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TUESDAY • FEBRUARY 10, 2015

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

ISSUE 25 • VOLUME 126

Five challenge Alderman in Fifth Ward election Natalie Friedberg Deputy News Editor

The Maroon Veterans Alliance hosted a Points for Patriots tournament last Sunday at the Ratner Athletics Center. The three-on-three charity basketball game was attended by over 150 people.

COURTESY OF ZANE MAXWELL

Student organization hosts b-ball tournament to benefit vets, military Wendy Lee Maroon Contributor The Maroon Veterans Alliance (MVA), a new student organization, seeks to give the UChicago community a new way to show its stripes with service and support for veterans and active duty personnel. Nearly 150 people attended the first Points for Patriots tournament, a threeon-three charity basketball game organized by the organization in partnership with the Institute of Politics (IOP), held on Sunday at

Ratner Athletic Center.

First-year Michael Schumer, who founded the organization, said the Points for Patriots tournament has raised around $38,000 for veterans and active military personnel since its creation in New York City in 2011. Schumer founded Points for Patriots on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in his home in New York, and introduced the initiative to UChicago with the backing of Patrick Murphy, a fellow at the IOP last quarter and the first veteran of the Iraq War to serve in

Congress.

“The Maroon Veterans Alliance grew out of my tremendous passion and respect for the military and our nation’s heroes. We have expanded it from merely a tennis tournament to biannual events, raising about $40,000 up until last year,” Schumer said.

“I figured that when I got to the University of Chicago this [past] fall as a first-year, I wanted to connect University staff and alumni with veterans as well as active duty personnel in the best way I VETERAN continued on page 2

NEWS IN BRIEF Froyo firm fights university-backed competitor ZBerry, a local frozen yogurt shop on East 53rd Street and Kenwood Avenue, closed for the remainder of the winter this year, according to owner Zenzille Powell.

Powell told the Hyde Park Herald that the push to reduce operating costs during the winter months is in part a response to a new frozen yogurt chain store, Red Mango, which opened this summer nearby on Harper Court. Red Mango operates nearly identically to ZBerry,

offering self-serve yogurt and a toppings bar, and ZBerry sales have dropped since the rival store has opened.

The introduction of Red Mango to the 53rd Street area is part of a University initiative in partnership with the city of Chicago to bring new businesses to Hyde Park, particularly to Harper Court on 53rd Street. The University leases land to businesses through the company Lake Park Associates, using property tax to fund the project.

Several of the businesses that

the University brings in have already proved successful on the North Side.

While many in Hyde Park believe the University’s initiative is generally a positive development, some local customers and storeowners like Powell are also concerned about the effects it will have on local businesses, as Red Mango appears to be having on ZBerry.

The store will reopen in mid-March.

—Sonia Schlesinger

Five candidates are challenging four-term incumbent Leslie Hairston for the position of Fifth Ward alderman in the February 25 election. An alderman serves a four-year term on the 50-member Chicago City Council and works on projects with other aldermen, the mayor, and community groups.

The Fifth Ward boundaries are roughly 79th Street to Hyde Park Boulevard, and Cottage Grove to the lakefront. It encompasses multiple distinct neighborhoods, including parts of Hyde Park and parts of the South Shore area. There have been three community meetings in this election cycle so far, in which candidates have communicated their positions to community members: one hosted in Hyde Park sponsored by the Coalition for Equitable Community Development, another in the South Shore hosted by the NAACP, and another hosted at ABJ Community Services in the South Shore.

The candidates shared their concerns, ambitions, and criticisms at the meetings.

Leslie Hairston Hairston was elected to the alderman’s office in 1999 after working as a law-

The Fifth Ward, above, will have its aldermanic election later this month.

WEI YI OW | THE CHICAGO MAROON

yer for a private firm. Over election the first time—beher last two terms, Hairston cause I have a vision for our said she has worked with community, and that vision business leaders to bring includes a vibrant busicompanies to the Fifth ness district, mixed-income Ward, including one of the housing, jobs, opportunihighest grossing Starbucks, ties for growth, recreation, K&G Fashion Superstore, and economic developand Jewel Osco Pharmacy. ment,” Hairston said.

“The reason that I’m runHer office is currently in ning for reelection is the negotiations to bring a new same reason that I ran for ELECTION continued on page 2

Cuba panel talks embargo and immigration at the IOP Isaac Stein Senior News Staff The Institute of Politics (IOP) hosted a panel discussion Monday that featured immigration narratives, the implications of a trade embargo, and a plentiful supply of empanadas. The event, titled “The Thaw: What’s Next for U.S.-Cuba Relations,” focused on the implications of recent changes to

U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba.

Last December, the White House announced a series of significant reforms to U.S.Cuba policy, including a planned re-establishment of bilateral relations, the lifting of some U.S. travel restrictions, and fewer restrictions on remittances. However, the 54-year old U.S. trade embargo on Cuba remains in effect; whether or not the

U.S. should lift the embargo was the main point of contention in the discussion.

The two panelists were María De Los Angeles Torres, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Ana Carbonell, managing partner of The Factor, Inc., a Miami-based political consulting firm. Torres argued that the embargo should be lifted on the basis CUBA continued on page 2

IN VIEWPOINTS

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

Pass the Pass » Page 3

Social issues and music share stage at Grammys » Page 4

Wrestling: Winning streak streches to seven on the mats » Back page

Sunrise at Sundance for film composer, UChicago alum

Women’s Tennis: Marathon weekend results in three wins for Maroons » Page 7

» Page 4

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | February 10, 2015

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New student organization seeks to drum up aid for veterans and active service members VETERAN continued from front

knew how,” Schumer said.

“And in that, I created the Veteran Career Advocacy Program (VCAP). VCAP gives veterans career workshops as well as educational workshops led by University alumni or career/industry leaders, as well as faculty.”

VCAP is one facet of the Maroon Veterans Alliance, in addition to the Points for Patriots tournament, which raised money for the Intrepid

Fallen Heroes Fund, a national non-profit. The Fund aims to construct rehabilitation centers on different army bases around the country for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The morning of the Points for Patriots event, Schumer and the University Community Service Center organized a day of service—part of the MVA’s efforts to organize care package drives

throughout the year. “We had about 10 full boxes ready to send to active duty personnel in Afghanistan, as well as 25 volunteers,” Schumer said.

Schumer said he would like to continue building upon his early achievements with the MVA. “It is my hope that we can continue to expand the program to make it a nationwide engagement of top level universities with local veterans and different organizations.”

Candidates lay out their platforms at community meetings in preparation for this month’s election ELECTION continued from front

grocery store to the South Shore section of the Fifth Ward, which has been without a grocery store since the grocery chain Dominick’s left Chicago last year. However, community members present at the forum expressed concern over the quality of the new grocery store and questioned Hairston’s claim that the choice of the new grocery store actually reflected community input.

At an earlier forum at the Coalition for Equitable Community Development (CECD), when asked about maintaining diversity in Hyde Park, Hairston commented that the University of Chicago serves as a mechanism for enhancing diversity in the area as a whole.

Robin Boyd-Clark Boyd-Clark is the owner of The Scentuary, a small aromatherapy business in the South Shore neighborhood, president of Clark Construction and Development Inc., and CEO of RC Investments, a property management firm. According to the magazine South Shore Current, Boyd-Clark’s highest priorities for the ward are economic development, creating jobs, opening a trauma center, and increasing the availability of healthy, affordable food available across the ward.

She wants to review the process of qualifying a neighborhood for taxincrement financing (TIF) funds, tax-based area designations meant to provide funds to help underdeveloped areas, to make sure neighborhoods that need them actually get them.

Other goals include implementing a small business fund, getting a historical designation for 71st Street, and helping the South Shore better utilize its TIF funding.

“When you come into specific kinds of communities with income levels not

at a certain point and it’s a growing, re-gentrifying community, we have tools that cities provide and you should be able to utilize [them],” Boyd-Clark said.

“We need the same tools that have been available in Hyde Park to make their community nice. It looks like a real community.”

Anne Marie Miles Miles, a lawyer, has volunteered for the Office of the State Appellate Defender to help expunge and seal criminal records in order to give felons a second chance.

Her aldermanic priorities include the development of Stony Island Avenue, reforming the criminal justice system, using eminent domain for the purposes of attracting a new grocery store, and utilizing TIF funds.

“I think South Shore should be the jewel of the city,” she said. “You have great housing stock, you have the lake, you can be downtown by car, bus, or train in 20 minutes, you have a special community that has come together, and has people with roots in it from the ‘50s and ‘60s, and what I want to see is a bustling, thriving community.”

Miles particularly wants to focus on the development of Stony Island Avenue, which she claims has special potential because of the amount of car traffic it gets per day. According to Miles, this development would spread to the rest of the community.

Jedidiah Brown An ordained pastor and the president of the Young Leaders Alliance, Brown’s highest priorities for the Fifth Ward are public safety, bringing a quality grocery store to the South Shore, beautifying empty lots, and making the TIF system more transparent.

Brown criticized Hairston for her handling of the grocery store issue and argued that the controversy

represents a larger problem in the Fifth Ward.

“That is a vehicle of a continuing problem...that we keep losing things in our neighborhood and other people think that they can come and bully us around.

But it’s time for us to get representation and understanding, not to be a dictator but to be a representative and to let the community be at the table,” he said.

Tiffany Brooks Brooks is an attorney at Urban Partnership Bank and an adjunct professor at Northeastern Illinois University’s Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies. Her goals for the Fifth Ward are greater transparency and restrictions on the University of Chicago Police Department, restoring the South Shore as a cultural hub, and showcasing Hyde Park’s economic development.

“Hyde Park has become our new go-to for shopping, working, and dining. We will continue to collaborate through public and private partnerships that will allow the neighborhood to continue to thrive,” Brooks’ website said.

Joycelyn Hare Joycelyn Hare is a University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy graduate and is currently working as a policy advisor to Karen Freeman-Wilson, mayor of Gary, IN. Hare wants to pursue creating an elective school board, bringing a trauma center to the South Side, and exploring the idea of bringing pop up stores to the South Shore while more research is done on deciding the best place to put in a new grocery store.

“With the development of Whole Foods, and with potential developments of the Obama library, and also with investments in Jackson Park, housing prices are going to up,” Hare said at the first a ldermanic forum.

NEWS IN BRIEF Ex Libris Cafe may see second cash register From morning to evening, the number of customers in line at the Ex Libris Café rivals the number of books in the Reg, frequently stretching to the doors of the student-run coffee shop.

Third-year BJ Barker, general manager of the coffee shop, estimates that the line sometimes consists of upwards of 20 people. In order to lessen the wait for customers, Ex Libris is considering getting a second cash register.

“We're looking at adding a second register, but that depends on whether two

register[s] will fit the space, if we can get the space wired for a second register, physical things like that,” Barker said in an e-mail. “Whether it's getting a second register or just upgrading the one we have, improvements are in the works.”

Coffee Shop Coordinator Dave McEvers wrote in an email that he hopes to have the register installed during spring quarter.

“We’re working through UChicago Dining to use their register system,” he wrote. “The goal is to serve more customers and serve

them faster.”

The planned improvements are due to an increase in traffic at the coffee shop.

“It really just originates with the fact that we’re getting more business than normal so we’ve been seeing longer lines,” Barker said.

“We’ve been trying to find ways to get more customers through the line [and] make the experience a little better.”

The University News Office declined to provide any information about funding.

—Sammi Dean

NEWS IN BRIEF University opens up about Campus North The University released new details about the forthcoming Campus North Residence Hall and Dining Commons, set to open in fall 2016.

Jennifer Luttig-Komrosky, executive director of college housing and residential services, offered new information about the dorm. “Similar to Bartlett and Cathey Dining Commons, everyone will enter the state-of-the-art Campus North Dining Commons from the outside,” she wrote in an e-mail. The dining commons will be attached to the building, however, similar to the way Cathey

is a part of Burton-Judson Courts.

Additionally, the new dining hall will feature not only house tables and open space for dining, but also two private rooms with seating for 35 to 45 people, she said.

The landscaping around Campus North will include tiered-style and bench seating, garden spaces, walking p aths ,” Lutti g -Komro s ky wrote. “The landscaping around Campus North Residence Hall and Dining Commons is being designed thoughtfully as we envision it playing an important role in community life.”

Out of the eight houses

moving into Campus North, three will be from New Graduate Residence Hall, which will be converted into the Keller Center as part of the Harris School of Public Policy after spring 2016.

Campus North fills the space left after the demolition of Pierce Tower, a 50year old residence hall and dining commons that was demolished in the summer of 2013 due to high maintenance costs. The new dorm, located on East 55th Street north of Henry Crown Field House, will house approximately 800 students.

—Anne Nazzaro

“People who are hungry are not thinking about regime change” CUBA continued from front

of both its historical failure and the frailty of the Cuban economy.

“It is clear that the embargo hasn’t worked—the [Castro] regime is still there.

The Cuban economy is also very precarious; the cash cows that supply it with discounted imports, like Russia and Venezuela, are having their own problems. All of this is sowing a potential disaster for the Cuban people,” Torres said.

Torres added her belief that lifting the embargo would directly benefit Cuban citizens. “People who are hungry are not thinking about regime change. What lifting the embargo would do is improve economic conditions; this would create more room so that opinion that is divided [against the Cuban government] is better able to maneuver,” she said.

Carbonell countered with the suggestion that lifting the embargo would run opposite to American principles.

“In the ‘90s, congressional discussion of the embargo shifted to emphasize the

objective of returning selfdetermination to the Cuban people. This meant that we would not lift the embargo until all political prisoners were freed, Cubans were guaranteed the right to free association, and they held elections that were internationally supervised. This has not yet happened,” Carbonell said.

She also said that lifting trade restrictions unconditionally would jeopardize the future of the Cuban people.

“If we were to lift the embargo overnight, the regime would still dictate who can do business with them. Totalitarianism would combine with American capitalism, and everyone would be motivated to use Cubans as slave labor; it would look like China or Vietnam.

Therefore, we cannot let Cuba transition into another dictatorship; it has to be a multiparty democracy,” Carbonell said.

Torres responded with the suggestions that regime change cannot be forced from outside Cuba, and that the Cuban political economy already resembles that of

China or Vietnam.

“There is a contradiction inherent in supporting Cuban citizens by imposing an embargo that requires that their government becomes a democracy. The majority of Cuban citizens support lifting the embargo. Also, Cuba is already a display of ‘Market-Leninism.’ Every travel agent in Miami responds to a general in Cuba,” Torres said.

In her concluding remarks, Torres added that her lived experience as a firstgeneration Cuban American has shaped her opinion of both the embargo and the recent shifts in foreign policy.

“I was raised in Texas, and the memories of having a cross burned on our lawn and being called ‘f–ing spics’ certainly radicalized me. For Cuban Americans, the image of the Cuban Revolution certainly loomed over the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Now, I’m able to understand why my parents left Cuba. The [foreign policy changes] put the ball in their court. It’s not us. It’s not Miami. It’s them.”

VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed FEBRUARY 10, 2015

Pass the Pass Student Government Presidnt and Community and Government Liaison argue that with College Aid subsidy, U-Pass will be an affordable investment for all students Tyler Kissinger and Kenzo Esquivel Maroon Contributors This Tuesday through Thursday, students across the University will have the ability to share their thoughts on their school or division’s enrollment in the Chicago Transit Authority’s U-Pass program by participating in a referendum on the matter. The U-Pass program allows students in participating schools unlimited rides on CTA for a flat, quarterly fee of approximately $85. Critically, schools or divisions (such as the Biological Sciences Division, Harris, or the College) may choose to opt-in to the program separately, but all full-time students in participating schools and divisions must take part in the program.

Every three or four years, the issue of U-Pass comes up for consideration among students in the College. In the past, support hasn’t been strong enough to merit participation in the program.

We think this time is different, at least for students in the College.

In the past, the conversation was framed as a choice between

the 170s and the U-Pass. This was because students wanted the University to cover the full cost of U-Pass for all of its students.

From the University’s perspective, the only way to cover this substantial cost would be to eliminate the 170s. This is not the case for this year’s referendum, as the U-Pass would be funded by a student fee, like it is at the dozens of other participating schools across Chicago.

Importantly, for the first time, the Office of College Aid has agreed to subsidize the cost of the U-Pass for students receiving financial aid. They wouldn’t have made this commitment had they not recognized the great benefit the U-Pass would have for the student body. It’s a natural extension of the No Barriers program, the University’s comprehensive plan to “increase access to college, support students as they receive an empowering education, and prepare them for lifelong professional success.”

The U-Pass is of economic benefit to students if they ride an average of about 3.4 one-way trips on CTA per week; that is, for example, one round trip and one

one-way trip (for example, taking the 2, 4, 6, 15, 55 or 59 to get around Hyde Park) or two round trips per week. These numbers assume students are responsible for paying the full cost of the UPass; for students on financial aid whose U-Pass would be subsidized by the University, the threshold would be even lower.

But the U-Pass doesn’t just have the potential to be a financial benefit to the student body; it would be a massive social benefit. It would make it easier and cheaper for students to take advantage of all that Chicago has to offer, from internships to dining options to cultural opportunities outside of Hyde Park. Increasingly, the University markets itself as an integral part of the city, and participating in the U-Pass program is a step toward that vision.

Tyler Kissinger is a thirdyear in the College majoring in public policy.

Kenzo Esquivel is a second- year in the College majoring in environmental science.

ALICE XIAO

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THE CHICAGO MAROON

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Sindhu Gnanasambandan, Grey City Editor Kristin Lin, Grey City Editor Sarah Manhardt, News Editor Christine Schmidt, News Editor Kiran Misra, Viewpoints Editor James Mackenzie, Arts Editor Tatiana Fields, Sports Editor Marina Fang, Senior News Editor Liam Leddy, Senior Viewpoints Editor Sarah Langs, Senior Sports Editor Jake Walerius, Senior Sports Editor Natalie Friedberg, Deputy News Editor Alec Goodwin, Deputy News Editor Marta Bakula, Associate News Editor Raymond Fang, Associate News Editor Nina Katemauswa, Associate Viewpoints Editor Sarah Zimmerman, Associate Viewpoints Editor Andrew McVea, Associate Arts Editor Evangeline Reid, Associate Arts Editor Ellen Rodnianski, Associate Arts Editor Helen Petersen, Associate Sports Editor Zachary Themer, Associate Sports Editor Peter Tang, Photo Editor Frank Yan, Senior Photo Editor Frank Wang, Associate Photo Editor Annie Cantara, Head Designer Sophie Downes, Head Copy Editor Alan Hassler, Head Copy Editor Sherry He, Head Copy Editor Hannah Rausch, Head Copy Editor Emily Harwell, Social Media Editor Amber Love, Video Editor

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In coordination with the Office of International Affairs’ monthlong celebration of International Women’s Day, the Chicago Maroon is looking to find writers for a monthlong series Viewpoints series spotlighting women of color, queer women, and/or trans women. Pitches for articles are welcome, and authors are invited to write about (but are not limited to) their relationship to feminism, femininity, womanhood, the gender binary, or contemporary political assemblages around those issues. If interested, please send a message with the subject line “IWD Series Pitch” to viewpoints@chicagomaroon.com including your name, year/division in the University (and major if applicable), and a short pitch for your article.

ARTS

What is art?

FEBRUARY 10, 2015

Sunrise at Sundance for film composer, UChicago alum Evangeline Reid Associate Arts Editor The 2015 Sundance Film Festival wrapped up the Saturday before last. Noah Potter (A.B. ’99; M.B.A. ’07) and a group of his UChicago college friends started making a yearly pilgrimage to Sundance six years ago, but this year—after plenty of bumps and triumphs—was different. Potter was making his debut at the festival’s red carpet as the music composer for the Romanian film, Pioneers’ Palace.

The journey there was a little wild, but this year he got to go to the green room.

He got the e-mail in December, while the film was still in postproduction. He said it was a huge shock and a huge honor, as so many people submit films to the festival and so few are selected. “The most fun for me was actually collecting my badge… [with] the Sundance logo. That was the first feeling that I got

that it was actually real. It’s a silly thing; the badge doesn’t do anything…. It has nothing except a little smudge of pride on it. I don’t think anyone is above a few gold stars in their life,” he said with a laugh.

Over the years the group has gotten better at making the most of the festival and its reunion. They take turns getting up before dawn to wait in line to secure the group’s screening tickets and have learned to book hotel rooms early and close to the Utah town. His friends have gone on to work in many different fields—they work as doctors, editors, lawyers, or as Google masterminds—yet they all come together once a year for this fun event. Potter is the only one of them actually in the industry.

When he describes his time in the College it’s clear he quite enjoyed the adventures he had on campus. He lived in Lower Flint House in Woodward Court, a house that sounds foreign to

modern-day UChicago undergrads, but once stood where the Booth School of Business does today. Potter was a music major among the ranks of what he called a very good class of music directors, but his musical life extended beyond the classroom, in more ways than one. He briefly worked at the University of Chicago Hospital, but that came to an end when he was caught taking a few too many piano breaks during filing runs. Luckily, he was able to pick up a new job that suited him much better: playing the organ at Hyde Park’s First Unitarian Church. While on campus, he also founded a performance group for undergraduate composers and paired up with Off-Off Campus to do live scoring of its shows that he says lent him a good feeling for comedic timing that he would need later when scoring television shows. He joked that the rest of his time was spent playing the video game Starcraft, but he

soon added that he also loved playing ultimate frisbee on the Midway and was an enthusiastic Scav captain.

Despite graduating with a music degree, Potter’s first job was in web consulting and design. “It was the first dot-com boom… [It] was what everyone was doing,” he explained. When that company folded, he started a small video game developing company, which he later sold.

He had moved to Los Angeles after getting his M.B.A. from the Chicago Booth School of Business—which he describes as an odd choice but an education he appreciated when the economy collapsed. “I had this soul-searching moment where I said I can fail at doing this, and if I’m going to fail at something, I want to fail at something tremendously worthwhile; so that I get, you know, points for having tried. So that was what drove me to go back into music.” That was ALUM continued on page 5

Social issues and music share stage at Grammys

Kanye West was on his best behavior for this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony.

LUCY NICHOLSON

| REUTERS

Ellen Rodnianski Associate Arts Editor The most important day in the music industry came and went this past Sunday.

While the Grammys are superficially about honoring musicians with a gilded figure of a gramophone, they also provide a portrait of the past year in popular culture and of contemporary issues.

Featuring 25 performances and countless “Grammy moments” that quickly became Instagram photos, Vines, and Buzzfeed articles, the show is by far the most anticipated musical event of the year.

LL Cool J hosted the awards show for the fourth time in a row. The first musical performance of the night was AC/DC, which started off the ceremony by playing “Rock or Bust” followed by “Highway to Hell,” for which the audience sported lightup devil horns. fifty-nineyear-old Angus Young, in his characteristic schoolboy

outfit—complete with shorts and a beret—rocked out to a spectacular performance complete with pyrotechnics.

This year’s Grammys had a distinct message. Pharrell’s performance of his hit song “Happy” included backup dancers wearing hoodies and holding up their hands in support of the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” protest, followed by two songs featured in Ava DuVernay’s Martin Luther King, Jr. biopic, Selma. Beyoncé introduced John Legend and Common’s song “Glory,” the film’s theme song, with a standout performance of “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” during the show’s final portion.

Along with highlighting the “Black Lives Matter” movement, the ceremony also stressed the importance of ending domestic violence.

President Obama appeared in a video that encouraged the audience and musicians to join the “It’s on Us” movement, which was followed by

the personal account of a survivor of domestic violence.

Katy Perry’s incredible performance of “By The Grace of God” reinforced this message. Perry, her hair slicked back and wearing a caped white gown, performed in front of what originally looked like her shadow but was actually the prerecorded silhouettes of three dancers.

Although social issues at times shared the stage with the performers, the nominees’ music was ultimately the focus of the evening.

Sam Smith was undoubtedly the man of the night, taking home the awards for best new artist, song of the year, record of the year, and best pop vocal album for his album In the Lonely Hour. Upon receiving his fourth and final award, he joked about being grateful to the man who broke his heart and inspired his album, since it won him four Grammys.

Smith later performed his Grammy-winning song “Stay With Me” with Mary J. Blige, an artist he has long admired.

Smith and Blige were not the only diverse music personalities to collaborate on the Grammy stage. Hozier was joined by the incredible vocals of Annie Lennox to perform both “Take Me to Church” and “I Put a Spell on You.” Although wildly popular in the ’90s, Annie Lennox has been under the radar for a while, but will doubtfully remain there after this striking performance. Kanye West graced the Grammy stage for the first time in six years for a solo performance of “Only One,” a lullaby for his daughter North, and later returned

to join Paul McCartney and Rihanna for a performance of “FourFiveSeconds.”

While almost all of the sets were spectacular, the most striking was Sia’s—a fully furnished children’s room alongside an abandoned hallway. Sia’s surrealistic, intricately choreographed performance looked more like a prepared music video than a live show. All the attention was on her two dancers, Kristen Wiig and Maddie Ziegler.

While the ever camera-shy Sia was on stage, her back was turned to the audience throughout the whole song.

While the focus of the Grammys are the music and awards, another huge aspect of the show is watching the celebrity audience. Taylor Swift didn’t disappoint with her typical goofy dancing, and Kanye teased the audience by pretending to repeat his 2009 MTV award exploit (when he mounted the stage to proclaim his dissatisfaction with Taylor Swift’s win of best music video). This time, Kanye’s criticism was directed at Beck, who surprised everyone—audience and musicians alike—by winning album of the year for Morning Phase. However, this time he left the stage quickly, and later took a friendly photo with Swift for good measure.

Once again the Grammys provided an evening of music, awards, and celebrity reactions that will keep the world talking for weeks to come. This year’s Grammy awards were all they had to be: spectacular, meaningful, and full of glam.

Noah Potter (A.B. ’99) composed the score for the film Pioneers Palace’, which premiered at Sundance this year.

COURTESY OF IMDB

UT roars during weekend of theater workshops Ty Easley Arts Contributor This past weekend, campus theater–goers gathered in the Reynolds Club’s Francis X. Kinahan Theater for A Weekend of Workshops. In the first half of every autumn and winter quarter, new directors and casts test their mettle and share the results in University Theater / Theater and Performance Studies’ workshops. Each of the four directors had between 10 and 30 minutes to showcase their piece, creating a delightful medley of theater during each of the three evening shows and the Saturday matinee. In this quarter’s workshops, second-years Andrew Mao, Eric Kirkes, and Natalie Wagner directed selections from Othello, Rabbit Hole, and Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, respectively, and fourth-year Chris Deakin adapted and directed Light Touch: The Tragedy of HamLion, Lion Prince of Denmark.

Mao’s direction of I, Iago, an adaptation of Othello, came to life through highly specific staging and movement work, casting Iago (Daniel Fraad) as the puppeteer of the tragedy.

Greasy and insidious, he stood out as the sole agent in the action, moving freely between the areas of the

stage which had confined the other characters. This freedom, along with the eerie, almost ghastly lighting, lent Iago a deeply unsettling air. Fourth-years Mickey Desruisseaux (Othello), Caitlin Fallahay (Montagno), and Nathaniel Rossum (Cassio) brought some humanity to the stage, falling prey to Iago’s increasingly alienating machinations. Altogether, Mao offered a thoughtprovoking exploration of a classic villain.

In crafting beautiful selections from Angels in America, Natalie Wagner divided the stage into two homes, a couch on one side and a bed on the other, laying the perfect frame to support the work of her gifted and well-utilized cast. Brandon Callender ( Joe Pitt), Emma Maltby (Harper Pitt), DC Nitz (Prior Walter), and Ruben Lesnick (Louis Ironson) gave powerful, breathtaking performances. The second act of this show— where the tensions that had been building in the previous scenes were finally unleashed in a pair of simultaneous shouting matches—stood out as particularly impressive. Here, the actors pulled out all the stops and held audience members captive at the edges of their seats.

UT continued on page 5

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | February 10, 2015

Alum takes long way to film fest ALUM continued from page 4

where the real grind began.

From the beginning, he said he could only recount “a cautionary tale.” It’s the story that is less often told about Hollywood.

He started from the bottom, scoring reality television shows and working on friends’ films and slowly worked his way up through connections and perseverance, eventually scoring the film Nómadas directed by Ricardo Benet and starring Lucy Liu, fulfilling his long-time dream of scoring a movie with major stars involved. Now, he’s worked on films that were at the Cannes Film Festival and one that won an Indie Award, but the path wasn’t easy. He said over the years he has sent thousands of emails that weren’t met with a response.

“The thing about L.A. is that you keep expecting that if you just hit this next goal, success will come around the corner,” he said. But unfortunately it doesn’t work

quite like that.

Some of the best connections come by chance. His agent worked across the street from a Romanian-owned yogurt shop in California where he met Viorel Sergovici, the director of photography for Pioneers’ Palace and the director of another Romanian film, both of which Potter went on to score. The same connections even led to a job scoring a Romanian T-Mobile commercial where he took a risk by asking to do something different from was asked for. “I said I’d do something better and more memorable,” he explained. For his Sundance film, he was asked to write 1980s Romanian New Wave music because, surprisingly, paying to compose new music was actually cheaper than paying the rights for the actual music of the era. “You have to expect you’ll be able to pull it out,” he said of encountering odd composing challenges. Of course

then there’s the matter of actually creating that, but in true UChicago style, he does his research and delivers. Potter laughed, “I’m big in Romania now!”

Potter recently moved back to Chicago with his one-year-old twins and three-year-old, and it seems he is glad to be back in a city that prizes talent over glitz and adores its intellectual artists.

He won a silver medal at the Park City Film Music Festival for the score of the film Salvation which will be having a limited theatrical release soon. On the horizon, is a new musical Ghosts of Baghdad that is looking to find a home.

The path to being successful in entertainment is brutal, and Potter made no qualms about that.

But being able to face failure and continue, and having a strong support from family is what he thinks has kept him going. Potter tells a cautionary tale, but one laced with hope for the next generation of UChicago artists.

5

Students reimagine classic plays at Weekend of Workshops UT continued from page 4

Eric Kirkes’s selections from Rabbit Hole played well to the strengths of fourth-year Ricky Stewart ( Jason) and third-year Katie Vandervalk (Becca), who both gave very authentic, grounded performances. Only some tea, a couch, and a lemon square joined the two actors on stage as they held a long conversation between a middle-aged mother and a teenager who accidentally ran over her son. This production’s greatest strength was the extremely natural timing of the beats of the show: They were comically effective when they could be and dramatically effective where they should have been.

Chris Deakin’s Ham-

Lion also premiered at this quarter’s workshops. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” said second-year Jon Sorce, laughing hysterically and clearly having the time of his life. Overflowing with camp, GIFs, and puns, HamLion pulled its audience into a shamelessly dorky and overwhelmingly fun experience. Deakin’s adaptation blazed through the beats of Hamlet, stuffing every key moment of the classic piece of theatrical literature with as much of The Lion King as it could possibly sustain.

Each actor had feline face makeup and “puppeteered” a representative stuffed animal. “Ideally, we would be doing all of Hamlet, but, you know, we only had 20 minutes,” Deakin said. The

cast brought skill and contagious enthusiasm to this beautiful farce: first-years Tessa Garcia-Duarte and Si Squires-Kasten played Clawdius and HamLion, respectively, second-year Kyle Yeh brought out PumbaaCrantz, third-year Collin Lapinsky gave us Burdina (a conglomerate of Gertrude and a few servants), and fourth-year Sarah Lo gave life to Ofurlia.

Judging by the hysterical cackling of the audience, the highlight of HamLion may have been hearing the vocally gifted cast chase Ofurlia offstage while singing the entire text of the “get thee to a nunnery” scene to the tune of Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?”

It was a blast.

Join us for the Grey City launch party for food, dancing, revelry, debauchery, and a performance by ¿Robert J Zimmer?

February 19, 6–7 p.m.

Hallowed Grounds COVER ILLUSTRATION BY ALLISON TOREM

6

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | February 10, 2015

7

Marathon weekend results in three wins for Maroons

Squad splits UAA doubleheader against Case, Carnegie

Women’s Tennis

Men’s Basketball

Zachary Themer Associate Sports Editor After having dropped their first match of the season against DI UW–Milwaukee, the No. 12 Maroons (3–2) looked to right this ship in a big way this past weekend as they had four matches over the course of three days. After the dust settled from the daunting quartet of weekend challenges, the South Siders had a trio of wins in hand and momentum heading into the home stretch of the indoor tennis season.

The first match of the weekend for the Maroons was a showdown against No. 28 Denison in Westlake, OH. Knowing that the Big Red of Denison had an upperclassman-heavy lineup with loads of experience, the Maroons were aware it would take a considerable amount of effort to knock off their Midwestern foes.

“We want to remember that in order to win the match, we need the entire team to fight,” said fourthyear Megan Tang, “Whether it’s on the court or cheering from the sidelines.”

In the end, the Maroons were able to knock off the Big Red by a score of 7–2.

In singles play, the Maroons topped Denison 5–1, a charge led by No. 1-seed Tang and No. 2-seed firstyear Ariana Iranpour. Simi-

larly, the Maroons were able to go 2–1 on the doubles side, which included a win by the pair of Iranpour and Tang, who defeated their Denison opponents 8–6.

After knocking off Denison (1–1) to improve their record to 1–1, the Maroons took on No. 23 conference foe Case Western. The Maroons and the Spartans have been heated, competitive adversaries for the past several years, and this match added another layer to the rivalry.

After falling behind 2–1 with doubles play completed, the Maroons knew that they would need four wins out of the six matches on the singles side in order to claim victory as a team. While the likes of Tang and Iranpour gobbled up a pair of wins to aid the Maroons, their efforts were not enough, as the Maroons fell just short against the Spartans, who improved their record to 2–1, Chicago lost the match 5–4 and dropped its record to 1–2.

Having split their opening two games of the weekend against Denison and Case Western, the Maroons were hungry for a pair of victories on Sunday against Kenyon and No. 32 Oberlin. As they hoped, at the end of the day on Sunday the Maroons had a pair of wins to notch onto their belts as they swept both Kenyon and Oberlin

by a score of 9–0.

Against Kenyon (0–1), the South Siders were absolutely dominant across the board, as all players took home victories on the day. Standouts for the Maroons include singles players first-year Jasmine Lee and second-year Tiffany Chen, who both defeated their opponents, 6–2 and 6–0, respectively.

After having dispatched Kenyon, the now 2–2 Maroons set their sights on the last leg of their weekend marathon, a match against Oberlin. Asserting their dominance, the Maroons swept the Yeowomen (0–1), an effort led in part by the likes of first-year Courtney Warren who “bagled” her opponent in straight sets, winning both sets 6–0. Having defeated Denison, the Maroons improved to 3–2 on the season and had reason to look forward to the rest of the season.

“The matches we’ve had this season have definitely tested us both with our technical skills and how to deal with pressure on the court,” said Tang. “We have at times been in tight situations, and I think having all of these matches gives us a lot of opportunity to makes the right plays when the pressure is on.”

The Maroons’ next match will be this Saturday at Lewis University at 4 p.m.

Mary MacLeod Sports Staff This weekend, the University of Chicago men’s basketball team (14–6, 6–3 UAA) split a pair of matchups, beating Case Western Reserve University (14–6, 5–4), but dropping one to Carnegie Mellon University (12–8, 3–6) on the road.

The Maroons faced Case on Friday, hoping to repeat their decisive win from the week prior.

“Our game plan for Case was to defend ball screens as a team and crash the offensive boards for second chance points,” said secondyear guard Tyler Howard.

However, despite starting the game on a 10–2 run, the Maroons were never able to build up a large lead.

Even though the South Siders shot 55.2 percent from the field in the first half, the Spartans were able to keep up by shooting 72.7 percent from the field, and they kept pounding out points in the

paint.

In fact, with 33 seconds left in the second half, the game was pulled within two points on the heels of a 6–0 run from the home team.

However, the Maroons were able to hold on to their slim lead by turning over Case two possessions in a row and converting when the Spartans fouled them to stop the clock.

“The reason we beat Case was because we played unselfish on offense, which got us easy shots and on defense we got stops down the stretch,” Howard said. “In fact, the biggest strength of out team right now is defense.”

However, the Maroons were not so lucky in their second game against Carnegie on Sunday. After coming out to an 18–17 lead, the Maroons quickly fell behind after a 14–0 run by the Tartans.

“This week’s game plan against Carnegie was to simply outwork them physically,” said second-year forward

Waller Perez. “We knew they had just beat Wash U so we knew we had to play even harder.”

However, the South Siders were unable to contain their opponents, as Carnegie Mellon outrebounded them 37–31, and outscored them in the paint by a devastating margin of 34–16. Furthermore, the Tartans blocked 11 of the Maroons’ shots, causing Chicago to shoot a season low 31.1 percent from the field.

So what’s the takeaway from the team’s performance this weekend?

“As a team we learned that we have to respect every team we play equally,” said Perez.

“We have to come ready to play regardless of what the other team’s record says.”

This is a lesson the team has a chance to show this weekend, as they are playing Rochester and Emory on the road - two teams they beat earlier in the season.

Tip-off for Rochester is set for 7 p.m. on Friday.

Get in the game.

Write for sports. editor@ chicagomaroon.com

South Siders continue winning ways with eighth straight

Women’s Basketball Ahmad Allaw Sports Staff Chicago (13–6, 7–1 UAA) demonstrated its superiority over the weekend, beating Case Western Reserve (7–13, 1–8) and Carnegie Mellon (11–9, 2–7) each for the second time in the span of just one week.

In the first game, the Maroons were quick to draw first blood: thirdyear guard Caitlin Moore opened the game with an easy lay-in to give Chicago the 2–0 lead.

Chicago’s start would prove to be a theme throughout the rest of the affair: time and again, Chicago found itself under the basket to score easy points.

38 of Chicago’s eventual 63 came in the paint. The Spartans had no answer for the Maroons’ interior work.

Chicago’s stellar start was highlighted by an early

16–2 run. From that point on, Case never came within seven points of its opponent. Chicago was too much on the offensive end.

But the Maroons didn’t just play well on one half of the court: their defense was also stellar throughout the game. It limited the Spartans to just 26 percent shooting in the first half, good for no more than 18 points. Case could do little better the rest of the game, adding just 26 to its meager point total.

The game ended as a 63– 44 blowout. Three Maroon players - fourth-year guard Claire Devaney, first-year guard Elizabeth Nye, and fourth-year forward Hannah Ballard - ended with double-digit points. Chicago’s bench provided 33 points.

In the second game, Chicago was facing an opponent that had given it more trouble than its first. Only one week prior, the Ma-

roons had edged the Tartans by just seven points.

Early on, the game against Carnegie looked like it was going to be another nail-biter. The teams traded baskets for the first 14 minutes of play with Chicago holding a narrow 23–18 advantage.

But the deadlock was broken soon after. Chicago finished the half with a 17–5 run, giving it a commanding lead. From there on out, the game was never in doubt. The Maroons took home a 75–56 victory.

Fourth-year Claire Devaney led the way against the Tartans, scoring 21 points on 18 shots. With an additional 10 rebounds, she finished the game with a double-double.

The pair of wins extends Chicago’s win streak to seven games. The victory also marks the 10th time Chicago has won by double-digit points.

More importantly, Chi-

cago improved to 8–1 in conference play, maintaining its three-way tie for first place in the UAA. Looking ahead, Chicago will look to replicate its recent performances against Rochester and Emory, two opponents it has already beaten this year.

“Winning has been fun and I think we’re playing well because we’re playing together and executing.

That has been what has made this run possible,” Nye said. “This weekend we have to keep doing what we have been doing—executing and just making plays. Also making sure we’re prepared. Of course we want to win UAA and but we really just want to focus on each game one at a time.”

The Maroons face Rochester on Friday at 5 p.m.

They take on Emory at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Chicago will be on the road for both games.

Fourth-year guard Morgan Donovan drives base line against Loras in a game earlier this season.

COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS

SPORTS

IN QUOTES “Start Rooting For The Nets Because The Knicks Don’t Want You” – New York Knicks CEO James Dolan in an angry response letter to a longtime Knicks fan who wrote an impassioned letter stating disapproval of Dolan

Chua, Sabada guide team to pair of victories on the road Men’s Tennis Helen Petersen Associate Sports Editor

First-year David Liu prepares to serve the ball in a match earlier this season.

COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS

The Maroons had their toughest weekend of the year so far, competing against three top-ranked teams. Despite the high level of competition, No. 17 Chicago was able to come away with two wins, suffering only a slim loss to No. 8 Case Western.

The weekend began with the South Siders facing off against No. 26 Denison.

With victories in the singles column from four first-years and fourth-year Deepak Sabada, Chicago came out of singles play with a decisive 5–1 lead.

First-year Nick Chua, at No. 1 singles, is the top ranked singles player in the country. Denison’s Grant Veltman saw this ranking as a challenge. Veltman came out with a vengeance, winning the first set 6–2. Still, the rookie was not deterred.

Chua came out in the second set to edge Veltman by a score of 7–5. He then put the nail in the coffin with a

Winning streak stretches to seven on the mats

Wrestling Ahmad Allaw Sports Staff

The Maroons logged another dual-meet win last Saturday with a 21–18 comeback victory over No. 29 Augustana College. This marks their seventh straight dual meet victory of the season.

The Chicago squad improved to 7–3, while Augustana fell to 7–6 on the season.

This was the second meet in a row where fourth-year Mario Palmisano provided the winning points for the Maroons.

Augustana captured the first three matches, with a win by forfeit at the 125-pound weight-class, a 7–1 decision at 133 pounds, and a fall at 141 pounds. The Maroons crawled their way back from this deficit to tie the match, with four straight wins by second-year Michael Sepke (149), fourth-year Devon Range (157), thirdyear Brennan King (165), and first-year Nick Ferraro (174). King stepped up to fill in for second-year Paul Papoutsis, who usually wrestles at the 165-pound weight class. King commented on his pivotal debut varsity per-

formance of this season.

“It was tough to not have [Paul] for this meet. I am just glad I was able to step up to fill in for him while he was injured. Paul should be back in the lineup for the UAAs so my focus is just on working hard to help our starters get ready and be in a position to compete at my best if they need me,” King said.

Augustana’s 4–1 decision victory at the 184-pound class meant that the Maroons would need a pair of wins in their final matches in order to seal the win. Thirdyear David Gremling, of the 197-pound weight class, and his opponent had a grueling match that lasted into three overtime periods. Gremling won the match 2–1 after scoring an escape, which left the rest up to Palmisano.

Palmisano delivered for the Maroons with a 4–2 win which came after a two-point reversal, finally leading to a takedown in the final 30 seconds.

“It felt great to be able to secure the win after everyone else worked so hard to put me in that position,” said Palmisano of his role in the team’s win. “There were outstanding

performances all around and it was exciting to be a part of that. Personally, I was having a great time out there on the mat. It is about that time in the season when everything just feels natural and that’s an awesome feeling.”

Knocking off a tough opponent like Augustana helps prepare the Maroons for their upcoming UAA Championships next weekend at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. “Augustana is a very tough team. It would have been easy for us to go into the meet a little hesitant but every single one of us showed up ready to get after them and I think that made all the difference. We have been building up some incredible energy and confidence as a team this season and if we can carry this momentum through the UAA’s I think we have a really great shot at the conference title,” King said.

The South Siders will head to Cleveland, OH this weekend for the UAA Championships. Chicago will face NYU on Saturday at 11 a.m. and then Case Western at 12:30 or 2 p.m.

6–1 third set victory to take home the win.

“I was just glad that I was able to find my game a little bit more later in the match and pull out the win. I knew that sometimes matches are about sticking around until your opponent gives you a chance or you play better and I think I did a good job of giving myself that opportunity,” Chua said.

In the doubles column, the duo of Sabada and firstyear David Liu, currently ranked fourth in the nation, was shocked by Veltman and Casey Cempre. The No. 1 doubles squad from Denison defeated Chicago 8–4. Chicago came away victorious in No. 2 and 3 doubles competitions to end the day with a 7–2 victory.

The team then traveled to Cleveland to compete against the No. 8 team in the country.

The Maroons again struggled in the No. 1 doubles column but were able to head into singles play with a 2–1 edge as the duo of secondyear Max Hawkins and first-

year Luke Tsai, as well as fourth-year Ankur Bhargava and Chua, proved victorious.

However, singles play proved too much for Chicago. Case Western earned four singles victories. Firstyears Peter Leung and Tsai got the only singles victories of the day at No. 3 and No. 5 singles, respectively. Case came away with a slight 5–4 victory on the day.

Even then, the competition was far from over. The very next day Chicago met No. 12 Kenyon. After suffering a tough loss, it would have been easy for the young squad to crumble under the pressure of the long weekend.

The team defied the odds and the youth proved withstanding. Chicago upset Kenyon in a decisive fashion, coming away with a 7–2 victory.

“I think the best part about our win over Kenyon was the energy that each and every person brought to our match,” Chua said. “Even though we were all disappointed about the day before, everyone fought hard and remained energetic and confi-

dent throughout the match.”

Against Kenyon, the duo of Hawkins and Tsai moved into the No. 1 doubles position and earned their first victory at the top spot, edging out Kenyon 8–6. Chicago would go on to sweep the doubles column.

The meet having already been decided did not stop Chicago from getting better and preparing for the future.

“Even after it was decided, David Liu managed to pull out his best tennis of the day to come back in the third set as well,” Chua said. “I think this bodes well for our future, and we need to continue this type of mental effort if we want to be a national contender this year.”

One particular highlight was Tsai’s performance on the weekend. The rookie was undefeated for the weekend, earning both a singles and doubles victory every day of competition.

After this tough weekend, Chicago will turn around to play Oberlin and Wheaton this Saturday. Matches kick off at 2 p.m.

Chicago Invitational shows promise for both men and women Track & Field Derek Tsang Senior Sports Staff In their first of three home meets for the month, the Maroons left a strong impression on their UChicago audience, as both men’s and women’s teams took first in the Windy City Invitational this past Saturday.

In a crowded field of 14 teams, the women charged ahead with a 68-point gap between them and runner-up Loyola, finishing with 159 total points on the day. The men also left their competition in the dust, beating Valparaiso by 56.5 points and closing out the afternoon with a final score of 137.

The men recorded four top finishes, including a first place win in the 60m hurdles for firstyear Patrick LeFevre. LeFevre just missed the top spot last weekend after finishing in a virtual tie on paper. Third-year Michael Bennett recorded the highest vault in the pole vault, and third-year Ben Clark and second-year Michael Shumaker took first in the 400m and 3000m, respectively. Shumaker commented on both his and the teams’ excellent results.

“I think the purpose of the meet was to build our confidence,” Shumaker said. “We put down some great times, and that

will only help us as we head to Chicagolands and eventually UAAs.” The women had three top individual finishers of their own.

Second-year Michelle Dobbs and third-year Brianna Hickey led the way in both the 400m and 800m. Fourth-year Pam Yu recorded the farthest distance on her way to winning the triple jump with a length of 10.73m.

“I took a week off last week to nurse my knee injury and focus on strengthening and conditioning,” explained Yu, who thought the week off was crucial to her strong showing on Saturday.

“The biggest challenge heading into this meet was definitely keeping my knee from further injury and also working through the injury to compete,” said Yu. Yu also finished second in the long jump with a distance of 5.19 meters.

“The main reason for running the 400 this weekend for me was to prepare for the 800 next weekend,” noted Dobbs on her preparation for the meets leading up to the UAAs in the coming weeks.

“I’ve been working the past couple of weeks on really getting some speed work back into my workouts as well so that helped to prepare for this 400,” said

Dobbs.

Overall, this was a meet where many of the Chicago competitors focused on their secondary events as a “trial run” for next weekend’s Chicagoland Championships in Naperville, IL The upcoming meet at North Central is key for athletes still looking to improve their times for the conference.

“The team has been fairly successful so far but what’s exciting to me is that much of our team still has improvements that are within reach,” Dobbs said.

She is also confident that with additional mid-season training the team can make even greater strides.

“We have stacked up well against other teams in the early season, and it will be very exciting to see how we can compete on a bigger stage as everyone begins to reach their peak fitness and training,” said Dobbs.

This is the part of the season where training and weekly meets can put a strain on an athlete’s physical and mental toughness. Most teammates agree that in order to remain competitive down the stretch, it is imperative that they fine-tune the little things that can bring them to both a new level of preparation and performance which will translate into further success.