Etownian Issue 24-April 23, 2009

the April 23, 2009 • Volume 105, No. 24

Etownian elizabethtown college

On the Web: www.etownian.com

One Alpha Drive • Elizabethtown, PA 17022-2298

on campus

Mock crash shows danger of driving while intoxicated Peter S. Northrop Assistant News Editor

T

uesday, April 14 the campus held a mock car crash outside of the Ober Loop.

While students were heading back their dorms, they might have noticed quite a surprising sight there. Around 6:15 p.m., two heavily mangled vehicles appeared off of Cedar Street, right in front of Ober. One was a black jeep, its front end completely flattened and all but broken off.

Countering this was a green sedan, flipped on its back. Two people sat unconscious in the jeep while the only signs of life in the sedan were the blue-clad leg of a dummy hung out of the sedan’s broken right-front window and a tuft of blonde hair visible from the car’s rear seat. White shards of broken glass were scattered all over the scene. Nearby, an actress lay unconscious.

The scene was so realistic that people actually stopped to make sure that no one in the

accident was hurt.

It was all an educational mockup engineered by the College’s Get ABSURD (A Better Safer Understanding of Responsible Drinking) club. The crash was set up to educate students about the dangers of drunk driving and other reckless activities that result from excessive drinking. This became very obvious once the jeep’s doors opened up, allowing a cascade of crumpled blue Natural Light beer cans to fall out on the street.

The actual scene of the car crash began as senior Ezra Schatz, playing a victim from the flipped sedan, woke up and assessed the damage. After tr ying to revive a nearby friend, he Photo: Matthew P. Butera “called” an emergency numGet ABSURD hosted a mock car crash in the Ober Loop last Tuesday to show the dangers of driving ber for assistance. under the influence.The realistic event featured two vehicles and several actors playing victims.

The mock car crash not Minutes later, several amImmediately, fire fighters did not need to be freed from only provided education and awareness for students, but a bulances, fire trucks and other began to save “victims” from the scene. training opportunity for local emergency vehicles were on the the flipped sedan while parasee CRASH, page 3 scene providing assistance. medics took passengers who emergency service workers.

on campus

Keynote speaker working toward health care for all Sara E. Crimmel Staff Writer

E

ven though this year’s Scholarship Day keynote speaker was not quite as well known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, Dr. Paul Farmer’s presentation focused much more on Elizabethtown College’s motto — Educate for Service.

Farmer, who has a M.D. and Ph.D. in medical anthropology from Harvard University, co-founded Partners in Health (PIH) in 1987. PIH is an organization that does whatever possible to help sick individuals in poorer countries. They consider its mission both medical and moral, rather than charity-based.

Farmer, who has worked to improve health care in Haiti for more than 25 years, showed his audience a map, provided by worldmapper.org, of how much

the Etownian

putting out the news ... for over 100 years

The Etownian is a weekly n ews p a p e r p u b l i s h e d Th u r s d ays d u ri n g t h e academic year.

money is spent on health care worldwide. He then showed another, which displayed where AIDS is most prevalent.

The places where the least amount of money is spent on health care also have the most widespread cases of AIDS. “No matter how you slice it, we have a problem here,” Farmer said.

Farmer discussed how many people who want to help countries with a widespread AIDS epidemic think it is more cost-effective to prevent the disease instead of treating it. In the United States, it costs around $10,000 per person per year to treat AIDS. By working with drug companies to create inexpensive generic drugs, PIH is able to provide AIDS drugs to Haiti and other countries for just $90 per person per year.

In 2003, President Clinton asked Farmer to implement comprehensive

9 Parts of Desire An upcoming play looks into the lives of modern Iraqi women.

Features, page 4

health programs in Rwanda. Farmer said he and his team try to work within the public sector, because they believe that everyone is entitled to health care. The team has been able to establish many hospitals where they have saved countless individuals who have nearly died of AIDS and tuberculosis.

Farmer cited Martin Luther King Jr.’s stance on the inequality of health care as an example: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

Farmer concluded his presentation by tying his work to Elizabethtown’s motto, Educate for Service. He encouraged his audience to help those around them in need.

“You don’t have to go far to find people that need help,” he said.

After his conclusion, Farmer took questions from the audience. When asked about the socialization of health

Cannibis Conundrum Learn about the plant that is giving America a lot of grief.

Centerfold, pages 8 & 9

care, Farmer said, “If I were a politician, I would not even talk about the socialization of health care. I’d just do it.”

Farmer was also asked about the criteria for his hospital locations. Farmer indicated that while hospitals do go wherever the Ministry of Health requests, his team tries to contribute wherever they can do the most good.

Although Farmer’s humor elicited many laughs from the audience, some students expressed confusion at his presentation’s organization.

“He was a good speaker, but I felt like he was unorganized. He was all over the place because he had so much to tell us,” sophomore Elizabeth Levy said.

“I think his brain works in tangents, but I liked his presentation,” sophomore Krystal Dove said.

To learn more about Partners in Health, visit www.pih.org.

Internship Fun

Off-Campus Housing

Etown students had some outof-the-ordinary internships last summer.

Many students frown on the restrictions for moving off-campus.

Campus Life, page 10

Opinion, page 12

2

news

the Etownian

news in brief The Taliban, a militant group that once controlled Afghanistan, has begun taking over large areas in Pakistan. The takeover began when the Pakistani government allowed the radical Islamic group to impose “shari’a” (traditional Islamic law) on Pakistan’s Swat Valley, an area that has recently been overrun with violence.

The Pakistani government allowed this as part of a peace agreement.

Now, however, the Taliban is expanding its territorial influence, taking over the district of Bruner, just 60 miles from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad.

In Taliban-controlled districts, women are not allowed outside without a male relative, and groups of gun-toting militants patrol the streets in groups, singing religious songs. The Pakistani government says it will take forcible action against the Taliban if they continue this expansion.

In a recent interview, former Vice President Dick Cheney offered more criticism of the Obama administration. Cheney said that Obama’s economic policies will prove “disastrous.”

“I worry very much that we’re in a situation now where there doesn’t appear to be any limitation whatsoever in terms of the spending commitments that this administration wants to make,” the former vice president said.

Ame r i c a’s n at i on a l budget deficit is expected to go as high as $1.75 trillion this year.

The recession our country is facing may not only thin our wallets but may also have startling health implications.

With the summer approaching, entomologists worr y that foreclosed homes with swimming pools will become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other diseasecarrying organisms as the recession enters the summer months.

Entomologists fear that the number of West Nile virus cases will skyrocket over the summer.

Compiled by Peter S. Northrop from cnn.com.

April 23, 2009

in the world

Somali pirates reign in anarchic government Julianne A. Keys Staff Writer

one of the most anarchic countries in the world and has not had a central government since 1991 when then-President Siad Barre was overthrown by rival factions. Following the coup, the clans never reached an agreement about the country should be run, and Somolia has since been afflicted by disease, famine and violence.

Many of the ships taken over by pirates are part of aid efforts from the United Na-

drive Land Cruisers to show off their wealth.

“This man was like a small king ... He was dressed like a president. So many people attended him. I got so angry — I said, ‘Why do they accept this situation? You know this is pirate money!’” Ilka Ase Mohamed, a 23 year old from Harardhere, a small fishing town on the coast of Somalia, said in an interview of a pirate who changed his life.

that will help provide the resources needed to capture them.

The pirates have become so pown increase in pirate activity erful that they are an immediate off of the coast of Somalia threat to the government. One during the last few months way to stop them is to keep them has caught the world’s attenfrom entering the sea. tion. Last year, 42 ships were “We are planning to estabhijacked by Somali pirates in lish at least ten or more obserthe Gulf of Aden and the Indian vation posts on the coastline,” Ocean, resulting in the pirates Sharmarke said Thursday, recieiving $80 million dollars April 16. But how big of an in ransom money. So far, this impact will those few observayear, at least 19 ships have been tion posts make, since Somalia taken hostage. borders the Indian Ocean for Wednesday, April 8, Cap1,900 miles? tain Richard Phillips of the NATO is currently trying Maersk Alabama, a U.S.to prevent as many pirate flagged cargo ship, was taken attacks as they can but have hostage in exchange for the had to release those captured safety of his crew. President due to not having authority Barack Obama granted the to arrest them.

U.S. Department of Defense The Stolt Strength, of the the ability to use “appropiPhilipines, was taken over by ate force” when confronting pirates in the Gulf of Aden pirates in order to save Capt. on November 10, 2008. The Phillips, who was considered cargo ship was transporting Image: nation.ke to be in imminent danger. phosphoric acid from Dakar, Five days later, Navy Seal These Somalian pirates captured by French forces don’t look like the Senegal, to Kandla, India. swashbucklers in the movies.They continue to harass foreign ships. sharpshooters quickly shot Tuesday, the 23 Filipino crew and killed three of the four pi- tions. Though pirates interfere Mohamed had made plans to members were freed by the rates who held Phillips hostage. with the delivery of food and wed the woman that he loved, pirates. Family members of the They proceeded to free Capt. supplies intended to help the but those plans quickly were crew of the Stolt Strength had Phillips and took the fourth of Somali citizens, they do spread made impossible when her par- told the Associated Press that his captors into US custody. their wealth through the coun- ents betrothed their daughter the pirates had demanded $5 The fourth pirate, Abde Wale try to some extent. Each cap- to the pirate, in order to gain million for ransom, but that the Abdul Kadhir Muse, only sur- tured ship is normally returned wealth. Many Somalis are so amount had declined to $2.2 vived the sniping because of in exchange for a ransom of at desperate that they are willing million as of last week. Sagan his willingness to negotiate. He least $1 million, making the to accept the gifts of the pirates, Shipping Inc., the Philippine remains in U.S. custody, and his pirates increasingly wealthy — even if it was not obtained in a Company who owns the Stolt mother has appealed to Presi- and where there is wealth, there humane manner.

Strength, has not released infordent Obama to release her 16- is power.

Somalia’s Prime Minister mation on the conditions of the year old son, whom she claims Piracy is considered both a Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke release of the ship. is innocent. blessing and a curse to the So- has stated that they know the At least 16 other ships are When pirates spot an unfa- malis. The money has trickled identity of many of the pirate still being held by Somali pimiliar ship, they see only one into seaside villages, where pi- leaders. They are willing to re- rates, as well as about 300 crew thing: ransom money. Somalia is rates come dressed in suits and lease the names to any country members of those ships.

A

in the nation

Sparks fly over same-sex marriage debate Aidan E. Bauernschmidt News Editor

T

wo weeks ago, Iowa and Vermont became the third and fourth states to legalize same-sex marriage. The passed legislation will come into effect April 27, 2009 for Iowa, and Vermont will enact the legislation Sept. 1, giving supporters good reason to celebrate.

“I think it’s great that Iowa and Vermont legalized gay marriage, at least in their state,” junior Michael Tschop, a member of ALLIES, said. “We’ve still got a long way to go, since same-sex marriage is not federally recognized, but I think it’s a step in the right direction, especially after the backward steps California, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas took during the election in November.”

That “backward step” would be Proposition 8 and similar legislation passed in these states during the November election. It changed the states’ constitutions to restrict the definition of marriage as only exisiting between heterosexual couples. In California, Proposition 8 passed 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent. In Arkansas, similar legislature also makes it illegal for homo-

sexual couples to foster or adopt children.

The California-based Web site ProtectMarriage.com is devoted mostly to recruiting supporters of Proposition 8. “Restoring marriage and protecting California children,” the site’s welcome banner reads.

Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004, and Connecticut became the second in 2008.

Which state will be the next? New York is a likely candidate. Governor David Paterson announced last Thursday that he plans to introduce a bill into the state’s legislature to recognize and legalize same-sex marriage.

“The time has come to act,” Peterson said during a news conference that morning.

“The time has come for leadership. The time has come to bring marriage equality to the state of New York.”

Ne w Yo r k C i t y M a y o r M i c h a e l Bloomberg supports Paterson’s initiative. “New Yorkers pride themselves on their ability to practice their individual freedoms,” he said Thursday. “That includes the right to say what you believe, to practice your own faith and to love whomever you want, and it’s time for this state to take the next step and ensure the

rights of same-sex couples to marry whom they want.”

During the Miss USA pageant last weekend, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, made headlines and sparked debate when she said that she believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

Entertainer Perez Hilton, who asked the question of the beauty queen, took particular offense to her response and made his disdain for it well-known. In his blog, he called it “the worst answer in pageant history.”

“I was floored,” Perez, an open homosexual himself, said to ABCNews.com during an interview Monday. “I haven’t said this before, but to her credit, I applaud her for her honesty. However, she is not a politician; she’s a hopeful Miss USA. Miss USA should represent everyone. Her answer alienated millions of gay and lesbian Americans, their families and their supporters.”

Prejean’s answer certainly alienated some audience members; after her answer, boos could be heard over the smattered applause.

Prejean may have alienated judges too; she placed first runner-up to Miss North Carolina. Prejean said herself that she believes her answer cost her the crown.

news

April 23, 2009

the Etownian

on campus

3

Late student contributes $1.1 million to endowment Melissa L. Jones Staff Writer

E

lizabethtown College has received a family estate gift of over $1.1 million to fund the newly created TurnbullJamieson Chair in accounting. Lorraine L. Jamieson, a former student, arranged for the endowment to be created from the remainder of the previously established Turnbull-Jamieson Trust and additional gifts of her own. This endowment will serve to provide funding for business and accounting instruction.

Jamieson is a former student who supported the College throughout her lifetime. Though she never actually graduated from Etown, she certainly grew to love the school while she in attendance.

She often returned for activities sponsored by the school and attended reunions with the class of 1935. But Jamieson wanted to do more.

“Lorraine and her family were suc-

cessful, and they wanted to give back and support the school,” President Theodore Long said. “They felt strongly about supporting teaching in the areas of business and finance.”

After Jamieson’s death in September 2005 at the age of 92, an endowment was established using the Turnbull-Jamieson Trust, which had been established earlier

by Craig and Florence Turnbull and Lorraine Jamieson. This endowment, worth $1.1 million, was created to fund the new Turnbull-Jamieson Chair in accounting in memory of Craig J. Turnbull, Florence O. Turnbull, Katherine E. Jamieson and Lorraine L. Jamieson.

“We are extremely grateful for this generous gift from Lorraine and her family,” Long said. “I always got a lift from her endearing spirit, and I am saddened by her passing. Her great legacy will live on through the creation of this important fund and continue to benefit students for many years.”

This endowment provides funding to support instruction in the field of business and accounting at Etown. While it will not change how the business department is run or what it does, the money will provide the department with stronger financial support.

“The endowment gives recognition to the business department to help signal that they are strong by recognizing excellence and supporting it financially,” Long said.

The Turnbull-Jamieson Chair position is also a way to recognize an outstanding member of the business department faculty. The first Turnbull-Jamieson Endowed Chair is Dr. Hossein Varamini, a professor of finance and the director of the international business program.

Varamini has published 20 articles addressing finance and international business, as well as presenting many of his papers at scholarly meetings. He has also been a very positive influence on the College’s international business program

and a leader in the college-wide effort to enhance global education.

“Dr. Varamini has made a distinguished record as a teacher, scholar and leader in the College faculty,” Long said.

“His students and faculty colleagues here hold him in high regard, and in the wider academic world, he has burnished Elizabethtown’s reputation for excellence in International Business.”

Many other former Etown students have also either donated to the College, or their friends and family have donated in their name. Do the names James B. Hoover, class of ’75; Dr. J. Paul Lyet III, class of ’69; Kevin Boyd, class of ’98; and Louise Baugher Black, class of ’46 sound familiar? If not, think about this: the James B. Hoover Center for Business, the Lyet Wing for Biological Sciences in the Masters Center, the Kevin Scott Boyd Baseball Stadium, and the Louise Baugher Black Award, which recognizes excellence in non–fiction writing.

continued from page one

Crash performed for many despite inclement weather Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to completely rip the doors off of the Jeep so that the trapped people could be freed and taken by the paramedics.

In this scenario, the driver of the Jeep was “drunk” and thus responsible for the crash, and he had to be taken to the hospital.

Meanwhile,a girl was trapped in the back seat of the flipped vehicle. To save her, the firefighters went about forcibly removing the sedan’s rear window.

The car was eventually propped up enough so that the victim could be retrieved safely.

Despite the rain, wind and cold, the crash was very well attended. A diverse mob of students crowded around the Ober Loop to get a view of the crash and the rescue process. Most students enjoyed the presentation as a whole.

“I thought it was very realistic,” first-year Randy Burkholder said.

However, a few people there took a slightly more sarcastic stance.

“So this is what it takes for American college students to not drink and drive,” an anonymous visitor to the campus from Holland quipped, reflecting international views on the crash.

Once everyone had been rescued, one of the “victims”

got up and addressed the crowd, thanking them for attending and urging all present to be more responsible should they drink. After that, friends of the victims rushed into the loop, and it was hugs all around.

The mock car crash is an annual event hosted

by Etown College’s Get ABSURD club.

Get ABSURD is t a s k e d w it h r a i s i n g awareness of the dangers of drinking and offering safer alternatives for ways students can spend their weekends.

This educational event will continue to demonstrate the dangers of drinking and driving for as long as it is held.

Photo: Matthew P. Butera

This Jeep Cherokee held a mock drunk driver who was responsible for the staged car crash. Beer cans can be seen on the ground beside the vehicle. Get ABSURD hosts the annual event, this year’s held last Tuesday, to show the dangers of drinking and driving.Actors playing the parts of shocked or injured victims made the scene more realistic.

Say Goodbye to a Senior!

Want to send off your senior friends in a way they’ll cherish forever? Publish farewell wishes to your favorite Class of ’09ers in next week’s issue of the Etownian!

Visit the Etownian table in the BSC April 27-29 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to submit a shout-out and photograph to be printed in this year’s final issue.

Photographs can be e-mailed to EDITOR@etown.edu.

Shout-outs: $1 Shout-out w i th photograph: $2

4

features

the Etownian

profiles • monthly series • campus events

April 23, 2009 town events • facts & figures• business

on campus

Farmer addresses, impresses Scholarship Day audience Patty A. Cangelosi Staff Writer

T

uesday was Elizabethtown College’s second annual Scholarship and Creative Arts Day, highlighting a total of 400 student presentations. Dr. Paul Farmer, the Keynote Speaker, addressed a crowd of nearly 300 students, staff and faculty members in Leffler Chapel. Farmer is the Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard University and an attending physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

After graduating from Duke University, he earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard, both in medical anthropology. Farmer is the co-founder of Partners in Health, an organization that offers healthcare to underprivileged people all over the world.

Farmer was born in North Adams, Mass., in 1959, the second of six children. His humble upbringing “taught him to be resilient rather than hungry for wealth.”

President Theodore Long introduced Farmer by saying there are certain people who take it on themselves to “make the world better one idea at a time,” and Farmer “exemplifies that way of living.”

By focusing on diseases that dispropor- cording to Farmer, one of his students asked tionately afflict the poor and authoring him, “After working with people in Haiti for and coauthoring over 100 scholarly pub- so long, are things better there?” In order lications, Farmer makes it a point to fight to illustrate the improvement, Farmer told for what he believes in. the student that when he first arrived there, Author Tracy Kidder wrote a book titled Haitians said, “We’re hungry. Give us food!”

“Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest Now, the same people are sending him eof Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Could Cure mails saying, “Paul, where is the Windows the World” about his experience getting to XP you promised us?” know Dr. Farmer as a person. Long quoted To show the scarcity of adequate Kidder’s observahealthcare in various tion that Farmer regions of the world, “seemed to be livand the prevalence of ing as nearly as any infectious diseases in the person can withsame regions, Farmer out hypocrisy.” presented several anFarmer began thropological maps. The his speech by raisproblem, he explained, ing a few largeis that “where we need scale questions, investment, we’re not such as, “What are getting it.” rights?” and “Do To f u r t h e r prov e all humans deserve his point, he displayed the same rights?” photographs of Haitian He then described people he personally Photo: Matthew P. Butera his decades of ex- Dr. Paul Farmer spoke about knew who were once perience working healthcare rights at Leffler on extremely ill, “literwith the poor and Tuesday. He illustrated the difference ally on death’s door.” In sick in Haiti. Ac- that the Partners In Health make. corresponding photos,

the same individuals are restored to normal health due to intervention from Partners In Health. He emphasizes that delivering these services is not easy and not always the most cost efficient option, but that it is definitely not impossible.

Farmer is optimistic about the future of Partners in Health and global healthcare in general. These causes today have a great deal more resources than they ever have before. A Martin Luther King Jr. quote illustrates Farmer’s views on the subject: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.”

“Ever yone can imagine what it would be like to be sick and alone,” Farmer said. Even people for whom healthcare is not a central issue should consider the possibility that anyone could end up in this situation. He believes that Etown’s motto of “Educate for Service” is “admirable” and “very, very noble.”

At the conclusion of his speech, he showed a picture of a homeless man in Philadelphia. “You don’t have to go far to find people in need,” he said.

student achievements

Psychology students honored for accomplishments Greta A. Kvinnesland Assistant Features Editor

“Long-term vs. Short-term Relationships: The Implications on Emerging Adults” at the Eastern Psychological Association in Pittsburgh. Her study was an examination of the implications associated with long and short-term relationships n terms of student achievement, Etown’s psychology department has certainly been with a primary focus on the constructs of intimacy, relationship avoidance and busy establishing swagger throughout this spring. During the last several months, anxiety. She presented her research in poster format (hence the pun), displaying seniors Katie Krissinger and Laura Getz have each presented innovative research the steps of her project as well as providing background research and participant projects in different areas of study. Both veterans of social science conferences, the demographics. Krissinger’s results showed that those who had been in a longgirls have been accepted along with other classmates to present at the Association for term relationship (12 months or more) reported higher levels of intimacy than those who had only been in short term relationships (less than six months).

Psychological Science Conference in San Francisco at the end of May. When asked what she enjoyed most about the process, Krissinger said, “I This semester, Getz and Krissinger have become (if you’ll pardon the pun) poster-girls for their department. In March, Krissinger presented a study entitled like conducting research because of the freedom it offers.” She also offered a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to be a psychology major conducting a study. “You can test just about anything you want to,” she said. “It's sort of like a puzzle in which you read countless research articles and become familiar with the literature surrounding that topic. You look at the existing data and see where the holes are, what questions haven't been asked, and from there, you figure out how to test this and pull together surveys which assess your topic.”

Krissinger’s initiative and hard work paid off, and her poster was a success at the conference in Pittsburgh. “Many people were interested in my study and enjoyed learning about the results,” she said.

Getz’s presentation at the Undergraduate Social Sciences Conferences at Lebanon Valley College April 4, 2009, was also very well received. Awarded third place overall in the poster competition, she exhibited her honors program thesis research, which covered You may be a fit for the Etownian! We are currently looking for: the Collaborative Interdisciplinary Scholarship Program (CISP) South Africa music project. Choosing to focus on the increasingly diverse work-force in the United States and abroad today, Getz looked at cross-cultural differences in leadership perceptions between students in the United States and South Africa. She also spent time in South Africa to carry out her research. This was, understandably, the highlight of the process for her.

Getz also confessed that one of the biggest difficulties of conducting her study was learning how to gather participants. “I think the best thing about my research was that it gave me a great E-mail us at EDITOR@etown.edu or visit www.etownian.com to apply! chance to deal with another culture, one that I probably wouldn't All listed positions are unpaid. have had the experience to work with if it hadn’t been for that grant and research project,” Getz added. Upon graduating from Etown in May, she hopes to go to London to continue working on the South Africa project research.

I

wants your skills!

Do you enjoy sports?

Do you create graphic designs?

Are you interested in business?

Do you know how to make a sale?

Assistant Sports Editor Assistant Layout Editor Assistant Business Manager Assistant Advertising Manager

April 23, 2009

features

the Etownian

on campus

5

‘Nine Parts of Desire,’ highlighting unique women Alysa D. Poindexter Staff Writer

A

young girl dances freely around her room listening to the band N*SYNC with all the energy of a normal preteen. As the chorus lyrics to the up-tempo love song kick in and start to flow through the air, her room darkens and the lighthearted pop rhythms cease to surround her. The power has gone out. She calls out to her mother to put the generator back on so that she can finish listening to her favorite song. It is clear that the adolescent girl is frustrated. All she wants to do is live a standard life outside of the walls of her room and go to school. But that cannot be, because her safety would be at risk if should she venture there. Living in Iraq with the country’s current occupation, this young girl may not be normal for a long time.

This story, accompanied by eight others, will be performed by nine Elizabethtown College students on April 23-25, 30, and May 1-2 in the Tempest Theatre in the play “Nine Parts of Desire.” The play, written by actress Heather Raffo, details nine different struggles of Iraqi women. Although one character is American with Iraqi heritage, that young woman finds herself stuggling with issues occuring in Iraq. Each character in the play serves to have a significant message about female empowerment.

“I know I identify with all of them,” Raffo explained about the characters. “They are all aspects of myself.” The actress/playwright has done numerous productions, but this was the first play that she wrote. The theme of empowerment gives voice to each character. “In a nutshell, until there is really equality in the universe, we will never be balanced,” Raffo detailed.

Raffo’s own heritage allowed her to dig deep into the many ideas of the play. In “O” magazine, Raffo discussed the “aha” moment when she connected with her Iraqi background while she was in college.

“I got more comfortable in my own skin,” she said. “Embracing and understanding Iraqi heritage grounded me as a woman.” She further explained that the change within herself was imminent at the time, whether it was in connecting with her heritage or becoming more comfortable with herself.

In shaping the play itself, Raffo visited Iraq and interviewing people she knew and then branched off to get the stories from strangers who would become so much more.

on campus

TGIS weekend coming Glenn P. Knight Staff Writer

M

y favorite part about TGIS is Saturday on Brinser Field. It’s always different from year to year - they change the theme, and there are inflatables and lots of games to play, and it’s always really great. So it’s just a fun afternoon to spend time with friends,” senior Kaylyn Parman said.

For years, students like Parman have enjoyed Thank God It’s Spring (TGIS) Weekend. Students are especially eager to experience the theme of “Through the Decades” this year, which will showcase all the best from the 20th century.

Starting Thursday, April 23 and lasting until Saturday, April 25, activities will include a ‘50s drive-in dinner, a showing of “Grease” and swing dance lessons. Other activities for the eventful weekend will range from a roller-skating party, an ‘80s flash dance and E-stock, which will include concerts, tiedye shirts and an obstacle course on Brinser Field.

This spring marks the fourth year the Office of Student Activities (OSA) has coordinated the TGIS weekend. Director of Student Activities Toni Kupchella and OSA student assistants helped decide this year’s theme.

‘That was the first year OSA did it and for me TGIS is the theme, but the student body was very angry that there was not another theme. In recent years there was also a pirates theme one year, there was a western theme in the past

before my time,” Kupchella said.

Negative reviews involved with the Medieval Times, the theme two years ago, caused Kupchella to rethink activities and food at the Marketplace during the annual festivities. “Two years ago, we did a medieval dinner in the Marketplace, so there were no utensils and that was met with some mixed reviews. Some students really got into it and dining did a great job.

They did a lot of food that was either on a stick or food that you would normally eat with your hand to begin with, but some students were just really not enjoying the medieval experience without the silverware,” Kupchella said.

Since the Medieval-themed TGIS weekend, OSA has implemented assessments to gauge the student body’s needs.

“I just feel that the program ideas that were created and that the students came up with are good ideas. We have been doing the student activities assessment this entire semester, and I feel like we were actually able to take ideas that we were trying to get for next year but I incorporat[ed] them immediately into this year.

This year’s theme of “Through the Decades” seems fitting for the OSA team, whom have looked to the past successes and failures for TGIS weekend.

“I would definitely say that this year’s schedule supersedes any other year’s schedule. I feel like every year is getting better and better,” Kupchella said.

She stated that it took a great amount of trust to gain the stories of these women, but it wasn’t too difficult of a process. “Actors tend to be very close to the bone with their life stories,” Raffo said, “but the experience was deep and intense.”

Originally, Raffo’s performance of the play was as a one-woman show, but many productions choose to have multiple actresses for the parts. According to Raffo, there are significant differences between the two ways of performing the show. “There is more of a poetic sense with one person torn in nine different directions,” she said.

Raffo also said that although with a bigger cast one may lose the sense of a personal inner war, the actresses instead gain a community amongst the characters and a lot more of a dialogue. “The actresses get to wrap their spirits and heads around the parts,” Raffo explained.

“I couldn’t have picked a better show to end college with,” senior English major and theater minor Natasha Threatts, who performs in the play, said. “It has been a great learning experience, and I feel honored to share the story of the Iraqi women.”

Threatts’ character Amal deals with the struggle of whether or not freedom is better than peace. “Their story deserves to be told,” Threatts said. “The women of this cast truly embody the spirit of the show.”

“These are roles that stick with you when you go to bed at night and when you wake up,” fellow actresses and senior English education major Katlyn Howes, who plays Layal, said. “The women we play are so real and so strong, it is a great thing to be a part of.”

Raffo emphasized that she wanted to shed more light on the image of the Iraqi woman for the American audience. “I really do respect and love that we understand what it is to be American and the play celebrates that so the characters don’t seem so foreign,” Raffo said. Positive reviews about the play have come from sources as well-known as The New York Times. “I feel really happy about its success,” Raffo said. “Seeing other people do it I got a chance to sit back as a writer and be moved by others’ performances.” Raffo added that she hopes to continue writing.

“I consider all the women in my play to be dramatized characters in a poetic story,” Raffo said. “I liken it to songwriting — listened deeply to what each woman said, what she wanted to say but couldn’t, and what she never knew how to say.

Then I wrote her song.”

The semester is almost over.

Do you need a job?

Or an internship?

You don’t know where to turn.

Look no further!

Jobs for Jays Register for Jobs for Jays today.

Go to the Career Services Web site and follow the prompts.

There are three recruiters coming to campus in April: April 27, 2009 Enterprise (management trainee) April 28, 2009 APR Supply (management trainee) April 30, 2009 AXA Advisors (financial consultant) Visit Career Services in BSC

6

features

the Etownian

April 23, 2009

on campus

The

Jayd-ed edge

Rachel A. Marsteller Features Editor

Cup of kindness Some customers at Starbucks shops around the Birmingham, Ala. area have been getting an extra ingredient with their coffee: kindness. Customers at shops in eastern Birmingham, Hoover and Vestavia Hills are paying it forward by anonymously picking up the tabs of others.

Sharon Dierking got a taste of the movement when she pulled up to the window at a Starbucks on U.S. 280 and the barista told her the driver in the car ahead had paid for her order.

Stacie Elm, a barista at an Alabaster Starbucks, said a line of five cars recently paid it forward.

Customers are usually surprised to find out their order is already paid for, she said.

Drive thru diplomat A politician in northeastern Pennsylvania has been getting some ribbing from his colleagues, but he says having a drive-thru window at his office is working great.

State Rep. Kevin Murphy said his office in Scranton has the drive-thru to make it easier for his constituents to see him. He said senior citizens, the disabled and those who have children in the car especially like the convenience of not having to walk into the office to drop off or pick up paperwork.

Oldest bowler A 100-year-old woman from New Jersey has become the oldest competitor in the history of the United States Bowling Congress Women’s Championships.

Emma Hendrickson of Morris Plains, N.J., was presented Saturday night with a plaque and a medallion to commemorate her 50th consecutive appearance in the tournament. She also received a pendant with her birthstone in recognition of her status as the tournament’s oldest participant.

The great-great-grandmother rolled 115, 97 and 106 for a 318 series during team competition at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno.

Hendrickson’s bowling activity is supported by her 27 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

She has no plans to stop; she has already signed up to compete in the 2010 event in El Paso, Texas.

Compiled from myway.com.

Greenberg studies Hollywood, movies Rachel A. Marsteller Features Editor Shaleen A. Spulio Managing Editor

F

ridays are the start of the restful weekend as well as the debut date of many popular Hollywood movies at the local cinema. Dr. Bryan Greenberg, assistant professor of marketing in the business department, has studied the effect Hollywood has on the public.

Greenberg recently presented his work at the Social Network Analysts Conference in San Diego, "Friday Night at the Movies: How Hollywood Decides What You'll Be Watching this Weekend.” He has been working on this topic for a number of years. It is a continuation of work he started in graduate school.

“I have always been interested in the media industry, specifically in the development phase,” Greenberg said. “I’m a marketing guy.”

In the beginning of his presentation, he compared two very different films, “Slumdog Millionaire” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.” “Slumdog” is an independent film that grossed over $300 million at the box office and only cost $15 million to produce. “Chuck and Larry” was a product of the large Hollywood machine, costing $85 million to make. It only earned $186 million worldwide. So why does Hollywood still make films that cost more and are seemingly less profitable? Four words: Thursday night advertising blocks. As the public watches TV, they see multiple advertise-

ments for a film being released the following evening. Consumers prefer to see what they know or are familiar with. The public still makes its own decisions about what to see at the movie theatre, but the TV advertising helps considerably.

“The major studios dominate Hollywood,” Greenberg continued. The studios are part of an oligopoly, meaning that they are all very similar and control what happens in the industry. They can push the rating system board through lobbying. For example, if a movie is supposed to be rated NC-17, they will go back to negotiate with the ratings board to make it rated R. Within Hollywood, it is difficult to go outside the norm.

“If your work is non-traditional, you’re putting your [career] on the line,” Greenberg said. “It’s [more] okay to fail with a traditional idea than with a nontraditional idea. You can blame it on the audience or the environment — not the film idea itself. It’s a tough thing to get ‘Slumdog’ films,” Greenberg said.

“The filmmaking process is backwards,” Greenberg said. Typically, a product or idea is made to cater to a specific audience or market. When a product is created before a specific audience is identified, then it has to be carefully promoted and the content has to be shaped to relate to the largest possible group. There is a “narrowing of content that’s produced,” Greenberg said.

There are three steps in the filmmaking process: development, production and distribution. The idea can come about in a few ways. Sometimes the original idea

is varied greatly before it is given the ok to go on to production. Other times, the idea stays pretty much the same as when it was first started, by the production stage. The worst-case scenario is when an idea is shot down before it ever gets the green light to go to production. So why do some make it through unscathed and others shot down? It comes down individual influences, social influences and the entire social system.

Greenberg conducted his study in four steps. First, he studied film producers and studio executives to get a better understanding of the “individual attributes, influences and organizational culture.” After looking at these surveys, he discovered the average Hollywood producer is a white, middleaged, college-educated male who does not attend church. Next, he examined the social networks that lie within the media industry.

From there, he conducted open-ended interviews and observed these executives and producers. He then analyzed the content of the films these producers formed.

Greenberg is not done with his research on this topic. Next, he hopes to get a cross-cultural comparison by traveling to Asia to study industries such as Bollywood. In contrast to Hollywood, Bollywood is not a national movie industry. Rather, it is made up of regional media industries that are controlled by local sectors. He will travel to India as part of the Mellon International Faculty Scholarship Seminar, a program for professors in which select faculty members conduct research projects abroad.

on campus

Empty bowls works to end hunger issues Huntley C. McGowan Assistant Layout Editor

H

unger awareness is an issue that has recently hit home with many families in Third World countries, as well as those in the United States. This prominent concern has begun to have a direct impact on our world because of harsh economic times we are currently experiencing.

Turn on any news station or merely look at your close family members or friends, and chances are that you will no longer see the same bounce in their step. Many people have become worried about how they will continue to support their families.

Lately, we have seen huge chain stores, such as Circuit City, succumb to bankruptcy — a far too common experience for many companies. Families have also started to cut back on everyday necessities, even groceries and health products.

So what can the students and faculty of Elizabethtown College do to help support those in need? Hopefully, you showed your support for the Empty Bowls Dinner that took place Wednesday, April 22 in the Event Space from 4 to 7 p.m. The dinner was sponsored by SIFE, the Center for Global Citizenship and the AmeriCorps Scholars. The entertainment was provided by Emotion dance club, Phalanx and Melica. Mr. Etown, senior Ezra Schatz, emceed the event as well.

Senior Shaleen Spulio, Managing Editor of the Etownian and director of Internal Communications for SIFE, said, “This is the second year EC SIFE helped with the Empty Bowls Dinner, along with the AmeriCorps Scholars. The money we raised will be going to the Central PA Food Bank and Heifer International.”

Hunger Awareness Week was comprised of four main events: the Empty Bowls Dinner, the Soup Card Fundraiser, informative sidewalk chalk messages and the flyers around campus about hunger in both our community and around the world.

The Empty Bowls Dinner served three main purposes.

First, it raised awareness in the campus and surrounding communities about the hunger problems in local neighborhoods. Second, it aspired to help those suffering from hunger, especially in these difficult times. The final aim was to encourage others who are more fortunate to help those in need.

“What SIFE is doing here is absolutely amazing,” Schatz said. “To think that students are taking the initiative to raise awareness for such an alarming problem in the world is wonderful. SIFE is an outstanding organization, and they exemplify what Elizabethtown College is all about. I am very excited that they offered me the opportunity to help out in any way I could.”

The event only cost either a meal swipe or $5 for students.

Faculty, staff and community members were also invited to attend this event for $8 or $5 with a donation of nonperishable food. “The purpose of Hunger Awareness Week was to illustrate the importance of the issue of hunger in our community and around the world, while raising funds to help combat it,” senior Matt Miller, president of SIFE, said.

The only food that was served at the dinner was a simple meal of soup and bread. This meal was kindly donated by Dining Services as well.

“The reason for the Empty Bowls Dinner was to show attendees the type of meals that many people in the world eat every day. We wanted to illustrate how much hunger and poverty truly affects these people,” Miller said. “The simple meal of soup and bread was more than many eat in an average day. There were also presentations and discussions on hunger-related issues.”

Think about how much food you eat in a normal day. How much do you waste? Do your part to help fight hunger in your local communities by supporting organizations such as the Central PA Food Bank and Heifer International. Volunteer your time to help make a difference around the globe.

April 23, 2009

campus life

movies • music • television • humor • travel

the Etownian

7

lifestyles • arts • advice • college issues

environmental concerns

Kermit refuted: it is easy bein’ green Joelle E. Atkinson Assistant Campus Life Editor

G

reen is officially the new black. It is the new buzzword in magazines, on billboards and endorsed by celebrities. But what does it mean to be green? Is it just a saying, or is this eco-friendly way of life becoming a reality?

Since a small movie produced by Al Gore, titled “An Inconvenient Truth,” garnered Hollywood buzz and fame, the American way of life has changed. The fear of losing California to an earthquake and the possibility of Florida shriveling in the Atlantic Ocean have prompted Americans to change their way of living, and a newer, greener lifestyle has come to the forefront of American consciousness.

“An Inconvenient Truth” is about Gore’s quest to end global warming before it ends life on earth. The shocking potential effects to which this movie eludes includes the claim that both sides of the American continent will either be swallowed by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans or break off of the continent in only a matter of years. Gore, on a media blitz tour across the States, urged Americans to find an alternative lifestyle that does not waste as much energy or pollute the environment nearly as much.

Senior Meredith Pritchard is employed by a manufacturers’ representative company and works to sell more green products to wholesale companies.

In her eyes, evidence of those living an eco-friendly life is seen especially through the wholesale giftware market, which is the area Pritchard focused on for her senior seminar project. “[Going green] means buying or purchasing sustainable goods or products that are safe to the environment (non-toxic, or without the potential to release harsh chemicals), biodegradable, or recyclable,” she said.

There are easy ways that college students can help with the ecofriendly transformation. The Web site IdealBite.com prides itself on “celebrating Earth Day every day.” On this site, students can find easy ways to go green, such as opting out of phone book deliv-

ery, using a rice-paper wallet, or using an eco-friendly bath towel made from bamboo and organic cotton.

The idea of this new and inventive bath towel came about because the use of organic cotton accounts for less use of pesticides and insecticides. Additionally, these towels are extremely soft and absorbent.

The Web site also features a library of daily tips.

Each pointer includes “The Bite” (a description of the product, idea or newfangled way of life), why a person should care, why the Web site feels that this is a great way to “go green”, and how to acquire the idea or service.

The tips are helpful and handy, and if one person did one thing every day, the world as people know it would be much safer and cleaner.

Another Web site, MyInspirationLounge.com, offers similar ideas and has a constant sidebar on how to go green. This site, which states different ways that a person can change their own world by “seeing the world,” “getting money savvy,” and helping others “get entrepreneurial” also says that a person can enhance their own lives as well as the lives of others by embracing the “green” lifestyle. Features such as “100 water saving tips,” creative green wrapping ideas, and an eco-friendly browser for user-friendly green content add to this Web site and truly help the user to enhance the world.

Several simple tips for going green, according to IdealBite.com, include: • Wear vintage fashion • Use high performance windows in the home • Shop online • Invest in organic jeans • Switch to eco-friendly rain gear • Repair old clothes and shoes at a tailor or cobbler • Turn off the water while brushing your teeth • Unplug electronics when they are not in use All of these bits of advice can help an average student to maintain a regular lifestyle while still saving the environment and preserving a great land. If each person takes time out of his or her day to do at least one green thing, then everyone would feel better about themselves. Slowly but surely, America and the planet will be saved from this “Inconvenient Truth.”

Image: flickr.com

10

campus life

the Etownian

April 23, 2009

internship highlights

Deysher, Roberts snag out-of-the-ordinary summer gigs Ross M. Benincasa Staff Writer

S

ummer: the one word in the English language that brings relief to the hearts and minds of every student across the United States. Summer means relaxation. It means road trips with friends, sandy feet from days on the beach, and a perpetual laziness from simply bumming around the house. It is the incarnation of the popular phrase, “Life is good.”

But for some Elizabethtown students, summer is not just an excuse to accumulate a layer of dust on those all-too-often used coats. Instead, their summers will be used gaining experience in all types of fields, through internships offered by companies and organizations around the world.

Though many students associate internships with work done throughout the school year, summer internships can provide students with a way to fill their time off with needed experience but not worry about other classes during their internship. It also gives them the opportunity to feel like an actual employee wherever they are working, as their hours on the site are not determined by the rest of their college schedule.

Companies that offer these type of internships are plentiful, from Levi’s and Chanel for fashion enthusiasts, to Maxim and Us Weekly for publishing entrepreneurs. There are even companies whose sole profit is made from students’ summer internships, including University of Dreams, which sponsors programs in 11 cities. Through their programs, University of Dreams not only provides an internship at a leading company, but also offers housing, meals and daily trips to events around the area.

Summer internships have gained popularity around campus as more and more companies open their doors to college interns and potential future employees. Senior Sarah Deysher interned last summer for the Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center at the University of New England in Maine to complement her biology major and apply what she has learned here at Etown out in the field.

“I wanted experience working hands-on with animals, particularly marine animals,” Deysher said. “[I had to perform] basic animal husbandry, like cleaning the rooms and feeding seals and sea turtles. I also drew blood samples and did diagnostic blood tests to determine treatment plans for the animals.”

Deysher is not the only Etown student to commit to a distant program over the summer. Senior Jillian Roberts has worked with the Walt Disney World College Program in Orlando, Fla. since January 2007. This college program allows students to fulfill a childhood dream and work with one of the largest

Images: facebook.com

Above: Senior Jill Roberts poses with Minnie and displays her certificate from Disney’s College Program.

Left: Senior Sarah Deysher sports a wet suit (inset). She worked with baby seals during her marine biology internship in Maine last summer.

companies in the world while earning possible credits.

The programs run either in the fall or in the spring, with an option to stay over the summer.

“Some benefits while doing the program are free admission into the parks every day,” Roberts said, “[as well as] free tickets for family and friends a few times throughout the program.”

Roberts also recently applied and was granted a professional internship with Disney, where she will

be a Sales Assistant at the Saratoga Springs Resort.

Although both students took part in very different programs, the consensus at the end of each program seemed to be clear: do it!

“It was the most amazing experience I ever had,” Roberts said. “[It] led me to what I want to do with my future.”

College may appear pretty standard and boring at times, but it’s four years of opportunity that you may never get back. And believe it or not, that opportunity just may lay somewhere outside Lancaster County. So get out and explore this summer, because saving a beached whale just may have a greater impact on you than becoming one.

campus events

Second annual SCAD displays hard work and creativity Emily E. Knitter Staff Writer

S

for his creative writing class with Dr. Carmine Sarracino.

“At the beginning of the semester, I had no intentions of presenting on Scholarship Day, but as I wrote more, Dr. Sarracino gave me a lot of confidence, and so I kind of decided at the last minute to

cholarship and Creative Arts Day is held here at Elizabethtown College once a year to celebrate the scholarly and creative accomplishments of Etown students. Throughout the day, a variety of scheduled events It was great preparation such as presentations, performances and ex- for research out in the hibits are prepared by “real world.” the students to demonstrate their hard work, Stacey Lehman skills and abilities. All Senior biotechnology major students and faculty are encouraged to attend this present,” Mauger said. “I’ve event and support those who learned a lot about writing and have put time and effort into poetry from Dr. Sarracino over their respective projects. the past year.”

At the event, students preOn another side of the acsented on many different topics. ademic subject sp ectr um, Some displays included research senior biotechnology major and work done through classes Stacey Lehman did a presenas well as on students’ own tation involving cell cycle time. Others are academic per- regulation as part of a much formances or posters they have larger research proposal that worked on for the entire year. her adviser, Dr. Jane Cavender, Junior Mike Mauger presented a wrote for a National Institutes poetry reading of pieces he wrote of Health grant.

“I chose this project because I am interested in cell cycle regulation and how problems with cell cycle regulation can lead to cancer,” Lehman said. “One of the proteins I focused on in this project was cyclin A. The cyclin family of proteins play a major role in cell cycle progression.

Additionally, working with T antigen cell lines is a great model system to study the changes cells must undergo to become transformed ([or] develop cancer).”

Students’ work on presentations can sometimes take from the beginning of the school year until the presentation date. Others only take a short amount of time to prepare. The long, tedious hours preparing for this event really show how dedicated these students are to their project.

“My research for this presentation had its ups and downs. Sometimes I would get fantastic results from an experiment the first time, and other times it would take me several tries to troubleshoot

an experiment,” Lehman said.

“I originally expected my first experiments for this project to take a week or two before I moved on to something else. However, some surprising results led to those first experiments becoming my entire senior thesis. Overall, it was great preparation for research out in the ‘real world,’ especially since I plan to go on to grad school.”

Another Scholarship Day presentation was a children’s play called “Cake-enometry.”

This production was written and directed by senior theater performance and mathematics major Alyssa Miller as partial credit for the required senior project in theater. Miller had the opportunity to cast and direct her own play as well as present it at the Scholarship Day event.

“I decided to write a play because I wanted to incorporate both of my majors into the completion of one project. I liked the idea of having a play that would teach children about math,” Miller said.

The play follows a little girl named Lizzie and her journey to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make a birthday cake for her brother. Along the way, she is faced with some tempting sales pitches that require her to think before she acts. She eventually realizes that even those who appear mean on the surface can actually be good inside.

According to Miller, writing the play was a challenging — but worthwhile — experience.

“It was a long process working with the play and figuring out the best way to get the lesson across without being too childish,” she said. “After the play was written, I had to audition the actors and work with them in order to present the idea I had in my head.”

These three presentations were just a few out of the many that were presented on Scholarship and Creative Arts Day. Those who attended any of the presentations Tuesday may have been inspired to present something next year.

April 23, 2009

campus life

cinema review

‘Cleaning’ less than spotless Peter S. Northrop Assistant News Editor

L

ittle Miss Sunshine” is easily one of my five favorite films. So, when I learned that the guys who produced it were making another movie — “Sunshine Cleaning” — I literally bolted to the theater.

However, I left very much disappointed — yet strangely uplifted. “Sunshine Cleaning” is a very sweet and incredibly funny movie, but it steals more than a name from “Little Miss Sunshine.”

“Cleaning” is the tale of Rose and Nora Lorkowski, two sisters who are having trouble finding their way in the world while trying to deal with their mother’s suicide.

Rose (Amy Adams) is a tired, sweet and somewhat serious single mom barely out of her 20s.

Back in the day, she was the hottest girl in school, a stereotypical cheerleader dating a football player. But alas, the world has moved on and left Rose cleaning houses for a living and barely able to support her awkwardly brilliant son, Oscar.

Nora (Emily Blunt) is Rose’s confused and angry little sister, dressed like a punk with her myriad of bracelets, necklaces and tattered jeans.

She lives with her father and prefers to sit in her room thinking up new and increasingly harebrained get-rich-quick schemes (as opposed to holding down a real job).

Both sisters are clearly tired of their lives but are trucking along just fine.

That is, until the cop with whom Rose is having an affair suggests that the sisters

get into the “crime scene clean-up” business — as it’s just like cleaning houses, but pays twice as much. Of course, the girls sign up immediately and begin to clean up crime scenes. The movie is off like a rocket.

Sure, this sounds like an excellent premise, and the beginning of the movie is truly incredible.

The sisters bubble with so much chemistry that the movie could have just been the two chatting over tea and crackers for a few hours and I would have been satisfied. Their desperate lives on the outskirts of Albuquerque, N.M., are passionately presented in a hilarious light.

When the action really takes off and side plots develop, however, things get awkward. Alan Arkin does a hilarious job playing the father, but his loud non sequiturs and the tender moments with his precocious grandson may as well have been directly lifted from his character in “Little Miss Sunshine.”

The sisters are frequently saved from their predicaments by deus ex machina moments thrown in by lazy writers.

The film is edited in a rather jerky way, making it painfully obvious that postproduction for the film was a rush-job.

Finally, the worst demerit of all is that “Cleaning” doesn’t really have a climax. It just ends after another deus ex machina saves the girls and their family from the darkest stormcloud of all.

Plot troubles and character-stealing aside, “Sunshine Cleaning” is a very sweet and honest film that will leave you bewildered yet uplifted. Don’t see it if you’re a manly-man or if you don’t like excessive blood.

the Etownian

11

in hip-hop fantasy games

50 pops caps, rains death Jameson C. Rohrer Copy Editor

W

hen a man like 50 Cent loses something precious, he gets real angry, ‘cause fools need dyin’. A concert tour in the desert earns Mr. Cent the diamond-studded skull of an ancient queen (valued at $10 million).

Ethnic gentlemen steal the relic, so the rapper starts a war to recover it.

The G-Unit — Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks and DJ Whoo Kid — help 50 bust a few hundred heads.

Economics aren’t necessarily 50’s strong suit. The “50 Cent: Blood on the Sand” video game costs $59.99 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 ($10 more than its predecessor, “Bulletproof,” which sold a fantastic 1.6 million copies despite terrible reviews).

In the game, 50 and associates hire million-dollar helicopters and lay old palaces to waste, devastating the infrastructure of the anonymous BalticImage: darkzero.co.uk Mediterranean country. 50 Cent blasts an enemy helicopter in his new 50 bankrupts a few pri- video game, “50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.” vate security companies, Set in the desert, this hip-hop adventure patronizes one strip club game is available for XBox and PS3. (the only functional business in the land, apparently), and spends a few million dollars (stolen) on portable weapons and kung fu techniques.

“Blood on the Sand” is unapologetically ludicrous. Anyone who attempts to treat the piece as anything other than a hyper-stylized hip-hop fantasy may meet with disappointment, but the game’s unabashed silliness makes it eminently replayable. Who doesn’t want to rock to “In Da Club” and “Disco Inferno” while pumping explosive rounds into hostile Slavs?

Who wouldn’t perch in an assault helicopter with the G-Unit, cracking work camps and raining metal death upon tank convoys?

There is no narrative sophistication to slow down the experience. 50’s world, like any good music video, is populated by Serbian strippers and sleazy businessmen. Everyone is transparent, caricatured and delightful.

Lance Reddick from “The Wire” plays Carter, a street-smart military contractor, and spends the middle third of the game out-O.G.-ing 50.

Mr. Cent’s ultimate adversary is the Harvester (Dwight Schultz, “Howlin’ Mad” Murdoch from “The A-Team”). The Harvester, a former CIA operative, clearly plays against social sensibilities: he’s an arrogant, patronizing Southerner heavy on hate-speech and light on restraint.

50 always keeps it real. His impolitic attitude earns him few friends (though Eddie the strip-club owner, voiced by Omid Djalili of “The Love Guru,” stands by his hero). For the gamer, this means actively letting the haters know their place with words as well as weapons. The game’s left control stick is keyed to 99 highly colorful Taunt combinations. Players can exchange creative profanities at will, or use them to cap kill combinations for extra points.

Player-driven dialogue is supplemented by tough conversation between 50 and his sidekicks. This hard camaraderie lends “Blood on the Sand” quite the buddy-genre feel; it follows much of the same bang-bang dynamic that made “Bad Boys” and “Hot Fuzz” successful. The game itself is best in multiplayer: having a live companion for the vehicle sequences mitigates the poor AI and having a friend to shout at renders the trash talk positively sublime.

The game’s audio is critical in keeping players’ energy high. Sound Director Rob Bridgett was featured on the industry design Web site gamasutra.com for his department’s innovation. According to Bridgett, the game required hours of voice-over audio from the cast, “as well as a host of exclusive music tracks and hits [and] an original in-game hip-hop score written by producer Swizz Beatz.” Bridgett included many of 50 Cent’s hits, and the rapper recorded 18 new, original tracks exclusive to this experience. “It also required a huge amount of ... cinematic SFX work and a two-week off-site post production mix,” Bridgett said. The result was “an over-the-top hip-hop arcade experience.”

That “arcade experience” perpetuates gameplay as well. Incendiary barrels, wailing klaxons and brightly-shirted enemies fill the long encounters, most of which end with helicopter boss-battles and chunky explosions. the controls and over-the-shoulder third-person camera are lifted directly from the triple-A franchise “Gears of War,” which leaves combat feeling intuitive but uninspired.

The real 50 Cent began playing video games during his touring days.

On long trips from New York to LA, his Playstation made a better companion than magazines, which he exhausted too quickly. “Blood on the Sand” would prove excellent entertainment for a cross-country bus trip but satisfies in smaller portions as well. And you should love it way more than you hate it. If you watch how he move, you’ll mistake him for a player or pimp. He been hit with a few shells, but he don’t walk with a limp.

12

opinion

the Etownian

campus controversies • letters to the editor

d n ou

S Off

Do you think the TGIS them of “Through the Decades” is exciting?

by Matthew P. Butera

Nicholas McMichael Class of 2012 “Yeah. We are coming into a new decade, and it’s interesting to look back at the past.

April 23, 2009 national debate • our take • guest columns

on campus

‘Lords of dance’ denote campus culture E. Adam Quinn Layout Editor

A

recently performed case study has brought a serious issue to my attention. It is an issue grand in scale, with the potential to profoundly affect your college experience. Elizabethtown College is addicted to dance. I bring this to light in order to shield you from this potential epidemic.

If you are sitting there wondering, “Dance? What dance?” then perhaps I am not needed. Within the past month, there has not been a weekend in which a dance did not take place. The Battle of the Birds featured athletes dancing, Mr. Etown featured some very handsome men dancing, and Emotion featured Etown’s finest dancers, dancing. These were my major observations; however, the weekends will present many more opportunities to see a variety of moves with influences ranging from T-pain to Tequila.

When analyzing my data, I found a unique trend. It seems that the gender dynamic of dance has shifted drastically since my freshman year in 2005. Back then, it was typical to see guys and gals getting down late Saturday nights, off campus, while the Emotion-style dancing was reserved for the ladies in Leffler.

This is no longer the norm, as the males

of Etown are becoming a dominant force on stage and the floor. One of the main goals of Emotion is to “enhance the cultural life of the college community.” I think culture is a great thing, something in which every human being should be immersed. Especially in the time of fake celebrities, garbage television shows and commodity musicians, culture on our campus is a breath of fresh air.

However, after witnessing and even partaking in some of the events of the past month, dance on our campus has become less about culture and more about laughing at the men on stage.

Rather than performing dances which actually promote an aspect of culture by celebrating a classic like a tango or waltz, male dances now feature cross-dressing, butt-drop maneuvers, hip shaking and, above all, extreme male bonding. Why has this become the status quo of Elizabethtown College? Perhaps the “golden ratio” — three girls to every guy — has finally backfired. Men have finally been overwhelmed by the multitude of women on campus, and we are now utilizing dance as a means to impress.

Senior Rachel Louison believes it is a chance for “typical guys” to “do something completely opposite.” While fellow senior and former Mr. Etown Jake Keeler believes its due to the simple fact

that “people love watching guys,” who can argue when the sexy men of Etown are on stage? However, I believe it has less to do with the opposite sex but with more with our evolution of the definition of humor. In order to conjure laughter, many performances have featured a movement toward this equation: homosexuality plus heterosexuals equals funny. In this case, I blame the degradation of our cultural society.

Humor is an ingredient of a developed culture. However, I do not think that humor as a function of a minority group is conducive to higher society. The everknowledgeable sophomore Samantha Phillips recalls a time in American history when other minority groups were the subject of humorous dancing. “The idea behind these dances is similar to the images of African Americans in the very first films during the Jim Crow era.

White people portraying black people would paint large white lips on their faces and wear bug eyes — and people would laugh,” she said.

Dancing at Elizabethtown should remain focused on dancing and leave the humor up to the comedy clubs, such as Mad Cow and Sketch-E. If men really feel the need to sport feminine clothing, I recently saw an advertisement for a dragdress show occurring here on campus.

on campus

Students locked-in to on-campus housing Jennifer Fimmano Class of 2011 “Yes, I am excited for Mr. Belding.”

Alicia Conway Class of 2011 “I really like it. I think it is a great theme, and it is better than past years.’”

Jeremy Matula Class of 2009 “I think it is a very interesting idea, but I am a bit disappointed that we have moved away from getting bands to come and play.”

Make sure to check out the Sound Off poll and the opportunity to comment on articles on our Web site: www.etownian.com

Kendra E. Linton Staff Writer

C

ampus housing is a hot topic, especially at this time of year.

With classes wrapping up, students are making plans for next fall, and choosing a place to live is a priority. Most students opt to live on campus, but finding a roommate and choosing a room on selection day can be hectic and stressful. That’s why some students prefer the idea of living independently, off campus.

Rising junior Samantha Phillips is one of those students. “Living off campus would give me a chance to feel more independent, and would make the transition from college into the real world a little less stressful,” she said. “If I lived on my own, I could learn to deal with the things that I will be forced to deal with when I leave college. These things could include bill payments, commuting to my career, and general household fixes.”

While many students hold the same opinions as Phillips, other students, like rising senior Dan Provence, feel that living on campus is more beneficial because “you know what’s happening on campus at all times, and it makes for a better college experience.”

Although students have varied opinions regarding off-campus housing, it has nonetheless become an issue in the past few years. Phillips said that she tried to request an application for off-campus housing but was denied due to the fact that the list for off-campus housing applications was for seniors only. Also, there is not an application readily available on the Residence Life Web site. The school does seem to ADOPT: A happy, loving couple be keeping the wishes to welcome a newborn into reins tight on our lives. students who We can provide a warm and caring are applying home, security, and lots of love. for off-camLegal and confidential. Expenses pus housing, paid. Please call Margaret and but according to Allison Mark: 1-877-866-5709.

Br i d ge man ,

director of Residence Life, it is for good reason.

Bridgeman explained that Etown is a four-year residential college, which means that students are expected to live on campus for all four years. In return, the college provides a pleasant living environment by planning plenty of activities and creating clubs in which students can become involved. Bridgeman says that part of the reason why the school deters students from living off-campus is because the campus is like a community, and they want everyone to stay in the loop about events that are taking place. Bridgeman went on to say that in the past year, there has been more of a demand for off-campus housing applications. She believes this is in large part due to the economy.

Bridgeman has had many students come to her, wanting to live off-campus so that they could save money. She argues that while there is a chance that students would save money by living off-campus, there is also a good chance that they could overspend.

She noted that many students don’t know how to budget their spending efficiently on food, rent and other activities, and this could lead to students actually spending more money. By living on-campus, students don’t have to worry about overspending, because their food and living arrangements are already budgeted into their tuition, she said. Bridgeman also explained that students shouldn’t expect the school’s policy regarding the four-year housing agreement to change anytime soon, noting that the school has been a four-year residential institution for quite some time.

Although the school’s policy regarding off-campus housing is quite unpopular among students, it looks like it won’t be changing in the near future. I feel that students should be given the option to be able to live off-campus, and more off-campus housing should be available to students. I can understand the school’s reasoning behind wanting to lock students into living on campus, because they want students to be able to enjoy all the benefits of an oncampus lifestyle. However, that lifestyle isn’t always ideal for everybody, and I think that students, especially upperclassmen, should be given the opportunity to live off campus if they so choose. But whether you live on campus or not, one thing is for sure: housing will always stir debate amongst the student body.

opinion

April 23, 2009

the Etownian

in the nation

ONDCP launches ineffective campaigns Caitlin A. Carroll Staff Writer

Y

ou have probably seen a girl on TV sticking her fist into her mouth, couch security guards, or a girl’s dog telling her he misses her.

These commercials and advertisements are a part of the “Above the Influence Campaign” associated with the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

This campaign airs and publishes ads to prevent Americans from partaking of illegal substances and helping those who have a substance addiction.

Viewers often see these adver

yet the question remains: are these ads effective? The campaign is a step in the right direction, intendeding to teach young adolescents the consequences of using drugs. In one commercial, an inappropriate picture of a girl is taken at a party over the weekend. When her friend calls her up to tell her this picture is being sent around, she replies that she does not remember a picture being taken.

Then the girl realizes that she was high when the picture was taken.

This shows viewers the impact that doing drugs can have.

The “Above the Influence Campaign” asserts that drugs can

change a person completely. This is demonstrated in the Couch Security ad. This print ad reads, “Spend your days and nights part time Couch Security Guard.”

Subtitles include, “Sit and protect,” “Can you handle the excitement,” and “Learn on your very own couch.” These statements communicate that once a person takes up drug use, they lose interest in all activities. This is effective marketing.

Even though this drug prevention program does an adequate job of informing viewers of the consequences of using, it does not seem to prevent people from hit-

editor’s note

The allure of violence Craig H. Meaney Opinion Editor

A

serial killer enamors me. He enjoys leisurely rides on his boat, which he calls “Slice of Life.” He’s great with kids. In fact soon he’ll have one of his own. His name is Dexter Morgan, and you can watch his show on Showtime, iTunes or even Amazon.

Before you conclude that I’m a twisted guy, allow me to be defensive. Dexter, a character played by Michael C. Hall, is a charmer. His witty jokes and carping observations are enough to make anyone crack a smile. He fancies himself a protector, but much like Miami is no Gotham, Dexter is no Batman. He will take a life. “Blood,” he says.

“Sometimes it sets my teeth on edge, other times it helps me control the chaos.”

I give Dexter credit: controlling chaos is difficult. This is what lawmakers try to do: define the transient lines of justice. Controversy forces legislators to compromise, and it shrouds such issues as the death penalty. And as for those who approve of capital punishment, fictional characters that “cut out the middle man” may not be considered that morally taboo. Thus, vigilantism (as practiced by Dexter) is allowed entrance into the stream of socially acceptable content for movies, television shows and other media.

There is a plethora of this content. Take, for example, the popular film “The Boondock Saints.” The 1999 film has a base of hardcore fans, many of whom await the release of the sequel. The film’s main characters, Murphy and Connor MacManus, discover their hidden talent: flawlessly killing mobsters. Normally, this occurs when they are not drinking at their favorite Boston pub or attending mass. Catholicism serves as their justification for taking life; they partake in religious traditions such as placing coins on the eyes of victims after they murder.

During the climax of the movie, the brothers

fully realize their “mission from God,” and barge into a court room to execute a mobhead in front of jurors and onlookers.

Dexter does follow a “code,” much like our disgruntled religious vigilantes. He, too, vows to take only the lives of those who have committed heinous, unforgivable acts.

However hesitantly, he listens to the voice of conscience that his father has instilled in him. His “nightly bloodlust,” has not “overflown into [his] days,” like Patrick Bateman, Bret Easton Ellis’ main character in the 1991 novel American Psycho.

So why do we as a society find it curiously entertaining to watch these gruesome plots unfold, as Dexter Morgan casts bodies from his boat? Perhaps the repercussions of criminal acts have become less visible than the acts themselves. Murders, rapes and burglaries may make the front page, but the pending verdicts of said crimes often do not. Selective media coverage and sensationalism may, in part, be to blame for this morbid trend.

Reasoning aside, a more valid question might ponder how appropriate it is for violence to drive these themes and commentaries. I’ll stick with the gray: it’s appropriate and it isn’t. Violence is a profoundly horrific and memorable act, and for that reason, the messages are powerful and, at times, meaningful. But, concurrently, violence in television and other media desensitizes our youth to the act. Psychological research (such as Bandura’s) has shown that children will display aggressive behavior according to what they have observed.

Dexter Morgan may not deserve a Batmobile. Conner and Murphy MacManus, the Boondock Saints, may not have warrant for the divinity they claim. Nonetheless, the issue remains, and I’m pretty sure my TV screen will remain spattered with blood.

Those of my children will not. Brooding though it may be, Dexter’s monologue is just too droll and hypnotizing to pass up.

3 Bedroom House for Rent

Very nice house located at 432 E High Street. 1½ bathrooms, large kitchen with space for a table and chairs, 2 living/family rooms, basement for storage, nice patio in back yard, 1 car garage plus 3 off street parking spaces. Includes Washer/Dryer, Dishwasher, Fridge, Stove. Perfect for 3 students (or more if you are willing to share a room). With 3, rent is $390 per person per month (much cheaper than living on campus). Water, sewer, and trash are included. Please contact 717-471-7555 for more information.

ting the green or any other drug.

“Those ads are just ridiculous,” first-year elementary education major Erin Healy said. “It is not like when people watch them they are thinking ‘I am never going to smoke pot.’” Commercials such as two rats sitting on a bed with one offering rat poison to the other is, without a doubt, fantastical.

The campaign had a good idea and with some manipulion, could be very successful. The program achieved awareness but needs improvement in other areas. Dishing out cold, hard statistics of death resulting from overdoses might be more effective.

staff column

Vanity’s climb Jameson C. Rohrer Copy Editor

D

r. Carmine Sarracino asserts in his book “The Porning of America” that the trappings of pornography have transformed this nation. I haven’t read it. However, during a conversation on the 16th, he mentioned a few modern cultural trends that demonstrated this.

The importance of physical appearance and “a 19-year-old body” (leading even to the exclusion of other attractive qualities) and the social compartmentalization of sexuality, Sarracino said, create a potentially dangerous cocktail for Americans, especially young women.

I have certainly heard a great number of sad stories about the scarcity of “good guys.” These accounts typically come from females terrified by carousing, an attitude that casual sex is universally positive, or both. (Hasna Ameti and Serah Maxwell, whose Australian opinions regularly appear within my columns, stated in no uncertain terms that any unhappy bird with both attributes should zip up and fly higher.)

There is certainly good reason to believe that porn’s social dynamics have become normal: plenty of chicks dress like streetwalkers, nightclub pickup is more prominent than ever in top-40 songs and movies, and the 1960s’ first base is our generation’s handshake. If so, then anyone who plays by porn’s game should know its rules. Men attract with animal gravity; women just need to stand around lookin’ fly.

The trouble, though, is that it’s very difficult for ladies to look fly forever. And it’s hard to be the room’s shiniest dime. If only one female at a time can be the best-looking (and not, say, well-spoken or proficient at i-banking), then all other visible females playing the same zerosum game are not the best-looking, and consequently lose. And nobody wants to be a loser, or settle for a loser. Note: virtually all of these girls will eventually be 40, which is bad news unless their last name is Aniston. And even Jennifer will someday be 80. Ergo anxiety.

One reasonable conclusion would be to play a game that is not zero-sum and allows some point of contentment. (The traditional male-role equivalent to this would be taking a satisfying job instead of chasing paper.) Ameti recommended that American girls think about what they actually want, and then consider what they must do in order to get and keep it.

And Maxwell, who has very few sad stories, quietly suggested that sex must supplement social life rather than supplanting it.

13

the Etownian the board Editor in Chief Jennifer L. Tarr Managing Editor Shaleen A. Spulio Assistant Editor Jamie L. Bartolino News Editor Aidan E. Bauernschmidt Features Editor Rachel A. Marsteller Campus Life Editor Aimée M. DiMichele Opinion Editor Craig H. Meaney Sports Editor Abigail R. Kramer Photography Editor Kalie M. Desimone Copy Editors Katherine E. Blackman Jameson C. Rohrer Online Editor Steven E. Bicker Layout Editor E. Adam Quinn Assistant News Editor Peter S. Northrop Assistant Features Editor Greta A. Kvinnesland Asst. Campus Life Editor Joelle E. Atkinson Assistant Opinion Editor Khouri E. McGrann Assistant Sports Editor Michael D. Steiner Asst. Photography Editor Matthew P. Butera Assistant Online Editor Zachary T. Johnson Assistant Copy Editor Michael D. Moss Emily M. Reigart Noelle A. Withelder Assistant Layout Editor Huntley C. McGowan Business Manager Anh P. Nguyen Asst. Business Manager Brittny E. McLaughlin Advertising Manager Elizabeth L. Cox Faculty Adviser Kirsten A. Johnson The Etownian is the student newspaper of Elizabethtown College.

All editorial decisions are made by the student editors. With the exception of editorials, opinions presented here are those of quoted sources or signed authors, not of the Etownian or the College.

Submissions to the Etownian are always welcomed. We will make every effort to print submissions, but do not promise publication.

Submissions may be printed anonymously at the discretion of the editor.

Submit letters to opinion@ etownian.com

14

sports

the Etownian

April 23, 2009

etown women’s lacrosse

17th-ranked Jays defeat Messiah; win 11 straight games Kristen A. Conroy Staff Writer

amazing to dominate them like we did.

We played for the entire 60 minutes, out hustled them and got the loose balls.”

Kozak agreed saying, “It was tough mazing and awesome just cannot dephysically and mentally to stand up to scribe the feeling enough,” senior Anna them for 60 minutes and come out on Ford said referencing the Blue Jays’ tenth contop.” secutive win. “It’s something we have worked Senior Katie Foley led with six goals and so hard for, something we are so proud of, and an assist, while Ford netted three goals and something that is not over yet.” contributed three assists, and Scheurich The season may not be over, but the 19thalso scored three times. Kozak hit one goal ranked Elizabethtown College women’s laand dished out four assists to become the crosse team has claimed its 13th win against first player in program history to record King’s College and remains undefeated in 100 career assists. the conference (13-2 overall, 9-0 MAC). This Byrnes and sophomore Sarah Cullinan record ties with the single-season school rerecorded two goals each with assists, while cord for victories and extended the longest Kreis grabbed a pair of goals and Cassles winning streak in program history. netted one.

It doesn’t stop there. Saturday, April 18, the Etown led at halftime 12-5 and then 13-6 Lady Jays shut out the Lady Monarchs 21-0. with roughly 27 minutes left before the Lady This was the first recorded shutout in program Jays came out full throttle. Cassels scored and history. With the win, Etown grabbed a firstFoley took off with three straight goals in a round bye in the MAC playoffs. four-minute span. Scheurich and Ford closed It was a big scoring day Saturday, with 12 out the run 19-6 with 19:08 to go. Hawkins different players contributing to the defeat. finished with nine saves in 54 minutes, while Seniors Kelsea Kozak and Anna Ford led Watkins made one stop. the Blue Jays with three goals and an assist Photo: Abigail R. Kramer When it came to facing rival Messiah apiece. Sophomore teammates Ashley Mogle Defending the ball, sophomore Sarah Cullinan makes sure an FDU-Florham and Meg Cassels contributed two goals and attacker doesn’t get far. The Jays won the April 4 game and have won their College yesterday, the Falcons were no match. Etown entered the game after wintwo assists. last 11 games. ing their last 10 games, and the Falcons had Juniors Alisha Sangrey and Katie Caprinolo, and first-year Samantha Redles tacked on two four draw controls. Senior goalie Jenn Hawkins made won their last nine. The Lady Jays defeated Messiah in goals each for Etown, who led 15-0 at halftime. Finish- two saves in the first half, and junior goalie Becca Wat- an impressive 13-8 finish. In a good effort, Messiah held Etown to only five more points then what they scored, ing with a goal and an assist for the team were juniors kins did not face a single shot in the second half.

Megan Byrnes and Stephanie Kreis. Sophomore Kelly “We’ve been working really hard,” Kozak said. “It was something that only Dickinson College and Stevenson have been able to this year.

Lurz, along with first-years Anna Meerbach and Katie nice to have that pay off for us.”

Saturday, April 25, the Lady Jays will travel to MiseScheurich netted single goals.

Earlier in the week, Etown demolished yet another The team shut down the Monarchs defensively. Byrnes opponent. Lycoming College fell to the Lady Jays 20-10. ricordia University for its last regular season game before led with three ground balls while Ford had a game-high “Lycoming is always a battle,” Ford said. “It felt playoffs at 1 p.m.

A

etown men’s lacrosse

Men look for final win of season against Misericordia Kelly J. Clayton Staff Writer

A

fter coming off of a week of wins, the men’s lacrosse team knew they had a tough week ahead of them. The schedule started off with the 7-1 MAC

record Lycoming Warriors. To maintain their five-game winning streak, the Jays needed a victory in this conference game.

“The team knew it was a big game from the start” first-year Derek Karsten said. “We knew that winning would benefit the

team and put us in a better spot for playoffs.”

Unfortunately the Jays were unable to come out on top and lost to Lycoming with a score of 11-8. The Jays began to come back after a shaky second half, but time ran out.

etown track and field

Track and Field perform well Ross M. Benincasa Staff Writer

T

he Elizabethtown men’s and women’s track and field teams finished strong this past weekend at the Widener Invitational, while a select few impressed at the Larry Ells Invitational. At the Larry Ellis Invitational, seniors Amanda Daws and Tiffany Kulp competed for the women’s team.

In the 5,000-meters, Daws became the fourth Etown women’s runner to break the 18 minute mark, finishing with a time of 17:55.31. Kulp ran in the 1500-meters and finished with a time of 4:47.54. For the men, senior Dylan Rulander finished the 800-meters in a time of 1:51.33, the fourth-best time this season in Division III, which also provisionally qualified him for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

At the Widener Invitational, both the men and women pulled out great endings in their respective events. Junior Tim Katzaman broke his own school record for the hammer throw, with a toss of 40.52 meters. On the track, several other first-year students also put up big numbers to move them into the Etown record books. Pat Doughty rounded out the top 10 in the 200meters with a time of 22.33 seconds, while Brian Allport moved into seventh on the list in the 400-meters with a time of 50.68 seconds. Eric Reichert took eighth on the all-time performance list, finishing the 1500-meters in a time of 3:58.99.

The girls’ side also inspired at the Widener Invitational. Senior Chelsea Miles took eighth in the Etown record books for the 200-meters with a time of 27.45 seconds and fifth in the books for the 400-meters with a time of 1:01.28. She also competed in the triple jump, with a leap of 10.45 meters.

“We had eight minutes of bad lacrosse in the second quarter that left us behind at half time,” head coach Terry Corcoran said.

“The players could have easily folded and given up, but instead they came out and dominated the second half and closed the score to 10-8 with six minutes to go.”

Lycoming finished with a 39-28 advantage in shots over Elizabethtown and held a 3630 edge in ground balls. Junior Aaron Weber scored four goals and dished out a pair of assists.

Senior Ryan McCafferty scored a pair of goals for the Blue Jays, with sophomores Greg Kenneally and Ben Landis adding one goal apiece for Etown.

While the loss to Lycoming ended their five game winning streak, hard work throughout the week helped the men’s lacrosse team to redeem themselves against Alvernia Saturday.

Stepping on to the Alvernia Crusader’s field, the men knew that it was vital to score a big victory. A 20-3 win over Alvernia that Saturday gave everyone a chance to play and keep their heads in the game.

“The win against Alvernia was nice just to get us back on track,” junior Keith Staulters said.

The game against Alvernia was a big day for Aaron Weber, who tied the Etown single-game record with nine points as he scored five goals and dished out four assists. It was the fourth time in his career that Weber has scored five or more goals in a game, while his four assists were one shy of a career high set twice this season.

The game was intense, and each member was anxious to get into the game.

Coming off from a loss, the sunny Saturday game against Alvernia was the pickup the Jays needed.

The men looked to continue the a win streak when traveled to rival Messiah College yesterday. The Blue Jays were successful and won big by defeating the Falcons by an incredible 12-2 score. The Jays record is now 10-3.

The Jays last game of the season will be against MidAtlantic Conference member Misericordia University.

The game will be played at home Saturday at 1 p.m.

With playoffs right around the corner, the Jays are continuing to work and play hard in order to gain their spot in the NCAA tournament.

sports

April 23, 2009

superstitions in sports

the Etownian

15

Sports traditions and myths provide excitement to fans Abigail R. Kramer Sports Editor

appeared, the Philadelphia Phillies won the city’s first championship in 25 years, ending the “curse of Billy Penn.”

Some believe that these superstitions are what help give teams advantages.

“Each team has their own unique way of placing a whammy on opposing teams atching the big game isn’t as easy as it sounds. Some sports fans turn to extreme with [things like] the terrible towel and banging tubes together for measures to feel included in their team’s final outcome and loud noises,” men’s soccer head coach Skip Roderick said. “If their city to find hope that their team will do well. Whether it’s suiting up or team has success, then the entire community feels excitement of in a lucky outfit, holding onto a special object, or even standing victory and that transcends in their way of life for the week or day or on a certain side of a room during the game, superstitions are month. The agony of defeat isn’t what you want to carry with you.” fans’ ways of showing they care, and they will go the extra mile Sometimes these superstitions carry over to the athletes themselves. for glimmers of hope.

Sophomore men’s lacrosse player Brent Campbell has a certain ritual First-year Carey Betts understands this all too well. She spent he does every game to help prepare him mentally for the match. the last quarter of the AFC Championship game this past January “No matter what weather conditions are, all of us on the team wear cheering on her beloved Baltimore Ravens while sitting on her the black stripe under our eyes,” Campbell said. “I never change the kitchen steps watching the game through a reflection of a window. design either.”

Apparently, every time Betts got up to get something during the Campbell doesn’t stop there. His main superstitious habit lies with game, the Ravens would score a touchdown. For the rest of the the socks that he wears during every match. Campbell always wears game, her family forbade her to watch the game, and she was Under Armor socks pulled up to the bottom of his calf. Every time banished to the kitchen. Despite the fact that she wanted to watch he puts on a shoe, he twists his socks so that the logos are facing the game, Betts wasn’t upset by her family’s decision. front and back instead of the sides. What’s his motivation behind “I like the fact that I have the power to influence my team,” the craziness?

Betts said. “I’m supporting my heroes. When they do well, it Photo: Abigail R. Kramer “Nerves,” he said. “Even if it’s an easy opponent I’m facing, I have makes me feel proud that I had a part in it.”

This statue of William Penn sitting While superstitions may appear crazy to an outsider, they are atop City Hall in Philadelphia was to do something to take my mind off my nerves and help me calm what help unite fans with their teams and can even become tradi- believed to have cursed the city’s down and get ready to play.”

Superstitions are a natural function of sports. They are what bring tions. It’s the reason why the city of Philadelphia put a miniature sports teams for 25 years. fans close together, but at the same time they challenge mentality. statue of William Penn on top of their largest and newest building, the Comcast Center. This was an attempt to reverse the quarter-century curse from Whether superstitions truly do work or it is a simple coincidence, fans will continue the original statue, which sits on top of City Hall. That same year the miniature statue to carry on the traditions those single moments of hope may bring.

W

etown men’s tennis

Men and women anticipate near conference playoffs Sara F. Neumann Staff Writer

T

he past weeks have yielded successes for both the men’s and women’s tennis teams, as each swept their matches against Stevenson and Misericordia.

The men also faced off against Messiah, winning a close victory.

The women won 9-0 against Misericordia April 19, and came out 8-1 against Stevenson on the 13th.

“The matches went great; we came out strong, played hard and came out with two good wins,” sophomore Ashton Heydt said.

The match against Stevenson this past Monday was the first in nearly three weeks for the women’s team, and their win proved that they needed no extra push in order to conquer. Junior Emily Swarr remarked that it was hard for her to pick out any specific positive points because the entire match went so well.

The win over Misericordia amounted to the sixth straight for the women, giving them an overall record of 9-3.

This week, the women are preparing for the MAC semi-finals against Messiah this weekend.

“I am really excited to get revenge against Messiah, who beat us in the fall, and I know the team feels that way, too,” Swarr said. “Hopefully, we’ll get the opportunity to take the conference title for the second year in a row.”

The men’s team also battled Lycoming College the Thursday after the school returned from Easter break, winning 7-2.

The team also had success against the same two schools as the womens, as well as their main rival, Messiah. The recent Misericordia match was also senior day for some players on both the men’s and women’s teams, and their parents were able to watch the teams sweep the board.

The Blue Jays beat Messiah 5-4 but it was a close victory; four of the six singles contests were forced to go into three sets.

“Our match against Messiah was nothing short of spectacular,” first-year Matt Freedman said.

Senior Jeff Kirkhoff stepped up to the plate and didn’t let the pressure affect him, winning his match in the last two sets after being beaten in the first.

The win against Messiah the 18th enabled the men’s team to clinch the number one seed in the upcoming Conference Championships.

“There is still plenty of room of room for us to improve in certain areas, and we will look to address those things in the upcoming week heading into playoffs,” junior captain Brok Walker said.

The team still has their eyes fixed on the near future. Their match against Juniata has been postponed, and yesterday’s match against Gaucher College was also postponed because of rain. Next they will head to the Conference Championships on the 25th.

The championships will be held at the Hempfield Sports Complex.

etown softball

Lady Jays face final series Saturday

Kara M. Luzik Staff Writer

W

ith an overall record of 11-21, the Elizabethtown College softball team has had both ups and downs this season. So what makes the difference between a win and a loss?

Head coach Kathy Staib thinks it has a lot to do with team spirit and a sense of pride in representing Etown. “When we play Blue Jay softball, great things can happen,” Staib said.

The Lady Jays faced DeSales University in a non-conference doubleheader Thursday, April 16. The game started off well for the Jays when first-year Julie Sebastian hit a home run, bringing Etown to a 2-0 lead at the top of the first inning. However, DeSales quickly secured the lead, scoring four runs in the third, one in the fourth, and five in the sixth to end the game. Etown’s only two hits were made by juniors Paige Tanner and Sarah Church.

In the second game, DeSales came onto the field with strength, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first inning due in part to three errors by the Jays. With additional runs scored in the second and fourth innings, DeSales again took the win with a final score of 9-0.

Although the results of Thursday’s games were less than pleasing, the Lady Jays were not dismayed. In fact, they shut out Lycoming College from scoring at all in Saturday’s doubleheader.

“Saturday’s doubleheader was truly a team effort, in that we had great defense coupled with timely hitting and base running,” Staib said.

Playing the Blue Jay way, as Staib put it, the Lady Jays were able to score eight runs in the first game and three in the second.

“The grand slam by [sophomore]Kelsea Corrado put the game out of reach for our opponent,” Staib said.

In preventing Lycoming from scoring even a single run, Etown’s defense truly demonstrated their talant.

“We had some great plays in the outfield,” Staib said. “Marsico made some great catches in center, and Gordon threw a runner out at first base from right field.”

Another key defensive play was performed by Ryan Allard, who ran from third base to home to secure a needed out.

First-year Julie Sebastian also had some impressive plays. Picking up a Lycoming bunt, she threw it to Lauren Hoover at home plate, who successfully tagged out Lycoming’s runner.

“It was an all-around great effort on everyone’s part,” Staib said. “The team is thrilled to still be in a position to make the playoffs,” The Jays faced Arcadia in a doubleheader yesterday. They lost game one 5-4 and lost game two 8-7.

16

the Etownian

sports

April 23, 2009

etown athletics • pro sports • ncaa coverage

high school football • olympics • analysis

etown baseball

Jays nearly defeat Lancaster Barnstormers T. Gavin Nevill Staff Writer

F

or many players on the Blue Jays’ roster, playing at Elizabethtown will be the final stop in their baseball journey.

After graduation, they will most likely move on to careers in their fields of study and carry on in the real world. But when Etown traveled to Clipper Magazine Stadium Thursday, April 16, to play the Lancaster Barnstormers, the Jays got a taste of what it would be like to play minor league baseball.

Senior Tom Semanek has positive feelings toward the opportunity to play in a professional stadium.

“It was a great experience playing against the Barnstormers,” Semanek said. “We got a chance to show our talent against guys who’ve had a chance to play professional baseball.”

It seems a little odd for a college team to play a game like this in the middle of the season, especially for a team jockeying for playoff position in the Commonwealth Conference. But, as junior Rodney Francis pointed out, it was the overall experience that the players will take with them.

“Just to be able to associate and play against and with them was awesome,” Francis said. “It was fun but yet a great learning experience.”

The Blue Jays were able to hold their own against the Barn-

stormers and keep the game close before falling 5-4.

The Barnstormers matchup was just one game in a busy week for Etown.

Monday, the Jays played Alvernia, a team moving into the Commonwealth Conference next year. Junior Adam Hartzell started for Etown and allowed

Heaps was 2-2 from the plate and was satisfied with his team’s performance.

“It was good to get two wins at their place because we played them in Florida the past couple years and haven’t been able to beat them,” Sam Heaps said. “Now we know we can, and the younger guys will be able to

Photo: Jim Miller

Playing in the big leagues, senior Adam Sheibley gets a single as Etown played the Lancaster Barnstormers April 16. Sheibley then stole to second base and later scored off a sacrifice fly.

just one run on four hits over six innings to get the win.

The Jays scored six runs on 6 hits for the 6-2 win. Elizabethtown earned a sweep of the series with a dramatic 6-5 victory with three runs in the final inning to secure the win.

Junior Matt Vinagro pitched five strong innings with sophomore Anthony Heaps getting the win in relief. Big brother senior Sam

beat them next year when Alvernia comes to our conference.”

Tuesday’s scheduled game against Juniata got rained out, bringing a much-needed day of rest. Then Friday, it was back to the conference schedule for the Jays with a three-game set against Widener, the highestscoring team in the league.

The first game of the series was a home game for the Jays.

In the game, Etown’s offense, which has previously worked like a well-oiled machine, came to a screeching halt. The Blue Jays managed just four hits and dropped the game 5-1.

“Widener gave us the wakeup call we needed,” Semanek commented. “We knew we had to come better prepared to play on Saturday.”

Etown responded with two straight wins in the Saturday doubleheader at Widener. In game one, Hartzell tossed a two-hit shutout in the Jays’ 4-0 victory. Game two saw junior Brian Kiernan smack a home run while sophomore Andrew Gordon chipped in with two hits of his own as the Jays won the game 8-5. Leadoff man senior Adam Sheibley had three steals in the game, moving into first place on the school’s all time steals list with 78 total for his career.

The positive week puts the Jays in better position for the end-of-the-year run. Etown has already clinched a playoff spot and will most likely hold one of the top two seeds for the conference.

“Some games we’ll hit the ball and play D but not pitch well, or pitch but not hit,” Francis said. “So to be able to do all three perfectly at the same time would be scary, because we would be untoucheable.”

Yesterdays game scheduled against The College of New Jersey was postponed due to poor field conditions.

Remembering Harry Kalas March 26, 1936 - April 13, 2009 Abigail R. Kramer Sports Editor

I

n a city like Philadelphia, it’s hard to come across a person who has changed lives’ in the entire area. Harry Kalas was one of those few.

Kalas was the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies for the past 39 years. He was the man behind the microphone of over 6,000 different Phillies games, each one with his distinct voice that made the game special no matter if they were winning the World Series or losing a game.

But Kalas was more than just a broadcaster. He was a friend. Though most fans didn’t know him personally, he was the soundtrack of our summers. He brought Phillies baseball to life, for Kalas loved the team, and he loved the fans.

He was a man living his dream, and every game he brought his passion to the microphone.

Kalas had a unique

way of coining a nickname or a slogan to every player. In a world where the media is usually separated from the team, Kalas was a true member of the Phillies organization. He knew the team inside and out, and he greeted every player with a smile at the start of every game. Kalas was one of the only Phillies to never get “boo-ed” by the fans.

He was loved by everybody.

No Phillies game will ever sound the same without his impeccable voice behind ev-

ery play and call. Harry is a one of a kind person, and he will never be replaced. His life may have been cut short due to heart disease, but his memory will never be “outta here.”

InsideSports Etown Sports:

Women’s lacrosse Page 14 Men’s lacrosse Page 14 Track and field Page 14 Sports superstitions Page 15 Tennis Page 15 Softball Page 15 Baseball Page 16 Remembering Harr y Kalas Page 16

Sports Recap Baseball (21-10, 10-2): Widener 5, Etown 1 Etown 5, Widener 0 Etown 8, Widener 5 Lacrosse (M) (9-3, 5-3): Lycoming 11, Etown 8 Etown 20, Alvernia 3 Etown 12, Messiah 2 Lacrosse (W) (13-2, 9-0): Etown 21, Kings 10 Etown 13, Messiah 8 Softball (11-21, 4-4): Etown 8, Lycoming 0 Etown 3, Lycoming 0 Etown 4, Arcadia 5 Etown 7, Arcadia 8 Tennis (M) (10-2, 5-0): Etown 5, Messiah 4 Etown 9, Misericordia 0 Tennis (w) (9-3, 3-2): Etown 9, Misericordia 0 Track and Field: Larr y Ellis Invitational Widener Invitational

Schedule

of Sports

Baseball: April 24: Lebanon Valley April 25: @ Lebanon Valley (DH) April 26: @ F&M Lacrosse (M): April 25: Misericordia Lacrosse (W): April 25: @ Misericordia Softball: April 25: Messiah (DH) Tennis: April 25-26: Commonwealth semifinals and finals Track and field: April 23-25: Penn Relays April 25: @ Shippensburg www.etown.edu/spor ts

Photos: Abigail R. Kramer