our lessons.

Even now, I am fighting something of a cold. I’m not sure if it is bronchitis, walking pneumonia, or the flu, but I’m taking my vitamins, downing cough syrup (according to direction!), and getting more rest than usual. But it’s not easy when you

are a busy college student, and I sympathize with those who sympathize with me. We run about day to day, trying to get everything that is asked of us done: writing papers (which is not easy when your stack of used tissues is bigger than your stack of books for research), studying for tests (which is equally as difficult when you’re coughing so loudly the librarians gang together and kick you out of Bapst) and going to class (just see my bloody nose anecdote above). We pile our plates high with appointments, due dates, and all sorts of responsibilities. Now, there is nothing wrong with that. We like that. But put a kink in the system—a cold here, a fever there—and the system jitters. Put a whole dent in it—bronchitis, pneumonia, the flu—and it can come to a halt.

Maybe it’s a matter of Aristotelian moderation: don’t take more than you can handle, or take in stride what you are faced with. Something like that. Maybe it’s really just a matter of using Purell after blowing your nose or washing your hands more often. Either way, we trudge through these months of sniffles and tissues despite the conditions around us—frigid weather, stuffy dorms, that sick guy with the bloody nose—and we do it all with our heads held high. (To keep our noses from running down our faces, right?) Well, sort of, but more so because we know at the end of this season, the flowers will bloom, the trees will sprout leaves again, and we can all take a sigh of relief, for the infamous cold season will be done with. Maybe we can even resolve to celebrate this time around. It doesn’t have to be a feast, but a little something especially if you manage the whole season without one illness or another. It would be nice, after all, because it won’t be long after this is over before we sneeze and sniffle our way into allergy season!

Patrick Angiolillo is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.

Tailgating

Zoe Lake With Notre Dame weekend now behind us and one more home game left in the season, I think it is time that Boston College considers a major overhaul of its tailgating procedures for next year. While I myself had a great time on Saturday and don’t doubt that I am joined by many others in feeling the same, I also heard a lot of “choice words” unfit for print, floating around about what a “fiasco” (to put it mildly) Shea Field was Saturday night before the game. For those of you who weren’t there or made it there after six, when they closed the field for all hoping to enter (though this was only a half-hour after it opened), let me set the scene for you. Beginning at 5 p.m. when tailgating was allegedly supposed to start, a large crowd began to mill around outside of Shea. By 5:30 p.m., this crowd led well past Shea, had gathered in the parking lots, and was spilling out onto Campanella Way. I say gathered because there was no line forming, just a bunch of people clustered together trying to push their way to the entrance. I’m sure it was the hopes of the BCPD that this growing group would remain orderly and calm but, alas, it was a large crowd anticipating a football game, and while most people stood patiently, a good handful pushed, shouted, cut the line, and ran around for no reason.

While I waited, I watched as three—count them, three—officers wrestled an embarrassed looking girl in a cheetah print coat through the throngs of waiting fans. They wrestled, not because the girl was being noncompliant, but because there was nowhere for them to go and no room for us to move to accommodate them.

Hillside Cafe

Visitors in line who hoped to politely supply some form of alcohol to the tailgates they were about to attend were told that they could not bring it onto Shea, and thus the type of binge drinking that BC is constantly trying to prevent was started in line before the game—before tailgating, even—not by students, but by generally level-headed adults. Adults who bring things to share at tailgates. Adults who suddenly found themselves with six-packs and 30-racks they were going to be forced to toss upon entry. What to do? Drink fast, I guess.

The officials standing at the head of the unnecessarily small pathway we were then funneled through shouted at people to discard their alcohol and open their bags to be searched. I felt compelled to shout, “Also, remember to remove your shoes and take off your watches, because you will next be asked to enter airport security, for those of you who do not wish to do so, please step aside for a pat down,” but then stopped myself, remembering the girl in the cheetah coat, and watched as a group of mild-mannered 30-somethings shotgunned a case of beer before walking through the check-point.

The path alongside and leading to Shea was expanded while I was in line, causing a lot of tripping and running and making me wonder how anyone was going to attend the tailgate with children in tow.

Once on Shea, students, alumni, visitors, and friends were confronted with crowds of apocalyptic Black Friday proportions. Weaseling one’s way onto the field was no small feat, and once on, attempting to meet up with friends or move was next to impossible. Most people ended up standing around in the same area on top of whoever was standing around with them. When I heard that they had stopped letting people onto the field because it was a fire hazard, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was truly the hazard they should be worried about. Surely crowding hundreds of people onto a baseball

BY KALEB KEATON

field filled with cars and grills is a problem, but isn’t keeping them fenced into that area with only four small exits a bigger part of that issue? Since I was a freshman I have strongly believed that BC needed to revamp its tailgating image, and if last weekend’s Notre Dame game tailgating fiasco wasn’t a mandate to do so, I don’t know what will change the administration’s mind.

We’ve all had the rules emailed, barked, shouted, and practically beat into us this football season, and in football seasons past, and it’s time for a change. Upon looking at our tailgating rules posted under Football A-Z Guide on BCEagles.com, versus Notre Dame’s posted on their own game day website, we should be ashamed of ourselves.

“Tailgating Policy,” reads our heading. “Tailgate Like a Champion,” reads Notre Dame’s. Our list ticks off rules like those of Ms. Trunchbull’s classroom in Matilda: “No, No, No, No!” while Notre Dame’s reminds tailgaters to “have fun,” “pack extra chairs,” and “wear your team pride.” BC needs to sit down and re-evaluate the way tailgating is carried out, because ruling over game days with an iron fist has led to an animosity between tailgaters and the BCPD that has become a safety issue in itself. BC needs to consider whether it is a hazard to block off many entryways to Shea, leaving only a few open for select periods of time, and if the time constraints on tailgating are doing anything to prevent binge drinking or if they encourage more of it within a shorter time span. Would Shea crowding be more under control if people were allowed to leave and come back? How would the dynamic change if people were allowed to enter without a ticket? These, among other things, need to be addressed, keeping in mind that, as students, we not only desire to have fun, but also to be safe in showing our school spirit on game day.

Zoe Lake is a staff columnist for The Heights.

She welcomes comments at opinions@ bcheights.com.

On anoplexia

Kristy Barnes With the holiday season upon us, every aspect of the campus is undergoing a drastic change—including the place we all know and “love,” the Plex. Instead of the regular, semi-repulsive crowded room, it has become a sardine-packed sweatbox. “Feeding time,” normally between the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., has now been stretched and pulled to the point that the feeling of finding a free elliptical at any time is similar to finding a free table in Hillside at noon. The reason behind this madness is clear—Boston College girls are attempting to burn off an extra pound or two so they can eat more than lettuce in front of their family at Thanksgiving, and BC bros are pumping extra iron so they can impress that girl at home they text strategically two weeks before a vacation. It’s gotten so bad that all the fans do is blow our own breath around the room, and once in a while, if we are really lucky, the garage-like doors are opened to allow oxygen to circulate in.

Honestly, the place is gross.

But we go anyway. We roll up our yoga mats and head into the musky room ready to work our arms or get a good cardio session in. Exercise is good for us­­—it keeps us fit and healthy, both mentally and physically. If we know the benefits, why is exercise such a hot topic around campus? Clearly, we are doing enough of it!

Well, we all know the answer. The Plex culture isn’t necessarily as healthy as we like to trick ourselves into thinking. While we try to believe it’s good for the body and mind, we often abuse and misuse exercise. As one of the most attractive schools in the nation, BC students feel the need to constantly live up to that standard. We look around and feel the need to outdo one another. For a campus that has a healthy competitive atmosphere, when it comes to working out, we suddenly become vicious. The community we have built adds pressure where there is already expectation. Really, how much can one person take?

The weight on our shoulders (pun intended) has been integrated into our everyday lives. I mean, think about it, how many times a day do you hear a version of, “Oh my gosh, I can’t eat (insert something other than a vegetable here), I haven’t Plexed in two days!”

It takes just weeks for freshmen to become wrapped up in the need to look as built their OL, and thus they begin to hit the Plex.

It is so easy to fall into that downward spiral.

It starts off with Plexing once a day (healthy), then watching what you eat (still healthy), then Plexing twice a day (sketchy), then making sure you are only eating what you are sure you can burn in that afternoon’s planned Plex outing (uh oh …), and then eating only lettuce and carrots (Red Alert!). Of course, that is an over exaggeration for many, but, to some degree, this is the pattern we seem to follow starting about a week after Convocation. We go from freshmen eating our own fro-yos to seniors having to split the small cup three ways, because we want to treat ourselves, but we wouldn’t dare consume all those calories.

Now, the Plex culture, and the many problems that surround it, is something that BC doesn’t shy away from talking about.

Recently, HerCampus put out an extremely interesting article about the love affair between BC drinking and Plexing habits, examining our tendency to binge drink, and then binge exercise. Furthermore, there are countless opportunities to meet with peers, a nutrition professional, or a counselor, all of whom have posters plastered on every surface tape can be stuck to. But how many of us take these opportunities? How many of us think we are just fine doing things as we please? Furthermore, if we are all willing to talk about it, why are there no changes? We talk, but we don’t fix!

As always, I am about to challenge the community. In the light of Love Your Body Week, I ask that we really consider what this culture has done to our community and why we can’t seem to escape it, no matter how fast we run. Let’s really think about our personal eating and exercising habits. Are they healthy, or are we just telling ourselves they are? For example—boys, if you can’t pick it up and put it down without making crashing sounds that scare the people on the treadmill above you, then you probably shouldn’t have picked it up in the first place.

Are we working out for our pleasure, or are we working out because the person down the hall does it three times a day? That’s not even counting the three-mile run they did around the Res. Are you hurting yourself in the process of trying to help yourself? I ask that you really think about how you work out, and maybe even try a new body-friendly motto for the week. Mine? I am SO glad you asked!

Instead of worrying about the calories of my Apple Harvest salad or sacrificing watching Parks and Rec for a quick Plex fix, this week I pledge to simply say, “screw it,” and have a muffin.

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

The Heights

A8

Thursday, November 15, 2012

BOSTON COLLEGE VS VIRGINIA TECH keys to the game

Boston College 1. Let Deuce run wild 2. Keep Thomas in the pocket 3. Give Rettig time to pass

Virginia Tech 1. Bring the blitz 2. Convert on third downs 3. Play 60 minutes

players to watch

Execution will be key for BC against the Hokies Football, from A10 “It’s great for Deuce to get him back out there,” Pantale said. “He’s been through a lot this season, so to have him back and make an impact was huge—not only for him, but also for us on the offense. We finally got something going with the running game a little bit.”

“It was really nice to have him back in the huddle,” said quarterback Chase Rettig. “It was a spark plug—all the guys on the sideline were going crazy.

He’s a good back and I’m looking forward to the next two games with him and seeing what he can do since we haven’t had him for most of the season.”

The offensive line will have to be on top of its game against Virginia Tech, as the Hokies usually bring heavy pressure with the blitz. Rettig found himself hitting the turf more often on Saturday against Notre Dame, but his offensive line knows that can’t happen again.

“That’s the number one thing we don’t want

happening—when we see Chase on the ground,” said center Andy Gallik. “Sometimes there will be a late blitz we don’t see or it doesn’t get called out or recognized in time. It’s just the last-second type deals we’re not recognizing.”

On the other side of the ball, the defense is looking to improve on third down scenarios, which has been a major problem all year. Against Notre Dame, the Eagles allowed the Irish to convert on their first 10 third-down opportunities.

“It is frustrating,” said middle linebacker Sean Duggan, who stepped into the first team role when Nick Clancy went down with a concussion against Notre Dame. “I think our problem was we gave up too many yards on first down, so it’d be second and three or second and four. And then we’d stuff them there, it’d be third down and two or third down and one, and that’s hard to get off the field against any team.”

This week, the team has been practicing its thirddown drills as always, and defensive coordinator Bill

McGovern continues to preach the idea that third down starts on first down.

BC will also be facing Logan Thomas, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound dual-threat quarterback. The junior has thrown for 14 touchdowns in addition to running for seven.

“Thankfully, I guess you could say, this year we’ve played a lot of athletic quarterbacks,” Duggan said.

“Everett Golson last week, Kain Colter from Northwestern … I feel like every week we play a quarterback that has the ability to run and pass.

“Logan Thomas is a different kind of monster.

When he runs the ball, he’s not really looking to avoid hits—he’ll lower his shoulder and hit you. As a defense, we have to keep him in the pocket and force him to beat us with his arm and then rally to the pass and try to defend that as best we can.”

It’s one final game, the last 60 minutes at Alumni Stadium for 16 seniors on Saturday. A loss would put one last dagger in a forgettable season. A win would mean everything. n

boston college offense Chris Pantale Weight: 255 Height: 6’ 6” Position: TE Year: Sr.

defense Sean Duggan Weight: 228 Height: 6’ 4” Position: LB Year: So. Daniel Lee / heights editor

Virginia Tech offense Logan Thomas Weight: 260 Height: 6’ 6” Position: QB Year: Jr.

defense Jack Tyler Weight: 236 Height: 6’ 1” Position: LB Year: Jr.

outcomes

Boston College will win if...

Chase Rettig has time to find his progressions and the defense finds a way to make third-down stops

Virginia Tech will win if...

Logan Thomas can abuse the BC defense and burn them with his feet and his arm.

The D needs to stop the run.

for live game coverage follow us on twitter @bcheightslive

In Saturday’s contest against Virginia Tech, the Eagles will be playing for their senior class. Despite a lack of success over the last few years, the seniors will look to leave a winning legacy.

Senior Day causes Shinskie to ponder future Seniors, from A10 have played in their personal development, as well as their efforts toward building up the program’s winning ways.

“They’ve all been around the block,” said sophomore center Andy Gallik. “They know all the ins and outs of doing everything. They know how to do things the right way, and show up everyday and work hard. Myself and all the younger guys who have been surrounded by them for however many years take their work ethic, and use what they did to be successful. They’re great role models for our team.”

Junior quarterback Chase Rettig echoed this sentiment toward his senior teammates. After being thrown into the battlefield as an inexperienced freshman two seasons ago, Rettig relied heavily on the class ahead of him to give him confidence and help him learn on the fly.

“With me coming in as a freshman, I was able to pull things from them, and they really accepted me into the huddle,” he said. “You learn a lot from your peers, and the guys who are ahead of you, so I’ve been very fortunate to have the class ahead of me. They’ve all helped me achieve some of the things that I’ve done.”

The seniors, however, do not see their job as finished, even after playing their final minutes on the field.

Tackle Emmett Cleary believes that his classmates still have a responsibility to ingrain a certain mentality into the program.

“The main thing is to make sure that people don’t get used to losing,” he said. “It can become a mentality that losing is all right. I don’t think that’s the case here.”

When asked how he plans on getting this message across, Cleary was clear on what needs to be done.

“You don’t stand for it,” he said. “You can’t treat this stuff like business as usual, because it’s not. And it can’t be if we want to be the program that we think

we are, even after our class is gone.”

While many of the seniors were focusing on Virginia Tech, as well as their final days in maroon and gold, one Eagle was still grappling with his future on the heights. Senior quarterback Dave Shinskie, once Spaziani’s starter, revealed that he is currently in the process of deciding whether or not to opt for a fifth year.

“You never know,” he said. “I could still redshirt here.

I’ve been thinking about that.”

After spending 2003-2009 playing minor league baseball, Shinskie joined the Eagles for the 2009 season.

He started 10 games his freshman year, while seeing action in all 13 games. During that span, he threw for 2,049 yards and 15 touchdowns, both rookie records for the program. In 2010, however, he only started three games before being sent to the bench. He’s only seen action in two games since.

While some might question why he would return after being pushed to the bottom of the depth chart, members of the team and coaching staff believe that his role as a leader has been essential to the program.

“I can’t say enough about Dave,” Spaziani said. “I certainly, and he certainly, wished the on-field experience would have been a little bit more positive at this stage than it was when he started out. What Dave has meant for BC and how he’s handled a very, very difficult situation—a lot of guys have had morale issues over a lot less than that—Dave’s been a man to everyone on this staff. The previous staffs and this staff have spoken about him of what kind of character he has. You wouldn’t know, talking with him, where he is on the depth chart. He’s been enthusiastic from the moment he was not the starting quarterback till now. He’s a great asset to our school.”

Rettig, who supplanted Shinskie in 2010, has learned many lessons from his teammate despite playing over him.

“The biggest thing is that he’s taken on the leadership role,” he said. “He gets guys excited before the

games. He’s broken us down a couple of times at practice. Me and him have a good relationship. We work out together on lift days. We’re close friends.

“Even if he’s not on the field during game days, he’s there getting guys ready to go. He’s older than all of us, so he brings some maturity into the locker room. Everyone likes him a lot. I like him a lot. He’s a good teammate.”

Shinskie, too, doesn’t see his lack of playing time as a deterrent for his return to the team next year. All he could do after being benched was work hard in practice and be a good influence for his teammates.

“Not playing anymore and being second-string was disappointing, but at the same time Coach had a lot of good points on why he was benching me,” Shinskie said. “I was new to college football and college sports and that aspect, so I didn’t really know how to handle it except for the way that I know how to handle things. That’s just with poise and hope that Chase was going to get it done from week to week. All I could do is play my role, and that was a leadership role on the team. I’m an older guy, and I’ve been in a lot of locker rooms. Even if you are losing, you can’t have negative things going towards the guys, even if you think that way.”

Whatever his decision may be, Shinskie has left a lasting mark on the BC locker room. Whether or not he returns next year is a decision that he will take very seriously in the next few weeks, yet he said that when he knows, he’ll know.

“The last couple of days, the guys have been asking me if I’m coming back for a fifth year. I haven’t thought about it, and like I even said to someone yesterday, my decisions come like within a clicking in my head,” he said with a snap of his fingers. “I’ll think about it for the next week, and we’ll see, because I do love this place and I do love the guys that I’ve played with. It stinks to have it come to an end. If it doesn’t have to, why should it?” n

Amidon deserves to be recognized for his big season Amidon, from A10 defenses better than other the receivers ahead of him. He’s like a one-man Oregon hurry-up.

“I was not surprised to see that long strike from Chase come near the end of the third quarter [of the Clemson game] because—I’d hate to guard him because he’s going to be running deep routes all day and you might not want to if you’re a DB,” said his father, Stephen Amidon, when we talked earlier in the season.

But the BC community needs to make sure Amidon’s incredible season is honored. In a Jerry Yorklike fashion, the wide receiver will probably cringe at any abundance of praise given to him for his own performance, but in such a tumul-

tuous season, the Eagles’ biggest and brightest star deserves to shine.

As Rettig said on Saturday after the Notre Dame game, Amidon is what everyone at BC should be like.

Not just the football players, not just the athletes, but everyone.

His work ethic isn’t just enviable. It’s near perfect.

“There’s a quality in him, he’s a perfectionist,” his father said.

He’s a perfectionist in the best way possible. He builds up those around him, motivating them to match his effort, and his perfectionism is about as selfless as possible. The only thing he’s focused on is the team’s success.

After the Northwestern game, when he had 118 yards and

moved into the top 10 for receiving yards nationally, he wasn’t satisfied.

“He looked at that game and knew he could do better,” his father said.

The next week, when he put up 193 more and two touchdowns against a top-ranked Clemson squad, he still couldn’t feel content.

“After Clemson, when he had amazing numbers, he was still palpably frustrated,” his father said. “In the long run, that’s a really nice quality to have in a son, but it’s really frustrating.”

“He was just being Alex, he never stops,” Rettig said after the game.

Amidon, of course, brushed off the praise when it was brought up.

“I’m glad that people think that of me,” Amidon said of Rettig and his teammates’ praise. “I wouldn’t want them to think anything else, and it’s a lot to do with them, really.”

He brushed it off as if everything he’s doing is expected, as if it’s the norm, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. No one does this.

No one goes at every rep with the same intensity. No one gets this much individual success without letting in a little bit of praise. But Alex Amidon does, and no matter how poorly this season goes for BC, none of that should be overlooked.

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

The Heights

Editors’ Picks

Thursday, November 15, 2012 The Week Ahead

Standings

Football hosts Virginia Tech. Men’s soccer opens up the NCAA Tournament at Northeastern, while the women face No. 1 Penn State. Men’s basketball begins the Charleston Classic today. Stanford travels to Eugene looking to upset undefeated Oregon.

A9

Recap from Last Week

Austin Tedesco

29-16

Heights Staff

28-17

Greg Joyce

27-18

Chris Marino

24-21

Game of the Week

Notre Dame defeated football 21-6, but the men’s hockey team evened the Holy War. Men’s basketball opened its season with a win over FIU while the women fell to BU on the road. The young Kentucky Wildcats lost to Duke on Tuesday night in Atlanta.

Men’s Soccer

Guest Editor: Brennan Carley

Northeastern vs. Boston College

Arts & Review Editor

The No. 38 ranked Boston College men’s soccer team will face off against No. 21 ranked Northeastern Thursday at 7 p.m. to compete in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

This road game at Northeastern’s Parsons Field starts the single-game elimination format of the tournament. The Eagles are coming off of a tie against Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Confrence Tournament, whereas Northeastern is coming off of two wins in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. BC has yet to face the Huskies this year.

“I don’t care about Keefuh.”

Greg Joyce Sports Editor

This Week’s Games Football: BC vs. Virginia Tech M. Soccer: BC at Northeastern W. Soccer: BC at Penn State

Chris Marino Assoc. Sports Editor

Austin Tedesco Asst. Sports Editor

Brennan Carley

Arts & Review Editor

BC

BC

Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech

Northeastern

BC

BC

BC

Penn State

Penn State

Penn State

Penn State

Over

Push

Push

Under

Oregon

Oregon

Oregon

Oregon

Over/Under: One win for men’s basketball in S.C. College Football: No. 13 Stanford at No. 2 Oregon

Thurs. 7 p.m. Parsons Field, Boston, Mass.

Johnson gets first win Women’s Basketball, from A10

Daniel Lee / heights editor

Although the Eagles played well on both sides of the puck, it wasn’t enough against the Dartmouth Big Green on Tuesday night as they tied 3-3.

Solid effort not enough for BC in tie

By Molly Connor For The Heights

Coming off of a strong 6-1 victory over the Providence Friars last Wednesday night, the No. 5 Boston College women’s hockey team skated to a 3-3 tie against Dartmouth Monday night in New Hampshire. The Eagles performed well defensively, with goaltender Megan Miller stopping 28 shots in the game and improving to 1-2-2 on the season.

Yet despite solid play on both ends of the ice, it wasn’t enough to come away with the win.

The Eagles dominated play for most of the first period, as they outshot their opponents 12-5, but Dartmouth’s Lisa Berreman scored the first goal of the game at 8:37 on a power play.

Miller was able to keep the Big Green’s deficit at one, as she made stops on a 2-on-1 and a point blank shot.

BC got on the scoreboard in the 14th minute, when Dartmouth’s Lindsay Holdcroft was unable to hold on to a shot from Dru Burns. Melissa Bizzari picked up the rebound and put it between the pipes to tie the game. The assist was Burns’ first point of the season. The teams closed off the first period with a 1-1 tie.

Just like they did in the first period, the Eagles controlled the start of the second frame. In the fifth minute, Emily Pfalzer broke through Dartmouth’s defense and sent the puck to Haley Skarupa, who one-timed it past Holdcroft to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

At 10:45, Emily Field scored on a successful power play, assisted by teammates Ashley Motherwell and Alex Carpenter.

With the assist, Carpenter extended her point streak to seven games.

“Alex is a great player, and she is someone we definitely rely on to provide an offensive punch,” said head coach Katie King Crowley. “She is so young, as a sophomore, and I only see her improving and improving every game that she plays in and every opportunity that she has.”

Although the Eagles stayed ahead for the first two periods, Dartmouth outshot them 13-5 in the final stanza and brought the match to a tie. Reagan Fischer scored early against Miller, cutting BC’s lead to 3-2. Then, in the final two minutes of play, Fischer netted the equalizer that brought the two teams into overtime.

In the extra frame, despite outshooting the Big Green 3-1, the Eagles were

unable to get any shots past Holdcroft and the game concluded in a 3-3 tie.

“It is a little disappointing,” said Crowley of the resulting tie. “One of the things that we have been talking a lot about is playing the whole 60 minutes of hockey. We have to make sure that we are really taking care of the whole game and not just part of the game.”

Offensively, BC’s three goals gave them a remarkable 21 goals in its last four games alone.

“Our strength continues to be our team speed,” Crowley said. “We have scored quite a few goals here in the last three or four games. We typically, in years past, haven’t scored as many goals as we have recently.”

Crowley hopes her team will keep up their endurance and high energy level in the home-and-home coming up against their league rival Northeastern this weekend.

“Northeastern is a good team, so we’re going to have to come out ready to go and with a lot of fight in us,” she said.

“League games are so important.”

The Eagles will head to Matthews Arena on Friday night before hosting the Huskies at Kelley Rink on Sunday afternoon. n

from our kids.”

The second half saw the Eagles come alive, as they shot an impressive 71.4 percent from the field and outscored the Crusaders by 17 points.

That margin was augmented by a crucial string of 12 consecutive points that BC put up against its opponent. Junior Kristen Doherty started the run with a 3-pointer at 12:24 remaining in the game, and BC’s onslaught would not end until fellow junior Katie Zenevitch’s hook shot with 8:46 left on the game clock.

Zenevitch posted 21 points on the night to go along with eight rebounds. Her play was crucial in establishing the Eagles’ presence in the paint, which created a lot of wide-open looks on the perimeter.

Sharpshooting freshman Nicole Boudreau and senior Kerri Shields were there to drain a lot of those outside shots. Boudreau shot 9-of-16 for the evening and poured in a game-high 22 points and six assists. Shields added 14 points of her own on 6-of-11 shooting. “[Boudreau and Zenevitch] were the beneficiaries of a lot of ball movement,” Johnson said of his leading scorers. “Kristen Doherty, Tessah Holt, and Kerri Shields all

did a phenomenal job of breaking down the defense. What you saw was a team out there, everyone working together, attacking, moving together. On any given night, we’ve got a lot of people who can put the ball in the basket, and they don’t care who it is. I hope what we saw against Holy Cross was the beginning of that culture.”

Although it is early in the season and Johnson is still tweaking his rotation, the five starters—Zenevitch, Doherty, Shields, Boudreau, and Holt—each logged over 30 minutes of game time.

The stifling Eagles defense only allowed one Crusader into double digits in scoring, as junior Alex Smith notched 15 points, making only six of her 15 shots.

Johnson’s first win as head coach will be a solid building block that his young team can use to give it some confidence moving forward. The energetic coach is not one to bask in the glow of a victory, though, and displayed a typical “on to the next one” attitude toward this victory that should rid any thought of complacency that his team may have.

“We need to be proud of picking up the win and realize why we were successful,” Johnson said. “But we also need to realize that our next opponent [BYU] will be even better.” n

Eagles ready for Bears Men’s Basketball, from A10 of them to really accept that challenge and really go play their game.”

The Eagles have been game-planning for Baylor since the beginning of the week, and it’s something Donahue feels much more comfortable doing compared to last season.

“Last year, I just literally had to talk about how to compete in a college game,” Donahue said. “I think the guys get that now. It’s just a different vibe. I think we understand how we’ve got to play and what we’ve got to do against any opponent, but in particular we can give them things now in preparation for Baylor where I think it would be a positive, where last year we could start overloading that too much and guys start going in the other direction.”

While Clifford tries to check Austin,

sophomore forward Ryan Anderson will have his hands full with Baylor forward Cory Jefferson, who has been averaging over 20 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks in the Bears’ first two games.

Both Jefferson and Austin have done a great job attacking the rim during Jackson’s penetration, which has led to easy dunks.

The Eagles rotated poorly against FIU on defense, and that will have to improve if BC is going to hang with the Bears.

Freshmen forwards Taurean Prince and Rico Gathers also present size and length challenges for BC, while guard Brady Heslip, who transferred from BC after Donahue took over, will force Lonnie Jackson to chase him around multiple off-ball screens on his way to arc, which Jackson struggled with in BC’s first game. n

Sophomore Downs makes a splash in her debut season at BC

By Emily Malcynsky For The Heights

It has been an up and down season for the Boston College women’s swimming and diving team. The Eagles have been met with definitive success in some meets while falling short in others.

Amidst the successes and shortcomings of the team, one sophomore swimmer stands out, giving a particularly outstanding performance during the New England Catholic Invite the weekend of Oct. 19 and 20. Emily Downs finished first in the 100yard freestyle event with a time of 53.81, as well as third in both the 200-yard freestyle and 50-yard freestyle. She also contributed to a first-place finish during the 200-yard freestyle relay, helping the Eagles finish with a 1:38.88 time.

Such success in any given meet is impressive, but for Downs, being competitive at a college level was not always in her plans. In fact, Downs originally chose not to join the swimming and diving team during her fresh-

man year, opting instead to take some time off from a sport that had consumed much of her life before college.

“I was born into a swimming family—I had my first swim lesson at six months,” Downs said. “After senior year my last meet wasn’t as great as I would’ve hoped, and I wanted to go to college and see who I was without swimming.”

Downs spent her freshman year at BC out of the pool, but gradually found herself drawn back to swimming.

“I kind of missed it and thought I would regret it if I didn’t give it a shot,” said Downs, a Wayland, Mass. native.

After deciding to return to the sport, Downs faced a period of transition, working particularly hard to catch up with her teammates.

“I was definitely way more out of shape than everyone,” she said. “I never swam two meets in a row, so that was very hard for me. In that way, I’m behind everyone, but hopefully I’ll catch up.”

Downs will have the opportunity to

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test herself again this weekend at the Terrier Invitational, a three-day event starting tomorrow.

Despite the ups and downs of the season thus far, Downs feels as though the Eagles have shown improvement since last season, when they finished in last place during the ACC Championships. She also hopes that their increasing success will lead to more recognition for the swimming and diving team on campus.

“We’re doing better this year than we have been, so hopefully that will get more attention for the team,” Downs said. “We’ve had a lot of competitive meets.”

In terms of the team’s strengths, Downs pointed to the distribution of talent throughout the team’s entire roster.

“Our greatest strength would be depth right now, and because of that we have a lot of people competing for the top spots in every event,” she said. “It makes everyone work a lot harder in practice.”

The swimming and diving season began at the end of September and will continue

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Rettig 247 yds 1 int BC Golson 200 yds 2 td FIU

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84 Anderson 29 pts 17 rbs BC 70 Frink 22 pts 10 rbs ND

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Shields 11 pts 3 ast BC Chantell 17 pts 7 rbs HC

well into February. With the season not even halfway through, Downs predicts that the Eagles will improve even more.

“I couldn’t pick an event off the top of my head, but there’s always room for improvement,” she said. “I might say the longer distance strokes. Those are always really hard and we do them well, but they are always the hardest.”

On a personal level, Downs is hoping to show improvement during the Terrier Invitational. She is, however, aware of possible limitations due to the time she took off last year.

“Everyone tries to do their best times [at the Terrier Invitational], which is interesting cause it’s in the middle of the season,” Downs said. “I would like to drop some more time, but I don’t really know what to expect considering I’ve taken time off and I don’t really know what I’m capable of doing. I think it’ll be a surprise.”

Despite any setbacks she has experienced because of her time off, Downs has no regrets about waiting to join the team.

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Zenevitch 21 pts 8 rbs BC Smith 15 pts 6 rbs Dart

“I think it was something I needed to do,” she said. “I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with swimming. At the end of senior year I was kind of done with it, and I needed to do a little soul searching.”

Since joining the team, Downs has felt the benefits of being on a collegiate squad, including the team bonding and athleticism experienced only by student-athletes. She does admit, however, to having some doubts about returning.

“I didn’t really know how it would be, getting back into it,” she said. “But it’s been pretty good. It’s been a lot of fun. Practices are manageable. If you put in the effort, it pays off.”

As for her success in the New England Catholic Invite, Downs claims she was not expecting to perform as well as she did, nor does she credit her success to any one thing.

“It might have been the atmosphere,” she said. “Everyone was really excited to be there.

It was a really fun meet to watch. I kind of surprised [myself ], too.” n

Gaudreau 2 g BC DiPauli 1 g BU

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SPORTS The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

A10

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Soccer faces Huskies in first round

By Greg Joyce Sports Editor

Ed Kelly and his Boston College men’s soccer team got the call they were hoping for on Monday night from the NCAA selection committee, as the Eagles were placed into the field of 48 teams in the NCAA Tournament.

Tonight, BC (8-5-5, 3-2-3 ACC) will travel down the road to Northeastern University’s Parsons Field to take on the Huskies (13-2-4, 6-1-3 CAA) at 7 p.m.

Northeastern clinched its ticket to the tournament by winning the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) last Sunday. The Eagles

got in the hard way as an at-large selection, after getting knocked out of the ACC tournament by Clemson in the first round last week. They are currently ranked No. 38 overall in the newest RPI rankings.

Kelly will be preparing his squad to play in a challenging environment, as the Huskies are 7-0-1 at home this season, and 140-1 in their last 15 games at Parsons Field.

Their top threat is CAA Player of the Year Don Anding, a forward for Northeastern.

The tournament berth is the sixth straight for BC, and 12th overall in the history of the program. Last year, the Eagles were the No. 4 overall seed in the tournament, and received a bye in the first round.

They hosted Rutgers in the second round, but got knocked out of the tournament after a heartbreaking loss. The game came down to penalty kicks, which the Scarlet Knights won, sending BC home earlier than they had hoped.

The Eagles will be hoping for a longer run this year, beginning tonight. They’ll lean on senior goalkeeper Justin Luthy to be a solid force in net, while Charlie Rugg and Kyle Bekker will be looked upon for the offense.

The winner of tonight’s game will go on the road to face No. 4 Connecticut in the second round of the tournament on Sunday. n

graham beck / heights editor

The Eagles will open up the NCAA Tournament at Northeastern tonight after an up-and-down year.

Amidon does VS. Virginia Tech Boston college it all, in the best way BC has handssame old storySeniors are Saturday, 12:30 p.m. Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

full with VT

set for finale Vets reflect on time with Eagles

By Greg Joyce Sports Editor

Austin Tedesco Boston College wide receiver Alex Amidon was left off of the Biletnikoff Award semifinalist list, which was cut to 10 players this week, and the receiver probably couldn’t care less.

In his record-setting season, during which he’s already broken the single-season receiving yards mark for BC, and will get the receptions record either this weekend or next, Amidon hasn’t just brushed off the praise—he’s deflected it to teammates and coaches. He’s also made it very clear that the only stat or record that matters to him is wins and losses.

“I don’t really have too much to say,” Amidon said on Saturday after breaking the record. “It was all [quarterback Chase Rettig] and everybody on the offense. It’s not me. I mean, Chase is playing phenomenally this year. The only thing that matters to me right now is two—two and eight.

That’s the only stat I’m worried about.”

The national media doesn’t have to recognize Amidon. He may be fourth on the yards per game standings, but the team hasn’t been successful, which is huge for national awards, and he hasn’t put up the same ridiculous highlights that the semifinalists ahead of him have. He also isn’t a typical receiver for this award.

He doesn’t make freakishly athletic plays in the air or jaw-dropping jukes for yards after the catch. What he does do is run faster than anyone else for four whole quarters, and no one else can say that. He wears down

See Amidon, A8

Another week , another game.

Except this time, Saturday’s game might be a little more emotional, as it marks the final one at Alumni Stadium in the 2012 Boston College football season.

For fifth-year offensive tackle Emmett Cleary, there’s too much preparation in store for this week in preparing for Virginia Tech to be worried about the emotions.

“In one sense, we’re kind of too wrapped up in the day-to-day to really think about that,” Cleary said. “It’s just a big conference game against Virginia Tech, who’s an opponent we get up for every year. I’m sure [the emotions] might get to me on Saturday, but we’ll see.”

More than anything, Cleary said he and his classmates want to leave Alumni Stadium with one last win, especially after going through such a tough season.

“I think Saturday would be a lot more enjoyable if we got a win so [we could] leave Alumni with a good taste in our mouths,” said fifth-year tight end and captain Chris Pantale.

To get that win, the offense and defense are both going to have their hands full against the Hokies, who need a win to have any hope of extending its 19-year bowl streak.

Offensively, the Eagles received a spark last week from running back Deuce Finch, who returned to action for the first time since the third game of the season.

By Chris Marino

Assoc. Sports Editor

graham beck / heights editor

alex trautwig / heights senior staff

See Football, A8

While Senior Day is the last home game for Cleary (77), Shinskie (15) is considering one more year.

BC downs Holy Cross

See Seniors, A8

Baylor presents early challenge

By Austin Tedesco Asst. Sports Editor

By Andrew Klokiw Heights Staff

For any new head coach in his or her first season in a new environment, the first win can seem like the hardest. The Boston College women’s basketball team’s Erik Johnson found this out firsthand when his team dropped its opening contest to Boston University last weekend. The Eagles bounced back in their second effort of the season on Tuesday evening, however, defeating Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. by a score of 71-52, giving Johnson his first win as a head coach on the heights.

“Of course it’s nice to get that first win, but we really try to focus on the process,” Johnson said. “I have to give the players a ton of credit, because we stalled offensively in the first game against BU. I was so impressed with the team and how well they were able to assimilate a lot of changes and put them into effect in a high-level Division I basketball game that quickly. It was a really good maturation from game one to game two.”

The workmanlike attitude of Johnson was clearly reflected in his team, as it was able to score 25 more points against the Crusaders. Johnson’s emphasis on ball movement and shot creation paid off, as BC notched an impressive 20 assists on 30

On Saturday, 16 members of the Boston College football team will step onto the field of Alumni Stadium for their last career home game. Over their four years, the team has seen some discouraging seasons, but there have also been some positives, as they have become some of the leaders in shaping the future of BC football.

“The seniors are a valuable, integral part of any team,” said head coach Frank Spaziani. “A lot of the success and nonsuccess focuses around that, rightfully or wrongfully. You need to have seniors that are quality—and we have quality seniors that have been good kids.

It’s always important. The record is not what they want it to be, but that doesn’t diminish their importance to the team.”

For tight end Chris Pantale, the contest against Virginia Tech will bring a lot of emotions for the Class of 2013.

“It’s going to be a really emotional day on Saturday,” he said. “It’s going to be excitement, sadness, and all that stuff. I think a lot of emotions will be running through my head. It’s just scary to reflect back on the amount of time I’ve spent here and how fast it went by.”

While the Eagles have suffered their second straight losing season, the younger members of the team still value the roles that the veteran leaders

alex trautwig / heights editor

Katie Zenevitch recorded 21 points and eight rebounds in the Eagles’ first win of the season. overall baskets.

The first half appeared to be more of the same from the BU game, as the Eagles shot merely 29.4 percent from the field and a poor 2-for-18 from the three-point line.

Johnson’s team went into halftime with a 24-22 lead as the offense stuttered.

“The thing that most impressed me about our offense was that we shot poorly

i nside S ports this issue

in the first half, but for the most part, believe it or not, our shot selection was pretty good,” Johnson said of his team’s struggles.

“This team had to believe that they could keep shooting the same shots and keep working at the same things [in the second half ] and they did it. That shows a belief

See Women’s Basketball A9

BC draws with Dartmouth

The women’s hockey team had the lead but finished in a 3-3 tie on the road..........A9

The gimmicks are over, and the real test is about to begin for the Boston College men’s basketball team. A strong surge in the final 10 minutes pushed the Eagles past Florida International University in the season opener on Sunday, but the game was only a small test for the upcoming season. The Golden Panthers ran a bunch of full-court presses and switchedup zones with their smaller players, and it’s a look that BC probably won’t see again for the rest of the season.

“Obviously there’s a lot of room for improvement, but I thought we did a good job of attacking the pressure for the most part, but then we got lazy and made some careless mistakes, in part to do with the fact that I think they did a good job staying with [the press] the whole game,” said head coach Steve Donahue after getting a chance to look at the tape. “We’re just not used to that. The defense was good in spurts, but at other times, I thought in particular dribble penetration really hurt us.”

Stopping dribble penetration will be especially important when the Eagles get an early-season test opening up the Charleston Classic with No. 16 Baylor today.

The Bears are led by senior guard and preseason Big-12 Player of the Year Pierre Jackson, who has had no trouble getting to the rim so far this year. The quick and

Downs above the rest in the pool

Before the Terrier Invitational this weekend, read about the sophomore who nearly didn’t swim at BC.....A9

elusive guard is deadly off the dribble, and the Baylor offense becomes extremely difficult to stop once he gets into the lane. Freshman guards Olivier Hanlan and Joe Rahon will have a size advantage over Jackson, but Rahon, especially, had trouble staying in front of FIU’s Deric Hill, who is around the same size but not nearly as skilled.

“Baylor’s very good,” Donahue said.

“There aren’t many teams more talented than them. With their length, experience, skill level, it’s just a terrific basketball team.”

If Jackson can beat the BC guards off the dribble, then Baylor’s length becomes even more effective. Isaiah Austin, a 7-foot-1 freshman, is expected to play against the Eagles after suffering an ankle injury in the Bears’ first game, and the big man will be a tough matchup for BC center Dennis Clifford. Clifford struggled to defend the pick-and-roll against FIU, and Austin has the ability to flash all the way to the three-point line for a triple or roll hard to the rim for an alley-oop. If Clifford struggles to stay with Austin, the Eagles may need to rely on transfer Andrew Van Nest again on the defensive end.

“No matter what, I think it’s a great challenge for both our bigs to figure out how to get around that,” Donahue said.

“When you’re playing around really good length and athleticism you’ve got to be a little smarter, a little more understanding of the size around you, but I expect both

See Men’s Basketball A9

Editors’ Picks..............................A9 Game of the Week.....................A9

editor’s column

a final farewell

Looking back at an amazing year on ‘the heights,’ page B2 Star Value

andrew rannells

the broadway star sets his sights on television, page B4

album review

‘taKe me home’

The Heartthrobs from across the pond cement their pop allure with an infectious sophomore release, b5

friday, september 28, 2012

Alex Manta / Heights graphic

The Heights

B2

Coming to terms with the end

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Scene and Heard

BY: Carolina del Busto

Brennan Carley How do we really know when something has come to an end?

There are the natural ends to things that have run their course, like “Gangnam Style,” whose surprisingly vivacious run on the Billboard charts has outlived nearly every expectation. Do you think any expert could have predicted that a K-pop star named PSY would infiltrate the American market with his self-effacing rap smash sung almost entirely in Korean? Alas, the sidestepping song has finally peaked in popularity following countless radio plays, Halloween costumes, and memes galore.

In terms of pop culture, there are the manipulators high up who command our airwaves, deciding exactly what the American public will consume in the months to come. Song play and TV shows and movies are dictated, coaxed to life by bigwigs with monetary goals in mind, then quietly snuffed by the same men and women who devote themselves to starting and ending what we as a country take in every single day. Why else did Madonna’s “Give Me All Your Luvin’” get an overly aggressive number of spins in the first 24 hours of its release and then all but disappear from the radio days later? It’s less a natural end and more controlled, but an end we should all expect to know and understand after years of exposure to the process.There are, of course, those things that we know to have a short lifespan at their very incarnation.

We go into movies like Remember Me knowing that the experience will be mercifully contained to a few hours, though the memories will live on in infamy. We listen to an album by Taylor Swift knowing that we’ll one day outgrow it, return to it, and outgrow it again. Concerts come and go, acts like Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Phantogram, and M.I.A. rolling into venues across the town and playing their short sets for audiences who remember them only through pictures on Facebook and Instagram, tweets, and reviews written for a college newspaper that would change a life.

There are the memories of fleeting events that defined a life at their occurrences. Meals at my Beantown staples like the Regal Beagle, BBQ joint Sweet Cheeks near Fenway, Bon Chon over in Allston, Zaftig’s brunches on hazy Sunday mornings: all short, yes, but each one worth every penny. A two-day excursion to Maine, two years in a row, will always be coated with gold whenever I look back on them—full of hugging, nonstop dancing, swimming, soccer, and pancakes.

Day trips to Cape Cod, weekends in New York City, summer nights overlooking the Hudson River, drinks at Mary Ann’s, all of it with other editors—they each went by infinitely faster than I would have ever imagined, and I would do anything to get each one back.

Then there are those things that live on forever. A fellow editor recently suggested that at our spring alumni event we hire a DJ to play hits from our childhood that have stuck with us, songs like “Macarena” and “Mambo No. 5.” There are the timeless pop culture couples, in the deepest corners of our entertainmentobsessed hearts, that still yearn for each other even outside of the confines of their venues. Pam and Jim, Coach and Mrs. Coach, Jay-Z and Beyonce—they’re the stories and couples we invest our hopes and dreams in, knowing that they’ll pay off with timeless grace and reality.

I firmly believe that every memory I made, every person I befriended, each Late Night mozzarella stick, 30-second Sexual White Chocolate dance party, slap of the printer, Team Tears powwows, Monday night Scene meetings paired with the usual Wednesday and Sunday evening production nights, will remain with me for the rest of my life. The things I learned from my time on The Heights— first as a wide-eyed sophomore staff writer, then as associate arts editor with two of the most inspiring people I’ve had the pleasure to know, and finally capped off with my victory lap as arts editor alongside two of my best friends—are the things that never come to an end, no matter the circumstances at hand.

Readers, friends, family, please know how grateful I am to have both written this column and participated in this incredible newspaper for the past three years. Although this is my last column as editor, I hope to keep the things you have taught me for years to come.

How do we really know when something has come to an end? Sometimes, it just doesn’t.

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

1. SUN SETS ON ‘TWILIGHT’

2. MADONNA’S FANNY

Madonna is at it again! It seems that the material girl just can’t keep her clothes on lately—but this time, it’s for a good cause.

During her Monday night concert in New York City, she told the crowd that she will show her naked derriere in order to “raise some cash” for Hurricane Sandy victims. Before her concert, Madonna visited Rockaways in Queens to lend her support to the victims of Sandy.

On Monday, the black carpet of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 premiere in Los Angeles, Calif. was streamed live on the web. The night was not only monumental because it was the premiere of the last film in the saga, but also because stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson made their first public appearance together since their infamous breakup and cheating scandal. Onlookers reported that Stewart was being affectionate with Pattinson in the few moments they were together. Could this mean all is forgiven, or was it just good publicity?

4. ‘NASHVILLE’ GOES BIG Premiering mid-October for the fall television season, Nashville was well received by critics and viewers alike. Now, ABC has announced that it too likes the show well enough to pick it up for a full season. The show has been given the back-nine order from the studio, bringing the total number of episodes for its first season up to about 17. Nashville stars Connie Britton (American Horror Story) and Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) as country-singing rivals in Nashville, Tenn.

3. SEAN PENN, ACTION STAR

5. VICTORIA’S SECRET BLUNDER

Sean Penn is your modern day method actor. He can play almost any role, and he has. Now, he can (almost) add action star to his resume. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Penn is currently in negotiations with Silver Pictures to star in an action movie called Prone Gunman. The film will be based on a novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette, and the story will “center on an international operative … betrayed by the organization he works for and must go on the run.” Sounds very similar to the Jason Bourne stories, but with a French twist.

Victoria’s Secret has made headlines before about their lingerie being viewed as insensitive or insulting to minority groups. While filming their annual fashion show, model Karlie Kloss walked down the runway in a Native American headdress and matching animal print lingerie. Among the backlash from Native American groups and bloggers, one wrote that it was particularly offensive to put a war bonnet on a white female, because they are worn by men. Victoria’s Secret and Kloss have both issued apologies, and the outfit will be edited out of the Dec. 4 broadcast.

wiley’s follies

@mattgoldich (matt goldich, Comedian)

photo courtesy of google images

Despite it’s lack of artistic merit, PSY’s import hit dance single “Gangnam Style” reigns supreme in a lackluster year for music.

A look back at this year’s processed musical productions John Wiley To the freshman on Newton campus, the weekend is a disease, symptoms including, but certainly not limited to, existential nausea, social fatigue, and a chronic, hopeless wandering about the Mods. Granted, during the week he enjoys full inclusion in collegiate life, but come Friday night, he’s inflicted with leprosy—cast out of the society that once nurtured and embraced him. There is hope, however. For he knows that his redeemer lives, and in his flesh he shall taste Late Night, in all its exorbitance and grease, at the end of an otherwise unsubstantial evening.

In the year 2012, the music connoisseur suffers a similar ethical dilemma. All too often I find myself subjected to the tyranny of Carly Rae Jepsen and Ke$ha, but it’s important to note, just as is the case with Late Night, the over-processed goods these artists are churning are a necessary evil when no better options are offered.

Few moments are more sorry than my Friday night mozzarella stick vigils at Corcoran Commons, but as I baptize the deep-fried death sticks in marinara sauce, I note it as a brief moment of fulfillment, perhaps even salvation. While I have no plans to spend the entirety of my college life in communion with the godless church of Late Night, there’s a certain magic to it all. It brings the downtrodden

together, and when better alternatives do arise, Late Night is still there when I need it. Under this same logic, I find nothing reprehensible about the presence of the imported “Gangnam Style” in my iTunes library.

It is important, though, for us to never allow South Korean pop star PSY to replace the more musically upright artists at our disposal. The year of 2012 has simply been a dismal year for music—even Kanye West disappointed us with Cruel Summer, while many of the Adeles and Bon Ivers of the industry simply haven’t come out with anything. Likewise, Late Night does not tackle all the major food groups, nor should it be regarded as the best party on campus. Please, remain faithful to the three major meals. Contrary to common belief, Late Night is not a dinner substitute.

But hey, if the fish don’t seem to be biting your line and the Mods are cruel to you, why not dive into a F’real milkshake (even if it is only questionably milk-based)?

Moving past 2012, I pray that the music industry recovers from its injuries to the point where it no longer needs a trash music crutch to support itself. However enjoyable the Gangnam Style “invisible horse dance” can be at parties, I always find myself waking up the next morning recognizing that it is by no means an appropriate anthem for our generation. Pop music seems to be caught up in just as much uncertainty as the economy, and it has no idea what to

do with itself. The wondrous crop of rollicking musical anomalies, devoid of technical merit, has flourished in an especially dry year in music. Let us hope artists recognize that it never should become a staple crop.

There has never been an instance when, the day after a hardy Late Night meal, I wake up thinking, “Wow, that was a great decision.” Indeed, deepfried delicacy is synonymous with regret. The next day, for me there always is a penance of a sort, whether it be a visit to the Plex or a 10-mile run. As Alfred so eloquently posed in Batman Begins, “Why do we fall, sir? So we might learn to pick ourselves up.” Such is the nature of man—that is to say, only through something bad can we fall upon a greater good. As for that pesky world of music, I should hope Kanye West is out there somehow, somewhere, weeping as he watches Cruel Summer continually thrust downward in the charts by One Direction’s Take Me Home and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 Soundtrack. Moving forward, I hope he finds friends, like Justin Vernon and Jay-Z, pulls them from their respective homes, and rushes them into the studio, beginning the long process of musical dialysis that the year 2013 needs to be. But as for the next month and a half, I guiltily declare, oppa gangnam style.

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

“texas wants to secede from the u.s. so rick perry can legally buy massive amounts of back pills there without a pRescription” @mikedruckler (mike druckler, comedian)

“facebook should have a button called ‘wanted to like, but also didn’t want to reward you for acting like the first person to have a baby’” @bjnovak (bj novak, Actor, ‘the office’)

“everything happens for a reason, but it’s often a stupid reason” @garyjanetti (gary janetti, comedian)

“i would sooner leave a baby stroller in traffic than leave my phone on the counter of starbucks while i grab a straw” Submit your favorite tweets of the week for consideration at artseditors11@gmail.com.

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

B3

iconic videos live on for our last scene as arts editors, we predict which videos from our generation will cement themselves as classics.the winner: “Yonkers” BY brennan carley | arts & review editor, taylor cavallo | Assoc. arts & review Editor, Dan Siering | Asst. Arts & REview Editor

“National Anthem”

BY Lana Del Rey

tyler, the creator

After a hugely successful sophomore album and nabbing the famed Best New Artist Grammy this year, Wisconsin singer/songwriter Bon Iver solidified himself as arguably the finest alternative solo act in the game in 2012. Much of this promotion can be pinned Anyone who knows Lana del Rey’s music videos knows on the triumph of “Holocene,” the methodical and cerebral that, for better or worse, they are aesthetically very single for his self-titled album. While the melody and lyrsimilar. In keeping with her preferred aesthetics, ics speak for themselves, the song’s music video added however, the female artist added a twist by spica new and profound dimension to the song’s meaning. ing up her video for “National Anthem” with a Filmed in Iceland, the video illustrates the story of theme: America’s favorite couple, JFK, played a young boy and his journey through a wide array of

by A$AP Rocky and Lana herself as Jackie Tyler, the Creator is no stranger in Scene spreads, so it seems only apbreathtaking landscapes. The blonde-haired child O (and a little bit of Marilyn time also, at propriate that we included his equally noteworthy video for “Yonkers” as our emerges from his shire-like home and embarks the beginning). The Americana aspect prediction for the most iconic music video of our generation. on an epic journey past crystal glaciers, maof the song fits perfectly with Lana’s Set against a plain white background, “Yonkers” depicts an angst-ridden Tyler in jestic waterfalls, and roaring oceans. With unique choice for a theme, and the black and white as he muses about the problems facing him. His eyes go black, he eats and its wide shots of the scenery surrounding entire video is beautiful, boasting then regurgitates a cockroach and, in a grand conclusion, he steps atop a stool and hangs himthe youthful traveler, the video aims scenic shots of Nantucket-esque self. It’s provocative, and some call it immature, but it speaks volumes about the rapper’s troubled to point us toward the insignificance landscapes and three beautipsyche. He’s a brilliantly tortured soul who has proven himself to be a genuinely dark human being, of humanity in the face of Mother ful biracial children. In the rather than a flash-in-the-can provocateur who does it for the attention.

Nature. It’s a film that is both end, it goes without sayThe song and the video both call attention to Tyler’s—and the rest of Odd Future’s—perception that rap as grandiose and simplistic, and ing that Lana and A$AP a genre has hit a critical juncture in its maturation. The rapper takes other musicians, like Bruno Mars, B.o.B., and stands alone as a masterpiece. have chemistry, and that Haley Williams, to task for their role in the commercialization of a style that started on the streets. the video will live on With over 51 million views at the time of this writing, “Yonkers” has clearly made an impact on the viewing public. Alnot just as a notable though it has been criticized for its graphic depictions of violence, it makes its point in an extraordinarily unique and electric and artistic music fashion. Tyler has yet to match the greatness of the “Yonkers” music video, though he has tried valiantly—think the “Rella” and video, but even “She” videos, for instance. perhaps as an Yonkers is the city where I was born and raised, and now, “Yonkers” will go down in the history books. interesting historical comment a r y.

“HaLOCENE”

“Monster”

BY Kanye west ft. jay-z, nicki minaj and rick ross

In a world where Islamic nations stand as our most imposing foreign adversaries, singer M.I.A. puts us right in the middle of the turmoil with the video for her hit single “Bad Girls,” released earlier this year. Looking to shed her onehit wonder status, the British pop star, known for her 2009 hit “Paper Planes,” set the video for her Arabic infused track within a traditional Islamic town. Aligning her unique style and souped-up cars with traditional Islamic garments and camels, M.I.A. creates an artistic tension between the West and the Middle East.

But it’s not a threatening tension. Townsfolk dressed in burkas join in to dance with the singer, and by the end they are sitting on top of trick cars tilted on two wheels. It’s a thoroughly odd sight to see, but maybe M.I.A. is looking to bridge the gap between the two clashing regions. Or maybe she’s just thinks it looks cool.

“YONKERS”

Despite never having been officially released, the video for Kanye’s smash collaborative hit “Monster” turns the heads of all who watch it. Taking the title literally, the music video portrays a creepy, gory, and ghoulish scene. Apparently a commentary about the ugly side of fame, the video features tall, beautiful models as lifeless as marionette dolls, alongside flesh-hungry vampires eating the intestines right out of a corpse and grabbing for Kanye whenever they can. The video is perhaps most famous for Nicki Minaj’s verse and scene: this song put her on the top of the rap scene and showed that she could roll with the big boys despite her short time in the limelight. The music video is certainly worth a Google: its creepy cinematography is perfectly fitting for the song, and one can’t help but get goose bumps after watching.

by bon iver

“Bad Girls”

by M.I.a.

The Heights

B4

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Keeping with the current

Star value by Carolina del busto

Andrew Rannells jumps from ‘Mormon’ to ‘Normal’ A farewell with words of wisdom

Back in 2011, a little-known musical, The Book of Mormon, debuted on Broadway in New York City, and has since then taken the world by storm and skyrocketed its star, Andrew Rannells, to fame. Rannells played the lead, Elder Price, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Now, having conquered the theater world—Rannells’ Broadway credits include Jersey Boys and Hairspray—Rannells has set his sights on television. He has done various voice work for television shows through the years, but 2012 has been his best year by far. He was first seen in the HBO comedy Girls, and now he stars opposite Justin Bartha as a one half of a gay couple who wants to start a family with the help of a surrogate in The New Normal. Viewers may also remember Rannells as the stripper from the girlfriend comedy Bachelorette earlier this year. According to IMDb, he is also rumored to reprise his role of Elder Price in a film version of The Book of Mormon.

Dan Siering

Photos courtesy of google images

Fashion Forward

Winter wardrobes deserve recognition Despite the cold, fashion during the winter season can shine

Therese Tully As I prepare to take a brief sabbatical from my time on The Heights—and literally from the Heights as well, for a semester in Sweden—I shall leave you fashionable readers with my ultimate Swedish winter wardrobe must-haves.

These pieces would help complete the wardrobe of my dreams, so if anyone is looking to get me a going away present, feel free to select from the list below!

The basis for this list is definitely coats. I have somewhat of a serious chronic coat addiction. No matter how hard I try to kick the habit, with each new winter, I am hooked. Outer wear is a truly defining piece of an outfit, and sometimes can serve to be the highlight of the entire ensemble. My number one must-have coat for this winter is one that I will, sadly, probably not add to my closet. The piece that’s got me rationalizing that I don’t need any money in my bank account any time soon is a maroon biker coat from Zara, and it is sadly not the only coat I fell in love with at Zara this past weekend.

The store is teeming with cool pieces, complete with leather touches, so be warned: Enter at your own risk.

My maroon biker coat, in my dreams at least, has a wool-based bodice, complemented by matching maroon leather sleeves. A long, exposed zipper cuts across the front, and is accented by zippered front pockets. It would be the perfect piece to layer over literally anything.

Leaving this coat behind truly broke my heart, and I promise I will never forget it.

Next are head wraps. I have a big head, literally (and maybe figuratively too?), so hats and I don’t generally mix too well. But head wraps, on the other hand, keep your ears warm and are infinitely cuter. Etsy is a great source for these, where you can personally choose the color, width, and adornment. I own a grey head wrap with a rosette and a purple one with beaded accents. Now that my collection has begun to slowly form, I know I need more. Purple and gray, though neutral, do not seem to complement every outfit, so I would like to expand my collection. Additionally, I would not be opposed to adding some earmuffs into the mix.

Yes, sometimes they seem like a silly choice, but a nice fluffy wool pair may be necessary to brave the harsh Swedish winter ahead—luckily, Goorin Bros. Hat Shop on Newbury Street has a lovely pair that I have my eye on.

Clearly, boots are next. I figure I will need a sturdy, weatherproof pair that are a tad less clunky than Wellies. In pursuit of the perfect boot for these purposes, I obviously turned to L.L. Bean. There they were, and they had my name written all over them. The Women’s 100th Anniversary Hunting Shoe. No fear, I will definitely not be doing any hunting in these boots—I am thinking more of biking around Sweden in the snow to and from classes. The boots are classic with a twist, in that they have the well-known and loved duck boot feel, but are extra tall, lace all the way up the length of the shin, and have a maroon sole. The black, 10-inch, shearling-lined option looks cozy as well.

My winter wardrobe would surely be lackluster without a little bit of sparkle. Like the glistening snow that will blanket my new Swedish home, I need some wardrobe pieces to match. Free People’s Reflected Moonlight Dress is just the thing I am looking for. I like it in the black, because it strikingly offsets the silver sparkles that creep from the hem slowly upward. Love is surely not too strong a word when describing this dress.

To ward off homesickness while abroad, I will keep the holiday spirit alive in my heart, and in my wardrobe. The best way to accomplish this goal, and to preserve my mental, physical, and emotional well-being, is with expensive pants, no? J.Crew’s Cafe Capri in Red Tartan screams holiday fun for your wardrobe.

The wool tartan material will surely keep me warm and happy at the same time. It’s a winwin, really.

Lastly, for those long winter nights, I may require some new pajamas. Luckily, J.Crew has a pair! Their union suit (aka onesie pajamas for adults—sorry, no feet though!) is sure to keep me warm and make me feel wintery. And, if I ever decide to give skiing another try, they will make a perfect base layer. Just kidding, wouldn’t want to break both my legs while abroad.

My wish list is simple, clearly, so I don’t see why some might view these requests as excessive. So, Santa, if you are real, this is what I really want for Christmas this year, so get shopping!

Photos courtesy of google images

Therese Tully is an editor for The Heights.

She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

Warmth can sometimes be an overlooked characteristic of a winter wardrobe, but practical winter clothing can also be stylish.

After two years, my time as a columnist has finally come to a close.

Since my days as a lowly sophomore, my weekly musings have taken up space in this section, where I was able to discuss whatever I found interesting, relevant, or vital in the art world that week. Sometimes I babbled about newly released trailers or award season hopefuls, and other times I attempted to explain my intense (sometimes odd) passions within the film or music realm. And while some weeks I found it was impossible to pick a topic or to hit the deadline, my time as a writer for The Heights has been a thoroughly unique and priceless privilege.

I came onto the scene as a writer for the paper two years ago, when I attended an arts writers meeting on a whim and picked up an album review (Brandon Flowers’ Flamingo, to be exact). Having only two days to complete the assignment, I anchored myself in a Bapst cubby for all of Tuesday afternoon, where I manically replayed the tracks and meticulously constructed a review. After I got positive feedback from the editors, I became a staff writer for the section and, not too long after that, a candidate for an editor position.

Despite losing in the election (to rather stellar competition, I may add), the new section editors awarded me with a role as a regular columnist. I took on the role and began to write weekly meditations about the prospects of various upcoming films.

A year later, I was quite comfortable in my columnist role and had few aspirations to run for an editor position when elections came around the next year. Yet, after conversing with an editor dressed as Trader Joe at a Halloween party, I set my sights on running again and, after another stressful election, was selected as the Assistant Arts & Review editor.

I need much more than a 750-word column to discuss all the great memories from the past year as an editor for The Heights, but, at the very least, I will say this: working on this newspaper has brought me close to some of the smartest, most dedicated, and most caring individuals I have ever come across in my life, including one exceptional person who is very close to my heart.

Okay, that was my sappy senior nostalgia trip. Now let me use the last half of my last column to give you a shred of wisdom.

My message can really be summed up in one single phrase—do what you want.

Boston College offers an extensive variety of majors and concentrations, yet with many of these majors comes a specific and rather unfortunate set of typecasts.

I am proudly a CSOM student with a finance concentration, and I am well versed in all the labels that come with the major (money-hungry, job-obsessed, or, on the more extreme spectrum, soulless).

Yet away from my business studies, I am a film studies minor, a radio broadcaster for WZBC sports radio, and, of course, an editor for this paper.

And while the minor and the activities might not seem too coherent or normal for a CSOM student, the mix seems very logical to me. They, like my finance concentration, are all things that I find fascinating and would like to spend my time at BC doing. After all, when else in your life could you do radio color for college hockey one day and write a movie review the next?

During my four years on this campus, I’ve realized that all those drunken alumni who blabber about cherishing the moment are not that crazy. College is a unique time in your life where you a) can do whatever you want with very minimal consequences, b) have access to a wide array of unique opportunities, and c) are surrounded by like-minded individuals.

So, take advantage of everything around you. Join a club just because it looks interesting, even if it doesn’t bolster your resume. Go to an event just because you like the subject, even if your friends don’t want to go. Make a friend just because he said something interesting in class, even if you’re not in the same major.

Do what you want.

That concludes my column for the year. My deepest gratitude goes out to everyone who supported or took the time to read this clumsy weekly column of text.

Oh, and I think Silver Linings Playbook is the dark horse in this year’s Oscar race.

Dan Siering is the Asst. Arts & Review Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

B5

Classic X-Tina moves from pop to less defined genre

Chart Toppers

By Mary Austin Williams

1 One More Night Maroon 5 2 Diamonds Rihanna 3 Die Young Ke$ha 4 Some Nights fun.

5 Gangnam Style PSY 6 Locked Out Of Heaven Bruno Mars 7 We Are Never Getting Back Together Taylor Swift 8 Let Me Love You Ne-Yo 8 Too Close Alex Clare

For The Heights

From her sweetheart pop persona during those golden ’90s “Genie in a Bottle” days to the “Xtina” unleashed on 2002’s Stripped, Christina Aguilera has certainly branded herself as an icon of American pop culture.

Celebrating recent successes, including co-judging NBC’s The Voice and releasing her newest single, “Your Body,” Aguilera has used her veteran status as an artist to further her career instead of stepping out of the spotlight. Aguilera calls Lotus a “celebratory record” that she hopes will inspire a generation of younger performers who may not be familiar with her previous hits. It is the fresh energy that the pop star devotes to the album that makes it stand out from her previous work, as she makes it relevant to a new kind of listener.

Despite this hype, Lotus’ opening title track falls short, sounding overly auto-tuned and not nearly memorable enough to convey the ideals of growth and clarity that her album represents.

Lotus takes a turn for the better with the next track, “Army of Me,” which the artist calls “a Fighter 2.0,” inspired by her newest fans who watch her on The Voice. Aguilera demonstrates her signature vocal range by repeating, “We’re gonna rise up,” though lyrics like “Now that I’m wiser / Now that I’m stronger / Now that I’m a fighter” seem oddly reminiscent of the Xtina we’ve always known.

Since no Aguilera album would be complete without a good dose of dance tracks, the artist more than delivers by collaborating with Voice co-judge Cee-Lo Green to produce “Make the World Move,” a catchy song with inspirational lyrics like “Turn up the love / Turn down the hate.” The overarching themes of positivity and renewal make the track seem like something one might hear in a Coke or iPod commercial—where it will most likely end up.

Yet another energetic track is “Let There Be Love,” a poppy tune that celebrates letting go of the past and enjoying the moment. Much like “Your Body,” “Let There Be Love” provides a great beat for dancing at a club or getting pumped up for a workout. These songs are meant to be cranked up and blasted through the speakers, helping to balance out Lotus’ reflective nature.

On “Blank Page,” one of the album’s few slow-paced tracks, Aguilera explores her own vulnerability, musing on her inner strength to find closure in difficult situations and ultimately make peace. The piano-driven melody showcases the emotional power of Aguilera’s voice, much like “Beautiful” from Stripped. The haunting words “I am a blank page waiting for you to bring me to life / I am a blank page waiting for life to start” provide Lotus with a lot more heart than its opening tracks might allude to.

Lotus ends with “Just a Fool,” featuring other Voice co-judge Blake

Lotus Christina aguilera produced by RCA released nov. 13, 2012 Our rating B+

Singles

Top Albums

courtesy of RCA

Despite ‘Lotus’’ ambiguous genre characterization, the album proves Aguilera’s image and sound have versatility.

Shelton, and while some listeners may not devote enough time to hear all 13 songs on the album, this is the track worth listening to. Shelton’s sweet country charm meshes well with Aguilera’s smooth vocals, and the two hit perfect harmony at the crescendo, singing in unison about lost love.

“Just a Fool” is catchy, heartfelt, and definitely a standout.

The deluxe version of Lotus, available on iTunes, offers three additional

tracks and a remix of “Your Body,” though all are available for individual purchase. “Shut Up,” the last of these songs, seems entirely out of place on the album and features a cathartic slew of expletives. For all of the messages of self-love and acceptance Aguilera offers her listeners, this track certainly doesn’t align with her pearls of wisdom.

With her pink hair streaks, Aguilera may not have lost her edgy side

entirely, but Lotus clearly displays her departure from decades past. Her new music makes it hard to place her into one particular musical genre, giving the album a unique lasting quality that demonstrates Aguilera’s ability to transform herself according to the times. Don’t be so quick to dismiss Lotus because of the singer’s millennium heyday—it doesn’t look like the artist formerly known as Xtina is going anywhere soon. n

1 Red Taylor Swift 2 Now 43 Various Artists 3 Merry Christmas, Baby Rod Stewart 4 R.E.D. Ne-Yo Source: Billboard.com

Seasoned vets Green Day deliver more pop-punk hits with ‘¡Dos!’

By Luiza Justus Heights Staff

Trilogies in the film world are as common as can be, but it is a rare and rather exciting occurrence to see one sprout from the music industry. The 25 year legacy of Green Day continues

with the release of their newest body of work. The three-part series of albums, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tre!, is all coming out within a short period of five months, with 38 brand new Green Day songs for fans to revel in.

This week, ¡Dos!, the second installation of the trilogy, has

been released for public consumption. It maintains the punk rock sound that has defined Green Day’s sound and at the same time serves as an important chapter in this new conceptual project. Band members Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool, and Mike Dirnt admit that making three

¡Dos! Green Day produced by reprise released nov. 13, 2012 Our rating A

courtesy of reprise

The second part of Green Day’s three-part CD installment maintains the punk rock sound that the band’s fans love.

records was a crazy idea, but one that according to them was “crazy enough to pull off.” Armstrong says the three are very much interconnected, and while they all sustain a consistent style, each one possesses a different thematic purpose. ¡Uno!, released earlier this semester, was a tribute to their classic style. ¡Dos! has a party-like feel to it, with a more garage rock vibe that turns said “party” into an intense, almost out-of-control experience.

Party-gone-too-far is the exact energy that can be grasped from this second installation of the trilogy, and this is meant in the most positive way possible. The record starts off with a one-minute soft introductory song called “See You Tonight” that is the perfect buildup for what is to come. If the album alludes to a party, this initial song is the feeling of electrified expectation one gets before a much-awaited night out. It eases into the second song, “F**k Time,” completely seamlessly. The party has officially begun, and the songs that follow are just as much reflections of Green Day’s beloved punk rock history as they

are a breath of fresh air for the band. Straight through, the sound is just as youthful as it has always been, perhaps even a little grittier.

The lyrics do not reflect the level of political involvement that has been associated with Green Day in the past, but rather focus on people and are inspired by everyday life events. Even though it lacks social commentary like the precedent album American Idiot, this new subject matter works.

With every song, the instruments hit the exact notes that our ears are craving to hear. The consistent noisy guitar in the background reminds the listener of the angst and disquietude of a young generation. The melodic mid-album track “Stray Heart” is an instant favorite. A catchy tune with a chorus that is impossible not to sing along to, this song has a gratifying and uplifting vibe—almost a little too romantic for Green Day, but still very welcome. The song right after it, though, gets right back into the dirty sound that we are used to.

“Ashley” is edgy and fast-paced, with lyrics worth paying attention to.

All the songs lead up to the absolute highlight of the album: the 11th track, titled “Nightlife.”

This tune gets away from everything fans have come to expect from this timeless trio. Instead of a punk rock, fast-paced and chorus driven anthem, we hear a dark, crazed, off-the-rails sound.

It alludes to the sensory climax of a hallucinatory night. The incredibly low-pitched guitar riff only adds to this illusory mood.

The most interesting part of the track is the special vocal participation of singer Lady Cobra. Her contribution works exceptionally well, especially when their voices begin to overlap near the end of the song with a phrase that encompasses this whole delirious feeling. Billie Joe chants, “Is it just me or am I going crazy?” to which her voice replies in a debauched haze: “It’s just you.” ¡Dos! proves to be an absolute success, which only makes audiences eager for what is coming next on ¡Tre!. If this album was the party, the next is rumored to be the hangover ... and what an undoubtedly pleasant hangover it shall be. n

One Direction solidifies its name in boy band history with ‘Home’

By Ariana Igneri Heights Staff

Take Me Home, the sophomore release from British boy band One Direction, is as delectably sweet, brilliantly polished, and winsomely innocent as the radiantly charismatic boys behind its vocals. Pure and densely concentrated, the colorful pop that characterizes their new record is shamelessly consistent through and through—leaving no room for musical filler or stylistic pretenses amidst its keenly crafted, bright production—and essentially, it’s their embracement of this popcliche that makes One Direction’s album so irresistibly alluring.

The opening track and lead single of Take Me Home, “Live While We’re Young,” with its catchy melody and unforgettable chorus, solidifies the assumption that the rest of the record will indeed be similar to the band’s debut, Up All Night, which was released only eight months ago in the U.S. and which currently has sold over 3 million copies. The song’s introductory riff is recognizably reminiscent of The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” and though it obviously targets the YOLO generation, “Live While

We’re Young” will inevitably hook a handful of older listeners, more comfortable with the seemingly dated, yet synonymous term “carpe diem.”

The whole of the record is heavily sugared with such tracks, but there are certainly several songs that typify this candied-pop best.

“Heart Attack,” for example, with its fun, spirited vocals, up-tempo drum stomp, and punchy “owww!” yelps, is glazed with perfect production. Produced by Dr. Luke, “Rock Me,” likewise, is crystallized by tantalizing refrains: not only does it utilize the drum-clap from Queen’s infamous anthem, but it is also coated with dynamic, electric guitars, resulting in one of the most enticing tracks on Take Me Home.

“C’mon, C’mon” is just as rich as the former two songs—not so much because it’s layered with driving rock tones, but more because it’s lustered over with clubby, pounding synths.

One Direction’s sweet spot is definitely their hook-laden pop tunes, but the band is still just as adept when it comes to sentimental ballads. Although “They Don’t Know About Us,” with its swelling exhortations about all-consuming love, is charming, it’s the album’s final

song, “Summer Love,” that takes the cake. An acoustic, mellow song, it is, nonetheless, luscious and sweeping, crafted with mellifluous violins and honeyed vocals. Amidst these two songs, however, the power-ballad “Change My Mind” is forgettable, and despite the fact that it’s pleasant, there is little to set it apart from the more embellished aspects of the record.

Penned by English music sensation Ed Sheeran, “Little Things” and “Over Again” are two other notable slow songs. Relying less on thickly frosted production and more on Sheeran’s idiosyncratic, honest lyrics, both tracks allow the band to display their mastery of the whole pop genre.

Simple and melodically fingerpicked, “Little Things” is sprinkled with tenderness—even though it’s entirely about female imperfections. Similarly, in “Over Again,” the boys, with their polished vocals, sing to elevated instrumentation and lyrical phrasing that are distinctively Sheeran’s, but either way, the British team effort seems to work on both songs.

Evident also in Sheeran’s lyrics is the fact that the band is clearly singing to their fan base. For example, in “Back For You,” they croon “I’m looking out at the crowd…. / I’ll be

coming back for you,”—a dreamcome-true for all female One Direction concertgoers. And though it is spritely whistles, jaunty handclaps, and a bouncy ’80s hook that characterizes “I Would,” it’s the fact that the boys entreat, “Would he say he’s in L-O-V-E? / Well, if it was me, then I would” that wins girls over.

The lyrics here seem innocent

enough, but it’s irrefutable that the group is trying, subtly, to reach an older demographic. Their smooth falsetto successfully sugarcoats slightly suggestive lines, such as those of “Last First Kiss” (“I wanna be first, yeah / Wanna be the first to take it all the way like this,”) and those of “Kiss You” (“If you don’t wanna take it slow / And you just

wanna take me home / Sing yeah / And let me kiss you”), but as previously mentioned, it seems pretty clear that the band is just responding to their audience. Demographics aside, though, Take Me Home, in its own right, is deliciously addictive from start to finish—after all, everyone needs a sweet treat every once in a while. n

take me home one direction produced by Columbia released nov. 13, 2012 Our rating A-

courtesy of columbia

While purely a pop album, ‘Take Me Home’ serves it purpose as a fun, light hearted release from the British boy band.

Radio singles by matt Mazzari The Killers “Miss Atomic Bomb”

Justin Bieber feat. Nicki Minaj “Beauty and a Beat”

Elton John vs. Pnau “Phoenix” The Killers managed to build a semi-charmed career on lyrics that pushed the envelope into strange places. The latest single to come from the just-over-a-decade-old Vegas group sounds like it was ripped from Springsteen’s back catalogue. Brandon Flower’s voice is gruffer, and the group’s instrumentals have adapted by toning down their organic urgency in favor of a slower, more heavily-produced burn.

Australian electronic group Pnau’s release comes from the partnership’s debut album, Good Morning to the Night. The sound is entirely comprised of synthesized, compressed, and sampled pieces, with Elton John doing simple, un-stressful vocals overtop. Elton’s voice ain’t what it used to be, but the spacey, wall-of-sound refrain is pleasantly tuneful and rather catchy.

The latest single to come off Bieber’s muchanticipated Believe album assaults the senses with repetition, assumedly because his songwriters were suffering retrograde amnesia.

While boasting that he’s going to party like it’s 3012 (Yeah, I dunno, just roll with it), the trademark auto-tuned Bieb’s monotone is cut short by Nicki Minaj declaring “Buns out, weiner” with literally no context at all.

B6

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

B7

BY KELLY COLEMAN

A day trip with comedy, cuisine, and cannabis As winter nears, excursions to the Mods, let alone all the way to Boston, may suddenly seem unappealing and treacherous. But fear not!

Even in the dead of winter, Boston is lively with plenty of things to see and do. The following day trip plan includes a taste of obscure clothing shopping, rare book browsing, laugh-out-loud entertainment, and, of course, food.

Start your day by going to The Creperie on Newbury (259 Newbury Street) and indulging in crepes that rival those of France. The extensive menu offers dessert crepes, like the Nutella-strawberry, as well as healthier options with fruit or meat. Stop by any time of the day for one of these delicious treats.

While on Newbury Street, make sure to check out two somewhat atypical destinations—The Hempest and Raven Used Books.

While dissimilar, these stores are equally eccentric. The Hempest (207 Newbury Street) is a clothing boutique filled entirely with garments made of cannabis hemp. That’s right, cannabis. The storefront represents its personality—walk down a few stone steps into an overgrown garden that almost blocks

Courtesy of Google images

True to its cannabis theme, The Hempest is a unique clothing shop with a standout storefront.

the entryway and you’re in. The business’ goal, according to its website, is to “provide you with an organic alternative for all your clothing needs.” Whether it is to purchase some organic clothing or just to see the store for what it stands for, this is a necessary stop on Newbury.

For all you readers out there, following The Hempest is Raven Used Books.

The Raven (263 Newbury Street) is a quaint bookstore that contains a vast selection of gently used books. They have everything from philosophical works to classical literature, as well as a plethora of non-fiction books ranging from biology to architecture and beyond. The friendly and knowledgeable staff make for a pleasant and intriguing shopping experience.

Now it’s time to take the T over to Haymarket. To add another pleasant stroll to your day, cut through Boston Common and take the Park Street Red Line. Like any other day, you are bound to run into hipster ukulele players or one-man bands playing 50 instruments at once. Make sure to take a step back and enjoy these performers—there’s a lot of hidden talent out there in Boston! Another bustling side trip is Winter Street. Directly across the street from the Park Street T stop, Winter Street is not open to vehicles, so pedestrians can leisurely walk freely across the alley, in and out of the numerous stores that are jam-packed into this little side street.

Two stops after Park Street is Haymar-

Allston-Brighton Crime Reports 10/24/12 — 10/26/12

ket. Get off here to enter the world-famous North End. The North End, famous for its Italian restaurants and bakeries, has more hidden treasures than you would think. The best of which, according to

location is relatively new, having been remodeled in 2010. Also an underground sight, walk down a few steps to come to a welcoming front desk and buy $5 tickets on a whim for a show that very night.

Courtesy of Google Images

The remodeled Improv Asylum supplies countless nights of laughter for locals. many, is the Improv Asylum. The Improv Asylum, located at 216 Hanover Street, is an improv and sketch comedy theater. For those who are unfamiliar with this style of entertainment, it is similar to the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, or even Boston College’s oldest improv comedy troupe, My Mother’s Fleabag. The company has expanded tremendously since its birth in 1997, and its Hanover Street

What would a trip to the North End be without some fine Italian dining? Check out Dolce Vita Ristorante (221 Hanover Street). This homey Italian eatery has one of the lengthiest menus in all of Boston, and according to a review in the Improper Bostonian, owner Franco Graceffa has been known to give live renditions of Italian operas, encouraging customers to sing along. n

Restaurant review

Taking a bite out of the Lone Star

Victim scammed by third-party website At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 24, a victim came into Station 14 to report that he was the victim of an Internet scam. He stated that he attempted to purchase a vehicle that was listed on Craigslist. The amount for the vehicle was $2,450. The victim contacted the seller and wired the money via a third party website, Moneygram. He deemed the website legitimate after reading about it on Amazon.com. After the victim sent the money, he was contacted again by the seller to send additional money—$1,500. At that point, the victim grew suspicious and contacted Amazon.com, and they informed him that the site he was dealing with was part of a scam. The victim contacted Moneygram and they advised him to report it to the local police department.

Breaking and entering at 33 Egremont Rd. At about 5:13 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25, an officer responded to a radio call for a breaking and entering report at 33 Egremont Rd. No. 4. Upon arrival, the officer spoke with the victim, who stated that when he arrived home from work he observed that the front door to his apartment was pried open with some type of tool, possibly a crowbar. The victim and his roommate both had items stolen, which included 30 pairs of earrings, seven necklaces, and five rings. The jewelry totaled about $1,000. There were no witnesses at the time of the incident.

Party busted at Ashford Street At about 12:15 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, officers responded to a call for a loud party at 14 Ashford St. on the second floor. Upon arrival, the officers could hear loud music and voices coming from the second floor of 14 Ashford St. Officers observed several individuals sitting on the front steps of the building smoking cigarettes. Officers asked these individuals if they were attending a party in the building. The individuals stated that they were having a party on the second floor of the building. Several of the individuals then proceeded to use their cellular phones to warn the people inside that the police were at the front door and about to come inside. Officers then noticed that the music was turned down. After about a 10-minute delay, the residents came down and opened the door for the officers. Officers walked up to the apartment, which had a strong odor of alcohol and burnt marijuana.

Nobody in the apartment was over 21. Officers observed several glasses that contained different amounts of wine.

- Courtesy of the Boston Police Department, District 14 Gathered by Marc Francis, Assistant Metro Editor

HOUSE AD

Courtesy of Google images

By Lauren Totino Heights Staff There are just some culinary cravings that need to be satisfied as soon as they set in, like good old Texas barbecue with the whole works: ribs, steaks, brisket, cornbread, coleslaw, and beans. When a hankering for these delicious dishes from the Lone Star State takes over, the Village Smokehouse in quaint Brookline Village is a great local spot to grab a little slice of Texas and a big slab of barbecued meat.

The Village Smokehouse, which opened its doors in 1987, is located just a short walk from the Brookline Village T stop off the D-line. The restaurant takes pride in offering southern hospitality in an authentic, open barbecue pit, amidst a historic New England suburb.

The eatery exudes a casual and family-friendly atmosphere, with an unspoken dress code that warns against white attire—a dangerous color to wear while attacking sauce-covered ribs. Patrons enter immediately into a bar area, which includes a television and distinctly American country music. Not surprisingly, the decor fits the classic, almost stereotypical, Wild West theme, but not in an over-the-top or tacky way. The wait staff is friendly, evidently trying to play up some Southern charm. Waitresses sport black tshirts with phrases printed on the back like “I wish Coke was still Cola, and a joint was a bad place to be,” demonstrating the sense of humor and light-heartedness that characterizes the Texas-themed restaurant.

The dining area is fairly small and is separated from the bar by the open barbecue pit, where diners can watch the grill masters in action. On a Thursday night, there was merely a short wait for a table to be cleared, but plans to dine on a weekend night may require a reservation. If dining with only one or two others, be prepared to share a table (actually, three small tables pushed together) with another party in close proximity at the other end—the seating arrangements aren’t entirely private. Each table comes equipped with a roll of paper towels, which is a good sign for the eager carnivore.

Rather than the usual dinner rolls brought to the table pre-meal, a basket of cornbread and butter is available to snack on while perusing the menu and deciding on appetiz-

ers and entrees. Homemade Texas chili with cheese, giant onion rings, homemade “Tater” skins, and fried buffalo shrimp are top picks for appetizers, but sharing is definitely encouraged given the portion size of the second course options.

The Village Smokehouse offers burgers and sandwiches, grilled salmon, steaks, and fajitas as entrees, but focus should be placed on the barbecue section of the menu, since that is what the establishment is best known for. Diners can choose from baby back pork ribs, beef ribs, sliced brisket, BBQ chicken,

Location: 1 Harvard Street, Brookline Cuisine: BBQ Signature Dish: Beef Ribs Atmosphere: 7/10 Average Entree: $19 Overall Experience: B+

Texas sausage, grilled shrimp, and Southwestern chicken. Hungry diners can upgrade ribs to “Texas size,” signifying one extra rib. All meats are slowly hickory smoked and barbecued on the open pit, and can be ordered with sauce on the side, light sauce, or extra sauce.

The beef ribs are massive and evenly glazed with a sauce that is a perfect blend of sweet, tangy, and smoky flavors. The most well-done parts of the meat have the taste of the grill cooked into them, which, when slathered in sauce, is textbook Texas barbecue. Barbecue entrees include the cornbread that was served before the meal, beans, and a side order. The coleslaw is fresh and light on mayo, and the sweet potato fries pair nicely with the meat. Sides are smaller than expected at a place that serves Texas-sized meals, however. It came as a surprise when the waitress brought over a small cup of beans and said that it was to be shared “family style” amongst the party of two. The Smokehouse does offer dessert, but it is unlikely that there will be any room for any. n

B8

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Mind Yo’ Business

Walking the tightrope one last time Courtesy of Katherine Bergeron

Frederick and Bergeron aim to open the Engine 18 gallery this spring.

Marc Francis This is my final column, perhaps forever, for The Heights. In two weeks I will be participating in an elections process that will place me on the business side of the organization that I have come to love so much. With that being said, I never would have dared to approach the intimidating line of 30 finely dressed editors one year ago at the introductory meeting if it were not for a risk-taking impulse. I figured that I had entered the campus of Boston College with a blank slate, so there was nothing to lose. I had to decide whether to sit back and take on a listener’s role or fulfill my dream of joining an organization I would grow to love and call my second family. Fortunately, I got my bottom off that seat and spoke to an editor, and as they say, the rest is history.

The concept of risk-taking is relevant on every level—professional, personal, and academic. Harvard professor Ronald Heifetz has stated that if you make one real decision in your life, that’s more than most people. So, why not let that decision be risk-infused? Making life-changing decisions is difficult solely because it rests on the ability to release ourselves of psychological boundaries and achieve genuine freedom of choice. Free will is not all it is cut out to be—I am sure most of us wish, at least at some points in our lives, that we could hire an expert to make decisions on our behalf. Sometimes I even ask my roommate to decide what flavor of frozen yogurt I want to order—relieving oneself of free will’s burden is often a flattering option.

Forbes magazine published an article that highlighted risks taken by some of the greatest modern-day entrepreneurs. Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, was one of the many who told their stories: “In the winter of 2001, Pandora was out of money. We had a choice: Cut our losses and throw in the towel or find a way to keep going. We decided to keep the company alive and start deferring salaries. Ultimately, over 50 people deferred almost $1.5 million over the course of two years (a practice that is illegal in California).

When we were finally rescued by an investment in 2004, I had maxed out 11 credit cards.”

And then we have the likes of Robert Polet, the chief executive of Gucci Group, who was attacked by an elephant in Botswana. He, his wife, and daughters all stood in the way of a frightened mother elephant. Yet, instead of driving away, their guide drove the car at full speed toward the elephant, making a sharp turn right before a possible collision. Although these two stories published in Forbes are completely different, they both point to one commonality—the idea of trusting our gut instincts and not being afraid to step into a sphere of vulnerability. Now, I am not saying to confront a rampaging elephant head-on or to keep your failure of a company alive, but I do believe in trusting yourself enough to make a logical decision.

My undergraduate experience in college will play a vital role in the shaping of my decision-making skills.

Risk-takers don’t need to be leaders, but they must be prepared to embrace their decisions and accept all forms of failure. Once embedded in a company’s corporate culture, risk-taking will encourage a healthy, competitive environment for all employees. As a result of the economic downturn, many have steered clear of all hazards, whether they be in the office or in the stock market. Yet I believe there is no better time to take risks than now—when the rest of the world is laying low. In every aspect of my life, I will have to take a risk to advance and enforce change upon the world I inhabit.

And as a final note, I’d like to thank my editor, Charlotte Parish, for taking the risk of working with me for an entire year. It has been a true honor.

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

Couple hopes to enliven Boston with underground artists Engine 18, from B10 She and Frederick soon thereafter began searching for their own space. “We didn’t want to be at the whim of a landlord,” she said.

Bergeron and Frederick spent five years searching for a space that could serve dually as their home and art venue before they finally purchased Engine 18.

Bergeron said that they know that they could have owned an apartment and an artistic venue separately, but that there are benefits to combining home life and performance life. “I like being able to, after a performance, bring people back to my living room to talk,” she said. “I really enjoy being able to have a setup where people are able to mingle and get to know each other in a homey sort of setting.”

While Bergeron and Frederick hope to open this spring, there is not yet a set date for when Engine 18 will fulfill its intended role of housing artists and serving as a venue for artwork ranging from performance art to film. Engine 18 will also house Frederick’s own undertaking as curator of the Empire S.N.A.F.U. Restoration Project, which, according to him, embodies a type of post-apocalyptic “experiential theater based on inanimate objects as much as it is based on people.”

The firehouse requires extensive repairs before it can be fully opened, including structural repairs and a new heating system.

To supplement their income, Bergeron works at Harvard University as a staff assistant. Frederick, according to Bergeron, has had to mostly forego his typical side job in antique restoration to be the “foreman and superintendent” of the Engine 18 renovations.

“A lot of people have this misconception that there is actually money in the arts,” said Frederick on the sustainability of Engine 18. “Even in music, there isn’t much room for anyone to make money directly for any of the arts.”

Art’s “intangible benefits are not quantifiable in financial terms,” he said. “You just have to be doing it for the love.” n

Two BC students face-off in ‘Play and Destroy’ DJ competition, from B10 Ex.” The ultimate victor, Gabriella Cacciatore, “DJ Triple D’s,” hailed from neither headlining school, but came from Suffolk University. She beat Northeastern student Dan Biscone, “DJ Mister Bisc,” to claim her victory.

Four days later, the third qualifier was held at An Tua Nua on Beacon Street. There, BC students faced off against BU students in categories such as “Eighties Hits” and “I’m Ashamed to Admit I Have This on My iPod.” Out of a field of eight competitors, BC students Jack Thornton, A&S ’13, and Audrey Riedy,

A&S ’13, reached the finals. At the end of the final round, Thornton emerged victorious and took first place. Another BC student, Taryn Beatty, LSOE ’13, took fourth place and also qualified for the finals on Saturday.

The final qualifier was held on Thursday, Oct. 25 at the Hong Kong on Massachusetts Avenue. Pitting Harvard University against MIT, this competition drew the largest field, bringing in 13 participants. These participants competed in categories such as “I’m at a Rave” and “Boy Bands.” After many rounds of competition, Emily Johnson, “DJ Derridawg,” defeated Scott Yu, “DJ Moose Trax,” to claim victory for Harvard.

Saturday night, the series finals started with a performance by “DJ Bad Magician” before the event. DJ and producer “Bro Safari” headlined the night and kept spinning tracks after the competition was over. Some of the categories of the night were “International Flare” and “Booty Shaking.” The competition was marked by close competition, as the host, Akrobatik, had to use a decibel meter to determine the victor in some of the rounds. At the end of the competition, Randall Spence, “R.D. Spinz,” faced Dan Biscoe, “Master Bisc,” in the final category of “Party Rocking Anthems.” Biscoe claimed the ultimate victory and walked out with a newly released iPad mini. n

Person to Watch Surrounded by a plethora of choices, students may elect to satisfy their hunger with Greek yogurt and fresh fruit or a salad from one of the campus salad bars, among the dozens of meal options provided by Boston College Dining Services daily. But while healthy selections may be the norm on the Heights, they are not available to all students, especially those not yet in college.

Finance and accounting major Kristin Groos Richmond, BC ’97, noticed the lack of nutritious food after leaving a New York investment bank to co-found the Kenya Community Center for learning, one of the first Who: Kristin Groos Richmond ‘97 What: Richmond applied the lessons she learned in Nairobi to America’s consumption of unhealthy foods. To battle the unhealthy food in American schools, specifically among minorities, she founded Revolution Foods.

Where: Revolution Foods is active in 850 schools across 11 states.

Why it matters: The health of our youth is a pressing current issue that Richmond has addressed in mutliple ways. schools for children with special needs in Nairobi. While there, she noticed the significance of nutrition in relation to academic performance. She also worked for Leadership Public Schools, a California non-profit organization that manages charter schools in low-income communities.

While helping craft the meal program, Richmond discov-

ered the flipside of the problem in Nairobi. Meal offerings at American schools didn’t suffer from a lack of options, but rather a dearth of nutrition. High fructose corn syrup and high-fat choices plagued students’ lunches.

Richmond commented to Education Pioneers, an organization dedicated to training educators who have the potential to transform the educational system so all students benefit. “I went from a place where the kids didn’t have enough food to a place where they were eating this junk. I said to myself, ‘Someone has to do this better.’ This is a huge opportunity to make a difference,” she said.

With this mission, she enrolled in the University of California’s Haas School of Business at Berkeley to pursue her MBA and learn the tools needed to launch her vision of wholesome school lunches. She and Kirstin Tobey, a classmate from the Haas School of Business, founded Revolution Foods in 2005.

Priding itself on providing food without any artificial ingredients, high fructose corn syrup, or artificial trans fats, Revolution Foods continuously innovates to provide healthier, more nutritious options at the same price of traditional lunch programs. Price is a large factor to be considered in the school food industry because a number of lower-income students receive free or subsidized lunches from the government and such lunches must meet certain requirements. Despite price playing a role in the production process, the company ensures that all lunches contain fresh fruit and vegetables, fried food is never served, milk is hormone-free, and meats originate from cattle that do not receive antibiotics or other hormones. Revolution Foods started

By: By: Arjun Danielle Gajulapalli Dalton

by serving three charter schools in Oakland, Calif. before expanding to its current 850 partner schools in 11 states.

Over 200,000 healthy meals and snacks are fed to children daily through Revolution Foods.

Revolution Foods was praised for both its concept of providing healthy food to students and for the company’s execution of the idea. Time magazine noted, “They’re not the first people to try to improve the quality of school lunches, but the Kristin/Kirstin duo is the first to successfully couple good intentions with a serious and sustainable bu sine ss model.” n

Courtesy of google images

The Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2012

B9

School authorities berated for inaction Anti-Semitism, from B10 subsequent School Committee meeting, acknowledging that the article did not meet the learning goals of the class, which in particular were about Islam and women. Community members have continued to pressure school officials, however, indicating that the initial response to the issue was not adequate, and that further efforts by the school must be made in order to resolve the continued impingement on cultural, religious, and ethnic freedom afforded students in the Newton public schools.

This select group of community residents has continued to attend School Committee Meetings since the incident, and to publicly voice their discontent with the response of school officials and teachers.

The school system has been accused of promoting anti-Semitism and hatred toward Jews by not appropriately addressing this indication of an unfairly balanced curriculum.

Many people, including Charles Jacobs of the organization Americans for Peace and Tolerance, assert that school officials and teachers must undo the harm they have caused. Jacobs’ organization is a Boston-based, non-profit advocacy group “dedicated to promoting peaceful coexistence in an ethnically diverse America,” and has become very involved in the issue, intent to continue the debate by addressing officials until the demands of the community are met.

“My goal is to make the community aware that anti-Semitic and anti-western materials are being used in the school system under the guise of global

education,” declared Jacobs.

On the public front, there seems to exist some confusion on the stance of the school authorities. In a meeting last year, Fleishman asserted that the text had been used to provide students with “thoughtful and balanced perspectives,” though the text was eventually removed after review. During a June meeting, chairwoman Clare Sokoloff inaccurately insisted that the “Arab World Studies Notebook was never used.”

Some community members feel they have been largely ignored or ridiculed in these discussions. Jacobs said, in a statement following the recent meeting, that the chairwoman of the meeting, Sokoloff, was “rolling her eyes and smirking in a most disrespectful manner” during his presentation, though she later denied any such action.

While officials have made no indications toward a change in their current policies on the issue, they have continued to reiterate the actions that had been taken over the past year, such as the removal of the entire text in question from the curriculum.

In his statement during the Nov. 5 School Committee meeting, Jacobs was insistent of the group’s stipulations: “We want you to go into the classrooms and tell the affected students that Jews do not torture and murder women. They never did. And you should tell the students that they were lied to. And you should apologize to them and to all of us … I think that the group I speak for will agree that this is an absolute, non-negotiable demand on our part.”

Whether these demands will be met remains uncertain, and the stalemate between the community and the school authorities persists. n

MassEDchusetts

Examining the effectiveness of standard tests

Jacqueline Parisi

Times listed seven states as tossup states and Politico listed nine. As the two states out of those with the largest number of electoral votes, Ohio and Florida have long been considered the most important among them. Ohio has not backed a losing candidate since 1960, and Florida has only backed a loser once since that same year.

The effects of living in a swing states are numerous. Candidates visit swing states more and donors send more money there. Politicians work harder to get voters to turn out in swing states because, there, every vote truly does matter. If you are a Democrat in Texas or a Republican in California, your vote essentially does not matter because the margin of victory for the opposite party’s candidate will be very large.

While the existence of the Electoral College has very rarely changed the result of the election (2000 is the only time in over 100 years), I still believe that the Electoral College should be abolished.

This would force candidates to campaign more broadly across the nation, as they would need to target potential voters even in states heavily dominated by the opposing party. Every vote would be equally important, encouraging voters in even Hawaii and Utah to vote. Also, it would prevent the Supreme Court from deciding another election.

Any student who has taken a standardized test probably recognizes that people have bad testing days if they are tired, sick, or simply not fully engaged in the material with which they are being tested on for hours on end. There is no doubt that testing scores occasionally do not accurately reflect the extent of knowledge that a student possesses, but does that mean standardized tests should be eliminated entirely?

This is a debate that Massachusetts is currently engaged in, regarding the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam that the state administers to students in grades three through eight and grade 10.

“In terms of assessing a student, as opposed to the school or the teacher, we’re getting into an era where this test is being used for all of these things, and that’s part of the problem,” said State Representative Carl Sciortino. “I have concerns about using a single standardized test as a metric for measuring students, schools, and teachers, when there’s serious concerns about whether the test is effective in measuring any of those, let alone all three.”

It seems as if the solution to this problem would not be to completely eradicate standardized tests—although I’m sure some students would rally behind this option—but rather to supplement standardized tests with other methods of evaluation.

This “multiple assessment” approach to education is perhaps best exemplified in the college application process, where colleges look not only at SAT/ACT scores but also at essays, teacher recommendations, and extracurricular activities.

For several years, pioneers in education reform have tirelessly tried to promote the “MCAS Reform Bill.” This bill is designed to ensure that multiple formats are used to measure student performance and understanding while also ensuring that students who do not meet the minimum standardized test scores have the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities with other measures of performance. If passed, the bill would provide for a High School Graduation Requirements Committee that would be in charge of developing a specific multiple assessment system to determine student competence.

This bill would be advantageous for students because it changes the way the test evaluates a student—the MCAS exam would not be the only requirement for graduation. Yet, it does not eliminate the exam, which has been providing administrations, faculty, parents, and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with statistics on how students are performing, along with their rates of improvement, since 1998.

Despite these potential benefits, the bill has been filed multiple times since it was first introduced in 2007, and it could still be some time until it comes into effect because it is not currently supported by the majority of legislation.

When Massachusetts was first looking to create the MCAS, the exam was not to be the sole measure of assessment. According to Sciortino, however, “what happened was instead of creating a multiple assessment system … the Republicancontrolled Board of Education through the ’90s created a standardized test and claimed that the appeals process was an alternative approach to students who might have failed a standardized test approach.”

This “appeals process” was established by the Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary Education to provide high school students who did not pass the MCAS with an opportunity to earn their diploma by demonstrating that they met the state’s standards to graduate through their coursework.

Despite this past effort to implement an appeals process, few students took advantage of it, simply due to the fact that it was incredibly resource-intensive for any school to prove that a student is proficient and should graduate without taking the MCAS exam.

The MCAS Reform Bill campaigns for the education of the whole child by making this appeals process more accessible for students and thus mitigating the unintended consequences of testing, such as narrowing of the curriculum, increasing numbers of dropouts, and high school graduates who are still not prepared for higher education.

Andrew Skaras is a staff writer for The Heights. He can be reached at metro@ bcheights.com.

Jacqueline Parisi is a staff writer for The Heights. She can be reached at metro@ bcheights.com.

photos Courtesy of Kelly love le

Four Boston College dance groups successfully participated in the World of Dance event.

BC represents at WOD World of Dance, from B10 “New Age, New Style” moves, UPrising quickly caught the attention and gained the admiration of students across campus last spring. For the WOD competition, UPrising upped their practice schedule from three to five times a week. Although none of the BC dance groups placed within the top three at the WOD Competition, all performed to the best of their ability, representing their university, their dedication to each other, and their love of dance. “We are our biggest critics, so of course there will always be things upon which we can improve. It is truly humbling to perform alongside such dedicated, passionate individuals with the common goal of fostering a sense of family

while showing everyone how much we love to dance,” Clegg said.

The Family, the 2012 WOD Toronto champions, took the first place title among the WOD Boston competitors. Floridabased dance group U4RIA took second place, while third place was a tie between Midas Touch (from the Bronx) and New (Age) Dance representing Boston street dance. The WOD Tour will travel to Chicago, Hawaii, New York, and Los Angeles through January. After the New Year, the Tour crosses borders, appearing in Montreal and Belgium. The WOD Tour is quickly making a name for itself as the leader in Urban Style street dance. Their Boston destination only enhanced this image, allowing BC students to show their skills and be recognized among Boston’s best. n

THE ISSUE:

Since this country’s founding, one of the hallmarks of the United States’ democratic process has been the Electoral College. Although the U.S. is currently the only country with an indirectly elected executive president, electoral colleges have existed in different forms for many centuries. In the U.S., each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the sum of the number of representatives and senators from the state, with the District of Columbia getting three electors. For a candidate to be elected president, he or she must receive an absolute majority of the 538 votes. While originally instituted to filter the public vote, today most states simply apportion voters in a winner-take-all manner to the candidate who gets a plurality of the votes within the state. This has led many critics to argue about the continued relevance of the Electoral College.

photo Courtesy of Google images

Electorate stabilizes democracy Marc Francis The Electoral College is a 225-year old representation of equality, unity, and fairness in the United States. It was started by the country’s founding fathers as a mechanism of dispelling the vote of the ill-informed farmer, but has now come to serve a much larger purpose—one that is vital to the entire American democratic institution.

Firstly, the Electoral College requires that a presidential nominee must earn a fair distribution of popular support to acquire the win. If it did not exist, presidential nominees would solely seek to attain the vote of heavily populated urban centers—the rural towns would be ignored. The traditional American town would no longer play a worthwhile role in politics. The college also gives American minorities an influential political voice because just a small group of people can make all the difference in winning a state’s electoral votes. Furthermore, the Electoral College is the reason behind the selection of most vice presidential candidates. Presidents are inclined to choose running mates from different states to attain wider public support.

No one state is granted 270 electoral votes. Therefore, candidates are encouraged to build national support throughout their campaign—perhaps this is why the United States has rarely faced intense internal division after an

election, unlike many foreign nations.

Most voters forget that the Constitution was not meant to define the American legal system in strict democratic terms—its purpose was to devise a system of checks and balances. The Electoral College prevents the domination of one state over another and highlights the importance of every voter. It also stabilizes the two-party system by forcing third parties to either join one of the two major ones or face political defeat. By having only two major parties, each is forced to conform to the center of public opinion.

Some may cite the elections of 1888 and 2000 as flaws in the Electoral College system because the “winning” presidential nominees did not achieve a majority of the popular vote. In both of these cases, however, the popular votes were so close in difference that the president was able to govern effectively throughout his reign, regardless of the slight discrepancy.

Additionally, advocates of the Electoral College may choose to defend it solely on the grounds of tradition—in a rapidly changing world, such a key element of American democracy should only be changed if it truly poses a threat to the country’s political functioning.

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

U.S. system lessens voter worth Andrew Skaras When the Electoral College was established, there were 13 states and only a very small percentage of the population (read: land-owning white males) was permitted to vote. The Founders established a system of electors partially to sidestep the issue of suffrage, which could be left to the states in that system, and partially to insert a filtering element that would give the states control over how their votes were apportioned. In the Federalist Papers, James Madison expressed concern that factions could arise and exert an undue influence on the selection of president. The Electoral College was intended to be a safeguard against factions gaining control of the electoral process.

Today, there are 50 states and very few restrictions on who can vote. In today’s implementation of the Electoral College, the filtering effect ceases to exist. Whereas people used to vote for an elector, who would then cast a ballot for the president, now people vote for a candidate and the electors in almost every state vote for the candidate who receives the most votes in the state, winner-take-all.

Another effect of the Electoral College is the role of “swing states.” Since most of the states strongly support either the Democratic or Republican party, there is a lot of emphasis placed on the states that have a strongly divided populace. In this election, The New York

metro The Heights

Thursday, December 8, 2011

B10

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Wicked Cultured

Indelible imprints Charlotte Parish With a large dose of wanderlust in my personality, I have often dreamed of backpacking around foreign countries, spinning a globe and moving to wherever my finger lands, or road tripping across the United States in a blue F-1 and taking as few highways as humanly possible. But when I think about this purposeful displacement, inevitably I start wondering about my relationship with and definition of home as well.

In another country, I would say I am from the United States or Massachusetts.

In another state, I would say Boston. Yet in my own state, I would never make that presumption. Despite having spent countless hours in the city and loving it with the passion of both a native and a tourist (which combines familiarity and discovery on every visit), I would not feel comfortable claiming that I am from the city. That is because, after a year of editing a section significantly devoted to covering Boston’s goings-on, I realize that in my five semesters of proximity to the city, I have only begun to scratch the surface of its beautiful complexities.

So although I’m always tempted to jet off around the world—and in fact will be living in another country for the first five months of 2013—I am incredibly sentimental about Boston as I write my final column, a culmination of my time on The Heights, as this organization and this city have added immensely to my knowledge and my passions.

Before starting college, I had my usual haunts in Boston: Faneuil Hall, the North End, Fenway Park, or the Common (which I mistakenly would call the Commons, demonstrating how woefully touristy I was).

But since taking on an editor position two years ago, I have been (wonderfully) forced to attend comedy shows in tiny theaters in Cambridge, watch the Boston Ballet twice, listen to Mayor Thomas M. Menino speak about the state of the city, and visit other campuses to interview students who are so passionate about an issue that they become headline news.

But would I have done any of these things without a deadline and a word count to complete? Without knowing that 8,000 copies of my article would be distributed across the campus and the country? Absolutely not. It is so easy and inevitable to get caught up in the daily press of Boston College life. Often, exploring the nooks and crannies of the city on a weekend morning seems like such a Herculean task that not even a large Dunkin’ coffee can inspire me.

In spite of that, I implore everyone to step out of his or her comfort zone (read: bed and pjs) to explore the home that is temporarily given to us for these four years.

The best days of my jointure at BC have been the meandering sagas that begin with the simple intention of brunch (at Sonsie), but continue with some quick window shopping, perhaps heading over to the MFA because it’s always free and always beautiful, and end by zipping over to Kenmore for that indie movie that none of us want to admit looks really cool despite the number of hipsters in the theater. These are the days that I will remember most fondly, and I owe so much of that to The Heights.

Not only has this newspaper given me the incentive to go on these daytrips, but it has also given me fantastic friends to go with and a medium of reflection to more greatly appreciate them, be that in an article or this column. My friends and I love to joke how “retreat-happy” BC is, and that it becomes a competition to be the most self-actualized we can. But in this frenzy, we forget to actually take in the little things and weave those into a greater sense of appreciation in daily life. I am completely guilty of this since I did not realize how much of my personality change and growth in college was tied to the city and the newspaper until I’m sitting here, watching the word count and wondering how long I have before the font adjustments force me to cut words.

So as a final thought, I’ll just say: thank you, Boston. (Talking to an inanimate object is definitely not a sign of insanity.)

And thank you to the newspaper and all its parts—the people, the process, the product, and the fussy printer—for giving me so many gifts these past two years.

Charlotte Parish is the Metro Editor for The Heights. She can be reached at metro@bcheights.com.

Newton South under scrutiny due to anti-Semitic text History textbook inflames parents and incites town- wide debate of prejudices presented in classroom and curricula

By Deryn Thomas For The Heights

Last week, in a Newton Public School meeting, parents and community members readdressed concerns over how material regarding the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, and more generally the Middle East, has been used and taught within the classroom. There has been, over the past year, a maintained assault on school authorities for the use of texts that have been deemed anti-Jewish propaganda by many. This has brought forward strong claims of antiSemitism against the school system, and though the readings were quickly reviewed by officials and soon removed from the curriculum, residents have continued to press school officials for changes to be made, which include making curricula available to parents before it is implemented, in order to allow a public review and discussion of potential texts and materials to be used in the classroom.

The incident that initiated these debates occurred last year, in a world history class at Newton South High School. In October,

the class was given readings from the Arab World Studies Notebook, a text that had previously come under sharp criticism as being extremely biased, and had been condemned as inappropriate for use in public schools. The American Jewish Society, one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations, issued an in-depth study of the text, concluding that it “appears largely designed to advance the anti-Israel, propagandistic views of [its] sponsors.”

The specific passage from the text used in the Newton South High School history class read as follows: “Over the past four decades, women have been active in the Palestinian resistance movement. Several hundred have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed by Israeli occupation forces since the latest uprising, ‘Intifada,’ in the Israeli occupied territories.”

Because of the community outcry, officials soon removed the chapter from the Arab World Studies Notebook from the required curriculum. Superintendent David Fleishman issued a statement in a

See Anti-Semitism, B9

Courtesy of Google Images

The history text ‘Arab World Studies Notebook’ faces intense scrutiny at Newton South High.

Red Bull hosts DJ faceoff at Paradise Club

By Andrew Skaras Heights Staff

Courtesy of Katherine Berger

Firehouse converted to artist haven

By Ryan Towey Heights Staff

“We want this space to be Boston’s underground destination,” said Katherine Bergeron of Engine 18, the decommissioned firehouse that she and her partner E. Stephen Frederick bought earlier this year. They plan for the old firehouse, located at 30 Harvard Street in Dorchester, Mass., to serve as their home and as a place to house artists that are sharing

their art in the Boston region.

“Boston has a reputation of basically housing traditional art and not really encouraging new art,” said Bergeron, a dancer who performs under her stage name, Katrina Galore. Bergeron said that while the Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Ballet “do amazing work,” it is “not new work.”

Bergeron, a graduate from Emerson College who moved to New York before returning to Massachusetts, sympathizes

Courtesy of Katherine Bergeron

with students in Boston who feel that the city does not have room for the different types of art they would like to create, opting instead to move to New York or even Europe to pursue their crafts.

“We would like to spearhead Boston being more of a destination for artists to not just study, but also stay,” she said of her and Frederick’s goals for Engine 18.

As a result, Bergeron said that she is unafraid of competition and hopes that others follow in her and Frederick’s footsteps. She compared the benefits of artistic rivalry to her experience with competition as an employee at The Gap, where she said that her superiors feared opposition from a nearby H&M opening. “In fact, we had record profits the day H&M opened,” she said. “There were more people at the mall. There were just more people shopping. Period. I would welcome competition if Boston had dozens of competing artistic interests.”

After moving back to Massachusetts from New York, Bergeron joined an artist community called Pan9 in 2004 until it suffered from an electrical fire in 2006.

“I lost everything,” she said.

The landlord forwent restoring Pan9 in favor of using his space to construct condominiums, according to Bergeron.

See Engine 18, B8

Engine 18 will be a home for gallery owners and place for artistis to display new art in Boston.

Whether working for a radio station or working private parties, most DJs are equipped with the most up-to-date computer software, turntables, and sound equipment. They devote long hours to mastering the technical art of mixing and adding effects to songs. On Saturday night, college students gathered at the Paradise Rock Club on Commonwealth Avenue to hear fellow student DJs battle each other.

The gimmick of the event, however, was that these DJs were stripped to the bare essentials and armed only with their iPods.

Saturday night marked the finals of the month-long Red Bull Play & Destroy Series that brought together students from all over Boston, including representatives from Boston College. At each competition, competitors were paired and randomly drew a category for competition (for example, “Best Throwback Track”). The crowd served as the judge and jury, deciding the winner of each head-to-head battle.

At every qualifier, the winner received an iPod Touch and a $25 Uber Car Credit, and the top four were invited to compete in the finals.

Qualifiers began on Oct. 16 at Tufts University, where nine participants competed in categories such as “Something From My Thug Dayz” and “High School Homecoming.” In the end, Aditya Chanrai, “DJ Brown Bear,” triumphed over Dylan Dempsey, “DJ Nice Guy Stoked for Dinner,” to win the qualifier.

On Thursday, Oct. 16, the second qualifier met at the Cask ’n Flagon on Brookline Ave. and pitted Northeastern University against the Berklee College of Music. The 10 competitors battled in categories such as “Workout Jams” and “All About My

See DJ competition, B8

World of Dance stomps through Boston for annual competition

By Tricia Tiedt Heights Staff

The World of Dance (WOD) Tour is the largest international urban dance competition, focusing on the art of street dancing and today’s new age choreography. With emphasis on this form of dance expression, the Tour has claimed its global authority on “Urban Dance and the Youth Lifestyle.” The Tour draws thousands of spectators every year to witness the top street dancers from all over the world, as well as selected participants from the cities in which the Tour performs. The Tour integrates clothing, art, fashion, and music aspects into their showcase to create an all around entertainment experience for dancers and spectators alike.

The WOD Tour invaded Boston on Nov. 10. The event was held at the Chevalier Theatre in Medford, presented by

i nside Metro this issue

On the Flip Side

Paul Mitchell, and sponsored by Verizon, Monster Energy, and Speck. The WOD event is divided into two parts: the Exhibition and the Competition.

The headliners for the Exhibition included: Most Wanted from Am e r i c a’s Best Dance Crew (ABD C) Season 7, Pharside (America’s Got Talent), Brandon (ABDC Season 6 ch a mp i o n ) , Phunk Phenomenon (ABDC Season 6), and Rhythm (ABDC Season 4).

Thirteen total groups and performers danced in the Exhibition phase of the Tour. Many of these Exhibition dancers were the judges of the Competition Line Up, which featured 18 dance groups predominantly from the Northeast.

Four dance groups from Boston College—AeroK , Synergy, Phaymus Dance, and UPrising—competed or Edit i n W O D B o s to n , hts ig e making B C the most \H a t n Ma highly represented university lex

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at the event. To perform at WOD, dance groups had to send in audition videos and be selected to participate in the competition. Adam Clegg, A&S ’15, a member of UPrising, described WOD as “a display of some of the best talent in the realm of dance. It is an honor and a privilege to dance on the same stage as some of your dance idols—for performers, it is the brilliant culmination of difficult practices, paying attention to detail, dedication to one’s craft, and the opportunity to talk with your body—it is the chance to show the audience how much you love to dance.”

UPrising, one of BC’s newest dance groups, was awarded first place in the cultural category at last year’s ALC showdown. New to BC’s popular dance competition, the group rightly earned their place among BC’s best performers. With their Wizard of Oz-themed

See World of Dance, B9

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