051512 Chicago Maroon

TUESDAY • MAY 15, 2012

ISSUE 46 • VOLUME 123

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

Community From campus to compost, tons of food go uneaten Students defend marches 10 miles SafeRide at for trauma center SG forum Sam Levine Senior Editor

Anthony Gokianluy News Staff

Student and community activists repeated their call for the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) to reopen an adult Level 1 trauma center, marching approximately 10 miles this weekend to emphasize the distance that some South Side victims travel before they can receive trauma care.

As raindrops began to fall on Saturday morning, protesters gathered at the intersection of East 61st Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue and marched to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in the northern downtown area, stopping at several sites along the way to draw attention to the insufficient support they believe South Side residents receive from the city’s health care system.

The starting point of the march was also symbolic. Damian Turner, an 18-year-old activist and one of the founders of the group Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY), was fatally shot at the same intersection, three blocks away from the UCMC, in August 2010. Turner was pronounced dead 90 minutes later, after riding in an ambulance to Northwestern. Since then, FLY has staged multiple die-ins

trimmings and vegetable stocks. All of it is composted.

While Pierce produces 20 bins for pickup twice a week, South Campus contributes only 10 total each week, and Bartlett 16.

The Resource Center has had to pick-up bi-weekly at Pierce for two years, according to Dunn,

A small group of students voiced their concerns with proposed changes to the SafeRide service last night at an open forum with representatives from the University’s Department of Transportation and SG. Earlier this year, administrators announced that door-to-door SafeRide service will be suspended in the fall for all of the next academic year. Instead, a pilot program will add new evening shuttle routes and expand on existing ones to eliminate long wait times. The evening shuttles will also have longer hours, operating from 5 p.m. until 4 a.m. most of the week. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, the shuttles will run until 6 a.m.

Even though Director of Transportation and Parking Theresa Fletcher Brown said that her department had worked with students on the Transportation and Safety Advisory Board and utilized the student group Eckhardt Consulting, some students at the forum said that they felt cut out of the decision to eliminate the service.

WASTE continued on page 3

SAFERIDE continued on page 2

MARCH continued on page 3

Students contribute to the nearly 2,000 gallons of food waste produced every week by the University’s dining halls.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Harunobu Coryne News Editor Despite recent efforts to reduce food waste on campus, the University’s three dining halls together generate almost 42 tons of composted, discarded meals annually.

Some 1,980 gallons in total of food waste of varying weight are

With 351 items to hunt, Snitchcock wins the game Harunobu Coryne News Editor It took four days, a meeting with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a visit to the world’s largest ball of popcorn, and an inordinate number of unseemly “side-mullets,” but Scav 2012 is finally, suddenly, over.

Snell-Hitchcock’s team took first place, reclaiming its seat at the top after losing last year to Burton-Judson, which was bumped back to second this year.

Judges announced the winners from Ida Noyes Hall on Sunday night, bringing to a close a Scav Hunt that boasted one of the longest lists in the tradition’s 25-year history.

Following Burton-Judson were MacPierce (representing Maclean and Pierce), Breckinridge, Max Palevsky, Blintstone (of Broadview, Stony Island, and Flint House in Max Palevsky Central), the graduate student and alumni team GASH, South

Campus, International House, and, in last place, a team of firstyear physics graduate students.

“It’s really you against the list,” said Snitchcock captain John Bobka, a third-year who was around to see both the heyday of his team’s dominance and its momentary fall from the spotlight. “You just try your hardest to conquer this monumental document.”

“I wish all the other teams the best.”

With a 351-item list that called on Scavvies to find the tackiest roadside bric-a-brac in the world’s largest truck stop and engineer a power source for a laptop using only materials available in 15th century Europe, this year’s hunt was the biggest on the books, tied with that of 1996.

Judges announced the winners from Ida Noyes Hall earlier tonight, bringing to a close a Scav Hunt that boasted one of the longest lists in the tradition’s 25-year SCAV continued on page 3

TUES

WED

79° 51°

62° 44°

THURS

FRI

69° 52°

78° 58°

Temperatures in Fahrenheit - Courtesy of The Weather Channel

collected every week from the three dining halls by the Resource Center, a Chicago-based composting company, according to its director, Ken Dunn (AM ’70).

Richard Mason, director of campus dining, estimates that the three cafeterias produce 84,000 pounds of waste every year, not including leftovers from food preparation, such as meat

April showers bring May vegetables at Chabad Linda Qiu Deputy News Editor Things are coming up roses for a Chabad House green project.

Chabad Community Garden, which began construction last month, has already developed into a full-fledged patch of 12 individual plots, 10 of which are already reserved and in the first stages of sprouting and the other two available for year-long leases.

Though basil, tomatoes, carrots, and squash are the plants in vogue, vegetation is as diverse as its growers.

Gardeners range from undergraduate and graduate students to alumni and community members, first-time horticulturalists to seasoned black-thumb offenders.

The idea for a community garden sprang from Rabbi Yossi Brackman, the director of Chabad House, who wanted to transform the

Second-year Moxie Schults (left) and Anna Jones (AB ‘11) water their plot at the Chabad Center’s new community garden.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

yard into something seen as useful and meaningful while drawing a lot of traffic.

“And putting down grass or concrete didn’t seem like the way to go,” he said.

However, Brackman saw

that, with the demolition of the 61st Street Community Garden last March, Chabad’s vacant yard could fill a niche in Hyde Park life.

“There’s no campus opportunity for students to

plant anything. All the dorms have lovely lawns but there are no vegetable gardens. And I just thought there has to be a need and a desire for students to grow CHABAD continued on page 2

IN VIEWPOINTS

IN ARTS

Age defined, then defied » Page 4

Eclectic dance styles at RBIM’s annual show » Page 7

The presence of an undeniable past » Page 4

CSO shines with Ton Koopman and the mid-eighteenth century » Page 10

THE THE CHICAGO CHICAGO MAROON MAROON || NEWS NEWS || May May 15, 11, 2012 2012

2

Independent of religion, new garden draws volunteers CHABAD continued from front

and garden.”

Brackman’s vision began to blossom under the direction of Chabad’s student intern, first-year Lily Gordon, who began the planning process in January. Gordon had no previous experience in horticulture, so she gathered notes from community gardeners around Chicago and the South Side, specifically veteran organizer Ken Dunn (A.M. ’70) of the Resource Center, the city’s oldest and largest nonprofit recycling center.

After learning the ropes of gardening, Gordon contacted organizers of the Hyde Park Flower Show, procured soil tests, and gathered a coalition of volunteers.

For the month of April, Gordon and volunteers cleared out Chabad’s backyard every Sunday, rain or shine. With basic gardening tools provided by the house, the pioneers divided the space into 10-by-10 plots, separated by wooden planks recycled from a tree that used to occupy the majority of the yard.

A compost system sits in a corner of the lot and Brackman discourages gardeners to use chemical pesticides, reflecting the goal of sustainable environmentalism.

“I believe very strongly that we should be good stewards of the earth and the environment. This is an opportunity for us to actualize that,” he said.

To Brackman, gardening reflects many Jewish themes. “The idea is that before we consume something, we should take a moment to reflect where it came from. It’s a meditation about where our food is from, where is the divinity within nature.”

Even so, Brackman said that gardening in the house’s backyard comes with no religious strings attached.

“One of the things I like so much about my experience here so far is I don’t feel any pressure at all in terms of spiritual beliefs. I think nature is nice, whether you want to put the attitude of spiritual in there or not,” said fourth-year and first-time gardener Vanessa Bernick.

With the fast success of the community garden, Brackman would like to expand the program in the future, perhaps to include local high school students.

“Hyde Parkers love community gardens,” Brackman said.

Editor’s Note: Lily Gordon is a Maroon staffer.

Expanded shuttle service can’t replace SafeRide, students say SAFERIDE continued from front

“I feel that the students were not included in their decision. Our feedback was not solicited,” said Ria Marcia, a graduate student in economics. She added that without SafeRide she felt it would be dangerous to walk to her apartment.

Nicola Barham, a graduate student in the division of the humanities, also expressed concern that female

students in particular would be impacted by the change.

“I feel that it would be a shame to remove SafeRide, especially for women who have to walk alone or for those who live very far,” she said.

Second-year Rohan Manthani, the Undergraduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees-elect, proposed that in addition to the new routes, there should be at least one SafeRide shuttle

for students whose apartments do not fall on those routes, but that is not part of the current plan.

Fletcher Brown said that the pilot program was an economically feasible way of providing late night transportation for students. Both FletcherBrown and Assistant Director of Transportation and Parking Service Brandon Dodd emphasized that

student perspectives were essential to understanding the needs and priorities of the student body.

“We are looking to make significant changes to improve the system,” Fletcher Brown said.

Regardless of the eventual solution, Bartham said that she simply wants to feel safe walking home at night.

“I just want some way of getting home,” she said.

Econ Nobel winner predicts uncertain future for euro Macroeconomist Thomas Sargent speaks of U.S. past and EU present at lecture Ash Mayo News Staff Thomas Sargent, the recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in economics, examined the eurozone crisis through the lens of American history and government at a lunch with undergraduates yesterday afternoon at the Booth School of Business.

“It’s kind of rude for an American to talk about the euro...so I’ll talk about America,” Sargent began.

The early American nation, like the current European Union (EU), consisted of sovereign states without a strong central government to hold them together. The

young country suffered from debt and an inability to raise revenue, two problems that also plague the EU, Sargent said.

The United States was able to recover from its debt, Sargent said, by nationalizing the debt and paying it back at par, incentivizing creditor loyalty to the recently developed government.

The same solution, Sargent said, would not necessarily fix all of the EU’s problems. Indeed, Sargent claimed that more than one man had unsuccessfully tried to implement an American-like solution to truly create integrated European economies.

Sargent declined to speculate on whether the EU’s woes would be solved with leadership from a George Washington figure, saying that that had already been tried with men from Kaiser Wilhelm II to Napoleon.

“That’s not a question to be touched with a ten foot pole because they’ve had him,” he said.

Sargent also would not, and said no economist could, predict the future of the EU’s restructuring after the economic crisis.

“Fiscal crises cause a reordering of who chooses what and when,” Sargent said.

His only prediction was one of an uncertain and personal nature.

“There are going to be big winners and big losers all over the place,” he said.

“The only answer I have as to what should happen is that Greece shouldn’t leave the euro. I own a bunch of Greek bonds right now.”

Sargent earned the 2011 Nobel Prize with Princeton University’s Christopher Sims for their research on macroeconomics, specifically the relationship between policy choices and the economic outcomes.

His lecture was part of the Becker Friedman Institute’s College Speaker Series, which started in February as an outlet for undergraduates interested in economics.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | May 15, 2012

Smaller Scav teams move up in the ranks

3

From high schoolers to pastors, Hyde Park unites for UCMC trauma center MARCH continued from front

SCAV continued from front

history.

B-J was one of the teams which managed to complete item 107: secure a meeting with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

It was a strong showing for a few of the smaller teams. Breckinridge surprised other teams with its place in fourth, its first time breaking into the top four since 1994, when only three teams competed.

The road trip component of Scav also went smoothly, said third-year China Whitmeyer, who hit the road with other B-J residents. “There were no accidents, which was fabulous considering last year,� she said, referring to the two accidents that befell the road teams of Max Palevsky and Blintstone in 2011.

The B–J team also created a Twitter account on the road, tweeting inside jokes in hashtag form, such as #watchthethrone and #64ouncestofreedom. “We only missed one item, which was unfortunate,� Whitmeyer said. “Whatever.�

Third-year Andrew Fan, a lieutenant for B-J’s team, was hardly bitter. “I know, from the outside, you think about it as, ‘Who won scav?’� he said. “To us, that’s sort of beside the point.�

Darrius Lightfoot, a member of Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY), leads protesters in chants outside the UCMC on Saturday, the first stop of a 10-mile march.

SAM LEVINE | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Students say wasted food in dining halls comes from too much choice, too little quality WASTE continued from front

and has noticed an increase since last spring, but he was unsure of Fourth Meal’s relation to the increase.

Depending on the contents of the 32-gallon collection bins housed at each cafeteria, a bin may weigh between 50 and 200 pounds. A few of those bins may only become half or twothirds full before the next pickup date. According to Dunn, when the dining halls switch to disposable dishes because of technical issues, they only fill each 32-gallon container with 20 pounds worth of compost.

One of the most conspicuous examples of food waste is hardly eaten fruit, according to Dunn, which he said is unfortunate. “The earth gave itself to produce this fruit, and we shouldn’t be sending it to composting without benefiting the consumer,� he said.

Students claim that the problem lies with the way the University serves its meals.

First-year Alyssa Mallory,

who was discarding some of her dinner at Bartlett, said that portion sizes are too large.

She added that availability of choice adds to the waste. “The buffet style leans toward you wasting food,� she said. “If you paid for individual items, you would care if you actually ate it and would take less.�

Dunn agreed, stating that the amount of waste is due to the variety of dishes. “You’ll often see a half-a-tray of chicken or a half-a-tray of lasagna; they prepare enough in case everybody wants each of the selection,� he said.

Fourth-year Matt Lee, who also was stopped at the dish rack, said that he wouldn’t throw so much food away if it tasted better. “Honestly, if it were good food, I would’ve eaten it. That was the intent [to clear his plate], but every time, I leave this place disappointed, and it’s been four years,� he said.

Mason says that the dining

halls are working to improve. “We know how many servings get taken and what gets returned, and we use that information and look at the recipe or menu and use that information accordingly,� he said.

The University also has to be cognizant of how much the Resource Center charges for composting, which is calculated based on volume instead of weight.

Dunn could not say how much he bills the University, but industry averages for composting services in Chicago are between $40 and $80 per hour for trucking time and $0.03 per pound of material collected, according to Dunn.

All told, the Resource Center’s only larger client than the U of C is Kendall College, a culinary institute on Goose Island. “It adds up to quite a bit,�

Mason said. —Additional reporting by Jennifer Standish

WANT MORE NEWS COVERAGE? CHECK OUT: HTTP://CHICAGOMAROON.COM/CATEGORY/NEWS

FOR AN UNCOMMON INTERVIEW WITH JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS

and demonstrations, including Saturday’s protest.

At a press conference outside the UCMC, the first stop on the march, Evan Lyon, an attending physician at the hospital, said that he knew that next time he went to work, his patients would be a certain subset of people. “This hospital is not welcoming and is not designed to bring in people who can’t pay,�

Lyon said. “I’m afraid that the biggest reason behind not having a trauma center is just the same, that it costs money.�

UCMC officials decided to close its adult Level 1 trauma center in 1988 because it was draining hospital resources and jeopardizing other vital healthcare services, according to a press release on the hospital’s Web site. The hospital continues to operate a pediatric Level 1 trauma center for children 16 and under, the only burn unit on the South Side, a neonatal intensive care unit, and one of the only chopper emergency response systems in the Chicago region, the release said.

An adult Level 1 trauma center requires specific facilities as well as 24-hour staffing from doctors specialized in treating every aspect of a traumatic injury. There are currently four Level 1 adult trauma centers in the city, two on the North Side and two on the West Side.

Lyon said that the hospital already has all of the pieces necessary to open a trauma center. “There are some of the best neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, emergency room care, general trauma doctors, intensive care units, inside this building,� he said. “All that’s needed is to organize and invest in a trauma center.�

Second-year Michael McCown, who helped start the group Students for Health Equity (SHE) this fall, said that while he understood that organizing a trauma center at the UCMC would be complicated, it would not be impossible. “For an institution that claims 80 Nobel laureates, how can it be that complicated?� he said, evoking cheers from the crowd. “If you could do it in the ’80s, why can’t you do it now?�

Participants in Sunday’s march ranged from high school students like Yasmine Rayley, 16, who attends Martin Luther King, Jr. College Prep in Kenwood, to Pastor Elizabeth Slaughter, who worked as a medical technician at the UCMC until 1987. The diversity of the protestors, Slaughter said, mirrored those affected by the absence of a trauma center. “We all have the same common needs,� Slaughter said. “We have a right to receive the same care as anyone. Color, race, nationality, we all get sick.�

a conversation with

The Rev. Giles Fraser The Rev. Giles Fraser made world headlines in October 2011 when he resigned his post as canon chancellor at St. Paul's Cathedral in London in protest over the cathedral's plan to remove Occupy London forcibly. Rev. Fraser will be exploring the tensions between the call to social justice and the constraints of institutions.

Friday, May 18, 7:00 pm For more information contact us at: 773-947-8744, ofďŹ ce@brenthouse.org, or the Facebook event.

BRENT House:

The Episcopal Center at the University of Chicago

5540 South Woodlawn Avenue • Chicago, IL 60637 www.brenthouse.org • www.facebook.com/brent.house.chicago • 773/947-8744

VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed MAY 15, 2012

Sinking the tray Students should advance the cause of trayless dining to reduce excessive food waste The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 JORDAN LARSON Editor-in-Chief SHARAN SHETTY Editor-in-Chief COLIN BRADLEY Managing Editor DOUGLAS EVERSON, JR Senior Editor SAM LEVINE Senior Editor HARUNOBU CORYNE News Editor REBECCA GUTERMAN News Editor GIOVANNI WROBEL News Editor EMILY WANG Viewpoints Editor AJAY BATRA Viewpoints Editor CHARNA ALBERT Arts Editor HANNAH GOLD Arts Editor TOMI OBARO Arts Editor DANIEL LEWIS Sports Editor VICENTE FERNANDEZ Sports Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Sports Editor BELLA WU Head Designer KEVIN WANG Online Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor DON HO Head Copy Editor JEN XIA Head Copy Editor JAMIE MANLEY Photo Editor

Once-bitten apples, pizza crust, some unappetizing greens—these are things all students have tossed aside on the way out of campus dining halls. It’s a thoughtless exercise, but it’s worth stopping to consider that these dining halls produce some 2,000 gallons of waste per week. Admittedly, it’s encouraging that the University and Aramark have taken steps to ensure that composting and other rather extensive sustainability efforts prevail in our dining halls, but the sheer amount of waste is the root of all problems and must be reduced. Aside from taking only what they will eat, students can take a more decisive step to avoid food waste by supporting trayless dining.

At present, Aramark has in place in all three dining halls an elaborate, EPA-compliant food waste protocol. As of last fall, all dining halls donate leftover food to a local rescue mission, and the

Resource Center collects all food waste (over half of which is produced by Pierce) for composting.

These steps have all been taken recently and should be lauded.

Yet, according to the Dining Web site, about 8,000 pounds of food waste is composted each week on average. Plainly, the University is doing much systematically to mitigate the harm of the immense wastage that occurs, so it alone should not be held accountable for the scale of this problem.

Rather, students should seek to correct their own bad habits.

One such habit is the use of trays, which contribute both to heavy water use, due to washing, and to food waste, as diners tend to pile them too highly with food. All dining halls have implemented a policy of “Tray Inconvenience,” which entails that they make trays somewhat difficult to access, thereby stemming their use.

However, students can take the

initiative to make trayless dining an official policy. As of this spring, 300 Aramark-affiliated colleges and universities in North America have, to varying extents, removed trays from their dining halls, resulting in the diversion of 15 million pounds of food from landfills this year. As long as trays are made available for those who need them due to physical or medical challenges, the U of C has little reason not to be among these schools.

Students should view trayless dining—a system in place at Princeton and the University of Michigan, and which has saved Grand Valley State University 31,000 gallons of water per year since 2007—as an opportunity to prove that they are responsible consumers by advocating and taking responsibility for reducing their food waste. Groups like SAGE and the Sustainability Council should be at the forefront of any efforts, communicating to students the

importance of their decision to not use trays and advancing the cause within the proper administrative channels. Individual students, too, can easily contribute to waste reduction, merely by taking only what they know they’ll eat and avoiding trays. After all, the journey from your table to the food lines is hardly arduous.

Some may wryly point to the quality of food in our dining halls as a reason why so much of it goes to waste on our campus.

However, that alone is a shameful reason for students to forget the importance of their collective stewardship of the community and environment. If U of C students are rightly serious about this responsibility, they should know that the ball is in their court—or, perhaps, on their tray.

The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.

LINDA QIU Deputy News Editor CELIA BEVER Assoc. News Editor MARINA FANG Assoc. News Editor BEN POKROSS Assoc. News Editor MADHU SRIKANTHA Assoc. News Editor JENNIFER STANDISH Assoc. News Editor DAVID KANER Assoc. Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Assoc. Arts Editor ALICE BUCKNELL Assoc. Arts Editor SCOTTY CAMPBELL Assoc. Arts Editor DANIEL RIVERA Assoc. Arts Editor SARAH LANGS Assoc. Sports Editor DEREK TSANG Assoc. Sports Editor JAKE WALERIUS Assoc. Sports Editor BENJAMIN LANGE

SYDNEY COMBS Assoc. Photo Editor

| THE CHICAGO MAROON

TIFFANY TAN Assoc. Photo Editor TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager VIVIAN HUA Undergraduate Business Executive TAMER BARSBAY Director of Business Research VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator HYEONG-SUN CHO Designer SONIA DHAWAN Designer ANDREW GREEN Designer ALYSSA LAWTHER Designer SARAH LI Designer

Age defined, then defied

The presence of an undeniable past

Our culture’s focus on the elasticity of young minds unduly limits adults’ creative capacities

Mitt Romney’s dismissal of bullying allegations shows past mistakes shouldn’t always be forgiven

multitasking or spatial cognition, as the young prodigies coming out of multicultural or well-todo homes where child-rearing continues to be a matter of “best practices”—x inputs yield y results. Give junior the right toys, the right incentives, and the right auditory and visual stimuli, and she’ll be well on the way to maximal productivity and worldly success. The strange thing is, of course, that in all this emphasis on building the best possible minds, the science of childrearing offers universal prescriptions, while contradictorily promising unique and gifted children.

I have it on fair authority that one of the great perks of being a university academic is being constantly surrounded with younger minds. One view holds that as a person ages, the mind becomes more rigid, less plastic, increasingly a total storage unit for information, rather than some generator of novel connections.

Therefore, it is essential that the successful academic have fresher AGE continued on page 5

we would like to believe. Thus, in political campaigns, a sure-fire way to cast aspersions upon an opponent is to disprove this narrative and show that she has not always been what she now claims to be.

Recounts of Mitt Romney’s harassment of a gay student in his high school are the latest in a line of this type of political maneuvers. How should we view the allegations? Is it fair to hold someone to something that he did 50 years ago? Is this just a low blow from the left? In general I am in favor of giving politicians the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their youthful actions; I would like to believe that there is a possibility for individuals to rethink their previous behavior, and to become more moral people. However, several aspects of this incident, especially Romney’s reaction to it, are troubling enough that we should think twice before discounting it as a youthful mistake.

The Washington Post published ROMNEY continued on page 5

AUTUMN NI Designer AMITA PRABHU Designer KELSIE ANDERSON Copy Editor CATIE ARBONA Copy Editor AMISHI BAJAJ Copy Editor JANE BARTMAN Copy Editor MARTIA BRADLEY Copy Editor SHANICE CASIMIRO Copy Editor LISA FAN Copy Editor ALAN HASSLER Copy Editor NISHANTH IYENGAR Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor KATIE MOCK Copy Editor ZSOFIA VALYI-NAGY Copy Editor ESTHER YU Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Copy Editor

The Chicago Maroon is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters Circulation: 5,500.

The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the Maroon. © 2012 The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 Editor-in-Chief Phone: 773.834.1611 Newsroom Phone: 773.702.1403 Business Phone: 773.702.9555 Fax: 773.702.3032 CONTACT News: News@ChicagoMaroon.com Viewpoints: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com Arts: Arts@ChicagoMaroon.com Sports: Sports@ChicagoMaroon.com Photography: Photo@ChicagoMaroon.com Design: Douglas@ChicagoMaroon.com Copy: CopyEditors@ChicagoMaroon.com Advertising: Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com

By Christopher Ivan Viewpoints Columnist Ours is a youth-obsessed culture. This is of course no secret, as obvious as pancakes for breakfast.

We look constantly to the imagined past, where old man Methuselah enjoyed all 782 years of his advanced age as a revered elder of his tribe, and wonder when the respect for age passed away.

But the worst elements of contemporary attitudes about age are the ones situated in the science of cognition and learning.

Article after article appears in major publications detailing how hopelessly limited we’re doomed to be as adults if we weren’t immersed in a trilingual home from age zero onwards. We will never be as mentally acute, as gifted at

By Maya Fraser Viewpoints Columnist Our first President was a great man from the beginning. George Washington’s honesty is evident in the famous story of the cherry tree, in which, enamored by his new axe, he chops down his father’s prized plant. When his father asks him what happens, he nobly claims responsibility and admits the truth because he “cannot tell a lie.”

Of course, this story is apocryphal. If such an incident did occur, there is no evidence for it.

It does, however, demonstrate our desire to create narratives around our leaders that exemplify their positive qualities. The greatness that is within them has been in them since the start, or so

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | May 15, 2012

Hardwiring undermines reality of changing minds without bothering to look at our own behaviors to determine how they are in-line with what we broadcast). However, I am constantly confronted with the sense that we cannot truly change our behaviors or perspectives past a certain range of ages— that all we are left with is a daily battle, ever-constant vigilance, and redirecting of patterns of thought, lest we slip once more into depression, anxiety, alcoholism (name your daily tragedy).

Our culture is in the midst of a monumental struggle of redefinition at the moment (or maybe at all moments, though that’s off-topic). On the one hand, many (most, one hopes) of us are avidly embracing a normativity that accommodates all flavors of humanity; I leave that intentionally vague. On the other, we are presented with scientific arguments that most of the values we seek for our society have few, if any, biological underpinnings. And yet, we seek them all the same. President Obama just came out in favor of gay marriage, and it seems like we are that much closer to being a society that lets people define for themselves how to express their love of one another. Clearly the picture is even more complicated than all the theorists paint it, at least at the collective level.

But in the end, it seems to me that there are two emergent attitudes regarding personal expectation for the lifelong learner: You believe (or try to believe) that you are not increasingly handicapped in your acquisition of languages, knowledge, skills, and experiences, and continue apace as you always have; or, you accept that you are severely constrained, and that it will only get worse—but you either make a go of it anyway, or gradually abandon all expectations as you age. There are other ways of looking at it, I’m sure, but these seem to me the most obvious. No matter what pattern of thought you fall into, though, and regardless of whether you chose that pattern, the consequences on your life are very real and will be with you daily.

Christopher Ivan is a graduate student in the MAPSS program.

SUBMISSIONS The Chicago Maroon welcomes opinions and responses from its readers.

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The editors reserve the right to edit materials for clarity and space. Letters to the editor should be limited to 400 words.

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ROMNEY continued from page 4 the original article about the incident, which was detailed to them by some of Romney’s classmates: A young Mitt Romney led a group of others in holding down a student as they cut off his dyed-blond hair, as he cried and yelled for help. The student later came out as gay, and many commentators attribute the incident to homophobia.

“

Romney has propagated his mistakes from the past to the present.

”

Though this is clearly abhorrent behavior, I would not say that it guarantees in itself that the Romney of today is as lacking in empathy as his high school self was.

That he was not punished for the incident could indicate an acceptance of his behavior by the school. And though this in no way excuses the act, his social environment was probably one in which this behavior was expected. In the club of privilege, there was little tolerance of those who were different.

When I originally set out to write this column, I had planned to leave it at that: that his behavior was clearly wrong and unacceptable, but that there is certainly the possibility that he has changed.

Then I actually listened to the recording of his “apolog y” myself.

It was painfully clear that Mitt Romney didn’t seem to think that the incident was very important, though it was very traumatic for the victim. When the incident

is described to him, he chuckles and says that he does not remember it, but that he played some pranks in his high school days and “if I did stupid things I’m afraid I’ve got to say sorry for it.”

That his first reaction is a laugh is difficult to stomach, especially given the many widely publicized cases of bullydriven suicides among teenagers, particularly gay teenagers. Either he is so out of touch that he cannot see how harmful his behavior was, or he doesn’t care. His actions as a youth may not be representative of his character today, but his actions today surely are.

That he says he cannot remember the incident means one of two things: He is either lying to save face, or this form of harassment was so commonplace for him that this case in particular was not memorable enough to stand out. Either one of these has serious ethical implications.

What should we take from all this?

From my point of view, Romney failed to do the right thing. In neither owning up to his actions nor taking them seriously, he failed to treat his fellow man with the empathy and compassion that he deserves.

He failed to show the empathy and compassion that we should want in a leader. If he had apologized seriously and sincerely, he would be what most of us are: Someone who has made mistakes in the past and learned from them. Instead, he is someone who has propagated his mistakes from the past to the present.

So, by all means, let’s judge presidential candidates for whom they are today. But by the look of it, the Romney of today is the spitting image of the Romney of yesterday.

Maya Fraser is a second-year in the College majoring in sociology.

Announcing

Autumn 2012 Courses in the Big Problems Capstone Curriculum for juniors and seniors

COSMOS & CONSCIENCE: LOOKING FOR OURSELVES ELSEWHERE BPRO 23000, ASTR 23000, RLST 23603

William Schweiker (Divinity School), Don York (Astronomy)

ENERGY & ENERGY POLICY Revisiting Chicago: City on the Make Wednesday May 23, 2012 6:00 pm Blackstone Branch Library 4904 S. Lake Park Ave. In the Auditorium First published in 1951, Nelson Algren’s Chicago: City on the Make was scorned by the Chicago establishment because of its gritty portrayal of the city. Bill Savage discusses his annotations to the 60th anniversary edition of this provocative work providing historic photos and updated info. As the city moves into a new era with a new mayor, does the picture still hold true?

Savage, a Chicago native, teaches at Northwestern University and has written extensively on Algren.

The Despres Family Memorial Lecture Series presented by Friends of Blackstone Library.

BPRO 29000, ECON 26800, ENST 29000, PBPL 29000

Steve Berry (Chemistry), George Tolley (Economics)

HEALTH CARE & THE LIMITS OF STATE ACTION BPRO 28600, BIOS 29323, CMLT 28900, HMRT 28602

Evan Lyon (Medicine), Haun Saussy (Comparative Literature) For more information, please see: http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/bigproblems The Big Problems curriculum addresses matters of global or universal concern that intersect with several disciplines and affect a variety of interest groups.

p r o b l e m s

The Chicago Maroon attn: Viewpoints 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 E-mail: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com

Romney “apology” ethically problematic

b i g

AGE continued from page 4 perspectives in abundance growing at her feet, to stimulate her own thinking, so she can pluck interesting ideas and use her greater encyclopedic knowledge to really pull things together. I don’t know how far this metaphor goes in describing the dynamics of the professor-student relationship, but other graduate students have confided that they feel grad-level seminars are sometimes little more than idea mills for their professors. There is of course a mutual reciprocity here, as the older mind shares loads of information and guides inquiry in useful directions, but the primary benefit probably accrues to the faculty.

But the worst consequence of contemporary attitudes about the rigidity of the adult brain is the sense of hopelessness they engender…well, for the vast majority of the world populace. Neuro- and behavioral scientific findings continue to paint an ever more deterministic view of human existence—the modern human is slave to her fairly crystallized neural pathways before she is old enough to realize her connectiongenerating prime has passed. Abused physically or verbally as a child? Suffered severe pre- and post-pubescent bullying ? Raised sans one parent? Sorry, you’re broken for life, and any therapeutic successes can only ever mitigate or redirect, but never undo, the subsequent behavioral responses and their objects. I recognize I’m laying out very hyperbolic positions here—ones few would publicly hold when so many questions remain unanswered in these fields— but these are some of the conclusions being drawn by scientists and the reading public well in advance of a fuller picture.

For instance, being “hardwired” to do this or that is bandied about in everyday parlance and in the media. Therefore, behaviors in line with the hardwiring deserve acceptance or exculpation, within convenient and constantly shifting bounds.

I don’t for a second propose to be able to properly gauge the extent to which we can be said to have free will or control over our behaviors, beyond what we tell ourselves our behavioral identities are (often

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Trivial Pursuits MAY 15, 2012

Eclectic dance styles at RBIM’s annual show Angela Qian Arts Staff

Wrapped up in Le Vorris & Vox Third-year Lorca Sloan performs Shadow on the Silks during Le Vorris & Vox circus’s “The River Jordan: A Victorian Circus Tale” on Sunday night.

JOHNNY HUNG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Though alluring red dresses, flamenco skirts, legwarmers, and tutus might not seem like wardrobe staples, all of them were part of the uniform at Rhythmic Bodies in Motion’s annual dance showca se. The re cita l , wh ich took place in Mandel Hall this past Saturday and Sunday, was titled “LEGENDARY ” and had almost 200 participants. With numbers as strong as these, the show easily continued its tradition of diversity: There were 14 different pieces with styles that ranged from bachata to step.

As the audience members settled down, the first act began without preamble. Women wearing navel-baring Amazonian tops and short black shorts performed

kicks, spins, and cartwheels in the jazz piece “XR2.” The subsequent dances varied greatly in style and tempo. “Aura,” a modern dance number, was slow and lyrical while other pieces, like “Radio Caribbean,” were considerably more upbeat.

Some dance numbers incorporated multiple forms of dance. “ S e t i t O f f ,” c h o r e o g r a p h e d

by Kate Opp en heimer, Col in Bohan, and Anna Tripodi, combined elements of ballet and hiphop to tell the story of a romance bet we en a sheltere d ba llerina and a more streetwise hip -hop dancer. Another hybrid highlight was the Senior Piece, performed by the graduating members of RBIM. That dance incorporated a slew of different Disney songs to highlight the progression from RBIM continued on page 8

A Gothic revival deadened by contemporary tropes Anastasia Golovashkina Arts Staff This isn’t the first time that Hollywood has tried to remake Dark Shadows, a popular ’60s gothic soap opera; the series has been revamped on television twice and Burton’s remake is the fourth movie version of the cult darling, which has attracted fans as famous as Madonna and Quentin Tarantino.

DARK SHADOWS Tim Burton AMC River East

Version 4.0 of Dark Shadows stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, an 18thcentury playboy who discovers that he can only break so many hearts before his own stops beating. Unfortunately, Barnabas has to learn this lesson the hard way when his latest and last love interest, Angelique Bouchard, turns out to be a beauty of the underworld. Angelique is, quite literally, an “ex-girlfriend from hell”: She reacts to Barnabas’s break-up by turning him into a vampire, murdering his parents, cursing his whole family, and burying him ‘alive’ for all eternity (or so she thinks).

A team of construction workers accidentally unearths Barnabas’s body in 1972.

Famished, the undead Barnabas immediately kills his discoverers and proceeds to make his way back to his family’s oncemajestic Collinwood Manor. He finds his dear old home in a grave state of disrepair, the chaos all the more dire for its dysfunctional and impoverished occupants.

Barnabas vows to restore his family name and fortune, and for the rest of the film he manages to run into his ex-girlfriend, have a humorously hard time trying to adjust to life in the technological, trippy, and televised 20th century, and makes awkward comments about a 15-year-old’s “fertile birthing hips.”

First, the good: Burton distributes his props carefully, develops detailed sets, and adorns his characters in unquestionably

“Girl, where’d you get that necklace?” Johnny Depp asks Michelle Pfeiffer in the gothic comedy Dark Shadows.

COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT

complex costumes and makeup looks. This gives the mansion in Dark Shadows an evocative level of rococo-style decadence.

Unlike rococo, though, each little nook and cranny of the mansion still serves a purpose, lending the manor a quirky, gothic mystique that is at once magical and fun.

If only the film’s plot, dialogue, and character development were done in the same way! Depp and decorations carry the entire film; Helena Bonham Carter and Michelle Pfeiffer deserve honorable mentions. Unfortunately, that’s all that there really is to the film—Depp, scenery, Carter, and Pfeiffer. And neither woman plays Depp’s bewitching (or perhaps just bitching ) ex.

The lack of inventiveness in Dark Shadows is surprisingly unrelated to its ’60s soap opera foundations. Practically all of

the film’s humor can be attributed to either Barnabas’s gaffes or jabs at contemporary pop culture, both of which are convenient tactics until he overused them.

Of course, most of Burton’s films are about an outsider journeying into a familiar—though for him, frighteningly foreign—realm. Besides Dark Shadows, Burton has directed a number of such films, including Batman, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.

Burton’s films are the definition of “forever alone.” Yet Depp’s hackneyed antics in Dark Shadows take the film to strangely uninspired levels. It’s Edward Scissorhands stripped of all its quirks and charm. It’s a best-lines-are-in-the-trailer kind of movie that desperately wants to prove something, but doesn’t really know what that ‘something’ is.

It’s the tale of an outsider looking in with so many era and pop-culture based detours that it loses sight of what he’s actually looking for. To make up for its lack of direction, the film packs in so many pop culture references that one begins to wonder whether Burton is simply trying to prove that he isn’t past his prime. All this film’s rushed and underdeveloped ending proves is that the ever-impressive Johnny Depp can carry any film, with or without a storyline.

Dark Shadows sees Burton, like Barnabas, endeavor desperately to ‘get with the times’ of the new generation and try too hard to restore his name. But unlike Barnabas, Burton, having spent the past several decades directing-producing some of this generation’s best films, has nothing to restore.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | May 15, 2012

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Style

Chicago Manual of

Dress your fest

by Jessen O’Brien

Ah, the joys of music festival season: Painted faces, questionably-bathed bodies clad in half-shirts and fringe, manktops and feathers as far as the eye can see. There’s no question that music fest fashion is a little outrageous, most notably on the part of the audience. But even though glittered-up showgoers usually draw more sartorial attention than the performers, the acts scheduled to appear at Summer Breeze this weekend promise to provide some interesting looks themselves. As we begin to plan our own outfits (come on, you’ve thought about it), let’s take a look at what to expect from the stage.

I’m wary of sentencing anyone to the realm of hipsterdom, but Alan Palomo of Neon Indian has trouble escaping this one. The tight pants, the vest, the buttoned-up buttondown—yep, he’s got it. I’ve seen more than one photo in which he flaunts animal-themed shirts that conjure up memories of Three Wolf

Moon (you know the ones: muted tie-dye encircling soft images of wolves or horses running through mist), and if that doesn’t scream hip, I don’t know what does. Though as much as people love to hate classic hipster fashion, you have to admit it can be great; in a way, the “I just rolled out of bed and into oversized glasses” mentality makes up the groundwork for festival fashion. Find a piece of string on the ground? Wrap it around your head! What’s that, a bottle cap? Now it’s an earring! Though Palomo probably isn’t one to take his outfits to such extremes, he has that hipster something that—I must say—just looks pretty cool.

Cults band members seem to inhabit a similar spot on the fashion spectrum: Madeline Follin regularly dons sweet dresses and flowy blouses, and Brian Oblivion seems comfortable in a fitted suit topped off with skinny tie. Pretty basic stuff until—whoa, that hair. Each chocolate-tressed performer

flaunts a veritable mane so long it could be an outfit in and of itself (in Follin’s case, a coat—that thing has got to provide some serious warmth). Put a long wig on any Wicker Park–ite, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what to expect from this group.

And then there’s Luda. Images of baggy pants, big chains, and bucket hats come to mind when we think of the charismatic musician, but his style has certainly changed since its “Area Codes” days. As Ludacris evolves into a practiced actor (do we call him Christopher Bridges now?), he has largely bid good-bye to the signature style that rolled onto the scene in the late ’90s, transitioning to more crisp looks fit for the red carpet and his new status as rapper-actor. If you’re looking forward to seeing the old Luda though, don’t be discouraged— no matter what he wears this weekend, he’s still rocking the same mustache we remember from the “Get Back” video (one can only hope he

brings along the oversized arms as well).

So what can we, the nerdy masses, do to stand out in the midst of such stylish swag? Simple: Go a little crazy. If there’s anything we can learn from the weekend’s performers, it’s that there are no rules in festival fashion. If you look like an idiot, be comforted by the fact that no one around you really cares (and the fact that they probably look a little idiotic themselves). Leave your notions of “weird” at the gate, because the best part about music festivals is the fact that everything is a little weird, and everyone is a little too sweaty to notice. You know you’ll be spending the next three weeks in T-shirts and sweats, tucked away into the pallid-faced and over-caffeinated bowels of libraries, so why not be outrageous while you can? The weather should be lovely (fingers crossed), so get out your shades and your shorts, and let loose.

Paint, bedazzle, braid, rip, feather, do anything you want—it’s music season, after all.

CSO shines with Ton Koopman About 200 students participated in RBIM, and the mid-eighteenth century performing 14 different dance styles John Lisovsky Arts Contributor If the mid-18th century is a lull of first-order genius, it proved itself to be an extraordinarily pleasant lull at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s “Mozart & Hadyn” concert this past Saturday. The Dutch conductor Ton Koopman, also a keyboardist who studied under the late Gustav Leonhardt, led some 34 musicians. Koopman specializes in Baroque music, “Drawing the line,” he says, “at Mozart’s death”—1791. The program was a who’s-who of Galante music, beginning with Jean-Féry Rebel and P.A. Locatelli and concluding with early Haydn and very early Mozart.

Stravinsky reminds us that, “Conductors’ careers are made for the most part with ‘Romantic’ music. ‘Classic’ music eliminates the conductor; we do not remember him in it.” To some extent his observation holds, as one imagines Koopman had merely to give a downbeat and the tightly unified CSO could have carried it from there. That said, the conducting was never wan or hesitant; Koopman was in his element, and it showed.

Haydn’s “Symphony No. 6” (of 104, plus at least two others and three sinfonie concertanti) prominently features the flautist, bassoonist, principal cellist, and concertmaster, among others. Nicknamed “Le matin,” and opening with a six-bar sunrise, it was the first in a series of three for his new patron, Prince Esterházy, followed by “Le midi” and “Le soir” (“Morning,” “Noon,” and “Evening,” respectively). Haydn was to spend 30 years with the Hungarian prince, and the tailoring of the solos to particular instruments (and indeed, particular instrumentalists) demonstrates the close relationship he had with the court orchestra.

Koopman led the orchestra in a smooth but colorful account and permitted the flautist several charming ornamentations.

Although Haydn wrote two cello concerti, the piece performed on Saturday only became “Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major” in 1961, after the discovery of his earlier work.

Narek Hakhnazaryan, who studied under Rostropovich, played the piece—which is less showy, though more technically rigorous than its predecessor—with assured grace, after Thursday and Friday night performances by Yo-Yo Ma, perhaps the hardest cellist to follow since the Armenian’s teach-

er passed away in 2007. If Ma’s “romantic indulgences” (as the Tribune judged them) were an anachronism on Thursday and Friday, Hakhnazaryan’s performance Saturday was appropriately staid, and the audience thanked him with an ovation that he took with a single, entirely pizzicato encore.

After intermission, Koopman directed two obscure but forward-looking short pieces from the 1730s by Pietro Locatelli and Jean-Féry Rebel. Locatelli is perhaps best known as a violin virtuoso and Italian émigré to Holland, where he stopped performing publicly and became active in musical publishing. His Introduttione teatrale has been justifiably neglected, and indeed this is the first time the Symphony has played it, though it was executed, one assumes, as well as it could have been.

“Chaos,” the opening movement from Rebel’s choreographed symphony The Elements, a multi-movement, orchestral genre to be danced in full costume, begins with an introduction of dissonance extraordinary for the time, a simultaneous sounding of every note in the minor scale for about a half-minute. Although perhaps not as exciting a century after Arnold Schoenberg’s disturbing Pierrot Lunaire as it was to the mid-18th century, the orchestra and audience were captivated by this historical oddity, among Rebel’s last pieces, written when the composer was in his 70s.

The evening had a precocious finish— Mozart’s “Symphony No. 20,” written at just 16. The piece, rather like the Haydn symphony, was consummately rehearsed and unfolded in a deliberate, if buoyant, 20 minutes (the CSO’s estimate of 16 was slightly optimistic). It is formally quite daring—the first movement’s opening theme is not developed or recapitulated as is usual, though the piece does return to D major, and the theme reappears only, almost like a practical joke, in the last half-minute of the movement. The third-movement minuet and trio were written somewhat in response to Mozart’s recent time in Italy (indeed, he signed the autograph score “Amadeo Wolfgango Mozart”) in which minuets were too slow and too florid for his taste; that of the 20th symphony is of the simplest elegance.

Mozart finishes the piece with a quick finale to which the CSO lent due brightness, if leaving some small measure of verve to be desired, a sentiment perhaps applicable to the tenor of the evening as a whole.

Muy caliente! Students do the bacata at Rhythmic Bodies in Motion’s “LEGENDARY” spring showcase in Mandel Hall this weekend.

SYDNEY COMBS | THE CHICAGO MAROON

RBIM continued from page 7 O-Week to convocation.

Given the diversity of the pieces, it was unsurprising that many members of RBIM were involved in the show in a variety of ways. Third-year Erik Landry, for example, was the co-choreographer of the hip-hop piece “Swag Roulette,” and also danced in his own piece and two others. Fourthyear Suzanna So, RBIM’s Administrative Director, danced in five pieces, including “Senior Piece,” “Radio Caribbean,” and “Legendary 80s.”

Such variety explained the reasoning behind RBIM’s “LEGENDARY ” theme. “ We wanted something that would be general enough so that all these different styles could choreograph something to it, but something that still had a powerful image.”

For Landry and co-choreographer Oscar Rivera, a fourth-year, the show’s theme presented an interesting challenge. Landry and Rivera tried to use recent hip -hop song s that they considered to be “leg endary” for their piece. As they planned their choreography, they changed songs whenever they heard new music that they felt had to be included. Both Landry and se cond-year chore og rapher Annie Pei talked about recruiting dancers for their

pieces from their own friend groups. Pei mentione d how difficult being a new choreographer without an established reputation was. She hopes that next year when fall auditions roll around, even more people will want to try out.

Still, RBIM’s XL-size ranks are already impressive, and its dancers devote one hour of weekly rehearsal for every piece the y p erforme d in . For memb ers like So, who was involved in five pieces, that amounted to five hours of rehearsal a week starting in the beginning of winter quarter.

“It’s really hard to put together a show with so many people,” Pei, who is RBIM’s Outreach Chair, said. “It exceeded all of our expectations.”

The audience was surprisingly receptive this year,” Pei continued. “They were super energetic and I don’t think any of us expected them to react the way they did.

It’s a great feeling.”

“The show was definitely a great way to end my four years at UChicago. I started crying out there,” So said.

“The thrill of being on stage is incredible!” Landry added.

“Everyone should try to dance, I think, at least once in their lives. It’s a whole different form of expression…we need that sort of artistic release,” Pei said.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | May 15, 2012

10

At Monsters of the Midway, nice guys finish last

By Jake Walerius Associate Sports Editor Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life or whether that station will be held by anybody else remains to be seen, but what I do know is that whomever decides should probably not dwell too much on the events of last Saturday afternoon. I spent the afternoon competing in the 22nd annual Monsters of the Midway bike race, hosted by the University of Chicago Velo Club (UCVC). I lost.

When the Maroon was contacted by the UCVC about coverage of the event, it seemed like a great idea for me to compete. A little insider perspective never hurt anybody, right? Well, maybe wrong. It would probably be inaccurate to call mine an insider’s perspective given how far behind in the race I was, but Saturday was the culmination, for me, of a long and unlikely relationship with the sport of cycling, and, despite the abject competitive failure it was, I will remember it well.

My history as a competitive cyclist consists, more or less, of the time I fell off my bike in the park as a 10-year-old. That was the last time I rode a bike in anger, and I think I accepted that my career as a cyclist was over that day. As I picked the gravel out of my leg, I can imagine imagining that I was done. How could I go on after something like that? I didn’t stop riding completely, but somehow it wasn’t as fun as it used to be. The thrill that I used to get from moving my legs really fast in a circle wasn’t quite as thrilling.

Slowly, bikes faded away. My bike was moved to the basement, and I’m not sure I took it out again until I gave it away last year. During the pre-global-

warming-is-an-issue era, before cycling had undergone its eco-friendly renaissance, I don’t think I gave it a single thought. It seemed my cycling days were well and truly behind me.

I watched the Tour de France for the first time in 2009, as Spain’s Alberto Contador won his second yellow jersey and my bike was still gathering dust in the basement. I don’t know why I ended up watching the Tour that year. My brother asked me the same thing. “It’s boring,” he said, “It’s just a bunch of people riding in a straight line for hours.”

That isn’t really inaccurate. Any bike race is essentially just a lot of guys riding their bikes around for hours—but then, any sport sounds boring when you reduce it to its component parts. Soccer’s just a bunch of guys kicking a ball, football’s just a bunch of guys jumping on each other, basketball’s just a bunch of guys throwing a ball at a hoop. The entertainment is in the detail, and the difference between cycling and those other sports is that its details aren’t as obvious to an uneducated observer.

It’s easy to applaud a good pass or a good shot because there is a very immediate understanding of the skill involved. These actions have clear purposes, the fulfillment of which provides a sense of satisfaction that doesn’t necessarily hinge on the larger context of the game. However, in cycling, context is everything, and if you aren’t aware of the bigger picture, it is very difficult to appreciate the difficulty and skill involved in the more immediate tactical maneuvers. The goal in cycling is separated from the build-up by such a distance that people who are unfamiliar with the sport often lose interest. As I watched the Tour in 2009, I started to realize this. And I kept going back, day after day, for three weeks, to watch the cycling. I did the same the next year, and the year after that. After all that time, I had finally been converted back to cycling.

When I got the offer to compete in Monsters of the Midway, I accepted without a second thought.

I didn’t own a bike. I hadn’t even ridden one for nearly eight years. But I was going to do it anyway.

I managed to borrow a secondhand bike from a friend. It wasn’t exactly a racing bike, but it was all I had to work with, so I took it. I was racing in the men’s Cat 4/5, which, as I would learn, placed me somewhere at the beginner/intermediate level.

“Okay,” I thought, blissfully ignorant as I was back then, “I should be fine.”

I arrived on Saturday just in time to see the start of the Cat 4 men’s race. About 50 guys were lined up on the start line, all decked out in spandex shorts and cycling jerseys. I looked down at my noticeably baggy attire. Rarely concerned as I am with wearing skintight clothing, I didn’t think too much of it, but I was beginning to get the sense that I was a little out of place.

Anyway, I signed up for my race and took up a nice position by the finish line to watch the Cat 4.

At the time I didn’t know what level the race was, but they were moving pretty fast. “It must be Cat 1,” I told myself. “Two laps left of the men’s Cat 4,” the race announcer told me. Uh-oh. If these guys were Cat 4, and I was Cat 4/5, then why were they moving so quickly? “That’s a good question,” I thought, “that’s a very good question.” It turned out to have a very good answer too. It’s because, in reality, my level was probably somewhere in the mid–Cat 100s. But it was too late; the Cat 4 had finished and it was my turn. I took up my position on the starting line right at the back of the field.

The whistle blew. The race had started.

It didn’t dawn on me right away how far out of my depth I was, but it couldn’t have been more than four or five seconds. I think I stayed with the main group for about 50m. Then they were gone and I was all alone with my slightlytoo-small secondhand bike. I kept on pedaling away though. It was kind of nice to be out there riding a bike again. The main pack was a distant memory, but I still had 30 minutes of cycling to get through, and I was determined to finish.

I thought of those guys in the Tour de France.

Riding around the Midway for half an hour is nothing compared to that, I reassured myself.

Unfortunately, everything is relative. I’m very

Season’s 26 wins matches team record SOFTBALL continued from back

only run of the game in the top of the fourth, doubling off of Denison’s Becca Dyer to lead off and advancing to third on a groundout by fourth-year Liz Payonk. First-year Raechel Cloud’s sacrifice fly brought Schneider home.

Denison threatened to retaliate in the bottom of the inning, as Cygan faced Staubach again with two runners on and two outs. Cygan proved up to the challenge once again, striking her out swinging to preserve the lead.

After an error, wild pitch, and walk, Denison mounted the game’s final offensive threat in the seventh inning, with runners on second and third with two outs. Almost predictably, though, Cygan managed the threat,

inducing a routine groundout that Schneider sent to Payonk at first for the game’s final out.

“We know that if we play our game the way we can we can beat any team,” second-year Vicky Tomaka said last week. True to form, the Maroons got their record-tying 26th win of the season behind strong pitching, aggressive baserunning, and reliable defense.

A slow start against Alma, though, put the Maroons in what proved to be an insurmountable hole. In the top of the first inning, a pair of errors

by Chicago’s middle infield allowed the Scots to get two runs on their two hits. Cygan proved dominant once again throughout the game, allowing only five more hits and a sole

McGillis: “It’s really all about experience”

run in the seventh, but Alma’s Louise Rezmer was equally fit for the occasion, holding the Maroons to four hits and an unearned run.

Second-year Kaitlyn Carpenter got her 57th hit of the season against Alma—one short of Chicago’s single season record—coming around to score in the sixth on an error to reduce the deficit to one. The seventh inning started promisingly, with a double by Cloud, but three straight outs sent the Maroons back to Hyde Park.

While at Alma, though, the South Siders impressed, placing five onto the all-Region team. Carpenter and Cygan made the first team, and catcher Zoe Oliver-Gray, Schneider, and Payonk made the third team.

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TENNIS continued from back

lis closed out the match with a Tang overhead smash in their first advantage. Tang and McGillis won 8–5.

“It’s really all about experience and knowing what to do,” McGillis said. “After being in those types of situations so many times, especially in juniors, it becomes easier to swallow your nerves and just play.”

In the end, it was never a concern that the Maroons were ever going to lose this round of 16 match.

In fact, McGillis, having had shoulder surgery a few years ago, did not want her shoulder to both-

er her and head coach Taka Bertrand wanted McGillis to keep it as healthy as possible for the next round. Because of that, McGillis served underhand for the day.

“I have served underhand in high school before, and it’s not really a weakness or strength, just really a neutral shot,” McGillis said.

“People have trouble getting under it and attacking it. It definitely helps with the shoulder though.”

Higgins and Tang cruised at No. 1 and No. 5 singles respectively to give the Maroons their quarterfinal birth.

Chicago plays Johns Hopkins on Monday, May 21 at a time to be determined in Cary, N.C.

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confident any one of the riders in the Tour could have won the race on Saturday, but that doesn’t really have anything to do with me, does it?

The pack was well on its way to lapping me a second time when I gave up on the Tour de France approach. It was time for something different, something I look back on fondly and remember as the denial approach. Of course they were faster than me. They had better bikes and more streamlined clothing and nicer shoes and better hair, but that didn’t make them better than me. They just had multiple unfair (by which I mean fair) advantages. I picked up the pace. So did they, probably, wherever they were. I didn’t know, I hadn’t seen them for about five days. I hoped they were doing well. In reality, the pack was actually just coming up behind me again.

Denial gave way to anger. In fact, I think I experienced all five stages of grief at some point during that race, and some more than once. But I kept on going. My wildly fluctuating mental state became commendably bullish as the finish line came into view. No one else cared at this point. They were all probably walking up stairs somewhere toning their ridiculously-sized quadriceps. But I came into the final turn feeling good. I’d done it. I’d reached the finish.

After the race I spoke to a few of the spectators and cyclists around the finish line. “Don’t worry,” they told me, “everyone gets dropped in their first race.” Maybe, or maybe they were just being polite. Either way, I couldn’t help but smile. I can only imagine how ridiculous I looked. I was like a kid running alongside a car trying to keep up with it, except I wasn’t a kid, and no one was driving a car. Lance Armstrong was probably crying somewhere.

It might have been the worst I’d ever done in anything, but for once I really didn’t care. I wanted to do it again. I wanted to get up the next morning and go for another ride. I might even be back next year with my own bike. Maybe I wasn’t the hero on Saturday. (That’s not really in doubt. I was not the hero on Saturday.) But I might be a cyclist yet.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | May 15, 2012

11

A Stagg-ering performance: South Siders close in on qualifying times at Chicago Penultimate Men’s Track Isaac Stern Sports Contributor On an overcast and rainy day, the Maroons had home field advantage for the last time this season as they competed in the Chicago Penultimate.

Instead of the traditional dual or team meet competition, at the Penultimate the South Siders focused on individual athletes getting their personal marks up in order to qualify for Nationals. Despite that, the Maroons still competed well as a team and as individuals.

“I think the men’s team did great; I was really happy with the results. [We had] a lot of PRs and season bests,” third-year Demetrios Brizzolara said.

With the help of so many personal and season bests, the Maroons put together eight top-three finishes across all events with more than three competitors and placed many more athletes within the top five.

Brizzolara topped the list in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.84 seconds. Firstyear Renat Zalov and fourth-year Brian Wille placed first and third respectively in the 800-meter run with times of 1:57.34 and 1:59.09. Third-year Gregor Siegmund placed second in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:07.99 while fourth-year Brian Schlick and second-year Samuel Butler took first and third in the 5,000-meter run with times of 15:12.42 and 15:33.39.

In throwing events, third-year Conner Ryan posted a 42.94-meter throw in the javelin and fourth-year Daniel Heck threw

51.57m in the shot put.

In addition, other athletes were able to reach mark requirements for the North Central Last Chance that takes place this Thursday and Friday.

As the season comes to a close, extra opportunities to post high marks can only benefit the team.

“It was good to get a [personal record] in the hammer yesterday. I met the standard for the Last Chance meet at North Central, so it allows me to compete in the event one more time,” fourth-year thrower Nick Rockwell said.

Rockwell threw 43.11m in the hammer.

With only the North Central meet remaining, the Maroons have one more chance to qualify athletes to Nationals.

Considering that, despite the poor weather at the Penultimate, the Maroons were able to put up good numbers, some have hopes for strong performances on Friday.

“I’m excited to see what we can do, assuming the weather cooperates. I hope we get a few more people into [Nationals], but we’ll see,” Brizzolara said. “A lot of us are close to qualifying ; hopefully we can run well this Friday.”

The Maroons have less than two weeks before any qualifiers travel to Claremont, CA for the NCAA DIII National Championship, and the team knows time is running out.

“We need to really get after it at the meet this week,” Rockwell said. “It’s the last meet of the season before Nationals so there’s no reason to hold back.”

First-year Andrew Mandato runs in the 4x100 relay at last month’s Chicagolands.

COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT

Sizek’s national top-10 time the highlight of late-week contests Women’s Track Katie Burkhart Sports Staff Women’s track and field competed in its last home meet of the season at the Chicago Penultimate Invitational this past Saturday.

While the UAA Conference Championship is the main team focus for the Maroons’ outdoor season, the Penultimate is an opportunity for athletes to explore new events and pursue stronger NCAA rankings individually. However, this new focus on the individual as opposed to team-wide achievements can mean different things for different athletes.

“I don’t think we had any spectacular performances [at Penultimate],” fourthyear distance runner and captain Sonia Khan said. “But it’s hard transitioning from emotionally-charged meets where you run for the team score to meets where you run for your own personal bests.”

However, some athletes took this individualized focus as an opportunity to reach—or recapture—PRs. First-year Kelly Wood and second-year Luyi Adesanya, for example, both threw lifetime bests in the hammer throw, earning fourth and fifth place with distances of 35.47m and 34m, respectively.

Adesanya’s performance, in fact, marked a return to a personal best she had struggled to maintain. “I reached my PR again, which is something I haven’t been able to do for two meets,” she said. “I was happy to be competing back to my original standing again.”

Thursday’s Keeler Invitational at North Central College was characterized by a similar combination of lackluster perfor-

mances and notable personal bests.

While Khan failed to meet her expectations with a 14th-place finish (37:20.92) in the 10,000-meter, third-year Julia Sizek finished with a time of 36:04.08—a time not only worthy of a second-place finish at the meet, but also an eighth-place ranking in the nation. In addition to being a fantastic time, it was Sizek’s debut performance in the 10k race.

“I was definitely surprised that I ran a qualifying time,” Sizek said. “I’ve never thought of myself as a very fast runner, but I guess hard work pays off.”

Many of the athletes who competed at Thursday’s meet were rested on Saturday, but several members of Chicago’s usual lineup still went on to secure top rankings.

Top point earners included fourthyear Jalessa Akuoko with first- (1:01.18) and second-place (26.99) finishes in the 400-meter and 200-meter, third-year Kayla McDonald with a first-place finish in the 800-meter (2:14.21), and fourth-year high jumper Paige Peltzer with a secondplace jump of 1.58m.

Fourth-years Ali Klooster and Maddie Allen secured second-place finishes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:47.56) and triple jump (10.83m), respectively, and first-year Reecie Dern continued her streak as one of the top Maroon throwers, securing a third-place finish in the hammer throw (35.94m), and fourthplace in the discus throw (again throwing 35.94m).

The Maroons now look forward to next week’s North Central Last Chance as a final opportunity for some of their NCAA hopefuls to put in qualif ying performances.

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SPORTS

IN QUOTES “Media—I put my wife into contractions with my performance tonight!....Cliche...cliche...another cliche...Love, AX!” —Brewers closer John Axford, in a note left for the media before taking his pregnant wife to the hospital.

Dance ends for Carleton, Whitewater as Chicago advances to NCAA quarterfinals Women’s Tennis Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff It came as no surprise.

The Maroons cruised into their fourth consecutive NCAA DIII National Tournament quarterfinal appearance with wins over Carleton on Saturday and UW– Whitewater on Sunday at Stagg Field. Chicago will play Johns Hopkins, a team that it beat on March 3 (6–3), on Monday, May 21 in Cary, N.C. With each doubles team allowing no more than three games in their respective matches, the Maroons came out with a 3–0 lead against Carleton.

It was even less of a contest in singles as fourth-year Carmen VacaGuzman won 6–1, 6–1 at No. 3 singles and first-year Megan Tang took No. 5 singles 6–0, 6–1 to clinch the dual win.

On Sunday, Chicago took on a tougher opponent in UW– Whitewater.

At No. 1 doubles the Warhawks held serve to open up the match.

In the following game, in spite of three double faults by VacaGuzman, fourth-year Kendra Higgins

and VacaGuzman tied the match at 1–1.

“I actually had no clue I double faulted three times the first service game,” VacaGuzman said. “I guess it must have been nerves.”

Each team continued to hold serve to even up the score at 3–3.

The following game determined the course of the rest of the match.

With the Warhawks serving down 30–40 and on the attack, Higgins made a reaching save and lobbed the ball over her Wisconsin opponents. Moments later, the Maroons broke UW–Whitewater.

Chicago did not lose a game after that, winning 8–3.

Fourth-year Jennifer Kung and third-year Linden Li controlled No. 2 doubles (8–3).

Perhaps the one match that seemed over almost as soon as it started was the match that ended up being the toughest: No. 3 doubles.

Tang and first-year Kelsey McGillis stormed to a 4–1 lead which later became a 7–4 advantage.

With McGillis serving for the match, Chicago went up 40–0.

Five points later, McGillis and Tang lost the game.

“We definitely lost focus a bit,

First-year Kelsey McGillis helps lead the U of C to victory in the NCAA III Championship match against Carlton in Bally’s Health Club this Saturday.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

which is something you cannot do against a team like that, who gets everything back and can feed off your attitude,” McGillis said.

Postseason run ends with losses to Trine, Alma Softball

The following game featured four advantages for UW–Whitewater. Even so, Tang and McGilTENNIS continued on page 10

Grin and Bear it: Maroons to watch postseason, Wash U from home Baseball

Derek Tsang Associate Sports Editor All season long, the Maroons played even with the best teams in the nation, going 5–4 against ranked teams in the regular season. During the playoffs, they continued to be competitve against the highest caliber teams—unfortunately, that wasn’t enough.

The South Siders couldn’t keep up with Trine on Friday, dropping a 6–1 decision. After securing their second win of the postseason against sixth-seeded Denison (28–19) in a tense 1–0 pitchers duel, the breaks went the other way against host Alma (31–13), as Chicago (26–11) lost to the third-seeded Scots 3–1.

“At this point, at the NCAA tournament level, every team is solid,” head coach Ruth Kmak said last week. “We belong in this group of teams.”

The Maroons certainly proved that they belonged, finishing with a .500 record in the postseason as they justified their seeding by finishing fourth in their region. They had previously won their first game, a 3–2 triumph over John Carroll.

Trine went ahead 1–0 on Carly Searles’ third-inning RBI-triple. Fourth-year Sarah Neuhaus (8–5) came off for thirdyear Kim Cygan in the fourth inning, but was brought right back after Cygan allowed a homerun, a double, and a walk.

Neuhaus contained the damage, allowing only the inherited runner to score.

The Maroons got their only run in the fourth, as Cygan scored on a Vicky Tomaka single. Even in the loss, though, the Maroons got both of their first-year hurlers—Emily Ashbridge and Tabbetha Bohac—valuable time on the mound.

“When something like that happens, you just have to shake it off and focus on the next point, which we didn’t do.”

Sarah Langs Associate Sports Editor

Second-year Zoe Oliver-Grey swings at the ball in a game against Hope College earlier this season.

COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT

The pair held Trine scoreless for the last two and two-thirds frames.

“We’re not fearful of Trine,” Kmak said earlier in the week.

Cygan (16–5) redeemed herself on Saturday as she hurled a six-hit shutout against Denison, extinguishing threat after threat, as the Big Red managed runners on base in five out of the seven

innings. In the second inning, Denison had runners on second and third after a wild pitch by Cygan, but with two outs, Denison’s designated hitter Gretchen Staubach popped the ball right back to Cygan, who made the catch to end the inning.

Fourth-year Julia Schneider plated the SOFTBALL continued on page 10

Wait ’til next year. At this point in the year, all the Maroons (23–12) can do is channel their inner Brooklyn Dodgers and look to the future. Bids to the NCAA DIII tournament were announced Sunday night, and the South Siders were not awarded entrance to the playoffs. The bid would have been their first-ever to the tournament; instead, they will get some extra time to study for midterms and finals, hoping to achieve their first DIII postseason opportunity next year.

There are three types of bids to the championship: Pool A, Pool B, and Pool C. Pool A consists of teams that won their conferences, within conferences that have automatic bids to the tournament. Pool B consists of independent teams or ones without an automatic bid. And Pool C is the leftover teams from the first two categories that are still determined to be deserving of a bid.

The breakdown of the bids given is weighted toward Pool A, and there are only two Pool B bids.

This already put the South Siders at a disadvantage, since their conference has no automatic bid.

The Wash U Bears (28–12) instead received the Pool B bid that could have presumably gone to Chicago, and then it was not selected for Pool C. No reasoning was offered.

In their two doubleheaders against Wash U this season, the Maroons dropped only one game.

North Park, a team receiving a Pool A bid, lost to Chicago earlier in the season. The only other team to make the tournament that Chicago matched up against this season is Concordia Chicago, who beat the Maroons.

Chicago may have been hurt by a weak schedule. Wash U, while accumulating the same number of losses, was able to boast of wins over teams like Brandeis, Case, Rochester, and Emory.

“We had a great season; it’s disappointing it didn’t end up the way we would have liked, but now we have something to try and look forward to for next year,” second-year outfielder and first baseman Brett Huff said.

The season was by no means a waste. A win over DI Northwestern in its final game of the year should be a good motivating factor heading into next year, evidence of what the squad can achieve.

“It was a great experience playing with the seniors this year; we’re going to miss them a lot next year,” Huff said.

“There’s a lot to look forward to in the next few years with this team. There’s a lot of potential to do great with next year’s team,” first-year infielder Kyle Engel said.

For now, that’s all the Maroons can do: Look toward next year.