Volume XLV, Issue 27: April 25, 2014

the

Case Western Reserve University volume xlv, issue 27 friday, 4/25/2014

Observer One drug claimed the lives of nearly 200 individuals in Cuyahoga County in 2013. Cleveland squares off against its

Heroin epidemic

see pg. 3 Mary Kate Macedonia/Observer

Eldred’s latest play Spartans have measures up new commander A problem play like Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” defies easy categorization. Although the story ends in marriage, like many of the Bard’s comedies, dark subject matter drives the plot.

The Theater Department’s spring production reflected this conflict well.

Occasionally the acting in this production did not stand up to the quick changes in tone, but most of the student actors played their parts well. Comedic characters like Lucio, an unprincipled gentleman played by Brett DiCello, lightened the mood. Elizabeth Huddleston, who played the novice nun Isabella, was a

convincing sister in distress to a nobleman condemned to die for fathering a child out of wedlock. As this central storyline focused on a possible beheading, the play was understandably morbid.

Death and love were equally important here, and neither was presented as purely positive or negative. Isabella preferred the idea of her brother’s death to her own corruption, and another gentlewoman loved the play’s villain so blindly that she was willing to devote her life to him. He in turn was humanized, however briefly, by his initial love for Isabella.

This production tackled one of Shakespeare’s more uneven works and succeeded in conveying the play’s thematic contradictions.

Last Friday athletics announced that Yale’s Amy Backus was named Case Western Reserve University’s newest athletic director. She will be the first woman ever in the position.

Backus, an Ohio native will officially be starting her new position over the summer, taking the reigns from current interim athletic director, Pat Kennedy.

She will be the new leader of Case’s 19 varsity sports, 14 club sports and 35 intramural activities. In addition her position oversees the required physical education classes that each student is required to take.

News

A&E

Opinion

Ellie Rambo Staff Reporter

pg. 3 Senior week tickets sold-out

JP O’Hagan Sports Editor

pg. 12 pg.5 CWRU celebrates Semester grades: colorful festival How’d CWRU do?

Finally Backus will be in charge of overseeing the coaching and staff members and of course oversees the athletic facilities, like Veale Center, Horsburgh Gymnasium, Veale Natatorium, DiSanto Field, Mather Park, Nobby’s Ballpark and the new Wyant Athletic and Wellness Center which is being built next to the village.

Backus comes to Case after over thirty years of work in collegiate athletics. She began her sporting career as a star basketball player at Vermilion High School here in Ohio. She began coaching at her college alma mater, Central Michigan University.

to Athletic Director | 18

Sports pg. 16 Doubles team and best friends

news Research ShowCASE draws hundreds to see student, faculty presentations

Mary Kate Macedonia/Observer Attendants view nearly 600 presentations at CWRU’s annual Research ShowCASE spanning subject areas from basic and applied sciences to humanities.

Brian Sherman Staff Reporter Last Friday, students and faculty had the chance to show the CWRU community their research at the CWRU Research ShowCASE, an event that took over the Veale Athletic Center with rows upon rows of presentation boards, posters and fancy attire. Graduate, professional and undergraduate students from CWRU, as well as several students from local high schools, were all welcome. A wide variety of topics were presented at the showcase.

In biomedical research, sophomore Mindy Amornwichet presented her research in which she tested a protein to deactivate Src kinase. Src kinase is a protein found in the human body that is important for cell division. However, when it isn’t regulated properly, the protein can cause adverse effects such as cancer. Amornwichet synthesized a protein called PTPN9, which can be used to regulate the kinase’s activation.

In engineering, sophomore Tyler Powell examined the properties of carbon nanotubes, polymer composites that are cheap,

New MOOC focuses on entrepreneurship Adithi Iyengar Staff Reporter Case Western Reserve University will be offering three Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, beginning in late April and early May, including one new course, “Beyond Silicon Valley: Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies,” taught by visiting Assistant Professor Michael Goldberg from the Weatherhead School of Management.

MOOCs are online courses run through coursera.com. They are free of charge and open to anyone with an Internet connection. In addition to the traditional course materials such as videos, readings and problems sets, MOOCs also provide interactive user forums that help build a community for students, professors and teaching assistants.

Goldberg’s course follows the journey of entrepreneurs from northeast Ohio and select transitioning economies around the world across the stages of building a business. It covers topics such as structuring

government and donor support for entrepreneurship, leveraging anchor institutions and raising investment capital.

“This online course will provide a path for understanding how transitioning economies around the world are working to catalyze entrepreneurship,” said Goldberg.

The class will be structured with a short session lecture format, using 10 to 12 minute documentary style videos.

Over 13,000 people have already enrolled in Goldberg’s course, which kicks off on April 28.

The other two courses, “Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence,” taught by Richard Boyatzis, and “Introduction to International Criminal Law,” taught by Michael Scharf, have both run twice already on Coursera.

In the past, CWRU’s MOOCs have performed slightly better than their other university-hosted counterparts, with seven percent of all students enrolled completing Scharf’s course, compared to the national average of four percent.

easy-to-make and extremely strong, but have a tendency to group together and lose their structural strength. Powell was able to use sound waves to separate the tubes through vibration, giving the group the strength of individual tubes.

Amornwichet and Powell were two of many presenters at the event. In total, nearly 600 presenters and 160 judges attended the event, with around 180 undergraduates participating. The range of represented subjects was substantial as well, including basic and applied sciences, natural sciences, mathematics, biomedi-

cal engineering, law and the humanities.

Many undergraduates also presented their senior capstone projects at the showcase.

Winners will be announced soon. Presenters were judged by their respective departments based on their presentation skills, understanding of the material presented, quality of the visual aids and how novel or exciting the topic was. Monetary prizes will be awarded to the top judged graduate, undergraduate and post-doctorate presenters in several different categories, as well as two audience-chosen presenters.

First-year mentoring program expanding Kushagra Gupta Staff Reporter As the director of first-year experience, Edwin Mayes’ job doesn’t stop after freshman orientation. In collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Vice President for Student Affairs Lou Stark, Mayes is helping to expand a mentoring program for underrepresented minorities in the freshman class.

The program, which began last fall, was originally only offered for Hispanic students. Fifteen first-year students were paired with mentors based on their academic major and hometown. Based on the success of this fall’s program, Mayes will be enlarging the experience for the fall of 2014, offering the program to all underrepresented minorities and quadrupling the size to include 60 first-year students and 60 mentors.

Mentors are sophomores, juniors and seniors who are chosen based on their GPA, interests and extracurriculars.

They are paid a stipend of $100 a month for their work, which includes meeting with their mentee on a weekly basis, as well as attending campus events and volunteer opportunities together.

“The mentor is an advocate, a lead for the mentee, kind of a big brother or big sister on campus to help show them the ropes and give them advice,” said Mayes.

Ultimately, the purpose of the program is to help the first-year students better understand the resources available to them on campus, including the Office of Multicultural Affairs, University Counseling Services and the Office of Student Activities and Leadership.

Using survey data, Mayes found that students in the program felt more comfortable and connected to the university after the completion of the program, which lasted until the end of their fall semester.

Due to the success of the program, Mayes and four of the mentees will be presenting at College Board’s upcoming Prepárate conference, which is dedicated to improving education for Latino students.

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From front page

Cuyahoga County tackles heroin epidemic Anastazia Vanisko Staff Reporter It’s strange to hear someone say that nearly 40 deaths from heroin overdoses in three months is an encouraging figure, but to medical examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson, it is. This morbid statistic represents a downward trend for the killer drug, which has been digging its heels into Cleveland since 2006.

In 2013, heroin overdoses killed 195 people in Cuyahoga County, almost doubling the homicide death toll and shattering 2012’s record of 161 overdoses. In another darkly enthusiastic statistic, though, the rate of increase declined. The year 2012 experienced a 50 percent increase from 2011, while in 2013 the deaths only rose by 21 percent. Still, a decrease in fatalities are what the county needs to see, not a slower rise.

So, how does the county make that into a reality? According to Cuyahoga County executive Ed FitzGerald, the most important piece of the puzzle is public awareness. In a speech on April 20, FitzGerald announced his plans to put a new protocol in place, which would include making the site of an overdose into a crime scene and tougher prosecution in criminal cases, especially for drug dealers.

“There is still a lot of work to be done,” said Fitzgerald. “We don’t have any time for complacency.”

Heroin use isn’t a new issue for Cuyahoga County, and there are many treatment options currently available. One of them, the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland, can be found only a few minutes away from the Case Western Reserve University campus, just past the Euclid-East 120th RTA station.

The Free Clinic has pioneered two innovative techniques to prevent deaths caused by heroin overdoses. Unlike most programs, Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided with Naloxone) and the syringe exchange program focus on safety, rather than rehabilitation.

Dr. Joan Papp, medical director for Project DAWN in Cuyahoga County and an emergency physician at MetroHealth, says that there are four aspects of preventing heroin-related deaths: law enforcement, effective treatment options, education and overdose prevention.

Project DAWN focuses on the last aspect: overdose prevention. The program educates community members on how to recognize the signs of an overdose.

It also provides naloxone, a drug used by medics to reverse the effects of an opiate on the body, in the form of a nasal spray to those at risk of overdosing.

Now, with the passage of Ohio House

Bill 170, naloxone can also be provided to a third party that believes he or she will possibly have to use it on a friend or family member.

The Free Clinic’s efforts aren’t without critics. Some people question giving an antidote for heroin overdose to addicts, but, as Dr. Papp points out, to receive treatment, users must survive their addiction.

Project DAWN is ensuring this happens, and the number of people they help is increasing. Dr. Papp estimates they help six to eight people a day, and, as more community members begin to trust the program, more people are beginning to come in. Dr. Papp says that the program resulted in 32 reversed overdoses in 2013, a strong measure of the program’s success.

Another program that the Free Clinic offers is the Syringe Exchange Program.

Designed as a precaution against the human immunodeficiency virus, it allows people to exchange their dirty syringes for clean ones. No one can be arrested within a 200-yard radius of the exchange site.

Critics question the wisdom of providing drug users with clean needles. As Nick Stephens, a substance abuse counselor at the Free Clinic, said, “[It’s] a weird thing because logically you’re saying, why would you give a drug addict brand new syringes?”

However, Stephens also points out that

not only does the program prevent diseases, but it is also a good tool for outreach.

Workers and volunteers develop relationships with addicts by talking to them. After developing trust, they can offer to help the users get treatment for their addiction, as well as sign them up for Medicare.

The Free Clinic also offers more traditional methods of treatment, including group and individual counseling. The amount of therapy required is dependent on the intensiveness of treatment.

The Free Clinic continues to check in on patients in 30-day intervals, even after they leave therapy. Stephens estimates a 75 percent or 80 percent success rate for the program, and says that staying in contact with former patients throughout the check-up process helps to facilitate the program’s success.

He also explains that relapse is not uncommon, and that it’s a part of the recovery process. In fact, he estimates that 50 percent, if not higher, of patients relapse, but this doesn’t mean they won’t recover.

With the expansion of the Free Clinic’s and other organizations’ programs, in collaboration with FitzGerald’s new protocol, the county may have hope in what, until now, has seemed like an uphill battle.

Gilson’s nearly 40 deaths marks the lowest deaths per quarter since 2011, and, hopefully, the downward trend will continue.

Editor’s Choice

Senior Week tickets sold out during early bird session Adithi Iyengar Staff Reporter This year, Senior Week tickets sold out surprisingly quickly, with many events closing within hours of the start of early bird ticket sales. The problem angered many seniors, who took to the Senior Week Facebook Page to express their frustration.

Early bird sales began on Monday, April 14, selling the Senior Week tickets at a discounted price. The Senior Week committee planned on selling tickets at full price starting April 21.

The committee used information about past ticket sales to decide how many tickets to offer per event. Usually, early bird ticket sales have been small, with tickets still remaining when regular sales opened.

“We did not anticipate that all the tickets would be bought during Early Bird sales,” said Gabriella Chandra, Class Officer Collective president for the class of 2014, who headed the committee.

All of the tickets for each event were available at the early bird pricing, with no

tickets reserved for when regular ticket sales opened.

“I, like other seniors who had issues, know that Early Bird tickets are a subset of tickets that are set aside to be sold at a lower price,” noted senior nursing student Allison Luoma. “I was under the impression that I had a whole week to worry about getting my tickets.”

“What angered me the most was that they refused to admit that they made a mistake,” she continued. “No one could have predicted the response they got with the increase in ticket purchases, but they could have at least apologized for falsely advertising and not making it clear.”

The Senior Week committee offered 19 events for students this year, up from 14 last year. Events include a wine tasting, a trip to Cedar Point, and a Goodtimes cruise. Tickets were sold individually for each event.

In response to the problem, the committee increased the number of tickets for some events by working with event companies and transportation venues. These extra tickets were offered starting on April 22.

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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

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news

4/25/14

New ride-sharing service Construction of new launches in Cleveland Happy Dog delayed Talia Gragg Staff Reporter Lyft, a new ride sharing service, launched in Cleveland this past weekend. The company, which debuted its new service with a parade of cars decorated in pink, fuzzy mustaches, connects users in the areas with drivers who are able to give them rides to their chosen destination. As the company says, “Lyft is your friend with a car.”

Users can download the Lyft app for free from the Apple and Android app stores, which will start them off with two weeks of free ride credits through Lyft’s Pioneer Program. Once they have the app, anyone in need of a ride is shown current cars available, and can choose the one nearest them. Before committing to a ride, the user gets to see a picture of both the driver and the car, and previous ratings of the driver.

Once the user picks a ride, they’re encouraged to hop in the front seat and make a friend while they’re heading to their destination. Although Lyft drivers are not professional drivers, the company does a full background check on every applicant.

Once the ride is over, both riders and drivers give a rating on their ride companion. This allows Lyft to remove bad drivers from the program. Similarly, the rider rating lets the company and the drivers know which customers are problematic and should be ousted from the service.

The cost of taking Lyft is relatively low. The pickup fee is $1.98, with an additional $1.80 per mile and 20 cents per minute. There is a minimum fare of $5.00. Users enter their credit card information directly into the app and pay electronically. Even tips are done through the app, so no cash is necessary.

Gabrielle Buffington Staff Reporter Plans to turn the Euclid Tavern into a new location for the famed Happy Dog restaurant may take longer than expected due to co-owner Sean Kilbane’s death in February, but hot dog lovers shouldn’t be worried as the owners still hope to have the new spot open in the fall. No concrete dates have been set yet, however.

The Happy Dog on Detroit Avenue is one of Cleveland’s legendary spots. In a city known for its culinary variety, the home grown and locally owned restaurant is famous for the unique dishes it offers—notably its quarter pound hot dogs and sausages—as well as the wide array of music people can listen to while stuffing their faces and guzzling drinks.

The calendar for Happy Dog’s live per-

formances is extensive. The line-ups contribute to the restaurant’s popularity, and keep the place packed.

So packed, in fact, that, last November, the owners decided to create a second location. Kilbane was very excited about revitalizing the Euclid Tavern into another Happy Dog. There were hopes to complete this remodeling in March, but, because of Kilbane’s death, the old Euclid Tavern is still standing.

Kilbane died from injuries sustained from falling down the stairs of the original Happy Dog location. He was a musician who was influential in the vibe that the Happy Dog promotes. He was responsible for bringing in many of the bands that have performed there, and was excited at the prospect of doing it all over again in a brand-new location.

He was known throughout Cleveland as a food connoisseur and music enthusiast.

Student-Run Free Clinic to offer social work services Tara Tran Staff Reporter “To serve, to learn, to collaborate.”

These are the three principles leading the Student-Run Free Clinic’s mission.

Ever since October of 2011, the SRFC, located in the Free Medical Clinic of

Greater Cleveland, has provided free, acute care during walk-in hours on Saturdays. Now, the clinic is expanding its services to also include social work.

The new social work services will include help with Medicaid and other government-sponsored health insurance, as well as health education and

mental health referrals. As with all students who work at the clinic, these students will be trained and supervised by licensed and practicing instructors.

The clinic is staffed by volunteer students from the university’s medical and nursing schools, who offer acute-care and work physicals for their uninsured

patients. Volunteers for the new social work sector will be students from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.

This addition derives from the SRFC’s goal to not only help those that need medical care, but also to help students excel and get experience in their profession.

opinion Editorial

Did we pass?

With finals approaching, per Observer tradition, it’s time to turn the tables and hand out this year’s grades.

Student Involvement/Initiatives — C CWRU students have been busy accomplishing great things. We’ve seen a number of newly recognized Undergraduate Student Government organizations including Nursing Students Without Borders, Chabad Student Club, Salsa Dance Club and the Feminist Collective.

Attendance at Spot Night and Thwing Tuesdays has been up, and new social events Winterfest and the Yule Ball drew packed houses. Last week’s spring Research ShowCASE saw student participation with notable advances in their respective academic fields, demonstrating the ambition and diligence of the CWRU student spirit. In many ways, we were impressed.

On the other hand, apathy for this institution’s success has still been pervasive among students, especially in terms of running for positions in Student Executive Council member organizations, one of the most crucial student representative groups on campus. Most of USG’s offices went uncontested in their spring elections. On top of that, all positions for the Class Officer Collective (except a freshman presidential spot marred by controversy) only featured one candidate. And media organizations like The Observer are not immune to the problems either. Positions for our own umbrella organization, the University Media Board, also saw only a single candidate run for each post. How can campus governmental groups be truly representative of the student body when the student body doesn’t make an effort to be represented?

Unfortunately, the apathy is not limited only to involvement in student groups; it extends further. While student attendance and turnout at events was up, involvement in dialogue about campus issues was almost nonexistent. Letters to the editor in this paper were sparse, and attendance to the Provost’s Tuition Forum was a whopping 14 students. So even though students were involved with a number of extracurriculars and seemed to be interested in attending events, the lack of passion for their greater situation at CWRU was an equalizer.

Construction — C Case Western Reserve University students are constantly dodging orange barrels, marked off areas and blocked sidewalks.This year is no exception. There are currently five building projects currently in progress on campus: the 89,000-square-foot Tinkham Veale University Center; a medical education building in partnership with Cleveland Clinic; a seven-story, 50,000-square-foot think[box] innovation lab; the Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center at The Temple-Tifreth Israel; and the 24,000-square-foot, twostory Wyant Athletic and Wellness Center. Wow, that’s a mouthful.

While we appreciate these efforts and the new infrastructure, are the millions of dollars being spent on these capital improvement really benefiting students? Why isn’t money being spent on things like residence halls or lab improvements, things that would have direct impact improving the student experience? Why is the TVUC called “university” center and not a “student” center? Where does the project’s interest really lie? Are these projects merely feeding egos and serving as something to put on an advertising packet?

The question of construction on campus is a bit sticky. On the one hand, we need to expand and respond to a growing student population, but on the other hand, university resources could have been directed at bettering pre-existing services and rehabbing crumbling structures. Yet the presence of new and innovative buildings on campus is a fun prospect. Only time will tell if CWRU has hit the mark.

Day to Day Student Experience — B Student life at Case Western Reserve University has seen a good deal of improvement this year. Food is always a bone of contention among undergraduates, but there have been consistent upgrades here. Bon Appétit, CWRU’s food management company, has been taking suggestions from students and responded to a demand for later dining options on the south side by extending the hours of Fribley Commons on Sunday through Thursday until midnight. The food seems like it will always need some improvement, but the fact that some departments are implementing feedback from students is a major step in the right direction.

Transportation also took major steps forward. Along with the arctic temperatures blowing through campus this winter came extra shuttles, including a Cleveland Heights pilot program.

Additionally, Greenie routes have been extended to include a Kelvin Smith Library stop.

This year has been an experiment in student life. The university has done a good job in meeting the demands and desires of students in terms of logistics and ease of living. Work is still needed in regards to housing issues, however.

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.

University Administration Transparency — D On a number of issues, when The Observer approached administrators, it was met with resistance and dragging of feet. Admissions numbers were initially withheld when asked for, a columnist was tossed around Adelbert Hall for over six months when he requested a meeting with President Barbara R. Snyder, and it was only after criticism that the university responded to any requests. The Observer maintains its claim that many CWRU administrators practice ‘selective transparency.’ We understand the need for discretion in certain matters, but we also believe that students have a right to know what the administration is doing. After all, with an estimated typical first year budget of $60,125 for the 2014-2015 academic year, students not only have a right to ask questions, but they deserve robust answers. We’re paying.

Isn’t clear communication with the group who is cutting the check a no-brainer?

In addition, we felt that The Daily’s handling of Dean Lawrence Mitchell’s resignation from the School of Law was ill-advised, and misleading. The decision to support Mitchell’s tenure as dean and highlight his “gains achieved during [his] leadership,” like “forging educational partnerships with nearly two dozen schools around the globe” and “enhanc[ing] the diversity of the student body” was perplexing to say the least considering that the former dean is embroiled in a lawsuit brought forward by a fellow School of Law Professor Raymond Ku involving the sexual harassment of female coworkers and then a pattern of retaliation against those who reported it.

However, we cannot issue a failing grade with a clear conscience. The Observer eventually did obtain the information it wanted and its senior opinion columnist was granted a meeting with President Snyder. But these ends do not excuse the difficulty it took to attain them.

University Prestige — A CWRU kept its 37th spot on US News and World Report’s annual national college ranking list. We were ranked 4th in the Washington Monthly’s guide to colleges that contribute to the national good in 2013. And, on top of being the best university in the state of Ohio, some graduate programs hold high national rankings. These include health law at No. 3, social work at No. 8, and the School of Medicine ranked as 23rd in the nation. But more important than the rankings is the spike in applications, a sign that prospective students are as impressed as our rankers. Applications have risen over 150 percent since 2012, and since the university’s size has remained fairly constant, the acceptance rate has fallen as a result.

In simple terms, CWRU is becoming an increasingly more selective institution.

Additionally, financially, CWRU received $861 million in gifts to its Forward Thinking: The Campaign for Case Western Reserve University initiative as of June 30, 2013, $14 million in gifts from the Board of Trustees. Gifts to the annual fund also set a new all-time record of $10.3 million. This reflects the faith and loyalty of alumni and patrons of the institution alike.

Overall, CWRU has done a superb job maintaining a competitive and forceful presence in the national academic arena and we applaud our university’s efforts in this regard.

Return On Investment— B CWRU is expensive and it keeps on getting more expensive with every 3.25 percent tuition increase. This development begs the question, is a CWRU worth its high price?

We’d answer this question with a “yes.” CWRU Class of 2013 graduates made an average of $12,000 more than average college graduating counterparts. CWRU’s $56,400 average starting salary ranked an impressive 68th highest out of thousands of other U.S. universities.

CWRU was in similar territory to University of California, Irvine, and ranked above the prestigious John Hopkins University and New York University.

But there is still room to improve. Comparison to CWRU’s typical rival, Carnegie Mellon University, which has a similar, albeit a slightly greater engineering profile, didn’t show much promise. CMU graduates rake in an average of $76,504, close to $20,000 greater than CWRU newly graduate. Yes, CMU students are typically more likely to major in STEM fields, which usually have a greater earning potential so the stats are a bit skewed. But $20,000 is admittedly a large gap, and a concerning one.

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established in 1969 by the undergradute students of case western reserve university executive editor & publisher KATHLEEN WIESER director of design MEREDITH DYKEHOUSE director of web & multimedia KYLE PATTERSON director of print MIKE MCKENNA director of business operations BENCE TAMAS advertising & marketing manager COLE MORRIS account manager JAMES VELETTE digital publicity & communications manager JESSICA YANG news editor JULIA BIANCO a&e editor ANNE NICKOLOFF news layout HEATHER HARGROW opinion editor JACOB MARTIN a&e layout AMBER ALBERGOTTIE sports editor JP O’HAGAN sports layout EDWIN LO multimedia editor MARY KATE MACEDONIA opinion layout CHRISTINA CHENG copy editors JENIECE MONTELLANO, ELLIE RAMBO distributor SAGE SCHAFF advisor BERNIE JIM

13 opinion

4/25/14

Well, that just happened A fresh perspective Stephen Kolison Yes, we have finally made it to the article I have been waiting to share: My year in review. It is weird to realize that the first fourth of my journey through college is just about done. Sadly, my memory is absolute crud and I cannot remember specific events to save my life.

I am glad to have gotten the chance to write for The Observer because each article serves as a little snippet to my first year here at Case Western Reserve University. Though I cannot remember many occurrences, I do feel like something is different. And maybe, I hope, the freshman class can agree with me that this has been a year of change, whether it be physical or mental. So here it is, the four biggest things I’ve learned from college.

First, the amount of awkward encounters you have with people, will double by the time you finish first semester. Remember that guy you so were going to get coffee with? Or that girl you so were going to be best friends with after Orientation? Remember how you pretty much stopped talking to them by the time we left for Thanksgiving? Well, here they come walking down the Binary Walkway and you definitely made eye contact.

Let’s be real now. A majority of the people we talked to at the beginning of the year are definitely not the people we talk to now. It is a part of growing up. We find the people that work with us well and we also learn how to interact with others on a grown-up level. This isn’t high school anymore. We have matured and learned that you cannot run from awkward situations. You have to face them and only hope that the encounter will not be so awkward that it should be in a sitcom.

Second, whatever you do, do not take what people say to you at face value.

This should especially count for the beginning of the semester. When someone says, “Oh, I would never stoop to that level!” or “Oh, I will never be that basic or that ratchet!” They will probably do something really ratchet or really basic.

However, I am aware that I am throwing stones from my big, glass house. I can be pretty stupid sometimes as well.

You’ll be surprised when you realize that the amount of things you said you’d do don’t match up to the things you actually did. Half of us came in pre-med.

How many of us actually stuck with it?

There is a reason why adults tell you that you will probably change your major. I was against that notion from the beginning. But there is no point in forcing something to work.

Third, you need to be happy with yourself and your decisions. I came into college wanting to please everyone.

You spend so much time worried about everyone else and lose yourself in the process. Many of the elderly list their biggest regret as never doing what they truly wanted to do. Last time I checked, only you can live your own life. Yes, everyone will have their own two cents about how you should be going on with your life. And yes, sometimes that advice will be good advice. Let’s be real again, how much of that advice was actually helpful? We are now making decisions that will affect us for the rest of our lives. Some of the people that give us that advice play only a small role in the 70-plus years we are expected to live. Why should they get the final word? Just do you. Just doing you is tough as hell because it requires you to be honest with yourself, and doing what others tell you to do is easier than facing the difficulties of having to go off your own accord. Shouldn’t the hope that we can make it doing it our way be enough motivation to just go out there?

Lastly, it is okay to be a burnt mess. I coined that phrase my first week here at CWRU. It is just one level above being a hot mess and one level below being a cremated mess. Being at your wit’s end

13.04% 15.22% 17.39% 54.35%

I feel neutral about it.

No, it should not be legalized in any case.

Yes, both medical and recreational use should be legal.

Yes, but only for medical use.

Stephen Kolison has finally declared a double major in Cognitive Science and Psychology. But he is still “preunemployment.” He is also a member of IMPROVment. In his free time, he knits while watching Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones.

The End

State Your Case Do you think Ohio should legalize marijuana?

is kind of nice. When you’re in the moment, it is of course a terrible experience. Stepping back from the situation, you can see that you have nowhere else to go but up. For the rest of our adult lives, things are only going to get messier. The fact that we are learning how to handle it now means that we are just getting stronger. Strength means picking up the pieces of our shambled lives and keep going.

Well, it has been real, Case Western.

I have to thank L3, Hulu, Denny’s and KSL for being my truest friends for the past several months. I have had my days where this school and I did not get along.

I also have had my days where I love college like I love my Denny’s. What I love about CWRU is that it forced me to either sink or swim. Though I’m not sinking or swimming, I am somewhere in-between. Floating through the rest of the semester doesn’t seem that bad right now. Maybe then I can float into the Sophomore Slump.

The senior inquisition Sheehan Hannan I’ve reached the end. It doesn’t feel like the end, but if all goes well over the next few weeks, I will be departing from the world of education into that of the educated. It’s a bittersweet departure.

There are many things about Case Western Reserve University that I will miss, and others that I will not. Here, I’ve become a fullfledged person. I’ve learned to communicate and build, organize and lead. I’ve learned to write and read critically, move ideas from inception to execution.

I will not miss my student loan debt. I know it sure as hell won’t miss me.

I won’t miss the structure of education.

Learning is an exercise in passion, in pursuing a higher level of understanding motivated by a thirst for knowledge. In an ideal world, the diploma is not the ultimate achievement; it’s a signpost, not the goal. But in a world where the bachelor’s degree is rapidly becoming simply a prerequisite, education becomes more about pushing through grades and assignments than exploring. It saps the energy out of what should otherwise be a joyous activity.

I will miss my fellow students, many of whom I have the privilege of calling friends.

In group assignments, in class discussions and student groups, I have met incredible, talented and multifaceted people. If you take a second to look around, you’ll find people doing things that will blow your mind—from music to publishing to engineering, there are students here with ideas, creativity and immense kindness.

I will miss the down time of student life.

No other profession fits so easily with my Netflix-watching schedule.

I won’t miss the stress of overlapping and contradictory deadlines brought on by too much leisure time. Read: procrastination.

I will miss The Observer. Those long nights spent squirreled away in a musty room in the basement of Thwing Center gave me purpose and perspective. It launched me on a career path that I never thought possible.

It made me who I am, and the memories acquired there will live close to my heart.

I will not miss the endless construction.

Since I arrived here, some construction project or another has been tearing up walkways and fields around campus. Construction may be visually pleasing—I must confess, the upcoming University Center is appealing in a minimalist way—but it is not the way to grow a university. Invest in staff, in talent and in worthwhile projects. True, outdated buildings must be done away with, but construction is not an investment in work, it’s an investment in appearance.

I will miss, of all things, the English Department. Though it may seem a little hodgepodge at times, with faculty covering everything from journalism to film under one umbrella, the department’s wonderful professors gave me a level of mentorship and feedback that I am truly unworthy of. I have read books both fantastic and terrible, and written similarly disparate papers, but along the way I found an academic home base.

Though I won’t be leaving Cleveland, I will miss CWRU. For better or worse, my student experience here has defined me and molded me, as I expect it has for my fellow graduates. Our beloved school will go with me into the world, even as I leave it, and for that I will be forever grateful.

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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.

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Where’s the outrage The elephant in the room Andrew Breland Over the last two week, eight different professors have approached me about student issues on campus. Academics, growing up in the protest-philic 1960s, expect students to be involved and engaged with the campus environment and issues that directly affect the university.

Specifically, I have been asked about student opinions on housing, grades, food, apathy, cost of education and an unresponsive administration. The first among these conversations triggered my column last week. The mass of the rest happily end the year for me with a single question: Where’s the outrage?

The professors who approached me each asked some variation of the question, “Where’s the student response?” In the face of rising tuition costs, housing shortages and an administration increasingly resistant to student complaints, it appears students seem to have retreated into the shadows, permitting the administration to reign unfettered by complaints and student protest.

Student disengagement and uninvolvement is not a new thing though. In 2007, columnist Rick Perlstein wrote an essay for the New York Times Magazine where he attacked college student apathy. Recounting a conversation with University of Chicago students, Perlstein recalled the traditional college experience:

“bucolic images of a mystic world apart, where 18-year-olds discover themselves for the first time in a heady atmosphere of cultural and intellectual tumult.” But then the students he spoke with, whom he calls radicals, describe their wonder aloud, “how long the admissions office thought it could get away with [their façade] before students started complaining they’d been swindled.”

The image Perlstein projects is one where college students are promised intellectual engagement and diversity, but instead are subjected to monotonous, backbreaking work that prevents all opportunity for student opinions and action.

It’s not exactly the same scenario, but this argument is not exactly novel either.

Our university and our situation put us in a unique position to examine student apathy though. This year, I have published articles on housing, greek life, the library, SAGES and intellectual diversity on our campus. Other authors in this paper have examined similar issues, adding notably: admissions diversity, international students, sexual violence and administrative unresponsiveness. But none of these issues have promoted student response or outrage.

Beyond issues right here on our own campus, Case Western Reserve University is central to nationwide conversations on academic freedom, sexual harassment prevention and admissions. President Barbara R. Snyder emailed all of campus over Winter Break detailing the univer-

sity’s hard and fast response to a proposed academic boycott of Israel. In response to a Department of Education directive, the university has sponsored talks and become a hotbed of debate over new sexual harassment definitions and requirements.

Just this week, affirmative action has become a nationwide issue again. Each of these issues is something students could be involved in protesting. A quick Google search of any of them brings details that would stir even the most complacent souls. But student are not involved.

The problem extends beyond simply the academic too. In class this week, a professor posited “How many students on this campus know what’s going on in Ukraine?” Her answer: “I don’t think there are very many.” The largest human rights and geopolitical conflict of the last century has attracted hardly any attention at a top40 research university.

It’s hardly a novel statement among students when you say that students at CWRU are apathetic and don’t care about issues other than their homework.

That’s a statement you hear often among the student body. That being said, a statement students hear as normal, professors deride as hilarity.

This year, I have had the great privilege of talking to professors across disciplines in the university. I have spoken with administrators about their plans for CWRU. In all of these interactions, I have too often felt that students are less engaged than the adults running the institution.

To some extent, this makes sense. Administrators are paid to manage the university as a business. But as students, CWRU will follow us for the rest of our lives. Our resumes, CVs and experience will be forever influenced by our experience at school. What happens during your four years at school will forever matter. It makes more sense to influence and craft a college experience than to simply go along with the status quo.

Or maybe this column will fall on deaf ears. Maybe, this will be a self-fulfilled prophecy and the apathetic CWRU students will continue their apathy by ignoring calls to action and continuing in a life of monotony. Hopefully, that will be false.

Hopefully this serves as a wakeup call to students who want to get involved or change things—because you can.

This is not to say there are not students who actively try to change campus, who actively try to shape their college experience. Too often, these people are attacked as annoying gadflies who are there to pad their resumes. While this accusation may have some truth to it, I honestly believe that those individuals who try to better the community are doing so for selfless reasons. Those people just are not the campus majority.

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.

Find what you love, do it and never stop The meaning of Spartan life Jacob Martin As I sit before my computer, my fingers typing the words you are currently reading, I must admit that I really don’t know what I want this final piece of the year to say. Whatever ensues may be a bit tangential, abstract and esoteric, but I think there is merit in retrospective philosophizing from time to time.

I have been writing in this space for seven months. Did I accomplish anything with my words this year? Have I done anything other than litter the opinion section with irrelevant anecdotal ramblings?

Do you even care?

When you think about this newspaper, the audience is the Case Western Reserve University campus community. That is a decent potential readership including all students, faculty and staff, as well as local residents who may pick up a copy and peruse these pages.

I know only a small fraction of these people actually do read The Observer.

Furthermore, every installment I write for my column is only a single work, part of the entire body of works which make up the paper. It’s easy to think that all the

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the

words I’ve written here are insignificant and any effort I’ve put forth is futile.

What about you? What about your pursuits, academic or extracurricular? Has what you’ve done this year meant anything? Were your efforts futile?

Futility: a fascinating concept. Perhaps pursuing these questions is what’s futile because if we believe that what we’ve done this year has been an honest reflection of who we are and what we want, then what we do is anything but futile.

I believe I’ve done something valuable beyond measure writing this column week after week because I love writing it.

I believe any student who has done what they love this semester has done something valuable beyond measure.

Have you done what you love this year? Have you done something radically different from what you’re used to, acted spontaneously or stepped outside your comfort zone and thrived within it? Have you enjoyed the year, its ups and downs, triumphs and failures? Have you grown as a student, as a human being?

The end of an academic year is a tumultuous and stressful time to say the least, but it can also be inspiring and cathartic. It marks a culmination of all the work we’ve done and the beginning of a new chapter in life. But in order to rec-

the

ognize the inspirational catharsis at the end of any extended diligent period of time, we must be acutely self-aware and proactive, looking back on the year and consciously entering into a new period of reflection.

So I ask you again, have you done what you love this year? Have you grown as an ever-evolving and supple human being?

When I critique myself, I did things I loved but I failed miserably in a majority of areas.

And that’s the beauty of life: the propensity to fail and the ability to. That’s what makes life worth living. But we need to be willing to transcend our default settings of egoism, narcissism, even solipsism. We need to be compassionate and empathetic people willing to stare into the eyes of our souls and be our harshest critics.

When we go through semester finals, it’s as if life stops. We cease being humans and assume some android form set with the task of completing our work at all costs. Our campus looks like an extension of humans vs. zombies—where the zombies have clearly won.

Is this what college should reduce us to, androids and zombies? We aren’t just nonhuman bodies of genetic mass merely floating about our campus, like the fat, scared skunk I often see wobbling aim-

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lessly, grazing by moonlight around the lawn of Guilford House late at night on my way back to north side from KSL. Sadly, this is how we act. But why?

When finals have ended and summer vacation begins, CWRU will become a distant memory almost instantaneously.

But as we distance ourselves from this place, we can’t waste our time. Just because classes have ended doesn’t mean we are no longer students and learning ends.

Whatever you’re doing this summer, make time to reflect on who you are. Ask yourself tough questions and discover what drives you. Learning doesn’t just take place in the classroom, and there are always things to learn about ourselves.

If you haven’t been doing what you love, start now. If you haven’t thought about what you want in life and who you are, start now. If you are dissatisfied with anything in your life and are seeking change, start now. Resolve to come back rested, more self-aware, enlightened and ready to work. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Find what you love, do it and never stop.

“Do what you love. Know your bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.” —Henry David Thoreau

f cwruobserver @CWRUObserver observer.case.edu

arts & entertainment CWRU crowds flock to biggest Spot Night of the year Charlie Topel Staff Reporter Last week, The Spot saw a night of rap, with three artists who each brought their own style to the stage.

This Spot Night was actually the second scheduled appearance for the headliner, Danny Brown, a rapper from Detroit who has released two critically acclaimed albums in the past couple of years. Due to the large expected turnout (and the rowdiness of the crowd when Brown had to cancel his first appearance), University Program Board ramped up security and brought out metal barriers. Even before the first opener took the stage, it was obvious that the crowd would be massive for the tiny venue.

The first act, ZelooperZ, took the stage without much introduction. His style of rap evoked Tyler The Creator and the OFWGKTA crew: loud production with weird-for-thesake-of-weird aesthetics and lyrics. Most of his lines were delivered while he was walking around on stage, his gaze raised to the ceiling, giving the effect of white discs where his eyes should have been.

ZelooperZ’s act, as a whole, functioned well as an opener. While his lyrics didn’t turn any heads and his DJ seemed to be more enthusiastic than him, his short set helped set the tone for the night.

The second opener, C-Ro Del-Fresco, ended up being the biggest surprise of the night. His DJ, who I recognized from the crowd earlier, introduced Fresco and his crew with an incredible energy and an infectious chant of “FRES-CO,” which was popular enough to be started by the crowd between almost every song.

One of the most charming qualities of “Team Fresco” was their genuine enthusiasm for performance, which was apparent even before they took the stage. Fresco’s DJ went around introducing himself to much of the early crowd, expressing gratitude for ev-

Mary Kate Macedonia/Observer Rapper Danny Brown performs at his explosive Spot Night show. eryone showing up to see Fresco, while acknowledging the fact that many were there just for the headliner.

Team Fresco, however, stole the show.

Their passion and excitement about the music got everyone in the audience cheering.

Towards the end of their set, they brought out a handful of students who were responsible for bringing them to Spot Night, and Team Fresco celebrated and danced with them.

Even when faced with a heckler, Fresco and his crew responded with high emotions and had the majority of the audience on their side.

Once Fresco’s set drew to a close, he humbly introduced the headliner, the famous Danny Brown. Immediately, the crowd exploded in happiness, pushing against the metal barriers holding them back. Brown, being arguably the most famous Spot Night headliner of the year, drew a shockingly large crowd for the setting.

After the introduction, Brown wasted no time diving right into his unique style of rap: higher pitched vocals mixed with brutally honest—and sometimes silly—lyrics, assisted by high energy production. Brown was a

hit with the crowd for the whole night, playing most of his popular songs with the crowd loving every minute of it.

While Brown was supposed to come earlier in the year, this felt like the perfect time for his Case Western Reserve University debut. The wait only got the campus more excited for Brown’s antics. All in all, the night of rap was a nice change of pace from the typical indie rock and pop that tends to dominate Spot Night. And judging from the huge attendance and the constant chants, I doubt it will be the last.

Revenge through film “The Dirties” explores high school violence

Winston Eng Contributing Reporter On April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold created a fire bomb and a multitude of explosives to distract government officials as they murdered 13 civilians, injured 24 additional students, and then committed suicide. On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, shot and killed 32 people, wounded an addition 17 and committed suicide shortly thereafter.

These two events known colloquially as the “Columbine Massacre” and “Virginia Tech Massacre” stand as two of at least 31 mass shootings in the U.S. since 1999.

It is the unfortunate prevalence of unexpected homicides that has spurred debates about the effects of violent video games, the gun control regulation, the scripted use of antidepressants and most importantly the often isolating subculture of American high schools.

In writer and director Matt Johnson’s movie “The Dirties,” bullying is a deeply important issue as two high school students are subjected to overwhelming animosity from their peers. From verbal harassment to physical assault, Matt and Owen are constantly harassed by a group they call “The Dirties,” and despite hearing the duo’s desperate pleas for the abuse to cease, “The Dirties” refuse to stop their cruelty. Finding comfort in film, Matt decides to create a revenge flick outlining a plot where the pair kill these bullies and save everyone from their evil tyranny.

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While Owen sees this as an assignment for their film class, Matt sees it as a more realistic opportunity and increasingly pursues actions to actually eliminate those who haunt his life.

“The Dirties” is a film that seeks to demonstrate what exactly drives a person to commit violent behavior and, more important, how easy it is to be oblivious to this progression. Matt gradually disintegrates until he can’t distinguish fact from fiction, which mirrors the audience’s inability to bifurcate the two states of mind well.

We see the events unfold through a third-party character who is rarely addressed. Through the use of this silent vantage point, Johnson allows the audience to take up an immersive role and feel partially responsible for the actions that take place in what feels like real time.

It is the mixture of actors and real high

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school students that demonstrates the gray line the film draws between what is fantasy and what is reality. Best described by the adage “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” this “blind-eye” mentality disturbs the audience as we seek to affirm that if we were in Owen’s shoes, we would have noticed sooner and subsequently acted more wisely in preventing Matt from developing into what he became.

Those familiar with Julia Loktev’s “Day Night Day Night,” which focuses on a fictional Times Square suicide bomber, or Gus Van Sant’s “Elephant” which was based in part on the Columbine Massacre, will find “The Dirties” to be in the same realm of thought-provoking and reality-based mass murder stories. Fans of Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” are encouraged to seek this film out as well.

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Pass the suds…

From Little Mountain Brewing Company Author’s Note: Warm sunshine streams down upon my laptop while an orchestra of birds singing around me fills my ears. I sip a light colored Helles Bock from my pint glass at the Short.

Sweet. Film Fest.; porch drinking weather is finally here!

My favorite summer activities include attending music festivals, going to the beach, and of course traveling, which often times includes brewery exploration. But one of my favorite summer activities is simply sitting on my porch and sharing a beer with a friend.

Time slows down and for that moment all your cares are centered on beer, sunshine, and most importantly, friendship.

For me, having a beer has always been a ritual of companionship. It is a great way to pass the time with anyone. Don’t get me wrong, I love drinking beer, but I equally love just taking the time out of your busy day to chat with a friend, relative, or a stranger sipping a brew by his or herself at a bar.

Many of us have intentionally or unintentionally participate in what I like to call “overly-serving yourself.” I would be lying if I said I have not partaken in this myself.

But at the end of day, many of my favorite memories have been having only a few beers with someone who has been close to me for a long period of time. I have made wonderful long-lasting friendships this way.

After reading my articles for the past semester I ask that you take the time to slowly sip and appreciate beer. People put a lot of time and energy in making what you are sipping. I also ask you try to drink local brews instead of large, commercial, American concoctions. That goes for food, too.

Mike Suglio Staff Reporter Last November the first brewery in my hometown of Mentor, Ohio, opened. Little Mountain Brewing Company is a small threebarrel brewery with a lot of heart and a lot of potential to grow.

Brewmaster, Bob Weber, started home brewing in the early 1990’s before eventually becoming the main brewer at Little Mountain, which was originally in Kirtland, Ohio. The bar was rather small and could only seat seven people at a time, which led them to a bigger space in Mentor.

Considering that the brewery is hidden behind a Wendy’s and a carpet store, it’s a good idea to map out your travels before departure.

The inside consists of a simple wooden bar with a large stage.

Red and greens walls represent the city’s two big high school rivals. The red represents my alma mater, Mentor High School, and green is for Lake Catholic.

As I sat at the bar I was handed a extensive and descriptive beer menu. This menu not only described the types of beer on draft but all of the beers the brewery has had in the past, which they may bring back. The bartender gave me delicious, garlic-flavored popcorn as I read.

On the opposite side of the bar were several small batch brew kettles. Similar to other breweries, you and a group of friends can brew any of Little Mountain’s signature beers. However, Little Mountain also allows you the option to bring your own beer recipe and will help you brew this beer.

Little Mountain had twelve different house beers on draft. The Two Fisted Mister IPA is brewed with Perle, Columbus and Cascade hops, according to the extensive beer menu. This IPA had a rye taste that was not overpowering, which made this beer a lot lighter and more pleasant than most rye beers.

The Bock was rather strong at eight percent alcohol by volume (ABV) and was deep brown in color. It had tastes of chocolate and biscuits and was flavorful and delicious. The #6 porter was a solid beer with a deep brown color and a coffee taste, like most porters.

My favorite beer at this brewery was the

Mike Suglio/Observer Little Mountain Brewing Company is the first brewery to open in Mentor, Ohio.

Winter Storm. This Belgian Cream Ale was rich in vanilla and butterscotch flavors. It was sweet and light despite being a winter beer, making it a good alternative to the heavy, winter ales most breweries produce.

The Nine Tails IPA was an exceptional IPA. Despite having a seven percent ABV, this ale was not too dry or hoppy and was brewed with Chinook, Cascade and Columbus hops. This beer was immediately a winner in my book as it is the only beer I have ever had that shares a name with a Pokémon.

I enjoyed drinking the Octoberfest in the spring. Like any good October beer, it was light and malty and did not have too much flavor but, of course, would have been perfect to drink out of a beer boot. The Chocolate Stout was a good stout but did not have too strong chocolate or coffee tastes.

Local, craft beer is often more expensive than the typical American domestic, but quality always trumps quantity. It is often more valuable in the long run to spend a little more for a better product.

As Case Western Reserve University students, I’m sure you were tempted to pursue cheaper education, but instead you pushed for higher quality.

Porch drinking weather means the end of the school year, and the end of this series of articles. With two breweries opening in Ohio City this summer, Hansa Import Haus and Platform Brewery, and the Hofbrauhaus opening soon in Playhouse Square there may be more articles to come over the summer or the fall. I know of a few other breweries opening within this school year, but I have been sworn to secrecy.

And with that I leave you with my final brewery review of this school year.

Cheers.

Mike Suglio/Observer

After ruining my palate with the stout I took a break and sampled the food. The chips and cheese dip were great bar food.

The chips were nice and warm and not too salty. The cheese was hot, gooey, and made from Gouda cheese and their KGB beer. The dip also had pieces of bacon in it, instantly making it even better.

The chicken wings were phenomenal.

They were large, full wings and according to the server weighed 1.5 pounds. I believed this, as there were more than enough wings to share with two people. I chose the Maple BBQ flavor which was a perfectly sweet and spicy wing sauce.

My second favorite beer at Little Mountain was the Mad Hornet. This American Pale Ale had a sweet honey taste. Like the Winter Storm, this beer was not too hoppy or dry; I wish I had some of this beer for porch drinking.

The Irish Red was one of the best red ales I have had. It was a classic red ale with a sweet caramel taste. The Rampant Lion was one of my favorite Scottish ales with a roasted barley flavor. It was rather light and did not have too much flavor, but also did not have an overpowering scotch taste. The Nut Brown Ale caught me off guard. At first it does not have much flavor and is rather tasteless, but after a few seconds it has an intensely nutty aftertaste.

I finished with the unusually named Craft Lager. Most lagers are usually light, not too flavorful and unoriginal; thus they do not get as much attention as their ale brothers. This lager was very flavorful and actually had a hoppy taste almost as if it was an ale. This beer however keeps true to its name and is still light and malty.

If you’re in the mood for entertainment, Little Mountain has an open mic night every Thursday and live music every Friday and Saturday. If you prefer wine to beer, Little Mountain also offers a variety of handcrafted wines under the Newell Creek label.

It’s not too hard on the wallet, either: A flight of six beers is $10 and pints are $4.75.

If you ever want to check out my hometown and enjoy a small and affordable brewery, then I highly recommend visiting Little Mountain Brewing Company.

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Spring is here! ...or at least the clothes are Allison Duchin Staff Reporter It may not feel like it, but spring arrived a while ago, even though Cleveland’s still getting the message.

The rest of the world however, is breaking out its closet to reveal this season’s trending styles, including hemlines that have gotten longer and colors that have gotten brighter. Meanwhile, slits and patterns are remain prevalent.

While we are just shedding our winter coats, the rest of the world is looking brighter as spring begins. Analyzing what people

Courtesy streetpeeper.com

are wearing on the streets in the rest of the world shows what trends have caught on. In Milan, people celebrated next season’s fashion week by showing off their current styles.

Prevalent looks included a number of lightweight, bright colored leather garments as well as high-waisted skirts with expansive slits (as seen on Vogue.com). These looks were repeatedly seen on the streets of cities around the world, with high frequency in Paris, New York and Sydney, as seen on the online blog Street Peeper.

Some of the most repeated leather looks included jackets, pleated mini-skirts, shorts, and pants; the jackets and skirts are typically featured in lighter colors such as hues of red, yellow, and blue, while pants and shorts remain primarily black.

To match some of these looks at a lower budget look to the following retailers: leather shorts can be found at H&M and Topshop for $50 or less. At these stores, it’s possible to find even the high end denim brand Blank NYC in a variety of styles. If you want to brighten up your wardrobe with colorful leather jackets, Charlotte Russe and DailyLook.com provide jackets in a wide range of colors.

The key to reinventing these looks for summer is to pair them with a much lighter material to contrast the harshness of the leather. Don’t worry that when the season ends you won’t wear these purchases, leather is a classic material that will always be in style. The only way it changes in fashion is how people use it to accent other trends.

Courtesy manrepeller.com Another major trend that has been changing through the seasons is minimalist and monochromatic outfits; the evolution of this trend into spring has been to wear a single pattern throughout an outfit. This look is often achieved with clean and classic garments such as a suit jacket and slacks, a romper, or an oxford shirt and printed jeans.

This trend has been captured around the world by StreetPeeper Sydney, Shanghai, New York, and Berlin.

This trend is difficult to pull off as an entire look, but each garment can be worn independently and either dressed up or down. Visit retailers like H&M, ASOS.com and Express for affordable pieces in a variety of prints that are appropriate for many seasons. Although the full printed suit may seem a bit “out there” or over-the-top, don’t be afraid to be different.

You will definitely be remembered when you wear it to your interview for the summer internship of your dreams.

Courtesy asos.com

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The Observer’s Playlist of the Week Teddy Eisenberg Staff Reporter “You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover” — The Strypes A sloppy guitar riff starts off “You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover”, stumbling over the one-two punch of a rolling bass line and simple drumbeat. Clocking in at a punk-ish 2 minutes and 16 seconds, this tune embodies The Strypes’ appeal, fusing the urgency of the Arctic Monkeys with the leather jacket cool of The Strokes.

“Snapshot” is the group’s recent de-

“California Man” — Drake Bell Remember Drake Bell? Well, this Nickelodeon kid star has come pretty far on his third album for Surfdog Records.

Working alongside his childhood idol, Brian Setzer from Stray Cats, “California Man” finds Bell fusing rockabilly influences with a surf swagger. “California Man” is Bell’s take on a classic song by the Move, a 60’s duo known for short, psychedelic pop songs. “Ready Steady Go!” hit shelves this past Tuesday.

“Luna” — Fear of Men Every once in a great while, a band drops a debut album that sounds like they’ve been recording together for decades. Fear of Men is one such band, bringing a spellbinding pop brilliance to “Luna.” Like The Smiths, Fear of Men deals with dark themes, but masks it un-

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der a sugary sheen of guitar and falsetto that perfectly characterizes the group’s infectious sound. “Loom” is a dream pop masterpiece.

“Warpath” — Ingrid Michaelson Made available this Tuesday on her sixth studio recording, “Lights Out”, “Warpath” finds Ingrid Michaelson channeling her inner Adele as she boasts a “Rumor Has It”-like strut.

Michaelson is clearly in her element, despite straying from her trademark piano and ukulele driven pop. She brings attitude and compelling harmonies to this brief, defiant song.

“Forever Be” — Kelis Food is both the focus and title of Kelis’ latest record, but on “Forever Be” the husky voice of this soul singer is hungering for love. Kelis punctuates hypnotic lines of strings and crisp piano

with a forceful \narrative, uniting the discordant elements that texture this ballad. “Food” is a retro sounding synthesis of classic rhythm and blues and modern pop. Recommended for fans of Amy Winehouse and Erykah Badu.

Retro Pick of the Week: “Carry On” — Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Choirs of heavenly angels couldn’t match the harmonies produced by this folk-rock quartet from 1970. “Carry On” opens with a single acoustic guitar, which beats out a syncopated rhythm that provides the undercurrent for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s vocal juggernaut. Electric guitars weave in and out of this tune, and become most pronounced in the song’s crystalline second half. “Carry On” is a beautifully nuanced pieced of music that rewards multiple listens, inspiring awe each time.

Platform Beer Co. to open this summer Mike Suglio Staff Reporter Ohio City is the hub for breweries in Cleveland and the rest of Ohio. In this urban area lies Great Lakes Brewing Company, Market Garden Brewery and Nano Brew. Soon these breweries will welcome the Hansa Import Haus, a Slovenian restaurant that will brew Slovenian beer. Unsurprisingly, a fifth brewery will be opening up over the summer.

This fifth brewery will be called Platform Beer Co., and will open on Ohio City’s Lorain Ave. Paul Benner, owner of Tremont’s Cleveland Brew Shop, and Justin Carson, owner of JC BeerTech Ltd. have joined forces to open this new company.

The brewery got its name because of the platform it provides for homebrewers to brew their beer on location. Patrons will have the opportunity to enroll in a 12-week educational program in which they will learn how to run a brewery. After completing the program, patrons can

brew their own small batch beer, which will be sold on draft at Platform.

This former bowling alley will not have its own restaurant or kitchen, but will instead host various food trucks and guest caters.

Shaun Yasaki, head brewmaster, said “Our brewery will be similar to breweries on the west coast where we emphasize the beer over the food.”

Yasaki, former brewer at Fat Head’s, stated that he intends to have “five to six” Platform beers at the June opening, and eventually would like to have up to twelve.

“I would like patrons to come and expect to try something new on draft,” Yasaki said.

Platform will also have an open beer garden over the summer where patrons can enjoy Cleveland’s summer weather and try some grub from the food trucks.

The owners also intend to have live music throughout the year.

The Plum, a café and bistro, will be opening shortly next to Platform, and will bring additional industry and traffic to the area.

We’re Hiring!

see observer.case.edu/job-opportunities 2188 Murray Hill Road Cleveland, OH 44106 On the corner of Murray Hill & Cornell (216)229-9050

Mon–Thurs: 10:30am – 10PM Fri & Sat: 10:30am – Midnight Sun: Noon – 10pm

the

Observer

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a&e

4/25/14

Editor’s Choice Elliott Pereira /Observer

Last Saturday, CWRU students participated in Holi celebrations.

Holi Moley!

CWRU celebrates festival of colors Jessica Yang Staff Reporter Over the weekend, the Undergraduate Indian Students Association held a Holi event on Leutner commons. Holi, also known as the festival of colors and festival of love, celebrates the coming of spring as well as the legend of Holika, a demoness in Hindu mythology whose death signifies the triumph of good over evil.

As music blared, students threw powdered colors and water balloons. Soon, the air was dusty and students, who mainly wore white, were covered in neon colored powders and were playfully throwing more colors at each other.

Student Jill Patel participated in the event because it was fun and a part of her culture. Student Arjun Gopinath said

about Holi that “It’s an event that brings together most of the undergraduate Indian students while giving non-Indians a taste of Indian culture… It’s really fun to see my friends who weren’t exposed to Indian culture to this extent have fun and throw colors around.”

While Holi is a Hindu holiday, many non-Hindus also participated in the event.

Elliott Pereira says that Holi offers a fun time to relax with friends and celebrate his Indian culture, despite the fact that he’s not Hindu. However, there were complaints that the colors ran out in the first hour, despite the fact that the event lasted for two.

After the celebration, refreshments such as samosas and soda were offered. As the wind blew and the color powders settled down, the sea of colorful people truly signified that spring was here.

Elliott Pereira /Observer

WINTER

study abroad

CWRU COURSES

Plan for winter now!

Make an appointment with a study abroad advisor at studyabroad@case.edu.

Winter Break 3-credit fall semester courses Costa Rica Dec 27, 2014 – Jan 10, 2015 Health and Health Care A Comparative Perspective: Costa Rica and the United States (BETH 315C/415C)

Ecuador Dec 28, 2014 – Jan 10, 2015 Health, Human, & Social Development (SASS 375 / 575)

India Dec 27, 2014 – Jan 10, 2015 Global Issues, Health, & Sustainability (SASS 575/375 and EECS 342I)

Space is limited! Apply today!

Elliott Pereira /Observer

observer.case.edu

fun

fun page | 13

Good luck on finals and have a wonderful summer break!

Ivory Tower

by Kevin Yong

How could you choose avoiding a little pain over understanding a magic lightning machine? by xkcd

Crossword Puzzle Across 18. Narrow-waisted stingers number 1. French for “Names” 22. Head honcho 45. Morally reprehensible 5. Open skin infections 24. Small island 46. Improvement 10. Demands 26. Affaire d’honneur 50. Cravat 14. Nile bird 28. Mortise and _____ joint 52. Bodies of water 15. Caper 29. Being 54. 59 in Roman numerals 16. Secure against leakage 55. Two-toed sloth 30. Chair 17. Remarkable 31. Bothers 56. A lively Italian dance 19. Storage cylinder 32. A song for 2 58. Makes lace 20. Type of airplane 33. Make obscure 59. Licoricelike flavor 21. Come up 34. Paracosm 60. After-bath powder 22. Give birth to 37. A formal high school 61. Curved molding 23. Helps 62. Mammary gland of bovids dance 25. Beautify 38. End ___ 63. Vesicle 27. Operative 40. Death notice Down 28. Members of a governing 1. Martial arts expert 41. Anxiety board 2. Double-reed instruments 43. Shirtwaist 31. Graven images 44. The first event in a series 3. Gloves 34. Celebrates 46. An edict of the Russian 4. South southeast 35. Utilize tsar 5. Flashy 36. Country bumpkin 47. Put to rest 6. German iris 37. Discussion group 48. Certain aromatic herbs 7. Rodents 38. Constellation bear 49. Precise 8. Encourage 39. Hemp 50. Car 9. Wild blue yonder 40. Heavenly hunter 10. Declare with confidence 51. Catch 41. Something of value 53. Dry 11. Feudal lords 42. Obstinate 56. Letter after sigma 12. Cabbagelike vegetable 44. In song, the loneliest 57. And so forth 13. Notch

14 | fun page

4/25/14

Philosofish

Kate Hart Ray Krajci

HoPtiMiSt

Kate Hart Ray Krajci

Horoscopes Aries

Ready?

Yeah, this week sucked.

But summer’s soon, right?

Be sure to start slathering yourself with sunscreen and think about the sunny days.

Ready.

Taurus

WEPA is not your friend this week. Plan ahead for finals frenzy paper shortages, and be sure to pack an extra stapler.

It‛s been fun.

Gemini

Surprisingly, you’re doing okay right now. And by “okay,” that means “holding things together just slightly better than the kid crying in the stacks at KSL.” Keep it up.

Cancer

Oh boy, Laura!!

This is going to be so fun!

You should join the rowing team and the humor magazine!

And make cool stuff at the think[box]...

xkcd

PhilosofishComics@gmail.com

Slow down, Joy, you silly frog!

Let‛s move in first!

PhilosofishComics@gmail.com

Revolutionary

If you find a penny, take it.

Ignore all that talk about “luck,” because soon you will be broke— you’re going to need all the extra free cash you can get out of life.

Leo

You’ll be receiving a nice piece of mail soon. But it might not be addressed to you, and it’s probably going to be a local advertisement.

Either way, feel special.

Virgo

Despite what your workload is like right now, you aren’t drowning. “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

Libra

Chipotle is your best friend.

Cough up the extra $1.80 for some guac, and enjoy.

Scorpio

abrupt alibi alien artist bath beet blare brazen card cite dewan different escape exile expenditure extra finale futile glass grate halt

hubbub indolence interval joint known leper neat outlaw parade porch prance sheep song stare stork thwart trace uproar usual voice

Wordsearch

I mean, what’s more likely — that I have uncoverd fundamental flaws in this field that no one in it has ever thought about, or that I need to read a little more? Hint: it’s the one that involves less work.

Bad news is quickly approaching. Be sure to spare some time in your schedule for some happy activities, like Netflixwatching or walking through the park.

Sagittarius

A shambly week will now lead to the biggest surprise of your life. The good, surprise party kind of surprise.

Capricorn

Your courage will take you far in the next couple of days. Stay fearless, work harder than you ever had and look death straight in the eye.

Aquarius

Irritable and weak, you’ll stumble away from finals with a lack of energy. You’ve got all summer to hibernate at home, and then reemerge to Cleveland snow when you return.

Pisces

Maybe the internship didn’t work out, but at least there are other options. Pick up a blog, or start an exercise routine. Stay busy.

observer.case.edu

sports | 15

The Jolly Scholar jolly.scholar @JollyScholar 216.368.0090

mpv3@case.edu

MTW RF Sat. Sun.

11a - 12a 11a - 2a 12p - 2a 12p - 12a

Inventive Content Marketing on a crowded digital stage and the people who make it happen

Katy Witkowski, CWRU ‘14, is thinking beyond the possible.

After graduating with a degree in political science and Spanish and internship experience at 90.3 WCPN, Cleveland Magazine and the Broadcasting board of Governors, she wants to apply the lessons she’s learned on the rails of the U.S. with the Millenial Trains Project. Her project, “Stories from the Home,” will tell the stories of nursing home residents through a public multimedia blog.

Tax deductible donations: bit.ly/storiesfromthehome

And don’t forget…

We cater!

Quality, budget friendly catering, for you end of the year needs!

Softball flights through flurry of close games David Hoffman Staff Reporter It was a busy week for the Spartans softball team, featuring a trio of doubleheaders against some tough competition.

The craziness began with a trip to Ohio Wesleyan University, shortly after the team had been ranked second in its respective region by the NCAA. The first game wound up being an instant classic, with the Spartans engaging in a back and forth slugfest with Ohio Wesleyan. OWU struck first, scoring single runs in the second and third innings to put the Spartans in an early hole.

The team battled back in their half of the fourth, tying the game on RBI singles by shortstop Makenzie Lein and outfielder Ashley Parello. Ohio Wesleyan immediately responded with two more runs in the bottom of the inning to go back out in front 4-2. Naturally, the Spartans roared back with three runs of their own in the fifth to take their first lead 5-4. However, a run in the sixth for OWU tied the game at 5. The teams traded zeroes on the scoreboard until the top of the tenth, when catcher Amy Taylor singled in the game winning run for the Spartans to give them a dramatic 6-5 victory.

The second game didn’t go quite as smoothly, however. OWU stormed out of the gate with four runs in the first inning, building up a 10-0 lead by the fourth and never looking back as the Spartans fell 10-5.

The team returned home to Mather Park for a doubleheader against Allegheny College on Monday. This doubleheader would prove to be better to the Spartans, as they easily swept both games and got back on track. In the first game, the offense broke out to score five runs in the third inning. The Spartans just strung together hit after hit in

the inning, with a pair of two run singles providing most of the damage. Allegheny scored in each of the next two innings in a spirited comeback bid, but the Spartans ultimately held on to win 6-3.

The second game saw yet another offensive explosion from the team, highlighted by a six run third inning. Rebecca Molnar pitched effectively, crafting a complete game three hit shutout as the Spartans capped a doubleheader sweep with a 9-0 triumph in just five innings.

Finally, on Tuesday the Spartans went across town to play local rival John Carroll University. The first game was a thriller, with both starting pitchers throwing masterpieces. Annie Wennerberg for the Spartans and Tabitha Murray for Baldwin Wallace matched each other pitch for pitch, with the game still tied 0-0 after seven innings. In the top of the eighth Wennerberg provided some offense for herself, socking a two run home run to put the team ahead 2-0 with three outs to go.

Unfortunately the lead wouldn’t last as BW rallied for three runs in their half of the inning, capped by a walk-off double by Alison Fiorucci, to win 3-2. The Spartans got their revenge in the second game, though.

The second game remained scoreless through the first five innings, but the teams traded barbs the next three innings. The Spartans went on to win 4-3 in eight innings, staving off a BW rally after scoring twice in the top of the frame.

In the process, Lein broke the school record for most career hits. The split capped a 4-2 week for the team.

The team is back in action on Sunday, hosting Heidelberg University for a doubleheader at Mather Park. Results from the team’s doubleheader on Thursday against Otterbein University can be found online.

16 | sports

Editor’s Choice

4/25/14

A powerful pairing Spartan leaders on the court, best friends off

Katie Wieser Executive Editor Case Western Reserve University tennis player Taylor Sweeney has always been on her friend Michelle Djohan’s side.

“Okay so the summer going into senior year, I went to a match and my sister was playing next to Michelle (before I knew who she was),” explains Sweeney, “This girl was cheating her so bad. So me and my whole family were just cheering for her and rooting for her the whole time. She gets off the court and I walk up to her and just say, ‘we were cheering for you…I’m really sorry’ and she says thanks or whatever.”

Fast forward two years and Djohan and Sweeney are a couple of weeks into their first college season.

“I look over and she’s playing a couple of courts away from me and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, she hits just like that girl,’” Sweeney said.

Sure enough, Djohan remembered the exchange and it was the beginning of a fast friendship between the nutritional biochemistry and metabolism major and Sweeney, an accounting major.

The two have gone from being teammates and friends off the court to being paired up in doubles tennis this year where they have won 11 of 14 matches this season. This year was the first in which the two have been playing together consistently. Head coach Kirsten Gambrell saw their easy teamwork early in the season and thought they would make a good partnership.

“She says she can always count on us chemistry-wise to get along and be fine,” said

Djohan, “We’re such good friends off the court that we always find a way on the court.”

The two sophomores also have complementary playing styles with Sweeney typically taking care of the backcourt while Djohan protects the net. Djohan is also a more experienced doubles player and provides enthusiasm for the style of play to compensate for the more conservative Sweeney in these fastpaced matches. As opposed to singles competition, a doubles match is over when a team wins eight games, which usually takes about an hour. It is critical for the team to start out strong and stay focused, a skill Djohan has brought to the partnership. Sweeney provides more support for the team, ensuring that shots are set up properly and helping with her teammate’s singles strategy.

As well as filling in each other’s weaknesses in serving and returns, the ladies also provide critical emotional and mental support to each other during matches.

“I get nervous, like that’s my thing,” said Sweeney. “So Michelle’s always, like, take your time…breathe…just go really slow so you can just focus in.”

It also helps that the friends always can trust that the other will put forward maximum effort.

“The outcome doesn’t matter as long as we try our hardest,” said Djohan.

Sweeney can easily recall a specific instance where she wasn’t playing her best, but knowing that she would be supported helped her get past the experience.

“One of our losses we were on spring break and I just had a breakdown. I couldn’t tell you exactly what happened but I just couldn’t make a ball on the court and even though it

was frustrating for ‘Chelle, afterwards she was talking to me and I knew she had to be irate, but I was like ‘Thanks for not yelling at me,’” said Sweeney. “It’s easier when you know that person won’t hold a grudge against you because they know you’re giving 200 percent effort and, even if you’re playing like crap, it’s all you can ask from your partner.”

It’s hard to imagine a pair of friends being more in sync. When they play together, they are constantly communicating and collaborating. Their first ever doubles match together actually occurred early in their freshman year when the two were paired up to take on the best doubles team their opponent put forward.

The ladies put up six points on the tough opponent and started to understand how their styles could complement each other. So far this year, the pair have only lost three doubles matches and consistently shine against highly-ranked opposition.

They seem to think on the same wavelength off the court as well, often finishing each other’s thoughts or working together to tell stories. It’s no surprise that these two have found mutual respect and trust in each other as they both share the same general background regarding tennis and their early feelings on the sport.

As with many sports, parental guidance usually provides initial motivation for children to start getting involved in tennis. But unlike soccer or volleyball, the pursuit of success in this sport can be isolating and difficult.

Both Sweeney and Djohan described early years of playing as a “love-hate relationship.”

A person’s identity can become so wrapped up in tennis that, despite the intense training and lack of peer involvement, it becomes hard

to throw all of the hard work she’s put in aside.

While playing tennis in a community before reaching the college level, a player’s network of like-minded peers is small.

“At first you don’t realize how isolated your tennis world is,” said Djohan. “But now we travel to different states. We’re nationally ranked. It’s just this huge network that you didn’t see before.”

The Case women’s team is currently 14 members strong. The sense of camaraderie among the athletes is clear as you witness them cheering each other on throughout matches or walking together through the quad. The sophomores on the team are an especially tight bunch who frequently commiserate over the long road trips following brutal exams or lab sessions.

Djohan and Sweeney value their friendship together through the team in large part because they know that it would be difficult to maintain a friendship otherwise.

“It’s interesting that Michelle’s going to be a doctor one day and I’m going to be an accountant but right now she’s my best friend Michelle and we’re 20,” said Sweeney.

Playing alongside a fellow student can help form the lasting bonds that many people expect to leave their university experience with, but few achieve.

Sweeney and Djohan have already proven that you never know who you’ll see again down the road. “It’s so weird because you just get so interconnected with people,” said Sweeney. “A girl who lived hours away from me… we end up going to the same school, playing together and being best friends.”

Djohan laughed, “What are the odds of that?”

U N I V E R S I T Y

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

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

 Explore specialized topics or a new area of interest;  Pick up extra credits during flexible 4-, 6-, and 12-week sessions; and

 Schedule classes around vacations, jobs, and internships.

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observer.case.edu from Marshall | 20 shuffling in and out, and he oversees it all.

Sometimes, this means juggling more than 20 loads at once. But with all those uniform-filled trains trying to ride the same track, crashes are inevitable.

The earlier Marshall finds out about schedule changes, the easier he can adjust.

This time, he’s actually luckier than usual.

It’s only Tuesday; he has three days to get the baseball uniforms ready before the team heads out. He doesn’t always get that much lead time.

Once, a football coach told him that the players were having their pictures taken that afternoon, giving him just a few hours to ready the uniforms for almost 100 athletes. He recalls that encounter with particular disdain.

“I almost thought he was joking,” he says. “I thought to myself, ‘do you think you could’ve let me in on the secret a little bit earlier?’”

Luckily, coaches have been getting better at warning him, though some situations are unavoidable. The football team will sometimes return late at night from an away game, and they’ll have a junior-varsity game the following morning. When that happens, it’s not uncommon for Marshall to skip an entire night of sleep in order to finish the team’s laundry on time. He might not get home until 7:00 p.m. the next day.

“At least they grant me overtime for days like that,” he says. “If they didn’t, I’d tell them to go screw themselves.”

Most of this work happens behind the scenes. Many students on campus only know him as the guy who walks around with a big black dog that sometimes pulls him harder than he can pull back. They don’t see what happens in the Veale laundry room, after everyone else has gone to sleep, and the only sound is the constant hum of the laundry machines.

They don’t see the man who spends his days and nights sweating next to piles of sweaty clothes. **** Every time a laundry machine finishes a cycle, it starts to beep, and it doesn’t stop until Marshall turns it off. He’s come to hate that sound, and he often yells back.

“Shut up! I’m coming, dammit!”

Marshall’s job duties include more than just waiting for the next machine to beep. He could be asked without warning to help with any number of administrative tasks outside the laundry room. In the past, he’s had to prepare playing fields, host visiting teams, repair equipment, run scoreboards, and even clean up trash after games – as if his laundry duties didn’t keep him busy enough.

“I’m a jack of all trades, and not necessarily master of any,” he says, cracking a smile.

“And it can be a pain in the ass.”

Because he can perform so many tasks, he’s essentially always on call. He’s proven to be the grease to the athletic department’s engine, making sure that every event runs without issue.

sports | 17 “I feel like he’s one of the most valuable members of our athletic department,” says Taylor Fletcher, a junior soccer player.

“If you need stuff done, you’re always going to Hugh. And he knows what he does is important, because it’s important to us. It’s instrumental in what we have to do.”

Despite his importance, however, Marshall says he often feels under-appreciated.

He remembers how, just a few years ago, the athletic department replaced all of the furniture in a coach’s office, even though the furniture had only been there for a year.

Meanwhile, just down the hall, his chair was so old that the cushions were leaking cotton.

He was given a replacement years later, but he found that it too was cheaply made, and quickly fell apart. He eventually had to buy himself a nice one, which cut into the salary that he has long thought should be higher.

After 26 years, his annual salary has climbed into the $30,000 range, but he feels he deserves more. Twelve years ago he was astounded to learn that a sophomore with work-study in the Biomedical Engineering department pocketed nearly the same amount of money that he did after 14 years of loading laundry machines. Ever since that realization, he’s felt undervalued, and since then, not much has changed.

“I’m the most senior member of this department,” he says. “But in terms of respect…no.”

While he feels under-appreciated within the athletic department, he is quick to point out that the exact opposite is true for the student-athletes themselves. Because his job often has him working more closely with players than with administration, Marshall believes that players like Fletcher have a much higher appreciation for what he does.

“He’s super valuable to us, especially because we don’t have an army of workers doing what he does,” Fletcher says. “It’s just him, and it’s really impressive. He sacrifices so much for us. I’m always grateful, because I always see him at weird hours. I’ll go in at 12 because I’ll have forgotten something, and he’s always there.”

Fletcher is not alone in his appreciation. A few years ago, a group of students learned that Marshall was about to work his 200th consecutive CWRU football game, but that the athletic department wasn’t going to recognize the milestone in any way. So, they took it upon themselves and made a sign for Marshall commemorating the achievement, which they hung from the stands during the game.

He points to a picture of the sign on his computer.

“That right there is worth a million bucks to me,” he says.

Still, it’s frustrating for Marshall to work as hard as he does while receiving such little acknowledgement from the athletic department. Sometimes, this has made him think about stepping away. But this is where the players have had their strongest impact on him—and he expresses it with another laundry metaphor.

“There have been times where I’ve wanted to throw in the towel,” he says. “More times than you could shake a stick at. But

Mary Kate Macedonia/Observer Hugh Marshal looks on, watching product of his handiwork

Mary Kate Macedonia/Observer Hugh Marshal watches a Baseball game here at Case then I think about the kids. Without the kids, I wouldn’t be here.”

The players have not only convinced Marshall to keep his job, but they’ve also enabled him to retain his signature sense of humor. Any athlete who crosses his path is sure to leave with a smile, and he’s even been known to bring referees ice-cold beers at the halftimes of games, just to laugh at the horrified looks they give him.

His humor is part of what landed him this job, after working as a subcontractor and assistant football coach at nearby West Geauga high school for almost four years. In fact, shortly before he applied, the job description was changed to make it a requirement that applicants have a sense of humor, which seemed strange to him at the time. But after a couple of years on the job, he began to understand why.

“There’s so much shit that happens,” he says, “that sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh.” **** Interim athletic director Pat Kennedy sits at his desk, a webpage for the new sports fad of bubble soccer open on his computer screen. He has been looking for a way to bring the expensive new sport to Case; it seems to be the perfect mix of nerdiness and fun. He takes a break from his research to talk about Marshall, who he says is the most senior member on his staff.

“Compared to him I’m the baby,” he joked.

Kennedy extolled Marshall’s virtues, including his dedication to student athletes.

“No task is too demeaning for Hugh,” Kennedy said. “He sees a need and he fills it.”

While the script may not stay the same, Kennedy knows Marshall knows how to think outside the box.

“He is great at what he does.” said Kennedy, “I do appreciate Hugh. We are very fortunate to have him.”

However, Kennedy knows that there is only so much money to go around.

“We all want to be paid a little more, be appreciated a little more,” Kennedy said.

“But we do it for the students.” ****

Marshall has never been married, and he’s never had kids.

“My only child is a two-year-old labrador retriever,” he says. “And he is my baby.”

His dog, Raleigh, has short black hair, and weighs an athletic 80 pounds. On days when Marshall can finish his work early and the weather cooperates, he often takes to one of the fields on the CWRU campus to throw Frisbees to Raleigh, who snags them out of the air and returns them to his owner faster than Marshall’s arm can recover.

He never expected for Raleigh to be his only family, but he says getting married was simply not in his cards. After feeling the pain of his first real relationship falling through, he decided he’d never put himself in that position again.

He also never thought he’d spend the bulk of his life as an Athletic Equipment Manager. He’s had plenty of practice; while attending West Geauga High School, he was the manager for just about every sports team the school had to offer. But he never thought his career as one would last as long as it has.

Still, he has few regrets with how his employment has taken shape. He believes that it’s better to be an underpaid, under-appreciated laundry man than to not aspire to be anything at all. He offers a valuable lesson to every athlete whose laundry he washes.

“They say the best way to never lose is to not play at all,” he says. “But of course, you soon realize that you can’t win that way either.” **** Marshall sighs as he slumps over into the turquoise chair in his office; the only real source of color in the room. He has just finished sorting the last pair of baseball pants, and he can finally relax – that is, until the laundry machines beep again.

He plans on retiring when he turns 65, if he can afford it. But of course, things rarely go according to plan.

As he leans back in the chair and crosses his right leg over his left, he exposes a blue stain on his white sock.

Marshall has no more power over that stain than he does over his schedule changing at the last minute. All he can do is listen for the next beep, wait for the next email, and prepare for the next surprise.

18 | sports

4/25/14

Yale’s Amy Backus named Case’s new athletic director from Athletic Director | 1 After graduation, Backus spent a year as a CMU assistant coach before scoring her first head coach position at Otterbein College. She went on to coach at Middlebury College and Northwestern University heading to Yale. While at Yale, she served as chair of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee and is a member of both the NCAA Division I Academic Performance Advisory Group and its Legislative Council. Beyond athletics Backus is focused on the students as she serves on Yale’s Safety Net Committee, a group of staff and student leaders dedicated to supporting health and safety on campus.

With so much experience Backus should be able to understand the inner workings of any athletic department and use that experience to tailor a great program to Case.

“I have been fortunate to have experiences in both Division I and Division III athletics as a student-athlete, coach and administrator thus allowing me to bring perspective from a so many different angles,” said Backus. “My work on national NCAA committees has broadened that perspective to have a pulse on what is happening in collegiate athletics in general. In particular, my work in the Ivy League which believes in the academic priority of student athletes will serve me well in my position at CWRU and the UAA because of this important shared philosophy.”

Backus began her career at the beginning of athletic gender equality when Title IX was a new experiment in the country.

“Women are drawing on what is unique in their socialization as women and creating a different way to manage organizations. Some may see these as nontraditional leadership traits but with clearly stated goals and a clear policy of expectations; high quality work and success will follow,” said Backus. “I am very fortunate to be able to draw on examples of successful female leadership early in my career. Those examples, which of course are gender blind, are integrity, vision, loyalty and a strong work ethic.”

Backus has a strong long term vision for the university’s athletic community, and will attempt to stray from sometimes sad state of Cleveland sports. By continuing to recruit strong student athletes and put together capable coaching staffs Backus hopes to make CWRU competitive across the board.

“My vision is to put CWRU athletic teams in a position to be contenders in the conference in every sport on a consistent basis year in and year out,” said Backus. “Recruiting the ‘best and brightest’ student athletes from around the country to wear the Spartan uniform is an expectation of mine.”

The mission for Backus is two-fold.

In addition to simply competing in the highly competitive conference that is the UAA, she hopes to push the ideals of the university through the activities of the athletic department. Athletics goes

beyond the varsity sports however and Backus knows this as well.

“The teams will continue to represent the university with integrity and good sportsmanship,” Backus said. “I would like to be sure that we are meeting the interests of the entire campus for opportunities to stay fit and recreate or compete at all different levels. It is essential to build upon good community support from all of the student organizations across campus as well as an inspired community between teams.”

Even though Case is an academically focused university, Backus’ background at Yale was similar. She understands the cultural difference that can occur on a campus like Case.

“Everyone at a place like Yale and CWRU brings something to the table that they are passionate about,” Backus said. “Striving to be excellent in that passion is not a bad thing. There will always be people who support athletics and those that don’t. I want to tell the story of those striving to be the best in athletics to anyone who will listen. Student athletes connecting with other students and supporting their endeavors has helped to close that cultural gap.”

Sports have obviously been a huge part of Backus’ life and she enjoys them all. She played and coached basketball but her real passion is actually sailboat racing, a lifelong passion of hers since she started sailing as a young girl.

“This is also the safest answer since ALL of the CWRU sports will be my favorite!” Backus joked.

However the draw of sports goes beyond what is fun and enjoyable.

“I can think of no other activity that compares to the level of human emotion on a last second winning shot, score, run, kill, poolside touch, whatever the sport. I live for those moments and when it is done in the name of the institution you are representing as a student-athlete, the moment is even more special,” said Backus.

Case has a long tradition and sports, believe it or not, is a big part of that tradition. Backus realizes that sports is for the fans.

“The tradition, the protocol, the fanfare and the anticipation of the outcome, For the participants there are so many aspects, the long training and conditioning required to be excellent, the striving for a common goal with people who are some of your very best lifelong friends,” said Backus. “I could already feel the excitement of what is happening on campus in general and I would like athletics to be a major contributor in that direction as well.”

Backus is excited to be a part of our community here at Case Western. Her focus is on the students here at Case, not only on varsity athletes but also working with the club sports, the intramural teams, and briefly even with every student as they complete their physical education requirements.

“My door will be open to dialogue and discovery as I learn the unique culture of the community at CWRU,” she noted.

Hanging in the summer sun Spartans sweep alumni weekend home series JP O’Hagan Sports Editor As this semester comes to a close and Cleveland begins to warm up (and then cool down and then warm up) the summer break brings an end to most Case Western sporting events. This by no means means that sports fans who are still on campus for the summer, or who live nearby, will need to cling to ESPN for their sports fix.

First and foremost the Cleveland Indians are in full swing and will be all summer. The Indians of course are members of Major League Baseball’s American League and are in the highly competitive Central Division this year. Lead by the powerful Detroit Tigers and competing against the up and coming Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox, the division looks set to provide not only a heavy world series favorite but also a wild card team or two, depending on who can climb above the competition. The Indians are looking to clinch their second playoff berth in as many years and the Cleveland community will be rooting them on all summer long.

This summer also will bring two more unique events to the Cleveland area. The first is the 35th annual National Sports Collectors Convention. This annual event runs for a week each summer, moving throughout the country to different cities each year. This year they have chosen to come to Cleveland. The convention,

known to hardcore collectors as simply “The National,” brings together collectors, memorabilia vendors and even athletes who come and sign autographs for the fans searching for another great souvenir. This year’s National is being held at the International Exposition (I-X) Center in Cleveland from July 30 to Aug. 3 and is expected to bring approximately 45,000 sports fans and collectors to the area. The initial list of hall of fame athletes who are coming has been announced and includes former Indians Roberto Alomar, Dennis Eckersley and Frank Robinson.

Other MLB greats slated to appear include current Indians Manager Terry Francona, as well as Johnny Bench, Rod Carew, Carlton Fisk, Reggie Jackson, Tony Perez, Jim Rice and Cal Ripken Jr, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, David Justice and Pete Rose. These are just a few of the greats who will be present. Football is well represented as well with All-Time Cleveland Brown great Jim Brown headlining a number of NFL greats. Tickets are already on sale and it looks to be an amazing event.

Lastly, this summer the Gay Games, which occur every four years, will be hosted by Cleveland. This is the ninth set of games and the event is open to people of all sexual orientations. The games started in San Francisco and have a similar format to the Olympics. The event brings in over 10,000 athletes, who will compete in 35 sports.

observer.case.edu

sports | 19

What exactly will the sin tax extension cover?

Gabrielle Buffington, Staff Reporter

The question of how to pay for the Cleveland Brown’s FirstEnergy Stadium renovations has become more complex – and expensive – than anticipated.

Instead of taxpayers having to extend the sin tax for 15 more years, the number has risen to 20 to cover expenses for Quicken Loans Arena and Progressive Field. Since January’s jam-packed Cuyahoga County Council meeting (an armed sheriff’s deputy residing), it has been confirmed that taxpayers will be able to vote on extending the sin tax during the May primary election.

Since calculating costs is difficult while just reading words, take a look at how the numbers stack up against popular brands of spirits and smokes.

If the sin tax continues, the city will contribute about $30 million to FirstEnergy’s renovations by the time the stadium’s current lease is up, which could buy you 2.5 million six-packs of Bud Light.

2.5 million Bud Light six-packs Arianna Wage/Observer Zach Tobias watches a pitch get called a ball in a game earlier in the season.

However, the projected total cost of FirstEnergy’s renovations is $120 million. That’s about 6.7 million bottles of Merlot.

Baseball in full spring to the finish

6.7 million bottles of Merlot

JP O’Hagan Sports Editor The Spartan baseball team needs to be running at 110 percent for the next two weeks and they know it.

The Spartans have continued to perform at an outstanding level winning four of their past five games. Case Western has been squeezing in a packed schedule of games, playing nine games in the week of April 22. Since the Observer last went to print the Spartans overpowered nearby Oberlin winning both games of a double on Oberlin’s turf, split a pair at Alleghany and then edged past Heidelberg here at home.

The loaded schedule comes following the horrible weather that persisted in Cleveland through much of the beginning of the season.

Each and every game is vitally important for the Spartans as each one enhances their chances of at an NCAA post-season play invitation. Due to this the Spartans will be looking to their extremely talented bench to assist their all-star starting line-up in winning these last set of games.

Back on Thursday, April 17, the Spartans had another offensive explosion, leading to a sweep of Oberlin. In the top half of the double header the Spartans knocked in at least a run in five straight innings, knocking in two in the second, three in the third and the a sole run in the fourth and fifth before exploding for an eight run top of the sixth. The Spartans managed their 15 runs off of 18 hits with eight of the Spartan starting nine recording RBIs. The team was led offensively by shortstop Andrew Frey, who had five hits in six at bats with three RBIs. He offensive prowess continued over into the second game of the day but his standout performance in the first game sealed a second UAA Hitter of the week award for him this month. John Fortunato, the Spartan ace marked up his sixth win putting in five solid innings of work giving up only four hits and fanning two.

The Spartans followed their 15 run opening with a solid 9-7 win in second game. The Case team found itself down 5-3 after six innings before exploding for a six run seventh inning. Frey added another three hits in five at bats. Frey had the only two extra base hits for the Spartans finding himself once on second and once on third. The Spartans took advantage of Oberlin’s four errors in order to

score their nine runs on only seven hits, while Oberlin managed their seven runs on eleven hits. Daniel Sondag got the start but looked at a no decision after pitching five innings, and despite strong pitching Oberlin had his number knocking two of his pitches over the wall.

Connor Tagg pitched a 2/3 of an inning and picked up the win, with a strike out.

After a break for Easter weekend the Spartans faced Allegheny on Tuesday in a double header away. In the opening game was hard fought through the first six innings, until the Spartans busted it open with a four run seventh inning, to capture a 5-1 win. The Spartans managed to get in nine hits but still left nine men on base. Fortunato pitched a complete game for the Spartans, striking out seven in the pitcher’s duel against Allegheny’s Davis who also pitched a complete game.

Aleghany came out swinging in the second game however knocking in 13 runs of their own. A few big innings, a five run second and back to back three run innings in the fifth and sixth. This buried the Spartans, who sputtered after many strong wins, managing seven hits but only bringing in three. Jake Shields had an off game and only faced nine batters, giving up five runs and three walks and as a result was stuck with the loss.

The Spartans managed to bounce back in Wednesday however as they edged out Hidelberg here at Case. The cool weather seemed to keep down the explosiveness and instead the game remained close and well fought. The Spartans scored single runs in the fourth and the sixth, and were able to hold Heidelberg to a single run in the top of the fifth. The defense was lead by Spartan pitcher Kevin Johnstone, who pitched a complete game. Johnstone struck out seven of the 36 batters he faced and was able to keep the Student Princes at bay.

The Spartans played Baldwin Wallace on Thursday after the Observer went to print.

They return to action in a double header against Denison on Saturday and then another two game set on Sunday against Oberlin.

The Spartans will then finish the regular season against John Carroll in the Progressive Field game on Tuesday at 2:00 PM. Tickets can be downloaded from the athletics website for free. The Spartans are poised to continue into postseason play and so look for game by game recaps online as the Observer will continue coverage even after we are done publishing print issues for the semester.

If the tax ends in 2015, then FirstEnergy will be left to figure out how to spend the $24 million it has already received from the city towards renovations. You could sip 6 million margaritas with that tab.

6 million margaritas The sin tax, if passed, would raise an estimated $260 million from 2015 to 2035. That’s around 23.7 million six-packs of Woodchuck Amber Hard Cider, and countless apples.

23.7 million

Woodchuck six-packs

That money is set to be shared between the FirstEnergy Stadium, Quicken Loans Arena (with a projected cost of $65 million) and Progressive Field (with a projected cost of $70 million). Smirnoff drinkers could use that green to grab about 3.8 to 4.1 million bottles of clear.

4 million bottles of Smirnoff Here’s the kicker: the stadium generated a $296.3 million construction cost. The city has $228 million left to pay off, but the sin tax earnings will not go towards this remaining debt. Just like it would take years to smoke 38.8 million packs of Marlboros, it will be a while before the city can burn off its debt.

38.8 million Marlboros

Courtesy wp.streetwise.co, excelsiorwineblog.files.wordpress.com, foodchannel. com, deliriummonasterium.com, ontaponline.com, & turbosquid.com

20 | sports

4/25/14

sports

Case Western’s Athletic Equipment Manager preps the diamond at Nobby’s Ballpark prior to a game.

Mary Kate Macedonia/Observer

Stained: The man behind the jerseys The Hugh Marshall story, Case’s Athletic Equipment Manager

Marques Winick Contributing Reporter In an office that smells like detergent, next to a bin of clean baseball uniforms, a short email pops into the inbox on Hugh Marshall’s computer.

“Good news,” the message reads. But Marshall prepares for the worst.

In three lines of text, the message says the baseball team at Case Western Reserve University will be heading south for the weekend to escape from the bitter Cleveland cold. It’s indeed good news— for the players. But they’ll be leaving one day earlier than expected, and for Marshall, the Athletic Equipment Manager, this means his whole week is about to change.

For the man who has prepared the laundry for every sports team at CWRU for the past two and a half decades, this surprise is nothing new. Every time a team’s schedule changes, his does too. He’s often the last one to find out, which makes planning his week a nightmare. He even speaks in laundry lingo.

“There is no average day,” he says. “I have no sleep cycle.”

Still, he tries to make things easier on himself by planning ahead. He remembers what each team’s schedule is supposed to be, and he knows what needs to be washed, folded, and sorted before players can

take the field. But, as he’s seen many times before, everything can change at a moment’s notice.

Sometimes it only takes three lines of text. **** Marshall slowly bends over to pick up the next pair of clean baseball pants from the bin at his feet. He makes sure to give each pair the same pristine fold – creasing every seam – before dropping them softly onto a turquoise chair to his left. He wasn’t going to fold these today, but thanks to the email, they’ve become his top priority.

The pants he picked up still hold dull orange stains from a player’s slide, even after going through the wash.

“Man,” he says. “These have seen better days.”

Marshall’s slender, 60-year-old frame is concealed beneath a tan button-up shirt that is faded with age, and an equally worn pair of black pants. Underneath his neatly combed blonde hair sits a pair of widerimmed glasses that fit snugly around his nose on either side. His voice is high-pitched but unwavering, though it can’t hide the stress that comes with never knowing his own schedule.

For 26 years, Marshall has spent his days at CWRU running through the same routine of washing uniforms, then folding and sorting them neatly into

piles based on jersey number. Once a team’s uniforms are sorted, he heads to its locker room, where he places each uniform into its corresponding locker.

“I’ve done this so many times that sometimes I feel like I can do it in my sleep,” he says.

Not all of this laundry comes from the athletes, however. He smiles as he points to his own pile of clothes.

“Why would I do it anywhere else?”

The folding and sorting all takes place in his office, down the hall from the laundry room. It still resembles the storage space that it was before he took over. Shelves, drawers and lockers line the walls, and though the room is around 25 feet long on either side, it feels much smaller because of the clutter that has accumulated over time. Marshall had to ask for heating and air conditioning to be installed; unlike the revolving drone of the laundry room, the heater’s buzz is the only ambient noise in the room.

The floor’s paint has faded from a blue to a dull gray from years of unending activity, much more than an office usually sees. But that makes sense, because Marshall doesn’t consider it an office.

“This is the freight yard,” he says. “And I’m the yardmaster.”

It’s an accurate description; laundry is constantly

to Marshall | 17