The Heights 10/07/2013

HISTORICAL MYSTERY

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Students research to find missing Chinese pagodas, B10

The Eric Hofbauer Quintet put a new spin on Stravinsky in Wednesday performance, A10

Running back Andre Williams rushed for 263 yards and five touchdowns in a win over Army, B1

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HEIGHTS

THE

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

established

1919

Monday, October 7, 2013

Vol. XCIV, No. 34

DANCE DRAWS STUDENTS DOWNTOWN

JENNIFER BISHOP / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Students celebrated the end to Homecoming Weekend at Saturday’s dance. All 1,800 tickets were sold for the dance, which was held at the Sheraton Boston hotel downtown and arranged by UGBC.

BY DEVON SANFORD Assoc. News Editor

Boston College students celebrated the revamped Homecoming Weekend at the Homecoming dance on Saturday night. The dance took place at the Sheraton Boston, following BC’s win against Army on Saturday afternoon.

Tickets sold out by Friday afternoon and the dance floor of the Sheraton Hotel was crowded with BC students come Saturday night. Melanie MacLellan, programming manager of on-campus events for UGBC and A&S ’14, was pleased

with the Homecoming event.

“Homecoming was absolutely a success,” MacLellan said on Sunday. “It was a sold-out event, people really seemed to enjoy it, the dance floor was constantly full, and I have gotten nothing but positive feedback since the event started last night. My team did such a great job staffing this event, especially Karryn Christiansen [CSON ’16] and Matt Mannella [A&S ’15], the coordinators of special events, who planned everything.”

Homecoming was held in one of the Sheraton Boston’s large reception halls. DJs John Pierson, BC ’12, and Basic

Physics entertained the crowd for more than three hours.

Students danced under strobe lights and mingled by the late-night snacks and refreshments. A long line trailed through the side of the reception hall as students waited to squeeze into the Nights on the Heights (NOTH)-sponsored photo booth with friends.

In total, 1,800 tickets were distributed for this year’s Homecoming. One thousand and seven hundred tickets were sold via Robsham Theater’s website and 100 were provided

See Homecoming Dance, A3

WRC collects phones for abuse victims

Community organizers discuss justice

Center gathers used cell phones for victims of domestic abuse

BY ARIELLE CEDENO For The Heights

Large for Global Women’s Issues, to speak in the spring.

Russell agreed, and her office then informed the American consulate in Mazir-e-Sharif about the project. At the time, officials there were searching for an American university to participate in a partnership with the local Balkh University.

The consular immediately contacted Bailey and Loughrin asking if BC would be interested. Bailey and Loughrin enthusiastically

“How can faith-based community organizing, diversely constituted in terms of religious faith, ethnicity, and race, inform our theological discourse and our practice of ministry?” asked Nancy Pineda-Madrid, a featured presenter in the symposium “From Plurality to Solidarity through Justice.” Boston College and the School of Theology and Ministry (STM) held this symposium on Friday, Oct. 4. The symposium explored how community organizing around issues of justice can provide common ground among diverse religious communities.

The speakers included Rev. John Baumann, S.J., founder and director of special projects for People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO) National Network; Catherine Cornille, Newton College Alumnae Chair in Western Culture and chair of the Boston College theology department; Larry Gordon, senior

See Pen Pal Program, A3

See Justice Symposium, A3

BY ALLIE OLIVIERI For The Heights PHOTO COURTESY OF PROFESSOR KATHLEEN BAILEY

One in four women in the U.S. are victims of domestic violence. This month, students at Boston College have the opportunity to take a few small steps to impact the domestic violence crisis.

The Women’s Resource Center (WRC) at BC is trying to help sound the alarm and draw attention to those in need. The WRC is an advocacy collaborative focused on women and gender issues and consists of director Katie Dalton, three graduate students, and eight undergraduates. The WRC sponsors “Love Your Body Week” in the fall and “C.A.R.E. Week” in the spring.

“These programs are dedicated to promoting healthy body image and raising awareness about sexual assault and intimate partner violence,” said Erin Ramsey, a graduate assistant at the WRC and STM ’15.

This month, the WRC is partnering with Verizon Wireless to host “Hopeline,” a phone drive in support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“The Women’s Resource Center’s mission speaks to an important aspect of the Hopeline program—providing resources and support that will empower individuals to engage in healthy relationships,” said Verizon Wireless spokesperson Michael Murphy.

Hopeline was created by Bell Atlantic Mobile in 1995 as an emergency wireless donation program, and was repositioned by Verizon in 2001 as a national phone-recycling program. The organization brings attention to the issue of domestic violence. “Verizon was the first wireless carrier in the nation to collect and recycle no-longer-used cell phones,” Murphy said.

He explained how cell phones impact survivors of domestic violence, can change the lives of these survivors, and how Hopeline can raise awareness of domestic violence.

Female BC students have paired up with girls at Balkh University and High School in northern Afghanistan (above) as pen pals.

See Hopeline, A3

See Confession Follow-up, A3

BC, Afghan girls launch pen pal program

BY NATHAN MCGUIRE For The Heights A new pen pal exchange program between female students at Boston College and Balkh University in northern Afghanistan is the first step toward a potential sister-school partnership between the two schools.

An official at the U.S. Consulate in Mazir-e-Sharif, Afghanistan recently reached out to political science professor Kathleen Bailey and Brooke Loughrin, A&S

’14, about the potential for a partnership.

Earlier this semester Bailey and Loughrin were awarded a $17,500, multiyear grant from BC’s Institute for the Liberal Arts for the interdisciplinary project “Empowering the Women of Afghanistan through Education and Islamic Teachings.” The project includes a series of seminars aimed at educating the BC community about women’s rights issues in Afghanistan.

The two contacted Catherine Russell, BC ’86, who is the U.S. Ambassador at

Post prompts discussion of sexual assault resources

BY ELEANOR HILDEBRANDT News Editor Last week, a lengthy post on the Boston College Confessions Facebook page described three alleged sexual assaults on the BC campus. Although the student responsible came forward the night after the confession was posted and admitted that it was fake, post No. 7122 garnered considerable attention from BC students before it was taken down on Wednesday night.

In response to the student reaction, several undergraduates organized an event on Thursday night in Cushing 001 to discuss the issues of sexual assault and rape at BC, and to educate students about bystander awareness and other resources on campus. Chelsea Lennox, A&S ’14; Don Orr, A&S ’14; Ande Giancarlo, CSOM ’15;

and Joey Palomba, A&S ’15, each wearing a bright red Bystander Intervention t-shirt, moderated the event.

Orr began by clarifying that the event was not intended as a forum for discussion or speculation about post 7122 or the poster in particular. “This is an ongoing investigation,” he said. “What we’re going to be talking about is the wider issue that is called into question: rape on college campuses, sexual assault on college campuses are very serious issues, and what we saw from that [post] is that students on this campus are deeply concerned about it. So we’d like to talk about what resources the students have available to them, what we can do to help prevent [assault] as students, and what you can do if you find yourself ALEX GAYNOR / HEIGHTS EDITOR

A poster for the Sexual Assault Network (SANet) was hung outside of Gasson last week.

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THE HEIGHTS

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The Price of Truth

LSOE Dean Kenny

Monday, October 7, 2013

Paul Tough

1 2 3 Tuesday Time: 12 p.m.

Location: Fulton Hall, Honors Library Room 215

Rev. Ismael Moreno Coto, S.J., host of the radio program Radio Progreso in Honduras, will speak on the struggles and successes of building an inclusive society in Honduras since the 2009 coup d’etat.

A Guide to Your Newspaper

Wednesday Time: 6:30 p.m.

Location: Cadigan Alumni Center, Brighton Campus

Newly appointed Dean of the Lynch School of Education, Maureen Kenny, discusses youth in the 21st century and how they will meet the challenges of an advancing world.

Wednesday Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Gasson Hall, Room 100

Paul Tough, author of the recently published How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, will present on his new book and his ongoing research on education, parenting, poverty, and politics.

FEATURED EVENT

Himes examines the roles of a Catholic

BY JOHN WILEY Heights Editor “This is an exciting time to be a Catholic, and who would have thought we would say that?” said Erik P. Goldschmidt, director of the Church in the 21st Century Center, introducing the organization’s first lecture of the year. Titled “Living Catholicism: Roles and Relationships for a Contemporary World,” Thursday’s lecture was presented by Rev. Michael Himes, BC professor of theology and Catholic author.

Gasson 100 reached near seating capacity for the event, with a strong showing of faculty, clergy, and graduate students.

Himes’ lecture was adapted from his work as guest editor on the fall 2013 edition of C21 Resources magazine, published by the Church in the 21st Century Center under the same title as the lecture. Using America’s translation of the August interview with Pope Francis as his primary text, Himes focused on the communal nature of faith and the Jesuit virtue of discernment.

“In most distinctive Western countries, there has been a tendency in the last 35, 40 years to think of one’s personal relationship with God as being of great importance, but one’s communal relationship with one another and with God as relatively unimportant,” Himes said, setting his remarks to Pope Francis’ description of the Church as the “holy, faithful people of God.” Himes described the relational nature of humans as an intrinsic piece of creation, as told in the Book of Genesis. To live in isolation was never God’s intent for human beings, according to Himes, and respectively, a relationship to God is always pluralistic.

“In order to be in the image of God, he made us male and female,” Himes said.

JUSEUB YOON / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Rev. Michael Himes spoke on the communal nature of faith on Thursday evening.

“Now what does that mean? Now it does not mean that God is sexually indecisive.” This comment drew laughter from the crowd.

“Notice that what God does is to take the most obvious thing about us as human beings, the most obvious, unmistakable, and undeniable fact about what it is to be a human being, and say that’s what makes us in the image and likeness of God,” Himes said. “What is that undeniable fact about human beings? We’re gendered. We come in two varieties. We’re male and female. And what does maleness and femaleness tell you? It tells you that we’re made for one another. We’re supposed to be in relationship with one another.”

The idea of a committed Christian believer who is not part of Christian community is a misunderstanding of Christianity, as described

by Himes—additionally, a Christian relationship with God should involve considerable discomfort, and a clear sense of mystery.

“If God meets your expectations perfectly, you are definitely wrong,” Himes said, a remark audibly stirring to the crowd.

Himes spoke of a necessity for uncertainty among the faithful, and warned of human conjectures of God’s will.

“Yes, there is something about God that is absolutely and simply true, and it is that there is nothing you can say about God that is absolutely and simply true,” Himes said, then referencing the absurdity of activist groups that claim to have a cause aligned with God’s will.

“My favorite way of putting this is that none of us has the truth—not one of us—but the truth has all of us,” Himes said.

Himes referenced Pope Francis’ remarks that God is to be found in a narrative, not a set of doctrines, and in time rather than space.

“If God is always in the processes, what you can never say is the story is now done,” he said.

The Jesuit virtue of discernment, emphasized by Pope Francis in his August interview, is a process grounded in finding God not in the biggest, but the least, in Himes’ interpretation. Himes referenced the Latin phrase non coerceri a maximo, sed contineri a minimo divinum est, a saying describing the vision of Ignatius. Himes offered with this his own translation of the phrase, one he believed faithful to the spirit of it: “God’s way is never to be overwhelmed by the biggest, but to be

POLICE BLOTTER Wednesday, September 30

Thursday, October 1

Friday, October 2

9:10 a.m. - A report was filed regarding larceny in Alumni Stadium.

1:25 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance in the middle roadways.

2:50 p.m. - A report was filed regarding larceny in Stuart Hall.

3:55 p.m. - A report was filed regarding an act of vandalism in the Lower parking lots.

4:15 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a student needing medical assistance in Cushing Hall. The student was later transported by ambulance to a medical facility.

6:31 p.m. - A report was filed regarding police services provided in Fulton Hall.

5:44 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance in Boston College Police Headquarters.

11:56 p.m. - A report was filed regarding assistance provided to another agency off campus.

6:42 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a student needing medical assistance in Stuart Hall. The student was later transported by cruiser to a medical facility.

College Corner NEWS FROM UNIVERSITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY B Y D EVON S ANFORD Assoc. News Editor Some classes at West Point are being combined or canceled, according to the Associated Press.

Military faculty members are also being forced to fill in for civilian instructors furloughed because of the government shutdown.

U.S. Military Academy officials said on Thursday that they furloughed 1,422 civilian employees this past week, including 132 faculty members, according to the same AP article. The academy’s faculty is about 70 percent military personnel who are unaffected by the shutdown.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Webster Wr ig ht said the f urloug hs are challenging West Point’s ability to provide a top-level education to c ade t s . Wr ig ht say s the y ’re combining classes when they can

and temporarily suspended a few classes , as reported by the AP. Military instructors are being asked to prepare for subject matter they don’t normally teach.

“They’re teaching a curriculum outside what they normally do … it’s a challenge to them because on top of their normal course load, they’re having to go through extreme measures to pick up these other courses,” he said.

Wright says the situation is not sustainable long term.

West Point visited Boston College this weekend, after a two-day controversy over whether or not the service academies, including Army, Navy, and Air Force, would be able to play in football games on Saturday despite the congressional budget impasse.

BC brought home a win against the Army football team, with a final score of 48 to 27. 

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

content in the least.

“God does not need our great deeds.

God needs all those countless little deeds pushed together in the big deeds, the big events, the great occasions possible,” he said. “They’ve only become possible because of countless small deeds.”

After concluding his lecture, Himes opened the event to discussion, answering questions on chaos theory compared to Christian understanding, the nature of heaven and hell, and the significance of the Pope’s remarks on space.

The evening’s final question was the only one asked by an undergraduate.

“I struggle personally a lot with the way I feel when I go out into the world, and then that versus a lot of different church doctrine that when I follow it,” she said. “I don’t feel necessarily like I’m doing the most loving thing. I wonder how the Catholic is supposed to navigate those two things—or if I was living the Catholic doctrine properly, would I feel like I was doing the most loving thing?”

“Well, I hope that what you understand as Catholic doctrine properly, it would be like enhancing and enriching, and not something that is restrictive and impoverishing,” Himes said, then referencing the Pope’s warning not to view church teaching as a “monolith to defend.”

“If you do find it confining, then you’ve got some discerning to do—see, that’s why I think discernment is so important,” Himes said. “If we thought that all we had to do was to say, well here are the rules, it’s canon law, it’s the catechism, there’s the bishop, over there’s the Holy Father and you just stick with them and you’re all right—you don’t have to think about it or worry about it at all, the Pope would say you are in grave danger, ending up with a God that fits your measure.” 

9/30/13-10/2/13

8:32 p.m. - A report was filed regarding vandilism to a residence in Vanderslice Hall.

The Heights Boston College – McElroy 113 140 Commonwealth Ave. Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467

8:31 a.m. - A report was filed regarding an activated fire alarm in Stayer Hall. There was no fire department response.

9:47 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a suspicious circumstance in McElroy Commons.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

News Tips Have a news tip or a good idea for a story?

Call Eleanor Hildebrandt, News Editor, at (617) 552-0172, or email news@bcheights. com. For future events, email a detailed description of the event and contact information to the News Desk.

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

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

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The Heights is produced by BC undergraduates and is published on Mondays and Thursdays during the academic year by The Heights, Inc. (c) 2013. All rights reserved.

CORRECTIONS

This correction is in reference to the issue dated Oct. 3, 2013, Vol. XCIV, No. 33.

The photo accompanying the article titled “BC Band Seaver’s Express” was incorrectly attributed. The photographer is Selma Rakovic.

VOICES FROM THE DUSTBOWL “What would be the name of your perfect class?”

“The Ethics of Photoshop.”

—Ben Flythe, A&S ’16

“How to Get a Guy in One Day.” —Jake Robinson, A&S ’16

“How to Hike the Appalachian Trail.”

—Joe Maimone, A&S ’16

“Puppies 101.”

—Megan Lang, A&S ’16

The Heights

Monday, October 7, 2013

A3

Event follows up on post 7122 Confession Follow-up, from A1

alex gaynor / heights editor

Attendees of Friday’s symposium, ‘From Plurality to Solidarity through Justice,’ discussed the presentations during the lunch portion.

Symposium focuses on solidarity, justice Justice Symposium, from A1 organizer of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation; and Nancy Pineda-Madrid, STM associate professor of theology and Latino ministry.

Each speaker addressed the pursuit of social justice through the work of faith-based community organizing. “The ministry of organizing creates solidarity across religious and ethnic differences,” Pineda-Madrid said.

“In doing so, it lives out two Jesuit insights: finding God in all things, and being a contemplative in action.”

Community organizers seek to work out a political vision for the oppressed and marginalized, and bring this vision to fruition through their work in the community.

“Organizing is putting gospel values into action—values such as justice, integrity, love, hope, healing, compassion, and service,” Baumann said. Baumann’s longstanding career in community organizing was evident in the words of Larry Gordon, another featured presenter at the symposium. “[Baumann] is a man who has dedicated himself to the poor for the whole of his professional career,” Gordon said. “Not only to the poor, but also to this distinction between charity and justice,

as he has lived out a vocation with a mission of empowering the poor and extraordinary, dedicated service to the priesthood.”

These broad-based organizations bring together people from all religious traditions to foster solidarity and justice, while creating diverse communities and informed theological discussions. “Solidarity, that is the focus of this work, is built through the creation of diverse organizations,” Pineda-Madrid said. “They include churches, both Catholic and Protestant, Jewish synagogues, Muslim mosques, and they bring together people from all of these religious traditions around values that they hold in common, values that are the fruit of their diverse faiths.”

The life of Gordon, one of the key speakers at the symposium, shows the culmination of diverse community organizing. Gordon began his organizing career in the civil rights movement in 1969, working with the national welfare rights organization. In 1990, Gordon began his association with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). In his 23 years with the IAF, Gordon has helped build several broad-based community organizations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and California.

Today, Gordon is the senior organizer of the IAF affiliate in Boston, known as Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO).

“At GBIO, we have committed ourselves to building broad-based organizations inside of a context that helps strengthen the fabric of our society,” Gordon said. “If you have this institutional strategy, you have a greater likelihood of getting power to deliver for the poor and marginalized, whom the IAF is trying to organize with.”

The GBIO is most notorious for its political endeavors in Massachusetts, namely in the arena of healthcare reform. The work of the GBIO played a large role in the conception of the universal healthcare system in Massachusetts. This healthcare system has become an influential model for the federal government in developing the widely contested Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The success of the GBIO in organizing a healthcare campaign was made possible by the work of diverse community organizing.

“Usually in work of organizing, we are fighting to get to the negotiating table where policy decisions are made,” Gordon said. “The issue is who gets to be at the table when the deals are made, and organizing aims to make it a bigger negotiating table. Sometimes when you make it to the table, you get to stay there.

That is what has happened at GBIO with healthcare reform.” n

BC celebrates Homecoming weekend Homecoming Dance, from A1 to the Montserrat Coalition. Students were greeted with glow sticks at the entrance of the reception hall and many took advantage of the UGBC-sponsored buses that transported students back to campus at the end of the evening.

MacLellan said there were minimal behavioral issues at the event.

“There were a couple of ambulance transportations but they were at the beginning of the event and that issue subsided quickly,” MacLellan said.

“The security staff and the SPO staff at the event did a great job handling those issues.”

BC students celebrated Homecoming Weekend alongside faculty, alumni, and family for the first time in over two decades. The festivities kicked off on Friday night with a football pep rally on Shea Field, featuring a fireworks display. On Saturday, a FanFest was held in the Flynn Recreation Complex, alongside a series of alumni events for former varsity athletes, before the football game at 1 p.m.

In an interview earlier this semester, Director of Athletics Brad Bates described the inspiration for Homecoming Weekend as twofold.

“One, we wanted to engage our alumni in ways that would get them back to the Heights, and provide them with a home football game as entertainment and a reason for everyone to get together as classmates, as teammates, as friends, visit former faculty members and that sort of thing,” Bates said.

“And the other part of it that inspired the concept was that there’s been this ongoing Homecoming Ball, and so in-

the victim.”

Giancarlo and Palomba proceeded to give the audience a presentation of the Bystander Intervention program, which is run through the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) and trains students in ways to prevent sexual assaults from happening in social scenarios.

Giancarlo listed four factors that generally influence bystander behaviors: recognition of the need to intervene; being asked to help; witnessing others role-modeling intervention behaviors; and the relative size of the group surrounding a questionable situation.

After playing a video clip that illustrated the stages leading up to a potential sexual assault—and opportunities during which bystanders could intervene—Giancarlo and Palomba spent the next few minutes discussing the issue of consent. A person is unable to consent to sexual acts, Palomba said, if they are under the legal age of consent, which is 16 in Massachusetts; if they are under the influence of any substance to the point of intoxication; if they are unconscious; or if they are coerced.

Giancarlo then pulled up a graph of sexual harassment acts on a scale of recognition versus frequency. Acts such as rape and unwanted physical contact, she said, are high on the recognition scale—people understand that they constitute sexual assault, but they happen relatively less often—whereas unwanted verbal attention and offensive or objectifying jokes happen more often but are not equally recognized as harassment. Those acts on the higher-frequency, lower-recognition end of the scale, they said, are where students can intervene. “We don’t expect you to step into a sexual assault by yourself and break people up, or get in some sort of fight,” Palomba said. “That’s not your job ... As members of this community, we hope that your job would be to step in when you can help, in everyday conversations … stopping to create this rape culture that we live in.”

Following the Bystander Intervention presentation, a panel of three administrators took the floor. Laurene Spiess, a sergeant with BCPD; Katie Dalton, the director of the WRC; and Ryan Mulderrig, a resident director for the Office of Residential Life, discussed the resources and options available to survivors of sexual assault after the fact.

Spiess gave a brief overview of BCPD. Within the 54-member department, she said, there are eight sexual assault investigators, including a full-service detective. “All of our officers are trained in sexual assaults,” Spiess said. “But then we have a team that is specially trained to handle sexual assaults—they go to initial 40-hour training to be an investigator, and then they do continual education and are trained with the Middlesex District Attorney’s office as well as the Suffolk District Attorney’s office.”

BCPD works closely with other departments on campus, including the Dean of Students Office, WRC, ResLife, Campus Ministry, and the Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs when it comes to investigating reported cases of sexual assault and ensuring that the victim has access to help after the fact.

“The first thing we want to do is make sure they’re okay, and to be medically cleared,”

Spiess said. “We would offer to take them to the hospital, to have a medical evaluation, but also if they chose, to have an evidence collection kit, and then we would start an investigation.”

She stressed that all details reported to BCPD regarding a sexual assault are confidential, and would never show up in a public record such as a police blotter. BCPD does not only deal with assaults on-campus—the department also acts as a liaison with the appropriate police and judicial forces for off-campus incidents, including those that occur out of state.

If the victim chooses to pursue prosecution of the assailant after a sexual assault is reported, Spiess said, two options are available. Adjudication through the Dean of Students Office can be initiated only when both students are still registered at BC, and there are significant measures taken to protect the victim—for instance, screens can be put up in the room if the survivor does not wish to see the assailant, or an account can be taken down in writing.

Prosecution through the court system can be initiated up to 15 years after the assault occurs, but that is often more stressful for the victim, as the threshold for proving that an assault happened is more stringent. The two options are not mutually exclusive, but Spiess emphasized the importance of reporting an assault as soon as possible, so that details are taken down and a record is begun in case the victim decides to pursue prosecution at a later date.

Dalton spoke specifically about the Bystander Intervention program, saying that a recent, multi-year assessment had confirmed the program’s effectiveness. The WRC is still assessing which venues are most successful and can reach the greatest number of students, but it is hoping to have an entire class go through training within the next five years.

Dalton also ran through other resources that the WRC has for those affected by sexual assault. The Sexual Assault Network (SANet), a hotline staffed by trained advocates, is housed within the WRC—a confidential support group for survivors, HEAL, is also run through the center. Members of the WRC are also available to advise and accompany survivors after an assault, if they so desire.

Mulderrig spoke last, emphasizing that members of ResLife serve as on-campus resources. “By the end of the year all faculty and staff on campus will be trained in what to do should a sexual assault be disclosed to them—that’s something that hasn’t been done in the past,” Mulderrig said. “If there’s someone working for the University in any capacity, they will know how to connect you to the resources that you need.” Members of the Dean of Students Office have been trained to handle sexual assault cases, he said, and there is an administrator from Student Affairs on-call 24/7.

“A big part of the reason why [post 7122] was so upsetting for us was because it really shattered the sense of safety that we had in our campus community,” he said. He confirmed that the student responsible had been suspended, but said that BCPD could not comment further on the investigation. “Whether it was a hoax or not, it gives us the opportunity to think about these kinds of things happening, and think about the kind of community that we want to be.” n

WRC collects used phones Hopeline, from A1

nick barker / for the heights

The Homecoming Weekend pep rally on Friday featured a fireworks display over Shea Field. tegrating the student event with alumni events was really what we’re trying to engage around football weekend.”

With a successful Homecoming Weekend, MacLellan hopes the celebration continues in the years to home, saying that a true Homecoming could become a great tradition at BC. “The athletics department and SPO

did a great job programming the fireworks and the game,” MacLellan said. “I hope this continues in the future.”

MacLellan and the department for on-campus programming are already beginning to plan for the upcoming events of this year, including the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and the Annual Pub Series. n

“[Hopeline] helps survivors build new lives while staying connected with employers, family, and friends,” Murphy said. “Technology serves as a vital link for all of us.” Phones can also help people apply for jobs more easily, and notify survivors if their abuser has been released from jail.

This cell phone recycling program gives survivors of domestic violence hope that this issue will finally be brought to an end. In addition to giving survivors of domestic violence recycled cell phones, Hopeline also gives cash grants to agencies across the country who help educate teens about healthy relationships, provide training for medical professionals and provide additional support for survivors and their families.

According to Ramsey, the cash grants lower the rates of intimate partner violence in these communities. Hopeline has directly contributed to the decrease in domestic violence occurrences.

Hopeline not only raises awareness of

domestic violence but also helps the environment, according to Murphy. “Since 2001, the program has recycled 1.7 million wireless phones and kept more than 260 tons of electronic waste and batteries out of landfills,” he said.

Murphy explained that in 2001 one of their employees from Pennsylvania was killed in an act of domestic violence. This inspired Verizon Wireless to share her story with the rest of the world and raise awareness for domestic violence. Hopeline presents the idea that anyone can make a difference and improve the lives of many people by donating something they no longer need.

Anyone can donate their used cell phone to Hopeline and help raise awareness for domestic violence. Students, faculty, and other members of the BC community can bring old cell phones to McElroy 141 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. during October for donation, or request a prepaid shipping label to send in a cell phone from home. If the program is successful at BC, Hopeline will expand to the greater Boston community. n

Female students at BC and Balkh University begin pen pal exchange Pen Pal Program, from A1 agreed to participate. “[The consulate] has talked to the community and local administration at the school about the partnership, but there has been a lot of touch-and-go support,” Bailey said.

In order to ease into the partnership, which has yet to be finalized, the consulate thought a pen-pal exchange between female students at Balkh and BC would be a good first step.

Unlike most other Afghan schools, Balkh is known for educating women— about 40 percent of the school’s more than 13,000 students are female.

“It is uncommon in Afghanistan for women to be educated past grade six, so

it’s really great that women are receiving an education at Balkh,” Loughrin said.

The State Dept. has a strong presence at Balkh, and in the city of Mazire-Sharif. In addition to developing athletic fields and installing Internet at the university, the State Dept. recently built a dorm for girls.

“The State Dept. really wants to continue to have civilian relationships with Afghanistan,” said Loughrin, who worked with the State Dept. as the first-ever U.S. Youth Observer at the United Nations.

The BC-Balkh sister-school partnership is a way for the U.S. to continue to have an impact on the Afghan community after the planned 2014 withdrawal of all NATO and U.S. forces from the country.

The U.S. consulate has reached out to members of the Balkh community about the partnership, and decided to ease into the program with the pen pal exchange.

The consulate is currently creating a list of female students at Balkh who will participate in the program, which will be over email.

As of now, the only restriction set by officials at Balkh is that only women can participate in the program. Bailey is unsure if Balkh officials and parents will screen the emails.

“Afghanistan has a much more conservative culture than us, so the girls’ parents would be more comfortable if they knew their daughters are talking with other girls,” Loughrin said.

Bailey said the female students at the university are very excited to begin. The consulate has identified between 20 and 25 students as proficient enough in English to participate, but more will join the program as they become proficient.

“There is a keen interest from the Afghan women to practice their English.

Through the pen pal program they will be able to improve this skill, which will help them in many ways,” Loughrin said.

Bailey and Loughrin said that the Afghan women would lead the conversations, but that students here would be very engaged in the exchange.

“They will talk about topics of mutual interest, but the Afghan students will dictate where the conversation goes,” Bailey said.

Loughrin hopes the women will develop one-on-one relationships that will last for many years.

“We’ve reached out to a lot of freshman and sophomores to become involved, so that they can develop multiyear relationships,” she said.

There is great interest and enthusiasm for the program at BC. Bailey said the number of BC students interested is already beyond the number of Balkh women who will participate in the first wave. As more become proficient in English, though, more BC women will be invited to participate.

“I don’t think there will be any shortage of things to talk about,” Loughrin said. “There is great curiosity on the other side.” n

The Heights

A4

Monday, October 7, 2013

VFA comes to BC

A dose of perspective

By Soo Jung Rhee For The Heights

Brendon Anderson Since I was in seventh grade and secretly ordered a subscription to National Geographic using my mom’s credit card, it has been my life’s goal to go to a National Park to camp and explore and have at least two and a half run-ins with bears, buffaloes, and/or moose. And finally, after eight years of waiting, the opportunity presented itself: my roommates and I were going to camp in Acadia National Park this Friday and it was going to be glorious. But no, the government had to go and shut down.

So naturally, I had a lot to say in this column. Republican this and Democrat that. Financial sector.

Congressional accountability. Fiscal responsibility. Something about a cliff? Silly Harry Boehner and John Reid! It was all one of their faults or something like that.

Today, though, I was on the T, staring out the window and thinking of the perfect way to word an attack on the sorry state of partisan politics in our country, when I was grounded.

I looked out the window and saw an area with lower-income housing. I had just done a project for my Intro to Social Work class that required everyone to find employment, housing, day care, and transportation for a single mother and her two kids. Long story short: it was impossible. This person could be the perfect mother, employee, and tenant, but at least without some assistance from the government, it was impossible for her to live in this city.

But hey, at least that doesn’t have anything to do with the shutdown.

I mean, at least that’s what it would seem like. In all the yelling about political stunts and veterans storming monuments and the connections between Obamacare and the inevitable heat death of the universe, this whole shutdown thing has just become some kind of circus performance. As it turns out, the shutdown actually might wind up hurting those families who are already scraping to get by. If this shutdown nonsense lasts, welfare programs like women, infants, and children benefits are going to stop being paid out. I don’t know much about economics, but I’m going to say that’s a bad thing.

Now, I can sit here and complain about how terrible our government is and pretend like I know anything about what’s going on in Washington. But I don’t think that really does anything. I can whine all I want and I know that at least some people would hear me. I’m a college student.

I have a voice. Turns out, though, there are a lot of people who don’t.

So many people just get lost in the shuffle, and oddly enough, they’re the same people that this government shutdown is going to hurt the most.

So I guess I want to use my voice to say something, say anything, even as ineloquently as I’m doing now, so that one day no one will be lost.

You see, I don’t really know much about the government, but shouldn’t it be there to help people beaten down by systems of injustice? And I can’t say that I’m an expert on human nature either, but shouldn’t we always do our best to love our neighbor even if we only see them for a brief, heartbreaking moment through the windows of a train? I think people get mad about this kind of thing, but if they stopped screaming at each other for just two seconds maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to see what’s right. The government should do nice things and people should do nice things. That would be pretty cool. Accept that, and the rest comes naturally.

In the end, I’m not pointing any fingers. It’s no one’s fault and it’s everyone’s fault. I’m also not telling you that you shouldn’t complain about how the Army game was almost cancelled and how you can’t go camping, like I’ve been doing for the past week. Just because others have it worse than you doesn’t mean that you can’t be upset with your own circumstances. Be upset. Be angry.

That’s totally fine. Just don’t whine.

Do something.

Brendon Anderson is a staff columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at news@bcheights.com.

Alex gaynor / Heights editor

Baumann emphasized faith as the source of PICO’s success in addressing social problems in communities.

Jesuit recounts PICO founding, role of faith in communities

By Connor Farley Heights Editor

On Friday evening in the Heights room of Corcoran Commons, Rev. John Baumann, S.J., founder of the PICO National Network, delivered a lecture on religious unity and community organizing in a faith-based context.

The event, titled “Beyond Ignorance, Hostility, and Fear: Organizing for Justice by Embracing Religious and Ethnic and Passion,” was a continuation of the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry’s (STM) ongoing lecture series on continuing education.

Founded by Baumann in 1972, PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing) is a national network of faith-based organizations that works to address issues faced by urban, suburban, and rural communities—an expansive network of local institutions working in solidarity toward community improvement.

Formed during the early years of Baumann’s Jesuit priesthood in the 1960s, PICO began as a local training organization in Oakland, Calif. as a way to initiate neighborhood development and “revitalize democracy.”

“We wanted to address fundamental systemic change,” Baumann said of PICO’s mission for community improvement.

PICO was largely based around the ideologies of Saul Alinsky, an American pioneer of community organizing—the process by which people act together to change their communities and mediate social strife—during the 1950s, and born out of response to the institutional church’s failure to respond to the needs of the poor.

The concern for people meeting others who share similar values and interests to identify common goals and participate in public life was

the product of Baumann’s culminating perspective of seeing God in all things.

“Is it possible to engage the energy that people have for their religious and ethnic identities in a way that fosters the building of relationships and ethnic boundaries?” Baumann asked in regard to discordant communities.

“It was difficult to imagine at this stage how anyone could engage religion in the public sphere in a way that would not lead to conflicts.”

Operating under its initial title of the “Pacific Institute for Community Organization,” PICO developed an early “neighborhood model” of creating solutions for community challenges. Baumann implemented foundational principles for the organization centered on the core values of the gospel and “faith that does justice.”

“Theology is about the real world— it interacts with people … Power is the product of relationship.”

PICO’s early neighborhood model, however, was flawed, Baumann said.

It only addressed issues when they arose—reacting to community challenges as they occurred, as opposed to fostering an attitude of ethnic and religious tolerance to prevent these issues from happening.

“The central weakness of the neighborhood model was that it focused almost exclusively on outcome,” Baumann said. “So we developed a symbiotic relationship with institutions, not a parasitic one … Values without power is impotence—power without values is tyranny,” he said.

Under Baumann’s leadership, PICO restructured its model of operation to a “faith-based model”—engaging local faith-based congregations across creedal and ethnic boundaries.

This new model of bringing together different congregations of varying faiths witnessed tremendous

success and contains three basic characteristics: “The model is relational and value-based, transformative, and engages the faith dimension of the community,” Baumann said.

By incorporating faith into its model of addressing the root causes of social problems, PICO has approached concepts of mobilizing communities not discovered in the Alinsky lexicon, expanding its operations to over 1,000member institutions in 150 cities throughout 17 states.

Through recognizing ethnic and religious differences in neighborhoods, towns, and cities throughout the U.S., Baumann views community organizing as a transformative experience that starts at a personal level, and believes in the power of relationships to transform people and institutions.

“Working in a faith context brings a sense of humility to our work. Organizing is about people—people are about issues,” he said.

PICO currently focuses on healthcare reform, economic security, youth development, and neighborhood revitalization, among other social needs, and has even extended its mission to other countries, including a solidarity project in Rwanda aimed to resolve differences between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples.

STM, alongside event co-sponsors Church in the 21st Century Center and the BC theology department, will continue its lecture series on continuing education throughout the fall, maintaining focuses on social justice, leadership, and religious openness—“Beyond Ignorance, Hostility, and Fear” being the first to address interfaith issues in an urban context.

“Our goal is to work toward a common understanding of what constitutes justice,” Baumann said. “Sometimes it’s important to put your beliefs and ideologies in your back pocket and listen to other people’s stories.” n

Chemistry chair recognized by American Chemical Society

By Chris Stadtler Heights Editor “Humans need to master the laws of nature and appreciate her subtleties for many reasons, if not only for eradicating suffering and diseases,” said Amir Hoveyda, the Joseph T. and Patricia Vanderslice Millenium professor of chemistry and chair of the department.

“Chemistry, biology and physics are as important and as life-giving as Shakespeare, Proust, Picasso, Goya, Bach and Beethoven.”

Hoveyda is, most recently, the winner of the 2014 American Chemical Society award for Creative Work in synthetic organic chemistry. The American Chemical society announced the award following their recent meeting in Indianapolis.

The Aldrich Chemical Company has sponsored the award since the 1970s. It consists of $5,000 and a certificate of achievement. Hoveyda will receive his award in March at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting in Dallas.

Hoveyda received the award for his research group’s development of various catalysts. These catalysts are used in research and industrial labs to prepare molecules, and in particular, those molecules used often in health care.

The award reinforces Hoveyda’s status in the chemistry community—Thomson Reuters recognized Hoveyda as one of the world’s Top 100 Chemists from 2000-10.

Moreover, this award brings

greater meaning for Hoveyda because of its unique history.

“This is the oldest and perhaps the most prestigious award in the field of organic synthesis,” Hoveyda said in an email. “The first winner in 1957, R. B. Woodward, is considered widely as one of the foremost pioneers of organic chemistry. E. J. Corey, another living giant, received it a couple of years later. The list is loaded by Nobel laureates and those who have had a lasting impact on the field of chemistry.

“To be on that list is first and foremost a testimony to the creativity, scholarship, dedication, and perseverance of generations of doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows who have been members of my research group during the last 23 years,” Hoveyda said.

Hoveyda’s research, though, never centered around recognition: “My goal has never been and will never be to win this or any award,” he said.

Hoveyda recognized “the quality and dedication of the students … (along with) the quality of my colleagues in my department. That is critical. As is the continued aggressive support of the university for fundamental research and creative teaching at the highest level.”

While Hoveyda will be the only individual recognized for the work, an entire generation of his students contributed to the success.

Even with the continued support and help of those around him, there are obstacles. Preconceived notions

and inappropriate expectations continue to plague the sciences, Hoveyda said.

“The most difficult part is the diminishing appreciation of our society and its administrators, particularly those in our increasingly dysfunctional government, regarding the fundamental significance of physical sciences to the quality of life and the happiness that future generations will be able to enjoy,” Hoveyda said.

“The growingly myopic view that every piece of research must pay dividend fast is at best naive and perhaps nothing but foolish—much of the greatest technology that we benefit from every day is based on research in basic sciences in the past.”

Despite all his success and knowledge of chemistry, Hoveyda still cannot predict the future in the evolving field of synthetic chemistry.

“I had no idea we would be working on what we are today and I sure hope the same is true even more five years from now,” he said.

Breakthrough advancements in chemistry are coming constantly.

To have a clear idea of one’s next discovery today would be an admission that the research will not be truly groundbreaking tomorrow.

“If I knew and I could tell you now then I would probably not do it,” he said. “I constantly hope for more and more great and unexpected discoveries—more gifts from mother nature, which only happens to the most prepared minds.” n

Although not a student of the Carroll School of Management, Alanna Horan, a senior campus ambassador of Venture for America program at BC and A&S ’14, will definitely apply to be a fellow for the program after graduation.

“Starting your own business, creating value in the world, creating jobs, and working in an ethical and sustainable way is, I believe, a really great way to do good in the world and solve some of the same injustices that you would find while studying political science,” Horan said. “Venture for America facilitates a partnership with start-ups from which you can learn and quickly become an important part of the team. You get the opportunity to have a hands-on experience learning business, while at the same time working to help the economies and communities in your city thrive, which in turn gives you the opportunity to do good in the world and solve the injustices that I have spent my time at BC studying through my political science major.”

It has only been three years since Venture for America, a twoyear fellowship program that places select talented graduates directly to startup companies, was presented to the world as a stepping stone for young entrepreneurs.

The program recruits recent graduates to match them with growth-stage companies at rising cities such as Detroit, New Orleans, and Las Vegas. Not only do they revitalize the up-and-coming communities by creating jobs but they also learn how to run a business and create value by spending two years accumulating hands-on entrepreneurship experiences. “It is a training-wheel for future entrepreneurs,” Horan said.

Students who are interested in participating in the program are required to go through three rounds of application starting from the

free online application and phone interview to a full-day, in-person interview in New York. After the final decisions are made, the select candidates take part in a five-week training at Brown University where they gain business skills and gain knowledge of how to work effectively as new businesspeople. VFA fellows are able to gain access to a vast staff of mentors and professionals for advice and to create a conducive peer network. Following the training session, the members are put immediately into the real world of business through the program’s match-making process.

“They have an ultimate say in where they apply,” Horan said. The fellows apply to companies of their choice, and form a direct employeremployee relationship with them by being hired and paid directly by their employers.

During the span of two years while they are employed, the fellows can receive assistance in exploring housing options in the cities they will live in, and they often live together in groups as roommates or neighbors. Beginning with 40 fellows of the 2012 inaugural class spread across five cities, Venture for America is planning to recruit more than 100 graduates for the 2014 fellowship who will start their career in 12 cities throughout the nation.

Venture for America works toward the two goals of revitalization of emerging cities across the country through job creations and guidance of college graduates toward value-creation and pursuit of innovative and skillful entrepreneurship. By having newcomers of the business world lend their potential as entrepreneurs to early-stage companies that need original minds, it provides a starting ground for both young generations who want professional business experiences as well as a supportive network of fellow entrepreneurs and small businesses that struggle to mobilize brilliant human resources. n

CSOM prof examines strategy profitibility

By Brandon Stone For The Heights

Finance, accounting, and economics journals have long featured studies revealing stock market anomalies, which can be exploited through money-making investment strategies that theoretically should have been arbitraged away. According to a recent study published by Boston College’s Jeffery Pontiff, a professor in the Carroll School of Management, and David McLean of the University of Alberta, however, the mere publication of these studies has consequences for their profitability. If the anomalies found are more than statistical noise—data quirks rather than strategies that could be repeated profitably—then investors should take note of the studies and take advantage of the anomalies. Accordingly, if investors began following the investment strategies outlined by the academicians, the profitability would fall.

Pontiff and McLean’s study, “Does Academic Research Destroy Stock Return Predictability?” examined 82 separate strategies that were shown to predict stock market returns in 68 papers published in finance, accounting, and economics journals between 1972 and 2011.

The study measured the returns of such strategies before and after publication. It found that after the papers were published, the returns of the strategies eroded by an average of 35 percent.

After a study is published, investors will learn from it and trade on its strategy, which pushes prices toward their fundamental value.

This behavior has the effect of making the strategies less profitable, as it corrects the very mispriced stocks upon which they are based.

For example, if a study showed that smaller firms tended to be undervalued and produced abnormally high returns, then investors who read the article would likely buy the stock of smaller firms, pushing up demand and consequently price to its proper value.

Not all types of strategies, however, saw their returns drop by the same degree. The study found that

strategies involving more liquid stocks (those that are traded more frequently) saw their profits drop the most, likely because investors have an easier time following a strategy for which trading prices are low. In Pontiff’s words, “we cannot predict how much any strategy’s returns will go down, but we did find that the easier to trade on, the more the strategy’s returns will go down.” On the other hand, strategies involving more expensive trading—that of smaller, volatile stocks—saw their profitability fall the least. Moreover, the study found that returns based on the anomalies began to rise again several years after publication.

The cost of trading on some strategies helps to explain why the anomalies failed to disappear completely. Another reason may be constraints on the ability of investors to follow certain strategies, such as going short, that pension funds and mutual funds are unable to do.

According to Pontiff, the reason for the study was “the question everyone wanted to know the answer to. What had all [these studies] amounted to?” In other words, what had been the longer-term credibility, and effects, of the past studies. “If the returns based on these strategies had all gone down 100 percent, then we would just be historians,” he said. The question driving the study was whether the strategies would work outside of their original samples, and how much use the past studies could be in predicting future behavior, rather than documenting past features of the market. n

Erin fitzpatrick / for the heights

Pontiff published on the impact of research on stock performance.

CLASSIFIEDS Monday, October 7, 2013

Monday, October 7, 2013

Community Help wanted $$ SPERM DONORS WANTED $$ Earn up to $1,200/month and give the gift of family through California Cryobank’s donor program. Convenient Cambridge location. Apply online: SPERMBANK.com.

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.

The Heights The Heights

A5 A5

THE HEIGHTS

A6

Spirit Week should be more visible, accessible

Monday, October 7, 2013

QUOTE OF THE DAY If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.

-Epictetus (55-135), Greek sage and Stoic philosopher

Though the Homecoming game and dance saw great success, Spirit Week can be improved Through the combined efforts of Boston College Athletics, UGBC, NOTH, and the Student Programs Office, BC added several layers to the Homecoming celebration this year. In the recent past, the festivities have been confined to Saturday, which consisted of a football game followed by a semi-formal dance at a hotel in Boston. These elements remained for this weekend, but were supplemented by a Spirit Week Competition during the preceding week, a pep rally on Friday night, additional alumni outreach events integrated into game day celebrations, and the planned announcement of the result of the voting for the live eagle’s name during halftime of the game. The new additions to the celebration had varying degrees of success, but the traditional elements—the game and the dance—both saw a relatively impressive turnout.

Most noticeably, the live eagle and the expected announcement of its new name were both absent from the Saturday game due to complications caused by the government shutdown, according to the athletic department. Because of the day-long limbo in which Army was unsure if they would be able to make it to Boston for the game, Athletics held off on making arrangements to transport the eagle to campus.

The temporary uncertainty regarding whether or not the game would occur may have also contributed to a poor showing for the Spirit Week competitions, but does not fully explain the phenomenon.

To participate in the competitions, a student had to be a part of a 10-person team. By the time registration ended on Friday, Sept. 27, 13 teams had registered, and only five went on to participate in any of the competitions. Students who made teams expressed disappointment in the lack of direction and publicity regarding the ways in which they earned points, resulting in eight teams that did not participate at all.

While the idea behind having a Spirit Week leading up to Homecoming Weekend is certainly a good one, the execution must be altered in future years to produce better results. The threshold of interest and time required to assemble and register a team and then partake in the events cannot be so high as to only attract those students who

already display a high level of school spirit. If the goal is to foster this same sense of spirit in the greater student body, the Spirit Week activities must be far more visible and accessible. While competitions such as the one envisioned for this Spirit Week can be a good way to attract participation, the level of time and initiative required kept those who are only mildly interested from registering a team, especially for a competition that is new and therefore not well-established.

In future years, Spirit Week would benefit from more visibility around campus during the school day while students are out and about. A setup in O’Neill Plaza or the Quad featuring music and BC-themed decorations or giveaways would be an easy way to reach a greater number of students. Such a set-up could also include smaller, individual competitions that are less time-consuming and that students could accomplish in five minutes during their free time or on their way to the library.

Another way to increase attendance would be to host events that involved the athletes, such as the opportunity to play HORSE with the basketball players for an hour during the afternoon. Activities like these would require small amounts of time from students, offer relatively high reward, and result in a Spirit Week that engages the majority of students, not just the already highlyspirited minority.

Despite the low involvement in Spirit Week, however, the Pep Rally and the Homecoming dance both drew sizeable crowds and were well-organized and executed. The fireworks display was substantial and enjoyable, drawing students and alumni to Shea Field on Friday night. The decision to make attendance at the Pep Rally worth two Gold Pass points and give away free t-shirts was a smart way to draw in those who may not have otherwise been interested. The Homecoming dance sold out, and the transportation ran smoothly and was well-executed, allowing students the flexibility of leaving before the official end of the event at 1 a.m. The game itself also drew a strong crowd of both students and alumni, uniting the BC community to watch its football team win—a welcome highlight to a successful Homecoming.

ADRIANA MARIELLA / HEIGHTS ILLUSTRATION

WRC and Verizon put on charitable, creative drive Students should contribute to the month-long drive for old phones to help victims of domestic violence This Octob er, the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) at BC is teaming up with Verizon to provide recycled phones to assist the survivors of domestic violence, as part of Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine program. Members of the BC community can participate in this drive by dropping off used phones at the Women’s Resource Center, located in McElroy 141, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays this October. Additionally, phones can be sent to HopeLine directly using a postage-paid mailing label available for print on HopeLine’s website—this is a convenient alternative method for students looking to donate used phones they do not have with them on campus.

The month of October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and presents with it an opportunity for students to learn more about the WRC and get involved with the center’s activities. HopeLine refurbishes donated phones, and gives them to survivors of

domestic violence, equipped with 3,000 minutes of airtime and texting capabilities. This initiative gives victims economic mobility, financially frees them from abusers, and allows them access to mobile resources that can be used in the case of an emergency or to prevent further attacks.

Ve r i z o n d i s t r i b u t e s t h e s e phones through agencies dealing directly with the victims of domestic violence, ensuring resources are efficiently distributed and fulfill the demonstrated needs of these victims. The benefit of donating something tangible like a phone—in contrast with a conventional monetary contribution—is that the entirety of the contribution goes to those in need, instead of covering overhead costs. It also is an especially opportune cause for college students, who might not have the resources to make a financial contribution, but may be likely to have old phones ready for donation.

HEIGHTS

THE

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Established 1919 DAVID COTE, Editor-in-Chief JAMIE CIOCON, General Manager JOSEPH CASTLEN, Managing Editor

EDITORIAL

KENDRA KUMOR, Copy Editor ELEANOR HILDEBRANDT, News Editor AUSTIN TEDESCO, Sports Editor MICHELLE TOMASSI, Features Editor SEAN KEELEY, Arts & Review Editor TRICIA TIEDT, Metro Editor MARY ROSE FISSINGER, Opinions Editor SAMANTHA COSTANZO, Special Projects Editor GRAHAM BECK, Photo Editor LINDSAY GROSSMAN, Layout Editor

The Heights welcomes Letters to the Editor not exceeding 400 words and column submissions that do not exceed 700 words for its op/ed pages.

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

MAGGIE BURDGE, Graphics Editor ELISE TAYLOR, Blog Manager MARY JOSEPH, Online Manager CONNOR FARLEY, Assoc. Copy Editor CONNOR MELLAS, Asst. Copy Editor DEVON SANFORD, Assoc. News Editor ANDREW SKARAS, Asst. News Editor CHRIS GRIMALDI, Assoc. Sports Editor MARLY MORGUS, Asst. Sports Editor CATHRYN WOODRUFF, Asst. Features Editor

to the newspaper.

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

ARIANA IGNERI, Assoc. Arts & Review Editor JOHN WILEY, Asst. Arts & Review Editor RYAN TOWEY, Asst. Metro Editor ALEX GAYNOR, Asst. Photo Editor MAGGIE POWERS, Asst. Layout Editor JORDAN PENTALERI, Asst. Graphics Editor JULIE ORENSTEIN, Editorial Assistant

BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS

MARC FRANCIS, Business Manager AMY HACHIGIAN, Advertising Manager ADRIANA MARIELLA, Outreach Coordinator DONNY WANG, Systems Manager MUJTABA SYED, National Advertising Manager WILL LAMBERT, Account Manager CHRIS STADTLER, Account Manager ANDREW MILLETTE, Collections Manager ROSIE GONZALEZ, Project Coordinator

The Heights

Monday, October 7, 2013

A7

A lesson from the Silk Road

Matt Auker Fireworks - They are the closest we come in life to encountering magic.

Sure, somewhere in the back of our minds, we sort of understand the science behind it—or at least understand that the science behind it exists—but when we’re actually watching those colors explode out of nowhere in the sky, we all kind of think that we’re witnessing magic. That Gandalf is somewhere on the ground sending these unbelievable lights and sounds up into the air. Because how can those lights switch directions like that?

How can they make those shapes?

It’s simply impossible. Plus the most recent fireworks display that most of us witnessed took place the night before our football team surpassed their win count from last season in just their fifth game of the season.

And if that’s not a sign of magic, we don’t know what is.

It’s Saturday Night! - Inspired by Miley’s performance on Saturday night, we are going to Thumbs Up the institution of Saturday Night Live. Not because she was particularly great, because she really wasn’t anything special, but if the thing major celebrities do to save face in this country after being particularly offensive or stupid is going on a hilarious sketch comedy show, we’ve got to think that society is doing something right. It’s like this silent deal between a handful of the planets’ funniest people and every one of notable celebrity—if you f—ed up, all you have to do is spend a night with us, make our millions of viewers laugh, and everyone will get off your back. It’s a win win win.

Columbus Day Weekend - We’re a tad early, but we’re just excited. This is the last Monday you’ll have to spend in class for 13 days! Enjoy a welldeserved break, everyone, and get ready for the long stretch of typical two-day weekends that will take us all to Thanksgiving.

Rainy Daze - We’re sure that you all have noticed the recent precipitation.

We know that we recently gave October and fall in general a thumbs up for all the joy they bring with them in the shape of all things pumpkin and colored leaves, but we forgot about how much damn rain there was. The first few showers aren’t so bad—you can wear cozy clothes and snuggle up under a blanket to do your reading for class, which suddenly seems so pleasant and not a burden at all. But soon, you’ll realize what a hassle it is to go out on a rainy Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night, and how annoying it is to walk around campus when it’s pouring—especially if, in classic Boston fashion, it was sunny that morning and so of course you didn’t bring an umbrella or wear a raincoat.

If you don’t believe us, or count yourself among the silly people who always love rain, just wait until you slip on the Million Dollar Staircase.

Then you’ll see.

An Unusual Suspect - A grandma in upstate New York was recently discovered to be the crack kingpin of her neighborhood. This was astonishing to us because we always thought of drug-hustling as one of those professions that you inevitably eventually age out of, like modeling or professional football playing. One convention-defying 58-year-old by the name of Theresa Anderson has proved us wrong, however, and in doing so shattered the glass ceiling for aged drug dealers and opened doors for idle grandmothers everywhere.

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While the government shutdown dominated the media last week, another significant shutdown went relatively unnoticed: the seizure of the website Silk Road by U.S. law enforcement.

For anyone unaware, Silk Road was an anonymous online marketplace operating in a secure and hidden part of the web where everything from basic goods to illicit drugs could be bought and sold without potential traffic monitoring. Seventy percent of the products being sold on the site were drugs, with upwards of 340 varieties of illicit substances available to whoever felt secure enough to purchase them over the web. Essentially, a booming Internet black market for just about any drug you could think of.

Registering a username was free, but this is not to say that the website was without its rules. Only a certain number of vendors were ever allowed at one time, and potential sellers had to bid for a vendor account so as to prevent the malicious sale of polluted goods. The site also required the use of bitcoins, a pseudo-anonymous system of online currency, for all transactions.

Furthermore, the terms of service of the site prohibited the sale of “anything whose purpose is to harm or defraud,” including child pornography, stolen credit cards, assassinations, and other outwardly harmful material.

Various U.S. and international law enforcement agencies had been investigating the site since its inception in 2011. Ross William Ulbricht was eventually identified as the creator and owner of Silk Road and was arrested in San

Francisco last Tuesday after allegedly posting his Gmail address online, leading the FBI to his identity and whereabouts. The FBI also revealed Ulbricht had reached out to another Silk Road user to order a hit on a third user, who was threatening to release the identities of thousands of users of the site unless he received a payment of $500,000.

Cinematically perfect storyline aside, Silk Road provided a very interesting insight into the potential future of the drug trade, and what a free, legal marketplace for exchange of drugs might look like. The whole idea sounds insidious when you’re first confronted with it, but bear with me for a second.

I’m a firm believer in the idea that sensible adults should be allowed to do what they please with their own bodies provided it doesn’t lead to the harming of others.

People are going to do drugs—that’s the bottom line. Any sane, logical American has to acknowledge what a colossal failure the war on drugs has been.

To stop the use of something you have to regulate demand, not supply. But in the meantime while demand is still out there for drugs (and it is very, very high), think about which avenue of procuring them is better for society. Is it through direct, vendor-to-seller transactions in which both parties remain completely anonymous? Or is it through a system run by violent, murderous cartels that rip cities and even countries apart.

Testing on various products bought

by law enforcement was on average very high in terms of purity, meaning that in all likelihood most of the vendors were producers of the products themselves.

The only missing aspect of the usual drug trade was the middleman, at which stage any number of unsafe additives and substances can be added. Cutting out the middleman means cutting out the violence, robbery, and murder that comes with turf wars and other shady aspects of the illegal drug economy, and allows the consumer to know exactly what they are putting into their body.

Silk Road was a pure market-based supply and demand, where those selling their products stood to benefit the most for honest business practices.

While I personally knew little about the site until reading about its seizure by the FBI on Tuesday, I’m enthralled by the idea that something like this worked relatively well for so many users. I’m a firm believer in the idea that sensible adults should be allowed to do what they please with their own bodies provided it doesn’t lead to the harming of others. Despite what our generation has grown up being preached at in school and by our parents, there are responsible drug users out there, just as there are responsible alcohol drinkers.

And if something like the Silk Road can allow people to safely buy and sell these substances, I have a strong suspicion that it’s a better system than the alternative. Less money for gangs and cartels, reduced prison populations for inconsequentially small drug arrests, and virtually no violence.

There will almost certainly be another Silk Road in the near future. It won’t go by that name, but it will serve the same purpose, and I for one am excited about its possibilities.

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

Tell me how you really feel

Kwesi Aaron Last year, I couldn’t have dreamed of talking about race openly in a safe, civilized forum, with people from different walks of life. Now, I help run a forum called Dialogues On Race (DOR), in which we do just that. After two weeks, I can safely say that I’m impressed with the individuals with whom I have spoken. Their knowledge and empathy have greatly exceeded my expectations. As a co-facilitator for DOR, and a black male in America, part of my job has been to consider and ponder race relations both at Boston College and abroad. At BC, my peers are fairly progressive, and overall my experience has been great. I feel, however, there is not enough open talk about race, as if it’s not an important issue. I’ve been a witness to grand displays of outrage with respect to condom distribution, and who can and cannot be considered a “dude,” but our campus always seems to be disinclined to delve into this admittedly less juicy subject. I can’t speak for others, but while the undergraduates are nice, well-intentioned folk, I find myself experiencing plenty of microagressions and a few more explicit encounters. Unfortunately, the so-called “race card” is a double-edged sword: If I were ever to accuse someone of racism (a hard thing to pin down), I risk my credibility. Safely tucked away on a broadminded campus, these problems are relatively minimal, but outside of the BC Bubble, these issues persist with great effects.

Silence is characteristic of our 21st century race problem. Back in the day, race was in our face. No one could turn on the television or radio, walk the street, or do anything outside the house without race-specific designations enforcing segregation throughout

Bird Flew

the country. It was obvious that certain people were treated poorly, but the question was whether that was okay.

After our collective psyche decided it wasn’t okay, and racial progress sustained through the late 20th century, a shift occurred. Institutionalized racism became far more implicit. Sure, we all knew that there were some problems left over, but look at what strides we’ve made! If you’re smart enough and hard working enough you can make it here or anywhere. The evidence for the American dream can be found at the White House in the form of our melanin-rich president. Many would blame the continuous racial inequities on lack of effort on the part of minorities, or the “welfare state,” but fortunately we have an educated student body, too advanced to suffer from such delusions.

Ironically, one of the most pervasive downfalls with respect to improving our situation can be found in our education system. Most institutions from K-12 to top-tier universities like BC fail to do all they can in this regard. A big reason why so many people consider institutional racism to be a thing of the past is because schools have taught black history in a confined, staccato fashion. If I were to read my history books literally, they would say that black people were brought to America as slaves, freed by Lincoln, and then disappeared again until the Civil Rights Movement, where they defeated racism once and for all. Although I include BC as one of the perpetrators of these crimes against perspective, it is not because I feel that the institution as a whole is wanting, but that there is room to grow. I’ve had some of the most enlightening experiences examining the make up of the black American psyche put into historical context right in our very own classrooms on the hill. I’ve been exposed to black literature (even beyond Hansberry, Hughes, and Walker) and in just one year here my views have radically changed. This is only as a result, however, of interest and desire on my part. If I hadn’t sought to avoid the seemingly inevitable fate of a

Eurocentric education, I wouldn’t have come so far. Surely, BC could do more to promote the outstanding courses found tucked away in the African and African Diaspora department. Certainly, the cultural diversity requirement can be more than a formality. I can definitely imagine a school in which black American history is possibly contextualized as it relates to every aspect of American history as a whole, instead of confined and limited to a cold 28 days during spring semester.

We really need to change the way we talk about race to suit this new century context. One day, I was watching the O’Reilly Factor (yes, really) and I noticed something. Of course, being a longstanding advocate and critic of the black community, Bill gave us the hard-hitting facts about fatherlessness, crime, poverty, and education among black Americans. As I watched, I failed to identify with any of the facts being presented and realized that this information only served to further the illusion of black inferiority. Though sharing segregation inspired cultures complete with virtues and vices, black people in America possess the same level of uniqueness on the individual level as any other arbitrary group of people, and collecting statistics runs counter to that fact. Our difficult task is to reconcile individuality with a true cultural identity when examining where we’ve been and where we are going racially. We’ll have to manage our language and our discourse, but the first step is to have some. An average of about 25 people signed up for each DOR session, many seemingly reluctant to even look at our sign up table. On average maybe 10 show up to the meetings.

Consider this an open invitation, a call to action: let’s talk race. No matter what your views are, or how you think they would be perceived, know that there are places where you can express yourself and learn and grow with other people, myself included.

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

BY DOLAN BORTNER

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

A response to the confession Kristy Barnes I’m disgusted, I’m repulsed, I’m angry, and I’m 3,074 miles away.

I read Confession No. 7122 while procrastinating in the University of Edinburgh library. I was scrolling through Facebook, trying to keep in touch with friends back home, when BC Confessions suddenly appeared on my news feed. Interested in what seemed to be getting so much attention, I clicked the link. The piece was not easy to read, both for personal reasons and because I simply didn’t want to believe such a thing could happen at a place I once felt so safe. Furthermore, I lived in 66 last year, and as I processed the horrifying words on my computer screen, my mind rushed through the faces of the girls I saw every day. Was this done to one of my friends, to one of my hall mates, or to that sweet girl who always held the door open for me?

The following morning’s Heights article was a relief. Yet while I truly thank God that Confession No. 7122 did not actually transpire on BC’s campus, I know other versions of the story have. The truth is, this is something that hits home, not only for me, but also for you. The famous statistics say enough—one in four college-age women and three percent of college-age men are victims of rape. Let’s put this into a different perspective. Think back to your freshman hall. On average there are 50 students on each floor of BC freshman dorms, so statistically speaking, at least 12 girls and one boy on your floor has been raped.

In fact, it is almost impossible for you not to know someone on this campus who has been raped. Look up from your copy of the Monday Heights—look around, and do the math. This is real, and it’s on our campus.

The problem is many of us are simply unaware. We don’t know it happened to the girl two doors down, or the boy in your Appa group. The reality is, only 5 percent of victims report their rape after the attack and only 30 percent of rapes are ever reported. This, of course, is not the fault of the victim, but it is a reality that makes many put the issue on the back burner. We don’t hear about it, so it must never happen.

From this distance I feel helpless. I have no one to be outraged with, no one to discuss my feelings with, no healing event in which I can focus this energy. For the first time, I truly wish I was back at BC. When tragedy hits BC, the immediate support system and caring spirit of the student body fills the hole in one’s heart that has been created right back up. I applaud those who put together an event for the community and those who have written pieces on the matter. This will change BC, but hopefully for the better. Now that we are talking, more voices can be heard, more support systems can be created, and more victims can be healed. Once again, I thank the BC community—you have restored my faith in humanity.

It is clear this person was ignorant of the effects such a tragedy can have.

They do not understand depression and guilt—the dirty feeling that can never be washed away. They don’t understand the draining toll it takes on one’s soul, the constant fear it puts in place, the countless sleepless nights. As someone who has personally known victims who have suffered the consequences of an action that was not theirs, I can say with certainty this person has not.

Yet here is a chance to learn from the author’s ignorance. Through this person’s thoughtless act we have been given the opportunity to bring awareness to the topic, to really look at the affects and consequences. BC has already done a great job with the annual event Take Back the Night, but maybe there is more we can do and the only positive thing that comes from this is the opportunity to find out.

To the sick-minded person who wrote the confession, I hope you realize the severity and inappropriateness of your action. I hope you see and learn from the reaction of the members of the BC community that rape is not a topic to joke about—to be looked at lightly. To those who were just as disgusted with this outrageous and failed attempt at comedy as I was, I hope you take the time to think about seriousness of rape, because it is not an issue that should be placed on the back burner. I know it was a wake up call for me, even if I am an ocean away. Unfortunately rape and sexual assault are all around us, and it happens to the people we know and love. As a community, and as individuals, we must take action to prevent it. And finally, to those who have been victims, know that I, along with the rest of the BC community, have you in my heart.

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

The Heights

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Monday, October 7, 2013

‘Runner Runner’ finishes exhausted and out of breath

By Magdalena Lachowicz For The Heights

There is about a 4 percent chance of getting a runner-runner straight in Texas Hold ‘Em. There is also about a 4 percent chance Runner Runner is actually a good movie.

The movie does try to cover this up with fancy gambling jargon, but unfortunately Runner Runner: no amount of side tracking Brad Furman can distract Warner Bros. from this generic and uncreative mess. It’s not completely unentertaining—what the movie lacks in just about everything, it makes up for in just how bad it is.

Aptly-named Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) is a Princeton graduate student who possesses significant mathematical prowess as well as a hefty bill from the university. Unable to receive tuition assistance due to a lucrative, but now lost, job on Wall Street, Richie turns to steering his fellow classmates to specific online gambling sites, the money from which now funds his education. Ratted out by a peer, he is threatened with expulsion.

Figuring he has nothing left to lose, he

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takes his chances, pools all his money into a gambling site and tries to win his debt amount in one night—he ends up losing everything to a cheater, something he ends up statistically proving.

From here on the movie is just your typical movie plot: protagonist meets antagonist, he shows his usefulness, gets exploited but does not realize it until the end where he finally sees the error of his ways and does the right thing. The FBI makes an appearance to do some lawfully questionable “negotiating” with him but ends up getting their way through a countless string of second chances anyway. There is the main girl, who he gets through cheesy pick-up lines and feigned swagger, who serves only to look pretty and betray him in a key plot point which is then forgiven two seconds later. Insert a vast amount of plot holes, sprint runner pacing, and the perfect Hollywood ending to get the most stereotypical storyline the film industry could throw at you. Oh, and there is a terse familial relationship thrown in for good measure to make sure all bases are covered.

This is another factor of the movie’s downfall: it tries so hard to make it seem like it is edgy and ground-breaking when

it really isn’t. The cinematography is indeed breathtaking but uninspired as scenes are broken up with shots of beautiful tropical landscapes or cityscapes— nothing anyone has not seen before.

Only one scene is note-worthy, which is the party where Richie meets the main bad guy, Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). The filming captures the chaotic nature of the bacchanal through fast cuts of costumed patrons and brilliantly colored lights, but even here the film falters in an odd and unnecessarily long frontal shot of Richie walking through with all this going about him. It breaks the focus away from what could have been a visually well-executed scene.

With forgettable dialogue only kept in for moving the plot along and acting that makes bran cereal seem exciting, even those paid to be in the movie could do nothing with what was given to them.

The only actor having fun is Affleck, but this also fails as no one else is in on the joke. Block never registers as remotely menacing even when throwing rivals into crocodile infested waters. Moments meant to be serious or tense either fell flat or are laughable from the sheer exertion put forth by the actors. Anthony

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake star in generic, unexciting gambling movie, ‘Runner Runner.’

Mackie plays the morally ambivalent FBI agent who is seemingly supposed to be a major character but only serves as comic relief—otherwise, his role has no purpose besides being an inconvenient speed bump. Gemma Arterton as Rebecca (or the only-once-named love interest) does a good job standing around looking beautiful and Timberlake does what he does best: look fresh-faced, bright-eyed,

and be overly naive about even the most obvious of plot twists.

However bad and stereotypical the movie is, there is something to salvage here: it is entertaining albeit excessively mindless. Laughably executed though it may be, at least it has that comical factor going for it—even if that was not what it intended. Just don’t go all in for this one. n

‘Gravity’ is a thrilling space odyssey

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Box office report title

weekend gross weeks in release

1. Gravity

55.6

1

2. Cloudy With a Chance of meatballs 2

21.5

2

3. Runner Runner

7.6

1

4. Prisoners

5.7

3

5. Rush

4.4

3

6. Don Jon

4.2

2

7. Baggage Claim

4.1

2

8. Insidious Chapter 2

3.9

4

9. pulling Strings

2.5

1

10. Enough Said

2.2

3

photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Cuaron’s thriller ‘Gravity’ stuns with its captivating special effects, impressive acting performances, and powerful message.

By James Hennelly For The Heights In space, “there is nothing to carry sound.

No air pressure. No oxygen. Life is impossible.” So reads the opening screen of Alfonso Cuaron’s new thriller, Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. With this ominous proclamation in mind, Gravity is one of the most aesthetically astounding films of recent memory, a testament to the marGravity: vels of outer Alfonso Cuaron space and an Warner Bros. affirmation of the muchmaligned 3-D medium in Hollywood.

Cuaron, along with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and visual effects supervisor Tim Webber, have collaborated to create a backdrop that astounds with its simplicity, sheer immensity, and indescribable beauty.

Planet Earth becomes a character unto itself. These aesthetics function not only to hold the viewer’s interest during interludes of little activity (at a brisk running time of 91 minutes, these interludes certainly are brief ) but also force each audience member to consider his or her place in the universe.

Therein lies the heart of this movie: Gravity is as much about outer space as it is a movie of self-discovery, a journey, alone, into the abyss to find an answer to the question, “What gets me out of bed every day?”

The plot of this film is straightforward: Sandra Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a biomedical engineer embarking on her first

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space shuttle mission aboard the Explorer.

Though technically proficient and an expert in her craft, Stone lacks the experience of someone like the Explorer’s commanding officer, the quick-witted Matthew Kowalski (George Clooney), piloting the final expedition of his career. Despite possessing an abundance of entertaining anecdotes, Kowalski evidently doesn’t believe in jinxes as he continually utters that dreaded phrase, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Sure enough, Kowalski’s karmic “faux pas” doesn’t go unnoticed as mission control (“Houston”) abruptly aborts their mission due to debris from an exploded Russian satellite headed directly for their ship. Unable to wrap up their work and reach the vessel before impact from the debris, Stone becomes dislodged from the ship and sent whirling into the dark nothingness of the Milky Way. What follows is the classic story of a displaced hero journeying home (think The Odyssey, with home being a Chinese space station that possesses the last escape pod in the universe).

The special effects of this movie, undoubtedly its greatest strength, were also the reason the film nearly wasn’t made.

Cuaron, Lubezki, and Webber set out with a vision for Gravity that couldn’t be realized through traditional film-making methods.

After four years in limbo, James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) finally paved the way for the CGI techniques the trio decided to implement. Incredibly, for each space-walking scene, Webber reveals, “We decided to shoot [the actors’] faces and create everything else

digitally, which was quite a difficult decision.” The problem which arises becomes one of lighting: after filming, they had to go back and appropriately light both Clooney and Bullock’s faces to match the all-digital environment into which they had been thrust, accounting for the position of the sun and Earth in the scene and the effects that had on lighting. Tedious as that was, the finished product is worth the effort. The image of Clooney, in a space suit, set against a backdrop of the Ganges River, evokes a visceral response as one not only feels but sees the insignificance of man in the grand scheme of the universe.

The actors behind these digitally-lighted faces deserve praise. Bullock delivers a career-defining performance, eclipsing even her Oscar-winning role in 2010’s The Blind Side. Her face conveys earnestness rooted in the loss of her four-year-old daughter back home in Illinois. She deftly expresses sheer terror, a surprisingly difficult emotion to act believably, and her Ryan Stone is a wholly likeable protagonist. Clooney is cast perfectly as a sage veteran of space who imparts wisdom in a stern, fatherly manner. Their chemistry proves yet another bright spot in a movie full of them, stars notwithstanding.

Gravity grips you from the onset with its special effects, and Clooney and Bullock ensure that you will remain emotionally invested for every second of the 91 minutes.

Delivering a message as powerful as the movie itself is visually stunning, Gravity is perhaps the best film of this year. n

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5 photos courtesy of Google IMAGES

bestsellers of hardcover fiction 1. Doctor Sleep Stephen King 2. The Longest ride Nicholas Sparks 3. The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri 4. The Quest Nelson DeMille 5. Never Go Back Lee Child

6. W Is For Wasted Sue Grafton 7. Deadline Sandra Brown 8. Thankless In Death J.D. Robb 9. The Final Cut Catherine Coulter & J.T. Ellison SOURCE: The New York Times

Gripping ‘Parkland’ shows ripple effects of Kennedy assassination

By Bridget Galvin For The Heights

After 50 years, the story of President Kennedy’s assassination has finally dramatized into a film. The focus of Parkland, however, is not just on the president and Jackie Kennedy, but on people who were intimately involved in Parkland: the disasPeter Landesman ter and are often overAmerican Film looked.

Company Not only does screenwriter and director Peter Landesman create an ominous tale of one of the greatest national disasters to hit the U.S., but he shows how many unseen people, not just the victims, have been affected by tragedy both in the past and in the present.

Landesman knows how to frustrate the audience with dramatic irony easily. The story starts as a normal day in Dallas, Texas.

Business is as usual and there is a calm, uncaring feeling about the day. The president is in town, but everyone is lax, even the FBI in Texas. They go on lunch break and are told to enjoy the parade with everyone else.

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The resident doctor at Parkland Hospital, Dr. Charles “Jim” Carrico, played by Zac Efron, is not even in his scrubs, but wearing a stark white shirt and tie smoking a butt before his shift starts, since the surgeons and supervisors are upstairs talking together, on break.

Gleeful businessman Abraham Zapruder, played by Paul Giamatti, ecstatically waits outside to take a film reel of the motorcade with his camera. The hospital switchboard operators are barely paying attention, and people watch on the streets. The only thing that seems alarming is the ominous, climactic music in the background. The viewers are on edge waiting for the responses of the people, waiting for the actions and wondering, “why is no one alarmed? Why don’t they know?” This scene, however, is a realistic picture of most disasters. Most people are not looking for disaster when it happens, and do not know until it is too late.

As disaster finally ensues, the stories unravel. Vice President Lynden B. Johnson is escorted into the building for protection.

Jackie Kennedy clings to her husband, while the secret service agents, including Roy Kellerman (Tom Welling), carry him inside. The shocked Carrico and nurses try to save the

president while waiting for another doctor to come. Blood flies onto the white medical uniforms while Jackie stands outside the room, holding brain matter in her hands.

Tensions are high and as this is happening, Zapruder, who caught the killing on tape, is taken by secret service agent Forest Sorrels to make copies of the film while the media tries to get their hands on it.

The public watches and among them is Robert Oswald (James Badge Dale). What’s worse is that a suspect’s name is said on the news and his co-workers ask him, “Isn’t that your brother?” Landesman not only focuses on the secret service agents, but on the Oswald family. Robert faces hostility from the police and has to face his mother, who believes that Lee is a hero secret agent for his country. You also see the killer himself, Lee, talk to his brother with an uncaring demeanor. The movie focuses on a perspective not often seen in the films. You really feel sorry for this man whose name is now put to shame forever.

Back at the FBI headquarters, the agents realize that they had screwed up. Lee Harvey Oswald had been tracked for months and had even stopped by the office threatening

to shoot an officer. They could have arrested him for that, and stopped the entire day from happening. Instead, at the end of the day they did nothing but burn the evidence.

The only off point of the film is the lack of crowds and public chaos in the streets and in the hospital. The movie almost seems choppy with its use of clips, and the

confused tone of some parts. In 93 minutes, however, this movie dramatizes the entire story of America’s great loss of national innocence. Streaming between vintage clips, radio, clippings, and live acting, the movie lingers with the regrets of the past and shows how many lives were changed with the one shot of a gun. n

photo Courtesy of The AMerican Film Company

‘Parkland’ dramatizes the tragedy of JFK’s assassination, as well as its influence on America.

The Heights

Monday, October 7, 2013

A9

ZZ Ward headlines show at Paradise Rock Club ZZ Ward, from A10 quickly, Bay called up the next act, The Wild Feathers. The Feathers’ mixture of fast-paced Southern rock and bluesy ballads provided more than enough musical range for every member of the audience to get something they enjoyed. About half way through the set they called Bay back up to the stage to play The Band’s folk classic, “The Weight.” It was almost haunting how vividly their rendition took the audience back to the era of that song’s invention. They closed their set with their new single, “The Ceiling”—a harmony-driven Southern rock song with three different lead singers all trading off lines throughout. The high-tempo closer was a great way to get the crowd fired up for the night’s headliner.

After a solid hour and a half of fantastic music from the two opening acts, the lights dimmed and the crowd, which had grown to fill the Paradise, pushed toward the stage in anticipation. Soon three men and one woman walked out onto the stage, picked up their instruments, quickly greeted the crowd, and kicked off. ZZ Ward is known for her neoblues sound with a kind of hip-hop twist to it. Her music ranges from covers of old blues standards like Son House’s “Grinnin’” to her own “Cryin’ Wolf,” which features rapper Kendrick Lamar. Her backup band is made up of some of the more talented players in mainstream music today including a prolific guitarist who graduated from Boston’s own Berklee College of Music. Ward is following in the tradition of modern female soul sing-

ers like Amy Winehouse, in that she employs elements of classic blues with modern pop to form a new alternative sound. Ward’s voice fits her music perfectly, giving it a sort of credibility. When she sings the blues it can be deep and tough, when she sings about love it can be fragile and soft, and when she sings about being wronged it can get powerful. The range she displays on stage gives her the ability to sing whatever she wants and the audience will believe her.

There were a lot of similarities in the three acts, making them logical touring partners. First off, the blues was a common theme throughout the night. Every act had flair about them that you can find in your parents’ old vinyl collection. The second glaring similarity is that they all seemed to have a great time on stage, particularly ZZ. Her style of music had the highest energy and she interacted with the crowd between every song. Any time a musician is up on stage and visibly having fun and feeding off of the crowd’s energy, you can guarantee that show will be a success, and Ward’s show on Tuesday was no exception.

Bay, Ward, and The Wild Feathers put on an absolutely breathtaking show, giving the audience an array of sound that both calmed people down and got people dancing.

The music was fresh and different all while holding on to its roots in the classic rock and soul from decades ago. The Paradise was a great place for them to start in Boston, but we can expect only bigger venues from them in the future. n

‘Sightings’ art show explores sinister themes ‘Sightings,’ from A10 Center and Old School at Voltage Coffee & Art. This year’s theme was especially exciting for the Harmonix artists. “Cryptozoology gave the artist unlimited creative freedom,” Murrill said. “This has to be the dorkiest, most awesome part of anyone’s imagination—when you lo ok up at the night sk y and wonder what’s up there, and you get chill bumps.” Cryptozoology’s ability to haunt and inspire made it the ideal theme for Sightings at Fourth Wall.

The show features a total of 42 pieces by 36 artists, all of whom created works to fit, at least loosely, into this cryptozoology theme. There’s a sculpture of a savage, hybrid fish, with yellow fangs and beady, orange eyes.

There’s a sketch of a baby yeti with light blue toes and a pudgy, white fur belly. There’s even a wooden carving of a crazed looking squirrel. The exhibit as a whole is diverse—each piece represents the idiosyncratic interests of its artist, in terms of its medium as well as its subject.

Murrill’s piece, for example, is an 18 by 24-inch watercolor of the Kraken, a vicious, squid-like creature of the ocean. “King Kraken” depicts the mystical sea beast wearing a crown, clutching a poor, lost ship in its long tentacles. Murrill uses soft pastel hues and smooth, watercolor strokes to produce an interesting tension between the painting’s medium and the intense nature of its subject—the juxtaposition is captivating.

Other Harmonix artists with works displayed in Sightings include Lauren Saint-Onge and Mitch Fletcher. SaintOnge’s piece is titled “The Exchange.”

In a painterly and realistic style, she

merges the folklore of the Native American Wendigo with the notorious lore of the Donner Party, a real-life, 81person, American pioneer wagon that found itself trapped in the blizzards of Sierra, Nev. in 1846. Saint-Onge portrays the horned Wendigo clad in black, kneeling in the snow, observing the destruction around it. Horses lie dead on the cold ground near some of the travelers’ ravaged belongings. The illustration links history and myth, fact and fiction, to create something horrific. It’s dismal and evocative, contributing to the main take away of the piece, which is, according to Saint-Onge, “that we contribute to the existence of our own monsters.”

Character artist Mitch Fletcher works for Harmonix as well—his work also appears in Sightings. Fletcher defines his style as being “pretty dark and brutal … it’s usually angry, rotting, and evil.” And his piece definitely fits this explanation—he describes it best, “It’s a digital painting of a skeleton necromancer,” he said, “ensorceling his horde of undead, giant rats with an enchanted, severed head.” Exploring ideas of life and death, Fletcher’s work really gets at the core of the cryptozoology theme with its disturbing focus. He explains that even though the subject in it may be dead, his piece is very much alive and new.

With its extensive display of giant sasquatches, flaming devils, and slimy octowhales, Sightings is the kind of exhibit that forces you to question the realities you so long held certain—it sends a shiver down your spine, it makes your hair stand on end, and it trains you to listen for the things that go bump in the night. It may even make you check under your bed for monsters. n

photo courtesy of susan michalczyk

Susan and John Michalczyk (above), both Boston College professors, are the co-producers of the new film ‘Who Takes Away the Sins.’

Michalczyk film looks at clergy crisis Michalczyks, from A10 nor does it need to be. The horrific stories of the survivors and the legacy of pain written on their faces need no adornment.

At the same time, the Michalczyks’ film expands from witness testimonies to explain the scandal’s larger context. Walter Robinson, a reporter for The Boston Globe who covered everything from contentious political battles to the Gulf War, says that it was the toughest story he ever had to cover.

Mitchell Garabedian, the attorney who filed hundreds of lawsuits against the Church, explains his ongoing battle to change the statue of limitation laws to hold the Church accountable. Advocates like Paul Kellen and Anne Barrett Doyle describe their efforts to launch organizations to get information about abuse cases out to churchgoers and hold bishops accountable.

In this sense, Who Takes Away the Sins has a silver lining amid all the gloom, showing how advocates are working tirelessly for accountability. The panel discussion that

followed the screening on Saturday afternoon brought this fight into the spotlight.

Several of the film’s subjects were present, including survivors like Sypek and Kellen who have now devoted their lives to fighting for the cause. In response to a question about the road to recovery, Sypek said, “My road to recovery is actually working with other victims and working to get all this information out.”

Doyle and Garabedian, meanwhile, stressed the legal barriers to action against the Church. A bill currently in the Massachusetts State House would abolish the statue of limitations on child sex crimes, a key action that would allow more victims to file suit. But it has remained stuck in committee, and the panel’s speakers urged the audience to call House Speaker Robert DeLeo to pass the bill.

The film has certainly become a passion project for the Michalczyks. John Michalczyk has amassed an extensive filmography of documentaries themed around social justice, taking on subjects like the Berlin Wall

and the Sicilian mafia—two films on which his wife Susan collaborated extensively. The idea for Who Takes Away the Sins came from her, too: after hearing abuse survivor and advocate Robert Hoatson on the radio, she pitched the idea to her husband.

The project has taken on a life beyond one film, as the Michalczyks are currently at work on a follow-up documentary to premiere in the spring. “We’re doing one on the matters of conscience of those priests and nuns who spoke out about abuse,” John Michalczyk said. Such voices, he explained, suffered severe career repercussions for daring to question the Catholic hierarchy, and their stories have been largely unheard until now.

For Susan Michalczyk, giving an outlet to those voices is a matter of education, and it’s a lesson that poses a fundamental challenge to the audience. “John and I, we believe strongly in education, it’s what we do, it’s who we are,” she said. “People need to know, we can’t tolerate bystanders. And once people know, they have a choice: do they want to do something or just let it go.” n

john wiley / heights editor

The Eric Hofbauer Quintet channeled jazz influences into an interpretation of Stravinsky in their performance in Gasson on Wednesday.

Hofbauer quintet plays postmodern jazz Prehistoric Jazz, from A10 scattered listeners lean in, as if the Earth is whispering to them a rare secret.

Prehistoric Jazz: The Rite of Spring and 100 Years of Revolution was the genius of Eric Hofbauer, professor of jazz at Emerson College and the University of Rhode Island. A postmodern reconstruction of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, the improv performance incorporated 100 years of jazz’s rhythmic and harmonic develops into the iconic tonal masterpiece.

Popular modes of jazz, including dixieland, modern jazz, bebop, and jazz ballad were aggregated piecewise into the ballet.

Rite of Spring was inspired by pagan ritual, evoking the noises and subtle melodic energies of nature. Hofbauer found jazz similarly interested in this musical tradition. He created a conversation between Stravinsky’s work and the period nuance of jazz. The title Prehistoric Jazz was a statement on the Eric Hofbauer Quintet’s disinterest in time—and more specifically stylistic eras—as a musical constraint.

In accord with the pagan tradition, Wednesday’s performance was alive to the chaos of nature, and made few impositions of order onto that chaos. Its atmosphere was near devoid of the assumed conventions of musical theory.

The Eric Hofbauer Quintet included Junko Fujiwara—a cello performance coach from

BC’s musical department—on cello, Hofbauer himself on electric guitar, Todd Brunel on clarinet, Jerry Babatini on trumpet, and Curt Newton on drums. These five performers are all notably involved in the academic circuit of jazz, and celebrated performers in their own right.

A deep technical background in jazz theory seems the requisite in the performance of these postmodern pieces—that is to say, the rules need be well internalized before broken in the musical world. This qualification to the chaos of Prehistoric Jazz implies that the creation of “organic” sound requires a supreme level of fabrication from a musician. This is to say musicality presupposes chaos—built into chaos is all that we understand as order.

Prehistoric Jazz sought to recalibrate the ear—to unteach what it found pleasurable and acquaint it with the character of discomfort. This brand of improvised jazz offered itself as a proud counterpoint to the conventional, formulaic condition of music.

More gracefully established and musically processed sound can often find itself stinted in emotional appeal.

Imagine yourself furiously angry with someone. You are handed a piece of paper, and are told to write a sentence expressing that anger—the sentence must be a specific count of words, and the words must be chosen from a shortlist of “angry” words also given to you. Furthering these impositions, the

sentence must be in meter, and abide by a very particular rhyme scheme. Upon completion, your sentence is handed off to a professional reader, who takes it upon himself to interpret what you might have been feeling and communicate it to the person you are mad at.

Imagine a second scenario—you are furiously angry with someone, and are told to articulate this anger the way you see fit. So you might start screaming, or throwing items at the person. You can still use that shortlist of angry words or adopted any of the given rules, but on your own terms. You are the agent of your emotion.

This was the model for Hofbauer’s work— the crowd was the object of that unhinged emotion. The art supposed an extraordinary intelligence in its audience, and intelligibility in its performer.

Prehistoric Jazz concluded in an unnerved, exhausted state. With a few odd plucks of electric guitar, and a quick sting of sound, the performers returned silence to the room, holding their instruments still for a moment before releasing them, seemingly suspending time. Nearly two minutes of applause followed the performance, as if the marginally sized crowd wanted to present itself larger to the artists.

Then, as mysteriously as it began, it ended.

The crowd left largely in excited silence, with them a secret that they weren’t sure yet how to share. n

Is Justin Timberlake wearing out his pop cultural welcome?

Ryan Dowd For a minute, he had it all. He was the embodiment of pop music to an entire generation, a movie star, the premier host of SNL, and had married Jessica Biel, for heaven’s sake. Such was the life of Justin Timberlake. He was the center of pop culture, but now he’s somewhere on the outside looking in.

Last Tuesday Timberlake released The 20/20 Experience —2 of 2. The second part of Timberlake’s pop epic received mostly middling reviews. It’s a fine album. It may not redefine the genre like FutureSex/LoveSounds, but Experience remains a tasteful, albeit sometimes indulgent, pop album.

Timberlake could make this sort of album every two years, rake in some serious cash, and still be considered the greatest pop artist of his generation.

This past weekend, Timberlake’s most recent staring vehicle Runner Runner

premiered. While I have not seen the movie (I’m unfortunately allergic to movies that score less than 10 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), Runner Runner was promptly swatted like the feeble thriller it is by Alfonso Cuaron’s space drama Gravity, which rocketed to a $55.6 million opening. With Experience and Runner Runner, Timberlake could have dominated these past few weeks. I’m sure that was the strategy. But he hasn’t. One could even say Timberlake has fizzled these past few weeks. While Experience affirmed that Timberlake is indeed still a music star, it also begged the question if Timberlake is still at the vanguard of pop music. Runner Runner took the fizzling to another level.

Was Justin Timberlake ever a movie star to begin with?

After the smash success of FutureSex/ LoveSounds, Timberlake took a break from music to pursue his burgeoning film career.

It got off to a less than stellar start with a role in Mike Myers’s The Love Guru. If you don’t know or remember The Love Guru, make

sure it stays that way. Thankfully, for Justin’s and our sake, things got better. Timberlake won a supporting role in David Fincher’s The Social Network, the best movie of 2010.

Timberlake played the founder of Napster, Sean Parker, and delivered the pivotal line, “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.” The Social Network is Timberlake at his best as an actor. It was a light role that allowed him to channel his innate charisma with one-liners from the pen of Aaron Sorkin.

After the success of The Social Network, Timberlake earned starring roles in the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits and the sci-fi thriller In Time. And thankfully (for the validation of this column) I have seen both movies. Friends with Benefits was mildly successful. Timberlake and Mila Kunis have a fun chemistry that carries the film along the predictable points of the romantic narrative. In Time, though, could never get off its feet, and Timberlake snarls his way through much of the film. Both In

Time and Runner Runner suffer from the same plight of misuse. It’s just not that fun to watch Timberlake on a serious note. That’s just not how his charisma plays. Timberlake, as an actor, thrives in lightness. Timberlake is perhaps the most charismatic performer on the face of the planet, but he doesn’t have “movie star” charisma. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, the stars of Gravity, have “movie star” charisma. Gravity is a film carried solely by the faces and voices of its stars, and it made nearly $50 million. It’s not that Timberlake is not a capable actor, just a limited one. I’m sure Timberlake could make an admirable country or alternative record, but it’s not the best use of his musical talents.

Similarly, self-serious roles are not the best use of Timberlake’s acting talents.

So Timberlake is not the movie star we thought he might be. He’s still the center of pop music, right? Well, while he was building his acting career, a couple things happened in the music industry. Dubstep happened. Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark

Twisted Fantasy happened. Lana Del Rey happened. Daft Punk happened. The world of pop music that Timberlake and producer Timbaland reentered in 2012 was different than the one they had defined back in 2006. The 20/20 Experience is a good album, but it has not defined pop music the way Timberlake’s earlier work did. We can see it in up-and-comer Lorde. Lorde’s Pure Heroine doesn’t sound like The 20/20 Experience.

It sounds like Lana Del Rey. Avicii doesn’t sound like The 20/20 Experience. Nothing sounds like The 20/20 Experience. So either Timberlake is so ahead of his contemporaries his sound can’t be duplicated, or Timberlake is simply not a fabric of pop music anymore. I’ll go with the latter.

As long as Timberlake is breathing and friends with Jimmy Fallon, he’ll be a part of pop culture. He’s just no longer the nucleus.

Ryan Dowd is a staff writer for The Heights. He can be reached at arts@ bcheights.com.

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THE FINER THINGS

The old is new again ARIANA IGNERI

I like old things. Old music. Old movies. Old pictures. Old houses. And even old people. I like that they’ve been around so long—I like the fact that they have a past, that they have a story. Maybe I’m being nostalgic, overly retrospective, and sentimental. Maybe this is, in some way, a sign that I’m a bit more hipster than I’d ever care to admit. Or maybe I spent more time hanging around with my grandparents when I was younger than was good for a little girl growing up in contemporary society.

Honestly, I don’t know how I came to like all of these old things, but over the years, I’ve put together a pretty vast collection of them—odds and ends, tangible relics of a lost but not forgotten yesterday.

Some of them—an oil painting, a crystal vase, and an antique edition of Emily Dickinson poems—I proudly have on display in my room. Others, like the black and white photos of my pop and his jazz band—I keep tucked away in a cardboard box on a closet shelf. It’s like having a material catalogue of memories stored away and easily accessible. I just love how real old things are.

I don’t feel the same way about most new things. It seems as if a lot of things today are becoming less and less physical, especially in the arts world.

Just think about the history of music consumption through the last century.

Though they were invented earlier on, vinyl was the most popular method to play back music in the 1950s. A decade or two later, the audiocassette took over the music market, and when the CD hit stores in the mid ’80s, these tapes gradually became irrelevant too. It was the introduction and rapid commercialization of the Apple iPod at the beginning of the 2000s, however, that made the most significant impact on the industry—songs became increasingly digitized. People no longer had to drive to the store to pick up a hard copy of a musician’s latest album. They could just download an identical, but completely invisible, version of it using the Internet instead.

So, there you have it: time has made recorded music less material, to the point where we can’t even see or touch it. This isn’t a criticism of progress, though—it’s merely an observation, because, in truth, I find Spotify as convenient as any other person. I even stopped adding tracks to my computer’s iTunes, since online streaming is so easy. What’s worse, though, is that I don’t have, nor have I ever had, a library of vintage records, despite my claim that I like old things.

(Maybe I’m not that hipster after all.)

Not surprisingly, you can trace the development of movies and books, drawing analogous conclusions, in the exact same way as with music. For movies: reels of film led to VHSs, DVDs, Blu-rays, and eventually to on-demand options like Netflix. And for books, well, now there’s the eBook—a massless, weightless, and paperless version of your favorite novel for your Kindle, Nook, or iPad. With an eBook, there’s no broken-in binding, no pen-marked margins, and no timeworn pages. Maybe it’s just me, but these are all of the things I like best about books, particularly about old ones. I like how sensory the experience is.

You can’t bring back the past, and you can’t fight the future. I’m not sure how generations after me are going to think about old things, because the very things that are new to us now, won’t be for them.

And since everything today is digital, I’m not sure how they’ll pack them away and save them. I’m not sure if they’ll even want to. Maybe the only physical remnants of the past that’ll remain are the ones that I keep—maybe someone else someday will want to treasure the stories attached to my old things, to my old videos, CDs, and photos. Or maybe they’ll find a way to cherish their own stories. I don’t know—I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Ariana Igneri is the Associate Arts & Review editor of The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

Michalczyk film bears witness to abuse scandal

BY SEAN KEELEY

Arts & Review Editor “The past is never the past because it’s your past, your present, and your future,” said Alexa MacPherson about halfway through the documentary Who Takes Away the Sins…: Witnesses to Clergy Abuse. “It becomes you, it defines who you are.”

Those words echoed through the Museum of Fine Art’s Remis Auditiorium this weekend, as Who Takes Away the Sins screened there on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The film, co-produced by husband and wife team and Boston College professors John and Susan Michalczyk, is an attempt to bear witness to a very ugly and disturbing past indeed: the history of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal, which drew

headlines across the world in 2002. Focusing locally around the Archdiocese of Boston, where the scandal first broke, Who Takes Away The Sins includes a broad assortment of testimonies from survivors, advocates, an investigative reporter, a concerned clergy member, and the attorney who represented many of the Church’s victims. The result is an impassioned and moving film that integrates a diversity of viewpoints into its inescapable conclusion: that the Church knowingly covered for abusive priests and hushed up their crimes to protect its reputation.

As the Church has refused to reckon with its past, the victims have struggled to move on from their childhood traumas. While the details of each victim’s testimony are unique, the general story is familiar. Survivors tell of growing up in an environment that revered

the Catholic Church and made questioning its authority unthinkable. Many of their abusers ingratiated themselves into their family lives thanks to their status as priests.

MacPherson explains that most of her abuse happened in her family home, with her parents 10 feet away in some other room. David Carney recalls being betrayed by a priest who mentored him at school and drove him home. Gerald Sypek was repeatedly abused while growing up in a Catholic orphanage.

He explains that his abuse has inhibited him from trusting people or forming close relationships.

Who Takes Away the Sins is all the more powerful for letting these stories speak for themselves. It is not a flashy film stylistically,

See Michalczyks, A9

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN MICHALCZYK

Clergy abuse survivor Helen McGonigle shows a photo of herself as a young girl.

JAZZING UP STRAVINSKY The Eric Hofbauer Quintet re-interprets ‘Rite of Spring’

BY JOHN WILEY Asst. Arts & Review Editor The sun had set already over the October-shaded Linden Lane, and a stillness was cast over the Heights. The occasion was clandestine—the five musicians, assembled in the Irish Room, exchanged quick glances, and a few odd smiles as they prepared their instruments. The small crowd—no greater than 30—gathered for the performance stirred slightly, whispering among themselves, rustling pages of notes, occasionally scanning the room.

The damning call of the clarinet buzzed like a distant foghorn, sending its harsh cry into a sea of empty chairs, as if begging for a listener, perhaps even a partner to share in its incoherent ramblings.

The rich, dissonant howl of trumpet fronts the lonely clarinet, creating a disparate, unwieldy cacophony. The swell and respective degeneration of the trumpet creates a pulse, like waves to a shore—the harsh texture dissolves in time. Silence.

A new character emerged from the quiet—a delirious cello. Feverishly sliding through pitches, the unhinged string vibrates indifferently, finding little purpose in its wanderings. An uneven shower of plucks of electric guitar drizzles over the wayward cello, as a brushing texture of metallic rattles frames the insanity. The room is manic. The

See Prehistoric Jazz, A9

Prehistoric Jazz WHO: Eric Hofbauer Quintet WHEN: Wednesday Oct. 2, 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Gasson 100 WHAT: lgor Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ re-imagined in a jazz context

JOHN WILEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

ZZ Ward and The Wild Feathers come to Boston Upcoming stars rock an intimate club show

BY RYAN SCHMITZ Heights Staff

The Paradise Rock Club is always a great venue for new, up-and-coming artists.

The fairly small club allows for an intimate show, giving the band and the audience plenty of opportunities for interaction. Given all that and the location in one of America’s premiere college towns, any band would be smart to make it a stop on their tour. Well, whoever was planning ZZ Ward’s first headlining tour had this in mind, booking the soulful Oregon songstress for a Tuesday night show. Coming along with her were the two opening acts, a British singer-songwriter on his first American tour, and The Wild Feathers, a Southern Rock group out of Austin, Texas with an authentically classic sound. Put all these talented artists under the roof of the Paradise with an excited Boston audience and you have the recipe for an excellent show.

On Oct. 2 the doors officially

opened at 6:30 p.m., but no one would take the stage until 7:30 p.m. The 18-andup crowd would be forced to stand in eager anticipation and passive aggressively push toward the stage to get as close as they could. Finally, the lights dimmed and out walked a tall, longhaired man who quickly picked up one of his two beautiful guitars and began to play. James Bay is a Londoner who has picked up enough momentum to cross the Atlantic and try his luck in America. Bay’s soulful voice and melodic solo guitar provided enough sound to convince anyone that there was a full band playing behind him. No other instruments or vocalists were needed—this barebones act was chilling in its beauty. One of Bay’s most stand out songs, “Move Together,” was a nostalgic love song with a deep yearning that had the audience silently swaying with the strums of his guitar.

After a set that came and went too

See ZZ Ward, A9

PHOTO COURTESY OF JULIA SWANSON

The ‘Sightings’ art exhibit explores the theme of cryptozoology at The Fourth Wall Project.

‘Sightings’ exhibit displays otherworldly cryptozoology art

BY ARIANA IGNERI Assoc. Arts & Review Editor Brookline Avenue’s Fourth Wall Project, an outlet for contemporary artists from the local community, consistently hosts some of the most groundbreaking, unconventional exhibits found in Boston.

The gallery’s most recent display is titled Sightings: A Cryptozoology Group Show.

Exploring the realm of the pseudoscientific, Sightings utilizes legendary, mythic animals like the Loch Ness monster and Big Foot as artistic subjects. The resulting exhibit is one that leaves the viewer both afraid and fascinated.

Sightings was funded by Harmonix, the

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHAPMAN BAEHLER

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Is Timberlake running out of steam?

JT is in the pop culture spotlight, but perhaps he’s giving us too much of a good thing..................A9

Gravity defies all expectations

Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi materpiece is a contender for movie of the year......................................A8

Cambridge-based video game company responsible for the blockbuster franchises Rock Band and Dance Central. Curated and organized by Harmonix administrative assistant Skye Murrill, Sightings is an annual event that follows a different theme each year. It allows the employees of Harmonix to explore interest-specific creative avenues that they are unable to while designing graphics for the corporation. Murrill forms a committee to collaborate various themes for the exhibit, eventually selecting a favorite idea with the rest of the department. Even in its third year, Sightings is still fresh and captivating—its past shows include undo at the Lincoln Art

See ‘Sightings,’ A9

Bestsellers...............................A8 Box Office Report........................A8

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No. 2 BC cruises past Maine in opener

BY MARLY MORGUS Asst. Sports Editor

EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS STAFF

BC dominated at home to kick off the 2013-14 season with a 5-1 win over the Black Bears.

The Boston College women’s hockey team lived up to its early preseason rankings in its home opener on Sunday against the University of Maine. In the Hockey East matchup, the Black Bears tested the Eagles, but not enough to shake up the BC offense that dominated the day with a 5-1 victory.

“Conference games have another amount of importance so it was good to get that one under our belt. We knew going in it was Hockey East and right

BOSTON COLLEGE 48

away, here we go,” said head coach Katie King Crowley. “They’re a team that I think has improved since last year and it gave us a little bit of pressure at times but I thought our kids did a good job.”

The first period started out strong for the Eagles. For the first half of the period, they dominated puck possession and put steady pressure on the Maine defense. The Eagles quickly jumped ahead in the shot count 7-3, then on the eighth shot of the game their efforts paid off as freshman Andie Ansastos scored her first collegiate goal with just under six minutes elapsed in the first

frame of play.

It wasn’t until late in the period that the Black Bears showed signs of life on offense, managing to send off more shots and spend more time in the offensive zone, but their efforts were not enough to get a puck past senior goalie Corinne Boyles.

Despite Maine’s added efforts on offense, the Eagles’ persistence paid off and it was in the midst of this slight shift in the balance that the team tallied its second score of the day, this time com-

See Women’s Hockey, B4

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POSSESSED GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Andre Williams exorcised his demons from last year’s Army game in a record-setting performance

BY AUSTIN TEDESCO Sports Editor A year before 263, there was seven—a seven that has been lingering in Andre Williams’ mind for almost exactly a year. A few days before 263, there was also almost zero.

Boston College football’s rematch with Army on Saturday, which the Eagles took 48-27, was put in jeopardy because of the federal government shutdown, forcing BC’s senior running back to wonder whether or not he would get a chance at redemption.

“I’ve really been thinking about last season’s Army game all week, and then the controversy about whether or not the game was going to be

played was really just playing with my heart,” Williams said.

Williams had a momentous day on the road against the Black Knights on Oct. 6, 2012, rushing for what was then a career-high of 191 yards.

With three chances to seal the win, though, he got just seven yards, giving Army one final chance to score and pull off a 34-31 victory. “[The game] last year was really tough,” said BC senior linebacker Steele Divitto. “That kind of dictated the rest of our season.”

The Eagles lost every game except one after falling to Army, and Williams’ running was never the same.

He earned 104 yards in a 51-7 blowout loss at Florida State, then had 51 and 60 yard games

against Georgia Tech and Maryland before missing the rest of the year to injury.

“I’m just so glad we got another opportunity to face Army,” Williams said.

BC head coach Steve Addazio told Williams earlier this week that he’d need to rush for more than 200 yards in this game. Williams one-upped that challenge.

“I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass me,” he said.

He bulldozed his way to 263 yards and five touchdowns, a yard short of tying a school record for single-game rushing and a score short

See Football, B3

GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Finding some truth in the mission statement for college sports

AUSTIN TEDESCO There are some things I’ve never learned.

I know, for instance, exactly how I would react if I were one yard away from my school’s single-game rushing record, but had to watch a freshman take three of my carriers. I know that at some time during this hypothetical

accumulation of 263 yards and five touchdowns, I would’ve asked someone a question about records and statistics and legacies and myself in relation to those things. With absolute certainty, I know that this is something I would’ve done without feeling an ounce of guilt.

If someone were to ask me how I felt about this afterward—finishing a yard short of history during a win against a below-average team—I would inevitably sound like a fool. If microphones and cameras and reporters were involved, I’d sound like even more of a fool.

“Yeah, winning was cool I guess.

I wish I could’ve had another chance at the record, though. That’s going to

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stick with me for a while.”

That’s about the most polite form of athlete-speak I would be able to muster in such a situation, and I’d be proud of forming a response that mature.

There are some things I’ve never learned, and a hyper-selfless version of teamwork is one of these things. In a formal, well thought out, “I’m doing this because I should be doing it” kind of way, I can imagine scenarios in which I’d willingly put something larger ahead of myself.

For Andre Williams, and for a lot of athletes at Boston College, hyper-selfless teamwork is a learned trait that over time has become almost instinctual. Late in the fourth quarter of BC

Field hockey upsets Connecticut

Emma Plasteras scored three goals in the Eagles’ overtime win on Sunday.................B2

football’s 48-27 win over Army on Saturday, Williams was taken out of the game. He was one yard short of Montel Harris’ record for yards in a game, and a freshman, Myles Willis, was taking his carries.

Willis ran twice for nine yards, setting up a third-and-short. Rather than put his head down and fight for the needed yard, Willis and his quick, flashy feet scanned the field for a homerun. As he scanned, he was brought down for no gain. Back on the sideline, Williams jumped in the air slightly, his hands flying in what looked like mini-frustration.

Did he know? Was he aware that his team was about to punt away his

Eagles drop to 0-4 in ACC play Volleyball struggled against UNC and NC State, failing to post its first ACC win..........B2

chance at history? Had an understandable flash of emotion just occurred?

Not at all. Williams said after the game he didn’t know about the record.

He was bummed for Willis. Williams has taken Willis and fellow freshman back Tyler Rouse under his wing, and he wants what is best for them, just like he wants what is best for his team.

It’s not that he doesn’t have goals, because he does. He wants to get to 1,000 yards this season. I’m sure he wants that single-game record too.

Those things just don’t matter to him that much compared to winning as a

See Column, B4

Sports in Short..........................B2 Football recap...........................B3

The Heights

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Monday, October 7, 2013

BC posts upset win over Connecticut

By Chris Grimaldi Assoc. Sports Editor

Sunday marked the second time the Boston College field hockey team toppled a higher-ranked opponent.

Yesterday’s matchup in Storrs, Conn. featured a momentous upset, as the Eagles unseated No. 2 UConn in overtime. The Eagles came through with the upset and a final score of 4-3 after 10 minutes of sudden-death play. The victory

marked BC’s 10th win of the season and confirmed its status as one of the nation’s top teams.

Leah Settipane put forth yet another outstanding performance in goal. Though the high-powered Huskie offense outshot BC by a 21-14 margin, Settipane remained steady with 12 saves to keep her teammates within striking distance all afternoon.

Emma Plasteras came through for the Eagles with one of her top offensive

emily Fahey / heights staff

Emma Plasteras led the Eagles on offense in Sunday’s upset win over Connecticut.

performances of the season. The junior midfielder scored multiple goals for BC, including the game winner in overtime.

Sophomore Romee Stiekema scored BC’s and Virgynia Muma also came through for BC. The back-and-forth struggle was established early on. After BC senior Virgynia Muma helped the Eagles draw first blood with an early tip-in, the Huskies countered with a goal from Sophie Bowden to even the score at one.

Sunday’s first-half fireworks were far from over, however. Plasteras scored a screaming goal off of a pass from Stiekema, but watched as her team’s lead evaporated once again when UConn struck back with only 42 seconds to go before halftime.

When the second frame began, it seemed as if the home squad had stolen the game’s momentum for good. An attempt from UConn’s Roisin Upton eluded Settipane six minutes into action, marking a 2-0 run and achieving a 3-2 Huskie advantage.

Yet just as they’ve done all season long, head coach Ainslee Lamb’s Eagles fought back and tied the score at three.

After Settipane thwarted UConn’s last-minute attempts to win the duel in regulation, both teams engaged in a 10minute, sudden-death struggle.

The deadlock was broken when Sebia fired a reverse shot toward UConn’s goal.

Before Mansfield could block the ball, Plasteras redirected the attempt with a game-winning, tip-in shot to seal a thrilling 4-3 overtime upset.

With their victory on Sunday afternoon, the Eagles improved to 4-2 against ranked teams on the season and maintained their position among a competitive pack of squads vying for an ACC title. n

Volleyball remains winless in ACC play

By Chris Grimaldi Assoc. Sports Editor

Hoping to bounce back from a rough start against ACC opponents, the Boston College volleyball team hosted conference foe North Carolina yesterday in Power Gym. Yet any hopes for redemption quickly evaporated, as the No. 11 Tar Heels downed BC in three straight sets.

UNC and its perfect 15-0 overall record came storming out of the gates with a commanding 25-17 victory in set one. Following a sluggish start, the Eagles clawed back in the next two sets with competitive efforts to keep pace with the ACC’s elite. By match’s end, however, head coach Chris Campbell’s Eagle squad walked away from its home court with two more set losses by a combined six points, 27-25 and 25-21.

Graduate student Amanda Yerke stood out thanks to an impressive indi-

vidual performance, as she led BC with nine kills to go along with a trio of digs and blocks.

Captain Kellie Barnum teamed up with Yerke to bolster BC’s offensive attack, catalyzing plays aimed at penetrating UNC’s defensive wall. The junior’s 27 assists were a team best.

Yerke and Barnum dominated the stat sheet but their squad was dominated by UNC around the net. The Tarheels out-blocked the Eagles by a margin of 12-6, propelled by the presence of reigning ACC Player of the Week Jovana Bjelica and her three stops up front.

The loss brought the Eagles’ conference record to an anemic 0-4, putting a damper on the team’s strong start prior to conference play.

Before falling on Sunday, BC squared off with Tar Heel regional rival NC State in a home matchup on Friday night. Yet the Eagles suffered the same fate they’d experience two days later, as they lost

three straight sets to the Wolfpack.

Enjoying a 4-0 run to start the match, BC looked poised to put its opponent away early by putting the game out of reach. Freshman Barbara Gonzales sparked the rally with consecutive kills.

By the middle of the set, BC was standing atop a 13-5 advantage, but they were not able to close it out.

Despite solid play from the rookie Gonzales and 22 more assists from Barnum, Campbell’s squad squandered its fast start and a chance at breaking into the conference win column. NC State rattled off 15 straight points to take the lead and steal the match’s momentum.

BC fought back to close the gap, but it was to no avail in a 26-24 set loss.

The narrow defeat in set one was the closest the Eagles would come to upsetting the Wolfpack. They lost the final two sets by a combined 13 points, 25-17 and 25-20 . n

Graham beck / heights editor

AshLeigh Sebia scored the first goal of the game for the Eagles against New Hampshire.

Field hockey tops UNH

By Matty Pierce Heights Staff

The ninth ranked Boston College field hockey team (9-2, 1-1 ACC) squared off in a pivotal non-conference matchup Friday afternoon against No. 20 New Hampshire (5-5) at Memorial field in Durham. The Eagles combined timely offense with a consistent defensive effort to earn a 3-1 victory. This marked BC’s third win of the season over a ranked opponent.

The Eagles were able to maintain the lead for the remainder of the match after striking first. The scoring play developed when sophomore AshLeigh Sebia intercepted a UNH clearing attempt.

From there, Sebia passed the ball to sophomore Kelcie Hromisin, who used a give-and-go to find Sebia inside the circle for her third goal of the year just 3:32 into the match.

The Eagles wasted no time in extending their lead. Seven minutes into the half, junior Emma Plasteras one timed a shot from the top of the circle for an unassisted goal. This score put the Eagles up 2-0.

The Eagles had to battle hard to keep UNH off of the board for the remainder of the first half. The Wildcats had their best scoring opportunity of the half during the 34th minute, when senior Megan Bozek was taken down inside the box by Eagles sophomore goalie Leah Settipane. Bozek was awarded a penalty stroke, which she was unable to convert, clanking it off of the crossbar and keeping the Eagles’ lead at two.

With the second half underway, Bozek was able to redeem herself for the Wildcats. In the 58th minute of

Roundup

Two Eagles meet in final of USTA College Invite

By Pat Coyne Heights Staff

Graham beck / heights editor

SPORTS in SHORT

No. 6 Melissa McTighe had eight kills and No. 14 Amanda Yerke had nine against UNC, but the Eagles still fell 3-0 to the Tar Heels.

ACC Men’s Soccer Standings Team

Conference

Overall

Wake Forest

4-0-1

6-2-6

Maryland

4-0-1

5-2-3

Notre Dame

3-0-2

6-0-3

Clemson

2-2-1

7-2-1

Boston College

2-2-1

4-3-2

Virginia

2-2-1

6-3-1

Virginia Tech

1-1-3

3-3-3

NC State

1-3-1

4-3-2

North Carolina

0-0-5

3-1-5

Syracuse

2-3-0

8-3-0

Duke

0-3-2

4-4-3

Pitt

0-5-0

0-6-2

play, Bozek was again given a penalty stroke. This time, Bozek found the back left side of the net to register her fifth goal of the year and bring the Wildcats within one.

Within three minutes, the Eagles found an answer when freshman Eryn McCoy tallied her seventh goal of the season from the circle off of a penalty corner. Plasteras assisted the play, marking her second of the game and 10th of the year.

After gaining a 3-1 lead, BC worked as a team to preserve the win. A good scoring opportunity came for UNH when senior Case y Pohlme yer hit the post in the 62nd minute of play.

Sophomore Jordyn Hamilton, however, made her first career defensive save in the 69th minute of play, denying the Wildcats’ best second-half scoring opportunity.

The Eagles were able to stand their ground defensively to close out the game. “The girls really persevered through a tough second half,” head coach Ainslee Lamb told reporters.

“New Hampshire played extremely well.

I was impressed by their play.”

Settipane recorded five saves for the Eagles, compared to two saves from UNH junior goalie Carlie Tarbell. BC held the advantage offensively, outshooting UNH 15-7 in the game.

In finishing out the game, the Eagles showed cohesion as a team. “We have to learn how to continue to play at a consistent high level for the entire game and UNH challenged us with that today,” Lamb said. “We want to refocus our tactics and combine that disciplined play with the energy that we have brought to every game this far.” n

Two weeks ago the men’s tennis team took part in its first competition.

Sophomore Kyle Childree and junior Matt Wagner took part in singles play of the D Flight. Eventually they ended up squaring off against each other in the championship of that flight.

Wagner defeated Michael Puntillo of Fordham in two sets during his qualifying round, and Childree, this time in the semifinals, upset No. 1 seed Brant Switzler in two sets. To reach the finals, Wagner beat Freddy Marcinkowski in three sets. When the two Eagles finally ended up in the finals, Childree prevailed in three sets, with the official score being 6-3; 4-6;7-6(5).

The sailing team took part in two different competitions last weekend. At the Salt Pond Invite Regatta in Rhode Island, the Eagles No. 1 team took first place with 148 points and the second team finished in fifth place overall with a score of 197 points. Then, in the A

Numbers to Know

1 The number of yards short that Andre Williams was from tying the school record of 264 yards rushing in one game.

2

The total number of sets that BC volleyball has won in four ACC matches so far this year.

13 The number of goals that McKenzie Meehan has for BC women’s soccer in 12 games played this season.

Division, the Eagles No. 2 team finished with 51 points to win first place and the team of Maxwell Simmons and Emily Schalka finished in second.

The sailing team also participated in another race that weekend, the Regis Bowl hosted by Boston University, in which they placed 10th. The Eagles scored 180 points, while Yale finished with 78 points to win the event. In the A Division, Allyson Donahue and Elizabeth Bernard finished with 64 points, tying with Bowdoin, while Hailey Ullmann and Isabelle Savaterra finised 13th with 116 points in the B Division.

Finally, the men’s cross country team finished in 43rd place this weekend at the Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Penn.

Senior Anthony Belliti finished first for the Eagles with a time of 25:43. While the team did not perform very well, it should not be overlooked that two of the team’s top runners did not race due to heat exhaustion, and that other races later in the day were cancelled because of the intense heat. n

Quote of the Week

“When you can execute your offense as effectively as we did today, the records come. You don’t really need to chase them.”

— Andre Williams on his

record-tying five touchdowns against Army.

The Heights

Monday, October 7, 2013

B3

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

key stats

263 5 o

Rushing yards by senior RB Andre Williams

quote of the Game

Touchdowns by Williams

“For what it was today, we took a step forward toward bringing our program back to where we all want it to be, which is a big, physical program.”

- Steve Addazio Head BC football coach

First-half possesions for BC without a score

Standouts

Memorable Play Chase Rettig threw a deep pass to Alex Amidon on third-and-12 in the third quarter, and the senior wide receiver snagged the ball out of the air in the middle of tight double-coverage to convert a much-needed first down.

Prime Performance Xavier Moss

Andre Williams Graham Beck / Heights Editor

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

Andre Williams (44) tied the BC school record for rushing touchdowns in a game with five. Xavier Moss (86) broke free for a 75-yard score in the first quarter.

The BC offensive line, especially tackles Ian White and Matt Patchan, consistently cleared the way for Williams on the way to his record-setting day by overpowering Army up front.

Football Notebook

Amidon breaks free against Army defense Williams ties TD record

By Chris Grimaldi Assoc. Sports Editor

While Andre Williams ran the Boston College football team to a 21-point victory over Army, the senior running back wasn’t the only Eagle contributing on the gridiron Saturday afternoon. The ground attack was bolstered by aerial prowess, sound special teams, and a second-half defensive adjustment—all of which can be credited for the winning record BC will take to Clemson next week.

Amidon’s Resurgence Over the season’s first two weeks, wide out Alex Amidon appeared poised to replicate the record-setting season. The senior terrorized Villanova and Wake Forest with a combined 18 receptions, two touchdowns, and an average of nearly 120 yards per game.

After such a strong start, there was reason for concern when Amidon’s production stalled over the next two weeks against USC and FSU, as both defenses held him to an anemic total of 65 yards.

Yet the Biletnikoff watch-list candidate broke out with vengeance against Army’s defensive attack, tallying 122 yards on five catches. Amidon immediately put the last two weeks behind him when he turned a short pass in the flat into a 68-yard reception, using his speed to evade several Black Knight defenders while keeping his balance along the sideline.

Deep in their opponent’s red zone, the Eagles had an opportunity to set the afternoon’s tone.

“That’s a good way to get us rolling,” Amidon said, acknowledging the coaching staff’s smart call to exploit a backup defensive back in the Black Knight secondary.

The catch marked the longest of the receiver’s career.

Amidon continued to be a factor all day long, following his 68-yard dash with a highlight reel catch in the third quarter.

Sprinting his way between a pair of Army defenders, the senior hauled in a spiral from quarterback Chase Rettig and maintained possession after a hit. The 39-yard completion catalyzed another successful BC drive.

Although Williams stole the ground game, Amidon’s performance proved that execution from the air is an important component in a balanced offensive arsenal.

“With our run-oriented offense, it’s a good way to stretch the field,” Amidon said.

Defensive Adjustments Despite the Eagles’ strong start on offense, their defensive attack appeared vulnerable to the big play early on. Trailing 7-3 in the first quarter, Army pulled off a flea-flicker that resulted in a 75-yard touchdown connection from quarterback Angel Santiago to Xavier Moss.

The Black Knights struck again early in the third with an 80-yard touchdown run up the middle from Larry Dixon that befuddled BC’s defense.

Army’s option-heavy strategy initially had the aggressive, blitzing Eagles off balance.

“It took us right out of who we are, so to

speak,” said head coach Steve Addazio.

Thanks to a set of key second-half adjustments, however, Dixon’s run was the only score Army would tally in the final 30 minutes of play.

BC’s line and secondary settled down, realizing that the key to shut down the Black Knights’ unorthodox approach was outlasting them.

“It was good to beat them at their game,” said senior linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis, “which is playing all four quarters.”

Mr. Consistency Arguably BC’s most consistent offensive weapon, senior kicker Nate Freese added another highlight to his storied career on the Heights.

As a one-possession game headed into the half, Freese drilled a clutch 49-yard field goal as time expired to give the Eagles an 11-point advantage.

“That was important for us at that point,” said head coach Steve Addazio, “because we had to stay up ahead of [Army].”

The converted field goal was Freese’s longest of the season and fifth in five chances.

Regardless of the changes BC’s offensive attack has undergone over the past few seasons, its effective kicking game continues to be a constant. Addazio acknowledged that Freese’s dependability removes an important variable from game management.

“He’s a great weapon,” Addazio said.

“We’re thrilled to death that we have him.”

Freese’s 259 career points has pushed him into the top five for the special teams category in BC’s record book. n

Football, from B1

of breaking the single-game touchdown record, both of which were set

by Montel Harris against NC State in 2009.

Williams hammered Army up front again and again, powered by a rejuvenated offensive line that has undergone a dramatic turnaround at the hands of Addazio and position coach Justin Frye.

“I’m just so happy the offensive line executed the way they did today,” Williams said.

Of Williams’ five touchdowns, three came on runs of 30 yards or more. He was all over the field, bursting up the gut of Army’s front seven and then bouncing outside for big gains, using the pulling blockers to his advantage.

For less than 10 seconds in the fourth quarter, Williams actually matched Harris’ rushing total of 264, but a one-yard loss on the next play set him back to 263 and second place.

Addaz io wa s told a s he wa s coming off the field about the nearrecord, and he shared the news with his back. “ Tho s e thing s are all nice,” Addazio said, “but with team success individual honors will come.”

“When you can execute your offense as effectively as we did today, the records come,” Williams said. “ You don’t really need to chase them.”

Williams is already looking for-

ward to future chances to surpass the mark he set today.

“If we can do it again, that means I have seven more opportunities to go get the record,” he said.

Last season, Williams rushed for 604 yards and four touchdowns in nine appearances. Through five games in 2013, he’s already accumulated 778 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns and is leading the nation in yards per game.

“Every year I feel like I get a little bit wiser, a little bit heavier, a little bit stronger, and this offense that we’re running right now is just brutal and physical and that’s the way I play,” Williams said.

For Addazio, this game was about a lot more than Williams and records. It was another step toward the goal he set when he took over.

“I feel great about the fact that we’re bringing BC football back to where BC football was, which is a big, powerful offensive line that can run the ball and they’re big and physical,” he said. “We’re a work in progress right now. That’s what we are.”

“For what it was today, we took a step forward toward bringing our program back to where we all want it to be, which is a big, physical program.”

And he has a big, physical back running behind an equally physical offensive line leading the way for each of these steps—steps that have already led to more wins through five games than the Eagles had in all of 2012. n

The Heights

B4

Monday, October 7, 2013

Learning the game Column, from B1 team, and he’s learned how to take second-place in the records books in stride.

“If we can do it again, that means I have seven more opportunities to go get the record,” Williams said.

One thing I’ve always rolled my eyes at is the beaten to death notion that college athletics exists as a supplement to learning which classrooms can’t provide. For as long as I’ve followed college sports, it has existed for one thing, and that’s to make money for the people—mainly white men—up top. Williams showed on Saturday that there might actually be some validity to the former, even if the latter is still true in a lot of ways.

Sure, it’s easy for Williams to say these things with a winning record on the best day of his college career, but he and a lot of his teammates maintained this attitude throughout extreme lows last season. Alex Amidon’s hyper-selfless sense of teamwork could border on pissed off levels if enough reporters asked him about his records after a loss. He didn’t care because athletics has taught him how not to care.

It’s not just the football players. Across the board, it’s consistently difficult to get most BC athletes to talk about their individual success. It’s almost always easier to get the perspective of a teammate, because another thing taught in college athletics is how to encourage those close to you.

For all of the crap surrounding college sports, and yes, there’s an awful, unavoidable, amount of it, here is an example of something good. The mission statement isn’t crap. I learned that on Saturday, and most of the athletes here have a significant head start on a lot of things I still need to learn.

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

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

Corinne Boyles and Melissa Bizzari were both contributors in BC’s Sunday season opener. Bizzari had an assist while Boyles saved 17 out of 18 shots to help the Eagles to their first win.

Offensive depth pays off for BC Women’s Hockey, from B1 ing from Lexi Bender. Her goal came with just under three minutes remaining in the period, and both teams played out the rest of the period without scoring.

With a 2-0 lead, the Eagles took the ice after the break with a man advantage that continued over from the first period. The Eagles failed to capitalize on their power play, and it would be the same story throughout the night as the Eagles went only one for five on power plays.

“We’re going to work on our power play a little bit more. It’s always tough to practice—you have pressure but the killers kind of know what you’re doing,” Crowley said. “To practice against a different team is always kind of better—that’s when you get a lot of it going.”

The chances kept coming as the Eagles dominated the shot count with 15 shots on goal to the Black Bears’ three during the second period. It was on one of those many shots that Hayley

Skarupa, who was an offensive standout last season, earned her first point of her sophomore year when, 16 minutes into the period, a quick shot from about 20 feet out made its way past Meghann Treacy to make it 3-0 Eagles.

The Black Bears were not going to go down without a fight, and early in the third period, Maine put its first tally on the board with a goal from Brianne Kilgour making the score 3-1 and spoiling Corinne Boyles’ shutout.

“It’s always tough when you don’t face a lot of shots, you can kind of get a little lax back there,” said King Crowley of Boyles’ performance, “but I thought she did a great job staying focused. The one goal was a tough play on the opposite side which led to a goal but I thought she stayed solid for us and did a great job.”

Not letting their deficit slip away, the Eagles quickly responded when another freshman scored her first collegiate goal, as Kristyn Capizzano took

advantage of a rebound and restored BC’s lead to three half way through the period.

From there on out, it was all Eagles as Skarupa slipped her second of the game past Treacy off of a shorthanded breakaway.

There were four different scorers on the day, and Crowley was happy to see that diversity on offense after losing a big contributor from last year.

“Its great, obviously, losing Alex Carpenter from last year to this year you look for someone to make up a lot of points and I think its great to see a lot of those kids, a lot of different players, get points,” she said.

Overall, Crowley saw a lot of positives come from the game.

“The first game you always think there are going to be jitters and kind of a bit of nerves,” Crowley said, “but I thought our kids got rid of those pretty quickly and really got going into the flow of the game, and I thought overall it was a pretty good game.” n

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

Four different Eagles scored in Sunday’s win over the University of Maine.

Terps hold off late rally

By Alex Fairchild For The Heights

For the first 45 minutes against Maryland, the men’s soccer team was pounded. A goal with a quarter of an hour remaining in the first half proved the winner for the Terps, who fended off a comeback from the Eagles in the game’s final moments to win 2-1.

The Terps’ opener was their fastest of the season. A cross from senior Sunny Jane found the head of Michael Sauers. The Maryland freshman made no mistake with his head from five yards out.

BC’s Alex Kapp kept the Eagles in the game with two first half saves.

Despite the pressure from Maryland, the Terps only managed to put a pair of shots on goal in the first half of play.

The Eagles defense was led by Nick Butler, Nick Corliss, Matt Wendelken, and freshman Amit Shumowitz.

Recording 12 fouls over the course of the evening, the Eagles were physical and dealt with Maryland’s attack as best they could.

Ed Kelly’s team incurred a run of bad luck 30 minutes into the game, when a Maryland cross deflected off a BC defender and into the net. Kapp could do nothing about the pinball action and the Terps went into the break having doubled their lead.

Out of the intermission, a trio of Maryland shots missed the frame.

Cole DeNormandie’s effort in the 58th minute went wide.

The forward was replaced by Isaac Normesinu in the 60th minute.

Normesinu was an impact sub for the Eagles and 15 minutes after being summoned by Kelly, he provided fellow freshman Zeiko Lewis with an assist. The right winger threaded a through-ball to Lewis, finishing a give-and-go between the pair. Lewis then struck the ball from ten yards out for his second goal of the season.

In the second half, the Eagles were much improved. They increased the amount of attempts they had on goal to seven, which was equal with Maryland’s total for that half. BC forced Maryland keeper Zack Steffen into making two saves in the second period of play.

“It’s a very good win on the heels of a very difficult Tuesday night match,” said Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski in a post-game interview with Soccer America.

The Terp’s head coach touted his team’s dominance of the match as well.

“I thought we played very well in the first half and were maybe unfortunate to not have a bigger cushion than we did. Credit Boston College on being very composed and finding a great goal at the end to make it interesting,” Cirovski said.

Normesinu’s caution in the 75th minute was the only disciplinary action official Ted Unkel had to take the whole night, despite the game’s 20 fouls.

The 2-1 defeat snapped the Eagles’s four game unbeaten run, and dropped them to 9th in the ACC standings. n

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

BC sophomore Alex Kapp replaced Keady Segel (32) in goal against the Terps.

BC rolls past Duke at home

By Chris Grimaldi Assoc. Sports Editor

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

No. 5 Florida State notched four goals against the Eagles and BC goalie Alex Johnson last Thursday night.

Seminoles strike revenge on Eagles

By Matty Pierce Heights Staff

Heading into Thursday night’s ACC conference matchup, the Boston College women’s soccer team was facing a difficult challenge. The Eagles were preparing to play on the road against No. 5 Florida State, a team riding a 26-game home win streak.

With the Eagles jumping out to an early lead, it looked as if an upset was in the making. Despite a back and forth match, though, the Eagles were unable to withstand the offensive power of FSU in the second half, and fell 4-3 to the Seminoles.

Upon taking the field at the start of the match, it was evident that the Eagles planned to come out aggressively on offense.

Early in the first half BC fed off offense-heavy formations. Just 11 minutes into the game, the Eagles struck first. The goal came when junior Stephanie McCaffrey received a short pass off of a quick free kick.

While the Seminoles defense scurried to adjust, McCaffrey crossed the ball into the box from the left side of the field. After a scramble, sophomore McKenzie Meehan, the ACC’s leading goal scorer, came up with the loose ball and tapped it in for her 11th goal of the season. Before FSU could react, the Eagles converted again just two minutes later. This goal came when senior midfielder Gibby Wagner sent a

ball to the left side of the field through the gaps of the FSU defense. Meehan was able to receive the pass in stride and find the left corner of the net for her second goal of the game.

The rest of the half consisted of BC fending off many offensive attacks presented by the Seminoles. Recording 11 shots on goal in the first half alone, the Seminoles had more than one chance to score during this time.

Perhaps their best opportunity came with just over 25 minutes left in the half, when sophomore Carson Picket received a pass just outside of the box. From there she dribbled in and got a shot off. BC goalie Alex Johnson was there to jump up and make a one handed save, fending off the best scoring chance for FSU in the first half.

The Seminoles used their offensive momentum from the first half to string together a dominant second half. While both teams had chances early, it was the Seminoles who struck first just 10 minutes into the second half. The goal came when junior Megan Campbell saved a ball from going out of bounds on the left side of the field just outside of the box.

Picket came up with the cross in the right corner of the box and found the net to get FSU on the board.

Ten minutes later, the Seminoles found themselves back in the game. This happened when Campbell launched one of her many throw-ins, which continuously found their way

into the box and posed a threat to the Eagles. During this particular instance, the ball ricocheted off of a BC defender before finding its way into the net.

With 18 minutes left in the match FSU took its first lead. Junior Jamia Fields received a pass that led her to the right corner of the box. From there Fields crossed the ball in front of the net, where freshman Berglind Thorvaldsdottir was able to one-time it and put the Seminoles ahead by a score of 3-2.

Despite giving up a two-goal lead, the Eagles continued to battle. Five minutes after FSU gained the lead, the Eagles took advantage of a foul

by Fields. BC was awarded a free kick from the left side, outside of the box.

Sophomore Lauren Bernard found the head of senior Zoe Lombard, knotting the game at three.

With both teams trading off goals, it looked as if the game would head into overtime. But the Seminoles were not going to let their second-half comeback go to waste. In the 82nd minute of play, Fields crossed the ball in front of the net for Thorvaldsdottir. Before a shot could be taken, Thorvaldsdottir was tackled inside the box and awarded a penalty kick.

The team opted for junior Martha Bakowska-Matthews to take it. She did not disappoint, finding the back of the net and scoring the goal that capped off the win. n

In a battle of ACC foes, the Boston College women’s soccer team squared off against Duke in a home matchup yesterday afternoon.

Junior Stephanie McCaffrey’s hat trick catapulted the Eagles to a 4-1 victory over the Blue Devils.

McKenzie Meehan sparked the BC scoring barrage with her team-leading 13th goal of the season, scoring off of a penalty kick 21 minutes into regulation. The sophomore’s goal was then followed up with the first leg of McCaffrey’s trifecta, which gave the Eagles a 2-0 advantage nearly halfway through.

Duke threatened to come back, however, as Blue Devil Laura Weinberg executed a one-timer in the 48th minute and cut the BC lead to one. The Eagles struggled to maintain their precarious lead throughout most of the second frame. Yet McCaffrey broke the defensive gridlock with a solo performance that put her name atop the stat sheet and the game out of reach.

The junior forward turned a through ball from teammate Patrice Vettori into BC’s third goal of the game, and capped off her hat trick in fitting fashion soon after—with an unassisted strike past Duke goalie Ali Kershner.

Between the 83rd and 89th minutes of regulation, McCaffrey single-handedly doubled the Eagles’ total goal output.

While McCaffrey dominated play on the offensive end, BC goalie Alex Johnson was steady between the posts. The junior smothered four of the five shots on goal sent her way on the afternoon.

Yesterday’s victory marked the Eagles’ fourth win in conference play, bringing their overall record to a game over the .500 mark at 7-6. n

The Heights

Monday, October 7, 2013

B5

BC puts tactics to use when formulating a winning strategy

By Alex Fairchild For The Heights

The 4-4-1-1. The 4-2-3-1. The false nine. The target man.

Those terms have become commonplace in soccer’s tactical world, which is creeping its way into the mainstream.

Awareness of tactical behaviors has become increasingly important, as coaches across the globe look to gain advantages through different shapes in order to best use, with 10 outfield players, space on the pitch. Tactics illustrate the game within the game of soccer.

Formations Soccer teams line up with formations denoted by three, four, or even five numbers. The first number represents the amount of defenders a team is playing with, while the second one denotes the number of midfielders, and the third the amount of forwards. For example, a team playing in a 4-4-2 is using four defenders, four midfielders, and two forwards. Boston College plays in 4-4-1-1, according to head coach Ed Kelly.

The four backs are shown in the graphic below. In front of them sit two holding midfielders. To their left and right are two wingers, who are also wide midfielders. The ‘1-1’ notation means that there is one player behind the foremost striker. The forward playing nearest to the midfield (the first ‘1’) is known as the supporting or withdrawn forward, while the ‘1’ closest to goal is usually the striker. He is the team’s furthest man up the pitch. These shapes can take different turns.

Offensively, the Eagles use a 4-2-3-1, because the two wingers, Isaac Norme-

sinu, and usually Derrick Boateng, play in more advanced (forward) positions down their flanks.

The ‘2’ stands for the holding midfielder pairing which has become Nick Butler and Giuliano Frano. Zeiko Lewis, the supporting striker, plays behind Cole DeNormandie, who is the team’s target man. Defensively, the team’s wingers fall back, creating a 4-4-1-1.

The Attack

right winger. He uses his speed and skill to take players on down his side of the pitch. After receiving the ball on the right against Notre Dame, he dribbled around defenders to create enough space for a shot that put the Eagles ahead. Boateng can be considered a winger, but is more of interiories. This term describes a winger that drifts to the inside when his team is in possession.

The Defensive Midfield

“Target man” is a term for a striker that is the man to find. He is excellent for long ball situations, because he uses his strength to hold the ball up. BC’s target man is DeNormandie. Of the team’s 11, he is usually the man closest to goal.

The back four send long balls to him on occasion, but more often than not, he holds the ball up with his back to goal after receiving a pass from a midfielder.

This allows his teammates to make runs.

DeNormandie, calm on the ball, can then pick his head up and get them involved in the attack.

When the team is getting forward, Lewis or Atobra Ampadu, who spend most of their time playing behind DeNormandie, play in what is known as “the hole,” which is a pocket of space between the opposition’s defense and midfield. It is for creative players, known as their team’s No. 10. Boateng can be found in that space as well, if he drifts to the inside. Being a playmaker requires a quick mind and excellent vision. Whoever is playing in the hole has to split defenders by spotting his teammates’ intelligent runs.

On the attacking right and left sides, Boateng and freshman sensation Normesinu are found. Normesinu is the team’s

Behind the four primary attackers are two holding midfielders. For BC, Frano and Butler make up the pair. When BC has the ball, their objective is to distribute it to the wings, find the target man, or possess with the other backs. In defense, they lend extra protection to the team’s back four. The duo breaks up the attacks of the opposition through tackles and interceptions. In addition, they provide a physical presence that blocks their opponent’s passing lanes.

The Defense Playing with four defenders has become commonplace in the past few decades of soccer’s history. In fact, when the game was first played, teams just used one or two defenders. Then, managers progressed to three, and eventually four backs, as teams gave up attackers to defend. Jonathan Wilson notes in the title of his book on the tactical history of the game, that clubs are Inverting the Pyramid.

Like most teams, BC plays with four defenders, a set that includes two outside backs, otherwise known as full backs, and two central defenders, also called center backs. Outside backs have played

an increasingly important role on the pitch in the modern game, as they not only defend, but also boost their team’s attack. They must make lung-busting runs up and down the sides of the pitch to support their teammates via overlapping and crossing.

The team’s left full back is Matt Wendelken. He is a presence down the left tasked with stopping the opposition’s winger or outside midfielder on his side of the field. Wendelken has the ability to start a counter attack as well. Kelly praised him for his efforts in doing this against Pittsburgh.

On the right, the highly rated Amit Shumowitz runs the wing. He gets more forward in the attack, which is why an arrow points ahead of him on the pitch—it points to where the defender makes his runs when the Eagles have the ball—forward.

This makes Shumowitz a danger man for BC, as his skill adds an extra man to the Eagles’ attack down the right. He often overlaps with Normesinu. An overlap is when a player without the ball runs to the outside of his teammate with the ball. By making an overlapping run, an extra option for a pass is created for the man with the ball. The additional man distracts that side’s full back, as he must challenge the player with the ball or track the overlapping run.

This tactic was vital to BC’s goal against Notre Dame, as Shumowitz’s outside run forced Notre Dame’s left back to make a quick decision—follow Shumowitz wide or step to Normesinu.

This defender hesitated and by the time he made his decision, the right winger had cut inside to create his scoring opportunity.

The two center backs, which have

been a combination of Nick Corliss, Chris Ager, and Ryan Dunn, have a simple job—they man-mark the other team’s forward(s) or pair up to track them. They have to be physical. It is their task not to let the man they are marking beat them or “turn” them’ around toward goal. On crosses, they must be stout in heading the ball clear.

When looking at tactics, one must remember that they are fluid. A team can change their shape throughout a match.

Against Pittsburgh, Kelly played a 4-3-3, and then shifted it to a 4-4-1-1.

Now, the next time you ride the bus to Newton to watch the men’s soccer team play, you’ll know exactly what Kelly is having his team do on the pitch.

Glossary Terms False nine: A player that starts off as a striker, or appears to be one, but then drops into “the hole.”

Offside trap: Describes a defense that plays in an orderly, straight line to catch the forwards on the opposition offside.

Pressing: Relentlessly chasing down the player with the ball in order to win back possession.

Man-marking: Each outfield player is tasked with defending a single person on the opposition. It is rarely used in open play, but is common on set pieces like corner and free kick.

Zonal marking: The most common system of defending. Each player has a zone. If an opponent enters that zone, the player whose zone that is becomes responsible for defending that man. n

DeNormandie

Lewis/ampadu

boateng

butler

wendelken

ager/dunn

Normesinu

FRANO

corliss

Shumowitz

Maggie Burdge | Heights Graphic

The Heights

B6

Monday, October 7, 2013

1. Realize that wildfires burn more than 4 million acres every year.

2. Cut along dotted line.

3. Repeat this phrase: “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires.”

9 out of 10 wildfires are caused by humans. 9 out of 10 wildfires can be prevented.

SMOKEYBEAR.COM

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THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 7, 2013

HEALTH&SCIENCE

What dreams are really made of

JOSEPH CASTLEN Sleep is one of those things that scientists still haven’t managed to explain.

In the past 70 years, sleep studies have begun to shed light on what is physiologically occurring while we sleep (REM cycles, circadian rhythms, and the like), but a complete explanation for why we physically need sleep still eludes us.

There are a few theories floating around out there as to why we sleep—some claim that sleep is an evolutionary adaptation that allows us to conserve energy, others say that we need sleep because it allows our bodies a chance to fortify biological components of ourselves that we submit to stress during our wakeful day-to-day activities. Regardless of the reason why, though, the fact remains that we spend roughly a third of our lives lying in bed dreaming.

Just because it takes up such a substantial amount of your time doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with sleep. There’s no better way to start off your day than waking up feeling well-rested, and a nice nap can leave you feeling pretty fresh and ready to take on whatever you have left on your plate. True, if you forget to set an alarm for the morning then you may find yourself wishing humans were instead a race of robots that could just stay turned on for 24 hours in a day—but even robots need to recharge at some point. And sleep provides us with a certain escape from reality that can be quite an experience: dreams.

Dreams can be inspirational when viewed with the correct perspective. A bad dream can be frightening, but a particularly good one can set the mood for your entire day. Dreams are more often than not incredibly confusing, but in a pleasant sort of way. Sometimes, the best dreams will make you wish you hadn’t woken up quite so soon.

When you really think about it, though, we don’t stop dreaming when we wake up.

Whether you’re talking about the shortterm (finish that paper for philosophy class tomorrow), the semester (get an A in that philosophy class), or the rest of your life (get a job with your philosophy degree— good luck), we are always cognizant of our goals and objectives. The image in your head of a completed philosophy paper isn’t real yet—just like your dream last night in which you got drinks with Eddie Murphy never happened (we’ll leave the question of why you were dreaming about Eddie Murphy for a later date).

In essence, a “goal” is really just a dream that you consciously, rather than subconsciously, imagine. Goals can be realistic and unrealistic, just like dreams. Goals are subject to the influence of your surroundings, too, as are your dreams, although in somewhat different ways. While it may not take more than a couple of pre-bedtime episodes of Lost to induce a dream about smoke monsters and polar bears, goals are a little more rigid. They are subject to two constraints: what you perceive to be possible and what you want.

Oftentimes, these two factors are at odds. Take, for example, the case of a BC student deciding which major to choose. She loves reading and talking about philosophy but ends up becoming an economics major, because it is more likely to land her a job. In the end, she let the relative ease of getting a job with an economics major override her true desire to study philosophy.

This method of goal-setting is not in the true spirit of dreaming, and it perpetuates a generation of “settlers”—people who could have beaten their own paths to happiness but instead settle for a set track to complacency. Our only true goal in life should be to do exactly what we want, otherwise we risk leading a life filled with regrets and what-ifs. This doesn’t mean setting aside all practical concerns (like getting a job)—it just means working to find a way to fit together all of your wants into a goal that fulfills each one.

One classical model of explaining why we dream is wish-fulfillment theory, which credits the contents of our dreams to our own subconscious desires. Putting aside the fact that this theory was posited by a rampant cocaine user, there is a message to be taken here. If our subconscious dreams are based on what we really want, then shouldn’t the goals that we consciously dream up also reflect this sentiment?

The best dreams make you wish you hadn’t woken up. When you’re actually living your dream, however, you’ll never want to go back to sleep.

Joseph Castlen is an editor for The Heights. He can be reached at features@bcheights.com.

B7

Students offer advice for improving Spirit Week in future Spirit Week, from B10 that were supposed to qualify for points occurred the week leading up to Spirit Week.

“We kind of missed that memo. There were things we were not completely aware that we had to do until after they had already passed,” Johnson said. After the fact, the Spirit Week Competition decided not to have the athletic events count toward points because of this confusion.

The focal event of the Spirit Week Competition was “BC Campus Feud” on Thursday Oct. 3, a family-feud style competition that was supposed to take place between the top four teams who had accumulated the most points as of Thursday. Only two teams,

however, chose to take part in the event, the Entreprenaturals and the Eagletts. The event took place in Robsham at 9 p.m. as part of NOTH programming and was open to all students to watch.

Four games were used to determine the winner with only the final game being BC trivia. One question in this final game was, ‘What is the best sandwich on campus?’ with the baja chicken being the winner. Brianna Cooley, a member of the Eagletts and A&S ’16, was on the winning team of “BC Campus Feud” and thought it was a great event. “I thought it was really fun. We were really nervous, though, leading up to it thinking that it was going to be questions all about BC.” The Spirit Week Competition concluded

NICK BARKER / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Although Spirit Week was not a large success, students showcased pride at Friday’s pep rally.

with a “Wear your Spirit Day” on Friday.

Team members had to check in with a representative from the Student Programs Office at the Quad to show their BC pride clothing to win points, although only one of the teams followed through and checked in. Many students, while thinking that Spirit Week and the Spirit Week Competition are good ways to boost BC pride, had ideas in regard to how it can be improved in the future.

“I think it is a really great thing they are doing with taking initiative to have a Homecoming week because I think it would build a lot of morale and spirit around campus,” said Maryam Kazmi, A&S ’14. “But I feel like all the events themselves could just be publicized a little bit more.”

The necessity of registering a team to be part of the Spirit Week Competition seemed like it could be problematic for Tadala Jumbe, A&S ’14. “Particular events could have been a little bit more interactive with more people,” Jumbe said. “A lot of the events were teambased, but many people are not proactive enough to create their own team.”

Jumbe also offered some suggestions on to how to make this a campus wide-event.

“Going forward they need to do more showstopping things to get everyone’s attention for Spirit Week. Especially since it was the first Homecoming Weekend in 40 years, it needed to be something that caught our attention first of all.”

Raven Rankine, a member of the Ea-

gletts and CSOM ’16, commented on how the involvement of more teams could have improved the experience. “I feel like I gained more BC spirit from this, however, I did wish that more of the campus was part of the event and more people participated.”

As this is the first year of the Spirit Week Competition, many students were excited for what it could hold in the future.

“If they can see what works they can focus on those aspects going forward,” Henneberger said. “The few things they laid out were good ideas, but more student involvement would be the best way to make it successful in the future.”

“This is the guinea pig year,” Johnson said, “but hopefully the response will be good enough so that they can continue it in the next years.”

When Mackenzie Hart, A&S ’17, was asked what her initial reaction was when she heard BC was having a Spirit Week she said, “I was really excited. One of the big reasons I chose Boston College was because of the school spirit. So I am trying to embrace it.”

Joey McCarthy, CSOM ’17, reflected on the general feelings of campus during Spirit Week, leading up to the Homecoming Weekend.

“I think there is a hidden sense of enthusiasm,” he said. “You wouldn’t know how much people really get into it. We are all really excited about Homecoming Weekend and it is going to be a big deal for us here at BC.” 

NASA among sponsors of ISR’s space weather research ISR, from B10 that space weather refers to “the variable conditions on the Sun and in the space environment that can affect the performance of space-based and ground-based technological systems, as well as endanger life or health,” she said. “For example, space weather can significantly impact the electric power industry, aviation, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) applications, communication systems, satellites, and space flight.”

While a lot of its research is conducted in front of a computer screen and involves analyzing data, research is also hands-on.

Currently, Doherty noted, the ISR has 28 contracts and grants from various sponsors.

The ISR at BC is nationally and internationally renowned as a research institution dedicated to space and earth-based scientific exploration.

Senior physicist Cesar Valladares is currently working on a project to design and deploy a network of ground-based scientific sensors across South America. Additionally, Doherty, Endawoke Yizengaw, and Keith Groves are collaborating with African universities to provide training in the use of satellite navigation for scientific exploration and for practical applications.

Doherty noted that GPS is not only used to guide, but can also be used for purposes that are beneficial to society, such as for precision farming, mapping and surveying, and emergency location services.

Doherty was invited to the G8 convention for science, in which she had

the opportunity to listen to people from underdeveloped nations talk about problems with education and science in their countries. “I was sitting there wondering what I could do for them,” Doherty said. After chatting with colleagues, she decided they could benefit from knowledge about GPS—something she and her coworkers had gotten to know intimately.

“The point of the outreach program is to make them more knowledgeable so they can utilize that space infrastructure themselves,” Doherty explained. The ISR and the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics collaborated to host a workshop on Satellite Navigation Science and Technology for Africa.

Doherty understands that historically, the ISR has been set apart from the university. When she took over as director, she was affected by the fact that the ISR had very little access to students and the academic world at BC. In the last few years, Doherty and the ISR have been consciously trying to change that. This past spring, the ISR moved its headquarters to Kenny Cottle Hall on Newton.

Th is move has helped to centralize its operations and to augment its presence in the BC community. It currently employs three undergraduate students who are trained and help with research projects.

Additionally, two Ph.D. candidates from the physics department joined the ISR to perform their thesis research.

“We felt that we were all so dependent on space satellite signals, that particularly the younger generation needs to know it is there. If your cell phones dies, why

PHOTO COURTESY OF PATRICIA DOHERTY

Members of the Institute for Scientific Research outside their new location on Newton Campus. might that be happening?” she said. “Space weather is a new science and it only really became a science when we became so dependent on satellite-based technology. Humankind has embraced and been dependent on technology for many years.

However, now that much of our technology is dependent on space infrastructure, such as the GPS satellite system, we are more concerned with space weather effects on our technologies.”

Two years ago, ISR scientist Charles Carrano created and taught the first space weather course at BC, which continues to be popular today. Adjunct professors from ISR also teach courses on campus such as astronomy, terrestrial weather,

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and physics.

For Doherty, the most exciting part of her job is that she works in an environment in which people are always excited about new ideas and new discoveries.

“I think I am one of the luckiest people in the world,” she said. “I love what I do.

I get to work with brilliant people every day. I have met people around the world that I never would have imagined meeting—particularly working in Africa. It’s been so personally rewarding.”

When asked if she always knew she wanted to be a scientist and mathematician, Doherty laughed. “My dad always said one day you’ll work for NASA … That didn’t happen, but I’m close!” 

FEATURING BC’S STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

French housing community combines culture and language for its residents

BY REBECCA MORETTI For The Heights It’s hard to mistake Chestnut Hill for Paris, but that mistake is easily made at La Maison Francaise, or “The French House,” at Boston College.

La Maison Francaise is a special interest housing community located in Voute Hall. La Maison Francaise strives to provide students with access to the French language within a multicultural living environment.

“Students proficient in French reside in apartments with others speaking the same target language,” said Didem Alkan, the house’s graduate fellow-in-residence since 2012.

“Residents commit to speaking French in order to optimize learning potential and exposure to the language,” she said. As graduate fellowin-residence, Alkan organizes, along with the residents, activities designed to improve the residents’ French language skills and to enhance their knowledge of Francophone cultures.

In addition to speaking French with each other, the residents are also expected to attend at least two of the many cultural events that the house puts on each month. Furthermore, the residents are required to organize at least one of these events during their stay at La Maison.

“Most of our events are open to the public,” Alkan said. “We show at least two films per month, we play French Scrabble, and every month we have a ‘Salon de The’ in which we discuss a topic chosen by a resident.”

Although some events are reserved for residents only, most are open to anyone at BC interested in the French language and culture. All French-speaking students and faculty are encouraged to attend La Maison’s activities, which include film screenings, guest speakers, special dinners, and outings to museums.

“In my elementary French class, we are strongly encouraged to attend events at La Maison Francaise,” said Greta Quintini, a student in her first year of French and A&S ’17. “It is a great

resource for us to expand our knowledge of French language and culture.”

This month, the screening of the films “Entre les Murs” and “Persepolis” are among the featured events happening at La Maison, which also include a music festival and a presentation on French bread. Activities are posted on a monthly calendar that can be found in the Romance Languages department located in Lyons Hall.

“This year, we are also planning to organize a French film festival, if we are accepted for the grant,” Alkan said.

If the funding is received, several films will be shown in a festival this March, and other student organizations such as Hillel, the African Students Organization, and Delta Pi Phi will contribute to this multi-cultural festival.

Admission to the house is available to rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Additionally, a limited number of spots may also be available to students seeking residency for only one semester.

Students looking to apply for housing at La Maison should be at least moderately proficient in French and have a genuine

interest in participating in the language and cultural events offered. To apply, students must submit an online application by late January and attend an interview conducted in French with the graduate fellow-in-residence.

Prior to applying, interested candidates are encouraged to attend events at the house.

“You lose everything you learned if you don’t continue to practice a language,” said Alkan, who is not a native French speaker herself. This is why La Maison Francaise and its events are so useful for everyone interested in maintaining and improving their French-speaking skills. Alkan, who leads the French discussions that take place after events, said that living in the house has greatly improved her French skills.

“La Maison means community,” said Christian de los Santos, a resident of La Maison and A&S ’14. “We share the same appreciation and quest for experiencing the best of the French culture and language. Every day should start with a ‘Bonjour!’" 

THE HEIGHTS

B8

Monday, October 7, 2013

Conference will address link between health and race Enjoy Columbus HOW-TO

weekend at BC CAITLIN SLOTTER Columbus Day Weekend is almost here, and I think it’s safe to say most students cannot wait to have three days off. Some of you will be going home to see your families or going to visit friends at other colleges. To you I say have fun and enjoy your “mini-vacation” away from campus. But what about the rest of you, those who won’t be leaving campus this weekend, who may be left behind while roommates and friends are gone, who will be vastly outnumbered on campus by touring high-schoolers? To you I offer these suggestions: Catch up on homework: I realize this isn’t the most exciting of options.

However, with some of your friends off-campus, this weekend is the perfect opportunity to benefit from the lack of distractions and catch up on all those assignments you’ve been putting off.

And this is midterm season, so extra study sessions won’t hurt.

Go into the city: If you haven’t yet made a trip into Boston this semester, then this weekend is an awesome time to do so. Go shopping on Newbury Street and then grab lunch at Panera.

Go to the aquarium, or take advantage of your free college student admission and head to the Museum of Fine Arts.

Check out Faneuil Hall. Grab dinner in the North End (a trip to Mike’s Pastry is also a must). Or simply walk through the Boston Common or the Esplanade.

One of the greatest cities in the world is in your backyard, calling for you to visit. Sieze the opportunity.

Catch up on Netflix: You are essentially being given an entire free day to binge-watch all your favorite shows.

Catch up on Breaking Bad so you don’t feel left out of the series finale conversations anymore. Or start watching a new show (may I suggest Orange is the New Black?). Watch those movies you keep telling yourself you’re going to watch. Utilize Netflix’s bountiful selection of guilty-pleasure shows to relax and take your mind off your own hectic life for a few hours.

Dine at Lower without having to wait in line: Just imagine how great it will be, not having to wait for 20 minutes just to get chicken, not being jostled as you maneuver around the salad bar, being able to find a clean table that’s positioned so your chair is not in everyone else’s way as they walk by. You may not be getting the home-cooked meals, but you do have three stress-free dinners to look forward to.

Enjoy having your room to yourself: This isn’t to say that you don’t love living with your roommate, but everyone needs some privacy every once in a while. So if your roommate is going to be away this weekend, take advantage of the fact that you are going to have your own room for a couple days. Wake up and go to bed without having to worry about waking up your roommate (or being woken up by your roommate).

Watch whatever you want to on TV or play the music that you want to listen to. Don’t worry about being judged for lazing around all day. Have your own room for the weekend, and enjoy it.

Take advantage of the season: With New England weather being as unpredictable as it is, it’s best to soak up the warm weather while you still can. Go for a run or walk around the Res. Toss a Frisbee. Hang out in the quad or Stokes Lawn with your friends. Embrace the fall and go apple or pumpkin picking. Go for a hike. Simply enjoy being outside before the cold winter weather makes it impossible to do so.

Set up Skype dates: Just because you aren’t going home to see your family or visiting your friends doesn’t mean you still can’t “see” them. With everyone having such hectic, conflicting schedules, this three-day weekend is the perfect opportunity to find a time when you and your family or friends can Skype and catch up.

Make time for you: It’s easy to get caught up in the hectic BC life, what with all your friends, classes, and clubs.

Use this weekend to take a break from it all, spend some time by yourself, and do something for you. Whether that is going for a run, reading a book, listening to some music, or just taking a nap, use this free time to relax and get refreshed.

So don’t worry about being left alone on campus this Columbus Day weekend. Try something new, something you wouldn’t have normally done.

Just because you aren’t leaving campus doesn’t mean you can’t make a “minivacation” for yourself and make the weekend as fun as possible.

Caitlin Slotter is a contributor for The Heights. She can be reached at features@bcheights.com.

BY CAROLINE HOPKINS Heights Staff

Boston College students often have the opportunity to absorb enlightening perspectives from unique and diverse individuals, and one such opportunity comes around each October, as the Boston College Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture (ISPRC) hosts its annual Diversity Challenge.

The Challenge is a two-day intensive conference that includes panel discussions, symposia, workshops, structured discussions, and poster sessions. In addition, there are individual presentations by invited experts in education, administration, research, mental health, and community activism.

The ISPRC states the overall goal of the Diversity Challenge each year is to “address a racial or cultural issue that could benefit from a pragmatic, scholarly, or grassroots focus through conference.” The interactive conference “brings together scholars, educators, mental health practitioners, and other parties interested in promoting social justice across racial and cultural groups.”

In the morning, participants choose from a wide selection of individual presentations, and then proceed to take part in structured discussions, workshops, and panels, all

pertaining to the topic of the challenge.

So what exactly is the topic of the 13th annual Diversity Challenge? The ISPRC has decided to focus upon “Intersections of Race and Culture and Health and Mental Health.”

The issue addressed here focuses upon the fact that, many times, we overlook the reality that an individual’s everyday life experiences can have an immense impact upon both their physical and mental health. What one may not realize is that discrimination and socioeconomic statuses can correlate directly with a person’s health.

The ISPRC imparts to us that “racism, prejudice, poverty, and violence increase the incidence of mental and physical health problems.” Individuals from lower socioeconomic statuses often experience barriers to quality care, such as inadequate health insurance, lack of transportation, limited time off work, and lack of childcare.

Evidently, these barriers present a significant negative effect upon the health and mental health of these people of color and nondominant cultural origins. This is not to say, however, that certain other life experiences do not have a positive effect upon the health and mental health of people of color—oftentimes strong social and community support, cultural and spiritual ties, and positive racial identities can improve an individual’s health

and mental health.

Through the two-day Diversity Challenge conference, the ISPRC hopes to address, in partnership with presenters and participants, a number of questions pertaining to this phenomenon of health and cultural experience. The conference will examine the question of whether experiences do or do not offer white people health benefits over people of color, and how we can address and resolve those experiences that do. The ISPRC stresses the fact that people will not be able to create effective interventions for these issues unless they understand how life experiences actually influence health. The Diversity Challenge will offer upward of 140 presentations and discussions, several examples of which include “Facilitating Well-being through Social Supports,” “The Influence of Race and Gender on Psychosocial Functioning,” “Unequal Ground: The Impact of Racism and Discrimination on Mental Health,” and many more.

In the past, themes of the Diversity Challenge have included topics such as “What to Do About Race and Culture and Violence,” “Intersections of Race or Ethnic Culture with Gender or Sexual Orientation,” and “Race, Culture, and Trauma.” The reason for this year’s chosen topic has much to do

with the “growing interest among society in explaining why mental and physical health symptoms and conditions vary according to racial and ethnic categories,” as explained by Dericka D. Canada, co-coordinator for the 2013 Diversity Challenge Conference and GA&S ’16. Particularly this month, health care and health issues have come to the forefront of our nation’s attention. Addressing the intersection between health and race will make this year’s Diversity Challenge one of the most culturally relevant conferences yet.

Each year, between 200 and 300 people from around the U.S. and other countries attend and participate in the Diversity Challenge sessions. Although the majority of attendants tend to consist of graduate students from BC and surrounding institutions, undergraduates and anyone else interested can easily get involved in the conference.

In addition to planning and coordinating the annual Diversity Challenge, members of the ISPRC are also involved in various collaborative research projects and community outreach programs, including racial identity training on local college campuses, career choice and support groups for individuals of color, mental health interventions, and advocacy interventions and girls’ group at a racially and ethnically diverse local high school. 

PROFESSOR PROFILE

Caswell-McCarron tells stories as journalist and teacher WHO: Danielle Taghian WHO: Christine CaswellMcCarron TEACHES: Molecules and Cells and Cancer Biology TEACHES: Broadcast writing FOCUS: The biology of cancer ACCOMPLISHMENTS: She is a double Emmy RESEARCH: Completed nominee for Outstanding her postdoc at MassachuReporter in Boston setts General Hospital in Simon Powell’s lab FUN FACT: She adopted EMILY SADEGHIAN / HEIGHTS STAFF her daughter from Ukraine

BY ELISE TAYLOR Heights Editor There’s something different about the way Christine Caswell-McCarron speaks.

It may be her tone—even and pleasantly booming. It may be her defined pronunciation of the words she says, with every syllable succinct and crisp. Or it may be the precision of her sentences, which are un-littered with the all-too typical “uhs,” “ums,” and “likes.” Whatever it is, one thing is clear: Caswell-McCarron has the voice of a broadcaster.

Director of Undergraduate Studies and an adjunct professor for the Communication Department, Caswell-McCarron has had a long and experienced career as both a reporter and anchor for television stations all over New England. She’s worked at WVII in Bangor, Maine, WMUR in New Hampshire, New England Cable News, and WCVB, Fox 25, and WHDH-TV right here in Boston—covering historical events such as Bill Clinton’s 1992 New Hampshire Primary Campaign and the OJ Simpson Trial in Los Angeles. She’s also the recipient of an Associated Press award and a double Emmy nominee for Outstanding Reporter in a major market (Boston) for Individual Achievement. At BC, she teaches Broadcast Writing, runs the internship program for communication majors—which includes the Senior Internship Seminar and the onecredit Communication Internship—and offers career advice to majors. In fact, Caswell-McCarron says her favorite moments at BC are when she sees past students she has counseled succeed in the media world. “One of my former Broadcast Writing students is a reporter at my former station [Channel 7 in Boston],” she said. “I feel like I passed the torch to her. We have graduates who are at ESPN, HBO, Bloomberg, and many other media outlets around the world.”

Caswell-McCarron began teaching at

CARA ANNUNZIATA / FOR THE HEIGHTS

BC part-time in 2000, while juggling work as a full time Boston TV journalist. As time went on, she realized she could not do both and spend the time she wanted with her family.

“I could not continue with local TV news.

The business owns you. I never wanted nannies raising my children.” Caswell-McCarron also added that having a family changed the way she could report tragic stories on the job.

“Because I am a mother, I am also much more fragile when it comes to reporting hard news now, especially when it involves children.

I know in some ways my life experiences make me a more compassionate writer, but I could never have been assigned to report on Newtown, Conn., for example. I would not be able to cope with that,” she said. “I have seen and reported on so many horrors in my 25year career—but have always focused on the amazing, happy stories about truly resilient and talented people that contribute greatly to our society.”

So when BC asked her to take a full time position in 2008, she accepted. “My career

at BC is the perfect blend of all my passions: communication, media, education, family, Catholic identity,” she said. “Now I help the next generation of journalists hone their storytelling skills and toughen their skin.” It probably also helps that Caswell-McCarron is an Eagle herself—she graduated from BC in 1989.

This summer, her roles reversed when instead of reporting the news, she was reported on. After hosting an 11-year-old girl from Ukraine through Open Hearts and Homes for Children, a Christian hosting program for Eastern European orphans, Caswell-McCarron and her husband decided they wanted to make her part of their family.

In June, she flew to Kiev to pick up her new daughter Kristina and finalize the adoption. When she tried to get a Ukrainian passport for Kristina, the Ukrainian government said they were changing passport manufactures and that until this process was finished, Kristina could not leave the country. What was meant to be a week in Kiev turned into four, and the story was

picked up by new stations in the local Boston area. Now, Caswell-McCarron says that Kristina is happily adjusting to her new life in the U.S. “It was all worth it. She is a precious girl—amazing in so many ways. She is busy learning English at her new school and simply amazes us with her resiliency and can-do attitude,” she said. She also cited the unfortunate fate Kristina may have faced if she stayed in Ukraine. “Children in orphanages in Ukraine age out of the system at 16 and then are literally put out on the street.

Bad things happen to them.”

When she isn’t teaching, broadcasting, or cheering on one of her three children at sporting events, Caswell-McCaron enjoys relaxing and listening to country music. She links this interest in country music to her passion for broadcast journalism. “Country songs tell stories, and it’s interesting I’ve spent my entire professional career storytelling in a different way—broadcasting the stories of our lives. I can’t carry a tune, but I can handle breaking news without missing a beat.” 

HE SAID, SHE SAID Some of my friends are already planning for their summers, and figuring out what they are going to be doing after graduation. I’m only a junior, and I always thought that I didn’t have to worry about these things until senior year. I don’t even know if I want to go to grad school or start working right away. Are there certain things I should be doing now in preparation for post-grad life, or is it safe to just wait it out?

Well, someone has been slacking! Unless you want to live with your parents for the next five years, I advise that you begin planning as soon as possible.

I am fortunate that the Carroll School of Management has compelled its students to prepare for the future since we set foot on campus freshman year. I advise that you take advantage of your academic advisor—mine has guided MARC FRANCIS me throughout my time at Boston College and tends to provide excellent career advice. Although your course of action is highly dependent on your field of study, you should definitely conduct some research and seek guidance.

Planning for summer internships is almost as stressful as applying for full-time positions. Think about what interests you have and what kind of job would afford you with worthwhile skills. BC’s EagleLink has been a great tool for me these last two years. Even if you are not qualified to apply for some of the internships and positions listed, it will give you an idea of what field you should look into and what kind of internship you are interested in. But perhaps most importantly, you must consult your internal list of connections. Email or call up past employers, friends of your parents, or your cousin’s uncle who is CEO of that large company.

As a final note, I’d like to call to mind the adage “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Many seniors begin their last year at BC with job offers. You do not want to spend your final year of college stressing out over your career path. Think about your future now and make smart choices.

Marc Francis is an editor for The Heights. He can be reached at features@bcheights.com.

As a junior, you should have a better idea of what you want to do post-graduation, unless you don’t mind being stressed out of your mind senior year. Sure, you might not need to know specifically what graduate programs or companies you want to apply for, but you need to have a good sense of yourself and your interests.

Brainstorm and research different jobs you’d love to have one day and ask yourself why those jobs are appealing to you.

AMY HACHIGIAN Visit the Career Center and meet with a counselor to discuss career options or use their resources located in the basement to investigate different opportunities available post-graduation. They have tons of helpful books and guides that talk about the requirements and backgrounds needed for certain jobs. EagleLink also provides online testing to help identify some of your strengths and interests that can help you figure out your career path. MyPlan.com is a really cool website that actually links majors to career options for you—just search for your major and look through the jobs and careers that you are interested in.

Finally, I’d encourage you to take Rev. Michael Himes’ three key questions about vocational discernment to heart when thinking about your future career path: 1. Is this a source of joy? 2. Is this something that taps into your talents and gifts—engages all of your abilities and uses them in the fullest way possible? and 3. Is this role a genuine service to the people around you, to the society at large?

Amy Hachigian is an editor for The Heights. She can be reached at features@bcheights.com.

The Heights

Monday, October 7, 2013

Students locate missing pagodas Pagodas, from B10 Gallagher’s class, which is divided into small groups of four students each, will create artistic depictions of the process of finding the pagodas. Clarke’s class, which is working together as a larger group, will write research papers on the same topic.

“We talked a little bit about all the wrong areas we went, all the things we looked for that ended up giving us no information and looking at that,” said Kristen Mabie, a student in Gallagher’s Drawing Connections class and A&S ’17. “We looked at a lot of artists who did mapping work of journeys.”

Students in both classes have used a variety of sources, from social media and conversations with people familiar with the carvings, to articles in print and online.

“You put 25 highly intelligent people who know how to use the Internet and these databases, and they’re going to find what they want to find,” Meghan Daly, a student in Clarke’s history class and A&S ’14, said. “They might not find the whole picture, but they found a piece of the puzzle which happens to go to another person’s piece, which creates a clearer picture.”

Certain documents, however, were only available in books or articles published in journals to which BC does not have access.

Bregman, who began researching the pagodas over the summer using print materials only, said that she was impressed at how far she could get without resorting to Google.

“There’s just no one way,” Bregman said. “It made me feel good that libraries and what we provide are not dead yet … We can still help people to work smarter and more efficiently.”

Bregman cross-checked the information she found in her printed sources and found that the same information was either already online or accessible through online sources.

Mabie had found most of her information simply through Google, but hit a wall when she could not access a particular article and mentioned the fact to Bregman when she stopped by Bregman’s office.

The answer was not in Google or on a website, but rather, in a publication to which BC does not have access.

“Have you heard of inter-library loans?”

Bregman asked her. Mabie hadn’t, but as it turned out the only way to access her key article was by borrowing it from another library, which any student can do through BC’s online library resources.

Many students, however, say they have relied mostly on online resources in yet another sign that research has evolved in more ways than one over the years.

“We searched JSTOR, used the Holmes search [on BC’s website],” McGillycuddy said.

“That basically had led us to one or two books with pictures of the pagodas. Newspaper articles were probably the key turning point … but we were never physically holding The New York Times or whatever it was.” The class email chain, McGillycuddy said, was also an integral way to share information and make connections.

The art class is using Google docs to organize their information, and the history class is using a site called Media Kron to organize theirs. A cross between Blogger and Dropbox, Media Kron allows students to post documents, links, photos, and their personal observations to a single site. They can then comment on each other’s posts to help connect the dots between pieces of information.

Both classes now know that the Field Museum in Chicago currently houses three of the 84 carvings.

The discovery led Clarke’s history class to a series of helpful sources.

“In Chicago there’s a person to talk to, and they’re at a museum so they have records,” Daly said. “Things sped up from there.”

Clarke’s class also knows the city in which the other 81 are located. They have yet to find the exact location, however, because a key person involved with the pagodas refuses to reveal it. The dead end, however, has given the class more time to consider Clarke’s second question: to whom does art belong?

The Tushanwan museum considers the pagodas cultural treasures and would like to have them back in its possession. Clarke agrees and hopes that the students’ project will result in the carvings’ repatriation.

“The students are coming to terms with who owns the stuff,” Clarke said. “The Shanghai museum was offered the ability to buy them, but they said they wouldn’t buy them.”

From the Mona Lisa to a number of stolen Cambodian Buddhist sculptures currently at The Met in New York, he said, the question of ownership and heritage remains relevant.

“These are cultural treasures,” Bregman said. “Some may think they’re just artwork, but they’re really part of the cultural heritage of this area … and should be repatriated.”

Damien Zhang, a student in Clarke’s course who translated important Chinese articles and A&S ’15, said he felt somewhat surprised that his classmates had taken such an interest in this part of the project.

“The surprising part is seeing everyone trying to find these pagodas and get them back to China,” Zhang said. “They’re not doing this only because it’s an assignment, but because they want to do this.” n

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The Heights throughout the century Take Back the Night fosters empowerment and awareness throughout campus history

By Alison Takahashi For The Heights It’s Friday night at Boston College and classes are no longer in session.

Students are enthusiastically buzzing around campus with a newfound energy that is seldom seen throughout the week. Animated conversations seem to be taking place everywhere and each can be trickled down to three crucial, or maybe not-so-crucial, considerations: where they’re going tonight, who will be there, and what they’re wearing. Eager to rid themselves of the stresses experienced throughout the week, BC students look toward Friday as if it were a beacon of hope, the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, or some sort of saving grace. The weekend offers a much-needed reprieve from the endless storm of research papers and midterm exams, but the testing does not necessarily stop where the classroom ends.

Forced to confront the realities a typical weekend entails, many students must think about who they are and what they stand for. The prevalence of drinking on campus, coupled with the active hookup culture, has made BC, along with other universities, a bubble of giddy, tipsy, sexual angst. Wrapped up in all the fun and excitement of going out and being with friends, we as students often lose sight of just how wrong a night can go. One extra drink can lead to unthinkable consequences. There’s something immensely disturbing about forgetting what happened to you in a given period of time, which is often the result of excessive binge drinking. The reality is that each weekend presents itself with infinite possibilities, but if you, or someone you know, is not in the right state of mind, those limitless possibilities may err on the side of those severely less fortunate.

Take last week for example. A fellow BC student came forward and admitted to be the author of an incredibly disturbing BC Confession.

Written in explicit detail, the post told the narrative of the author’s alleged rape of three innocent women on campus, each of whom likely had no recollection of the event. Whether or not the account was truly a hoax, we will never know. But what we do know is that occurrences like this are degrading to women and instill fear throughout the student body.

Enter Take Back the Night, which was first put on in September of 1990.

Take Back the Night is a multi-faceted event that includes performance poetry, music, and personal accounts shared by survivors of sexual violence. A Heights article dating back to March 1997 explained that “publically sharing their stories does two important things: it makes visible the ongoing violence against women, and it sends a message to survivors that they are not alone and that any kind of assault on women is intolerable.”

“Speaking about rape is important because it gives the speaker a sense of triumph. If they can articulate that it wasn’t their fault, they can stop feeling ashamed,” said Mara Medina in a

Heights interview in April 2002. It is an engaging lecture in which the audience travels with the speakers from their origins of shame to newfound courage and comfort. This annual affair is a way to give survivors control once again and increase awareness on campus.

Why do we need awareness, you may ask? We need awareness because acts of violence such as these can happen whether intoxicated or not.

As scary as this may sound, the reality is that rape happens to the people you eat lunch and go to class with. They may not even know it themselves, and that is another concern entirely.

For those that remember their personal experience of sexual assault, or have become aware of that traumatic experience, it is imperative that the BC community supports them in their recovery, however long or difficult it may be.

The seven girls who came forward to speak about their sexual assault experiences at the 2002 Take Back the Night ceremony said that they “can now separate themselves from their aggressors and know that their having been raped does not make them ‘easy’ or ‘dirty.’” Some admitted with tears that what happened to them will forever affect them and still pains them to this day. By choosing to overcome their silence, they’re asking us to overcome ours too.

As a Jesuit, Catholic university, BC asks us to be men and women for others everyday. That means looking out for the common man and putting yourself in a place of service that will better the lives of someone else. Whether the person is your roommate, a classmate, or a complete stranger, if you see a fellow student in a compromising situation that will likely escalate, why not offer to walk them back to their room, or more importantly, make sure they know the person they’re with? If a student comes to you and admits to have been victim of sexual assault, listen to them and lend them a shoulder to cry on if they need one.

Resources such as the WRC is and has been encouraging the use of the Sexual Assault Network (SAN)—a 24-hour phone service for victims of sexual assault to speak with trained counselors.

For these reasons, Take Back the Night is a BC tradition that is heavily attended and incredibly powerful.

In 1997, students came together to march around campus with candles in hand. The march is an event where women can literally take back the night and walk in solidarity without fear. Since violence against women is a problem that affects the community at large, men were also invited to attend, but were asked to follow behind the women rather than mixing in among them in order to preserve the unity and empowerment of women reclaiming the night and walking without escort or fear.

For information on sexual assault, students can contact the BC Sexual Assault Network Hotline, the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center at (617)492-RAPE (7273), or the WRC at 552-3489. n

Transloc—a word everyone around campus is familiar with. Transloc is an app that allows BC to students to keep track of where the BC shuttle is at all times. It enables students to know exactly which stop the bus is coming from, how many minutes until it arrives at each stop, and which stop it is going to next. Ever wonder why students all over campus are constantly glued to their iPhone? Well, Transloc is half the reason. It is more than just a useful app. It is a way of life.

BC students live and die by the BC shuttle. Freshmen students who live on the Newton Campus have a love/hate relationship with the BC bus. On one hand, they find it incredibly annoying that they can’t just wake up and walk to class. They have to make sure they plan their schedule accordingly so that they can catch the bus over to main campus in time for

Michelle Tomassi

press how imperative the BC shuttle is at 1:30 a.m. when I am all the way in Walsh and need to get back to my room.

The bus also provides a sense of safety and security. It decreases the amount of students walking alone through campus late at night. Don’t get me wrong, the BC campus is very safe—however, one can never be too careful. To some, this may not seem like a big deal at all. Those people, however, have probably never experienced having to walk back to campus in the freezing cold snow in the middle of February. There have been a countless amount of times where students sprint to the bus stop, making it to the stop just in time to barely catch their breath, which goes to show how much of a necessity the bus is. The BC shuttle is so crucial—it is hard to imagine campus without it.

Samantha Mancini is a contributor to The Heights. She can be reached at features@bcheights.com.

Michelle Tomassi is the Features editor for The Heights. She can be reached at features@bcheights.com.

BC buses essential to student life their class. On the other hand, they can’t imagine having to deal with walking from Newton to main campus.

Running low on shampoo and need to take a quick trip to CVS? Not a problem.

The BC shuttle also provides transportation to Cleveland Circle. For BC students, Cleveland Circle is everything we need in the city, without actually having to go into the city. The Cleveland Circle stop is where students can get their Dunkin’ Donuts coffee to help them stay awake for a late night of studying, grab a delicious breakfast at Eagle’s Deli, or even spend a fun night out at Mary Ann’s.

Worried about finding a safe ride home on the weekends? Not a problem. The BC bus also provides transportation to all of the off-campus streets occupied by BC students, such as Gerald, Foster, and Kirkwood. The bus doesn’t stop running until 2 a.m. to ensure all students are given a way to get back to their rooms safely. Being a student living on CoRo myself, I can’t ex-

The healing power of words

I love words. As an English major, it’s pretty much a prerequisite, but my love of the written language goes far beyond educational purposes. It’s a part of who I am. I love how words can come together to create something intricate and deep, or something beautifully simplistic. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think the reverse is also true—one word can conjure thousands of images, depending on the person, the place, and the context.

And they’re not just letters on a page—they penetrate every aspect of our lives. Words are inescapable, and for some people, it can be suffocating. But for most of us, myself included, the abundance and flexibility of language is quite liberating.

You have the freedom to read texts from anywhere in the world, and engage in endless conversation, and even share your innermost thoughts with strangers, thanks to the Internet.

I’ve realized that words, despite their beauty, don’t always possess such qualities—they can often become dangerous.

When they cause confusion rather than clarity, and when they instill fear rather than hope. When they go beyond the page and become unwelcome residents, etched inside the walls of your mind, making their presence inescapable, despite your attempts to think of anything else. For various reasons, I have felt this way several times throughout my life, and each time I can count on one remedy: to write about it.

Most recently, I felt this way after reading Boston College Confession No. 7122.

The lengthy details, the twisted perspective of the anonymous poster, and just the thought of someone sitting at their computer, typing this elaborate yet false confession, really just made me sick. Those words created images that I never wanted to see, and while the student may have felt liberated by sharing these words, I just felt trapped. I have tried to think of explanations, but the words just kept colliding within my head, begging to be let out. So now, as these words have brought me to a point of utter confusion and hopelessness, I turn to my solution: I’ll write about it.

I tried my hardest not to write this column in reaction to the confession. Who am I to write about something I can barely comprehend? My creative writing professors always told me to “write what you know,” and I will be the first to admit that I do not know what to think after reading that painfully detailed confession, and then to learn that it wasn’t really a confession after all.

What I do know, and what I have always known, is that writing can be therapeutic, and doesn’t necessarily have to answer all the questions. I’m sure that everyone who read confession No. 7122 had the same question as I did: why? For those of you who wish to address this question, but can’t seem to find the answer, I’d like to think that one way to respond to such harmful words is with more words—your own words.

The student who posted the confession, by relying on anonymity, refused to make his words his own, and without a name or a face to directly confront, students were left with a terrifying realization: this could have been anybody. While the anonymity made it much more difficult to assign blame, it also elevated the post from an individual issue to a public cause—something that sparked discussion of sexual assault, which is one of those things that we may be reluctant to talk about, but exists nonetheless.

For those of you who want to participate in that discussion, and who want to do something about it, I encourage you to use your words, and be mindful that they are your own. Speak up, write loudly, and don’t be afraid to stand behind those words—after all, words are one of the first things that we are truly able to call our own. If a victim of sexual assault sees or hears your words of support, that gives them one more person looking out for them, and at the end of the day, our language really is a way for us to look out for each other.

And for those of you who aren’t ready to speak up, I suggest you try to write about it. Because once you know that the words are there, safely written between the lines of your notebook waiting patiently on your shelf, and no longer hiding in the corners of your mind, you may find the confidence to bring them to life. Even if there are dangerous words out there, you can find the strength to revive the beauty of language— by allowing your words to heal others as well as yourself.

campus chronicles

Samantha Mancini

Editor’s Column

FEATURES THE HEIGHTS

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B10

Monday, January 24, 2013

MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013

A Cultural Treasure Hunt Two classes use texts and ingenuity to locate pagodas

BY SAMANTHA COSTANZO Heights Editor Students in “From Sun Yat-sen to the Beijing Olympics,” a class on Chinese history taught by Rev. Jeremy Clarke, S.J., hardly expected to be sent on a treasure hunt that would have them virtually crisscrossing the globe.

But in the first five weeks of being back at school, they and the students in Sheila Gallagher’s Drawing Connections advanced drawing course have been wrapped up in a historical mystery that they are already close to solving.

“That’s the beauty of taking professors who have been given great reviews and have a real strong handprint on campus,” said Kaitlyn McGillycuddy, A&S ’14.

In the early 20th century, at a Chinese orphanage in what is now Shanghai, a Jesuit named Aloysius Beck taught woodcarving to a group of young boys. The children carved 84 intricate statues of pagodas located throughout China and Korea. Many of the structures themselves have been destroyed, leaving the carvings as the only remaining way to see them. But the carvings, too, disappeared in 1915, after they traveled from China to the Chicago World’s Fair.

After almost 100 years, a history class at Boston College has finally located them. Clarke, a scholar of Chinese history, visited the Tushanwan Museum during a seminar over the summer. Located on the site of the former orphanage, it held what little information about the pagodas that was to be had at the time.

“I was told by the people at the museum that they didn’t know where they’d ended up,” Clarke said.

He and Gallagher developed the project for their respective courses. Bapst Art Librarian Adeane Bregman created a resource guide for students to use during the project and spoke to them about how to conduct their research effectively. The area where the orphanage was located, Bregman said, has multiple spellings of its name. Knowing what those are and how to search for them individually proved helpful for the students when conducting their research. The professors hope to learn more about what research methods and ways of learning work best for students.

“There’s the immediate task of using this media and seeing how they use it,” Clarke said. “Is this a good learning style? Did it work? What are they learning in this process?”

See Pagodas, B9

JORDAN PENTALERI / HEIGHTS GRAPHIC

Institute receives national acclaim for science research

BC’s first Spirit Week falls short of expectations

BY CATHRYN WOODRUFF

Team members reflect on pros and cons of events

Asst. Features Editor Huge photographs of Earth, maps of earthquake fault lines, and pictures of NASA explorations line the walls. Computer screens light up on a desk in the hall, which track signals from satellites in real time, collected from locations abroad, from Africa to South America.

The Headquarters for the Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), located in Kenny Cottle Hall on Newton Campus, is vibrating with activity and excitement all day, yet many students are unaware of its existence.

The ISR was established in 1954 when professor Rene Marcou of the mathematics department was awarded a $5,000 contract from the Air Force to map the ionosphere and its effects on radio waves.

This was the first government-sponsored research grant awarded to Boston College. More grants were given following the professor’s initial work in the ’50s, and the Institute was involved in analyzing satellite measurements from Sputnik and the U.S. Explorer satellites. Today, the Institute is the largest sponsored research center at BC. The ISR employs a highly skilled team of over 50 scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and research associates who work on projects that involve space

physics, space chemistry, solar-terrestrial research, space weather, and seismic studies. Some ISR scientists also support the space chemistry and plasma chemistry laboratories at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M. Over the last few years, the ISR has been granted between $6 and $7 million dollars annually for research endeavors and projects. Its main sponsors include the Air Force Research Laboratory, Federal Aviation Administration, and NASA, among many others.

Director of the Institute Patricia Doherty noted how current research is pertinent to people’s everyday lives.

Technological systems like GPS, which were launched in the 1990s, are crucial in the lives of many.

“A lot of our research is centered on space weather. We study both the development and behavior of space weather and the applications that are affected by it,” Doherty said. “We do this by characterizing what goes on in the space environment and how it affects satellites, satellite signals, and the many technologies dependent on them.

By knowing more about what’s going on with space weather, we can work to design protective measures.”

In simplified terms, Doherty explained

See ISR, B7

I NSIDE FEATUR E S THIS ISSUE

BY CAROLINE KIRKWOOD Heights Staff

NICK BARKER / FOR THE HEIGHTS

A firework display during the pep rally on Friday concluded Spirit Week festivities.

As Boston College resurrected Homecoming festivities this year, the first ever Spirit Week occurred, as well. Spirit Week was an effort to foster student spirit leading up to the BC vs Army Homecoming football game on Saturday. The ongoing event throughout the week was the Spirit Week Competition, where various student organizations and communities participated in a series of events to show who had the most BC Eagles pride, culminating in the presentation of the Spirit Cup at the BC vs.

Army football game.

Students were eligible to participate in the Spirit Week if they registered as part of a student organization, residence hall council, or Boston College organized group. The Student Programs Office promoted the Spirit Week Competition through emails, encouraging students to register a team leading up to the Sept. 23 deadline. In its inaugural year, the Spirit Week Competition drew 13 registered teams, with only five gaining points after participating in its events.

He Said/She Said Two students give advice for juniors considering summer internships and post-grad plans....................................................................... B8

One of these teams is the Entreprenaturals, which is made up of the 10 executive board members of the Boston College Entrepreneur Society. Troy Johnson, team captain and A&S ’14, explained the Entrepreneur Society’s reason for creating a team. “We, especially these past two years, have become a much more active club on campus,” he said.

“We thought this was good way to get more visibility. It would be a fun event and good bonding experience for everyone who is on the executive board of the club.”

Team captain of the Cheverbest team Meghan Henneberger, A&S ’17, didn’t realize that this was the first year of BC’s Spirit Week Competition when she created a team with her hall of freshman girls in Cheverus. But upon seeing the email encouraging teams to register, Henneberger explained, “We just decided to take the opportunity and see what it would be like.”

The week kicked off with a banner competition, with five teams participating, and each designed their own BC banner. The banners were then posted on the BC Homecoming website for students to vote on their favorite, which led to points awarded to the various teams.

One of the aspects of the competition that was particularly confusing for competitors, however, was the attending of athletic events to win points. Many of the sporting events

See Spirit Week, B7

Club Series.................................B7 Heights Through the Century...............B9