The Heights - 9/23/13

HEALTH AT BC

FALL CONCERT

ALL TIED UP

FEATURES

ARTS & REVIEW

SPORTS

Students coach their peers seeking healthier lifestyles, B10

Jam band O.A.R. took the stage for UGBC’s Fall Concert at Conte Forum on Friday, A10

BC men’s soccer and No. 2 Notre Dame fought to an overtime draw on Saturday night, B1

www.bcheights.com

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Vol. XCIV, No. 30

HEIGHTS

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Monday, September 23, 2013

Annual Boat Cruise sails smoothly Students gather at Boston Harbor for the yearly UGBC-sponsored cruise

BY DEVON SANFORD Assoc. News Editor Boston College students donned sleek suits and semi-formal dresses for UGBC’s Annual Boat Cruise on Saturday night. The boat set sail around the Boston Harbor, with clear skies and a cool evening making a perfect setting for the event.

“I think it was a success,” said Alisha Wright, manager of Heritage Programming for UGBC and A&S ’15. “People were having a g reat time— taking advantage of the photo booth, the outdoor deck, and the two dance floors.”

The cruise was 30 tickets short of

DREW HOO / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Students gathered on a Spirit Boat Cruise ship Saturday night for UGBC’s annual event.

selling out. Over 550 students attended the event, which Wright considered a great number.

DJ IDES, BC student Alexandre Bou-Rhodes, A&S ’15, and a disc jockey provided by Spirit Boat Cruise entertained the crowd for more than three hours on the multi-level ship. Students mingled on the top floor and on the outdoor decks. A buffet-style dinner was offered on the main floor, featuring chicken fingers and pizza, as well as cookies and brownies for dessert.

There were minimal behavioral problems on the cruise, according to Wright.

“We had close to no behavioral

problems which I’m sure made BCPD, our advisors, as well as myself pretty happy,” Wright said. “I was really impressed because one of our main goals of the last couple of years has been to reduce the number of transports at UGBC events, and we have been really successful at doing that.”

The Annual Boat Cruise is one of four staple events—including the formerly-named ALC Ball, GLC Gala, and ALC Showdown—under UGBC’s newly structured Heritage Programming department.

The “ALC” and “GLC” titles have been changed to “Annual” to present Heritage Programming as a unified division. Wright said that the title changes show that all students are

See Boat Cruise, A3

O.A.R. TURNS CONTE AROUND 1,100 tickets sold for Friday’s concert, main stage shifted to face three sections in Conte

BY MARLY MORGUS Heights Editor AND

DEVON SANFORD

Assoc. News Editor

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3 ALEX GAYNOR / HEIGHTS EDITOR

1. Alt-rock band O.A.R. (Of a Revolution) was the headline act at Friday’s Fall Concert. 2. Students were restricted to three sections of Conte Forum during the concert, and there was no standing room. 3. Boston-based indie hip-hop artist Moe Pope opened for O.A.R.

It was a bumpy start for the UGBC Fall Concert on Friday night. Despite efforts by UGBC to make a last-minute push of ticket sales—a promo code that offered students a $5 discount from the originally priced $30 ticket and persistent tweets and Facebook updates—7 p.m. saw only a smattering of students present for the opening act, Moe Pope.

On Wednesday, Sept. 18, two days before the concert, UGBC decided to offer students a discounted ticket price in an attempt to generate higher ticket sales revenue.

“We dropped the ticket price to promote the concert in a different way, seeing as the price change would affect sale volume,” said Matt Nacier, president of UGBC and A&S ’14.

“Based off that change, we also realized that some students would feel that they were treated unfairly. So we are going to do a $5 discount for the 700 students who bought tickets before the discount, for another UGBC event.”

Any student who purchased a ticket before Wednesday afternoon will be granted a $5 credit to any large-scale, upcoming UGBC event. The promo code, while an attempt to draw a larger audience on Friday night, was only used by three students. Nacier was disappointed by the low number of students who used the promo code. He attributed the minimal number of sales to a “lack of attention to the pub on the Facebook page.”

The fall concert was one of three events under the titled “Fall Weekend”—the other two events being Thursday night’s BC2Boston Red Sox game and Saturday night’s Annual Boat Cruise. “Fall Weekend” was not a planned structure. When UGBC was left with no other option but to plan the Fall Concert and Boat Cruise on the same weekend, Nacier said

See Fall Concert, A3

Catholic student monthly to debut this Wednesday

Math dept. partners up with Tsinghua University

BY ELEANOR HILDEBRANDT

BY JENNIFER HEINE

News Editor This week marks the debut of Boston College’s newest student-run publication, the Catholic monthly The Torch. Led by Christopher Canniff, editor-in-chief and A&S ’14, Natalie Yuhas, interim managing editor and A&S ’16, and Stephanie Johnson, business manager and CSOM ’15, The Torch will release a monthly 16-page print issue, with its inaugural issue printing this Wednesday, Sept. 25.

The Torch replaces The Observer as BC’s Catholic issues student publication.

Canniff explained that his decision to cease publishing The Observer and start a new publication stemmed in large part from the way The Observer mixed politics with religion.

“I took over [as editor-in-chief of The Observer] back in January,” Canniff said.

“As a theology major, the one thing that

always concerned me was the way that the paper presented Catholicism, since it did call itself a Catholic paper—and recognizing that sometimes the other half of its mission, which was political, could end up twisting the religious side to fit a political view. So it was sort of a contentious connection of ideals in our mission that needed to be resolved, one way or the other.”

In addition to the The Observer’s often-controversial pieces, Canniff said that declining staff numbers—from 60 contributors in the fall of 2010 to around 15 or 20 in the spring of 2012—made it clear that change was necessary. According to Canniff, he consulted with two faculty members—Margaret Schatkin, an associate professor in the theology department, and Susan Michalczyk, a professor in the A&S Honors program—and came to the conclusion that the best way to move forward was to focus more com-

Heights Staff pletely on Catholicism, and to change the publication’s tone.

“The Observer, of course, was known for being rough and abrasive at points, and it’s not the best way to win anyone over to your side,” Canniff said. “So, if the pursuit was to be presenting the truth—if we failed to present the truth in charity, then we failed to present the fullness of the truth, because in God, truth and charity are one.”

The Observer was founded in 1983, and Canniff said that he spoke with several alumni in the course of making his decision to discontinue its publication. One alumnus explained to Canniff why The Observer was founded. “It was a response to the way The Heights was at the time,”

See The Torch, A3

The Boston College Mathematics Department has become one of nine math departments in the nation to enter into a partnership with Tsinghua University in Beijing, a move that the University hopes will both contribute to the growth of the department and increase BC’s international visibility.

Although the program does not currently carry course credit, it will enable faculty and possibly students to lecture and take classes at Tsinghua.

“The vision is that BC faculty, if they want to, can go there for a few weeks over the summer, teach a course for graduate students, and even more advanced researchers, and if some BC graduate students want to go over as well, I think that would be possible,” said Solomon Friedberg, a Mathematics Department

McIntyre Endowed Chair and professor.

“Probably they won’t carry formal course credit, they’ll be things people will do to learn advanced mathematics, which then the students might use in their dissertation, or to get a broader sense of an area of mathematics that is important to them.

“In mathematics, you never stop learning, so post-docs might be interested as well,” he said. “If I were to go over and teach a course there, and somebody else was teaching a course, I might benefit from going to that course as well.”

Although the program is aimed at graduate and doctoral students, Friedberg doesn’t rule out the possibility of opportunities for undergraduates. “Possibly we would have some very, very advanced undergraduates who could take advantage of it. That would be wonderful but I think that would be exceptional,” he said. “But

See Math Partnership, A3

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New Journalist Program

Geoffrey Canada

Monday, September 23, 2013

Annual Healthapalooza

1 2 3 Today Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Stokes South 195

The Heights presents the fourth annual New Journalist Program. The event will feature keynote speaker Bob Ryan, a former sportswriter for The Boston Globe and noted panelist on ESPN’s Around the Horn.

A Guide to Your Newspaper

Wednesday Time: 4:30 p.m.

Location: Robsham Theatre

Americans for Informed Democracy and Students for Education Reform present Geoffrey Canada, an educator and President of the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York. He will be speaking on education reform.

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

Wednesday Time: 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Location: O’Neill Plaza

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

Boston College’s annual Healthapalooza will be held on Wednesday afternoon with information on new programs and fall actitivities. The event will feature a Harvard Pilgrim Health Coach.

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

FEATURED EVENT

Grandmothers of Plazo de Mayo continue to fight

BY CHRISTINE DONOHUE For The Heights Dirty War, disappearing children, DNA investigations, and murder.

These elements sound like the making of a Stephen King novel, but indeed they are not.

Instead they are parts of the true, heartfelt stories shared by two Argentine grandmothers in the hope that the young people of the world would listen and take heart. The Boston College Center for Human Rights and International Justice hosted The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo at an event on Thursday night. There, two Argentine women shared their personal stories of advocacy and courage with the BC community.

The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo formed during what many have dubbed the Argentine “Dirty War,” from 1976-83. During this period, a military junta took control of the country and began a crusade that called for the eventual elimination of all opposition.

This was largely carried out by the “disappearing” of citizens, wherein the government would kidnap anyone who posed a threat, most of whom were never to be seen or heard from again. The government set up over 400 concentration camps, and it is estimated that up to 30,000 citizens were killed. These kidnapped men and women, however, were not the only missing, for with them disappeared their young children and children born at the concentration camps. Terrified they too would be “disappeared,” those left behind remained silent, until an unlikely group

EMILY SADEGHIAN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Estela Barnes and Buscarita Roa spoke on Argentine’s “Dirty War” and the need for peace. stepped forward and started publicly demanding answers.

The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo are a human rights organization that works to reunite families torn apart by the “disappearing” of loved ones, and promotes awareness of this injustice around the world. Since the return of democracy to Argentina in 1984, these women have especially focused on finding their missing grandchildren, as most have accepted their children who were “disappeared” were likely killed. Over 400 of these grandchildren remain missing. One of the two women who spoke at the event Thursday was the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo’s president, Estela Barnes de Carlotto.

De Carlotto recounted how her then-pregnant daughter, Laura, was kidnapped during the “Dirty War” for dissent against the government. De Carlotto immediately searched for her

daughter, and soon found similar mothers searching for the same answers.

This group of women came together and held vigils in the Plaza de Mayo, near the presidential palace. Although de Carlotto has worked for years to try to find information on her daughter and missing granddaughter, they remain unaccounted for. When this group of mothers first formed, she said, “They [the government] called us madmen.

They thought they were going to make us go home. Weren’t they wrong. We grandmas have been fighting for 36 years.”

The other grandmother who spoke on Thursday night, Buscarita Roa, was one of the women fortunate enough to have found her missing granddaughter.

When Roa’s son was “disappeared,” his assailants also kidnapped his eightmonth-old daughter. Through the work of the Grandmothers, Roa was reunited

POLICE BLOTTER

with her granddaughter 22 years later. This child, like many others, had been appropriated, or illegally adopted, by a military general and his wife. When her granddaughter realized the truth at the age of 22, Roa said, “She got back her identity, and it felt like a whole new world had opened up to her.” However, she also said, “It is not easy when you find a grandchild, everything comes out little by little as we show them we love them, just as all grandmothers do.”

As of today, the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo have recovered 109 of their missing grandchildren. De Carlotto said, “It is a hard struggle, but full of love.”

Perhaps the Grandmothers’ strongest weapon is their use of genetics.

Working with U.S. scientists, they have been able to match grandparents with their missing grandchildren through blood samples. The Grandmothers have also participated in murder trials against members of the military-dictatorship. Regarding this, de Carlotto said, “We don’t hate anyone, we just want justice.” In addition to their advocacy in Argentina, they have made their international presence known, contributing to the International Convention on the Rights of a Child.

Despite all these achievements, the grandmothers still deal with criticism, as many citizens of their country want to move on and forget about this horrifying chapter of history. “When history is erased, history repeats itself,” de Carlotto said. “The Grandmothers want a world at peace, and we want something that is a sacred word in Argentina—never again.” 

Thursday, September 19

Friday, September 20

10:04 a.m. - A report was filed regarding stolen property in an off-campus location.

10:20 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a larceny in Walsh Hall.

12:17 p.m. - A report was filed regarding assistance provided to another police agency in an off-campus location.

5:57 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a local fire alarm activation in Stayer Hall. No fire department response occured.

1:44 a.m. - A report was filed regarding medical assistance provided to a BC student in Walsh Hall lot. The student was transported by ambulance to a medical facility.

6:01 p.m. - A report was filed regarding larceny in Newton roadways.

8:14 p.m. - A report was filed regarding vandalism observed in Cushing Hall.

6:34 p.m. - A report was filed regarding medical assistance provided to a student on Brighton Campus.

8:35 p.m. - A report was filed regarding medical assistance provided to a student in the Plex. The student was transported to a medical facility.

College Corner NEWS FROM UNIVERSITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Har v ard University formally launched a $6.5 billion fundraising campaign on Saturday, according to The Huffington Post. If succesful, the campaign will be the largest fundraising effort in the history of higher education. Boston College’s Light the World campaign, in comparison, is working to raise $1.5 billion.

Harvard’s campaign has broad goals spanning across all its schools. It would target major renovations of the university’s undergraduate housing and increase its study of new learning and teaching strategies. The campaign would fund research in neuroscience, stem cell science, and low-cost energy for developing the world. It would also aim to expand the school’s global presence through an ongoing project to develop a center in Shanghai for conferences and research, according

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.

Sports Scores Want to report the results of a game? Call Austin Tedesco, Sports Editor, at (617) 5520189, or email sports@bcheights.com.

Arts Events The Heights covers a multitude of events both on and off campus – including concerts, movies, theatrical performances, and more. Call 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.

CUSTOMER SERVICE Delivery To have The Heights delivered to your home each week or to report distribution problems on campus, contact Jamie Ciocon, General Manager at (617) 5520547.

Advertising The Heights is one of the most effective ways to reach the BC community. To submit a classified, display, or online advertisement, call our advertising office at (617) 552-2220 Monday through Friday.

9/18/13-9/20/13

Wednesday, September 18

BY DEVON SANFORD Assoc. News Editor

EDITORIAL RESOURCES

to The Huffington Post.

Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard, said the campaign will help meet the world’s increasingly complex and pressing needs.

“We will meet these challeneges, and in doing so, we will reaffirm what makes Harvard—and universities in general—such essential and irreplaceable contributors to the pursuit of knowledge and the welfare,” Faust said in a press release.

The campaign informally began two years ago and has already raised $2.8 billion in gifts and pledges. The school aims to reach its $6.5 billion goal by 2018.

If Harvard reaches its goal, the campaign will surpass a five-year, $6.2 billion campaign by Stanford University that ended last year. Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania have completed multiyear fundraising campaigns that netted $3.9 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively. 

5:05 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a fire alarm activation in St. Mary’s Hall. The Newton Fire Department responded.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

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

VOICES FROM THE DUSTBOWL “What is the song you never skip on iPod shuffle?”

“Something by Lady Gaga.”

—Tyler Magaziner, CSOM ’14

“‘Ignition Remix’ by R. Kelly.”

—Katrina Longest, CSON ’16

“‘Forever and Always’ by Taylor Swift.”

—Lucas Allen, A&S ’16

“‘Red’ by Taylor Swift.”

—Nicole Wu, LSOE ’16

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2013

A3

New ‘Torch’ publication hopes to overcome political legacy of now-defunct ‘Observer’ The Torch, from A1 Canniff said. “He agreed with me that, basically, the need was no longer there for the type of paper that The Observer aimed to be. The political climate on campus, the cultural climate on campus, has changed … Catholicism isn’t being celebrated left and right … but at the same time, there’s not the hostility that was here during his time.”

Canniff mentioned that a few alumni were not supportive of the transition, but said that they failed to appreciate the changes to BC. “The paper was no longer serving its purpose—serving a purpose, really,” he said.

As of now, around 18 or 20 people are on the Torch staff, only five of whom also worked on The Observer last year.

The mission statement of The Torch declares that, by “taking seriously the values to which Boston College is committed as a Catholic university, The Torch desires an active and healthy exchange of ideas. Moreover, its chief end is to be a tool for the new evangelization, spreading faith in Jesus Christ as a

source of conversion and new life.”

The publication will update its website weekly—according to Canniff, the site is expected to launch early this week at thetorchbc.com. The Torch runs a Twitter account with the handle @TheTorch_BC and operates on Facebook as well. The paper will be printed by TCI Press, which is based in Seekonk, Mass.

“We’ll have a few pages on campus Catholic news, a few pages on world Catholic news,” Canniff said. “Then we’ve also got topical columns—each issue we’ll have a column on liturgy, ecumenism, pro-life issues … and we’ve also got a friend of mine, he’s an atheist and wanted to write a column—we’ve got sort of the dissenting opinion over there—and he decided to call it ‘The Devil’s Advocate.’”

In addition, each issue will feature pieces by different Jesuit and lay faculty members, and six senior staff columns by students. “Those writers are, for the most part, either theology or philosophy or Perspectives majors, who are just sort of reflecting on any topic of their choosing,” Canniff said.

Although Canniff said that the staff of The Torch has a cordial working relationship with members of the University—Rev. Tony Penna of Campus Ministry and Vice President for Mission and Ministry Rev. Jack Butler, S.J., in particular—the paper is financially independent from the University.

Johnson said that she was reaching out to Catholic and Jesuit organizations around the country in order to form advertising contacts.

Funding for the paper comes in part from a onetime donation from a private citizen who, Canniff said, wishes to remain anonymous. In addition, The Torch has a yearlong grant from the Collegiate Network, an organization of conservative college newspapers to which The Observer had previously belonged. Canniff was adamant, however, that neither the donor nor the Collegiate Network would be influencing The Torch’s content.

“We do want to be clear, this is a very serious intention to approach religious faith in a very different manner than The Observer ever did,” Canniff said. n

drew hoo / for the heights

BC students enjoyed views of the Boston skyline from the water on Saturday night.

BC students venture onto Boston harbor for cruise Boat Cruise, from A1 welcome to celebrate the AHANA and GLBTQ communities.

“We really want to stress the fact that the integrity of our events is still there,” said Denise Pyfrom, vice president of programming and A&S ’14. “We are working with the [ALC and GLC] counsels directly to make sure that they feel represented in our events. We want to make sure that the groups who originally created the events know that we have their best interests at heart.”

The Boat Cruise acted as a welcoming event for the coming year. The Annual Ball, Showdown and Gala will feature celebrations of the history of the events and the culture of the AHANA and GLBTQ communities.

Students who attended the event said they enjoyed the evening festivities, but some were disappointed in the ticket prices.

“It’s always fun to get dressed up and see all your friends, but I wish it didn’t cost so much,” said Sean Haggerty, A&S ’14.

Wright hopes the Annual B oat Cruise will set a precedent for future UGBC events.

“I’m really glad that people came out and had a good time,” Wright said.

“We want to make sure that the groups who originally created the events know that we have their best interests at heart.”

- Denise Pyfrom Vice President of UGBC Programming and A&S ’14 “I think this set a good tone for the Heritage Programming events, and I hope it will encourage students to come to the rest of the events we put on this year.” n

alex gaynor / heights editor

Moe Pope (above left) opened for O.A.R. The band’s lead singer, Marc Roberge, (above right) played a mix of favorites and lesser-known songs.

Moe Pope, O.A.R. play to small crowd Fall Concert, from A1 that the staff worked to make the best of the situation.

“We attempted to spur excitement with the Fall Weekend,” Nacier said.

“The fact that the teams focused and got these events together, and started planning the next events already, I would say is a testament to the staff members of UGBC and we applaud them … I don’t see why we can’t make this a tradition in years to go forth, especially if we put it on a football bye week and have something for students to attend every day of that weekend.”

By Friday night, when the lights hit center stage in Conte Forum, UGBC had sold a little over 1,100 tickets.

The fall concert stage was erected about 20 feet back from the stands facing the main Conte Forum entrance off of Campanella Way, with students filing into the stadium seats with no option to stand close to the stage.

Denise Pyfrom, vice president of programming and A&S ’14, said the decision to change the orientation of the stage was made a few days before the concert.

“On Wednesday, when we realized ticket sales weren’t going to reach capacity of what we had available in Conte Forum, we decided that changing the orientation of the stage would foster a more intimate, comfortable environment,” Pyrfrom said. “And that proved to work out. The artists really liked the setup of the stage.”

Nacier added that students responded positively to the change.

“A lot of students felt really invested in the artists,” he said. “It was different than in years past, when you’re in the far end of Conte and you can barely hear audible sounds … I think going forward, if volume allows it, that is how orientation should be for events.”

For the beginning of the opening act, students scattered through the first 10 rows directly in front of the stage. Most of the attendees remained seated as Moe Pope and his ensemble of an electric violinist, electronic percussionist/DJ, and fellow rapper struggled to engage

their audience.

Most attempts were in vain, and even as more people filed in and began to fill the three sections in front of the stage, there was little energy coming from the crowd. At one point toward the end of his set, Christopher Talkin declared to the audience that he would sit down for the rest of his performance, seeing as the spectators were doing so as well.

The rapper finally got the crowd standing by announcing that he was about to play his final song, and from there students showed a bit more energy and gave the act a better sendoff.

Moe Pope finished just before 8 p.m.

It was clear that concert attendees had taken note of the fact that they would not be allowed into the venue after that point, because right as the rapper was finishing, the crowd began to swell, filling three sections across up to the rafters in the upper deck.

As filler music played during the interlude between the two acts, it became clear that the energy for O.A.R. was going to be much higher than it had been for Moe Pope.

O.A.R. came on around 8:10 p.m. when the four band members filed onto the stage and lead singer Marc Roberge stood with his back to the crowd. Without introduction, the band launched into its opening number, “About Mr. Brown.”

As the song ended, Roberge introduced himself and his band, adding that one of their members, the saxophone player Jerry DePizzo, was not present that night because he was having a baby, to which the crowd responded favorably.

The next few songs came in quick succession as the band worked through some of its lesser-known material, also adding in a rendition of Bob Marley’s “Stir It Up.” Roberge added to the performance by inserting anecdotes about the recording or writing of some of the songs and by allowing for long periods of improvisation by each of the band members. The first number that got a big reaction, “Hey Girl,” featured interludes from nearly every band member,

shaking up the expectations of many audience members who were familiar with the song.

The song choices fluctuated between O.A.R.’s hits, like “Shattered” and “Love and Memories,” and lesser-known material that the O.A.R. faithful in the crowd enjoyed especially. The band kept the audience engaged, offering many opportunities to sing the songs on their own.

As 10 p.m. approached, however, the audience, especially in the upper half of the seats, began to thin, even as the hits began coming more frequently.

The band closed with “Heaven,” with the remaining crowd singing along to the recognizable song. Afterwards, the upper section of Conte nearly emptied before the band came out for its encore, “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker,” which was stretched from the normal, recorded version of the song into a jam session sing-along that lasted for more than 10 minutes.

While ticket sales were low for the concert, Nacier commended his staff for their work.

“We obviously wish we had more ticket sales, and that is something we will have to work for in the future,” Nacier said. “We took a risk.”

“Our concert coordinators dedicated an enormous amount of time this summer, working with our agent to find an artist for this concert,” Pyfrom said.

“They knew that past coordinators had tried to book O.A.R. before, and they felt that this was a concert that students would really respond well to.

They wanted to bring a new flavor to the table.”

The Fall Concert, unlike UGBC events in recent history, had zero medical transports to the hospital.

Pyfrom said that the UGBC staff would use this event as a learning experience.

“We really learned a lot from this experience that we will use moving forward,” Pyfrom said. “We need to diversify the type of community outreach we do and possibly create a survey for students to fill out … There are many things that we can take from the concert and use going forward, for future UGBC

drew hoo / for the heights

At the Annual Boat Cruise last weekend, students gathered to dance, eat, and socialize on a Spirit Boat Cruise ship. Over 550 students attended, about 30 short of selling out.

Math department starts multinational program Math Partnership, from A1 of course, once we start building these bridges, we can always add to them.”

The partnership could also enable Tsinghua faculty to come to BC, to give lectures of interest to the students and faculty.

He considers simply being asked to participate in the program an honor for the Mathematics Department and for BC as a whole.

“Looking at the list of the other U.S. schools they’ve invited to participate, they’re really some of the most elite math departments in the entire country,” Friedberg said. “So it’s exciting to be in that group. It’s a very select group, and we’re part of it, and I think that’s a nice sign for all of us.”

That several of the department’s professors have already spent time at Tsinghua helped to develop the relationship between the two universities, beginning with professor Dawei Chen in the summer of 2012 and professor David Treumann this past summer. Friedberg also visited, visiting Tsinghua to give a lecture while teaching at another school. One of BC’s current graduate students was introduced to the school by this lecture, an experience Friedberg described as rewarding.

“It really shows the impact of our fac-

ulty going and talking in other places,” he said. “There are a lot of competing institutions, but when you see someone with a face, who gives a really exciting series of talks, with energy and enthusiasm both for what they’re doing and for the institution they represent, I think the message gets across very, very clearly.”

Ultimately, he hopes that the program will prove mutually beneficial to both universities. “We’re interested in developing ties, and they’re interested in developing ties,” he said. “They’re interested in having us come and add to their scholarly environment, because they see BC as a place where there’s a lot of exciting scholarship, and we’d like to bring that to Asia. I think that’s a really good statement for everybody.

“There’s a big investment in Asia in intellectual capital, and China sees math, science, and technology really as the future of the country, so there is a big investment in it,” Friedberg said. “There are a lot of great, wonderful, talented people, also great human beings, who are getting involved with it. So when we can connect with them, there will be more opportunities for everyone, and I think it’ll be great for our students. There’s so much intellectual energy in Asia right now that it’s really a big advantage for Boston College to be very visible there. It’s good for all of us.” n

The Heights

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Monday, September 23, 2013

Hillel erects sukkah to celebrate Sukkot

Miles and memories

By Eleanor Hildebrandt News Editor

Brendon Anderson Last weekend, I ran a half marathon. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not just mentioning this because I want you to think I’m cool (although you can feel free to assume that if you really want to). No, I promise that I have a point to all of this. At least, I think I do.

I guess what the race boils down to for me is one word: diversity. That’s probably a confusing way to put it, but if you hear me out, I swear it makes sense. It’s just annoying because “diversity” is such a loaded term at BC. Don’t worry, I’m not here to talk about the percentages of BC’s racial and religious makeup. No one wants to hear that. What I want to talk about instead is diversity as I understand it: not superficial distinctions, but the beautiful uniqueness of every person.

I’m new to this whole running very long distances thing, so I’m not sure if it’s something that usually happens to runners, but you kind of get attached to the people who run around you.

It’s like when you’re driving on the highway behind a car for a couple hours and it suddenly gets off and you’re sad. You get invested in it. Just like that, you really get to know the people around you when you run. You get to see their diversity.

Take for example, the man who I called the super dad. By mile nine, I was ready to give out, but this one man runs past me. I guess I should probably also mention the fact that he was pushing his son with cerebral palsy in a stroller the whole time. And while I was angry and exhausted, wondering why my iPod decided to endlessly repeat a song called “The Wrong Direction,” all those two could do was smile. The boy smiled, listening to his iPod and cruising along, while his father smiled, projecting them forward at a remarkable pace.

Some kids and their dads have catch in the backyard, these two had the race. But they had more than that. You could tell it from their smiles. They had each other, and for the moment, that was all that mattered.

Then there was the woman in the red hat, with her premature wrinkles. There was the man with his dog, trotting beside him the whole way.

There was the septuagenarian.

There was the group of girls with the cool shirts. There were two of my best friends there for me at the race just as they are for everything else. There was a snapshot of the world in all its diversity and all its beauty.

And when I say beauty, I mean it. If you took some sort of class picture of humanity it would be a kind of mosaic, billions of pieces each distinct from the last, making up something purely beautiful.

That’s what makes any attempt to break the mural so terrible. That’s what made me want to run so much in the first place, after the hatred of the bombing last April. I just wanted to do something about it, so I started running a lot.

I guess what I’m starting to see is that we can always do something in our own diverse way. You see, we run as we live, bearing the burden of all the things that hurt us. Our kid may not be able to have a catch and dogs don’t live nearly as long as they should, but we don’t have to bear that pain alone. I may carry my fears with me, but those two friends and so many others have helped lighten the load. And I think that kind of real friendship is what we live for. After all, we may be diverse, but we’re never alone.

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

matt liber / Heights staff

The current exhibit at the Burns Library features correspondence between Thomas Merton and BC’s Rev. Sweeney, S.J.

Letters between Trappist, BC Jesuits highlight Burns exhibit

By Emily Gutelius For The Heights “It seems I am working for the Jesuits these days. How do I get considered an honorary member of the society? Or would that wreck you?”

Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and best-selling author, corresponded with Boston College’s Reverend Francis W. Sweeney, S.J., for years, resulting in a beneficial relationship for both Merton and BC. Currently on display in the John J. Burns Library, the Thomas Merton Collection bears the fruits of their correspondence.

The display is actually comprised of three separate collections: the Thomas Merton collection, the James H. Forest Collection, and the M. Basil Pennington Papers. The Thomas Merton collection contains the original letters between Merton and BC Jesuits, and copies of Merton’s books inscribed to BC. The James H. Forest Collection is a series of photographs of Merton throughout his life. The M. Basil Pennington Papers are the papers of Trappist monk, M. Basil Pennington, who wrote a biography on Merton.

Merton and Sweeney struck up a relationship based on their love of poetry. They became close in their letters, but never met face-to-face.

The letters reveal a side of Merton that is not overt in his books. He makes wry jokes with Sweeney,

and the relationship was always light-hearted.

As a gift, Merton gave Sweeney a typescript of his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. Sweeney then passed it on to Rev. Terence Connolly, who headed the BC Library at the time.

“This was the beginning of the Merton Collection, which continues to grow and now includes drawings by Merton, photographic images, and correspondence,” states the guide to the exhibit.

Connolly saw this as an opportunity to develop the special collections for the library, thus prompting him to seek his own relationship with Merton. In return for any books Merton needed for his research, Merton would send a signed copy of his own books to the Boston College Librarians.

Merton was initially embarrassed by having a collection about him at BC, but later wrote to Sweeney saying, “I am most honored to think that Boston College really regards me as worthy of a ‘collection.’”

The tone Merton uses with Sweeney is informal—with Connolly, however, Merton maintains a formal tone. Merton makes it clear that he respects Connolly. He even asked Connolly to pray for him while Merton was in the process of becoming ordained. Connolly requested to go to Merton’s ordination, but was unable to attend.

After Connolly’s death in 1961,

Rev. Brendan Connolly became the head of the special collections.

Brendan Connolly reached out to Merton to continue the “interlibrary loan” between BC and Merton.

Brendan Connolly and Merton had a relationship that focused on the philosophical side of Catholicism. In one letter, Merton asks Brendan Connolly to define the Jesuit spirit. A carbon copy of Brendan Connolly’s response is in the exhibit. Additionally, Merton liked the “Jesuit take” on church issues. The collection has firsthand accounts of Jesuit community during Vatican II, as both Merton and Brendan Connolly enjoyed watched and discussing the Vatican II Council unfold.

The Thomas Merton Collection is an outstanding resource for all BC students. English students can read discussions on poetry. Theology and history students can cite primary documents on the religious community’s response to Vatican II. Any student can learn about what a Jesuit candidly thinks of the Jesuit spirit. Catholic converts can see the typescript of a very influential Catholic convert’s autobiography.

Some of the most memorable lines of Merton’s books were in his letters before the books were published. Whether developing ideas for a book, or developing a special collection, both Merton and BC looked on the relationship as a way to grow for the better. n

This past week, Boston College Hillel erected a tent, called a sukkah, on the Stokes lawn.

“One of the Jewish holidays is the holiday of Sukkot, which is kind of like a harvest festival,” said Laura Newman, vice president of BC Hillel and A&S ’15.

“It’s a mixture of commemorating that and also our 40 years walking through the desert and getting out into the Promised Land.”

Sukkot is celebrated inside a sukkah—the four walls are covered, and the top is made out of natural material called s’chach, typically reeds and bamboo, in order to let sunlight and moonlight inside.

“Traditionally, you have all your meals in there and you sleep out there—it’s a weeklong thing,” Newman said. “Hillel has decided not to sleep in the sukkah, but we had our Friday night dinner there, and we had a great turnout. It was a lot of fun—we actually ended up having so many people that some of us had to sit outside the sukkah to fit everyone, which was really great to see.”

BC Hillel has not set up a sukkah for a few years. “We had a sukkah—I don’t know how many years back , but it was far before I got here,” Newman said. “That fit maybe five people

in it. Last year we were finally able to get the funding to buy ourselves a sukkah, so we got it sometime late last year, and this year was the first time that we were ever able to put it up.

It’s a lot bigger than the old one, and really nice. We had tons of decorations inside—that’s another part of Sukkot, you’re supposed to decorate the inside with fruits and harvest things.

We had a bunch of hanging bananas and pomegranates , grapes—it was very decorated and very homey.”

Hillel is nested under Campus Ministry, and its liaison is Ellen Kana, an administrative assistant who handles reimbursements and printing. The funding for the sukkah and for its events comes from SOFC, and then is transferred to Hillel’s account in Campus Ministry.

About 10 people serve on the Hillel e-board, according to Newman.

In addition to Sukkot, Hillel also celebrates other large Jewish holidays. The next big holiday is Hannukah, but the group is hosting a brunch for Jewish families at 11 a.m. this Sunday, Sept. 29, during the Parents’ Weekend Family Liturgy. Hillel also hosts a Shabbat dinner, which is open to BC students of all faiths, every Friday at 6 p.m. in the second floor lounge of Gabelli Hall. n

graham beck / Heights editor

BC Hillel set up a sukkah in the lawn outside of Stokes to celebrate Sukkot.

Editor, music critic appointed first Journalism Fellow

By Brandon Stone Heights Staff

This year, Boston College’s Institute for the Liberal Arts (ILA) appointed its first ever Journalism Fellow. Into this role has stepped Maura Johnston. Johnston, a writer, editor, and music critic, is well known as a founding editor of Gawker Media’s Idolator, a music blog.

More recently, Johnston, whose sister is a BC Law alumna, was music editor for Village Voice, and has contributed to The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Spin. From 2010-13, Johnson taught a course, Writing About Popular Music, at New York University, and just last year she launched Maura Magazine.

Johnston was first contacted about the possibility of filling the role of Journalism Fellow by Carlo Rotello, director of the America Studies program, in May. As a member of the ILA’s seminar on academia and public life,

Johnston will carry out her role as chair by visiting a number of writing and journalism classes, as well as leading an undergraduate course of her own each semester.

This semester, she is teaching Journalism and New Media , and second semester she will be teaching Writing About Popular Music.

While Writing About Popular Music is a modified version of the class Johnston taught at NYU, this is her first time teaching Journalism and New Media. The class is a survey of the online publishing world, with Johnston giving lessons on specific production techniques and leading examinations of the way news is handled and disseminated. Writing About Popular Music “is a survey of topics in current popular music that also looks at ways to write about them,” Johnston said. “I’m hoping to bring in colleagues of mine from not just Boston, but all over the country.”

So far, Johnston has enjoyed her time on the Heights. “I’m very

impressed by the students’ rigor and the number of publications on campus,” she said. “It’s also nice to be in a more traditional campus environment. I loved NYU, but it’s very integrated into New York City’s fabric and as such feels more an extension of urban life than something separate.”

Beyond just the beauty of the campus, however, Johnston said she’s hoping to help students interested in music writing and new

Courtesy of the office of news and public affairs

Maura Johnston was appointed the first Journalism Fellow by the ILA.

media gain a better understanding of these constantly changing industries. “And along the way I’d like to instill a sense of critical thinking about media in each of them—asking ‘why,’ particularly in environments that change so quickly, is as crucial as learning ‘how.’”

Johnston herself majored in communications as an undergraduate. Though initially a journalism major, she chose to switch because of her interest in “online culture and its ramifications.”

Her appointment comes in the midst of a wider movement to have journalism play a larger role at BC. Notably, the American Studies Program now includes a journalism concentration, there is an expanded offering of journalism courses to students at BC, and the ILA is now offering a seminar for faculty interested in journalism.

Johnston’s appointment comes at a time of tremendous change in the news industry. Among the changes brought on by the

Internet, the need for writers to market themselves and their own work is striking.

“I think writers across the board are much more aware of that now,” Johnston said. “Just look at the buttons for likes and tweets affixed to so many news stories now. Whether the shift toward reader-directed consumption is a good thing, however, is another story entirely. I think it encourages pieces that either lull the reader into a narcotized state (‘87 Photos of Cats Who Remind You of Yourself!’) or ferment anger (‘You Won’t Believe The Racist We Found on Twitter!’), neither of which is very healthy as far as helping develop a sense of your fellow man.”

As far as the future of media is concerned, Johnston admits that it remains difficult to predict whether low-effort journalism will become the norm. “I want to be optimistic, but prognostication is always tough, especially for an optimist who doesn’t want to seem completely empty-headed.” n

CLASSIFIEDS Monday, January 17, 2013

Monday, September 23, 2013

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

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

The Heights The Heights

A5 A5

The Heights

A6

Timing, price of concert resulted in low ticket sales

Monday, September 23, 2013

QUOTE OF THE DAY I believe that as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.

-Robert Kennedy (1925-68), former senator for New York

UGBC failed to deliver on one of the few events aimed at attracting a large, diverse group of students This weekend, UGBC hosted both the Fall Concert and the Annual Boat Cruise, two of the organization’s major annual programming events. The Fall Concert, featuring O.A.R., Moe Pope, and student DJ Alex Perez, A&S ’14, was held on Friday night in Conte Forum. The Annual Boat Cruise, hosted by UGBC’s Heritage Programming Department, was held downtown on Saturday.

In order to increase ticket sales and attendance, the timing of these events should have been better arranged by UGBC. Holding two events on a single weekend most likely had a negative effect on attendance, particularly at the Fall Concert, which saw a smaller crowd than any concert in recent memory. While UGBC has only a small number of available dates to use Conte Forum each fall, the Annual Boat Cruise is a more flexible event that has ranged from mid-September to early-October over the past several years. Hosting the events on separate weekends would have given students greater flexibility in their schedules and likely increased attendance.

By hosting the two events on the same weekend, however, UGBC was asking students not only to spend $55 dollars on tickets for UGBC events in a single week, but also to spend an entire weekend at such events. While this might be a great weekend plan for students directly involved in UGBC, or for a student who is close friends with someone involved in UGBC, the general student body would be less likely to spend an entire weekend at UGBC-sponsored events. While UGBC marketed this past weekend as “Fall Weekend,” there was no package discount offered for buying tickets to both events. It would have made sense to refer to this weekend as a “Fall Weekend” if tickets were discounted as a package deal. Barring this discount, “Fall Weekend” is simply a marketing ruse drawn up as a last-minute attempt to increase ticket sales.

On that topic, UGBC also released a promo code that lowered ticket prices for the Fall Concert from $30 to $25 last Wednesday night. Students who purchased the tickets at $30 before the price was lowered were not eligible for a $5 refund on their ticket price, but will instead receive a $5 discount on any upcoming large-scale UGBC event. While the $30 ticket price was too high to begin with for an act as outdated as O.A.R. and for a concert already funded by student money through the activities fee, the price should have remained the same for all who purchased tickets.

Lowering ticket prices at the last minute was a last-ditch effort to increase ticket sales for an unpopular Fall Concert that, judging by the size of the crowd Friday night, was unsuccessful.

The strategy rewarded those who waited until the last second to buy tickets while

unfairly treating those who purchased their tickets early. More thought should have gone into the ticket prices from the start, and those in UGBC who decided on the price should have known that many of their fellow students would not be willing to pay $30 per ticket to see Moe Pope and O.A.R. This is not to say that the concert was not enjoyable for those who attended. By most reports, the show was entertaining and, although the concert had a slow start, O.A.R. provided an exciting and entertaining finish. The problems with the concert don’t arise from the actual show, however. They arise from the failure to draw a diverse or large group of students. Matt Nacier, UGBC president and A&S ’14, reported that UGBC sold a little over 1,100 tickets to the concert, in comparison to the anticipated 4,800.

This is an unacceptably low number for a concert that is purported to be for the entire student body, and uses money from every student’s activities fee.

During his campaign for UGBC president last spring, Tim Koch, A&S ’14, suggested that major programming events like concerts should be held for a charitable cause. The current UGBC administration should consider this for future events. Students would probably be more willing to spend money on a concert ticket if they knew a portion of the proceeds would go to a charitable organization.

Luckily, the problems with the Fall Concert did not detract from the Annual Boat Cruise. The event sold over 550 tickets and appeared to be a success.

It not only had great attendance, but demonstrated the success of the new Heritage Programming department, alleviating one of many concerns that were raised when the new UGBC constitution was approved last spring. Although attendance and ticket sales were not a problem for this event, advertising should begin earlier for future Heritage Programming events. The advertising for this particular event didn’t go up until at least a week after the Fall Concert advertising. If students had already purchased a ticket to the Fall Concert before hearing about the Annual Boat Cruise, they might have been less likely to purchase a boat cruise ticket.

UGBC’s initial transparency with regards to ticket sales this weekend has been encouraging. While it is fairly evident by attendance and ticket sales that the Fall Concert was not a success, the leaders of UGBC should stand by their decisions, explain them to their constituents, and take responsibility for the events that they host. Releasing financial data pertaining to the concert in the coming weeks will further allow students to evaluate the success of the event, and then express their own opinion on how their government is spending their money.

‘The Heights’ welcomes BC’s newest publication Student-run Catholic monthly, ‘The Torch,’ must be a departure from its predecessor, ‘The Observer’ The Torch, Boston College’s newest student-run publication, debuts its first issue this Wednesday, Sept. 25. The monthly print issue will replace The Observer as the Catholic student voice on campus, following the newspaper’s dissolution last May. In the past, The Observer drew ire for its often-abrasive mix of religious commentary and political conservatism. The decision to discontinue The Observer and start a new paper, with the intent of focusing more on Catholicism and less on conservative issues, is commendable.

In light of Pope Francis’ recent comments encouraging Catholics to focus more on social justice than on proscribing certain behaviors, a move away from the aggressive tone that Observer articles and editorials often took on is timely.

The Torch’s financial independence from the University gives its editors freedom over its content. The new paper should embrace this opportunity to pres-

ent disparate points of view, and avoid limiting itself to a single outlook. The decision to include a column written by an atheist student is a good start to promoting diversity within The Torch’s pages.

While the University will not influence the paper’s content, its cordial relationship with Campus Ministry can only be beneficial, and the decision to include columns by faculty members indicates a willingness to engage with more of the University than a small, select group.

The Torch states that its purpose is to provide coverage of Catholic news, and to give students of all faiths the opportunity for thoughtful reflection on religious issues. The new publication’s leadership seems to appreciate the problems that the political agenda of The Observer caused in the past, and so long as The Torch commits to a balance of objective news articles and nuanced, reflective Catholic pieces, its presence will be welcome on the BC campus.

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

Adriana Mariella / Heights Illustration

Letters to the Editor Get involved with Nights on the Heights As the summer breezes turn into winter chills, weekend nights loom in the near future without the option of venturing outside and the BC population prepares to hunker down with hoards of Haley House cookies and Netflix subscriptions.

But what’s a BC student to do except chat with the Walsh security guards or watch endless amounts of reality TV? That’s what Nights on the Heights is here for. Before going any further it’s important to clarify what Nights on the Heights is, exactly.

For starters, we’re a student run programming organization that plans and runs free events every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Just to make sure you didn’t miss it, we’ll say it again.

Free events. Every weekend. With events ranging from X-box tournaments to casino nights and everything in between, we’ve got a little something for everyone. Want to show off your wealth of useless knowledge on our trivia nights? Relive childhood birthday party memories at laser tag?

Listen to an acoustic act in Robsham Theater?

We want to please all 9,000 of you, so if there’s something you want to see on campus, we want to have it. Our goal is to make you happy and give you a free, warm, welcoming spot to go with your friends on the weekends. Our events are only as good as the people who plan them though, so we want your input. Got an idea you want to throw out there? Want to be involved in planning our events?

Freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors are welcome at our meetings—no previous planning or event skills required! We’ll teach you what you need to know—all you have to do is bring the ideas and energy!

We will be holding two information sessions on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Our first meeting for all interested members will be on Oct. 2 at 5:30 p.m. in Maloney 250. We’d love to see you there!

NOTH Executive Board

Cultural diversity competency must extend to computer programs This letter concerns the issue of cultural diversity on campus, as recently discussed in your pages and investigated in a campus survey. Try this exercise: put “Jeremy” into Agora portal directory search and note the variables one gets as well as the—ahem—interesting people across campus called Jeremy. Next try “Hiroshi”, and be surprised at the misdirection. Now try Nakazato and note that Hiroshi exists all the time! When even our computer program works on racially and cultur-

ally dysfunctional pre-sets, we have a long way to go. Next we’ll be calling Yao Ming, Ming Yao. So, campus wide cultural diversity competency also means having culturally savvy computer programs and administrative systems in place that don’t perdetermine what is ‘foreign’ and what is not. One size does not fit all. 柯 神父 (Fr. Jeremy Clarke, S.J.)

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

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

to the newspaper.

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

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

Assistant Professor of History

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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, September 23, 2013

A7

The principle of least interest

Kimberly Crowley Go Pope! - First and foremost, a big Thumbs Up to Pope Francis for embodying all that we love about the Jesuits. We’re huge fans. In a recent interview that was conducted by Rev. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., the editor-inchief of the Italian Jesuit journal, La Civilta Cattolica, and approved to be translated and published in America, the National Catholic Review, Pope Francis said, “We must initiate processes rather than occupy spaces.

God manifests himself in time and is present in the processes of history.

This gives priority to actions that give birth to new historical dynamics.” We wish we could quote the whole thing here, because it’s all beautiful, and you certainly should read it if you haven’t already, but we picked that quote because to us, that sounds a whole lot like he’s asking us to set the world aflame.

The Best Time of Year: NJP! - And now, shameless plug: the New Journalist Program is this week! The Heights is hosting a series of three events focused on people interested in going into journalism after college.

So mark your calendars! They are tonight, Thursday, and next Monday, all at 7 p.m. So, if you are by chance reading this at 6:50 p.m. on the day of this issue’s publication, drop the paper immediately and sprint like your life depends on it to Stokes S195.

You don’t even have to finish reading this column (though we understand why you would want to), because after all, it’s just the negative stuff that comes next, and that’s no fun!

At least not as fun as hearing Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe talk! You can read our utterly self-indulgent complaints about arbitrary details of our lives on Thursday, when the next issue comes out. Go!

Returning to BC for my senior year, I had a lot of expectations about these first few weeks. Red Sox games, football tailgates, Tuesdays at MA’s, senior theses beginnings, freak outs about the future ... these are all things that I eagerly anticipated and was prepared to embrace. What I did not anticipate at all was spending these first few weeks of my final year constantly battling feelings of frustration with the people around me, especially without understanding my reason for this sort of extreme exasperation. It wasn’t until my Interpersonal Relations course the other day that I realized that the source of my dissatisfaction could be neatly summarized in five simple words: the principle of least interest.

In psychology, the principle of least interest is yet another one of those theories that expresses something we all observe daily in unnecessarily complex terms. In essence, it suggests that power lies in the hands of the person who cares least in a relationship, and, as a result, many of us withhold love to avoid vulnerability. Upon hearing this definition, I was suddenly wide awake (which is saying something considering this is a 4:30-7 p.m. class on Thursday night) and filled with a sense of both relief and indignation. This principle puts into words the phenomenon that has been perturbing me for weeks—namely, the fact that we at BC have pretty much accepted this as our golden rule, despite the fact that it leaves a distinct air of loneliness in its wake.

We are a campus of perfectionists and overachievers, and, as a result, we are also a campus full of young people who excel at putting their best foot forward—a fact that very few of us ever bother to deny. We are

What’s a Test? - So, the time has come. We are now officially far enough into the school year that paper deadlines and test dates are fast approaching. I guess we’ve learned enough about cells and molecules at this point that we must be tested on our knowledge. The problem? We haven’t really studied for anything since the beginning of May, and we kind of forget how. How much time does it take? Do we usually start this several days in advance, or just hours?

Is it a problem that we haven’t done any of the reading? Will the problems be easier, harder, or at the same level as our homework problem sets? Or, will they be problems that are designed to completely stump us, and the highest score on any given problem will be around eight out of 20, resulting in an average test score of 32 percent, meaning that if you managed to scrape together an amalgamation of partial credit that earned you a 41 percent, you’re in the clear, because that’s probably an A? (Yep, that’s a good way to test your students’ grasp of the material…). Clearly we have no advice to present of this matter, so all we can say is good luck, God bless, and we’re here for you.

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the one hand, there is no denying that the principle of least interest is accurate.

The people who care less ultimately have power. They can make demands without fear of retribution, lay down ultimatums without concern for the outcome, and sever relationships without extreme distress.

Yet, does having power imply that those people have strength? Personally, I can’t help but think the opposite. In the end, the people who care less will probably not have learned to love deeply, to navigate heartbreak, or to care for someone else’s happiness first and foremost. They will not know that ice cream fixes everything or that only through fighting can good friends become best friends. They will not experience true honesty with someone or realize that, even if these relationships fail, reaching that level of honesty will always feel fulfilling. When all is said and done, they will not know what it is like to care more and will have driven away the people who did. Where is the strength or happiness in that?

Am I extrapolating from my own experiences? Yes. Do I honestly believe everyone from BC is the way I described above?

No, that would be foolish. Do I think BC is unique in operating on this principle?

Of course not. We live in a generation that as a whole would rather hide behind a veil of sarcasm and satire than admit to having been hurt. I’m simply saying that I wonder why we at BC are all so willing to accept this principle as the premier way of remaining happy despite the fact that I am constantly talking with students who are anything but satisfied with their interpersonal relationships. Perhaps it is time that we, as a campus, start off the new year by taking down a few of our walls and allowing ourselves, perhaps for the first time, to openly, honestly, and, most importantly, vulnerably consider both the value of power in our relationships and what we are truly willing to sacrifice to maintain it.

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

#BeAnExample Evan Goldstein

Stranded on Newton - After the men’s soccer game versus Notre Dame on Saturday night, there was a severe shortage of buses to take people back to main campus. This is an issue for several reasons, but we’ll only list one here: Based on the unprecedented crowd at this event, we can safely say that this was many a person’s first time attending a men’s soccer event.

And after this, they probably won’t be returning. The one point they can add to their Gold Pass total most likely will not trump the hour and a half they have to wait to get home after the game. C’mon people. This is America.

No one likes soccer that much.

a campus of students who excelled in some way during high school and who carried some remnant of this need for excellence into college. We are a campus of beautiful people who would never go to class having just rolled out of bed. In fact, we are a campus with a “fashion police” twitter account. We are a campus full of young adults who are often unhappy with their grades, bodies, clothes, and social circles but who would rather party these concerns away than admit to them.

Perhaps even more tragically, in terms of love, we are a campus that engages in a hook up culture whose very design works to prevent anyone from becoming invested. We go out and pretend it doesn’t hurt when the boy who kissed us goes home with another girl, instead choosing to hide the pain, meet another boy, form another shallow relationship, and watch it all happen again because heaven forbid that we actually form a real attachment or, even worse, fall in love. We would rather form a series of meaningless relationships than admit to having lost our power and been completely vulnerable. We would rather be seen as distant than weak. Distance is a choice. Weakness is a character flaw.

And yet, at the same time, we are a campus of real people with real emotions and a very real desire to love and be loved.

The principle of least interest only exists because we as human beings naturally and instinctually form relationships. We find meaning in our relationships with others and lack direction without them. Despite our best efforts to remain disinterested to maintain a sense of power, a lack of attachment only brings with it a sense of loneliness and a need for another relationship.

As a result, plenty of us come home Friday and Saturday night feeling completely alone after having been surrounded by people. And, try as we might, the majority of us are not comforted in this loneliness by the fact that we managed to once again maintain our power through the night.

Knowing this to be true, why is it that we’re all still so willing to operate the same way each and every day? On

Let me start by saying that I, like many, am a fan of Boston College football. I go to the games, I yell too loud, I sing along with the marching band, I do the cymbal thing on third down, I love it. Being an Eagle has always been one of my favorite parts of being at BC, and that isn’t going to change.

But part of being a fan is calling out my team when they aren’t doing a good job of representing me, and lately BC football deserves to be called out: the #BeADude mantra that trends on Twitter every Saturday and is plastered all over our promotional materials is offensive and should be removed. The slogan promotes a restrictive ideal of manhood and alienates the many women who love football as much as their male peers. #BeADude makes us look immature and frat-y, so it’s time to pick a new slogan. #BeADude originated with defensive coordinator Don Brown and was later adopted by coach Addazio as the team’s de facto slogan. Asked by ESPN to explain what it means, Addazio said, “be a dude, and what being a dude is, is being a baller. You know? Just being a real baller. Just being a dude. Be great. Be a baller. Be great at what you are. Just don’t be average.”

So, let’s set aside for a moment the fact that that explanation is, at best, confusingly worded—this is a remarkably close-minded statement about gender for a top-flight university (or any university, or anyone, ever) to be making. Think about what BC football is saying. They’re drawing a line, with “dudes” on one side, and everyone else on the other and claiming for themselves the authority to determine which side of the line you fall on. In so doing, they’re

Bird Flew

simply perpetuating the narrow stereotype of machismo-laden masculinity that plagues our society, creating an in-group and an “other” group. We live in a society that encourages men to be aggressive and unfeeling while discouraging them from being emotional and vulnerable.

Sports are manly, so they’re acceptable.

But singing along when the marching band plays One Direction? Not so much (sorry, not sorry). I’m not saying that BC football is creating or even intentionally promoting this unbelievably restrictive standard of masculinity, but they’re certainly participating in a broken culture that fails to give many men space to express their gender identity comfortably. If you want to say something to your team, fine. But what message does it send to other students, not to mention young boys who idolize BC athletes, to equate being a “dude” with being a big, tough football player? I know some great dudes who sing opera or paint or do math. And they’re just as manly as the dudes I know who play football. We need to tell our young boys to do what they’re passionate about, whether it’s suiting up for a football game or suiting up for a ballet performance (ironically, the “suit” is somewhat similar). Telling them that being a man is “just being a real baller, just being a dude” is as harmful to their growth as it is verbally senseless.

And by the way, I know plenty of people who love BC football who aren’t “dudes.” News flash: women like football, too. So what message are we sending by sticking “#BeADude” on the promotional poster for BC football? It’s like the sign they put up at the end of Little Rascals (spoiler alert): “The He-ManWomen-Haters Club: Girls welcome.”

Oh, why thank you, BC football, for allowing women to participate in this dudely dude-fest. I dropped out of CSOM, so I don’t know what theory of marketing says it’s a good idea to alienate half of your consumer base, but apparently that’s a thing now. If football is all about being a dude, we’re perpetuating the notion that sports are for men.

It’s a man’s world—women just get to live in it. I would never try to speak on behalf of women, but I’d guess that being on the receiving end of that message is pretty awful.

As cynical as I may sound, I actually think this is a great opportunity for BC. Because, let’s be honest: gender is awful. Gender is just this arbitrary set of societal conventions telling us what we can and can’t be, and it’s the worst. But it’s really difficult to talk about gender, particularly for men, because talking about it means questioning it. And why would you need to question it? Why would there be any doubt in your mind about what it means to be a man? Are you gay or something (side note: it turns out some men are gay and they’re also men, crazy, right?)? Men grow up in a world where questioning masculinity is itself considered unmasculine, and that’s a shame.

But whose masculinity will never, ever be called into question? BC football players. Say what you want about their performance on the field, nobody is disputing that they’re a manly freaking bunch. So let’s use this. Let’s start the conversation on masculinity that we so desperately need and let’s start it with the BC football team. Because that’s who we need to hear it from. That’s who we need telling young boys that they can play an instrument and still be manly.

We need them telling boys they can like boys and still be manly. We need them telling young boys that it isn’t sex if their partner doesn’t say yes. The “dudes” of the BC football team have so much potential to be a force for good when it comes to deconstructing antiquated and harmful stereotypes about masculinity.

And maybe the clumsily-worded, ugly slogan is an opportunity for BC football players to be examples, not dudes.

Maybe it’s the push we need for that conversation to finally begin.

Evan Goldstein 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.

CSOM hinders finance-inclined Stephen Sikora During my internship last summer at an investment management company, I had the opportunity to speak with a hedge fund managing director (MD) from Notre Dame.

We discussed college classes, and he told me that while he loved his job and couldn’t think of a reason to leave, he’d have rather studied something other than finance in college.

My eyes lit up. I, too, have been thinking exactly that.

As I begin my senior year studying finance and economics at BC, I’m having second thoughts about being in CSOM. The vast majority of students in the school are accounting and/or finance majors. Accountants need those undergraduate classes to start a career in the field—the specific analysis is a prerequisite, and CSOM does a great job preparing students for that role.

Finance is different. The hedge fund MD’s reasoning behind his claim was twofold. First, the training one receives on the job is infinitely more valuable than in college—as he told me: “you’ll learn more about finance in your first two weeks than in your entire four years in school.” Now, unless the Notre Dame business school is that bad—which we shouldn’t rule out—that statement is a gross exaggeration.

It does have some truth to it, however. At the numerous finance information sessions I’ve attended, one can count on hearing the same line at every event: “you don’t have to be a finance major to work here.” During an employer visit last week with one of the biggest investment firms that recruits at BC, one of the hosts said that they recently hired a Medieval Studies major from Wellesley. They can do so because they have a comprehensive six week training program for new hires.

I understand the reasoning behind finance courses, and I’ve had some fantastic experiences in the classroom. Investment Banking and Corporate Finance have been two of my favorites. They were both taught by a former investment banker and each gave great insight into the world of finance. I recommend those courses to anyone interested in a finance career.

The issue, though, is how long it takes to reach those courses. CSOM students have to complete the CSOM core in addition to the university core requirements. I have my tour book manual right in front of me—right off the bat that’s 29 courses. 29! And while some of those can count for both—and AP credits help—the fact remains: a CSOM major has very little academic freedom at BC. Despite being able to take compelling senior year finance electives, I’ve concluded that completing all of the prerequisites isn’t worth it. For example, one of the core courses I’m taking this semester is Organizational Behavior. It’s a perfectly acceptable class that’s somewhat interesting—we discuss how different people fit in at different companies.

But in my mind, I’d fit in better by having an increased perspective on the world by taking courses in other subjects—classes that lead to more interesting conversations. The marginal value of the 14th CSOM core course pales in comparison to a first or second class in political science, psychology, English, or any other A&S discipline.

Now, back to the MD’s second point. He believed there are other academic areas, such as economics, statistics, and math, which better prepare an undergraduate for a career in finance. In his specific job, trading for a billion dollar fixed income (bond) fund, he competes with computer programs that process thousands of transactions each second and are run by complex algorithms. By having a better understanding of high-level math, he’d be able to trade more competently and efficiently.

But how will a company know that you’re interested in finance if it’s not your major? Well first, let’s step back and see what Wall Street is made up of—primarily Ivy Leaguers, especially students from Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton. Funny how none of those institutions have undergraduate businesses schools, yet they still manage to produce hundreds of grads that work on Wall Street every year.

The key to working in finance is showing an interest in it, and there are a vast amount of resources at BC to do so. The Investment Club, Finance Academy, and Economics Association all have events dedicated to learning about finance. O’Neill Library has every book imaginable about the subject, and if not, they’ll obtain it through inter-library loan.

The most vital resource, though, is the BC Alumni. The MD from Notre Dame said that networking is more important than anything one did in school. Michael Lewis, author of Liar’s Poker and Moneyball, is my favorite example. He obtained a job selling bonds at investment banking giant Salomon Brothers— one of the most highly coveted finance jobs at the time—by chatting up the wives of two MD’s at a British Royalty event. He then went on to become one of the finest bond salesmen in the history of Salomon Brothers.

His undergraduate major? Art History.

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

The Heights

A8

Monday, September 23, 2013

‘Prisoners’ holds audience captive with tense thrills

By Amy Chappelhow For The Heights Prisoners, director Denis Villeneuve’s follow up to his Oscar-nominated Incendies, is an American drama for our times. Although a crime thriller, this film has emotion at its core, questioning the limits of human morality.

Four parents face trauma when their daughters prisoners go missing on ThanksDenis Villeneuve giving and Warner Bros. the rougharound-the-edges Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has never left one of his crimes unsolved, is assigned to the case. When the missing girls’ siblings reveal that a mysterious RV was parked near where the girls must have been taken, Alex Jones (Paul Dano) provides the perfect perpetrator. Jones has lank hair, ill-fitting glasses and clothes, is shy, uncooperative, and has “the IQ of a 10 year old”—fitting the audience’s stereotype of what a pedophile must look and act like. Despite this, Loki is convinced that he is not to blame, and so begins a conflict between one of the fathers—Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman)—and

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Gyllenhaal’s seemingly detached detective.

By painting Jones as a caricature, Dano, Villeneuve, and the writer Aaron Guzikowski make the audience question everything they see. In a truly well-crafted moment, Dover attacks Jones and only the audience and Dover hear the young man say “they didn’t cry until I left them.” Attempting to play the scene back in one’s mind, it is impossible to remember if we saw the words come out of Jones’ mouth.

Are we so sympathetic toward Dover that we can’t help but believe in his conviction? Or is there something more? Dover certainly believes so and takes matters into his own hands, kidnapping Jones—leading to grueling scenes of punishment and proving the lengths that a father will go to find his daughter, however dubious his methods.

Having four parents affected by this tragedy nicely posits four characters against each other in their methods of coping, especially with the parents of Joy (the beautifully understated Terence Howard and Viola Davis) aware of Dover’s imprisonment of Jones while Dover’s wife is kept in the dark and dosed up on sleeping pills.

The sense of things being hidden from the audience, and certain characters in the story, is

deepened by Johann Johannsson’s foreboding score. Just as the music suggests it will go in one direction but then halts, the plot turns and challenges us morally and cerebrally. Although some of the red herrings are a bit too obvious, and certain scenes frustrate, it feels as if this film isn’t trying to be a perplexing mystery thriller. Critic Dan Jolin has suggested that the film has strong political undercurrents: “Dover is the America that invaded Iraq, believing his grief-fuelled quest for justice places him beyond morality and the law,” but it feels like this too is complicated. Sensation and numbness are at the heart of this story. Gyllenhaal’s character proves his strong emotional core while keeping hidden intriguing aspects of his persona: audiences could not fail to wonder why Guzikowski has settled on the name “Loki”—the trickster—for him, or about his numerous tattoos. In this way Gyllanhaal reminds us of his portrayal of Robert Graysmith in Zodiac. He has certainly matured as an actor since then—it would not be a stretch to say that his nuanced, very human portrayal of a tested police detective could inspire Oscar voters, perhaps over preference of Jackman.

An unsurprisingly striking aspect of the film is Roger Deakins’ cinematography. His

photo courtesy of warner bros. pictures

Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano go face to face in the tense and powerful drama ‘Prisoners.’ prolific body of work never disappoints, particularly when working with a frosty atmosphere—psychologically and physically—so here he excels, looking through swirling snow that reflects our protagonists’ bewilderment.

If there is one sticking point of this film, it is its hackneyed portrayal of Christian extremism—not much more can be said without giving away too much. Still, this is somewhat reconciled by the end and the perfect cohesion of every aspect of the film—the acting,

writing, cinematography, score, and editing (the list is endless) works to leave you with a busy mind. Walking out of the cinema, a fellow audience-member told every person he passed to go and see Prisoners and on the T he was still discussing aspects of the plot with his friends. This is the reaction that a truly emotionally challenging film can provoke and when this happens it is something to be celebrated amid stunt-filled blockbusters and gross-out comedies. n

‘Salinger’ fails to illuminate writer

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Box office report title

photo courtesy of the weinstein company

Though the individual aspects of Shane Salerno’s ‘Salinger’ are aesthetically interesting, the movie as a whole is confusing.

By Deryn Thomas For The Heights Salinger, a documentary film whose enigmatic trailers have been circulating the Internet for some time now, opened in Boston last weekend, following its opening in New York City a week prior. To maintain the thematic secrecy that salinger seems to surround Shane Salerno The Weinstein Co. the story— and as one soon discovers, everything about J.D. Salinger’s private life—it opened, and continues to play only at the Kendall Square Cinema, across the river in Cambridge. As it’s a documentary, one may already entertain some reservations about seeing it, let alone spending money on a ticket and a solid evening of T travel to get there. And as is the case for most documentaries, one would most certainly appreciate the information and storyline of Salinger from the comfort of his or her own couch—no exertion necessary. It was made to appeal to a relatively small audience, namely those who have read Salinger’s works and view them with some sort of cultish reverence, or at the least, any reverence at all. Its flaws originate from its presentation, making it intellectually stimulating but ultimately visually confusing.

The format of the film itself is haphazard, which detracts from the experience and creates the impression that information is being

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flung aimlessly outward in every direction.

It opens with snippets of interviews in rapid succession discussing random faces without context or any explanation of their relationship to the significance of the movie. The selection of those interviewed seems arbitrary and random at best. These interviews continue to be layered, throughout the film, upon distracting text, images, and video footage.

It would almost seem that the directors of the film are much more excited to tell Salinger’s story than any audience member could hope to be while watching it. An intensely dramatic musical score undulates through the scenes, diving through such exaggerated crescendos that one often feels crushed against the seat, blown back by the force of the film’s strangled efforts to pull the audience into it. During these musical episodes of obvious cinematic importance, one is tempted to look around the theater for a face that might explain the meaning behind, or the occasion for, such a sudden increase in volume.

The same judgment could be passed on the visual components, including the images and film footage, which are used in an attempt to enrich the narrated storyline but often simply evoke a perpetual sense of ocular frustration. Repeated pictures and film clips are used over and over again, throughout the narration, until it becomes unclear whether what was happening within the images was actually being described at all. This lends the overall experience a slight sense of falsity—ironic

given Salinger’s well known literary themes of fakeness, best remembered from The Catcher in the Rye in Holden Caulfield’s “phonies.” The content is nevertheless interesting, and the viewer finds himself wanting to be won over by the experience, frequently looking for a way to fall into it, as naturally becomes the case with a truly great film, fiction or non-fiction.

But unfortunately, the only hint of that sensation is felt at the close, when the confusion of images finally fade to a simple black screen with highlighted text that reveals the fate of Salinger’s unpublished literature.

The movie reflects the larger-than-life aura of mystery that was built around Salinger by those who not only loved his work, but who saw a part of themselves within it.

Although confusing, the film constructs, with apparent ease, the beautifully and deeply mystified persona of an author defined, and consequently driven into seclusion by his greatest achievements. It captures the culture that his writing created, and with surprising precision, it encapsulates what his literature meant to the world. For all its shortcomings, this aspect of the film is powerful.

Toward the end, the screen flashes through the most recent, and therefore last, documented photographs of J.D. Salinger, who died in 2010. He appears only as a wrinkled and weary old man, slightly bent by the years that have weighed upon his shoulders, by the world that he saw and simply sought to explain. n

weekend gross weeks in release

1. Prisoners

21.4

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2. Insidious: Chapter 2

14.5

2

3. The Family

7.0

2

4. Instructions not Included

5.7

4

5. Battle of the year

5.0

1

6. We’re the millers

4.6

7

7. Lee Daniels’ The Butler

4.3

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8. Riddick

3.6

3

9. The Wizard of Oz

3.0

1

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5 photos courtesy of Google images

bestsellers of hardcover fiction 1. W is for wasted Sue Grafton 2. Never Go Back Lee Child 3. The Cuckoo’s Calling Robert Galbraith 4. The Mayan Secrets Clive Cussler, Thomas Perry 5. Inferno Dan Brown

6. Robert B. Parker’s Damned if you do Michael Brandman 7. Second Watch J.A. Jance 8. And the mountains echoed Khaled Hosseini 9. Someone Alex McDermott

Column

Too soon for Rowling to take another ride on the Hogwarts Express?

Ryan Dowd Last week, J.K. Rowling revealed she would be penning a script for a Harry Potter spin-off series. The free world rejoiced. Ben Affleck (Batman) was forgiven. In Rowling’s own words, “all was well.”

In a statement, she said of the project, “Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world.”

Harry Potter returns. Well, the wizarding world of Harry Potter returns. Okay, so not exactly the world we know, but an older one I guess. That’s still exciting right? Well, here’s the story in all its starkness. Rowling is writing a script (not a book) expanding upon the wizarding world. The movie will feature characters we have never seen before and will take place in New York City, not Hogwarts. This story is not about Harry Potter.

This will not be a Harry Potter movie.

At this point I’d like to preface that I do in fact love Harry Potter. I know, real origi-

nal. I own my own wand, robes, and cheer for the Falmouth Falcons. I don’t love Harry Potter because I find the wizarding world so mind-blowingly immersive. Sure, it’s important to the story, but it’s not the story. The story is Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I’ve read countless children, young adult, and regular old adult books with compelling setups and immersive worlds.

City of Bones (which was just released as a movie a month ago to disastrous critical results) is a great example. Cassandra Clare’s Bones is a fine young adult novel, with a

quick pace and intriguing world of angels and demons. I’ve actually read the entire series and remember enjoying it. Don’t judge me. I was young. And while I’ve read the entire series, I’d have a hard time remembering the names of most characters and even what happens plot wise. Cassandra Clare actually got her start writing Harry Potter fan fiction.

But turn to Harry Potter, and I (and I’m sure many others) could name nearly every character along with their arc in the overall story plus who and where they’ve snogged.

Where Harry Potter bests other series in is

photo courtesy of google images

J.K. Rowling tries her magic once more, penning a screenplay set in the wizarding world.

not world richness but character richness.

So if you’re hailing the decision by Warner Bros. and Rowling to make a whole new series in the wizarding world, you’re banking on the fact that Rowling can once again create the sort of characters we all fell in love with. I don’t think someone as intuitive as Rowling has necessarily lost that ability, but talented artists fall short of the mark for any number of reasons. There’s simply no given that this new host of wizards will hold a candle to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and all the others.

This is also an odd time for Rowling to come running back to Harry Potter. If she had been suffering from four year’s worth of writer’s block, I could buy this somewhat abrupt retreat. If her more “serious” books had bombed, I could see why she’d want to return to the wizarding world. But that has not been the case. While her first non-wizarding foray, The Casual Vacancy (2012), did not exactly set the world on fire, The Cuckoo’s Calling, released this summer under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, was universally praised. Rowling is perhaps the richest, most famous writer in the history of civilization. Why go back?

I don’t know the answer to that question.

Maybe in an interview five or 10 years from now we will. I can, however, explain why I think it’s a step back—why it’s too soon. I remember going to the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in July of 2011. It was the summer before my senior year. I went with a bunch of friends, saw a lot of people I knew, and generally had a great time. Hallows truly felt like the end, even more so than the final book.

When I read the final book, I knew Harry’s story wasn’t really over. I still had the remaining movies. But driving home after that final midnight screening, I felt like the Harry Potter chapter of my life had finally closed. It was sad, yes, but also exciting. I didn’t all of a sudden become a man that night, but I did grow up just a little bit. I was going forward.

Now it feels like I’m being pulled back.

Nevertheless, this is Harry Potter. I’ll be at the premiere. I’ll probably be carrying my wand, but right now, I’m all about guarded optimism.

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

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2013

A9

O.A.R. plays a career-spanning set for UGBC’s Fall Concert O.A.R., from A10 to stir the deadpan crowd inspired a couple dozen to stand, but was largely ignored. After 15 seconds or so, Walkin retreated back onto the stage, giving Moe Pope a defeated look.

Among the highlights was Pope’s performance of “Amy Winehouse,” a song he wrote two years before the late singer’s 2011 death. The band played an extended version of the song, with Pope and Walkin screaming the song’s hook to each other (“Goodnight my friends / this is how my story ends / so don’t even pray for ’em / Too long to drift an outfitter between the bliss”). Pope’s producer, The Rain, mixed an impressively eclectic hip-hop sound, built into it elements of folk, screamo, and disco.

Following a 35-minute intermission, headliner O.A.R. took over the stage, opening with “About Mr. Brown,” a deep cut off the band’s 1997 album The Wanderer. The band was eager to display its massive, seemingly inexhaustible scope of sound, which was layered quite heav-

ily for a five-piece band.

All members of O.A.R. are in their mid-30s, and the four original members have played together since 1996. On Friday, saxophonist Jerry DePizzo was missing from the lineup, due to the birth of his child. The chemistry of the band on stage, with many of its members having families of their own, was radically different from that of Moe Pope and company. The latter came across as pushing a product, while O.A.R. seemed content just telling its story. It’s an interesting dichotomy between the untempered, ambitious hip-hop opener and the well-established, confident jam band closer—especially considering O.A.R. is an acronym for “Of A Revolution.” Friday’s lineup operated almost as narrative, the tale of two revolutions.

O.A.R. worked some relatively obscure songs from the earlier part of their career into the first part of the show (“Dareh Meyod,” “Conquering Fools,” “About an Hour Ago”), picking up five songs in with a string of hits (“Hey Girl,” “Black Rock,” “Shattered (Turn the Car

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Around),” “Here’s To You”).

The band was succinct and surprisingly intense throughout, especially considering the more passive nature of their songwriting. With two guitars, a rig of keyboards and synthesizers, bass, and a traditional set of drums, O.A.R.

With two guitars, a rig of keyboards and synthesizers, bass, and a traditional set of drums, O.A.R. battled through a series of unhinged jazz riffs, unapologetic drum releases, and gritty guitar solos, with a poise afforded to them by a long career. battled through a series of unhinged jazz riffs, unapologetic drum releases, and gritty guitar solos, with a poise af-

forded to them by a long career. The set had a driving current running through it, only broken by a few brief, intimate moments of subdued acoustic guitar.

For many of the same reasons O.A.R. is a quite unattractive act so far as ticket sales go, it’s a compelling one to see live.

“O.A.R.” is not, in any context of the word, a buzz phrase. While Lupe Fiasco and Time Flies saw a far greater attendance at the Fall Concert last year, they also saw far more concertgoers exiting early into the set. After seven songs, Roberge routinely took suggestions from the audience, an impressive feat considering the remote nature of performing in a venue like Conte Forum.

It’s uncertain how much the crowd related to the band before even coming into the arena, but frontman Roberge—with his relatively subdued, but pleasant persona—solidified whatever that connection might have been. The crowd was very atypical for these sorts of events at BC—on weekend nights, BC students seem to have little difficulty finding reason to leave.

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It’s safe to say that lyrically, O.A.R. is strongly inclined toward simplicity. O.A.R. had no recognizable social agenda, and if there’s any criticism for Friday’s performance, it’s that the band was fairly benign, in some regards—and perhaps here, there comes the nuance between artists and entertainers.

But that’s not to discredit the music’s appeal, the technical prowess of the band, or the powerful stor ytelling component enlaced with each song’s execution. If the 16-song set was to be looked at as nothing more than an escapist exercise, it would still bear with it impressive artist merit—and still, one would be shortsighted to reduce it to that.

O.A .R . closed with a 12-minute rendition of “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker”—during which members of the audience began throwing decks of cards up into the air, as security scuffled through the audience, eager to stomp out the revolt.

But as it goes, there’s no stomping the revolution. n

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alex gaynor / heights editor

1. Boston rapper Moe Pope opened this year’s Fall Concert. 2. Berj Gershman, bassist for O.A.R., carried the band through the 115-minute set. 3. Frontman Marc Roberge maintained conversational tone with Conte Forum crowd. 4.

Richard On, lead guitarist for O.A.R., provided improvised solos throughout the concert. 5. Chrisopher Talkin contributed screamo component to back rapper Moe Pope. 6. Attendance was low, but spirits were high at the Fall Concert.

Boston Ballet shines under the stars at the Common Ballet, from A10

alex gaynor / heights editor

This portrait, shown above on display at the ‘Remembering Their Stories’ exhibit in O’Neill, was taken by Emil Tsao, BC ’12 on the West Bank.

Photo exhibit focuses on study abroad ‘Remembering,’ from A10 student captioned each photo they took with what or who the subject was and where the photo was taken, there are no gimmicks or boasting. In fact, besides the brief paragraph-long caption, our fellow students aren’t the ones talking.

The people are. The first picture hung is one of a group of young children crouching together, smiling. Their limbs and dirty clothes are covered in a dust that seems to have buried their entire village. Yet their stories are not made of dirt and ruin. Instead, there is a feeling of hope that transcends from the image to the viewer. Their story is one of the future, of what’s to come. Despite the caption detailing the service work, the children in the picture do not speak of hardship. The BC student does not speak for them. The image does, and so it is the unspoken voice of the people that tells the real story.

This duality between the written and the visual exists in almost every featured photograph in the exhibit. The written components detail great plans for improvement and service opportunities, while the faces show the people are tired.

In some cases, the student states simply the age and location of the subject, and still in others, like the first photograph mentioned, the subjects tell stories of hope louder than the daunting facts neatly typed below the images.

Yet, by no means is this exhibit a somber one. There is an overall feeling of gratitude, from the students who participated, and from the people they interacted with.

Perhaps the best example can be found in a photo taken by Rachel Glassman, BC ’12 of her trip to Guatemala, or in the photo capturing Ecuadorian children playing in the rain with BC students, taken by Jamie Ciocon, CSOM ’14. Both images tell a story of immersion and acceptance: themes that are recurring throughout the other pictures involved.

Alex Gaynor, A&S ’15, writes in her caption about a nine-year-old girl who shared her life story with the BC students after knowing them for only an hour.

Lakeisha St. Joy, A&S ’15, writes the phrase “my new Nicaraguan family” to describe the subjects of her photograph.

Despite the linguistic appreciation from our end of the relationship, the reciprocation of thanks from the people the students encountered speaks even more powerfully through the visual.

A true testament is found in the moving photo captured by Mackenzie Dono-

van, A&S ’15, showing a group of students in Honduras standing with their eyes shut and their hands pressed together in prayer, thanking BC students for helping them construct a new school.

As exhibit visitors walk around the room, the last few images on the final wall leave a punch. Most spellbinding and powerful are the two close-up portraits of four-year-old Dan Martinez, and 94-yearold Eulalia—both taken by BC student, Kyle Seibert A&S ’14, on his trip to El Salvador. My words cannot do these individuals justice, and so it is not my place to speak for them. To learn their stories, you too must meet them. Because of the power of imagery, meeting them does not require more than a visit to O’Neill.

And once you have the pleasure to do so, don’t worry—you will never forget their faces. If there’s one thing Remembering Their Stories succeeds in, it’s giving BC students a reason to linger. n

alex gaynor / heights editor

The two portraits shown here were taken by Kyle Seibert, A&S ’14, on his trip to El Salvador.

pher Bruce’s 1991 ballet, Rooster. Only excerpts were performed in this show but the feel of the ballet’s ’60s-inspired comment on gender and sexual relationships shone through. Although a shock for anyone expecting traditional ballet, this section showed the ability of these dancers to step out of that world into a dance that incorporates influences from tap, jazz, and ’60s dance itself.

With both the men and women literally strutting at some points, this was a lively performance, although sometimes the dance felt too free and the unimportance of exact synchronicity became confusing.

La Bayadere continued this theme of vitality, but this time in a spiritual sense—it is the dance of a Hindu idol and his company. Danced by Avetik Karapetyan, the strength and power of this character were well portrayed.

Unlike the other performances on show, Boston Ballet is including La Bayadere in their program this fall, and it will be on at the Boston Opera House from Oct. 24 to Nov. 3.

Another total change in tempo and atmosphere came in the shape of the world premiere of Swan. This dance is centered around beauty, with Lorna Feijoo and Yury Yanowsky reliant on each other throughout the dance. Set to the beautiful music of Camille Saint-Saens’ “The Swan,” Plotnikov’s choreography merges seamlessly with the music and manages to create a new dance for the swan that escapes from that one ballet we all know and love.

Perhaps the intermission would have b e en more ef fe ctive following the sublime Swan, but instead came Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, choreographed by—in many people’s opinion—the father of American ballet, George Balanchine.

This piece and the subsequent Plan to B and Serenade were performed on tour in London this summer, so it was a lovely idea to include them in a performance indebted to the company’s

home city. Symphony is a jarring, contrasting piece with angular music and dance—perhaps not pretty, but three dances that showcased the performers’ athleticism. This theme was continued, after the intermission, in Jorma Elo’s Plan to B, filled with extreme body shapes and fast turns.

The performance ended with another Balanchine composition—Serenade, quite traditional but striking, as the dancers, clad in white, took to the stage almost as spirits. The choreography in this was all about beauty and rhythm but with intricate footwork—which, of course, the Boston Ballet dancers made look effortless. This was the perfect

[‘Serenade’] was the perfect choice for the final piece, satisfying those who enjoy traditional ballet, but with undertones of the modern (this is very much a 20thcentury piece) for fans of more challenging dance. choice for the final piece, satisfying those who enjoy traditional ballet, but with undertones of the modern (this is very much a 20th-century piece) for fans of more challenging dance.

Throughout the performance it certainly felt as if the company were aware of the audience they were playing to, with dances that were not too challenging but introduced a type of ballet that many may not have expected. Boston Ballet is known for its experimental choreography and yearning to step away from stereotypical performances, so this event truly reflected their ethos.

Even if the program hadn’t been so successful, the very idea behind this public event was wonderful and perhaps something that other art forms should take note of. n

ARTS&REVIEW THE HEIGHTS

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Monday, January 17, 2013

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

THE FINER THINGS

Songs of the Jazz Age ARIANA IGNERI Whenever I listen to, or even think about jazz, the same scene inevitably develops in my head: The year is 1924. The setting—a New York City speakeasy. Dimly lit, the small room glows a warm yellow—it’s intimate, alluring. An Ivy League educated gentleman, with his top hat, white gloves, and tailed, ebony suit, dances close to a young, seductive woman—she calls herself a flapper. Her hair is bobbed short and adorned with a pair of feathers, her dainty neck is ornamented with strings of pearls, and her lips are a bright shade of red. The couple sways back and forth to the swing of music, carelessly reveling in the rich, luxurious sound of the band’s brass instruments. There are no rules—not here—they are free. This is the Jazz Age. My conception of jazz, I admit, is very much the result of having read way too much F. Scott Fitzgerald. I’ve inextricably linked the musical genre to his writing, to the point that I literally can’t pick up The Beautiful and Damned, let alone page through The Great Gatsby, without hearing the suave notes of a saxophone and the alternating skip of a deep bass line.

It’s a little bit uncanny.

An iconic figure of the Roaring ’20s both in the literary and social spheres, Fitzgerald was closely tied to the jazz scene, almost as much as the characters in his novels were. Despite the connection—and my stubborn preconceptions— there really is more to jazz, though, than Fitzgerald’s tales.

Jazz’s formative years can be traced to the beginning of the 1900s, developing within black communities in southern cities such as New Orleans. Over the decades, the genre has evolved and expanded to encompass other varieties, like ragtime, swing, and bebop, among others.

It’s remained resilient throughout the past century and has indelibly influenced other musical styles.

I’d never really considered the chronological history or contemporary relevance of jazz, though, until this Tuesday evening, when I attended a concert in Robsham called “The Beat Before.” Featuring a live band, the musicians covered songs from a range of different time periods, across an array of diverse genres. They played songs by expected artists, like Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, but they also performed songs by less expected artists, including The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, and Justin Timberlake.

As such, the concert emphasized both jazz’s longevity and flexibility.

The renditions displayed how various kinds of music, even today, borrow staple elements of jazz to create something new.

The blues, for example, are quite comparable to jazz, as far as form goes—consider the 12-bar chord progression—it’s one that’s ever-present not only in these two genres, but in so many others as well.

A derivative of blues, R&B follows similar arrangement patterns to jazz. So, mainstream R&B songs by popular artists like Beyonce and John Legend are actually stylistically rooted in jazz, to some degree, because of the way that they are arranged.

Even hip-hop and pop music have been impacted by jazz. It’s not incredibly obvious, but think about how alike the idea behind improvising a saxophone solo is to improvising a rap solo—it’s all about emotion and spontaneity.

Jazz influences in pop are evident today also. There’s Michael Buble, channeling a diluted version of Big Band Sinatra, Norah Jones, experimenting with all kinds of styles within the genre, and there’s even Justin Timberlake, smoothly crooning on “Suit & Tie.” It took a while, but I think I’ve finally realized that jazz can be neither defined by a single style nor confined to a particular decade. It’s a genre, rather, for all decades and for all times. It was then, but it’s also now—this is the Jazz Age. It was Fitzgerald’s, but it’s ours too. Jazz—it’s adaptable, it’s fluid. It beats on through the airwaves, like a boat against the current, never to be borne back into the past.

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

This year’s UGBCsponsored Fall Concert in Conte Forum featured jam band stalwarts O.A.R. as well as indie rapper Moe Pope from Boston.

ALEX GAYNOR / HEIGHTS EDITOR

SHATTERED EXPECTATIONS Jam-band O.A.R. and Moe Pope deliver at Conte

BY JOHN WILEY Asst. Arts & Review Editor “I did not expect that,” commented Marc Roberge, lead singer of O.A.R., in response to a lively rendition of the chorus to the band’s 2008 hit “Shattered (Turn the Car Around),” belted well up into the Cathedral-like spaces of Conte Forum by this year’s Fall Concert attendees. “That was very loud, and very good.”

At this point, O.A .R .—the Maryland-based alternative jam band headlining this year’s Fall Concert—was seven songs deep in

a career encompassing 115-minute set. Behind the loud, boisterous energy of the Friday evening audience was a similarly surprised sentiment, an unspoken echo to Roberge’s remarks. Boston College did not expect it—the aging band, which by industry calculations seems past its heyday, was very loud, and very good.

This year’s Fall Concert, sponsored by the UGB C, initially seemed to suffer from poor attendance. Making concessions for low ticket sales, the Fall Concert stage was turned 90 degrees from its traditional configuration,

to face only one side of Conte Forum—a setup quite similar to that of ALC Showdown. The arena is a notoriously unforgiving space for musicians—a large, tinny catacomb, in which concerts typically go to die. By luck of the event’s early misfortune, the acoustic losses were generously compensated by a more intimate arrangement.

Unfortunately for opening act Moe Pope and Christopher Talkin, the crowds seemed dismal for the better part of their 7 p.m. performance—the space was populated quite aggressively

in the few minutes before doors closed as 8 p.m. The indie-rapper duo, backed by synthesizer, live drums, and violin, performed a moving, lyrically dense, and sonically diverse set to a relatively unmoved Conte audience, which almost angrily started chanting “O.A.R.” at moments throughout the performance.

At one moment later into the duo’s 40-minute set, Talkin sat down on the front of the stage, resolving to sit so long as the audience did. The half-joking attempt

See O.A.R., A9

Boston Ballet hosts a star studded show on the Common Ballet celebrates its 50th anniversary with free performance

BY AMY CHAPPELHOW For the Heights

ALEX GAYNOR / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The latest photo exhibit in O’Neill features personal portraits that students took while abroad.

Student photo exhibit focuses on ‘Remembering Their Stories’

BY GRACE FUCCI For the Heights A lot of us have friends who have left the nest of BC to explore the world, through one travel experience or study abroad program or another. We exchange a few emails with them while they’re gone, look over some pictures when they come home, and then smile politely every time they bring their trips up again. The usual anecdotes involve foreign liquor and places with names we’ve never heard and can’t pronounce.

And frankly, after the initial excitement wears off, we don’t care. While our friends enjoyed themselves, there is nothing spectacular or life changing retold or shown to us that holds enough

impact to linger with us. We pick up our daily routine and the images and places described slip away.

Still, not every trip is the same. At Remembering Their Stories—a student photo exhibit hosted in the first floor of O’Neill now through Oct. 30—there are descriptions from students I have never met, and pictures of people I have never seen, displayed around the gallery room on an understated corkboard. The images are clean, unmated, and honest. There are no annoying frames or unnecessary jazz added. The photographs speak for themselves. And that’s why this exhibit and these trips matter. While the corresponding BC

See ‘Remembering’, A9

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Boston Ballet decided to thank the general public with a free performance of some of their most successful dances, as well as the world premiere of former Boston Ballet principal dancer Viktor Plotnikov’s Swan. With ballet generally considered an elite art form with soaring ticket prices, this was the perfect way to introduce this art to the public and provide entertainment for the ballet’s patrons. Boston Common proved the perfect setting for this, with the beautiful backdrop of the city lights and the stars shining through the thin clouds.

Organized by the ballet’s artistic director of 12 years, Mikko Nissinen, and conducted by Jonathan McPhee—the music director and principal conductor—this was a concerted effort from all involved in the company.

Seven dances were performed, PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES

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Rowling returns

The Harry Potter scribe will write a new film set in the wizarding world........................................A8

Prisoners is nerve-wracking drama

Hugh Jackman and Jake Gylenhaal star in the new crime thriller..................................................A8

ranging from a pas de deux danced by Misa Kuranaga and Jeffrey Cirio to Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements that included the entire cast.

Florence Clerc’s “Golden Idol Variation” from La Bayadere also made use of Boston Ballet School Students, a nice way to presage the future of ballet in the city. With a running time of two hours including a 25-minute interval, there was plenty of time to enjoy the ballet without it being too long for those not used to sitting through a three-hour live performance.

The most important aspect of the show was the decision to mix traditional, 19th century ballet pieces with more modern dances, seemingly without preference. The performance started with the pas de deux from Don Quixote Quixote, which looks very much like the men-intights and pointe-shoed women type of dance one imagines all ballets are like. This is a demanding dance though, and one with a lot of personality as the character Kitri twirls her fan. Then it was time for something entirely different, as five males and five females from the company dance d to the songs of the Rolling Stones from British choreographer Christo-

See Ballet, A9

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

SPORTS THE HEIGHTS

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Monday, September 23, 2013

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Hokies force BC into another ACC loss

BY CHRIS STADTLER Heights Editor

“Each time a ranked team comes in, it’s an opportunity to try to beat a ranked team … There’s only one way to get yourself outside of this, which is to beat the next ranked team,” said Boston College women’s soccer head coach Alison Foley.

After Sunday afternoon’s 1-0 loss to No. 23 Virginia Tech, the Eagles fell to 1-3 in the ACC and 4-5 overall. It was the Eagle’s second one-score loss this weekend. Thursday’s contest against No. 1 UVA ended in a 2-1 loss.

Eight teams in the ACC are currently ranked in the AP top-25. This is Foley’s 17th team at Chestnut Hill and the im-

portance of winning in the ACC is all the more apparent.

Especially against the speedy Virginia Tech, which challenged the defense of BC. “We were a bit far away from goal.

Our back line was sitting back too far,” Foley said. “Sometimes that happens when you’re concerned about that type of speed. So sitting our back line further back kept our forwards further away from the goal.”

The speed of the Hokie frontline, especially Jazmine Reeves, was on full display. It forced the Eagle defenders to play hesitantly and the forwards to remain back, away from the net. With extra room to work, Virginia Tech controlled the ball

The wrong students get the stipends

in BC’s end for most of the game.

While BC actually outshot the Hokies 10 to eight, the quality of BC’s chances was lacking.

The majority of shots were taken from outside of the box, allowing for easy saves

by Virginia Tech keeper Dayle Colpitts.

The Hokie game plan revolved around always finding the open space on the pitch, looking to send the dangerous Reeves on a run.

The speed of Virginia Tech took over two minutes into the game. Junior Lauren Benard had been beat by Hokie junior midfielder Katie Yensen. Benard tripped Jensen in the box out of desperation.

See Women’s Soccer, B4

GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The Eagles fell below .500 with a 1-0 loss to Virginia Tech yesterday at home.

BOSTON COLLEGE 1

NOTRE DAME 1

AUSTIN TEDESCO Okay, so, there are these two comedy troupes. They both belong to the same comedy school, but that’s pretty much all they have in common.

One troupe, let’s call it “The Margos,” regularly draws big crowds. People love to watch them, with their Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics and sharp comedy. They’re so popular that a few national television companies decide to pay the comedy school a lot of money to broadcast the shows live, with very competitive advertising rates. Also, if you get recruited to the comedy school as a Margo, you don’t have to pay. The school just wants the best, so tuition, room, and board, maybe even a little extra, all get covered through that TV revenue, alumni donations, some institutional support. Sweet deal, right?

Then there’s the second troupe.

We’ll call it “YMCMB.” Their shows don’t always sell out. A lot of the other students in the comedy school don’t really understand the humor the members of YMCMB go for. It’s rooted in the distant past and completely irrelevant to the present. The funding for YMCMB doesn’t come from any revenue or donations. Instead, money from the rest of the students’ tuition at the comedy school is given to YMCMB to use for their shows.

That money is spent on props, expensive comedy retreats, and sets. Despite the funding, students still complain that YMCMB wastes the money away.

Some people start arguing that the members of The Margos deserve more than the cut they currently receive through the comedy scholarship. Outside observers see all of the money and attention generated by The Margos, and they say it’s unfair that the comedy school keeps a lot of it to spend on administrators, comedy coaches, and new studios and stages.

Hardly any of The Margos would ever complain about this. Most of the students at the school don’t get their tuition covered, and it might look selfish if The Margos asked for more. Sometimes, though, the glaring imperfections in the system stand out.

The Margos have very strict and taxing practice requirements. This doesn’t leave much time for them to work part time jobs, so spending money for offcampus meals, movies, and dates can be hard to come by.

The governing body for comedy schools recognizes this hardship, and passes a measure that would allow each comedy school to give out stipends to the elite troupes, such as The Margos.

Although this governing body has consistently been bashed for arcane rules, holding back the elite troupes while the governing body and the comedy schools rake in money, this is seen as a move of welcome change and progress. The elite troupes deserve a greater portion

See Column, B4

Freshman forward Isaac Normesinu gave BC the lead with an early goal he celebrated with a joyous back-flip on the Newton field.

A LITTLE LUCK

BY CONNOR MELLAS Heights Editor

For 60 minutes on Saturday night, the Boston College men’s soccer team went toe to toe with Notre Dame. Then, when the Eagles lost a midfielder to a red card, the remaining 10 men on the pitch were forced to defend for their lives.

BC hustled, fighting off relentless attacks by the sieging Fighting Irish offense, and in the end, the Eagles battled man-down through 30 minutes of regular time and two periods of overtime to grind out a 1-1 tie with the No. 2 team in the country.

“If you had to ask me at the start, I’d have taken the 1-1 tie, never mind with 10 guys,” said BC head coach Ed Kelly. “That should do a lot for the confidence.”

Newton Campus Field was packed with an energy-charged, official-capacity crowd hoping for exhilarating soccer, and the Eagles and Fighting Irish delivered from the start.

Both teams looked threatening from minute one, and the game quickly became a breathless display of fast-paced, break-neck soccer. On the right wing, freshman Isaac Normesinu looked deadly, taking men on and dangling past defenders.

B C began the game with a new-look defense. Notably absent was veteran center back Chris Ager, who was replaced by senior Nick Corliss.

“We’ve made a switch in the back, Nick is doing well now,” Kelly said.

At right back, freshman Amit Shumowitz got his first start following a successful NCAA eligibility appeal.

“He was fantastic,” Kelly said. “Oh my god, he’s a fantastic player. I don’t think he put a foot wrong.”

The Israel Under-21 National Team player

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defended masterfully, but became an offensive threat as well, linking and overlapping with Normesinu to repeatedly terrorize defenders on the right wing.

In the 16th minute, Normesinu sent Newton into a fit of euphoria when he tore down the right wing, cut inside, shook past a defender with a brilliant step over, and in the blink of an eye, ripped a darting laser past Notre Dame keeper Patrick Wall.

The crowd was still buzzing and the Eagles were still celebrating when—just 12 seconds later—Notre Dame barreled down the field, forced a defensive error, and equalized.

“Scored a great goal, then we let up so easy,” Kelly said.

“We just switched off for those 30 seconds, it’s a maturity thing. That two minutes after the goal is unbelievable.”

BC and Notre Dame battled for the rest of the half as both teams created moments of brilliant play but failed to capitalize on set pieces. Statistically, the Fighting Irish dominated, recording six shots to the Eagles’ one, but BC was considerably more dangerous than the box score suggested.

The second 45 started with more of the same. Then, in the 60th minute, central-defensive midfielder Nick Butler received a second, soft yellow card, and the game transformed.

Despite roars of disapproval from the unbelieving crowd, the red emerged from the referee’s pocket—creating echoes of Boateng’s ejection two weeks ago—and Butler was out.

“We never have red cards, ever,” Kelly said.

“We get an accumulation sometimes, but we’ve had three in six.”

“He barely tipped him, you could easily warn him before you throw him out of the game.”

See Men’s Soccer, B3

BC soccer alum stars on world stage

Alejandro Bedoya continues his journey on the U.S. Men’s National Team.....................B2

GRAHAM BECK / HEIGHTS EDITOR

STRIKE EARLY, STRIKE OFTEN The BC men’s soccer team has gotten a boost from five new players, especially on offense.

Yellow boxes mark points scored.

COLE DENORMANDIE JR. FORWARD

13 shots (2 goals)

ATOBRA AMPADU SO. MIDFIELDER

6 shots (1 goal)

GIULIANO FRANO JR. MIDFIELDER

9 shots (1 goal, 1 assist)

ISAAC NORMESINU FR. FORWARD

10 shots (1 goal, 2 assists)

ZEIKO LEWIS FR. FORWARD

11 shots (3 assists)

AGGRESSIVE ATTACK These five players have accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Eagles points in 2013.

16 points (5 goals, 6 assists) 27 points (9 goals, 9 assists)

BC field hockey takes two wins

The Eagles continued a brilliant start with wins over Syracuse and Providence..........B5

Sports in Short...........................B2 Soccer Recap.............................B3

The Heights

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Monday, September 23, 2013

After success abroad, Bedoya looks to joinWorld Cup squad

By Alex Fairchild Heights Staff

In 2009, Boston College’s Carroll School of Management graduated a member of the United States national team’s starting eleven.

Scoring 14 goals in his two years with the Eagles, Alejandro Bedoya, BC ’09, lit up the NCAA , earning All-America honors twice. Since leaving BC, Bedoya has gone on to play professionally for multiple clubs, in addition to representing the U.S. His time at Chestnut Hill saw him compete with what is arguably one of the best teams in the program’s history. As a transfer student from Fairleigh Dickinson University, the American international’s play helped the team to ACC regular season and tournament titles, not to mention a No. 1 seed in the 2007 NCAA tournament.

After being named Senior Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year at BC’s All-Sports Banquet in 2009, Bedoya was on his way to Swedish club Orebro.

In his debut season, the midfielder struck three times for the club before scoring two in his next year of play. The rightwinger, not known for his goal scoring at the professional level, is potent in other ways, contributing to the creative side of his team’s attack.

Called up to the national team in 2010, he played six times and enjoyed his first start against international superpower Brazil. Bedoya made coach Bob Bradley’s 30-man preliminary roster for the country’s 2010 World Cup team, but failed to make the cut.

His performances in Sweden’s

top flight gave him leverage to complete a move to one of the world’s most famous football clubs. Glasgow Rangers FC acquired him in 2011 for £250,000, a bargain price according to respected player database TransferMarkt.com, who valued the American at €1.5 million in 2011.

Bedoya’s career with the club was short-lived though, as the Scottish team filed for bankruptcy, causing them to enter administration, meaning they could not pay their outstanding debts. This took the team out of the country’s top division, forcing Bedoya to ply his trade elsewhere. He signed a shortterm deal with Helsingborg just over a year ago.

B edoya’s struggle to find playing time saw him become an afterthought of newly appointed U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann.

But since the new manager called up Bedoya this summer, the 26-year-old has ascended to the summit of the country’s game. He returned to play for his home country in its Gold Cup triumph this summer. After scoring his first national team goal in a pre-tournament friendly against Guatemala , Bedoya impressed once again in the semifinal against Honduras, despite originally getting off to a slippery start.

His speed and technique down the right side helped him receive a flick from striker Eddie Johnson off a goal kick. As two defenders converged on Bedoya, the winger poked the 50-50 ball to Landon Donovan who slotted it home.

Later in the match, Bedoya lost his man on a set-piece, allowing the Hondurans to halve

the American advantage, but the ex-BC man restored order to the match on 69 minutes. His whipped cross found Donovan once again for a sublime strike.

The Ne w Jers e y native’s performance against Honduras earned him a starting spot against Panama in the Gold Cup final. In a gritty match, he was the team’s most positive player, cutting in on multiple occasions to get off shots.

His attacking mentality led to the tournament’s winner. A Bedoya cross into the box deflected off Donovan’s foot. The ball trickled toward the goal’s far post, only to be pounded into the back of the net by teammate Brek Shea.

His Gold Cup performance allowed him to move from Swedish outfit Helsingborg to FC Nantes of Ligue 1, France’s first division.

Bedoya’s former manager, Ed Kelly believes that the move to Nantes will help in the long run of the player’s career.

“I think it’s a great move, because I think he’s playing in one of the top leagues,” Kelly said.

Along with the midfielder’s extremely high work rate, Bedoya could be a tactical asset to a team bereft of outside backs.

“His accomplishments with the national team were fantastic, because he’s got a fantastic work rate and they are lacking, in my humble opinion, somebody to protect the full backs,” Kelly said.

“That’s one of the spots they haven’t been able to cement out for anybody.”

Klinsmann also rates the winger, and his work ethic , highly. Last week, the national team’s gaffer told Soccer by Ives, “Bedoya made a huge jump over the last seven, eight months just

during my time now, because he came pretty late into my picture.

“He was with [the U.S. under previous head coach Bob Bradley] already, and compared to where he was in the January camp to where he is now, it’s just really wonderful to see.”

With Graham Zusi a lastminute scratch, Bedoya jumped straight into the U.S. team for its World Cup qualifier against Mexico last week. While he did not produce the same performance he did in the Gold Cup, B edoya was playing against stronger opposition on Tuesday evening.

B edoya ser ved as a solid replacement for last year’s MLS assist leader, but the Eagle wants to be more than that in years to come. He still has time to become a regular starter, and has the quality, pace, and after this summer, the experience to compete with Zusi.

“He, by himself, has made what he thought was possible,” Kelly said. “He’s a phenomenal kid, very respectful, very hardworking. He worked with the ups and down in a class way. It took a long time for Klinsmann to recognize his abilities.

“He’s there at the right time, and he’s taken advantage of it, and I hope that he reaps the rewards that go along with all that hard work, and he does get to go to the World Cup, because that is something that would be very special for him and his family.”

In a matter of months, Klinsmann will pick his first U.S. World Cup squad. Bedoya is a sure bet for the 30-man preliminary team, but the question becomes whether or not Bedoya will be flying high in Brazil come next summer. n

alejandrO bedoya POsition: MIDfielder Class of 2009

BC Career stats 2007-08

14 Goals 15 assists 35 starts

U.S. men’s national team 2013 Gold Cup highlights

2 assists vs. honduras 1 assist on tournament-winning goal vs Panama

Club teams orebro SK 65 appearances, 8 goals Glasgow Rangers 12 appearances, 1 goal helsingborgs IF 31 appearances, 10 goals signed with FC Nantes august 7, 2013

Cross Country

BC takes the Bronx

By Rob Sheehan For The Heights

SPORTS in SHORT

The men’s cross country team was in Bronx, N.Y. on Saturday to compete in the Iona Meet of Champions. The Eagles placed 12th out of 20 teams with a team score of 344. Senior Anthony Bellitti was the first BC runner to cross the finish line in 26:49 over the eight-kilometer course.

Bellitti finished 55th out of 210 total runners and junior Brian Wolff was close behind in 26:58 for 67th place. Juniors Tim Ferris, James Newhouse, and Richard Lucas all finished between 27:20 and 27:30 to round out the Eagles’ top five. Iona placed five runners in the top 12 to win the meet with a score of 37. The next meet for the men is the Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Oct. 5.

On the women’s side, junior Liv Westphal was named ACC Cross Country Performer of the Week on Tuesday, Sept. 17 for her performance at UMass Invitational last weekend. Westphal finished first overall in 16:58 for the five kilometer course. Madeleine Davidson placed second to help seal a team victory for BC. The Eagles also moved up one spot to No. 24 in the USTFCCCA national coaches poll released this week. The team will return to action Sept. 27 to host the BC XC Invitational. n

ACC Men’s Soccer Standings Team Wake Forest Maryland Clemson Notre Dame Virginia Tech NC State Boston College Syracuse North Carolina Duke Virginia Pitt

Conference

Overall

3-0-0 2-0-1 2-1-0 1-0-2 1-0-2 1-1-1 1-1-1 1-2-0 0-0-3 0-1-1 0-2-1 0-3-0

4-2-0 2-2-2 6-1-0 3-0-3 3-1-1 3-1-1 2-2-2 5-2-0 3-0-2 3-1-2 2-3-1 0-3-2

Numbers to Know

Quote of the Week

0

“I think what’s really exciting is they haven’t come anywhere close even to reaching their potential, and they’re playing at a very high level already.”

The number of shots that didn’t go in the net for BC field hockey in its 6-2 win over Syracuse.

50

The number of minutes men’s soccer played with a man down against Notre Dame on Saturday.

0.6 The number of goals averaged by BC women’s soccer over its five losses of the season.

—Field hockey coach Ain-

sley Lamb on the freshman McCoy twins

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2013

B3

Graham Beck / heights Editor

key stats

18 0 7

Points scored by newcomers so far this year for BC Draws in BC-ND soccer history before Saturday

quote of the Series “Toby [Atobra] is still injured. He busted Nana [Boateng]’s chops, saying, ‘I didn’t know you could defend.’ That’s a big step for Nana now to do that.”

- Ed Kelly BC men’s soccer head coach

OT periods played by BC

Standouts

Memorable Play Late in the game, with the Fighting Irish pressuring hard, junior defender Matt Wendelken leapt forward to block a shot from inside the box and then raced after the rebound, toe-poking it out for a throw-in rather than a corner kick.

Prime Performance Harrison Shipp

Isaac Normesinu

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

Freshman Isaac Normesiuno notched the lone goal for the Eagles in the 17th minute of play, but Harrison Shipp (10) tied the game with a goal just 12 seconds later.

Men’s Soccer Notebook

Shumowitz impresses in his Eagle debut

By Alex Fairchild Heights Staff

The pace of the opening moments was as intimidating as Notre Dame’s status as the nation’s top dog. Players were zipping from spot to spot chasing down a ball that had entered a pinball machine.

There were moments of calm early in the match, though, especially when Derrick Boateng got on the ball. That was Boston College’s strategy. Get the ball to the magician so that he could throw some stepovers to get the crowd going.

While Boateng was exciting the supporters, Isaac Normesinu was waiting on the right wing. He had a couple of moves forward for the Eagles and his positive play was the stem of opportunities. None were better than the one he created for himself 17 minutes in.

“He overlapped,” said head coach Ed Kelly. “The full back went to go with [Isaac] and as soon as he didn’t make up his mind, he went inside and ‘boom’ it was in the back of the net, so the run made everything.”

The winger’s move down the right was sublime to say the least and the finish was even better. But just seconds later, a defensive lapse saw the Eagles get caught too far forward. Harrison Shipp’s goal humbled the Newton Campus.

Shipp’s movement for Notre Dame was excellent. He played as a False Nine—a player that starts as a forward, but drops into the middle of the field when his team has the ball, almost fitting in as a central midfielder.

Players that fit this mold are extremely versatile footballers. They are creators and those that change games. As they sneak in between different parts of the pitch, it makes them difficult to pick up, because they are too deep for the center backs to mark, yet too far forward for center midfielders to bully.

“He kept dropping in the hole all the time,” Kelly said of Shipp, and that gave BC problems.

While BC went with its 4-4-1-1, Shipp gave the Fighting Irish the ability to shape shift, throwing BC off guard, making the draw far harder to maintain. Notre Dame used a compact 4-2-2-2 in the second half.

With that tactic in place, BC would have to mark two center forwards in addition to Shipp, who drifted between his side’s forward and midfield pairings.

Kelly began the second period of play by having Nick Butler track the danger man in the middle of the pitch. He called upon the talents of Amir Shumowitz when Shipp drifted to the left of Notre Dame’s attack.

Shumowitz was impressive in his debut for the Eagles. The right back got forward throughout the match, posing a threat to his Notre Dame counterpart Max Lachowecki.

His influence was high and he played a huge part in pinning Notre Dame’s Lachowecki into his own half. By pressing the away side back, Shumowitz and company. put Normesinu in the position to score. But the pressure fell off after the consecutive goals, forcing Shumowitz back and letting Lachowecki get forward for Notre Dame.

“He’s fantastic. I don’t think he did a thing

wrong,” Kelly said.

The new kid on the block made multiple challenges to protect the team’s right flank from overlapping runs, as Notre Dame’s full backs provided the width necessary to spread out their 4-2-2-2.

When Notre Dame did attack down the Eagles’ throats, they stood strong. Exemplary defensive displays from Atobra Ampadu, Giuliano Frano, and Boateng thwarted drives forward from the visiting attackers The midfield trio produced stand up tackles that led to counter attacks, but the dirty work had to be done to produce the draw. Kelly praised the efforts of Atobra, who came on as a substitute to force the issue. No. 6 made a tackle and drove over 60 yards down the pitch, before losing the ball.

Ampadu enjoyed a good bit of banter with Nana who was stalwart in defense.

“Toby [Atobra] is still injured,” Kelly said.

“He busted Nana [Boateng]’s chops, saying, ‘I didn’t know you could defend.’ That’s a big step for Nana now to do that.”

The defensive stands became more prevalent after the sending off of Butler a half hour from time. Butler became the third Eagle to see red this year, so Kelly had to make another adjustment. The manager had Cole DeNormandie act as the team’s only striker for the majority of the period after which Butler was ejected.

“We play with one behind, so we just neutralize,” Kelly said, “4-4-1. We did a great job of balancing out after the movement and the sliding. The defending was fantastic. That was not easy.” n

Amit Shumowitz was pure class at right back in his first appearance with the Eagles, defending competently and adding a new offensive threat by racing down and combining on the wing.

BC forces a draw with Irish Men’s Soccer, from B1 Down a man but not yet feeling the effects, the Eagles spun into an energized state of outrage, and just minutes later, a point-blank header from left back Matt Wendelken sent Wall scrambling across his net to make an impressive low save.

As the game wore on, playing with 10 men began to eat away at the Eagles, forcing BC to drop deep and focus more on defending. Offensive catalysts Cole DeNormandie and Derrick Boateng became defensive workhorses, and as he struggled with injury, Normesinu’s playing time became limited. BC was just trying to hold on.

Slowly but surely, Notre Dame’s time with possession increased, and the Fighting Irish began wracking up attempts on goal.

In the 74th minute, Notre Dame nearly created a mesmerizing highlight with a shocking blast that narrowly missed from 25 yards out. The Eagles hopes were still alive.

As the minutes ticked away, BC kept working, hoping for a chance on the counter. After holding up the ball and spinning past a defender, Normesinu was almost in on goal thanks to a nice one-two pass with midfielder Diego Medina-Mendez.

In the 79th minute, Eagle keeper Keady Segel was called into action and made a confident save after Notre

Dame midfielder Patrick Hodan ripped a knuckling shot from inside the 18.

As exhaustion began to plague the short-handed Eagles, the heart emerged.

Under near-constant siege, BC chased, battled, and defended as a team. Time slipped away as attack after attack was repelled, and the beleaguered Eagles forced overtime.

With three minutes left in the first period of golden goal, BC found something it had been short on lately, something nearly as valuable as heart: blind luck.

When the ball landed at the foot of an unmarked Notre Dame forward inside the six-yard box, the crowd at Newton froze in a unified state of horror. All eyes watched—including Segel’s, from the other side of the net—as the ball streaked for the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Then, roughly 2,000 hearts started up again when the ball missed the post by inches.

Despite chance after chance, Notre Dame was unable to capitalize, and the crowd rallied behind the helter-skelter BC defense, which wouldn’t allow the Irish to take control.

Chants of “Let’s go BC” ushered in the second period of golden goal, and for 10 more minutes, the Eagles held strong.

“They were warriors in the back,” Kelly said. “Great game, great game for us.” n

The Heights

B4

Monday, September 23, 2013

Shumowitz cleared to play by NCAA

By Alex Fairchild Heights Staff Amit Shumowitz, a freshman on the Boston College men’s soccer team, was cleared to play by the NCAA following an appeal by the school, according to head coach Ed Kelly. The Israeli fullback suited up against No. 2 Notre Dame on Saturday.

The appeal came as a result of a controversial case involving Middle Tennessee State football player Steven Rhodes, a Marine who was nearly penalized for playing in an intramural league while serving.

MTSU filed an appeal with the NCAA, which has a confusing rule on gap year enrollment—the rule states that players who take a gap year forfeit a year of eligibility for participating in an organized competition during an academic year.

That same rule was preventing Shumowitz from playing immediately this season.

Kelly said that after Rhodes won his case with the NCAA, the University of San Diego, who had an Israeli player in a similar spot to that of Shumowitz, appealed and won. BC appealed on the heels of those cases, and Shumowitz was granted permission to play.

He replaced Ado Kawuba in the lineup against the Irish, helping out offensively and defensively. Kelly called his play “fantastic.”

Shumowitz is an established international footballer having earned caps for his country’s U19 and U21 national teams on which he was featured as a full back. He boasts experience with Maacabi Natanya’s U20 side.

The outside back helped the team to two final four appearances in the National Israel Cup. While eligible to play last weekend, Shumowitz was given time off to celebrate Yom Kippur, according to Kelly. n

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

After filing an appeal to the NCAA, BC freshman Amit Shumowitz has been cleared to play.

Top-ranked UVA proves to be too much for the Eagles Potentially gametying free-kick misses the net

By Alex Stanley Heights Staff

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

BC struggles to recover from UVA loss Women’s Soccer, from B1 A penalty was immediately called. The Hokies capitalized on the PK, as Yensen scored with ease.

“It was early enough that we all knew we had enough time,” Foley said. “I don’t think it was anything that we reacted to with devastation because it happened so early. I don’t really think it had an effect in terms of the emotion of the game.”

Virginia Tech’s forwards continued to out sprint an emotionally and physically run down BC squad.

The score was almost 2-0. Reeves had an open net after avoiding the goalie on a breakaway. But the third leading scorer in

the ACC missed wide right.

Foley believed the miss kept her team alive.

“There was a brief six or seven minutes, after that when we were like ‘Okay, lets go,’” she said.

The brief momentum change was not enough. The Eagles were never able to respond.

“I think because Virginia took so much out of them, you know No. 1 team in the country come in here on Thursday and they ran a lot ... they put in a lot of mileage on Thursday in a really disappointing tight loss and I don’t think we really ever got ourselves as dangerous running forward, like we did on Thursday night.”

BC’s lack of chances and possession time forced hasty play when a chance presented itself. If the Eagles had a chance to score in the opponents half they attempted to force the ball down the field rapidly.

Their high pace of play and vertical passing caused turnovers and poor offensive buildups.

Foley’s halftime adjustments did little to change the rhythm of the game.

“I thought we were fine,” she said. “I said ‘Let’s try to target their left side.’ I thought their left side was a little weaker so we pulled Steph McCaffrey out wide try to get her some more balls … We tried to improve our possession a little bit and change the point of attack a bit.” n

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

The BC women’s soccer team suffered its second shutout-loss of the year, falling to Virginia Tech 1-0 yesterday afternoon on Newton.

With two minutes left in the game, captain Casey Morrison found herself in a peculiar position. Boston College was trailing 2-1 to No. 1 University of Virginia, and she was set to take a free kick within scoring range.

She struck it hard and true, but the effort sailed above the crossbar—with it went the hopes of an upset for the Eagles.

This finalized the score at 2-1, with the BC women’s soccer team taking the home loss at Newton Soccer Field on Thursday night.

This leaves the Eagles with a record of 4-4-0 (1-2-0 ACC), while the Cavaliers remain undefeated in all eight games.

The game kicked off to about 10 minutes of pure excitement. Each side was attacking heavily, and chances abounded for both UVA and BC. Hayley Dowd had the first for BC, as she snagged a loose ball in Virgina’s half, cut through a couple defenders and ripped off a shot, which the goalie saved with little hassle.

BC mounted high pressure on the Cavaliers, physically testing Virginia in their half.

Nonetheless, the Cavalier possession game persisted, with U.S. women’s national team midfielder Morgan Brian being the best player.

Kate McCarthy had the duty of manmarking her, and Brian’s play became considerably quieter as time went by, and McCarthy doggedly defended her.

“I always feel we are in good hands when we put Kate McCarthy in a manmarking responsibility because she is a handful […] I have watched four tapes on Virginia, and [tonight] is the most quiet Morgan Brian has been in any of them,” said head coach Alison Foley.

This led to a lull in the game as well, as both teams struggled to formulate attacks until the end of the half.

The BC defense did a good job of putting bodies into any space within goal range, as UVA maintained much possession but little goal opportunity.

Virginia’s Gloria Douglas managed to

break through the defense a couple of times late in the half, though.

Both of her efforts skidded off target, however, as a vicious volley was fired high above the goal and a later breakaway was fired wide.

These two salvos were returned by BC, with two great chances of their own.

First, Rachel Davitt found herself in some free space in the box, with a pass from Annie Steinlage, but fired it low to the goalie.

The UVA goalie, Morgan Stearns, made another great save on sophomore McKenzie Meehan, when she tried to tap in a splitting through-ball that brought Meehan one-on-one with Stearns.

This half was characterized by missed chances, but it changed as BC made sure to capitalize on their goal scoring opportunities early in the second half.

Stephanie McCaffrey scored around two minutes into the half, slotting it coolly in the lower right-hand corner, with only the keeper to beat.

The goal was assisted by a through-ball from Patrice Vettori, which was nearly intercepted by a UVA defender.

The Cavaliers clawed back though, with some great work from their own No. 9, Makenzy Doniak.

Doniak scored first on the right-hand corner of the box, where she managed to get on the receiving end of a cross. She swiveled and fired the ball across the goal, forcing it directly into the side netting.

Not too long after, Doniak, with a great deal of space on the right, shot high, which goalkeeper Jessica Mickelson deflected right into the head of Virginia forward Molly Menchel, who put the ball over the line.

Foley credited the clever transitional offense as the key to these two late goals from Virginia.

“In the counter, we got sucked over to the right side of the field. They sent an extra number out of the midfield on the left side, so it appeared like Lauren (Bernard) had two players and she got caught kind of inside of them,” she said.

Even so, Foley was proud of the way her team played, especially the persistent pressing on the defensive side of the ball by the Eagles.

“I thought our defensive pressure was more than they could handle. I couldn’t be any more proud of the effort and the type of soccer we played out there tonight,” Foley said. n

Student-athletes should have cost of attendance covered Column, from B1 of that money, and now they have the opportunity to receive some of it. It’s not enough to go buy fancy cars or pay for expensive vacations, but the stipend would essentially cover the part-time job for which the members of The Margos don’t have time.

Unfortunately, the comedy schools strike down the governing body’s measure. They ask stupid questions such as, where do we draw the line? Why just comedians with full scholarships?

Do they really deserve this stipend?

How do we know they will spend it responsibly?

The Margos, and the other elite troupes at the rest of the comedy schools, don’t complain. They get back to work, trying to put on the best shows that they can every week.

Back to YMCMB. They decide that they’ve had enough. Students keep complaining about their shows, so they decide to restructure the troupe. They say that they are going to “streamline” their comedy—whatever that means.

Most importantly, though, they decide that they are going to use some of the funding that they receive from the students’ tuition to pay themselves sti-

pends. They have complete control of their budget, giving YMCMB the ability to make these kinds of decisions about how the students’ money is spent.

The members of YMCMB justify these stipends by saying that an increased workload under the new system means they’ll both earn and deserve money they’ll receive from the stipends. Although they don’t generate any revenue—in fact, their shows lose a decent amount of money—and although plenty of the other students at the comedy school put in just as many, and often more hours, with much more celebrated results, the members of YMCMB have no problem passing this new stipend plan. The comedy school sees no reasons to shut it down.

At the first major show put on by YMCMB following the passing of the stipends, hardly anyone shows up. It is a catastrophe. Tickets are overpriced, and then when not enough are purchased, YMCMB just starts giving out free tickets the day of the show, trying to save face and fill seats. The comedy is dated, and students roll their eyes.

The arena for the show, which is regularly packed for The Margos and in the past has been full for YMCMB in better years, is manipulated to make the much

Graham Beck / Heights Editor

The BC football team has helped fill the student section this year and brings in TV revenue, but the players don’t receive full cost of attendance. smaller crowd look like it has filled the space to capacity.

YMCMB now gets paid stipends to put on even worse shows, and only they have the power to change it.

In December of 2011, enough schools voted to override an NCAA plan to provide $2,000 stipends to scholarship athletes, regardless of need, that the measure was wiped out. Bos-

ton College was one of those schools.

The $2,000 was intended to cover the full cost of attendance for student-athletes, which current scholarships fall short of providing.

In February of 2013, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College passed a new constitution, which grants stipends to six vice presidents, all of whom are not elected by the student body. This month, those stipends were announced to be $2,200—$200

more than the NCAA proposal for the student-athletes.

Last Friday, UGBC hosted one of the worst attended fall concerts in school history, bringing back an act that headlined the concert in 2003.

If all of this wasn’t so blatantly wrong, it might be a little funny.

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

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2013

B5

BC outlasts Providence, notches seventh win in eight games

By Marly Morgus Asst. Sports Editor

With the added pressure of a big win over a highly-ranked opponent just two nights before, the women of the Boston College field hockey team had their work cut out for them in a regional matchup against Providence College on Monday.

“It probably makes this game even more critical, to be honest. It’s exciting to have that upset against Syracuse and it was a great team win, but the regional play for us is really, really important and one of the team goals is to be, you know, number one in the region and in order to do that you have to win those regional games,” said head coach Ainslee Lamb on the buildup following the Syracuse win. “I think it was great to use the momentum from Friday to go into today’s game. Certainly it didn’t alleviate any pressure on today’s game.”

The Eagles didn’t let the pressure get to them and ended yesterday one step further toward their goal. The Friars put up a strong fight, but BC came through in the end with a solid win to improve to 7-1 overall.

From the get go, the Eagles were on the offensive. Though Providence started the game with possession, it was BC that turned it around and had the first scoring chances.

Though the chances were ample, the scoring did not come quickly. With just under 30 minutes remaining in the first half, BC took five corners in quick succession as the Friars kept fouling within the scoring area, but Providence’s Deidra

Clymer remained steady in goal, getting behind each of the shots.

Lamb was not discouraged by the lack of capitalization off of the corners, though.

Rather, she saw it as an important thing to notice and improve on.

“I think their goal is to score one of five—I think that’s probably a realistic goal on attack penalty corners,” she said. “It’s something that we need to put time into, and it’s something I think they have the desire to be really good at, so we have to give them the opportunity to train it.”

BC had another close miss just minutes later as a shot from freshman standout Eryn McCoy ricocheted off of the post.

The first scoring chances for Providence came in the form of two corners with about 18 minutes remaining in the half, but this time it was Leah Settipane’s turn to block shots in BC’s favor.

It wasn’t until just 10 minutes remained in the half that a tally was made on the scoreboard. This time, it was another McCoy that stepped in and got redemption for the near miss earlier in the half.

Emily McCoy shot a bullet right past Clymer when she rebounded the ball off of a corner. The goal was assisted by Paige Norris and Sarah Hospodar.

Lamb was quick to praise the performance of both of the McCoys after the game.

“I think what’s really exciting is they haven’t come anywhere close even to reaching their potential, and they’re playing at a very high level already,” she said. “They’re definitely a lot of fun to watch. “ Up 1-0 with less than a minute remain-

ing in the half, the Eagles had another two opportunities to improve their lead off of corners, but again Clymer stopped the shots and the Eagles went into the half with just a one-goal margin.

Regardless of their failure to capitalize on the late opportunity during the first half, the Eagles came out of the break on a mission and quickly tacked on another score. This time it was from Paige Norris who approached the net from the left-hand corner of the field and crossed in front, slipping in her unassisted shot.

The goal came less than four minutes into the half and cushioned the Eagles’ fragile lead.

They surely had more scoring chances during the second half as they increased their offensive pressure, but the Eagle defenders and goalkeeper stayed on their toes and managed to close out the game, holding onto the shutout for Settipane, who faced a total of nine shots.

Lamb, who stressed the remarkability of the shutout, was very proud of Settipane’s performance.

“Any time you have a shutout—whether its one shot, or I think we had nine shots, you know, we were proof of it against Syracuse, we had six shots and six goals, so to have a shutout in the NCAA level is really difficult,“ she said. “She’s just performing at a very good level and I think her defenders in front of her want to work really hard for her, and those are two key components for her to have those shutouts.”

Overall, the win over Providence marked the end of a successful weekend for BC in which the Eagles progressed both in the ACC and in regional play. n

Emily Fahey / Heights Staff

BC goalie Leah Settipane notched her second shutout of the season against Providence.

Eagles top highly ranked Syracuse on perfect shooting display

By Amanda Meier

For the Heights

The Boston College field hockey team defied the odds Friday afternoon as the Eagles took down No. 5 Syracuse, 6-3.

The Eagles welcomed Syracuse to the ACC (formerly members of the Big East), singing the National Anthem, hands with hands joined. The line-ups were read, hands shook, and the battle between the two highly ranked ACC teams began.

Fast chatter among the BC players set the tone early on. While BC stood strong defensively, there was no denying the strong stick skills, accurate passes, and quick pace of the Syracuse team—the Orange managed to score within the first five minutes of play off a corner shot.

BC fought back almost instantaneously, though, as Ashleigh Sebia pushed it in just two minutes after Syracuse took the initial lead. This set the pace for the BC offense on: quick and aggressive.

Syracuse responded with a goal just minutes after, as Emma Russel tipped the ball in on Settipane’s goal—this was Russel’s first of two goals for the evening.

After volleying back and forth between the Eagles and Syracuse, one would have thought that the constant give and take would characterize the 70-minute game ahead of them. And they would be wrong.

While the score read 2-1, it was clear that Syracuse spent much of the first

Emily Fahey / Heights Staff

Despite being outshot by a wide margin of 14 attempts, BC’s offense executed on all six of its scoring opportunities on Friday afternoon.

20 minutes meddling on BC’s end of the field. All that changed, however, when freshman Brittany Sheenan took the field. Almost immediately after her arrival, the Eagles scored with a goal from senior forward, Virgynia Muma.

Further asserting her effectiveness on the field, Sheenan scored a goal of her own, just two minutes after she entered the game. The goal was back-to-backed by senior forward Chapin Duke, as she scored yet another goal—three goals within nearly four minutes put the score at 4-2 in the Eagle’s favor.

As if they had not dominated the field enough already, BC’s offense scored yet another goal with just seven minutes left in the half, this time thanks to freshman Eryn McCoy. She was assisted by Paige Norris and Emma Plasteras.

BC ended the half up 5-2, sending the Syracuse Orange into halftime beaten down by a hard 35 minutes of Eagle offense. While the Orange was ranked 12 spots above BC in national rankings, BC welcomed Syracuse to Newton with aggressive style.

Just when it appeared the game would end with a scoreless second half, the BC Eagles scored on a stroke shot by Sarah Hospodar. She faced the goalie one-to-one, and shot it clear into the goal of Syracuse’s Jess Jecko.

Besides the one goal for BC on a

stroke shot, the second half proved to be fairly uneventful for both teams.

The Orange was shut down by the Eagle defense, unable to answer the three-point BC lead.

The final score was 6-3 in BC’s favor. The Eagles defeated fifth-ranked Syracuse at home, a win critical for their future standings throughout the year.

While the win was monumental for the BC field hockey team, Lamb explained its further significance as they “set a very good standard for BC field hockey,” but more importantly, “a repeatable standard.” “[The team’s] motto is 25 strong,” Lamb said. “There’s no question twenty-five athletes won this game today.”

Next, the Eagles face Providence on Sunday—a challenge coach Lamb addressed.

“It’s probably the hardest thing to do, when you play a Friday-Sunday schedule, choosing what game you’re going to prepare for in practice,” Lamb said of this weekend’s schedule for the team.

Lamb is confident that her team can determine the outcome of its games.

“Our motto for this year, what we’ve really tried to focus on, is how we wanted to outlet and we wanted to press. So the benefits of that is we can apply that in the Syracuse game, and we can also apply that in the Providence game.” n

Eagles outdueled in two straight matches against crosstown rivals

By Matty Pierce

Heights Staff

Before kicking off ACC conference play next weekend, the Boston College women’s volleyball team (8-4) had the opportunity to compete against some cross-city rivals in the New England Challenge this past weekend.

Playing against Northeastern and Harvard, BC was able to gain valuable out-of-conference experience that should prepare them for what lies ahead.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, they were unable to gain bragging rights over either of their rival schools upon the tournament’s conclusion.

The Eagles started off the weekend on Friday at Solomon Court against rival Northeastern (5-6). Despite standout play from a few Eagles, the Huskies were able to win the match by a score of 3-1, dropping only the third set. It was the 26th time in school history that BC and Northeastern faced one another, and Northeastern extended its all time lead by gaining its 16th win.

The Eagles fell behind early, losing the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-21. BC was able to collect 12 kills in the first set and 15 in the second, while Northeastern earned 12 in the first and 13 in the second. The reason for this early deficit can be attributed to errors.

The Eagles committed a total of 12 errors in the first two sets, compared to the nine tallied by the Huskies.

Momentum briefly shifted to the Ea-

gles when the team was able to win the third set, before dropping the fourth.

In the third, the Eagles put away 12 kills, compared to nine by the Huskies.

Northeastern used an energy surge in the fourth and final set to fend off the BC threat. The Huskies allowed the Eagles to collect eight kills in this set, while they were able to earn 13.

Despite the loss, BC saw some impressive individual efforts. Sophomore Katty Workman led the Eagles, putting away 11 kills and recording a teamhigh 20 digs. This performance marked Workman’s sixth double-double of the year. Junior Courtney Castle also had a double-double in the match, chipping in with 11 digs and 11 kills.

Freshman Jamie Bredahl, who recorded the lone triple-double of the match, led Northeastern to victory.

Bredahl tallied 10 kills, 17 assists, and 11 digs.

Other standouts for the Huskies included Kelly Bacon, who capped off a double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs, and Natalia Skiba, who recorded a game-high 29 digs.

The Eagles looked to rebound Sunday at home against Harvard (5-2). It looked as if the Eagles had brought their A-game, coming out aggressively and capturing the first set. Following the first set, the Crimson made a statement, winning the next three sets to secure a 3-1 match victory. It was the 24th time in school history that the two teams have met, and BC leads the series 17-7

with the loss.

The Eagles fought hard in the first set to gain an early match lead. With the score tied at 2-2, BC won the next point and held the lead for a 25-18 win.

In this set, the Eagles put away 13 kills, compared to 11 by the Crimson. Junior captain Kellie Barnum helped the team out with 12 assists in the set.

The Eagles were unable to build upon this momentum, dropping the next two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-23. In the second set, the Crimson took advantage of five errors that BC committed, while only committing one itself. Senior Melissa McTighe put home seven of the Eagles 10 kills in the set, while the Crimson combined for 15 kills as a team.

The Crimson was able to run away with a very back-and-forth third set.

The teams were tied at 13-13 before the Eagles found themselves down 1824. Despite a late rally, this deficit was too much for BC. Harvard built off of momentum from the second set to out muscle BC in the third. The Crimson put away 20 kills in the third set alone, compared to the Eagle’s 10.

The Eagles fought hard in a close fourth set, but the Crimson continued its strong play to close the match out with a 25-23 set victory. Down 18-22, the Eagles rallied to bring the score to 23-24, before Harvard put away a kill for the victory. In an exciting final set, both teams were plagued by errors.

BC committed eight while Harvard

committed seven. Like throughout the entire match, Harvard was able to use timely attacks to fend off the threatening Eagles.

For the Eagles, McTighe had a teamhigh 12 kills, plus an assist and three

blocks. Barnum kept BC competitive with a match high 37 digs. Workman continued her strong play with 10 kills and nine digs. Harvard was paced by sophomore Kathleen Wallace, who recorded a match-high 15 kills. n

Graham beck / Heights Editor

The Eagles struggled to gain momentum in the New England Challenge this weekend.

B6

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2013

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, September 23, 2013

HEALTH&SCIENCE

Falling into the season of death

JOSEPH CASTLEN You can call it fall if that’s what you please, but I say I like autumn.

This sing-song phrase from our most beloved of purple dinosaurs is part of a catchy tune designed to educate toddlers about the changes that occur during the season that some people call fall, but more intelligent people refer to as autumn (or at least that’s what they want you to think).

Yesterday marks the first official day of this season of death, when leaves die and start falling off of trees and animals begin to frantically horde food as they prepare to enter a three-month-long period of unconsciousness. To be sure, when the chlorophyll pool runs dry and leaves return to their “natural” colors, it can be quite a sight. And if you aren’t from around here, any native New Englander will be sure to let you know that they have the most beautiful leaves in all the land, an often unfounded statement based literally on the fact that they are from New England and therefore their deciduous forests must be the most deciduous of all.

Fall has other things to offer us too, like that range of temperatures that is cool enough to warrant wearing a light jacket but still warm enough to get away with wearing shorts. It seems that for every degree Fahrenheit the temperature drops, however, one more of those stickers is put up on a restroom mirror declaring the horrors that can befall you if you don’t continuously wash your hands with bleach for 30 minutes after using the bathroom.

These same stickers also remind you not to touch your eyes, nose, or mouth unless you want to contract the Bubonic plague, and that if there is someone sitting next to you on the T coughing up blood, you should probably switch seats.

Why do they even bother putting these signs up in the first place if the advice on them seems so self-evident? Obviously if you wash your hands and avoid sick people then you are less likely to get sick.

Why don’t these stickers provide useful advice on disease prevention, stuff we don’t already know, like a way to prevent contraction of the flu by eating with your eyes closed and only reading evenly-numbered pages of your assigned reading for class? The answer might be that this is the only advice they have to offer.

Unless the government is keeping some sort of health-related secret from us (which isn’t completely unlikely), then furiously chugging orange juice like a freshman chugging beer at a Mod party won’t prevent the onset of a cold any more than furiously chugging that Natty will (okay, maybe the orange juice is a little bit better for you). Even if you follow all the CDC guidelines on staying healthy, you probably won’t stay healthy. It seems like we are locked in a losing battle with our surroundings, which are pretty much either trying to leech off of our health until we die or trying to kill us outright, however slowly.

Well that doesn’t sound like very much fun. Americans hate losing, especially to communists and small organisms indiscernible to the human eye—in that order. Well, we beat the commies (for now), but our techniques on that front don’t necessarily translate into medical practice. Sounds like it’s time to “invest some money in science.” Which is what we hear a lot from politicians and those types of folk. But there is so much science and so many ways to invest our money, so where do we even start?

If we really wanted to invest then we could give money to teachers and schools to raise up a new generation of scientists. Or we could give money to current scientists so that maybe we can see results in our own lifetime. Or we could give a little but probably not enough money to both and hope that the situation somehow works itself out. To date, one of the greatest advances in modern medical technology might be that variation of Kleenex that have Vick’s lotion infused into the tissue, so maybe we should invest in some more of whatever funded that.

Where are the CSOM kids when you need them? Word on the street is that they know a thing or two about investments.

But today’s investors are the CSOM kids of the past, tomorrow’s scientists are the A&S students of the present, and last I checked there’s no bug spray that wards off those 24-hour “bugs,” so I guess this fall I’ll just go buy some lotion-infused Kleenex and keep washing my hands until something changes.

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

B7

Student coaches offer personalized health plans to peers Health Coach, from B10 we are here to help you plan for health,” Phillips said.

So while we do have this resource of the health coaches on campus, how hard or easy is it for students to navigate the world of nutrition on their own, whether it be on or off campus?

William Quish, A&S ’15, who is living off campus, has seen how eating healthy can be difficult away from the dining halls.

“So far the biggest thing about eating healthy off campus has been making sure we have healthy food in the house to eat. Also, the other main thing about eating healthy is planning time to make your food, if you don’t make time, it turns into a lot of Chipotle or just bowls of cereal and PB&J. Health coach Alyssa Rizzini, A&S ’15, revealed some of her tricks for staying healthy off-campus. “Utilize the on campus farmer’s market. It’s located in front of Lower every Thursday from 3

to 6 p.m. You can use dining bucks or a credit card to buy tons of local fruits and veggies.

“Frozen fruits and vegetables are your best friend. Fresh produce is awesome, but can be difficult to eat before it goes bad. Frozen food is picked at the height of ripeness so it will be plenty flavorful when you heat it up,” Rizzini said.

Kevin Lawrence, CSOM ’14, believes one can eat healthy on campus but having his own kitchen living in Edmond’s has its advantages. “There are healthy options in the dining hall so if you make the effort and have the discipline, it is possible to think about nutrition while eating on campus. It can become repetitive, but by having a kitchen my roommates and I have the opportunity to prepare a variety of healthy meals in any way we like.”

Ellen Burr, A&S ’15, offered her own opinion. “I think BC students tend to get carried away with the variety of choices offered in the dining halls. Options like

ALEX GAYNOR / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The Office of Health Promotion offers individual health plans as well as workshops for students. the promoted “dessert of the night” are extremely seductive for it puts the idea in your head that it is the one chance you have to splurge. That being said,

before walking into the dining hall you should know what you are going to eat—this makes it much easier to make healthy choices.” 

Volunteers use classroom lessons in Boston placements PULSE, from B10 remain involved with the program. The PULSE Council is a group of 18 students who have previously taken PULSE and have been chosen to continue assisting the program as student leaders. Each PULSE Council member coordinates three or four placements, which involves working with students and placement supervisors.

Currently, the PULSE program is immersed in its busiest period of the year.

In their office on the first floor of Stokes, PULSE Council members converse with small groups of students, preparing them for their tours.

PULSE Council members serve as a resource for students currently enrolled in PULSE, as well as for placement coordinators—aiding students in selecting and getting oriented with their placements. They act as the liaison between the supervisor, the program, and the students.

Supervisors from community partners come to campus and run information sessions that interested students will attend. Students then go on tours to the placements they are most interested in, and have informal interviews. The placement staff will then decide which students are the best fit for their agency based on the number of volunteers they

ALEX GAYNOR / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Prospective PULSE students prepare for tours of various service placements around Boston.

can accommodate.

PULSE Council members meet with the students who serve the placements they are assigned to over the semester to talk about placement specific issues and to reflect on their service. Although reflection occurs in the classroom setting as well, these student-run informal meetings are focused on candid discussion and reflection on service.

“I learned so much from my students that worked at a placement that I had never worked at before,” Ramjit said.

“We learn as much from them as they might from us. The focus is to build community among the people who serve there.”

Each council member is also required to hold three office hours a week—to be in the office, to answer phones, and to be available. Although this is a requirement, most PULSE students convene in the office on their own time as well.

“We treat the office as a kind of home base,” said Andrew Faiz, second year Council member and A&S ’14. “Part of that is because we’re always doing things, hanging out, eating lunch, and doing homework.”

In addition to the normal course, there are various PULSE electives offered. These are classes that require less commitment: 4 to 8 hours of service, and offer smaller versions of the PULSE experience—inside and outside the classroom.

There is also a philosophy class taught by the director of PULSE that is only open to PULSE Council members.

Ramjit took PULSE sophomore year and served at a residence for women who have a history of homelessness and have been diagnosed with mental

illness. She described the experience as eye opening and markedly different from anything she had ever done before.

“I didn’t want to close that chapter of my education,” she said. Her PULSE professor noticed how profoundly her experience had impacted her and suggested she apply for council. “I was really excited about the chance to help other students have a really good PULSE experience. This is my way of continuing to serve—by serving PULSE students.”

For Faiz, PULSE has had a huge influence on his education. He served at an afterschool therapeutic program for kids with histories of abuse and neglect, and found his experience very rewarding. After serving at his placement, he ended up declaring a minor in education.

“Things I was exposed to while working kept me involved and helped me change my career path,” he said.

When asked about any difficulties he encountered while working as a council member, Ramjit spoke to the challenge of helping students find a placement that they feel fits them well when they may have had a strong idea of what they wanted early on, and didn’t get accepted into that placement.

Ramjit, however, sees this situation as an opportunity rather than as a setback. Personally, she was not accepted into her first choice placement.

Nevertheless, she noted that she ended up having an incredibly rewarding experience at the placement she did attend, and hopes to convey this to others.

“I would have never ended up at Park Street and I had such an amazing experience there. I try to tell this story to students who are discouraged.” 

CLUB SERIES FEATURING BC’S STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

Fashion Club aims to showcase student style through magazines and events

BY CAROLINE HOPKINS For The Heights With hundreds of knee-length North Face parkas, Patagonia pullovers, and L.L. Bean boots tramping across the quad in perfect coordination, it is sometimes hard to believe that Boston College students actually have styles of their own. Talk to a member of the Fashion Club of BC, however, and you’ll come to appreciate the fashion-forward fraction of the BC student body. Established just this fall, FCBC has already hosted a highly successful event and is well on its way to publishing its first issue of A La Mode, the club’s fashion magazine. Natalyn Yu, co-president of FCBC and A&S ’15, says that the club’s recent success is due to a great deal of summer work. “We got a lot of work and planning done before the summer even ended, so we really got the ball rolling,” she said. Yu’s other co-presidents are Alexandra Paz, CSON ’15, and Jodie Lin, CSOM ’16.

FCBC has two main components: organizing fashion events and magazine publication. Through A La Mode, Yu explains, the club hopes to “feature

BC students who are entrepreneurs on campus, who are models, designers, and anyone else who is interested in even simply putting an outfit together.” With such a seemingly homogenous fashion culture at BC, the club hopes to encourage individual style, giving students a voice to reflect the more personal fashion culture that does exist. The magazine aims to give its readers a “real sense of what BC students think about fashion and how fashion is incorporated in their everyday lives.” A La Mode will also feature local boutiques, designers, makeup artists, and fashion photographers in and around the BC community. Paz is a model herself, which will give the club an opportunity to follow her to her photo shoots and conduct several interviews revealing the behind-the-scenes operations in the world of fashion.

In terms of fashion related events, FCBC is in the midst of planning several functions. The club’s first event, a networking evening with Saks, was held this past Thursday, Sept. 19. The event hosted several Saks representatives, along with the BC campus recruiter. The representatives shared their personal experience in the fashion industry and discussed some of the entry-level jobs at Saks (assistant buyer and

assistant planner). The representatives also talked about a fashion internship at Saks offered for juniors this coming summer.

The New York City internship is a program called the Executive Excellence Program, and will be accepting applications in the next few months.

On top of their hard work in magazine production and event planning, the members of FCBC also plan to give back to the community. The club hopes to host a clothing drive in the next month or so and to mentor children or perhaps hold a fashion workshop at local schools. Other FCBC plans for the year include several DIY events, more outside speakers from the fashion industry, and an actual runway show this coming spring. Given the recent success of the club and its first event, there is little doubt that these ambitions will soon become reality.

“We work really hard and we’re very close knit, and I think that’s why we’ve been able to hit the ground running and have our first event within the first month of our first year and have it be so successful,” Yu said.

“We’re in talks of planning a lot of events right now and collaborating with other clubs. I’m really proud of our team.”

At times when sweatpants and BC hoodies feel like the best outfit option, it is important to remember that every student has the right to expression through individual style. Yu said that to the members of FCBC, “Fashion isn’t just about the clothes. There’s so much that goes into fashion.” Fashion is not only a form of expression, but a lucrative industry that many students wish they could get involved in but simply don’t know how. With FCBC and its seasonal magazine production, delving into the world of fashion will be possible for BC students of all varieties.

If you are interested in joining FCBC, or perhaps just catching up with the fashion culture here at BC, you can contact any one of the co-presidents or members, check out the Facebook page (“Fashion Club of Boston College”), or even follow their Instagram, alamodebc.

“We really want to explore the multifaceted world of fashion,” Yu said, and so far, the club is doing just that. Au revoir, matching Patagonias! A fashion renaissance of individual style is about to sweep the campus. 

THE HEIGHTS

B8

HOW-TO

Perfect the art of the selfie EMILY RELLA Perfecting the selfie is no easy feat. In our generation, it’s not only become a rite of passage, but a necessary form of communication.

Before you embark on the ever multifaceted journey that is taking a selfie, you must ask yourself these three questions: 1. Are you drunk or are you sober?

Crucial. If you’re in a state of euphoric inebriation, you probably should just disregard all of the below. In the age of Snapchat, not only are we more apt to send duck-faced, vodka-induced selfies to everyone that we’ve ever even looked at on campus, but the proof of what we sent self-destructs within 10 seconds and we’ll never know what we in fact sent.

If you opt to just go for a selfie sent via text without the assistance of Snapchat, have fun checking that one out in the morning. It’s probably blurry, you probably look gross, and you probably want to throw your phone off the bleachers of Conte so that you never have to look at it ever again.

The sober selfie is also somewhat embarrassing as well, depending on your reasoning behind taking it. If you’re taking a picture of yourself because you think you’re hot and everyone wants to see how killer your new crop top is and how long your new mascara makes your eyelashes look, you’re not and they don’t. But a sober selfie is a solid selfie so long as you’re doing it for the entertainment factor, some sort of comedic relief. Or maybe the statue of Flutie is just so alluring that you couldn’t resist snapping a picture in front of it. That’s cute. But then again you run into the issue of people seeing you do so, which brings me to my next point.

2. Are you in public or in private?

This is a major determining factor in taking a selfie. Let’s stick with the Flutie example. Given that the entrance to Conte is a pretty public place, there are probably people around. There would be no point in trying to explain to anyone who saw you why you were taking the selfie because they really don’t care. Either way you were just that guy taking a picture of yourself in the middle of Lower campus.

Good move. Regardless of the poses you strike or the face that you make, there’s nothing more embarrassing than being caught taking a selfie in public. (Or in Theology class. We all have our days.)

If you find yourself in the comfort of your own bed, couch, house, or the ever-growing popular selfie location that has become the bathroom, however, it’s game on. Free range to make the ugliest face possible in an environment where the only embarrassment to be felt is the one you feel on behalf of yourself.

3. Are you planning on posting said selfie on any form of social media?

If the answer is no, then feel free to get as weird and as ratchet as your little heart desires. But if so, you’re entering the territory of a more advanced selfie technique: the pretty ugly face. A technique that is hard to master, but one so crucially vital if you plan on uploading that baby on to Instagram and giving it an Amaro filter (or feeling the anxiety of flipping through filters for 15 minutes).

You must make a face that looks like you’re not trying hard—you have to look good enough so that it looks like even when you’re making an ugly face, you’re still attractive. You know you’ve done it.

Once you’ve answered the three vital questions, you’re ready to take your shot, staying conscious of the five most important factors: 1. Angle and aim Straight on or from high up above aiming down makes you look skinnier.

Just saying.

2. Lighting No one wants to see your creepy criminal-esque face rising from the shadows but no one wants to be blinded by the brightness either. Balance is key.

3. Facial expression Pick the emotion you’re trying to convey and attempt to find a common ground between serious and total joke. No duck faces or you don’t deserve a frontward facing camera.

4. Enhance and filter Crucial especially if you’re putting it on social media. The technology on smartphones (especially the iPhone) makes it ridiculously easy to enhance the quality of your shot on the spot.

5. Take multiple “shots” at it You’re never going to get it right on the first shot and if you do, you’re probably Gisele, so stop taking selfies.

Remember, perfecting the selfie is a modern-day art form, and if anyone criticizes you, you’re just trying to set the world aflame with your artistic expression.

Emily Rella is a contributor to The Heights. She can be reached at features@bcheights.com.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Experiencing gameday traditions as a first-time Superfan KAYLA FAMOLARE One aspect of Boston College student life that attracts so many prospective students to attend the institutions is the coveted football games. To many, BC is known for its spirited and energetic fans, fun tailgates, and deeply rooted traditions, making the school appealing to those interested in the “typical college experience.” As a first time Superfan, it can often be intimidating to enter into this atmosphere, unaware of what cheers to do and when to do them and what it all even means—some might even seem incredibly strange, even nonsensical. The task for new students, including myself, is to discover the meaning behind these beloved traditions and to understand what it truly means to be a “Superfan.”

The day begins tailgating on Shea Field, where, if you are a new student, you can often feel overwhelmed by the great number of people squeezed into what seems to be endless rows of cars. It is easy to feel lost in this sea of Superfan gold, but it is not hard

to find a familiar and welcoming face to offer you food or to bring you to another tailgate. The sense of community is evident on Shea and it is here where new students get the first glimpse of what it means to be a part of the BC community. The energy and excitement for the upcoming game makes for a more enthused fan section as students file into Alumni.

Throughout the game, many different chants and rituals are done in the student section that can seem completely foreign to a new Eagle. The idea of standing for four quarters may seem agonizing as you try to balance yourself on a bleacher packed with fellow students. Suddenly, everyone participates in strange and silly hand gestures and chants as you attempt as best as you can to follow along. One chant in particular is the one when everyone puts their arms up and wiggles their fingers in a “spirit fingers”-like fashion during the kick off. While asking second-year Superfans the reasoning behind this, almost all had absolutely no clue. This ritual can seem strange—even awkward, yet it is funny nonetheless.

Another fun tradition includes tossing an unsuspecting girl Superfan into the air after an Eagle touchdown. The often terrified girl will be thrown up by a group of surrounding boys in the already crowded stands as many times as the number of points the Eagles have received. The idea of being thrown in the air in a crowd of people numerous times is absolutely terrifying, yet there exists a secret desire and hope among first-year girls to be hoisted up in order to experience one of BC football’s most loved traditions.

The sure sign that you are a true Superfan is sporting the bright gold Superfan t-shirt. The mustard-yellow color does not seem to look appealing on anyone, however, the shirts were worn in full force during the first two home games of the season. It is truly an awesome sight for a first-time student to see the crowds of gold filling the student section, showing that, for here, all truly are one. For a first timestudent, however, it doesn’t matter how terrible you might think the color of the Superfan shirts make you look, as long as you have the opportunity to wear it.

All of us—first time students included—have worked tirelessly in high school classes and on applications in order to have the opportunity to attend BC. It is this great achievement that makes the seemingly silly traditions and unexplainable game day rituals worthwhile. All of our hard work has paid off and we finally get the chance to experience what it means to be a BC super fan and contribute to the spirit and camaraderie that exists in the fan section at every game.

We may not know all the words to “For Boston” or know the meaning behind the spirit fingers, or even love the Superfan shirts. These are things we must learn as we learn to love BC as first-time students.

The traditions may seem ridiculous, but they are what make us super fans and what invites us into the great community of BC. One chant we know for sure: “We are BC.”

Kayla Famolare is a contributor to The Heights. She can be reached at features@bcheights.com.

PROFESSOR PROFILE

Seshadri aspires for nonviolence, despite societal tensions

BY FATEMA ZAIDI For The Heights

WHO: Kalpana Danielle Seshadri Taghian WHO:

Not many people can speak seven languages and still try to add more on their list.

Professor Kalpana Seshadri does both. She speaks five different Indian dialects and has also studied French and Italian. Seshadri is now learning German, despite the fact that she is an English professor who specializes in post-colonial literature. Learning a new language to Seshadri is like “opening up a whole new world. It’s like space travel, and it’s like a whole new form of life opens up to you,” she said.

According to Seshadri, you grow up in India, and you end up speaking a bunch of different languages. That’s just the way it is. “I grew up in Hyderabad which is sort of in the middle of India, and what it was like when I think back to my childhood is how diverse it was and how completely unconscious I was about its diversity,” Seshadri said. “I grew up in a city that is known for its absolutely gorgeous Nizami Muslim culture.”

Her eyes beamed as she began describing her beloved hometown. “The Nizam of Hyderabad was a viceroy of the Moghul emperor, and he was the richest man in the 1720s. If you go to Hyderabad, you’ll see all those Nizami palaces and architecture, and it’s so gorgeous. So I grew up in a very Muslim city, went to Catholic school all my life, but grew up in a fairly traditional Hindu family that was very secular in its outlook.

And then my best friend was Parsi.”

What Seshadri found especially interesting was that her and her group of friends would celebrate all sorts of religious holidays and festivals together, like Eid, Christmas, Holi, and Diwali. “We would even go to the kite festivals together and eat each others’ food, and we would never think about each others’ differences,” she said. There was a mosque right there, a temple right there, a church right up the street. You heard the church bells, the temple bells—you’d hear the call to prayer.

It was all seamless, and this is what I really treasured about my childhood. And I miss that, here where everything is so racialized

TEACHES: Intro Molecules and TEACHES: to PostCells andLiterature Cancer Biology Colonial and Global Englishes FOCUS: The biology of cancer Theories of race FOCUS: and colonialism RESEARCH: Completed her postdoc at MassachuFUN FACT: Speaks seven setts General Hospital in languages, including five Simon dialects Powell’s lab Indian EMILY SADEGHIAN / HEIGHTS STAFF DREW HOO / FOR THE HEIGHTS

and everyone is so self conscious.”

Before coming to Boston, Seshadri got her Master’s in English at the University of Hyderabad. That was different from her past experience in school because she attended a Catholic convent from first grade until her undergraduate, but the University of Hyderabad was one of the few prestigious schools that followed the American system rather than the typical British system. And there, she met her inspiration, the famous critic Meenakshi Mukherjee. Mukherjee changed the course of Seshadri’s life.

“She was sophisticated, she was smart, she was brilliant, she’d written a lot of books, she had travelled widely, but at the same time she was really grounded in Indian culture and was really open minded,” Seshadri said. “She was like a mentor to me, and I absolutely adored her. She was the reason I decided that I wanted to be a professor, I wanted to write books, and I didn’t want to have the life I could have gone into—arranged marriage, being a society Indian lady, playing cards at the club, doing charity work, and wearing chiffon saris. I most definitely did not want that.”

Seshadri certainly followed Mukherjee’s footsteps. She came to Boston to get her doctorate in English at Tufts University and fell in love with the city. Now, Seshadri

teaches the Introduction to Post-Colonial Literature course, Global Englishes, which she absolutely loves, and she also does seminars on race because her scholarship is on theories of race.

While talking about her research, Seshadri has a wistful expression. “The philosophy of race looks into whether race is a social construction or an inherent, biological sort of identity,” she said. “And if it is a social construction, then why do we hold on to a racial identity? These are the sort of questions that I take interest in.”

Coming to the U.S., Seshadri was shocked to see how important of an idea race is. “It was a real eye opener for me,” she said. In South Asia, according to Seshadri, people don’t think so racially. So when she came here, she began researching theories of race and how they connect to colonialism.

Seshadri’s enthusiasm for her research seeps into the classroom. “Every class is my favorite. It’s cliche, but it’s true. Even if it’s a core class where students are in there because they’ve been dragged in there kicking and screaming, it’s fine. Every class is my favorite because each one is so different.

I think that each Boston College student has his or her own unique contributions to make. They are their own person, have their own ideas, have their own potential, and I

like to bring it out, make it bloom. And every time I teach I do completely different things. I never repeat the same class. The text will be different so I learn something too. So it’s always fun and challenging for me,” she said.

When she isn’t passionately teaching or researching race, Seshadri walks her dog. “I love taking care of my doggies. Being out in the woods with my doggie, Ben, that’s my absolutely favorite thing to do. In the fall, it’s absolutely beautiful.

But the conversation becomes serious.

“I am passionate about animal welfare,” she said. “A hugely, hugely important part of my life is our care and love for other creatures and not being so human centric.

For me, coexisting with other beings without violence and giving them the space to live is just the most important thing. Not just animals, but trees and plants too.”

Seshadri aspires for a lifestyle of complete nonviolence and said it isn’t easy in this society, where people cut down trees, break things apart, and seize land. But that does not mean that she will let go of this aspiration, because her word of advice to students at BC is, “Believe in yourself.

Never say you can’t do something because you can—always be prepared to surprise yourself.” 

HE SAID, SHE SAID My friends and I have really different schedules. It seems as though when I’m super busy with school, work, and activities, they are all free and able to hang out together. I always feel like I’m missing out. How can I balance my busy schedule with spending quality time with them, and feel included?

Unfortunately, spending quality time with friends is difficult for the busy college student to accomplish. As much as we enjoy our friends’ company, we are forced to sacrifice leisure time for study time. The beauty of a college with 9,000 students is that there are plenty of opportunities to make friends. I advise that you look to expand your friend group if hangout sessions are simply not feasible.

MARC FRANCIS As soon as I started Boston College, I made it a priority to have a minimum of three friend groups, each having its own niche—one is great for study sessions, the other for partying, and the last for fancy dinners in Boston. Sure, you may prefer one over the other, but the college life is about making compromises. It is important not to let one group overpower the other—balancing time with different friends allows for limited boredom. It is unhealthy to spend all of your free time with one particular person or group of people, so think of your hectic schedule as an opportunity to expand your BC network.

Because you must maintain some sort of connection with your current friends, I advise that you all compare schedules and see if there is at least one common free hour among you. Or, schedule individual coffee sessions with each one—coffee has the ability to mend any social gap. Whatever you do, do not give up and lose connection with any of your friend groups. Be kind to yourself—allow for some crazy Friday nights. College only happens once—you never again will be situated on a breathtaking campus with thousands of other youngins all looking to make a friend.

As a busy person myself, I can definitely relate to how you might feel as though you’re “missing out” when you’re too busy to see your friends. While it’s hard to change around your work schedule, classes, or club meetings, I suggest rethinking how you use your other time. Something that I now take advantage of is the idea of a working lunch or dinner.

Instead of giving yourself 15 minutes to shove down food between class, try scheduling meetings or joining friends for a longer lunch. You’ll not only satisfy AMY HACHIGIAN your hunger, but you’ll also knock out another item on your to-do list. I’d also suggest watching videos for class or brainstorming ideas for an essay while you eat. You can always try to rework your schedule to move your exercise or homework sessions to times when your friends are busy as well. It might not be as convenient in your schedule, but it could offer up some time to hang with friends.

While you can only do so much to change your schedule around, you can definitely take the initiative to plan different events yourself. Instead of waiting for a text inviting you to the North End for dinner, why not be the one who makes the reservations? Sure it’s more work to coordinate with everyone, but at least you’re the one in control of where and when the night’s events will take place. Scheduling time for your friends should also become a bigger priority. If you constantly say you’re free for meetings or an extra shift at work, you’ll never be able to have quality time with your friends. It’s important you take care of yourself, so try to block out a time each week to do something fun—whether that’s going to a Nights on the Heights event or grabbing dinner at Lower.

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

Amy Hachigian is an editor for The Heights. She can be reached at features@bcheights.com.

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2013

Students share talents with female prisoners

B9

The Heights throughout the century

The rebirth of Homecoming inspires a look at past celebrations of BC pride

Prison Arts, from B10

By Caitlin Slotter For The Heights

The experience of going into prison is difficult to describe for Tiala—connecting with individuals who they normally would not interact with has created such a powerful sense of community for the volunteers, and has fostered a greater sense of understanding.

“The value is very personal,” Tiala said. “The experience changes people. It has changed my students, it has changed their perspective on society, it has changed their perspective about who people are and what it means to be in prison. It changes everything. It’s such a great learning experience.”

“There’s one woman who said, ‘I’m so grateful that I’m here, because I never would have gotten clean on my own,’” Traufffer said, amazed at how the women are able to find good in difficult circumstances. “Some were college educated, or they’re mothers—just regular people.”

The volunteers are able to engage in an intensive learning experience, but the workshops are equally rewarding for the women in prison—Tiala and Trauffer both noted that the women look forward to the students’ workshops, and that it provides them with a sense of relief from the realities of their environment. Trauffer explained that the women are quite talented, but still need support to recognize their own self-worth.

“It’s getting through to them that they are worthwhile—that’s almost the hardest part of it,” Trauffer said. “They have been so marginalized by society at this point and dehumanized in the system.” She also noted that it took some convincing to make the women realize that the students will always come back, since they have been repeatedly abandoned and let down throughout their lives.

The student volunteers do honor their commitments, by engaging in workshops that last between two and three weeks and occur at least once a month in each of the two women’s prisons—South Middlesex Correctional Center, a minimum security and prerelease facility, and the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Framingham.

There are currently about 15 members in the program, and students are required to sign up for at least two workshops per semester. At the beginning of the semester, students attend a retreat on Brighton Campus to meet the group members, learn about prison culture, and complete various forms of paperwork. Students are able to create their own workshops based on their own passions, which include poetry, improv theater, origami, and drawing.

There are some limitations—students cannot bring in tubes of paint or musical instruments, for example—but they generally are able to facilitate workshops in a way that is fun for both the volunteers and the prisoners.

Although the program only brings students to two women’s facilities, Tiala hopes to expand in the future, with plans to reach men’s prisons as well and recruit more faculty involvement. After witnessing firsthand how Prison Arts Outreach has transformed the mindset of both the volunteers and the prisoners, she is confident that the program has the capacity to reach even more individuals and use artistic expression to give them a voice. n

The first days of fall have arrived at Boston College, signifying the return of boots and North Face jackets, pumpkin spice lattes, the first midterms of the semester, and, for the first time in just over 20 years, Homecoming Weekend. In anticipation of BC’s first organized Homecoming activities since 1996 and its first annual Spirit Week, a look at Homecoming events of the past offers a glimpse at what we can expect from this long-absent BC fall tradition.

The first BC “Home Coming Night” was Friday, Oct. 18, 1935.

The issue of The Heights from that day describes a supper hosted by the Alumni Association, followed by a comedy show and performance by the BC orchestra. A rally for the BC v. Michigan State football game also took place that night: an automobile parade drove from campus into the city, followed by a foot parade to Hotel Statler, where a reception for the Michigan State “squad” was held.

Arts and Sciences students held red lights to guide the way, while cheers and BC songs were sung. The next day, the BC Eagles beat Michigan State in a thrilling 18-6 victory.

Despite this successful first Homecoming Weekend, it was not until 1962 that Homecoming finally became an organized event.

The Oct. 19, 1962 issue of The Heights raves about the upcoming “Houston Homecoming Extravaganza,” sponsored by the junior class. The weekend started with an informal Friday night party at the Hotel Beaconfield, with entertainment by rock and roll group Wing Digos.

The following day, a buffet lunch was held in McElroy before the BC vs. Houston football game, which BC won, 14-0. Later that night, the Homecoming Extravaganza was held at Hotel Somerset’s Louis XIV Ballroom, with music by Ruby Newman’s Society Orchestra and Ken Calabria Trio. The Homecoming of 1962 also marked the first year that a Homecoming queen was elected, as girls from the senior class sent in pictures that were then voted on.

Similar Homecoming festivities continued to grow throughout the ’60s. The Oct. 8, 1963 issue of The Heights reported “one of the finest Homecoming Weekends in the history of the University.” Friday evening of the weekend brought forth “a truly superb piece of entertainment” in the form of the Hootenanny, a show consisting of various folk singing groups, the first BC performance of its kind. On Saturday, the BC Eagles beat Vanderbilt 19-6, and the ensuing victory dance featured the Star Kenton band, a huge attraction for the students of 1963. The climax of the 1964 Homecoming Weekend came in the form of Fats Domino, the first “big name” rock and roll band to perform at BC. Alternatively, the 1967’s Homecoming was a disappointment to some students when BC could not sign the preferred Righteous Brothers or the Woody Allen Show with

Judy Collins, leaving the inadequate Otis Redding to perform at the Homecoming Concert.

After the Homecoming Committee disbanded in 1968, there were two more years of organized Homecoming Events before a hiatus of eight years.

In 1979, in an effort to cure student apathy and meet the desire for more spirit and enthusiasm on campus, the Student Alumni Relations Committee of UGBC organized a Homecoming weekend.

The theme was “Let the Echoes Ring Again.” The Oct. 1, 1979 issue of The Heights describes the events: an attempt by BC students to break the Guinness World Record for bubble gum blowing (with no success), the Homecoming Ball, a 3.5 mile road race around campus, and a pre-game parade with floats designed by BC students and alumni. This weekend was seen in the Oct. 8 issue of The Heights as the first opportunity for BC community members to join together for a common cause since Vietnam posters had been posted around campus. Homecoming was organized in “recognition of the fact that Boston College ha[d] become as fragmented as the world around it,” as a way to reunite and reinstall pride in the BC community.

This revitalization of the Homecoming tradition continued throughout the ’80s, despite a gradual decline in excitement for the events. In September of 1986, the $11,000 worth of damage done to the Marriot Hotel Copley Place during the Homecoming Ball essentially ended the tradition of grand-scale Homecoming Celebrations.

Throughout the 1990s, the Homecoming tradition continued to decline. While the Homecoming ball continued to be an annual event, 1992 marked the last Homecoming pep rally, and in 1996 Homecoming weekend lost the Pops to Parents’ Weekend. Since then, Homecoming had ceased to exist as it once did: as an event to look forward to, as an event to bring the entire BC community together.

Until now, when in 2013 we will be experiencing the first “large-scale” Homecoming Weekend in 21 years, as well as BC’s first annual Spirit Week. It is hard not to look at past Homecoming weekends and be inspired by the anticipation built up around campus before each event.

Since 1935, BC Homecoming has been just that, a “home coming” for the alumni, a chance for current BC students to welcome back the alumni that walked before them. Along with the old traditions of the Homecoming dance, alumni reception, and pep rally, BC students will have the chance to start new traditions in the form of fireworks over Shea and a Spirit Competition. As we look forward to our own Homecoming Weekend, a look at the past reveals the timelessness of the sacred fall tradition, as past and present members of the BC community have the opportunity to share in a common BC pride and celebrate what it truly means to be an Eagle. n

A typical Sunday afternoon finds you stirring, sluggishly awakening from that recurrent weekend hibernation to dormant determination, despite your whopping load of homework.

But persevere you must, and as some meager amount of unbeknownst energy leads you from your bed to your closet a ghastly recognition dawns upon you: your hamper, filled to the very brim with your dresser’s contents, reeks subtly, and your default study outfit is long overdue for a washing.

Groggily, you separate whites from darks, grab your bulky bottle of Tide, and ransack your backpack until you find your student ID. To the lone washing machine of Fitzpatrick three you head with outrageously foolish hopes of finding it vacant, and, sure enough, a cruel, green “17” blinks mockingly at

and vocalists alike flock to the music room to exercise their melodious skills, karaoke, and open mic sessions allow individuals to share vocal and artistic endeavors, and the dance studio at the back of the house hosts dance classes and certain BC club meetings. In addition to the extra curricular activities hosted within O’Connell, a multitude of comfortable couches, tables, and chairs fosters an excellent study environment.

And if none of the aforementioned fits your fancy, over 500 newly-released DVD’s are available for renting.

Although the hall is quite creepy due to the many private, “no entry” rooms, few areas of construction, and musty, cavernous nature, it does have good reason to be. The O’Connell House was constructed as a distinguished palace at the turn of the 20th century by the famous baron Louis K. Ligett before being given to Cardinal O’Connell, until the Church bequeathed it to a young

Michelle Tomassi

Boston College in 1937. The building has since housed the School of Management, a football dorm, a Jesuit residence, and classroom facilities. Therefore, while ominous it is indeed, this may be allocated, in part, to its great age and variety of uses.

After touring the O’Connell House in all of its allure and splendor, you remember the slightly stinking bunch of clothes that you left on the ground floor and the daunting pile of homework that begs your attention, and you retreat downstairs stubbornly. As you reach the bottom stair, piano music suddenly breaks the air’s silence, and the house you thought was deserted becomes increasingly spooky when you dash out of the front entrance, forgetting your dirty clothes entirely.

Corinne Duffy 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.

The oddities of the multi-purpose O’Connell House your naivete, the wrecking ball to all of your laundry dreams and ambitions.

And, disinclined to face the same disappointment upon reaching four occupied washers and dryers in the basement, you decide to haul your overflowing basket to the O’Connell House, wherein the abundance of washing appliances certainly will do the trick.

From O’Connell’s aged aroma and lavish furnishings to its solitary printer tucked away in a desolate corner of one of the upstairs rooms, the place definitely strikes any fledgling freshman as quirky. Daytime brings few visitors to the otherwise deserted estate, until 8 p.m., when the student union hosts a plethora of activities and events to entertain the BC community.

Ping-pong, foosball, darts, and billiards create within the second floor game room an atmosphere of rivalry and hilarity, as tournaments attract many a competitor to the challenge. Pianists

Finding your academic crush

I remember my first “crush” very clearly.

His name was Anthony and he had red hair, and even though we were only five years old at the time, I swear it was love ever since he offered me a sip of his Mott’s apple juice, from the same straw.

Fast-forward about 15 years, and if you were to ask me if I still have a “crush” on someone, the answer would be, yes.

Although not in the traditional sense of the word—there are no romantic associations with this particular crush of mine. This individual has captivated my attention, not in a heart-fluttering, teen-romance-cliche-novel kind of way, but in an intellectually engaging manner. This person is a professor, and we’ll call him or her my academic crush.

I did not create the term—I first heard it in use by a friend of mine. The term “academic crush,” as I have come to describe it, refers to a professor who you deeply admire—someone who makes you excited to come to class, someone who is the perfect combination of brilliant and unique, perhaps someone with a sense of humor and wit. A person who truly cares about his or her students and evokes a desire to learn that can sometimes be hard to find. And they may not be the top-rated professors on PEPS, or the ones that all of your friends are raving about. These professors could be less known among the student body, but for some particular reason, they have left an impact on you that you can’t ignore.

It’s almost like the feeling of your first crush—that feeling you can’t seem to shake.

But instead of stalking his or her profile pictures, or imagining impossible scenarios in which you drop your books and said person comes to your rescue and just happens to notice how lovely your eyes are as he hands you your chemistry textbook and offers to be your “study partner,” you find yourself fixated on this person in a different manner. Do you want to take all of this professor’s courses, read anything that he or she has published, and go to office hours just to continue the conversation outside the classroom? If you have answered, “yes” to all of the above, you’re crushing hard, but don’t worry—there’s no reason to feel embarrassed.

Here at Boston College, I have encountered numerous professors that may fall into the academic crush category, which is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because we have the opportunity to take courses with such insightful individuals, and we can even hang out with them outside of class—during office hours, campus lectures, seminars, or the ever-popular Professors and Pastries. If you’ve never attended, I highly recommend it—not only because the desserts are free and infinitely better than dining hall cookies, but also because you might just strike up a conversation with someone who could be your next crush.

And if you find yourself intimidated by so many intellectuals, bring a friend, pretend to engage in meaningful conversation to avoid being interrupted by a faculty member, and then slip away with your plate of chocolate covered strawberries and macaroons. We won’t judge.

I’ve only recently realized that having an abundance of academic crushes is also a curse. These years seem to be escaping at incredible speed, and as redundant as this may sound, you really do need to make the most of your time as an undergraduate student. But that creates a lot of pressure—only four years to take all the classes that you want, with every professor ever recommended to you, and feel completely enthusiastic about each one. The truth is, I don’t think that’s possible—you’re bound to take some courses that you’re less than thrilled about, whether it be to fulfill major or core requirements, and some courses are better suited for some individuals than others. Just as you and your roommate may not have the same taste in guys or girls, someone else’s academic crush just may not be your type. And that’s quite alright—if we were all crushing on each other, both in academic and personal settings, there would be no way to recognize the ones that truly stand out.

So whether you have too many academic crushes to count, or you’re still waiting for yours to come along, don’t panic. There’s a professor on campus for each and every one of you, just waiting to make you realize how lucky you are to be a college student.

And who’s my academic crush, you may ask? As Gossip Girl would say, that’s one secret I’ll never tell.

campus quirks

Corinne Duffy

Editor’s Column

features The Heights

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Monday, September 23, 2013

Prison Arts promotes social justice

By Michelle Tomassi Features Editor

The Health

There is no doubt that Boston College has a devotion to the arts, and some students are taking their talents beyond the stage—to women’s prisons. Through the Prison Arts Outreach program, which is currently in its second year of operation, students have the opportunity to teach workshops in various areas—such as theater, poetry, dance, and music—to incarcerated women in Framingham, Mass.

Taking students inside prisons is no easy task, but through the efforts of Crystal Tiala, associate professor in the Theatre Department and chair of the Arts Council, the program has successfully merged the arts with promoting social justice.

The Prison Arts Outreach program began after a series of circumstances and projects, Tiala said. In 2008, Tiala began teaching a course called Creating Social Activist Images, which explored the ways in which the arts can be combined with social activism. Several students were so inspired that they began their own programs outside of the classroom, and one even created a program called Theater of Hope, which she brought to Ecuador to teach impoverished children about script writing and performance. A documentary was created from the project, and a subsequent article about Theater of Hope was read by the Catholic chaplain of the women’s prison in Framingham. She contacted Tiala in the hopes of bringing a similar program to the prison, and after learning how to navigate the system and working with the Center for Student Formation, Tiala was able to launch Prison Arts Outreach last year.

“I’ve known for a long time that the arts really speak to people and empower people and connect people in ways that other things don’t necessarily,” Tiala said, as she explained her reasoning behind the creation of the program. “It’s a very powerful tool in a community, and I realized that obviously if you’re in a prison, having something that connects people together, that gives them hope, that empowers them, that gives them a voice, is going to be very, very important.”

While most students enter the program with a community service-oriented mindset, Tiala noted that the prisoners actually had a stronger impact on the volunteers than anticipated. Nicole Trauffer, the graduate assistant for the program, echoed her sentiments and was able to speak from both an administrative and volunteer perspective, since she served as a student participant during her time as an undergraduate.

“I feel like I’ve been so much more affected by being around them than I think they have been affected by me,” Trauffer said. “Just seeing their resiliency and strength and their faith in the face of these extraordinary circumstances, and just the way they are so excited and grateful every time we come. It really just puts things in perspective to me and reminds me that people are people, regardless of the things that they’ve done and the choices that they’ve made.” Trauffer, who was involved in theater as an undergraduate, is now applying to clinical forensic psychology programs, so Prison Arts Outreach has actually shaped her future goals.

Conversation Caroline Kirkwood For the Heights As students at BC begin to balance extra curricular activities and academic coursework, another just as important aspect of their life may also need some consideration: their health. Whether students are struggling with the task of cooking their own food off-campus or trying to come up with healthy options in the dining halls, health is often on the minds of students. The Health Coach Institute within the Office of Health Promotion (OHP) allows students the opportunity to have informed individual health conversations with certified student health coaches.

Griffin Sharp, A&S ’14, one of two lead health coaches this year, described how this peer education system works. “Students can come into our office and discuss any area of health they want to talk about, then we work with them to develop personal health goals and strategies,” Sharp said. “These are confidential one-on-one health conversations.”

In these meetings, health coaches use their skills to help students make health changes, including referring students to other resources on campus.

“Educate, motivate, and refer are the three big words we live by,” Sharp said.

The Individual Health Plan, called an iHP, covers a variety of health domains in the conversation including time and stress management, sleep, substance use, relationships, nutrition, and spirituality.

Students can make appointments to develop an iHP with a health coach simply by going through the website of the OHP. The health coaches also offer group health education workshops. These are workshops taught to any group of students that request them and include: Stress and Time Management, Nutrition, Mindfulness, How to Worry Well, and General Wellness. These topics are laid out this year in the Health Coach Institute’s “i <3 Health: Because being healthy never goes out of style.” Titles for these workshops include iChill, iPlan, iChoose, iReflect, iEat, and iStrive. Group workshops can also be found on OHP’s website.

There is a specific training and certification program that students undergo to become a health coach. These students undergo a three-day comprehensive certification program that includes an overview of health programs at BC to refer students to, how to have a health conversation, and how to facilitate group health education specialty areas. At the end of the training period, health coaches must

present their education plan to their peers, facilitate a program, and complete a written and verbal test.

Health coaches also have a “Health Coach Playbook” that serves as their curriculum guide.

Betsy Cook, the Health Coach Institute Coordinator described the training. “Health coaches are trained in the skills of motivational enhancement and how to have a health conversation.”

It is the importance of this “health conversation” that makes the BC health coaches so unique. These are not one-sided education seminars, but rather truly engaging discussions between the student and health coach. “These conversations are geared toward what the student needs,” Cook said. “A student can follow-up on their initial conversation with a health coach. Your personal health plan can evolve with you and you can keep coming back to work on different aspects of health.”

Katelyn Kennedy, a certified health coach and LSOE ’15, said that it is a student’s own initiative to seek out help that elicits change. “The students who come to us drive the bus. We educate them and give them the resources, so they can make the change themselves.”

The Health Coach Institute has expanded since its establishment in 2011.

“We have trained over 100 students in the past three years,” said Elise Phillips, Director of OHP. “We currently have 65 active coaches with a mixture of male and female students. These are students who are very interested in health and helping their peers.”

OHP and health coaches will be an active presence on campus this year, as they will be hosting “tabling events” every Friday around campus. These tables will provide information about different health themes and programs. The location of these events will be tweeted as well as posted on the OHP Facebook page.

Alyssa Rizzini, a certified health coach and A&S ’15, described how health coaches take their education and share it with fellow students. “We do this through either small programs held in dorms or huge events such as Healthapalooza on Sept. 25. We really want to open students’ eyes to ways of finding healthy options right on campus.”

The goal of the Health Coach Institute is to offer students the resources and ability to think about their health while they are at BC. “You come here and plan your academics, and

See Health Coach, B7

maggie burdge / heights graphic

See Prison Arts, B9

PULSE intertwines coursework and service

By Cathryn Woodruff Asst. Features Editor The Aristotle quote, “What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing,” is splayed across the PULSE information section of the Boston College website.

And this quote captures the mission of PULSE poignantly.

The majority of students enrolled in PULSE take a year-long, 12-credit, core-fulfilling course in philosophy and theology called “Person and Social Responsibility.” In addition to classroom work and discussion, students are required to volunteer at a field placement

in the surrounding area for 10 to 12 hours a week.

“For me I think PULSE is a unique way to learn philosophy and theology,” said Sacha Ramjit, Pulse Council member and A&S ’15. “You get to learn something that can be really abstract and conceptual and then you go to service placements and you learn how to apply those abstractions to the real world—which is what philosophy and theology really is.”

Ramjit reflected on the value in wrestling with texts such as Rousseau’s Origin of Inequality, and then actually being able to go to a homeless shelter

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and get a deeper understanding of what inequality really means.

The PULSE program has partnerships with over 50 agencies throughout the greater Boston area, which host BC students for the service portion of the PULSE course. Agencies vary greatly, and include institutions that expose students to difficult realities such as addiction, homelessness, domestic violence, incarceration, and special needs.

Once student s have complete d PULSE either their freshman or sophomore year, they have the opportunity to

See PULSE, B7

alex gaynor / heights editor

The PULSE program, based in Stokes, allows students to apply classroom concepts to service.

Heights Through the Century Old issues of The Heights reveal the his-

tory of Homecoming as spirited tradition on campus ........................................B9

How-To Column................................B8 Club Series................................ B7