TUESDAY • OCTOBER 16, 2012
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
ISSUE 4 • VOLUME 124
Olympic athlete vaults to success at Booth Harini Jaganathan News Contributor
Encore, encore! U of C alumni band Lakesigns performs at the Logan Launch Student Party Saturday night in part of the Logan Center for the Arts Launch Festival. From left to right, band members include Ruben Montiel, Eric Mayer, Will Gosner, and John Paul Thompson. COURTESY OF ANGELA WANG
Political pundit predicts Obama win Anastasia Kaiser News Contributor Journalist and political commentator David Wasserman shared his knowledge of national election races at the Gordon Center last night. Wasserman, who analyzes congressional races for the newsletter The Cook Political Report, invited students to play “stump the expert,” followed by gasps as Was-
serman responded to a student’s question with a detailed analysis of the factors affecting the race in Louisiana’s 3rd congressional district. “He’s the closest thing to a political science wizard that I’ve seen,” said third-year Charley Kargman after the event. Wasserman forecasts that control of the federal government will remain divided between the two parties into the next term,
predicting that Republicans will retain control of the House of Representatives while Democrats will emerge with a slim hold on the Senate. He put President Obama’s reelection chances at 60 to 70 percent, but urged audience members to look beyond the headlines of the day and to examine the underlying forces shaping the 2012 election cycle. UCIJ continued on page 2
53rd Street gains two restaurants in 2013 Thomas Choi News Contributor Students and food-lovers alike may already be anticipating the opening of Chipotle in 2013, but two new additions to the Harper Court project promise even greater variety. Matthias Merges, the man behind Logan Square fixture Yusho and formerly the head chef at recently-shuttered Charlie Trotter’s in Lincoln Park, will open two upscale restaurants on 53rd Street, both projected for 2013 openings. The larger venue, on 53rd Street between Harper and Blackstone Avenues, will be a formal, traditional-style restaurant. Although Merges has yet to decide on the concept for the new establishment, he told the Chicago branch of the online food news site Eater that it will be based around some type of European cuisine.
Booth School of Business student and Forest Park native Jillian Schwartz was never leaps and bounds away from the Olympics. After making it to the 2004 Olympics in Athens for Team USA, Schwartz, now 33, competed this past summer in London on behalf of Team Israel. The pole-vaulter placed 18th with a height of 4.40 meters, just above her 4.30-meter clearance at Athens. “The experience in general was incredible. Walking around the village and seeing athletes from different countries is always really cool,” she said. “Obviously [not winning a medal] wasn’t quite what I wanted, but I had a lot of fun out there, which is a big part of [competing] for me.” In 2008, Schwartz just missed her chance to represent the U.S. in Beijing with a fourth-place finish at the trials. A year later, she won a gold medal at the Maccabiah Games in Netanya, Israel and was wooed by Israeli athletic officials. If Schwartz moved to Israel and joined their team, they said, she would have a better chance of competing in the London Games. Though she moved across the world, Schwartz said that her life was mostly the same as it had been: training and competing. “I wasn’t living [in Israel] fulltime, because my coach was in the U.S., so I went back and forth a lot,” she said. “I saw the same people year-round because the U.S. team
The other restaurant will be a smaller version of Yusho, which serves Japanese “street-style” yakitori, a type of skewered chick-
en. This eatery, to be located at the intersection with Kimbark Avenue, will have a takeout opYUSHO continued on page 2
OLYMPIAN continued on page 3
Art, science revisit Picasso Amos Gewirtz News Contributor
Matthias Merges, owner of the popular restaurant Yusho and former chef at Charlie Trotter’s, is opening two new restaurants, one as part of Harper Court, and one near Kimbark Plaza. JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON
doesn’t train together.” Still, Schwartz’s Jewish upbringing bonded her to the Israelis and got her past any cultural differences she experienced. “When I went [to Israel] there was an instant familiarity…people have all the same traditions from how I was raised,” she said. “I really felt like I was a part of that culture.” Still, Schwartz managed not to feel isolated from the U.S. team after the move, and none of her previous teammates expressed animosity. “In the event I was in, you’re competing against each other, but it’s more [that] you’re competing against yourself. There’s not much you can really do to hurt someone else’s chances of doing well,” she said. “For the most part I got really positive feedback from my training partners [about the switch to Israel’s team].” The figurative bar was raised in other ways, however. “There [was] always a little more pressure on me in the Israeli team because it was such a small team,” she said. “There’s a lot more emphasis on your performance and you’re just more in the spotlight, and you feel more engaged with the federation and your club.” After the London Games, Schwartz left the field professionally and enrolled in Booth’s two-year M.B.A. program. She completed her undergraduate studies at Duke University in 2001 and, though she entered college as a pre-medical student, graduated with a degree in economics. This began her move toward the business world.
Researchers are one step closer to making sense of the paintings of the Cubist painter Pablo Picasso—or at least what he used to bring them to life. Conservation experts at the Art Institute of Chicago shared their discoveries regarding the paint used by Picasso last Wednesday at the Illinois Institute of Technology as part of Chicago Ideas Week. The study, spearheaded by the Institute in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, found that Picasso used commercial paints from a French paint company called Ripolin, much like those one would use to paint a house. Volker Rose, one of the physicists working on the project, believes that this new information
can help provide a better understanding of Picasso’s career. The advantage of using Ripolin in a canvas or panel painting is that it is a relatively fast-drying material, which would have allowed for faster production of new paintings, explained Rose. “Picasso was wealthy in his lifetime, constantly selling his paintings, which is unusual for many artists. His use of Ripolin as a fast-drying paint can tell us that he may have had shows planned but not necessarily had enough paintings to fill them. Ripolin could have helped him solve this problem. Picasso was not the only one to do this,” he said. Not only did the study solve the decade-long mystery of whether Picasso used commercial paints, “it has also drawn the two distant worlds of cultural heritage PICASSO continued on page 3
IN VIEWPOINTS
IN ARTS
We, the more fortunate » Page 4
Seven Psychopaths, one egomaniacal Tang rebounds to take fifth at ITA National director » Page 7 Championships » Back Page
Shaking up the top of the class » Page 4
From the Schubas stage, the flip side of Nicki Bluhm » Page 8
IN SPORTS
Athletes of the Week » Page 11
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | October 16, 2012
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Nonprofit makes an “Impact”on schools Lauren Culbertson News Contributor When the 55 graduating seniors of the University of Chicago Charter School, Woodlawn campus (UCW) stood for commencement last spring, their crowning achievement was far more lofty than the caps they wore. For the first time, 100 percent of UCW’s graduating class was admitted to college, compared to 50 percent of all Chicago Public School students. The educational program used at UCW, which stresses rigorous academic training and preparation for post-secondary education, is one of three offered by UChicago Impact, a non-profit organization that seeks to improve urban education. Although the programs began exclusively in U of C Charter Schools in 2009, they have now expanded to 19 states and 33 cities. In his welcome letter to students this year, President Robert Zimmer noted that the program was continuing to expand. 6to16, the program used at UCW, is “designed to create a college-going culture,” said 6to16 program director Veronica Herrero. The program focuses specifically on college-readiness, consisting of curriculum that extends beyond the scope of textbooks.
Herero credited the program as partially responsible for UCW’s 96 percent rate of attendance to fouryear universities among the school’s graduates. Some of these universities include Georgetown University, Pennsylvania State University, and the U of C, Herero said. 5Essentials, another UChicago Impact program, gauges a school’s effective leadership and encourages collaborative teaching, family involvement, a supportive environment, and ambitious instruction. Established by the University’s Urban Education Institute, the program was based on 20 years of research by the University’s Consortium on School Research. UChicago Impact’s third program STEP, which stands for Strategic Teaching and Evaluating Progress, works primarily with students in grades K–3 to provide a solid foundation in reading and writing. Even as UChicago Impact expands as far as California, there is still much use for UChicago Impact at the Charter Schools, said Shayne Evans, director of the University of Chicago Charter School. “We hope to continue to collaborate with UChicago Impact to improve our ability across our campuses to prepare our students for success in college,” he said.
Journalist says signs favor Dems, Vigo County could be true predictor UCIJ continued from front
Wasserman explained that the last three election cycles have been “wave elections” where one party has seen tremendous gains on election night. However, he believes that this year will be different, more like a whirlpool. “There’s a lot of churning around and a lot of change that’s not going to work exclusively in one side’s favor,” he said. He identified the ebb of the Tea Party, the emergence of majority nonwhite districts, and an improving economic outlook as trends that favor the Democratic Party. Wasserman then pointed to the decline of moderate Democrats, redrawn congressional districts, and confinement of Democratic support to urban areas as factors likely to aid Republicans. Students eager to forecast the winner of the presidential election should pay particular attention to the election returns of Vigo County, Indiana, which has voted for the winner of every presidential election
tion. It is slated to open in late 2013. Merges told Eater that both his father and his father-in-law attended the U of C and that he has long been interested in doing business in Hyde Park. “Now that the University of Chicago is putting in a lot of resources in restaurants, retail and their own buildings, it was a great time to revisit the idea,” he told the website. The two restaurants will join branches of Lincoln Park’s Ja’Grill, a Jamaican eatery, and Rosemont gastropub Park Tavern as recently announced ad-
since 1956. Because Indiana lies in the Eastern Standard Time Zone, Vigo County’s results will be announced early on election night. Students at the event praised both the event and the newly established Insti-
tute of Politics. Third-year Henry Hoglund called the Institute “a great way to engage undergraduates in politics and public events” and said that funding for the Institute was “one of the better investments the
school has made.” The Institute of Politics, which co-hosted with UChicago Careers in Journalism, will officially open its doors in early 2013, but will host events throughout fall quarter.
A PRESENTATION BY
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT,
SHERYL STOLBERG A REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK:
U of C development projects make Chicago chef “revisit” Hyde Park YUSHO continued from front
David Wasserman, House Editor for The Cook Political Report, discussed congressional and presidential election forecasts in an IOP-sponsored lecture on Monday. JULIA REINITZ | THE CHICAGO MAROON
CONGRESS, THE WHITE HOUSE AND 2012 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2012 7 – 8 P.M.
ditions to Harper Court. This is on top of Five Guys and Chicago staple Clarke’s Diner that opened in September 2011 and February 2012, respectively. Christopher Dillion, a managing director behind the Harper Court project, said that he hopes the influx of restaurants will attract people and businesses from around the city. “The fact that several of Chicago’s top chefs have selected Hyde Park as the location for their newest concepts strengthens the appeal of 53rd Street and Harper Court to other restaurants and retail uses,” he said in an e-mail.
KENT 120 University of Chicago Brought to you by the University of Chicago Student Government
SHERYL GAY STOLBERG is a Washington correspondent for The New York Times. Previously, she had been a White House correspondent for The Times from May 2006 to May 2011, covering the administrations of President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. Before that, she was a Washington correspondent, covering Congress, from 2002 to 2006. Ms. Stolberg joined The Times in 1997 as a science correspondent in the Washington bureau, writing about the intersection of science and public policy, including such topics as the AIDS epidemic, the 2001 anthrax attacks, bioethics controversies and the fight over federal financing for embryonic stem cell research. Ms. Stolberg began her career at the Providence Journal in Rhode Island, and later spent nearly 10 years at the Los Angeles Times, where she developed a specialty in medical reporting. As a member of that newspaper’s Metro staff, she also shared in two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
CORRECTIONS
The Oct. 12 article “For artist Peter Karklins, controlled chaos comes naturally” misstated the U of C Press’s role in the development of Karklins’s book The Nature Drawings of Peter Karklins.
12-1868
The Oct. 12 article “Part I: Where are we now? Sexual assault at the U of C” misspelled the name of Belinda Vazquez.
AT THE UNIVERSITY Y OF CHICAGO
inCOLLEGE
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | October 16, 2012
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After years of informal organizing, campus Eagle Scouts nurture new flock Isabel Ochoa Gold News Contributor —Editor’s Note: Jon Catlin is a Maroon staffer. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, a small group accumulated in the lobby couches of the Biological Sciences Laboratory Center. The members’ backgrounds varied widely—one was a practicing doctor, one a junior at the U of C Lab School, another a law student. However, they were united by a singular identity: “We are all Eagle Scouts.� Second-year Jon Catlin, current chairperson of the year-old RSO, Scouts at U of C, emphasizes the present tense of the mantra. After reaching Eagle Scout status, the highest rank, Catlin said, the scouts acquire a “lifelong commitment to give back to the troops.� The group, which is a community service RSO open to anyone, aims to fulfill this commitment by offering the vast resources and facilities of the University to younger Scouts in the Chicago area. Originally formed a few years ago by an Eagle Scout and then-medical student Andrew Phillips and faculty adviser Darrel Waggoner, the first few years of the unofficial group consisted only of
medical students. They put together a clinic for Boy Scouts in the area to complete a medicinethemed merit badge, one of many awards given to Boy Scouts for exploring disciplines and skill sets through a list of set requirements. “Fulfilling the requirements for a merit badge independently can be time-consuming and, frankly, expensive,� Catlin said. “If I were a Boy Scout now, I would have loved to be immersed with the fantastic facilities and resources the University of Chicago has to offer.� It was only last year, when Catlin and secondyear Adil Tobaa discovered the unregistered club “through a Google search� as prospective students and began coming to meetings, that the group evolved from the confines of the Medical School. The organization now continues to grow. U of C Charter School, Donoghue campus P.E. teacher Derrick Brill and Director of Family and Community Engagement Todd Barnett approached the Scouts at U of C. They asked for assistance in their formation of a new Cub Scout troop for boys in first through fifth grade. “We don’t know how they found us,� Catlin said, “but we’re eager to help.�
The newly registered RSO Scouts at U of C aims to help students, staff, and faculty find outlets to support the Boy and Girl Scouts of America. Here Chicago Area Council Boy Scouts attend the second annual Medicine Merit Badge Clinic at the BSLC. COURTESY OF SCOUTS AT U OF C
For Olympian, Booth provides new race against time classes, and recruiting career events, and social events, and it’s crazy. It seems like I’m just busy all the time, way busier than my undergrad,� she said. But her move to Booth does not mean she’s left athletics behind. “Maybe I can start volunteering a little bit, and helping out where I can in coaching or just being around track and field,� she said. “It’s been a part of my life for so long, and it’s something I really want to give back to.�
OLYMPIAN continued from front
“I kind of realized that [brand management] is what I had been doing for myself,� she said. “In terms of dealing with the financial aspect of being an athlete—the marketing, and just about everything—I was in charge of my own brand as an athlete, basically. So I want to learn how to apply that to a big company.� But little did Schwartz realize that getting a degree from Booth would prove to be its own challenge. “I’m way busier [now]. I had a lot of downtime before and now it’s like juggling
Booth student Jillian Schwartz competes in the 2012 London Olympics for Israel. COURTESY OF JILLIAN SCHWARTZ
Argonne scientists branch into art world PICASSO continued from front
experts and scientists together with the potential to rewrite art history,� according to an article on Argonne National Laboratory’s website. “I am specialized in material physics,� Rose said, speaking to the unusual collaboration of the arts and the sciences. “However, I have been invited to conferences
around the world to discuss my finding with interested cultural heritage experts.� Argonne National Laboratory has been managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC since 2006 and has been one of the main contractors since the Laboratory’s founding in 1946. Chicago Ideas Week gives experts in their fields a chance to present and discuss their work and inspiration.
—Additional reporting by Rebecca Guterman
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VIEWPOINTS
Editorial & Op-Ed OCTOBER 16, 2012
Going by the book The University’s failure to ensure that faculty post reading lists ahead of time is costing students
The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 JORDAN LARSON Editor-in-Chief SHARAN SHETTY Editor-in-Chief COLIN BRADLEY Managing Editor HARUNOBU CORYNE Senior Editor DOUGLAS EVERSON, JR Senior Editor SAM LEVINE Senior Editor CELIA BEVER News Editor REBECCA GUTERMAN News Editor LINDA QIU News Editor AJAY BATRA Viewpoints Editor DAVID KANER Viewpoints Editor EMILY WANG Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Arts Editor HANNAH GOLD Arts Editor DANIEL RIVERA Arts Editor DANIEL LEWIS Sports Editor VICENTE FERNANDEZ Sports Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Sports Editor SONIA DHAWAN Head Designer BELLA WU Head Designer KEVIN WANG Online Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor DON HO Head Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Head Copy Editor JAMIE MANLEY Photo Editor SYDNEY COMBS Photo Editor JOY CRANE Assoc. News Editor MARINA FANG Assoc. News Editor BEN POKROSS Assoc. News Editor MADHU SRIKANTHA Assoc. News Editor JENNIFER STANDISH Assoc. News Editor ALICE BUCKNELL Assoc. Arts Editor SCOTTY CAMPBELL Assoc. Arts Editor SARAH LANGS Assoc. Sports Editor DEREK TSANG Assoc. Sports Editor JAKE WALERIUS Assoc. Sports Editor
This quarter, once again, hundreds of students arrived on campus enrolled in classes without posted booklists. Many of them discovered something about the content—or the cost—of their courses that they would have considered useful knowledge during course request last spring. Despite years of complaints and a federal law mandating booklist postings, students continue to be deprived of information to which they are unquestionably entitled. With Add/Drop now drawing to a close and a new round of course requests around the corner, the University and its faculty must work harder to ensure booklists are made available when classes are first chosen. It is little wonder, in the name of financial transparency and informed decision making, that when Congress passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) in 2008, they included a provision requiring that instructors post booklists during registration periods at universities receiving federal funding. That measure has been in effect since July 2010. Every professor in the last nine quarters who has failed to provide a list should note, then, that they have breached federal law. But it’s not just a matter of legality. As the federal response indicates, the rising price of books is a matter of fiscal concern for students across the country. Publishers, facing high production costs and a burgeoning trade in used and illegally produced textbooks, are charging prices that just a few years ago would have seemed ridiculous. Given that students are a largely captive market, price hikes seem likely to continue in the
future. Although one would hope professors are prudent enough to choose required materials that are affordable to all, this will not always be the case. Students should be able to see if a budgetbusting book is on the syllabus before they waste a valuable request. In situations in which textbook prices are not a make-or-break factor, or in which students have no choice but to take a given class, posting booklists allows all students to save money, albeit on a smaller scale. With more time to shop around, students can compare prices and make careful choices. Used books, which often take longer to ship if ordered online, become a more viable option. Such savings are not possible when students are informed which texts to purchase three days before the reading is due. There are academic concerns at play here, as well. Although a few lines of description in the College Catalog certainly help, it is not uncommon to sign up for a class (especially a new one) without having a totally firm grasp of what will be covered. Knowing that a professor will be assigning an author you’ve always wanted to read or books you’ve already covered elsewhere could well be a decisive factor in whether her course makes it onto your list. If such information were always available, students could be more confident in their choices, and professors might benefit from having more people in their classes who really want to be there. The University has made a good-faith effort to be in compliance with HEOA since spring 2010 by sending e–mail
reminders to professors asking them to post book orders by fifth or sixth week of the quarter preceding their course. Many classes have booklists available during registration, and the instructors leading those courses should be thanked for being prompt. But the University must consider if anything can be done to
further encourage the availability of lists, and professors who are still failing to post should be aware of the disservice they are doing the people they teach.
The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.
BENJAMIN LANGE
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THE CHICAGO MAROON
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VIVIAN HUA Undergraduate Business Executive
We, the more fortunate
TAMER BARSBAY Director of Business Research
The only reality underlying our shared U of C identity is that we were all brought here to succeed
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VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator HYEONG-SUN CHO Designer ANDREW GREEN Designer AUTUMN NI Designer KELSIE ANDERSON Copy Editor CATIE ARBONA Copy Editor AMISHI BAJAJ Copy Editor MARTIA BRADLEY Copy Editor SHANICE CASIMIRO Copy Editor G. PHILIP CREAN IV Copy Editor LISA FAN Copy Editor ALAN HASSLER Copy Editor SHERRY HE Copy Editor NISHANTH IYENGAR Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor JONAH RABB Copy Editor LINDSEY SIMON Copy Editor KAYLEIGH VOSS Copy Editor
Emma Stone Viewpoints Columnist I would like for us to dispense with an oft-posed question. This is bound to be difficult since it seems to be a harmless question, and I suspect that most of us enjoy the mental tickle of asking and answering harmless questions. But the inquiry that I have in mind only appears innocuous because the damage it causes is peripheral; the harm occurs not as a result of our aggression but rather as a byproduct of our negligence. The question is: “What defines us as a college com-
munity?” Trying to answer it is worth neither your time nor mine. Don’t get me wrong: I have no bone to pick with the University as an institution. I will have none of this recent nonsense-talk on the Internet and elsewhere that college is an overrated drain of money. In my first year as a student at this very expensive school, I have had hugely enriching out-of-classroom experiences, been transformed by great works and professors, and met people I only ever dreamed of stalking. I have never felt cheated by the promise of college. And yet, as October draws us all together
again, I find that the mirror, as Nabokov said, has been fatally starred. The question of who we are, which seemed so important when I was inducted into that ‘we,’ seems entirely unimportant compared to the question of what we will do. The conversation surrounding university identity is necessarily stilted, and as battle-worn veterans of the college admissions game, we should all know why. It’s because two of the main ingredients of ‘identity’ are red flags that very often wave in the face of truth: marketing and our own self-esteem. College-bound high school students make personal,
emotional connections with stylish websites, funny letters, and famous names before they even step on campus. The statistical reality—that they are each but a measly drop in the ocean of the highly accomplished—is disheartening, but the manufactured quirk allows students to feel courted, desired, and understood. Yet, the emotional dimension to the college application process remains with us post-decision, and that brings us to where we are now: accepted, attending, and convinced that our college acceptance was a personal validation. IDENTITY continued on page 5
ESTHER YU Copy Editor
Shaking up the top of the class The teachers’ strike may be over, but Chicago Public Schools are still ruled by Mayor Emanuel The Chicago Maroon is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters Circulation: 5,500. The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the Maroon. © 2012 The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 Editor-in-Chief Phone: 773.834.1611 Newsroom Phone: 773.702.1403 Business Phone: 773.702.9555 Fax: 773.702.3032 CONTACT News: News@ChicagoMaroon.com Viewpoints: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com Arts: Arts@ChicagoMaroon.com Sports: Sports@ChicagoMaroon.com Photography: Photo@ChicagoMaroon.com Design: Douglas@ChicagoMaroon.com Copy: CopyEditors@ChicagoMaroon.com Advertising: Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com
Ben Huynh Viewpoints Contributor The Chicago teachers’ strike is over. Teachers managed to achieve additional funding, pay raises, reasonable hours, and fairer evaluations. And, just three weeks after the strike, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Jean-Claude Brizard, announced he was stepping down. So everything’s okay now, right? The big bad CEO is gone, the teachers got what they wanted, and students can rejoice? Well, not quite.
It’s easy to dislike Brizard. Before his brief 17-month stint with CPS, he worked as a district superintendent in Rochester, New York, where he received a nearly 95 percent “no-confidence” vote from the teachers. He accepted a raise to his six-figure salary even as CPS claimed they were too underfunded to provide raises for teachers. He took a vacation while teachers were still negotiating for a better contract. That he was utterly incompetent is a given. But with him gone, nothing is going to change. The man who appointed Brizard in the first place, May-
or Rahm Emanuel, is still in office, and he’s been calling the shots all along. The mayor’s office has ruled CPS since 1995, when the state legislature allowed Mayor Daley to have an appointed school board instead of an elected one; Chicago is the only school district in Illinois that doesn’t hold school board elections. There’s a reason 96 percent of the nation’s school districts have elected boards: The power to appoint school board officials opens the doors for cronyism. Consider, for example, Emanuel’s appointment of wealthy individuals like
Penny Pritzker, whose family is known to have contributed generously to Emanuel’s campaign. It’s ridiculous to assume that allowing a mayor to appoint school board officials will result in anything other than political patronage. Even so, Emanuel’s actions go well beyond controlling the school board. During his mayoral campaign last year, he declared his love for charter schools, claiming that the best high schools in Chicago were charter schools—even though there isn’t a single charter among the top CPS continued on page 5
THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | October 16, 2012
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Restoring school board elections would present a challenge to mayoral control of CPS CPS continued from page 4 ten test-scoring schools. As mayor, Emanuel diverted money from public schools, which are unionized, to charters, which aren’t, opened up new charters, and made plans to close current public schools. Charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, are known to be extremely lucrative for investors due to certain federal tax credits. It therefore comes as no surprise that major banks and wealthy individuals have come to embrace “education reform” in the past few years, investing in charters or privatized schools and reaping huge profits off of them. It’s been suggested that some of the profits from charters end up as campaign contributions for Emanuel, but it’s difficult to prove one way or the other. Regardless of his motives, Emanuel has made it clear that he plans to wage war against public schools
U of C not a finish line IDENTITY continued from page 4 tance was a personal validation. But, it wasn’t, and this is merely because we are not pilgrims. We arrived in different ways and for different reasons: by dint of college résumé-ready activities, with the assistance of the fortunate economic status of our parents, because we had no idea what the hell else we were going to do, by virtue of unexpected generosity, by sheer force of will, by mistake. Some of us chose here over there, others faced a Hobson’s choice between here and there; others chose here over nowhere. But there are certainly some who were never given the opportunity to choose, and among those there are certainly some with I.Q.s and work ethics identical to those of you fortunate enough to be here now. The uncomfortable truth is that a U of C student (this writer included) is not necessarily a good or successful person. In fact, a U of C student is not necessarily anything. But that isn’t bad news. It only tells us something we already know, which is that a life’s work is never finished with any single accomplishment. It only tells us that with hands poised to build a new world we would be senseless to spend our time patting ourselves on the back. At the risk of forfeiting whatever intellectual credibility I have so far earned, I’d like to quote a character from a frequently maligned British historical drama (read: thinly-veiled soap opera) as he addresses the man who owns the titular estate. “You think you have the monopoly of honor,” he accuses, and there are times when I think that we think so too. There are times when I catch a distinct whiff of the belief in UChicagoness-as-ether, imparting virtue and value automatically to those privileged enough to breathe it in and move about in it. This place is beautiful, extraordinary, rife with opportunity—all that is true. But it is not a finish line. So to all you first-years who are no doubt being bombarded to bits with advice, I would remind you: This is not destiny. This is fortune. Learn to tell the difference, and get to work. To my fellow returning students: I hope we can all agree that the world will be better for our believing that we do not already deserve it. The intellectual might of this place is radiant; it beams with power and potential. For goodness’ sake, let us turn it on something other than ourselves. Emma Stone is a second-year in the College.
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.
and unions in support of charters. I don’t mean to say public schools and unions are inherently better than charters and profits. In the end, the rhetoric always boils down to what’s best for students, regardless of who else benefits from it. However, charter schools haven’t been shown to perform any better than public schools in terms of standardized testing. The same parties who support charter schools tend to be the ones who advocate increased standardized testing and merit-based pay. In theory, these ideas make sense: Their application would provide incentives for teachers to perform better, as well as attracting more capable individuals to the field of education. However, they’re flawed in some key ways. For one, students would still have no incentive to do well on standardized tests, and children
typically don’t appreciate having to fill in bubbles all day anyway. What’s more, these measures motivate teachers to fabricate results as a way to boost their own scores. It has happened in the past, probably still happens, and will probably continue to happen as long as teachers are evaluated by their students’ performances on meaningless exams. I was a CPS student for 13 years. I’ve seen the flaws of the system. My elementary school, known for having the top scores in the state, spent several months each year teaching us how to pass standardized tests instead of covering actual material. Some teachers would even try to give us answers to inflate test scores. It turns out that teachers, like students, are forced to jump through hoops in order to appease administrators. Is that conducive to a proper learning environment? Is that what a “top school” should be like?
It’s clear that the top-down style of administration at CPS breeds ineffectiveness. As it stands, one man with no formal background in education effectively controls the public school system of Chicago. Is he fit to tell teachers what they should be teaching? Are his interests really aligned with those of the students and teachers? Even after the strike, actions are still being taken against Rahm Emanuel’s de facto control of CPS. Voters in 35 of Chicago’s 50 wards will soon get to vote on whether the school board should be elected or appointed. If the referendum passes, it’ll be an important step toward dismantling the failing regime of CPS.
L A I C S CE I T S U J RESS
Ben Huynh is a first-year in the College majoring in economics.
E C N E L O I V N
U G ” T CE OU
“PEA
D D A
9 1 r e b o t c O , y Frida
6:30 pm
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Reverend Michael L. Pfleger, Ph.D. Pastor, Saint Sabina, Chicago, IL
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5850 South Woodlawn Avenue (at 59th Street), Chicago, IL Reverend Pfleger has been recognized for his fight against guns, alcohol and tobacco billboards, drugs and racism. For a complete bio and for more info about the event, visit: www.ssa.uchicago.edu/alumni-weekend.
Free and open to the public. Register today: www.ssa.uchicago.edu/alumni-weekend
6
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Trivial Pursuits OCTOBER 16, 2012
Seven Psychopaths, one egomaniacal director Daniel Rivera Arts Editor
Even if you haven’t heard of Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, odds are you’ve seen it—offensive lime green glamour shots of its titular psychos are on bus stop one-sheets, papering city walls or the ad spaces on the sides of your browser. Decidedly uninformative and blatantly unsubtle, the in-your-face promotional campaign relies entirely on its cast’s star power, and is unfortunately evocative of the movie itself. Too bad no one told McDonagh’s ego.
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Martin McDonagh AMC River East
Seven Psychopaths, the only film project McDonagh has completed since his 2008 hit In Bruges, is pretty straightforward at first. Colin Farrell plays Marty, a successful Hollywood screenwriter who’s written the title of his latest movie, “Seven Psychopaths,” but little else. His unhinged bestie Billy (Sam Rockwell), from whom he solicits help, subsequently places an open call for psychos in the local paper. The ad promises a stint on the silver screen to those willing to divulge the details of their lunacy. Meanwhile, to keep himself afloat, Billy pulls a page straight out of a Chuck Palahniuk novel: he steals people’s dogs so his trusty pal Hans (Christopher Walken) can return them to their owners a few days later. Cue some weeping and unspeakably grateful L.A. pet lovers, and Billy and Hans are making bank. All’s well until Billy unknowingly steals a Shih Tzu named Bonny from the trigger-happy local mob boss (Woody Harrelson). Suffice to say, shit hits the fan. It’s a fun enough plot with a stellar cast, peppered with hilarious cameos by the likes of Boardwalk Empire’s Michael Pitt and Precious’s Gabourey Sidibe. Throughout the film’s first act I was getting some Edgar Wright meets Quentin Tarantino vibes: all genre deconstruction with an emphasis on
Marty (Colin Farrell) and Billy (Sam Rockwell) lose their shit, but not their Shih Tzu in Seven Psychopaths, which opened last Friday. COURTESY OF CBS FILMS
keeping things brisk and fun. Unfortunately the second act sees McDonagh dropping the fun in favor of the meta, and nothing’s worse than a movie that likes itself on behalf of its audience. As Marty’s screenplay fills up with a parade of morally-ambiguous lunatics, the lines between Marty’s script and the world around him start to blur. McDonagh weaves these realms together consciously—ha ha, the characters are writing a screenplay, oh look, they’re drafting their own surroundings!—and the end result is a climax that is less surprising, subtle, and, undoubtedly, interesting than McDonagh intended. For instance, in Psychopaths’s final act, Marty, Billy, and Hans are hiding in the desert with Charlie’s Shih Tzu, tripping on peyote while debating how Marty should end his own movie. Hans reads over Marty’s first draft, and remarks that, hey, none of his female characters have agency and they all serve little more purpose than taking all their clothes off and dying. Marty
somewhat apologetically offers that he’s just trying to illustrate what a cruel world it is for women. This is apparently a joke because in McDonagh’s movie, too, the women serve little more purpose than— what else?—getting killed or getting naked. Maybe I would’ve laughed if I weren’t too bitter about the fact that McDonagh lined up and then wasted an incredibly capable female cast led by actresses who’ve more than proven their prowess, namely Abbie Cornish and Olga Kurylenko. Being aware that you’re objectifying women—or making a joke of the fact that you’re doing it—still doesn’t make it any less shitty that your movie is objectifying women. The whole thing reeks of the male gaze, and while McDonagh perhaps thinks he’s charting new territory, his whole meta schtick comes off as more self-indulgent than biting. Doubly so when you consider his self-insertion into the film in the form of Marty, the screenwriter at the center of a load of crazies. Some may find this device, or at least McDonagh’s take on
it, endearing, but for me it’s just a few degrees removed from Stephenie Meyer’s heroine, Bella Swan. McDonagh tries to walk the line between self-awareness and deprecation, but misses massively, and somehow ends up in the realm of the aggrandizing. Don’t get me wrong, Seven Psychopaths has its strengths—it can be funny, and it ultimately plays like a well-written love letter to the talents of Rockwell and Walken, both of whom tread familiar territory with gravitas and swagger. Farrell and Harrelson do solid work, as always, and the vignette-style tales of the titular psychopaths strewn throughout give the audience a glimpse of how great the film could’ve been. It’s a particular shame then that McDonagh couldn’t hit the brakes on his own narcissistic intrusion, leaving us with the sour dregs of a movie whose ego predated its relevance instead of producing the masterfully-acted pulpy dark comedy that everyone wanted to see.
HPAC saddles up for new artists-in-residency exhibit Lauren Gurley Arts Contributor With a few exceptions, live horses and Turkish culture have little representation in the Hyde Park community. But the two new Hyde Park Arts Center (HPAC) resident artists, Deniz Gul and Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, are dedicated to bringing their exotic visions of contemporary life in the Near East and equestrian culture, respectively, to the South Side community. This Saturday, Gul, who arrived three weeks ago from Istanbul, and Hulsebos-Spofford, a Chicago local, opened their adjacent studios in upper floors of HPAC to the public. They engaged in informal conversation over beer, cheese, and crackers about upcoming projects, which include an exhibition featuring live horses and all other things equestrianrelated (Hulsebos-Spofford) and
a complex multi-media social studies project that explores identity (Gul). Gul works with a complex amalgam of media, including photography, text, film, and objects that explore human identity, behavior, and ritual. In 2008, she completed a residency in Japan during which she created a compelling series of videos called “Mama Stop!” which examined power dynamics between mothers and daughters. Her photography of Turkey is singular. The walls of her studio are filled with hundreds of small images of Turkish life; she truly has a knack for finding quiet, intimate moments in urban street scenes. The photos’ subject matter include an empty alley behind a bazaar in the afternoon, the glow of minarets at twilight, hanging laundry in the shadows of the exotic Turkish rooftops, a strapping Turkish man on a motorcycle stopping for a
soda on the banks of the Bosporus, and a stunning collection of building facades around the streets of Istanbul. Her art is filled with historical references, especially to the Ottoman Empire and its reputation for opulence and decadence. In her upcoming project at HPAC, Gul will compile her photography and sound poetry collected from TV, radio, and film to create character studies that explore domestic identities. This is Gul’s first time in the United States; she will stay in Chicago until mid-November. Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, who teaches art classes at DePaul University and Chicago High School of the Arts, is also working with a variety of media—including live horses. His exhibition Hall of Khan (in reference to Genghis Khan, who ran the great Mongolian Empire from his horse) will be on display in HPAC’s main gallery. The
exhibition will explore a number of equine-related topics. “I am interested in bringing horses to urban space,” says Hulsebos-Spofford, who was born and raised in Vermont’s Green Mountains and has been a Fulbright Scholar. His vision is to teach the Hyde Park community about horses. The show will feature several horse events, including a high noon ride to HPAC by the Broken Arrow Riding Club of Chicago’s South Side, horsedrawing classes, and a Horse 101 information class. Two to three live horses will generally be in the exhibition space, for which Hulsebos-Spofford is building large colorful foam horse saddles, what he says is contemporary art’s response to old equestrian monuments of Europe. Hulsebos-Spofford’s show will also draw influences from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair held in Hyde Park and the Crystal
Palace in London’s Hyde Park that was built to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. During the show, the central gallery of HPAC will contain a mini–Crystal Palace, modeled after a replication that Hulsebos-Spofford discovered on the Italian isle of Sicily, in combination with replicas of the University of Chicago’s Charles M. Harper Center (home to the Booth School of Business) and a few derelict buildings from the South Side. Together, these replicas will form a collage of Hyde Park’s architecture. The plans of these emerging artists will add much diversity and vibrancy to the continuously expanding art scene in Hyde Park. It is not clear whether Gul will be having a showcase of her art before she leaves in midNovember, but the HulsebosSpofford horse extravaganza will take over the lower floor of HPAC in April 2013.
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | October 16, 2012
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From the Schubas stage, the flip side of Nicki Bluhm Lily Gordon Arts Staff This five foot eleven beauty has certainly got stage presence. With the height and looks of a model—she recently modeled for Gap’s 2012 “Shine” campaign—and a commanding voice laced with huskiness and soul, Nicki Bluhm keeps an audience entranced. After experiencing the country-rock band Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers perform a sold-out show at Schubas Tavern on Saturday, it became clear why Nicki’s vocal talent and presence impressed musician/producer Tim Bluhm of San Francisco rock band The Mother Hips during a spontaneous performance at a New Year’s Eve party several years ago. Tim was so intrigued by Nicki’s untapped talent that he encouraged her to further explore it; she has now released three albums. The two San Franciscans are married and play in a band together. When the crowd cheered for Nicki’s powerful vocals, Tim smiled. He does not conceal his pride in his wife, and the two sang “Stick With Me” to each other on stage while gazing at each other adoringly. Before the concert, the Maroon spoke with Nicki about her love of vinyl and her viral YouTube ‘van sessions.’ Chicago Maroon: Which musical artists have influenced your style the most? Nicki Bluhm: There are a few—when I was younger I heard a couple of bootlegs of early recordings from when Bonnie Raitt was just starting her career, and I really liked her relaxed approach to playing songs and having a good time. I like Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton quite a bit, too. Those are my top three. CM: Why do you frequently perform songs by artists from the ’70s and even before? Did you grow up hearing this music? NB: Some of it. My parents definitely exposed me to some of the music they enjoyed; but really my husband and I love listening to vinyl and the records that we have are from the ’60s and ’70s. Our covers do tend to be from that decade for sure; I guess it’s just what we like! CM: Besides the encouragement of Tim and your experience at many of The Mother Hips’ shows, did you have any other musical mentors? NB: My older brother David played
guitar so I always looked up to him and always wanted to play guitar because of him. He and Tim were definitely my two music-loving and performing mentors. CM: Why did you decide to release your 2011 album Driftwood on vinyl? NB: I love vinyl. I think everything sounds better on vinyl. It’s just got that warmer, more intimate feel. I think you have to pay a little more attention to the music, and you have to flip the record from side to side—it’s more of an intentional experience. CDs become obsolete once they’re uploaded into iTunes, but vinyl is just vinyl—it stays that way. It feels more special and collectable to me. CM: I love your song, “Unforgetaboutable” which you released on Duets with Tim in 2011. What is the story behind those lyrics [in the song, a couple falls in love after meeting at a county fair]? NB: [Laughs.] Well, Tim wrote that. The song was meant to be personal, but not too personal. It’s loosely based around the story of the two of us, without exposing a whole lot of private stuff. That’s kind of Tim’s style—he likes to allude to the truth, but embellishes it with the sweet details of a fictional story. We spice it up and put some icing on top. He’s a great songwriter, having written some of my favorite songs. CM: Which song are you proudest of right now ? NB: I enjoy a lot of our brand-new songs that are going to come out on our next album, hopefully early next year. One of my favorites is called “Till I’m Blue.” Tim and our friend Scott Law wrote this really neat song. It’s got a lot of harmonies and cool, catchy guitar riffs. I’ve really been digging it lately, and we’ve been playing it live. CM: Do your YouTube van sessions reflect what your band rehearsals are like? NB: Definitely. Most of the time we rehearse at my house—it’s kind of like our hub. It’s always really fun and goodnatured. But everything you see in the van sessions is real. We all really do love to laugh and play music and be together, so it’s good—it’s a good time. CM: Do you think that you have different audiences for your van sessions versus your recorded albums? NB: It’s very transferable—a lot of the people who were clued into us through the van sessions are enjoying our originals and our live shows as much, if not more,
San Francisco–based musician Nicki Bluhm performed Schubas Tavern on Friday night. COURTESY OF LILY GORDON
than the cover videos through which they initially found out about us. It’s been a really great transfer of attention and energy. CM: Your Chicago show is sold out. Did you realize you had such a large fan base in the Midwest? NB: No, I didn’t! I wish we were playing at a bigger venue so more people could come, because I know there are a lot of people still looking for tickets. This was our first time ever coming to the Midwest, or the East, or the South, so this has all been an interesting first run—and so far it’s been great. We sold out two shows in New York, Charlotte, and a few other places,
as well as Chicago. We’re looking forward to doing it again really soon—and maybe even playing at some bigger venues the next time around! CM: You mentioned a new album in the works. Any plans for a van sessions CD? NB: We did think about releasing some of the audio from the original van sessions, but the quality just isn’t good enough. I’m not sure we’d want to go into the studio and record a bunch of covers, either. We let that idea rest for now…but you never know! Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers’ van sessions (all 22 of them) are available at www.nickibluhm.com/video.
Logan Launch Festival elevates Chicago’s art scene Michelle Lee Arts Staff In the glass-paneled courtyard of the new David and Reva Logan Center for the Arts, a flurry of drums, guitars, bass, and harmonica mingled with cheerful shouts from the audience. The sunlight shone intensely on a crowd of people, vigorously (but rhythmically) shaking their hips—the unmistakable signs of a hot, heady, and heart-warming fiesta. This was a musical performance by Los Cenzontles, who heated up the cool Chicago afternoon with their Western-Mexican style. The group’s music bears cross-cultural tinges of country, rock, and traditional Mexican folk. They traveled all the way from the Bay Area to perform at the three-day Logan Launch Festival this past weekend. Los Cenzontles was a strong opening act for several reasons. They’re entertaining and
energetic, but perhaps most importantly they represent the Center’s commitment to artistic diversity. Just as Los Cenzontles’s music appears to transcend every genre and culture, the Center skillfully weaves together seemingly different and disparate facets of the artistic community. Indeed, all manner of bands, artists, student groups, departments, alumni, and community members congregated this weekend to showcase the power of creative collaboration. The Logan Center was five years in the making. It was realized through a $35 million donation from alumnus David Logan, A.B. ’39, J.D. ’41, and his wife, Reva. The two are longtime supporters of the arts who have provided grants, collected works, and contributed their services to the community for years. David Logan served on the Illinois Arts Council for 29 years and chaired the Council’s Arts in
Education panel for several years. Their donation marks a new milestone, since it is both one of the largest single-donor gifts that the University has ever received and one of the largest donations to any university arts building in the United States. The 11-story glass and stone building that now cuts through the Hyde Park skyline was designed by architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. The building contains rehearsal rooms, auditoriums, black box and proscenium theaters, studios, galleries, classrooms, workshops, screening rooms, terraces, gardens, and an extensive system of stairwells. The building itself thus exemplifies a multidisciplinary arts center open to both campus and community. Bill Michel, executive director of the Logan Center, remarked that designing a “really welcoming and accessible” building was instrumental to its creation and revealed that there
is meaning in the directions the doors face: while the main doors open north (towards campus) on East 60th Street, there is also a set of doors facing south, which is a marked invitation to the community surrounding campus. Michel hopes to further encourage student-community bonding through “monthly family programming [and] joint projects,” such as the Washington Park Arts incubator, a project under UChicago’s Arts and Public Life Initiative. Angela Wang, a third-year in the College, elaborated on the idea of a collective. “First, the physical building [represents] the idea of exploration and collaboration,” she said. “[It] is structured so that something happening on one floor can be heard or seen from another, through a glass, over a balcony, down an area that echoes. You can easily follow your senses to other arts.” In exploring the building ,
one discovers giant windows that open onto workshops and performance spaces, allowing for artistic transparency. Those who have explored the building may have been confounded by its structure: a jaunt through the building reveals that the stairs turn in disorienting ways. Wang remarked that this confusion is intentional. “[The purpose is to] make you think about your experience, engage with the building rather than stumble up the stairs,” she said. “There is something here for everyone inside or outside the art world.” The Center officially opened this past weekend, October 12–14, with the Logan Launch Festival. “It is [an opportunity] to both celebrate the opening of the Logan Center, highlight many of the types of programs, and showcase the work of [students, facult y, and communit y members],” Michel said. LOGAN continued on page 9
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | October 16, 2012
Steppenwolf stages class act with Good People
Mike (Keith Kupferer) and Kate (Alana Arenas) only seem protected from the pitfalls of fate in this cushy, linear living area.
STEPPENWOLF THEATRE
Spencer McAvoy Arts Contributor From the first scene, the Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of Good People is abrasive, both aurally and morally. The play, written by Pulitzer Prize–winning author David Lindsay-Abaire, is a powerful tale of economic hardship charged with class conflict and is an emotional heavyweight on its own. However, it only benefits from director K. Todd Freeman’s intense, unsparing interpretation, complete with a brilliant cast that does an extremely good job of dragging the audience back and forth from one sympathy to another and from one crisis to the next.
GOOD PEOPLE Steppenwolf Theatre through November 11
The play opens with protagonist Margaret (Mariann Mayberry) being fired by her timid, young boss Stevie (Will Allen) in an alley behind the dollar store where they work. She is fired because she was late. Why was she late? Because she was watching her adult daughter who is severely mentally disabled. Why did she have to watch her daughter? Because the woman who is supposed to watch her didn’t show up. Sequences such as this seem to be a recurring theme in Margaret’s life. (She later details how a piece of candy brittle caused her to lose a different job—and a car.) She is now about 50 and once again finds herself laid off from the most recent in a long string of minimum-wage jobs. But Lindsay-Abaire, as he does throughout the play, denies us the moral escape of wholeheartedly siding with the downtrodden Margaret against her evil world, and as the scene develops, Stevie becomes a decidedly sympathetic character, while Margaret’s behavior begins to push us away.
To match the subtle fluctuations of sympathy in Good People, Mayberry has created a Margaret who is suitably and beautifully complex. She is, of course, in many ways a victim, but she is also a woman of fierce determination and an expert in manipulation, and the breadth of her character is revealed in the third scene in Mike (Keith Kupferer)’s office. Mike is an ex-boyfriend from high school who is now a successful doctor, and Margaret has come to ask him for a job. She viciously needles Mike for being “lace-curtain Irish,” manipulates him into inviting her to a party at his house, and probes him thoroughly for job opportunities, all the while taking a real pleasure in his success that sometimes verges on giddiness. At one point, Margaret recites her various misfortunes as part of a joke but surprises herself by dissolving into tears. Reading the script, I pictured the transition as an outburst, but Mayberry gave just one quiet sob before covering her face. Her body appeared to collapse inward as she—and the entire theater along with her—fell into a profound silence. Good People unfolds in an alley, in a kitchen, in an office, at bingo, and in a living room, each set becoming intimately involved in the action it foregrounds. The backdrop of an overflowing dumpster complete with a greasy bag of McDonald’s heightens and somehow universalizes the bleak nature of the opening scene. Mike’s office—white, sterile, linear—and his equally linear house, expertly organized as if to insulate its inhabitant from the uncertainties of fate, both contrast sharply with the browns and yellows of Margaret’s run-down, cramped kitchen with its clutter and haphazard decorations. To the end, Mike remains convinced that he is successful because he worked hard, while Margaret chalks it up to luck. Lindsay-Abaire’s treatment of this tension remains nuanced throughout with the possible exception of the final plot-twist, which both reveals where his sympathies really lie and removes a level of depth
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from the conclusion. However, in a play populated entirely by vivid, interesting, and funny characters, such as Margaret’s loud, sharp-tongued, and loyal friend Jean (Lusia Strus) and her transparently selfserving, dopey landlady Dottie (Molly Regan), this weakness is a mere footnote. At the end, we may be no closer to answering the complex questions Lindsay-Abaire raises than Margaret is to achieving stability, even after Stevie steps in to cover her month’s rent. But, much like Margaret, we have received a generous gift. Like Margaret, we feel lucky, ready to dive back into life muttering “something will come up.”
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Festival included performances by UT, Xtet, and student bands LOGAN continued from page 8 One of the highlights of the festival was a performance of alumnus David Auburn’s Tony Award–winning play Proof on Friday night. Alumni also participated in the Hyde Park Jazz Society and Jazz X-tet reunion performances on Saturday. Meanwhile, students convened at the Center that same night for the Student Launch Party, which featured several student bands. Third-year Aya Smith showed off her impressive vocals with soulful covers of singers such as Adele and Alicia Keys. Gutenberg and the Illuminators—a foot-stomping , headnodding student group—followed Smith’s act with vivacious renditions of indiefolk classics. The evening concluded with Lakesigns, an atmospheric, full-of-heartand-angst band. From recitals and tours to poetry readings, plays, and panel discussions, the Festival showcased a variety of talents this weekend and encouraged participants to get a taste of all that the Logan Center has to offer. “The Center is dedicated to its mission of combining the different artistic disciplines, and engaging students, staff, and community as one audience,” Wang said. “It may be cliché, but the arts reach some cross-cultural subconscious level of us.”
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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | October 16, 2012
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Chicago topples unbeaten Brandeis, falls to #20 NYU Men’s Soccer Derek Tsang Associate Sports Editor Chicago’s late-game woes continued in an up-and-down weekend of conference play in which they showed plenty of quality, but left three out of a potential six points on the table. After a thrilling 1–0 victory over #9 Brandeis, the Maroons found themselves back at the bottom of the UAA standings after losing 2–1 to #20 NYU in overtime. “We wanted to win at NYU, it would’ve made this a great season,” first-year midfielder Jorge Bilbao said. “But now we’re cutthroat. We can’t lose any more games if we want to make [the postseason]; it’s a lot of pressure on our backs.” Chicago (7–3–3, 1–2–1 UAA)
started off their weekend against a Brandeis (12–1–1, 2–1–1 UAA) squad riding a 17-game unbeaten streak. Playing on the faster artificial turf of Stagg Field’s football stadium for the first time all season, the Maroons created offense right out of the gate. In the 10th minute, Chicago got the first good chance of the game through Michael Choquette on a free kick. They broke through two minutes later, as forward Kyle Kurfirst pounced on an errant throw-in before playing Jorge Bilbao in for a leftfooted goal from 15 yards out. “It’s really exhilarating,” said Bilbao of his recent form, which has seen him score a goal in three straight games. “I owe a lot of it to my teammates for putting me at
the right place at the right time.” Head coach Scott Wiercinski broke his usual goalkeeping platoon, playing first-year goalkeeper David Cohen for the full ninety minutes. Cohen rewarded his coach’s faith with seven saves—three of them in a crucial second half—and his second shutout of the season. Chicago had a chance to double their lead at the start of the second half on a Michael Choquette penalty, but the Judges’ senior goalkeeper, Blake Minchoff, made a diving stop to keep the game within reach for Brandeis. For the rest of the half, the Maroons’ back line managed to stifle the visitors, holding them to four shots to help deal the Judges their first defeat of the season. “Unlike many other games, we
managed to kill the game and secure the win,” Bilbao said. “In the last minutes, it got really intense.” The South Siders were back in action on Sunday against the Violets in their last home game of the season. Bilbao spotted the Maroons another early lead with a free kick from 30 yards out that bounced off of the goalkeeper’s hands. Cohen denied the visitors an equalizer with a point-blank save in the 19th minute, and the referees restored the Maroons’ 1–0 lead after an apparent goal in the 38th minute was ruled offside. Despite firing 19 shots on the game, 12 of them on goal, Chicago was unable to find a decisive goal after NYU’s high-octane offense equalized in the 58th minute as the Violets’ Nimo Bergstroem
scored on a long ball from midfielder Niki Chow. Two minutes into overtime—the fifth time this season the Maroons have seen extra time—NYU’s Shawn GrayMcNitt fired a laser into the far post for the golden goal. “We didn’t make too many mistakes in regular time,” Bilbao said. “But two minutes into overtime we managed to mess up once, and we got punished for it.” With a 1–2–1 conference record, the Maroons stand in seventh place in the UAA with four points—a win over NYU would have seen them tied for first with seven points and three games left to play. The Maroons are back in action next Sunday in a non-conference matchup against UW– Whitewater.
Tang: “I made it my goal to not let up like I did in the previous match” TENNIS continued from back
ing to my No. 8 seeding at Regionals, I wasn’t even expected to make it to Nationals.” Instead of being upset, Tang said she found the match to be a learning experience. “To play at Gabrielle’s caliber, I’ll have to practice hitting offensively against offensive shots hit to me,” she said. “My usual defensive shots will instead need to be offensive if I want to play a competitive match against someone like Gabrielle. Overall, my game
will need to have more penetrating shots that are hit to the outer thirds of the court instead of down the middle.” While it will be a process for Tang to reach Clark’s caliber, just one day later, in Friday’s consolation semifinal match, she stifled Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’s Crystal Lim 6–0 in the opening set. “I simply played offensively and put pressure on Lim, which resulted in her making mistakes,” Tang said. The aggressive tactics put Tang up 4–1 in the second set. Soon after, however, the pressure
was pushed back toward the Chicago second-year when she played defensively, hoping to capitalize on Lim’s errors. “That didn’t work, as she started stepping into my weaker shots and playing offensively, leading to me making mistakes,” Tang said. “I began to get tight and not move my feet.” Five games later, and the set was tied at 5–5. At that point, Tang gained confidence and won the next two games to clinch a spot in Saturday morning’s fifth-place match. “I didn’t feel tight anymore because
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the score was tied and there wasn’t as much pressure, since I wasn’t ahead,” Tang said. “It was then that I began to start moving my feet more and playing aggressively.” Tang continued her aggressive trend on Saturday, clinching fifthplace with a 6–1, 6–0 victory over Grinnell’s Laura Krull. “I was able to execute shots that were more effective in ending the points, which made the match a bit easier,” Tang said. “I made it my goal to not let up like I did in the previous match.”
The fifth-place finish will give Tang confidence looking ahead to the season. “Taking fifth as a sophomore has really put me on a high, that’s for sure,” Tang said. “Going into regionals, I had no idea that my hard work I put in this summer would result in me even getting past the quarterfinals. I still can’t believe that I won regionals with the scores I had there, and that I would place fifth at Nationals.” With continued efforts on the court, Tang can help ensure that Chicago will stay on the map as a national contender.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | October 16, 2012
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South Siders return from brink to salvage season Women’s Soccer Jake Walerius Associate Sports Editor Chicago has come back from the dead. Five days ago, the Maroons sat in second to last place in the UAA without a conference win, ahead of only Rochester, the single team in the conference with a winning percentage below .500. What a difference a weekend makes. Two wins in the space of three days against conference opponents Brandeis and NYU have catapulted Chicago (9–4, 2–2) into fourth place in the conference and kept its hopes of an NCAA tournament bid alive. The Maroons thrashed Brandeis (10–3–1, 1–2–1) with a score of 6 –1 on Friday afternoon before seeing out a much closer 2 –0 victory against NYU (9–5, 1–3) on Sunday. Chicago’s attack has looked dangerous all season, but the ease with which they took apart Brandeis’s defense was a surprise. Brandeis came to town with the best defensive record in the UAA. They left with the worst. “I think that we became more composed in front of goal as well as more determined to finish,” third-year Liz Doman said. “It also was a complete team effort. The way we moved the ball up the field and around the Brandeis players gave our strikers great looks at goal.” Things didn’t start well for the Maroons as Brandeis went ahead in the ninth minute when Sapid Edalati headed in from a corner. The lead, however, lasted only a
minute as second-year Meghan Derken set up first-year Julia Ozello, who finished neatly past Brandeis goalie Francine Kofinas. From there, Chicago never looked back. Derken gave the Maroons the lead in the 17th minute, but the one goal advantage didn’t do justice to the extent of the Maroons’ dominance. In the second half, Chicago put that right. Ozello grabbed her second goal of the game early in the second half with a powerful finish in the box before Derken doubled her account after being played through by second-year Sara Kwan. Kwan made it five just two minutes later. After exchanging passes with third-year Micaela Harms, the second-year forward completed the move with a clinical finish into the top corner. First-year Madeleine Horvath concluded the scoring in the 79th minute when she rounded the Brandeis keeper before slotting into an open goal. It was an emphatic victory, especially given the importance of the game, but before Chicago had time to draw breath, they were back in action against NYU on Sunday morning. The Maroons came out strong against the Violets, and took the lead in the 12th minute. Kwan went on one of her typically mazy runs through the box before playing in third-year Natalia Jovanovic, who finished the move. Horvath got on the score sheet for the second time in three days in the 29th minute. A Chicago corner caused havoc in the
Third-year forward Natalia Jovanovic takes a corner kick in a game against Carnegie Mellon on October 6. The Maroons lost that game 2–1. JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON
NYU penalty area and Horvath was able to get the vital touch to double her team’s lead. There was no offensive explosion in the second half, as there had been two days before, but the Maroons were able to see out the victory with relative comfort as an aggressive NYU was stifled by the Chicago defense. This weekend has marked a genuine return to form for the South Siders, who had good reason to be pessimistic after two defeats in their first two conference games. The Maroons displayed such dominance that there
might even be some frustration that they weren’t able to produce this sort of form against Carnegie Mellon last week. But the focus, as it has been all season, remains on moving forward—learning from mistakes as opposed to dwelling on them. “The difference between these games and our first two conference games is that we learned from our mistakes in the first two and then played to our strengths, like winning the 50/50 challenges and playing possession,” Doman said. “We became much more systematic and focused on
doing the little things right so that we could keep the ball and score goals.” The not unrealistic path to earning an NCAA tournament bid will be underway with a trip to No. 14 Wheaton (12–2–2) tomorrow evening. If there’s one sure way to get to the tournament, it’s by beating high-ranking teams. But, then, nothing about this season has been certain for the Maroons. Kickoff against the Thunder is scheduled for 7 p.m. tomorrow night at Wheaton’s Joe Bean Stadium.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ATHLETICS
The executive boards of the Women’s Athletic Association and the Order of the “C” have implemented a new program, “Athlete of the Week,” to highlight athletes making a big impact on the campus community—both on and off the field. We hope the MAROON’s new series on these ‘Uncommon’ athletes can start a conversation...and not just within the walls of Ratner.
NIKKI DELZENERO, WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
JEFF SAUER, FOOTBALL Head Coach Dick Maloney: “Jeff is a great kid. He’s the strongest pound-for-pound player on our team and is a leader in the offseason, especially in the weight room. He possesses a great attitude, and all his teammates respect his outstanding ability, dedication and determination. Jeff is an outstanding mentor for not only our younger kickers/punters, but the entire team as well.”
Head Coach Vanessa Walby: “Nikki always does a fantastic job of leading by example and giving 110 possible (if that’s possible) on and off the court. She does what is best for the team and is always motivated to come in and do extra work. She is the first to help the coaches with any extra tasks volleyball or non-volleyball related. She is a great resource for the underclassmen as well with school, volleyball or social.”
SPORTS
IN QUOTES “That’s what you gotta do to win in the MAC—just win.” —ESPN3 color analyst Tom Cole, covering Saturday’s football game between MAC rivals Miami (Ohio) and Bowling Green.
Tang rebounds to take fifth at ITA National Championships Women’s Tennis Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff
Second-year Megan Tang—shown here in a photo from last season—scored an impressive victory last Friday on day two of the ITA National Championships. COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT
Chicago has gained national recognition the past four seasons. Just last year, the Maroons earned second place at the DIII National Championships and clinched the UAA Championship. And after losing five fourth-years and interim head coach Taka Bertrand, who accepted the head coaching position at DI St. John’s University, this season looked to be a rebuilding year. But second-year Megan Tang and head coach Jay Tee have shown early signs that the Maroons will continue to pose a national threat. Tang, after qualifying for the ITA National Small College Championships by winning the regional tournament, placed fifth out of eight competitors in a tournament that featured some of the top players in the nation. She credits part of her recent success to Tee. “Everything, and I literally mean everything, Coach Tee has told me during
my matches has helped tremendously in my wins,” Tang said. “Even if he doesn’t say much during the changeovers, what he does say is always spot on and helps me win crucial points.” But even Tee could not help Tang start the national tournament on a high as she lost 6–1, 6–0 to last year’s NCAA DIII Individual Champion and No. 1 seed of the ITA Small College Championships, Emory’s Gabrielle Clark. “Gabrielle’s very high level of play definitely put pressure on me to try and match her offensive style, but unfortunately that resulted in me making some errors due to my lack of practice in that area of my game,” Tang said. “The combination of [her] high level and my lack of solidity in the offensive playing style was what ultimately led to my loss.” With low expectations set against Clark, Tang said she handled the loss well. “I wasn’t that upset or anything,” Tang said. “I knew Gabrielle was going to be a tough opponent, and accordTENNIS continued on page 10
Rockin’ Robbin: Maroons sweep UAA weekend Defense fails to tame
Tigers in 24-point loss
Volleyball Bradley McKnight Sports Contributor Call it a sweep, readers. Bring out the brooms, unveil the dusters, and let’s celebrate. The UAA just got served. The Maroons went undefeated at the second UAA Round Robin of the season this weekend. The shining moment: a thrilling, come-from-behind victory over top-ranked Wash U (24–2, 6–1). With the weekend sweep, the South Siders (20–6, 6–1) jumped from a tie for third to a tie for first in their conference. That’s good news, as Round Robin performance helps determine seeding for the UAA Championship. Chicago led off Saturday with a match against the Bears. Not having won a match against the two other strongholds of the conference, Wash U and Emory (22–4, 6–1), in two years, the Maroons saw their weekend in Pittsburgh as a chance to prove they deserve their then-ninth national ranking. “I think that our girls have always known that they were good enough, but we just needed to get that first one under our belt,” head coach Vanessa Walby said. “We did that this weekend.” Already trailing two sets to one in the first match, the South Siders found themselves down by a significant margin in game four, on the verge of another defeat at the hands of the Bears. Then third-year outside hitter Morgan Clark went diving into the stands to save a point. That effort changed the momentum of the match. Maintaining their composure, the Maroons pushed forward to victory. They captured the victory in five long, grueling sets: 25–22, 23–25, 14–25, 28–26, 15–12. Chicago was less aggressive at the net—attacking fewer times than Wash U—and so it was the team’s defense
Football Sam Zacher Sports Contributor
Third-year Caroline Brander spikes the ball set by secondyear Nikki DelZenero in their match against Benedictine late last month. COURTESY OF HANS GLICK
that saved the day. “Our ball control and defense was outstanding this weekend,” Walby said, “starting out with our block and finishing things up with our back line.” Besides the victory over the Bears, Chicago defeated three other UAA teams over the weekend: Brandeis, 3–0; Rochester, 3–0; and Case Western, 3–1. That’s called dominance. “I think that this helps us for the rest of the season and hopefully the NCAA tournament. We now know what it
feels like to consistently compete and finish,” Walby said. “We have a lot of challenges ahead of us, starting this week with Dominican and our tournament at Elmhurst. We are taking one match at a time and finishing one match at a time.” Next up, the squad takes on Dominican in River Forest, Illinois. The Maroons have lost only two games on the road this season, and look to continue their winning streak against the Stars. It all starts tomorrow evening at 7 p.m.
If you can have an encouraging loss in a 41–17 game, the Maroons did so on Saturday against Wittenberg. Chicago’s chances at victory dwindled after a slow start, but they still fought hard and showed they would be a force to be reckoned with the rest of the season. “Wittenberg’s a football powerhouse,” head coach Dick Maloney said. “They’ve got talented players, and it’s a hostile playing environment.” Chicago fell behind 13–0 in the first quarter, and the deficit proved too great to overcome. In the second quarter, trailing 20–0, the Maroons needed a spark, so the coaches dialed up a fake punt. “Jeff [Sauer] caught the snap, took one step as if to punt the ball away, and tossed a 30-some-yard gainer to Ben Wade, who was wide open,” Maloney said. “That seemed to inspire the offense.” Chicago scored on that drive and added a field goal just before the second quarter came to a close, entering the half down 27–10, and trying to build momentum. “We drew up some different routes at halftime to attack them,” thirdyear quarterback Vincent Cortina said. “Also, [Coach Knoche] switched me to shotgun, which allowed me to see the blitz more clearly and get the ball off in time.” In the second half, the offense picked up. Cortina led a solid passing attack, finishing the game 28–50 with 279 yards passing and
two touchdowns. Fourth-year tight end Brandon Meckelberg also picked up the first-half slack, catching nine passes for 86 yards and one score, while fourth-year wideout Dee Brizzolara continued his impressive career, hauling in seven receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown. However, to Chicago’s dismay, Wittenberg’s momentum carried through the second half, as they continued to score and held the Maroons to only seven secondhalf points. “We have to work on finishing inside the red zone,” Maloney said. “In addition, we can’t let teams get away with converting on third downs.” Wittenberg had several third-and-long plays in which they gained enough for the first down. “We did some good things on offense, but it was a very frustrating loss,” fourth-year punter Jeff Sauer said. “The whole team just needs to play well for all four quarters.” While the game had an unfavorable outcome, there were some positives, most notably among them Chicago’s lack of turnovers and Sauer’s continued solid special teams performance. Sauer converted his only field goal attempt, boomed four punts for a 42-yard average and a long of 52, and also completed the fake punt-pass that sparked the offense. “We just have to improve the D, and we’ll be good for next week and the rest of the season,” said Maloney. After falling to 3–3 on the season, the Maroons will take on Hiram on the road next Saturday at 12 p.m.