The Heights will return on Dec. 6. Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy 94th anniversary to The Heights! dance ensemble shines
‘night’ time coming up short
features
ARTS & rEVIEW
sports
A look at BC’s competitive dance group as their semester show approaches, B10
Arabian fairy tale packs Robsham over the weekend, A10
On Senior Day, the Eagles suffered a crushing overtime loss against Virginia Tech, B1
Monday, November 19, 2012
Vol. XCIII, No. 45
Belfast Project researchers appeal to Supreme Court By David Cote News Editor
Editor’s Note: This story is part of an ongoing series about the subpoenas of the Belfast Project.
matt liber / heights staff
The Boston College Chess Club, founded last year, hosted the first chess tournament at BC in recent memory over the last two weeks.
chess club grows in size and scope with first tournament By Qian Deng For The Heights
On Nov. 8, a dozen participants faced off in the first chess tournament at Boston College in recent memory. A quick Internet search of “Boston College Chess Club” reveals that such an organization did previously exist. A photograph taken by Gary Gilbert, now collected in the University Archives, portrays members playing chess on a sunny Student Activities Day in 1988. The club even had its own webpage, created in October 1996. Sixteen years later, Gilbert is now the director of photography at the Office of Marketing Communications. The club’s website was removed in January of 2004 when the organization became defunct. In the same world where Webster University had recently paid exorbitant sums to convince top-ranked Texas Tech’s chess coach and team members to transfer, it seemed almost
foolish to believe that, for close to a decade, no one at BC stepped up to fill the void. The improbable situation perpetuated itself until 2011, when several students almost simultaneously decided to act. “I was away studying abroad in England,” said the organization’s vice president, Andrew Meigs, A&S ’13. “I had started the paperwork beforehand, then I come back, and the Student Programs Office tells me somebody else had already started doing it.” That “somebody” was current president Molly Pekula, A&S ’13, with whom Meigs eagerly joined forces. They also worked with Dan Friedman, A&S ’13, now the club’s treasurer. “Since we started meeting in the second semester of last year, all of the money had already been allotted,” Pekula said.
RHA helps air out concerns By Sam Costanzo Asst. News Editor
The Residence Hall Association held two town hall meetings this week, giving students a chance to ask questions of some Boston College administrators. The meetings, one in Newton Campus’ Yellow Room on Tuesday and in Upper Campus’ Cheverus Hall on Thursday, featured representatives from BCPD, Residential Life, Dining Services, Transportation, and the Volunteer and Service Learning Center. Students at Thursday’s meeting were
Bates: Athlete ‘used very poor judgment’ By Greg Joyce Heights Editor
See McCaffrey, A4
Daniel lee / heights staff
A panel discussion on pregnancy resources at Boston College was held on Thursday night.
Stephanie McCaffrey (above) was suspended on Thursday for tweets about Jerry Sandusky.
mostly concerned with BC’s alcohol policies and recent changes to dining options. One student asked how BC’s policy stating that underage students can be documented for being in the presence of alcohol, even if they are not drinking, could be considered fair. “If you were deemed to not be drinking, it’s not the same sanction as the person who owns the room or is providing the alcohol,” said George Arey, director of Residential Life. It is likely that if it can be proven that the student was, in fact, not drinking, he
See Town Hall, A4
college reps assemble at bc
Feminists for Life host panel to discuss pregnancy resources By Mary Rose Fissinger Heights Editor
graham beck / heights editor
emily fahey / heights staff
Panelists responded to student concerns at two town hall meetings sponsored by RHA this week.
See Chess Club, A4
McCaffrey suspended for PSU tweets
Stephanie McCaffrey, CSOM ’15, a forward on the Boston College women’s soccer team, was suspended on Thursday for a series of tweets she posted regarding Pennsylvania State University and the sexual abuse case it was wrapped up in last year. Athletic Director Brad Bates announced in a statement that McCaffrey was suspended from the team, and that she would miss Friday night’s second-round NCAA Tournament game at Penn State.
Researchers for the Belfast Project have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States, extending the stay on the Belfast Project materials granted by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer earlier this month until the petition is decided. In the petition, Ed Moloney, the Belfast Project director, and Anthony McIntyre, one of its lead researchers, presented two questions for review by the Supreme Court. The first asks whether persons with Article III standing can object to criminal subpoenas of confidential information on the basis of First Amendment or Due Process rights. The second asks what legal standard governs judicial review of subpoenas issued by foreign governments pursuant to Mutual Legal Assistant Treaties (MLAT). Moloney and McIntyre have long been opposed to the way the subpoenas were
served, arguing that the MLAT was improperly applied in the case of the Belfast Project. They were also denied the right to intervene in earlier hearings of the case. In response, the two began their own legal proceedings by filing an appeal for a rehearing of the case en banc, with the intention of preventing the tapes of the Belfast Project from falling into the hands of the Police Services of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the originators of the subpoenas. At the time, the two laid out their arguments for the rehearing of the case. “The First Circuit decision effectively precludes the assertion of U.S. constitutional rights guaranteed in the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution,” the two wrote. In addition, the two argued that the decision by the First Circuit “bestows upon the PSNI greater powers in relation to the serving of subpoenas in the United States than could be exercised by, for instance, the FBI.” The Supreme Court only hears around 1 percent of the total appeals filed each year. If the petition for a writ of certiorari is denied by the court, the stay on the materials granted by Breyer will be terminated immediately. n
For the third time in five years, Feminists for Life of America (FFL) visited Boston College to begin conversations about what changes need to be made on campus to enable a student who becomes pregnant to stay in school and keep the baby. The president of FFL, Serrin Foster, hosted a panel of BC administrators and students on Thursday in Gasson 305 to explore the options currently available to a pregnant student at BC. The panel included representatives from University Health Services, UGBC, University Counseling Services, the Office of Residential Life, the Brighton Pregnancy Resource Center, and the BC Pro Life Club. Although the event was organized and largely attended by members of the BC Pro Life Club, Foster began by saying, “This isn’t
a debate on abortion. It isn’t event about contraception. It’s about talking about the resources.” Foster, as well as a couple of panelists, had been involved with the previous two FFL Pregnancy Resource Forums held at Boston College. Thursday’s event, organized by Katie Martin, A&S ’15, and Gabriela Garcia, A&S ’14, focused largely on housing and day care options available for mothers who would want to continue to attend BC. Chris Darcy, associate director of Residential Ministry in the Office of Residential Life, admitted that housing at BC does not currently lend itself well to raising a child. “A lot of other institutions have single rooms available [for women who want to raise a child],” Darcy said. “We are so
See Pregnancy Forum, A4
robyn kim / heights staff
Recently elected Congressman Joe Kennedy III (above) was the featured speaker at the Boston Intercollegiate Assembly Conference hosted at BC on Saturday afternoon.
TopTHREE
The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
things to do on campus this week
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Fall Student Show Today Time: Ongoing Location: Bapst Library
This annual art show features paintings, sketches, watercolors, photographs, and ceramic sculptures created by Boston College students. The exhibition is curated and hung by students and sponsored by the Bapst Art Library, the Fine Arts Department, and ArtVision, a student group for the promotion of the arts on campus.
The World Through Our Eyes
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Today Time: Ongoing Location: O’Neill Library
This International Education Week exhibit showcases photographs taken by BC students during their travels abroad.
Music in the Afternoon
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Today Time: 4:30 p.m. Location: Gasson 100 The Chamber Music Society continues its Music in the Afternoon series with selections from Bach. Sandra Hebert will direct.
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University
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Western Oklahoma State College’s two-week classes questioned
On Campus University Advancement department creates BC-specific grant search engine This week, Boston College’s University Advancement department launched GrantScape, a search engine for grants designed specifically with BC faculty in mind. The online tool allows faculty members to search for funding by keyword, funder, school, department, topic area, or investigator level. Listings for each grant include deadlines, application information, and previous BC recipients. According to University Advancement administrators, corporate and foundation funders account for about one third of BC’s external research funding. Before GrantScape was launched, individual departments sent out periodic emails to their staffs with information about available grants. GrantScape streamlines this process by allowing faculty to search for the information that best matches their interests and needs. Ginger Saariaho, school development and organizational giving executive director, and Kathy Kuy, acting director of corporate and foundation relations, spearheaded the effort to make GrantScape a reality.
Western Oklahoma State College has recently come under scrutiny for its two-week, three-credit classes, many of which are offered online. The courses are particularly popular among student-athletes who need credits to keep their eligibility or make a fast transfer from a junior college to a four-year school. These courses are also notoriously easy, handing out As and Bs to students who are struggling at their own universities. Sylvia Manning, president of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits Western Oklahoma, said that the courses will be reviewed during the college’s next accreditation evaluation if the NCAA does not step in sooner.
Local News Police increase patrols after assaults on students in Brighton Boston Police have increased their patrols after five female students reported having been assaulted. The attacks occured near Ashford Street in Brighton between 12 a.m. and 2 a.m. The suspect, described by victims as white or light Hispanic and between 19 and 30 years old, targets women wearing skirts. In each incidence, the attacker has pushed a woman to the ground and used his phone camera to take a photo under her skirt. Police are actively investigating, and encourage students to stay particularly alert when in this area at night.
featured story
Multi-Faith Thanksgiving celebrates diversity B y E unice L im For The Heights
The annual Multi-Faith Thanksgiving Celebration held this pa st Thursday op ene d w ith the words , “When we come together to share our stories of gratitude, we stop time.” In the Heights Room, students and adults of all faiths gathered to “stop time” by giving praise, expressing gratitude through personal stories, praying, and enjoying good food together. The celebration depicted the great cultural and religious diversity at Boston College, as the program presented a hodgepodge of prayers, readings, and songs from the Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions. Those gathered sang Catholic and other Christian songs such as “Table of Plenty” and “Your Grace is Enough,” listened to Muslim prayers and Catholic readings in Spanish, engaged in a Buddhist Meditation led by Jonathan Makransk y, A&S ’14, heard a special performance by Shaan and listened to expressions of gratitude from people of
Graham Beck / Heights Editor
The Multifaith Thanksgiving featured prayers and traditions from the Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu faiths. all faiths. The stories of gratitude held center stage, as each story compelled the audience to stop and reconsider their lives in a grander context and give thanks for the good and bad things in life.
Pooja Shah, a Hindu and A&S ’14, spoke first. “God is omnipresent,” she said. “His presence exists in my parents’ love, in my brother’s jokes, in the smiling faces of the kids I served in Jamaica, in the sorrows of death, and
in the warmth and depth of friendship.” Afterward, Linda Reams, an American Muslim who works as a senior receptionist in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, spoke about her life struggles and
how she found reason to be thankful. Despite losing her father to cancer and experiencing all of the anxieties of sending one’s child off to war in the Middle East, Reams still gives thanks at the end of each day because thankfulness is “a feeling that fills you up inside, that makes your heart glow, that makes your mind know that all is right with the world,” she said. Vincent Rougeau, dean of BC Law, was the last to speak, and he gave thanks for his healthy family, the intergenerational knowledge he receives from his still living great-grandparents, the Jesuit tradition at BC, and his residence in a dynamic city like Boston. All of the speakers ended their stories of gratitude with the words: “For all of these things, I am grateful.”The celebration concluded with the people’s gifts of bread and funds to the Spread the Bread initiative, an initiative that partnered up with BC for this celebration to give breads “wrapped with love” to the hungry. The celebration left many in awe and deep reflection. n
Police Blotter
Voices from the Dustbowl
11/11/12-11/13/12
“What would your Dustbowl question be?”
Sunday, November 11
curing near Campion Hall.
12:12 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding medical assistance provided to a Boston College student at Stayer Hall who was transported to a medical facility by cruiser.
3:30 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a larceny occuring in Cushing Hall.
12:52 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student at Fitzpatrick Hall who was transported to a medical facility by ambulance. 12:54 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student at Duchesne Hall who was transported to a medical facility by cruiser. 2:12 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding trespassing on Shea Field. 2:32 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious person and vandalism to a residence in Walsh Hall. 11:22 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student at Cushing Hall who was transported to a medical facility by ambulance. 2:06 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding property found on Shea Field.
Monday, November 12 10:31 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious circumstance oc-
“What’s your favorite kind of ice cream?” —Meghan Dens, A&S ’16
3:57 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding suspicious persons. 8:21 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student at Shea Field who was transported to a medical facility by ambulance. 8:31 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student at Stuart Hall. 9:51 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student at Alumni Stadium who was transported to a medical facility by ambulance.
“What’s your favorite BC sports game to go to?” —Paige Carleen, A&S ’16
Four Day Weather Forecast Today
47° Partly Cloudy 33°
Friday
50° Cloudy 39°
Saturday
48° Partly Cloudy 36°
Sunday
51° Partly Cloudy 36°
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. Advertising The Heights is one of the most effective ways to reach the BC community. To submit a classified, display, or online advertisement, call our advertising office at (617) 552-2220 Monday through Friday.
The Heights is produced by BC undergraduates and is published on Mondays and Thursdays during the academic year by The Heights, Inc. (c) 2012. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, November 13 “What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?” —Katie Jones, LSOE ’15
9:45 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a fire alarm activation in the Merkert Chemistry Center. 4:54 p.m. - An officer filed a report on a traffic accident occuring on the Newton roadways. 7:06 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a fire alarm activation in Stuart Hall.
—Source: The Boston College Police Department
“Which of the 50 states is the best?” —Ben Jesme,
A&S ’16
CORRECTIONS Please send corrections to editor@bcheights.com with ‘correction’ in the subject line.
The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
A3
F arewell Weiler explores religious conflicts to a true statesman Eleanor Hildebrandt Heights Editor
Andrew Skaras On Wednesday, Rep. Ron Paul gave his farewell address to Congress, marking the end of his 22-year career in the House of Representatives. Focusing on his bid for the Republican nomination for the presidency, Paul decided not to run for reelection last year. Noted for his libertarian views, Paul stood out against the mainstream Republican ideology. He strongly disagreed with the Republicans’ “post-Sept. 11” foreign policy and called for a non-interventionist approach to dealing with international affairs. When Republicans claimed to be the party of “small government,” he replied that they were for “big government” just as much as the Democrats were, just a different kind. Above all else, Paul held the Constitution at the center of all of his beliefs, claiming that he would never support legislation that was not expressly authorized by the Constitution. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the views Paul advocates, I think that he is more significant than just the sum of his views. In many ways, he served as a sort of “lone voice in the wilderness” for the Republican Party. Unlike many lone figures, Paul developed a particularly devoted following in the last six years, one that expanded beyond the typical Republican base. He attracted an enormous following among college students, drawing in large crowds at historically liberal universities such as U.C. Berkeley. His core message of liberty and personal freedom is what appeals to these traditionally left-leaning demographics. In a field dominated almost entirely by lawyers, businessmen, and lifelong politicians, Paul worked as an obstetrician and gynecologist. Although there is certainly a selfselecting aspect to the professional makeup of Congress, I think that the sort of professional diversity that Paul brings to the legislature is important and adds perspective to a group of people with a very singular way of thinking. Another tenet at the heart of his beliefs is his strong belief in federalism. In today’s climate of the ever-increasing power of the federal government, Paul has always called for giving complete jurisdiction over matters ranging from education to the death penalty to abortion back to the states. Numerous times he has called for the dismantling of entire federal agencies and he wants to shrink the government enough to balance the budget while eliminating the income tax entirely. Whether or not you agree with Paul’s policies, the one thing that cannot be ignored is the prescience of his predictions about the future of America. In 2002, he foresaw not only the results of the war that the United States was waging in Afghanistan, but also the beginning of a war in Iraq, the Arab Spring, the economic recession, and the further expanse of the government and budget deficits under both the current and next administration. In 1996, he predicted a terrorist attack against the U.S. that would result from then-president Clinton’s foreign policy of bombing and killing civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. While Paul’s influence and legacy have yet to be determined, I think that his beliefs and approach to government will live on far past his retirement. Although parts of his ideology have always been controversial, the honesty and consistency with which he abided by his beliefs is admirable in a day and age where politicians flip-flop their positions to suit the electorate. When most politicians are concerned with only their own advancement, I think that Paul’s willingness to sacrifice his ambitions for the presidency in order to stand for what he really believes in makes him more than just another politician. He is one, in an ever-diminishing group, of today’s true statesmen. Andrew Skaras is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at news@bcheights.com.
“The path of this lecture is not ‘Here is a complex problem and here is my elegant solution,’” said Joseph H. H. Weiler to a rapt audience in Higgins 300 last Thursday. “The path of this lecture is ‘Here is a complex problem, and by the end you will realize that it is even more complex than you thought.’” Weiler, who is the Joseph Straus Professor of Law and holder of the European Union Jean Monnet Chair at New York University School of Law, gave a speech titled “Of God and Law in Europe,” co-sponsored by the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, and the Boston College School of Law. The Johannesburg, South Africa native is also director of the Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice, and the codirector of the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization. Weiler’s lecture addressed the recent uptick in religious division within Europe. The professor stressed that this phenomenon, somewhat banal in the United States, has come to the forefront of European social life as recently as the past 10 years. “In the United States, we are used to culture wars—we have been fighting culture wars for the last five or six
decades, and most of our cultural conflicts have a religious tinge to them,” he said. Religion in Europe during the same time period was treated more as a private matter, but in the last decade or so, it has emerged as a point of contention. Weiler gave a few concrete examples: a British Airways cabin attendant who was forbidden to wear a cross when on the job; a recent decision in a German court that male circumcision causes serious bodily harm; and another case that Weiler himself argued for the country of Italy, where an Italian mother protested the presence of crucifixes on the walls of her son’s classroom. Speaking softly and with a deliberate cadence, Weiler then addressed what he sees as the main religious issue in this age. “How do you draw the line between freedom of and freedom from religion?” he asked. “Today the major cleavage in society is the split between religious and nonreligious people.” The very nature of secularism as a social practice, he said, has fundamentally changed. Secularism has become like a religion in itself—now those who don’t practice a religion are often offended by those who do. “Secularists are often more militant than the religious,” Weiler said. “The religious are cowed.” After a short tangent to discuss the unique set of tensions that Islam has brought to Europe, Weiler moved on
to consider the way social conflicts are treated when religion is involved. He prefaced this by saying that individuals are legally very weak when they go up against organizations—they need specified fundamental human rights. Generally, individuals have the edge when fighting for such a right, but the addition of religion complicates the matter. Weiler used the debate over abortion as an example, noting that it sets the rights of women to control their bodies against the right to believe that life begins at conception, and to protect that right. “It’s one of the reasons it’s so complicated,” he said. “It pits a right against a right, instead of a power against a right.” Weiler ended by pointing out that sometimes there is an unrecognized difference between people adhering to religious practice and using that religion as a shield for prejudiced action. He cited Catholic adoption agencies that will not place children with same-sex couples, questioning whether they are homophobic or simply adhering to a Catholic way of life. “Not everything, in the name of religion, becomes kosher,” Weiler said. “Since religious people, and I count myself among them, believe not only in truth but in important truth, those debates have a sharp edge to them—and they spill over into public life.” n
Emily sadeghian / heights staff
A runway was set up in the O’Connell House Thursday night for the fashion show.
UGBC fashion show emphasizes diversity Julie Orenstein For The Heights
Graham Beck / Heights Editor
Joseph Weiler, a professor of law at NYU, discussed the religious and cultural conflicts currently affecting Europe.
Schwartz doles out dating advice Jennifer Heine For The Heights
Pepper Schwartz, a relationship expert and sociology professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, doled out some valuable advice to students in her lecture Thursday night. As part of its Love Your Body Week programming, the Boston College Women’s Resource Center (WRC) invited Schwartz, who gave a lecture titled “Intimate Bodies: Love, Sex, and Relationships.” She began the talk with an analysis of love, describing both the social and biological factors involved. “Part of it is a hunger—a drive,” Schwartz said. “We were designed to have these hormones: testosterone, dopamine, and oxytocin.” She also used Sternberg’s Love Triangle to describe the different levels of love associated with varying attachment strategies. “He basically says that love varies on a continuum and if they all line up right, you get a kind of profound love,” she said. “If they don’t line up, you get what is called fatuous love, which is just infatuation or passion.” Schwartz also detailed the components of good relationships. “The best relationships have a balance,” Schwartz said. “There is a principle that comes out of
psychology and sociology called the principle of least interest, and it basically means that having less desire makes you more powerful. “The person who loves the most gives away a lot of power. The gap between who loves who and what follows cannot be too great,” she said. “But there are things that are stacked in the beginning. It could be the person who’s agreed upon as being more gorgeous, who makes more money, who has a better job.” In order for a relationship to work, she explained, both sides must possess at least a foundation of self-assurance. “The trick in relationships is not to stay with someone who increases your emotional or sexual insecurity,” she said. Body image, Schwartz noted, plays a pivotal role. “Our bodies are often a point of vulnerability, because they don’t look like we think they’re supposed to,” she said. “Now, this goes for men as well. “There’s a huge, huge industry that keeps feeding this image all the time. This is a totally cultural thing. We’re culturally soaked in this stuff, and it’s hard to pull ourselves away from it and say, ‘What’s real for me?’ We have to think about these expectations.” In the end, Schwartz emphasized communication as the most
important tool for forging good relationships. “I think my point here about love and sex is you have to take responsibility for what you say,” Schwartz said. “What you say matters. You’ve got to talk. It really comes down to that.” She acknowledged the difficulty of this communication, particularly with such a personal topic. “Intimacy is hard, and it’s really about saying the tough stuff and knowing that you’re with someone who will respect that and honor it,” Schwartz said. “It’s hard to deal with our real bodies and real insecurities. It’s easier to have sex than talk about it.” She attributes this communication barrier to the hook-up culture predominant on college campuses. “Is hooking up passionate?” Schwartz asked the students in the audience. “Yes, it is. But it’s not a relationship. In a lot of ways, hooking up is the anti-relationship.” Even in the face of these challenges, though, Schwartz remained optimistic about love. “We are very ambitious for relationships, and I think we should be,” she said. “We want it to be a combination of our minds, our bodies, and our spiritual sense of ourselves. If you want something special in a relationship, you have to give it the best of who you are, while also voicing your rights, safety, interests, and future.” n
robyn kim / Heights staff
Pepper Schwartz, a sociology professor at the University of Washington, gave a lecture on relationships Thursday night.
Descending the lit staircase of the O’Connell House and stepping onto an audience-flanked runway, Boston College students displayed a diversity of styles Thursday night at the UGBC fashion show. Co-sponsored by the UGBC Community Relations department, the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC), and Nights on the Heights, the show, titled “A Day in the Life of a BC Student” explored the various elements of the BC student body’s style as it transitions from classes and extracurricular activities to social events and the dating scene. These four scenarios were utilized to break up the show into “realms” of style, each featuring unique ensembles as well as many traditional looks expected of the average BC student. The models, most of whom were BC undergraduates recruited to participate by their friends and classmates in the UGBC, wore their own clothes to represent their personal style. Audience members learned about them not only through their outfits, but also through quirky facts about their personalities shared by the show’s hosts, Hannah Robertson and Grant Slingerland, both A&S ’15. This strong sense of self-representation from students of wideranging styles and backgrounds embodied the ultimate goal of the show. “Our mission was to try to showcase a different kind of diversity, diversity through style and fashion,” said Klevis Baholli, assistant director of programming for GLC and A&S ’15. “We see lots of hip and trendy styles [around campus], and those people deserve attention.” Since the idea for the show came about earlier this fall, a four-person committee worked to organize the event. The committee included Robertson and Baholli, as well as Andrew Engber, campus awareness coordinator for the Community Relations department and A&S ’15, and Alex Taratuta, director of programming for GLC and A&S ’14. They were charged with planning the location, lighting, music, and coordination with fashion rental
website Rent the Runway, which was on hand with gift cards for those who signed up for a free membership. In its first year, the collaborative effort between the UGBC Cabinet and GLC ultimately took over two months of preparation, resulting in what Baholli called BC’s first legitimate fashion show. To start off the show, students showed off their style for attending classes, with dominant trends of scarves, boots, cardigans, and North Face backpacks at the forefront of the ensembles. Looks ranged from simple staple outfits to bolder, more unique attire, such as hipster and rocker fashions that departed from the traditional preppy BC style. The realm of extracurricular activities truly displayed the diversity in the interests and talents of BC students, as the audience was treated to everything from performance outfits for Fuego and the Heightsmen to a cycling team uniform (which, even though made of spandex, was still adorned with a preppy argyle pattern). For the third realm of style, the models were paired up for themed dates fit for the approaching winter season, including nights out on the town in parkas and boots, ice skating outings, and even matching Santa outfits for a Christmas party. Finally, more formal looks for going out were featured, and the section was clearly dominated by the “little black dress” for girls, though each had a different unique element to show off the wearer’s personal style. Sky-high heels and big bold jewelry complimented many of the outfits. Male models showed off classy looks in suits and blazers with patterned shirts and ties. Slingerland, a member of GLC who was asked to co-host only a week prior to the show, kept the audience engaged with one-liners woven into his fashion commentary and small talk as the show transitioned from realm to realm. Although he had never hosted before, he was chosen for his outgoing personality and fashion expertise, elements that he said he hopes to bring out again if the fashion show becomes an annual event. n
Emily Sadeghian / heights staff
The show featured a variety of styles, from preppy to athletic to rocker.
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The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
Chess Club gaining popularity Chess Club, from A1 “We had our first meeting without chessboards,” said Meigs, whose father coached a high school club. Meigs made sure to bring a dozen boards to the next meeting. This year, however, the club’s budget has been approved, so the leadership is optimistic about new developments. “One of our goals is to do more in the Boston community,” Meigs said, referring to schools such as Boston University and Northeastern University. “Eventually we can organize the Beanpot of chess.” “We’d like to have a human chess game on the lawn in front of Bapst, with people as the chess pieces,” Pekula said. “But we’d need a lot of people for that.” That number is at least 32, to be exact, or twice the club’s current active membership. “Getting started, it wasn’t too hard to find people,” said Pekula, who had learned to play just last year. “I talked to some of my friends, who introduced their friends.” Now, meetings are steadily attended by 15-20 students each week, though all except the president and future secretary are male. “No club’s fun if it’s just one gender,” Pekula acknowledged, “so that’s definitely something we’re working to improve.” This year’s tournament is one way the club hopes to attract new members. “It’s a fun way to shake up the meetings, making the atmosphere more competitive,” Meigs said. Pekula prided her organization on being one of the more relaxing clubs on campus. “Playing chess is great stress relief, something to take your mind off homework
and other stress factors, regardless of your skill level.” She emphasized that students should never allow a lack of experience or talent to deter them from attending. The same relaxed standards that make a club enjoyable can also be costly for a tournament, however, even if a prize was offered. “There were some people who signed up and didn’t end up coming,” Meigs said. Others arrived but were unable to participate due to schedule conflicts. Still, the first day of the Swiss-style tournament progressed smoothly. Twelve students of varying abilities and vibrant personalities engaged in two rounds of focused play, and most games finished in less than 20 minutes. Due to time constraints, it was determined that the final round would be played the following week. “As an extremely new club on campus, organizing an event for the first time, we are very satisfied with the turnout,” Friedman said. In the second week, however, progress was stalled when the only two undefeated players, James Kim, A&S ’15, and Kevin Savage, A&S ’13, were both unable to attend for their final battle. Still, the club has reason for optimism, if simply because the game of chess is a uniting force in itself. “Chess is a universal language,” Meigs said. “It’s cool to meet people in all walks of life, across the whole world, who share the same passion.” In particular, he referred to a professor who was in Gasson Hall for the day to give a presentation in the adjacent room. In his youth, the professor had been the French champion for his age group. During the tournament, he surprised everyone by entering to speak of his own love for the game, and played a game of speed chess with Meigs. n
Forward suspended for tweets McCaffrey, from A1
matt liber / heights staff
More than a dozen students participated in the Chess Club’s first tournament.
BC urged to increase pregnancy resources Pregnancy Forum, from A1
daniel lee / heights staff
FFL President Serrin Foster (above) moderated the discussion on Thursday.
oversubscribed at this point, we have almost 99 percent occupancy in our residence halls. We would, of course, work with the woman involved. Say that they decided to come back, if they wanted to return to living in the residence halls, we certainly would hold spaces for them to accommodate them.” Boston College’s Office of Residential Life can also provide a pregnant student who wishes to stay in school with help finding an off campus residence. Besides the lack of maternity housing at BC, the panel discussion also revealed an inaccessibility to daycare services on campus. There is a daycare program in place for faculty members, but children must be 2 years and 9 months old in order to be eligible, and it is somewhat expensive, according to Nancy Baker, associate director of Nursing and Administration for University Health Services. Despite the accommodations missing from BC’s resources for
pregnant students, Darcy and Thomas McGuinness, associate vice president of University Counseling, emphasized that all of the relevant offices at BC would do whatever they could to help the woman in question. As of now, partially as a result of the extremely small number of pregnant students who do come into one of their offices, they are all dealt with on a “case by case basis,” according to McGuinness. “We’re going to work with everyone involved,” Darcy said. “You get to one office and you get to open up doors to six or seven other offices.” The panel agreed that one of the largest problems is the fact that students who are pregnant may not even see keeping the child and staying in school as an option, and as a result may not go into any of the offices at BC that are available for assistance. McGuinness spoke about a statistic he had read in the National Health Survey, which stated that 2 percent of women who had sex in a year became pregnant. Based on
the undergraduate population of BC, this statistic would mean that roughly 90 women got pregnant each year at BC. Baker stated, however, that only one or two come into University Health Services per year. The panel decided that communication about the resources available was integral to ensuring that students who did become pregnant got the help they need. At the end of the event, Foster encouraged all the panelists and audience members to really make strides in this area, perhaps by creating a print list of the resources for pregnant students that could be passed out at freshman orientation or to faculty. She also urged people to form committees and try to deal with the longer-term and more expensive goals of providing maternity housing and day care services on campus. “Pregnancy is an ability, not a disability,” Foster said. “An education should not terminate a pregnancy and a pregnancy should not terminate an education.” n
“The student-athlete used very poor judgment and exhibited insensitivity towards Penn State, for which she apologizes,” Bates said in the statement. “This type of behavior is not tolerated among our student-athletes.” The Eagles went on to lose their game against Penn State, 5-2, on Friday night in University Park, Penn. Onward State, an online news organization at Penn State, captured McCaffrey’s tweets. One read, “I wonder if well get into the visitors locker room at Penn state…I hear the showers are weiners only, 10 and under.” Another said, “Raping at penn state to getting raped in state penn… #beatPennState #santouchsky #legggooeags.” One other tweet mentioned some of her teammates: “@patricevettori #sandusky‘s house tonight! @kristiemewie @kcmosun twitter. com/stephyymac/sta…” McCaffrey had deleted her Twitter account by Thursday night, just hours after sending out the tweets. Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations Chris Cameron commented on BC’s policy for its student-athletes’ use of social media. “We educate our coaches and student-athletes regularly on responsible use of social media,” Cameron said. “Student-athletes are bound by the BC Student Code of Conduct to act responsibly in their communications. Failing to do so is punishable by team and University sanctions.” Onward State showed that another BC student-athlete was also involved with McCaffrey’s tweets. Sean Sylvia, LSOE ’14, a defensive back for the football team, tweeted back at McCaffrey: “@stephyymac is literally making me die with all her tweets #makingmyweek #beatPennState #headonaswivel #sanduskyville.” Sylvia also deleted his Twitter account by late Thursday, as the public took notice of his tweets concerning McCaffrey and Penn State. McCaffrey is a native of Winchester, Mass., and her brother James plays on the football team at BC. n
Grafton reflects on portraits as art By Gianni Matera For The Heights
On Thursday, Anthony Grafton, the Henry Putnam Professor of History at Princeton University, gave a lecture as part of the Lowell Humanities Series. His lecture was titled, “The Florence Renaissance Portrait: Cultural Origins of a New Art Form.” “[In the early 15th Century], Florence had become Italy’s preeminent place for artistic innovation, a place where artists experimented with new ways of representing just about everything,” Grafton said. Artists were interested in the portrait because of the rise of humanism. This change led to the cultural glorification of the individual in art, literature, and philosophy. Grafton noted that the portrait, in the form of literature, was just as culturally significant as the visual portrait that most are familiar with. “Nothing filled artists or patrons in Florence with more enthusiasm than the portrait, and no area of art saw more innovation. Florentine artists used every medium you can imagine to craft images of individuals. They molded metal, they carved marble, [and] they worked with
soft clay,” Grafton said. Grafton’s lecture included a wide range of artists and their accompanying works, specifically those that influenced the evolution of the portrait during that time period. His lecture included mention of Brunelleschi’s use of one-point perspective and its artistic influence, and the many works of Leon Battista Alberti. Alberti is regarded most notably for being an archetype of the “renaissance man.” Grafton described Alberti as a “prolific and expert portraitist” who believed that “man can make anything of themselves if they so wished.” “In fact, Alberti tells his readers [in his autobiography] that he crafted his whole life as a work of art,” Grafton said. “‘Above all,’ he said, ‘one must apply the most sublime artistry in three things: walking in the city, riding a horse, and speaking. But a further art must be added to the other three, namely that none of these seem to be done in an artful way.’ Only by finding the supreme art that comes with no apparent effort could one become a hero of the sort Alberti hoped to be.” Grafton said that Italian Renaissance portraits acknowledged human complexities, beautifully showcased artistic ability, and
were key to human understanding. Virginia Reinburg, associate professor of history at Boston College, said, “Tony Grafton has become a singular spokesperson and advocate in recent years for the humanities in American higher education and public life, insisting eloquently that deep knowledge of history, philosophy, the classics and literature provide a necessary foundation for civic engagement and public discourse.” Grafton has earned numerous humanities-related awards and honors. He has received the Guggenheim Fellowship Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Balzan Prize for History of Humanities, and the Mellon Foundation’s Distinguished Achievement Award. He is also a member of the American Philosophical Society and the British Academy. Last year, he served as the president of the American Historical Association. Grafton has written many critically acclaimed books, including The Footnote: A Curious History, Defenders of the Text: The Traditions of Scholarship in an Age of Science, Bring Out Your Dead: The Past as Revelation, Cardano’s Cosmos, and a biography titled Leon Battista Alberti. n
emily fahey / heights staff
Panelists from BCPD, ResLife, and Dining Services responded to student concerns in town hall meetings last week.
Dining, alcohol policy popular topics Town Hall, from A1 or she will receive only a warning, Arey said. If the behavior persists, however, Arey said that it is likely that further administrative action may be required. “It is a bit of an imperfect science,” said Cameron Smith, assistant director for Residential Life in the First-Year Area. When asked about possible changes to the alcohol sanction matrix, Paul Chebator, dean of students, said that an update did seem necessary at this point. The matrix was designed several years ago at the request of student government representatives, who said that having a clearer system of consequences would be helpful, he said. “The level of intoxication that we’re seeing now can be scary,” he said, noting that he has seen cases in which students have had a blood alcohol content three or four times over the legal limit. “It’s something that needs to be fixed.” He said that the Dean of Students Office is looking at other schools’ policies and will involve BC students in the revision process. Dining options and policies were another popular topic. A student asked about why BC Dining Services (BCDS) does not offer
Starbucks coffee or food from other franchises. According to Helen Wechsler, director of BCDS, Starbucks coffee was the only coffee available on campus about 16 years ago. It, like other franchised options, is not offered now because of new licensing agreements, a lack of space on campus, and the limited opportunities to make money on a storefront that would likely cater exclusively to students. Another student asked about whether it was true that students’ dining plans have money built into them that is set aside specifically to compensate for stolen goods. Wechsler said that this was no longer the case, though until 2004 meal plans did carry a $350 capital restoration fee that helped pay for renovations to Corcoran Commons and Stuart dining hall. “You are never billed for anything that you didn’t purchase,” Wechsler said. When asked about seemingly high food prices, Wechsler said that BCDS strives to make sure its prices are similar to comparable restaurants. The prices reflect the cost of food, labor and operations, and benefits to employees, which are better than those of other universities and dining establishments, Wechsler said.
The panelists were asked which challenge their respective offices or departments were struggling the most with and how students could help find a solution. Chebator, Wechsler, and Arey each spoke about student conduct. Chebator talked about the recent issues with student conduct during Late Night in the dining halls. “It’s not just a conversation for the newspapers,” he said. “It’s a conversation for student leaders and students in general.” Chebator also said that he has received emails from alums expressing shock and concern about Late Night behavior. Wechsler said that many of BCDS employees are students and immigrants who appreciate not only kind behavior, but also the benefits they receive as employees. “You can do great things right here by spending money at dining services,” she said. According to Arey, residence halls have sustained thousands of dollars in damage due to vandalism this year. “There’s a disconnect between who we are as an institution, who we espouse to be, and how we act,” Arey said. Smith and BCPD Lieutenant Christ Santiago both emphasized the importance of student feedback in surveys sent out by their respective departments. n
CLASSIFIEDS
The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
Community Apartment
Community
NEED A GREAT OFF-CAMPUS HOUSE OR APARTMENT FOR NEXT SEPTEMBER? I have beautiful off-campus houses for rent on Greycliff Road, Kirkwood Road, Gerald Road, Foster Street, and Chiswick Road. I also have apartments in buildings on Chestnut Hill Avenue and Orkney Road in Cleveland Circle. Sizes range from
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!
Balloon animal artist available for events. Willing to make offcampus appearances. Specialties include hats, giraffes, and hearts. Willing to accommodate specific color theme or spell words in balloons. Hourly rate upon request, at least two days’ notice required. Contact: richardmv@bc.edu.
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
Editors of ‘The Heights’ give thanks
Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.
Monday, November 19, 2012
-Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet
This Thanksgiving, the editorial board of The Heights takes a moment to express what we are thankful for “I am thankful for my famiy, my lifelong friends on Gerald and The Heights, my beagles, muffins, Island Creek Oyster Bar, Facebook status talents, editors who get word counts, and everything God has given me this year.” — Elise Taylor, Opinions Editor
some of the most unabashedly odd people I’ve met. I’m thankful to be living near one of the greatest cities in the States, and I’m so very thankful to have spent the last year working with the amazing editors of The Heights.” — Eleanor Hildebrandt, Copy Editor
“I’m thankful for the Pacific Ocean, my beautiful roommates, crossword puzzles, and this wonderful newspaper I get to be a part of. Also corn bread and my family.” —Mary Rose Fissinger, Asst. Layout Editor
“I’m thankful for friends, family, Fins, The Breakfast Club, New York City, an amazing two years on The Heights, and whatever the future holds in store for me.” — Brennan Carley, Arts & Review Editor
“I’m thankful for the important things like friends and family, but also hot food on the table, twerking, beautiful fall foliage, and The Heights.” —Taylor Cavallo, Assoc. Arts & Review Editor “I am thankful for the prospects of my future and thankful for everyone who helped get me to where I am today.” —Joseph Castlen, Asst. Graphics Editor “I’m thankful I don’t have to use crutches anymore.” — Lexi Schaeffer, Asst. Features Editor “I am thankful for my amazing friends and family, my dog, Pinterest, and Nutella.” — Michelle Tomassi, Assoc. Copy Editor “I am thankful for my family, my clique (clique, clique), and Taylor Swift’s Red. For life, love, and luck. And for you, #MJQ.” — Jamie Ciocon, Business Manager “I am thankful for my crazy family, my wonderful friends, and my mom’s fantastic cooking.” — Devon Sanford, Editorial Assistant “I’m thankful for my wonderfully crazy family back home and my Heights family here in Boston—the love and support of both mean so much to me, and I can’t imagine what life would be like without them!” — Samantha Costanzo, Asst. News Editor “I am thankful for my family, friends, and those who have helped guide me through this world. And Keats.” — Daniel Ottaunick, General Manager “I am thankful for having another year of insanity with my family this Thursday, filled with pie, overly personal questions, and lots of hugs. Also for the amazing people in my life like my roommates, friends, Heights editors, The Breakfast Club, and my parents and sister.” — Charlotte Parish, Metro Editor “ I am thankful for The Heights and everything it’s given me over the past three-anda-half years— friends, roommates, family, and memories that will last a lifetime. And Mom, Dad, and Jackson, for your love and constant support in this endeavor.” — Taylour Kumpf, Editor-in-Chief “I’m thankful for all of the amazing moments I’ve had at BC so far, and for all of the people who have been there with me through the more difficult ones. For the incredible opportunities I have here, and the loving family who stands cheering me on through it all. Also, I’m thankful for my roommates, the endless supply of cookies they keep in our room, getting magazines in the mail, and sleeping in on Saturdays. Oh, I’m also thankful for Zara and everything else on Newbury St. ” — Therese Tully, Features Editor “I’m thankful for all of the blessings I’ve received during my time in Chestnut Hill, and having had the opportunity to work with some of the best people at Boston College over my last three years on The Heights. This has been the most amazing experience, and I am so grateful for everyone who has helped me get to where I am today.” — Christopher Marino, Assoc. Sports Editor “I’m thankful for my family, The Heights and all of the memories it has given me, my friends, Boston College, Jim Halpert, Bear Grylls, organized Gmail inboxes, Ron Paul, and my cat.” — David Cote, News Editor “I’m thankful for my family, my friends near and far, and my roommates, who are
“I am thankful for the impressive people that I have in my Heights family who astound me every day with their brilliance, my unbelievably supportive friends who are my entire world and never fail to make me laugh until I cry (though not a very difficult task), my insane and amazing family that is far nicer to me than I deserve and (most importantly) the beauty that is Coke Zero.” — Maggie Burdge, Layout Editor “I am thankful for my family and friends, both at BC and back home.” — Christopher Grimaldi, Asst. Copy Editor “I’m so thankful for being a given a life in which I have too many beautiful people and experiences to be thankful for to be able to condense them all into one sentence.” — Adriana Mariella, Outreach Coordinator “I’m thankful for my family, my friends, the Heights. Yay Thanksgiving!” — James Gu, Advertising Manager “I’m thankful for my brother, my family, and my incredible friends here at the Heights. I’m also very thankful for our troops at home and away, and for those who serve their time for the hungry and homeless.” — Graham Beck, Asst. Photo Editor “I am thankful for the color navy blue, the Ocean State, a well-made cocktail, Gabelli 505, an unexpected third year, and most importantly, for the unconditional love and support I’ve been blessed with that proves that family goes far beyond people you share DNA with— from my parents to Team Quinn to my Heights family, you’re the bounce in my walk and thank you will never be enough.” — Christina Quinn, Project Coordinator “ I am thankful for the immense power of sports and its ability to bring people from different worlds together. And for my family—blood and non-blood—who I am oh so lucky to have in my life.” — Greg Joyce, Sports Editor “I am thankful for returning home to a house for Thanksgiving that finally has power again after Hurricane Sandy.” — Cathryn Woodruff, Executive Assistant “I am thankful for late night steak and cheese, Fin’s delivery, Justin Bieber, my Heights family, my real family, and all the lovely ladies of Gate 417.” — Lindsay Grossman, Managing Editor
Letter to the Editor Law professor supports Leahy initiative on Question 2 I write in support of Fr. Leahy’s letter opposing the Massachusetts physician-assisted suicide initiative, and in writing to Boston College alumni setting forth his objections and those of other University leaders. As to the merits: the initiative would have authorized a form of direct attack on innocent human life, and thus it stood in direct conflict with Catholic morality (as well as the morality of other leading religious traditions and many secular ones). As to Fr. Leahy’s conduct in writing as he did (you published an editorial pressing the view that it was in some way inappropriate): I write to propose
that it constituted moral leadership of the first order. As to your journalistic ethics: you are at liberty to say what you please in your editorial, but not to editorialize in your news article. Your news story (“Community reacts to letter on Question 2,” in the Nov. 15 issue, page one) was sadly one-sided. The only quotations presented (outside of University officialdom) were from those who disagreed with Fr. Leahy’s writing as he did.
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.
P rofessor S cott F itz G ibbon B oston C ollege L aw S chool
“I am thankful for a years worth of trap rap education from my fellow editors.” — Daniel Siering, Asst. Arts & Review Editor “I am thankful for this moment. I can proudly end my experience at The Heights without regret. I am also appreciative for all of the great people I have met at Boston College.” — J.H. Daniel Lee, Photo Editor “ I am thankful for the amazing people in my life, the opportunity to have spent fours years at BC, and most importantly ... the Bulls and Derrick Rose.” — Alex Manta, Graphics Editor “I’m thankful for my family, Shirley Temples, Diplomacy, and the great people that make up The Heights.” — Andrew Millette, Assoc. News Editor “I am thankful for my wonderful family and all of my amazing friends both at home and at BC! And my pets, duh.” — Natasha Ettensberger, Collections Manager
The Heights The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919 Taylour Kumpf, Editor-in-Chief Daniel Ottaunick, General Manager Lindsay Grossman, Managing Editor
Brennan Power/ Heights Illustration
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
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
Monday, November 19, 2012
A7
Opinions
Thumbs Up Ancient axe-wielders- News outlets in rural Russia are reporting that a local shepherd killed a vicious wolf who tried to attack the flock with an axe. The axe-wielder also happened to be a grandma. So next time you get the jitters walking through the graveyard or the O’Neill second floor bathroom, remember that a lil’ ol’ lady in Russia decapitated a vicious, ravenous beast like it ain’t no thang. Thanksgiving- Ah, November, a time to give thanks that there is only a week left until boys shave their pedophile moustaches. It’s also a time to remember it’s still not kosher to use “buuuuuuut I’m in college” as an excuse when your parents demand to know why you came home at 3 a.m. and woke everyone up when you tried to order Dominos. But here’s to home, parents, high school friends, and bellies full of turkey.
Thumbs Down Goodbyes- Someone somewhere once said that “all good things must come to an end.” After a year at the Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down helm, it is finally time for the authors to say goodbye. Although those who aren’t fans of Helen Keller jokes, and the BC football team won’t be sad to see us go, we hope that you’ve all enjoyed our nonsensical commentary as much as we’ve loved writing it. We aren’t good at goodbyes, so we’ll just repeat some famous ones: Good night and good luck, here’s looking at you kid, I’ll never let go Jack, and hasta la vista baby. It’s been real. Ding Dong the Hostess is dead- The bakery chain is closing its doors for good, shutting down plants, firing workers, and moving toward liquidation. We here a t Th u m b s Up, Th u m b s down are positively sick with mourning. No, not because we lost junk food staples, but because an integral part of our post-2012 apocalypse plan has disappeared over night. Come on, we all know if one food survives whatever meteors, floods, avalanches, tornados, plagues of locusts, and other end of the world shiz, it’s going to be Twinkies. Plus, it would have been nice to have a few extra packs to pawn off in some dark Boston alleys since boxes of Hostess products are selling for thousands of dollars over eBay. It’s Ding Dong Boardwalk Empire out there. The deep secrets of IkeaIkea has finally admitted to using “forced labor” during the 1980s in their Eastern European factories. The story has been splattered across newspapers worldwide. We here at Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down wonder why it took everyone so long to figure this out. You really didn’t think a company whose floor layout resembles that of the Triwizard Tournament death maze and advertises furniture as “easy to build,” but it secretly has a thousand pieces and a 3,459,359 page instruction manual doesn’t engage in sketchy business practices? And by the way, considering we spent four hours building our desk, we’d say Ikea also made us do forced labor. Let us know when we can sue because we need $150 to replace our cracked iPhone screen. Like Thumbs Up, Thumbs D ow n ? Fo l l ow u s @ B C TUTD
An attempt to humanize feminists
Alexia LaFata In 10th grade, I had to film a documentary for my AP government class. A group of 30 students, 15- and 16-year-olds, were divided into groups of about five to six people, and each group could choose any topic on which to do their documentary. The only guideline I remember is that the topic had to be politically or socially relevant. That was it. What a huge responsibility to give a bunch of teenagers. My group’s final project ended up being a haphazardly thrown together 16-minute video on feminism. Yes, feminism. The term that provokes one of two reactions: “Empowering!” or an eye roll. We called our documentary Co-Dominance. It included a brief history of feminism, stereotypes of male and female professions, and a cockamamie series of clips of people saying the first thing that came to mind upon hearing the words “woman” and “feminism.” There was no thesis. We kind of tried to prove that feminism was ineffective. In conclusion, it was a mess, and the sociologist in me cringes whenever I watch it. I don’t know how or why our feminist documentary ended up being so antifeminist. I know my 15-year-old self felt uncomfortable presenting the documentary to the class, though at the time I couldn’t exactly figure out why. Looking back, I do believe that it had a little something to do with the negative stigma that unfortunately surrounds being a feminist. It seems that I was a closet feminist before I even knew what feminism really was (and no, our horrific documentary did not help me really understand feminism in the slightest). It’s sad that when a girl calls herself a feminist, her opinion is immediately less valid. It’s sad that, as a result of this, too many a time have I seen girls state an opinion and
then add some kind of “I’m not trying to be a feminist” disclaimer. My question to those girls is, Why not? Why aren’t you trying to be a feminist? Hell, why isn’t everyone trying to be a feminist? At its core, feminism is the belief that women should be politically, socially, and economically equal to men. Essentially, if you think boys and girls are inherently worth the same as human beings, you’re a feminist. Congratulations! I could go on for days about how much people seem to hate feminism. Is it the fact that feminists are loud and powerful women who simply want their voices to be heard? Is it because people don’t believe that the problems feminists are concerned with are relevant? Because they are. These problems affect every aspect of our daily lives, including the media we indulge in, the political world we’re involved in, the job market we hope to get into, and the general way in which we’re supposed to act. Men, let me explain something to you: patriarchy hurts you, too. You are expected to be powerful, strong, and supremely masculine, and women are expected to simply sit idly beside you as you do it. I don’t know which is more unnerving: the expectation to be successful, 100- percent tough, and emotionally inarticulate and insensitive, or the expectation—almost requirement—to passively do nothing. Think about it. The beauty of feminism is that women can be anything in the world and still be feminists. As Olivia Wilde once said, “A real feminist doesn’t apologize for her beauty. You can be a sexy, beautiful woman and be the smartest person in the room.” (Amen to that, sister). Women who wear makeup, who are extremely feminine, who are stay-at-home moms, or who leisurely read magazines are not any less feminist than the women who do the opposite of all those things. Feminism says that women are not limited to a set of expected roles. A woman can wear a dress and be the CEO of a business. She can marry or not marry. She can have her kids, adopt, or never touch a diaper in her life. And no gender role, whether the stereotype is adhered to or vehemently gone against, should be valued more than the other.
It is not the differences between men and women that feminism, at least per my definition, has a problem with. Rather, it is the value attached to each set of roles that is the issue. Let’s take the classic example of a woman who wants to be recognized as “serious” who feels that she must reject all of her desires to be feminine. There is definitely an idea of what it means to be influential and dominant, and it’s all masculine. To be seen as relevant and powerful, women must actively embrace qualities of masculinity and reject femininity. Because wearing makeup or caring about your appearance makes you shallow, being beautiful makes you ditsy, being girly makes you lame, and having emotions makes you weak. Too often are elements of femininity beleaguered with negative connotations, and thus devalued. This negative and distorted image of femininity affects how women and men view femininity. Women will even go as far as apologizing for it: “Sorry for being such a girl” is something I’ve found myself saying far too many times. And men are expected to repress such “feminine” qualities of emotion like sensitivity, compassion, empathy, and vulnerability, and this does nothing except further devalue femininity. In reality, these emotions are basic human qualities that we all share, that we all are able to cultivate, and that we all need to sustain lasting relationships and have a fulfilling life. Feminism is more than just the battle to end male chauvinism or the desire to ensure that women and men have equal rights. It’s about the inequalities that plague America at large. It delves into the interconnections of gender with race and class, because it’s impossible to talk about the inequalities of one without including the influences of the rest. It’s an ongoing conversation about gender roles, discrimination, and society. It’s openness. It’s tolerance. More than that, it’s acceptance. And, as my own personal disclaimer: Yes, I am trying to be a feminist. Alexia LaFata is a staff columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.
Attack ads and trusting Mike Rowe
Benjamin Olcott Now that the election dust is beginning to settle—Barack Obama/Mitt Romney, Donkey/Elephant pins have been thrown out (hopefully), picket signs have been trashed or converted into somewhat ironic wall decorations, realizations have been made that bumper stickers are harder to remove than initially thought—we, the voting populous and spectators of the whole hoopla, can begin to look at this election with some degree of objectivity and level-headed retrospection and start extracting important lessons about American society and culture, right? We can ask the big question: What did Election 2012 teach us? One thing it taught us, among other equally important things, is that television attack ads suck. They really suck. In one type of these ads, some weird velvety voiceover flatly lists the reasons Obama/Romney has been or will be the spawn of the majority of governmental evil in the past or next four years. The voice is dubbed over what looks, on-screen, like a PowerPoint presentation in which all the graphics (displaying Obama/Romney making a face most likely described by multitudinous partisan focus groups as “frustration at his incompetency”) have been given the lame “float in” animation. The big blocky text (“Obama/Romney is incompetent”, to paraphrase), which is inevitably present (for all those who wisely try to block out the creepy voiceover), is almost certainly WordArt, and the over-saccharine voiceover and WordArt text ask simultaneously at the end of the ad, “Would you trust Obama/Romney with your [insert contested economic issue]?” The question is then followed by the stock endorsement of the ad by a candidate’s voiceover. Yes, they really suck. And the ones with the pseudo-intimate, or just flat-out fake interview spots in which some “undecided” voter (who happens to be a member of the exact constituency Obama/ Romney were then struggling to get votes from) explains to us (the characters are sitting in some ambiguous and placid park with a loving significant other or pet, typically) that the more they’ve thought about [insert contested issue], the more Obama’s/Romney’s plan “just makes sense for me in my [very] particular
Lecture Hall
BY PAT HUGHES
situation, and [insert one inane and vague “informative” flourish, a bright and fancy-looksentence about how the opposing candidate’s ing graphic tells us that the “The Works Fuel failures to address that issue adequately are just Saver Package” costs $29.95 or less (after a $10 plain insensitive and irresponsible].” Yes, they rebate) and the package covers oil changes, tire really suck, too. rotations, brake-inspection, multi-point inspecThese are just two examples of sucky attack tion, and more. We’re left with some serious ads, but I don’t mean to spare the other types questions here, like, how much does this thing by not mentioning them here. They all suck. actually cost? And how much more is “and They’re egregiously sucky. Their suckiness is more?” How is that okay? unanimous and ubiquitous and intense. We gloss over these ads (car commercials, And it’s not hard to pinpoint why. Each beer commercials, tech commercials, etc.) and presents information in a way that is intenignore their obvious flaws—the information tionally and obviously vague, and this sets our is vague and bulls—ty, the only reason the liberal arts-primed bulls—t sonars off. Because voiceover isn’t creepy is because we think we we recognize the commercial as bullsh—ty, it can see Rowe talking, we can’t not watch them loses its credibility and we thus reject the auif we’re going to watch TV (which we’re going thority of the direct source of the information to do), etc.—while we vocally lambaste political (the advertisement itself). Once it is rejected, attack ads for having the exact same obvious the idea of the advertisement, and subsequently flaws. Why? its informational content, is considered comThe not-so-groundbreaking answer is that pletely worthless. Yet, unlike many other forms we have been consuming TV for so long (since of information (websites, books, magazines, infancy, really), and with that, so many car, newspapers), we, as its consumer, cannot beer, tech, clothing, fragrance, and hygienic choose to stop receiving the bulls—ty data once product commercials that we are numb to their the source of the data has lost its credibility flaws and outright deceptions. Put another (you can close a webpage, shut a book, throw way, because we see illegitimate and un-credout a magazine, use your newspapers to start ible commercials every single day, and have fires [in your fireplace guys, come on]) unless for around two decades, their striking lack of you change the channel (which is annoying untainted information has just slipped into the for a whole host of reasons, not to mention assumed framework of a commercial. It’s the that during the peak of Election 2012, every “they’re just like that” effect. Political attack ads channel ran these ads, and going from one evoke outrage not because their information channel to another was not a legitimate way is presented in a particularly different way, but to avoid seeing the ads) or turn your TV off. because we see the specific content of attack But let’s say the newest Modern Family is on ads in such extreme abundance only once every and you’re a huge fan. Or The Shining is on FX, four years, and amidst the monotonous stream and you don’t like it, but all your roommates of the usual sucky advertisements, the switch in do, so you’re going to have to watch it. Are you frequency and type of content is a shock to our or they really going to turn off the tube for a heavily-conditioned TV-consumer systems. bunch of stupid ads? Probably not. So what The unfamiliarity of the content makes us think really irks us is not that they in themselves are the shoddy quality of the content is abnormal— so sucky— though they are—it’s that we are and it’s just not. actually unable to choose to not watch them Perhaps the most serious implication of when we no longer want to watch them. this numbness to sucky commercials is that we It seems odd, then, that TV consumers do have been conditioned to passively take in bad not think every single advertisement sucks or incorrect information and consider it acceptjust as much as attack ads do. Why do we not able or, even worse, complete. While this does furiously detest the Ford commercial where not necessarily make us more stupid people Mike Rowe talks to “Ford factory workers” (as if (an entirely separate question for an entirely this gives it some sort of nitty-gritty “realness”) separate column), it most certainly makes us about all the great things Ford service does ignorant—and yes, stupid—consumers, and for Ford cars? Interspersed with his various in our world, the quality of our consumerism short interviews with “workers” are flashes of counts. car-tech seeming things looking very clean and In conclusion: Don’t trust Mike Rowe. healthy and like-new, while Rowe (who is like a mid-life crisis Everyman Adonis) nods his Benjamin Olcott is a staff columnist for head in a consumerly “yeah, I really get this” The Heights. He welcomes comments at way. Except the “workers” have barely said opinions@bcheights.com. anything that one could “really get.” In a final
Thrill of the chase
Parisa Oviedo It’s exciting, it’s challenging, and it brings out a primal competitiveness about us. That’s why it’s called “The Chase.” The thrill of the chase has an edge of unpredictability and suspense about it—a sense of fun without commitment. But once the chasing part is over, the end of the road is no longer novel and exciting, but, to many, bland and monotonous. “I feel like a lot of times, I convince myself that I like a guy, but then there’s a certain point where, after I hook up with him, it becomes too easy,” Sarah (all names have been changed for privacy purposes) told me. Indeed, men are often notoriously associated with womanizing, but women too, often without realizing it, fall into the fast-paced chase-with-nodestination game. “I get bored because I’m impatient,” she said. “And I hate the idea of being tied down when I can go to a party next weekend and find another.” Hook-up culture offers a bountiful supply of “insignificant others,” willing to be a spontaneous, often long night out. Such companions aren’t too difficult to find, particularly if the insignificant other is tipsy and lowers their standards. You don’t have a random hook-up because you’re hoping to start a relationship, you have one because you “want some” and, whether you realize it or not, you like the minichallenge it offers. The concept of “challenge” intertwines itself in the script of hookup culture. Katherine, for example, hooked up with a guy she had never met before at a Mod party last weekend. “I knew there would never be follow-up,” she told me. “I didn’t hook up with him to find a relationship, I hooked up with him because he was cute, he was there, and I just wanted to get with him, even if it was partially just to see if I could.” There are surely exceptions, but if you think about it, hook-up culture all narrows down to two things: the idea of a challenge, and an ego-booster. “A lot of guys will see a hot girl at a party, and if she looks a bit drunk then we’ll go up to her,” Rob told me. I asked Rob if “the chase” had any role in that situation, and he responded, “It is a challenge. If she’s hot, you might challenge yourself subconsciously to see if you can get with her, and then you do and you can brag about your win the next day.” Now, not all guys think like Rob, and not all girls think like Katherine or Sarah, but it’s true that everything about hook-up culture revolves around this passionate, intense, fast-paced, and thrilling chase. Once your chase has a destination, however, everything slows down and you realize that maybe the person you’ve been running with is not the person you want to settle with. Hooking-up is a form of flattery. It temporarily delivers a sense of confidence that philosophy professor Kerry Cronin estimated to last about 48 hours. It’s a small challenge with an easy solution, and then you move on to the next one. But after those 48 hours are up and a few days pass, it’d be silly to still be talking about your casual Saturday hook-up on a Wednesday, so the next weekend you go out again to re-inflate your ego. “Of course hooking up with a guy is flattering,” Katherine said. “Because hooking up is based on a physical relationship, it usually implies he thinks you’re pretty or hot. It makes you feel good about yourself if it’s not a regrettable hook-up.” Sarah agreed that hooking-up is a subconscious method to boost selfconfidence, “This guy ended it with me after a few weeks of hooking up, so I got with someone the weekend after,” she told me. “I guess now that I really think about it, I had that rebound hook-up in order to feel better about myself.” Girls want to feel desirable, and hook-up culture offers that and convinces them that they are. The hookup culture is also centered around the concept of “the chase.” It’s temporarily satisfying and it’s a dive into spontaneity and unpredictability. Hopefully someday everyone will find that person who they can stop running after and settle down with, because it’s true that, at the end of the day, everyone wants something more. Parisa Oviedo is a staff columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at opinions@bcheights.com.
The Heights
A8
Monday, November 19, 2012
‘Dawn’ puts a cliched bow on top of the five-part vampire saga By Taylor Cavallo
Assoc. Arts & Review Editor As if we all couldn’t hate Kristen Stewart any more, in Breaking Dawn Part 2, she kills and sucks the blood out of a beautiful mountain lion. Seriously, though. The final installment of the Twilight Saga young adult The Twilight Saga: fiction series Breaking Dawn Part by Stepha2: nie Me yer, Bill Condon Breaking Lionsgate Dawn Part 2 picks up on the dramatic vampire romance of Bella and Edward Cullen, after the birth of their half human, half vampire child Renesmee. The Volturi believe that a crime has been committed in her birth, as they assume she is a ravenously bloodthirsty “immortal child.” Naturally, confrontation in the scenic Washington wilderness ensues. Despite the anticipation and hype for the final Twilight movie, the final film left a lot to be desired. It was clear that the movie was attempting to wrap up the series in a nice package with a perfectly tied bow on top, but
B+ BD-
the innate desire to tie up all the loose ends was too cliched—too cliched for this clearly cliched film. While this review could purely be a critique of the awful misogynistic messages of the film that come at the viewer from all sides, the film itself, regardless of message, was a disappointment. The opening scene threw the audience right into Bella’s newly predatory senses, which let viewers experience her heightened sense of hearing and sight, and more importantly, her new thirst for blood, which was a great way to set a hopeful pace for the film. Opening with the energy of her invigorated vampire self was exciting, yet this excitement was promptly ruined by the pure cheesiness of her hunting scene alongside Edward. Something about the fast-paced “sprinting” from place to place and her facial expressions while sniffing didn’t work for the normally confused-looking Stewart. The whole hunting montage had viewers laughing out loud and was, frankly, a terrible way to start the film. It was hard to take the film seriously afterward. The special effects of the film, which to an ignorant viewer don’t seem to be very “special,” are meant to help the movie, but actually
amplified its laughable flaccidity. Apart from the creepily (clearly) computer-animated baby (why couldn’t they use a real baby?), the most notable example of this was the too literal yellow stars that appeared around Stewart’s face as she climaxed during her first round of vampire intercourse. Stewart and Pattinson’s on camera chemistry was undeniable at points. And then audiences remember she cheated on him, and all is lost. While the acting all around was pretty lackluster, Stewart stood out by being especially terrible. The redeeming actor of the film was Billy Burke, also known as Charlie Swan, Bella’s father. Perhaps his acting talent was seemingly amplified as he was juxtaposed against actors that were quite frankly either apathetic or melodramatically overacting, but he displayed a naturalness in understanding the depth of his paternal character’s struggle to regain a lost closeness to his somehow changed daughter: a change he can’t quite put his finger on. He was not in the film nearly enough, however, to carry the weight of reestablishing a sense of quality acting. The climax of the film was undeniably the fight scene between the Cullens, their supporters, and the Volturi, where there were
Courtesy of lionsgate
Stewart, Pattinson, and Lautner play their roles for the final time in the hackneyed ‘Breaking Dawn.’ surprising decapitations left and right. While there were certainly moments of chuckles from the audience, most laughed out loud at the film’s cringe-worthy cheesy moments: Renesmee’s gentle hand grazing faces of nonbelievers, sporting a blank stare, and Stewart’s pathetic maternal warmth and too many rough vampire sex jokes, to name a few. As it is the final film of the Twilight saga, it will undoubtedly rake in millions,
but Breaking Dawn Part 1 is a more complete film in many ways. The final montage between the happy Bella and Edward sitting amidst purple flowers in a field is a shared vision of all their romantic moments starting from the first film. While young girls will certainly gush with happiness, anyone looking for a solid film and a good way to spend $10 should go see Anna Karenina. At least you’ll feel good about yourself afterwards. n
Lawrence, Cooper impress in ‘Silver’
2
Box office report title
Courtesy of mirage enterprises
David O. Russell’s heartfelt romance excels with strong performances from the two leads, who engage in an erratic relationship. By Sean Keeley Heights Staff
Silver Linings Playbook, the new film from director David O. Russell and rising stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, seems poised to be 2012’s answer to last year’s The Descendants. Like that film, this one is a regionally inflected, modest little comsilver linings edy-drama, playbook: at once sarDavid O. Russell c a s t i c a n d heartfelt Mirage that touches Enterprises on dark and troubling subject matter, but is ultimately defined by its lighter elements. It’s a tricky balance to pull off, but Silver Linings Playbook does so successfully for most of its run time. To speak in football terms (as the movie’s characters often do), it is only in the fourth quarter that the movie fumbles, with the script succumbing to a tidy, feel-good final act that feels contrived compared to the naturalistic slice of life that preceded it. Yet it’s not a devastating setback. Guided by a strong cast and a sharp director with a keen sense of location and character, Silver Linings Playbook overcomes the predictability and occasional missteps of its script. The movie begins as Pat (Bradley Cooper), a bipolar former teacher from Philadelphia, is released from an eightmonth stint in a mental institution fol-
B+ B-
lowing a violent episode against his wife’s lover. Despite his wife’s infidelity—and the fact that she has a restraining order against him—Pat is determined to win her back. Yet even as he spends his days getting fit and espousing optimistic messages about finding the silver linings in life, Pat also begins to erupt in erratic and violent ways that draw police attention and worry his parents (Robert de Niro and Jacki Weaver). Things begin to look up when Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a similarly troubled young woman who’s still recovering from the sudden death of her husband. The two form a dysfunctional, volatile, but increasingly significant friendship that may blossom into something more. The basic romantic story at the heart of Silver Linings Playbook is rather predictable, but the success of the movie lies in its details and the ways in which the actors reveal surprising new dimensions. Cooper, in particular, is a revelation—typically typecast as a sexy action star, Cooper here proves that he has a much greater range. The role of Pat demands a lot, asking him to play a mentally disabled man—one full of inappropriate mannerisms and prone to sudden fits of rage—in a way that invokes empathy and not alienation. Lawrence has a similar challenge—her character is damaged, aggressive, and sometimes selfish—but her charismatic performance and chemistry with Cooper make her appealing.
These two young stars are ably assisted by veterans like de Niro, who in one tearful speech late in the film reminds us of his acting caliber after years of dubious choices. Apart from the cast, the film’s strongest asset is writer-director Russell. In films like The Fighter, Russell has displayed a talent for documenting lower middle-class American families in distinctive milieus—Lowell, Mass. in The Fighter and Philadelphia here. Russell’s depiction of his setting isn’t glamorous, with a color palette that tilts toward grey and a naturalistic style that uses subtle handheld camera work to capture the everyday life of its characters. Yet it’s a portrait of American life that is also deeply affectionate, suffused with the characters’ love of football and family rituals. Unfortunately, Russell’s script gets a little too sentimental in its final act as he pulls out all the stops to engineer an unambiguously happy ending for everyone involved. Late-film developments stretch the film’s plausibility even as it becomes increasingly predictable. There’s nothing wrong with a happy ending, of course, but this one seems too neatly tied up in comparison with the ambiguous nature of what precedes it. Still, Silver Linings Playbook is three-fourths of a very good movie, and a problematic final section isn’t enough to derail the efforts of the cast and director. n
weekend gross
weeks in release
1. twilight: breaking dawn - part 2
141.3
1
2. skyfall
41.5
2
3. Lincoln
21.0
2
4. wreck-it raplh
18.3
3
5. flight
8.6
3
6. argo
4.1
6
7. taken 2
2.1
7
8. Pitch perfect
1.3
8
9. here comes the boom
1.2
6
10. hotel transylvania
0.9
8
6
8 photos courtesy of allmoviephoto.com
bestsellers of hardcover fiction 1. The racketeer John Grisham 2. poseidon’s arrow Cliver Cussler 3. flight behavior Barbara Kongsolver 4. sins of the mother Danielle Steel 5. casual vacancy J.K. Rowling
6. panther Nelson DeMille 7. gone girl Gillian Flynn 8. bone bed Patricia D. Cornwell 9. winter of the world Ken Follett SOURCE: Publisher’s Weekly
‘Lincoln’ instills patriotism with stark realism and strong acting By Joe Allen Heights Staff
Premiering just days after President Barack Obama’s reelection, Lincoln takes audiences back to the days when freedom wasn’t guaranteed in America and when voting, then considered a privilege and not a right, was of paramount imlincoln: Steven Spielberg portance. The collaboration Dreamworks of director Steven Spielberg, writer Tony Kushner, and actor Daniel Day-Lewis produced this intricate, two-anda-half-hour examination of the final months of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, especially the political maneuvering of January 1865 to get the Thirteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution passed in the House of Representatives, the law that legally abolished slavery. Based on Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, the film begins with Lincoln (DayLewis) seeing the carnage of battle in the Civil War in January 1865, and also meeting men, both black and white, fervently reciting his Emancipation Proclamation of two years prior. To follow through with the promise of this Proclamation, Lincoln must have the Thirteenth Amendment passed before a peace negotiation with the South. The law had been
B+ B+
passed by the Senate in April 1864, but the House of Representatives remained divided on the issue. To pass it, Lincoln had to use his political cunning, along with outside help, to sway over a dozen voters. As Lincoln navigates these treacherous political waters, Lincoln’s deep bench of acting talent is illuminated. Secretary of State William Seward (David Strathairn), a friend of Lincoln’s, is one of the first to turn his back on him. Tommy Lee Jones proves unsurprisingly brilliant in his portrayal of Thaddeus Stevens, a Radical Republican who initially looked down on Lincoln’s amendment for not saying that all men are equal, outside of a legal sense. Many other familiar faces abound in this historically epic cast, most notably Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Lincoln’s oldest son, Robert Todd. While all the actors play their parts well, Day-Lewis becomes Lincoln. One of the chief draws of this film is the curious thought of “What was Lincoln really like?” Day-Lewis, a known method actor, makes the audience forget that he isn’t, indeed, Lincoln, after the novelty of seeing a famous figure on the big screen wears off. With a quiet, assured voice and a slow, pained walk, Day-Lewis wows by focusing on the details. This is not his loud, jaw-dropping performance in There Will Be Blood, but it is just as commanding, as Day-
Lewis recreates one of our nation’s heroes with grace, a seemingly impossible task that seems to come easy to this veteran actor. The other ultra-famous player behind this film, Spielberg, shows an attention to detail that always enhances his historical movies. From the dresses of Mrs. Lincoln, to the set of the Oval Office, to the brutal Civil War battle that opens the film, Spielberg concerns himself greatly with historical authenticity, making the audience believe they are actually running across Washington, D.C. in the 19th century. Spielberg, who has been researching this project since 1999, and Kushner, smartly set the film in a small yet historically important time frame. Focusing on just one issue of Lincoln’s presidency, the film’s 150 minutes still fly by. Much of the film involves debating, and Spielberg smartly delivers bits of Lincoln’s backstory as the president himself tells anecdotes to drive his points home. Through Lincoln’s conversations and reflections, audiences get a strong sense of his outstanding character. Lincoln’s one glaring flaw, however, is that most viewers already knows this. Lincoln is famous for being an anti-slavery, politically savvy, all-around good guy. The movie paints this obvious fact with care and a passionate attention to detail, but it remains an obvious fact nonetheless. By
movie’s end, audiences don’t know more significant information about Lincoln. At times, as Lincoln gives a room-silencing speech or as he carries his sleeping son to bed, Lincoln feels like a (spectacular) history review. The lack of discovery in Lincoln lessens it, especially when compared with other historical dramas. Spielberg’s Schindler’s List shocked with its blunt, truthful depiction of the horrors of the Holocaust. To use a less extreme example, The King’s Speech recently shed light on the heroism of stuttering King George VI.
Lincoln has no new revelations about its titular character or the United States to make, which keeps it from greatness. That isn’t to say that Lincoln is inconsequential. Almost 150 years after Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation, in an age when publications can run articles titled “Top 10 Lies of the Presidential Debate,” Lincoln reminds America of what our country is capable of at its best, and of what a true leader is. For this reason, Americans should line up to see Lincoln. n
Courtesy of dreamworks productions
Daniel Day-Lewis gives a stellar performance as iconic American president Abraham Lincoln.
A9
Monday, November 19, 2012
The Heights
Macklemore touches down at House of Blues Macklemore, from A10 member onstage to participate in a “rap battle” midway, Dee-1 checked his watch and then instructed the crowd to, once again, say “music” when he said “hip hop.” Once the opening acts left the stage, almost an hour of recorded filler music ensued. Seattle native Macklemore finally came on around 9:45 p.m., issuing a cursory “Hello, Boston!” before exploding into an energetic rendition of “Ten Thousand Hours.” The artist immediately jacked up the excitement in the room, and segued smoothly into stage patter about his Boston experience. “Boston women are beautiful,” he said. Macklemore talked a little longer about the affection he had for Boston as his “second home,” then launched into “Can’t Hold Us.” Lyrics to the chorus projected onto dual screens behind the band, encouraging the audience to sing along. Before performing the popular “Thrift Shop,” Macklemore borrowed a full-length fur coat from an audience member. “This thing is like 19 pounds,” the rapper said, hefting it in the air. “How many rabbits do you think died to make this thing?” The crowd responded with an enthusiastic cheer when Macklemore asked if he should wear the coat during the song. “Here’s the thing, when people talk about animal cruelty in fur coats,” he said, pulling on the garment. “One, this coat is probably from a thrift shop, so the rabbits have been dead for like 50 years. And two, this is giving those rabbits experiences in the afterlife that they never would’ve had when they were alive.” The emotional peak of the set came about halfway through with the performance of “Same Love.” After expressing his happiness about Obama’s election and the recently passed Referendum 74, which legalized same-sex marriage in Washington State, Macklemore brought out Mary Lambert to rehash her record collaboration on the track. The crowd sang along to the entire song, belt-
ing out the chorus along with Lambert: “And I can’t change / Even if I tried / Even if I wanted to / My love, my love, my love.” As her final lines faded out, Macklemore took a moment to acknowledge the moment’s significance. “The fact that all 2,500 of you are all singing along—that’s everything,” he said. Smoke drifted from the middle of the packed floor, giving testimony to the audience’s appreciation of the other social policy recently passed in Washington. The animated crowd maintained their enthusiasm through the high-energy “White Walls”—collaborator Hollis appeared onstage, to wild applause, to sing the chorus—and other select tracks from The Heist. Macklemore then slowed the tempo considerably, taking almost 10 minutes to tell a personal story. He figured out that he couldn’t be creative while drunk or high, but after over three years of sobriety, he said, he relapsed last winter. The rapper described the experience with humility and raw honesty, explaining how ashamed he felt. That time, he said, was the inspiration for the song “Starting Over,” and the context beforehand made the words “If I can be an example of getting sober / Then I can be an example of starting over” that much more significant. Macklemore’s last official song of the set, “Gold,” saw a few people slipping out the back to get to the coat check line, but the vast majority stayed, enthralled by the performer’s flawless delivery. Those who remained were rewarded with throwbacks to the artist’s pre-Ryan Lewis days. For his encores, Macklemore drew on his past endeavors, first with the crowd-pleaser “And We Danced”—for their part, the crowd seemed sincere as they sang “And we danced, and we cried / And we laughed and had a really really really good time”—and then, paying tribute to Boston’s Celtic roots, he procured an enormous Irish flag and ran around the stage for a wild rendition of “Irish Celebration,” ending the concert on a raucous high note. n
Courtesy of google images
Celebrating in style at the TD Garden, The Who visited Boston and brought throngs of people to the storied venue to sing along with them.
The Who celebrate its ‘Quadrophenia’ The Who, from A10 bounce around the stage and Daltrey would thrust his fists into the air. This decrease in physical showmanship, however, only returns the focus to the meditative quality of their music. Townshend’s unique chops as a guitarist are as good as ever, and his lyrics are still fresh nearly 40 years later. With the original group half gone, The Who’s performance required not only the ability to reach into the past, but also the ability to reach beyond the grave. Current members, bassist Pino Palladino, and drummer Zak Starkey yielded their roles during tributes to The Who’s deceased band members. The Who paid homage to drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle by incorporating film from their past performances. Moon was shown on a circular screen singing his part of “Bell Boy,” one of his rare vocal appearances on any of The Who’s recordings. For Entwistle, a video from a 2000 concert of his dynamic “5:15” bass solo smoothly fit into what was one of The
Who’s best performances of the night. When not depicting past band mates, the screens covered major political and social moments from the 1940s and into the 2000s, providing a context for the rebellious spirit embodied in Quadrophenia. After completely running through the album, The Who performed an encore featuring some of its greatest hits, including “Behind Blue Eyes,” “Baba O’Riley,” and “Pinball Wizard.” After having just completed the vocally taxing “Won’t Get Fooled Again” in a manner so enthralling that it seemed to beckon the end of the concert, Daltrey and Townshend alone remained on the stage to provide closure with a sentimental touch. With nothing but Daltrey’s vocals and Townshend’s acoustic guitar, they performed the 2006 “Tea & Theatre,” a fitting tribute to their career together. Once a relationship mired in disagreements, Daltrey and Townshend are better friends today than they ever were. This newfound warmth was apparent when Daltrey moved his microphone closer to Townshend for the end of their final song of the night.
They are indeed older, but their performance left little doubt that, while they may no longer experience an epiphany at the center of a tumultuous ocean like Quadrophenia’s protagonist, both Daltrey and Townshend have managed to achieve their own transcendence. Daltrey, always the most hesitant to bring Quadrophenia back to the stage, told the audience that pushing his voice to such lengths on this tour has been “brutal,” but also “so spiritually rewarding.” This spirituality is one that only Quadrophenia can bring to the stage. As an established older man, however, it’s now harder for Daltrey to channel Jimmy’s rebellious spirit, but when the album reaches its crescendo on “Love Reign O’er Me,” Daltrey and Jimmy are still one and the same. After the concert, one cannot help but remember the image of Daltrey, back to the screaming crowd, spreading his arms toward the video of Entwistle performing his iconic solo, as if asking his former band mate, “They still love it—Don’t they, John?” n
‘Arabian Nights’ proves that classic plays work in a modern-day setting ‘Nights,’ from A10
emily fahey / heights staff
‘Arabian Nights’ is made up of a series of vignettes that offer interesting side stories to the show.
weightier concerns. From slave to shop owner, prisoner to exalted scholar, Leo Magrini, A&S ’13, kept the audience guessing with truly inspired acting decisions. His was a chameleonic performance that consistently redefined itself in a beat, and the tale in which he was protagonist—a story of heartbreak and trickery that resulted in his character’s imprisonment in a madhouse—proved to be the highlight of the bunch. The production’s lush, fully realized sets (a product of Crystal Tiala) seemed perfectly out of place in the stately theater, presenting the exact gateway to a faraway place that Arabian Nights so adroitly evokes. Revolving pieces dropped from the ceiling, never ornate enough to detract from the performances on the stage. Similarly, the play was presented with the accompaniment of an oud and a dumbek, a necessary drum and string
combination that offered a woozy, authentic aura to the evening. A chorus of dancers also did a lovely—and oftentimes hilarious, in the case of the skilled and underused Taleen Shrikian, A&S ’15, a true delight whenever she graced the stage—job of bringing the stories to life with inspired choreography by Sun Ho Kim. Although the first half of the show seemed awfully top-heavy by the time intermission rolled around, its second half breezed by due to the skill and tact of the actors onstage. The only offkilter moment arose in the play’s final breaths, as, following the narrative’s logical conclusion, the stage shook and lights quavered as the sound of bombs dropping echoed. It was a peculiar politically tinged statement that stood out as off-kilter due to the otherwise storied, classical nature of the story itself. It fell flat but luckily appeared late in the game so as not to sully the otherwise sterling Arabian Nights.
At its core, The Arabian Nights presents the observer with a series of situations that build on themselves so intricately to demonstrate both the fragility of life and the emphasis on cultural connectivity. A show that relies on pitch-perfect timing in order to keep its cogs moving in perfect harmony, it represents an era in which classical learning and stories of moral ambiguity were valued as essential teaching tools. There’s something to be learned from the BC Theatre Department’s production of The Arabian Nights, and for a few fleeting hours, the talented cast, crew, and orchestra transported those in the theater to a different world. While familiar names like Jafar made brief appearances, the production was more about an air of exoticism than familiarity. It jolted its audience with thought-provoking choices and, ultimately, provoked just enough to force us all to consider our own choices for a moment. n
David Fincher brings his talent to Netflix with ‘House of Cards’ Sean Keeley It’s often been argued, in the past decade or so, that American cinema is on the decline, as studios increasingly focus on superhero franchises and massive blockbusters at the expense of the average, intelligent adult moviegoer. The argument goes that the real future of popular American entertainment lies in TV, specifically the richly detailed dramas offered by cable channels—shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad. As big-name movie stars and directors gravitate to cable channels, movies will become increasingly less relevant. I’ve always found this argument rather tiresome. For one, I would argue that movies will never become irrelevant. They offer a variety of stylistic expression that cannot be matched in the realm of television, where the need for repeatable formulas and wide appeal tends to limit the aesthetic choices available. But that’s a subject for another column. My main annoyance with the movies-vs.-TV debate is that it’s predicated on the assumption that one has to be the winner. Why can’t we have it both ways? One of my most anticipated entertainment events of the coming year is a project that seems poised to do just that, marrying cinematic style with the long-form storytelling possibilities offered by television. That would be House of Cards, an upcoming Netflix original series developed by David Fincher. Netflix released the trailer
last week, and judging by the preview, viewers can expect another meticulously detailed, devilishly enjoyable effort from the director of such modern classics as Fight Club, Zodiac, and The Social Network. House of Cards is an Americanized remake of a superb 1990 BBC miniseries, which was based on a novel by Michael Dobbs. The original series focused on the Machiavellian machinations of Francis Urqhart (Ian Richardson), a British politician who schemes his way to the role of Prime Minister by whatever means necessary. Much of the fun of the BBC series was the way that Richardson broke the fourth wall, frequently turning to the camera to reveal his innermost thoughts, his carefully laid traps, and his utter contempt for his colleagues. Even though Urqhart was clearly an evil character, Richardson played him with such charisma and style that you almost wanted to see him succeed—he was like a contemporary Richard III. In the new version, Kevin Spacey is set to fill Richardson’s considerable shoes, but this time as Francis Underwood, a congressman seeking the presidency. In the opening moments of the trailer, Spacey stands at a presidential inauguration and addresses the viewer with a dignified Southern drawl: “Power’s a lot like real estate— it’s all about location, location, location. The closer you are to the source, the higher your property value.” As the president gets sworn in, Spacey’s character promises that when people watch the footage centuries from now,
they will be watching him smiling in the corner of the frame. Then he gives a sly little wave toward the camera. It’s too early to tell if the American House of Cards can live up to its esteemed predecessor, whether the show can seamlessly transition from London to Washington, and if Spacey will be able to dispel memories of Richardson’s iconic role. But the preview sends good signals, retaining the perfect devious tone and the fourthwall breaking that is so necessary to the character’s wicked appeal. Most of all, though, I’m excited to see what a movie director of Fincher’s caliber can bring to the world of TV. The two-and-a-half minute trailer certainly shows signs of his influence. The darkly lit interiors, the color scheme of greys and blues, and the focus on spacious compositions all recall Fincher’s work in movies like Zodiac and The Social Network. He’s the kind of director whose attention to detail and visual capability can render even the most banal settings beautiful, and House of Cards seems to be right in Fincher’s wheelhouse. Like Mark Zuckerberg or Tyler Durden, Underwood seems poised to be another classic Fincher antihero, an outsider scheming to his own ends to upset the establishment. Fincher’s involvement with this new TV project—he’s directing the first two episodes, while subsequent installments will be helmed by James Foley and Joel Schumacher—is representative of a wider trend in TV. More and more former movie direc-
tors, from Louis C.K. to Lena Dunham to Philip Kaufman, are creating TV projects and investing them with their own unique style. Still, I don’t think this means that TV is replacing movies. Rather, television is simply becoming more cinematic, without sacrificing its own unique capabilities for episodic
storytelling. House of Cards—debuting on Netflix on Feb. 1, 2013—is another promising attempt to marry the two diverse, yet necessary mediums.
Sean Keeley is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments at arts@ bcheights.com.
Courtesy of google images
‘House of Cards,’ a new Netflix series set to premiere in February, will change the industry.
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arts&review Monday, November 19, 2012
An Eye on Culture
The end: as it should be Taylor Cavallo A lot can change in a year. When I stood outside a small classroom in Higgins with a curious plant experiment at the door waiting for the associate and assistant arts editor elections to start, there was a lot I didn’t know. I had no idea that the guy I small-talked with to ease my jitters would eventually become someone more special than I could have imagined, that the election would actually sway in my favor, and I’d be lucky enough to be the associate arts editor of the best college newspaper I’ve seen, or that the strangers staring at me and asking questions from the crowd would end up being the most special group of people I’ve had the honor to call my friends at BC. I am different from the girl I was that night in the Higgins classroom, nervously smiling and answering questions that I was probably not equipped enough to answer and truly not understand what I was getting myself into. Not many people on campus know what happens inside McElroy 113: I’m sure the ambiguous smell of Roggie’s pizza, the loud music behind even louder chatter and occasional screams confuses the innocent passersby. At least, that’s how I felt before I joined the board, venturing in occasionally to say hi as a writer who had only dabbled in the Arts & Review section. After the urgings of my two friends already on the board and the previous arts editors I wrote for, I ran for an editorial position, honestly not expecting much and preparing to lose. When an unknown number from Westchester called me at midnight after the election saying that I had been voted associate, I couldn’t explain why I was so happy. Within a year, that initial and seemingly random spurt of happiness and excitement I felt has been vindicated. I had every right to feel blindly happy—I had just acquired 39 new and amazing friends. Even better, they’re 39 loud and rowdy, hilarious, partying, sometimes crazy, opinionated, eccentric, intelligent new friends. They’re some of the best dancers I know, the only people on this planet who can make me understand sports, some of the best beer pong players (can’t wait for a rematch with Sports at an upcoming alumni event), some of the most creative, and some of the sassiest. And I love you all for it. The poetic part of me doesn’t even want to be on the board another year, because this past year was so perfect (and I’ve exhausted all my column ideas…). The sentimental side wants to stay in the corner with Features/Metro and Sports until I’m 28. While I’m (strangely) anticipating and wondering what I’ll do with all my free time on Wednesdays and Sundays, the times I’ve already spent are truly enough to suffice. From Suzy Q, the baby debate, and Torso, to every picture, every party, every paper, every production, every Scene meeting, are memories I wouldn’t trade for anything. Right before I opened my computer to write this column, my last as an arts editor, I drank my last Bud Light at a football tailgate as an undergraduate Eagle. I also feel like I’m just starting to understand InDesign, and it’s already time for me to teach someone else. It’s safe to say that a lot is changing right now in the lives of the Class of 2013, but a lot will also remain the same after the sun finally sets on that day in May that we’re all counting down the days to in the back of our minds: the people and the memories. While this column may only resonate with board members, I’m sure the story I’ve told about my time on the paper is, in many ways, similar to others. Joining, leaving, and then eventually remembering. It’s a natural human experience, which is something I’ve always tried to capture in my column: the things that everyone can understand or relate to. That’s the power of a particular—it always ends up being universal. I can’t thank the board enough for my time on The Heights, and just as importantly, everyone else for reading a bi-weekly baby that we all truly love. As a final bit of honesty before I leave you, I’ve spent longer writing this column than any other I’ve written as an editor. As it should be.
Taylor Cavallo is the Associate Arts & Review editor of The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.
‘Arabian Nights’ beautifully unfolds in Robsham By Brennan Carley Arts & Review Editor
For a classical play, the Boston College Theatre Department’s production of The Arabian Nights certainly evoked modernity more than most pieces invoking Allah, the Quran, and the murder of an army of virgins do. Directed by John Houchin, the play presents itself as a fortune cookie within a fortune cookie of sorts, riddled with hidden meanings, poignant lessons, and a mesmerizing array of in-scenes that the actors must keep track of in order to keep the production from derailing. BC’s cast and crew were more than up to the task, snappily recreating the tale of Shahyryar (Chris Gouchoe, A&S ’13), a king wronged by a promiscuous wife, now bent on taking revenge against the kingdom’s virgins by slaying a new bride each night. When he turns to his advisor (Stephen Wu, A&S ’14) for his daughters in search of his latest conquest, the eldest girl (a captivating Thais Menendez, A&S ’14, as Scheherezade) resorts to the trickery of storytelling to delay what seems an inevitable demise. What ensues is a collection of vignettes that serve several dizzying purposes. The play never strays from the main narrative—that is, that Scheherezade’s life is hanging by a very literal thread)—but also presents alternating scenes of slapstick and moral quandaries, with the cast rotating roles, however fleeting they may be. One of the most engaging players of the evening managed to juxtapose moments of brevity and those of
See ‘Nights,’ A9
emily fahey / heights staff
Macklemore sells out HOB on ‘Heist’ tour
Iconic, British Who return to Boston for ‘Quadrophenia’ show
By Eleanor Hildebrandt
By Ryan Towey
Heights Editor
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis brought their collaborative The Heist world tour to Boston on Thursday, Nov. 15 at the House of Blues. The soldout show packed the main floor and the balconies, and was the second largest venue on The Heist tour. Opening act Xperience took the stage first, shortly after 8 p.m. The crowd obligingly bobbed and swayed to his half-hour performance, but quickly lost interest when another artist, Dee-1, followed Xperience. The rapper, who revealed that he was a former middle school math teacher, appeared to have little material to work with—he relied heavily on call-and-
i nside Arts this issue
response with the audie n c e a n d personal stories to f i l l his allotted time. After pulling an audience
Heights Staff
See Macklemore, A9
Day-Lewis captures the essence of an icon
Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance as American great Abraham Lincoln will also go down in history, A8
Quadrophenia, The Who’s 1973 concept album, was invited to speak for itself on the Boston leg of its tour, with neither lead singer Roger Daltrey nor guitarist Pete Townshend speaking a word while rocking their way through the entirety of the album at the TD Garden on Nov. 16. Quadrophenia tells the story of protagonist Jimmy, a London teenager desperate to be accepted into the mod subculture of the 1960s. He tries to overcome the inner turmoil of his discordant personalities before achieving his ultimate transcendence. Let’s face it. Daltrey simply does not
Stewart disappoints in Twilight
The final installment of the Twilight series is severely lackluster, A8
have the pipes he had back in the ’70s, but with the help of his 2010 throat surgery and backup vocals layered on by Townshend’s brother Simon Townshend, The Who still managed to carry the full-bodied vocals that define its enticing rock opera. With both Daltrey and Townshend quickly approaching the age of 70, their performances are increasingly less of an athletic experience. Besides a few of Townshend’s iconic windmills and the occasional swing of the microphone by Daltrey, the rock titans can no longer replicate the physical energy of their younger performances when Townshend used to
See The Who, A9
Bestsellers...............................A8 Box Office Report........................A8
SPORTS The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
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Monday, November 19, 2012
VS.
Virginia Tech 30
Boston college 23
same old story hokies ruin senior day in overtime win
Greg Joyce
By Chris Grimaldi Heights Editor
On an emotional Senior Day at Alumni Stadium, the Boston College football team faced off against ACC rival Virginia Tech in an attempt to salvage the remainder of its season. Yet the Eagles came up short in the overtime thriller on Saturday afternoon despite a hard-fought effort, dropping their final home game in 2012 by a score of 30-23. After the two-win team squandered its fourth halftime lead of the season and converted a mere three third-down attempts out of 16 chances, BC couldn’t help but feel that the matchup was an unfortunate microcosm of its season. “We had our chances,” said head coach Frank Spaziani after the Eagles’ ninth loss in 11 games. “We had our chances and weren’t able to convert them. We came up on the short end.” The afternoon began with a solid start by Spaziani’s squad, which battled to a 3-3 draw in the first quarter thanks to a 36-yard field goal by junior Nate Freese that was set up by a 43-yard return from the emergent Spiffy Evans. Chase Rettig and the Eagle offense started the second frame deep in Hokie territory, however, thanks to a timely 38-yard rush from the resurrected Deuce Finch. BC’s junior running back, who was missing-in-action for six games this season, followed a solid showing against Notre Dame with a 133-yard breakout performance on Saturday. “I’m just happy to be out there with my teammates,” Finch said. “This week, the offensive line did a great job opening holes, and all I had to do was just hit them.” The 86-yard drive was eventually capped when Rettig rolled out to hit a wide-open Alex Amidon in the end zone, giving the Eagles a 10-3 lead. Although quarterback Logan Thomas and the Hokies threatened to break through in the first half, senior linebacker Nick Clancy and the BC defense held their opponent to three points through two quarters. Their impressive stand was marked by a devastating hit from Clancy that broke up a Hokie fourth-down try before halftime. Yet the second half quickly saw the Eagles squander a 13-3 advantage, with Thomas keeping the ball on fourth-and-goal with a one-yard score to tie before launching a 31yard touchdown strike to Marcus Davis on a third-and-17 soon after. Meanwhile, Rettig
See Crushing OT Defeat, B3
graham beck / heights editor
Eagles complete comeback Down 3-0, BC scores four goals to beat Merrimack By Greg Joyce Sports Editor
For a short time, it looked as though No. 1 Boston College didn’t have enough fuel after an emotional two wins last weekend to beat Merrimack Boston College 4 on Friday night at 3 Merrimack Kelley Rink. The Warriors scored three goals in a furious span of four minutes and 36 seconds, leaving the Eagles on their heels. But 1:48 later, a beautiful pass from Johnny Gaudreau to Steven Whitney and Whitney’s ensuing rocket of a goal changed the entire game. “From my perspective, down 3-0, Merrimack had all that jump—they were really taking it to us,” said head coach Jerry York.
Season ends after loss to Penn State By Emily Malcynsky For The Heights graham beck / heights editor
Gaudreau (13) set up Whitney (center) on two separate occasions for goals on Friday night.
BC swept away at tourney By Stephen Sikora Heights Staff
graham beck / heights editor
Melissa Bizzari scored two goals in yesterday’s win, the second giving BC the 4-3 comeback
Bizzari’s heroics finish off win By Robert T. Balint Heights Staff
The No. 5 Boston College women’s hockey team (6-3-2, 5-2-1 WHE A) weathered a late-game offensive surge, to ok b ack the Boston College 4 lead, and came Northeastern 3 out on top of a 4-3 slugfest against visiting No. 9 Northeastern (8-3-2, 4-3-1 WHEA) on Sunday
afternoon at Kelley Rink. Junior Melissa Bizzari scored two goals in the third period to bring her team back on top from a 3-2 deficit and secure the win. “Despite letting [the Huskies] back in it, we were able to come back and come up with the win,” said head coach Katie King Crowley after the game. “We were up, and let them put in power play goals,
See Women’s Hockey, B4
i nside S ports this issue
I have always been intrigued by the power of stories. It is easy to forget that sports go beyond what happens on the field or the court or the ice—I hope I’ve been somewhat successful in reminding you that there is life outside the lines of a given playing field/court/ice. Sometimes I feel like I’m writing it even to remind myself. I don’t believe that character is defined by success. For me, character goes beyond the win/loss column. The Heights has provided me a chance to find that out firsthand. Going over to Conte Forum or the Yawkey Center has become a weekly ritual for me, and one that has blessed me with the opportunity to learn some incredible stories, and I’ve tried to retell those the best that I could. I don’t believe character is defined by statistics, either. I used to, as I grew up with an eerie ability to memorize the latest statistics in the box scores of The Boston Globe. My mom always tells stories about how I’d get into arguments with my older brother (sorry, Chris) about a batter’s batting average, and in the end, always be right. But none of that is relevant to me now. I couldn’t tell you what Nomar Garciaparra batted in 1999. I could, however, tell you all about how I felt when he was traded just minutes before the trade deadline in 2004. That’s why I’ve never been a big numbers guy in any of my articles. I tried not to fill them with the stats from the box score, but instead, I tried to get across the emotions that players or coaches were feeling when I talked to them, whether it was in the heat of the moment after a game or even sitting in the media suite on a random Wednesday in Conte Forum. There are always going to be wins, and there are always going to be losses. Those are constants in the life of sports. Sure, it would have been great if the football team had gone to a bowl game all four years we seniors were here. Saturday’s
See Beyond The Box Score, B4
“It was a dangerous time in the game because they felt very good about themselves. The momentum was swinging clearly to Merrimack’s favor.” Gaudreau had the puck coming out of BC’s defensive zone at the blue line, and he sent it across the ice and up to the next blue line, where Whitney was flying down the right side. The senior received the pass and toe dragged the puck before firing it past Merrimack goalie Sam Marotta. “Stevie Whitney’s goal there just kind of ignited the whole bench,” York said. “I thought Johnny made an unbelievable pass through just across the blue line to Stevie. He just had a rocket that beat Marotta. Once
See Men’s Hockey, B4
Trying to go beyond the box score
After a convincing win at home against FIU to begin their season, the Boston College men’s basketball team now sits at 1-3 after get71 C of C ting swept in the Boston College 67 2012 Charleston Classic. On Sunday, the Eagles suffered their closest loss of the tournament, falling 7167 to the host school, College of Charleston. BC was without leading scorer Ryan Anderson, who suffered an ankle injury on the way to the bus to Sunday’s game, for the contest. “The guys played really good basketball for a lot of long stretches,” said head coach Steve Donahue. “We defended much better, but there was a stretch in the second half that hurt us. We didn’t have a good offense for a stretch, and at the same time I thought our defense let down.” For a while, it looked as though the Eagles wouldn’t miss a beat without the sophomore from California, as they jumped out to a 19-12 lead eight minutes into the game. That was fueled by BC shooting 4-of-5 on threes, though they
Men’s soccer out of tournament
Luke Kuechly, Dominick LeGrande, and Alexander DiSanzo stepped up last game......B2
would go 6-of-24 from downtown the rest of the game. Despite a five-point halftime lead, the Eagles could not stay in front for long. After a three by COC’s Matt Sundberg tied the game up at 40 with 16 minutes left, the Cougars would never trail again. BC made it interesting at the end, when a clutch drive by Joe Rahon and a three by center Dennis Clifford kept the Eagles behind by only one possession. COC made its free throws and held on for the four-point win, though. “[Our late execution] was a good sign,” Donahue said. “We had four or five straight [possessions] where we got what we wanted. Lonnie had two big plays earlier, they go down and make a play, and we still come back. I thought we executed on the offensive end. At that point we’re fouling, and to their credit, they made the foul shots.” Patrick Heckmann had his best game of the year so far, scoring 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three. Just as significant, he only had two turnovers in 30 minutes of action, as the Eagles overall took care of the ball well with only nine turnovers on the day.
See Men’s Basketball, B5
The best unknown player
You’ve probably never heard of Sean Flaherty, but he prefers it stay that way..............................B5
After a very successful season, the Boston College women’s soccer team fell to the No. 1 seed in the NCAA To u r n a m e n t , 5 Penn State Penn State. The Boston College 2 Eagles faced the Nittany Lions at University Park, Penn. on Friday night and, after a hard-fought game, were defeated by a score of 5-2. Penn State took control of the game in the first half, leading the Eagles 2-0. Maya Hayes, the Big-10 Forward of the Year, scored the first goal a mere 48 seconds into the game. Hayes also scored the second goal for the Nittany Lions. Although the Eagles were not able to score during the first half, they did outshoot Penn Sate 18-10. “Certainly Penn State has a dangerous attack. They attack with six, and all six are capable of scoring goals,” said head coach Alison Foley to BC media relations. “They serve balls well, and they get in the box, so certainly they are a team that is opportunistic.” At the beginning of the second half, Penn State’s Mallory Weber managed to score to widen the margin to 3-0. Things began to look up for the Eagles when a Penn State defender committed a foul in the box, providing BC senior midfielder Kristie Mewis with a penalty shot. Mewis’s shot was successful, putting the Eagles on the board with a score of 3-1 and plenty of time left in the second half.
See Women’s Soccer, B2
Quote of the Week....................B2 Football Wrap Up........................B3
The Heights
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Monday, November 19, 2012
Cougars bounced from Conte By Meaghan Callahan For The Heights The energy was high on Thursday in Conte Forum as the Boston College women’s basketball team defeated Brigham Young University 62-56 in the Eagles’ home opener. BC was unable to gain a lead at the end of the first half, but it came back with a vengeance in the second half to secure the win. This was the Eagles’ second win of the early season, the first coming last week against Holy Cross. Head coach Erik Johnson, however, recognized that BYU was a different team from Holy Cross, and he was proud of his team’s ability to adapt quickly in a short period of time. “BYU is a different animal than Boston University or Holy Cross,” Johnson said. “They were able to say, all right we need to play a little different and really change [the game].” In the first half, the Eagles were unable to secure a lead, despite strong defense and notable performances by key players. Although the Cougars initially seemed overpowered by the Eagles’ defense, they were able to gain
Graham Beck/ HEIGHTS EDITOR
After defeating Holy Cross earlier in the week, the BC women’s basketball team extended its winning streak on Thursday by topping BYU in head coach Erik Johnson’s first game at Conte Forum. an early lead. Key contributions came from juniors Tessah Holt and Katie Zenevitch. In the first half, Holt made strong cuts to the basket, and Zenevitch was unstoppable on the boards. The center tallied eight rebounds in the first half, more than double anyone else on the team. Although the lead changed three times in the first half, the Cougars came out with the 24-21 lead. BC started out strong in the second half despite being behind. BC put up impressive numbers, shooting 61 percent
from the floor, while BYU only shot 48 percent from the floor. Johnson attributed the turnaround to his team’s work ethic and determination to win. “BYU is so tough, so physical, so to watch our kids be able to take a couple punches, figuratively, and be able to come back and give our own back was really, really fun,” Johnson said. The final score was 62-56, and it was a gratifying win for the Eagles. They only had one day of rest coming off of the Holy Cross game and they had to
change their game dramatically in order to compete with a team like BYU. Zenevitch was the leading scorer for the Eagles. She had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Also putting up impressive numbers were Holt, Kristen Doherty, and freshman Nicole Boudreau. Holt and Doherty had 15 points each and Boudreau had 11. Doherty also had seven rebounds, and she hit 3-of-5 from the three-point arc. With a large amount of upperclassmen on the team this season, Johnson
stressed the importance of leadership in Thursday’s game as well as its importance as they progress through the rest of the season. “Leadership is something that we have been talking about a lot because the players have to learn that it is a skill, just like dribbling, shooting, or passing the basketball,” Johnson said. “And even though they are upperclassmen, they are learning and developing every single day. Today was a conflict situation, BYU is so tough, and leadership had a lot to do with dealing with that.” n
BC knocked out of NCAA Tournament by Northeastern in first round By Greg Joyce Sports Editor
BROOKLINE — Dante Marini was all alone. The ball was on the other side of the field, as Nikko Lara got ready to take the throw-in. Instead, Lara used a flipthrow as the ball sailed into the box by the near post. Northeastern University’s Don Anding got his head on it, sending the ball to the far post, where Marini was uncovered. The sneaky 5-foot-3 forward headed the ball into the back of the net, and that was all the Huskies would need to end the Boston College men’s soccer season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday night at Parsons Field. “From this side of the coin, it’s hard losing on a flip-throw,” said head coach Ed Kelly. “But that’s life. I hate those things, flip-throws. But all in all, it was a good game
for us, we thought we played very well.” Th e g o a l c a m e 1 3 : 5 4 i n t o t h e first half, and despite their best attempt to tie the game in the next 76 minutes, the Eagles came up short. “I thought we did enough to win th e g a m e ,” Kel l y s a i d . “ We sh a ke hands, wish them well, and move on.” The BC defense was stout for the majority of the game, except for the one scoring play. The defenders gravitated toward the ball as it came in on the flip-throw to the near post, but forgot about Marini at the far post, giving him a clear lane to put the ball into the net. Goalkeeper Justin Luthy, who finished the game with six saves, had no shot at stopping it. Down 1-0, the Eagles began the second half with a purpose, trying to create more chances to score and extend their season. “We pushed harder,” Kelly said. “We
pushed Nana [Boateng] a little higher.” That move nearly paid off with 28 minutes left in the game. Boateng received a leading pass into the box as he used his speed to push by a Northeastern defender. The goalie was charging out to cut down his angle, so Boateng chipped the ball over his head. He put just a little too much force on the ball, though, and it ended up going a few inches over the crossbar. In the end, B C had nothing to show on the scoreboard for its second-half adjustments, as the Huskies tightly defended their one-goal lead. “We were trying to attack while they were trying to defend because they had the goal, which is human nature,” Kelly said. “We just had a more psychological edge to go after it than they did. Unfortunately for us, we came out on the short end.”
Chris Ager and Colin Murphy both had near-goals early in the second half, but their shots were either just high or just wide. “I thought we did really well,” Kelly said. “I thought they defended well. It was a good game. It was a great game for them.” That’s the kind of season it’s been for BC, as the team hasn’t been able to catch much luck. Injuries have plagued the Eagles throughout the last few months, meaning that key players switch in and out of the starting lineup in any given game. Kelly revealed after the game that All-ACC forward Charlie Rugg was still hurt during the game, and that didn’t help BC’s chances, as the team’s leading scorer only played for 56 minutes. While Boateng came up scoreless in the loss, Kelly was impressed with his play and determination throughout the 90 minutes, and saw great strides in the
freshman over the course of the season. “I thought [Boateng] had a great game, even though he’s only a freshman,” Kelly said. “I’m sure he’s annoying to some people when you watch him play, but to watch where he started in the first part of the season till now, he’s improved tremendously.” This was the final game for seven seniors: Luthy, Rugg, Murphy, Kyle Bekker, Isaac Taylor, Kevin Mejia, and Stefan Carter. Kelly said this group had been through the ups and downs of college soccer, but he greatly valued their contributions to BC. “They’ve been at the NCAA [Tournament] every year, and they’ve been at the final of the ACC [Tournament],” Kelly said of his seniors. “They’ve been a great class. There’s been nothing boring about this group. It’s a great group. To watch them all grow was great.” n
Florida St., Miami sweep BC By Chris Stadtler For The Heights
graham beck / heights editor
The Eagles couldn’t string together enough plays on both sides of the ball to pull off the upset against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Friday night.
Nittany Lions eliminate Eagles from tourney Women’s Soccer, from B1
SPORTS in SHORT
Shortly after her first goal of the game, Mewis got another ball past Penn State’s goalkeeper Erin McNulty. Mewis’ second goal, which was assisted by fellow senior Victoria DiMartino, brought the Eagles within one goal of the Nittany Lions. Toward the end of the second half, Penn State’s Raquel Rodriguez scored the Nittany Lions’ fourth goal. Some
confusion on the part of BC’s defense led to a fifth goal, which was credited to Weber. “I think it was amazing how the players responded,” Foley said. “A lot of teams certainly at that point—down 3-0—would have given up. The most important thing to me and the most important quality we have in our kids is an attitude to never give up, to have commitment. It was a true test of their character even when the
ACC Football Standings Atlantic
Clemson Florida State NC State Wake Forest Maryland Boston College
Coastal
Georgia Tech North Carolina Miami Duke Virginia Tech Duke
Conference 7-1 7-1 3-4 3-5 2-5 1-6 5-3 4-3 4-3 3-4 3-4 2-5
Overall 10-1 10-1 6-5 5-6 4-7 2-9 6-5 7-4 6-5 6-5 5-6 4-7
odds were against them. At that point, I was really proud of how the team committed themselves and got themselves back in the game.” Despite the final score, it was not an entirely unsuccessful end to the Eagles’ season. Mewis’ two goals marked her 38th and 39th career goals, making her BC’s all-time leading goal scorer. The game left the Eagles with a final season record of 11-8-3. n
In mid-November, the Boston College women’s volleyball team finds itself nearly at the end of journey it began three months ago. Early in the season, head coach Chris Campbell identified the team’s key to success for the upcoming 2012 season, and has since seen the reality of his words come to fruition. “ The hallmark of great teams is consistency, being able to do good things repetitively, and right now we do good things, just not quite often enough,” Campbell said at the time. After Friday night’s 3-0 straight sets loss to No. 24 Miami and Sunday afternoon’s loss to No. 11 Florida State, consistency hurt the Eagles again, as they have lost 12 matches in a row dating back to Oct. 12. The only things consistent in the team’s loss this past Friday night was the play of sophomore cocaptain Kellie Barnum and the scores of the sets, which were 25-15, 25-15, and 25-16. The bright spot of the night, Barnum had a team-high 23 assists at the Knight Sports Complex in Miami. For the 17th time this season, the team leader finished with 20 or more assists. Despite her play, Barnum was no match for the ACC’s leader in assists per set, Nrithya Sundaraman. The always troublesome Sundaraman put up a game-high 34 assists, dominating as she did against the Eagles on Oct. 15 in Chestnut Hill.
Numbers to Know
5:14
The amount of time it took the BC men’s hockey team to tally three goals against Merrimack in the second period.
39
Career goals by Kristie Mewis, who became BC’s all-time leading goal scorer against Penn State on Friday.
2
Number of receptions needed for Alex Amidon to surpass Andre Callender’s single-season record.
After going down early in the two opening sets, the Eagles seemed poised for a comeback in the third set. With the score tied at 9-9, the Eagles were pushing and had hardly given up. But Miami displayed what had made them No. 24 in the nation and went on an 11-3 run to close the book on a BC comeback and end their losing streak. The 11-3 run gave Miami a cushion, as they coasted to another victory, improving to 24-4 overall and 16-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. BC continued its road trip on Sunday afternoon against an even tougher opponent in No. 11 Florida State. The match finished in the Seminoles’ favor in the straight-set loss. Florida State won the sets 25-22, 25-13, and 25-22. Despite the shutout victory for the Seminoles, the match was much closer than 3-0 indicated. In the first set, BC held leads at 9-8 and 15-13, but they were no match for FSU’s preseason All-ACC pick Sareea Freeman, who led the oppositions offense with 13 total kills on .524 hitting. As the ACC’s leader in kills and hitting percentage, Florida State was a difficult matchup for the young Eagle team. While the loss was a major hit for BC, its close-set losses against a top team in the country proved that the Eagles have hardly given up on the season. BC has just one more match left. After the devastating losing steak, a major upset would go a long way toward redeeming their season. n
Quote of the Week
“We could have done some positive stuff. We were backed up and we felt our better chance was to go into overtime.” -Head football coach Frank Spaziani on BC’s final possession in regulation before losing in overtime.
The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
B3
emily fahey / heights staff
graham beck / heights Editor
quote of the game
graham beck / heights Editor
It’s a little bit more than just, ‘Oh there’s 59 seconds left, let’s make this decision.’ And I do understand that. But we as coaches have to do a little bit more than that. Is there second-guessing? You better believe it. But under those circumstances, we thought that was our best chance to win. I’ll tell you why: throwing the ball we were 13-for-something. We were getting sacked. Our guys weren’t open. We were having pressure there. We were playing some good defense. We felt going into overtime was our best calculated [chance] to win. It turned out wrong. Now, did it turn out wrong because of that? I don’t know. There were a lot of other things. There’s a lot that goes into that. Second-guessing? I don’t know, maybe we would have thrown a screen rather than run a draw on the first play [of overtime]. But the decision? I would do the same thing. I would do the same, taking into account everything that I just told you. It’s a little bit more than—that’s why we try to take the feelings out of it. We try to do a professional job with it. That’s what coaches do. - Frank Spaziani
Yesterday, after reviewing the tape, commenting on whether he second-guessed his decisions at the end of the game
key performers
game-changing play Virginia Tech got the ball with 4:11 left in the fourth quarter, and drove 62 yards down the field before Cody Journell kicked a 41-yard field goal to tie the game at 23-23 with 1:05 remaining in regulation.
it was over when... Logan thomas
Deuce Finch Graham beck / heights editor
graham beck / heights editor
After being buried on the depth chart, Finch had his best game of the season, taking 26 carries for 138 yards. Meanwhile, Thomas burned BC for three touchdowns.
On fourth down in overtime, Chase Rettig threw a screen pass to an open David Dudeck in the flat. Dudeck only made it seven yards before he was tackled, four yards short of the first down BC needed.
Eagles lose lead on Senior Day Deuce was loose against Virginia Tech football notebook
Crushing OT Defeat, from B1
By Ryan Dowd For The Heights
After sitting out for the middle chunk of the season, Deuce Finch returned to the backfield in a big role on Saturday against Virginia Tech. Finch brings the speed and necessary thump to move the chains, and that’s what he did. He rushed for 138 yards on 26 carries for a 5.3 yards per carry average. Finch also led the Eagles with five receptions for 53 yards, all on swing passes or screens. “I thought Deuce was doing what Deuce is supposed to do,” said head coach Frank Spaziani. “We were very happy for him and for us.” Finch used his vision to cut against the grain of an overaggressive Hokie defense. “They blitz so much. They do a lot of slants,” Finch said. “So that’s something we talked about all week that could be there, because they blitz all day. So when they did their slants, the cutback was open, and I just tried to hit it.” It was a prodigal return for last year’s leading rusher, who has had an up and mostly down year. And then, as if anything else could happen in this 2012 football season, Finch suffered a minor injury late in the fourth quarter. Spaziani did not go into detail on the injury, but Finch described it as only a little nick. After Finch went down, true freshman David Dudeck, who saw sig-
nificant time in prior weeks, provided a solid presence. Dudeck scampered for a 12-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter to put the Eagles up 23-20 for a time, before the Hokies tied the game with a late field goal. Dudeck ran for 38 yards on eight carries, but was tackled short of the first down on a swing pass to the flats in the final play of overtime. Clancy returns After suffering a concussion against the Fighting Irish, senior middle linebacker Nick Clancy’s status was uncertain for much of the week. “By the time Thursday came around, I felt fine, I was ready to play, so I came out like it was any other game,” Clancy said. Clancy played and put forth a Luke Kuechly-type 20-tackle performance. Seventeen of his 20 tackles were solo tackles, and Clancy had 2.5 tackles for loss. “There was something about this week,” Clancy said. “I wanted it so bad, to leave Alumni on a good note.” With 1:30 remaining in the second quarter with BC still up 10-3, Clancy made one his best plays of the day. On a fourth and short at the BC 40-yard line, the no man’s land between field goal and punt range, Virginia Tech ran a slant but right into Clancy’s zone. Clancy blew up the receiver and drive, giving the Eagles a chance to go on and kick a field goal.
“It was just one of those plays where you just have that instinct, that intuition inside of you where you know what play is coming,” Clancy said. Despite a heroic performance, Clancy left Alumni Stadium for the last time as a player in a loss. “It hurts,” he said. “We prepare the same for every game, but I really wanted this one bad. I just wanted to end on a good note and walk away from my last game at BC with victory.” Defense fumbles opportunities In what was, for the most part, a stout performance from the BC defense, the Eagles missed five opportunities to give the ball back to their offense, which may have swung a game that ended in overtime. BC forced three Hokie fumbles. Early in the third quarter, with the Eagles up 13-10, defensive end Kasim Edebali strip-sacked Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas at Virginia Tech’s two-yard line, but the Hokies scrambled to recover the ball, and did so. Aside from the three fumbles, the BC defense fumbled two catchable interceptions. Linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis dropped an easy interception down the sideline. Virginia Tech, though, would give the ball to the Eagles on downs shortly. Linebacker Steele Divitto also dropped a catchable deflection early in the fourth quarter. n
and the offense—the team’s most reliable weapons throughout the season—began to stall. When asked about his unit’s mid-game struggles, Rettig looked to Virginia Tech’s constant pressure as the worst he’s seen all year. “Definitely the most [pressure],” Rettig said after a 129-yard performance. “We knew they were a blitzing team. Sometimes we were able to pick it up, and sometimes we weren’t.” Thanks to the consistent kicking of Freese, who notched three field goals on the day, the Eagles were able to stay within striking distance despite the offense’s struggles. With BC trailing 20-16 and just over four minutes to play, the ball was placed in the hands of true-freshman running back David Dudeck. He burst through the line and found himself in the end zone with his first career rushing touchdown, a timely score that put the Eagles up 23-20 and seemingly sealed a dramatic victory on Senior Day. If BC has learned anything from its 2012 season, though, it is that faulty defense can allow a lead to slip away. The Hokies used the end of the final frame to drive up the field on the Eagles’ D, setting up a 41-yard field goal attempt that kicker Cody Journell sent soaring through the uprights to tie the contest at 23. With a little over a minute to play, the Eagles took the ball back at their own 17-yard line. Instead of attempting to orchestrate a last-minute drive to set up a reasonable field goal attempt for a near-perfect Freese and the win, Spaziani elected to play conservatively for overtime. Three straight runs amounted to minimal yardage, and after Rettig took a final knee to end regulation, the stadium erupted in boos. After Virginia Tech scored on its first overtime possession and stopped Dudeck short of a first down to end an excruciating Eagle
defeat, many were left to question how a 2-8 team playing for its own dignity could pass up an opportunity to win. “There are a lot of factors that are involved in it,” Spaziani said in reflection of his team’s final possession in the fourth quarter. “We ran the draw hoping we were going to get a good play on first down and we were going to up-tempo it. They could have made us punt, we could have thrown an incompletion, wound up punting, they kick a field goal, win the game and the game is over. We could have done some positive stuff. We were backed up and we felt our better chance was to go into overtime.” Rettig was quick to defend his coach’s decision after the game, even though it forced him to take a knee rather than lead his offense downfield. “Every competitor wants the ball, but it was a smart decision to play for overtime there,” Rettig said. “We were tied at that point. I don’t think that decision had an impact on the game.” Unfortunately, Spaziani’s controversial strategy and the team’s inability to execute in overtime overshadowed a bittersweet farewell from the Alumni faithful to the team’s departing seniors. For Clancy, who tallied over 20 tackles for the second time this season, the game meant more than just another loss on BC’s record. “It doesn’t get much worse than that being the last home game, to fight hard until the very end only to come up short,” Clancy said. Such a disheartening loss leaves the Eagles looking for one last ray of hope to finish their season strong against NC State next week. Although Spaziani shared Clancy’s sentiment of disappointment, he made it clear that BC’s tumultuous struggles throughout 2012 are not the result of poor effort. “We think the seniors came to play and played hard,” Spaziani said. “How efficient they played remains to be seen, but they played hard and so did everybody else. We’re playing hard.” n
The Heights
B4
Monday, November 19, 2012
Women’s hockey completes sweep of NU Women’s Hockey, from B1 and I thought we battled back.” The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period after Alex Carpenter and Shaliya Johnson both notched goals. With 7:58 remaining, a scrum formed around the Northeastern net as Blake Bolden and Emily Field tried to force the puck by Huskies goaltender Chloe Desjardins, who was drawn out of the net. The puck popped out of the melee, right into the stick of the lurking Carpenter, who swept it in unchallenged for the first goal of the game. Eight minutes later, Johnson lined up a shot from the point and, taking advantage of a screen, fired and scored to double the Eagles’ lead. The goal was the defender’s first of her collegiate career. “It’s always exciting for the freshmen when they score,” King-Crowley said. “I thought she did a great job of finding a way to get the puck to the net.” Johnson suffered a concussion during play last weekend, but has not missed a beat since her return to the ice this weekend. The Huskies mounted a last-second assault on the Eagles’ goal, firing off a barrage of shots that goalkeeper Megan
Miller managed to block until Claire Santostefano whipped in an outside shot on a power play with 17 seconds remaining in the first period. The next goal would come almost five minutes into the third period, after both teams ground out a scoreless second. Northeastern forward Casey Pickett took a pass through traffic from linemate Kendall Coyne and found a way past Miller to tie the score at 2-2. At 8:24, the Huskies capitalized on a second power play as forward Paige Savage scored to give her team its first lead of the game. That was where Bizzari stepped in. Just 22 seconds after losing the lead, the junior found a rebound from teammate Haley Skarupa’s shot, and beat Desjardins to tie the score 3-3. “I was just in front of the net trying to get a screen, and it kind of scooted through,” Bizzari said. “I got my stick on it, and it crept in the net.” The Eagles kept up the pressure, and with just 17 seconds on the clock, Bizzari saw her chance. Chaos in front of the net had left Desjardins laid out on the ice. The puck ricocheted off her pads, and right onto the waiting BC forward. “I just kind of flipped it over, and it
went in,” Bizzari said. The Huskies made a last-ditch effort to tie the score in the remaining seconds, pulling Desjardins to add another stick on offense, but Miller and the defense withstood the pressure and held on for the 4-3 win. “I thought overall, we battled pretty well,” Crowley said. “There were times I thought we could’ve won some 50-50 battles that we didn’t win.” On Friday, the Eagles built a 4-0 lead over the Huskies at Matthews Arena in Boston, including two goals from Carpenter, on the way to a 6-4 win. Corinne Boyles started between the pipes for the Eagles, but Miller came in to relieve the senior halfway through the second period. Boyles let in three goals but was credited for her fourth win of the season. On the other side of the ice, the Eagles benefited from a five-point performance from Skarupa. The forward notched her sixth goal of the season and the Eagles’ fifth score of the game, along with three assists. With the pair of wins over the Huskies, the Eagles extend their current unbeaten streak (5-0-2) to seven games. n
graham beck / heights editor
Johnson (6) and Skarupa (22) both scored on the weekend, helping the Eagles sweep the Huskies.
Gaudreau-Whitney connection sparks BC comeback on Friday Men’s Hockey, from B1 you get the first one, it’s just like ‘Oh, let’s keep it going.’” “I didn’t do too much on that goal,” Gaudreau said. “I made a nice pass, but that individual effort on the shot from the top of the circles—you don’t see that often.” That goal made it a 3-1 deficit, and it was just the spark BC needed to begin its comeback. Just over four minutes later, the Eagles struck again, this time on a power play clean-up goal from defenseman Patrick Wey. After Marotta made multiple saves on BC shots, a loose puck found its way out to Wey in the circle, and he buried it with Marotta
out of position. The equalizer came just a minute and three seconds after, when Danny Linell crashed the net and secured his first goal of the year. After receiving a pass from Cam Spiro, Linell skated in to Marotta’s right side and backhanded the puck top-shelf to tie the game 3-3. The teams entered the second intermission tied, but the Eagles had all the momentum. “We continued to do what we’re taught out there and stuck to our game plan, and we all believed that we could come back and win the game,” Whitney said. “So we just stuck to it through the rest of the game.”
Midway through the third period, the Gaudreau-Whitney connection came to fruition again, and provided the game winner for BC. Once again, Whitney received a perfect pass from Gaudreau, and ripped off another shot on goal, which went top-shelf past Marotta for the 4-3 lead. “He was on fire tonight, Stevie Whitney,” York said. “I think what’s terrific about Steven’s shooting ability is how quick his release is. He just snaps it off, it’s not a big slap shot. It’s a snap shot.” Parker Milner remained solid in net for BC in the remaining time during the third period, securing the win for the Eagles, their ninth straight. Milner finished the night
with 23 saves. “I think the biggest thing we’ll take as a club is just the character we showed coming back from a difficult, difficult 3-0 lead for Merrimack,” York said. Whitney said that BC entered the game with the right mindset thanks to York, approaching it one game at a time and not experiencing a hangover from its emotional wins over Notre Dame and BU last weekend. “We have one game that we focus on, and that’s the next one,” Whitney said. In the end, it was another Hockey East win for the Eagles, which they will take, given the danger that any given conference game
presents to a team every night. “I think it’s a great sign that we were able to look at a deficit and still keep working and keep battling back,” York said. “There’s a lot of good teams in our league, and it’s a difficult run from October through March. But when you have history where you can say you’ve come back from deficits—because we’re going to be down, we’re not going to always lead games. Our seniors have gone through some fire over the last four years, and they keep their cool and stay calm.” Cool and calm enough that a three-goal deficit is not a terrifying thing for BC. Instead, the Eagles welcome it as just another challenge they get to overcome. n
Even as a freshman, Matheson making an impact on the blue line By Chris Marino
Assoc. Sports Editor Upon its victory in last season’s national championship, the Boston College men’s hockey team suffered some tough losses. Three core members, Tommy Cross, Edwin Shea, and Brian Dumoulin left the Eagles for professional careers, and, while the defensive unit was left in the reliable hands of Patrick Wey, Patch Alber, and Isaac MacLeod, the Eagles lost a lot of experience. Fortunately, head coach Jerry York has brought in some reliable freshmen to fill the gap, and Michael Matheson has proved himself to be one of those players. Through his team’s first 10 games, Matheson has scored one goal and had five assists to help lead his team to a 9-1-0 record. For Matheson, the transition to college hockey has been made easy by the resources offered by the University and his team. “I think when you’re coming into a place like this, where there are so many resources on the school side, it makes that transition really easy,” he said. “On the hockey side, with the coaching staff here and the veteran players who welcomed us so well, it makes it a lot easier for freshmen to feel like they’re part of the group.” In particular, the Pointe-Claire, Quebec native credits York for energizing his team every day and creating the winning mentality that has become the status quo at Kelley Rink. “He’s always the most excited for practice every single day, so he makes it easy to get excited yourself, and go out there, work hard
and make sure that you’re not getting complacent in any way or accepting that we’ve gotten a couple of wins,” Matheson said. “It’s every single week—we’re concentrating on the next game, and not using any type of past win as motivation. It’s strictly motivation to win the next game.” While it would seem common for a freshman to struggle in his first season playing in the Hockey East, Matheson has shown no early signs of growing pains, due in large part to past seasons in leagues like the USHL. In the 2011-12 season, he earned USHL All-Rookie Team honors, while lacing up for the Dubuque Fighting Saints. In this campaign, he led the league’s defensemen with 27 points on 11 goals and 16 assists. “Being able to play in that competitive league, where there was a rigorous schedule with a long season and long playoffs, helped me a lot,” he said. “The other big thing was that the competition was so great between all the teams. It’s not like there’s some really good teams and some less so. It’s a very strong league in that sense. Every night you’re playing a very strong team that could beat you.” Matheson’s offensive capabilities give York an extremely versatile tool on the ice, and the defenseman continues to make strides in becoming a stronger player on both ends. “I’d say that I’m more of an offensive defenseman, but I’ve really been trying to focus on my defensive game,” Matheson said. “I’m trying to make sure that I’m not any type of liability on the defensive side, and making sure that I can be the guy that my teammates
“We visit Boston Children’s Hospital sometimes, and you definitely get touched by the children you see there, so I wanted to try to do something to help them out.” -Parker Milner
Milner, BC hockey to hold toy drive at next two home games By Chris Marino
Assoc. Sports Editor For the third season in a row, men’s hockey goaltender Parker Milner, with support from his teammates, will be collecting toys for Boston Children’s Hospital. The team will be collecting all donations at the team’s next two home games, Nov. 24 against Dartmouth College and Dec. 1 against rival Boston University. For Milner, the opportunity to bring some happiness to these young children has been something he’s been involved with since his time in the USHL. “When I was playing in Waterloo for my junior career, we would do a teddy bear toss,” he said. “When you scored your first goal, the fans would throw teddy bears on the ice, and then they would be donated to Toys For Tots. I thought it was a pretty cool thing.” In trying to continue such a project, Milner has worked hard to help the patients at Children’s Hospital during this holiday season. Team visits to the hospital inspired
him to start the toy drive during his sophomore year. “We visit Boston Children’s Hospital sometimes, and you definitely get touched by the children you see there, so I wanted to try to do something to help them out,” Milner said. Milner has been excited by the increasing participation of Superfans to his cause, and hopes that the trend continues this season. “The number of donations has gotten better each year, especially last year,” he said. “We filled about 15 full hockey bags with toys and brought it to this room in Children’s Hospital. The kids were all so excited, and it was great to see them while we were there.” Team visits and the past toy drives have given Milner a new perspective on life, and have given him a greater awareness of the struggles these children face each day. “Whenever we get in there, they’re pretty excited to see us,” Milner said. “We’ve brought in the trophy, and you just see what those kids are going through, and life’s everyday struggles seem pretty easy.” n
and coaches trust to have on the ice. I’m making sure to work on my defensive game, and also improving on my offensive game as well, because every aspect of my game needs improvement. I’m just trying to help my team as best as I can.” While he started the year as more of an offensive weapon, Matheson feels confident that he is gaining the trust of his coaching staff and teammates on both offense and defense. His main goal for the season is becoming as complete a player as he can be. “I’ve been playing a bit on the power play, so more on the offensive side, but I think that, as the weeks have gone through, I’ve gained more trust,” he said. “I’ve shown everyone that I can be more defensive, as well. I’d like to become more of a player that people can rely on as a two-way guy, not just an offensive guy. I think you see some defensemen that are really offensive, and some that are really defensive. I’m trying to be a two-way guy.” While Matheson has shown great maturity during his freshman season, he credits his development to the veteran players who have helped him on and off the ice.
“We’ve been paired that way, where there’s one older guy with one younger guy,” he said. “I’ve been with Patch for the most part, and they’ve all been really good at welcoming us. They’ve showed us different areas where they’ve learned through their two or three years here. It helps being told certain things that they had to learn through two years of playing.” What impresses Matheson the most, however, is the older players’ openness to their new teammates, especially as the Eagles are coming off a paramount season of success. “Even off the ice, it’s not often that you join a team that has won a championship the year before, but they and the rest of the team have become really close, because you become closest through winning a championship,” he said. “That’s really special when that happens. I t wasn’t any sort of thing like, ‘We’re really close, and you guys are just outsiders.’ Instead it was, ‘Let’s go. We’re doing this again, and we need you guys.’” As the years progress, Matheson and his fellow freshman defensemen, Colin Sullivan, Travis Jeke, and Teddy Doherty, understand that they will become the leaders of the team, and are doing everything for their part to pay close
attention to how their older teammates act. “We have four freshmen back there, so it’s going to be really interesting to go through our years here together,” Matheson said. “We started together and we’ll become the core of the team down the road. All of us are just looking at what the seniors do, because we know that pretty soon that’s going to be us. We’re making sure that we are all being really attentive to what they do, and make sure we do the same thing for the younger guys coming after us.” Such leadership leaves Matheson in company with some past BC defensemen, who have left their marks not only on the ice but also in the program’s vast history. Players like Cross and Brian Dumoulin are preparing to make their names known in the NHL, and Matheson’s path appears to be heading in the same direction. In the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Matheson was selected with the 23rd overall pick by the Florida Panthers. While it was an exciting experience and Matheson had always dreamed of playing in the NHL, his focus has not strayed away from the current task. “If you want to reach that level [of the NHL], you have to forget about it,” he said. “You have to concentrate on what’s now, which is BC hockey. You concentrate on winning and being a good teammate. You make sure you’re doing everything you can, not to get to the next level, but to win here. With the great guys that we have on this team, they help me to get to where I want to be. It’s not really concentrating on getting there, but focusing on now.” n
Remembering the stories, not the numbers Beyond The Box Score, from B1 loss was crushing, but mainly because we knew it was the last time we’d be in Alumni cheering on our team as undergrads. To be honest, I don’t know how many of the wins and losses I’m going to remember down the road when looking back on my time at Boston College. I know I’ll never forget covering the men’s hockey team all the way to Tampa as they won the National Championship last April. But when I think about that championship run, I’m flooded with all the stories that came with it along the way: Jerry York’s smile and gentleness through it all, especially as I saw him with his wife Bobbie, hands clasped, as they were the last to leave the Tampa Bay Times Forum after the win; Tommy Cross’ genuineness and his pure emotions after winning it all; Parker Milner’s patience during his journey from being benched to becoming the MVP of the Frozen Four. I could go on and on about the special anecdotes that I associate with that championship run. I really think that’s what I’ll remember the most. And that’s why I’ll never forget all the personal stories I learned in every sport and game I covered. Maybe all of this makes me a sucker for the emotions in sports. I think I’m okay with that. When Athletic Director Brad Bates
used the term “emotional rollercoaster” from week to week in a sports season, I couldn’t help but think I was riding front row in that rollercoaster. Maybe that’s why I’ve spent my time at BC writing about sports and not playing them or trying to work in the athletic department. What stuck out to me in Saturday’s game wasn’t strictly the loss, but the sheer emotions on display after it. As the team headed over to the student section for the Alma Mater, the final one of the year at Alumni Stadium, it was an emotional time for the team as well as the fans. I saw Nick Clancy, who had come down to the media suite in Conte Forum almost every Wednesday since the beginning of the season to talk to us. He poured his heart out to the media each Wednesday, and left everything on the field each Saturday. Originally, Clancy stood in the front row, I’m sure with a ton of emotions flowing through his head. But midway through Alma Mater, he couldn’t take it anymore. He stepped back into the second row, finding his way behind a taller player, and put his head in his hand. Despite his best effort to hold it in, Clancy’s emotions had finally gotten to him. Yesterday, I asked Frank Spaziani about the decision he made to not go for the win at the end of regulation, instead opting to take the game to overtime. He said he had to take the feelings out of
the game, and that’s how he made his decision. Maybe that’s why I’m not a head coach either—if you take the emotions out of the game, all that’s left is the box score. Don’t get me wrong—the wins and losses are important, but for some reason, I prefer to relish the emotions of the game instead. Right now, the wins and losses are at the forefront of our minds. But 20 years from now, when I look back on my time at BC and writing for The Heights, I’ll remember the incredible people and their stories that I learned along the way the most. It’s been a privilege to tell those stories. And I know there are so many more to be told, just waiting for someone to put the words on the paper. I hope I’ll be able to keep telling those stories—it just won’t be in this beautiful place we call Chestnut Hill. But that doesn’t mean I’ll ever forget the ones I’ve already told. Those stories are sacred, just as my time in McElroy 113 and BC as a whole has been. They are not something I’ll soon forget—I’ll always carry them with me. Parts of our lives must come to an end at some point. But the stories—the stories will last forever.
Greg Joyce is the Sports Editor for The Heights. He can be reached at sports@ bcheights.com.
The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
B5
No publicity is the best indicator of successful career for Flaherty By Andrew Klokiw Heights Staff
You have never heard of Boston College’s best football player. That statement is not in any way meant to be condescending, cheeky, or otherwise, because how many players in football can claim that they come to work every day and are 100 percent perfect? While every player strives for perfection of some form in his particular craft, Sean Flaherty has long snapping down to a science, and he’s the top scientist in the country. Punter Gerald Levano and kicker Nate Freese acknowledged as much when they praised their fellow special-teamer. “The thing that nobody actually knows about Sean is that he’s the best snapper in the country,” Levano said. “Nobody actually knows that.” “And that he’s the best player on our team,” Freese added. “For his position, he’s definitely the best player on our team.” While Flaherty’s true title is probably something closer to “the best player Superfans have never heard of,” it does not in any way diminish the fact that the fifth-year senior has compiled one of the most impressive resumes on the current Eagle squad. The long snapper came to BC as a preferred walk-on and sat out his true freshman season as the result of a redshirt that he received from then-head coach Jeff Jagodzinski. Since sitting out his first season on the heights, Flaherty has become a special teams mainstay and has delighted BC fans through his anonymity. The fans who fill Alumni Stadium for each home game can be forgiven for not knowing much about Flaherty, as he has never made a bad snap in four years. A spotless track record like that is not something usually seen at the collegiate level, where special teams are especially more unpolished and prone to mistakes than in the NFL. Flaherty has come to embrace and even encourage the anonymity that comes with his position. “Pretty much if nobody knows my name, then I’m doing a good job,” he said. “I want to be anonymous. No one notices a good snap, but if I had a bad one then everyone would notice it, so the pressure that goes into it is pretty big. No one’s going to notice if it hits [Levano] in the knee or the shoulder pad, but I want to hit him in the waist every time. The focus and concentration that goes into snapping, and that you need to have every game, is
Daniel Lee / HEIGHTS EDITOR
Flaherty and his teammates realize that anonymity is the best accolade for a long snapper. probably something that people don’t realize, but it takes a lot of energy.” In talking with Flaherty, Levano, and Freese, it is apparent that their internal chemistry has a lot to do with Flaherty’s personal success. With Levano being a fellow fifth-year and Freese having been at BC for the past three years, the trio have been together for the duration of that period. All three of them pointed to countless hours spent together, both on and off the field, which has honed a process that is as close to perfect as possible. Before each game, Flaherty, Levano, and Freese pick a spot on the field as the one they are aiming to hit with each snap. While the average Superfan merely pays attention to the kick or punt itself, it is really only half of the play. As a firsthand observer for the past three years, Freese confirmed Flaherty’s individual contribution to BC’s special teams success. “I think what makes Sean the best at what he does is that it’s the same thing every time,” the kicker said. “You know what you’re going to get every time, and [Levano] will always get
the same snap.” With a long snapper, one of the first questions is often how they became involved in such a niche role of the game. For Flaherty, his story began in his backyard. “When I was in seventh grade, my dad, my uncle, and I were out in the backyard throwing the football around,” Flaherty said. “I had never even thought of being a long snapper at that point, and so my uncle showed me how to do it and how to hold the ball. I don’t really know what happened, but the first time I snapped it, it came out as a perfect spiral. I went to my coach at school, and like that, I became the snapper for the team. Throughout high school, I kept snapping and we got new coaches my junior year. One of the new coaches told me that I had a good shot to go Division I for snapping.” What began as a backyard toss with his family would eventually lead to looks from Division One programs around the country. Jagodzinski proved to be the most persuasive for the Loveland, Ohio native and his family, and Flaherty arrived in Chestnut Hill as a
preferred walk-on. After sitting out his true freshman season, Flaherty was given his first opportunity in the season opener the following year. This chance, under new head coach Frank Spaziani, would lead directly to Flaherty’s most fond moment in maroon and gold. “I was pretty nervous for that game [against Northeastern], because I wanted to show the coaches what I could do,” Flaherty reminisced. “I was worried about the first snap. The butterflies are always there until the first time. The ball came out of my hand, and it was like taking a foul shot. It was perfect. The weight of the world was off my shoulders, and I was really excited as I was running downfield to cover the punt. The returner ended up catching a ball that he probably shouldn’t have because it was on the one-yard line. It was right in front of me, so I made the tackle.” Flaherty also cited an incident related to an oft-ignored regulation from the NCAA rule book, wherein the defensive lineman who lines up over the long snapper is not technically allowed to hit the long snapper after the ball is snapped. With a laugh and a bit of a wince, Flaherty admitted that the penalty is hardly enforced, allowing the lineman a free shot against a defenseless snapper. Unfortunately for Flaherty during his sophomore season, a matchup against the Clemson Tigers meant a face-off against the soon to be drafted DaQuan Bowers. As he lined up across from Flaherty, the 6-foot-3, 280-pound Bowers insinuated that either Flaherty was either going to botch the snap, or that Bowers was going to go right through him. As his record indicates, Flaherty did not miss the snap and Bowers followed through on the second part of his promise. The defensive lineman bowled over Flaherty and finished off the move with an immobilizing knee to an unfortunate spot, a moment that the long snapper remembers with a shudder. Painful as it was, the questionable play left no enduring effects for Flaherty, and he now finds himself facing what could be the final game of his playing career next Saturday. If it is up to him, however, the fifth-year senior’s career may take the trajectory of his NFL idol, Patrick Mannelly. Mannelly is, as Flaherty puts it, “the godfather of long snapping,” as he is entering his 15th consecutive season with the Chicago Bears. After snapping for Duke for four years, Mannelly earned his way onto the Bears roster, where he has been ever since. This longevity
goes to show the dire need for a steady hand at the position for each NFL team, as field goals and punts take on an added importance at the professional level. For his part, Spaziani and his staff have noticed the body of work put in by Flaherty and his importance to the team. Such a strong appraisal of his all-around work ethic would seem to bode well for Flaherty’s potential future in the sport. “Sean’s at one of those positions that you can easily take him for granted, but as a coach, I don’t think we’ve—or I certainly haven’t,” Spaziani said. “No one who’s ever coached our special teams has taken him for granted. He’s been rock-solid from the moment he got the job and earned it and got a scholarship till now. Plus, he’s a great leader, he really is. It’s unusual that someone would say that about a long snapper on your team, but he’s respected by all the players, and he could have been a captain.” As a fifth-year MBA student in the Carroll School of Management, Flaherty has a strong fallback plan if his NFL dreams do not pan out. He appears determined to earn his Master’s in management, regardless of where football may take him. “I’m going to train during the day and take classes at night,” Flaherty said of his immediate future. “If the NFL works out, then that’s great, but if it doesn’t, I’m prepared for that too. I told myself that I’m going to try and have the best season I can this year and see what happens after that. I would like to give it a shot, but also at the same time if it doesn’t work out I’m not putting all my eggs into that basket.” As of now, the only certainty in Flaherty’s life is that he will be under center when the Eagles finish up their 2012 campaign at North Carolina State on Saturday. When asked what the dream end to his career on the Heights would entail, Flaherty merely revealed a desire to do as he has done the past four seasons: hike the ball cleanly into the hands of Levano, with the laces facing upwards. Now Flaherty’s title moves from “best player you have never heard of” to the best player period for the Eagles, and it doesn’t seem too farfetched to say that the NFL is within his grasp. Yet, the senior is reluctant to look that far and merely had one request of Superfans that could change the way his position is looked at. “Always notice and root for the long snapper,” Flaherty said. The hope is that by next year, BC fans will be rooting for Sean Flaherty on Sundays, as a member of the NFL. n
BC shows strides, but loses three times in early-season tournament Men’s Basketball, from B1
graham beck / heights editor
Despite low expectations from preseason polls, BC is proving to be a formidable threat. Though the team is 1-3, its play has been much improved.
Eagles are growing fast despite early record Stephen Sikora After last year’s nine-win season, the Boston College men’s basketball team was picked to finish last in the 12-team ACC by both the media and the league’s coaches. No one expected the Eagles to have much of a chance to win in the conference, despite the team returning three starters, including leading scorer Ryan Anderson. But following their first stretch of the season, where despite a 1-3 record they’ve shown considerable promise, it’s clear the Eagles have the ability to strongly compete. Head coach Steve Donahue brought in two freshman guards—Olivier Hanlan and Joe Rahon— to start alongside the returning Anderson, Lonnie Jackson, and Dennis Clifford, with Patrick Heckmann as an elite sub. The way they’ve been able to direct the offense has been a revelation. On most possessions last year, the Eagles guards would idly pass the ball back and forth, with most plays ending in a contested three. Many times, the Eagles couldn’t even get a shot off, as there were countless shot clock violations or attempts from the field that had no chance of going in. This wasn’t much fault of the players, though. Donahue often said that the team wasn’t able to run the offense the way he would have liked last season. Reasons for that included having so many young players learning a new system, and the strength and stamina of those freshmen not yet being up to speed with the NCAA’s standards. Both of those have changed substantially this season. The sophomores have had an entire offseason to develop their bodies into
NCAA shape. Last year, even Anderson would get winded at times, which decreased his offensive efficiency and ability to lead on the court. More importantly though, Rahon and Hanlan are running Donahue’s offense—and running it well. There’s finally some direction to BC’s possessions this year. Both guards have shown a propensity to drive to the lane, something that was quite rare to see last season. A huge problem for the 2011-12 squad was its inevitable fade when the game was close late. A mini-run by the opposing team would either bring them close to BC or put a few points of separation between the teams, and the Eagles would tighten up, stop getting off good shots, and be susceptible to easy baskets on the defensive end. They’ve been in that situation this year and have shown much more poise. Against FIU, the Eagles jumped out to a double-digit lead, and a 49-33 halftime advantage led many to think the game was over. In a similar situation last season, the Eagles would have folded under the pressure of trying to close out a win after holding such a big lead. Not this year, though: they closed out the game on a 21-7 run. A realistic expectation for the Eagles this season should be around a .500 record in ACC play. They were able to beat a few teams in the league last year, most notably Florida State, when they got hot from the three-point line. The Eagles beat the then ranked No. 15 Seminoles with a dominating performance from beyond the arc, including hitting five of five possessions at one point in the game.
BC mainly has the same personnel to catch fire from the three-point-line at times this season. But unlike last year’s offense, they have so many more options than just the three to beat teams. Whether it’s driving and dishing by the guards, the interior presence of the big men, or just sheer willpower by a much-improved Anderson, this Eagles team will compete in some big games this season. Some in the media are already starting to take notice of BC’s potential. At the end of the game on Thursday, ESPN color commentator Jay Williams—a former AllAmerican at Duke—said, “BC is going to upset some big time program in the ACC this year.” He also stated a number of times that the Eagles will not finish last in the conference. Seth Davis, who most people probably know from CBS’s March Madness coverage, also writes for Sports Illustrated. Following BC’s first win against FIU, he gave the team and Anderson some praise in his “Hoop Thoughts” column. BC doesn’t have to make the tournament this season to have a successful year. As Davis notes, the young freshmen and sophomores BC has “are good enough to be effective, but not enough to turn pro early.” But if their first few games are any indication, they’re better than most people thought coming into the year. And if that leads to some upsets and a shot at the big stage, the Eagles will have arrived early, a year or two
Stephen Sikora is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at sports@bcheights.com.
“There are other aspects of his game that as they continue to improve will really help us,” Donahue said. “Being consistent on the defensive end, keeping people in front. A bigger body on the wing—we could really use some more minutes from someone like that, and I think Patrick in these three games is showing really good stretches of basketball, it really helps out.” Lonnie Jackson also had a solid performance, going 4-of-9 from beyond the arc after starting the season 4-of-20. The same could not be said for newcomers Olivier Hanlan and Andrew Van Nest, who after decent efforts to begin the year, combined to score just seven points on 1-of-12 shooting from the field. On Friday, the Eagles fell 87-71 in their second-round game against Dayton. The Eagles’ defense allowed the Flyers to shoot 62 percent from the field, including 57 percent from three. Freshman Dyshawn Pierre was a perfect 8-for8, en route to a game-high 23 points. “Our ball screen defense was really poor,” Donahue said. “We’re going to keep getting better shoring that up. We were just inconsistent. “The other thing was the dribble penetration, guys getting into the lane—in the lane was really poor. I think that’s our Achilles Heel on defense in that we allow penetration whether it’s on a ball screen or not, and we just can’t afford to do that.” BC jumped out to an early lead and was ahead 23-20 with seven minutes remaining in the first half. But Dayton proceeded to go on a 9-0 run, as the Eagles were held scoreless for nearly six minutes in the closing minutes of the half. “You’re going to see some ups and downs with the offense, the two new kids, and the other guys are just sophomores,” Donahue said. “I do feel, as we go along, we’ll get better and better at it. We’ve got to get more comfortable with each other, and I think you’ll see less of that. But I can’t say we’re out of the woods.” Falling behind by 11 at the break was too much for BC to overcome, and it spent most of the second half trailing by 10-15 points. Rahon had perhaps the best game of his young career. His 36 minutes and 16 points led the Eagles, as did his four assists. Rahon has been a focal point of
the BC offense so far this season, as he consistently makes plays when the ball’s in his hand, whether it’s driving along the baseline or setting up a teammate in the lane. In the opening game of the tournament, the Eagles took on No. 16 Baylor. It was an early test for BC, a judgment of how much improvement it had made in the offseason. Although they couldn’t come away with a win, ultimately falling to the Bears 84-74, the Eagles showed they have the ability to compete with high caliber squads. If they continue to play this way, they should be able to have success in the ACC this year. “We’re doing more, philosophically, with how we’re going to play,” Donahue said. “We’re pushing the ball, we’re trying to get it moving. I think we played a really good schedule—obviously the three games down here against three really good teams—for the most part, the guys are doing a good job. We’re not shooting the ball all that great, and probably have been most inconsistent with that, but in terms of the pace of the game, and the sets, and things we want to do, we’re further along [than last year].” The Eagles led 43-41 at the half behind 19 points by Anderson. The sophomore continued to look better in every aspect of his game. He was dominant driving in the lane, was able to finish at the rim, and showed his shooting touch by knocking down jumpers. He even hit a buzzer-beater from half court that gave the Eagles the lead going into the locker room after the first half. But Baylor was able to stop his success in the second period, as Anderson only scored six points on 1-of-4 shooting during the final 20 minutes. “It [gives us confidence] in a sense that it was a much closer game than [the 10 point deficit]—we were down two with four to go,” Donahue said. “We really hurt ourselves on the offensive end with some critical turnovers there. We played a talented team like that—I thought we played them to the wire for the most part. “It was a good learning experience, and I think all these games were. Unfortunately, a part of growing your program and having success is going through some tough times, and some failures. If you handle it the proper way and learn from it, that’s how success happens.” n
B6
The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
alex manta / heights graphic
The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
B7
BC’s core requirements stringent when compared to other schools By Caroline Kirkwood For The Heights
As class registration comes to a close, the question circulating around many a dorm room or Hillside lunch table has been, “Did you get into that class?” Even more specifically, though, many students seem to be concerned with whether they were successful in enrolling in the core classes that they need to complete in order to graduate. The 15-course core curriculum includes one class in the arts, one in cultural diversity, two in history, one in literature, one in mathematics, two in natural science, two in philosophy, two in social science, two in theology, and one in writing, along with proficiency in a foreign language. Many students at Boston College view this core as daunting when added to major/minor requirements—however, among BC students, it is almost universally agreed that this core is part of the tradition of Jesuit education that is so integral to the University’s identity. While BC may be unique in its categorization as a Jesuit liberal arts university, it shares the common goal of educating the whole person found in many Jesuit universities around the country. Georgetown University has a less extensive core, amounting to only 12 classes—omitting any sort
of fine arts component and only requiring one semester of science. Also contributing to the added flexibility of Georgetown’s course is the wide variety of classes that can count toward different requirements. The theology core at Georgetown requires one of two introductory courses, but then allows students to choose any intermediate level theology course to complete their second semester requirement. BC’s theology requirement, on the other hand, involves the choice between three separate two semester-long theology courses. BC students, in discussing their concerns with the core, addressed the fact that the core seems to have limited choices for what fulfills requirements. “There are limited choices in the classes that you can take for your core. I wish there would have been more options for the classes that would fulfill your core, so I could have taken classes that really interested me,” said Tori Greco, A&S ’13, upon reflecting on her four years at BC and her experience with the core. BC students in The Carroll School of Management (CSOM), The Lynch School of Education (LOSE), and The Connell School of Nursing (CSON) seem to have the most concern in regard to fulfilling their general university core along with their individual school cores. “As a person
in CSOM, with the two different cores that I have to take, one for the business and the University requirement, I do not have a lot of room in my schedule to take any classes for fun. Almost everything has to count for my major or the core,” said Erica Jennings, CSOM ’14. Because of the nature of a CSOM student’s schedule, 15 University cores on top of 14 business core classes and between four to six concentration classes, there is little wiggle room in a CSOM student’s schedule to pursue anything that may appeal to them, aside from their business major and the core. But many Jesuit institutions with business schools have similar schedules, as Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business requires 16 required liberal arts core courses, two liberal arts elective courses, 12 required business core courses, and 10 courses toward their specific business major. Nursing students in particular have little flexibility in their schedule, with 26 nursing requirements. Almost all of the additional classes in their schedule must count toward the core. “I like that the core requirements allow me to have a few classes outside of the nursing major. The only thing is, it is really difficult to schedule core classes in relation to my nursing classes. The nursing school has a mind of its own, and their schedule for us is non-negotiable. So finding core classes
that work around our required nursing classes, which have set time periods that we can’t change, is a problem. I also wish the core wasn’t as long,” said Karlee Rajaniemi, CSON ’15. The core does allow the pre-professional tracked students to at least get a taste of a variety of subjects and take classes outside their immediate major. Kelly McElduff, CSON ’15, said, “I took Women in the Body, a class I would never have taken otherwise, but as a sociology class it fulfilled my social science core. As a nursing major, with such a straightforward and regimented course plan, it is fun being able to choose that one class each semester that is not explicitly nursing related through the core. It allows you to branch out.” Although students may have their issues with the core at some point during their time at BC, whether it involves taking that summer course in calculus to get rid of that mathematics core or taking that late night geoscience and public policy class as an attempt to get as far away as possible from hard science in an attempt to fulfill your natural science requirement, BC students appreciate and understand the importance of the core as part of their Jesuit tradition. Brian Mahone, CSOM ’16, in explaining whether the idea of the core curriculum had any influence on his decision to come
to BC, stated, “In respect to whether the core attracted me to BC, I can honestly say the Jesuit beliefs and the fact that they focus on the whole person intrigued me to come to BC because I knew I would be learning things I would have never otherwise gotten the opportunity to.” The core offers students the ability to explore their interests as well as figure out what they enjoy and are good at, along with what classes they find unbearable and difficult. “I think the college core is less about finding what you like, but more about what you don’t like. After taking history and English courses my freshman year, I realized I really didn’t like being graded on a qualitative basis with my grade being based solely off of the teacher’s discretion. By showing what I didn’t like, the core taught me that I’d much rather be in a business course, where there is a much greater emphasis on quantitative data and the only person responsible for my grades are me,” said John Krueger, CSOM ’14. As a liberal arts and most specifically Jesuit university, the core is the foundation of a BC education. While students may wish they didn’t have to take two whole semesters of history or science, BC students recognize the necessity of a core in their quest for being educated as whole people, ready to set the world aflame. n
BCDE’s shared passion and drive unite the dancers BCDE, from B10 Board whose officer duties extend far beyond their titles during any given season. Everything that comes with putting on a show—from conceptualization, hiring teachers, photography, choreography, costume designing, stage decorating, music selection, and vetting contracts for stage crew—is in their hands. Over the three months that BC has been in full swing ushering in another semester, new members were selected, dance routines choreographed, music determined, and costumes planned all in preparation for the fall show. “Our costume directors [Michelle Prew, A&S ’14 and Sarah Pollard, CSON ’15] are magical people,” said Kelsey Barnes, director of publicity and A&S ’14. “Each choreographer talks to them about their vision and they go out on this tiny budget and find fabrics or something at Forever 21 that they can turn into costumes.” When they are not preparing for a show, the E-Board is fielding requests for collaboration with various campus dance groups, and invitations to the annual Arts Fest and ALC Showdown shows in the spring. During the holiday season, BCDE performs at holiday parties for the Campus
School, BC’s non-profit special education day school, which receives 100 percent of the proceeds from BCDE performances. “Campus School is a big motivator for us,” said Nicole Harris, A&S ’14, director of member relations. On average, the E-Board estimates that BCDE donates around $15,000 to Campus School a year. “They are so grateful for what we do for them, and they invite us to visit once a year to show us what our money has done for them, which is very cool to see,” Camilleri said. Professor Sheppherd Barnett, BCDE advisor and manager of the Brighton Dance Studio, commended BCDE’s tenacious energy, saying, “DE embodies BC’s core principles ‘Ever to Excel’ and ‘Men and Women for others.’ They work at least 14 hours a week on both their craft and art … and they have been [donating their proceeds to the Campus School] for as long as I can remember. So they are not only an artistically expressive group, but also a service organization.” Even more than the service aspect, however, is the inspiration within the close-knit team that keeps each dancer headstrong through the long practices. “We just love each other!” Barnes laughed.
“DE has defined my college experience. The ladies on this Ensemble have made me love dance even more.” Despite a palpable trace of exhaustion during the last rehearsal, there is a natural cohesion among the dancers that is evident in the way they interact with each other: teaching one another (“when in doubt, just follow the hand, since a lot of it is arabesques”), critiquing when necessary (“Remember not to travel so much in the V-form. Don’t overthink it. You’ve got this!”), and praising when deserved (“That’s so much better, I barely made any notes—I just wanted to watch the entire time!”). With the dancers resting cross-legged on the studio floor, breathless and massaging their pointeshoed feet after the last run-through of a show routine, choreographers and EBoard officers Julie Krieg, CSOM ’13, and Christina Beachnau, A&S ’13, expressed sincere gratitude for the team’s relentless energy through all the repetition. The family-like network the ladies have created extends far beyond the immediate group members. BCDE alumni are eager to come back to teach classes, and frequently attend performances to support the current Ensemble. Before BCDE
shows, alumni write letters to the current members that the Ensemble reads aloud in a circle, passing around a squeeze of the hand and screaming out nerves. As the curtains close, the girls have a habit of chanting: “WE ARE … DE!” BCDE’s fall show, which will take place on Nov. 29 and 30 and Dec. 1, centers on the idea of “Ignite,” a concept Camilleri suggested during discussions earlier in the summer. “‘Ignite’ is all about heat, fire, and sparks. It’s very timely with the University’s sesquicentennial celebration,” explained Camilleri. “The opener and finale of the show, which are choreographed by the officers, will focus the most around the theme.” The rest of the show, which is choreographed completely by members of BCDE, has greater flexibility in terms of style and music. The evident collaboration among the dancers makes it difficult to pick out any hierarchy among the group, which in essence is the definition of a successful team. But it is especially refreshing to see the interdependence in a group of such talent and skill, where the process to join was fueled by a competitive steadfastness. Technique aside, what is perhaps most
impressive about BCDE is that they represent an organization that exhibits what BC prides most in its students. In a world revolved around meritocracy and self-serving behavior, groups such as B C DE prove that there is a way to be successful in their own right, as one unified body, and benefit the world around them at the same time. n
Unsung HEroes: Dan BUnch
Learning to Learn director inspires success on campus By Eunice Lim For The Heights
Throughout the entire college application process, applicants often hear a common adage from adults: “Getting into college is easy. Staying in college, now that’s hard.” By attending Boston College, many realize how true these words are. The average freshman enters BC with high hopes and heavy concerns. Sure, students look forward to the quality of the classes, the faculty, the promising friendships, the social events, and the relative proximity to the culturally diverse city of Boston. Still, they cannot ignore the ever-present and looming burdens that range far and wide, from financial concerns, homesickness, and even academic issues. Especially for low-income students, these issues can be more severe because even the smallest price tag is still a price tag that requires funds that are not at their immediate disposal. At certain times, the thought of what it takes to attend and stay at a highprestige and high-cost institution like BC
can discourage and negatively pressure low-income students. This is where the Learning to Learn (LTL) Office comes in. Located on 50 College Road, the LTL office is often called “the best-kept secret at Boston College.” The LTL office offers a variety of student support services, such as the Laptop Loan Program, book vouchers, the Summer College Transition Program for incoming freshmen, educational workshops, programs for leadership development and fellowship, and social events. In short, the office reaches out to the student body, especially first-generation low-income students, to provide services such as academic and career counseling, financial support that goes beyond simply paying tuition, and a chance to get involved in groups where students develop leadership skills and create friendships. The LTL office also aids students preparing and applying to graduate school through a program called the McNair Program, which offers GRE preparation classes, visits to potential graduate schools, exam and application fee
waivers, faculty mentors, and a chance to partake in an eight-week summer research program. Anyone who is familiar with the LTL office would strongly agree that all of the great accomplishments of the LTL office would not be possible without the office’s director Dan Bunch. A passionate crusader for students’ well-being and development, Bunch has worked at BC since 1982. Not only that, he also attended BC for his undergraduate and graduate degree. He has experienced life here firsthand, and has shaped the culture of BC over the past three decades in unprecedented ways, approaching student needs with genuine interest and passion. This stems from his own experience of struggle from attending BC as an African-American, Alabama native during a time when minorities only comprised 4 percent of the student population. “Not as many people in higher education were sympathetic to my needs and my issues as a first-generation college student,” Bunch said. “At first, I didn’t even know how to select my classes—we didn’t have
advising centers then.” His own struggle with adjusting to college life and his belief in the Jesuit tradition to educate people for others brought him back to direct the LTL office. Since Bunch came to work at BC, he has been able to implement a variety of impactful programs. Bunch identified two programs as especially near and dear to his heart: D.I.O.P. (Dedicated Intellectuals of the People) and the Martin Luther King Scholarship Program. The D.I.O.P. is a character-building group where African-American men can come together to discuss issues that affect their social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual growth. Members of this group have testified that the leadership development and professional development training they receive as well as the friendships they build have been fulfilling. Bunch also helped form the Martin Luther King Scholarship Program with Donald Brown, former director of AHANA Student Programs. The Scholarship awards a junior who has demonstrated significant involvement in the African American com-
munity and academic achievement with up to $19,000 for their senior year and awards finalists with up to $3,000. When asked what he feels is his reward in dedicating so much to students, Bunch simply replied, “I love seeing students succeed. I share in their success.” His advice to all students is to make a real connection to other students and faculty members and to explore one’s dreams and aspirations. Bunch is not only an effective director, but also a compassionate person to whom faculty, staff, and students come to for good conversation and guidance. Corey Steritwieser, A&S ’14, who works in the LTL office, stated, “Dan has always extended himself as far as he possibly could to support my endeavors, whether it was as simple a gesture as asking about my post-graduate plans, or helping me pay for an extra linguistics course.” Without a doubt, Bunch gives students a chance to reach for dreams that they themselves might have thought to be previously unattainable. His work has and continues to expand the academic, social, and financial boundaries of students. n
On-campus quirks
The importance of opening doors, and why we can’t seem to do it Devon Sanford There is something very peculiar about Boston College students and doors. Yes, this might sound weird at first, but hear me out. As those on campus can attest to, BC students are known for holding doors. We go out of our way to extend a hand and politely wait for those walking behind us. It is arguably one of our finer qualities as a student body. Sometimes, though, this gesture can get a little out of hand. I have caught, on more than one occasion, a student walk through a door and turn around, looking to hold it for the next student passing through. This poor fellow then makes eye contact with another student a solid 10 feet down the hall. Ever a gentleman, he waits and holds the door as the student down the hall breaks into an awkward fast-walk-
trot. When the student then makes it to the door, a little out of breath, they exchange an even more awkward “thank you” and go about their merry ways. If you haven’t yet caught this event, keep an eye out. I guarantee you’ll see this somewhat uncomfortable gesture occur before the end of the semester. Don’t get me wrong. While holding a door on the BC campus can at times be humorous, it is by no means something to be ashamed of. As men and women for others, we should pride ourselves in our kind gestures! Something that we should not pride ourselves in, however, is our inability to open doors. Yes, we can hold doors for hours upon hours, but can we open them? Apparently the general student population refuses to do so. My friend recently pointed out this peculiar habit to me while we were walking into McElroy for lunch. She has since
termed it the “open door theory.” If a door is open on campus, students will squirm and shove their way through the door instead of simply opening the one next to it. Sure, this observation might seem a little obnoxious to some, but trust me, once you notice it, it will drive you crazy too. Take, for example, the entrance to McElroy by Carney. There are six doors lining the entrance to the building. When lunch time hits, students rush past the construction of Stokes and into Mac for a bite to eat. Ravenous and impatient, these students cram into the doors at the far left of the entrance. Those leaving Mac and heading to class pack into the same open entrance. The result is a mob of BC students weaving in and out of one another and occasionally tripping over shoes. When the rush is extremely busy, a line will extend past the entrance of Mac and across the
street. Little do most students seem to realize, that there are five other doors, unlocked and waiting to be used. This peculiar occurrence can be seen all over campus. At the entrance to the O’Neill Library staircase, students will walk through an open door, no matter if there is already a line of students trying to walk through from the opposite side. While most of society adheres to the rule that you walk through doors on the right, if a BC student sees an open door—on the left, right, or all the way down the hall—there is no stopping him or her from squirming through that entrance. Why is this habit such a prevalent occurrence on this campus? Why do we not break off from the flock and open another door? Maybe it is because we are not paying enough attention until we realize we are pushing our way through a crowded doorway. Or maybe
we are just too lazy to care. But the problem, a trivial one at best, is maddening to watch. And trust me, if you haven’t noticed it before, you certainly will now.
Devon Sanford is an editor for The Heights. She can be reached at features@ bcheights.com.
The Heights
B8
Editor’s column
Monday, November 19, 2012
Professor Profile by shannon inglesby
An unexpected 1 injury proves to 2 be enlightening 3
Languages he speaks: He learned Arabic during graduate study at MIT and during fieldwork in Jordan, Lebanon, and the West Bank.
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Background: New to Boston College this year, Krause’s background in political science began with his undergraduate degree in political science at Williams University. He was a Research Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, as well as a Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. He received his Ph.D. at MIT.
Specializes in: International relations in the Middle East, non-state violence, and social movements.
Teaches courses on: “International Relations of the Middle East” as well as “Terrorism, Insurgency, and Political Violence.” In the spring he will be teaching the “Introduction to International Studies” course for sophomore international studies majors.
Alexandra Schaeffer This summer when I was envisioning coming back to Boston College for the fall semester of my junior year, the only semester I’ll be on campus for this year, I have to say, it didn’t look exactly like what it has become. I didn’t really foresee myself for the first month feeling more swamped with work and busier than I had ever been during my BC career. I also didn’t see myself discovering that I had been living on a broken hip for that entire month, which explained why I had been having a serious pain in my right upper leg area, and would render me on crutches and fairly immobile for the remainder of the semester. I’ve already touched upon what a complete nightmare this campus is on crutches, and the extended length of time I’ve been on them has made me a frustrated and angry person at times. It’s not exactly how I would have chosen to spend my only semester here at BC, a place I love so much mainly for the opportunities available to me that are difficult to take advantage of with such limited mobility. I’ve had to do a lot of adjusting of my life this semester. Yet, the other day, in one of my classes, we started watching a video featuring a speech given by a professor at another college called “The Last Lecture,” a concept that other schools have sinced modeled their own lecture series after. This was aptly titled, as the professor, Randy Pausch, had terminal pancreatic cancer and knew his time left on earth was limited. He gave his speech on achieving your childhood dreams. First, I was struck by the humor and lightheartedness that this man, who had a wife and children and a terminal illness, managed to exude throughout the speech. He didn’t make it morbid or somber at all, instead making jokes and referring to his disease with a humorous attitude. This put things into perspective for me. Here is this man with a health problem infinitely more severe and emotionally impairing than my own, and even he can make a joke out of it. People like this are inspiring for so many reasons, but just watching this made me tear up in the middle of my 1:30 p.m. Tuesday class. One thing that this man said really struck me, as I felt I could apply it to my own life. When describing how he did not achieve his childhood dream of playing in the NFL, he mentioned that he did learn more than he would have if he had actually achieved that dream. His time spent in recreational and high school football taught him life lessons that he has been able to hold onto ever since. He said that he once heard the phrase, “When you don’t get what you’re looking for, what you get instead is experience.” This is how I would describe this semester for me. I came in thrilled to be a junior with visions of what I would do this semester that have been largely unattainable given my physical health. Yet, I’ve also learned a lot of lessons that I never would have expected to come out of this semester for me. These include the following: it’s okay to go for a month without going to the Plex, it’s even a little refreshing. It’s okay to ask people for help —they are surprisingly willing to provide it. Holding the door for someone, with or without crutches, actually means more to them than you think. Your body has physical limits, and you need to listen to it. Even the smallest, simplest act of kindness can make someone’s day. Anyone with a temporary or more permanent disability deserves more praise for his or her daily struggles than is imaginable. It’s possible to go a whole weekend without going out. Crutches can tend to have a mind of their own and end up anywhere those nights you do choose to go out. Appreciate the small things in life, like simply being able to get yourself your own glass of water. Finally, being in a tough situation proves who your true friends are by their reactions. All in all, as my time here this semester begins to wind down, as well as my position as the Assistant Features Editor, I actually think this has been a great semester for me. My work with my editor, Therese Tully, on this section couldn’t have gone any better. This, unlike the crutches situation, has not only provided me with what I was looking for, but also experience along the way. I couldn’t really have asked for more out of my time on the editorial board, and as I look forward to a, fingers crossed, crutch-less semester abroad, I will undoubtedly be missing the people and the experience of being on The Heights. Alexandra Schaeffer is the Assistant Features Editor for The Heights. She welcomes comments at features@ bcheights.com.
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International Experience: He has lived in multiple places throughout the Middle East for the past five summers, including Jordan, Jerusalem, Beirut, Damascus, and Cairo.
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Hobbies: He loves to play sports and greatly enjoys basketball, volleyball, soccer, and football. He also loves photography and travel, and enjoys taking photos during his fieldwork.
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Thoughts about BC so far: “I love it,” he said. “It is my dream place to be.”
Ongoing research: Krause is currently working on an article regarding the political effectiveness of non-state violence. He is also writing a book on the effectiveness of foreign nationalist movements and researching the impact of hierarchy in groups involved in social movements and how it influences their choice of violence.
Family: He grew up in Connecticut and has lived in the New England area all his life. He is recently married, and his wife is from Chestnut Hill.
Krause says that he has always wanted to be at a university that supports scholarly research and that values teaching and motivating students. Krause deeply values interacting with students at BC, whether it is in a small group analytical setting or a larger discussion based setting. He finds discussion to be the most valuable asset to learning and he has found that BC students have made discussions easy and enjoyable for him. He finds BC students to be hardworking and passionate about the material he teaches, and looks forward to his experience here.
Professor Peter Krause Associate professor of political science, faculty associate in the International Studies Program and the Islamic Civilization and Societies Program, and research affiliate with the MIT Security Studies Program
Graham Beck / Heights Editor
he said, she said If I really like a boy, but he only ever contacts me on the weekends, is this a sign we can never be anything serious? Am I wrong in expecting us to be able to hang out during the week?
I
I
think this is a sign that if you want it to be something serious, you’re going to have to put in effort to make that known and make that happen, or the situation will continue to be what it is now. Let’s be honest, here—if the boy wanted something serious at the moment, he would probably be contacting you more frequently and during the week to hang out so that he conveyed that mesAlex Manta sage. From the sound of this, that’s not the case right now, but that doesn’t mean that can’t change down the road. Maybe he’s too nervous or embarrassed to ask to get lunch or hang out during the week because he doesn’t think you’d be interested in doing that, or he’s just really busy and hasn’t found the time to set something up yet. You should go ahead and ask him and go from there. One of two things will happen: either he’ll be enthusiastic about the idea and you’ll get to hang out during the week like you want to, or it will become apparent that he’s just looking for someone to hook up with and not anything more serious than that. If that’s the case, then it’s up to you to either stay with him if you’re comfortable with that and don’t have a problem with it, or stop hanging out with him if you don’t want to be involved in a situation like that and are looking for something more serious. I can’t say for sure what he’s thinking, and you really can’t know for sure either. The only way to find out is by having that awkward conversation and proceeding accordingly. Just know going into it that it’s entirely possible he’s only looking for a casual hook-up right now, and then it’s up to you make whatever decision is best for you based off of that.
don’t think that it’s necessarily a bad sign yet, but if you want it to be more, you have to break this trend at some point soon. Otherwise you risk getting stuck in a rut. If you’re hooking up during these weekend meet-ups, and the both of you enjoy each other’s company, there’s no reason why your interactions should be constrained to just the Taylor Cavallo weekends: the fact of the matter is that doing this will only make the both of you feel used in some way, and it might not be how either of you feel. I’ve realized that in romantic situations it’s always best to be honest both with your significant other and yourself if you really want to be happy in the situation. If you want to hang out with him, make the first move. We are living in the 21st century now and there’s no reason why the responsibility should be put on his shoulders—you’re just as capable of initiative, and one of the most attractive things in a person is confidence, so capitalize on that. Or, another route could just be to talk about it. Either way, expressing your true feelings and desires about the situation will no doubt be liberating. Too often we find ourselves unhappy in our relationships, and this confusion you’re currently experiencing can’t be very pleasant for you. Even if it doesn’t end up going in the direction you had hoped it would, talking about it and figuring that out earlier rather than later will save you from an even greater potential heartbreak down the road. Go off and be bold.
Alex Manta is an editor for The Heights. He can be reached at features@bcheights.com.
Taylor Cavallo is an editor for The Heights. She can be reached at features@bcheights.com.
The Heights
Monday, November 19, 2012
How-to
Procrastinate with a little purpose
B9
Editor’s column
Eagle Dates
MEET THE DATERS:
Michelle Tomassi It must be the fact that Thanksgiving break is so close—I can taste the food coma that awaits me. As much as I love waiting in line for questionable mac and cheese, the thought of being with my friends and family, sitting in the comfort of my own home with non-dining hall meals is much more appealing. With these images constantly on my mind, how can I possibly consider doing homework? It doesn’t help that my room is currently decorated with Christmas lights, already putting me in the holiday spirit that is not at all conducive to my productivity. It’s inevitable that I’ll experience this same aversion to reading textbooks and writing papers in another week or so, when I have to start preparing for finals despite my desire to lay in bed and listen to Christmas music. Bottom line: procrastination will be an ever-present force in my life for the next few weeks leading up to winter break. Rather than fighting it, here are some tips to help embrace it. 1) Make lists. No, I’m not just talking about to-do lists, although those are always a good idea for the busy college student. Make a list of books you want to read—remember, reading for fun does exist. Lists of movies you want to see, places you want to go to, and things you want to do before the semester ends. You’ll need some money to do all of those things, right? So getting a job is a must—you know what gets you a job? An education. Time to get back to that Plato reading. 2) Give yourself a limit when it comes to social media. You won’t be able to start that paper if you’re constantly thinking about Facebook, so instead of staring uselessly at the cursor of your blank Word document, indulge a little. Ten, 15 minutes max on Facebook or Twitter. You can pin five (okay, maybe 10—I can’t resist the urge to pin everything pumpkin or peppermint-flavored) recipes on Pinterest. Got that out of your system? Now get back to work. 3) Impromptu dance parties are always an acceptable form of releasing pent-up energy and loosening up after sitting for extended periods of time in those hard, uncomfortable study-lounge chairs. If you’re working in the library, you unfortunately won’t have this luxury, so I would suggest taking a break to go for a walk—the December air may actually be quite invigorating. Plus, you’ll be dying to get back inside after being in the cold, ready to continue working. 4) Mark your calendar. If you haven’t done so already, break out your syllabi and write every exam, paper, quiz, and assignment on your calendar so you can really see what’s ahead and when exactly will be the right moment to start panicking. Or, as I have recently done to avoid doing my more pressing assignments, you can start planning out the rest of your Boston College career—courses you want to take, internships that you have to apply for, or just a general BC bucket list. Life planning is fun, isn’t it? 5) Clean up your space. It’s hard to start an assignment if you can’t even see the surface of your desk (I’ll admit, my desk is normally just used as storage space). Your roommate(s) will be either grateful that you decided to stop being a slob, or feel guilty about your cleanliness and take similar action. And then everyone will be happy. If none of these tips work, then maybe your conscience is trying to tell you something: stop slacking.
Therese Tully
NAME: Dana Sarni YEAR: 2016 MAJOR: Communication FAVORITE HILLSIDE SANDWICH: Tuna Melt FAVORITE MOVIE: ‘Titanic’
2) Never, ever throw a few items from the salad bar onto your plate of food. They will notice and they will charge you for an entire side salad, even if you’ve only added three cherry tomatoes to your grilled chicken sandwich plate. 3) If you do choose to buy yourself a salad, serve your chicken beneath your lettuce. They’ll charge you extra for the added poultry. 4) Avoid Late Night at all costs. Your low inhibitions at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night will inevitably leave you buying six different plates of food you probably don’t actually want. 5) If the opportunity arises, grab your morning cup of Joe off campus. Dunkin’ Donuts charges little over a dollar for a small coffee. There you have it. If you’re a healthconscious BC student who’s found yourself low on your meal plan, don’t panic. Running out of money is not inevitable. Unless you’re willing to alter your eating habits for the worse, your best bet is to follow the aforementioned suggestions. If you’ve already run out altogether, I recommend consuming enough food over Thanksgiving break to last you until the end of the semester.
It was just about this time three years ago when it all began. I came home from school one day, and my mom told me Christmas had come early, and that I should go look under our Christmas tree. Under the tree, there it was. A big envelope from Boston College. The rest is history. I had spent months poring over the BC catalogs that came in the mail, dreaming of one day being a student in one of these picturesque scenes. Everything I had been dreaming of was suddenly being actualized. I imagined studying outside on a bench, hanging out in the library, walking around campus, cheering at a hockey game—inserting myself into each setting the catalog had to offer. But what I could never have imagined is how, almost two and a half years into this experience, it still feels so surreal. Sometimes when I am walking around campus, I am amazed that I am really here. Every fall, I am amazed at just how beautiful campus is, how great my teachers have been so far, the piles of snow, the friends I’ve made, and especially my time on The Heights. The other day, I headed into the small, dimly light, filthy dirty, Heights office and took my seat at my desk. Upon first look, this place isn’t anything to write home about it. I share my own small desk with the Metro section, and it is covered in layers of rejected pages, stacks of dredged coffee cups, and other bits of trash. Due to the mess, it can be hard to find a pen. So I pried open the drawer of the desk, which clearly hadn’t been opened in months, to find one. There it was. I found the first issue that I was the head Features editor for. I flipped quickly to the Features section, and remembered it all too clearly. That first night was overwhelming. I was laughably unprepared for the whole process that would ensue that evening, as I pathetically tried to navigate InDesign and make decisions about layout and cover graphics with little experience. It all came rushing back to me—the later struggles with standing up for myself and my section, dealing with mistakes that were made, things that were said, and tensions that ran high at times. But these are all part of the deal I came to learn. For every minute that my time on The Heights was difficult, frustrating, or timeconsuming, there were a million more I’d never trade for the world. When I was having a bad day or an issue, there was no place I’d rather be than with my friends in that dingy little office, working through it, talking over the hum of conversation, the ridiculous clashing of country music and rap, the screams of frustration at the printer, and a near constant echoing of laughter from someone. As I flipped further into my section, I saw my first editor’s column. Sitting there, taunting me. The person who wrote that was new, optimistic, and brimming with ideas. She had no idea what this experience would be like, and no thoughts to the very real fact that it would someday be over. And though I’d desperately like to trade places with her, I know I can’t go back there. The past year has changed so much about me, things that I could never have dreamed of. I feel stronger and more confident than the person who sat at the desk a year ago. As I look back, I am so thankful for Features. It allowed me to explore and discuss some of the issues on this campus that are most important to students. I’m still so in awe of the fact that I am here, actually here, to the point that writing about these experiences feels so necessary and natural. I want to preserve every moment, every issue, and every triumph of the student body during my four precious years here, and writing for this newspaper has allowed me to do that. I hope that we have managed to encapsulate a little taste of what BC is like at this moment in time, because I know how memorable it’s been, for me at least. I’m grateful for each day here, and each day that I was given the opportunity to write about the people and places I love the most. Hopefully, looking back on these issues when I am abroad and after I graduate will allow me to relive some of these magical days, because they have been the best in my life. Everyone always tells me how fast these years will go, and they certainly aren’t exaggerating. Sometimes, just looking back at all we have accomplished, all we’ve overcome, all the nights spent in a newspaper office with 38 of the greatest people you will ever meet, is enough to remind you just how lucky you are to be here, and how much you’ll miss an organization that has come to be your family.
Caroline Hopkins is a contributor to The Heights. She welcomes comments at features@bcheights.com.
Therese Tully is the Features Editor for The Heights. She welcomes comments at features@bcheights.com.
NAME: Greg Hawkinson YEAR: 2016 MAJOR: Economics FAVORITE HILLSIDE SANDWICH: No preference FAVORITE MOVIE: ‘The Departed’
Tapas at Tasca before Thanksgiving break for a freshmen date Heights: How did you feel before your date began? Were you nervous at all? Dana: Yeah, I was a little nervous. I took a shower and put on some makeup. heights: How did your date begin? dana: We met up at Mac and walked to the B-line. He just decided where to go, and I’m not picky so it sounded good to me. Heights: Where did you go to eat? How was the food? dana: It was really good—we had Spanish food at Tasca on Comm. Ave., and I would definitely go back there again. Heights: How was the conversation? What did you guys talk about?
Heights: Were you nervous at all? Greg: No I wasn’t really nervous—just got dressed and texted her to meet me at Mac. Heights: How did the date start? Greg: We just kind of shook hands and I showed her on the map where we’d be going, and we walked to the B-line to get to the restaurant and went to Tasca. We got a lot of everything since it was a tapas bar, such as a Spanish omelet, shrimp, calamari, empanadas, and a potato dish. Heights: How did the conversation go? Were there any awkward moments? greg: No, it went really well. She was cool, and we talked about everything: how we were doing in school, activities outside of school. She was talking about how much she missed her younger siblings, and we could really relate on that because I have some friends I really miss back home.
dana: We just talked about our freshman year experiences so far. We didn’t have anything in particular in common, except that we both just had the shared experience of being freshmen. We talked a lot about where we lived and our families. He said that he’d always wanted to come here, whereas I was the opposite and had no idea where I wanted to go to school.
greg: She said she did a lot of yoga. I don’t know if everybody does yoga or not, but that was surprising.
Heights: Were there any awkward moments?
Heights: How did you end the date?
dana: No, the whole thing was good, it wasn’t awkward or anything.
greg: We took the T back and then she was going to CoRo to meet up with somebody, and I walked that way with her since I live on Upper, and we hugged goodbye and both said we had a good time. I told her I’d add her on Facebook and keep in touch.
HEIGHTS: Were there any interesting discoveries? dana: I was really surprised that it wasn’t awkward at all and that I didn’t feel uncomfortable. HEIGHTS: How did the date end? dana: We just went back to Main Campus together. We gave each other a hug goodbye. HEIGHTS: What does the future hold for you two? Are there any plans for a second date? dana: He was definitely a really nice guy, and I don’t know, we’ll see what happens.
Want to go on your own Eagle Date? Contact Features@bcheights.com
Michelle Tomassi is an editor for The Heights. She welcomes comments at features@bcheights.com.
Heights: What was the most surprising thing you learned?
HEIGHTS: What does the future hold for you two? greg: We could definitely be friends in the future—I told her I’d like to hang out again.
RATE YOUR DATES NAME: Dana Sarni
RATE THE DATE ON A SCALE OF 1-5 (5 BEING BEST)
4.5
NAME: Greg Hawkinson
RATE THE DATE ON A SCALE OF 1-5 (5 BEING BEST)
5
Campus Chronicles
The expensive habit of eating healthy in dining halls Caroline Hopkins It’s an everyday, average evening meal at Mac. Same old, same old. Nothing exciting. My foodstuffs purchases proceed in the following manner: Grilled salmon with two sides: $17; small Diet Coke: $1.79; scoop of hummus and five pieces of broccoli from salad bar: $4.79; frozen yogurt with toppings: $4.99; apple and Odwalla for a midnight snack at Bapst: $5.29. Total price of evening meal: $33.86. Up until several weeks ago, I never blinked an eye at the individual prices of the items in the dining hall. I had been allotted well over $2,000 to eat at my leisure, and I had little worry that I would end up eating my way through my meal plan. I suppose if I were a varsity athlete or sevenfoot tall male, I may have worried slightly at the onset of the school year. Yet, I am a freshman girl with the average freshman girl-sized appetite. No reason for me to worry about the money I spend on food, right? Wrong. With the arrival of November came the never-before-seen triple digit number on the dining hall cashier screen. On November 1st, I found myself officially under $1,000 and slightly concerned by the fact that I had eaten away so much money. Hoping it was a “normal” place to be on
A look back at the end of an incredible journey
the meal plan, I didn’t glance back up at the checkout screen again until two weeks later when I was paying for my weekly stock-up of apples and bananas. Upon spontaneously deciding to view my current balance, I gasped in horror at the $662.00 that flashed before my eyes. Could it be? Was I really this low on my meal plan? Running to my friends for reassurance, I asked frantically around the table for everyone’s respective meal plan balances. For the most part, I received answers in the low thousands. Several girls had about $800, but no one ran as low as I did. With my heart’s pace beginning to heighten, I moved onto a table of large, hungry looking boys and began to question their current balances. Much to my dismay, however, the boys informed me that were all at about seven or eight hundred dollars. How could this be? Had I really consumed more food than the average college male? Glancing down at their large plates of double layer burgers, steak tips, and cheese steaks, I tried to tell myself it must be a mistake. Maybe some thief had found a way to charge their meals to my plan instead of their own? Maybe the dining hall staff had a secret vendetta against me and was charging me double for my meals? From this point forward, I decided to pay careful attention to exactly where my money was going. My investigation has come to prove a rather unfortunate reality—eating healthily
costs nearly twice as much as eating unhealthily. Salmon rather than pizza, salad bar rather than fries, and Odwalla rather than fountain soda leaves me spending nearly double the dining dollars. Simply put, healthy food costs more. Although Boston College strongly emphasizes the importance of choosing healthy options in the dining halls, constantly displaying fliers and reminders promoting certain healthy options, it is important to acknowledge the financial drawback of eating health foods at BC. The popular Greek yogurt and fruit station is $4.79 per cup. Oh, and don’t even get me started on Sushi Night. Rainbow Roll, California Roll, and side of seaweed salad? You’ll easily make a dent in your meal plan in a single night. This is not to say that you should avoid eating healthily for the sole purpose of preserving your meal plan. Rather, heed my advice and spend the last month of the semester following these shameless saving tricks, so as not to end up the “campus mooch,” begging your friends to buy you food come the end of the semester. 1) Ditch the bottled beverages. You’re spending $2.59 for a 32 oz. bottle of Powerade that sells for $1.19 in the real world. Instead, bring your own water bottle and refill it at the filtered water fountains in the dining halls. Believe me, the slight inconvenience of walking an extra 20 feet to the water station is worth the extra $40 a week.
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Monday, November 19, 2012
So you think you can dance? By Dara Fang
Heights Senior Staff The first thing one notices upon stepping into the Brighton Dance Studio one crisp November afternoon is the piercing focus of energy from the dancers in the room. The girls of Boston College Dance Ensemble (BCDE), who were about a halfhour into a four-hour long rehearsal for their upcoming semi-annual performance, were impeccably precise—nailing perfectly synchronized pirouettes and stick straight arabesques on pointe against a Britney Spears medley, all with the peaceful elegance typically embodied by seasoned ballerinas. Perhaps it’s not a surprising observation. After all, BCDE is composed of an
assortment of skilled dancers in ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, lyrical, and hip-hop. Dancing, in one rigorous form or another, has played an important role in the life of each dancer starting from a rather young age. But unlike the other (much larger) dance groups on campus, BCDE remains especially competitive in choosing its members. “We’re more of a commitment, time-wise,” said Hannah Camilleri, BCDE president and A&S ’13. “We do two shows a year amidst various other events such as Arts Fest, ALC Showdown, and the occasional Sexual Chocolate show. We also have mandatory classes for our dance team taught by professionals.” The 29 members of varying class years have all undergone a rather grueling audition process to achieve the position they are
in today. “It was fun, but it was a really long day of dancing,” said Morgan McCaskey, CSOM ’16. McCaskey admitted auditions were intimidating: “All the officers are lined up on the bench…” at which point Camilleri continued, “We just watch them, for about five hours. We have them in big or small groups the entire time, so they aren’t singled out.” The officers also bring in two teachers, both BCDE alumni, to teach two classes and a jazz combination. The jazz combination is then performed in front of the officers “to highlight incoming talent,” said Colleen Mara, treasurer of BCDE and CSON ’13. Mara and Camilleri are two of the eight members that compose DE’s Executive
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Joseph Castlen/Heights Illustration
Externships, the latest in career preparation for students By Ryan Towey For The Heights
It’s a competitive world out there, but no one preparing to enter the job market needs to be told that. With an increasing amount of viable careers asking that students come out of college with working experience, students need to take advantage of every opportunity they can get. An externship, a one to two day alternative to a full-length internship, is a growing way to gain an edge in the job market and is a practice gaining increased popularity through the Boston College Career Center. “An externship can be best defined as job shadowing,” said Louis Gaglini, BC’s associate director for Employer Relations. Externships occur when a student is hosted by an employee at a company and spends the day with that host, asking questions about the specific business and the general career field. “I’ve been known to say that internships are the new entry level,” Gaglini said, adding that externships create more options for this type of opportunity. While the externship program at BC has been around for a while, Ga-
glini said that the Career Center only recently began increasing the program’s publicity. “We’re currently in our third year of doing it at this level,” he said. The program is targeted especially at sophomores and juniors, and outreach for the program begins after BC’s career fair. The career fair serves not only as a time to reach out to students to join the program, but also for employers that may be willing to serve as hosts to students in the program. “The first place we look is to our alumni,” Gaglini said of looking for hosts. “They’re excited about helping BC students.” The program also appears to benefit employers as well. “It’s a great opportunity for them to reach beyond the students they typically interview in the recruiting process,” Gaglini said. He offered an example, saying that companies usually focused on interviewing finance students may find themselves alongside a history student with great potential. “We do hear stories of students saying that their externship resulted in an interview that resulted in an internship,” Gaglini said. Gaglini hopes that the matching
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process of students and hosts will be completed by the end of November. “It’s a very deliberate, manual process trying to match a student with their desired externship.” With the popularity of externships on the rise, however, Gaglini said that the program has more students inter-
“We do hear stories of students saying that their externship resulted in an interview that resulted in an internship.” -Louis Gaglini Associate Director for Employer Relations
ested in participating in an externship than can actually be accommodated with the given number of hosts. “This
is something we will have to deal with as an office,” said Gaglini of the desire to have as many students involved as possible. Another measure taken to assure that as many students as possible have an opportunity to participate is that externships organized by BC are limited to one day. As all externships will take place during the week of Jan. 7, 2013, there are only five days across which to spread student participants. If employers are willing to host for more than one day, then another student is given a chance to participate on the second day. To apply for an externship through the BC Career Center, students need to apply online and submit a resume. Tej Mehta, A&S ’15, independently completed a one-day externship at Investment Technology Group (ITG) in its Manhattan office this past summer, as recommended by a friend. “We spent the day learning about the company and what they do, shadowing different members of the company, networking, and having our resumes critiqued,” Mehta said. Mehta, who also had experience doing a full internship at a law firm, noted
Eagle Dates Two Boston College students go out on a blind date and see if they can discover any romantic spark..................................................................................... . B9
the differences between an internship and an externship. He said that an internship “immerses you into the company itself and has you engage in their day to day operations as if you are an employee” whereas an externship gives one “the role of an outside observer.” Still, Mehta said that he encourages anyone “who is unsure about a company and career to try out a few externships,” especially in the busy summer months when one may not have time for a full internship. “Overall, this was certainly a useful program because it allowed me to understand, over the course of just one day, whether ITG was a good fit for me and I for them,” he said, adding that he “found this an incredible first step into the corporate world.” Gaglini, however, reassured that externships are a type of “exploration,” and that it is okay if students do not fall in love with a career field right away. In this fast-paced, competitive economy, externships might be the future of collegiate job experience, as they are time efficient and allow one to explore an array of options. Fear not, uncertain students —externships are the window shopping of the job market. n
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