102111 Chicago Maroon

FRIDAY • OCTOBER 21, 2011

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

ISSUE 7 • VOLUME 123

Budget shortfall threatens campus post office

Matt & Kim to headline MAB fall show

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

Don Nichols, the Chicago District Post Office Operations Manager, speaks at a community meeting held Thursday night discussing the possibility of closing the 58th Street post office.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

William Wilcox News Staff Representatives from the United States Postal Service (USPS) met with community members last night at University Church to discuss the possibility of closing the University’s main post of-

fice.

The Finance Station U Post Office (FSUPO) was one of about 3,700 post offices identified by USPS because it brought in less than $600,000 in annual revenue last fiscal year.

“I think there is a very real possibility of the unit closing,”

USPS Chicago District Marketing Manager Regina Aikers said.

“There is also a possibility of it staying open.… The deciding factor is the community response.”

Community members and students in attendance argued against closing FSUPO, which is located behind the Barnes &

Noble bookstore, pointing out that it attracts long lines and has a convenient location. Postal workers were also among those who defended the office.

“This is a gold mine over here, so why close it?” Postal Carrier Larry Parks said. “There’s a lot of money in this neighborhood and it’s good for the students. I’m a collector, so when I go through I see that the University is throwing mail at us.”

If FSUPO closes, nearby stations such as the Lake Park Postal Store or the Jackson Park Post Office will take over its services. Once a decision is made, the public proposal will be posted at FSUPO for 60 days.

Community members argued that the University wouldn’t be able to operate with a post office farther away.

“Imagine if you had [postal workers] being called to come and pick up out of all of those University buildings,” Hyde Park resident Gary Ossewaarde said.

Speakers from the USPS assured the audience that the decision to look at closing post offices was a last option.

“My staff and I are here to listen to your concerns before we make any decisions,” District POST OFFICE continued on page 4

Alice Bucknell News Contributor Brooklyn-based dance-punk duo Matt & Kim will headline this fall’s Major Activities Board (MAB) November 5 show in Mandel Hall after an opening set by U of C band Squat the Condos.

MAB Chair and fourth-year Sam Abbott said that the group’s wide appeal among students was a chief consideration for its selection.

“We’re always on the hunt for artists who have particularly fun and engaging shows,” Abbott said.

Despite being hampered by revenue loss from last year’s Summer Breeze concert, MAB will still be able to offer reduced ticket prices.

Heavy rain during the spring concert led MAB to refund over 1,000 of the typical 2,200 tickets sold.

“Something I do not think most people realize is that we do not make any profit from these shows,” Abbott said. “All of the money received from ticket sales, in addition to whatever funding is granted from the student activities fee, goes to the cost of the show. From the lighting and sound system to the artists themselves, there MAB continued on page 4

Student care unified under SHCS Free newspaper program awaits funding Alice Bucknell News Contributor Efforts by the University’s Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) to revamp its image and consolidate its care providers are moving forward, though students are complaining that the flurry of administrative changes lack clarity.

The SHCS effectively consolidated the University’s two main health services, student counseling and primary care, into one agency when it launched last winter. The agency formerly known as the Student Care Center (SCC) is now the Primary Care Service (PCS); what was once the Student Counseling and Resource Service (SCRS) is now simply the Student Counseling Service (SCS).

Assistant Vice President for Student Health and Counseling Alex Lickerman (M.D. ’92), who directed the creation of the SHCS, said the name changes were part of an effort to “rebrand” and consolidate the health services on campus.

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Reactions have been positive among students who know about the SHCS’s changes, such as the new Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW) unit, a division focusing on helping students establish positive long-term and future-oriented habits to better manage mental and bodily wellness.

“I think it’s great that the [HPW] unit wants to promote techniques for positive self-image and better health to students,” second-year Safiya Johnson said.

For some, however, the reshuffling has only muddied the alphabet soup of a health network that encompasses several agencies.

“Renaming the facilities was arbitrary, particularly when the school does not do much to notify students that these changes have been made,” second-year Jose Medina said.

Second-year Edgar Gonzalez acknowledged the University’s good intentions but found certain changes to be poorly contrived.

“The name changes are confusing,” Gonzalez wrote in an e-mail.

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Temperatures in Fahrenheit - Courtesy of The Weather Channel

SHCS continued on page 4

James DelVesco News Contributor Student Government has temporarily discontinued the Collegiate Readership Program, which brought daily free copies of The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and USA Today to campus last year, due to a lack of funding.

SG President and fourth-year Youssef Kalad said that there are $18,000 set aside for a part-time return of the program, but SG will wait until it can allocate funds for another year before restarting the program.

During a pilot last fall, SG provided 600 copies of the Times and 300 copies each of the Tribune and USA Today.

But when the program continued in the spring, SG could only allocate enough funds to provide 400 copies of the Times each day and discontinued distribution of the other two publications.

It would cost about $35,000 for the program to distribute 400 copies a day for 30 weeks, Kalad said.

Last year, SG considered raising each student’s quarterly student life fee by $6.80 to sustain the program. When SG released an online petition supporting a fee hike of $7, 360 people signed within 10 hours. Seventy percent of respondents

to an SG survey during the pilot program said that they were willing to pay $10 for the program to continue, and nearly 80 percent of respondents said they would pay $15.

Kalad said that, while the option of raising the student life fee was still on the table, he understood why students might be concerned about raising the $310 quarterly fee that each student is expected to pay. Kalad said that he was working with as many student groups as possible to create a sustainable funding model for the program.

Kalad added that he is working with graduate programs to garner additional funds this year, since they contributed $5,000 to match SGFC’s $5,000 last spring.

Second-year graduate student Nobuyasu Osaki said that he would take the newspapers if they were there, but does not want to pay a higher student life fee for them.

“I think people should buy the newspaper with their own money if they want it, because I personally wouldn’t pay to get a newspaper,” he said.

Prescriptive Education Dr. Marie Crandall, a critical care surgeon, discusses the prospect of a trauma center at the UCMC in Harper on Thursday night.

ALEX GLECKMAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

In rooms the women come and go » Page 7

Kenyon arrives for Homecoming weekend

Amis reinvigorates Bellow’s Chicago legacy » Page 7

» Page 12

Seven new members inducted into Hall of Fame » Page 12

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | October 21, 2011

2

Uncommon Fund report card

project is complete project is either in progress or has stalled

Last year, 25 student groups were awarded grants through the Uncommon Fund, a pool of $40,000 that helps fund projects that would have trouble finding funding from traditional sources. Last week, SG announced a $35,000 increase in this year’s fund. The MAROON checks in on the status of last year’s projects.

Name

Funded

Project details

(((Soundwave))) Collective

$2,177.90

A music and arts event held last May to focus on live-looping and cross-genre collaborations.

Art & Science Collaborative

$2,000

The Arts & Science Collaborative is a one-time publication and event dedicated to increasing understanding of scientific terms through art. The UF helped to decrease the cost of mailers and event expenditures.

Barista Championships

$387.60

Held last May in Z&H, organizers used the grant to purchase coffee beans, milk, advertisement materials, and general supplies; competitors in their competition provided their own equipment. The heated competition put local baristas to the test, with one student winning.

Bus Buddy

$804

Bus Buddy is an in-progress messaging service for passengers of the University of Chicago shuttle system. Their service, currently under development, will allow students to text a number with their current location and an intended destination to get information about the closest shuttle route and its estimated arrival time.

Chalkboards on the Quads

$1,300

The initiative, led by fourth-year Grave Evans, drew inspiration from a similar outdoor wall at Swarthmore College. She thought science majors, often stuck inside in labs, could benefit from some fresh air. Evans is looking for a facility to supply the chalkboards and hopes to have the project completed by the end of the year.

Finals Week Puppies and Kittens

$850

With the help of Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy, Mark Marino (A.B. ’11) and Mark Zielinksi (A.B. ’11) brought dogs to the quad—but liability restrictions prevented them from bringing puppies and kittens.

Gigantic Water Balloon Fight

$895.40

Event organizers were unable to reserve the Midway or quad during reading period last spring. They plan to hold the event this spring instead.

Harper Laser Rave

$2,850

The Harper Laser Rave project was initially approved by the director of the library, but the organizers later learned that the administration would not allow the event. While still searching for an alternate space, organizers are now hopeful that the administration will allow students to party in Harper as planned.

IM Quidditch

$2,165

Fourth-year Evan Weingarten plans to host campus-wide study breaks and mock Quidditch games, as well as Harry Potter-themed events such as a Yule Ball. IM Quidditch has purchased materials for posts, jerseys, and balls.

Insect Tasting Buffet

$600

A buffet of various insect dishes, the Insect Tasting Buffet is being organized by student start-up Entom Foods and scheduled for the upcoming Spring quarter. If resource and time conflicts keep the event from happening, the organizers will return the money to the Uncommon Fund.

Jersey Shore

$2,580

A multi-speaker conference to examine the MTV reality show through a scholarly lens. Uncommon Fund money has been used to pay for necessities, such as the transportation and lodging of keynote speakers, catering fees, and audiovisual equipment, but approximately 40 percent of the funds that were ultimately required came from the Dean’s Fund for Student Life. The Conference will take place on Friday, October 28, in Ida Noyes Hall.

Joy of Science

$950

A festival on the quads showcasing fun science experiments—as opposed to rigorous, tedious lab work—from our childhoods, planned for spring of 2012.

Leather Library

$3,198

An exhibition at I-House on the history and art of sex and kink, titled, You Are Not Alone: What You Haven’t Heard about the History of Sex. The Uncommon funding fell short, though the leather enthusiasts at the Chicago-based Trident International Windy City and the Leather Rose Association, a BDSM social club, stepped in to foot the bill.

Mad Shelfer

$800

A website that uses a visual bookshelf interface and user-moderated data to make a fully relevant and intuitive book lists service, Mad Shelfer is on indefinite hold. Organizers eventually rejected the Uncommon Fund money because of restrictions placed on the money’s use, and have not since raised any other funding.

Mission Nutrition

$830

Mission Nutrition used Uncommon funds to purchase healthy food and other supplies for a class that the organization teaches on nutritional science and healthy eating habits at Carter G. Woodson Middle School.

Off-Off Campus

$1,000

Student improv group Off-Off Campus used its money to put on a 25th Anniversary show during Alumni Weekend this past June 4. The show featured 25 years of sketches by the group and brought 30 percent of the group’s alumni back to campus. Funds also covered the group’s registration fees for an “Improvathon” festival at Uncle Fatty’s Rum Resort bar in Lakeview last month.

On the Edge

$2,050

An exhibit of medieval and early renaissance manuscripts shown alongside archival and more recent photos of campus life set to open May 9, 2012 in the Special Collections Research Center Gallery. The money received from the Uncommon Fund will cover travel costs for keynote speaker and New York University Professor Emeritus of Art History Lucy Freeman Sandler and fees of the opening reception and symposium.

Oscillation

$7,400

Uncommon funds were used to create an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) that required students to solve puzzles and follow clues to real-life findings on the quad. Money from the Uncommon Fund and from the Festival of the Arts went to buying supplies, including cassette tapes, sound editing, building materials, and LED light boxes.

Phoenix Feed (dailysophist.com)

$1,150

The website provides 24-hour news coverage of campus, focusing on campus culture and gossip. Uncommon funds have been used to pay for domain names and web hosting.

Piecemeatal

$325.69

A three-part sculptural series and film project titled “Homage to Meat.” Bruised objects including a TV, microwave, and truck engine were displayed in plexiglass cases in front of Cobb Hall last spring. The Uncommon Fund money went to buying 100 pounds of thermite, a pyrotechnic compound that was used to disfigure the truck engine. Additional funding came from FOTA and the Arts Council.

ScheduleSpy

$480

The website allows students to “spy” on classes that they want to get into but are full. When a spot becomes available in the class, students are notified via e-mail. UF money paid for two years of server hosting.

Start Up Weekend

$3,700

Last weekend, the 54-hour event culminated with the award of a $2,000 prize to BikeRecov, a tracking device and mobile phone app for bike recovery.

Sustainable Water

$2,500

Funds were used to modify water fountains in Kent and the Regenstein Library to make it easier to fill up reusable water bottles. Money was also used to buy coolers to lend to RSOs to use in place of bottled water at events, and for games that challenge participants to distinguish between tap and bottled water.

Street Yoga

$2,000

An on-going program teaching yoga to homeless women at Maria Shelter. The UF money helped launch the program, and organizers hope to secure further funding once UF money runs out.

Tandem

$1,206

Funds were used last spring to add a two-person tandem bicycle to the ReCycles bike sharing program, including buying the bike, lock, initial bike repairs, and making bike check-out software.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | October 21, 2011

3

Amnesty International panel urges student action Madhu Srikantha News Contributor

Syrian-American activists Alaa Basatneh (right) and Noura Almasri deliver a presentation on the human rights crisis in Syria at a panel discussion Tuesday evening at Harper Memorial Library.

DARREN LEOW | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Amnesty International (AI) hosted a panel discussion Tuesday in Harper Memorial Library on conditions in Syria, violence in Chicago, and the death penalty in America, urging students and community members to take action.

Human Rights Program Executive Director Susan Gzesh facilitated the panel, which consisted of SyrianAmerican activists Noura Almasri and Alaa Basatneh, Director of the Illinois branch of the anti-violence group CeaseFire Tio Hardiman, and AI’s Midwest Regional Director Debra Erenberg.

Almasri and Basatneh said that their activism began after the Arab Spring this past year, when they began organizing peaceful protests both locally and nationally against the Syrian government’s treatment of its people. Their presentation consisted of illustrations of candle vigils, YouTube videos, Twitter feeds, and Facebook groups held by the peaceful protests they had joined.

Hardiman discussed local youth violence in Chicago, its root causes, and its broader global implications. “I appreciate the [freedoms of America], but it saddens me, the situation of my brothers and sisters around the world,� Hardiman said.

As the final speaker, Erenberg focused on the death penalty in America,

but also attempted to unify the panelists’ points. “Once you shine a light on these issues, they have to change,� Erenberg said.

A question-and-answer session followed the panel, and several audience members said they appreciated how Hardiman and Erenberg brought the human rights issues back home.

Second-year Shakara Pailoor said he enjoyed hearing the connection between local and international issues and how they are similar on some essential level.

In his talk, Hardiman expressed similar thoughts. “If you eat, I eat, and we’ll all be happy,� she said.

Alum film director Kimberly Peirce speaks on cinema controversy Crystal Tsoi Associate News Editor Returning to her alma mater to engage students in the arts, Kimberly Peirce (A.B. ’90), director of the movies Boys Don’t Cry and Stop-Loss , discussed her passion for film and and her experiences in the movie industry in a discussion with her former professor, Lauren Berlant. “I didn’t know what I was in for,� Peirce said, recalling her first class with Berlant, the George M. Pullman Professor of English.

Peirce noted that discussions in Berlant’s class influenced her film Boys Don’t Cry , based on the true story of transgender man Brandon Teena, who was murdered in

1993 in Nebraska. “I learned so much about critical thinking and theory and history here,� said Peirce. “It’s amazing when people introduce to you what’s possible, [and] Lauren gave me a whole landscape of possibility.�

Crediting her University of Chicago education and its foundation in the classics as a source of creativity, Peirce singled out Aristotle’s Poetics as her inspiration.

Peirce also discussed one of the most controversial scenes in Boys , where a female character orgasms—a scene that initially earned the film an NC-17 rating.

Peirce said she had a strong conviction in the artistic merit

of her writing and directing and felt that the excision of that scene would have greatly crippled the full message she was trying to convey to her audience. “Who has been hurt by an orgasm that lasted too long ?� she said, joking about the appeal process she took in order to get that rating overturned.

In a question-and-answer session after the discussion, Peirce offered advice to aspiring filmmakers and artists. “You can find crumbs along the way. I got into the two best film schools, but [was] I going to make anything? The main thing is to feed your own creativity. And I’ve been so validated by it and I’m so appreciative of it,� she said.

Kimberly Peirce speaks with her former teacher, Professor Lauren Berlant, at a public discussion about her filmmaking experiences and projects Wednesday evening at the Social Science Research building.

DARREN LEOW | THE CHICAGO MAROON

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | October 21, 2011

4

Sociologist talks religion, ethics Derek Tsang News Contributor Sociologist Robert Bellah traced the development of religions from prehistoric times into the “axial age� of Confucian China, dissecting modern ethics and the emergence of spoken language at a lecture Wednesday afternoon in Swift Hall, on his new book Religion in Human Evolution.

Bellah commemorated his landmark 1963 lecture “Religious Evolution� at the U of C, drawing narrative threads from thinkers as diverse as Darwin, Einstein, Richard Dawkins, and anthropologist Clifford Geertz, among others.

The winner of the National Humanities Medal suggested that ethics have their origin in the notion of “fair play,� and that the nuclear family is perhaps what differentiates human beings most from other animals.

Recognizing the enormity of his topic—his book runs over 700 pages— Bellah limited his lecture to everything

preceding what he called the “axial age�—around the first millennium BCE, when Confucian China, Buddhist India, classical Greece, and ancient Israel all had flourishing religions.

Bellah talked at length about ritual and myth, explaining that “every aspect of life is permeated by myth,� and presented the idea that language originates in myth.

Myths, he said, are “comprehensive models of the entire human universe� that cultures use to understand and explain. In a sense, he claimed, cultures in the “mythic� age believed that “you had to understand everything to understand anything.�

At the end of his lecture, Bellah reflected that the current youth generation “can’t really imagine how strange the world is today.� “We should think clearly about what we’ve achieved,� he said, “and what we want to do with it.�

The lecture was hosted by the Divinity School.

Sociologist Robert Bellah delivers a lecture entitled “Religion in Human Evolution� Wednesday afternoon at the Divinity School.

DARREN LEOW | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Student band Squat USPS: No jobs will be lost if campus the Condos will open branch closes concert POST OFFICE continued from front ols, Executive Manager of Post MAB continued from front

are a lot of costs to be weighed up.�

MAB, an RSO with a student board, has been organizing campus events for over 25 years and usually produces a fall concert, winter comedy show, and Summer Breeze. Previous fall show artists include Common in 2006, The Decemberists in 2008, and Big Boi—with whom Matt & Kim have collaborated—last year.

Friends since college, vocalist Matt Johnson and drummer Kim Schifino formed Matt & Kim in 2005. Drawing from an eclectic blend of punk, indie, and pop influences, the duo is known for its engaging live shows.

The duo has recently enjoyed a massive leap in fame: Its 2009 single “Daylight� reached the Billboard Top 100 in June of that year, and 2011’s “Cameras� was featured in a variety of commercials, trailers, and soundtracks. “Matt & Kim always put on a really great show,� second-year Dylan Harris said. “They’re still a ton of fun to see live because they’re so energetic when they’re up on stage— they’re probably the happiest band out there.�

Squat the Condos will play for the first half-hour of the show, followed

by Matt & Kim, who will play for one full hour. Tickets go on sale next Monday in the Reynolds Club, and will cost $5 for students and $10 for faculty members in advance and $10 and $15 at the door.

Manager Postmaster for Chicago Karen Shank said. “No final decision has been made about this unit or any other.�

One alternative under consideration would be to close FSUPO and instead open a “village post office� out of a retail store offering P.O. Boxes, shipping services, and stamps. The USPS uses its own profits as incentives for businesses to open village post offices out of their stores.

If a village post office route is opened, zip codes will not be affected. “Ultimately our solution has to be one that allows us to remain fiscally successful,� Donald Nich-

Office Operations, said. Nichols assured the audience that no jobs will be lost if the FSUPO closed. “There is a plethora of savings that are well beyond what is paid to the contractors,� Nichols said.

Shank said that the USPS’s budget shortfall was serious, citing figures showing that annual mail volume has gone down by 42.5 billion pieces since 2006, while annual retail revenue fell $2 million compared to 2006. “We wouldn’t be here talking about closing a facility if we weren’t in the financial situation we’re in,� she said. “The postal service has never faced a crisis like we are in.�

New student health center brings name changes to SCC, SCRS SHCS continued from front

“While the University may be doing all it can to make sure these programs are organized in the most efficient manner, changing their names is not going to automatically cause any sort of improvement.�

In an interview last year, Lickerman said that making health services more accessible to students was one of his highest priorities.

“The most immediate [goal] really is improving access—getting students into appointments at the Student Care Center in a timely way,� Lickerman said.

Johnson, Medina, and Gonzalez suggested ways in which SHCS can better promote these recent changes to health care services, such as explaining changes via e-mail and social networking and putting fliers around campus and on dining hall tables.

visit www.chicagomaroon.com

The Lumen Christi Institute

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Open House being held at the Hotel Palomar Oct. 26, 6-8p.m.

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Schola Antiqua of Chicago, Artists-in-Residence at the Lumen Christi Institute, will present a program dedicated to the music of Josquin des Prez, one of the most important composers from the late 15th and early 16th centuries. His ďŹ&#x201A;uid and persuasive style of composition encapsulates the transition between the soundworld of the late Middle Ages and that of the High Renaissance.

The centerpiece of the concert will feature a rare performance of the composerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mass for the Blessed Virgin, a four-voice setting of the Mass Ordinary as well as three of Josquinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most exceptional motets (sacred choral works).

Tickets: $20 general, $10 students/seniors. Free for University of Chicago students Saturday, October 22, 8:00 pm

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago 5850 South Woodlawn Avenue Chicago, IL 60637

Friday, October 21, 8:00 pm

St. James Chapel, Quigley Center of the Archdiocese of Chicago 835 North Rush Street Chicago, IL 60611

Sunday, October 23, 4:00 pm

St. Francis Xavier Church 524 Ninth Street Wilmette, IL 60091

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VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed OCTOBER 21, 2011

The Wheel World Ensuring bicycle safety and convenience would lead to heightened campus engagement The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 ADAM JANOFSKY Editor-in-Chief CAMILLE VAN HORNE Managing Editor JACK DIMASSIMO Senior Editor AMY MYERS Senior Editor JONATHAN LAI News Editor HARUNOBU CORYNE News Editor SAM LEVINE News Editor PETER IANAKIEV Viewpoints Editor SHARAN SHETTY Viewpoints Editor JORDAN LARSON Arts Editor HANNAH GOLD Arts Editor MAHMOUD BAHRANI Sports Editor JESSICA SHEFT-ASON Sports Editor DOUGLAS EVERSON, JR Head Designer KEVIN WANG Web Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor GABE VALLEY Head Copy Editor LILY YE Head Copy Editor DARREN LEOW Photo Editor JAMIE MANLEY Photo Editor REBECCA GUTERMAN Assoc. News Editor LINDA QIU Assoc. News Editor CRYSTAL TSOI Assoc. News Editor

Take a walk down 55th street.

Notice the chop-shop of bicycle carcasses chained up with lonely U-locks on the racks outside the Treasure Island plaza. Head west.

Watch as the bicyclist swerves to avoid that pothole in front of Pierce. There is clearly a problem here: Hyde Park is a dangerous and unsuitable place for biking. The Recycles program and packed bike stands are testaments to the popularity of biking on campus, but there are a couple of roadblocks to overcome before reaping the benefits of such interest.

The first thing to note is that, despite the challenges, a significant portion of students own a bicycle. The advantage is obvious: Although campus is only about one square mile in area, that size seems to triple with every five degree drop in temperature. A bike also increases accessibility to bordering neighborhoods—even the Loop is a manageable ride from

here. Unfortunately, Hyde Park itself is far from being a biker’s haven.

The most conspicuous danger is presented by the roads. Many Hyde Park streets are narrow, one-way, and riddled with potholes. These problems are magnified during the winter months, when the roadsides are banked with snow and ice patches are a constant danger. The amount of usable road space is severely limited, and in a neighborhood without a particularly strong bike culture, you can’t always trust the person in the minivan to know the rules governing right-of-way.

Repaving worn roads is an obvious first step, but the effort should not stop there. Bike lanes should be cordoned off on the sides of most roads, with separated bike lanes built on large ones like 55th street. This would ensure safety not only for bikers, but for the pedestrians who frequently find themselves in the

path of an oncoming rider. Road signs for bicycles should also be posted to make sure both riders and drivers know the rules to avoid street accidents. In addition, more bike racks should be placed on campus and around the neighborhood. The University should also consider adopting a bicycle locker program to deter fear of theft; it’s more efficient to prevent stealing than to pursue suspects after the crime.

Furthermore, it is consistent with the University’s stated goals of community development to facilitate safer and more convenient bicycle transportation, both on campus and in Hyde Park. For one, it would lead to a higher interaction between the campus and the neighborhood. People would no longer plan their schedules around the 171 and 172 buses or make decisions based on the hassle of transport. With a bike, it’s easy to have class in the BSLC, get lunch at Bonjour Bakery &

Café, and return for a lecture in Harper within an hour. This not only encourages students living off-campus to come by campus more often, but it also encourages them to participate in the Hyde Park community.

Safety is the first priority in any biking environment, and the U of C is no exception. Once the roads and pathways of Hyde Park have been safeguarded, civic engagement and a more active student body are the inevitable consequences. Biking undoubtedly improves student life: It opens up the community, increases student convenience, and eases congestion among various transportation options. The only thing impeding its growth is the University’s reluctance to pave the way.

The Editorial Board consists of the Editor-in-Chief, Viewpoints Editors, and an additional Editorial Board member.

GIOVANNI WROBEL Assoc. News Editor COLIN BRADLEY Assoc. Viewpoints Editor EMILY WANG Assoc. Viewpoints Editor DANIEL LEWIS Assoc. Sports Editor TERENCE LEE Assoc. Photo Editor

Thinking outside the picket lines The natural continuation of the Occupy movement may be to abandon the ballot box

TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator HAYLEY LAMBERSON Ed. Board Member ALYSSA LAWTHER Designer SONIA DHAWAN Designer SARAH LI Designer AUTUMN NI Designer BRADFORD ROGERS Designer BELLA WU Designer CATIE ARBONA Copy Editor AMISHI BAJAJ Copy Editor JANE BARTMAN Copy Editor

By Colin Bradley Associate Viewpoints Editor

MARTIA BRADLEY Copy Editor ELIZABETH BYNUM Copy Editor DON HO Copy Editor JANE HUANG Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor KATIE MOCK Copy Editor LANE SMITH Copy Editor JEN XIA Copy Editor ESTHER YU Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Copy Editor

I was sandwiched between a Maoist and a jester on pogo-stick stilts. Durkheim, Bakunin, and Robert Dahl were jockeying for center stage in my mind’s eye. Plastic barrels and other makeshift percussion instruments were lending a steady tempo to the otherwise scattershot group. And as I lifted my hands to cup them in megaphone form around my lips, preparing OCCUPY continued on page 6

NIA SOTTO

| THE CHICAGO MAROON

A novel idea On the streets of Paris, five students form a book club to salvage wasted potential 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. © 2011 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 Chris Stavitsky Viewpoints Columnist If I told you that I had joined a book club, you would ask me what books I had read so far, or what I am reading now, or what I thought about this book or that one or the

other. I would tell you that I haven’t read any books in my Book Club, for the book club is called Book Club, and that I don’t plan to read any books in Book Club either. You would look at me, with your lips slightly limp and open, until you could think of the next question to ask me. In my answer to that question, I would explain that the choice of the name Book Club was deliberate, and that the book club is called Book Club because we write books.

Book Club is the banner of literary desperation that the five of us— Adrien Duroc-Danner, Henry Ginna, Stefan Lyew, Alex Sellers, and I—have lifted high in a previously

hidden burst of resolve. Each of us has tried to write a novel in the past and failed, every single time. So we looked for inspiration in the likes of Hemingway, and in every absintheswilling café denizen that had ever walked the streets of Paris. We decided to form a writer’s circle that would allow us to meet occasionally to discuss ideas, ask for advice, and keep each other up-to-date with our writing. The following guidelines are taken from the first e-mail that I sent out to the members of Book Club, on October 16, 2011, and they are the rules that the five of us are currently living by: 1. You will complete the first draft

of a book/epic poem/other long literary work by the end of exactly one month (November 17, 2011) from the first meeting of the group. If you have started writing already, you are encouraged to use the material you already have. Completing a work, not beginning one from scratch, is the main focus.

2. Because you will be writing a LOT of material, you are encouraged to spend minimal time editing your own work. You can do that in the second-draft stage. If you have any questions about this, please read http://www.orcutt.net/othercontent/ sfds.pdf [“Shitty First Drafts’” by BOOK CLUB continued on page 6

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | October 21, 2011

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Replacing voting with demonstrations could legitimize demands of the “99%” OCCUPY continued from page 5 to answer the call of “People over profit!” with “Occupy Chicago!” I started laughing hysterically. “Hold on everybody, just wait up a second….If the people over-profit, then shouldn’t we be protesting their greed?” I just couldn’t go on trading phrases with Guy Fawkes on my left and someone who clearly came solely to represent the “Legalize It” coterie on my right.

But it was the choice of chants, more than the absurd collection of “wacky leftists,” that struck me the most. Quite often these chants are used to clarify the demonstration’s process (What do we want? Well, here, this is exactly what we want and when we want it).

Obviously “People over profit” and “We are the 99%” are not quite so specific. But while this fact is usually used as a criticism of the movement, I believe it is precisely what vindicates this protest.

While I believe neither I nor anyone else is in a position to proclaim what this movement is “all about,” it’s safe to say that it’s about more than policy proposals. This movement represents such a fundamental claim to the innate dignity of all men and women that it is all but impossible to condense it onto a piece of poster board. I think that fact is beautiful. It is unfair to demand that people neatly package their frustration with a ribbon and bow and an “Attention: U.S. Congress” note. This is the raw expression of a total refusal to acquiesce.

Yet this trait also makes the direction of this movement almost impossible to predict.

My question is: When can people start going home? When will this enigmatic demand be met? Or, more fatalistically, when will the dream die? The Tea Party was so successful because it was able to raise massive sums of money, back candidates, and push poli-

cies into legislation. But Occupy is not the opposite of the Tea Party; it is not the answer from the left. The Tea Party was built to function within the system. It had clear demands that happened to coincide almost exactly with the obvious desires of big business: deregulation, less government, etc. It was almost too perfect to be spontaneous.

But Occupy is fundamentally different. Its problem is the system.

While the Tea Party’s strength could be found at the ballot box (or the threat of it), I wonder if Occupy’s most interesting advantage may be the complete negation of the ballot box: refusing to vote. If the signature characteristic of Occupy has been civil disobedience, then isn’t refusing to vote an extreme but logically consistent example?

When you’re voting, you are quite conspicuously not rebelling. You are legitimizing the very system so many Occupiers seem to be fed up with.

There is, of course, an obvious counterargument: If Occupy people don’t vote, then the Republicans will win every seat, the oceans will explode, all the Occupiers’ demands will be ridiculed, and the world will devolve into chaos. But imagine if all the Occupy supporters refuse to vote! Sure, Republicans would probably sweep into office (while Occupy is technically non-partisan, we can safely assume most of its participants tend to vote Democrat), but imagine what a profound statement it would be if millions of people refused to vote. To accept this argument you have to answer a fundamental question: Is a Democrat-controlled government significantly better than a Republican-controlled government? I contend that regardless of regime, the trend of increasing economic inequality will continue unless the entire system is subjected to a massive

Four guidelines and the criticism of others help the book-writing process BOOK CLUB continued from page 5 Anne Lamott] before asking them.

3. The group members will meet two times every seven days to share what they’ve worked on and get feedback, probably immediately after classes and probably at the pub or at a café.

4. If you do not complete your first draft within the allotted time (yes, you might have to stay up all night as if it were a school project due the next day; if that happens, so be it), all of your clothes except for one outfit will be taken away until the draft is finished. In addition, ALL of your shoes will be taken away. It will be difficult and embarrassing to leave your room. You cannot borrow clothes or shoes from friends (or enemies). You are probably already thinking about how ridiculous this is. I’m already thinking that you are right, and that the consequences are so ridiculous that they’ll provide really good motivation.

liminary outlines. Some of us struggle when pruning unruly sentences, while others write with apparent disregard for quality, intent on getting their ideas on paper before the fires of creativity burn out. I believe that we will all learn something from one another through the process of writing together.

If you have an idea for a project of your own, but suffer from a similar lack of motivation, take some kind of small step to get other people involved—it can’t hurt. Spread the word that you want to start something, even if that just means casually mentioning it to your friends. Someone will be interested.

Then show a little initiative and follow up with the people who are interested. There is nothing sadder than silence and wasted potential, except maybe having to wear nothing but socks around Paris because you didn’t finish writing by November 17, 2011.

We have, effectively, ripped off NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, which takes place between November 1 and November 30. It only seemed logical to break away from the pack; we’re all living outside the nation, some of us want to write non-novel literary works, and November is a whole week away. We also feel that we have reclaimed the concept of a book club. Books are at least as much about production as they are consumption.

Our finished projects will be astoundingly different from one another. We anticipate a dystopian novella about the future of cigarettes, a novel exploring a professor-student relationship, an epic poem styled after the classics, another novel about telephone numbers, and a self-help book for people who play RPGs. We have converged twice so far as a group, once to draft a final set of guidelines, and again to ask each other for advice on pre-

Chris Stavitsky is a third-year in the College studying abroad in Paris.

SUBMISSIONS The Chicago Maroon welcomes opinions and responses from its readers. Send op-ed submissions and letters to: The Chicago Maroon attn: Viewpoints 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 E-mail: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com The editors reserve the right to edit materials for clarity and space. Letters to the editor should be limited to 400 words.

Op-ed submissions, 800 words.

external shock. If you agree, then at least for the sake of the principles brought into question by this movement (i.e. the perceived marriage of our government to big business), you should be willing to allow Republicans to win office in order to make a profound statement.

Now, there is also the possibility that silence can be regarded as complicit agreement, as acquiescence. But this interpretation can be prevented if voting is replaced with another form of civic participation: demonstration. In order to effect any influence, the people would, in addition to mass abstention from voting, have to make clear exactly their reasons for doing so: refusal to legitimize the co-option of our American democracy by private, concentrated interests.

Let’s also take an extreme example of this civil disobedience. Imagine if on Election Day, everyone sympathetic to the Occupy movement took to the streets instead of voting. Imagine a crisp November afternoon, the day that is supposed to represent the per-

David Brooks.

John Paul Stevens.

Tucker Max. Nate Silver.

John G. Morris.

Seymour Hersh.

David Broder.

David Axelrod.

fection of American democracy, but instead millions are on the streets expressing their intense anger with the system. This would surely shock the status quo of political discourse. The outcome is obviously uncertain, but ideally it would involve a break from our non-choice between rightwing and centerright political parties.

Obviously the practical implications of a massive refusal to vote are far too convoluted and intricate for me to deal with appropriately in this column. That is why I am not yet endorsing this course of action, but rather entertaining a compelling thought experiment—a thought experiment that leads me to an exciting conclusion: If the Occupy movement seeks to shake up the American political consciousness, it may have to call into question the very institution which has for centuries lent its thus far uncontested dignity.

Colin Bradley is a second-year in the College majoring in Law, Letters, and Society.

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Trivial Pursuits OCTOBER 21, 2011

In rooms the women come and go Constance Zhang Arts Contributor What appears to be a small apartment blueprint hanging on the wall in the MCA turns out to be a meticulous and detailed collage of a kitchen upon closer inspection. The use of everyday subjects, vivid variation of color, and the unexpected materiality of the collage convey a certain naïveté that gives the viewer the sensation of vision filtered through a kaleidoscope. The piece is a good example of Ann Toebbe’s notion of domesticity, reconstructed from her own memories and the stories of several generations of women in her family.

Emma Broder Arts Contributor

NEW ARTISTS/NEW WORK: ANN TOEBBE MCA Through October 30

The exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, New Artists/New Work: Ann Toebbe, is part of an ongoing series that features up-and-coming artists. Ann Toebbe, who has taught painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University, and Columbia College, is a Chicago-based artist whose artistic production has gained increasing traction within Chicago’s art community. Her unusual medium and ambiguous subject is central to the MCA show. Although the exhibition features only three largescale pieces from her recent work, “The Doctor’s Wife,” “The Grocer’s Wife,” and “The Photo Engraver’s Wife,” these works represent an extended cohesion of her earlier experiments with medium, perspective, and color.

An introduction to Toebbe and the objective behind her overall collection at the entrance of the room stands in

“The Grocer’s Wife,” currently on exhibition at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, speaks volumes on the domesticity of woman in the 1940s and 50s, even as it is devoid of female forms.

COURTESY OF ANN TOEBBE

contrast to the utter lack of explanations beside each work. The paintings and collages stand alone on the bleak white wall, and this austerity heightens the ambiguity that is such a fixture of her art.

The viewer, upon entering the exhibit, is surrounded by art on all three sides— creating a disorienting effect that mirrors the strangeness of the pieces.

The pictorial field of “The Doctor’s Wife” is divided into two: the kitchen on the left side, and the garden on the right. Toebbe employs circular paint strokes to depict the green of the grass.

This fluidity, however, is punctuated by the obvious use of collage to render the

jars on the counter and the vegetables in the sink. The alarming awkwardness of the materiality is exacerbated by the fractured style of the piece. The two doors on the upper half of the frame are placed so that they directly face the viewer; however the table at the center of the room forces the viewer to assume a top-down perspective. As the viewer adjusts his perception to accommodate the conflicting viewpoints, he is challenged to reconfigure the angle from which he makes sense of this domestic scene.

Toebbe draws inspiration for her work from conversations with her mother, mother-in-law, and stepmother-in-law,

who told her stories of domestic life from the 1940s and 50s. Toebbe adds her own childhood memories of home and her newfound awareness since becoming a mother of what the domestic space entails to the narrative begun by past generations. The fractured nature of the pieces actually works because such a multitude of individuals, stories, and time frames go into the production of a single image.

There is no singular framework that can make sense of a place that contains such different and conflicting significations, and Toebbe’s collages and paintings promise to leave the viewers the space to draw their own conclusions.

The FSC gets intimate with international relations

Chris Marker in The Sixth Side of the Pentagon, a film about political resistance during the Vietnam war, which was shown as a part of the International, Intimate film series.

COURTESY OF SABRINA CRAIG

Sarah Morell Arts Contributor This past Wednesday the Film Studies Center hosted International, Intimate, the second portion of a three-part series entitled Vision and Communism: The Films of Aleksandr Medvedkin and Chris Marker. The event is part of the

Amis reinvigorates Bellow’s Chicago legacy

citywide Soviet Arts Experience, in conjunction with the exhibit at the Smart Museum of Art and Professors Robert Bird and Matthew Jesse Jackson’s seminar Vision and Communism at the Franke Institute’s Center for Disciplinary Innovation.

International, Intimate showed five films of varied length produced be-

tween 1962 and 1971. Robert Bird, Associate Professor in the Departments of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Cinema and Media Studies, chose the films and spoke at the beginning of the event. Ninety people were in attendance, according to Sabrina Craig, Events Coordinator for the Film Studies Center.

“The films by Aleksandr Medvedkin shown were chosen for several reasons,” Bird said. “First, they seemed to me to be the closest equivalent in film to the posters in the Vision and Communism show at the Smart Museum.

They clearly show the Soviet Union rebranding itself less as the stalwart of world communism than as the hope of all oppressed and war-ravaged peoples of the world. Second, though Medvedkin’s earlier, pre-war films have become quite well-known, no one seemed to have seen these, and they seemed to me worth salvaging from the archives.

Third, I find quite intriguing the stylistic similarities to the essay-films of Chris Marker, with whom Medvedkin struck up a close friendship.”

Medvedkin and Marker independently developed an “idiosyncratic documentary style,” combining documentary footage with animation and still frame, according to Bird in his

opening remarks.

Courtesy of the Moscow Film archive, this viewing of a selection of Medvedkin’s films marks their first presentation “outside the Eastern Bloc,” said Bird.

The presentation began with Medvedkin’s Law of Baseness, a 50 minute investigation of decolonization in Africa and of the oppressive, capitalist West. A recurring motif of a capitalist’s beating heart as a silver dollar coin incited laughter from members of the audience. Images of Western leaders with smug, menacing grins coupled with suspenseful music, contrasted with footage of Ghanaian children dancing in their school yard, painted the West as profit-driven to the point of barbarism. Slogans such as “How terrible is the law of profit, taking from these children a childhood!” and “Remember plundered Africa!” flashed across the screen on countless occasions. The film begins and ends with footage of Patrice Lumumba, the famed Congolese independence leader and fairly elected Prime Minister of the newly freed Republic of the Congo.

Ten months after he took office, he was overthrown and executed in a coup orchestrated with the assistance of the INTIMATE continued on page 10

Novelist Martin Amis spoke this Tuesday with John Barron, the publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, about Saul Bellow’s novel The Adventures of Augie March at the main branch of the public library as part of this fall’s One Book, One Chicago series. Barron joked shortly before the conversation began, “He’s made it past the deep-dish purveyors, but the wind might’ve gotten him along the way.”

Annie Tully, Coordinator of Special Projects for the public library, said that Amis was an obvious choice when the library began to brainstorm events for this season’s One Book, One Chicago program. “Amis came to mind immediately, because he’s written about Bellow, and had a personal relationship with him,” she said. Amis’s visit was a headliner event, even among the dozen programs the library has organized to celebrate One Book, One Chicago’s 10th anniversary. “I was very surprised he was willing to do this,” Tully admitted, adding that the writer’s relocation to New York City from London five months ago may have contributed to his availability.

Attendees of the event were happy with the synthesis of Augie March and Amis. Janet Jenkins, who moved to Chicago seven years ago, was there with her husband, Bruce. She said, “I think it’s the right time to acknowledge Bellow…. Writers who lived here and novels set here should be part of the program.

[This] generation is probably more interested in Amis than in Bellow, so this is a nice way to bring them together.”

Others in the auditorium were similarly pleased with the night to come. “I finished reading the book a couple minutes ago,” said Marty Zander, a retired Chicago dentist.

Amis, 62, is most famously the son of the British novelist Kingsley Amis and the author of the novels Money, London Fields, and The Information; these three books are often referred to as his “London Trilogy.” He also published an article about Augie March in the Atlantic Monthly, in which he praised it as the Great American Novel.

Throughout his conversation with Barron, Amis quoted extensively from the novel, which he held up to be a nearly holy text. He spoke reverently about the end of Augie March, saying, “When you finish it, there’s almost nothing more to say about anything…. It hurls you onto the shore, and there you are, lying among the crabs and the seaweed.”

Amis said he always thought that “Saul” was a misprint of the word “soul.”

Beyond his admiration for the novel and its author, Amis noted that Bellow’s writing has had a significant impact upon his own. Money, his best-received novel, was, he said, a literary liberation similar to what Bellow went through when he was writing Augie March as a young man living in Paris after World War II. Bellow, he said, taught him how to take pleasure in writing.

Augie March’s Chicago-ness was something Amis and Barron touched on frequently in their discussion. BarAMIS continued on page 10

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | October 21, 2011

8

Two-night stands are better than one Matthew Schaefer Arts Contributor If you are looking for a cheesy mindless romance, one that will make you feel comfortable and unchallenged, Weekend, the newest feature from director Andrew Haigh, is probably not for you.

However, if you wish to indulge in a sickly sweet romance’s cinematic opposite—a complex story about the intimacies of sex and romance, a young man’s

WEEKEND

Andrew Haigh The Film Collaborative

search for sexual identity, and an unapologetic examination of being emotionally vulnerable with another person—Weekend provides another side to the conventional love story.

The film tells the story of Russell (Tom Cullen), a lifeguard at a public pool, and a reserved, semi-closeted homosexual. It is the story of Glen (Chris New), a flamboyant gay artist, full of jokes, stories, and forceful political opinions. It is a story that transcends the category of ho-

mosexual relationships, and cuts to the core of human love and passion.

Shot in Britain, Weekend documents the transition of Russell and Glen’s one-night stand into something more profound for both of them that eventually breaches the issues of love, gay identity, and sexual attraction.

The events take place during a two-day period.

The feature starts off with Russell hanging out with a group of straight friends, comfortable yet distant, and, later that night, at a gay club where he meets Glen.

The following morning, as the two men drink coffee, Glen takes out his tape recorder and interviews Russell about the previous night, the sexual details of which have not yet been revealed on screen. This becomes both an extremely intimate and elusive encounter. The recording, Glen tells us, is for an art project that explores the discrepancy between who someone is and what someone wants to be.

In fact, this seemingly innocuous phrase perfectly sums up the entirety of the film: It is a search for identity in a confusing world.

It is the dynamic between Russell and Glen that defines the movie.

Literary friends forever AMIS continued from page 7 ron’s parents were born in the 1920s in Chicago, when the city was not a flashy, touristy place.

He connects to that spirit when he reads Augie, he said. Amis agreed, describing Augie as “a blank slate that receives Chicago.” He also said that Bellow thought of the people of Chicago as “loud, brilliant, and mean.”

“There’s something meshuggah about Chicago,” he added, dropping the Yiddish term for “crazy.” From Tully’s perspective, the choice was helping natives and newcomers alike get to know the city. “Surprisingly, not a lot of Chicagoans have read it,” she said.

The considerable length (600 pages) of Augie March did not escape the notice of Tully, who noted that the novel is much longer than the library’s past choices. “We’re doing them over two months, not one,” she said of the citywide discussion groups that are the bread and butter of One Book, One Chicago. Despite the daunting brick of a novel, the initiative has drawn a remarkable number of readers this year. In the first week after Augie was announced as the official choice, 980 copies were checked out of the public library, and about 400 per week have been taken out since.

“Unfortunately, it’s not a full, comprehensive report of what we do,” said Tully, since the library does not get sales feedback from local bookstores.

She said that the programming has been well-attended, too, though not necessarily by the same people who are participating in discussion groups.

Sgt. Patricia Maher of the

UCPD attended the event and said that her book club, which consists mostly of current or retired female police officers, decided to read Augie March when they learned that it was this season’s pick. A lifelong Chicagoan, Maher had never read the novel; of One Book, One Chicago, she said, “Some of them I’ve already read, sometimes they coincide with what we want to read.”

Amis brought the conversation to a personal level when he painted a touching portrait of his friendship with Bellow, which began in October 1983.

He spoke with affection about Bellow’s personality, saying, “He loved jokes, and he enjoyed the fact that human beings make up jokes.” Of Augie’s power as a protagonist, he said, “You read about happiness and you’re thrilled by it…. It’s not clear whether Augie writes or thinks Augie March.” Amis continued by saying that he thinks Augie becomes someone capable of imagining the novel.

Towards the end of the talk, Amis told a story about a class the two taught at Boston University in 2002, when Bellow’s Alzheimer’s had progressed to the point where he could not read. “He couldn’t remember the beginning of a sentence when it ended,” said Amis, who said that he found it tragic that Bellow had had the “art of reading” taken from him. When the lesson reached its climax, the two men’s other co-teacher asked, “What’s Augie March about?”

“It’s about 200 pages too long,” answered Bellow.

Leaning back in his seat onstage, Amis said he always thought it was 200 pages too short.

Russel (right), and Glen in the movie Weekend.

COURTESY OF THE FILM COLLABORATIVE

Despite different opinions on marriage, relationships, “coming out,” and sex, we can see the unity of the pair through their conversations, graphic sex scenes, drug use, and intimate embraces.

There is a delicate balance, friction and affinity, between passion and disillusionment. As Russell and Glen continue to explore each other’s lives, they

H U N G E R

form a connection that is sensual, complex, and transformative.

When Glen announces that, at the end of the weekend, he will leave for America to study art for two years, the lovers are thrown into chaos, and what started as a one-night stand becomes a reluctant attempt at good-bye.

The use of a hand-held camera highlights the antsy, unruly

nature of Russell and Glen. The dialogue is natural and spontaneous, fitting for a movie that cuts to the naked truth of what humans are, and what humans can be. The combination of rapid cuts and long shots creates an atmosphere that echoes the dramatic and unstable nature of the film, its themes, and its characters. This also highlights the

universalizing effect of the film: The struggles they face are the ones that we all face.

What makes Weekend so captivating is that it is simultaneously unsettling and insightful.

At the end of the movie, when Russell and Glen bid farewell at a British train station, we don’t have a Notting Hill-like moment. After the lovers kiss and embrace, Glen leaves, but not before he gives Russell a gift—a recorder that contains the conversation they had on their very first morning together. Russell is left with a lasting and cherished memory.

Will Russell and Glen ever meet again? Will they ever recover? These questions are never satisfactorily answered. The battle raging inside the characters is palpable. On one side is the protagonists’ love and passion; on the other side, the necessity and practicality of saying goodbye and leaving so many questions lingering at the train station.

In some ways, though, Weekend benefits from not wrapping everything up so neatly. We don’t have a resolution, just as the lovers have no resolution. We are left eviscerated, emotionally unsure, and yet, in the end, optimistic.

S T R I K E

Waiting for good dough Iliya Gutin Senior Arts Staff 7:45 a.m., a Friday.

While much of the U of C peacefully sleeps and the busy urban professionals busily go about their business downtown, I patiently wait on the corner of Kinzie and Franklin. I jog in place to retain some warmth, read a book to retain some knowledge, and do my best to not look like a crazy person jogging in place and reading in the middle of the street to retain some dignity.

But mainly I wait. All good things come to those who wait, right? Given all the hype surrounding The Doughnut Vault, I’d better damn hope so.

The shop opens at 8:30 a.m. during the week, and 9:30 on Saturday, peddling its doughy doughnut wares until they run out. Needless to say, a Dunkin’ Donuts this is not. Priding itself on the more artisanal aspects of doughnut making, The Doughnut Vault makes only so many doughnuts in a day, with five standard fla-

vors, one daily special, and a Soup Naziesque policy of a strict half-dozen per person, max.

When I had arrived 45 minutes before the doors open I was, for the most part, alone.

However, with five minutes left until opening, the line was out of sight and around the corner. After that it did not take long for me to walk into the closet-sized space, and boldly (not to mention triumphantly) order half-adozen doughnuts—one of each.

Yes, I had waited, and waiting was half the battle. Now it was time to devour these beauties. The day’s special was Mocha, and the “regular” glazes were Vanilla, Chocolate (with sprinkles!), and Chestnut with Toasted Coconut. Rounding out the bunch were the incredibly dense and cakey Buttermilk Old Fashioned, and the mini trio of identical doughnuts known as the Gingerbread Stack. Yeah, I could dig it.

And dig in I did. The good news first: The Buttermilk Old Fashioned was the handsdown winner. The glaze had coagulated around the moist, dense interior, and, upon

taking a bite, brought to mind the sweet sensation of breaking the caramelized shell of a crème brûlée. The Gingerbread Stack was not exactly amazing on its own and possessed little flavor, but I quickly realized that its potential was unlocked when dipped in coffee.

I desperately wanted them to be the best doughnuts I’d ever had, and while they were certainly good, and as much as I endlessly advocate simplicity in food, I found myself longing for the bizzaro flavor combinations and toppings that have taken over the world of baked goods. They were among the best I’ve had, which made it that much sadder when I thought of the incredible results that could be had by spicing up the flavor and maybe even ramping up their savory side.

When all is said and done and fried and glazed and eaten, The Doughnut Vault truly is a depository of deliciousness; maybe not quite worth its weight in gold, but something a bit less glamorous, like palladium or beryllium. Just remember to get there early, be patient, keep calm, and om nom nom. ‘Cause at this vault, every day is a bank run.

Political push-back and protests INTIMATE continued from page 7 government of the United States and Belgium. This disturbing footage is followed by scenes of Soviet-African friendship and cooperation.

The second film, Medvedkin’s Forced Friendship further explores the United States’ oppression of foreign peoples for the sake of economic interest, citing the Congo and the Vietnam War as examples.

The third film, The Sixth Side of The Pentagon is the first film in the series directed

by Chris Marker. The film chronicles the evolution of early student protests against the Vietnam War up until the March on the Pentagon in 1967, an event attended by some 30,000 people, including Marker. For these students, the Pentagon, the largest

administration building in the world and the headquarters of national military operations, came to represent the war in Vietnam. As they marched, they chanted “Peace Now!” and “One, Two, Three, Four, Fight this damn war!” They scaled the walls of the Pentagon with ropes and burned their draft cards. The narrator of the film called the movement the transition between “political gestures and political action.”

Next, the series returned to Medvedkin’s “Letter to a Chinese Friend,” a brief 10minute exhortation about China’s Maoist interpretation of communism, framed as the USSR addressing China as an old friend who has turned their relationship sour. The Soviet narrator warns against the “desperate psychosis” of Mao’s “Little Red Book” and

longs to return the two countries to a state of harmony.

The series concludes with Marker’s The Embassy. The film depicts the life of political refugees in an embassy in Paris as they try to get information from the outside and establish a sense of normalcy. One of the men in the embassy says, “All political directions have gone bankrupt.” At the end of the film all the refugees leave in a van, facing only a life in exile.

All of the films express international intimacy in the contrast between the larger entities of the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective political struggles, domestic and abroad. The films were at times shocking, often amusing, and always enlightening.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | October 21, 2011

(Stuff to Do)

Arts STD

9

CROSSWORD

with Jamie Mermelstein

GUESS WHOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S COMING TO CA MPUS

with Hannah Gold

Across 1 â&#x20AC;&#x153;--- chango!â&#x20AC;?

Friday | October 21 What happens when three young adults graduate from Brown in the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;80s? Well, they get married and a plot ensues. Jeffrey Eugenides, Pulitizer Prize-winning author of Middlesex, will discuss his much-anticipated novel The Marriage Plot as the next speaker in the Chicago Tribuneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Author Talks series. Also, stay tuned for the incomparable (not to mention devastating) Umberto Eco, who wraps up this superstar-writer shindig on November 13. (50 East Erie Street, 6:30 p.m., $30â&#x20AC;&#x201D;price includes a copy of The Marriage Plot).

The 25th Generation of Off-Off Campus spontaneously performs its premier allimprov play Slaughterhouse Five-O. Will the actors roast Vonnegut? Occupy University Church? Even they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know. (5655 South University Avenue, show starts 9 p.m.â&#x20AC;&#x201C;preglow at 8:30 p.m., $4)

Saturday | October 22 The Humanities Division of the U of C presents its 33rd annual Humanities Day. The dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s festivities include a keynote address by Shadi Bartsch on â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Wisdom of Fools: Christianity and the Break in Classical Tradition,â&#x20AC;? and a tour of the Smart Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest exhibit Vision and Communism with Robert Bird. Registration is required and not all activities may still be available.

(5835 South Greenwood Avenue, 9:30 a.m.â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4:30 p.m., free)

If you simply must get something off your chest, then Life Lessons, an evening of storytelling performances, music, and wine, could be just the ticket. The event, presented by 2nd Story and sponsored by the Book Cellar, will take place at the Wilmette Theatre. (1122 Central Avenue, 9 p.m., $15)

7 2003 Eddie Murphy movie* 14 Sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;pose 15 UChicago-ed 16 Personification of creation* 17 Accumulated wealth 18 Place holder 20 Organic dye 21 Laptop key

The Chicago History Museum strikes a strong pose with the opening of its latest exhibit, Charles James: Genius Deconstructed.

As the title suggests, the show will feature iconic designs from one of the few American creators of haute couture who worked in the early to mid-twentieth century (or ever, really). (1601 North Clark Street, 12â&#x20AC;&#x201C;5 p.m., $14)

24 Theater org.

26 Source of sweet airport scents* 30 Eureka!

31 Look inside?

32 Carries back 34 Century 21 competitor 36 Ending with bi- or tri 38 Wood fastner 39 Destination for the missing parts of the starred clues

If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have school spirit, or just can never get your fill, get some this Saturday (and fill up on grilled food while youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re at it)! At 11 a.m. there will be a Homecoming tailgate lunch at Stagg Field, followed directly by the big game against Kenyon. No point in painting your face and screaming your voice away on an empty stomach.

Sunday | October 23 Phantogram, a band straight out of Saratoga Springs, New York that gives dreampop some electricity and punch, are playing at Metro. The duo, who recently released its fresh and feisty EP Nightlife, rock out and knock out with just a guitar, a keyboard, and vocals. (3730 North Clark Street, doors open at 7 p.m., must be 18+, $15)

University Symphony Orchestra

42 Actor Alan

6 Type of garage

47 â&#x20AC;&#x153;____ Piecesâ&#x20AC;?, 2004 Velvet Re-

43 Heroin, slangily

7 To give, in Grenada

volver song

44 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do! _____â&#x20AC;?

8 Lakeview, or Lincoln Park

49 The Clash rocked it

46 Weepy

9 No way!

53 Sri Lankan sepratists, abbr,

48 Landing with tower assistance

10 Crowned

54 Shoes favored by children, gar-

50 Monopoly properties, abbr.

11 Singer DiFranco

deners, and Mario Batali

51 Subtitled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Scenes from Coun-

12 VCR button

56 Dandy

try Life in Four Actsâ&#x20AC;?*

13 Thorn of yore

58 Soprano Petina

52 Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;East of Edenâ&#x20AC;? charac-

15 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oracular Spectacularâ&#x20AC;? band

59 Library sound

ter

19 Common clown prop

60 Sex symbol West

54 Abnormal growth

21 Jaguar, e.g.

61 To some degree

55 Legal deg.

22 Donne poem

62 Ramsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; home abbr.

57 â&#x20AC;&#x153;____, With Loveâ&#x20AC;?

23 Muslim calendar month

64 Raised eyebrow responses?

59 Tiniest

25 Piano progression

65 Sportage maker

63 Classic clothing store*

27 Cloister

66 D.C. denizen

67 Clean

28 The ones who got away

68 Riverdaleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most sought after

29 Onetime boom maker

citizen

31 1011

69 iTunesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; most downloaded song

33 L.A. to Tucson direc-

for 2010*

tion

70 Former Morrocan King

35 Marianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s piano student in â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Music Manâ&#x20AC;?

with the Hyde Park School of Dance

Down

37 ___ Beach, Hawaii

Annual Halloween Concert

1 As needed, in Rxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

40 Shaqâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s school

2 Stephen, of â&#x20AC;&#x153;V for Vendettaâ&#x20AC;?

41 Kipling python

3 Outside:Prefix

42 Dirt bikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cousin,

4 Prop for Hamlet

abbr.

5 One enraged by the color rojo

45 Alphabet trio

Barbara Schubert, Conductor

Tuesday 10/18/11

Illustration by Virginia Frances Sterrett

ARABIAN NIGHTS Saturday, October 29 7 pm & 9 pm Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th Street Rimsky-Korsakovâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Scheherazade, plus music of Griffes and Nielsen

Come in Costume!

Donations requested: $8 general; $4 students/children

music.uchicago.edu Children under age 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Persons who need assistance should call 773.702.8484.

Classifieds Classified advertising in The Chicago Maroon is $3 for each line. Lines are 45 characters long including spaces and punctuation. Special headings are 20-character lines at $4 per line. Submit all ads in person, by e-mail, or by mail to The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, Lower Level Rm 026, 1212 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637. The Chicago Maroon accepts Mastercard & Visa. Call (773) 702-9555.

Coach house for rent.

2 bedrooms, indoor parking for 2 cars. $1500 plus utilities per month.

Call 773-285-5019

Advertise in THE CHICAGO MAROON ads@chicagomaroon.com

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | October 21, 2011

10 FOOTBALL UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 4

School Case Western Carnegie Chicago Washington (Mo.)

Win % .833 .667 .667 .500

Record 5–1 (0–0) 4–2 (0–0) 4–2 (0–0) 3–3 (0–0)

Losing streak halted with win over Concordia

MEN’S SOCCER UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

School Washington (Mo.) Case Western Rochester Emory New York Brandeis Carnegie Chicago

Record 13–1–0 (4–0) 11–3–0 (3–1) 8–3–1 (2–1–1) 8–6–0 (2–2) 6–6–1 (2–2) 9–4–1 (1–2–1) 5–7–1 (1–3) 6–6–2 (0–4)

Win % .929 .786 .708 .571 .500 .679 .423 .500

WOMEN’S SOCCER UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

School Emory Case Western Washington (Mo.) Carnegie Rochester Chicago New York Brandeis

Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Player Anna Zambricki Emma Brown Ellen Coleman Lauren Steimle Allison Hegel

Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Player Lee Felder Meghan Derken Rachel Wesley Emily Feldman Lillie Toaspern

Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Player Anna Kennedy Emma Gormley Anna Albi Bridget Lane Meg Patten

Record 11–0–2 (3-0-1) 10–2–2 (3–1) 12–3 (2–2) 8–5 (2–2) 7–5 (2–2) 7–4–2 (1–1–2) 9–5 (1–3) 5–8–1 (0–3–1)

Win % .923 .786 .800 .615 .583 .615 .643 .393

Goals School Washington (Mo.) Washington (Mo.) Rochester Washington (Mo.) Chicago

Number 9 9 8 8 7

Assists School Washington (Mo.) Chicago Rochester Emory Washington (Mo.)

Number 6 5 5 5 5

Saves School Case Western Chicago Carnegie Rochester New York

Number 60 51 48 46 46

VOLLEYBALL UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

School Emory Washington (Mo.) Chicago Case Western New York Rochester Carnegie Brandeis

Conference 28–2 (7–0) 24–1 (6–1) 24–3 (5–2) 18–8 (4–3) 15–11 (2–5) 15–14(2–5) 12–11 (2–5) 7–15 (0–7)

Last Week .933 .960 .889 .692 .577 .517 .522 .318

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY USTFCCCA Midwest Region Rankings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

School North Central Washington (Mo.) Wheaton UW-Oshkosh Chicago UW-LaCrosse UW-Platteville Augustana(Ill.) UW-Stevens Point UW-Eau Claire

Conference CCIW UAA WIAC CCIW WIAC UAA WIAC WIAC CCIW WIAC

Fourth-year Alan Pikna outmaneuvers Concordia’s defense during the Thursday game at Stagg field. Pikna scored a goal in the 13th minute, his fifth of the year.

BENJAMIN TRNKA | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Men’s Soccer Mahmoud Bahrani Sports Editor At long last, a win. Chicago (6–6–2) defeated Concordia (3–13–1) yesterday by a score of 4–0. The game was a onesided affair most of the way, with Chicago controlling the tempo throughout.

Chicago drew blood first, with a goal from fourth-year midfielder Alan Pikna in the 13th minute, his fifth on the year. In the 37th minute, after heavy pressure from the Chicago offense, fourth-year Stanton Coville sent a rocket into the net from 10 yards out from the left side of the box, and the Maroons headed into the locker room with a comfortable 2–0 advantage.

Chicago wasted no time in the second half. Just 39 seconds in, Coville beat the Concordia goalkeeper low on a pass from first-year forward Kyle Kurfist, his second

assist of the night. Coville, one of the highest goal scorers in the UAA, now has eight goals this year. He needs just one more goal to tie his season career-high of nine, which he set in 2009.

Coville’s night wasn’t just on the finishing end. In the 51st minute, he slipped a pass past a Concordia defender to third-year midfielder Steven Chase, who put the ball in the back of the net for his third goal of the year.

The win ends what has been a gutwrenching five game losing streak for the Maroons. Each game during the streak was decided by a single goal.

On Sunday, the Maroons will play against UW–Whitewater, a traditionally powerful program. Chicago has a long personal history with UW–Whitewater, as games between the two over the last couple of years have been nail-bitingly close.

“Every game has been a one-goal game.

Last year, it was in the last three minutes

Homecoming tradition flourishes under Maloney

Last Week 1 2 3 4 6 5 7 8 9 NR

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY USTFCCCA Midwest Region Rankings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

School Washington (Mo.) UW-Eau Claire UW-La Crosse Chicago North Central UW-Platteville UW-Stevens Point UW-Oshkosh St. Norbert Illinois Wesleyan

Conference UAA WIAC WIAC UAA CCIW WIAC WIAC WIAC Midwest CCIW

Last Week 1 2 3 5 4 6 7 8 9 10

Fourth-year Francis Adarkwa evades a defender during a home game against Beloit.

Adarkwa leads the team this year in rushing with 308 yards.

COURTESY OF JOHN BOOZ

For video coverage of Terry Adams, visit:

chicagomaroon.com

we lost 1–0 at their place. The year before that, I think we gave up a goal in the last second to lose 2–1. It resonates a lot deeper with us,” said fourth-year defender Rashad Masri.

This weekend will also be the first that the Maroons will get to spend at home after two consecutive weekends of trips across the country. Last week the team flew to Boston and then drove to New York before flying back home, arriving back in Hyde Park late Sunday night. “The traveling, I guess, is wearing on us,” said Masri.

“It changes it up a little bit and gives us something different,” said Coville about getting the opportunity to play at home. Like Masri, Coville emphasized the importance of the game against UW–Whitewater, in particular for the fourth-years.

“Whitewater is a team that a lot of us particularly are out to get. We haven’t beat Whitewater since we’ve been here, so it’s a special game,” Coville said.

FOOTBALL continued from back

back to October 24, 2009.

The Maroons won’t overlook this game on the schedule, though. Homecoming provides plenty of excitement for fans and players

alike, so there is little doubt that the Maroons will come out eager to play on Saturday.

“The thing I like most about Homecoming is that students and fans are excited to come out to the game and support us,” Dee Briz-

zolara, a third-year receiver who is currently tied for Chicago’s modern record for total touchdowns, said. “Homecoming gives our entire athletic community more of a family feel, and we get to see our friends and fellow athletes a lot more all weekend.”

Indeed, there is always a lively atmosphere surrounding the Homecoming game, complete with barbeques, free t-shirts, and tug of war. But that has not always been the case.

“When I first got here, we didn’t have all that,” said Maloney. “We knew other teams had it, but we didn’t have anything, so we decided that we wanted to have some kind of celebration.”

“It started with just a cookout before the game, and then we turned it into a pep rally with a bonfire that we would have where Max East is now. We called it ‘Midnight Madness.’

The basketball players would come out after practice from Henry Crown, too. It was great.”

“This place has changed dramatically in the 18 years I’ve been here. It was hard at first, because with just a few people it’s a lot of work. But once all of the students and the Dean of Students got into it, it became a lot of fun. It’s been wonderful watching it all develop.”

Chicago will host Kenyon at Stagg Field on Saturday at 1 p.m. for Homecoming.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | October 21, 2011

11

The importance of giving back

Chicago takes on non-UAA foe before conference finale

Column

Women’s Soccer

By Alex Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Writer I was recently speaking with second-year tennis standout Alex Golovin when I found out about an incredible journey he went through.

I didn’t think it was incredible because of the effort and endurance it took Alex to complete this endeavor.

I didn’t think it was incredible because he was the only person under the age of 21 to go through this in 2011. I knew it was incredible because of the circumstances surrounding the journey.

This endeavor was actually an outof-the-ordinary race. Alex ran in the North Face Endurance Challenge on September 17th in Madison, Wisconsin for a microfinance group called Kiva. Wearing a colorful jersey with the organization’s logo on it for the sole reason of supporting the group, Alex fought off malfunctions along the way to complete the 50-mile race in 11 hours and 19 minutes.

There is so much to learn from Alex’s story, yet one overarching element caught my eye: When you’re given many opportunities in your life, giving back means so much to those less fortunate. But before I expand on that, I’d like to share in detail Alex’s story to fully assess the meaning of giving back.

In his first year at Chicago, Alex was introduced to Kiva by his roommate. After voicing initial interest, he found out that Kiva’s goals were plain and simple—lend to small businesses in underdeveloped nations through small internet donations.

Alex immediately wanted to help in any way he could. Unfortunately, being a full-time student rendered him unable to actively volunteer. So, he wrote to the company and found out he could market the microfinance group by wearing Kiva gear during an athletic event.

After extensive research, the Chicago second-year found the ideal way to showcase Kiva—run in the North Face Endurance Challenge in Madison. The event, which called for a 50-mile run in stages of five to seven miles at a time, would be the longest Alex had ever run. Previously, the most he had run was 20 miles.

The tennis phenom could never have predicted the outcome of the race. On the day of the competition before the race began, many curious spectators and competitors who saw Alex’s colorful jersey asked him about Kiva, giving him the opportunity to spread the word about his organization.

Alex almost didn’t finish the race.

In only the race’s second mile, his

Camelbak exploded and Alex’s jersey was soaked, leaving him only able to carry a liter of water at a time.

But Alex persevered. With Kiva in the back of his mind and on the front of his jersey, nothing would stop the fiery athlete. Soreness, fatigue, and even going off-course in the dark for about five miles were not enough to halt Alex from completing the race. 11 hours and 19 minutes later, the goal Alex worked for was accomplished. He finished in 121st place for the entire field and was the only person under the age of 21 to complete the race There are a couple of lessons to be learned from Alex’s incredible run.

While they may sound cliché, each of them was important in making his goal a reality.

The first is to fight for what you want. Naturally, I don’t mean for you to become involved in a physical altercation because you were unable to achieve your goal–quite the contrary, actually.

Fighting for your goals means to never give up. Alex could have easily stopped from contacting Kiva when he saw that he was unable to actively volunteer throughout the school year. Alex could have easily stopped from continuing the endurance run when his water pack exploded. Alex could have easily stopped from finishing the race when he ran five miles off course. But he did not. He persevered because he believed in the cause he was running for even though there weren’t any monetary gains for him.

University of Chicago students would not be where they are if they did not fight for their goals and persevere. Yet, just like Alex, we need to create goals which do not only benefit ourselves, but also those around us.

The most important lesson learned, and Alex would agree himself on this, is the statement I already mentioned earlier: When you’re given many opportunities in your life, giving back means so much to those less fortunate. Each and every student reading this article right now is fortunate. As Alex told me, there are hundreds of millions of people that do not have the privilege of attending such a fine institution and living in such a beautiful area. We all have our dorm rooms, our proper nourishment, and our health, but somewhere out there, people don’t.

As Chicago students attempt to receive the most out of their academic experiences as possible, there needs to be a moment where students step back and realize that grades do not mean everything in life.

Alex’s story is a prime example of what it means to be not only characterized as a student or as an athlete, but as someone who gives back.

Liane Rousseau Senior Sports Writer The women’s soccer team is looking forward to its next game after coming off a big win against NYU last weekend. It’ll be a battle of colorful mascots as the Maroons take on the Big Blue of Millikin in Decatur, IL on Saturday at noon. Millikin enters the game with a record of 7–5–1, and Chicago boasts a record of 7–4–2. The win last weekend against a tough UAA opponent in NYU has Chicago optimistic about its chances for the rest of the year. “[Beating NYU] helped us to regain a lot of our confidence in our ability to create and convert offensive chances,” said fourthyear goalie Emma Gormley. This confidence and focus in practice will help Chicago overtake Millikin, even though the Maroons aren’t familiar with the Big Blue.

“I personally don’t know a lot about Millikin,” Gormley says.

“We haven’t played them in the time I’ve been at Chicago. I’m just going to go into the game assuming they’ll be a tough team that we’ll have to play at our best.”

The Maroons have been planning on doing just that. Although Millikin is unranked and the Maroons are currently ranked fourth in the Central region, practices have been tough all week so that the Maroons can have a strong showing.

“To prepare for Millikin, we’ve been working on improving ourselves collectively,” said Assistant Coach Bannon Stroud. “We are perfecting what we can control and making sure that we are playing technically sharp.”

“We have to stay focused at every practice,” says second-year defender Katie Dana.

While Millikin isn’t in the UAA, the game is still important for the team’s end-of-season success.

“At this point, every game we have left is important,” said

Gormley. “We need to do as well against Millikin as in the rest of our conference games to put ourselves in the best position to make it to the tournament.”

“Our coach told us to look at every game like it is an NCAA tournament game,” said Dana.

“We have to mentally prepare for every game like it could be the last game of our season. Every game is seen as an opportunity to get better and prepare for UAAs and the tournament.”

“With a win this weekend, our winning percentage will rise,” said Stroud. “We need it to be as high as possible at the end of the season, so every game from here on out has long-term effects.”

The NCAA tournament begins during the second week of November. Placement in the tournament is determined by the overall record of each team and its strength of schedule. With a win this weekend, the Maroons will continue to improve their record and improve their chances of extending their season.

Unique sports history makes selecting inductees a challenge FAME continued from back

ever, it was so hard to play basketball and be a math major simultaneously,” Ericksen said. “The competition both to do well in school at a place like the U of C and to play college-level basketball is so hard these days. I think that today’s scholar-athletes have it much harder than I did.”

The Hall of Fame began in 2003, with the first class featuring 25 athletes, including Berwanger, Anderson, and Stagg. The selection process itself takes place over the course of the year. Individuals are eligible for the Hall of Fame five years after graduating or retiring, and are usually nominated by family members and former teammates scattered across the country. A 13-member Hall of Fame committee meets in early winter to collect the nominations, which are then divided by era. After that, the long process of research begins, which is no easy task. Digging up statistical information on people who competed when there were few written athletic records presents a unique challenge, which often sends committee members to sources like friends and teammates to provide information on lesser-known recordbreaking athletes.

“We had a swimmer a few years ago named Robert Smartt. He was a swimmer back here in the 1970s.

He was nominated by a few people,

but we didn’t have a lot of information on him and records were kind of sketchy. But as people started sending in some copies of Maroon articles, we got a couple letters from his coaches and other teammates at the time, that really pointed out how good a swimmer this guy was,” said Assistant Athletic Director and Sports Information Director Dave Hilbert of the 2008 inductee.

In spring the committee reconvenes and members present their cases for the athletes from their era, accounting for the differences in the University’s athletic standing during that time period. With an athletics history as unique and varied as the University of Chicago’s, this is sometimes difficult.

“It was a legitimate question [when we were first forming the committee] because we’re sort of in a unique situation here,” Hilbert said. “There aren’t a lot of schools that were once D-I schools and are now D-III.” In order to account for this, Hilbert said that they weight certain accomplishments, like All-American, on equal footing across eras.

The committee votes after the arguments for each athlete have been made, with athletes needing the magic number of nine “yes” votes to be inducted. Once they’ve been inducted, athletes are invited to the Hall of Fame

induction ceremony and dinner. Lester Munson, a senior sports writer for ESPN, has headed the ceremony since it began in 2003.

“It’s the best job in show business,” Munson said with a laugh. Munson, whose son played football and basketball at Chicago, lauded the University for its athletic program. “This is the way it ought to be, and the way it is not in D-I,” Munson said. “As a sports writer, I have frequently been involved in investigative work in D-I scandals. It’s just really refreshing to be involved in this, where everything goes well.”

The event takes place in Hutchinson Commons, with roughly 200 people attending. The attendees fly in from all over the country to watch as their loved ones are inducted. “[If ] you could see one of these events, and you could see the people who are being honored, how much their families care, it’s pretty impressive,” Davey said.

“It has been a very interesting educational experience for me. There have been so many amazing stories.”

The Hall now holds 76 people, and will hold seven more at night’s end.

“Other than a game, or winning the Nobel Prize, if there’s a better event at the University, I’d like to hear about it,” Munson said.

The Hall of Fame induction dinner will begin tonight at 7 p.m. Inductees will be honored again at tomorrow’s Homecoming game against Kenyon.

would like to recognize...

Pat Barry A.B. ’02 Soccer Robert Fisher A.B. ’84, J.D. ’89 Cross Country and Track Eugene Ericksen S.B. ’63 Basketball Ned Merriam A.B. 1908 Track and Field Renee Neuner A.B. ’06 Soccer Keith Parsons Ph.B. ’33, J.D. ’37 Football and Basketball Margaret Pizer S.B. ’97 Swimming

...on their induction into the University of Chicago Hall of Fame. Congratulations to the Class of 2011.

IN QUOTES

SPORTS

“I was wondering if he had those rings with the ones he’s guaranteed the last couple of years.”

—Chargers coach Norv Turner, firing back after Jets coach Rex Ryan said he would have won multiple rings in San Diego.

Seven new members inducted into Hall of Fame Hall of Fame Mahmoud Bahrani Sports Editor With a history as long as that of the University of Chicago, being inducted into the Hall of Fame is no small matter. A new class of seven athletes from six different sports will be inducted today, joining a short list of other athletes and coaches. The Hall’s members date back as far as the late 19th century, featuring athletes whose names are still commemorated today, such as J. Kyle Anderson, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and winner of the Heisman trophy, Jay Berwanger.

This year’s class is headlined by Olympian Ned Merriam (A.B. 1908), who competed for the United States in the 1908 Olympics in the 440-yard dash.

A three-time Big Ten champion in that event, Merriam took over as the head track coach at the University after being offered the position by Stagg, his former coach, who had decided to step down to focus exclusively on coaching football.

Merriam would go on to coach Chicago for over 20 years, from 1929 to 1950.

“He represents somebody who is being honored both because he was a fabulous performer, but also for his many years of coaching,” said Hall of Fame Committee Chairman John Davey. “Once you read about his career, you figure out he’s a pretty important guy.”

Merriam passed away in 1956 and is being honored posthumously at the event. Keith Parsons (Ph.B. ’33, J.D. ’37),

Football Daniel Lewis Associate Sports Editor

The 1932 Chicago football team. Hall of Fame inductee Keith Parsons is fourth from the right in the front row. Head coach Amos Alonzo Stagg sits at the center of the photo.

COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ARCHIVES

the 1933 Western Conference medal award winner in basketball, is also being honored posthumously.

Other inductees include Pat Barry (A.B. ’02), an All-American soccer player. He is the first male soccer player to be inducted. He led the Maroons to their first UAA championship in 2001, and was selected three times to the AllCentral Region team. Barry received the Stagg medal in 2002, an award which honors the best undergraduate male athlete at the University.

“It’s humbling. I didn’t win a Heisman or anything,” said Barry, who is currently a student at the law school. “I pretty much just stood near the goal and hoped my teammates would pass me the ball.

Fortunately, many of them did.”

Two other athletes, All-American basketball player Eugene Ericksen (S.B. ’63), and track-and-field school record holder Bob Fisher (A.B. ’84, J.D. ’89), were also awarded the Stagg medal while they competed at the University. The equivalent award for female athletes, the Dud-

ley medal, was awarded to both of this year’s female inductees, Renee Neuner (A.B. ’06), who was the NCAA D-III player of the year in soccer, and Margaret Pizer (S.B. ’97), who graduated holding 12 school swimming records. Ericksen, a math major, commented in an e-mail on the difficulties that athletes faced then, and still face, of grappling with academics while still competing at a high level.

“I was a D-I wannabe and I even had dreams of playing professionally. HowFAME continued on page 11

Chicago wins thriller on senior night Volleyball Amanda Dobbyn Sports Contributer Chicago left everything on the court, including some skin, in a close win against Dominican on Wednesday that lasted five games and nearly twoand-a-half hours. “This was certainly a different Dominican than we’ve ever seen before,” said Head Coach Vanessa

Kenyon arrives for Homecoming weekend

Walby after both teams shook hands.

“It was a long fight and they put up some great competition.”

The Maroons sandwiched two winning games between two losses before rallying in the fifth to end the match 3–2. The first game set the tone for the rest of the night as both teams traded blows, never letting the other slip more than a few points ahead. Though Chicago ultimately gave in at 24–26, the Maroons caught a second wind to win

the next two 25–24 and 25–12. Dominican squeezed out a 22–25 win in the fourth despite the valiant efforts of fourth-year Colleen Belak who, during a 45-second rally, crossed over to the opposite side of the net to hit a ball back to her teammates and ultimately clinch the point. With all the Chicago fans on their feet, fourth-year Isis Smalls ended game five at 15–13 with a kill that prompted some Chicago fans to ask the Dominican contigent if they “need[ed] some Isis

Fourth-year Isis Smalls spikes the ball on senior night Wednesday against Dominican.

TERENCE LEE | THE CHICAGO MAROON

for that burn.”

That final smack of volleyball on wood marked win 101 for Walby as she celebrated her 100th career win this past Sunday, October 16, against Carnegie Mellon. “I will be honest and say that I was oblivious that it was my 100th win,” Walby said. “I pay attention to stats with the girls, but I could never tell you anything about records.”

The team, however, did not forget.

Said Smalls, “We made her a jar with one hundred Reese’s inside decorated with the date and everything, so it was pretty important to us to win that game.”

As Walby heads into the triple digits, the question remains: Can Chicago keep the ball rolling – or, rather, flying–at the upcoming Elmhurst Invitational? The Maroons are slotted to face off against Simpson and Wheaton on Friday at 6 and 8 p.m. respectively, followed by UW-Platteville and Elmhurst at noon and 2 on Friday. Of the four, Smalls believes that Simpson should be the team’s least challenging opponent. As for the other three, Smalls said, “We have so much history with all of them. Platteville we’ve been neck- and-neck with all season.

We just won against Wheaton a few weeks ago, and Elmhurst we beat earlier this season, though they’ve beaten quite a few top-25 teams recently.”

As the Maroons have already served, set, and blocked their way to an impressive 24–3 season, Walby hopes to keep the momentum up this weekend and go undefeated. “I think that it is extremely doable and would be a nice push going into our conference tournament.”

After two straight victories on the road in Ohio, the Maroons will return to Stagg Field to take on the winless Kenyon Lords for the annual Homecoming game.

Chicago sits at 4–2 and must keep winning in order to have a shot at the playoffs.

Chicago players are coming fresh off their bye week, which they used to rest up and work on fundamentals.

“We always want to be more physical,” said Head Coach Dick Maloney. “That’s important because when you get into the UAAs, people get after each other pretty good.”

“We’re also trying to expand our formations on offense and defense.

If we can get an extra tight end in on some plays, all of a sudden, the defense doesn’t know if he’s going to be a blocker, a receiver, or a running back.”

The last time the Maroons played at home, they suffered a 42-point beat down to nationally ranked Wabash. This time around, though, Chicago hopes it can give its fans something more to cheer about.

“The Wabash game left a bad taste in our mouth, and we want to win big for our fans on Homecoming weekend,” Jeff Sauer, a third-year punter who averaged over 50 yards per punt against Denison, said.

“But more importantly, we want to keep the momentum we have going into the UAAs.” Kenyon, however, likely won’t be as daunting of an opponent as Wabash. The Lords’ defense has allowed more than 30 points in five of their six games this year, and their offense has managed more than 14 points only once during that time.

Their struggles on both sides of the ball have contributed to a 19-game losing streak that dates all the way FOOTBALL continued on page 10

CA LEN DA R

Friday

10/21

- Cross Country at North Central, 4:30 p.m.

- Volleyball at Elmhurst Tournament vs. Simpson, 6 p.m. vs. Wheaton 8 p.m.

Saturday

10/22

- Swimming and Diving at Wheaton, 11 a.m.

- Women’s Soccer at Millikin, noon - Volleyball at Elmhurst Tournament vs. UW-Platteville, noon vs. Elmhurst, 2p.m.

- Football vs. Kenyon, 1 p.m.

Sunday

10/23

- Men’s Soccer vs. UW-Whitewater, 1 p.m.