Volume XLV, Issue 26: April 18, 2014

the

Case Western Reserve University volume xlv, issue 26 friday, 4/18/2014

Observer Spring Cleaning Baseball sweeps pair of doubleheaders at home

see pg. 16 Arianna Wage/Observer

Spartan reliever Neal Krentz focuses on home against Bethany College on Sunday.

Editor’s note: One step forward, one look back I hated the weekends when I was growing up. Every Sunday, after breakfast but before lunch, my father would knock on my bedroom door and beg me to wake.

Within an hour this loving request would escalate into household pandemonium, complete with raised voices, a barking dog and a refereeing mother. Battle worn, I would stumble to the shower and hide there until the hot water ran cold, hoping he would grow impatient and leave without me. But he never did.

After exhausting every escape route, I would climb into his white ’97 Lumina, a vehicle that had the external complexion

of an albino leper (for whatever reason, 1997 was a bad year for Chevrolet, white paint and covalent bonding). We would drive 20 minutes to the next county over, all the while popping country tapes into the sedan’s cheap cassette deck.

Arrival was marked by severe turbulence, as the tires dipped in and out of parking lot potholes the size of war zone craters. The pavement stretched endlessly, yet it never had to accommodate more than just a few rows of cars.

eled parking lot, the Valley View Flea Market was a home away from home for many characters. Bob and Frank sold records. Val sold guitars. Jeff ran an auction.

I don’t know what George sold, and quite frankly I don’t think he knew either.

But it didn’t matter. Every weekend they could be found behind rows of antiques and collectibles, making bargains and shooting the breeze. And every weekend, my father made me join them.

We would talk news and politics, music and life. For them, it was regular, familiar, comfortable. For me it was hell on earth.

After all, I was an adolescent plucked

from his preppy lifestyle and immersed in a seemingly foreign space.

The drive home was always the same.

Like payment for my compliance, my dad would take me to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant—Charlie Staples’ Bar B Que, Kravitz Deli. Over fried chicken or a sandwich he would tell me the same thing every weekend: “Don’t judge them, Tyler.

You’re no better than they are.”

I never believed my father to be a profound man, but editing The Observer has changed my perception.

News

A&E

Opinion

Sports

pg. 3 CWRU impacted by stabbings

pg. 8 Local brews, great food

pg.12 Up in smoke: Marijuana use

pg. 15 Tennis aims for UAA tournament

*** Despite its leaky ceiling and dishev-

to Editor’s Note | 12

news COC ’17 write-in candidate secures presidency after re-do election Jonah Roth Staff Reporter Two weeks ago, the Class Officer Collective’s only contested election—Class President of 2017—ended in uncertainty.

Write-in candidate Gabriel Murcia had received the most votes, but election policy violations meant that he technically hadn’t won. Last week, the COC Election Commission held a second election with letters of intent resubmitted, with Murcia taking the majority vote again, securing him the COC presidency of the class of 2017.

Although Murcia campaigned like any other COC candidate, he started his campaign after the deadline for letters of intent had passed. “It just came down to a lack of

knowledge,” Murcia said. “We did not know that the campaign was happening; there was very little publicity of the election.”

Soon after the initial election, Murcia was informed that he had not technically won due to campaign violations: His campaign manager Ari Lewis made a campaign post (a public announcement) on Facebook while polls were open.

Although Murcia said that he denies the campaign violations that caused the second election, since “public announcement” is not well-defined, and that COC bylaws state that he must be informed of violations within 24 hours, the bylaws available on COC’s website only state that “all violations…must be reported within 24 hours after the an-

This is it, the apocalypse

nouncement of election results.” They say nothing about the timeframe during which COC must inform candidates of these violations.

He and his campaign staff had planned to appeal the decision but withdrew the appeal later that day, upset that the appeal was to the same group they were disagreeing with. “It wasn’t an objective body. So it just seemed like, logically, that doesn’t sound like it’s going to work out.” He had confidence in the support of his classmates, who ultimately voted him to victory a second time.

Another unusual feature of Murcia’s campaign was the fact that he appointed an entire campaign staff. “My goal was to decentralize,” he said. “A lot of times

what you see with campaigns is ‘me me me,’ really emphasizing the individuality of the candidate, and my goal was, instead of saying ‘I’ or ‘me,’ to use words like ‘we’ or ‘us.’ I think that reflects better on what we’re trying to do.”

Murcia looks forward to helping keep the class of 2017 united next year. “An issue for me next year is the fact that we have most of the sophomores living on the southside residential village, and we have an entire building of sophomores living on the completely other side of campus in Clarke. I just want to schedule as many events and provide enough platforms for interaction to continue between our two groups of sophomores so we don’t lose that sense of connection.”

Benefactors announce increased donation to performing arts center Milton and Tamar Maltz up contribution after project expansion doubles cost estimates Julia Bianco Staff Reporter

Mary Kate Macedonia/Observer A “zombie” from this year’s Human vs. Zombies (HvZ) game run by the Big Games Club hides to ambush a “human” prey in the 10-day long, campus-wide game of moderated tag. HvZ features plenty of sock throwing and nerf gun firing. Over 180 individuals signed up for this semester’s game, which ends today.

Town Hall speaker series moving to CWRU campus Adithi Iyengar Staff Reporter Case Western Reserve University will now operate “The Town Hall of Cleveland” speaker series, the nation’s longest running speaker series to this day. The speaker series is now newly named “The Town Hall of Cleveland at Case Western Reserve University.”

While there were no specific reasons given for this move, The Plain Dealer has speculated that it could be due to the financial difficulties that the Town Hall organization has experienced. This was evident from their IRS tax filings in 2011 and 2012.

According to The Plain Dealer, in 2011, The Town Hall showed a $47,549 deficit, despite the contributions they had in grants and in revenue. In 2012, The Town Hall still did not receive enough to cover its expenses, showing a $15,463 deficit.

Programs, which were once in Ohio Theater Playhouse Square, will now be moved to CWRU’s Tinkham Veale University Center, which opens in August.

Mark Olson, chair of the Town Hall of Cleveland’s executive committee, said that they are pleased to have CWRU as a partner and are looking forward to working with the university through the transition period.

CWRU president, Barbara Snyder, said that the university is proud to have to continue the program and looks forward to individuals sharing their ideas and experiences with the campus constituents and the community.

The 2014-2015 series will open with Gloria Steinem, a writer, lecturer, and activist, who is already in a partnership with the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women. The university will announce other speakers over the summer.

Long-time university benefactors Milton and Tamar Maltz recently announced that they would be donating $30 million to the construction of the new Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center, a large increase from their original donation of $12 million.

The Performing Arts Center has been in the works since 2010, when it was originally estimated to cost $26 million.

The initial plans involved the renovation of the Silver Sanctuary at the Temple-Tifereth Israel on East 105th Street.

The sanctuary, which would still be available for the temple’s use on Jewish holidays, will be renovated so that it can seat up to 1,350 for lectures and 1,100 for concerts.

Upon examination of the other spaces that the temple offered, the university decided to expand the project to include three more performing arts venues, resulting in an increased total cost of $60 million.

“The scope expanded,” said Director of the Office of Planning, Design and Construction Joanne Brown. “We realized that we had a project with phenomenal possibilities.”

The new plans include a 350-seat proscenium theater, a black box theater and a recital hall. The university also plans on adding rehearsal spaces, costume and set shops and office space, which will be used by the College of Arts and Sciences.

“Having one location with all of those venues in it really opens up opportunities for the university and the greater community,” said Brown.

The university hopes to have the sanctuary renovated by September of 2015, with the rest of the venues following in the next year.

“There has never been a building built on Case Western Reserve’s campus in the history of the institution for the performing arts,” said Jerald Scott, acting chair of the Department of Theater. “Every space that is used for the performing arts is a renovated or repurposed space. This is the first building built for the performing arts on campus, which is really significant for the breadth of programs we can offer.”

“The facilities that are used are woefully outdated and physically in raw shape,” he added. Using the new space, the performing arts department hopes to offer bigger performances, including large musicals, which were not possible in the current venues.

The university also hopes to raise another $4 million before finally completing the project. Certain areas of the center will be left as “shell” space, with a finished exterior but no interior, until the remainder of the funds can be raised.

Throughout planning for the performing arts center, there have also been talks about a separate project involving a pedestrian bridge to the west side of campus, which, until now, has been underdeveloped.

“The university recognizes the need for pedestrian access, and the west campus is going to be a potential for future development,” said Brown, who stressed that the walkway was a separate project from the performing arts center.

“The university is investigating that right now.”

news

observer.case.edu

3

Editor’s Choice

High school stabbings hit home CWRU student’s brother in middle of national incident

-Jasmine Gallup, staff reporter

On April 9, CWRU sophomore Daniel Sederholm’s alarm went off. The way it did every day. He got up, turned on his phone, and checked an unread text message.

And then he read news that no one ever thinks they’ll hear.

All the text said was: “There’s been an attack.”

Ever since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, in which 20 children and six adult staff members were fatally wounded, the nation has been seized with a fear of the potential attacks that might occur in schools. The Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting and subsequent incidents only heightened that fear, beginning a cross-national debate on the merits of gun control laws, the causes of school shootings and the constitutionality of increasing school security, perhaps even to the point of arming teachers. None of that really mattered to Sederholm on the morning of the Franklin Regional High School stabbings, however. He was just worried about his little brother.

As classes began in Franklin Regional High School on April 9, a 16-year-old student walked into the school with two large knives and stabbed 20 students and the security guard who attempted to subdue him.

Thirteen students were hospitalized as a result of the attack, and while the majority are recovering fairly well, seven remain in critical condition: four at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and three at the Forbes Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Suddenly, everyone in the nation can find Murrysville, Pennsylvania on a map. And just

like that, it’s added to the list of small towns in which there has been a devastating attack, joining the ranks of other schools that merit national and international news coverage.

Sederholm is from Murrysville: His family lives there, and he was an alumni of Franklin Regional High School, where his brother now studies. He was one of the first people to become aware of the attack. “I basically spent the rest of the day in shock,” said Sederholm.

“I couldn’t focus on anything.”

He spent the time before and during his afternoon classes monitoring the news networks, trying to find out anything he could about what had happened; who was injured and if his friends were alright. Eventually he found at that yes, his friends were fine— though one girl he knew from the swim team needed surgery on her hand, and another kid, a boy he coached in swimming during the summer, had to be rushed to the hospital because of a punctured lung.

“Nothing like this ever happens,” he said.

“Ever. Murrysville is a very, very nice, tightknit community. The worst thing I saw during my time at the high school was one fight in four years, and I think there was a bomb threat, but that turned out to be nothing.”

Sederholm’s reaction to the attack mir-

rors that of most others in the community, and that of additional communities who have also been affected by this kind of tragedy. Shock. Disbelief. Anxiety. After the initial shockwaves, however, comes a moment of reckoning. And Sederholm says that he’s extremely proud of how his community has stepped up to deal with and move past the attack.

“This is a terrible thing that’s happened, but we’re just gonna get stronger by it and move on,” said Sederholm. “I couldn’t be prouder of my community.

The response from the EMTs was just incredible and I think that was huge part of the reason why no one died.”

One of the students at the school pulled a fire alarm in an attempt to evacuate the building, once he realized what was going on. And the attacker was stopped, not by the arrival of the police, but by Sam King, the assistant principal, who eventually tackled the student.

But there’s even more, Sederholm says, and it goes beyond the immediate crisis.

According to Sederholm, there has been very little animosity towards the attacker since the attack, if any at all.

“Many people, instead of blaming him or saying that he should be going to jail for a long time, are trying to figure out what they could have done to prevent the attack from happening,” said Sederholm. “Which I think is just really incredible and makes me really proud of my community.”

As for enacting preventative measures by increasing security, Sederholm said he would support the installation of metal detectors at the school, but not go so far as to arm teachers.

Sederholm supports some increased security because he believes that “just one metal de-

tector could have prevented this from happening.” Though Sederholm doesn’t want to see that kind of increased security—he believes it impacts the learning environment negatively—he does see how it might now be necessary. Murrysville is a suburb, so there was no reason for them to have that kind of security before. The school seemed secure with the school’s security cameras, local guards and a local police officer. Now, however, it looks like additional security might be warranted.

The story of the stabbings has been picked up, so far, by the New York Times, the New York Daily News, the Huffington Post, CBS, NBC, CNN, USA Today and the BBC World News—and will doubtless be used as evidence or counterevidence for those joining in on the debate about how much school security is enough in the future. It’s all a bit surreal for Sederholm.

“It’s become a national, possibly international incident,” he says. But to him, “this is just one of those very, very—I don’t want to say once-in-a-lifetime—but rare instances that happens. This is one of those instances that, at least…I don’t think I’ll ever see this happen again. I hope I never see it happen again, but I think it’s close to impossible that it will.”

As for the future of Murrysville and Franklin Regional High, Sederholm has faith in his community. “People in Murrysville don’t really wait for change to happen,” Sederholm said, “they are the change they want to be.” He laughs. “I can’t think of a better way to say that.

But the people there are gonna take action. There are gonna be issues raised and they’re going to do what it takes to make the school safer.”

New residence hall features only one part of campus sustainability initiative Brian Sherman Staff Reporter Case Western Reserve University has seen a strong push for sustainability in recent construction projects on campus. From the LEED Silver certified Village at 115th to the planned building of a new residence hall on East 115th Street, the university is making significant efforts to be more green.

“As President Snyder is a signatory of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, implementing sustainable options and solutions is a high priority when planning new developments for the university,” said Joanne Brown, director of the Department of Planning, De-

sign and Construction.

Such sustainable options have ranged from the large-scale sustainable options implemented in the upcoming residence hall, which was reported in last week’s issue of The Observer, to reducing the usage of volatile organic compounds in construction and renovation. In addition, all new buildings on campus are required to be certified as LEED Silver or better.

When investigating these options, the department found that there would be no additional cost to accommodate being sustainable in new construction. Using recycled construction materials and nonvolatile compounds helps to reduce expenses on both construction and long-term maintenance of the building

over its life cycle. In addition, designing more efficient mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in the interior of the building helps to reduce long-term energy costs and is easier to implement earlier in the design process.

“The overall availability of green materials and sustainable methodologies adopted by contractors has lowered the cost of sustainable options in recent years,” explained Brown. “The nature of the business has changed.”

As part of the university’s Climate Action Plan, which has an ultimate goal of making CWRU a carbon-neutral campus, the Planning, Design and Construction department took steps in other recent renovations and constructions on campus. For example, the

recent renovation of the first and second floors of Tomlinson Hall allowed the university to retrofit more sustainable lighting, plumbing and mechanical options into the building, and the nearly complete Tinkham Veale University Center has recently been certified as LEED Gold thanks to its green roofing and energy efficient double-curtain wall.

“We have a history of commitment to sustainability,” said Brown. “Since the successful construction of the Village at 115th, we have moved forward with our action plan and have been working with the Office of Sustainability to create a greener campus.”

Officials from the Office of Sustainability were unavailable for comment as of press time.

New! Leadership Minor Starting in Fall 2014

Weatherhead School of Management

For more information or assistance declaring the minor, contact Weatherhead UG Services at WeatherheadUG@case.edu Website: http://weatherhead.case.edu/degrees/undergraduate/academics/minors

4

news

4/18/14

Students present resolution to USG encouraging divestment in fossil fuels Anastazia Vanisko Staff Reporter Inspiration can come from unlikely places.

For Case Western Reserve University student Jack Turner, his passion came from an interview on the popular Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report.”

Thanks to an interview with Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, about his belief that the movement to stop climate change begins with grassroots organizations, Turner was inspired to begin his work to lessen the effects of climate change shortly before coming to CWRU.

Turner’s work can now be seen in a resolution recently proposed to the Undergraduate Student Government requesting that CWRU divest (in other words, withdraw its investments) from its fossil fuel interests.

After working on 14 drafts of this divestment resolution and finally creating a final draft with fellow Student Sustainability Council (SSC) member Steven Cramer, it is clear that Turner is passionate about this issue. Both he and the SSC, as well as an estimated 82 percent of the student body according to a survey done by the SSC, want a more carbon friendly environment here.

When describing the SSC’s campaign to

Spotlight on research

Cognitive science researcher studies how to mentor others Kushagra Gupta Staff Reporter Dr. Anthony Jack, an associate professor of cognitive science, psychology and philosophy, is trying to find out what makes a mentor a mentor.

Jack recently released a collaborative review paper on research involving leadership styles. He studies the difference in direction that can be given to mentoring others.

According to Jack, there are two opposing mental directions a mentor can send a mentee. The first is to view a person with a sense of purpose. In that they’re working on their requirements to better themselves and to indulge their interests. The opposite course is to view a person as more task-oriented.

In this a mentor is giving a person a set of objects to complete.

To help explain, Jack provides an example that hits home for many students.

“We can look at you as a student as to, how are you doing at getting a certain qualification for your CV,” he said.

“Another attitude toward education is to ask how we are developing you to be in a position so that you can actually achieve what you want.”

The first gives a person a sense of autonomy, while the other removes this human-aspect from his or her work.

“Everything becomes unimportant in meeting those targets, ” he noted.

The review paper itself summarizes research and academic work that has been done about leadership since the 1950s and maps it onto work that neuroscientists have done.

This lining of research is striking similar to Jack’s background. As an undergraduate at Oxford University, he received a B.S.E philosophy and psychology.

He then went to London where he received his Ph.D in experimental psychology. In London, brain imaging was

taking off and so he received training in that work. The same work brought him to America, at the University of Washington in St. Louis.

At the beginning, he didn’t know that this was the path that he would go down.

“I thought I wanted to be a philosopher, which I still kind of am. I’ve always been most interested in concepts, ideas that change your frame for thinking about things,” he said.

Overall now, his work concentrates on how a physical view of the world allows for an understanding that gives people objectives in manipulating it for themselves.

He contrasts it with the other view of a human, ethical view of the world.

“The way we carve up the world with an ethical compass is very different from the way we carve it up in a physical way,” he said.

Having released the paper, Jack plans to build on a yet-unpublished study that he recently completed.

His first study involves studying student’s emotional responses and the results of thinking about their future academic career.

He plans to do a study that measures student’s brain activity in this specific area as they think about their undergraduate studies and plans for the future. He will compare this data to how they perform in their studies. By increasing activity in this part of the brain, Jack hopes to reduce the amount of stress students have and measure that by their relative academic performance.

He also hopes to study ethical behavior, particularly ethical blindness. This mental state is the result of persons taking in an overly physically oriented view of the world, resulting in them ignoring the humane aspect.

The juxtaposition of the two sides of goal orientation couldn’t be greater than that of his the inside of his modern office and the stunning view of the outdoor world.

mitigate the effects of climate change, Turner said the resolution is just the beginning. The overall goal is to raise awareness in the student body, eventually creating a political climate in which it is, according to Turner, “possible to either have a carbon tax or place the existing reserves of carbon-producing fossil fuels, such as gas, coal, oil… under moratorium so they won’t be extracted or burned.”

Similar divestment campaigns found success at 11 other schools around the country, whose locations ranged from California to Vermont. This means they have stopped investing in the 200 top fossil fuel companies, including household names such as Shell,

Conoco and Chevron, to mention only a few.

At this point, USG has yet to vote on the resolution. According to Taylor Gladys, when the resolution was discussed during a general assembly meeting on April 8, many felt that it needed more clarification. If USG does vote for it to pass, they will present it to the Board of Trustees and President Barbara Snyder, as the resolution explicitly states must happen.

However, as Gladys also pointed out, CWRU is not required to disclose in which companies it invests. The divestment resolution can only serve as a strong recommendation and USG would have no way of monitoring if any resulting actions took place.

CWRU organizations bring students from Hispanic education group to campus This past Saturday, April 12, students from Esperanza, a Hispanic education organization, came to Case Western Reserve University for a tour and to get a feel for the campus. The event was hosted

by CWRU organizations La Alianza and Latin Alliance, bringing prospective students to the university.

La Alianza and Latin Alliance are Hispanic and Latino groups on campus that exist in order to bring together Hispanic, Latino and non-Hispanic students. La Alianza celebrates culture and community through appreciating all aspects of diversity. Latin Alliance is an organization open to faculty and staff, which also promotes diversity and unity among friends and colleagues at CWRU. Latin Alliance planned and coordinated the Esperanza event, while La Alian-

za contributed volunteers to work the event. Esperanza works in Cleveland to improve academic achievement among the Hispanic and Latino population, increasing the number of high school graduates and encouraging higher education among students, assisting in areas such as scholarship opportunities.

The day started with a tour of campus in the morning, followed by a coffee break with faculty and staff. The students were then given a presentation about campus admissions. At noon, the group ate lunch together at Leutner Commons along with CWRU students.

A student panel followed lunch, where the prospective students were able to talk with and ask current CWRU students about their experiences. Esperanza then gave a presentation at Kelvin Smith Library before the students returned home.

U N I V E R S I T Y

P I T T S B U R G H

Talia Gragg Staff Reporter

O F

DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES C O L L E G E

O F

G E N E R A L

SUMMER SESSIONS 2014 SUMMER SESSIONS ARE DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY SO THAT YOU CAN:  Enroll in two classes in a row without course overlap;

The Residential Hall Association is having an active week this week.

To kick it off, applications to run for RHA’s second-year and upperclass community councils close Sunday night, and the elections themselves will be hosted on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Wednesday, April 23 students living on south side next year will have the opportunity to tour a room in the

residential village they are living in next year. Students living “on top of the hill” (Carlton Road Residential Complex) can meet in Carlton Commons at 7 p.m., and students on the bottom of the hill (Murray Hill Residential Complex) can meet at the same time in Tippit House.

For those living on north side next year, upperclassmen can meet on April 24 at 7 p.m. in House 2 and second years at the same time in Clarke Tower for a tour of their new buildings.

 Take additional upper-division courses in your major;  Complete core requirements;

 Explore specialized topics or a new area of interest;

RHA elections, RHA rendezvous both to be hosted next week Compiled from staff reports

S T U D I E S

 Pick up extra credits during flexible 4-, 6-, and 12-week sessions; and

 Schedule classes around vacations, jobs, and internships.

ON-CAMPUS HOUSING AND MEAL PLAN OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE!

start thinking of brighter tomorrows today!

EARN FINAL CREDITS • COMPLETE CORE COURSES CONCENTRATE ON YOUR MAJOR • ENGAGE YOUR MIND

REGISTER TODAY!

WWW.SUMMER.PITT.EDU

news

observer.case.edu

Math gala dates set to help students review for finals Adithi Iyengar Staff Reporter Finals are quickly approaching and this semester’s Math Gala will be held on April 29 from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., the reading day before finals. During the gala, various supplemental instructors will be available to help students

prepare for their math finals.

All math students are welcome, but the event is hosted mainly for students in Math 121, 122, 125 and 126. According to Professor Christopher Butler, who teaches Math 121 in the fall semester and 122 in the spring semester, the gala is a great way to get ready for finals and have some food.

Student run free-clinic to host fundraising 5K this weekend Tara Tran Staff Reporter This Saturday, April 19, the Student-Run Free Clinic will be hosting the “Break Out of the Bubble!” 5K Run/ Walk to raise money to continue to operate the free, bi-monthly acute care medical clinic. The clinic is run and staffed solely by graduate students and volunteers of Case Western Reserve University. The SRFC seeks to make a difference through three core pillars: to serve, to learn and to collaborate.

First year CWRU School of Medicine

student Matt Bauer is the co-vice director of the Student-Run Free Clinic. He has been a key player in planning the 5K. The clinic received a Macy Foundation Grant, which is set to expire in June. Bauer’s position in the clinic has focused primarily on fundraising, especially in order to raise enough money to continue functioning in the future without the grant.

Those interested can register online or the day of starting at 7:30 a.m. The first 150 people that register will receive free t-shirts. More information is available online on the SRFC’s website.

5

On The Beat

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye So we are fast approaching the end of another academic year. A few more quizzes, a blur of special events and before you know it, commencement has come and gone and the campus will go into the semi-slumber of summer—until the next horde of incoming first year students arrives. Some of you will be leaving campus for good to pursue fame and glory, others will be returning in August to haul all your stuff back up to the top floor of the residence hall. Case Western Reserve University Police Department will keep the place from burning down while you are gone and we’ll leave the lights on for you. Hopefully you found a few of the tips in this column useful as you navigated the perils of life at CWRU through the year.

We don’t have any new tips to bring to the table this week, just a few old ones to reiterate. As finals and final grades roll in, talk to Counseling or someone you trust if you find the results too depress-

ing, and try not to drink your way to the ER in celebration if the results are good.

Remember that warm weather and rain can bring out bad guys as well as flowers—bike thieves, cell phone snatchers, laptop thieves and office creepers tend to be more active this time of year, so take the appropriate precautions—use Safe Ride, lock your bikes and report suspicious activity to 216-368-3333.

Also, remember to try to keep an eye out on your surroundings as you move about campus; in addition to an uptick in crime, spring is also the season of increased pedestrian, bicycle and construction activity.

This will be the last On the Beat column of the year, so best wishes to the class of 2014 and let’s have great and safe summer.

On the Beat is a weekly safety column written by Sergeant Jeffrey Daberko & Officer Mark (The Crossing Guard) Chavis of CWRU PD. Send feedback to this or other columns at policecolumn@case.edu

The Blotter CWRU Police Blotter 4/8/14 to 4/15/14 April 9—Bicycle theft—Bike taken from bike room, Michaelson House April 12—Petty theft/Shoplifting—Barnes & Noble April 12—Burglary—possibly intoxicated female broke into house through front door at 2047 E. 115th St. April 14—Bicycle theft—Unsecured bike stolen, Leutner Commons April 15—Felony theft—Checks diverted into incorrect bank account between March 31 and April 15, Wood Building On the Beat can be contacted at policecolumn@case.edu.

fun

6 | fun page

4/4/14

I’m happy with my Kindle 2 so far, but if they cut off the free Wikipedia browsing, I plan to show up drunk on Jeff Bezos’ lawn and refuse to leave.

By xkcd

‘This space intentionally left blank’ is less immediately provocative but more Hofstadterially confusing.

By xkcd

C O M I C S Crossword Puzzle

Across 1. Requests 5. Anagram of “Doles” 10. Awestruck 14. Creative work 15. Representative 16. Affirm 17. Re-beautify 19. Departed 20. Pair 21. Pee 22. High society 23. Helps 25. Bedouin 27. Operative 28. Cuisine 31. Aquatic mammals 34. Pizazz 35. Prefix meaning “Modern” 36. Adhesive strip 37. Muse of love poetry 38. Stigma 39. Clairvoyant’s gift 40. Hag 41. Office worker 42. Over a 7 day period 44. Genus of macaws

45. Not the most 46. Unyielding 50. Leered 52. Extols 54. Not high 55. Harvest 56. A language of India 58. Initial wager 59. Prank 60. Portent 61. Lascivious look 62. “Beau ___” 63. Memo Down 1. Heart artery 2. Expels 3. Praise 4. South southeast 5. Flashy 6. German iris 7. Give temporarily 8. Mitigate 9. Coloring agent 10. Type of sleeve 11. Evasion 12. Confined 13. Tall woody plant

18. Points 22. Arab chieftain 24. Small island 26. Hodgepodge 28. A loud resonant noise 29. Back 30. An English royal house 31. Goulash 32. “___ on Down the Road” 33. Court of appeals 34. First rate 37. God of love 38. Close violently 40. Attired 41. Boorish 43. Custodian 44. Bear witness 46. A financial examination 47. San Antonio fort 48. A nine-piece musical group 49. String 50. By mouth 51. Heredity unit 53. Picnic insects 56. Witch 57. 2,000 pounds

observer.case.edu

fun page | 7

Philosofish

Kate Hart Ray Krajci

Yeah. Just... two weeks?

Two weeks?! Oh, no.

It can‛t be over...

I‛m not ready!

I bet you‛re ready for your last semester to be over.

I need to finish my projects, present

Horoscopes

them, find a place to live...

Aries

Figure out what you need to accomplish early on. You’ll be able to handle everything if you are ahead of yourself.

Relax.

You‛re just worried that you‛re not ready for the real world because you still feel like a kid.

You always will, but you‛ve come a long way.

Remember?

Taurus

Embody your spirit animal this week.

Although it may seem odd, it’ll help you get through the worst of this week.

Gemini

You will come into some trying times this week. Although it may seem insurmountable, you will be able to make it through.

You‛re right.

I am ready.

We all are.

Cancer

Fall asleep at a decent time every night this week. You’ll need a good night’s sleep every time.

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xkcd

Leo

Nowhere

Any way you take it, your week will in some respect suck. Friday’s will always come though.

Virgo

Find what you truly want out of your college experience and attain it.

Libra

Pick your poison and stick with it.

Scorpio

I just can’t wait for the Better Homes and Gardens list of helpful tips for household reuse of sixteen-inch acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene phalluses.

livid marathon plank quart racket registrar riot rugby shares silhouette stale stick take thong trick tutor vase vault violet

Wordsearch

augur bees bout bread canon clean confer crush delay discuss faint gate geyser grant hike hockey idiom junior lecture

Argh. That’s your week.

Sagittarius

You will come into some problems with your roommate, but you only have a few weeks to deal with that person, so just go with it.

Capricorn

In all senses of the word, your week will be “nonsensical.”

Aquarius

Any way you take it, it’s not going to be what you want it to be.

Whatever the news is, it won’t be good.

Pisces

You couldn’t care less anymore. Just get through the week and see where the weekend takes you.

arts & entertainment Pass the suds… from Thirsty Dog Brewing Company & Hoppin’ Frog Brewery

Taps from Thirsty Dog Brewing Company and Hoppin’ Frog Brewery, although all the same, feature beers across the brewing spectrum.

Mike Suglio Staff Reporter Akron, Ohio was once known as the “Rubber Capital of the World” because the four major tire companies, Goodrich Corporation, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and General Tire, all had their headquarters there. This city southeast of Cleveland is also where the fictional Pickles family from Rugrats were originally from and the birthplace of a former Cleveland celebrity who left to pursue interests in South Beach, Florida.

However, many are unaware that Akron is also home to two of the best breweries in Ohio. Thirsty Dog Brewing

Company and Hoppin’ Frog are both nationally recognized breweries and quite unique and different not only from each other, but also from the other breweries I have reviewed.

Among the several brick buildings near the University of Akron lies a small building with a sign that has the image of a dog with a beer mug in its mouth.

As I entered the building from the side entrance, I stepped over several large hoses that led to the main production brewery. I smiled at my reflection in the large brew kettle and walked around the corner to the tiny taproom.

This cash-only taproom had several barrels of beer lining it and tons of beer memorabilia. Thirsty Dog keeps the taproom

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simple and traditional by only providing beer and popcorn served in a dog bowl.

I asked for a sample of each of their 12 beers on tap. Each sample at Thirsty Dog was only $1 and pints were $4, thus making this the most affordable brewery I have traveled to.

I started with the spring seasonal, the Citra Dog. This beer has a strong citrus and dry hoppy taste, resembling more of an IPA than a fruit beer, which is misleading from its name. Next was the Twisted Kilt, which was a smooth and sweet scotch ale. It had the perfect blend of sweetness and scotch taste, downplaying the taste of scotch and preventing it from being too sweet like a Dopplebock.

The Cerberus was one of my favorite

Art

Food

Film

Courtesy Mike Suglio

beers at this brewery. It was a Belgian Triple clocking in at 10 percent alcohol by volume and 31 international bittering units. Despite having a high ABV, it was still flavorful and sweet, and still had a kick to it, but was shockingly palatable.

The aroma of this well-made beer was a pleasant combination of honey and hops.

The Maibark was a light Helles Bock, which was smooth but not memorable.

Similarly, the Labrador was also a light and drinkable beer. This lager, however, is much better than any standard American domestic and would be great to drink on a porch in the summer while petting a labrador.

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observer.case.edu from Suds | 8 The Raspberry Ale was an excellent fruit beer. This beer was not too sweet and had a raspberry taste and smell throughout. I found this fruit beer to be much better than Lindeman’s Framboise, which I always find to be too sweet.

The Irish Setter Red was also a beautiful red color like the Raspberry, but was smooth. I found it to have the perfect level of malt and hops.

The Hoppy Spring Ale was delicious and had a floral taste and smell, which harkened the weather perfectly. The ale was not too dry or bitter, much different than the Session IPA, which was both. The Session IPA was a traditional IPA with the level of hoppy flavor, but still was drinkable.

My least favorite beer from Thirsty Dog was the Bernese, which was a barleywine brewed with various fruits. I could not identify any of the fruits in particular and instead it had a mixed fruit flavor, which just made it too sweet. This beer was also brewed with raisins and dates, but I was unable to identify those by the taste.

Like any good beer sampler, I finished my tasting with the stout and the porter on draft. The Rise of the Mayan Dog was a rich and dark stout with strong tastes of coffee and chocolate, but also had a smoky taste to it. I felt like I was smoking a cigar as I drank this incredibly original beer. The most recognizable Thirsty Dog beer, the Old Leghumper, was similar to the stout as a lot of porters are, but the flavor wasn’t as strong as the Mayan Dog. It also had even more of a smoky aftertaste.

Across from the Lockheed Martin plant in Akron lies a warehouse with a large frog on it. The less than one-yearold tasting room at Hoppin’ Frog was packed on a Wednesday evening. I can only imagine the traffic the tasting room gets on the weekends.

The tasting room was simple with yellow walls, a few tables and a large bar with green frogs on top of the handles.

The menu was unbelievably extensive. Besides having 14 different beers on draft, Hoppin’ Frog has a collection of their signature 22 oz. bottles, which can get rather pricey. The most expensive bottle was $68, which was the Barrel Aged Naked Evil, a Belgian and barley wine style ale from 2011.

One of the unique components of Hoppin’ Frog is they will bourbon barrel age their signature beers. This brings out the flavors of bourbon as well as the beer, but also greatly increases the price of the beer. Five oz. samples of some of the barrel-aged beer were over $4, making this brewery by far the most expensive.

I decided to first try the four bourbon barrel-aged beers. The Barrel-Aged Turbo Shandy was simply unbelievable. It had a huge citrus and whiskey taste, filling my mouth with every sip. I have never had a beer that tasted like a perfect whiskey sour. The beer was a bright yellow color, which glowed under the bar lights.

The Barrel-Aged Outta Kilter Scotch Red was unlike the Shandy; it mainly had a bourbon taste and the actual beer taste was not as present. I found the bourbon taste to be a bit overpowering and it tasted liked I was drinking straight alcohol.

The Barrel-Aged B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher was simply one of the best beers I have ever had. The aroma of bourbon and coffee filled my nose and my taste buds with each sip. This beer was jet black in color, even when I held it up to the bar lights. I was astonished by this because I had never seen such a dark beer before. As I twirled the beer around in its glass, it did not leave “lacing” around the glass like most beers, but instead left traces of bourbon all around.

Similar to B.O.R.I.S. was the BarrelAged D.O.R.I.S. the Destroyer. This 10.5 percent ABV beer was a double oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout, which had more of a bourbon taste than oatmeal. This strong tasting beer reminded me of drinking a strong espresso drink one would find at a traditional Italian coffee bar. I enjoyed the Barrel-Aged B.O.R.I.S. more than the Barrel-Aged D.O.R.I.S. because it was less strong and more palatable, however, these two beers were two of the strongest beers I have ever had.

My friend and I decided to take a break from the beer and order food. The customer service was remarkable. Both the bartenders and the servers were congenial and knowledgeable about Hoppin’ Frog’s food and beer.

I ordered the Karminator Kuban, which had melted Gouda cheese, pickle chips and their own mustard sauce made with their beer, the Karminator Doppelbock, all on crispy ciabatta bread. The pan-seared pork tenderloin was juicy and cooked to perfection. The black forest ham and bacon were perfect additions to the meat-filled sandwich. I also had the quinoa salad, which had apricots, walnuts and coconut flakes mixed and further sweetened with coconut milk.

Head Chef and Hoppin’ Frog enthusiast Shawn Sweeney visited us at our table to ask how we liked our food and talked with us about upcoming food specials he plans to have. Sweeney explained that he intends to have a few different dishes from around the world each week, and was exceptionally excited about his upcoming French week. Throughout our time there, Sweeney continued to check in on us and told us more about the food and beer at Hoppin’ Frog.

After taking a break from beer, it was time to dive back in. The B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher Imperial Stout was equally as fantastic as the barrel-aged one. It had a rich oatmeal and coffee taste and was also dark. With a 9.4 percent ABV this beer had an incredible warming effect.

The Turbo Shandy Ale was also equally different and enjoyable to its barrel-aged brother. It has a huge citrus and sour taste and was by far the best shandy I have ever had. This is the perfect summer beer and is far better than the summer favorite, Leinie’s Summer Shandy. The Café Silk Porter was a good porter, but tasted more like a watereddown version of the stouts. It had tastes of chocolate and coffee, which were not as present in flavor as they were in the stouts. The Hop Heathen Imperial Black IPA had floral and dark flavors and was rather drinkable compared to the incredibly strong beers at the brewery.

I was not a big fan of the Karminator or the Hop Dam. The Karminator was an incredibly sweet Doppelbock. It had tastes of caramel and toffee and was a beautiful cherry color, but this was far too sweet and was almost undrinkable.

Similarly, the Hop Dam was the hoppiest beer I have ever had and my mouth puckered with each sip. I had to chase this beer with water due to the extreme hop, dry and bitter flavor.

What makes Hoppin’ Frog unique to all breweries is it pushes the style of its beers to the extreme. The IPA’s are the hoppiest, the Doppelbock the sweetest and the stouts are the strongest. This is original, unique and an amazing experience, but it is hard to rate any of these beers as drinkable. It would be challenging to have more than one pint of any of these.

With that being said, despite the tasting room being less than one year old, it has been rated the best tasting room in Ohio. I can honestly agree with this.

With the food, beer and customer service, Hoppin’ Frog was one of the best brewery experiences I have had.

HBO renews popular “Game of Thrones,” to fans’ delight Rebekah Camp Staff Reporter HBOs “Game of Thrones” kicked off its fourth season on April 6. It attracted more than 6.6 million viewers and became HBO’s most watched program since the 2007 series finale of “The Sopranos.”

It is no surprise, therefore, that HBO has renewed the series for two seasons in advance. Unless something horrible happens and people stop watching, both season five and season six are guaranteed to run.

Students at Case Western Reserve University added their voices to the 6.6 million on the night of the premiere as they gathered around their personal televisions, phones, computers and the big screen at the Jolly Scholar to watch (after HBO’s website stopped crashing, that is). Tasha Peverell, a student at CWRU and fan of both the books and the show, said, “I’m pumped as hell that it’s guaranteed for so long.”

The series began on April 17, 2011 and quickly gained popularity due to its mixture of medieval atmosphere and tactics, fantasy qualities of magic and dragons and, not in small part, its abundance of nudity, profanity and sex.

It follows a vast array of characters of both high and low birth, many of whom wish to sit atop the Iron Throne and rule the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Many deaths have occurred in the past three seasons and there is no question of many more ensuing before the series’ close. No character is safe in the realm of “Game of Thrones” and, as Cersei Lannister pointed out, “When you play the game of thrones;

you win or you die.” There is a running joke amongst fans that, if your favorite character has survived an episode (or, by some miracle, a whole season), then it was a good episode.

The series is based on the book series, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” written by George R.R. Martin. The first book, entitled “A Game of Thrones,” was published in 1996.

The collection originated as a trilogy, but has since been expanded into a seven book series that is still unfinished with only five of the seven published thus far.

The directors of the television series foresee its end happening in season seven or eight which makes the two season renewal a bittersweet victory, bringing the series ever closer to its imminent end. The end that the directors foresee for the television series, however, will almost certainly occur before the final book is published.

This begs the question: Will the television series end by revealing the long-awaited finale to the seven volume book series?

Martin has revealed to the directors and writers how he is planning to end the books. Peverell said of the possibility of the show revealing the ending that, “It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing…but if it were aired first, and I watched it before I had the chance to absorb it on my own time while reading, it’d be damn weird.”

The big, two season renewal was a happy announcement for fans of the show.

Even if their favorite character dies, the strength of the love of the show will endure in the hearts of those who truly love the show. Fans anxiously await the moment when the television series finally and inevitably catches up with the book series.

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Webinar: CWRU in London at RADA Study Abroad Spring 2015

Summer Study Abroad Apps Deadline

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INFORMATION SESSION

Winter Break Study Abroad

Tomlinson Hall (1st Floor Conference Room) 12:45pm – 1:30pm

Gallery@MSASS, an area dedicated to exhibiting artists in middle of social sciences school Maria Fazal Staff Reporter

2014 FRI

CWRU fills spaces with art

Tomlinson Hall (1st Floor Conference Room) 1:00pm – 2:00pm

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Study Abroad Information Table Nord Hall 12:45pm – 1:30pm

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Spring Semester 2015 Applications are Open Winter Break Study Abroad Applications are Open

Must Attend! www.case.edu/studyabroad studyabroad@case.edu

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Case Western Reserve University: usually, the name is associated chiefly with science and engineering, among other things.

However, most would be surprised to hear that certain areas of the school are blossoming with art.

Take, for example, the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences (MSASS), which was recently one of the dozens of galleries across Cleveland featuring female artists during Women’s History Month.

According to Reference and Technical Services Librarian June Hund, the art gallery in the MSASS will feature two new artists in late April-early May. Hund, who is also an artist, is currently displaying her work in another CWRU building, the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women. The Center for Women has recently doubled as a gallery space, and Hund will be the inaugural artist.

The first artist whose work will be displayed is John Saile, with his work arriving at the MSASS in late April. Saile is truly an unconventional artist; he received a double major in business and economics, and he has taken a few studio painting courses at the College of William and Mary.

Saile states, “My family had encouraged me to pursue a career that would eventually place me at the helm of a family business. So, my love of art would be relegated to museum and gallery visits for the years that followed.”

Nevertheless, the persistent artist managed to rekindle his old flame. In 2006, he became a Project 60 student at Cleveland State University and studied drawing and two-dimensional art with Peter Wells.

Saile says his art mainly incorporates drawing, be it through pastels, pencil, brush, mop or tablet. His process involved removing sections

from an abstracted canvas and digitally altering said sections in what he describes as “an act of intentional disintegration of space.”

Furthermore, he states his work promotes viewers to consider time and the substance beneath their perceptions. Saile explains, “The viewer is compelled to contemplate the present state and whether we are moving in real time or just projecting what we believe to be our radar screen. All my work is intended to reflect on the impermanence and superficiality of who we believe we are and where we are.”

The second artist, Eileen Dorsey, will have her artwork arrive at the MSASS in early May. Dorsey’s work takes on a particularly different expression from Saile’s, with her work focusing primarily on landscapes.

She also places a strong emphasis on color and texture. Dorsey describes the selection of color as one of the most important decisions in her creative process. Her work is based on unrealistic colors, which rely on the first color she places on the canvas.

Dorsey’s paintings are also filled with uniquely bold texture, a result of her mixing oil paint with a stand oil medium. She assures the paint is buttery before she liberally propels it across the canvas. To finish, she sometimes applies pieces of paper and canvas atop the wet paint to give a soft appearance to her paintings.

Dorsey elaborates, “These works are a new challenge for me as a painter, not only in the texture and color of these paintings, but also in the composition. I place elements in the foreground to create a more dynamic composition.

My paintings read more as expressions of a scene rather than an actual place.”

Dorsey’s work will be on display at the MSASS from beginning of May to June 17, and Saile’s work will likewise be shown at the MSASS from April 24 to June 19.

Hund’s work is currently being displayed at the Center for Women.

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We should all be stars cAlEndar MaDaCol celebrates 30 years with culminating performance Jamie Van Doren Staff Reporter When you look at the stars in the sky, you aren’t seeing them in the present.

You’re seeing the light they gave off many, many years ago. It’s not so different for each of us. The light that guides us, that lifts us, that makes us who we are today is shining out from our memories—our past.

But what does this have to do with dance?

This past April 10-12, the Mather Dance Collective (MaDaCol) celebrated 30 years of performing by reaching into the past.

Four student-choreographed dances were reprised and one senior dance capstone premiered. But this story isn’t just about the fact that you, the reader, may have missed out on an event (assuming you didn’t make one of the sold out performances). This story is about what the dance center is trying to do through their work. It’s about what MaDaCol means for the dancers and choreographers. What it means for the community. What it means for people who for a just a few minutes get to be a star on stage.

That’s the end of the story, however. The beginning starts like this: The theatre was hot. Hot and crowded.

A triple row of CWRU students and other patrons sat on the floor, level with the stage.

Nathan Rogers sat expectantly, waiting to see his partner of 20 years, Desmond Davis, perform. Davis is a CWRU alumnus currently teaching dance at Hiram College. Davis has told his partner that he comes back to MaDaCol because it helps keep him in shape.

“I told him he does it ‘cause it keeps him young. Plus, you like being around young people.” Rogers explained.

The first performance “The GrayTurning, Gold-Turning Light” is not a MaDaCol piece, even if it is being performed at MaDaCol. The audience may not know the difference, but the choreographer, Eve Lanyi, does. It’s her senior capstone. Instead of having to audition her piece to the performers and then choreographing around their abilities, she developed the piece to be performed by trained dancers. That didn’t make it easier.

“I felt like there was some pressure, because it wasn’t a MaDaCol piece. I just didn’t know what people would be expecting, or if they’d even know,” said Lanyi.

“We had a sold-out performance Thursday and Friday, and I kept thinking this is the first thing people are going to see.”

In spite of her nerves, Lanyi enjoyed the experience of choreographing and performing.

“It was a really new experience. I’ve never choreographed for anyone but myself,” said Lanyi.

She included herself in the dance, because she wanted another opportunity to perform before she graduated, one where she could express what she wanted as opposed to another choreographer’s vision.

Maybe because of this, the nerves didn’t show as she and six other dancers ran, turned, leapt and stretched across the stage.

While Lanyi’s piece was a premiere, this year’s MaDaCol was primarily a journey into the past. Four works were reprised: “Scandals… and other Diversions” by Janet Meskin which premiered in 1984, “Waterwheel” by Kathleen Kohatsu which premiered in 2002, “Red Fan My Way” by Mingming Liu which premiered in 2006, and “Victory of Feet” by Karina Brown which premiered in 2013. Interspersed among the live dances were video clips of performances from days past. Some, like “Frog Dance” illustrated the difficulties of choreographing and delivering a performance on the fly (if you will). Others, for example “What Rest I Took,” illustrated the performance art aspect that some may see as part and parcel of modern dance. Artistic director and MaDaCol faculty advisor Gary Galbraith hoped they would show the growth and evolution of the student-run MaDaCol program.

“This (30 year anniversary) seems like a great opportunity to look back at where we’ve come from. There was a great deal of excitement over hitting this milestone,” said Gilbraith. “When you think about all the dancers over the years, all of the performances—it’s exciting.”

It was difficult to select which works would be performed, as Galbraith explained. He had to balance not only the different types of choreography, the time and the schedules, but also which original choreographers might be able to take the time to come back to CWRU to help make the performances happen.

“I wanted this to be about more than just the individual performances,” said Galbraith. “This was an opportunity for some of our undergrads to network with alumni who are off and doing what they want to one day be doing. It also allowed our alumni to see some of their own works come back to life.”

One of those works, “Red Fan My Way,” was especially beautiful. Rehearsal Director Carmen Hendricks received the call from Galbraith asking if she would move from in front of the stage to behind it. She said yes.

“I said ‘Of course.’ Red Fan was one of my favorite dances that I’ve ever done.

It’s beautiful,” Hendricks explained, “and I wanted to be a part of the 30th anniversary.”

As an 11 year veteran MaDaCol dancer, she didn’t expect it to be directing. While being a director was difficult, and meant grueling hours of watching video of the original performance, writing out the dance and teaching it to her dancers, it also meant rewards—including the opportunity to put herself in the performance.

The Asian fusion dance was a challenge. It was more technical than some, and involved synchronized movements and perfect timing for the opening and closing of the extravagant red fans, which had to be ordered from Beijing, China.

For those who volunteer their time to make MaDaCol happen every year, the journey is as rewarding as the applause.

For Hendricks, the hard work of being a rehearsal director had extra rewards.

“When you work with the cast, you’re getting to know them on a different level,” explained Hendricks. “You get to know their weaknesses, their strengths, who they are. When you are a dancer, a lot of your focus in on yourself and trying to learn. As a director, you have to focus on everything.”

Like many of the choreographers, Mingming Liu flew in to help finalize her original work. That was when Hendricks finally had the opportunity to rehearse the dance herself as part of the troupe.

“When I first watched the video, I was thinking ‘I don’t remember that.’” Hendricks said. “But then doing it, it all came back.” Her smile was almost audible.

The average metro dance critic would probably dismiss MaDaCol. It would be difficult to blame them. As a whole, the performances aren’t necessarily visually stunning.

The dancers aren’t all lithe and athletic.

They don’t deliver the type of performance you would see at Playhouse Square. Latecomers have to sit on cushions on the floor if the very limited seating is filled.

While MaDaCol doesn’t deliver an allstar performance, it does do something equally amazing—and arguably more important. Where else can the average person watch a nine-year-old girl, a 60-year-old woman or a Cleveland firefighter perform an original dance on stage? Where else can you pay $5 to see a performance crafted and rehearsed in a period of roughly 12 weeks?

Where else could you, reader, audition for a dance and know that you’ll be selected to perform, and that the dance will be tailored to make you stretch within your abilities?

The answer is MaDaCol. And you’d be wise not to wait another 30 years to take advantage of your chance to be a star.

Friday, April 18 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.—Research ShowCASE and Intersections, Veale Convocation Center (FREE) · All Day—University Program Board presents Willy Wonka Egg Hunt, CWRU campus (FREE) · 7:05 p.m.—Indians vs Blue Jays, Progressive Field, 2401 Ontario St. (Tickets start at $12) 8 p.m.—”Measure for Measure,” Eldred Theater (Student tickets $5, GA $10) 9 p.m.—Riff Raff, Grandtheft, Grog Shop, 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd. (Tickets $20 – $23) Saturday, April 19 11 a.m.—Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, Alpha Chi Omega House (Individual tickets $5, Organization tickets $50) 1:05 p.m.—Indians vs. Blue Jays, Progressive Field, 2401 Ontario St. (Tickets start at $12) 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.—Undergraduate Indian Student Association presents Holi, Leutner Pavilion (FREE) 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.—Class of 2017 Tournament: Dare2Dodge, NRV Football Field (FREE) 8 p.m.—”Measure for Measure,” Eldred Theater (Student tickets $5, GA $10) Sunday, April 20 1:05 p.m.—Indians vs. Blue Jays, Progressive Field, 2401 Ontario St. (Tickets start at $12) 2 – 3:30 p.m.—Percussion Ensemble Concert, Harkness Chapel (FREE) 2:30 p.m.—”Measure for Measure,” Eldred Theater (Student tickets $5, GA $10) Monday, April 21 · 7:05 p.m.—Indians vs. Royals, Progressive Field, 2401 Ontario St. (Tickets start at $12) Tuesday, April 22 10 – 11 a.m.—Tour of Campus Art Collection, Entrance to Kelvin Smith Library (FREE) 12:00 p.m.—Thwing Tuesday, UPB, Thwing Atrium (FREE) 4:30 – 5:20 p.m.—Speaker Series: Gerry Canavan, Guilford Lounge (FREE) 7:05 p.m.—Indians vs. Royals, Progressive Field, 2401 Ontario St. (Tickets start at $12)

Wednesday, April 23 · 4 – 5 p.m.—Frontiers in Biological Sciences Lecture, School of Medicine, Robbins Building, Room E501 (FREE) · 7:05 p.m.—Indians vs. Royals, Progressive Field, 2401 Ontario St. (Tickets start at $12) Thursday, April 24 · 12:05 p.m.—Indians vs. Royals, Progressive Field, 2401 Ontario St. (Tickets start at $12) · 4 – 6 p.m.—Speaker Event: The Amyloid Phenomenon and its Significance, Wolstein Research Building Auditorium (FREE) · 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.—Baker-Nord presents Unworkable Hermeneutics, Clark Hall Room 206 (FREE) · 7 – 9 p.m.—Italian Film Festival screening of “White as Milk, Red as Blood,” Strosacker Auditorium (FREE) · 8 p.m.—Karaoke Night, Jolly Scholar (FREE)

The Observer’s Playlist of the Week

Teddy Eisenberg Staff Reporter “High Ball Stepper” — Jack White What can be said about Jack White that hasn’t been already? He’s a genius, guitar-god and madman all rolled into one, something that “High Ball Stepper” proves in its first thirty seconds. Starting off with a Zeppelinesque rumble, this instrumental track features cascading lines of piano, guitar riffs looped backward, and a forceful, distorted fuzz. The first single off of “Lazaretto,” Jack White’s second solo album will drop on June 10.

“Bitter Rivals” — Sleigh Bells Sleigh Bells certainly know how to make a first impression. Be careful, if you’re not ready for it, “Bitter Rivals” will punch you in the face. By summoning a wall of guitar and synth, Sleigh Bells create a unique brand of pop equal parts infectious and bombastic. This duo will hopefully grace Case Western’s campus soon as the headliners of next year’s fall concert.

“Bridge to Hawaii” — Tacocat Listen for the group’s name, stay for the perky guitar pop and sweet vocal harmonies. An all girl outfit from Seattle, Tacocat imbue “Bridge to Hawaii” with a bubblegum chorus worthy of being anyone’s guilty pleasure. They have faith that summer is coming, and we should too.

“West Coast” — Lana Del Rey Produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, in whose hands everything turns to gold, “West Coast” is easily the best song Lana Del Rey has ever recorded. Her sultry voice floats over a tight bass and guitar line, rising out of the dreamy ether of the song’s chorus like a slow puff of cigarette smoke. Look for “Ultraviolence”, Del Rey’s third record, this summer.

“The World Is Yours” — Nas “Illmatic” is one of hip-hop’s undisputed masterpieces: brief, sophisticated and powerful. “The World Is Yours” finds Nas in top lyrical form, spitting fluid rhymes backed by the sleek jazz-rap production of Pete Rock (also known for his work with Run-D.M.C. and Jay-Z). Originally released in 1994, a 20th Anniversary edition of “Illmatic” entitled “Illmatic XX” found its way into stores last Tuesday.

Retro Pick of the Week: “I Wanna Be Adored” — The Stone Roses The Stone Roses eponymous debut won’t turn twenty-five until this July, but it’s never too early to revisit this Britpop classic. The bass line of “I Wanna Be Adored” lumbers into existence, slowly emerging from clouds of polished guitar. The enchanting power of this tune lies in the detached arrogance of Ian Brown’s vocals. The Stone Roses aren’t asking to be adored; they expect it.

opinion Editorial

A hazy issue What will the popularization of marijuana mean for our generation?

Case Western Reserve University is currently deliberating going completely tobacco-free—a policy that divides the undergraduate student body. But what if CWRU considered allowing students light up another kind of smoking product?

You read right: We are talking about marijuana.

Obviously, letting students openly start blazing up on the university’s premises is not a discussion that would happen anytime soon. But, in honor of 4/20, let’s imagine a situation where that would be possible: if marijuana were legalized in Ohio. Because, while CWRU won’t be discussing weed on campus in the near future, Ohioans and residents of states all across America seem to be getting closer and closer to recognizing the legitimacy of this potential new industry (or looming threat).

As a disclaimer, this editorial is not taking a stance on whether marijuana should be legalized, but rather it recognizes that we, the undergraduate students of CWRU, are part of a generation that sooner or later will need to evaluate the effects of legalization of marijuana. We must begin to form some sort of opinion about the issue. As a student body that is currently pondering the regulation of another smoking activity, CWRU students are already contributors to the legislative process of controlled substances. We should reach a little higher (pun intended) to the state level and consider different perspectives involved in the marijuana issue.

For the members of any community, tax revenue is the most obvious of the angles to consider when deciding on the legalization of marijuana. According to Business Insider, Colorado, where recreational use of marijuana is legal and taxed, is expecting $100 million in tax revenue this year. If Ohio were to get a similar amount of income in taxes, it would mean improvements in many important areas, like infrastructure. Imagine a Cleveland without potholes.

Another prominent issue is the use of marijuana as medication. Columbusbased Ohio Rights Group (ORG) is an organization that promotes legalization of medical marijuana in Ohio. In fact, according to 614 Columbus, ORG has already begun to push a ballot initiative for the Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment, which would in effect legalize medical marijuana. The disease that ORG specifically mentions is Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of pediatric epilepsy. If Ohio allowed the use of marijuana as a form of medication, patients suffering from diseases like Dravet Syndrome would not have to relocate to a state where such use is legal.

But, as we all know, there is another side to the health effects of marijuana.

Even though the chance of overdosing is practically nonexistent, respiratory illnesses occur in frequent smokers. Not to mention the potential triggering effects of this drug. You may have seen the gossip columnists buzzing about a certain starlet’s mother insisting that a certain individual’s bizarre episodes earlier this year could be attributed to her marijuana abuse. Although these claims may seem far-fetched, there have been studies which emphasize the detrimental effect of all recreational drugs on persons with mental illness.

Then there is also the perpetual debate over the role of marijuana as a gateway drug, which is an issue which would be a major concern for communities looking to make this transition. With the high levels of heroin abuse in our city and many other metropolitan areas, we can’t ignore the spreading of dangerous behaviors and practices to a new generation. Responsible substance use is by far the largest concern surrounding this issue.

While all these points probably seem tired or repetitive, but they are nonetheless important to consider, especially for the demographic that will most likely have to decide on the future of marijuana in Ohio. So this Sunday, instead of harboring jealousy for the Coloradans freely imbibing in reefer madness, think bigger; think about what you would answer when asked about the legalization of marijuana. Would you be appalled? Excited? Your voice will matter in the future.

Express it. Write to us, we’d love to be facilitators of this debate. Contact your local representatives. Make yourself heard.

The Observer is the weekly undergraduate student newspaper of Case Western Reserve University. Established in 1969, The Observer exists to report news affecting and/or involving students and to provide an editorial forum for the university community. Unsigned editorials are the majority opinion of the senior editorial staff. For advertising information, contact The Observer at (216) 368-2914 or e-mail observerads@case.edu.

The Observer is a proud member of the CWRU Media Board.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should be e-mailed to observer@case.edu or submitted on our website at observer.case.edu. Letters can be mailed to 10900 Euclid Avenue, Suite A09, Cleveland, OH 44106. Letters need to include the writer’s full name, address, and telephone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters from organizations must contain the name of an individual for contact purposes. Writings may be edited for clarity and brevity, and while The Observer makes an attempt to print all correspondence; space and date of publication are not guaranteed. Letters over 600 words may be returned to the sender. Letters must be received by 5 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Final Editor’s Note From front page: Looking back, I realize how right he was. The guys at the Valley View Flea Market gathered there every weekend because they knew what to expect. They knew that when they spoke, their buddies would listen. That when they walked through those front doors, they were about to contribute to an enterprise larger than themselves. They wanted to matter.

The Valley View Flea Market closed its doors in 2007, simultaneously closing a chapter in the lives of all of its characters. Bob moved to a new flea market. Frank turned to garage sales. Val tempted the guitar show scene. Jeff started his own auction house. And George sold his goods anywhere he was allowed. ***

This is my last issue as the executive editor and publisher of The Observer, so I’ve been thinking a lot about closing chapters lately. It may have taken me four years, but I have come to realize just how similar the students, staff and faculty members of Case Western Reserve University are to the vendors of the now-defunct Valley View Flea Market.

To me, the greatest flaw of Case Western Reserve lies in how painstakingly hard we try to differentiate ourselves from one another. We distinguish north side from south side; Greek Life from God Damned Independent; Case Quad from Mather Quad; humanities from engineering; dual degree from double major; B.A. from B.S. …B.S.

That is all our categories and anagrams amounts to. From the birds-eyeview of this campus I’ve been blessed to see from for the past four years, I can tell you that none of it matters. The requests for coverage from students, staff and professors start the same way, regardless of how many letters fall after their name. They all want the same thing: to be heard, to be seen and to be validated.

They want to matter in somebody else’s chapter.

I can never know with certainty that what I wrote across these pages mattered to you. But I know damned well that this newspaper and its readers mattered to me.

And for that, I am eternally grateful.

Tyler Hoffman —Executive Editor and Publisher

Correction In last week’s publication, Issue 25, we reported that track and field athlete Sophia Herzog beat the previous school record for pole vault by a foot. This is incorrect. She broke the record by two inches. We apologize for the error.

the observer

established in 1969 by the undergradute students of case western reserve university executive editor & publisher TYLER HOFFMAN director of design MEREDITH DYKEHOUSE director of web & multimedia KYLE PATTERSON director of print KATHLEEN WIESER director of business operations BENCE TAMAS advertising & marketing manager COLE MORRIS account manager JAMES VELETTE digital publicity & communications manager VINCENZO VOLPE news editor MIKE MCKENNA a&e editor KATY WITKOWSKI news layout HEATHER HARGROW opinion editor NOORA SOMERSALO a&e layout AMBER ALBERGOTTIE sports editor JP O’HAGAN sports layout EDWIN LO multimedia editor ARIANNA WAGE opinion layout CHRISTINA CHENG copy editors ANNE NICKOLOFF, JENIECE MONTELLANO distributors SAGE SCHAFF advisor BERNIE JIM

opinion

observer.case.edu

13

A crisis among the seniors The elephant in the room Andrew Breland In late March, Case Western Reserve University announced the construction of a new upperclassmen residence hall on East 115 St. The building, actually one of the more aesthetically pleasing buildings on our majoritybland campus, is scheduled to open in Fall 2015. That schedule will more than likely be pushed back at the expense of the bourgeoning classes at CWRU. But otherwise, it seems, housing is not a major issue on our campus.

But oh, it is.

CWRU has housing for approximately 3,400 – 3,700 students, depending on which statistics one uses. That number leaves almost 1,000 students without campus housing. Now, it is true that some of those students will inevitably move off campus on their own. University Circle is stocked full of apartments with students at the medical, law and other graduate schools already requiring a place to live during the academic year. However, the issue is not the ubiquity of housing in the area, but instead the crisis of housing occurring on our campus.

In the same announcement about the construction of our new residence hall, the university happily pointed out that the last housing project was completed in 2005, with the construction of the Village at 115. According to the university’s registrar’s office, during the first year the Village was open, the student body at CWRU was 3,700 students. Notice how the number of students matched the

amount of housing the university can provide.

Since then, the undergraduate student body has grown more than 20 percent; this year, full-time undergraduate enrollment sat at 4,386 students. In the meantime, total housing has not increased, leading to massive numbers of students being forced into the rental market.

In the meantime, demand on the rental market in the area has grown as well. The number of graduate and professional students at CWRU has grown from just under 3,800 students in 2005 to 4,700 this year. This increase has put additional strain on the regional housing market. Nationally, rental payments increased four percent last year, and are expected to do the same this year. Since 2005, rent has gone up nearly 20 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors. Combining the nationwide increase in rents with the increased regional demand for housing, it’s no surprise that new apartment complexes have emerged in Uptown and just off campus behind Cleveland Institute of Music and University Hospitals.

However, these facts belie a larger issue that plagues the student body. Even while new housing is constructed throughout the area, prices remain prohibitive to student renters.

Uptown apartments start at $1,200 per month for a single-bedroom. Other new apartment complexes are not far off that, costing around $950 per month. And on-campus housing, when calculated in per month rates, equals about $1,100 per month. Off campus expenses for utilities and furnishings leads these seemingly lower prices to match or exceed on campus prices.

The lack of housing options on and off

First impressions a la CWRU Un-sCWRU your lifestyle Theresa Smetona It was one of those days on which there were more prospective students than actual students walking around campus. Everywhere you turned, there were hordes of high schoolers attempting to look cool, closely followed by their eager parents, who were preoccupied with memorizing every word that came out of their tour guide’s mouth. On this particular day, the Case Western Reserve University population, and just Cleveland in general, was doing its best to give these visitors an unforgettable first impression of the campus.

To begin with, the weather was atrocious— a completely grey sky unleashed buckets of a rain/snow/hail hybrid, and hurricane level winds rendered umbrellas useless. But more distinctive than the weather conditions were the numerous disturbances in which CWRU students took a starring role. I was a personal witness to the following two episodes, and considering the fact that I spent most of my day in the library, I’m sure that many equally notable incidents occurred on campus that day.

I was standing at a crosswalk, headphones in, and busy wishing that Bob Marley could transport me to Jamaica, or to any place where the sun actually shines. Suddenly, I heard someone scream, “You idiot!”

I ignored it. A rapid-fire succession of, “Idiot, idiot, you idiot,” and some mysterious thumping sounds followed. Hoping that the person standing behind me wasn’t addressing me and curious to know if I should risk the oncoming traffic to escape whatever was occurring behind me, I ventured to look over my shoulder. A frazzled CWRU student was standing there, violently pounding his chest and smacking his leg, accompanying this selfimposed beating with a passionately shouted refrain of “Idiot, you idiot!”

Who knows what type of grave personal crisis prompted this public display, but whatever the case, nervous parents and their children probably attributed this meltdown to the exorbitant levels of stress that the university fosters.

Shortly after, as I was walking to Einstein’s

Bros. to get my daily cup of vanilla hazelnut coffee, I noticed a human, wearing the signature green band and carrying a lethal-looking nerf gun, zoom past an astonished tour group.

Intent on outrunning a zombie hot in pursuit, and either blinded by the rain or by his fear, the poor human ran at full speed into Nord’s glass door. He was immediately knocked to the ground and his nose began to bleed profusely.

Of course, the zombie felt no compassion for the fallen warrior, and some type of scuffle/ battle ensued, and from what I gathered, the human was no longer a human by the end of it. Perhaps disoriented by his fall or fired up by the blood dripping down his face, the former human unleashed a number of expletives at his attacker, accused him of being a cheater and mentioned betrayal and other serious offenses.

Although I was quite amused by the incident, the looks on the visitors’ faces suggested that they were equally horrified and confused by what had just transpired. While the tour guide could attempt to explain Humans vs.

Zombies as a fun tradition that encourages campus spirit and promotes healthy competition among the students, the angry, blood-spattered incident that had just occurred seemed to warn the tourists that many CWRU students struggle to suppress excessive rage and have a propensity to lose their grasp on reality.

If the prospective students weren’t disturbed by either of the above occurrences, there’s no doubt that they must have noticed the many students who were not participating in Humans vs. Zombies, yet who aimlessly shuffled around with a vacant look in their eyes. Their souls appeared to have been crushed by either the weather conditions, their less than stellar G.P.As, or a multitude of other personal problems.

The good news is that those students, who, after having been exposed to such an array of oddities, still decide to enroll at CWRU. They are surely dedicated, courageous individuals who will go on to achieve great things.

Theresa Smetona is a senior majoring in Spanish and English. In her free time, she likes to drink coffee and consider the possible benefits of her future unemployment.

campus, price prohibitiveness for off-campus housing and a seeming lack of concern on the part of the university creates the aforementioned crisis.

But some will argue that the university’s efforts to build a new residence hall are indicative that they are engaged in helping students.

This is patently false. In the eight years that Case Western has had a housing deficit (more students than there is housing) the university has spent substantial funds overhauling Leutner, constructing a performing arts venue in a renovated synagogue, building a field house to complete the oval around our football field and erecting a monstrosity of a university center, the future of which is questionable and unsatisfying to date. Each of these projects could have been replaced by additional housing construction. It would have been more worthwhile to the student body.

But instead we did not. And next year, more than 1,000 undergraduates will be forced off campus. I will unhappily be one of them.

Personally, I always wondered if I would have to move away. But every time, I remember the words of my tour guide, echoed by admissions counselors, that “if you wanted housing you would always get it.” Hell, when I was a tour guide, I told students the same thing.

That’s the naiveté with which we attract our students. Maybe in the future that statement will again be true. But I can already give you examples of students to which that statement, that broken promise, is a sham.

When the university announced the construction of a new residence hall, to be completed a wonderful year after I graduate, Director of Residence Life, Janice Gerda was

quoted saying, “On-campus housing options for upperclass students are important. Sure, there are time and convenience considerations, but it’s also important for students to remain connected to friends and the fabric of the university community throughout the undergraduate experience.”

While that quote seems to suggest that Gerda and her office care about keeping everyone connected, their inability to help students and lack of haste in constructing new housing illustrate that is completely untrue. As an incoming senior there is nothing I wanted more than to have a guaranteed private place on campus to which I could go home every night; somewhere so that I could walk from the library at 3:00 a.m., and would not feel unsafe in my journey home. Thanks to Housing’s inabilities that is now impossible.

Because of this conflict, I will never again recommend this school to a prospective student. Because of this, I will never speak fondly of our university to potential donors. Because of this, I will never give a cent in donation to this university. Speaking to other students, I am not alone.

Forgetting and forsaking graduates is one thing, but forgetting and forsaking your students is another issue entirely. I look forward to the university response to this piece. And I welcome their attempts to console the already inconsolable.

Andrew Breland is a double major in political science and English, vice president of the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity and former chair of the Case Western Reserve Constitution Day Committee.

Student organization of the month SLJC awards Organization of the Month The Student Leadership Journey Council is proud to recognize its next notable student leader on Case Western Reserve University’s campus: Jonathan Siu. Siu is a senior from San Francisco majoring in psychology and economics. On campus, he is a resident assistant for the Mistletoe Residential College, President of Greek InterVarsity, a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity and a volunteer at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. In the fall, he will be attending Vanderbilt’s Peabody College pursuing a Masters in Higher Education.

Q: What outreach activities or programs have made the greatest impact on you?

A: Over the summer, I worked as a missionary in Ghana for three months. Reflecting on my field work for the past year and what I have experienced during my past three years at CWRU, I realized my true calling. The journey to Ghana was the beginning of developing my career in higher education. I would say placing myself in uncomfortable situations challenges me the most.

Q: How have your leaderships skills impacted the organizations you are involved in?

A: As a resident assistant, I learned to support the transitioning of students within the first year experience. I spearheaded a program called Bro Talk, an event providing an open, nonjudgmental environment for male students to openly speak about their values including cross cultural awareness, spirituality, sexual orientation, gender sensitivity, etc. Within the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, my position as the Membership Orientation Officer prompted me to instill full integrity toward our fraternal values for the new member classes that I was in charge. My goal has been to empower those groups in realizing their potential and their mission fields.

Q: What inspires you to be an involved leader on campus?

A: When making such decisions, I ask myself who do I want to serve and how do I want to serve them. It is as simple as that. Before you graduate, start leaving some fingerprints on CWRU. Start serving and committing. Wise words from a graduating senior.

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Let us know.

13 opinion

4/18/14

Know yourself, know happiness The meaning of Spartan life Jacob Martin What do you want? A seemingly simple question which, once posed to you, is challenging, confusing and frustrating because if you’re honest with yourself, odds are you can’t answer it easily.

So I ask: what do you want in life, in love, in the future, from school, from your friends? What do you want to do with your life? Who do you want to be? Where are you going?

These are the types of questions many of my senior friends on the brink of graduation answer right now. They struggle with the reality of being thrust into the real world without the buffer of our college campus safe haven.

I’m not graduating this May, but I’ve recently found myself inwardly asking what do I want, and I don’t believe such an exercise to be a futile pursuit at any stage of one’s life. While it appears to be a simple question, once you think about it, you realize it requires a great deal of selfawareness, personal maturity and a strong introspective character to answer honestly.

And these are qualities which require hard work, experience, patience and the

ability to look critically at oneself. Without developing these traits, true happiness will be unattainable. Sure, there will be moments of clarity and enjoyment, but overwhelming and enriching happiness won’t be sustainable.

I keep hearing people say they want to be happy. Happiness is a problematic concept with an abundance of definitions, so I’m not going to attempt to define it.

Rather I ask, if we don’t know who we are, what we believe and what we want, how can we be happy? How can we know that what we’re doing in life is right for us if we don’t know anything about ourselves?

College is a time of growth and development, but we often neglect ourselves.

For example, we work on homework assignments in order to develop the mind, network and meeting new people to develop social skills and grace and we do a number of activities we enjoy to relax and de-stress.

We consciously work to get better at each of these areas, except we don’t consciously work on making ourselves better people and developing who we are as individual human beings with wants, needs, emotions, dreams, desires, feelings and pain. We are often sloppy with our lives and take everything for granted.

Unpaid & uninvested The senior inquisition Sheehan Hannan With barely a week left of classes, I’ve spent a great deal of time contemplating my experience at Case Western, where the curtains currently pull shut.

So too is the curtain slamming shut on my internship, one I’ve had the unique privilege of partaking in for about eight months and which I will be sadly departing come graduation-time. Like so many other internships, this one is uncompensated.

Rather than offering cold, hard cash for my efforts, it was billed as an educational experience—one that wouldn’t have me making coffee runs. Indeed, I can confidently say that all coffee runs I have undertaken were to satiate my own caffeine habit, not as some sort of ritualistic induction into the world of the white collar.

I can also confirm that is has been a massively education experience, one that I would put on par with the entirety of my college education. Really. It was that good.

However, the lack of compensation has stuck in the back of my mind. For years, media internships have been unpaid; interns were rewarded for their hard work with bylines in their publication, connections with editors and a healthy pat on the head for a job well done. But recently, things have changed. Many news organizations, magazines and websites offer interns a bit of money for their work. Even Vice, nobody’s favorite gonzo grab bag, began throwing a bit of green in interns’ direction.

Regrettably, my internship was not paid, as still are countless others across the media landscape. The case for pay is a fairly easy one to make: Working an internship for 20+ hours a week is akin to a part-time job, if the job is pitched as “real work” then “real money” should be involved.

But beyond the simple argument lies a more complex one. Journalism is an industry in which gender and race remain difficult issues. Women and people of color are underrepresented, something that the current unpaid intern system reinforces.

In simpler terms, unpaid internships disenfranchise those who cannot afford to take them on through an independent income.

I was gifted with the immense privilege of

enough cash on hand to be able to quit my part timer for an entire school year, giving me the capacity to take on such an internship. But I am the exception, not the norm. For an internship to offer truly equitable opportunities to all applicants, a wage, even at the hourly minimum rate, is a must.

In both the journalism world and elsewhere, the training grounds for white-collar professions are evaporating. Unemployment for college graduates is a very real possibility. Internships, offering a foot in the door, are supposed to alleviate some of those worries, serving as a replacement for what were previously entry-level compensated positions.

But in exchange for their labor, unpaid interns are rewarded with college credit, a considerably less noteworthy entre into the big bad world of employment. Ostensibly, the education garnered from such an internship would consist of about three credit hours worth of material. But if my internship is supposed to be regarded as a class, am I allowed to only show up three days a week? Is my workday only 50 minutes long, with an extra two hours every now and then for homework?

Like in college football, in which schools reap millions from their athlete’s abilities with the compensation of scholarships, unpaid internships are painfully exploitive of a captive group of gifted young people. The corporate side of the equation is simple: It costs them nothing and in return they get quality work and the pick of a qualified pool of possible full time employees, all of them clamoring for relatively few positions.

The perks of the job (the educational experience garnered, the real-world abilities picked up, the connections forged) should be just that: perks. But in lieu of a wage, they are not perks.

They’re payment.

I will be leaving my internship happy with the results. I have learned a great deal, had fantastic coworkers and reaffirmed that writing is indeed what I want to do with my life.

But, like most everyone else, a wad of cash changing hands with a wink and a smile would brighten my day.

Sheehan Hannan is a senior English major.

He was formerly the Director of Print for The Observer and the Chairman of Media Board.

His writing has also appeared in Cleveland Magazine and Inside Business Magazine. By his count, there was only a single grandma in Positively Cleveland’s tourism video.

No matter where we all end up immediately after graduation or five, 10, 15 years down the road, we must know if we wish to be happy in whatever capacity we’re in. We must be ready for the unexpected, as well as the possibility of both success and failure.

Speaking from experience, I can say that complete control is a grand illusion that exists within man’s flawed nature. We’re in this high stakes Texas Holdem match with life. Sometimes we’re dealt amazing cards and win hand after hand without fail. We get proud, and then we think our full house of aces and kings is a sure win and we go all in, but on the flop of that fifth card life fills its royal flush and we lose everything.

This is why it’s important we know who we are and what we want. In order to come back from a baseball bat strike to the knees we need to know we will be okay, a notion which stems from surety of self. Life is not easy and no one said it would be, but the best prep work for dealing with life’s arbitrary absurdity is to explore one’s multifaceted, hyper-personal nature.

What’s most important is to start now.

Our minds are at their most supple, receptive and impressionable stage during college and we should be taking advantage of that. We should be spending at least a moment a week reflecting on ourselves and

resolving to grow as a human being.

Unfortunately, so many of us do not take that moment. We assume routines that soon become mundane and we stagnate. We continue to develop certain skills in certain areas of our lives, but our personal growth quickly falls behind the rest of our growth.

Isolated incidents of challenging or enjoyable experiences will not produce overwhelming positive results in becoming well-adjusted and flourishing individuals.

It takes gritty and uncomfortable yet deliberate and vigilant self-exploration. Fear of what we might discover, laziness and discomfort cannot detract us from this too crucial form of development.

We mustn’t be afraid of what we might find because if we never look inside we can never truly grow. We need to ask ourselves what we want in life and be prepared to get any answer. For happiness—however we define it—cannot be attained until we know ourselves and what we want.

“So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?”

—Hunter S. Thompson

Bursting the CWRU bubble

From CLE to Cape Town Heather O’Keeffe

I’ve always known rhinos were endangered, that poachers annihilate the docile animals for their valuable horns. It wasn’t until I was tracking rhinos in the Zimbabwean bush, that I realized the reality of the situation. Our guide, essentially the Steven Irwin of rhinos, passionately informed us of the direness of the rhinos’ future.

One rhino horn can sell for more than a quarter million dollars. In Zimbabwe, the minimum wage is $80 a month; for just five dollars a poacher can buy an AK-47 and try his luck at killing a rhino and winning big financially. Poaching is such an issue in Zimbabwe that park rangers and soldiers can shoot to kill poachers on site.

In the past few years, the rhino population in Rhodes Matobo National Park dwindled from 86 to just 18 and there are no signs of poachers laying off. Every month the park captures or kills between 20 and 25 poachers. Captured poachers are sentenced to 25 years in prison, which is basically a life sentence since HIV/ AIDS is so prevalent in the Zimbabwean prison system.

Crouched in tall grasses, mere meters from four rhinos, I realized I wasn’t in a national park but rather a battlefield. Human and animal blood is shed in this park every month. I couldn’t believe it. The situation was a million times worse than I ever imagined.

I was struck not only by the dismal situation but that I knew so little. What else am I completely in the dark about? The world is so vast and diverse, never stagnant, always changing. Even in Cape Town, I am experiencing the bubble effect so common to university students. Between studying, extracurriculars and hanging out with friends I am completely ignorant to the millions of pairs of shoes waiting to be walked in.

The world literally has billions of stories. There is so much to learn and discover. We should always question what we think we know: Wikipedia search a distant country, borrow a random book from a library, scour the newspaper, Netflix a film based on true events. The more ways we can break our bubbles and learn something

about the world we live in the, the better.

The best way to burst the all too familiar Case Western Reserve University or University of Cape Town bubble, is to discover the world first hand: to walk down a random street, buy a plane ticket or ask locals what they think of current events.

Did you know Zimbabwe uses American dollars because their currency crashed after inflating to more than 11 million percent? I read up on the Zimbabwean economy on Wikipedia before my trip, but buying over 50 billion Zimbabwean dollars for just two American dollars makes the facts real.

Did you know in Chinotimba, Zimbabwe, you can buy a live chicken for between six and 10 dollars to take home and kill for dinner? My mind was blown when I found out. The closest many Americans get to live chicken is a petting zoo or chicken nuggets. But in a village on the other side of the world, locals looked at me funny when I said my family buys frozen chicken.

The diversity and vastness of the world continuously takes me aback. Shoot, even the stars here are different: I can look at Orion’s Belt from here, the Southern Hemisphere. How does that happen? How does inflation breach 11 million percent?

How are rhinos being wiped off the face of the Earth and I barely even know?

No matter how hard I study or how many A’s I receive, there is so much more to know. There is no grading curve that allows worldly ignorance to pass. Even succeeding in worldly knowledge is relative, as there is always more to question and learn. The only plausible solution is to travel, whether by book or plane, and overwhelm yourself with curiosity.

The only way we can emerge from the university bubble is to break it ourselves.

The world and its stories wait to be discovered; all you need is the motivation and curiosity to seek out the world. I hope my motivation and curiosity never die.

Heather O’Keeffe is a sophomore studying biomedical engineering and sports medicine. She is currently studying at the University of Cape Town. Heather recently crossed the Botswana Zimbabwe border barefoot and nearly cried when Barcelona was kicked out of the Champions League.

observer.case.edu

sports | 15

Editor’s Choice

Men’s tennis look The Jolly Scholar cross-court toward jolly.scholar UAA championship @JollyScholar Katie Wieser Director of Print The Spartan men’s tennis team had a great weekend in Chicago, earning two more victories in one of their final matches of the regular season. The No. 10 Case Western Reserve University squad knocked off the teams from the University of Chicago and Coe to move to 13-5 on the season heading into conference championships.

The team got off to a great start versus No. 17 Chicago on Friday April 11.

The Spartans brought in victories on two doubles courts with the teams of Christopher Krimbill/Eric Klawitter and John Healey/Will Drougas. The Spartans also were able to get back to their regular line-up with Klawitter returning to singles play and contributing to one of the team’s five wins there. Other points came from Krimbill, Healey, James Fojtasek and Derek Reinbold.

All the men made a strong showing again on Saturday as they waited through harsh weather which ended up

cancelling their schedule match versus Washington University in St. Louis. Once the skies cleared, the Spartans were back on the court to face off against Coe College. The Case team took all three doubles courts and only lost one singles match, earning an 8-1 win over their opponent.

With just one match left before the University Athletics Association championships, the team is looking to gain all the ground they can. After tough losses at home, the Spartans want to earn back bragging rights and find another place in a national meet. The team could have benefited from a match versus Washington University to gauge their progress as a team before they see them at this critical meet. The Bears are currently ranked second among NCAA DIII schools and will be a tough opponent for the Spartans.

Emory and Carnegie Mellon will also provide a challenge, with both schools beating Case earlier this season. The Spartans will need to stay focused to finish well in this crowded field.

Women’s tennis battling to contend in strong UAA Katie Wieser Director of Print It was a week of ups and downs for the Case Western Reserve University women’s tennis team as they achieved their highest-ever national ranking of No. 23 on Thursday then traveled to Chicago on Friday, April 11 to face off against three tough regional opponents.

The team stayed at .500 with a win and two difficult losses against nationally-ranked rivals.

The Spartans got back to their winning ways in doubles play versus the University of Chicago, taking two of the three courts with the teams of Sarah Berchuck/Surya Khadilkar and Taylor Sweeney/Michelle Djohan bringing in points for the team. But, once again, singles were the weak point for the Spartans as they were only able to pull off two victories from Sweeney and Djohan. Two other players had a chance to pull in the necessary point in a do-ordie third set, but neither Sara Zargham nor Khadilkar were able to put the nail in the coffin for the Maroons and the Spartans fell with a score of 5-4.

Coach Kirsten Gambrell was frustrated with the loss, “We just keep showing that we’re right there–as talented and as conditioned as these top teams, but we can’t get the wins.”

The team had a chance to gain some ground in a doubleheader on Saturday versus Coe College and Washington University in St. Louis. The Spartans

played well against Coe, winning 7-1 over the weaker team. Berchuck/Khadilkar brought in another win on doubles along with the team of Lauren Rovner/ Kennedy Mulholland. All of the singles players won their matches, giving the team some confidence in this area going forward.

But the Spartans weren’t able to keep the momentum going against No. 9 Washington University. Despite another win from Berchuck/Khadilkar and strong showings from Berchuck, Djohan, Sweeney and Khadilkar in singles, the ladies fell 6-3. This was another tough loss for the Spartan team as they will face off against the Bears again in the conference championships.

The Spartans currently are among six nationally ranked teams in the UAA conference. Despite gains through the season and strong recruiting, the women will have a tough time making it to the NCAA championships this year. Teams like Emory University and Washington are continually on the top of NCAA’s DIII rankings for many sports and have traditionally excelled in tennis as well.

The Case team still has not shown an ability to beat out elite teams, but Gambrell knows that anything is possible in the post-season. “It’s easy to forget what a young team we are, having all freshman and sophomores playing against juniors and seniors from the other schools,” said Gambrell. “We hope we’ll be able to break through at conference.”

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16 | sports

4/18/14

sports Giving alumni a sense of pride Spartans sweep alumni weekend home series

The Spartans look on during the game against Bethany College at Nobby’s Ballpark on Sunday.

JP O’Hagan Sports Editor The men’s baseball team took advantage of the brief spell of beautiful weather to rush past Cleveland this weekend and sweep all four games of their home stand this weekend.

After dropping the away game against crosstown rival John Carroll University on Thursday afternoon, the Spartans exploded offensively this weekend, thriving like they have been on their home turf. The Spartans, at the time The Observer went to print, stand at 23-7 and have jumped up to a season-high national ranking of 18th. The 4-1 past week has further solidified the Spartans’ run toward a national tournament berth.

The weekend started on an early sour note, when the Spartans struggled to hold back John Carroll’s offense, as they knocked

in 10 runs in eight innings. The Spartans managed only three and took the loss, dropping to 1-1 against John Carroll on the season. The Lightning jumped out to an early lead scoring six before the Spartans were able to get on the board. The Spartans had a bit of hope when they knocked in three in the top of the seventh, but John Carroll responded swiftly scoring one in the bottom of the inning and another three in home half of the 8th. Spartan pitcher Neal Krentz picked up his first loss of the season. The Spartans will get a chance to avenge the loss in the annual Progressive Field game, when the crosstown rivals play their final game of the season at the home of the Indians.

The weekend saw a reprise of the previous weekend’s success and the Spartans again trumped their opponents this weekend scoring 29 runs while holding Washington and Jefferson College and Bethany College to a

four game combined 14 runs. This weekend was alumni weekend and the Alumni had plenty of reason to be proud. The opening game of the home stand was a nail biter as the Spartans were facing their final three outs while down by a run. The Spartans’ Aaron Cain scored the saving, tying run to save and send the game into extras off an RBI swing by Andrew Frey. The Spartans got the last laugh in the bottom of the 11th, when Cain repaid the favor and knocked the winning run off a single through the left side. Connor Tagg picked up the win, pitching in relief, and John Fortunato, who pitched a full nine innings for the Spartans, received a no decision.

The second game of the day saw the Spartans excel in offense, scoring eight and only giving up two. Jordan Swisher hit a home run, Frey had two doubles and Jordan Dague found himself on third after a beautiful hit.

The Spartans combined for 15 hits as Daniel

Arianna Wage/Observer Sondag picked up his first win of the season, striking out five.

Sunday saw a second round of offense as the Spartans played Bethany College.

A four-run third and a five-run fourth inning boosted the Spartans to a win in the first game which boosted starter Jake Shields to his fifth win of the season. Another strong set of back-to-back innings were all that the Spartans needed in the series closer, scoring two runs in the third and breaking open the floodgates knocking in six in the fourth, with team captain Ray Kelly picking up the win.

The Spartans were forced to cancel their game against the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg and instead picked up a doubleheader against Oberlin, which occurred after the Observer went to print on Thursday. The Spartans have this Easter weekend off and will return to action at Allegheny on Tuesday.

Freak snow chills Spartans

Softball’s streak broken, team roars back in second game of doubleheader David Hoffman Staff Reporter With the light snow on Monday night interfering with the schedule, the Case Western Reserve University softball team endured a relatively quiet week. The team did play a doubleheader last Saturday at Denison University, ultimately earning a split.

The first game quickly proved to be a pitcher’s duel, with Case starter Annie Wennerberg and Denison starter Rebecca Dyer matching each other pitch for pitch and trading zeroes on the scoreboard for most of the game. Unfortunately for the Spartans,

the trend wouldn’t last as Denison broke through for five runs in their half of the fifth inning. A couple of key errors by the Spartans opened the floodgates for Denison.

The critical blow came on a miscue by shortstop Makenzie Lein. With two outs and the bases loaded for Denison, Lein committed a miscue in the field that not only allowed another run to score, but also kept the rally going for the opposition. With Denison already up 2-0, the next batter, Kerry Hager, drilled a bases clearing double to extend the lead to 5-0. Dyer took it from there, as she proceeded to fire a complete game three-hit shutout for Denison as they took the opener

of the doubleheader 6-0.

The Spartans wasted little time roaring back in game two. Denison starter Lindsay Divack gift-wrapped the team a first inning run, uncorking a wild pitch with a runner on third base. They would receive another gift the next inning, as an error by Denison directly led to two more runs for the Spartans in the frame. In the blink of an eye, they had been handed a 3-0 lead and would never look back from there. In the fourth inning, the team strung together five hits and five runs to put the game out of reach. Another error by Denison opened the inning, and would be a sign of things to come. Ini-

tially, it appeared the rally might stall as the bases loaded with no outs quickly became bases loaded with two outs. Four consecutive hits later, the rally was complete. Rebecca Molnar took advantage of the ample run support, going on to pitch a complete game five hit shutout. The Spartans went on to win 8-0 in five innings to earn a doubleheader split.

The Spartans are back in action on Saturday, weather permitting, as they head to Ohio Wesleyan University to make up a doubleheader that was previously postponed.

Next Monday, they return to Mather Park for a doubleheader against Allegheny College.