050713 Chicago Maroon

TUESDAY • MAY 7, 2013

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

ISSUE 43 • VOLUME 124

Anti-racism activist kicks off diversity initiatives Rachel Landes Maroon Contributor Anti-racism activist and writer Tim Wise spoke about the ignorance of dominant social groups as a persistent problem in America and the University of Chicago community at an event in Mandel Hall last night.

In defining what exactly it meant to be part of the dominant social groups, Wise explained that it is “knowing that what else others of our race do, we will not have to answer for them.”

However, Wise did not just use race to make his point but gender as well. For example, he mentioned that a female student might stay silent from worry that her male peers would excuse her wrong answer by blaming the

stupidity of her entire gender.

Wise stressed affirmative action as a vital part of amending educational neglect that often sets minorities far behind their fellow students.

“It is only at the point of college that we develop color blindness,” he said. He later added that while he believes affirmative action does not solve the problem of educational disparity in America, it helps even out the playing field for minority students.

Wise also addressed the recent instances of racism and ignorance on the UChicago campus.

“If you think it’s OK to post anonymous homophobic, racist, sexist things…. You are not qualified to attend a university in the United WISE continued on page 2

Writer and educator Tim Wise speaks about race and inequality during a talk entitled “Affirmative Action, a Post-Racial Society, and White Privilege” in Mandel Hall on Monday evening.

JAIME MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Proposed high-rise will require zoning changes Jonah Rabb Maroon Contributor Community members came together to address concerns regarding the proposed 13-story high-rise on East 53rd Street between South Kimbark Avenue

and South Dorchester Avenue at the United Church of Hyde Park last night. Hosted by the Hyde Park–Kenwood Community Conference, the forum principally addressed zoning changes that would be required for the ZONING continued on page 3

UChicago to experiment with online courses Harini Jaganathan Associate News Editor

Reaching out-of-bounds Dance RSO Rhythmic Bodies in Motion performs “No Light” during their latest show ‘Unbounded’ on Saturday night in Mandel Hall.

JAIME MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

The University of Chicago plans to begin experimenting with online learning materials and massive open online courses (MOOCs) in the near future, according to a fac-

ulty committee report presented before the Council of the University Senate on Wednesday.

Last September, Provost Thomas Rosenbaum appointed two committees to look into online education, both for-credit and ONLINE continued on page 2

The Nile to move to 55th, Uncommon Interview: Clarence Okoh deli to join this spring Hamid Bendaas News Staff New York–style corned beef sandwiches and classic Mediterranean cuisine are both coming to the East 55th Street and South Woodlawn Avenue block this

spring.

Hyde Park veteran The Nile Restaurant will be heading westward from its current location on East 55th Street between South Cornell Avenue and South Lake Park Avenue into a currently DELI continued on page 3

Three weeks ago, the creation of “Politically Incorrect Maroon Confessions” ignited controversy and instigated a campus-wide discussion on diversity and race relations. As president of the Organization of Black Students, third-year Clarence Okoh heard the worst of minority students’ experiences at UChicago long before the Facebook page popped up.

Okoh sat down with the Maroon to talk about campus race relations, why

UChicago needs to work on increasing diversity, and what’s wrong with the phrase “politically correct.”

Chicago Maroon: Do you think we have a poisonous atmosphere in terms of diversity on campus?

Clarence Okoh: I think it’s self-evident.... And now we got this nice little lovely document that documents all the disparaging remarks that folks are saying. I think part of it has to do with the

fact that if you look at the composition of our University compared to our peer institutions, we have four percent African-Americans, whereas some places like Harvard have 12 percent.... I think another thing is we’re very committed to the idea of free and open discourse and we really believe in the protection of freedom of speech, and I think, oftentimes, that serves as an impediment to recognizOKOH continued on page 2

IN VIEWPOINTS

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

Pages 4

Ineptitude or individuality? »

Virgin Suicides author to read work as part of residency at Logan » Page 7

Maroons hit hard by Cougars, hit back against Carthage » Back Page

Selective acceptance » Page 5

Iron Man 3 burnishes gold legacy

Cygan, Lopez the stars in South Siders’ topsy-turvy season » Back Page

» Page 8

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | May 7, 2013

2

Online classes meet mixed reactions by faculty ONLINE continued from front

not-for-credit. In addition to looking into how online technologies can supplement existing classes on campus, the committees also examined MOOCs in light of the growing popularity of online platforms like edX and Coursera, which currently host over 370 free courses.

Deputy Provost for Research Roy Weiss, who served on both committees and chaired the committee looking into not-for-credit offerings, said that many faculty are currently interested in making MOOCs and that the University is in discussion with edX and Coursera, two existing free online course sites.

“Over the next couple of years we imagine there will be about three [massive open online] courses. That is the order of magnitude that we’re talking about, and so there may very well be more faculty than three that wish to do this, so we’d have to somehow vet proposals for online courses,” he said.

Weiss said that the selection of courses would be conducted by a new committee appointed by Rosenbaum that will be charged with overseeing online education materials. Weiss said that faculty response to Wednesday’s presentation was largely positive and explained that the main reasons for increasing the use of online education tools is two-fold.

“We need to be offering our students the latest types of educational experiences that are available,” he said. “And the other thing is a commitment we have to society at large to enable individuals from all over the world to experience the University of Chicago education at some level.”

The report said that “one of the greatest pedagogical benefits” that online education tools offer is a “flipped” classroom model, where students watch lecture videos at

home and go to class for discussion and problem-solving sessions. Stephanie Palmer, assistant professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, served on the committee looking into not-for-credit offerings and expressed interest in creating online tutorials of the mathematics and computer science background for her theoretical neuroscience course.

“Making use of the online format would let you use that time to get everybody up to speed, get your students onto the same playing field, and the tools they need to solve problems about neuroscience theory, so I think in that sense [online education] would be useful,” she said.

The report specifies that promoting “meaningful interaction” through the use of online technologies is essential with for-credit classes as well. But Sociology Department Chair Elisabeth Clemens, who served on the committee looking into forcredit offerings, said that she is not currently interested in making her classes online because she believes the intensity of discussion-based seminars for which University of Chicago is known are not easily translatable online.

Michael Schill, dean of the Law School, chaired the committee looking into forcredit offerings and said that “meaningful interaction” will vary for each department.

“One important finding is that the bulk of research so far has not shown that online education is either superior or inferior to traditional learning,” he said in an e-mail. “In short, we need much more careful research to fully understand how effective online resources can be in the educational process. It is neither a panacea for all of the challenges facing higher education, nor is it the beginning of the end of education as we know it.”

OBS president describes racial climate on campus as “abysmal” OKOH continued from front

ing the fact that in order for us to protect speech we have to make sure that everybody can be heard.

That means that when people are doing or saying or engaging in behaviors that are toxic and damaging to not only the ability for students to articulate themselves, but to them feeling like they are part of this community, things need to be done... So, I think our climate is abysmal, I think it’s horrible, I think there are students who feel unwelcome, who feel harassed, who feel intimidated. And something needs to be done. These are our students too. African-American students, Hispanic students, gay and lesbian students, firstgeneration, these are students at our university, as well, and I think we need to make them feel like they are students here.

CM: Is that feeling of a poisonous atmosphere something you’ve heard from other people too?

CO: All the time. I mean, this year especially, the amount of people who’ve come up to me and said, “Clarence, I’m ready to transfer. Clarence, I don’t know how I can keep going on. Clarence, how do I deal with this, that, and the other. This person has called me, pardon me for my French, but this person has called me a nigger. This person’s called me a faggot. This person has called me poor. This person called me this, that, and the other.” It’s not just that. It’s “A UCPD officer has harassed me. They’ve called me a thug. They’ve said I don’t belong here.” A teacher has said “x, y, and z to me.”… [They] all [say] the same thing: the climate here is abysmal. That their experiences have been horrible. That they’ve had great moments—we love the classrooms here, we love, we’re committed to, the central ideas and principles of this institution, but when it comes to

Third-year Clerence Okoh, president of the Organization of Black Students, speaks to the M AROON about race relations on campus.

JAIME MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

showed us just how bad the climate is. And it documented that for us. To me, it poisoned it some, because students who are already vulnerable, and who are already hurt, feel far more hurt and far more vulnerable. But what I think it did is crystallize for a lot of folks who it wasn’t quite there for how bad the climate was, for them I think it allowed them to see that, hey, the climate here really is horrendous…. The sad part of the University of Chicago is that these are [some of ] the most brilliant students that this country has to offer, and they’re engaging in this kind of destructive and corrosive behavior and dialogue. You can’t even pin it on ignorance.

CM: Is there anything else you

want to say about the atmosphere that’s developed around campus?

CO: I hate the term political correctness. Because in the South, we call it common decency— that’s what it is. Somebody walks up to you and says, “I am offended when you say or do these things. Please don’t do that because it hurts me.” For you to say, “No, screw it. I want to do whatever I want to do, and I’m going to hurt you,” to me, that’s a violation of common decency, and I think it speaks to folks’ characters.... I think each and every one of us has a part in playing to create a stronger and more inclusive and more tolerant and more diverse campus.

—Ankit Jain

Attendees discussed Wise’s lecture in small groups after his talk WISE continued from front

States of America, especially this one,” he said, in an implicit response to the slurs on the “Politically Incorrect Maroon Confessions” Facebook page.

Wise encouraged the audience to increase their

CLASSIFIEDS

awareness of how they view race, gender, and sexuality in order to combat the problem.

Many of his points seemed to hit home for members of the audience, as periodically throughout the speech, there were episodes of applause

and snapping fingers. In small group discussions held after the talk, students shared their personal stories and said that Wise’s words prompted them to rethink their experiences involving race and minorities.

In her introductory remarks, Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Karen Warren-Coleman said that Wise’s talk was just the first of many initiatives to “foster more opportunities for dialogue.”

CORRECTIONS

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.

LIGHT AND AIRY 4 BEDROOM,

making us and our communities feel welcome, there’s a lot of work to be done.

CM: What are some concrete steps that could be taken to improve race relations on campus?

CO: I think you start with looking at the composition of the University. So you’ve got to start looking at admissions. And you need to figure out how can we put together strategies that ensure that we have more students of color here, more first generation students, more students of different sexual orientations, and so on and so forth. I think the next thing is...looking at our teachers and faculty...and administrators.

I was at an [Institute of Politics] (IOP) event, at the ribbon cutting, and I was standing outside with two other African-American students…. And the president of the University walks by, and there’s a group of white students standing in front of us, about five or six of them. He walks, shakes all their hands, walks past us, tilts his head down, and walks straight past us and goes up on into the building. And I say, if that’s the kind of attitude that our seniormost leadership is showing to diversity and inclusion—we’re not even deserving of having a handshake, a head nod, looking at us, winking, “Go Maroons,” we can’t get a basic thing? And the only difference between one group and the other—we’re both students, we’re all involved in the Institute, we all belong there, but the color’s different.... I just sat down and said, “Well, you know, this is a microcosm of what’s wrong with this University.”

CM: What effect has the Facebook page “Politically Incorrect Maroon Confessions” had on the atmosphere around campus?

CO: I think, in the weirdest sense, it’s actually provided an opportunity for people to see what other folks feel. I think it has

5114 S. KIMBARK, UNIT 3S.

2 bath apartment for $2400 per month. Large Attractive one (1) bedroom apartment in well living room and dining room. Located at 54th maintained building, lots of light, hardwood and Hyde Park Blvd. About 100 feet from the floors, eat in cabinet kitchen, miniblinds, ceiling bus stop to downtown or the Univ. of Chicago. fan, laundry on site, great location, $815.00 Eat in kitchen includes refrigerator/freezer, includes heat, available May 1. Chad 312-720gas stove, electric oven, dishwasher. Washer/ 3136 cjohnson@hallmark-johnson.com dryer also located in kitchen. Front and back porches for outdoor living in good weather.

Ceiling fans in the kitchen, master bedroom YOUR AD HERE and bedroom off the front porch. Call Wally advertise in the maroon Jonas at 773 955 5035.

ADS@CHICAGOMAROON.COM

» The May 3 article “Students React to Dining Inspection Failures” misstated the name of the petition. It is called “Dining Reform at UChicago.” » An earlier photo caption accompanying the May 3 article “Uncommon Interview: Eric Holder” incorrectly misstated the first name name of former Attorney General Levi. His first name is Edward. » The May 3 article “With First Pourover Bar, dotCross Hits The Grounds Running” misstated when the Logan Café began serving Counter Culture. The Café has served Counter Culture since it opened.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | May 7, 2013

Angela Davis: Institutions must “unlearn racism” Joy Crane News Staff Historian and activist Angela Davis, infamous for appearing on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List in 1970 for her involvement with the Black Panther movement and the Communist Party USA, spoke about the the new demands of feminism and gun control at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on Friday night.

Davis urged audience members to question the accepted logic of terrorism labeling, pointing to 63 deaths she claimed were caused by CPD officers in the past four years.

“We have to learn how to think against that which [is] ideologically constituted as

normal,” she said.

The University of California, Santa Cruz professor also spoke more broadly about 21st century feminism and its discontents, underlining the need for feminism to continue to stretch its categories of inclusion.

“The category itself has to change so it does not just reflect normative ideas,” she said. “[Black, incarcerated, and transgender women] have to fight to be included in the category of women, like black women in the ’70s did who were assigned their gender at birth!”

While admitting to a collective need to “unlearn racism,” she pointed out that the more powerful legacies of racism are institutionalized, such as police violence

and the “industrial prison complex.”

In a twenty minute question-and-answer session following the lecture, a friend of the deceased Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year old student who was killed by indiscriminate gun violence in Kenwood in January, asked Davis how Chicagoans can bring an end to gun violence. The activist admitted to being a gun owner in the ‘70s, but ultimately came down firmly on the gun issue.

“In this era, we have to say no more guns; we have to remove all guns. And this includes disarming the police.”

Davis has lectured in Rockefeller Chapel on multiple occasions in the past fifteen years, prompting various student responses. In a com-

Bergestein’s NY Deli currently serves campus with a food truck

memorative Martin Luther King Day address in 1998, campus College Republicans handed leaflets outside the event to protest her appearance. Student publications, including the Chicago Maroon, criticized the choice of speaker in their editorial sections. There was no visible protesting at Friday’s event.

The lecture was organized by the Center for the Study for Race, Politics, and Culture (CSRPC) and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (CSGS). It was the last of this year’s CSGS Classics in Feminist Theory series and also re-inaugurated the CSRPC Annual Public Lecture series, according to Political Science Professor Cathy Cohen, who introduced Davis.

ZONING continued from front

DELI continued from front

vacant space next to Starbucks and Woodlawn Tap. Joining the Nile at its new location will be Bergstein’s NY Deli, transitioning its Hyde Park presence from an existing food truck to a full restaurant.

The Nile hopes to open in its new location by June 1, said chef Rashad Moughrabi, whose father opened the restaurant 22 years ago.

According to Moughrabi, the move was prompted by a need for renovations to the Nile’s current building, which would have caused the restaurant to close for several months.

Moughrabi was drawn to the University-owned space at 1168 East 55th Street due to its larger size, outdoor patio area and proximity to campus. He felt that due to the Harper Court and 53rd Street development, business in Hyde Park was

“moving west of the Metra tracks.”

Moughrabi also hopes the Nile will have a stronger connection to campus by being a place for students to drop in for lunch with an “updated, fun feel” in its new location.

Though the asking price to rent the spaces in the 53rd Street corridor was higher than what Moughrabi felt a small business like The Nile could afford, he was pleased to find his negotiations with the University over the 55th Street space to be a smooth process, saying he felt like the University wants to help small businesses open in their buildings.

Just next door, at 1170 East 55th Street, Bergstein’s NY Deli, another small business, plans to add a second location to its original restaurant in Chicago Heights.

According to co-founder

Billy Davis, his customers, as well as an employee who lives in the neighborhood, recommended Hyde Park as a good place for business. The recommendation led him to station the food truck in Hyde Park instead of in some of the more highdensity areas downtown.

After the success of the food truck, Davis thought it was “a natural fit” to expand to a restaurant.

In addition to the sandwiches, soups, and salads on the menu, Davis hopes to recreate the community atmosphere of its Chicago Heights restaurant in its new Hyde Park location.

He said community events like open-mic nights have worked well in the suburbs and are being considered for the new location as well.

“We’re not just looking to open just a sandwich shop.

We want to become a part of Hyde Park,” Davis added.

NEWS IN BRIEF Dining hires external reviewer In light of the recent health inspection failures and growing student concerns, UChicago Dining has signed a contract with external food health consultant National Everclean Ser vices, according to a statement on the Dining Web site. In a previous statement on the Web site, administrators pledged to hire outside consultation.

The company will conduct an examination of all of the dining facilities on campus to identif y the sources of the recent problems, including evidence of mouse drop pings and temperature is-

sues, and provide training and consulting to UChicago Dining employees.

The review will look at the dining facilities as well as the processes and procedures used by the workers. The findings of the inspection will be available by the end of the academic year.

Everclean Services is a privately-held food safety auditing company that has performed over 40,000 food safety and sanitation audits in over 10,000 facilities, including other institutions of higher education.

—Thomas Choi

One of the zoning changes would turn area into planned development, allowing for taller buildings construction of the highrise.

Tim Barton, a Hyde Park resident and former employee of the Chicago Zoning department, elucidated much of the zoning designations on the street between South Lake Park Avenue and South Woodlawn Avenue.

The area was designated a “pedestrian street” in 2004 in order to preser ve and enhance pedestrianoriented shopping areas and prohibit buildings within five feet of the sidewalk.

Adam Kingsley, an attorney specializing in land use, zoning , and his-

The Nile Restaurant, currently located near East 55th Street and South Lake Park Avenue, is moving to a new venue at East 55th Street and South Woodlawn Avenue this June.

JAIME MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

3

toric preser vation, noted the possible changes that would need to be made in the area in order for a high-rise to be built.

The first of two necessary zoning changes would entail the allowance of taller buildings to be built along the entire street. The second change would rezone the area as a planned development, which allows for taller buildings to be built with less restrictions.

Rezoning the area as a planned development requires approval by the Department of Housing and Economic Development, the Zoning Administrator, and the City Council

Committee on Zoning , but Chicago aldermen can usually make zoning changes at their own discretion. This privilege, known as aldermanic prerogative, makes Fourth Ward Alderman Will Burns’ opinion essential in the development of the high-rise on East 53rd Street, according to Kingsley. Burns did not attend the meeting.

Kingsley explained that there are ways to fight City Hall’s zoning decision in court, but lawsuits like this typically require a considerable amount of money and expert witnesses who often contradict each other.

Booth conference addresses innovation in microfinance Sindhu Gnanasambandan News Staff Over 175 students, academics, and professionals came together to evaluate the state of microfinance and predict its future at the Ninth Annual Zell Center Chicago Microfinance Conference held at the University Club of Chicago on Friday.

Microfinance involves providing financial services to low-income individuals or to those who do not have access to typical banking services, predominately citizens of developing countries. The underlying theory is that such individuals can escape poverty when given access to financial resources.

A lead organizer of the event, Nitika Nautiyal, a part-time MBA student at Booth and co-chair of the

Booth Social Impact Club, explained the importance of the conference in progressing the microfinance initiative.

“The conference, following the University of Chicago’s principles, challenges the status quo in the industry every year, raises the right questions and leaves the attendees with lots of ideas,” she said in an e-mail. “Thus, the conference is critical to furthering the cause of microfinance in a creative and innovative manner.”

The conference, which was organized by students at the Booth School of Business and the Harris School of Public Policy, featured speakers like Alex Counts, the president and CEO of the Grameen Foundation, and Asad Mahmood, managing director of Global Social Investment Funds at

Deutsche Bank, along with over a dozen other leaders from microfinance institutions, corporate banks, NGOs, and academia.

The day was full of speeches and panels that discussed current and future trends in the microfinance industry, which, according to Nautiyal, represented the conference’s goal of “bringing together microfinance professionals and enthusiasts from the Chicagoland area to come together and grow their network.”

The conference was originally created by the student club Emerging Markets Group, but the task of organization has now expanded to include the University of Chicago Microfinance Initiative, the Booth Social Impact Club, and students from the Harris School.

VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed MAY 7, 2013

Half baked Short-term fixes clearly not sufficient as dining hall health concerns continue to resurface The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 REBECCA GUTERMAN Editor-in-Chief SAM LEVINE Editor-in-Chief EMILY WANG Managing Editor DOUGLAS EVERSON, JR Senior Editor JAMIE MANLEY Senior Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Senior Editor CELIA BEVER News Editor MARINA FANG News Editor MADHU SRIKANTHA News Editor JENNIFER STANDISH News Editor AJAY BATRA Viewpoints Editor EMMA THURBER STONE Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Arts Editor ALICE BUCKNELL Arts Editor DANIEL RIVERA Arts Editor VICENTE FERNANDEZ Sports Editor SARAH LANGS Sports Editor JAKE WALERIUS Sports Editor HYEONG-SUN CHO Head Designer SONIA DHAWAN Head Designer KEVIN WANG Online Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor ALAN HASSLER Head Copy Editor

The recent health inspection failures at Bartlett and Cathey Dining Commons one and two weeks ago, respectively, have been called “absolutely unacceptable” by UChicago Dining.

The University is addressing the failures with additional cleaning crews and pest control treatments to correct for rodent droppings in food preparation areas, according to the Dining Web site’s FAQ page. But prompt action does not always mean effective action. After the temporary five-day closure of Cathey Dining Commons during fall quarter, the FAQ made similar promises—that the University would act swiftly to increase the effectiveness of cleanings, the frequency of inspections, and the outlets for student input—only to have problems recur. When it comes to the food source for about half of undergraduates, administrators must work to find a sustainable method of ensuring safe health practices long term.

UChicago Dining has already taken steps to show its commitment to solving the problem. Last week, the Maroon reported that UChicago had been searching since Cathey’s fall closure for an external health inspector to no avail.

Dining announced yesterday that it has initiated an external review process with National Everclean Services, to be completed by the end of the academic year. The implementation of an external review process shows that the University is prepared to hold itself to a higher standard. Still, it was only spurred to action after the second widely publicized health inspection in less than a year, even though both UChicago Dining and Aramark, a large-scale food service company, should be experts in cleanly operating a collegiate dining facility.

If UChicago Dining aims to cultivate a culture of community in the dining halls, its oft-stated goal, then sanitary food must be its top priority—not

occasionally, but constantly. Its moves to put into place additional University oversight in dining halls and contract an external health inspector are good first steps that mark a break from its prior responses. However, both the University and Aramark’s recurring failure to meet standards of basic health indicates that prolonged external review should continue beyond this academic year. A long-term contract for an external reviewer to provide regular and transparent reports on our dining halls would prevent infractions like those that prompted the University to close Cathey in the fall and caused Cathey and Bartlett to fail this spring. Hundreds of students have also signed a petition to get the University to cancel its contract with Aramark, believing that it is the root of the problem. If the University finds that this is the case, it should not shy away from the long-term solution: a

new food service provider.

Whatever the results of the external review, they will only be as useful as the steps taken to correct them. Admittedly, the level of complexity and variety of food service in large dining halls places all three dining halls in the “high-risk” health category, according to Chicago Department of Public Health standards. But this designation should not be viewed as an excuse; rather, it should give Aramark and UChicago Dining— and us, their patrons—cause to remain on high alert and to have high expectations. The University is right to call repeat health inspection failures unacceptable. We encourage administrators to focus on maintaining sanitation in the dining halls over time, rather than repeatedly devising ad-hoc solutions.

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

JEN XIA Head Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Head Copy Editor

COLIN BRADLEY Grey City Editor

No need to look away

JOY CRANE Grey City Editor

Our desire to delve deeply into the conditions of tragedy doesn’t come from such a bad place

SYDNEY COMBS Photo Editor TIFFANY TAN Photo Editor

THOMAS CHOI Assoc. News Editor ALEX HAYS Assoc. News Editor ANKIT JAIN Assoc. News Editor HARINI JAGANATHAN Assoc. News Editor STEPHANIE XIAO Assoc. News Editor KRISTIN LIN Assoc. Viewpoints Editor WILL DART Assoc. Arts Editor LAUREN GURLEY Assoc. Arts Editor TATIANA FIELDS Assoc. Sports Editor SAM ZACHER Assoc. Sports Editor JULIA REINITZ Assoc. Photo Editor FRANK YAN Assoc. Photo Editor TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager TAMER BARSBAY Undergraduate Business Executive QUERIDA Y. QIU External Director of Marketing IVY ZHANG Internal Director of Marketing VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator ANDREW GREEN Designer SNEHA KASUGANTI Designer JONAH RABB Designer NICHOLAS ROUSE Designer KEN ARMSTRONG Copy Editor KRYSTEN BRAY Copy Editor CONNOR CUNNINGHAM Copy Editor LISA FAN Copy Editor NISHANTH IYENGAR Copy Editor CECILIA JIANG Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor CHELSEA LEU Copy Editor KATIE LEU Copy Editor CARISSA LIM Copy Editor KATARINA MENTZELOPOULOS Copy Editor JONAH RABB Copy Editor

By Emma Thurber Stone Viewpoints Editor “It was like a car crash,” everyone has said, probably, at some point. “I just couldn’t look away.” This is something that we say to explain that we are ashamed to be curious about tragedy in the same way that we are curious about other things. It makes sense. On a certain level we tend to agree that there is nothing that can make a tragedy more painful for someone close to it than the sight of a thousand noses smeared against the glass—a reminder that the rabble is always eager for a glimpse. It is why high profile public figures call for privacy in times of tragedy, and why those calls are generally respected, if not always obeyed.

It’s an odd phrase, really—it seems to say that the natural, and perhaps only, re-

sponse to witnessing a disaster is shameless ogling. But there’s a grain of truth to that. Some of us, as soon as we obtain news of a tragedy, release ourselves onto the Internet scene like drug-detecting German shepherds into a dealer’s apartment, devouring every speculative scrap of pseudo-news we can get our paws on.

I suspect we are the definitive, if furtive, majority, and I also suspect that the drug-sniffing-dog mindset is less crude and animalistic than it seems. Why do we assume that our unreserved curiosity about tragedy is necessarily morbid, a part of our worse nature, an ugly remnant of an instinctual schadenfreude? I think that’s too cynical—and too easy. I think there’s something else.

It all comes down to our stubborn and absolutely unfounded idea that there is a way that things can and should work here on this planet. For example, speaking of car crashes: I rode in cars for fourteen years of my life before I realized how fragile this whole business of automotive transportation is. Like everyone, I had of course taken note of the tiny white crosses that littered roadsides.

But the record was undeniable: In all the time I had ever spent in a car, nothing

awful had ever happened to me. Static, everyday experience will bamboozle anyone into feeling comfortable. It will teach anyone to understand safety and pain in a way that locates danger away from herself.

It was late at night, south of Atlanta somewhere. We were rear-ended fairly violently. No one was injured. Unable to find a hotel, we spent the night in a motel parking lot. I didn’t sleep. I quivered in the backseat. I was shocked, but mostly I was baffled at my shock. I rehearsed the logic over and over: “I am not an idiot. I know that these things happen. I know that I am a person to whom things can happen. Why does this feel like betrayal?”

The answer, of course, is that the illusion of safety is not one that we choose. It is one that builds like grime, slowly, for however many years that pass without disaster. And, when it is shattered, the entire sensibility of the world seems to shatter with it.

Who wouldn’t want to figure out why? Who wouldn’t be willing to devour article after article, re-watch YouTube videos, skip from Wikipedia entry to Wikipedia entry? Who wouldn’t

want to find an explanation that will make us feel less as though we have failed, despite all our advances, at creating the sort of world that shares our system of punishment and reward?

It has nothing to do with voyeurism.

It has to do with the fact that we are the sort of people who would like to believe in justice and our ability to impose it on our environment. When the flimsiness of that illusion and the futility of that project are revealed to us by some twist of fate or another, our instinct is to bandage the wounds. We accumulate information, craft preventative solutions— reassert our power over accidents. Of course we want to root out the causes of these discrepancies in the worldview that keeps us sane, the one that keeps us climbing out of bed every morning and entering into a world of unpredictable and unthinkable risk. It’s a kind of nobility. It manifests itself clumsily and grotesquely, and it may be impolite to stare.

But it isn’t immoral—rather, it lays bare the grip that a commitment to morality has on us all.

Emma Thurber Stone is a second-year in the College.

HEIDI SIEGRIST Copy Editor LINDSEY SIMON Copy Editor RUNNAN YANG Copy Editor ESTHER YU Copy Editor

The Chicago Maroon is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters

Ineptitude or individuality?

UChicago is a place that encourages individuals to be who they are—but not necessarily by themselves

Circulation: 5,500.

The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the Maroon. © 2013 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: Design@ChicagoMaroon.com Copy: CopyEditors@ChicagoMaroon.com Advertising: Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com

By Jake Smith Viewpoints Columnist I recently started a job that involves interviewing people. At an orientation meeting, our supervisors played the new recruits a slideshow explaining how to set up and conduct interviews. At first,

it was predictable advice: Remember to proofread e-mails, always confirm meeting times and locations, etc.

Then the presentation dove into a little too much detail: Six slides explaining how to make a basic phone call; extensive reminders to dress appropriately and “be aware of body language”; and an entire slide on “The Art of a Handshake” (reminding us to “avoid the death squeeze”). The slideshow’s author seemed to think our social skills were about on par with those of a pack of untamed muskrats.

I had a hunch that the slideshow’s author was painfully aware of her audience:

UChicago kids. It struck me then that the UChicago archetype has morphed into something that’s not only negative, but also frequently wrong. Our school has embraced a stereotype of social ineptitude, and that stereotype completely misses the point of UChicago culture.

Every student knows some version of the stereotype: It’s the notion that UChicago students uniformly eschew social life to go study, that we spend too much time by ourselves to understand how eye contact works, that we are less assertive than the campus’s squirrels.

And it dominates the way people think of UChicago, both within the Univer-

sity and outside it.

Of course, this stereotype didn’t appear out of thin air. It’s rooted in the fact that this school, more than virtually any other, encourages students to pursue what they love, especially if it’s wildly underappreciated elsewhere. Into Dungeons & Dragons? Contra dancing? The presidency of William Taft? At UChicago, that’s great. Our acceptance of the unusual attracts a lot of people.

But the social ineptitude aspect comes from the belief that every person is isolated in her passions, or that intense academics prevent us from interacting SOCIAL continued on page 6

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | May 7, 2013

5

The politics of paranoia The far right’s tendency to unjustly vilify those that oppose its views is becoming a central facet of the modern GOP

By Luke Brinker Viewpoints Columnist Anyone seeking to understand the pathologies of the contemporary American right could do far worse than to read historian Richard Hofstadter’s 1964 classic “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.”

The nation’s political scene, Hofstadter notes, has long served as “an arena for uncommonly angry minds.”

To the mid–20th century observer, this fact could hardly be more obvious. With the John Birch Society warning of a communist lurking at every turn and right-wing leaders like Barry Goldwater capitalizing

on mounting anti-government sentiment, the context in which Hofstadter wrote “The Paranoid Style” naturally lent itself to contemplation of the paranoid, the conspiracyminded, and the manichean.

Practitioners of the paranoid style do not see their political adversaries as people with whom they simply do not share the same outlook. For the political paranoiac, it is necessary to cast one’s counterparts as nefarious, subversive, anti-American enemies.

This attitude extended to the governing elite, whom right-wing conspiracy theorists accused of signing the nation over to communism.

The same mindset is evident in Representative Louie Gohmert’s (RTX) ominous warnings about Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the Obama administration. It’s behind the right’s insistence that the government is concealing vital information about last September’s attack on the

U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. It’s why extremist gun groups denounce even watered-down gun safety legislation as part of a plot to seize all lawabiding Americans’ firearms. It’s why Republicans in the Senate recently rejected a United Nations arms control treaty aimed primarily at countries like North Korea and Syria, convinced that it would be used as a pretext to confiscate Americans’ guns. It’s why Alex Jones, a radio host with a devoted farright fan base, claims that the Boston Marathon bombings last month were a federal “false flag” operation. It’s why former Representative Ron Paul said last week that the government’s response to the Boston attack was worse than the attack itself.

Most disturbingly, a recent poll suggests that such crackpot theories are percolating down to the mass public. Farleigh Dickinson University released a survey last week indicating that nearly one-third of Americans

believe an armed rebellion against the federal government may be necessary. Among Republicans, 44 percent believe it may soon come time to take up arms against the tyrannical Obama regime. They’ve apparently taken to

“

For the political paranoiac, it is necessary to cast one’s counterparts as nefarious, subversive, and anti-American enemies.

”

heart the word of Sharron Angle, the party’s disastrous 2010 U.S. Senate candidate in Nevada, who derailed her campaign with such musings as these: “What is a little bit disconcerting and concerning is the inability for sporting goods stores to keep ammunition in stock.... That tells me the na-

tion is arming. What are they arming for if it isn’t that they are so distrustful of their government? They’re afraid they’ll have to fight for their liberty in more Second Amendment kinds of ways?” Speaking of her effort to defeat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Angle went on, “That’s why I look at this as almost an imperative. If we don’t win at the ballot box, what will be the next step?”

No less unsettling than the response to the armed rebellion question is the sizable minority voicing its suspicion that “some people are hiding the truth about” the December shooting at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School “in order to advance a political agenda.” Overall, one in four respondents expressed this sickening view. Another 11 percent were “unsure.” Among Republicans, 45 percent either believed there was a cover-up or said they were unsure.

GOP continued on page 6

Selective acceptance The hypocrisy of progressives’ critiques of conservative views and values belies their limited commitment to tolerance Liam Leddy Viewpoints Columnist Where I’m from has always been a bit of a mystery to me: My address says Georgetown, my Facebook says Jarrell, and my friends back home would say Lakeway. But when people ask, I always give the same answer with typical oversized pride: Texas.

Every time I give this answer on campus, I get the same response.

Whomever I’m talking to pauses briefly, and their face takes on a very subtle look of concern. They say, “Oh, where from in Texas?” The question carries the same subtle apprehension, as if my answer could either continue the conversation or induce a frantic departure. When I choose to say “Austin,” people always say, “Oh, okay,” with relief laced through their words. It’s possible that I imagine the emotions that seem to be weaved into this exchange, but I’m pretty

sure that they at least occasionally exist in thought. To some students here, it seems that being from Texas is a profession of ignorance, an implied identification with the Republican Party and all its outdated views.

But to be from Austin implies a sense of culture and appreciation for diversity and art. These seem to be the ways that people interpret the different labels for my home, and I feel that they reflect a lot about general beliefs here at UChicago.

UChicago is a place where liberal is the status quo, where being progressive isn’t in any way progressive—it’s just what’s expected. I regularly hear housemates bombarded with criticism for embracing conservative views on any given social issue, be it gay marriage, abortion, women’s rights, etc. What bothers me most about these criticisms is not their content, but their tone.

They reek of an air that says, “You

fool, you incredibly dense caveman, how could you ever believe that?

You must either be stupid or a bad person.” The offender, regardless of the soundness of her arguments, is always eventually quieted by the overwhelming shower of progressiveness that rains down upon her.

In a way, I’ve seen this kind of conversation before. Venture into the rural plains and hills of the Texas countryside and you will find more than your fair share of good-natured, kind people who are also undeniably racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, or just plain intolerant. Being liberal or progressive in any way in those parts is just asking for it. You either learn to keep quiet about politics or you get run out of town with criticism. Again, it’s not the criticism that’s the problem, but the tone. Anyone who believes that two people of the same sex have a right to marry is a fool, or simply a godless heathen. Being different

makes you more than different—it makes you fundamentally flawed.

What I find strange about these situations is that, while I have generally progressive political views on social issues, I was more comfortable in an environment where those very views were the ones condemned, not the ones condemning. This may simply stem from a lifetime spent in a sea of conservatism, but perhaps it also stems from the very nature of what progressiveness is supposed to represent. Progressiveness is touted as the flag-bearer of tolerance, of open minds and thoughtful souls. So when I see progressive thinkers so intolerant and accusatory of conservative views, I can’t help but be bothered by the hypocrisy. It’s the only nice thing you can say about their beliefs, but at least most unapologetically racist, sexist, or anti-Semitic individuals aren’t pretending to be tolerant.

While their views may be generally

accepted as wrong, at the very least they’re not alleging to be something they’re not. This may be what makes me uncomfortable in the UChicago political scene: Intolerance is a problem regardless of how it’s clothed, but when it’s dressed in the attire of openness, it especially irks me.

Regardless, the larger point is about intolerance—disguised or not. Throughout our school, this city, my home state, and indeed the entire country, political persuasion is far too often treated as a metric of intelligence or quality of being.

But the fact is that what you believe does not necessarily imply anything about who or what you are. This is a connection that is made far too frequently, and it impedes not only political peace, but also political progress.

Liam Leddy is a first-year in the College.

Say yes to divest Passage of divestment referendum shows student desire for University that values environment more than illusion of neutrality Natalie Wright Viewpoints Contributor “What will you say when the referendum passes?” I asked my friend, a fellow member of Stop Funding Climate Change (SFCC), the night before the Student Government election results were released.

“Nothing. I’ll probably be reading,” he said.

Along with the University Climate Action Network, SFCC sponsored the divestment referendum on the Student Government ballot. The referendum asked, “Should the University shift its investment strategy to account for the environmental impact of oil, gas, and coal used by the companies it invests in?” 2,183 students voted yes.

I was with the same friend when we got word of the referendum numbers, and one glance his way was enough to reveal how deeply he was invested in the referendum’s success. He beamed

along with the rest of us when the number was announced: 7 percent of student voters favored divestment.

Beyond the elation of this moment, there was nothing sweet about the referendum itself. As it happens, it may have come off as unnecessarily extreme, considering that most companies use fossil fuels in some way.

But, in fact, divestment only means taking University of Chicago investments out of the publicly traded companies that extract fossil fuels and hold the vast majority of the world’s proven coal, oil, and gas reserves. It’s a wholly reasonable proposal that seeks to undercut these companies’ power to continue the search for new hydrocarbons and to lobby the government for subsidies.

The referendum takes aim at the Kalven Report, which was drawn up in 1967 to establish the University’s political role—or lack thereof. The report claims that the University wishes to maintain a non-active role in world

politics. Although this desire for neutrality is largely admirable, it isn’t possible in the case of divestment. When it comes to matters of investment, financial involvement amounts to complicity, which makes neutrality almost unattainable. Unfortunately, the administration hides behind the Kalven Report and considers environmental concerns political, and therefore irrelevant, when investing its endowment.

Paradoxically, the University’s claim to neutrality has allowed it to invest in companies that are deeply political: Companies involved in fossil fuel extraction are heavily embedded in the political arena and circulate large sums of money to lobby Congress. Their efforts have been undoubtedly effective; the federal subsidies they’ve obtained are currently hindering a large-scale shift toward sustainable energy use. By supporting these companies under the cover of political neutrality, the University partakes in the very partisanship it aims to avoid.

With the Kalven Report in mind, the referendum can be understood as a way to gauge how many students disagree with the University’s current stance, or its self-proclaimed lack of one. It will show the Board of Trustees that it should consider divestment as a conscientious move in the interest of its students, since climate change is becoming a very real concern among us—after all, our generation will inherit the bulk of the wreckage caused by the unsustainable culture of subsidized fossil fuel extraction.

Two years ago, students voted overwhelmingly to establish a Socially Responsible Investment Committee to make recommendations to the University’s endowment managers. With this most recent show of broad support, we demand to present our divestment proposal directly to the Board of Trustees this quarter. In doing so, we will need the support of an attentive student body and an active press—both of which we will keep

informed about our progress with administrators.

We are not asking the University to take broad action on ethical investing—only on a case in which scientific consensus and student voice are shown to be a “party” of interest (to use a term President Zimmer used in a speech to Columbia University in describing exceptions to the Kalven Report). Administrators must see that the circumstances of climate change warrant a “crisis” mentality, and would therefore constitute grounds for an exception to Kalven Report restrictions. And, most importantly, they must realize that their actions are in fact playing an active role in world politics. When we invest our endowment dollars as a university, we effectively vote. From now on, we must make our investments line up with this latest vote.

Natalie Wright is a first-year in the College.

6

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | May 7, 2013

Don’t let social clumsiness stereotypes color your actions SOCIAL continued from page 4 with other people. Neither is true. We play D&D in groups. We contra-dance as a community. We talk to each other about President Taft at parties. And we study chemistry in the Reg together.

In short, UChicago culture is not about being an antisocial nerd—it’s about pursuing what you love and finding others who love it too, even if that love happens to be weird or graceless. That’s why the stereotype misrepresents our student body’s true uniqueness.

Strangely, we students propagate the stereotype more than anyone. We hawk social ineptitude and self-absorbed geekiness on T-shirts and coffee mugs as our own personal brand. We mean it to be tongue-in-cheek, knowing that it’s not quite universal, but it sticks nonetheless. As a result, we sell our own zeal as aloof zaniness.

To be clear, I’m not claiming that every UChicago student possesses the charisma of Barack Obama and the social finesse of Princess Diana. Some of my fellow interviewers probably appreciated the exposition on phone calls and handshakes. Many on this campus are legitimately not equipped for social situations—but many others are.

Either way, we’re focusing on secondary characteristics. Neither social skills nor a lack thereof gets to the core of what makes UChicago so UChicago-y. Individual passion is what sets our college culture apart, and what makes our cam-

pus such an interesting place to be.

Some might think that the stakes aren’t very high.

After all, when push comes to shove, won’t a student’s personality speak for itself? If I’m awkward, I’ll come off as awkward. So why does the antisocial stigma really matter?

I think the real danger is when we start to project the stereotype on ourselves—when we decide not to make eye contact with someone we’ve met before and justify it as “UChicago rubbing off � on us. Because it’s not. Social situations make everyone uncomfortable sometimes, and maybe this campus does put us at a disadvantage in the social arena. But aloofness shouldn’t be an inescapable characteristic by which we define our own personalities.

In some ways, we’re breaking out of this pigeonhole. The blog Hyde Park Romances is a great example, reflecting our strange and fascinating spectrum of relationships. It presents our social interactions as we experience them—hit or miss, happy or sad, awkward or charming. It flaunts our idiosyncrasies honestly rather than reductively.

And that’s far better than the tired stereotype.

After all, the UChicago brand shouldn’t tell us that we’re socially inept, isolated, or anything; it should reflect the passion and individuality that each of us brings to campus.

G R E Y C I T Y THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF THE

CHICAGO MAROON

Jake Smith is a fourth-year in the College majoring in political science.

These days, conspiracy accusations fly from right to left GOP continued from page 5 With such a large portion of the GOP base affirming decidedly indefensible views, is it any wonder that right-wing cult heroes like Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) are boasting about their record of not compromising with Democrats or GOP “squishes?� When one cannot view one’s opponents as simply misguided and instead must associate them with wicked and secret conspiracies, compromise represents acquiescence to a moral evil. This gets at another feature of the paranoid style: their manichean splitting of the world into pure good and pure evil. Has anyone else noticed that far right-wingers tend not to do well with nuance?

The difference between 2013 and 1965 is that, when Hofstadter wrote, the two parties were broad-based coalitions that each con-

tained a fair number of liberals, moderates, and conservatives. As political scientists like Norm Ornstein and Tom Mann have noted, the Democratic Party is now virtually the exclusive home of liberals and moderates. The GOP in the Age of Obama drifts ever rightward; our notion of “conservatism� has shifted away from the pragmatic variety affirmed by leaders like Senators Everett Dirksen (R-IL) and Bob Dole (R-KS) and toward the cranky, reactionary brand perfected by the likes of Cruz and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY). Whereas far-right Goldwater’s 1964 nomination was once seen as an aberration, it’s increasingly difficult to deny that paranoia and reaction have now captured one of the nation’s two political parties.

COMING SOON

Luke Brinker is a graduate student in the MAPSS program.

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.

Wednesday, May 8, 6:00 pm The Rev. Elizabeth Davenport, Dean of Rockefeller Chapel, talks about the delightful and diverse uses to which Gothic chapels on university campuses may be put and we experience some of Rockefeller's evening character with Compline and a tour of secret passageways. We begin with dinner at Brent House at 6 pm.

For more information or to RSVP, contact us at: 773-947-8744, ofďŹ ce@brenthouse.org, or the Facebook event.

BRENT House:

SPRING 2013 ISSUE

The Episcopal Center at the University of Chicago

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

Photo by New Arts Journalism student Lindsey Auten (MA 2013) reporting on Luftwerk’s Luminous Field (February 2012) in Chicago’s Millennium Park

MASTER OF ARTS IN NEW ARTS JOURNALISM The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) Master of Arts in New Arts Journalism program reinterprets and transforms the skills of a traditional journalist into the multitasking demands of a contemporary arts journalist where art writing, editing, and design skills are intertwined. Unlike journalism schools that add an arts emphasis, SAIC is a vibrant school of art and design in which New Arts Journalism students can combine the in-depth study of arts and journalism, and work closely with artists, art historians, and cultural critics.

APPLY BY JUNE 1, 2013

GRADUATE ADMISSIONS

saic.edu/gradapp

800.232.7242 | 312.629.6100 gradmiss@saic.edu

ARTS

Heartlandia MAY 7, 2013

Virgin Suicides author to read work as part of residency at Logan

Jeffrey Eugenides has time to sit in this wing-backed chair and strike a pose in his fancy vest, but no time to talk to the MAROON. COURTESY OF MEL EVANS/AP

Emma Broder Arts Editor This time last year, I wrote an article reviewing a reading by Kestnbaum Writer-in-Residence Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient.

Ondaatje’s visit to campus felt dreamy. The day was foggy, and his white beard quivered as he read from his nebulous poetry and prose. Like the author’s aloof voice and manner, the Logan Center wasn’t quite real then. It had been constructed (and quickly), yes, but it didn’t mean anything to anyone, not to anyone at that particular reading, and not to anyone on the campus at large.

Since then there’s been that ever-present UChicago dialogue surrounding Logan’s many advan-

tages (staircases that aim to facilitate interaction across disciplines, wine at zeh café) and drawbacks (limited studio space for DoVA majors and “colonization by TAPS”). With reluctance and with lots of talk, it’s been integrated into campus life. Fittingly, this year’s Writer-in-Residence, Jeffrey Eugenides, is not only more of a realist than Ondaatje, but a celebrity author who will reaffirm Logan’s ambitious agenda.

Janice Knight, the chair of the Committee on Creative Writing, said, “I don’t know if you would call Eugenides a celebrity, but he is a very accomplished writer. It is in fact the case that we have fewer prose writers [visit campus], and over the years I’ve tried to address that. I hope more and more opportunities will arise to invite prose

writers, because I think we’re identifying a strong desire to bring more novelists to campus.”

Knight mentioned that the department has changed the venue for the reading from the Performance Penthouse to the larger, ground floor Performance Hall, because so many people are expected to attend the event. In addition, organizers have purposely restricted advertisements to posters, listservs, and word of mouth on campus, not wishing to draw a citywide crowd by placing an ad in The Reader.

To give perfunctory but relevant career chronology: Eugenides’ first novel, The Virgin Suicides, came out in the early nineties, after he got his masters in English and creative writing. His next novel, Middlesex, appeared in 2002 and won the Pulitzer Prize the next year; The Marriage Plot came out in 2011. Throughout his career, Eugenides has also written short stories, which appeared in, ahem, The New Yorker and The Paris Review, among other publications.

Eugenides recently edited a collection of short stories titled My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead. The collection’s proceeds go to 826CHI, a nonprofit creative writing lab in Wicker Park.

“I’ve been a great fan of every person we’ve invited to date,” Knight said. “We tried to schedule the reading close to the FOTA festival, and as a way to celebrate the end of the school year.

I have had long e-mail correspondences with him, and he’s told us he’ll be reading from his latest work. I don’t know if it’s work in progress; I hope it will be. We’ve never had a writer tell us beforehand what he’ll be reading.”

What can we expect from the work itself, then, even if we don’t know exactly what Eugenides will read? Well, his most noticeable, and notable, strength as a novelist is his storytelling. Which seems like an obtuse comment, but in fact, this simple ability/brilliance is lacking in loads of contemporary fiction. More fanciful than Jonathan Franzen, Eugenides is a delicious read, and with his stories at his side, he has adopted various styles

and forms for his novels.

The Virgin Suicides was told in first-person plural, while Middlesex was part third-person omniscient tale of Old World incest and comingof-age, part treatise on intersex and immigrant life in America. With The Marriage Plot, Eugenides continued to explore his command of the third-person omniscient, but he abandoned the journalistic shadow present in his earlier books to write about a subject with more of a personal background for him—undergraduates at Brown in the early ’80s. What the novels have in common is that we realize we’re being told a story, squirm, trying to escape from being told, and ultimately embrace how gratifying this experience is. In a review of The Marriage Plot in The New York Review of Books, Michael Greenberg wrote, “We can’t think ourselves out of the pleasures of being told a story any more than we can think ourselves out of being in love.”

JEFFREY EUGENIDES Thursday, May 9 at 5 p.m.

Logan Center Performance Hall

The reading will be followed by a conversation with Donna Seaman, a Chicago-based book and arts reviewer. Seaman has conducted the same form of an after-reading discussion for several years, and Knight said it has been a “popular feature.” There will also be a book signing and a reception. On Friday, Eugenides will give a talk to around thirty creative writing students on one aspect of his craft or process. See you there on Thursday afternoon— I’m the one looking wistfully around the Performance Hall, thinking back to spring, when Logan was so new you felt it would crumble beneath you, yet you weren’t afraid when the fog rolled in.

With latest mixtape, Chicago-born rapper’s stars are out Robert Sorrell Maroon Contributor Acid Rain, Chance the Rapper’s second mixtape, which dropped April 30th, is much more than a homage to drug culture or a meditation on substance use. Instead, Chance the Rapper’s sophomore attempt floats, ambles, and at times bounces through issues such as witnessing one of his friends being stabbed to death in Lincoln Park, socioeconomic woes, corrupt cops, and the violence and injustice that wracks the city he calls home. In the song “Everybody’s Something,” Chance announces, “I got the Chicago blues, we invented rock before the Stones got through.

We just aiming back ’cause the cops shot you. Buck buck bang bang, yelling, ‘Fuck Fox News!’”

CHANCE THE RAPPER Metro Sunday, May 26 $13 in advance/ $15 day of

Chance grew up in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, but went to high school downtown at Jones College Prep. His 10-day suspension from the school for smoking marijuana provided the impetus for his first official mixtape,

10Day. After high school, “Chance,” born Chancellor Bennett, decided to pursue music full-time. Chance bit his teeth performing slam poetry around the city at festivals and events, such as Louder Than a Bomb. His lyrics could practically be released as poetry, but thankfully for us, Chance has the vocal skills to take his words to greater heights.

The mixtape starts with “Good Ass Intro,” a romping song where Chance shows off his ability to flit between his almost-spoken-word style of rap and a sweet, though nasally, falsetto.

The track bombards with sound and talent, featuring five other artists, including rapper BJ the Chicago Kid, and the neo-soul and jazz singer Lili K. From there, the mixtape segues into “Pusha-Man,” which compliments Chance’s rhymes with soulful organ and pounding bass lines.

And if you thought Chance was for a moment starting to fall into a genre, you’ll be surprised when the song completely stops for 20 seconds around a quarter of the way through and picks up in a syncopated, pared down groove evocative of his larger acid-jazz influences.

Songs “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” featuring Vic Mensa and Chicago legend Twista, and “Juice” are guaranteed to be running through your head indefinitely. Both were among four songs Chance released before the full mixtape came out.

Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap mixtape, available for free online, is sure to attract a big label.

COURTESY OF CHANCE THE RAPPER

Other notable tracks include “Everything’s Good (Good Ass Outro),” which sees Chance’s characteristic spaced-out drum fills working with a cello and brass section to recall his

respect for indie artists like Beirut and Joanna Newsom. Bass, drums, Lili K’s beautiful voice, and Chance’s protean lyrical stylings here finish up the mixtape, and when he sings, “I’m better

than I was the last time,” you’ll nod in agreement.

Acid Rap feels as polished and confused as the city of Chicago itself CHANCE continued on page 8

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | May 7, 2013

8

Chance and the Save Money Crew “have the opportunity to lead a Chicago renaissance of sorts” CHANCE continued from page 7 and contains a more heightened self-awareness than 10Day. It is an ephemeral exploration of remorse and past experience. Over a melancholic backing track in “Acid Rain,” an album highlight, Chance relates, “Sometimes the truth don’t rhyme. Sometime the lies get millions of views. Funerals for little girls, is that appealing to you?”

Chance is a part of the Save Money Crew, which is comprised of other Chicago artists such as Vic Mensa and Kids These Days, along with various producers, directors, and designers.

The crew allows the musicians to work together and pool resources, but also functions as a support group. They even share a working space entitled the Trap Music Garage.

Similar groups across Chicago allow artists to keep things local until they decide to sign with a label. And indeed, the hip-hop world is coming around to Chicago. The Save Money Crew, along with rappers like Chief Keef and Rockie Fresh, have the opportunity to lead a Chicago renaissance of sorts. Last June, Spin Magazine released an article entitled, “Chicago Rap Blazes Up From the Streets,” which

admitted that while Chicago hip-hop doesn’t have one unique sound, the music is tied together by the hardship and violence that right now plagues the city, especially on the South Side. The sentiment seems to coincide with the song “Don’t Harsh My Mellow” from fellow Save Money Crew artist Kids These Days: “Say don’t harsh my mellow. I’m that South Side Chicago, illegal type of fellow. I’m Elie Wiesel coming live from out the ghetto.”

And not only is Chance a phenomenal recording artist, he is also quite the performer. I spoke with David Lisbon, a contributor to the

New York based hip-hop blog Cypher League, about seeing Chance the Rapper open for Childish Gambino last summer. According to him, Chance “had the crowd in his hands. His aura was palpable.” He danced, joked, and “performed as if it was his concert,” maintaining an energy typically absent from opening acts. Lisbon said: “Honestly, he murdered it. He had his finger on the pulse.”

Chance will be playing at Metro on Sunday, May 26, and tickets are only $13 in advance or $15 the day of, if there are any still lying around (Metro’s Web site says the concert is sold out).

Iron Man 3 burnishes gold legacy Gatsby offers tunes to

float in the pool to Sarah Tarabey Arts Staff

Iron Man takes a break after a long weekend of box office cash-mongering.

COURTESY OF MARVEL STUDIOS AND WALT DISNEY MOTION PICTURES

Will Dart Associate Arts Editor I haven’t done the research on this, but I think that Iron Man 3 is, in fact, the first “big summer movie” that we’re all supposed to see, regardless of quality or absolutely absurd ticket prices. And so it brings me great pleasure to report that, unlike Pirates of the Carribean 3, unlike Star Wars 3, and unlike Legally Blonde 3 (still disappointed about that one), Iron Man 3, while not quite highart, is the rare trilogic conclusion that won’t leave you wishing you’d gone bowling instead.

We pick up our story with Tony “The Iron Man” Stark (a nickname garnered during his Varsity bocce ball days at MIT) struggling, along with the rest of the world, to regain his footing in the wake of the events of the Avengers. He battles his recurring bouts of anxiety by receding into his Malibu lair, endlessly tinkering with his metal suit and generally annoying the hell out of his incredibly patient girlfriend, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). But when a series of bombings occurs across the country, allegedly the work of the quasi-Eastern terrorist “The Mandarin” (a particularly entertaining Ben Kingsley), the Iron Man is forced to come out and kick some ass once again, or something like that.

But the Iron Man is not quite as “iron” as he used to be. With this film, new writer-director Shane Black focuses on the uniquely limited nature of Iron Man as a superhero. Everything “super”

about Tony Stark’s hero is contained in his metal suit—it’s a crutch, and one that becomes more debilitating as he comes to lean on it. Now Tony is struggling to define himself outside the suit, even as his dependence on it becomes more and more obvious.

There’s a scene, recalling Franco Nero with his coffin in Django,

IRON MAN 3 Shane Black AMC River East

of a stranded Tony dragging his de-powered armor through the snowy woods of Tennessee, looking quite a bit like a tired hermit crab dragging its cumbersome shell.

The film is at its best in these moments, when Black and cowriter Drew Pierce get Tony out of the suit and force him to face the world without the help of tri-power repulsor cannons.

As has been the case with Iron Mans 1 and 2, IM3 rides almost entirely on the strength of Robert Downey, Jr., whose charm as the billionaire-playboy simply refuses to wear off. Guy Pearce is only somewhat compelling as the auxiliary villain Aldrich Killian, but Ben Kingsley pulls more than his own weight with the minimal screen time he’s allotted.

There is, it must be said, a rather daring plot twist involving these dual villains, one that has not been entirely well received, especially by the comic book faith-

ful. It’s a move that would seem jarringly goofy were it not encapsulated in the already unflinchingly goofy Iron Man franchise.

In the post-Dark Knight world of comic book cinema, I continue to appreciate Jon Favreau’s (and now Shane Black’s) ardent refusal to make Iron Man “darker and edgier.” The Tony Stark of Iron Man 3, for all his supposed PTSD, is as much a snarky goofball as he’s ever been, if not more so. Only Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man has been so steadfast in its commitment to not taking itself seriously. But whereas the absolute hokiness of Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker was sometimes difficult to stomach, Downey Jr.’s Stark is perpetually in on the joke. When, before delivering the final blow to a pyrokinetic redhead, he issues the impeccably cheesy line, “I’ve dated hotter chicks than you,” he does so with a grimace and an apology.

Of course there are the requisite plotholes in need of filling, some of which are glaringly obvious even for comicbook fare, and if you’ve soured on superheroes and explosions by now, or are generally the type of person that hates fun, you will have a hard time enjoying Iron Man. There is also—and this was a big risk—a prepubescent sidekick involved.

I left the theater 13 bucks lighter and in pretty good spirits, even as I was puzzling over questions of where the Hulk was during all of this, and what they were thinking when they decided not to include “Black Sabbath” in the soundtrack of a movie called Iron Man.

In his signature old-meets-new style, director Baz Luhrmann’s rendition of The Great Gatsby injects a decidedly modern flavor to the classic tale of love and loss set in the midst of the Roaring Twenties. In a similar fashion, the film’s soundtrack picks up those trademark jazzy and bluesy, free-flowing, leave-your-problems-at-the-door sounds of times past and blends them with current artists’ respective styles—almost as if the latter were the inevitable musical continuation of the former. The result: a very deliberate thematic homage to Fitzgerald’s novel which still leaves room for new musical genres and styles to convey the same encompassing “larger-than-life” feel of the era. Admittedly, with this kind of interpretation, as with much of Luhrmann’s other work, you either hail it as an innovation or deride it as a convolution of what should be a “purely” twenties-esque representation. A veritable mélange with a few standout tracks, it’s definitely worth the listen—even if only to test the motley waters.

The first few tracks are just the sweeping (and probably more stereotypical) introduction one would expect to a Great Gatsby soundtrack. They allude to the perils of love and striking it rich, and they tie the listener to the present by infusing jazz with hip-hop/pop/ R&B elements. These numbers are universal: catchy, with a heavy beat

and a Billboard Hot 100 aftertaste.

And that’s what makes them so easy to like. Jay-Z’s “100$ Bill,” which includes audio snippets from the movie itself, links together the progression of the American Dream ideology, connected through the ages by “decadence, ill reverence, irreverence.” It’s an aggressive, jarring, and exciting journey through history. But let’s be honest: the ideas that history repeats itself, that politicians are corrupt, that the desire for money rules the world—they’re hardly original.

Still, it’s well-executed and fires up the mood.

The mellower “Back to Black”

by Beyoncé and Andre 3000 is slick, with pronounced vocals and smooth lyrics. Simple yet powerful, it is easily the most memorable of the first tracks. To round it out, both will.i.am’s “Bang Bang” and Fergie, Q-Tip, and GoonRock’s “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)” are quintessential party anthems, complete with a heavy dance beat and noted for their playful mix of jazz and techno. Will.i.am’s scat and Fergie’s sassy repartée sound good, no doubt, but that’s really all there is to it—party music.

The soundtrack veers in a different direction at this point. The next round of tracks is mostly ballads and other croonings, in addition to a few tracks that resist traditional genre stereotypes. These serve as the emotional front of the soundtrack. “Young and BeautiGATSBY continued on page 9

The soundtrack includes Jay-Z, Lana Del Rey, The xx, Beyoncé, and Florence + the Machine.

COURTESY OF INTERSCOPE

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | May 7, 2013

Purity Ring fits Metro Chicago just right Kunal Basu-Dutta Maroon Contributor Not content with just one show, Purity Ring added a midnight set at Metro after its first one sold out within a week. You might imagine that the second show would lose some power.

Instead, armed only with the 11 tracks from its debut album Shrines (plus a Soulja Boy cover), the duo commanded the stage and led the audience on a journey not soon forgotten.

Opening was Blue Hawaii, a Montreal-based duo that recently released its sophomore album Untogether. This album stands almost in opposition to its first go around, Blooming Summer, which was happy electro-pop through and through. However, none of the echoing hollowness that characterizes Untogether made its way to the show. The duo brought a childlike hyperactive mindset that begged people to move, dance, and love. It felt rushed and forced. It had no other option, since if it tried to play its new sound, it would pale in comparison to the headliner.

However, Blue Hawaii could not help avoiding sounding like an immature Purity Ring.

Now, imagine suspended luminescent orbs like round Japanese lanterns, a crawling fog reaching to the rafters, and a whiteclothed priestess standing open in front of the masses. This was Purity Ring. The priestess, lead

Lead singer Megan James channels her inner ’80s Bonnie Tyler.

COURTESY OF KIRSTIE SHANLEY/GAPERS BLOCK

singer Megan James, enveloped the crowd with high-reaching vocals that were accompanied

by Corin Roddick’s sparse MIDI creations. The combination played with hip-hop, drum-andbass, new age, and more, but defy

being placed in any one genre.

Purity Ring opened up a portal to a universe defined not just by the color and sounds that populated it, but also by the emptiness between these sensory objects.

PURITY continued on page 10

The University of Chicago Law School presents the 2013 Maurice and Muriel Fulton Lecture in Legal History

Civil War: A Genealogy David Armitage Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History, Harvard University

Thursday, May 9, 2013 4:00 p.m.

Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom University of Chicago Law School 1111 E. 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637 Reception Following

This event is free and open to the public. For special assistance or needs, please contact Rebecca Klaff at 773.834.4326.

9

Gatsby soundtrack looks to stylistically infuse modern beats with jazz aesthetic GATSBY continued from page 8 ful” by Lana Del Rey showcases a misty, atmospheric vibe. This might have to do with lack of inflection inherent in Del Rey’s rendition, which renders it a simpler, less developed sound.

This is where Florence + the Machine forge through with “Over the Love”—the epic, stunning, and wrenching allusion not only to Daisy’s complicated love for Gatsby, but also to her very undoing at the hands of this tragic relationship.

This is difficult to portray, considering the rather unsympathetic light in which Daisy is often cast, but Welch’s soaring voice drives home the necessary theatrical element to portray the sheer scope of the dynamic of love and heartbreak. It is definitely one of the defining tracks of the album. To follow (and to lighten the mood considerably) is Coco O. of Quadron’s “Where the Wind Blows,” a fun, sassy tune with a devil-may-care attitude. The pop and electronic background against her soul-oriented voice form an interesting contrast and embody the very best of what this soundtrack has to offer. A more classic Jazz Age sound is found in “Love is the Drug” by Bryan Ferry with the Bryan Ferry Orchestra. It’s sexy, and the brass background is refreshingly effortless.

As the album comes to a close, its ending tracks take on an atmospheric, abstract quality. It becomes less about conveying a

concrete message through lyrics, and more about the creation of an ambient, score-heavy mood.

You aren’t entirely sure where they should fit in in the plot—somewhere after the climax, but before the resolution. In these, the artists’ styles begin to coalesce, and the songs are directed more toward a movie audience than toward the novel itself. Perhaps the most unique portion of the album, it is also the richest. Played to a heartbeat, “Together” by the xx is both intimate and eerie. Also memorable are the funky beats in Gotye’s “Hearts A Mess.” Jack White’s “Love Is Blindness” is odd and eclectic, his wailing voice adding a real grittiness to a worthwhile cover. Perhaps the most atmospheric of the bunch, and certainly of the more unpredictable, is Nero’s “Into the Past.” Somewhere in the midst of its sparse lyrics, breathy vocals, and electronic beat, the listener is invited into an unknown chromecovered future—one with a setting sun, with hopes yet to be realized.

When Nero sings, “I’ll follow you,” you almost really want him to.

Ultimately, the Gatsby soundtrack has a little of everything; depending on how you interpret the connection between the sound, the film, and the text, this can either be palatable or pretty off-putting. Alternating from a look to the past and a beckoning to the future, the record is fundamentally grounded in the eye of the present.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | May 7, 2013

10

Band shines in spite of limited discography PURITY continued from page 9 As the set started with “Amenamy,” James stepped forward and began with “[somber somber]” simplicity—simple sounds and a simple rhythm that lent itself to rapt head bobbing. Sound began swelling and filled the room before dropping away into voids of quietness orchestrated carefully by the duo. This growth, paired with destruction, forced the audience to find new ways to dance, if they felt confident enough to try. Rather, the show demanded awe-glazed eyes attuned to James’s every action. Roddick stood upfront, unassuming , completely lost in his own manipulations, but each change he enacted translated into new floods of color from the orbs he built specifically for the band’s live shows.

One of the high points of the night was when James brought out a torch and became a modern Statue of Liberty. However, her statuesque position disappeared as she grew wild, culminating in her beating a giant drum that painted a primal, paganesque scene. Each beat unleashed a flourish of lights baptizing the audience with green and red hues. The hour-long show finished with a few handshakes from James before she turned around and fell backward into the audience. As numerous hands flew up to hold her, she confirmed what everyone already knew: We were all willing subjects to this ruler of a new soundscape.

Many concertgoers who were expecting more EDM–style music left feeling confused and unfulfilled. However, for any fan, or for those looking for an overwhelming electro-based experience, this concert was an absolute must-see. If you think you know Purity Ring from its album, you have no idea the vastness it can reach.

Documentary powers discussion at Logan James Mackenzie Arts Staff This past Sunday, the Logan Center held a screening and panel for Pandora’s Promise, the latest documentary from Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Robert Stone. The film covers the controversial issue of nuclear power, presenting it as the ideal solution to humanity’s energ y and environmental woes.

The film is presented as a brief history of nuclear power, from the first nuclear submarine all the way to the disaster of the Fukushima plant in Japan and its aftermath. Along the way, viewers are treated to an overview of both the science behind nuclear power and the debate over it that continues to this day.

Guiding the audience through this history is a group of environmental activists and scientists who have all gone through a similar transformation from being opponents of nuclear power to ardent supporters of it. Particularly for the environmentalists, this change is presented as going strongly against the grain in the environmental field. The film opens with these people discussing their fears and misgivings over “coming out” to their peers about their newfound support for the controversial power source. This process reflected Stone’s own personal struggle with changing his opinion, calling Pandora’s Promise above all else “a film about changing one’s mind on something.”

The film’s argument hinges on two key points: First, that nuclear power is much more efficient and less damaging to the atmosphere than fossil fuels (already generally accepted as fact), and second, that the amount and severity of radiation generated is far less than is commonly believed. Perhaps the most memorable and

surprising details of the film are the comparisons of radiation levels across several areas. An audible murmur could be heard from the audience when it was revealed that radiation levels in New York City were greater than those found at Chernobyl.

Like other contemporary documentaries, the film makes no illusion about being anything but an attempt to convert its audience to the director’s ideolog y. There is very little in the way of reasonable presentation of arguments against nuclear power, and the few that are present are quickly deconstructed by the very people who said them. Stone was unapologetic when asked about the film’s balance, saying , “No one here would argue that Al Gore should have put climate deniers in his film for balance.”

PANDORA’S PROMISE Robert Stone In theaters June 14

Pandora’s Promise is very much an environmentalist film, but its target audience is quite different from that of others of its ilk. Instead of targeting climate change skeptics or the undecided or uninformed middle, it instead sets its sights on environmentalists who have bought into the conventional “myths” about nuclear power. Stone portrays them as perpetually stuck in their ways and blind to the solutions that will help them achieve their

DESIGN.

DRAW.

own goals. It will be interesting to see the reaction to this film when it reaches a wider release in June. While it is unlikely to gain the same traction as iconic documentaries such as An Inconvenient Truth, it could become a rallying cry for what the film views as sophisticated, post– baby boomer environmentalists.

Visually, the film features high production values, which have become synonymous with contemporary environmentalist documentaries. Yet instead of lush forests and oceans, the film combs over the destroyed landscapes of Chernobyl and Fukushima with equal detail.

Of course, the film also utilizes the tried and true array of archival footage and computer-generated charts and graphics to reinforce its arguments about nuclear power. However, one grows tired of the clichéd graphic metaphors of football fields full of nuclear waste when the film’s signature shot—a man in various areas on the planet holding a Geiger counter—is far more provocative and effective in communicating the film’s message.

The panel afterward featured the director, Stone, along with nuclear scientist Hussein Khalil and University professor Robert Rosner. They mostly elaborated on the same points from the film while addressing the questions and concerns of the audience. What was most notable about the discussion was Stone’s detailed and comprehensive knowledge on both the science and the politics behind the issue: Not surprisingly, his role in the panel lent a great deal of credibility to the film.

Ultimately, Pandora’s Promise is convincing in its argument and has the potential to change minds on the issue of nuclear power. Given its intention, this is probably the highest compliment it can be afforded.

WRITE.

COPY EDIT.

SEEKING WRITERS, DESIGNERS, COPY EDITORS, CARTOONISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS Have what it takes to make the Maroon Staff? Contact us: editor@chicagomaroon.com

11

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | May 7, 2013

Troncelliti: “We got great pitching from both [O’Connor] and [Friss]” then singled, scoring Huff. Bullock drove in the final run of the afternoon when he fouled out to right field. Troncelliti was able to score, and Bullock was credited with a sacrifice fly.

Chicago pitching was masterful all afternoon. Following a complete game by O’Connor, first-year Lucas Friss (3–0) pitched a shutout, giving up six hits, two strikeouts, and a walk. O’Connor would give up only one run (unearned) on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.

“We got great pitching from both Matt [O’Connor] and Lucas [Friss], along with some timely hits,” Troncelliti said, summing up the wins.

The South Siders are back in action tomorrow when they travel to Evanston, IL to face Northwestern at 3 p.m.

SOFTBALL continued from back

offensive force, leading the team in batting average (.382) and picking up 16 RBI. Cygan is graduating , along with fellow fourth-years Jacqueline Ryan and Vicky Tomaka, opening the door for players like Lopez and first-year pitcher Jordan Poole, who finished the season with a 2.26 ERA in 89.2 total innings, to step up and take on bigger roles on the team.

“We are all very sad to see our seniors leave, as they are all key contributors to

our team and amazing players,” McManus said.

Of 14 players on this year’s roster, 11 will return to the team next year and will be joined by a new crop of first-years. The team’s next chance to play will be abroad in Italy and Spain in June, before starting to think about next year’s season. As ever, improvement is the message.

“Next season, we are looking to go out there with confidence and work hard to make our team even better,” McManus said.

MICHAEL DARMIENTO, TRACK & FIELD Head Coach Chris Hall: “Michael was outstanding this weekend, running the fastest time through the preliminary round and then leaving no doubt in the finals by comfortably pulling away from the field. Michael came out of high school as a pretty outstanding hurdler. The big challenge is trying to adjust to the college hurdles, which are higher than the high school version. I feel he has made that adjustment very well. In regards to his commitment to the team and his teammates, it is excellent. We have asked Michael to do some other things this year that are not his best events and he has always responded very positively, and worked at getting better in each of those disciplines. His teammates are an important part of his experience at Chicago, and his interactions with them are wonderful.”

VICKY ESPINOZA, TRACK & FIELD Head Coach Chris Hall: “Vicky had a tremendous breakthrough this weekend, placing second overall at the UAA Championships in the steeplechase and by taking off 44 seconds from her previous best time.

Going into the meet, Vicky was seeded seventh in the conference meet. As is often the case with members of our women’s team, they can sometimes will themselves to great performances when they are doing it for their teammates. Our women were in the midst of a really outstanding meet this weekend and on Saturday (day one of the meet) seemed to have a lot of momentum being generated. While we were hoping for Vicky to move up a place or two, I never would have predicted she would run as well as she did. Nearly catching the final runner down the home straight, she placed second with the 26th-fastest time in the country and moved to No. 2 on our all-time lists at Chicago.”

COURTESY OF HANS GLICK

Chicago set to return majority of squad for 2014 season

COURTESY OF JOHN BOOZ

BASEBALL continued from back

the Maroons.

Game two remained scoreless until the fifth, when fourth-year catcher Tony Logli led off with a single for Chicago. Fellow fourth-year Ben Bullock moved Logli over to second with a well-placed sacrifice bunt.

With Logli in scoring position and two outs, Cinoman doubled, scoring Logli to put the South Siders up 1–0.

The Maroons put up three insurance runs in the following inning. With one out, the South Siders loaded the bases with three consecutive hitters reaching on a single, hit-by-pitch, and bunt single, respectively.

Chicago then capitalized on some poor fielding by the Red Men. A dropped fly ball by outfielder Brian Huntsinger allowed Lopez to score from third. Logli

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

SPORTS

IN QUOTES “Customer cancelled pick-up. RESENDING AS DELIVERY - canucks have tied game, cust cannot leave house to pickup.”

—Printed on a receipt from a Vancouver pizza shop. Apparently, hockey takes precedence over pizza in Canada.

Maroons hit hard by Cougars, hit back against Carthage Baseball Russell Mendelson Maroon Contributor The Maroons bounced back from a loss at Concordia on Friday with a doubleheader sweep against Carthage on Sunday.

Chicago (23–12) was hit hard on Friday by the Cougars (31–5), losing 14–4. However, Maroon pitching recovered for a strong showing on Sunday, leading the South Siders to back-to-back victories against the Red Men (17– 23) with scores of 3–1 and 4–0, respectively.

Against Concordia, the Maroons scored the first two runs of the game in the top of the second. Fourthyear first baseman J.R. Lopez led off the inning with a single, moving to third on a double by third-year outfielder Brett Huff. Both runners scored, while third-year DH Ricky Troncelliti and shortstop Dylan Massey grounded out consecutively.

Concordia quickly answered back in the bottom half of the inning, though, with two RBI singles, evening out the score at two.

The Cougars then scored six unanswered runs until what appeared to be a dormant Chicago offense

briefly stirred in the sixth.

With one out, secondyear Kyle Engel singled, Lopez followed with a walk, and Huff loaded the bases with a single.

Troncelliti plated Engel by walking, and Massey drove in Chicago’s final run with a sacrifice fly to left field, plating Lopez to bring the score to 8–4.

Unfortunately for the South Siders, Concordia’s offense was far from finished and ended the game by scoring six more runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Third-year Alex Terry (1–4) would take the loss for Chicago, giving up eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits in five innings with a walk and two strikeouts.

The tides would shift for the Maroons on Sunday as strong pitching by both Chicago starters gave the bullpen a restful weekend against Carthage. The team felt that the turnaround in play was due to a shift in execution.

“We knew we had to execute better than we did on Friday, and, if we did, we would do well today,” Troncelliti said.

Chicago scored their runs early. Fourth-year second baseman Steven Schwabe got the Maroons’ first hit

Fourth-year catcher Tony Logli takes a healthy lead off first base in a game against Dominican earlier this season.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

of the day with a single to center. Fourth-year Jack Cinoman followed with a double down the right field line, which put two runners in scoring position with one out. Both runs came across when Kyle Engel squared up for a double in the next at bat.

The bottom of the second was the only blemish in an otherwise spectacular performance by Chicago fourth-year Matt O’Connor. “[O’Connor] does a great job of keeping the ball down in the zone and keeping the hitters off

balance with a variety of pitches,” Troncelliti said Carthage first baseman Marc Mantucca led off the second inning by reaching on a throwing error by third-year shortstop Dylan Massey. Mantucca came across on a two-out RBI single by outfielder Sean

Carroll.

Chicago padded the lead slightly in the top of the seventh and final frame.

Lopez hit a double to lead off the inning. Huff quickly followed suit with a double of his own, plating Lopez and securing a 3–1 win for BASEBALL continued on page 11

Cygan, Lopez the stars in South Siders’ topsy-turvy season Softball

First-year Jordan Poole stares down the approaching pitch in a recent game against Wheaton.

TIFFANY TAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Tatiana Fields Associate Sports Editor The Maroons had a strikingly average season this year, finishing with a record of 17–15.

After a 2012 season in which the

South Siders went 26–11, this year was a little disappointing , but the team is already focused on improving for next year.

“Overall, the season did not end up like we had hoped, but we are optimistic about the

future and looking to put in the work to turn things around for next year,” third-year Maddie McManus said. “We had a great group of girls, and it is unfortunate that we were not able to see the results that we

had wanted on the field.”

The Maroons packed all 32 of their games into a period of time a little over a month between March 23 and April 30, leaving very little time for rest.

They kicked off the year with 12 games in Florida over spring break to help prepare for the coming season. The team came out of that week with a 7–5 record, which they had hoped to improve over time.

The high point of Chicago’s season came just after spring break, when the team went on a six-game winning streak. The team finished off their stint in Florida with a 13–0 blowout of Houghton, their biggest win of the year. The streak lasted a week until the second game of the Maroons’ doubleheader against No. 14 UW–Whitewater, where they lost 4–5.

It wasn’t long , however, until the inconsistency that plagued the team’s season got the better of them. The South Siders followed their winning streak with five losses in a row between April 7 and April 20, the lowest point of their season.

It was of little consolation

to the Maroons that those five losses were particularly close.

In that period, the South Siders lost every game by three runs or less, despite the fact that they limited their opponents to five runs or less in every game.

Strong pitching coupled with disappointing offense quickly emerged as one of the major themes of Chicago’s season. The Maroons snapped the streak with a 4–0 win over Wheaton at home.

The final stretch of the season was dominated by the weather. In between a string of cancelations and postponements, the team remained inconsistent, holding its record just above .500 thanks to some sting y defense. Just above .500, however, was not good enough to land the Maroons a spot in the postseason.

Missing out on the postseason will be a disappointment to this squad, but the season was not without its highlights. Fourthyear Kim Cygan’s no-hitter against Beloit last week was the first of her impressive Chicago career and first-year Kristin Lopez emerged as a powerful SOFTBALL continued on page 11